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Yusuke was about to shut down for the night, when his doorbell rung.
He was running a small apothecary out of Yongen-Jaya, just a stone's throw away from Hornung Café, and was about to politely tell the person that he was closing up for the evening, only to be shocked when he saw a familiar young man standing at the doorway. His hair was soaking wet, and Yusuke noticed bruising on his body.
His voice was croaky.
"Kitagawa… Help…"
"Sakura-kun?" Yusuke asked, and immediately opened the door, "come in, I'll bring you to the exam room,"
The 'exam room' was normally where Sakura would try Yusuke's 'unique concotions', but tonight, it would be actually used to help the young man recover from whatever had happened to him. Yusuke quickly realised upon moving Sakura to better light that what Yusuke had thought was water was actually blood, it dripping down Sakura's face and onto his clothing.
Yusuke quickly placed a cold towel through the young man's hair and face. He could see light cuts, but it was clear they were deep. He sighed, he would need to get a needle and some thread to stitch this up.
He'd managed to dig out some thread and did a hasty job of stitching the wounds closed, finding some bandages to put on them mostly to hide his rush job. He frowned, and sat the young man up, who still looked incredibly shocked.
"Do you want some water?"
Sakura nodded, and Yusuke poured him a cup of water. After he gave Sakura the water, he quickly texted Sakura's legal guardian - Akira Kurusu, the aforementioned owner of Hornung.
Yusuke: Your ward is here
Akira: i was wondering where he was
Akira: everything okay?
Yusuke: He looks very injured. I can see why he came to me first and didn't go straight to Hornung
Akira: yeah, 'cause i wouldve gotten him to go to you immediately
Akira: how bad is it doc?
Yusuke: Not a formal doctor, but I believe this will suffice
Yusuke: I'll ask him what happened. Is that okay?
Akira: fine by me
"So, your guardian knows you're here," Yusuke said, "do you want to tell me what happened?"
Sakura frowned.
"Well, uh…" He sighed.
"Was it to do with that Kamoshida person?"
Sakura nodded.
"Yes," He bit his bottom lip, "My friend, Sadayo, and I were having lunch together and he… He took offense to that. Decided that he and his friends would 'teach me a lesson' for 'hanging around his girl',"
Yusuke frowned.
"They sound like thugs,"
Sakura sighed.
"They are thugs," he continued, "one of them had a knife on them. I don't remember what happened - just knife wounds everywhere. Sadayo helped me onto the train, but she had to go to work, and I really didn't want the Boss to know that I'd been getting into scrapes…"
Yusuke smiled, weakly.
"Well, it wasn't like you were getting into fights on purpose," he said, "I think Akira would understand what you were doing,"
Sakura nodded.
"You felt like the only person I could go to…"
"Well, that's no problem." Yusuke responded, "I'm glad to know you feel safe around me,"
When, a few months later, Sakura showed up at Yusuke's apothecary with a young woman with dark blue hair wearing gothic clothes, Yusuke would understand that Sakura wasn't the only one who had decided he was safe.