Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Pain, Joy, Life ❯ I Did It ( Chapter 10 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Pain, Joy, Life


Chapter 9
I Did It





Touma-




"I did it."

Sergeant Chin just stared at Touma for a moment, his pen frozen in midair he was so shocked that he hadn't been able to finish what he'd started writing. "What?"

'Come on, don't make me say it twice! It's hard enough the first time.' Touma thought as he stepped a little closer to the sergeant's desk and forced his voice to stay as firm as possible. "I said, I did it. I'm the one who stabbed my dad. You have to let Shin out!" Touma really felt like crying, but he was a guy, damn it! He was not going to cry in the middle of the police station with people all around!

Sergeant Chin set down his pen and motioned for Touma to sit down. "Are you telling me the truth, kid?" He asked after Touma had sat, feeling his legs getting shaky with nerves.

Touma nodded emphatically. "Sir, I'm Hashiba Touma and Shin took the blame for me. You have to believe me. Shin came to my house and he tried to get me away from my dad and my dad..." This was going to be the hard part. It meant betraying his dad. Touma took a deep breath and finished. He HAD to do this! "My dad attacked Shin first. Shin didn't do anything wrong and my dad was going to strangle him."

Sergeant Chin just stared at Touma with an unreadable expression until Touma started to get nervous and began fidgeting in his chair. Finally, Sergeant Chin said, "Why was your dad so angry, Touma?" His voice was soft and as unreadable as his face was.

Touma's mouth was suddenly very dry at the question. "He...My dad was...uh..."

"Would it be easier to say in private?"

Touma shook his head. If he thought about it any longer, Touma knew he'd end up losing his courage to do his. "No, sir. My dad was giving me a beating. Shin just sort of walked in at the wrong time. Shin gets protective when he thinks someone's hurting me and he was just trying to help."

Sergeant Chin pulled several papers from his desk and stood up. "Please, come with me, Touma. If you're telling me the truth I'll need your statement. You should have told the truth when you found out your friend was in trouble, Touma."

"Yes, sir." Touma replied guiltily. "I know, sir, and I'm very sorry, but you have to see that Shin's innocent!"

"So why did you keep silent?"

"Shin told me not to."

Sergeant Chin rolled his eyes. "Yeah. That sounds like him." He gave a kind of tired laugh and led Touma down a hallway. Before they could get very far there was a loud cry of,

"Saki!"

Sergeant Chin turned quickly and focused on a small, elegant lady who strode towards him with an angry expression. He smiled. "Hello, Ayane." The lady looked terribly angry and held a slightly taller woman by the hand. "You got here rather quickly."

"Where's Shin?!" Ayane demanded without preamble, her eyes flickered once to Touma, but didn't stay there.

Touma looked away, the feeling of guilt magnifying because he'd made Shin's mom's worry. They were always so nice to him and Touma had spent more than one night at their house when he'd had enough of his dad. Then, an arm wrapped around him. "Oh, Touma, honey. Are you all right?" It was Shin's mom, Jenny, with her thick English accent and a face that was incredibly like Shin's who'd hugged him.

"Yes." Touma answered in a small voice. 'She's worried about me?'

"Good. They told us all about your dad, but I can't believe Shin would do anything like that." Her face was drawn with stress and Touma could see her hands shaking slightly.

"He didn't. I..."

"Save it." Sergeant Chin put a hand on Touma's shoulder. "You can tell them later, but we need to get this sorted out and find out who we have to charge with the attack. Ayane, Jenny, you can ask one of the officers to let you see Shin. Touma, I'll take your confession in the interview room."






Ten minutes later-
Shin-






"He's confessing?!" Shin demanded when his mom and his okasan sat on the other side of the bars. Some kind officer had brought in a couple of folding chairs so the two women could sit comfortably. Joji had been quiet for a long time and Shin supposed that the pink haired man Touma seemed to know from somewhere had fallen asleep and that basically left Shin alone.

"Did you lie to the police?" Ayane asked sharply. Her concern had vanished when she found him very safe and healthy, so now she felt safe being angry at Shin for making her worry. "Touma said something about you didn't do it and my cousin was going to take his confession when they left."

Shin cursed in English. "I told that idiot to keep his mouth shut!"

"You told him to lie to the police?!" Shin's mom nearly shouted, Ayane nodding in agreement. "Don't you have any idea how stupid that was?" She stood up and started pacing back and forth. "He'd have gotten in twice the trouble that he's all ready in when they found out what really happened! You're all ready gotten in trouble for lying, that's a crime, you know!" She seemed ready to burst she was so angry and Shin hung his head.

"I'm sorry if I worried you, but I just can't let Touma get in trouble for this. His dad was going to kill him if I hadn't walked in! It was self defense and if Touma doesn't tell that to Uncle Chin..."

Shin stopped abruptly when Touma was led in, his hands cuffed behind his back and biting his lower lip. "Hi, Shin."

"Hi."

No one said a word when Uncle Shin unlocked the cell door and gestured toward Shin. "You're free. Go home and don't come back, I'm tired of see you."

Shin groaned. "Touma, you didn't."

"I did and I'm not ashamed of it!" Touma snapped. "I can take my own punishment."

Shin's Uncle Chin cleared his throat. "Let's not talk of punishment, yet. There are a few questions that still need to be answered when Hashiba san wakes up." He gave Touma a pitying look. "From what you told me, it sounds like it was just self-defense and I don't think you'll be in to much trouble. There will be a court hearing, though, so you'll want to talk to a lawyer."

Touma looked at Shin's Uncle Chin hopefully. "He's gonna live?"

"The doctor's think so, but it's not certain, yet. Shin, you've got a heavy fine to pay for lying to the police about a crime, but I don't think you'll serve any jail time for it. No real harm came from it since Touma stepped forward and confessed."

Shin wasn't at all happy when he left the cell and Touma took his place. His mom's hugged him, relieved to have him out, but Shin just glared at Touma, angry that his friend hadn't been able to keep himself out of trouble.

"Shin?" Touma leaned up sat on the cot and looked at Shin. "Will you pick up my home work for me? I don't want to fall behind."

"Sure." Shin agreed. There was a moment of terrible silence and Shin was reluctant to leave Touma like this.

"Saki?" Ayane spoke up suddenly.

"Yes?" Officer Chin looked at her while he was locking the cell.

"What's his bail?"

Shin gaped at his okasan. Was she really going to...?

"The same as Shin's was. He's being charged with the same crime, after all."

"Very well. We'll pay it." She opened her purse and began to pull out bills. "Touma can come home with us and stay with us until we figure out what's going to happen to him."

Touma looked at her, amazed.

"Yes." Shin's mom added in with a smile. "We don't want him to stay here any longer than he has to."

"Are you sure?" Shin's Uncle Chin asked.

"Certainly." Shin's okasan nodded. "We brought enough to pay for Shin, so we may as well use it."

Shin threw his arms around his okasan and his mom. "I love you." He whispered with tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much." This was the best thing his mom's could have done for him and Shin knew he should have expected it.





Akane-






A kane just knew that there was something wrong, but she said nothing. The blonde boy who'd kissed her hand moved away from her, chattering to the old man about something and laughing with his young friends. One of these friends, a muscular boy with ash colored hair, said,

"I've gotta run. The school probably called home and papa's going to be furious when he finds out I was loafing off here."

The blonde boy sniffed disdainfully. "Your papa needs an enema."

"Yeah, he is a little tense, isn't he? Gotta run." He waved cheerfully to everyone after giving the blonde a chaste kiss on the cheek. "It's been fun. Stay out of trouble for once, Sei-Chan."

"What?" The blonde asked innocently. "Me? Get into trouble?"

The ashen haired boy snorted and rolled his eyes. "God only knows what would happen to you if I wasn't here to take care of you."

"God has absolutely nothing to do with me." The blonde replied with an easy smile. "I don't think he'd like me much."

"Don't get me started, Sei-Chan. I'm outta here."

Still, Akane wasn't sure what was going on. She thought that she ought to know these people and that they all looked sort of familiar, but...

"Shall we sit down for lunch?" A woman in a wheelchair asked. "I'm sure everyone's hungry."

So Akane let herself be led to the low table and let some young man with black hair and very handsome blue eyes help her to sit on the floor and make herself comfortable. She sat quietly while a fine dish of rice, fish, and a plate of vegetables were served and the same young man who'd helped her to sit piled food onto her plate.

"Thank you." Akane said politely.

"G-granma? Did you take your medicine?" The blue eyed boy asked.

Akane ate while thinking on that something important she'd forgotten. 'I'm sure it was important, but it just won't come to mind.' She thought while she nibbled on the food on her plate. She concentrated hard, her attention drifting away from the table and to the lovely garden just outside. 'How did I get here in the first place? I don't know any of these people and I...I don't think this is my home.' She looked around at the strange faces again. 'I don't think this is my home.'

"Granma?" The voice repeated itself.

Akane took another bite of her rice and wondered where the boy's grandmother was. The poor boy sounded worried.

"G-granma?" A hand rudely touched Akane's wrist and she looked over to find the blue eyed boy looking at her. "Are you all r-right?"

'Granma? I'm not a grandmother!'

"You have the wrong person, young man." Akane told him gently, patting his hand. "I have no grandchildren." She tried to tell him kindly that he'd made a mistake, but the blue eyed boy looked horrified at his mistake. 'The poor child, he must be so embarrassed.'

The blue eyed boy swallowed hard. "Did you t-take your h-heart medicine?" He asked, pulling an orange plastic bottle out of his pant pocket.

For that moment, Akane couldn't say why, but she loved the boy. She had no idea why, but the blue eyed boy was the most important person to her in the whole world and she knew she should do anything to make him happy. 'I don't take medicine, but if he wants me to I will.' So Akane swallowed the small white pill he handed her almost without thinking. She knew the boy wouldn't do anything to hurt her and it seemed like such a small thing to make him happy. 'I'm glad I could make him a little happier, even if he has mistaken me for his grandmother.'

The blue eyed boy didn't look much happier, though, and he stared at the empty orange bottle for a minute before putting it back in his pocket.

"What's wrong, Ryo?" The blonde boy asked.

"That was the last o-one." Ryo, the blue eyed boy, said softly. "I'll have to get more."

"Do you need some help?" The woman in the wheel chair asked, concerned. "I work in a hospital..."

Ryo looked at Akane before shaking his head. "No. I-I can do it. Thank you."





Later that night-
Seiji-





"Seiji."

Seiji rolled over in bed, unhappy about being dragged out of a very pleasant dream, and pulled the blanket over his head. 'What a lovely dream. A peaceful waterfall, a pile of books, and Xiu covered in honey...mmmm, honey.' He muttered sleepily at the only person who would wake him up so late at night, "Go away, Xiu. I'm sleeping." This wasn't the first time Xiu had snuck in so late at night for some snuggling.

"Seiji, wake up." Xiu's voice sounded strange tonight.

A hand shook Seiji's arm and Seiji relented, wrapping an arm around Xiu to pull him down onto the bed without opening his eyes. "All right, all right. You can stay, but I'm NOT letting you fuck me. Just go to sleep." He pulled down his love and kissed him soundly on the lips, but...Xiu didn't taste right and Seiji finally opened his eyes, trying to see through the darkness.

With the dim light of Seiji's Hello Kitty night light, Seiji saw Ryo's blue eyes looked back down at him, horrified.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Seiji screamed and jumped violently away from Ryo and completely off his bed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

"B-b-being a-a-attacked by y-your h-h-hormones!" Ryo shouted back, wiping a hand across his mouth in disgust. He spoke a little quieter, "Keep your v-voice d-down!"

Seiji thought, 'Disgust? As if I, of all people, am a bad kisser! He should be damned honored to get a kiss from me!' After all, Seiji's lips had never touched anyone but Xiu before. 'Oh, dear. Xiu. If he hears about this...'

Ryo moved so he was standing near Seiji's bedroom door and glaring distrustfully at Seiji. "Just w-wanted to t-tell you we're going."

"You're leaving?" Seiji repeated, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up and think straight. 'Don't start thinking about the kiss, Seiji.' He told himself. 'You DO NOT want to get any ideas. We don't want Xiu to roast us over his oven, now do we?' Seiji said out loud, "Won't you even stay for breakfast? It's still late."

Ryo shook his head. "C-can't stay here f-forever. Granma wants to go as soon as p-p-possible."

"I'm not talking about forever. I'm just saying until the morning. What about your granma's medicine, do you have enough money for more?"

Ryo hung his head a little and muttered, "I-I'll get it."

Seiji knew he should do something to make Ryo stay, just a little longer. "What about your granma? She didn't seem...well...herself yesterday."

"She's feeling better now." Ryo told him defensively. "S-she told me that w-we're leaving. Woke me up a few m-m-minutes ago."

"But..."

Ryo shook his head stubbornly. "We're g-going. Granma doesn't want to stay." Ryo looked suddenly awkward. He fidgeted with something at his neck before pulling it over his head and holding it out to Seiji. "Ummm...I wanted to t-thank you. Your f-family's been so n-nice."

Seiji took the necklace and looked closer to find a silver crucifix on the chain. "Ryo..."

"It's r-real silver. I have to r-repay you." Something was desperately pleading in Ryo's eyes, begging Seiji to take the gift. It was as if Ryo felt he could do nothing else other than do this.

"I don't want this, Ryo. It must be important to you." Ryo seemed to have so little that Seiji knew whoever had given this to Ryo must have been special to him. "Besides, you could sell it and pay for your granma's medicine."

Ryo looked angry. "I-I have to repay you! I'll get m-m-money another way."

'Damn, now I've insulted him!' Seiji thought. Then, a brilliant idea struck him. "I'll tell you what, Ryo. Consider your debt repaid if you come back to school."







To be continued...