Chapter Text
“I am not even sure this thing has a heat setting.” Joe joked as he fiddled with the thermostat.
“Of course there is a heat setting, you gorilla.” Kaoru rolled his eyes as he gripped the mug tighter and pulled the plush blanket tighter around him.
“I’ve already got the fire going, what more do you need?” Kojiro grumbled, pushing the temperature up to sate the pink haired man.
“I am not designed for this cold. Since when does it snow in Okinawa!?”
“The weatherman said the last time it happened was in 2016.” Kojiro had actually put on a shirt with his sleep shorts. He moved from the wall, glancing only briefly over his balcony as large white tufts fell from the sky. “Not gonna lie, I don’t remember that.”
“Well, I wouldn’t expect that of your monkey brain.” Kaoru scooted on the couch, making just enough room for the larger man to sit down.
Rolling his eyes, Joe sat down and wrapped his arm around the blanketed Kaoru. “Well, at least I remembered to pay the heating bill this month.” He laughed at his own joke. Joe was very warm and full as he pushed play on the movie they had been watching.
The movie had been something that Kaoru had picked out. It was a romantic drama, something that Kojiro found entirely uninteresting.
It only took a few minutes before Kojiro found himself drifting to sleep. His eyes sagged as the main protagonist found herself in a rather unfortunate predicament, her car broke down just minutes from her home. Yet, Joe couldn’t force himself to focus on her distress. It had been a long day at the restaurant with so many people not wanting to cook on such a dreadfully cold day. He’d been on his feet for almost eighteen hours and Kaoru had convinced him to take the next day off. Even still, he was exhausted.
“Did you hear that?”
Kojiro’s eyes flew open, thoughts immediately going to an intruder. “Hear what?”
He shifted up, displacing Kaoru from his chest. The movie was still running, which led Kojiro to believe that he hadn’t dozed for that long. He vaguely remembered the plot and what was going on.
“I don’t know.” Kojiro paused the movie, drowning the whole apartment in buzzing silence. He let out a sigh, stretching slightly as he forced his brain to jumpstart. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Go and check it out!”
Grumbling and reluctant, Kojiro forced himself up. His legs wobbled from the sleep that had wrapped around him so comfortably just moments ago.
The kitchen was the first stop, where Joe noticed the remains of the dinner he had cooked for them. It had been an easy and simple meal, the soup that he had tossed into the pressure cooker in the morning and a fresh baked loaf of bread from work that he had set aside.
Everything was as he had left it; the dirty cooker in the sink and the bowls and plates they’d used lined neatly next to it. There was a half bottle of wine on the table, undisturbed from their meal. Nothing looked astray and Kojiro was starting to think the noise was entirely in Cherry’s head.
With a sigh Joe moved to the trash, remembering he needed to take it out. Now was as good a time as any, now that he was up. With the adrenaline wearing off, there wasn’t much that was keeping him on his feet, but Kojiro knew that if he returned now, he would never hear the end of it.
It was only when Kojiro had removed the bag from the can that he heard it. The distinct clanking of something against glass in the dumpster. Sharing a living space with his restaurant, the sound was not foreign. What was strange was the hour. The restaurant had been closed for well over two hours, and since Kojiro had closed down the shop personally, he knew that the sound could only be an intruder.
“What was that?” There was a millisecond of a pause as there was some concerned rustling from the other room. “Kojiro! What was that?”
“Stay put.” Joe commanded, gripping the trash bag and scanning for a weapon. All that he had were his kitchen knives. “Fuck” He grumbled, grabbing the nakiri from the knife block next to the sink, hoping the intimidating seven inch blade would scare off whoever was snooping around in the alley. If it worked, he wouldn’t have to use the blade and risk damaging it. Kojiro did not own cheap knives.
“I’ll be right back. Call the police if I’m not back in ten minutes.” Was it an exaggeration, likely. However, Joe didn’t want Kaoru to follow him and get injured, nor did he want to bleed to death in the thin Okinawa snow.
Down the primary stairs and through a locked door, Kojiro found himself in the hallway adjoining the alley and the kitchen. There was only the light from the street from the small window above the back door and the glowing red ‘Exit’ sign to illuminate the hallway. Even still, Kojiro could tell that the walk-ins were both closed and undisturbed as was the door to the kitchen and restaurant proper. Which only meant that whoever was making the noises hadn’t yet made it inside.
Joe took a deep breath in, cursing himself slightly for not grabbing a jacket. He was still far too exhausted to be dealing with this.
Kojiro let the air press from his lungs and slowly filter out through his nostrils. The keypad for the restaurant was armed. With his code, it beeped happily and Kojiro was able to unlock the deadbolt.
There was a faint sprinkling of snow in the alley when Joe finally pushed the door open. Atop the snow were the miniature petals of the cherry blossoms surrounding the lot which had started to bloom only days prior. From an artistic standpoint, the scene was gorgeous, even for an alley. The snow fell lightly, and only dusted the pavement. It was not something Kojiro had ever seen and he was doubting that he would ever witness anything similar.
From a practical stand point, it was fucking freezing and Joe was wearing a tank top and shorts. He cursed at the cold wind as his coffee colored eyes scanned for the intruder.
The snow coating the asphalt was a perfect witness to anything that would have taken place behind the building. Yet, the white was a smooth and undisturbed sheet. Nothing had been back here so far as Kojiro could tell. Yet, he was certain that he had heard rummaging in the dumpster.
Frowning, Kojiro took a step from the warmth behind him and out firmly into the alley. A slow wind rustled a few of the fallen cherry petals and also forced goosebumps to populate every inch of uncovered flesh.
The large commercial dumpster was located across the alley and locked behind a bricked and fenced in space. It was possible that Kojiro had forgotten to lock it up after taking out the last of the trash at closing, but he had sworn he had taken care of everything. Yet, in his state of overwork, it was more than possible he forgot something.
The normally quick walk was more tiresome now, between the cold and weight of exhaustion pressing down on him. However, when he finally did make it the dozen or so steps, the chain fence was locked, and not a single set of prints lay inside the enclosure.
“Get it together, Kojiro. You’re losing your damned mind.”
Turning back to return inside, there was a noise that Joe was entirely certain came from the small enclosed space that the two dumpsters lived in.
Gripping the knife in one hand and his keys in the other, Kojiro unlocked the padlock. The metal gate swung open, kissing the top of the quickly accumulating snow. It was silent as he took the first step into the space. All but one of the lids were closed, the bar locking them shut.
The furthest lid was flipped open, exposing the trash to the elements. Kojiro took slow and measured steps forward, feeling his heart thudding hard in his chest. His skin rippled with the cold and adrenaline.
Swallowing hard, he steadied himself and peeked into the dumpster.
Among the black bags of trash and dusting of white snow, Kojiro almost didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. He let out a sigh, relaxing his grip on the knife as he shook his head. “You need to get some damned sleep.”
It was only then that he spotted a tiny ball of fluff. Slowly, it shifted, brilliantly blue eyes staring up at him from the snow. “Holy hell.”