Worth It {Ash x Eiji}

Changing

{ This chapter has quotes/situations from Banana Fish episode 2 and some gore! However... you all will be surprised where it ends up...}

" So... are we still friends? I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything..."

" Don't worry, Skip. I'm fine. Just... I was a little shocked at first, that's all." Eiji replied, taking a sip from the soda Ash's guys had brought him. He was sitting in a bar stool and resting his elbows on the counter, and Skip was right next to him.

" Yeah..." Skip chuckled somewhat. " I'd be scared if you thought this all is normal, cause it's really not."

Eiji thought back to his time in Japan, about his family. No guns or gangs were in Japan, and if they were, they were mainly in the big cities like Tokyo and smuggled in from the sea ports. He wondered if he would ever really feel safe again, not sure of much of anything anymore. Even the highschoolers in America were tangled up with that stuff.

Meanwhile, Ash was drinking a beer and beside Shorter.

" Hey... do you think you could keep watch up top?" He asked him quietly, and Shorter leaned closer as not to strain his ears. He knew when Ash kept his voice down that something was important.

" Do you think something's going on up there?" He asked, and Ash thought back to the note and everything else that had been going down recently.

" I'm not sure. I just have a bad feeling."

Shorter nodded and did as the other asked, heading out of the bar and up the stairs that led to the street. He would make laps around that little stretch of buildings to make sure nothing was fishy.

Ash slammed back his beer and swung himself over the counter casually, looking around underneath it. When he located his gun under some towels, he tucked it into his waistband and then circled back around. This had to have been something about those guys' threats, he thought to himself, about Dino wanting to take him again. Was it all because of the white powder? Or was he jealous of Eiji? Wait- what?! Why would he have even thought that?! Ash shook the thoughts away before he could drive himself mad, then leaned on the counter next to Skip.

" So... did you ever write that book report?" He asked the freshman, who looked down and to the side. " Figures."

" I got busy, okay?" Skip said.

" Do you not like English?" Eiji asked him, and Skip shook his head.

" I don't like To Kill A Mockingbird. It's boring and I'm never gonna use it. I'd rather have Ash be my teacher." Skip huffed.

" We've been over this. You're going to get out of here and go to higher school and live a nice cushy life somewhere safe." Ash told him, and Skip grumbled something to himself, not wanting to talk back to him and face his wrath.

" I can tutor you if you need it." Eiji offered. " The educational system in America is really easy compared to the one in my country."

Ash laughed to himself slightly. It had all come to him really easy after the education Dino forced on him. There was nothing at the high school level that he hadn't learned already, so he wasn't worried.

" He already has one."

Eiji glanced up to Ash, not having realized.

" Oh, you're his tutor?"

Ash waited for Eiji to doubt him, to question it, to act like he wasn't smart enough. After all, he was a common criminal and would often have things like that assumed of him. But it never happened. Once Eiji knew about who the tutor was, he didn't have any reservations, and that was a first of anyone who'd found out about it.