Chapter Text
Takemichi watched from the couch as Keisuke came through the front door, knuckles bloodied and despair written on his face. He slams the door shut and takes no notice of his little brother as he goes to the kitchen sink and starts attempting to scrub his hands clean.
He's never done that before.
Takemichi gets up, and makes his way over to Keisuke, who still hasn't noticed him. He grabs a kitchen towel and pours a bit of rubbing alcohol he knows is stored in the medicine cabinet. He then ducks under Keisuke's arm and grabs his hand and starts gently rubbing.
Keisuke gasps softly, but says nothing as his little brother cleans his hand of dirt and blood. He says nothing as Takemichi rinses his hands under burning hot water. Says nothing when his hands are dried so gently . And he says nothing when Takemichi pulls him into a hug as he starts to cry.
Neither does Takemichi.
---
After that night, Takemichi has gotten increasingly more suspicious that something is wrong with Keisuke. So, he reaches out to Chifuyu, telling him to meet in the park a little ways from where they live. Of course, he could just fucking go and knock on his door, but he has shit to do.
He leaves the apartment, taking a glance at how Keisuke is ignoring Peke J clawing at the glass balcony door. He looks quite sad.
Huh. Weird. He never does that.
He continues on, locking the front door behind him and making his way down the stairs. Instead of taking his bike, he decides to just walk.
In his arms are three books, he has to return them to the library. And while he's there he's thinking of getting three other books too. He and the librarian are quite friendly. The old woman was always looking out for him and offering him leftovers. She's done that since he was a small kid. Takemichi's starting to think she packs an extra container of leftovers for him when he comes by twice a week.
He definitely knows for a fact that she does it on purpose.
On his way, he sees Keisuke's friends Mikey and Draken. No surprise since Mikey lives so close by, and usually, wherever Mikey is, Draken follows. And vice versa.
When they see him, their eyes seem to go through so many emotions that he will not be taking the time to unpack. He smiles sweetly at them as he passes.
"Takemitchy! Hi!" Mikey grabs his shirt, effectively stopping him. Takemichi turns around, books firmly in his arms, looking at them curiously.
"Going to the library again?" Draken asks, when Takemichi nods in confirmation Mikey pipes up.
"Can we come along?"
Takemichi thinks it over. No harm done if they come with, right?
"Sure, yeah, I don't mind." Draken and Mikey smile, following after him like guard dogs. To be fair, they've always done this with Takemichi.
Mikey shoots a look to Draken that Takemichi doesn't see.
The majority of the 20 minute walk is quiet, with Mikey rambling about whatever with Draken and Takemichi listening.
When they start rounding the corner with the library right up ahead is when Mikey decides to ask an odd question.
"How's your brother, Takemitchy?"
His brother? Takemichi furrows his brows and looks at the two behind him. Usually, all of Keisuke's friends call him Baji, occasionally using his given name. And to Takemichi, Keisuke is always either of those two. Never 'Your brother'. No, that's conversations about Takemichi to Keisuke.
Takemichi has been saying Keisuke's friends, but in actuality they're all quite close. Takemichi remembers playing with Mikey and Haruchiyo when they were small. And Mitsuya, Draken, Pah-chin, Kazutora, and Mikey when they were a bit older. He's friends with them, but it's much easier to call them Keisuke's friends. Since they were his first.
"Keisuke's been alright? You see him almost everyday, wouldn't you already know?"
Did they have a falling out? Maybe. What, with Pah-chin getting arrested a few weeks ago, tensions must be high.
Mikey's smile tightens, "you know how he is." Takemichi slowly nods, a knot forming in his stomach. He shifts, suddenly uncomfortable under the gazes of two of the strongest people he's ever met.
"Let's get going, most books have a time deadline to get returned, right?" Draken cuts the weird atmosphere and continues along.
"Ye-yeah, but I'm a day early. Just wanted some more shit to read since I've already finished these three," he says, following after the older boy. Mikey hooks an arm over his shoulder and he's reminded why Mikey is so damn feared.
Why is he scared? He's never been afraid of him before.
---
He was able to shake off Mikey and Draken with excuses that he had to head home to do his chores. With the now cemented fact that something happened between Keisuke and his friends, he knew they would leave him alone after he said that. Not when they knew Keisuke would most definitely be in the apartment.
With new books, all being murder mystery, a puzzle, and some leftover food from the librarian, in the tote bag that was also gifted to him after the lady had realized he had nothing to hold all of the items with, he headed off to the park. He had told Chifuyu to meet him in the park at 11, and it's 11:08. If he runs, he can make it to the park in 10 minutes.
With a sigh, he resigns himself to his least favorite activity. Running.
Like he thought, it took 10 minutes. And to his surprise, Chifuyu was sitting on the swings, idly swinging back and forth.
When Chifuyu sees him, he smiles brightly and waves him over with a, "Takemichi!"
Takemichi smiles back and hurriedly gets to a swing next to Chifuyu, setting the bag down next to the swings. He eyes the bandages on his face, taking note of the lack of injury on his knuckles. He can't see his arms due to his sweater and jacket combo but he bets there's no injuries there either.
He then thinks back to Keisuke and how distraught he was washing blood off his hands. He shakes his head, and sits down.
Keisuke would never do that to his best friend, right?
"Do you know what happened last night?" Chifuyu asks, looking at him with one eye, since the other is covered.
"No?"
"Baji-san declared himself an enemy of Toman, and brought me to the Valhalla base to beat me up to prove his loyalty."
Oh, shit.
"That's why he was upset last night, then?" Chifuyu shrugged with a quirk in his lips. It's silent for a few moments.
"I don't think he's betraying Toman. Not really." Chifuyu admits, expression holding no anger or resentment, no betrayal. Just admiration. He's a weird one, Takemichi thinks.
"Why don't you?" Takemichi asks, curious as to what's happening in the boy's head.
"He wouldn't do that. I think you, of all people, know that. Not without a good reason. Which is why I need your help."
"Help with what?" Chifuyu looks him in the eyes.
"To get him back. Back to Toman."
"What the hell do I get out of this?"
"Happy brother?"
"Deal."
---
Chifuyu and Takemichi spent the afternoon figuring out what to do. At some point, Chifuyu had taken to calling Takemichi ‘partner’. Which Takemichi actually liked.
When Takemichi told Chifuyu that he had run into Mikey and Draken earlier that day, the blonde's eyebrows furrowed.
"I'd be careful of them. They don't know what to think of Baji-san's betrayal, that much is obvious. They'd never hurt you, but just be careful." Chifuyu advises Takemichi, who nods along. He leaves out the part where he got scared of the two. He'd prefer it if Chifuyu didn't think that he was a pussy.
They parted at sundown and when Takemichi got home, he went straight to bed.
—
As the days led up to Keisuke’s birthday, Takemichi decided to get him a gift with what small amount of money he had. He ran around different stores and looked at several different items. Knowing Keisuke’s love of accessories and jewelry, he was able to narrow down what to get him.
He had come across a choker necklace that was quite dramatic. Spikes, dangly bits of silver, he thought it was a perfect gift! A glance at the price told him it was, in fact, real silver, good. And also above his price range by about 1,000 yen.
Fuck.
He laments sadly, wondering if he’d be able to steal some of Yamagishi’s money for a bit. Or ask Ma if she could lend him some. His mind goes through different ways he could get the money when a hand lands on his shoulder, which causes him to jump.
“Takemitchy, hey,” a voice calls, and he looks behind him. It’s Mitsuya. He instantly calms at the older boys’ presence and smiles at him.
“Hello, Mitsuya!”
“What’re you doing? You’re just kind of standing here zoning out, I got kinda worried when I called out to you and you didn’t respond,” Mitsuya’s eyes glanced down at what he was holding and raised a brow.
“Sorry! I was tryna figure out money shit. Figuring out who would lend me 1,000 yen without a fuss,” he grumbles, because he knew almost nobody (except maybe Takuya) would just give him 1,000 yen without making him do something for them in return. He’s all for that, but right now he just wants to buy a birthday gift for his big brother.
“Well, what’re you trying to buy?” Mitsuya asks, eyeing the item. Completely forgetting the conflict between his older brother and his friends, he happily responds.
“A gift for Keisuke! His birthday is in like a week! I really want to get him a gift but it’s 1,000 out of my budget. I found this,” he holds up the choker and shows it to Mitsuya, “And thought it was perfect!”
“He’d definitely like it a ton,” Mitsuya agreed that it was a good gift. After a few more minutes of talking, Mitsuya decided to just give him 1,000 yen. Takemichi had asked him if he had to pay it back and Mitsuya shook his head.
Keisuke’s friends were weird.
—
Chifuyu called him late, on October 29th.
“Chifuyu? What’s going on?” He asks, eyes tired and voice heavy with sleep.
“Takemichi, the fight between Valhalla and Toman is tomorrow.”
“You serious?”
“Yeah! Dead serious. Listen, I need you there. Not, like, in battle but watching. I need Baji-san to know important eyes are on him, and your gaze is the only one he cares about that isn’t his own. Please,” Chifuyu pleads.
“Where is it?”
“An abandoned car lot. Y’know the one a little ways away?”
“I think so, yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Thank you.”
—
He got there before Valhalla or Toman got there, and assessed all of the delinquents already there.
He’s aware of himself as a whole, and what people think of him. Back when Keisuke was attempting to become a good student and took a small break from being a delinquent, Takemichi was out raising hell.
He made his own name for himself, though he’s still regarded as The First Division Captain, Baji Keisuke’s Little Brother, some respect is still there. Even though he’d definitely get folded by most of these guys.
He climbs up a pile of cars to sit on. Once sat, he leans back and turns his body so he can curl up and watch while comfortable.
The Haitani brothers spot him from another pile that’s near his own, and wave. He waves back.
It’s a long wait that’s boring as hell, since he got here early, but it’s whatever. When the gangs finally get introduced and they meet in the middle, he catches Keisuke’s eyes.
A multitude of emotions fly through his eyes, but he can see how his older brother settles on annoyance. And he can also see how it’s totally fucking fake. A weak attempt to get the younger to flee.
Keisuke averts his eyes, but Takemichi doesn’t. At least, not until the battle fully starts. He switches his gaze to Chifuyu, who he finds pretty easy. He seems to be doing good, taking out his opponents swiftly and efficiently. A quick glance to all the captains, he finds they’re all doing good. He giggles a little when he catches sight of Sanzu, and his merciless hits.
By the time he remembers Mikey exists, he’s completely unable to find him anywhere. A big sense of ‘ oh no’ floods his system. He tries to shake off a bad feeling in his stomach as he watches intently. Regardless, he has no time to worry over the gang leader.
His eyes catch Kazutora running up to Keisuke, something shiny in his hand.
Oh. Oh shit.
Takemichi’s eyes widen as he swiftly stands up and jumps down the cars one by one, hopefully being quick enough. He prays Mikey will forgive him for barging into the fight, despite him not being a member of Toman.
Takemichi can’t remember the last time he ran this fast as his eyes zero in on Kazutora and his knife. He sees Chifuyu in front of Keisuke, restraining him as best as he can. He speeds up when Kazutora gets the knife into position to stab his brother's back.
He ignores everybody in the fight, his only focus is Keisuke. People swing at him and yell, but he dodges and ignores them.
Once he’s close enough he kicks the only one in front of him. Keisuke.
To be fair, he meant to kick Kazutora, but this works too. He pivots and flies at Kazutora, disarming him and tackling him to the ground in one swift movement. Self defense classes worked well, huh.
“Chifuyu!” Takemichi calls, pinning the black and yellow haired boy just long enough for Chifuyu to come over and take control instead of him. Chifuyu takes over and Takemichi is free to regret what he just did to his big brother. Seriously, it looked like it hurt.
“Keisuke!” He finds himself at his big brother's side, assessing the injuries.
The fight slowed as the commotion brought eyes and ears to the scene they caused.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Keisuke looked pissed. But Takemichi knew better. The worry is hard to miss when you know what to look for.
“Saving you from getting stabbed, asshat,” Takemichi sneered, throwing a thumb behind him, steering the focus to Chifuyu fighting against a struggling Kazutora, the younger boy having to throw a few punches to keep Kazutora down.
“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that? Leaving Toman? Beating Chifuyu senseless? Joining some other stupid fucking gang just to fucking expose some nobody?” Takemichi stood, glaring down at his older brother, who scrunched up his shoulders and averted his gaze to the ground in shame. It’s never fun being scolded so thoroughly by your little sibling.
“How stupid are you? Do you know how fucking scared I was when I heard what was going down? I was horrified! You’re so fucking selfish! What if that knife did fucking stab you and you didn’t notice Kazutora behind you!? You’d be fucking dead! Dead, Keisuke!”
Takemichi’s chest heaved as he shouted, tears spilling over. He cared not of the scene he was making, the people witnessing it, the blood on the ground. No, in this moment, all he cared about was his big brother. His stupid, self-sacrificing, caring, and kind big brother. Who he almost just saw the last moments of.
“What would I have told mom?” He chokes out, stomach dropping at the thought, “That I couldn’t protect you? That I was right there and did nothing? Just sat and watched as you died.”
“It wouldn’t have been fatal, Kazutora would’ve-would’ve had to reach higher. He would’ve only stabbed my lower back,” Keisuke breathes out shakily, eyes flicking over to his two best friends going against each other like two magnets attempting to connect.
“But what would you have done once that knife hurt you? I doubt you would’ve called an ambulance. Bet you would’ve pretended to walk it off. Hurt yourself more and collapse when it’s got too much.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t. But I bet I could’ve.”