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Norihisa who never got to experience Christmas the way everyone else did because he grew up being told nobody gets a free handout. Norihisa looks back at how he was treated as a child and thinks that he shouldn't even give a damn at his now big age. Like obviously, why should he bother? He has Daruma to run, S.W.O.R.D to protect, and plenty of other things to do during December (not really). In the past, Norihisa never really bothered with it, and this year would've been the same.
Heavy emphasis on would have. He was shopping for himself at the local mall when he noticed the holiday pop-up store. It was impossible to miss considering how goddamn bright the sign was. It was that stupid sign that made him stop, and made Norihisa see a familiar face. "Takeshi?"
The new leader of Nameless City turned to him. The kid (or rather a young adult, but he still seemed like a kid in Norihisa's eyes) gave a small akwkward smile. "Hey, Hyuga."
"What're you doing outside of the City? I didn't expect to see ya again unless we had another meeting or another fight for S.W.O.R.D."
Takeshi gestured towards the store. "Christmas."
"Thought you guys didn't do Christmas shopping."
"We usually don't," Takeshi admitted, "but a lot happened this year, and the government gave us a good amount of money so I thought to save some to buy the kids some toys after we got our water tower fixed." Takeshi finished saying that while scratching his neck nervously. It's none of Hyuga's business, and he should probably get back to Daruma, but now he's curious.
"Then what's the problem?"
"I um... well... half of them don't know how to write, and the ones who can..." Takeshi pulled out the list that was written on yellowed paper. "I can barely read this."
Norihisa took the list, and chuckled. "Sakyo writes like this."
"Sakyo writes like an eight year old?"
Norihisa gave him a look before going back to the list. "What I'm saying is, this isn't hard to read, you just need to look harder."
"Then can you help me?" What. Norihisa looked down at him. Takeshi clasped his hands together. "Hyuga, please. I really, really can't read this. Besides, I'm pretty sure that they won't let me in." Norihisa looked over, seeing one of the store workers eyeing Takeshi and his clothes. By Rude Boys standards, those must be new, and yet they still weren't good enough. Norihisa knows what that felt like before he created Daruma.
"Gimme that." He held out his hand for the list once more, and cracked a barely there smile when Takeshi's eyes lit up a bit. Norihisa looked at it once more, then gave a nod. "Right, follow me. They won't give you much trouble if I'm with you."
They walked in, Norihisa wasting no time in locating the toy aisle for the first thing on the list. "They weren't very specific," Norihisa murmured, "Barbie doll could mean any of these."
"That says Barbie?" Takeshi squinted at the list. "That must be what Eri asked for, she wants to be a doctor so..." Takeshi looked at all the dolls until he saw one with black hair and doctor's accessories. "This one'll be perfect!" He grabbed it and put it in the shopping cart. As Takeshi asked him what was next, Norihisa couldn't help but look back at the dolls, then back at the list. Now, Norihisa doesn't know a lot about girls, but he's pretty sure it would be boring to have to share one doll. He put two more in the basket.
"Hyuga..." Takeshi spoke warily, "I do still have a budget. I need to make sure I get everything on the list before I buy extra stuff and-"
"Don't worry about it. The kid wants to be doctor, she might as well have fun before she has to hit the books for the next twenty years."
"But still the cost-" Norihisa cut him off with a look. Takeshi realized what the other leader was getting at. "Hyuga! You don't need to do that."
"I don't need to do anything. I do what I want. Now come on, that's only the first thing on the list."
**
The cart was practically filled to the top when the two of them were finished. From toys to art supplies and new pajamas or snacks the kids wanted to try, they got them all. Norihisa didn't hesitate to pay for everything, and realized that he hadn't even bought the damn things he came here for. He looked in the money envelope from Ukyo, and the only thing left in there was maybe lint and one coin. Oh well. He looked over at Takeshi, who had wide eyes at everything. "Hyuga..."
"If you talk about paying me back, I'm gonna punch you in the mouth." Norihisa said before Takeshi could continue. Norihisa wouldn't consider himself a scrooge by any means, but he's never really cared about Christmas. It comes and goes, and it's only fun for kids. At least that's what he believed until half an hour ago when he imagined the excitement on the kids' faces, which managed to be something that brought a small smile on his face.
For once, instead of considering this as a handout, he sees this more as doing a good thing. And it's weird, cause he doesn't like doing good things unless they're to protect the city or for his own entertainment (or for Daruma, of course. Especially anything for the Daruma Babies, but don't tell anyone that or it'll go to their head), yet he strangely enjoyed himself.
It took Norihisa getting back to the Daruma Temple for him to realize he's going soft. Did he mention that he didn't come alone? Yeah. Takeshi is still here, having trailed him on his dirt bike because Norihisa is not going to be wrapping all of these by himself. The temple was mostly empty, as surprisingly, most of the members of Daruma have families or places to be during the holiday season.
"Hyuga-san!" Clearly everyone except for the Daruma Babies. The four of them grinned as they ran up to their boss.
Norihisa raised an eyebrow, "Why are y'all still here? I let y'all take time off, it's not like anyone's coming to the casino much during the holidays."
"It's not like we're doin' anything better but being fuckin' cold." Agyo said, "And also Sakyo-san told us to watch the temple while he, Ukyo-san, and Kato-san left for a few days."
Raita spoke next. "Also, um. Hyuga-san, Ukyo-san told us that you had a money envelope with you? We were supposed to get the change and..." Raita trailed off as the Babies noticed the items and wrapping paper in the car. "There's no money left is there?"
"Oi! Who are you to tell me what I wanna do with my money?" Norihisa ignored that his ears were getting red as he continued. "Anyway, since you four are here, you're gonna help us wrap this stuff up." It seemed as if the Babies didn't realize that Takeshi was here until just now. The Rude Boy waved hesitantly.
"Hyuga-san!! What's he doin' here?!"
"These are his gifts. Or rather, gifts for the Nameless City kids. So unload all of this and wrap 'em up."
"But there's like a million!" Futa exclaimed, "And there's only six of us!"
"I can get extra help." Takeshi offered. "Besides, it's been good in Nameless City. We can afford to take a couple of hours off, at least some of us." Norihisa thought about it. Realistically, the answer should be no. Just one Rude Boy is too many at the Daruma Temple. They don't need to be here, R stays in Nameless City and D stays in the Tendo District.
So then why the hell did Norihisa give the okay to that and now why does he have not one but three rude boys in his temple wrapping up gifts with the Daruma Babies while Ungyo ordered food from Itokan fifteen minutes ago. What type of crossover event is this? What's next, Oya suddenly gets a new full-time leader and Rocky chooses to show up?
Even worse: Norihisa was having a great time. Yu had taught them all how to wrap gifts properly, and despite being very loud, he was good at that. P (yes that is apparently his real name) was getting along with the Babies easily, all of them trading stories about fights or funny moments. Takeshi was clearly the quieter of the three, only adding in when the other two stretched the truth. Norihisa did the same, but much more often than Takeshi had to considering Futa loves to make himself bigger than he actually is.
There was a knock on the temple, "Hyuga! You ordered a bunch of stuff from Itokan?" Norihisa squinted as he heard the voice. It's that little Chiharu kid. It really is a crossover event, then. Norihisa stood up and opened the door, Chiharu was holding about four bags worth of food. "Daruma party? I don't see any of the cars other than yours."
"It's a Christmas wrapping sesh!" P yelled far too loudly for Norihisa's liking.
Chiharu's eyes lit up when he heard the voice. "P?!"
"Hell yeah!" P jumped up and almost pushed Norihisa out of the way to see his apparent friend. The two of them grinned as he let Chiharu in.
Norihisa widened his eyes as someone was just casually let into his own temple. "Oi oi!" Norihisa called out, "I live here you know!" But he was clearly being ignored as Chiharu was filled in on the game plan, and the food was passed out. He and Takeshi both met eyes, and as Norihisa rolled his, he couldn't help but smile a bit.
Chiharu seemed to fit right in, all of them getting along as they wrapped up the gifts. In this moment, Norihisa strangely thought about Cobra. Was this what he wanted the alliance to be? Maybe they wouldn't always see eye-to-eye, but stuff like this isn't all bad.
"So what would you guys want for Christmas?" Chihary asked Rude. The three of them stopped and looked at each other. Takeshi chuckled and shook his head. "We um... we don't usually do Christmas. My mom'll cook soup but this is the first year we've had extra money to spend."
"But if you could, right? What would you want?" The three of them thought for a bit, and it was clear that none of them had ever thought about this.
"Oh!" P raised a hand. "I'd get Takeshi a real coat."
"This is a real coat, I bought it like six months ago!" Takeshi gestured towards his very not coat jacket.
Yu stared at him. "Takeshi, that's totally not a coat. You're gonna freeze to death the day you forget to layer it. Even Smoky always wore a coat." The room got quiet after Yu's mention of their late friend. Surprisingly though, it was Takeshi who laughed first.
"Smoky had the shivers and attachment issues to that thing," Takeshi joked, "I saw him sleep in it."
Chiharu widened his eyes. "No way."
"He did! And one time he almost kicked me off a building for trying to wash it! He only took it off to put new patches on it so we had to take it when he bathed!" The laughter returned, and the conversation continued as the Rude Boys said their hypothetical Christmas gifts. Norihisa glanced up to the ceiling for a bit. "I know you weren't worried about them, but the boys are doing just fine, Smoky."
**
It's late when the Rude Boy loaded up the wrapped gifts in their jeep, the Babies and Chiharu helping as they keep chatting with each other. Takeshi was standing next to Norihisa, with a seemingly proud look on his face. Norihisa looked over, "Not gonna help?"
"No," Takeshi shook his head, "they don't need my help. Not right now. You're not helping either."
"I don't even help them when they ask." They share a laugh, something that Norihisa from just a year ago would never even dream of doing. But a lot can change in a year, a lot of bad can happen. But so can a lot of good.
"Hey um, Hyuga? You've already done a lot, but we're gonna pass out the gifts Christmas day."
"I'll see what I can do. If not me," He gestured to the Babies, where Ungyo had just tripped over his own feet and took Chiharu down with him, "then I'll send one of them." Takeshi nodded as P and Yu called for him, saying everything has been loaded up well. Takeshi jumped down from the top of the stairs, Futa immediately saying they needed to learn parkour.
"Oi, Hyuga!" Norihisa glanced down, Yu had called out towards him. "Whaddya want for Christmas?"
Norihisa went quiet. He's never been asked this. Not by his father, or by his brothers that he hasn't seen in years. But it was being asked by a Rude Boy, and one he rarely even talked to. He looked away, "Don't worry about it, save your money."
"Who are you to tell us what to do with our money?" Takeshi shot back with a grin.
"Oi, I'll deck ya if ya talk to me like that, kid." Norihisa responded with no bite. "Y'all'll find somethin' to get me if you want, but don't worry about it. It's not like I could text ya anyway." Nobody from Nameless City had a phone, and he seriously doubts they know what a smartphone even is.
"Why would we need a phone when we can just find you?" P shrugged his shoulders, "We always know where you guys are, anyway." Norihisa ignored how creepy that sounded as the Rude Boys got in the jeep with Takeshi on his bike, giving half a wave as they disappeared into the night. Christmas was in a week, Norihisa doubts he'll be able to fit them into his "unbelievably busy" schedule.
Of course they're all outside of Nameless City by daybreak. This is the earliest Norihisa has ever woken up for anything, but he doesn't even feel tired. They leave their cars parked just out of the city, the five of them looking like pimped-out Santas. Some of the residents that are up this early as the snow began to fall look hesitantly at them, which makes sense considering the last time outsiders stepped in here, people were killed.
They were greeted by some newer Rude Boys who looked even younger than Yu. They jumped down from some of the buildings, looking them up and down. Norihisa spoke before they could. "Daruma Ikka. Where's Takeshi?"
"What do you want with our leader?"
"Kuma!" Takeshi called out, quickly running up. The younger Rude Boys quickly parted for their leader, whose ears were tinged red as snow fell into his hair. "Sorry about him, Hyuga. Kuma's got a short fuse." He looked to his friend, draping an arm around Kuma, "They're here to help. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't have all the gifts we have today."
"Ah..." Norihisa scratched the back of his neck, "Don't say it like that. It makes it sound bigger than it really is. Anyway, what we doin'?"
Takeshi grinned. "Come on, in our main building we got... a little carried away with the amount of decorations we ended up with." They followed him to the main building near the water tower that was being rebuilt. Agyo looked up at it. "Damn..."
"We're alright," Yu mentioned, "We still have clean water and water bottles. And the tower's almost done so we'll be back to usual soon. In here." The Daruma members were led into a large building, where there were some decorations, some new and others clearly handmade. There were some plastic tables with little bows on them, the presents all in a corner. And to add to all of this, Cobra was looking at them along with... Murayama?
"Finally convinced the snake to let you join Sannoh?" Norihisa asked as both men turned around.
Murayama smirked when he saw the man. "Hyuga-chan! I thought Rude had too much to drink when they said you guys bought the gifts."
"And that guy? In Sannoh?" Cobra pointed at Murayama, "I'll resign before I let him in. Chiharu mentioned the whole Christmas thing going on, so I thought maybe we could do some stuff too. Everyone else'll be getting here later. There's still decorations that Tetsu bought that you can help us put up."
So they do, with the Babies in charge of playing the music. They learned that Cobra and Takeshi could both sing, and neither of them could say more than three words in English. The others learned that Norihisa could speak perfect English, rapping along to a few songs.
The rest of the main Sannoh crew arrived later on in the morning, Yamato and the girl (Naomi?) bringing food with them. P grinned when he saw Chiharu again, and Yu went up to Tetsu and Dan. Yamato gave a nod towards Norihisa as he handed him a plate.
Takeshi spoke as they ate. "So the kids will be coming in and out throughout the day, hopefully most of them will come in an hour? We'll only need help then, but we'll be good after that if you all need to leave for any reason."
"I'll stay the whole time," Naomi offered, "I've been meaning to spend time with Lala anyway." Hyuga didn't comment, he'll leave when he wants to leave, and who knows when that'll be.
"I've got the day off, but Furuya and Seki want to trade our secret Santa gifts." Murayama mentioned, "Which was dumb cause there's only three of us. It's not very secret. I'll probably have to leave by three."
"Three?!" Takeshi looked surprised. "You're willing to stay that long?"
Murayama furrowed his eyebrows. "Well yeah. I said I'd come, so I'm gonna see this through the best I can. What? I've graduated now, slacking isn't something I'll be doing from now on. I may not be part of the alliance anymore, but I'll always show up for my friends. Let's be holly jolly and all that crap."
They all finish eating just in time for the kids to start arriving even earlier than Takeshi had said. They looked at all of the decorations, big eyed and grinning. Takeshi smiled along with them and waved. "Merry Christmas!!"
"Did Santa come?!" One of the boys asked, eyes already on the stack of presents. Another boy that looked to be a bit older pushed him lightly.
"You know that Santa doesn't come to Nameless City. They're probably empty and for decoration." That hurt Norihisa's heart a bit. These kids don't just not believe in Santa, they think he skips them on purpose. He didn't believe at their age either, but he's slowly learning that it's okay to pretend that some fat white guy comes and visits kids once a year. But for these kids, they're going to need a different approach.
"Look," Norihisa said a bit loudly in order to get all the kids attention. He stepped forward, "Santa may not have stopped by, but Daruma Ikka certainly did with the help of your big brothers here. Which I think is even better than some random guy showing up. So how about this year," he walked up to the gift pile and picked up the first one on top, "y'all enjoy Christmas morning the only way we do in S.W.O.R.D? Now who is Raizo?" Another little boy raised his hand shyly. Norihisa beckoned him forward, and the kid seemed a bit hesitant as he did. He handed Raizo the small box. "Merry Christmas, kid." The boy unwrapped it, his eyes sparkling as he saw what was inside. Out came some tiny action figures from some children's show, and he held them up towards his friends. He quickly bowed to Norihisa before running back to them. Now that the other children saw that the boxes were indeed full, the others barely had enough time to start grabbing boxes and calling out names before Norihisa got trampled.
The event was in full swing in no time, the adults constantly dividing their time between cleaning up wrapping paper, helping the kids assemble their toys, and making sure no kids hit any others with the objects (althought between you and Norihisa, he and Murayama were totally letting some kids get their hits in before pulling them apart). Norihisa went to the final two gifts in the pile, picking them both up. He read the name, a familiar one. "Eri?" He saw the little girl playing with her friends look up when her name was called. She walked up to Norihisa, giving him a small bow.
"Hi, Mister Daruma."
"'Mister Daruma?'" Norihisa muttered under his breath, "My name's Hyuga. You remember me?"
"Mhm!" She nodded. "You made the fireworks that helped save our home. And you were Smoky's friend, too, so of course I remember you." Smoky considered them friends? Hyuga looked down for a second, trying not to let his emotions show.
"I'm glad you remember me, kid. This one's for you." He handed her the bigger of the two gifts first. "And could you give this one to your brother, Takeshi?" Eri nodded, going to Takeshi and holding out the gift. Takeshi caught Norihisa's gaze before bending down and whispering to Eri, who quickly came back to Norihisa with the gift.
"He said 'Hyuga, don't be a bitch and give it to me yourself. And Eri, don't say bitch'." Norihisa burst into laughter. That damn kid's gonna get punched, seriously. He took the gift back from Eri and let her go open her own as he went to Takeshi himself.
"I thought you were supposed to be a good influence on these kids," he said as he came up to the fellow S.W.O.R.D leader, "so why did I just get called a bitch by an eight year old?"
"Firstly: I told her to never say it so it canceled out. Second: because not giving me it yourself is bitch behaviour. I would've had her call you a pussy."
"Don't piss me off."
"Then don't be a pussy."
Norihisa chuckled, "You're a handful. Here." He placed the gift in Takeshi's hands. "Merry Christmas." Takeshi gave a quick nod as he unwrapped the box. His eyes widened as he looked from the box to Norihisa and back again.
"I... Hyuga..."
It was a green coat with padding and large sleeves. Not unlike Smoky's, but not too similar. "Lala told me that Smoky put patches on his whenever important events happened in the Nameless City's life. When he met you, when the S.W.O.R.D alliance came to be, everything. I figured it was time for you to do the same as a leader-" Norihisa stopped himself when he noticed Takeshi all teary-eyed. He sighed, nudging him. "Aw come on, kid, don't cry on me."
"'M not crying, shut up." He wiped at his eyes quickly. "It's just dusty." He switched out his current jacket for the coat, smiling. "Take yours."
"My what..." Takeshi handed him a large brown box with a bow crudely drawn on it.
"We um- well we ran out of wrapping paper by the time your gift finished. Lala drew the bow." Norihisa was in disbelief. He had a gift. He wasn't expecting this at all. He was silent as he opened the box, and his heart seemed to swell the moment he did.
It was a daruma doll made in the image of the Daruma Ikka logo. It was clearly handmade, Norihisa could see the places where the brush stopped and started. It was mostly red with black accents around the nose and mouth, with white for the eyes, teeth, and some of the stripes. It was amazing. "Wh-Who did you guys get to make this?"
"P got us the materials, I made the mold and Yu painted it. Well, he painted everything but this part." Takeshi held it gently and turned the doll around. On the back was a patch that was coloured a slightly darker shade of red, with children's handwriting.
"I'm all healthy now! Thank you Mr. Daruma!" - Eri
"She really did love the fireworks. I just hope the next time she sees them is for a festival. We hope you like it."
"I more than like it, kid." Norihisa placed the doll back into its box as his voice sounded choked up.
"Hyuga...? I thought you said no crying."
"Yeah well," he looked away, "I ain't ever got a gift before. Dad didn't believe in it, neither did my brothers. Never really expect any of my boys to get me shit, not that I really need them to. So um... yeah." He quickly wiped at his eyes that were quickly overflowing. Takeshi lightly punched him.
"If you're that bad at the doll, you're gonna be a mess when you read the note." There's a note? "Read it when you get home. Save the sappy stuff for later, alright? For now, just enjoy the rest of the day. My mom's bringing soup soon and trust me, it's just as good as Itokan's."
And as Takeshi walked off to go harass his younger siblings, Norihisa looked up to the ceiling. For once he understands why people make friends, and for the first time in a long time without needing violence or money or alcohol, Hyuga Norihisa felt really fucking happy.
Hyuga. By the time you get this, I'll already be gone. I've written one of these for each of the remaining S.W.O.R.D leaders, and Takeshi will give you yours when the time is right. I know he doesn't understand what that means yet, but considering you're reading this, he must have realized it.
I don't have any last moment wishes, or a legacy for you to continue or anything like that. My close family is already doing that for me. I'm assuming you've protected S.W.O.R.D well, so I'm welcoming you into my extended family. The Daruma doll that always gets back up. I hope you've found happiness now, without revenge. Even moreso, I hope you've grown up a bit. We all needed to, but you and Murayama needed it the most. It was Cobra who made me realize that not everything can be solved by raising your fist and dumping bodies, and cutting yourself off from the world. Sometimes things can be solved by simply talking things out. Moreover, that friendships can be made that way, too. You don't need to consider us friends, but like I said, to me you're family. I am sad that I won't get to protect our home side by side with you anymore, but I don't regret what we did together, even if I was sick most of the time.
You're a good person, Hyuga. Don't lose yourself. In the next life, I hope the five of us can see each other again.