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“You must be truly desperate,” Endo drawled with barely concealed glee within his voice, “to come to me for help.”
Sakura can’t be bothered to snarl at the other man as he would have, in any other circumstances. Or maybe he should have. Endo always took particular interest in getting a reaction, any reaction out of him. It’s a strange little game that they play, ever since that night on the school grounds of Furin.
As far as every member of Bofurin and the residents of Makochi knew, Bofurin had won in their clash against the Noroshis and all the groups that came with them, and the harbingers of chaos had retreated, this time perhaps for good.
Sakura and Umemiya knew better. It was more like a deal with the devil, really. Except the devil, or devils , in question have some very particular keen interest in them respectively. It was a bizarre moment, him and Endo practically crawling on the ground, seeing which one of them can get up first and take the other out, bruises all over their body and face, with blood all over them, both their own and the other’s.
He knew he was running on fumes, kept going only by a desire to perhaps shut Endo up forever. Preferably with his fists, but at that point biting works just as well, if he could just get to the bastard.
But then he suddenly registered someone picking him up off the ground and started whispering things to him, telling him to calm down.
It took him a few moments to realize that it was Umemiya who had picked him up. The Bofurin commander looked worse for wear, perhaps almost as bad as Sakura think he himself looked, but his presence there meant-
“Oh, Takiishi~” He heard Endo’s aggravating voice called in an almost sing-song tone. “Did you have fun?”
Sakura looked over to see Endo shakily getting back to his feet to greet a red-haired guy, who must have been Takiishi. Which only confused him further, because he registered at some point that Umemiya was fighting the Takiishi guy on the rooftop. How come are they both there now?
“...we came to an agreement.” Umemiya said in a clipped tone. Sakura could sense the unhappiness underlying his words, and it’s weird to see Umemiya look so… furious.
Meanwhile, glancing at the Takiishi guy, his face was passive, almost without a hint of emotion, but what caught Sakura’s attention was his eyes. Laser-focused on Umemiya even as Endo was yapping about something beside him.
“...and the kid is really interesting too.” He overheard Endo say, looking at him specifically in a way that made him feel like he had a breakout of hives all over him.
Takiishi glanced at him, and for some reason, the fact that he did at all was enough to make Endo grin like the madman he is, and the fact it lingered for some time before his attention was back on Umemiya made Endo breaks out in gleeful laughter while he felt Umemiya’s hold on him tightening.
He almost flinched when Takiishi suddenly punched Endo in the face, the shock being a little overwhelmed by the moment of glee at seeing Endo eating shit, but the bastard had got back up, the grin still firmly on his face.
“We had a deal.” Umemiya suddenly said, voice harsher than Sakura ever remembered.
“...aww, without consulting me?” Endo asked. Takiishi went for another punch, but this time Endo blocked it with his arm.
Sakura couldn’t really tell, between the dark and the distance, but he’s pretty sure that Takiishi was frowning because of that action.
“I want in, too.” Endo said, and Sakura swore that he heard Umemiya snarl right beside him. “We both know that the one actually giving out the words would be me.”
He wondered what he was missing, because the conversation didn’t make sense to him at all.
Takiishi was still frowning, but he retracted his fist and stood silently once more, looking at Umemiya… and him.
“Just one condition.” Endo said, lifting up his finger. “When you come, I want Sakura to come as well.”
“No.” Umemiya had practically growled, and Sakura had enough.
“What the hell are you all talking about?!” Sakura exclaimed angrily. “Don’t fucking talk like I’m not here!”
“Well, going by your Commander’s reaction, I pretty much confirmed it.” Endo replied with a grin. “A regular fight in exchange for leaving Makochi alone, right?”
Umemiya’s silence was all that Sakura needed to know.
Endo told him himself that the only reason for all of this was to give Takiishi a chance to fight Umemiya. At some point Umemiya must have figured that out too and offered.
Now, Endo wanted the same out of Sakura as his condition of leaving Makochi alone. It’s not quite the previous offer he was given, but it’s close enough that Sakura instinctually wanted to lash out but-
“How can I trust you to keep your word?” Sakura snarled.
Endo smirked. “Just ask your commander.”
Umemiya scowled. “As much as it pains me, they never go back on a deal once made.”
In the end, Sakura’s choice was obvious.
Umemiya wasn’t happy with it, and he’s pretty sure after a while a few people began to suspect that their little “bonding trips” were something else entirely, but nobody had called them out for it yet.
As for what actually happened-
He wasn’t sure what exactly Umemiya and Takiishi did, really, but he suspected it’s not that different from what he and Endo did: Beating the shit out of each other until one of them or neither of them can move, usually the latter.
A neutral, anonymous, and secluded warehouse was their meeting place, and none of them had flaked on the deal once. It’s the weirdest part of his life, going to some dingy warehouse every few weeks to fight against a crazy bastard who for some reason seemed to take some particular interest in him. Sakura, on his part, derived some dark pleasure from whenever he got to bash the bastard’s face in.
(It’s strangely relaxing. He got to vent out every bit of his frustration and annoyances on someone he didn’t feel bad in the slightest to beat the lights out of if he can, it kept him sharp whenever things started to feel like it’s falling into a lull, and he thinks a part of him just simply enjoyed the mindless stake-free violence. He didn't give that part of him any other time of the day...much)
None of them had flaked on it… until now.
Because Makochi and Bofurin were in chaos, and Umemiya, along with dozens of others were on a hospital bed while Sakura himself was just recovered enough to walk without feeling like he’s gonna collapse anytime he took a step.
Because Makochi, under Bofurin’s protection, had flourished. Had become a place where stores opened without too much worry about random fights breaking out in the middle of the street unless said fight was a Furin student driving away would-be troublemakers. Because in the years that Umemiya had united Furin and turned Makochi into a safer place, certain people noticed that it had stopped becoming a fertile ground for recruitment into their ranks and instead had become a bounty to be taken.
And those people had struck. And unlike with the Noroshis, they’re all older than them, bringing weapons with them, and weren’t quite as courteous to give them any notice in advance that they were coming.
They had survived the first attack, barely so even with Shishitoren and Roppo Ichiza’s help. Sakura knew they wouldn’t survive a second one.
He’s not stupid. No matter how many allies they have, it wouldn’t really matter because they have no leverage whatsoever. They had no way to play their enemy’s games, none of them had any real connection in that world.
But Sakura remembered, and he knew someone who did have that connection. Someone that can play that game.
Which brought him to that dingy warehouse, wounds just beginning to heal, a simmering anger within him, screaming at him to destroy all those who had hurt his friends, his family. His mind flashes with images of Umemiya lying unconscious on the hospital bed, Kotoha barely able to make anything because someone had broken her right arm, Tsubaki crying alone when they thought no one could see, flinching at sudden touches. And Nirei and Suo had fallen in front of his eyes. He had failed again to protect his friends.
If Umemiya-senpai was awake, he would have stopped him. If Hiragi-senpai wasn’t drowning in trying to keep some semblance of normalcy together, he would have stopped him. If Kaji-senpai wasn’t nursing a broken jaw, unable to speak at all, he would have stopped him. If Sugishita wasn’t keeping by Umemiya’s side without sleep for days, he would have stopped him. If Nirei and Suo weren't just regaining their consciousness, too tender to do anything but the gentlest of actions, they... they wouldn’t have stopped him.
(It's a terrifying thing, the realization that Nirei and Suo would probably follow him to the end of the Earth if he had just asked them to. Which is why he would never.)
Kotoha had noticed. Of course she did. But all she could say was “please don’t”. He had faltered, but one look at the bruise on her face, still healing, and her arm, broken, and his fury came back in full force. And he had walked past her, ignoring her sobs behind him.
Because all his life, Sakura never had anything that he could truly call his own. Until Furin. Until slowly, he gained things that he looked at and thought, “mine ”.
He had never thought of himself as possessive. Now he knew he just never had anything to be possessive about. Now he knew that when someone came and tried to take the things he considered his away from him, his whole being screamed for blood.
And so, there he was, facing Endo and Takiishi.
They must have known, those fuckers. But he also knew that they had nothing to do with what had happened in Makochi. Neither of them cared about money or power, just the simple thrill of their obsessions. They’re the devils he knew.
“Well, truthfully, they’ve been making problems around our territories too, and Takiishi isn’t… pleased about what happened with Umemiya.” Endo said, once he figured that he wouldn’t get a rise out of Sakura with his teasing. “And I just happen to know a few people that can be… persuaded to take advantage of their distraction with Makochi.”
Of course he do. He still remembered Endo talking about blackmailing what could only be some yakuza boss like it’s something easy, something that he would do on a whim. Everything that he had come to know about Endo after that night only further reinforced that belief.
“But I can see it in your eyes.” Endo approached him, leaning forward so their faces almost touched. “You want blood . You want to crush them with your own two hands and make them beg for mercy.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Takiishi looking at them, at him.
“Just say it,” Endo whispered. “And I will take you there.”
(They never go back on a deal once made)
“What do you want from me, in exchange?” He asked.
“A blazing fire. Dye the sky red with your flames, your leaves with your enemy’s blood.”
(The devil offered its hand to him, a wicked smile on its face.
“Your body.”
“Your soul.”
“Your everything.”
And Sakura took its hand into his own.
A deal)
On the corner of his eyes, he could see Takiishi smiles.