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Ichika sighed as she walked around the house that she shared with her father and mother. It felt weird for a young 20-year-old woman to still live with her parents. She loved them and her mother’s cooking was always the best. Her father was always stuffing his face most of the time.
Under normal circumstances, she would be happy about this. But not since the article she wrote came out. She had spent two days talking to the ghost of her Papa’s best friend to write about the gang war that both of them had experienced. At first, he was amazed she had captured everything so well. Like she had been there.
Then the dreams started. At first, it was ideal. Peaceful. She spent many of the first few dreams just in Cobra’s arms. Then she worked her way up to kissing him longingly. But before it could take her down the more sexually wet dream route they changed.
The first dream that would differ from that norm was when she dreamed he was saved back then. That talking to a young Cobra was the dream. That she had a childhood crush on him that he never returned. It made her wake up sad when she had those dreams...but she would take those dreams all day long compared to the dreams that came next.
His death played over and over again in her mind. Neither her father nor Cobra would tell her exactly how he had died. So in her dreams, he was being stabbed, shot, and once he was poisoned. Always with a look of pain on his face. She never thought about the who. She knew that he was never caught whoever it was. But the pain was always too much for her.
The last time she woke up screaming. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“A nightmare, Mama,” Ichika moaned as tears formed in her eyes.
“It’s okay baby. Dreams can’t hurt you.” Her mother soothed.
“These do, Mama.”
“These about the article you wrote?” her mother asked with a knowing smile holding her daughter.
“...K-Kinda.”
“Your father was safe. I made sure of that back then.”
“Not everyone though,” Ichika sighed.
“Who did you talk to about this article?” she asked with the soothing voice of a mother.
“Does it matter?” Ichika asked, letting her mother’s love wrap around her.
“No,” her mother said, caressing her hair soothingly. “But he got you all bothered. If I didn’t know any better you were in love with him...whoever it was.”
“W-Would that be so bad?” Ichika asked softly.
“No,” her mother smiled. “Your father was one of those unsung heroes of that damn war. Most of SWORD were good guys deep down. Some deeper than others.” She smiled thinking about that time.
“Even...” Ichika wanted to know more about Cobra. It made her feel at ease somehow.
“Even who?”
“Papa’s best friend?”
Her mother laughed at that. “He was the best next to your father. They were the perfect team, those two.” She smiled as her daughter started to subtly try and find out more about the man she had fallen so hard for in such a short amount of time.
What neither of them knew was her father was listening the whole time. Making sure his daughter was safe and sound after her nightmare. So when he heard the talk about her possibly falling for whoever she talked to and the conversation turning to Cobra, he knew he had to find out who it was. He began to pester her about it. Two weeks after that exchange, she heard him yelling for her as he came up to her study. “Oh no...” Ichika sighed as he came into the room.
“Ichika, I want the truth. Who did you bother for the article?” He stood in front of her, arms crossed on his chest. His eyes were angrier than she had ever seen.
“Papa,” she sighed, trying not to look at him. “I told you. My source is complicated. He didn’t like to talk about much of what happened.” She went with part of the truth with that because Cobra DIDN’T want to talk about some of it. “He just talked mostly about stuff dealing with Cobra and your gang.”
“Noboru swears he never saw you.” Yamato frowned before letting out a curse. “It was Dan, wasn’t it? I swear he’s dumber now than he was back then. I’m going to call him right now. I should have told your boss to go to hell for bringing this up.”
“Fine, call him! He’ll wonder why the hell you are acting like a madman.” She sighed thinking about Cobra. The last kiss still was on her mind even now. What she wouldn’t give to be able to go back. Go back and save him just so she could spend the rest of her life kissing and holding him.
“The final thing you wrote..only two people knew. And one of them is unavailable for an interview. And I didn’t tell you more than general info. So one more time Ichika. Who did you talk to?”
“...Say dead, Papa! COBRA IS DEAD!” A tear ran down her face as she felt everything all over again. Meeting him. Acting like a fool. Finding out he was dead. And having to leave that damn white rose on his headstone after he left her for good.
Yamato’s face twisted, a sheen over his eyes that foretold tears. “I don’t want to, Ichika! I have tried to forget, to remember only good times. I don’t want the nightmares to return. There’s a reason why I never told you about my history or about the gangs. It was supposed to be over. That’s why you only ever met Noboru. Why we moved to the outskirts of town. Why your mother and I did not take you anywhere outside of Itokan. You’ll never know the pain I still live with. The fact I was unable to protect him like I swore to. The rain pouring down as I tried to staunch his wounds..” His voice broke and he brushed a hand over his eyes.
Ichika knew that he was already kicking himself for everything that had happened and the last thing she wanted was to make it worse. But one line of that stood out to her the most. “I’ll never understand the pain you still live with?” She slammed her fist on her desk. “ I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND?! Do you have any idea what I went through to get this story done? The pain I feel? I had to listen to him talking about all of this. I fell in love with that man and then I had to find out...” She almost admitted she talked to Cobra. But she couldn’t.
Yamato stared at her, his eyes narrowed. “Fell in love with who? You’re not making any sense. You never lived with the gangs, so what pain do you live with? You’ve had a sheltered life, never worried for anything. You can’t compare us.”
He suddenly threw a folded paper at her, his wet face angry again. “Go ahead and look at it! You keep asking about it, so look!”
With trembling hands, she spread it wide open. It was revealed to be a color photograph showing Cobra shirtless, with multiple knife wounds causing giant holes in his torso.
“Are you happy now?” Yamato hissed.
Her eyes started to tear up. She had seen this in her dreams so many times...but seeing it in real life made her heart break into a million pieces. She covered her mouth to muffle a moan of despair. After a moment of composing herself, she stood up and grabbed her keys. “You’re right. I don’t have any pain whatsoever. It’s not like I fell in love with a dead man or anything.” She slammed the door behind her in her rage.
Yamato slammed a fist into the wall before the words registered. He paled and sat down hard.
* * *
Ichika drove around lost in her own thoughts. She couldn’t be mad at her Papa even if he opened his mouth and spoke out of his ass and made the biggest mistake in her life. There was no way that he would or could understand that the man she had fallen in love with was the ghost of Cobra.
But the fact that he had disregarded the pain she was feeling like it was nothing. She lost him just as much as he had. “But my pain is fresh Papa. And you had to show me that?” she moaned as a tear fell down her face.
That was when she realized where she was. “...Cobra,” she cried as the headlights hit his headstone. She opened the door of the car and the picture entered her mind again. Her stomach felt uneasy as she saw the dark red dried blood in spots around Cobra’s body. She vomited on the side of the road seeing it in her mind’s eye.
She on trembling legs walked up to his headstone. Almost sobbing. “Papa is a baka. He had to show me my nightmares in real life,” she sobbed letting her fingers run over his headstone. “I miss you already.” She wiped her eyes clean. At that moment she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and shielded her eyes.
She saw a bright light. And she thought about what Cobra had seen before he left. “Cobra? Are you there?” She took a step forward and walked through it hoping that she would see him again.
Before her eyes adjusted she started hearing voices and laughter. She walked out into a street festival “What the fuck?” she wondered out loud.
“Hey, no swearing. There are kids present.” A young man in a letterman jacket said to her with a smile. He went up to her smiling as she took in the sight of the street performers. One was dancing his heart out while juggling oranges. The other was doing magic while twirling a...mayo bottle.
“Where am I?” Ichika asked, looking around.
“Street festival. We are trying to keep the kids’ minds off what is happening around them right now.” He smiled and handed her some cotton candy.
“What’s going on right now?” she asked, taking it.
“The gang war.” The dancer said. “Kouta by the way. I know it is weird that I was juggling fruit. Some think of me as a bit of a fruit kami.” He laughed at the unspoken joke.
“So fruit kami, can I put mayo on the fruit yet?” the magician asked with a smile.
“Yuck!” the lettermen jacket guy groaned.
“You’ll understand when you’re older, Right.” the magician said.
“I doubt it, Kosuke,” Right said with a smile.
“W-What gang war?” Ichika asked, thinking about the fact there hadn’t been gangs in this town for twenty years.
“The one with SWORD and Doubt.” Right said with a smile.
“T-That was...” she looked around and found a newspaper. A physical newspaper. They stopped printing physical newspapers ten years before. She looked at the date on the paper. “Fuck me...” It read the date Cobra was killed.
“Swearing!” Right said with a smile.
“Something interesting about the paper?” Kouta asked with a smirk like he knew what it was.
“This can’t be. This just can’t be.” She looked around. Nothing made sense right now. That was when she heard crying from a kid nearby. It looked like the kid had dropped his ice cream.
“No more sad faces, little guy.” Kosuke smiled as he showed the boy that he didn’t have anything up his sleeve. Then held his hand like he was holding a cone and let his other hand wave in front of it and an ice cream appeared in his hand and gave it to the kid.
Ichika’s brain was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “No putting mayo on that.” Right said with a smile as the kid took it and thanked him.
“He is good with the magic isn’t he?” Kouta asked with a smile at her confusion.
“H-How did he do that?” Ichika managed to ask while her brain was thinking about Cobra again.
“A magician doesn’t reveal his secrets. All that matters is that a sad face was turned into a happy one by fixing something that went wrong.” Kosuke said, smirking.
“Something that went wrong?” she repeated she saw the autopsy picture of Cobra in her mind. “FUCK!” Then she thought about Cobra’s death happening right here right now...or was it? It was almost like a switch went off in her brain. She ran off to the spot where she knew he was killed or the best she could remember from the police reports she had read while writing the article.
“Swearing again.” Right said with a smile as the three of them smirked or smiled after her.
If this was really the past she didn’t care what she had to do. She didn’t care what happened. SHE WAS GOING TO SAVE HIM. “Cobra!” she moaned as she ran faster. Getting lost a dozen times. She heard a muffled yell.
She skidded around a corner and froze at the sight in front of her. One hand went to her mouth in horror.
Cobra lay on his side, blood saturating the front of his shirt and spreading on the concrete toward her. He was gasping for breath, his eyes wide with pain. “Help.. me.” He flinched as the sky opened up, the rain quickly soaking through his thin clothing.
“NO!!!” she yelled as she ran to his body. As she knelt down to get to him she saw his phone out and she thought she heard her father screaming on the other end. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was Cobra. He couldn’t be near death. She didn’t know what she would do if he was. “No no no no! Please don’t die and leave me again.” she sobbed as the rain poured down on the two of them.
“Naomi..take care of Yam..” He went limp in her arms, the blood beginning to wash from his still chest.
“ COBRA!!!! ” Ichika’s wail was the most painful thing anyone in that area had ever heard. She sobbed like she was never going to stop. She was here right next to Cobra again. And she was too late. She couldn’t save him because she got so lost in her blind panic.
Before she could have a single thought run through her head something happened. The rain had stopped, sounds of laughter could be heard and she felt a newspaper in her arms and not Cobra. “H-Huh?” she whimpered as she took in the sight of the festival again. The three men before watching her with sad smiles.
“You okay?” Kouta asked.
"H-How am I back here?" Ichika asked with a moan. She was still trying to come to grips with being in the past. But now she saw Cobra's dead body. And then she was back here when she first even had the possible thought of saving him.
“Maybe you need better imagination?” Right said kneeling down with a sad smile.
“Or a bit of magic not known to normal eyes?” Kosuke said.
“But I think maybe what you need is a little help. Maybe from a family member. Do you have someone in the area? Like a...father?” Kouta asked with a smile.
“P-Papa...he knows this area better. He can track Cobra down no matter what...” She thought about Cobra’s dying words. “ Naomi..take care of Yam.. ” “HE’S WITH MAMA!” She ran off to find her young father.
She ran faster than she had ever run in her life. She didn't know exactly when Cobra was stabbed. She thought she had heard other footsteps thinking back. But those could've just been her own echoing off the walls. She must have been running for a good ten to twenty minutes. She needed to be fast. "Oi!" She heard a yell as she bumped into someone.
She thought she recognized him. He looked just like her boss. But he wasn’t even born yet. She didn’t bother to apologize, she just ran to Itokan. “Naomi, where is Yamato?!” Ichika yelled not caring if she sounded like a fool asking people she, to them, never met before like that. But she was going to do it this time- she was going to save Cobra.
“In the bathroom. Who are you?” Naomi looked confused as Yamato appeared.
“Where’s my food, baldy?” Yamato barely looked at Ichika as he sat down on the stool.
“Stop calling me baldy or I’ll kill you. And it’s still cooking, you ugly glutton.”
“THERE’S NO TIME FOR FUCKING FOOD!” Ichika ran up to him and started to drag him to the door. “COBRA IS GOING TO DIE SOON!”
“Huh?” Yamato pulled free. “Cobra is at work. And I don’t want to hear that man’s name after the shit he said. I’m not just a glutton now that I am married. I CARE ABOUT THIS TOWN JUST AS MUCH AS HIM DAMN IT! ” He sat down in a huff ignoring Ichika.
“Huh? You two are best friends. Neither one of you had anything bad to say about each other.” Ichika said confused.
“That was before he got all pissy when I shot his idea down. Really he thought THAT could even happen? Quit your babbling both of you.”
She sighed and should have seen him being this stubborn even with this new development between the two friends. “I’m not fucking babbling.” She thought about it for a second. And that was one second too long for Cobra. “I’m from the future. I’m yours and Naomi’s daughter. Cobra is about to die!”
He stared at her, then began laughing. “Future? Is this one of Dan’s practical jokes?”
“...You thought he was responsible for the article too. Is he just a fucking clown or something...THAT DOESN’T MATTER. My name is Ichika. That was Naomi’s grandmother’s name. She promised her on her deathbed when she was a little girl that she would name her first daughter after her. And YOU promised that you wouldn’t complain as long as she made your favorite dumplings every Monday until you died!”
A plate hit the floor, Naomi’s hands shaking.
Yamato stared at Ichika in silence.
“PAPA WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!” Ichika roared. “Cobra is about to die!”
“How? Where?” Yamato turned serious, something in his voice promising swift retribution. “If you’re lying..”
“I’m not...I met him after he died as a ghost. FOCUS BAKA!” she said, smacking his head when he looked like he was going to interrupt her. “I fell in love with him. I have to save him. And...I don’t know where he is right now. I got lost the first time and he died in my arms...telling me to take care of you thinking I was Mama.”
Yamato headed for the door. “He’s supposed to be at the gas station. If he got off early, he might be near Ikazumi's combini. He usually stops there to get food for later.”
The two started to run out to where Cobra might be. “We have to hurry. I don’t understand how I am here or why I got sent back a second time. But I was wandering around for like twenty minutes the first time. And I think we have blown through at least ten of it already.”
“Come on then! I swear, if someone’s hurt Cobra..”
She thought about the last time she saw her older father...and the fight they had. “...I already know what that looks like for you.” She sighed as they ran faster. “Older you and I got into a fight about Cobra. I didn’t tell him that was who I was talking to and fell in love with." A tear ran down her cheek as clouds over her head looked like they were about to break and she remembered that was when he was about to die.
“And we fought about how much losing him hurt. Him today. And me in twenty years. He was a big baka showing me his autopsy photo. I don’t think he meant to when he walked in. I think he keeps it on him all the time. I just pissed him off because he didn’t realize I just watched Cobra cross over after falling in love with him. We are both in so much pain and we have to stop it from happening!”
Yamato’s lips tightened as he grabbed her arm and pulled her around a corner. Cobra stood there, a figure facing him. The look on his face was pained, the figure’s arm striking him repeatedly. He stumbled back as the figure hurriedly walked away, one hand going to his bloody chest.
“COBRA!” Ichika yelled as she ran up to him. “No please no,” she sobbed, holding him close.
Yamato fell to his knees, a look of terror on his face. “Cobra..”
“Yam..ato. I’m sorry..” Cobra gasped before looking at her. “Naomi…” He took one final gasping breath before going limp.
“COBRA!” Ichika yelled, clutching the newspaper again. She looked around and she was back at the festival. “This is pure torture.” Ichika sobbed. How many times was she going to have to see him die?
“You alright miss?” Right asked.
“NO I’M FUCKING NOT ALRIGHT!” she roared. “AND I DON’T GIVE A FUCK HOW MANY KIDS HEAR ME FUCKING SWEAR!” She broke down in sobs.
“I would say family can make this pain go away. But they probably had their say already.” Kouta said, looking serious.
"Maybe it is time for you to take the bull by the horns and do things your way," Kosuke said.
She thought about it. Her Papa had given her the location of where he was working and where he would go next after that. “You’re right. I know where he is going to be. I have to talk to Cobra!” She ran off to the gas station where she first saw him. “Please be there.”
He was reclining in a chair, feet up on the desk as he leafed through a magazine. “Damn, Yamato...he had to bring up Murayama like that. I may be bi but even I have standards. I never want to be the gang dick-taker with Murayama as my boyfriend." He chuckled at the man who had a man crush on him. "But I can't stay mad at the guy...After I get done here I'll go make up with him."
"C-Cobra!" she moaned as she practically ran head-first into the door and threw her arms around him and held him tight. She could feel his heartbeat and his warmth. This was so much better than last time and she could live right here in his arms for the rest of her life.
“Um..who are you?” His voice was edged with nervousness.
Ichika almost laughed at this. She never thought about him not knowing who she was. And she never thought he could ever be nervous. "I-I'm Ichika. Yamato's and Naomi's daughter...from the future." She could see him look at her in confusion. But that was nothing compared to the confusion he was about to have when she planted a kiss on him like she was his long-lost lover.
He pushed her back. “Not funny. You need to leave before I call the police.”
She laughed even harder at that. “You wouldn’t call them...Gang Leader-San. Leader of the Sannoh Rengokai. This is your family gas station too. I can prove I am their daughter...and know more about you.”
He stiffened at her words. “I doubt that very much.”
“You and a group of friends started all of this when you were just riding your bikes. You HATE the word GANG for that group because all you were were just ‘ Friends who liked bikes’. And you absolutely hate Li. And have great respect for a bunch of the other gang members. And secretly wish that all of you could just be one gang.”
He dropped his hands, hurriedly standing. “How do you know that?” His eyes scanned the station office. “Do you have this place bugged? Who are you working for?”
“Don’t act like my Baka Papa,” she said playfully as she swatted his head like he was an anime character. “You told me. In the future.” That was when she was brought to why she was here. “Y-You and I...well I for sure but I don’t know if you did...FOCUS GIRL. I fell in love with you when you helped me write an article about these gang wars...but you were dead already.”
“I was about to make a joke about you liking older men, but now..” He avoided her eyes, staring at the window.
“I would’ve for you.” Ichika smiled at him. “You’re everything I have ever wanted in a man. But back to this. I found out you died today.” Ichika held on to him tighter still. “I don’t know how I am here. I don’t care. I am not losing the love of my life and afterlife.” She kissed him again.
Cobra kissed her back softly. “You seem amazing. I’m guessing I will die in the fight with Doubt later today?”
Ichika thought about that. “No. There was no one else but the guy that killed you. I’ve seen it twice now. Every time you die I get sent back to a festival being held in town. ...I’ve seen you die in my arms twice.” Ichika started crying, holding on to him like if she let go he was going to die again and that photo her Papa showed her was a forgone conclusion.
“Festival? There’s no festival here.” Cobra muttered before going quiet. A moment later, he spoke again. “So, a single man kills me before the fight..Wonder if it’s one of Kuryu’s leftovers?”
Ichika thought about it. “...Li?” she asked herself more than him.
“Li? Chanson’s asshole? Thought he left the country after his plans went to shit.”
“I-I don’t know. But the future you...the GHOST you went out of his way to put him in jail. He never wanted to talk to me about this moment. You stubborn stoic bastard.” Ichika punched him in the arm playfully. “But I saw someone that looked like my boss. And my boss was his son.”
“Ow.” Cobra rubbed his arm, looking thoughtful. “I hate him for trying to get Kohaku killed. I’d love to see him behind bars. Never found him after everything calmed down though. Did my ghost say anything about what happened?”
“No...but there was something.” Ichika thought about when she was showing everyone off. “W-When...When I showed Li having a family you went dark. Like he had stolen that chance from you.”
“Hmm.” Cobra went quiet again, then started rubbing his chest.
She looked at his chest as he was rubbing it. It reminded her of when he did it as a ghost. She thought at the time it was because that was where he was stabbed. And both times she held onto him he had a gaping chest wound. Then she thought about the attacker. “The knife,” she said thinking about it. “It was distinctive. Curved at the tip and jagged teeth on the top.”
Cobra went still at her description. His eyes flickered angrily as he spoke. “If Li is here, he will head for Itokan looking for Kohaku.”
"...Itokan?" That was when it hit her. "YOU DIE HALFWAY BETWEEN HERE AND THERE!"
Cobra gave her a sad look. “I have to warn Yamato. I won’t have them hurt because of me.”
“Why do I love that about you? You Baka Gang Leader-San.” She teared up. “And before you even think about it. I. AM. NOT. STAYING. HERE! I am going to go with you.”
“But if it’s my fate to die, I don’t want you to see it again.” He gently brushed her cheek.
“You will learn over our long life together. Raising as many little Cobra babies. THAT I AM A STUBBORN BITCH THAT IS NEVER GOING TO LISTEN WHEN SOMETHING MATTERS TO ME!”
“You sure you’re not one of the Rude Boys in disguise?” Cobra teased.
“I’m YOUR Rude Boy.” She kissed him again. “Now let’s get to Papa and Mama so they can meet their son-in-law-to-be.”
“So Li killing me is bad, but Yamato doing it is okay?” Cobra took a deep breath and pushed her out as he locked up. “You are definitely Yamato’s kid though.”
"I had future him wrapped around my little finger before all this started. Plus Naomi likes you too. I think she would enjoy having you as a son-in-law. But WATCH YOUR BACK as we head there. I can only do so much. Because after today there won't be any gangs in this town. And I am going to do whatever in my power to make sure you see it."
"She likes that I pay my bill, unlike your father. And what do you mean no more gangs? Pretty sure the Rascals, Oya, and Daruma aren't going to just vanish."
“Trust me. I am from the future.” She smiled at him.
“Doesn’t you being here change the future?” He pushed her out of the way suddenly.
“COBRA!” she yelled as she saw the silver flash of the blade.
He grunted as it plunged into his stomach. “Run, Ichika..” He groaned as the blade was yanked out and headed for his chest. “I won’t..let you hurt her…”
Ichika in tears looked up to see the face she had bumped into before. He was the younger version of Li. And he was holding his blade up high and was going to slash through her as she tried to stand in front of Cobra. But then she heard the sound of the newspaper falling to the ground. She saw the street festival again. She didn't even care this time and Right, Kosuke, and Kouta didn't talk to her as she walked past.
She knew who was going to kill the man she loved. The rat bastard named Li. At this point, she didn't care if the future got fucked in the process. She was going to make him pay for what he had taken from her family. She walked with a purpose. She knew exactly where she was going to go this time. She had bumped into Li while heading for her father. It was about time she apologized for that.
“What do you want?” Li asked her as she found him.
“Li?” she asked with a big fake smile.
“Yes,” he said curtly.
"I have something very special for you," she said with a seductive smile. She cuddled up to the man who had killed Cobra not once, not twice, but four times for her. It made her vomit inside even sexually teasing him. But she found what she was looking for. The very blade he used to kill Cobra.
“And what is that?” he asked as an evil smirk slid across his face.
"Your fucking DEATH," she growled as she plunged the knife into his gut. But doing it once wasn't good enough. She just continued again and again plunging the knife into his stomach. "And you won't be needing this in hell you fucking prick." She then slashed his cock through his pants. She was now covered in blood as he fell to the ground.
“Umm, are you alright?” Cobra awkwardly asked as he stood nearby.
“C-Cobra...” Ichika said, dropping the bloody knife. “He was going to kill you. I-I...”
“How do you know my name?” He looked down, his gaze darkening. “I do appreciate you taking this ass out of the gene pool. Rest in hell, you utter prick.” He extended his hand to her. “You shouldn’t have dirtied your hands though. Killing just causes more issues.”
“B-But I did this for you...I love you.” she saw the flash this time. So when she heard the newspaper falling she wasn’t surprised. She wasn’t even surprised that she wasn’t covered in blood anymore. She just slumped into the bench. She was completely drained.
She had saved him. He was alive and was going to stay that way. But the look of disappointment in his eyes was too much. It was like she wanted to die that time. She had saved the love of her life. But she felt empty for losing that love they shared again even for just a little while.
“Just sitting around this cycle?” she heard the voice of someone unfamiliar. She looked up and she saw Right, Kosuke, Kouta, and someone wearing a blue leather jacket. And he looked like. “Murayama Yoshiki?” she asked.
“Close,” he said with a smirk. “My name is not important. We brought you here to save Cobra.”
“But I did. He was alive. He was going to be happy.” Ichika teared up.
“But he wasn’t going to be with you.” Right said sitting next to her.
"And we went through all that mentoring," Kosuke said, kneeling in front of her.
“Mentoring?” Ichika asked.
"Think about it," Kouta said with a smile. "When you got here we talked to you about fixing something that had gone wrong and you ran off. Then we hinted at going to your father. Then Cobra."
“Then why didn’t you stop me before I went after Li?” she asked.
“Because you needed to let it out. And learn what is important to Cobra is that the woman HE loves doesn’t have to kill to save him.” the guy in the blue leather jacket said with a smirk.
“But he needs someone to stop Li,” Ichika said, looking between the three of them.
“Yes. But who would Cobra let kill for him?” Right asked, looking at Joe.
“FUCK!”
* * *
“Hello there little pest,” Li said, seeing Cobra walk into the path to Itokan.
“I thought I smelled something foul,” Cobra said.
“Such wit. I will miss it,” Li said, pulling out his knife.
“Not as much as we’ll miss you bastard!” Murayama yelled as he dashed out of the shadows and ran Li through with his own dagger of a knife. He stabbed him as many times as he could before Li fell down in a heap of blood. He grabbed Li’s knife as he had fallen, however. And once he was on the ground he spat on his body as he lay there. “Take this fucking thing to hell with you!” he said and threw it into his groin cutting his cock in half. “Prick.” They all heard the death rattle from Li as he lay there with his own knife in his crotch and blood pouring from his stomach.
While that was happening and unknown to the people that were down in that alley. A man in a blue leather jacket smirked down at the man who looked exactly like him. As he held a bloody weapon that he was VERY familiar with indeed.
Cobra blinked several times. “Murayama?”
“Thank your girlfriend for me being here,” Murayama said, cleaning his cutlass dagger. He had a pirate collection of daggers for fun. He never thought he would ever use it like this, however. The blue jacket man turned and left as Ichika slowly walked out of the shadows.
“Girlfriend?” Cobra looked at him like he’d grown another head.
“He’s talking about me,” Ichika said to him. She pulled him into a hug and kissed his lips, neck, and cheek. If there was exposed skin she was kissing it. Never wanting to leave his arms ever again.
“Do I know you?”
“This is going to be fun on so many levels. Come with us to Itokan. I can explain who I am there and do it once and not five more times.” she laughed harder than she had laughed since this started.
Cobra shrugged, kicking Li’s body before stepping over it. “Weird day already, why not make it weirder?”
Ichika smiled brightly as she clung to Cobra. “I’ll sit this one out,” Murayama groaned.
“You are only upset I got the man in the end!” Ichika said with a smile sticking out her tongue.
“You are lucky you are the kinda stubborn I like...like your father.” Murayama smiled at her crazily.
After a short walk, the two of them entered Itokan to see Naomi serving food to Yamato.
"Cobra!" Yamato greeted him before beginning to shovel food into his mouth. "Here to apologize for pitching the merger of the gangs and calling me a glutton for my wife's cooking?" he asked mouth full of food.
“Yamato. Nope and try not to choke, okay?” Cobra shook his head with a smile before getting a drink from Naomi. “Come to my booth?” He looked at Ichika.
“So you two were fighting about something that both of you want? BOYS! Uh...” Ichika looked at both her Mama and Papa eyeing her confused as to who she was. “Sure. But...I think Mama and Papa should join us.” she smirked at them as she clung to Cobra and smiled brighter than she ever thought possible.
“Mama and Papa?” Everyone stared at her.
She laughed at the confusion. “Okay from the top. I am from the future.” She smiled holding Cobra’s hand. “I was sent here to save Cobra.”
“Save me? From what, Yamato’s food tab the damn glutton?”
“Hush you. And you already know what I am saving you from, my love. Li. He was going to kill you tonight.”
“Wait. You’re telling me you were sent to keep me alive? Why you?”
“Because I fell in love with you. It’s a long complicated story. But I met you as a ghost. I fell in love with you when you were already dead.” She chuckled. “And I am their daughter by the way. And if I have my way this is your son-in-law.” Ichika said smiling and kissed Cobra.
Cobra looked slightly uncomfortable, eyes drifting away from her. One hand began to rub his chest as both Yamato and Naomi began asking rapid questions.
“Slow down Mama, Papa. I can prove I am your daughter. There is a reason why I am named Ichika...but now that I have more time to tease you two. Don’t you have something to tell Papa, Mama?” Ichika smirked at her young mother.
Yamato’s head whipped around to stare at his wife.
“I’m pregnant.” Naomi blushed as Cobra slowly moved away from the group.
“I’m gonna be a dad!” Yamato jumped to his feet with a yell of joy. He went around the counter, swinging Naomi around happily.
“Yup. It’s a girl. But you already figured that part out haven’t you? AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING MISTER?!” Ichika turned to look at Cobra.
He didn’t answer, slowly slipping into a booth and staring into space.
Ichika smiled leaving her parents to celebrate...her. She smiled at him and kissed him. “You are mine. And I am yours.” She cuddled up to him, sighing happily. “I get that you’re a stoic bastard. But I have all of my Papa’s stubbornness. And all of my Mama’s heart.” She looked into his eyes. “So you are stuck with me.”
“Ichika.” Cobra’s voice sounded strange. “You meddled with fate.”
“I don’t care.” She sighed, feeling his warmth. “You are everything that I have ever wanted. Besides,” she smiled up at him. “It’s already happened so I am stuck here. To birth your little Cobra babies. God, I might have kids that grow up with me.” she laughed.
“You don’t understand.” Cobra looked at her. “I was meant to die today. You were never supposed to meet me. Your future is disappearing as we speak.”
“No, I DO understand.” She kissed him. “I watched you die. A hundred times in my dreams and three times in front of me. You died in my arms. And it hurt soooo much. So YOU don’t understand in this situation. I understand what is happening here. And TOGETHER you and I will make sure the best parts of my future happen. Because I love you Junpei.” she kissed him passionately in his favorite booth.
“B-But...I still have so many things I don’t understand. Like who sent you?” Cobra asked. Ichika just smiled and looked out the window of the restaurant. And she saw Right, Kosuke, Kouta, and the blue leather jacket man who came at the last second. She pointed at them. Yamato and Naomi were still holding each other, not caring about anything.
“Them,” she said softly as there was a flash. And Kouta became Kamen Rider Gaim, Kosuke became Kamen Rider Beast, and Right ToQ Ichigou. Then Joe smirked as he became Gokai Blue. “Turns out there are a lot weirder things out there than being in a timewarp love story. Or changing fate.” A portal opened and the four of them walked through.
“Did they look like some of the gang members?” Cobra asked.
“Yup,” Ichika said with a chuckle. “They were joking about that after I pieced out what they wanted me to do. It is as if they were actors playing two different roles or something. Anyway, Joe, the guy in the blue jacket, you know from Gokaiger, he planned all of this out with the help of his Captain Marvelous. It’s a whole thing apparently.” She smiled up at the confusion on his face. “And all for you to be saved and us to be together. So don’t mess this up, Baka Gang Leader-San.” She cuddled up to him smiling brightly.
Cobra snickered before kissing her cheek and taking a drink from his cup. “So how do you want to start forever?”
“Doesn’t matter as long as I am with you.”
A moment later, he muttered a quiet curse and his hand moved from hers. “I have to go.”
“...Where?” Ichika eyed him.
"Kinda have an infestation of rats I gotta get rid of." Cobra prayed silently that he could slip away before he really did die. Only instead of a power-hungry Li, Ichika would do it, probably by strangling him.
"...You're lucky you're cute. But if you die on me I will find you, bring you back to life, and kill you again. So come back to me, Baka Gang Leader-San." Ichika sighed thinking this was exactly like the man she had fallen in love with.
“Understood.” He slipped out the door, followed by Yamato.
Two hours later, the door opened. Yamato slowly entered, half carrying Cobra.
“DO I KILL HIM BEFORE I HEAL HIS ASS?!” Ichika roared. But she was truly happy. Because she saw him breathing. Even if he was struggling. He was still breathing. Her Baka Gang Leader-San.
“Volume, Chika. I’m not dead.” Cobra gave her a small smile. “Just kiss me.”
Ichika smiled and kissed his cheek. “Okaeri.”
“Tadaima.” Cobra sat down, thanking fate for sending him an angel from the future.
Epilogue
TWENTY YEARS LATER
“Mama?! Where did I leave that file on the gang war stuff? I have to write that stupid article.” Ichika yelled downstairs.
“On the coffee table downstairs.” She heard a female voice say. She looked up and saw the face of her favorite Aunt.
“Ichika Oba-chan,” she jumped up and hugged her.
“Yeah, yeah. Cobra Oji-san and I are back from visiting your favorite cousin. He is raising hell in the States as usual.”
Ichika laughed at that. “And you just happen to have the file that I was looking for.” Ichika took the file smiling. “I STILL don’t understand why they wanted me to do this,” Ichika grumbled.
“I may have suggested to your boss that you were the perfect reporter for this assignment.” The older Ichika smiled remembering how all of this started.
“You? Why?” Ichika asked.
“Because it was and is important. The fight these men fought deserves to be remembered and talked about. And every single person can change their own fate. The fates of a town, a life, and a planet. And you are the perfect person to tell their story. And hope that fate is always a bright one.” She thought about how anything could have happened back then. And hoped that if there was a younger version of herself still back there trying to break down the stoic bastard to be her man they would always make those right choices that lead her here.
“No pressure then?” Ichika joked.
“Did someone ever tell you that tongue might get you in trouble?” The older Ichika laughed.
“Only a lot.” And the two halves of the same person laughed at that unknown truth to the younger version of herself.