Chapter Text
The light flickered in the police station as cops came in and out. It was hot and sweaty and different people in police uniforms were walking back and forth down the aisle and other people like Sabito were sitting in chairs or were being shoved down the way to the holding cells. Unlike them, however, Sabito was not in handcuffs and he was handed a nice warm coffee.
Sabito sat down in the chair across from the officer he is always pushed off to whenever he got arrested. It wasn’t like that the first few times it happened, but once his guardian–and Grandfather, Sakonji Urokodaki–realized that him being arrested was going to be a recurring issue since he was thirteen he called in a favour to one of the policemen in the precinct, Rengoku Kyojuro. He is the eldest son of one of his grandfather's many friends.
“Sabito, I really hate having to see you here again on that side of the desk,” Rengoku sighed as he finally got off the phone with whoever he was talking to in an angry whisper and short sentences. He couldn’t pick up much but he had the sense it wasn’t a great conversation.
“Me and you both,” Sabito mumbled back sarcastically. Stretching his arms out behind him and then crossed them over his chest so he can glare down at the cop who caught him. He was dealing with some other teen right now who was snapping back at him and was pulling at the cuffs. Sabito could tell that this wasn’t his first time dealing with the teen by the way he just drank his coffee uninterestedly and spoke to the teen, even ignoring his threats. He just rolled his eyes and then scanned the room. Once he locked eyes with Sabito, Sabito stuck his tongue out at him and turned to face Rengoku. Sabito saw the cop sigh and rub his temples.
Sabito had been in this situation before. Obviously, since he was thirteen, but the very first time he was arrested he was twelve and it was for shoplifting. All that happened was that he was driven back to his Grandfather and was grounded for a few months.
That didn’t scare him though and it kept happening again and again. Eventually, Sakonji began to fear that juivy wasn’t just a myth to try and get Sabito to smarten up but a really real possibility. And so he called Rengoku and made some sort of deal or something, because since then, after every arrest it was him he was thrown off to and he dealt with the charges. Which, Sabito wasn’t that upset about it. He’s nice enough and he’s relatively respectful, which was a nice change since all the other cops treated him like shit. To be fair, Sabito did spit on a cop's boot once. He got a punch in the gut for that since apparently he “assaulted an officer” but he never mentioned that in a report and no one knew. Sabito knows for a fact he could have sued that officer right then but he could care less at that moment.
“I think we both hopped that for different reasons though kid,” Rengoku said with a small grimace and Sabito darted his eyes up to meet Rengokus.
“I’m not a kid!” Sabit snapped loudly enough it drew the attention of surrounding officers and even the other teen who was throwing a tantrum a few desks over. Rengoku looked up with narrowed eyes and he pointed a pen at Sabito.
“You sure act like one with all the stunts you pull. And you should be damn well grateful that in the eyes of the federal court you are still considered a child–and you should be damn well thankful for that because you aren’t being charged as a legal adult–if you were you would be facing serious charges right now!” Rengoku snapped and the other officers awkwardly looked away. Rengoku took most of Sabito’s shit so seeing him snap for the first time was surprising. All Sabito could think of was a burning flame that had gasoline poured onto it.
Sabito heard the tantrum-throwing teen chuckle and his ears burned with embarrassment. He hated it when adults got the better of him, especially ones in officer suits who clearly need to pull the hero-complex stick out of their asses.
“What’s so funny smart ass!” Sabito yelled across the room and the teen who chuckled just glanced at him with amusement.
“Nothing, pinky-pie,” The teen teased as he smirked. “Just find it funny you think your so tough and you ain’t even in real cuffs.” The guy had his hair shaved on both sides of his head and a black fluffy version of a mohawk all the way down to his shoulder blades, like a slightly longer version of a rat-tail. He had a nasty-looking scar on one side of his face, that went from just below his cheek all the way across to the bridge of his nose. His eyes were slightly smaller and reminded Sabito of black obsidian. He was definitely younger if the middle-school uniform he was wearing had anything to say about it.
“Eat shit, scar-face far as I’m concerned you’re the one spewing shit and talking tough meanwhile you probably wanna piss your pants and call mommy right now,” Sabito mocked back with a sneer and the best glare he could provide right now.
The guy shot up, but had to lean over due to the cuffs that he was wearing that were connected to the desk chair leg, “Why you motherfucker—”
Rengoku slammed his fist on the table and Sabito jumped. “ENOUGH, both of you.” Sabito piped down and the other teen slowly sat back down and Rengoku rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Control that mouth of yours Sabito, my goodness I can’t—” Rengoku took a deep breath as he looked at Sabito with tired eyes. He looked exhausted and that’s when he noticed that he barely had his uniform put together.
“Were you not on duty?” Sabito asked and Rengoku took the pieces of paper he was writing on earlier while on the phone and began to shuffle them together.
“I had the next two weeks off because I was going to fly to Honolulu with some of my friends from my officer graduation class. I was just about to drive to the resort we were going to be staying out before our flight tomorrow but then I got the call about you,” Rengoku said, not sugar-coating any of the details. Sabito felt guilt rise in his chest.
“I didn’t ask you to cancel your stupid vacation” Sabito snapped and Rengoku sighed.
“No, you never did. But I know your Grandfather and he would’ve been heartbroken if you were charged with assault and theft as a legal adult,” Rengoku explained and Sabito knows that Rengoku is right. He doesn’t think Sakonji would’ve been able to take it if he got the call that Sabito was going to go to court and be sent to prison for however long his sentence would have been.
“Whatever,” Sabito sighed and he looked at Rengoku. They sat in silence for a while and Sabito could feel him doing that adult disappointed analyzing stare that he got from his principles, teachers, counsellors and Sakonji. Now he could add police officers to that ever-growing mental list.
Rengoku after a while seemed to finally come to terms with what he wanted to say to Sabito and he leaned forwards, resting his arms on the police desks and clasping his fingers together. He was looking Sabito in the eyes and Sabito knew this seating position. The seating position of an adult delivering bad news.’ He’s seen his Grandma do this position when he was a child and he’s seen doctors do this position when he was eleven.
“Look Sabito I can’t keep saving your ass,” Rengoku started. Sabito rolled his eyes.
“I don’t—”
“No talking!” Rengoku snapped, “Not another word out of your mouth until I’m done talking. I need you to understand the severity of this situation.” Sabito decided to nod his head and lazily meet Rengoku's intense gaze. He straightened his posture, keeping his fingers clasped together on his desk as he continued to stare down Sabito. “The other officers are sick of me letting you off easy since they have to pick you up and arrest you, just to drive you back here. When they could, frankly, be handling more serious offenders. It feels like carpooling to them like I don’t take my job as an officer seriously. Not to mention it looks awful to my supervisor as if I’m abusing my power as a law official–” Sabito went to speak, to say something sarcastic, but Rengoku raised his hand to silence him“–I’m not finished yet. It also makes your Grandfather look bad. He’s risking his reputation, just to make sure your ass doesn’t land in juivy. I frankly think that’s where you belong kid because obviously nothing else is working.”
Sabito stayed silent as he thought about Sakonji. His Grand-dad. He was a popular Japanese culture historian in town and one of the few remaining people who know the ancient Water Breath katana sword fighting style and technique. He preserved the ancient culture and held a lot of respect from many museums and fighting schools. Including the Pillar Art’s dojo all the way in the main city. They wanted Sakonji to run one of the dojos in the city, where they would pay him good money and they were even willing to open a dojo up in their town. Sakonji was even offered to run a museum exhibit of his own in one of the finest Japanese History museums. This is what Sakonji is really patient about, it’s what Grandma wanted. He had a lot of respect from the locals, many connections to higher powers throughout the town and the city and lots of friendships built on trust.
But all of that was shut down when he was put in charge to take care of himself and his sister. Sakonji hates calling in favours because he believes that it would be abusing the friendships he had and rotting their connections. But he found himself doing that ever since Sabito began to get in trouble with the law. With his school and education, he was almost kicked out of the private school he goes to if it wasn’t for Sakonji. Fights and disrespect are his main issues. It all started in Middle-School. When the teachers looked at him with pity and treated him like he was delicate.
He hated being delicate and he hates pity. But he knows that Sakonji won’t let him “ruin his life.” So he pushes it. To get people to feel anything towards him except pity.
“Anyways,” Rengoku continued and Sabito was pulled from his thoughts and brought back to the present situation. Sabito sighed and leaned his head all the way back to stare at the ceiling. It doesn’t matter anyways, Rengoku will get him off the hook and thanks to Sakonji he’ll just have to do his community service hours again working in the tourist shop that Sakonji opens up every summer. Maybe even help out in the dojo. Sabito knows that some of the kids need it, including that kid Tanjiro Kamado. “You really screwed now kid.”
Sabito leaned up, That’s new . “What do ya mean?”
Rengoku leaned back, grabbed the papers he was filling out and gave them to Sabito. Sabito took them as if he knew how to read a police file and just stared at the paper, the words not making any sense once-s0 ever. “I mean,” Rengoku said as he crossed his arms. “You’re screwed”
Sabito stared at him and then he tossed the papers onto the desk. “I don’t know what any of that means Rengoku! I’m not a fucking police officer”
Rengoku sighed, “Right. Just thought you’ve been here so much you would’ve picked up on the lingo in reports by now.” Sabito flipped him off as Rengoku cracked a smile at his own sarcastic joke. “The pleas won’t go through and my supervisor and chief, along with the judges, are done with your shit by now. You’re seventeen Sabito, practically an adult. Like I said before, you’re lucky I was able to get them to not judge you like an adult and for them to just send you to juivy.”
Oh fuck. Granddads gonna be pissed . Sabito sighed as he ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair and pulled it back into a ponytail just to let it go. Sakonji will probably need to call in another favour just to save his ass again and he knows how much Sakonji hates doing that. So this won’t lead to anything good. Rengoku must have noticed his change in behaviour and he reached out and patted Sabito’s shoulder. Calling in a favour like this is different from calling and asking a favour from a rookie cop growing in the ranks.
“Shit,” Sabito hissed and Rengoku sighed.
“Yeah, shit” Rengoku stood up and stared at Sabito. He seemed to be analyzing him again and Sabito hated it when adults do that. Stare at him and think about him, as if they’re having a conversation with someone else while he is right there. “I hope after this you realize all the shit you’ve done, not just to Mr.Urokodaki but to yourself as well. I hope you pull your act together and really, really, think about what you’re going to do. It’s just one more summer before you have to go out there and be somebody. Please don’t make Mr.Urokodaki sacrifice his pride for nothing, don’t make all he’s done for you to go to waste.”
“I’m my own person, I’m not making him do anything!” Sabito snapped as he gripped his hands together so hard he thought he broke a blood vessel in his fingers.
“There’s more than just yourself who cares about you Sabito, he isn’t doing it just for you. He’s doing this for your Mother, your sister, and himself. Because he doesn’t want your mothers' memory to wash away with your blood when you finally die out there on the streets, ‘cause that’s where you’ll end up if you keep acting like this.” Rengoku was now staring down at him and gripping his shoulder extremely hard. Sabito was glaring up at him and Rengoku barely flinched under his gaze. Rengoku crouched down so that now their eye levels are equal. “I really don’t want to have to arrest and testify against you in court someday. Please, Sabito. You’re a smart kid, I’ve seen the homework pages that you do when you’re bored. Don’t let your bitterness and resentment inside stump you from being somebody.”
Sabito was quiet for a moment before he turned his head and laid it down on the desk, “Your breath smells like cigarettes. That shit can kill you one day you know.”
Rengoku sighed and Sabito felt something small and box-shape hit the back of his head. “Your the biggest hypocrite I know, kid.”
Sabito glanced up and saw a small unopened cigarette package. This was the package he attempted to steal, he doubts Rengoku picked up and paid for that six-pack and bag of cool-ranch Doritos and Hershey bar he tried to sneak out with too. Before the store clerk saw him and threw him up against the wall. Which pissed him off enough to start fighting back, hence the theft and assault charges he’s dealing with right now. Sabito huffed and rolled his eyes as he tossed the package onto the ground.
Rengoku can be a petty asshole sometimes. Sabito is going to pretend he didn’t see the small mouthy teen fake-fall and swipe the cigarette package when he sees the teen's older brother come in and pick him up.
“God-fucking-shit, Genya. Damn you and your fucking big mouth and your stupid-ass-shit brain.” He shoved him lightly and mohawk kid–or Genya, Sabito guessed his name was–fake fell and swiped the box of smokes.
“You fucking pushed me!”
“Yeah, well I’ll do it again you fucking pip-squeak. You’re a lucky fuck, should be glad Mom wasn’t home to answer the fucking phone. Should be glad as fuck that I’m legal right fucking now! Should be fucking grateful my birthday falls when it does or you’d be in deeper shit than a fucking plunger in a stink pipe!”
Sabito laughed at that and he heard the shoes stop.
“He’s a dick-wad–”
“Well, I’ll be damned, if it isn’t Sabito!” Sabito shot up and saw that it was none other than Sanemei Shinazugawa. “What’re you in for this time?”
Sabito sighed. Sanemei is an asshole so there is no way of getting around it. Besides, he’s pretty sure his uncle is a janitor here so he’ll figure it out anyways, “Theft and Assault.”
Sanemei was smirking and Genya rolled his eyes, “Damn. Well, you’re six-teen right? It shouldn’t be too bad of an issue then. I’ll see you back at school after your juivy sentence then. Should teach my idiot of a fucking brother a thing or two about fucking consequences, he’s been getting in tons of shit recently and I’m running out of patients.”
Genya snapped, “He’s being charged as an adult dick-wad! He’s seventeen, if ya think he’s so god-damn smart whatcha gonna say about that then!”
Sanemei now looked at Sabito with a seriousness in his eyes that Sabito rarely sees. He grabbed Genya’s shoulder. “How bad was the assault?” Sabito didn’t answer. But he knew Sanemei now saw the busted up knuckles he was wearing. “You’re in deep shit.” Sanemei sighed. “Guess your grand-daddy can’t get you out of this one, huh.”
“Eat shit, Shinazugawa.” Sanemei sighed as he shoved his brother forwards, “I thought you were smarter than this Sabito.”
Sabito said nothing and he heard the two walk out of the police station. It seems that a lot of people think he’s smarter than he actually is and Sabito is getting tired of it.
He sat there for a while longer when he heard the sound of Rengoku’s voice and Sakonji, and they were talking to one another. Sakonji seemed relatively calm and collected and he went to sign the papers of release )(while Rengoku took him to collect his stuff. Sakonji barely looked at him when they walked past one another and Sabito knew that whatever was going to happen, he wouldn’t like it.
“How mad is he?” Sabito asked Rengoku when they were waiting in the lobby.
“Oh, kid. I’d be pissed, but I think he was more scared than anything.” Rengoku explained. Sabito sighed. He’s furious. That is what he meant to say
When they got back to the car, Sakonji just sat there for a while. The silence was killing Sabito, but he knew better than to start talking first. Sabito knew how badly he screwed up this time. When Sakonji finally spoke Sabito turned to give him his undivided attention.
“Sabito,” Sakonji finally said.
Sabito took a deep breath, “Yeah, Grandpa?”
“Do you have any idea what these past few hours have been like? You know what I had to do to get you out of juivy?” He asked. It was a rhetorical question so Sabito stayed silent. Sakonji continued, “I woke up to a call from Officer Rengoku, which you promised would never happen again after last time–which I don’t know why I believed you since you lie like your mother–and then he told me that he couldn’t do anything else and that you were inevitably going to face juivy. Which scared me so much I saw your Grandmother–”
Sabito thought for a moment and then said–“She’s dead though–”
“–Exactly Sabito!” Sakonji snapped and Sabito reserved silence once again. “I Knew that I would have to call and talk to one of my old friends, Judge Muzane, who was asleep in bed. I haven’t talked to that man in years and I explained the situation…my goodness. I hate having to call and ask favours from my friends.”
Sabito sighed as guilt washed over him like a tsunami, “I know–”
“You don’t KNOW Sabito!” Sakonji yelled and Sabito sank lower in his seat. Feeling like a ten-year-old child again being scolded by Sakonji again for running too far into the woods. Sakonji sighed as he took a deep breath. “You don’t know Sabito. You don’t. Because you keep doing this–shit–over and over again. I have to do this, because if I don’t–if I don’t –you’re going to screw your life up. And I will not let you do that if I know I can prevent it. I love you, Sabito. You’re my grandson, but soon you’ll be eighteen. And I won't be able to do anything more for you.”
Sakonji seemed to be collecting himself and he started the car and he began to drive away. Sabito stayed silent, but his curiosity wanted to know what Sakonji did to get him out of juvy. But his nervousness kept him from asking.
They seemed to be playing a wrestling match going on with his heart. Wanting to ask vs.being to nervous too. Sabito was leaning his head against the window and staring outside as the moon was at the highest peak in the sky. Which meant that it was incredibly late right now. He knew that he got arrested at nine and he was at the police station for a few hours. So whatever time it was, he knows that it’s at least past twelve.
He was about to ask what time it was when Sakonji finally spoke up once again. “I got in touch with Kagaya–”
“Rengoku’s old man?” Sabito asked and he felt a chill go up his spine at Sakonjis’ glare.
“ Officer Rengoku to you young man!” Sankoji snapped, “Learn some respect.”
Sabito refrained from rolling his eyes but he kept silent as Sakonji continued talking. “But yes, he is Kyojuro’s father.”
“What does he have to do with my juvie situation? Isn’t he some big-shot doctor person out in the hospital estate in the city for the clinically ill?” Sabito asked as he leaned back and put his knees up on the dash and looked over to Sakonji. “Don’t see how he could help with legal matters. Didn’t you call and talk to Judge Muzane or something? How's Doctor Kagaya going to help with this?”
“That man is the only reason you don’t have a juivy situation,” Sakonji told him and Sabito was now really curious. “I was able to pull some strings, Judge Muzane is not an easily convinced man and he saw your records. I had to meet him in the middle and so I got in touch with Kagaya who’s the head doctor at Hashira Pillars Hospital Estate. Thanks to him you were able to escape your juivy sentence and thanks to Kyojuro you were able to escape an actual prison sentence.”
“Still don’t see how he’s going to help my situation,” Sabito mumbled and Sakonji sighed.
“I was getting there, Sabito. You’re going to have to spend all summer at the hospital doing your community service there. You can not leave without a signed form showing Kagaya’s permission. Even then you can only leave for three hours and are only allowed in the small town of Butterfly’s Valley. I’m unsure but I think you will be staying with someone else while you’re there. You will also have to talk to a Therapist every Sunday or your service doesn’t count.” Sakonji finished and Sabito felt dread wash over him.
He sighed and leaned his head against the window. Sakonji waited for a minute or two before pressing on, “You aren’t allowed to have friends visit. Only Kyojuro who will be coming in to check on you and talk to your Therapist so he can take the reports back to Judge Muzane. Your sister and I will be able to visit as well.” Sakonji turned down onto the backroad that would soon lead to their driveway. It feels like the car ride has been five hours. “Well, any complaints?”
Sabito scoffed. Yeah, hundreds. “Whatever” Fucking Bullshit is what he thought.
“I thought so, I’ll be driving you there tomorrow,” Sakonji said and Sabito shot up in his seat.
“Tomorrow!?” He yelled and Sakonji glared at him for a split second.
“You’re lucky that’s what we’re doing tomorrow. Instead of looking for a good-god-damn lawyer!” Sakonji spat. “Because a few hours ago, that’s what your summer looked like. Court cases wasted money, and prison bars are what your summer looked like before I made those calls. So you're lucky that what you’ll be doing tomorrow is looking after sick people.”
Sabito sighed and Sakonji finished it off with, “Maybe they’ll get you to appreciate life.” Yeah right, I’m not in a damn movie, Sabito thought.,