Beige Hearts

twenty three - XXIII

 I dabbed alcohol on the back of Takashis head harshly. "How'd you manage that again" he hissed in pain and chuckled "Got in a fight with some Tenjiku guys. They're pretty strong" I clicked my tongue in response "Maybe you should use your sewing skills to sew that hole in the back of your head back to how it was before. If the brain cells for still exist that is" I eyed the wound. 

Now don't mistake my rudeness for being on the edge, I was really worried actually. The wound wasn't just a scratch, it was pretty big and it looked rough. If I had to guess, I'd say he hit his head against a stone. Which brings the next worry, stones are damn dirty and you don't want dirt in your blood, not at all. It can cause blood poisoning and you can die from that. That's why cleaning the wound properly is important. How do I know that much? I took a first aid class since Takashi didn't have anyone else to help him with injuries. I was sure I cleaned the wound as properly as possible but I was still quite anxious. What if I didn't clean it good enough? He was worrying me and I wanted to punch him for it.

"Did they hit you with a rock?" I asked. "Nah, with a brick" I smacked the top of his head - I made sure to slap far away from the injury - "How can you say that so casually? You were hit with a brick and you say it as if the topic is actually us talking about how nice and sunny it is" he laughed at my statement "Don't laugh, I mean it. That's a really bad injury, you can be happy that I happened to walk past you or you'd be still on that sidewalk, dying from blood loss"

"Yeah yeah miss doctor, I get it. Won't happen again" he brushed it off jokingly. I rolled my eyes and continued working on the injury "Stupid" he laughed. "What do you plan to do for today?" I asked to fill the silence "Hopefully sleep and don't move" he chuckled at me "Then I'll be like you for once" I smacked his shoulder in faux offense. "How did you even get in a fight with... Temnjiku? Tenjiku?" I could see how his shoulders trembled as he laughed silently "Tenjiku and I don't really know how I got in a fight with them. To be honest, they just saw me, knew who I am and started a fight" 

"Well did you win?" the silence was enough answer. I sighed as I finished bandaging his head wound. "There all done" I said. "Thanks! I'm going to sleep now, see you tomorrow then" he got up from the floor and just plopped down on his bed, leaving me to go or not. I left his room and quickly washed my bloody hands before his sisters could potentially see them. As suspected, as soon as I left the bathroom, there was a little Mana in front of me. "Can you play with us? Where is Taka-chan? Can he play?" she asked. I crouched down to her. 

"Sorry, I was actually just about to leave. Takashi is in his room, do me the favor and don't disturb him in his sleep okay?" I patted her hair and she nodded. "Okay, bye bye" "Bye bye Mana, tell your sis I said bye too okay?" "Will do!" I smiled "Good job" then I got up and put my jacket on. We exchanged a 'bye bye' one more time before I left.

My phone rung and I answered the call. "Hello?" "Hey (Y/n), is it okay with you if we go visit Shinchiros grave first? I forgot to tell you that the time we planned to go there is overlapping with when we wanted to meet" "No problem at all, we didn't plan to go anywhere specifically anyway" I brushed it off "But Mikey is going with us, is that okay?" "Still okay" I chuckled. "Okay, see you then" "Yup" I smiled and waited for her to hang up. She didn't.

"Are you going to hang up?" "I'm waiting for you to hang up" "But I'm waiting for you to do it" we laughed at the same time. "Well I wont be the one to hang up first" "Me neither" "Let's hang up together then" I chuckled. "Alright" "One, two, three, go" still no one hung up. "You've been holding that phone to your ear for at least 1 minute and I didn't hear anything from the other side and you didn't talk either. Can't you hang up?" I heard Mikey faintly complain in the background.  "No I can't" Emma retorted, taking the the a bit away from her ear and they started bickering. I buried my hand in the pocket of my jacket with a smile so it wouldn't get even colder.

'-'

"Emma!" I greeted her. "(Y/n)!" she hugged me and hooked her arm in mine. "We can go Mikey" she told her brother. "The graveyard isn't that far away so we'll walk" he explained and we accepted it. Not like he could've driven three people on his motorcycle anyway. I remember that I recalled how we met back then and felt really thankful to Takashi for introducing me to his friends that I first assumed to be over energetic, idiotic little children, but had he not introduced me, I wouldn't have met Emma. Maybe if he decided to listen to my pleading of wanting to go somewhere else, instead of dragging me along to his friends, maybe then I would've been better off though. 

We didn't walk long until we reached the graveyard. I was at Shinchiros grave a few times before, accompanying Emma so I knew where it was. Emma told me her brother was pretty well known, though I've never actually seen someone other than family members pray at the grave. There stood two people in Tomans black uniform and one in a red one. Or better, a scarred blonde in Toman uniform was grabbing the collar of a white haired boy in a red uniform, threatening to punch him. Takemichi and the other blonde both had bruises all over their face and plasters covering probably at least half of it. They must've been attacked too, just like Takashi.

"That's enough Inupi-kun!" Mikey yelled and stepped forward. The scarred blonde let go of the white haired male upon command of his boss. "Huh, what's going on?" Emma asked, peering out behind her brother. "Mikey-kun!" Takemichi exclaimed. "Visiting your grave with your beloved sister and a friend? Wow" the white haired one wavered a bit as he took his steps, making his hair sway.

"Takemitchy, take the two away" Mikey commanded and Hinatas boyfriend quickly hurried to bring us away from the fighting scene that was about to unfold. A little later we were standing near a park. Silently. "That guy is my third brother isn't he? Izana" Emma finally filled the silence. Takemichi didn't answer. "So.. is there going to be a fight?" she asked. "Probably" I mumbled. From all the years I've accompanied Takashi and also saw him beat up people, this was mostly the point where a fight broke out. "Maybe.." Takemichi said.

After another moment of silence she spoke up again "Do boys do nothing but fight each other? Captain of the Tokyo Manji gang. The 'Undefeatable Mikey'.. Mikey shows nothing but strengh in front of everyone. Even when his brother died. Even when Baji died. No matter what, Mikey will never show weakness. Not to anyone" Takemichi nodded "Yeah... you're right"

"But in reality, up until now he still can't sleep without his dirty old towel" she closed her eyes and smiled. "He's nothing but a weak boy. So are you and me, so is also (Y/n). So whenever there is trouble, I'll help Mikey no matter what. Just how Mikey always does" she opened her eyes and looked at the boy. "That was cool of me wasn't it?" she grinned "Hey (Y/n) that was cool right?" I hummed in agreement "Yeah that was really cool" she giggled "Wanna drink anything?" she hinted towards the venting machine on the other side of the road.

"Sure" Takemichi agreed "I'll get something to drink too" I agreed

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dang

(1406 Words)