Skyline (Marle Yagami AU)

take a break.

Fuck, he's tired. The events of the last two days have really begun weighing on him, heavy and hard on his shoulders, making him suddenly aware of all the aches and pains in his body, the pounding of his head. He ignores it. With all that's happening, he doesn't have time to dwell on it. He's got too much shit to do.

That being said, he's got too much shit to do to be dealing with this bullshit on top of it all, too. So despite being tired, and the aches and pains, he mows through Tesso and his men like nobody's business. Tesso falls to a knee at his feet, and the others scatter and vanish into the Injincho alleyways.

Yagami only feels a little bit like he's about to keel over, himself.

"Come on, man," he groans, trying to catch his breath, forcing himself to stay standing. "Who paid you to jump me?"

Tesso doesn't speak for a moment, taking a moment to catch his own breath. When he does speak, he doesn't answer the question.

"Some Kamurocho douchebags show up, walkin' around our city like they own it now..." he begins. "Then I hear some teacher chick got killed in a break-in at her own place..." Yagami's heart clenches, again. The image of her unmoving body flashes across his mind again, before shifting to Kaito bleeding on that bar's floor, stabbed by the same man. He quickly shuts both images out.

Tesso keeps going. "What's that about?!" he asks. "What the hell is going on in Injincho?! Huh?!"

Yagami opens his mouth to answer, but doesn't quite get the chance. Yokohama 99's elevator dings and opens, and only gets a cry of "Oyasaan!" as warning before Marle is throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. He grunts at the impact, sore and bruised from all the beating and fighting from the past couple of days, but returns the gesture. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he answers her — his default response of debatable truth — before responding to Tesso. "Listen, I can see why you're pissed. I get it. But I don't know why you're coming after me for it."

"You think I make office calls?" Tesso asks. "You'll— okay, wait. Hold up. Who's the girl? Saw her last time we threw hands, too."

"Daughter," Yagami deadpans.

"Daughter? You got a daughter?"

"Yes, I have a daughter," he sighs, putting a hand on Marle's head. Marle glances at Tesso nervously. "Now, what were you saying? I really don't..."

"Oh! Right, yeah, I was sayin' — you'll talk eventually, once I rough you up enough. You'll tell me what you know."

"You really gotta stop treating everyone like a gang member."

"Spill it, Yagami!" Tesso pulls himself up to his feet. Marle holds onto Yagami a little tighter. "What's this Kamurocho trash doin' on our streets?"

"I'm about as clueless as you, man! But I can tell you that I'm not your enemy. I knew the victim." He sighs. "Sawa-sensei. I was the first on the scene."

"I was there, too..." Marle chimes in softly. Yagami strokes her hair.

"The suspect is RK's leader," he continues. "A man named Soma."

"The hell?" Tesso asks. "So they needed all those guys just to ice one lady?"

"Apparently, they want Kuwana, the handyman. Know him?"

"Yeah, I do. But what do they want with him?"

Yagami sighs again. "I have no idea," he says. "I'm still trying to figure it out, which has got them hunting me, now. They even stabbed my partner."

Marle startles, jolting back so she can look up at Yagami's face. "He— stabbed? He stabbed Kaito...?"

Yagami nods. "He'll be okay..." he replies, trying his best not to worry, but mostly failing given the slight waver to his voice. He can see Kaito's blood so clearly in his mind, on the floor and on his hands and he waited for the ambulance to arrive. He feels a little sick. Shit. "He went to the hospital. They're taking care of him. It'll be okay."