Chapter Text
Ichiban Kasuga was a fucking enigma.
Scruffy as all hell, dumber than a sack of bricks, but by far the most kindhearted man that Eric had ever met. It was suspicious at first, the way he had reached out to him, spoke from such an honest part of himself, and had shown so much care for a guy that had tried to rob him not three days prior. Surely there was some kind of catch.
Eric had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while now. The guy was probably just waiting for him to lower his guard so he could get revenge for the attempted mugging. Or maybe he was lulling Eric into a false sense of security so he could drag him back to Yamai - the thought of that made his fucking skin crawl. Eventually, the other shoe did drop, but in a way Eric hadn’t anticipated.
During a moment of weakness, Eric had spilled his guts about his sordid past, of the aching, vacuous void in his heart where a woman and unborn child once lived, robbed from him by an unjust system. Ichiban, as graceful as that god damn moron ever was, accepted him wholeheartedly. Eric almost couldn’t believe his ears when Ichiban assured him that he was not, in fact, a coward for not murdering the leader of the Barracudas when he had the chance in that little sliver of time before Yamai had taken him in. He certainly didn’t believe it when Ichiban asked Eric to tag along in their quest to find this “Akane-san” he kept prattling on about, convinced of Eric’s value as both a party member and as a human being.
He found himself puzzling over this even now as he sat on a park bench, waiting for the scruffy bastard to step out of the nearby convenience store. Sure enough, Ichiban came striding out with a plastic bag of goods at his side; Eric’s brow furrowed when he realized that that Kiryu guy wasn’t with him,
“Kiryu-san’s in the bathroom,” Ichiban chirped as he approached, as if reading his mind. He fished around the plastic bag until he produced a large black and orange can and handed it to Eric. The younger man examined it with vague suspicion, scrutinizing the unfamiliar label, “You mentioned you wanted to check out that new energy drink flavor, so I grabbed one for ya!”
Eric blinked once, then twice, then looked up at Ichiban like he’s grown a second head,
“You really remembered that?” he asked with genuine disbelief. Ichiban just beamed back as he slumped down onto the bench next to him. Eric shook his head as he cracked the can open with a satisfying ‘pop’. He took a sip of the saccharine carbonated beverage and sighed contentedly,
“This is good shit; you like mango? Here, you should try some.”
“Nah man, I’m good. Too rich for my blood, least as far as the caffeine content goes,” Ichiban chuckled as he twisted the top off of his own water bottle.
Eric just hummed in acknowledgment. The two were lulled into a companionable silence, people-watching pedestrians coming and going.
That was when it happened; a broad-shouldered man in a garish lime-colored shirt shoulder-checked a passing woman, knocking the purse slung over her arm onto the ground. He snatched it up in one fluid motion and bolted.
Ichiban was at his feet before the woman could start screaming, and it took Eric a second to even realize what had happened,
“Hey, Ichiban, wait!” he called as he scrambled to his feet. He caught sight of the back of that bushy fucker’s head as Ichiban chased the thief down a side street, hollering after the culprit to stop. Eric grumbled to himself as he tore off after; god damn, Ichiban could really move, and god damn, Ichiban was really willing to stick his neck out for a stranger.
Eric vaulted over a knocked over a trashcan and nearly tripped on some of the garbage that had fallen out of it as he kept running. Fuck, shit, where’d Ichiban go? There was a sharp cry of pain from behind a building to the west; Eric’s heart leapt into his throat. He turned sharply to the left, the rubber soles of his sandals skidding across pavement as he dashed over.
There were a hundred different things running through his head in that moment, a hundred little fears and criticisms as he drew close to the source of the noise. He should have been faster, more aware, should have caught Ichiban by the arm and stopped him. Eric owed that stupid lionhearted bastard a debt of gratitude he could never adequately repay, and he’d gone and let the guy land himself in a spot of trouble. If he got hurt because of Eric’s inaction, then, well- fuck, he couldn’t stomach the thought of it.
Thankfully, all of those fears died in his chest when he found himself damn-near crashing into a familiar red Hawaiian print shirt. Eric skidded to a stop just short of slamming into Ichiban, who was standing over an unconscious body clad in the damning lime-green shirt. The older man turned his head and beamed at Eric, raising his arm to show the purse clutched in his hand,
“Hey Tomi! Got that lady’s purse back- we should go track her down so we can hand it over.”
Eric just stared at the older man with slack-jawed astonishment. He sputtered momentarily, and Ichiban tilted his head quizzically to the side like a confused puppy. Did this guy even realize the danger he could have been in? He could be been maimed, stabbed, shot, left to bleed out behind some building because Ichiban was dead set on doing what he thought was right. The younger man found himself a little angry at the thought. He was too good of a man to go down like that, that much Eric was certain of despite the short time he’d known him,
“You alright, buddy?” Ichiban inquired, stepping towards Eric.
Eric just responded with a chuckle of disbelief, lightly patting the older man on the upper arm. His anger, just like his fear, fizzled out as he caught those wide brown eyes staring back at him, “All good here. Just, slow down next time.”
That didn’t seem to do a whole lot to alleviate Ichiban’s confusion, but he didn’t seem eager to press the issue either. The older man stepped past Eric, walking back towards the convenience store, and Eric couldn’t help but just stare at the man’s back.
Maybe Ichiban Kasuga wasn’t as complicated of a man as Eric had originally made him out to be. Maybe he really did have a heart as big as the ocean, and Eric was just finding himself a little out of his depth. One thing was for certain, though; he was going to have to pick up the pace. Eric realized with nervous trepidation that he much preferred the thought of being by his side rather than chasing his back.