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As the bikers say, ‘If you can still hear your fears, drop a gear and disappear.’
One way to keep his demons at bay is to ride with them at 220 kilometers per hour down the freeway. Kawaki sped through, feeling his bike rev and roar beneath him. It’s exhilarating, and freeing. The wind rushed against him, his gear staving most, but not all, of the pain away. Kawaki leaned over the gas tank, revved, and dared to go faster.
The noise already drowned out the music in his helmet, but a ringtone came cutting through. A sweet and cute melody persisted until he clicked a button and answered it, all while his speed slowed.
“Bunny,” he greeted calmly as if he wasn’t going way over the speed limit. He kept it steady at 170 kilometers per hour while he spoke.
“Don’t Bunny me! Why are you riding at two-twenty?” He could hear the pout in her voice. “And without me ?”
Kawaki smirked. “I want to see you. How do you even know how fast I’m going?” He found it cute whenever she would worry when he got zoomies. But this time, he knew she was genuinely upset. It wasn’t like he was running at top speed, anyway.
“I could see it through the app. I’ll still be here. Slow down!” Sumire whined.
“Alright, alright.” But even as Kawaki shook his head, he only slowed to 150 kilometers per hour. “I’ll slow down when I see traffic ahead.”
“You’re impossible,” Sumire scoffed.
“I’ll get you food, too. Don’t worry about it.”
“You better!” She pouted, then added quietly before putting the call down, “Drive safe, I love you.”
Kawaki pressed a button on his helmet, his music coming back. Traffic started to build up ahead so he had no choice but to slow down, but still cut and weaved his way through the lanes. His bunny was hungry and waiting. He had to hurry.
Kawaki was so preoccupied with the call and thinking of what to get his girlfriend that he failed to notice the police caught him on a speed gun and recorded his plate.
—
“Damn this kid,” Officer Shisui said to his partner as he read the registration on the screen. “I know him.”
“Yeah?” His partner, Itachi, laughed. “Then we should go to his address?”
“He doesn’t live in this area, his girlfriend does.”
“How do you even know?”
“Because his girlfriend is Sarada’s best friend.” Shisui sighed loudly and massaged his temples. He dropped her off at her place a few times and he will never forget the black 1000cc motorcycle parked up front and the tall young man who barely wore any gear hopping right on before speeding away. “God, Kawaki. Not again.”
Itachi laughed. “When his plate says ‘Shadow’ you know he’s a runner.”
“He does more than just running.” Shisui caught him for slapping a side mirror off of a car on the freeway. But he let him go since his friends said he did that because the car was being an asshole and nearly bumped one of their buddies over. “I just can’t get him because his dad’s the fucking mayor.”
Itachi laughed. He rarely went out for a beat round these days, so seeing Shisui all riled up was fun. “My little brother’s friends sure are… interesting. You mean Naruto, right?”
“You say that like he has more than one friend,” Shisui grumbled. “Anyway, let’s just hang around in that area. We’ll see him again, I’m sure.”
"Wow, Shisui. I never thought you would have beef with a biker kid."
"Whatever. I'm just doing my job!"
-
The next day.
“Don’t fuck this up!” Himawari slapped Kawaki’s chest without any real force to it. “It’s your first anniversary and I can’t believe Sumi-chan is still with you.”
Kawaki rolled his eyes and held onto the bouquet a little closer to his chest. He really ought to shut up. He owed his little sister for helping him choose which flowers his girlfriend would like, after all.
So, he sucked it up. “Thank you, Hima.”
Himawari puffed her cheeks out for a bit, but it quickly turned into a grin. “Anything for Sumi-chan. You really can’t fuck this one up, okay?”
“Stop cursing, it doesn’t suit you.” Kawaki pushed the door of the flower shop open and waited for his sister to hop out.
“Yeah? Well, maybe you shouldn’t be influencing me too much. Besides, I noticed she also curses more now, too.”
Kawaki smirked. Sumire has always had an attitude but she has been in full swing since they officially got together. It’s been difficult to hold her back sometimes. For someone so small, you’d think she wouldn’t behave like she was over six feet. Picking fights and yelling at mean people—all while she looks cute in sundresses and sparkly makeup, no less.
“She doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to do,” Kawaki told his sister as he approached his bike, parked next to Himawari’s car. He put the bouquet on the seat as he put his gloves on.
“Careful on that, too.” Himawari hated to sound like their parents, but Kawaki knew she just said that because she cared. “You know, you could go to therapy instead. Like a normal person.”
Kawaki scoffed and put on his helmet. He took the bouquet in one hand and hopped on the bike. “This is all the therapy I need.” He reached over to Himawari and messed up her hair. “Thanks, Hima. I’ll behave… today .” He meant on the road, of course. Because there was no way these flowers would last if he went as fast as he did the previous day.
He’s used to getting a lot of stares on the road, since his bike is loud and he’s always clad in all black. It was usually tolerable. The kids rolling down their windows to say hi or get a fist bump were some of his favorite moments. As scary as he looked, he never turned down a kid who wanted to rev his bike. But the girls who tried to get his number were annoying. It wasn’t so bad when Sumire was backpacking him because he then had to deal with her getting handsy during stoplights instead and it was enough of a sign for everyone else to fuck off.
Even while going the speed limit, the bouquet was losing more than just petals and leaves. Kawaki slowed down, but it was hard to keep his pace and ensure the flowers were intact. At a stop light, he opened his jacket, stuffed the bouquet inside, then tried to zip it up. But it was too big, and the flowers were partly obstructing his view. He gave up on that and removed his backpack instead. He stuffed it in, stems first, with the flowers sticking out, then zipped it as far as it would hold. But he knew this was also risky. He just had to pray—and he never prayed, but for his Bunny, he would—that the flowers would survive well enough to make her happy.
Kawaki wore his backpack right and drove forward, just as the stoplight turned green. He took a turn, unaware of the cop car pulling out of a parking lot, coming in right behind him.
“Shisui, look at that. Not every day you see a tough guy with flowers for his girl.” Itachi smiled a small smile, trying to tease his partner.
Shisui looked up from his phone. For a moment, he smiled and put his phone up to take a photo. It was truly a sight to behold. A biker clad in all black gear, in a big black bike, a backpack full of bright yellow, pink, and purple flowers. It was something his niece would want to see, then laugh and say, “Imagine Kawaki doing that.” Then, it clicked , and so did the shutter of his phone camera. Shisui looked at the plate. He slammed on the button for the lights and the siren.
He did it so fast that Itachi jumped. “Shisui!”
But Shisui already had the window drawn down, head poked out as he yelled, “Kawaki!”
The biker looked over his shoulder. With his black helmet and visor drawn down, he gave nothing away.
Shisui expected he would run, but he pulled over.
At the curb, the lights were still on, but the siren was off. Shisui slammed his door closed as he marched towards Kawaki.
Kawaki got off his bike and turned his visor up, but didn’t remove his helmet. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to, because Shisui began lecturing him about catching him speeding the other day. The only thing visible were his gray eyes, pierced brows, dark hair, and face tattoo poking out of his balaclava.
“Are you even listening to me?!” Shisui yelled.
“I can hear you from the other street, Uncle Shisui!” Sarada called from her car. She pulled over next to them. “Kawaki, what did you do this time?”
Kawaki rolled his eyes. If Sarada was here, then that meant…
“Kawaki!” Sumire hopped out of Sarada’s car. Her tiny fists were balled next to her and she marched towards him. “You were speeding again, weren’t you?”
“No, not today, Bunny,” Kawaki told the truth.
She harrumphed and crossed her arms across her chest. She looked to Shisui for an explanation. “Was he speeding today?”
“Well… no.” Shisui looked away, ashamed.
“Huh, then why did you pull him over?!” Sumire yelled. “Stop being mean to my boyfriend just because he rides a bike!”
Shisui flinched, despite Sumire being more than a head shorter than him. “But I did catch him speeding yesterday.”
Sumire gasped. Heat bloomed on her cheeks and she looked away. She knew this was true, but she decided to shut up.
“Alright, alright. Let’s stop this, children.” Itachi finally got out of the car to break it up.
“Uncle Itachi, what are you doing here?” Sarada finally got out of her car.
“Just joining Shisui for some fieldwork. I missed it,” He explained.
Kawaki ignored the cops and Sarada, then turned to face his girlfriend. He removed his backpack and showed her the flowers poking out. “Got you something.”
Her eyes instantly widened, a smile painting her cheeks. “Oh my gosh! You got me flowers?”
“It’s our first anniversary. Of course, I did.”
Although his voice remained aloof, it didn’t bother Sumire at all. She removed the bouquet from his backpack and gently held it to her chest. She looked up at him and brushed a stray lock of hair away from his eyes. “Happy Anniversary. I love it!”
You couldn’t see it from behind the helmet, but Kawaki smiled.
Getting pulled over by the cops was worth it. The bouquet lived and his Bunny was happy.
Before Itachi and Shisui could turn around and arrest Kawaki, he was already on his bike, revving to go. “See you at your place, be there in five.” He winked at Sumire. "I got more plans for you."
She giggled like a love-struck teenager as she clutched the flowers closer to her small frame. “See you. Speed safe.” She winked back.
“Hey—Hey wait!” Shisui ran towards Kawaki, but he was off, dashing away on his bike with a loud sound that made Itachi and Sarada jump, but Sumire was shaking with laughter.
“Oh god,” she whispered to herself. “He’s so hot.” And she couldn't wait to get home.
Fin.