Chapter Text
Sae knew from an early age that the only way to survive was to become a shadow on the wall. He walked with his head down, hands in his pockets and if he saw someone doing something they shouldn’t… he didn’t see it.
People had to be responsible for themselves nothing good ever came from playing the hero. When he was young he had know a few people with bleeding hearts, they all went in different ways but death was death no matter the circumstances.
His fringe hung just to the top of his eyes and he covered his mouth and nose with a thick mask to avoid the smoke and fumes that covered the streets of the underground. People at the top had air filters on every street and dense gardens of trees while factory fumes drifted down and accumulated in overcrowded streets.
Nothing was guaranteed down there. Every so often someone with money would pay for someone to disappear, when that happened you just had to go on like normal if you made an issue out of it you could very well be going with them.
Sae knew the rules and he followed them obsessively, ever since his parents died he was the only person left to care for his younger brother and he was determined to keep him alive and well. There was only a year between the brother and Sae worked till his fingers bled to give Rin a better life. That was how he found himself in the middle of some less than legal activities.
Sae had always been a fast learner with a steady hand so when a man who knew his parent, Leonardo Luna offered to teach him medicine he jumped at the opportunity. He worked under him as an apprentice for three years until he was finally deemed ready to man the clinic on his own and earn his own money.
On the nights they were both there they would work in complete silence side by side to patch up whichever dying man had been dragged in that night. It was obvious from the dress and weapon’s of most of his patients that they weren’t the most moral bunch but Lina had taught him early on not to question things. It might put him in danger after all if he found out something he shouldn’t.
On one night Sae had been busy setting up the clinic hoping for a quiet night. Night was creeping past the edges of rusting buildings slowly opening the window of time that his usual patients operated in.
His brother knew that he helped out with clinic but he didn’t know about the types of people he took on. At one point in time Sae had felt ashamed saving the lives of killers but as the tears dragged on he became numb to anything outside of his own survival. They paid him well enough to support Rin and that was all that mattered.
He didn’t actually know what Rin got up to most nights since Sae left the house in the evening, came back at down and slept through the day. He assumed that he either slept or went out with friends. He had a whole little gang of boys around their ages who did who knows what together.
When he first started going out Sae worried that he would find trouble but it seemed like his warning had stuck enough in Rin’s head to keep him from doing anything too stupid. Though he would never admit it his brothers friend had started to grow on him a little though he could only handle them in small doses. Sae had no idea how his brother could deal with such a loud bunch for so many hours each day.
Just as he was clearing the plastic sheet from the makeshift medical table the door swung open bringing in a flurry of chaos. A whole group of men all dressed in black charged into the room dragging a young man covered in blood in behind them.
He couldn’t see their faces but he could sense their desperation. One man hand a gun to his head demanding his to treat their friend. Sae stayed calm and fixed the man with a bored look as one of the other men wrestled the gun away from his before quickly apologising to Sae for his friend behaviour.
Sae had grown used to being threatened over the years so he didn’t really care, his heart continued with its usual steady rhythm. He pulled on a pair of deep blue gloves and stood over the young man to examine his injuries. The man was covered head to toe in black but there were bloody holes in the fabric over his abdomen.
Bullets that had gone in but not come out the other side. Sae would have to remove any shrapnel before he could stitch the man up. The biggest worry was blood loss but Sae had treated worse injuries hundreds of times before so he was confident in his abilities.
The others circled around watching over his shoulder as he worked, it was annoying but he had the feeling that they wouldn’t listen to him if he told them to get lost. The whole procedure only took around half an hour and by the time he tied off the last stitch the young man had passed out from exhaustion.
He instructed the others to be incredibly careful while carrying them as he shooed them out, after all the night was only young and he had to get ready for his next patient. One of the man shoved a handful of cash into his hand as he made his way out.
Sae sighed deeply as he cleaned himself up shoving the money deep into his pocket. Compared to that fiasco the rest of the night was relatively quiet and for once Sae was actually able to pack up on time when the sun rose. He rubbed at his eyes as he locked the door behind him pulling a dark hoodie over his head as he set off into the early morning.
The city came alive at night so the only people around on a morning were those desperate to avoid any trouble, it was the time Sae felt the most safe walking alone without a weapon.
Sae and Rin lived in an old apartment block that probably hadn’t past any safety standards since it was built who knows how many decades ago. The lights flickered and the water only worked at certain times of day but they lived on a high floor and no one yet had bothered to rob them.
Some people from the underground, those who involved themselves in criminal gangs and violence were occasionally able to move up in the world and claim unimaginable wealth and power but for Sae that wasn’t even a pipe dream. He was content with the little life he had built for himself.
He knew that Rin had greater ambitions but as long as he had a say in it the younger would stay far away from those people, Sae had dealt with enough of them at work to know that they were bad news. Outside of his building he saw a man laid out on the side of the road pale and surrounded by blood, he had been dead for hours but no one had yet come to clear him away.
It struck Sae as being odd. While seeing a body was no rarity seeing one that had been in the open for hours didn’t happen often. The streets were run by gangs and many of them had set territories that existed under their rules. Usually their men dealt with the bodies.
Every person that lived in a gangs territory had to pay them a little money for their so called protection. It wasn’t an option, if somebody couldn’t pay they would be declared free game for anybody looking to work out a bit of frustration.
Sae always made sure that he had the right amount of money to pay them off whenever they came round but it had been Rin who dealt with them first the last couple of years since they usually and at night while Sae was out working. If this man hadn’t been cleared up yet then that meant it was being left as a message. God knows what the message was but as long as it didn’t get in sae’s way he really didn’t care.
once Sae arrived back at their dingy apartment he kicked off his shoes and made a beeline to his bedroom. His cat patches greeted him at the door purring. Sae had saved patches when he was a kitten starving on the side of the road.
Rin always claimed that the cat was evil and out to get him but Sae just figured that he wasn’t a cat person, patches was the sweetest cat he had ever met he even curled up with him to sleep.
Much to Sae’s relief and Rin’s displeasure patches early starvation didn’t seem to affect his growth in face patches was over a foot long and covered in fluff. Rin said he was feeding on souls to grow so large but it was probably just the breed.
in the way to his bedroom he ran into Rin who seemed to be hunched over and limping. Sae froze “you ok?” Rin looked up at him with wide eyes before nodding “yea yea I just fell early when I was out” Sae just hummed and shut himself away in his room too tired to argue.
A few minutes later he heard the door creek open as his brother snuck out, presumably to see one of his friends. When the door opened Sae could hear patches hissing, Rin must have been tormenting him again. If he really was injured there was no treason why he wouldn’t go to Sae after all he was a professional at that point so he decided to save his question till he came home.
He managed to get a few hours of shut eye before being rudely awoken by loud knocking on his door. Patches pawed at his face to wake him up softly mewing in his ear Sae groaned and dragged himself out of bed waiting a moment for the darkness in his vision to subside. He drifted through the apartment half asleep to unlock the door.
“Hey Rin Rin you better after last night?” The strangers greeting was cut if when he got a look at sae’s unimpressed face. “Oh shit it’s you… i mean.. sorry it’s usually Rin who answers the door” Sae just hummed. He didn’t recognise the man who had spoken or the one who stood next to him.
The man who had spoken was tall and well built with blonde pink tipped hair. The other was also tall but a little leaner with blue tipped hair and a sharp grin. “What do you want?” Asked Sae still feeling his bed call out to him. The other man stepped forward seemingly a little frazzled like this interaction hadn’t gone like he’d planned “you can call me Kaiser and him Shidou” he said motioning to the first man “we’re here to collect our payment” Sae nodded and stepped out of the way to let the pair in, gang members then.
It seemed odd to Sae that they decided to come during the day but he guessed that they must have just had a busy night or Rin hadn’t been home during an earlier visit.
“So” started Kaiser “where is your brother there’s something we need to talk to him about” Sae gave him a flat look “there’s nothing you can discuss with my brother that you cant discuss with me” Shidou laughed under his breath and whispered something to the other but didn’t disagree.
He led the pair to the old beat up sofa while he went to get their money. The sum was the same every time, he knelt on the floor by his bed and counted out the right amount from the savings box he kept full with payment money. Shidou seemed a little halfhearted when he accepted the money which struck Sae as odd, what was even weirder was that they didn’t immediately take their leave.
“so why is it you gracing us with your presence today instead of your brother” Sae narrowed his eyes at the digging “You usually come at night while I’m at work and it’s morning now so…” he met them fill in the blanks.
Kaiser hummed “working hard” Sae just shrugged “why are you so interested, Ive given you your money… Rin hasn’t done something had he?” The pair just chuckled “no not at all” Kaiser said in an attempt to placate him “your in our territory is it so crazy that we want to check on the people under our jurisdiction”
Sae raised his eyebrows, that was bullshit and they all knew it. Patches seemed to sense the lie too since the cat raised its hackles and hissed at the pair from his spot behind sae’s legs. Patches curled his way around sae’s legs as if to protect him, it was a sweet gesture from a sweet cat
“Why are you still here” Shidou sighed heavily “we’re waiting for your brother to get back, do you know where’s he’s gone?”
Sae scowled, he didn’t want his brother anywhere near these people, he would have to ask about his investigation with them when he got home. “I don’t know when he’s getting back and I would appreciate it if you left… I have work tonight see and I need to rest”
The pair look frustrated but they nodded respectfully and stood back up. Sae watched them to the door glaring daggers at their backs. Every so often one of them would throw a curious look over their shoulder but they let Sae lock them out with no issue.
Sae huffed, there was definitely something he wasn’t being told. It was annoying he’d never wanted Rin to have to deal with them in the first place but he had little choice due to timings though after that interaction he was sure that he would much rather deal with them so Rin could be left out if it.
Rin was only 18 it wasn’t his responsibility to deal with criminals. Sae was only 19 himself but he was the older brother which meant it was his job to deal with these things.
He was so tired that thoughts about his visitors didn’t haunt him for long he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow patches curled up on his chest. He really did need his rest, Luna had gotten word that something big might happen the coming night so they both had to be ready and aware at the clinic when the sun went down.
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Rin let out a sigh of relief as he vacated the apartment he had gotten out even after Sae’s evil cat tried to block the door with its great mass it even tried to bite his ankles as he pushed past.
The cat may have successfully brain washed Sae but Rin was no fool, the cat had been sent from hell specifically to torture him. It was the only explanation as to why it was so unpleasant. He was sure that his brothers work would run late giving him time to leave before he came back but instead he was caught red handed.
He got lucky, if Sae hadn’t been so exhausted he might have pushed more with his questions about his injury. If Sae ever found out that he was the one he has treated the night before there would be hell to pay. First Sae would skin him alive then torture him mentally by giving him a never ending lecture about the danger of gangs.
Well he did that anyway but Rin was sure it would be way worse to listen to without any skin.
He hadn’t meant to get injured, he was always as careful as possible to avoid injury and if he ever did need medical attention he went to Luna instead. The only reason he’d gone to Sae last night was because he was loosing blood far too fast to find another doctor.
He always knew that his brother was content enough with his life but Rin couldn’t help lamenting the fact that he could be so much more. Luna had said it himself Sae had some serious skills as a doctor, he could even one day work in a real hospital up in the top where he wouldn’t have to work all night for little pay.
The only thing holding him back was his fear of getting involved with the powerful people with connections. Rin had no such qualms. As soon as he got the chance Luna got him in touch with the gangs that ran the underground to get him a job. Of Sae refused to push to get a better future for himself then Rin would do it for them.
Even on Luna’s recommendation he started low down but over time he proved his worth until he was moved up into one of the inner circles. The underground was run by all sorts of teens and young people to Rin fit right in. He hated that he couldn’t tell Sae the truth but he knew he would flip if he ever found out.
Rin made a decent amount of money on his position but he couldn’t use it or Sae would get suspicious, all he could do was save it up to hopefully get him and Sae a better life someday. Sure Sae would be mad at first but Rin was sure that once they moved up to the better place he would calm down quick… at least he hoped that was the case.
Rin spent the next few hours wandering the streets with Isagi and Bachira collecting new info from their sources. They had to move slow since Rin’s injury was still fresh but Sae’s was skilled with a needle and thread and the stitches held strong.
He hadn’t got on with the other two much at the start but they weren’t so bad once he got used to them. Isagi was incredibly analytical and he seemed to adapt to challenges mid fight, Bachira was the other hand seemed completely crazy but he was a monster in a fight.
That night there was a big fight planned with a smaller gang that was getting too confident with invading their territory. Since there was a higher risk of injury both Sae and Luna would be at the clinic, that was good it meant that if things went south Luna would be able to protect his brother.
Sae had done so much for the two of them over the years that Rin was desperate to return the favour. After so much training Rin grew tall and strong while Sae had hardly grown in his teenage years. Rin always felt guilty when he noticed the difference between them after all the reason Sae hadn’t grown was because he had missed countless meals as a child to make sure Rin could eat.
Just as he was chatting with Isagi about tactics for the gang war Shidou rounded the corner and ran up to them. Rin scowled at the sight of the cockroach. “What do you want Shidou?” The older boy grinned widely. “Me and Kaiser went to look for you earlier today but we met that famous brother of yours instead”
Rin scowled at him but Shidou just laughed “you know he’s cute, I almost decided to shoot my shot if you know what I mean” Rin grimaced “don’t be disgusting” Shidou just grinned again. “Anyway we had to say we were there for payment so he wouldn’t be suspicious so I’ll give you this back” he pressed a stack of bills into his hand.
Sae believed that Rin always dealt with the protection payment to the gang but in reality they hadn’t paid them a penny for years ever since Rin started working for them. He hated that Sae gave up his hard earned money so easily but he guessed it made sense. It wasn’t a good idea to argued with people who had guns in their pockets.
Rin accepted the money then told Shidou to fuck off. He had enough pressing issues without having to think about Shidou’s perversions. The sun was sliding down the sky and soon enough night would descend and it would be time to fight.
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Sae groaned as his alarm rang out on his dark room. Patches tried to hold him down by outing his full weight on his chest to make him go back to sleep but Sae just rolled him off. He stretched and quickly dressed in plain clothes pulling his mask over his face before venturing out into the late evening.
He walked quickly scanning the street as he walked to make sure no one got too close. It was odd really, usually the streets came alive at this time but instead people were clearing things up and boarding up their windows. It must have had something to do with the upcoming conflict Luna warned him about.
He walked through the quiet alley to the shadowy corner of the underground that held the clinic. Luna greeted him as he opened the door already preparing two separate operation tables. It wasn’t often he did that he must have been expecting a greater number of casualties than normal.
“What are we expecting?” Sae asked as he pulled on a long white coat. “Gun and knife wounds mainly so be ready for a lot of bullet removals and stitches” Sae nodded “we’re expecting quite a few people so we have to work to churn people out as fast as we can ok” Sae nodded exasperatedly “I know the drill” Luna chuckled “I know you do, your my little successor”
Sae scoffed “I hope your not planning to die too soon, there’s no way I can run this place every single night” Luna laughed “hopefully I’m not going anywhere, unless you know something I don’t?” Sae shook his head and busied himself with unpacking some bandages.
“oh by the way my brother seemed to be injured when I saw him earlier, do you know anything about that?” Luna looked a little sheepish as he shook his head. “He didn’t come to me with anything” Sae just nodded and turned back to his work.
He focused on the steady beat of his heart through his ribs. He was confident with his work but on night when they expected thing to be busy he couldn’t shake of the adrenaline that seeped through his blood.
The night was young and the streets surrounding the clinic were completely silent, it felt like the calm before a storm. He could only hope that Rin and his friends would make it back home before everything kicked off. He didn’t know what he would do if Rin accidentally got dragged into some stupid gang war over territory or resources.
While they waited Sae thought back to when he was eleven years old. His parents had died only a few weeks before and Luna had only just taken him on as an apprentice.
He pricked himself so much with needles and scalpels that he still has a myriad of scars crisscrossing over his hands. It was a time when Sae was still sensitive to the idea of mortality and he would cry whenever he and Luna couldn’t save a patient.
It didn’t take long for him to become used to the idea of death but back then Luna would have to take hours each night to comfort him. He was always patient even though Sae knew that he didn’t really understand why Sae was so upset, Luna never seemed to care about death at all if it wasn’t someone he knew so he couldn’t understand why sae would get so emotional over strangers.
It had been a long time since those days, now Sae was pretty much ready for anything that stumbled in, weather it be bullet wounds or missing limbs he treated it all with the same detached coldness. Sae was pulled out of his thought when the first patient of what would turn out to be a very long night stumbled in clutching at his arm.