Author: Simply Kim

Title: Little Akira... The Tokyo Terrorist!

Genre/ratings: (Shounen-ai /Yaoi) (Humor / (a bit of) Angst)

Length: (Still undecided) 2/?

Disclaimers: The series I'm referring to obviously do not belong to me, only the story does.

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Part 2: Keeping Tabs With Sendoh's Cheerful Self

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"Life sucks."

"Serves you right for making that mistake."

"Yeah, yeah, I know... but it was an accident, I swear!"

"Everyone knows that Kaede-chan."

Fujima patted the distraught boy on the shoulder comfortingly. His blue eyes crinkled with humor. "You know, it might be real fun if you let it."

Rukawa rolled his eyes and buried his head on Fujima's shoulder, groaning. "Easy for you to say, it wasn't your favorite basketball that got shredded."

The older man giggled as he smoothed the other's raven locks. "There now, don't be so bitter. You wanted to replace that worn bouncing rubber a couple of years ago, remember?" He gave Rukawa a warm hug.

"Oi, stop that, I'm getting jealous."

Rukawa lifted his head and smiled wanly at the newcomer. "Toru-niichan."

Hanagata Toru sat down and ruffled his hair. "Why so glum?" His brows arched in question as he shifted his gaze to the motherly stance of his lover. "Any problem I can help you with?"

"You already helped too much Toru-niichan." Came the weary response, the raven head buried again in the comforting nook of Fujima's slender neck. "I miss my basketball."

Fujima's eyes were filled with worry as they met Hanagata's. "He's taking it too hard."

"Who wouldn't?" Rukawa muttered darkly.

Hanagata's brown orbs took on a sympathetic edge. He's right... who wouldn't? He thought absently as he stroked his charge's unruly hair. Who wouldn't?

<FLASHBACK: HANAGATA>

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Fujima was the first to let out an agonized wail as soon as the smoke cleared.

Everyone just stared stupidly, blinking multiple times as the object of their experiment remained unconscious...

And still an eight year old.

Kogure shifted his stare at the empty beaker he was holding, trying to think of what had gone wrong. They had made the potion thrice, and still...

What had they done wrong?

He sighed, looking back at the young sleeping form of Sendoh Akira. "I don't believe this."

Hanagata nodded in assent. "Me either."

Mitsui stared harder, trying to digest the glaring truth. The kid wasn't going to be the annoying porcupine soon. "Tell me about it."

Fujima's blue eyes held every emotion possible - however, the most disconcerting was that, the HORROR became the most prominent of them all.

"OH NO."

Everyone turned their heads towards their second-time captain.

"What is it Maki-sempai?" Koshino asked curiously, his hand unconsciously clutching Ayako's clammy digits.

"He's turned back to being an eight year old kid." Maki, for the first time was sheet-white. "This is terrible..." His eyes met Koshino's and the latter immediately turned as pale as he was.

"You're not saying that..." He supplied, aghast. "Oh no." His eyes lighted on the boy's peacefully sleeping features.

"Oi, will the both of you cut out the 'Oh no' crap and enlighten the rest of us?" Mitsui glowered, his eyes narrowing expectantly. "You're both making me nervous."

"That makes two of us." Kogure said quietly, beaker still in hand.

"Seconded!" Hikoichi piped up.

"You're the third." Jin couldn't help but mutter.

"Oh, right." The young assistant manager and bench player retracted thoughtfully. "Thirded then!"

"Is there such a word?" Jin sweatdropped.

"Akira's not always easy to get along with." Maki revealed, his face showing a bit of terrifying nostalgia. "He's -"

"Difficult." Koshino finished for him, obviously in the same state as Maki. "He's the... how should I say this... uh... neighborhood terror."

Everyone gaped at them, all except Rukawa who was staring dejectedly out the laboratory's skylight windows peeking a few meters up from ground level.

"Neighborhood terror? Like Shuuichi?" Ayako whispered in disbelief.

"Who's Shuuichi?" Sakuragi asked, raising a perplexed brow.

"Her youngest brother... the bratty little gangster." Maki muttered darkly. "The one who almost set their garden on fire..."

Ayako blushed in embarrassment.

Koshino nodded. "Like him and, sad to say, a bit more."

"So... the brat is a terror, huh?" Sakuragi said, peering at the sleeping face.

"Yes." Koshino repeated.

"Why did you say that?" Ayako asked, still denying what was being said.

Her boyfriend looked at her, his eyes deadly serious. "Remember the crumpled bike in our garage back in Kanagawa?"

Ayako nodded, her curls bouncing as she did.

"He was the one who destroyed it."

<END FLASHBACK: HANAGATA>

Rukawa's mind, on the other hand, was settling in another burst of memory.

<FLASHBACK: RUKAWA>

"Come on, don't be like that." Rukawa murmured exasperatedly at the boy who rebelled against being put into sleep. He silently cursed himself for making this 'do'ahoutic' mistake.

He had just proven that he wasn't a Tensai after all. Maybe the do'ahou's stupidity had finally gotten to him. He sighed, giving Sendoh a stern glare.

The boy did not even flinch. He gave him a mean stare right back. Rukawa was the first to divert his stare somewhere else, sighing. He pulled the edge of the blanket up to the boy's chin and touched a gentle hand on the fragile-looking forehead. "Sleep." He whispered tiredly. "Sweet dreams."

"Like hell I will!" The boy countered, sticking his tongue out and shifting his body so that he was facing the other side of the wall. "Go away."

Rukawa had no choice but to do so. Yes, it did hurt to be rejected - it brought out painful memories. Casting a parting glance, he opened the door and slipped wordlessly out.

He wanted to try and appease the boy the next morning. Carrying a tray filled almost to the brim with food, he made his way towards the room where he let the boy sleep in last night. Humming slightly to prevent a breakdown he felt was definitely coming to plague him. However, the minute he stepped inside, he was stunned to immobility as he took in the contents of his room.

Everything was in complete chaos. Papers were literally thrown everywhere and books were vandalized. The walls that he so lovingly painted to a clean shade of pale blue now resembled a doodled notebook page.

No Sendoh Akira.

He dropped the tray in befuddlement and nearly screamed in horror as his azure gaze encountered his most prized possession sitting forlornly at the other end of the room. It was his beautiful basketball, signed by all his playing team both in junior and senior high. The ball was now deflated, and sporting random scribblings made by a permanent black marker... dead to the world.

<END FLASHBACK: RUKAWA>

Rukawa couldn't fathom why the boy acted the way he did. Of course, there had been a lot of times wherein he himself rebelled against authority in his younger years, effectively frustrating his grandmother in the process, but this, this was bordering on the ridiculous!

He sighed wearily, gripping Fujima's comforting arms.

"I'm going to kill him." He declared, albeit half-heartedly.

Fujima's frail-looking frame shook with renewed laughter over the situation. "Oh come on now, Kae-chan. You know you can't even lay a hand on him!"

"I already did." Came the astute reply.

"Okay, let me rephrase that." Blue eyes twinkled in amusement. "You know you can't even lay a reprimanding hand on him - again."

"Kenji-niichan... I was trying to comfort myself... you just squished my hopes of disciplining him down."

Fujima sweatdropped. "Ah, ehehe, gomen ne, Kae-chan..."

"Kaede, listen to me." Hanagata spoke up suddenly.

The almost stern tone underneath the gentle words made the boy straighten up and look at him fully.

"Support him."

"Eh?" Now Rukawa was confused. "Support him in what? Slashing basketballs?"

Fujima swatted him on the back of his head in a chastising manner.

"Itai..." He moaned, rubbing the affected area with the heel of his hand.

"No, I meant support him emotionally." Hanagata's wise eyes bored into his. "He's obviously an angry kid..."

"I know." Rukawa muttered darkly. "I got firsthand experience of that anger." The comment earned him another swat, this time, on his shoulder. "Ow, Kenji-niichan, stop doing that!"

"I will if you stop interrupting him!"

"Ah, gomen."

Hanagata smiled slightly at the sight of the two most important people in his life. "Sendoh's an angry kid... it would be best to discover why, and then bring him back to being the Sendoh we all know and love."

Rukawa's eyes misted over at the mention of the word "love". Shaking himself after a few seconds, he gave up all propriety and like a little kid himself, launched into Hanagata's strong embrace. "I will, Toru-niichan!" HE murmured gratefully.

Gazing lovingly at the two of them, Fujima had never been so proud.

* * *

"I don't understand Hisashi-kun."

Mitsui looked up from where he was seated comfortably on Kogure's bed. "What do you not understand Kimi-chan?"

Kogure shifted his gaze from the beaker he was boring holes into with his eyes. Brown orbs stared at him in defeat. "I don't understand why the potion did not change him back..."

The sad tone in his lover's voice spurred him into action. He quickly got up and led Kogure towards the bed. Plopping both of them down, Mitsui pulled the smaller man into his embrace and whispered comforting words in his ear.

It took only three counts under the former gangster's breath for his lover to finally burst into tears like he knew he would the moment the other boy spoke. He hated seeing him cry. He had sworn back in senior high that he was never going to make him cry, and would never let anyone prod him to burst into tears. However, he could not prevent this one.

He had always been the source of strength for Kogure, and he knew it. He had tried his best to remain dependable and efficient enough to prevent him from crying and feeling so helpless.

This time, in a difficult circumstance, he had failed in his sworn privilege (he did not consider making Kogure happy and contented as a duty... it was a privilege - always a privilege).

For the first time in many years, as he felt Kogure hold on to him for dear life, he felt so utterly powerless.

* * *

Koshino was close to being the paranoid that he was when he was eight.

His mind was in complete turmoil, and he couldn't prevent the dread flowing through his blood vessels.

What now? He thought, as his mind conjured up the image of Sendoh as a little boy. Almost ruined his life, if not for his late brother... he sighed.

What now?

* * *

Jin had found Sendoh picking a fight with a street urchin. He immediately dragged the boy, literally kicking and screaming, back at Rukawa's condominium. He had sported bruises from where the brat punched him, and he knew that a huge part of the skin on his left shin was turning into an amazing shade of dark purple.

His only concession from knocking him senseless was seeing Rukawa's tired eyes light up as he saw the boy standing in front of the intricately designed doors.

Apparently, the boy snuck out that morning from the flat, picking the lock as he did, and decided to play hooky (not the sexual kind, of course), getting his clothes all muddy and his face scratched.

It was clear that the boy despised being in Rukawa's place, and he showed it through his actions as he screamed at him to break his hold and yell at Rukawa for being such an old man, throwing a mean punch at the other boy in the process.

Rukawa, surprisingly, did not say anything. His eyes glazed for a few moments in pain as a hand connected with his ribs and took the boy from him. Jin was sure that the younger boy was about to cry, and was doing his best in preventing the tears from falling. He did not want to break down in front of him and Sendoh.

Jin then nodded his head and gave a vague wave before he turned and headed towards the elevators. He heard a couple of screeches before the door closed, effectively muffling the loud sounds inside.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and sighed as he opened them, staring at the light from the elevator's numbers.

This Sendoh sure is difficult

I hope he's strong enough to endure it.

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TBC

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A/N: Finally updated! I'm ALIVE! (though it doesn't seem so for the past weeks, ne? ^___~) Hope you enjoyed reading this one! ^^ Till the next chapter! ^______^