Chapter Text
The sun was shining bright on the city of Tokyo. It was clear blue skies with only a few fluffy white clouds traveling about. The birds were singing, and a gentle breeze would go through cooling off those who were outside. Yet on such a beautiful day, a young model by the name Satsuki Aoi was dragged into an alley and in the middle of getting mugged.
“Give me your wallet!” The mugger threatened, holding Aoi in a chokehold with a knife pointed at his face.
“Fine, take it! Just let me go!” Aoi yelled.
A creepy smile appeared on the mugger’s face causing a shiver to go down Aoi’s spine, “You’re a compliant one...Where is your wallet exactly?” The mugger’s free hand moved down Aoi’s side and then tightly gripped the blond’s hip, “Is it here?”
“Don’t touch me! It’s in my bag, my bag!” Tears began to prick the model’s blue eyes as he winced at the mugger’s touch.
“What, am I not good enough for you, princess?” The mugger sneered, his hand moving onto Aoi’s butt.
“Stop it! I’m-!” Aoi held his tongue, he wanted to correct the man on his gender but feared it would only make the situation worse for him.
“You’re what? Finally, going to accept your fate?” The mugger muttered in his ear, “I promise I don’t bite...hard.”
Tears rolled down Aoi’s face as the mugger bit his earlobe and continued to harass his body. His calls for help slowly died in his throat and were replaced by sobbing, losing hope in a daring rescue. The fact the low hum of a motorcycle parking outside the alley and approaching figure clothed in black did not soothe him.
‘Great one of his friends? God, I don’t even want to think about we’ll they do to me!’
“Oi, let him go.” The new figure ordered.
“Who the fuck are you, telling me what to do?” The mugger snapped back, and he quickly glanced over at Aoi, “Wait, you’re a dude?”
Aoi ignored the mugger’s comment as he stopped crying for a moment in confusion. He was surprised that the person was not associated with the mugger.
“Let’s say, I’m not a person you want to mess around with.” The figure slightly lowered his head, his bangs casting a shadow over his fierce violet eyes, making him even more intimidating.
The mugger pointed his knife at the man, “Don’t do anything hasty!” He positioned the knife near Aoi’s face again, “I’ll cut her, him, whatever it is!”
“Please, no!” Aoi cried, trying to move his face away from the blade.
The stranger hesitated, “Don’t hurt him. I’ll give you whatever you want if you let him go without a scratch.”
The mugger’s eyes went to the figure’s motorcycle. “That’s a nice looking ride you have there. Perfect for my escape with both of your wallets.”
“Fine.” The stranger went to take out his wallet but stopped when the mugger pressed his knife against Aoi’s cheek.
“No sudden movements pal, I’ll be the one who takes your wallet.” The mugger ordered. “I don’t need you pulling out a surprise gun or some shit.”
The raven-haired figure nodded and put his hands in the air. The robber rudely tossed Aoi to the ground and slowly moved toward the stranger with his knife pointed at him.
“Where’s the cash?”
“Left pocket on my jacket.” The figure calmly answered.
The mugger gave him a cruel smile, and right as he reached for the pocket with his free hand, the black cladding stranger grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the blade. A cracking noise could be heard as with one swift twist, the figure dislocated the mugger’s wrist, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the knife. The stranger then forcefully pulled the mugger’s arm down, causing the man to stumble forward, allowing the stranger to knee the criminal in the face. The impact made the mugger fall back and land on the ground near Aoi, the blond quickly crawling away from the beaten criminal.
“Ow, shit, fuck...” The mugger cursed, holding his bleeding nose with his good hand. “Who the fuck are you? Some vigilante?”
“As I said before, I’m not a person to mess around with.” The stranger repeated, his purple eyes glaring down at the mugger, “I kept your legs intact because I want you to run as far away as you can right now. If I ever find you robbing someone else again, I will let the police find you in shambles.”
“Fine, whatever!” The mugger was fast to get back up on his feet and take the stranger’s offer in running away from the situation.
The figure watched the mugger run with narrowed eyes, and when he felt the situation was secure, he turned his attention back on Aoi. The model gulped with the frightening violet eyes fell upon him, but to his surprise, they went soft and full of concern.
“Are you okay?” The figure asked him, holding out a hand.
“Stay away!” Aoi quickly crawled back, away from the looming figure who seemed bewildered by his fear.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” The figure insisted.
Aoi dropped his guard a little and studied the man who looked at him with genuine worry about his state. The model was tempted to relent until the sound of roaring engines approached the scene. A few bikers were lead by a tiny biker with golden hair and amber eyes who looked at them amused.
“Hey, you found some fresh meat!” He called out with a grin.
“Kakeru no, it’s not like that.” The figure responded.
Still, Aoi didn’t trust the biker at all after the comment from the one called Kakeru. He scrambled onto his feet while the figure was distracted by the bikers behind him and pushed passed him, running out of the alley. He could hear the biker calling after him, but Aoi kept running, not even looking back to see if they had followed. Aoi ran and ran until he reached halfway to his apartment, where he stood in the middle of the sidewalk.
“No one followed…” Aoi noted as he was breathing heavily and looking around at his surroundings.
When Aoi caught his breath, he continued walking to his apartment and letting out a sigh of relief when he reached it safely. He climbed the stairs to his floor, unlocked the door, and walked inside his unit. The model was greeted by his lazy roommate lying on the couch watching anime.
“Did Aoi go and run a marathon? You look awful.” His roommate acknowledged.
“Thanks Arata.” Aoi mumbled and threw his stuff down, “For your information, I was almost mugged coming home.”
Arata quickly sat up, “Oh damn. Did you call the police?”
“No, some biker scared the robber off, but then he tried to rob me so I just ran.”
“Aoi had one hell of a walk home. Do you need anything? Are you okay, like mentally?”
Aoi shrugged, “Honestly, I’m so tired from crying, screaming, and running for my life that I can’t be bothered to reflect on how scary the situation was. I only want a nice shower and go to bed.”
Arata nodded, “I’ll turn the TV down. Sleep well, Aoi. You can call me if you need anything or want to talk about it.”
“Thanks Arata.” Aoi gave his friend a weak smile before trudging along to the bathroom.
The shower was definitely the right remedy for Aoi’s exhausted state, and it soothed the pain from the bruises he received from being pushed to the ground. After he was done, he dried himself and put on the most comfortable pajamas he owned, a very fluffy one-piece with a hood that had cat ears on top. The model flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes, only for the scene he was just in to play through his mind. He found himself focusing on the stranger who saved him and how kind he was to him afterward.
‘That was only a play, trying to butter me up, then go for the steal!’ Aoi thought with a frown.
However, Aoi’s heart felt otherwise, a part of him started to think that maybe, just maybe, the biker was a nice person. He didn’t exactly try anything on Aoi, even when the rest of his biker gang showed up. The model shook his head and covered his face with a pillow. In the end, it didn’t matter whether the stranger had good intentions or not, Aoi knew he would never see that man again, and everything that happened would be nothing more than a bad memory.
—
A few days had passed since Aoi’s mugging, and the model waved goodbye to his escort for the evening as he opened the door to his apartment. He had told his boss what happened the day after the event, and the man was kind enough to send someone from his staff home with Aoi every night since then until they could hire him a bodyguard. Aoi found the idea of someone following him around until the day was over a tad weird, but he knew he would definitely enjoy the company.
As Aoi changed and grew comfortable, he sat on the couch and read through some of the possibilities for his new bodyguard that his boss sent home with him. However, a knock on the door broke his attention away from the resumes, and the model stood up to see who was there.
“Hello?” Aoi greeted as he slightly opened the door and peeked out to see the visitor.
He shrieked when a hand grabbed the door just above his face, and forcefully opened it. Aoi took a few steps back, his blue eyes wide in horror as it was the same man from the other day, staggering into the blond’s apartment with his head down. His clothes were tattered, along with many scratches and bruises on the exposed skin. His hair was unruly than its usual slick down appearance, making the man even scarier than Aoi’s last meeting with him.
“P-Please! Take anything you want and leave!” Aoi shouted, moving further into the room as the man lurched forward.
“I need...help...” The biker croaked.
The biker stopped moving and fell facedown onto the floor with Aoi screaming again. This time, the cry caught the attention of Aoi’s roommate, who came running out from his room with a pillow in his hand.
“What’s wrong, Aoi?! What happened?!” Arata questioned and watched his friend stumble backward into the couch.
“I-It’s...It’s the man!” Aoi stammered, pointing at the body on the floor, “T-The man from before…”
“The one who tried to rob you?!” Arata ran over to Aoi and stood in front of his roommate with his pillow raised for an attack.
“Yes! I-I mean no…” Aoi continued to stare at the unconscious biker, “H-He’s the one who saved me from the robber but then...well maybe…” Aoi started to think the man wasn’t trying to rob him after all.
“Either way, what’s he doing here?” Arata asked, nudging the biker’s head with his foot.
“Quit it Arata!” Aoi scolded his friend, “He just walked in here and said something about help, then he passed out in the middle of the living room.”
“Help? With what...oh.”
Arata stopped mid-sentence as blood started to seep from the side of the man. Aoi gasped and leaned down to check the man’s pulse on his neck.
“He’s still alive! We have to help him!” Aoi exclaimed.
“Can’t we call the hospital?”
“They won’t make it here on time. We have to patch up the wound.” Aoi flipped the biker onto his back and grabbed his arms, pulling him to the edge of the couch.
“What can I do?” Arata asked as he watched Aoi sit the man upright and start taking off his top layers.
“Get me First Aid and then call the ambulance. They’ll be able to take care of him if he comes out alive.”
Arata nodded and left for the kitchen to retrieve the First Aid. The biker groaned, and Aoi brushed the raven hair out of the man’s eyes, letting his hand slide down his face to cup his cheek.
“You’re going to be okay,” Aoi reassured, but of course, those comforting words laid on deaf’s ears.
—
After some time, Aoi was able to stop the bleeding stab wound on the biker with some help from Arata until his friend passed out from the amount of blood. Aoi was able to patch the wound up and started doing the same with the other small injuries on the stranger. Alas, he ran out of gauze, so he grabbed the fruit-themed band-aids as a substitute.
As Aoi covered the man in lemons, apples, and more, the biker woke up with a start causing Aoi to shrink back in fear.
“Where…?” The biker questioned his surroundings with alert until his violet eyes laid upon Aoi, and his expression softened. “Oh, right.”
“I-I’m sorry I was touching you! A-After I finished with the stab wound, I-I wanted to patch up your scratches as well.” Aoi quickly apologized and started to scoot away from the man.
“Hm,” The biker looked down at Aoi’s work on his abdomen, his eyes then trailed the rest of his body to see his one arm guazed while the other decorated in the band-aids. “Are these fruits?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I-I ran out of gauze,” Aoi admitted. “I can take them off if you want!”
“No, it’s fine.” The biker sighed and touched the scratch on his cheek, wincing slightly at the pain.
The man went on picking up a pineapple bandage and covering the cheek injury, then proceeded to continue Aoi’s work with the band-aids. Aoi carefully watched the man, wondering whether he should take this time to figure out the ETA of the ambulance. Except, the blond didn’t trust this biker and did not want to lose sight of him, especially with Arata still lying on the floor.
“Thank you for caring for me.” The biker said, breaking the silence.
“Y-You’re welcome.” Aoi stammered a reply.
“I apologize for barging in unannounced and in such a condition. You were the only place I could walk to at the time.”
“H-How did you know I lived here?” Aoi inquired.
“On the day I saved you from that robber, I followed you home to make sure no one took advantage of you again.”
“You followed me home?!” Aoi swore he didn’t notice a soul follow him that day. This deepened his fear of the skilled biker.
“Well, yes.” The biker tilted his head, “I was going to give you a ride or escort you home, but before I could ask, you ran away from me.”
“Oh…” Aoi glanced down at the floor, “I’m sorry, I thought you were going to try to rob me as well.”
“Why would I rob you if I just saved you from a robber?”
“Y-Your friend said I was fresh meat, so I assumed you only beat up the robber, so you had a chance of stealing my things.”
“Ah, I see.” The biker chuckled lightly, and Aoi blushed in embarrassment, “Fresh meat is the rude name they’ve given to my potential girlfriends.”
“W-What?!”
“My friend had mistaken you for a girl I was interested in. I did clear it up with him, and he does apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“It’s fine. It’s not the first time that’s happened.” Aoi murmured. “
“Not surprising, you do look very feminine.”
“Hey! I don’t need your opinion on the matter!”
“Sorry.” The biker apologized as he finished covering his last scratch.
The man started to stand up, but he winced at the pain from his side. Without thinking, Aoi moved back toward the biker to support him and help slowly get back onto his feet. The stranger observed his helper, causing Aoi to blush again and move away from the biker when he was standing right again.
“Why are you staring at me?” Aoi asked, becoming cautious once more.
“Are you a doctor?” The biker asked.
“No, I’m a model, but I’m going to school to become a vet.” Aoi then clicked his tongue. He was annoyed at himself for revealing such information to a stranger.
“Hm, I thought you’d be a doctor. You were so distant from me since I woke up, but when I was in pain again, you rushed to help me with no hesitation…” The biker explained, then his expression grew grim, “Just like him…”
“Like who?”
The biker’s expression changed back to a serious one, “Nothing.”
Aoi was starting to wonder about this mysterious biker and his story. His walls of defenses were slowly deteriorating as he was beginning to think the man isn’t as bad or scary as his appearance perceives him to be. It was then the sound of sirens grew near, and a frown appeared on the biker’s face.
“You called an ambulance?” The stranger inquired of Aoi.
“Y-Yes, you need a hospital.” Aoi insisted.
“I’ll be fine.” The biker reassured the blond and slowly made his way to a window.
“Wait, where are you going?!”
“Away.”
“W-Will I see you again?”
The biker blinked and looked back at Aoi. Despite Aoi still not trusting this stranger, he had to admit this man had brought some excitement to his basic lifestyle. Excitement that Aoi does not wish to end so soon.
“You don’t want to associate with me…” The biker warned.
“I think it’s far too late for me not to be associated with you.” Aoi declared, “I mean, you did come to my house after all.”
The stranger pursed his lips together and stayed quiet for a minute before saying, “I’m not making any promises.”
“Fine…” Aoi tugged on his pajama sleeve, “Can I at least know your name?”
“My name is Hajime.”
“Is that your first or last name?”
There was a loud knock on the door, and the paramedics called from the other side to be let in. The biker opened the window and leaped out without another word, leaving Aoi pondering about the one piece of information he was given.
‘Hajime…’ Aoi thought over the name, over and over again, as he opened the door for the emergency workers.
He had to stop the paramedics from treating Arata, who was not the man in danger and was no longer unconscious, just sleeping. He then explained how the man had left after Aoi covered his wound but did not harm him in any way. Aoi went through some more questioning before the paramedics went on their way, and Aoi was left with his thoughts about Hajime.
First, he managed to drag Arata onto the sofa and cover his roommate with a blanket. Aoi then went to his room, where he laid down on his bed and pondered why he was so intrigued by the biker. ‘Is it because of the mystery behind him? Maybe the fact he helped me with the robber?’ All of the thoughts eventually made Aoi tired, and he drifted off to sleep.