Josuke.
That's all Keicho could seem to talk about.
Josuke and his supposed "stand".
He hated it. Okuyasu couldn't stand those same words that would repeat through his ears over and over. "We're going to have to take care of Josuke Higashikata...".
The name wore bruises into his skin, and scars into Keicho's heart. And it began to bore a hole into his heart. Keicho would have outbursts, fits of rage, shaking and trembling to the point he couldn't stand.
Josuke was Keicho's worst nightmare at this point.
"He's gonna stop us from fulfilling the plan Oku....he defeated Angelo just today."
Okuyasu had to go along with him at that point. He nodded his head as Keicho would go on about his plan to finally end their father's life, and how they needed to eliminate Josuke as soon as possible. He never even met the guy, yet both the Nijimura brothers now were in the midst of conceiving him as the enemy.
It was nonsense. But Keicho's slaps to the face and his kicks and punches day in and night told him otherwise. He had no choice but to comply.
It was for the greater good for the two...right?
Keicho was doing this for the two of them...he knew best.
Okuyasu was better than to believe such a thing at this point. All he saw in Keicho was a withering husk of the boy he used to be, with a thirst for their father's blood. It disgusted Okuyasu, and terrified him. Keicho could at any minute, snap and bring all hell on Okuyasu.
There was one thing that kept Keicho from snapping. The Hand, a name he had given his stand after soon emerging himself in its power.
His "stand" was his only reason for standing here healthy and alive at this point. He knew all too well that Keicho feared his stand, and could do nothing to him with his stand, "Worse Company".
Okuyasu clearly remembered the first time his stand emerged, an army of green flashing before his eyes, right as he pulled out his stand in defense.
Keicho had lost it that day, firing bullets at his little brother, as Okuyasu desperately used the hand to scrape away the flying bullets that were aimed for his face. At that moment, Okuyasu stood over his big brother in complete and utter dominance, shaking and panting for breath.
Keicho stopped using his stand after that day....
"Okuyasu, dad's scraping up the fucking floor boards again! Come help me get ahold of this little shit!"
Okuyasu glanced up from his spot atop the window sill, placing a worn and torn hard cover down next to him. He bit his lip and slid off the window sill, and adjusting his bright lime and plum belts. Strutting in a very irritated mood, Okuyasu swung his door open and clambered down the hall.
Turning into the room containing their beast of a father, he stared at Keicho, a frustrated glance spread upon his features, as he pinned down the blubbering green mass to the floor.
"Don't just stand there," Keicho scowled, gesturing Okuyasu to grab the chains attached to their father's neck. Keicho pushed his palm deeper into his father's head, making it weep and groan in fear.
Cold clammy hands grabbed the chains, Okuyasu yanking at them, choking his dad.
"Keep doing that, I gotta cover up the marks the bastard made on the floor," Keicho grumbled, releasing his grip on the sobbing blob, and marching out of the room.
Spouting out blubbers of nonsense, their father's milky lifeless eyes met Okuyasu's. Gripping tighter to the chain. Okuyasu frowned back at the creature. "Don't look at me like that, pops..." he murmured, breaking eye contact and staring off at the boarded up window in the background.
It responded in a litany of sobs, moving about, the chains beneath him shifting. Okuyasu tugged at the chains, making pitiful eye contact once again.
"Please don't keep making this hard for me to do...Keicho's gonna rough me up if I don't shut you up."
As if in an unrecognizable understanding, his father stopped wobbling about, plopping down onto his behind, little grunts and mumbles fading away.
Okuyasu stiffened up and felt his grip on the chains loosen. Why was now any different? He had tried to communicate with him for years...yet now he obeyed.
Shaking his head, Okuyasu brushed off the sudden sickening feeling of connection between him and his once human father.
Slowly taking a seat next to the blubbering creature, Okuyasu glanced down at his feet, the dull green shininess of his shoes looking back up at him.
He felt far from content. Sitting with his father in silence, knowing conversation or any sort of bond was long gone. The only thing that stuck to these walls like the decaying paint and wood, was a greedy and broken man hidden away in the skin of a blubbery green mass of depression.
"Shit!" He heard Keicho growl from the other room over. Shifting his attention to the door, Okuyasu watched as Keicho clambered into the room, his palms clutched into shaking fists, his face pale and twisted in anger.
"What now..." Okuyasu snapped, hoisting himself up and staring bullets into Keicho's eyes.
"Someone's getting cocky..." Keicho growled.
"Well excuse me for having the right to be irritated with what I piece of shi-."
Keicho bounded forward, shoving Okuyasu aside.
"Not you, you nimrod!" Keicho groaned, pointing a finger at the window. "Take a look!".
Rolling his eyes, Okuyasu pushed passed Keicho and peered through the holes in boards of wood nailed to the frame.
With his heart in his mouth, Okuyasu stumbled back, his breath quickening.
A block away from their wreck of a home, we're two figures, one pointing straight in the direction of the window Okuyasu peered from.
Okuyasu darted back to Keicho, his body shaking. "Shit, I think they saw us!"
Tugging at Okuyasu by the collar of his navy blue school uniform, Keicho began to shake as well. "Do something about it!"
Contorting his face in confusion, Okuyasu grabbed back at Keicho's hand, pulling him in closer. "Why me, huh?".
Keicho's palm flew to Okuyasu's cheek, leaving a fading red mark on his face. Wriggling free of his grip, Okuyasu shoved Keicho away and trudged out the door, fully aware of Keicho's dominance in that very moment.
At the end of the hall, Okuyasu pounded down the stairs, running to the door, and abruptly stopping at the handle.
What the fuck was he supposed to do? He couldn't just make two strangers disappear like that! People would notice, and the trail would be uncovered. Grasping a shaky hand to the door knob, Okuyasu cracked the door barely, staring out into the open. The two figures had come closer, just feet away from the front gate.
Shoulders shaking, knees ready to give out, Okuyasu took in as much air as he could, and blew out a nervous breath. Slowly pushing out at the door, he slipped outside, gently closing the door.
Okuyasu looked around in desperation. A place to hide, he needed a place to hide.
Just as his sight landed upon the front yards's corner, just next to the gate, he saw the glint of purple hair in the sunlight.
His heart dropped as he scurried as silently and quickly as possible to the yard's corner, away from the sight of the two trespassers.
That hair, that purple like pompadour, he'd be damned.
Those same sparkling ocean eyes made his heart jump through his chest, his lungs collapsing, his face turning red.
Excitement and sorrow hit him like a train.
It was that glamorous boy again, the one he had met in the street just weeks ago. Those same glossy facial features, those full lips, his uniform matching with that purple hair-do.
Getting ahold of himself, his heart began to slow its beat. What were the odds he had to get rid of the very boy that had recently plagued his thoughts.
A sudden noise of recognition from the purple haired boy made Okuyasu flinch. Looking down, Okuyasu noticed his foot sticking into the line view of the front gate, in the sight of the two boys.
In a moment of desperation, Okuyasu swung his hand out, swinging the gate closed, catching something in its wake.
He heard muffled chokes, and Okuyasu turned his head to meet the eyes of a white haired boy, whose head was being crushed against the gate. He couldn't let go, he couldn't prompt himself to stop at the whimpers and gasps for breath from the small boy.
There was no going back now....
———————————-
So...this was Josuke Higashikata?
The boy with the ability to heal. The ability to heal him after their face to face battle. It may have been in the heat of the moment, Josuke demanding information on "Worse Company" in exchange for treatment to his wounds, Okuyasu thought he'd truly turned into a different person at that moment. Okuyasu had said nothing of his brother's stand....yet he healed his wounds nonetheless.
An irritating numskull to this...this sudden picture of pure beauty.
"I'm gonna go in there again, so don't get in my way Okuyasu..."
His thoughts faded away one by one, as he watched Josuke walk back to the steps of the porch, the door in front of them still flung wide open, that same trail of blood running down the steps and into the hall of the house. He turned his head to meet Okuyasu's eyes for a final time"Koichi doesn't have much time!"
He could only stare there in utter silence, as Josuke entered the path to his possible doom.
The ability to spare him in such sudden empathy, and stare down at him in a different way than Okuyasu could have ever anticipated. Those same blue eyes drowned Okuyasu's words, jumbling them up in his mouth.
His senses grabbed ahold of him, and he jumped forward, racing to the door, just behind Josuke.
"Hey wait a minute!" Okuyasu protested, Josuke stopping just at the front of the door. Flinching in surprise, Josuke slowly turned his attention back to Josuke.
"Why, Josuke? Why did you treat my wounds?"
Waving an irritated hand at Okuyasu, Josuke turned back to the door, studying the darkness of the hall, bracing for worse company to appear at any moment. "Shut up, I'll tell you later," he snapped.
Confusion. Okuyasu felt himself spin into utter confusion.
"I might attack you! I'm your enemy!" Okuyasu scowled, pointing a shaky finger at the purple haired boy.
Eyeing Okuyasu carefully, Josuke glared daggers back at him. "You want a piece of me?" He growled.
Nonsense, Josuke was spewing utter nonsense. He could have killed him there, but why? Why him....why was he still alive?
"After I hear your answer! Why did you treat my wounds?! I'm not very smart, so you're gonna have to tell me!"
In the midst of his blubbering, Okuyasu pointed at the wound on Josuke's hand, eying it suspiciously. "And that wound on your hand! You got that when you were pulling me outside, didn't you?"
He couldn't stop talking at this point. His head was pounding, his heart racing, and his mind spinning in thousands of thoughts.
Why, Josuke? Why these decisions?
"I wanna know why you went through all that to save me!"
Puffing out a gentle sigh, Josuke faced back to the edge of the door. "There's no deep reason," he simply responded. "There's no reason he needs to die; that's what I thought back there."
And with that, he entered the darkness of the hall, the blackness swallowing him whole.
Shaking. He couldn't stop himself from shaking. No, there had to be more going through Josuke's head than that. Why? Why did Josuke take pity on him in that very moment.
Maybe it was because he was pathetic. Just as his brother thought of him
Incompetent. That's what he heard. In the end, he could have expected those words to come out of his mouth sooner or later. Keicho would snap sooner or later in the end.
But in its own cruel way....it hurt more than the blood gushing from his face as he had laid there in a gathering mess of red horror. Keicho, his only family, his big brother, finally snapped. He knew Keicho couldn't take it anymore. The last bits of his former self were far far gone.
Only he was on the top, and Okuyasu no longer could be held as family in Keicho's heart.
He had his final chance to prove his worth and be Keicho's little brother once again. Okuyasu heard him loud and clear. He was incompetent. That was why as he felt consciousness trickle away at his senses, he saw Keicho stare in utter disgust, not even flinching.
And soon enough, those ocean blue eyes were in his gaze once again when he regained consciousness.
That Josuke was one hell of an idiot. He could have had the upper hand over him, but he chose not to. Why? Just why?
Okuyasu could only follow those blue eyes into the darkness of his home, up the creaky stairs, to Josuke's doom.
"I still have more questions, Josuke!"Okuyasu hissed, causing Josuke to flinch, a single bead of sweat sticking to his brow. He turned around to meet his gaze once again. His face contorted into a scowl. "What's your problem?!" He snapped. "I'm begging you, just let me save Koichi-."
Okuyasu couldn't listen. He just couldn't. That one simple answer in his head pleaded him for answers. "
Okuyasu eyed the wound on his hand. Why?!" Okuyasu shouted. "Why don't you use your Stand's powers to fix your own hand?! You should just fix it up like you did with my face."
Josuke's eyes shifted in mood. Okuyasu couldn't read his thoughts as the two stood there in a short silence.
"My Crazy Diamond can't repair my own wounds."
The thoughts, the trembling of his body, they all came to a stop as Okuyasu stared up at Josuke in utter awe.
None of his power, was to his benefit....
He went headfirst into the battle knowing full well that Okuyasu could kill him. And in the end...he fixed his wounds keeping that very fact in his mind.
"It just means life isn't that easy," Josuke sighed, as if he could read Okuyasu's face and mind like it was nothing. "And, more than anything, I have no way of saving people who've already died."
He could say nothing under that gaze of his. He could say nothing against those words.
Pointing a finger at him, Josuke continued. "Let me just say one thing, Okuyasu. If Koichi dies, I don't know what I'm gonna do to your brother. So don't hold it against me. It was your brother who caused all this trouble."
He should have protested, he should have stood up for Keicho. He was his only family for fuck's sake.
But his words were only forced down deeper into his throat. Josuke was far from wrong.
That was all Keicho's fault. The agony and the insanity that reeked in this house, was all Keicho's fault.
"You got that? If you do, stay outside!"
Those final words lingered in the air, as Josuke turned back up to the stairs and proceeded to climb them once again.
He watched as he cleared the final steps, and stand at the door in front of him.
Okuyasu's heart stopped, and he felt himself tear up the stairs.
That bastard was going to get himself killed! If Koichi was in that room, Josuke was as sure as dead. Before Josuke could trek any farther into that dark empty room Okuyasu desperately summoned The Hand and reached for his neck, grabbing a hold of him tight.
"Okuyasu, you bastard!" Josuke screamed.
Josuke stared at him in utter rage and in shock. "Josuke!" Okuyasu yelled back to him, his voice shaking. Summoning the strength in his right hand, Okuyasu sliced through the air, scraping up the distance between Josuke and Koichi.
In less than a second, the space between the two closed, and Koichi was right at Josuke's knees, his eyes still misty and white.
Josuke only stood there in silence as Okuyasu let go of him, and took a step back.
"Because I'm stupid, I just act on what's in my heart."
Okuyasu faced away from Josuke, his fists clenched and sweat dripping down his neck. This was for him. This was for Josuke's attempt at an answer. In a way, he felt as if he had given himself closure at that moment.
Josuke acted on his heart in that moment. So would Okuyasu.
"Just once, just this once, I'll repay my debt to you. I won't do anything else. I won't help out my brother, or do anything to you, either. This is it."
He felt as if his knees could give away at any moment. He did what he needed to, and that was it.
Leaving the room, Okuyasu slowly headed for the stairs.
Okuyasu could feel Josuke crack a small smile, and stare at him again with those blue eyes once again. "That's just great, Okuyasu."
He couldn't stop for him. He wouldn't.
It wasn't sarcastic, it wasn't directly mean. It was genuine....
Who was he? Who could smile at him like after everything? All the violence and feuding, how could he say that?!
Turning a gentle red, Okuyasu sighed.
There was nothing he knew about Josuke Higashikata.
He'd keep it that way.
________________________________________
Hey germs! I'm sorry if this chapter was little short on good detail, I just wanted to write Okuyasu's point of view during part 1 and 2 of The Nijimura brothers episode.
YES, I rewatched both episodes to get it as accurate as possible. I'm sure you even noticed the dialogue between Okuyasu and Josuke is the exact same from the episode.
The only thing different is this is Okuyasu's experience and perspective.
Honestly, I'm just glad I wasn't nuts enough to rewrite the entirety of the two episodes, yeesh XD
Yes you will notice in this chapter and my next chapter there are time gaps in between scenes. That's because in those gaps, it's basically Josuke and Okuyasu or Keicho fighting so yyyeeee. I hope this chapter was at least a bit enjoyable for y'all!
In the next chapter it's gonna skip over Keicho's death scene because I feel that's too much unneeded info for y'all. And I mean come on you've all already seen part 4, that's why you're reading this most likely!
Until next time!
~Jameson
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Bold and Brilliant
FanficFate has a funny way of sneaking up on the most strong-willed people. Unfortunately, Okuyasu is no different. His whole family has put their fates in their own hands, his brother, an angry shell of a kind and loving sibling who once put bandaids on...