Chapter Text
Ichika sobbed as she looked down at Cobra. Her wound to the chest felt like nothing next to the fact that she was seeing Cobra dead...again. A gaping wound in his chest. “COBRA!” she sobbed, clutching him. She felt a kick from her belly. And another. She reached down to make sure that her belly wasn’t hurt. She couldn’t handle that too.
She felt her very pregnant belly. Her two boys were safe. She had to go to the hospital to make sure but her legs were rooted to the spot. “ARGH!” Murayama roared as he snapped one of the members of Doubt’s neck. He couldn’t look at the woman who was pregnant with their first child. He looked at Itokan as it burnt. Yamato and Naomi hadn’t gotten out yet. Neither had baby Ichika.
“I’M GOING IN TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE!” he roared and tried to rush the building. But before he took one step it blew up sending him backward into the waiting arms of the police officers.
“Look at what we have here boys. A fucking murderer.” the lead officer sang looking at him with a smirk on his face.
“FUCKING LET ME GO PRICK!” Murayama roared.
“Let you go but you killed all of these men here. Some of them were cops ya know.”
“THEY ATTACKED AND KILLED COBRA!” Ichika raged.
“AND LOOK AT HER A PREGNANT WOMAN BLEEDING FROM A STAB WOUND!” Murayama raged fighting against the cuffs. “AND YOU ARE FUCKING DEALING WITH ME?! YOU FUCKING PRICK!”
“ ‘Time heals all wounds’ is the old saying. She is alive after all. Boys take him away...and see if an ambulance would bother to come here to deal with the little brat of a woman.” He chuckled as he turned around.
At that point, an engine roared. A jeep arrived and out popped Ice holding a bean bag gun. “Fuck off mother fucker!” shooting into the back of the cop that was responsible for this. Hiroto grabbed Ichika and shoved her into the back.
“Ice, Ichika is hurt.”
“GET MURAYAMA!” she yelled in pain.
“JUST GET HER THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND RUN!” Murayama roared. They both looked at her wound and the cops.
“...Sorry Boss but you come first.” Ice said as he slid back into the car. “Drive Hiroto!”
“On it!”
“MURAYAMA!” Ichika yelled as they drove away tears streaming down her face.
* * *
18 years later. A young man walked onto Ocean City. Murayama Joe looked around. It had been a while since he stepped on the City ship where he had last seen his mother Hino Ichika. She had him and his twin brother after she was brought here that day. “Is it really twins if we have different fathers?” he muttered to himself.
“Look who the cat dragged in.” Hino Kiba called out from above him. “To what do we owe the pleasure? Did you run out of money again?”
“You know we both run SWORD despite what the cops want. Anyway...you know what time of year it is...she disappeared 16 years ago tomorrow.”
“You mean she abandoned us 16 years ago tomorrow. Took the money and ran.” Kiba turned his gaze to the water and lit a cigarette. “Don’t know why you still give a damn. She didn’t about us.”
“...Fuck you asshole. You know my sperm donor drove her to it. He was the one behind the attack that killed YOUR father after all!”
“That’s a fucking lie! He never hurt either of them!”
“You’ve been in Ocean City for too damn long. It’s all over the place out there. Murayama did it. Just ask everyone out there and not Auntie Lala. The fucker was a psycho that attacked the mother of his kid and the man he lusted after because he lost a fucking fight. MOM DID NOTHING WRONG BASTARD!”
Kiba jumped down from his perch and got in Joe’s face. “You been living in that hellhole and got your shit mixed up. If ‘Mom’ gave a single fuck about us, where is she? If she cared about either of our fathers, why didn’t she stick around? Oh, that’s right…cause she probably found some other dude she liked more.”
Joe hauled back and punched him in the face, sending him backward a little. “SOMEONE has to deal with the responsibilities of running SWORD unlike you. Does Auntie Lala still wipe your ass and read you a bedtime story too?”
Kiba bared his teeth and slammed his head into Joe’s stomach. “Guess SWORD is gonna only have one leader after today!”
As the two threw more punches and kicks. “OY!” someone yelled. And both boys looked up to see the one person they would listen to. The one person that mattered the most to both of them. Lala. “Do I have to do what I did when you were little boys and send you to the junk end of the ship and make you clean our trash? It has been piling up while you were gone, Joe. Would you two like that?”
“No, Auntie,” Kiba grumbled. “But he started it.”
“Fuck you.” Joe sighed.
“We both know you KNEW what day it was. How long have you been waiting for your brother, Kiba? You left before breakfast. You take after your grandfather...ya glutton.”
Kiba’s lips began to pout. “He should have stayed off ship since he likes it so much. And I’m still growing.”
Lala walked up to the pair of them. She smacked Kiba on the top of the head. “Growing into a big baka. We both know why he had to leave. He had to deal with everything that happened to you two in his own way. Come, Joe, I have breakfast waiting for you.”
Kiba glared at his brother’s back, lighting another cigarette. “Traitor.”
Joe ate his breakfast as fast as he could. “Slow down it isn’t going anywhere. Uncle Hyuga got enough for the city and then some this time around. The chump still hasn’t figured out that you don’t bet against Hyuga.” Lala smiled.
“I just can’t be around him...” He eyed Kiba who was sitting on the railing outside still glaring at him.
“You’ll have to overcome this one day. The anniversary of the original...incident is coming up. Why not take him to Itokan?”
“He’ll never agree to come.” Joe sighed not wanting to for another reason. “Anyway...I better leave...I know he hasn’t eaten yet. ...He is doing alright right, Auntie Lala?”
“He’s his father’s son. And both of you look up to Cobra.”
“Yeah, we do.”
He rushed past his brother not caring for anything that he had to say.
“Good riddance.” Kiba looked at Lala. “Why do you still let him come here? He left us just like his beloved mommy.”
Lala looked at him and then smacked him again. “Ichika, your mother, was one of my best friends, young boy. Remember that when you are around me.” She sighed. “You both have unresolved things that you want to get off your chest. When you grow up I hope you can do that and be the happy boys that would terrorize this city when it was still young.” She smiled at him.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Auntie. I have nothing to resolve. The only people I care about are right here. And he isn’t on the list.”
She smiled and then swatted him again. “You just had to get that liar gene from your Dad.” She sighed again. “Go look out for your brother. You know the local undergangs that want a piece of SWORD that have sprung up. HE doesn’t. Look out for him would you?”
“Don’t want to. I’d rather watch him get his ass kicked.”
“LIAR!” She swatted him another time. “Now go before I limit your food to one meal a day for a month.”
“AUNTIE! YOU WOULDN’T!”
“Try me.”
“Fine.” He huffed, standing up and heading for the door. “I am only doing this for you.”
Lala smiled as she cleaned up after the meal. “Those boys remind me so much of the good days.” She smiled at the photo taken at the wedding, a tear forming in the corner of her eye. “You’d be so proud of them you three.” She looked into the faces of Murayama, Cobra, and Ichika. She missed them all and those boys brought her back to that time with a smile on her face and sorrow in her heart.
Joe walked around the ship. It had changed so much and so little in the two years that he was off it. It was the same people. Runaways finding a home among their own. Former runaways having businesses selling food and drinks. A few nightclubs that were funded by Uncle Rocky in the beginning but now were their own self-sustaining thing.
But some new things too. Like some shady-looking tents. “What the fuck is that about?”
“Well if it isn’t the leader of ‘SWORD’ ?” One of these guys popped out of the tent. Joe recognized their outfits.
“Blood Red? You fuckers are on Ocean City too?” Joe asked, getting ready for a fight.
“What the fuck is Blood Red? This trash is Doubt, right?” Kiba appeared, mayhem in his voice.
Joe and Kiba started to fight the guys that came out of the tent. “Blood Red came about thanks to the...incident.” Joe roared as he kneed one of them. “Some of Oya got bored with no leader. Became this shit.” They clotheslined one together. “The fuckers have been taking over bit by bit. Uncle Rocky and Uncle Hyuga have been sending guys to deal with them with me for a week. But I had to come here for...for Mom.”
“And no one told me?” Kiba kicked one guy over the railing into the water. “Nice to hear the old fucks are going senile.”
“We didn’t fucking think they were trying to take Ocean City shit for brains!” He kicked one in the balls before chokeslamming him over the railing. “We thought their primary target was...”
“Was what, fuckstain? I mean you think I just fucking eat all day? Been playing footsie with this trash for like three fucking days.”
As Joe headbutted the last guy over the railing. “Ow,” he said, rubbing his temple. “...I didn’t want to tell you. So we have been keeping it from Auntie Lala...she would get just as pissed as we all are about their target.”
“You gonna tell me before or after I break your jaw?” Kiba took a drag off his ever-present cigarette.
“...Sannoh. They are taking over Sannoh.”
The cigarette fell to the ground, and Kiba grabbed Joe’s shirt. “The fuck you say?”
“Sannoh hasn’t had someone defending it in 18 YEARS fuckwald. No one messes with it out of respect for Dad...but these fuckers want it all. I have become their favorite target lately. Thought you were safe.”
“Over my dead fucking body. No one gets a piece of you but me.”
Joe chuckled. Then laughed at the words that Kiba had just said. “My sperm donor said that to Dad.”
“Sounds like him. Auntie’s worried about you.”
Joe smirked. “Just Auntie?” He turned his back to him and thought for a minute. “Ever wish we could get the same chance Mom got?”
“That fairytale again? Never happened. Just another lie she told us.” Kiba rolled his eyes. “I ain’t worried about you. I plan to use you for bait when I go fishing next week.”
Joe rolled his eyes like his brother just had. “It ain’t a fairytale...because I found her...kinda.”
“You’re full of shit like usual.”
Joe pulled out a device and brought up a halo picture. “This is the leader of Blood Red.” In the picture was a face neither one of them could forget. Ichika’s face. The face of their mother.
“Mom is the leader. Figures. Once a gold-digging slut, always a gold-digging slut.”
“LOOK CLOSER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! SHE’S OUR AGE! ” Joe yelled.
“Unless she has a fucking clone, that’s Mom! You just can’t accept it!”
Joe kicked his brother in the balls before he said the next bit. “Remember the fucking ‘STORY’ Auntie Lala would tell us? Our Mom came back from the future...and took care of HERSELF as a fucking BABY!”
“Did you forget that baby FUCKING DIED?”
“Then explain this. IT CAN’T BE MOM! She would be as old as Auntie Lala. BUT THAT’S MOM! You remember that face as much as I do from the last time we saw her. Before...” He swallowed down some pain and resentment before he continued. “That’s the face that haunts our dreams. And it is there in THIS fucking picture.”
“Plastic surgery exists, asshole. But why don’t you go check for yourself? Get the fuck off my ship.”
“And you are going to let ‘Mom’ take over Dad’s Sannoh?” Joe smirked. He didn’t want to have him involved in this but...if they were attacking him here this had to be dealt with NOW. So might as well use him.
“FINE. I’ll just kill both of you together.”
“And if this is baby Ichika? Would you finally admit Mom would move heaven and Earth for Dad...and my sperm donor for God knows what reason?”
Kiba stalked past him without answering. He stopped and glared back at Joe. “Are you coming? I’m hungry and want to take care of this before lunch.”
Joe just walked up to him. “God, why couldn’t I be an only child?” Joe and Kiba walked down the bridge toward the last known area where this woman who looked like Ichika was.
“My fondest wish.”
They walked to the other side of the bridge. “Are you still riding that old scooter?” Joe eyed the old Rude Boys motorbike as he sat on the bike that Cobra once rode before giving it to their mother.
“Not like I have Dad’s.” Kiba climbed on his and revved the engine.
Joe knew the bike he was talking about. The 1950s Harley Davidson their mother had given to him for a wedding present. It had disappeared when they were little. “It still surprises the fuck out of me you want that bike MOM gave him!” He yelled over the engine.
“Dad treasured it! Should have been mine!” Kiba popped a wheelie and shot down the road.
“Damn. He even drives like Mom. Auntie Lala still talks about how she popped a wheelie on this thing the first week she got it.” Joe turned it over and rode after his brother. “DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING FUCKWALD?”
“EAT ME!”
“JUST FOLLOW ME! AND DON’T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS!” Joe yelled and rode on ahead of him.
“I’m getting a hand grenade from Uncle Ice and jamming it up your tailpipe!”
After not too long a ride they pulled up to the burnt-out remains of Itokan. “...We’re here.” Joe sighed knowing Kiba’s reaction to the woman’s chosen HQ.
“Just find her so I can break her neck.” Kiba pointedly refused to look at the building.
Joe pulled him back. “NO! I want to know what the fuck is going on. If this is our mother, why the fuck did she leave us, if this is baby Ichika how the fuck did she live this...and most of all why the fuck she is acting like this...”
“I don’t give a fuck about all that. It doesn’t matter why. It just matters that she gets put the fuck down like the dog she is. And then I don’t have to see your fucking face ever again.”
“Kiba,” Joe said, then decked him. “IT MATTERS TO ME!” he growled. “Besides,” he tried to take a calming breath before he really hurt his brother. “Don’t you want to hold it over my head for the rest of your life if this IS Mom? And we heard it from her lips she was all the things you said she was all this time?”
Kiba wiped his lip. “I used to. Now..I’m just tired. I don’t want to deal with any of this shit anymore. I wanna simply live in Ocean City and the rest of the world can go to hell. And that includes you.”
“Look who we have here?” Lights came on and the two brothers looked to see a shadowy figure riding a bike in front of the lights. “The little babies coming home to roost.” That was when they noticed who it was.
“Mom?” Joe asked, seeing her.
“You better get the fuck off that bike if you want to live.” Kiba’s voice was like ice, his fists clenched.
“This little thing?” Ichika said, patting the 1950s Harley Davidson that was Cobra’s wedding present.
“Fuck it. I’m going to take you off that bike. That’s MINE.”
There was a gunshot from one of the members of Blood Red at Kiba’s feet. “I think you’ll find that I got this bike for ‘Cobra-chan’.”
Joe looked at her. “What do you mean YOU got the bike?”
“Well, I bought and paid for it and everything.” She smiled at him.
“Wait...HYUGA GOT THAT BIKE! Everyone knows she WON it from him.” Joe said.
“Fuck...now the boys of CHIKA need to die after all.”
“You’re not Mom. How did you get that bike?”
“Not that bright are you son ?” Ichika smiled, as she got off the bike. “I got this from the bitch that came to ‘rescue’ me all that time ago. Think about it dumb dumb. Who attacked this place 18 years ago. And what were they fond of taking?”
“Kids...” Joe said, looking at her. “ YOU’RE BABY ICHIKA! ”
“Right in one. Looks like Joe here got all the brains, little wolfie.”
“You died. Just like everyone else. YOU DIED!” Kiba snarled and rushed at her.
She kicked him in the balls and pulled out a gun. “If I died, why did that hurt so much?” She smiled evilly. “What was it Chika was fond of doing? Shooting people in the dick?” She pointed the gun at his crotch. She cocked the gun but before she could pull the trigger she was tackled by Joe.
“Doubt raised you as a fucking psycho or something bitch?” Joe roared, taking the gun from her and shooting at the lights casting the area in darkness so the other gunmen wouldn’t risk firing now.
Kiba rose to his feet. “Still want to ask questions, bro? Or can I kill her yet?”
“No, YOU can’t.” He went to stand next to his brother. “But WE can. This bitch is everything that you said Mom was and then some. So I’m going to get my pound of flesh from the bitch too.”
“Now Joe, greed is bad. Or so Uncle Hyuga says.”
“ Uncle Hyuga?” Ichika roared standing up. “What are you in SWORD a fucking foster home? So GLAD DOUBT killed Cobra. Then arranged Murayama’s death too. Cops are so easily bought off even now.”
Kiba went very still, then walked up to her and hit her as hard as he could.
Joe went up to him and kicked her in the stomach. He had had enough of this already and they had only been talking for less than five minutes. He squatted down and pulled her hair so she was looking at him while she was in pain. “Bitch you have been disrespecting the woman you could have become. Sayōnara.” He put the gun under her chin, let go of her hair, and pulled the trigger.
Almost as soon as her brains spilled onto the ground there was a new sound. A weird sound. Then there was a light coming from a portal. The two brothers stared into it confused at first. Then they heard footsteps coming at them from all sides. “Fuck not all of Blood Red are idiots!” Joe said, looking around them as gunman after gunman exited the shadows. “WE GOTTA GO!”
“WHERE?! WE’RE KINDA SURROUNDED IF YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED!”
Joe eyed the portal. “Past?” he said warily.
“ARE YOU AN IDIOT? Wait. DO NOT ANSWER THAT.”
“YOU’RE THE IDIOT HERE FUCKWALD COME ON!” Joe jumped into the portal.
“FUCK!” Kiba swore and then jumped in headfirst. But as he was halfway through a random gunshot was heard. It hit the ground beneath the portal...after passing through Kiba’s leg sending blood onto the ground.
Joe stumbled to his feet as he got his balance again after he landed. Seconds later he felt another body landing next to him on the ground. After he landed the portal they both jumped through closed. “H-How are we going to get home?” Joe asked his brother.
“THIS WAS YOUR FUCKING IDEA!” Kiba roared in anger...then in pain.
“What is it?”
“MY FUCKING LEG JACKASS OF NO TRADE! They shot me as I jumped through.”
Joe knelt down next to him. “Fuck this looks bad...” He looked worried at the blood that was already pooling on the ground.
“NO FUCK!” Kiba growled. “Why do you even care? You left me at Ocean City!”
“I CARE. I care about you just as much as Dad cared for this city...but I was starting to have my doubts about Mom...and I couldn’t let you find out after everything we have been through. I mean the OLDER brother should always be right ya know.”
“YOU ARE ONLY OLDER BY A MINUTE AND A HALF SHIT FOR BRAINS!” Kiba then looked at him softly. “Sorry I thought that was Mom back there. Even I have to admit Mom was smarter than whatever that bitch was.”
“Come on. Maybe someone around here has something that can patch you up.” Joe grabbed his brother by the arm and helped him to his feet. They looked around for the first real-time since they got there. That was when they spotted where they were.
“T-This...this is Itokan.” Kiba said, looking around and seeing the unburnt building standing before them. Joe looked through the window and dropped his brother. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING SHITHEAD?!”
“O-Our...” He couldn’t believe his eyes and started to pinch himself. “Our...”
“OUR WHAT?!”
“Our parents are inside...all of them. Mom, Dad...my sperm donor. They are inside eating.”
“Did you hit your head? Oops, forgot who I was talking to.”
Joe dragged him back up. “LOOK SHITHEAD!” He looked inside and he saw his Dad. He was the spitting image of him. He saw Murayama who looked just like his brother Joe. And he saw their mother...and she was pregnant.
“ WHAT THE FUCK?!?! ”