Chapter Text
The next morning comes after a not so peaceful nightmare which had you sweating as you woke up to the sunlight coming from the nearby window in your new apartment. You had dreamt about a man who was chasing you inside a dark tunnel and you were trying to get away from him but the tunnel went on turning into a never ending staircase.
“What a stupid dream it was.” You mutter agitating in your blanket. You remove it and get out of your bed. As you come to a halt near window you see Chifuyu hurrying towards a different shop carrying a bag.
Last night he had told you about how he and kazutora used to be gang members but their gang was disbanded several years back. Their leader was a good person and thought about their safety, but had left them after disbanding since the gang was no more. You were shocked to hear the leader of Bonten was the same person. He was called ‘Mikey’. Though chifuyu and kazutora or any member of their previous gang had no connections whatsoever with bonten or mikey after that incident, they still thought there was some good left in Mikey.
Kazutora had also pointed out that the higher ups of a gang do not concern themselves much with civilians. Though mikey was different, if he had known that some of his gang members are trying to hurt a normal citizen he would definitely have his way with them. Since Bonten was a big gang it was difficult for higher ups to keep track of every single of their gang member due to which they sometimes get out of hands creating havoc in the city and threatening normal citizens.
That’s exactly what was happening with you. The people who were following you were low ranked members of Bonten and were taking advantage of it’s image.
You had felt relieved that now you yourself have two people on whom you can rely on. Though chifuyu had told you to stay underground for a while as the gang members might still try to look for you in other areas even after realizing that you have left your original house.
“What a pain.” You say looking out of the window. Turning back you gaze around kazutora’s room. Even the blanket had tiger print on it. He’s got style you thought. You remember how close he was to you yesterday and smile. He was one handsome fella and he sure can get any girl he wants, you should probably forget about him.
You look in the mirror and brush your hair with your hands. You were wearing a pink pyjama dress with little faces of cartoon tiger printed on it. As you go down the spiral staircase connecting your floor to the main shop, you notice kazutora working on the counter. There were no customers.
Hearing your footsteps kazutora looks up. “Good Morning Y/N. How was your sleep?”. But as you close in on him, his eyes switch from your head to toe than back up. What was happening, why was he staring at you like that. Was he checking you out. Nah..that’s not possible you thought. Then you understood, he was looking at your pyjama dress as it had faces of cartoon tiger printed on it. You giggle.
You greet him back taking a chair beside the counter. Kazutora’s hair were tied in a bun with loose locks on either side of his face. He was looking like a fresh breath of air.
“There is some coffee and breakfast in the kitchen”. He tells you without looking at you, engrossed in his work.
From that day your life with those two people started.
*****
A month had already passed since you started living with them.
For your work you designed bike models on your laptop taking up projects from different companies. Whenever you needed to go to a company to talk about a project, kazutora would take you as chifuyu was always busy with the shop. You were not allowed to go out on your own. But you never complained because you liked their company and you got some alone time with kazutora.
Chifuyu had become a good friend of yours with whom you can share anything. Kazutora was a different case. He had open up to you a bit, but it still looked like he was restraining himself as though he has something constantly on his mind, and opening up to you fully will spill all the secrets.
You all had stopped using formalities with each other. Chifuyu still flirted with you sometimes but your heart fluttered for kazutora. Chifuyu might have noticed that because after few days he stopped it.
“So you like him?” he asked you smiling one afternoon when kazutora was not present in the shop. You hiccup spraying out water. “Why do you have to ask such a thing suddenly and that also when I am drinking water?” you ask wiping your mouth and frowning.
“Oh I was just curious..” he smirks at you while also taking a seat near you. “ I have noticed you staring at him countless times since you started living with us.”
“ I ..I dont know chifuyu” you reply sadly looking down. “Tell me..I won’t tell him you know.” He says gently. “Umm.. does he have a girlfriend chifuyu.?” You ask, gathering your courage and eyes twinkling with hope.
“Nope..as far as i know..he never had a girlfriend.” Chifuyu replies gazing at the window. “So I was correct you like him.” Chifuyu smiles. “I kind of...but..but whenever I try to get closer to him he just becomes so reserved as though...I don’t know. What’s his deal? Is he not into girls?” you ask frustated.
“ Oh he is very much into girls. You should look at him while high school girls pass the shop. He blushes like an idiot.” Chifuyu laughs. “Then why did he never had a girlfriend and he was a gang member for god sakes.” You retort rolling your eyes.
“listen Y/N I think he likes you too.” Chifuyu keeps his palm on your head and ruffles your hair. You stare at him dumbstruck. “What on earth made you say that”, you ask after a while, butterflies rising in your chest.
“I have seen him staring at you too many times” chifuyu chuckles. “ You are not making fun of me right because if this is some sort of prank I am going to punch your life out of you. You reply pouting at him. “Calm down Juliet. Our Romeo is bit scared about opening up to people. You see his past was not so good.”
You scrunch your eyebrows, “What about his past?” “I don’t know Y/N, weather I am the right person to tell you that or not but I can assure you that he is a very good person just a little broken.” Chifuyu was staring at the corner of the shop where there were photos pinned on the wall. “Baji san would want him to move on.” You turned and looked in the same direction as him. “I guess since you are not there in that group picture, baji san is the one near kazutora. Right?”, you ask him looking in the same direction as him. Chifuyu nods and smiles at you. “And that middle one must be Mikey, since he is sitting all boss like.”, you continue. “Correct.” Replies chifuyu playfully.
You wanted to ask what happened in the past that made kazutora so introverted but if chifuyu is not telling you then it must be very personal to kazutora, though you knew that it is going to haunt you till kazutora or chihuyu tells you the truth. You decided to gain kazutora’s trust.
“Will you help me with kazutora Chifuyu?” you ask him lowering your eyes. A blush settling on your cheeks. “Only if you promise to make me that yakisoba again that you made on that day. That was so good.” Chifuyu smiles. “Deal.” You punch your hand in the air. “You are such a kid Y/N.” Chifuyu laughs. “Look who is talking”, You retort.
“What are you both talking about?” kazutora had entered the shop and was carrying several bags containing cat food.
“So our Romeo’s back.” Chifuyu exclaims winking at you. Kazutora stops in his tracks “What did you say?” Chifuyu chuckles “ Nothing..Nothing..”and leaves the room smiling.
“What was that about?” kazutora looks at you confused. “No idea” you reply trying hard not to laugh hysterically.
Suddenly you hear voices of giggling and you turn around. A bunch of high school girls were passing the pet shop and few of them were looking at kazutora, one was even pointing at him. Kazutora did not mind them. When they had passed, kazutora looks at the door and sighs ,“Why do they do that?” “Because you are handsome kazutora.” You whisper to yourself forgetting that kazutora was in your hearing range. “Huhh..“ he looks at you skittishly, “What did you said?”
You look over at him and speak with some new found confidence “I said that they look at you because you are handsome.” He looks at you dumbstruck, pink creeping up on his cheeks. He was at loss of words and you heart was pounding.
“Wait ..there is something in your hair.” You suddenly notice a dried leaf in his hair and move to remove it. And as you move close to him you inhale his scent, the feeling went straight to your core. And as you were stepping aside after removing the leaf, you accidently tripped over a chair that was kept just behind you. But before you could fell and hit anything, a hand pulls you by shoulder. You were saved. Kazutora had pulled you towards himself in order to break your fall. “Thank you”, you say huffing. But as you tried to turn and look at him, you felt a shearing pain in your ankle which supposedly had twisted. You snatch his collar and close your eyes with pain so that you can stand straight. “You all right Y/N?”, kazutora asks with concern, his eyebrows scrunched. “I think I twisted my ankle.”, you tell him painfully. He pulls up the chair on which you tripped and slowly makes you sit on it. You let go of his collars as you sit on the chair. " Wait a second",he tells you and rushes inside the room at the back of counter.
He returns with a icepack and bandage. He pulls up another chair for himself and then slowly picks up your twisted ankle and keeps it on his lap gently. “Don’t do that its okay”, you say embarrased by his action but also trembling in pain. But he ignores you and warns you to stay still.
You were sitting there patiently but your mind was racing. Now was the moment you thought.“kazutora..”, you say as you look at him. “Hmm..” he looks back at you and tilts his head making his earring tinkle and smiles. “ Umm... why did you never had a girlfriend?”, you ask him in a low voice. He was now applying a tube on your ankle gently. “ I don’t think they would be happy with me”, he replies looking at you. He did not even asked how you knew that fact about him not having a girlfriend. “But you are so caring you know, always taking me to different places for my projects and now this.”, you protest frowning at him. He grins again this time not looking at you, now wrapping the bandage around your ankle. “Do you want me to have a girlfriend?”, he asks you this time checking your expressions. “No..I mean I want you to have one..but.. but”, you were at total loss for words.
“Would you like to go out with me?” you ask him suddenly. It was now or never. You need to take the step now. “Are you like asking me out?”, he smirks at you. “Not exactly”, you reply. His smile falters at your reply. “ It’s been more than a month that I have gone out to enjoy. We have only been going for my projects. How about we go somewhere tomorrow evening?” you ask him your eyes sparkling with hope. “ Well I guess I will take you.” He replies still holding your foot. “On your bike?” you ask. “Wait. You know my bike isn’t”, but before he could complete his sentence you cut across him, “ I have fixed it.” Kazutora stares at you, his expression blank. You take out a key from your pocket and give him. “You can test drive it.”