Archive of Our Own ^beta

This was some sort of punishment. It had to be. Some sort of sick, twisted joke, and Ran wasn’t having any of it. 

He’d walk out of this room and no one else would walk in and he would be forced to be the only one suffering like this.  

He’d hold Rindou down to give him the same fate if that was the case but really.

Shave his head?

What is this, Juvie? They didn’t even make him shave it last time.  He looked like a damn baked potato when they made him shave it when he was 13. He didn’t really want to relive that again.

Gripping each braid in a hand, Ran sighed, dramatic as always, and stared down at his knees.  He didn’t want to cut them off.  This was just cruel.

“Are you going to take your hair out of those braids, or am I going to have to send Kakucho to get gardening shears?”

“If you so much as come close to my hair with gardening shears, I’ll shove that entire pack of cigarettes down your throat.”

With a sigh dramatic enough to match his own, Ran felt hands covering his left, gently prying it off of his hair.  Takeomi was surprisingly gentle, only putting enough force behind his grasp to slide his fingers under Ran’s.  Just like a practiced big brother trying to recover things his younger siblings shouldn’t have.  

Slipping the elastic off the end of the braid, Takeomi held out his hand, waiting for Ran to take it.  

Crossing his arms across his chest, ran turned his head, yanking the braid away from Takeomi’s grasp.

“Now why would you give that to me? Just to remind me I don’t need it anymore?”

Tossing the elastic on the ground, Ran was sure he heard Takeomi mumble “spoiled brat” or something else doubly charming under his breath. To emphasize his point, he was not nearly as gentle removing the elastic from Ran’s right braid.  Yanking down, the pull stung his scalp just enough for Ran to hiss.

“Oh calm down. You’re worse than Haruchiyo, and I had to sit on him to shave his hair.”

“Of course you did. That stupid dog.”  Ran snickered, imagining the older man pressing his brother into the concrete and holding a razor to his head.  The image was amusing to be sure, but also brought a sense of comfort knowing he wouldn’t be the only one walking around like a cueball for the next few months.  

“Hey now, that stupid dog is still my little brother.” Takeomi’s fingers hand turned to untying his braids, working his fingers through the long strands until they were loose.  It almost felt nice.  Ran did always like people playing with his hair. He just didn’t think that the last time someone would get to play with it when it was nice and long was right before they sheared him like a sheep. 

“And Rindou is my little brother. And he can be as dumb as an ox sometimes. Him and Mochi both. Bullheaded idiots.”

“Hm,” Takeomi hummed as he picked up a pair of scissors from the table at their right, grabbing a measured chunk of Ran’s hair in his fingers, prepared to make the first cut. Ran felt his heart jump into his throat as the sensation of metal cutting into his hair reached his ears.

“Stop! Stop, pretty please?” Bargaining. Pathetic. But needed. He may not have been able to save the first few strands, because damn that set of scissor looked sharp, but maybe he could save the rest.

“What’s wrong now?”

“Do we really have to cut my hair? Maybe we can just give me some sort of new style…something more discrete. I know we’re trying to blend in for a while so we can lay low after the Kanto fight, but I don’t really understand why that should involve cutting my hair .” 

Hair that took him years to get perfect after being forced to shave it the first time. Hair that he took care of so lovingly, from the color to the styling. He deep conditioned at least once a week to counteract the damage of hair dye and bleach. His hair was everything . It was basically a part of his identity.  

“Mikey said so, so we’re cutting everyone’s hair. Even Mikey’s getting a trim later.”   Takeomi groaned at the thought, and ran his fingers through the back of Ran’s hair. Damn that still felt nice, that asshole.  “Plus, I know you’re not that stupid.  You of all people need your hair cut. Your long hair is too…iconic… recognizable. Everyone in the underground knows you and your braids. You need to blend in better.”

“I’m going to look like a wet rat if you shave my hair,” Ran complained, despite leaning in to the fingers detangling his hair.

“Well, I’m not exactly a stylist.”

“Well then, can’t we call my stylist? He’ll know what to do and how to make short hair look good on me.”

Not realizing that Takeomi was holding the shears to his head again, Ran gasped and yanked his hair away when he heard a distinct snip.  Holding a hand to the back of his head, Ran felt the edges of his hair that were now eight inches shorter.

Takeomi shrugged, and let the hair fall from his fingers.  He had snipped right above where his hair turned from black to blonde, the transitioning colors fluttering to the ground. Ran felt as if he may actually cry, but he tried to hide it, screwing his eyes shut and crossing his arms across his chest.  

Flopping back into his seat, Ran tried to keep his voice steady as he demanded “just do it.”

The whole process of snipping and cutting and brushing hair from his shoulders was absolutely traumatizing.  Ran was sure his arms would be bruised from how tightly he was gripping them with his fingers, and his fingers were sore from refusing to move so Takeomi didn’t ruin his hair further.  Even his head started to hurt from how heavily he was pouting.  

His face only relaxed when he felt a small brush being run through what was left of his hair, breaking his center part and swooping his newly formed bangs to the side.  He could feel Takeomi in front of him, being very careful when trimming around his face so he didn’t knick him or get hair in his eyes.  He felt Takeomi blow air on his face, dusting off the hair that was stuck in his eyelashes. His breath smelled like mint and cigarettes, and he popped his gum as he stepped away, looking at Ran from a distance.   

Ran felt the bed sheet around his shoulders loosen, finally released from the chip clip that Takeomi had secured at the back of his neck before they started. 

“I’ve done what I can do.” Takeomi nodded towards the half bath attached to the room they were in, and towards the mirror that reflected the muddy yellow light from the bathroom.  

Ran tried to ignore the curtain of hair that fell from the sheet and onto the ground, stepping over the blonde and black that made up his persona for the past few years.  He was almost hesitant to look into the mirror, but he knew he needed to know what he looked like before rejoining the others.  

And god was it different. It wasn’t bad….okay it was bad.  It was rough and uneven and it made Ran feel like throwing up. But there was an attempt made at styling it, and Ran felt he could probably fix it with a pair of hair shears and some gel or pomade and he could maybe make it look like something .

“What happened to shaving it?”

“I never said I was going to shave it. You came in here fussing like a little baby about shaving, and I never corrected you.”

Turning around to finally get a good look at the man who had just mutilated him, Ran narrowed his eyes, staring him down.  Takeomi seemed absolutely unperturbed, and just shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re not getting a tip.”

“Get out of here already, Ran. Send in the next victim.”