Banana Fish short stories | ✔

Bodyguard

His green eyes might have looked like they were concentrated outside the window, looking at the routes and cars being blurred together, but in truth, he was looking at the reflection of teenage boy seating across him. The boy was looking through his phone with some of his unruly black curls falling over his dark eyes. He made the tiniest turn so he was watching him from the corner of his bright, jade eyes while the boy obliviously stared down with a slight smile stretching.

The bus stopped and finally, a seated boy looked up. He shot up from his seat alarmed and shuffled to exit hurriedly as if he was a high schooler who just woke up and noticed he was late for his exams.

"Follow and protect him from distance." that was his order. Nothing more, nothing less. But he knew the camera he left behind was very precious to him. He saw him using it or looking through it countless times in the last month he spent by his side. He sighed and jerked its strap on his way out. 

   "Hey!" he called loudly as he hurried towards a figure walking away. The boy turned to face him. Seeing his camera at arms of a stranger he grimaced and started walking back, slowly as if he's walking towards his execution. Ash just came feet away from him when he noticed a black van speeding behind. In a split second, he grabbed his arm and pulled him away, just in time as the van drove at the place they were only moments earlier.  The black van came out of nowhere and disappeared before they even get up properly, but in the split-second, he saw the driver and he knew. This was no accident.

   "What the...?" he looked over to the teenage Asian boy who was staring after the van breathlessly. "Are you ok?" He blinked and looked over to the blond boy "Yeah, I'm good..." he muttered. 

   "I'll explain later but for now, you should come with me for now Eiji." The boy jerked back "How do you know my name?" The only response he got was a long, drawn-out sigh, as if the the question brought him great annoyance.

   "Who are you?" Eiji asked suspiciously, but with demanding edge to his voice.

Ash raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed as he simoly answered "Your bodyguard." 

Eiji gasped "My dad hired you, didn't he?" The blond bodyguard onlz nodded. "Yeah, now hurry up before they decide to come back." They ran down the street and hid at the dark alleyway just as van appeared again. "Get down and wait 'till I come back. Don't go anywhere no matter what and scream if something happens." he creeped out of the allay and silently went over to the parked van. 

Eiji waited next to the smelly dumpster, he was shaking and his heart was beating very loudly. Again, he felt so helpless as he waited for the bodyguard he didn't even know he had. He didn't even know his name yet he was worried about the blond boy. He looked so young, maybe barely 18 and he was getting caught up into the mess of his family. Into his mess because he can't control it and he can't even protect himself. So he ran away. From the mess, from the trouble, from his past, even from his family and he thought he'll be fine on his own. But even moving to another country wasn't enough to live a peaceful life obviously. 

Eiji jumped up as his bodyguard came back to allay with hurried steps. "Come on, we're going back." Eiji looked over his shoulder wearily.

   "But they-" Ash cut him off with sharp look in his eyes "-Won't be a problem, i dealt with them." 

Eiji kept silent as they roamed through the streets, he followed the blond boy as the realization hit him "What's your name?" Green-eyes shifted to him for a moment before they turned to the road again. Eiji pressed again "We're gonna be together from now on, so i need a name to call you," 

 The boy rolled his eyes and answered "Ash Lynx,"