Nothing is Broken

Chapter 1

There are serious content warnings that I will put at the beginning of chapters that need them

"Hey Keiji, we got sum'on up front, can yeh get it?" He looked up towards Q-Taro.

"Huh? Why can't you? I'm in the middle of a lesson?"

"So am I- but it's Ranger."

"Oh boy..." Keiji scratched his neck, then turned to Sara. "I'll be right back. Can you give Ranmaru and Joe some words of advice, or something?" She nodded firmly.

"I got it. We'll be fine." She turned back to the boys and marched towards them. Keiji sighed and smiled to himself. He would hate to be them. He quickly shuffled around the corner to the front area, not really paying attention.

"Hello, how can I help you..." he was met with a smiling face. A face you could tell was almost always smiling with the crinkles embedded into it. They wore small golden glasses... And something inside Keiji just thought... wow, this was a gorgeous guy. But he snapped himself out of it, realizing how weird it was to be attracted to a customer. Not to mention a much older guy. Then he looked up and the kid on his shoulders. He was a typical scratched-up kid, with dirt-covered legs and slightly grassy jeans... and they were wearing an orange cape and hoodie with cat ears, along with matching gloves and slippers. Keiji smiled up at him. "Hey there, Kiddo."

"I'm not a Kid, meow! I'm Gin Ibushi! He/him." He chuckled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Gin."

"Very good with remembering pronouns in your introduction!" The older man spoke for the first time with a surprisingly smooth voice.

"Thanks, woof! So are we gonna get started now?"

"Why, of course!" The man smiled at Keiji again. "My name is Kazumi Mishima. Also he/him."

"Keiji Shinogi." Almost instantly he kicked himself. He wasn't supposed to just introduce himself to customers like that. It just sort of came out.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Shinogi."

"L-likewise."

"We are here today in search of self defense classes for Gin."

"They aren't for self defense, meow! It's to go hunting, woof!!" Keiji smiled along with Mr. Mishima.

"Ah, of course."

"Well, you've come to the right place. We do exactly that, teaching right from scratch. And we don't really have to go through all that legal stuff like the usuals do."

"Excellent! I did research this place before hand, so I'm glad to hear it straight from you!" Keiji smiled as his heart seemed to skip a beat. He kicked himself again. Mishima meant from an employee, not him in particular.

"Glad to hear it." He slowly let Gin down from his back, and almost instantly, Gin ran up to the translucent window to stare at the figures of Joe, Sara, and Ranmaru.

"If I could just confirm with you before we jump into this..." he looked back at Mishima.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Basic lessons are 250, right?"

"Right."

"Uncle Mishima!!" Gin turned and ran up right into him.

"Woah! What's wrong!"

"You can't do that, meow! It's too expensive, woof!"

"Oh Gin, I already told you, this is my gift to you. You needn't worry about your home financial situation."

"Yeah, but you're a teacher woof! Don't you barely get paid or something, meow?" Mishima awkwardly laughed and glanced at Keiji who was watching with interest.

"No no, I'm alright Gin. I promise."

"But 200 dollars! I could buy the whole family Mew-Chan's with that, meow!"

"Is that what you'd rather do?"

"Well... no..." Gin looked at the ground as his leg twirled around.

"I promise it's ok Gin."

"Uh- if you don't mind me interrupting-" they both looked up at Keiji. He swallowed but smiled awkwardly. "We do have a special program to assist with finances. We already have a couple of students using it..." He glanced over at Joe through the glass, obviously goofing around.

"Oh, no it's really alright." Mishima stood up straight.

"No, uncle Mishima!! Mr. Desk guy!! Is that true, woof?"

"Yep. Of course, if you aren't his legal guardian I need to see government verification for welfare and so forth from his guardians." Mishima sighs then smiles

"I suppose that sounds alright. Thank you, Mr. Shinogi."

"Yay!! Thank you so much karate guy, meow!"

"Ah, I don't do karate. But, no problem."

"So, what do we need to come back with exactly?"

"Well, for one, even without the program, I'm gonna need legal guardian permission, then like I said, all we need is welfare verification, if there is any that is - and health records. If there isn't welfare the process gets more complicated but we can still look at options."

"Alright! We should get that easily! You'll be seeing us again then!" He nodded politely towards Keiji and Gin rushed forward to push the door back open.

"Ah- hold on!" They both stopped.

"Yes?"

"Oh uh... I was just gonna suggest... I can get him unofficially signed up if you're interested. Especially since the paperwork can take a long time and the new class just started a few days ago... so if you want, I can schedule him right now for the first few lessons, completely free as long as you bring back parental confirmation."

"You can do that?" Mishima looked skeptical. Keiji hesitated. Technically, no, he couldn't. Not just because of how recent he was to the place, but just because they can't not get paid, and if the government wasn't backing it up yet, they couldn't afford it... but that only meant Keiji's paycheck would be inconsistent for a week or two, which he was willing to take. Somehow this man and his adorable little nephew had stolen his heart already.

"Of course. I got you." Mishima hesitated for a second, looking down at Gin's huge grin. Then he mimicked it and walked back up to Keiji.

"Then let's look at the papers, shall we?"