Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You ungrateful child! After everything we’ve done for you, you DARE ask for more?” SMACK

But, I’m hungry, you barely fed yesterday.

“Don’t look at me like that! You know you’re not allowed in the house, what if you curse my dear boy?”

I didn’t mean too, I’m just hungry.

Sighing as if this is a chore beneath her, she grips onto his hair tightly and drags him back outside. The boy catches the yelp in his throat, biting his tongue in hopes of not getting a worse beating, he really doesn’t want another bruise on top of the ones the kids at school gave him. He made sure his body was completely compliant with the movement forced by the hand in his hair, but not too compliant, because making Madam drag his heavy (read: incredibly light and malnourished) body would only make his punishment worse.

Having been in this scenario before, he doesn’t even know why he tried to sneak into the house in the first place. Yeah he was hungry, but now he’s hungry and about to get punished — a worse position than he was in prior if you ask him.

The walk to the shed wasn’t long, but each step had his stomach tying into knots. Madam opened the door, shoving Sakura into the rundown room. She slammed the door shut but not before scoffing and muttering how she would have to wash her hands to be rid of his “filth”. Hearing the door lock, the boy on the floor let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Madam was never one for physical punishment, and would rather lock him in the shed till either her or Sirremembered he existed. If enraged enough she would throw threats — no promises — of telling Sir about his actions so he would be dealt with. It was Sir who dealt out physical punishments, never really spending much time throwing words at Sakura, unless they were insults about him, his hair, his eyes, and when he really messed up, his mother. Constantly reminding Sakura about how it was his fault she had died, that she couldn’t spend a second longer on this earth knowing she had created such a mistake. And Sakura always believed him, for what is a child to do but believe the words of the elders?

Sakura sat up, rubbing the side of his head that Madam had grabbed, it feeling sore. He crawls into the furthest corner of the room, the corner holding his scruffy worn out futon and his more so worn out blanket and curled up tightly.

Maybe if he curled up small enough, his hunger pains would ease.

Maybe if he curled up small enough, he would disappear.

When he woke up it was dark enough for the streetlights to be on. The same streetlights that shone right onto his face—

Wait.

Onto his face? That’s not possible from the shed windows, it’s only possible from the DOOR—

Sakura immediately shoots up and shuffles so his back hits the wall, his gaze fixing onto the open door. Did Madam or Sirdecide that he does need a punishment after all? His mind starts to spiral but immediately stops when he realises the size of the figure is much… smaller?

The figure walks in, leaving the door open and makes their way to Sakura, sitting about a meter away. Sakura, confused, curious and scared, doesn’t know what to do but push himself further into the wall, hoping it would swallow him whole.

Who is this? Why are they here, and why are they staring at him like that??

The figure (who he’s realising is a boy now that he’s closer) digs through the bag he was holding— where did it come from— and pulled out.. a meat bun?

The moment Sakura’s eyes made contact with it his stomach growled, causing him to blush from embarrassment. His gaze shifted from the bun to the boy. Up and down. And once more. The boy then outstretched his hand towards Sakura and then stared at him, then the bun, then him again. Up and down. And one more.

The action made Sakura almost reach out for it but he hesitated. What if it was a trick? What if Madam and Sir sent him in as bait? A new face to gain his trust and then punish him for accepting the food?

The boy seemed to notice his hesitation, huffed and then proceeded to shuffle closer to Sakura, arm still outstretched with the meat bun.

The eye contact they were making was starting to freak Sakura out, but his curiosity and hunger was winning the mental battle in his head.

“Is that.. for me?” It came out in barely a whisper, but it was clear the other heard and when he nodded his head.

With the confirmation, Sakura inched closer till the bun was in reach and carefully took it from the boy. Looking up at him one more time for certainty, Sakura took a bite into the bun. It was a simple store bought bun, barely warm, but to Sakura it was like someone had given him gold. He scarfed the rest down with haste, only to be offered one more along with a bottle of water. He took both with the same amount of care but less hesitation. He took his time with the second bun, choosing to savour it this time while staring at the boy in front of him.

He could tell the boy was older than him, he couldn’t tell how old though, kind of difficult when you barely interact with other children. What really caught Sakura about the other boy was his eyes, a rich golden colour, that stared daggers into Sakura, but instead of it filling him with fear, it filled him with warmth. He didn’t feel like shying away from the constant stare, much different to how he felt when he caught the gaze of literally anyone else. He felt.. safe? It kind of made sense in his head, to feel safe with the first person to give him food and water with no consequences, to feel safe with someone who looked at him with something other than hatred or disgust.

He finished off the last of his meat bun and took a couple sips of water before looking back at the boy and giving him a small smile.

“Thank you,” he said in a voice a little louder than before.

The boy in front of him gave a reaction Sakura wasn’t prepared for. The boy’s eyes went wide before reciprocating the smile with one of his own, moving closer to Sakura, sitting right in front of him and reaching up to lightly pat Sakura's head. Sakura himself braced for pain when he saw the hand go up, only to relax when he felt the soft movements on top of his head. It carried on for a minute more before the boy got up and picked up the now empty bag he brought in with him, smiling at Sakura once more and leaving the shed.

Sakura’s gaze stayed on the door, somewhat confused and very much shocked about what just transpired. Someone willingly came within contact with him, and brought him food and water, and had pat his head? Part of him doesn’t want to believe it happened, that he was hallucinating the whole thing, but the warm feeling in his stomach and the half empty bottle of water beside him ensured him it was real.

With a small smile on his face, he got himself comfortable on his futon and curled up underneath his covers again.

I hope he visits again.

Takiishi Chika has never truly cared for others before, not how his parents pretend to care for him when in public, always flaunting his intellect, claiming that he’ll grow into a fine man, with a doctorate working as some specialist doctor, or whatever random occupation they came up with. Takiishi mainly ignored them whenever they started spouting nonsense like that, its not like they could force him to actually listen, his grades and attitude never slipped at school so he was never reprimanded, there was never a need too.

It all change one day. A day Takiishi refuses to forget. He had gone to school like normal, barely paying attention in classes but still making sure he completes the assignments perfectly as usual. Walks home alone, and goes straight upstairs to his room without greeting his mother, slamming the door as soon as he enters. He’s in there for about half an hour before he hears it.

His mother yelling.

“.. you DARE ask for more?” SMACK

Takiishi doesn’t care, at least that what he thinks. His body however is still walking towards the door, swinging it open and heading to the steps. He’s halfway down the steps when he freezes. Staring at the scene: his mother yelling at a child, manhandling him as the boy looks down at the ground. The scene has Takiishi feeling something he’s never felt before, clenching at his chest. He didn’t understand why he was feeling different, it wasn’t towards his mother, he’s never felt strongly towards her and he doesn’t think that it would ever change.

“Don’t look at me like that! You know you’re not allowed in the house, what if you curse my dear boy?”

His gaze shifts and focuses on the child whose back is towards him. The emotion he feels heightens as he fixates on the boy’s head. It’s an unusual hair colour, half white, half black. So unusual it’s got Takiishi entranced, so curious to see the rest of the boy, see his face.. get to know him?..

Takiishi has never, NEVER, wanted to get to know anyone before. He doesn’t care for others, not his parents, not his classmates (specifically that one boy that follows him around), not anyone. So why does his chest hurt, Ache, as he watches his mother drag the boy out of the house? Who even was this boy? Takiishi had never seen him before, he knows he wouldn’t have over looked that hair, so he doesn’t live in the house..

He makes his way back to his room and looks out the window to see his mother walk out the shed locking the door and dusting her hands together like she touched something distasteful.

The shed…

After dinner, Takiishi asked his mother for money (not really, he stuck his hand out and stared at her till she got the message and handed him some money) and made his way to the nearest convenience store and picked up two meat buns and a bottle of water. It wasn’t a lot but he thought it would suffice as a meal for the boy in the shed. To his knowledge no one had given him food for dinner, and based on the actions and movements of his parents after dinner, no one would. Takiishi doesn’t know why he’s doing this but he feels like its the.. right thing to do?

He doesn’t know where that thought came from but he doesn’t feel the need to push it away.. he wants to help him. He’s still trying to figure out why he cares so much for a boy he hasn’t truly met yet, hasn’t spoken too, hasn’t even looked in the eyes..

Regardless, Takiishi walks back home and beelines for the shed. The shed doesn’t have a proper lock on it, just a simple latch and flush bolt. Takiishi undid the locks and swung the door open. At first, Takiishi doesn’t see anything, the shed does look like there’s any life in there at all, it’s relatively empty except for a pile of worn out fabric. He could have sworn he saw his mother bring the boy in here—

In that moment, the pile of fabric shifts until, a figure shoots up from the pile.

Ah, there he is.

Takiishi watches as the boy shuffles backwards till his back hits the wall, eyes wide staring at him. His eyes. He walked right up to the boy, leaving a meter distance in between and sits. He pulls out a meat bun and holds it out to the boy, looking at the bun and then the boy hoping he gets the hint and takes it. The boy does the same thing, looking at Takiishi and then the bun before meeting Takiishi’s eyes once more.

Takiishi thought he was entranced before but now he was completely captivated, bewitched by the sight of a deep midnight blue eye on the right and a golden honey eye on the left. A pairing he never imagined could exist, but here it is, staring right at him.

He obviously didn't get the hint, as he stared at Takiishi’s outstretched hand like it was one of the world’s biggest mysteries. Takiishi huffed and shuffled closer.

“Is that.. for me?” It came out in barely a whisper, and Takiishi is certain he would not of heard it if it was not so quiet. He nods his head, and stares intently at the boy as he slowly inches forward and gently grasps the meat bun, such care Takiishi didn’t think was possible to show for such a simple act.

He watched the boy basically inhaled the meat bun, reaching into the back to grab the second one and the bottle of water. The boy grabbed them this time with less hesitation, which made Takiishi heart swell with pride. The boy was starting to trust him!

Takiishi stared at the boy as he ate the bun with less vigour and haste, this time enjoying the texture and flavour. It gave Takiishi time to look him over fully. He was definitely younger than him, but he couldn’t tell how young from sight alone.

He looks like a stray kitten.

Why was he here? He was like a shadow, an entity his parents ignored unless said entity walked into the house. He must be forgetting something, which is on par as he never cares about what his parents are talking about.

Ah!

He faintly remembers his parents arguing about something a while back, something about a “bastard kid” and his father being extremely upset about having to deal with the situation. But he never heard anything or saw anything about a kid, until now. If Takiishi had to assume, this kid is probably from an affair his father had, something must have happened to the kid’s mother for him to end up in this situation, it was clear his father did not care for the boy in the slightest.

So that makes this his half sibling, a little brother..

The boy looks up at him, having finished that last bun, and gave Takiishi a soft smile, “Thank you,”

Such a simple action had Takiishi acting out of character, his eyes had widened from the shock of the gratitude given to him. He reciprocated the smile, before shuffling much closer to the boy. He’s smiling. Takiishi didn’t think he had it in him, neither did many people. Many people, relatives to strangers have tried to make him smile and always failed. But this boy, this child his parents had hidden from him, his little brother, had made him smile after mere minutes of meeting.

Now sitting right in front of the boy, he raised his hand to pet him but stopped momentarily when he flinched. That small gesture broke something in Takiishi. Seeing him flinch at Takiishi’s hand felt like a knife sliced his heart, he didn’t want to imagine the feeling his body would put him through if he actually hit the boy, let alone made him cry.

He gently rested his hand upon the top of the boys head, patting him like he would to a small kitten. Seeing the boy relax under the gentle ministrations, Takiishi vowed from that point onwards he would protect his little brother to the best of his abilities. Keeping up the gentle touch for a minute more, he got up, picking p the empty bag and walked towards the door. Turning to smile at his little brother just one more time before shutting and locking the door.

I’ll be back, little brother.

Chapter Text

They made a routine of sorts, an unspoken one if you will. Takiishi made it a habit to go out after school or dinner and grab a few meat buns, some snacks, and a bottle of water and head to the shed where he would spend time with his little brother. No words would be exchanged except from the occasional “hello” and “thank you” from the younger. Takiishi never responds, verbally at least, he often waves back at the verbal greetings, smiles at the gratitude, and gives head pats at any and every opportunity he gets.

It’s a full week of this before Takiishi decides to finally talk to his little brother. It happened somewhat spontaneously, Takiishi had handed over a meat bun and reached out to pet him like normal.

The younger paused halfway through his meat bun and looked up at Takiishi. It was clear he had something on his chest he very much wanted to get off. “Hey, I appreciate you bringing me food and everything.. but why? Why do you care?”

The question had stumped Takiishi. Why did he care? This was his little brother! Of course he cares, his little brother made him feel warmth, he didn’t feel cold, or empty when he was with him. A feeling he hadn’t felt with anyone before- not even his parents. So of course he was going to care for the person that gave him warmth, happiness. Why was he asking? Did he do something wrong? Was he not being.. brotherly? Was it the head pats?

Takiishi slowly retracted his hand, ceasing head pats, eyebrows furrowing together trying to understand why he was being questioned. However, the moment he did so, the young ones eyes widened and started panicking. “Ah! No please don’t take it the wrong way! I really do appreciate you and everything! But we don’t know each other, we don’t even know each other's names!”

Oh. I see now.

The boy in front of him doesn’t know they’re related. He obviously hasn’t seen Takiishi in the house or even around the compound or his parents, and it’s obvious that his parents don’t talk about him to the boy at all. From his perspective, a random person just started showing up someday to bring him food daily. He’s surprised he got this far without explaining earlier on. He had just assumed that his little brother knew and that’s why he was allowed to be in such proximity to him, not to mention patting his head. God, did his little brother think it was an even exchange? Food for the price of letting someone pet you? Takiishi needed to fix his mistake.

He smiled gently at Sakura, shaking his head before pointing towards himself, “Nii-san,” then pointing to the boy across him, “Otouto-san.”

Takiishi observes Sakura’s reaction which shifts from understanding to being frozen with fear.

“Y-your Sir and Madams son?!”

Takiishi nods, but mentally he’s cussing out his parents. What pleasure and hierarchy do they get on making a young child call them Sir and Madam?

How can they treat my little brother so badly when he deserves the world? Do they not see how pretty he is?

The younger starts backing up, eyes wide, looking at Takiishi with fear. “I’m not allowed to be near you! Madam said I’ll curse you, a-and you’ve been so nice, a-and and,” at this point the little one is a blubbering mess, tears threatening to fall and Takiishi hates it. He hates how his little brother backed away from him, he hates how he’s made his little brother cry, he hates how he’s looking at him with such fear and panic in his eyes, and he hates his parents for installing such fear and indoctrination. Curse Takiishi? Impossible. If anything he’s blessed Takiishi with new emotions, Takiishi has smiled more with him than he has with anyone in his life. How could his little brother ever hurt him? If he did it would probably be because of something Takiishi did and therefore it would be justified, but to curse him? Never.

Takiishi reaches out to him only for him to flinch heavily which makes Takiishi frown. Just like that, it was like a week of progress had been erased. There was no way Takiishi could let this happen, he’s experienced life with and without his brother, and he refuses to go without him for something as ridiculous as his parents and their lies.

He tries again, this time grabbing his brother regardless of how bad he flinches and pulls him in, wrapping his arms around him. He holds him tight, feeling his brother go from tense to relaxed and before he knew it, he was slumped over in his arms. Takiishi reaches up and combs his hand through the dual toned hair, hoping to comfort his brother to the best of his abilities. They sit like that for a while, Takiishi taking his time to find the right words.

“You don’t need to worry, I’ll protect you.. that’s what.. big brothers do.” Takiishi spoke with such caution but his words remained firm. Like he was silently promising to the younger that if Takiishi had a say, no harm would come to him.

He felt his little brother gently pull away and allowed him to, shifting his hands placements to the younger’s arms. “But what if i curse you? I don’t want to hurt you..”

“Then you won’t.” The words left his mouth without hesitation, because it was true, nothing this little one did would ever hurt Takiishi, as long as at the end of the day, they could still sit together and have moments like this, moments that Takiishi has grown to cherish over the short span of a week, then everything would be okay.

Takiishi smiled at his little brother, moving one hand to wipe away his tears. He looked down at his brother’s hands, realising he had yet to actually finish his meat bun. With his other hand he carefully lifted the younger’s own, the one holding onto the meat bun, bringing it to its owners mouth, nudging the meat bun at his lips. “Eat.”

The atmosphere in the shed returned back to its original comforting vibes, the little one nibbling on the last small bits of his meat bun as Takiishi watched (he even nibbles like a cat). Takiishi watches as he shifts his seating so he sat right next to Takiishi, so they were shoulder to shoulder. Like sixth sense, Takiishi knew that his little brother had a question for him.

“.. What’s Nii-san’s full name?”

“..Takiishi Chika. Otuoto-san’s full name?”

“Sakura Haruka!”

“Hm, Pretty.”

“Eh?!!”

You can’t blame Sakura for being curious. When a stranger continuously shows you care and kindness and offers you food for a week straight, and asks for nothing in return (or more specifically doesn’t say anything to you at all), you get curious.

So, Sakura was on a mission, a mission to find out who and why this person came to see him every evening.

He took a few bites into his meat bun, contemplating the best way to go about this. He doesn’t want to annoy the person by asking, and he certainly doesn’t want to be rude about it. He looks into the other boys eyes and musters up as much courage as he can, “Hey, I appreciate you bringing me food and everything.. but why? Why do you care?”

All that courage he mustered up immediately began to crumble when he felt the hand on his head remove itself and the other’s eyebrows crease together to give a look of puzzlement, and what Sakura also believes to be distain?

Oh no, I messed up!

Trying to fix his mistake, Sakura continues, “Ah! No please don’t take it the wrong way! I really do appreciate you and everything! But we don’t know each other, we don’t even know each other's names!”

Sakura watches the gears in the older boys head turn, watches him smile, shaking his head before pointing towards himself, “Nii-san,” then pointing to Sakura “Otouto-san.”

Oh! Oh.. wait, huh?

His older brother? He’s positive his mother didn’t have any other children before him. So would that mean his father’s side? His father.. Sir..

Sir and madam..

WAIT, SIR AND MADAMS SON??

The very son he was told to stay away from, for fear that he would be cursed by Sakura?

“Y-your Sir and Madams son?!” Sakura felt like his whole world was about to collapse inwards. He’s been hanging out with Sir and Madam’s son? If he was to be punished for anything, this would surely be it. How could he be so foolish? What other child would make it into the compounds owned by Sir and Madam other than their own son?? Maybe he could still fix this, maybe the boy didn't know who he was and that all Sakura caused was trouble. Maybe if he explained himself, he could get the boy to go away without the boys parents finding out about them ever hanging out, maybe he wont be punished?

Or maybe that was the boys plan, lead you into a sense of false hope and then crush it by tattling to his parents, to watch you suffer.

No! I didnt know! It’s not my fault! I can still fix this! He was so nice to me, he wouldn’t!

Distance. Sakura needed distance and fast, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise as he pushed himself back as far as he could till he reached the walls of the shed. Even with the new distance between them, Sakura still felt too close, he felt like the walls were pushing them forward, forcing them to be in close proximity. “I’m not allowed to be near you! Madam said I’ll curse you, a-and you’ve been so nice, a-and and,” He could barely keep himself together, voice cracking, stumbling over his words, his vision blurry.

I’m going to get punished, I don’t want to get punished, I’ve been good, honest! I didn’t know, I didn’t know, I didn’t-

He sees the boys hand reach up towards him and flinches hard, tears now rolling down his face, the level of panic taking over, coursing through his veins.

No no no, I can’t-

He’s reached for again, but instead of the pain he’s expecting, he’s pulled into a tight embrace, a hug, and stills. Having only known this presence to be a kind one, his body instinctively relaxes, slumping right into the other, head pressed into a collarbone as he’s held. Sakura hasn’t been held this tightly in such a long time, this is nice. He feels a hand in his hair, gently weaving through the strands, while the other is placed right between his shoulder blades, pressing him firmly into the body in front of him.

They stay like that for a while, Sakura taking this time to calm his thoughts and his heart, trying to ignore the questions in his mind to prevent him from spiralling like that again. The panicked spirals really took a lot out of him.

“You don’t need to worry, I’ll protect you.. that’s what.. big brothers do.” Sakura was in shock. Someone actually cared for him, wanted to protect him.

Sakura gently pulled away, staring into his brother’s eyes. “But what if i curse you? I don’t want to hurt you..”

“Then you won’t.”

And with that all Sakuras doubting thoughts ceased. Who was he to fight against someone who was so adamant to stay in his life, on their own terms at that. All Sakura has truly wanted is to be wanted. And he finally has that. Ironic it’s from no other than the person Sir and Madam have been trying to keep him away from.

He feels a hand come up to his cheek to wipe away his tears, Nii-san’s hand his warm. He feels his older brother’s other hand pick up his own and bring it to his face. It takes him less than a minute to realise he had in fact not finished eating his food.

“Eat.”

And he does. It doesn’t take him long at all, but he prolonged it for a few minutes, choosing to slowly munch the last bites of his meat bun. It’s at this point he realises, he still doesn’t know the name of his older brother. He repositions himself from in front of his brother to next to him, shoulders touching, still gaining some kind of warmth from the other as he works up the courage for the second time today to ask a question.

“.. What’s Nii-san’s full name?”

“..Takiishi chika. Otuoto-san’s full name?”

“Sakura Haruka!”

“Hm, Pretty.”

“Eh?!!” PRETTY?

Sakura felt his face burning with heat from the compliment, which only got worse when Takiishi decided to chuckle and then proceed to call Sakura himself cute.

“I’M NOT CUTE!”

“Nonsense, my little brother is very cute.”

Chapter Text

“You insolent child, to the principals office immediately!”

Sighing, he picks himself up off the ground, dusting himself off as he walks to the office. It always ends like this, he’s never the one to start the fight but of course he’s the only one who gets sent to the office, without fail (100% success rate).

It’s the same as always, the daily insult he ignores, which leads to more insults, which leads to hair pulling, and then he retaliates, the fight is split up by the teacher and finally, he’s sent to the office, solo.

He tries to not fight back, to just let it happen but it just makes him mad. Why do they decide to pick on him? Because his hair and eyes are different? Why? His nii-san said it’s pretty, why is he the only one that thinks so? Everyone else calls him names, ugly, a freak, weird, the list is so long he tries to forget. Sometimes they stick to him, fester in his mind longer than he would like.. but it’s fine, he’s learnt to deal with them, ignore them.

Well, not well enough apparently.

He knocked on the door, hears the permission to enter from the principal and walks in, sitting in a seat, head facing down.

No one likes it when he looks into their eyes.

“Ah, there you are, Sakura.” The principal says his name with slight disgust, like it left a bad taste in his mouth. “I have been notified by your teacher that you pushed another student. Now you know that we don’t condone violence in this school. You have detention today at lunch and one after school as well. Now get back to class.”

Sakura nods, and slides off the chair and exits the room. Well that could’ve gone worse. To be honest, many things could’ve gone worse today so I’ll take a win where I can.

The rest of the day goes as normal, he’s still mocked in class, can hear their whispers about him but he chooses to ignore it.

God he’s such a freak! Just look at his hair, no wonder he’s always alone, I wouldn’t want to be near him. What if he curses us?

It’s late when the teacher finally lets him go, decided a one hour detention wasn’t long enough and extended it to another half hour… yippee…

He’s walking home slowly, there’s no need for him to hurry home, it’s not like he had parents waiting for him or something. A small smile plants itself on his face unconsciously, he does have someone. Nii-san would wait for me… he’s never felt such warmth before like the warmth he feels from his brother. The fact that someone willingly pays attention to him is still shocks him. The adults in his life have never gave a damn about him unless his actions impact them in a negative way, so why does this slightly older than him boy seem to care? Especially when the adults that care for said boy have told him to stay away? All the other kids listen to what the adults say and stay away from him, they ignore him like the plague, but Chika.. Nii-san.. he defies them, not like the adults seem to be keeping a close eye on either of them with how often they hang out and haven’t been caught yet. Verbal communication between them is never long, but Sakura doesn’t think it needs to be. They both seem to enjoy the silence of just being with each other.

There are days where Sakura doesn’t seem to know how to shut up though, and just rambles on to Chika about anything and everything, whether that’s talking about his day at school (except the bullying, it’s irrelevant and not interesting at all), asking about Chika’s favourite colour (red and gold), his favourite food (burgers and bubble tea) — a mental list of things about his older brother stays engraved in his mind.

He turns a corner, lost in his thoughts as he strolls down the street, drifting from topic to topic when he hears a shout, “Hey, freak!”

Well that can’t be good.

He slowly turns around to see the group of kids from his class, the one who picked a fight with him this morning being front and centre, the leader.

“How was detention freak? Did you learn your lesson?” He mocks and the rest of the group snickers. Sakura says nothing, just stares at them bored.

Can we speed this up so I can go home? I’m tired.

“I don’t know why you haven’t been kicked out yet, you’re a danger to everyone at school, nobody likes you either. I’ve never even seen your parents pick you up or drop you off, they must be sick off you too!” The group agrees and laughs.

Sakura sighs and decides now is a good time to just walk off. There’s no point dragging out something that he has to go through at school, why would he willingly go through it now when he can just.. go home? So that’s what he does.

It’s obvious that the leader (god, what was his name? Eh, doesn’t matter) didn't like this as he yells in his direction. “Wha- HEY, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING? IM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET.” He stalked his way over to Sakura, grabbing onto his shoulder tightly and turning him around. Sakura was not having it. It’s an hour and a half after school ended, he’s tired and just wants to go back to his shed and wait for his nii-san to come and spend time with him. They’re not at school so technically there’s no way he’ll get in trouble if he defends himself now right? Just enough for him to make an escape and make his way back home.

The moment he was turned around, he immediately sent a right hook into the boy’s stomach and pushed him to the ground. He backed up and got into a defence stance while trying to figure out if anyone was gonna try him next or if he should make a run for it. The leader is on the ground and the rest of his posse have gone up to him to see if he’s alright.

Yep, time to run.

Sakura turned and bolted, taking shortcuts through alleyways just in case they decided to follow him. He’s certain he heard one of them yell after him but he doesn’t take the time to properly register what was said. He’s sure it wasn’t important, especially if it’s coming from their mouths. He starts to slow his pace to a jog then a light walk when he’s certain he’s not being followed. He’s only a few minutes away from his street so he figures that he’ll be fine. All he wants is to see his.. “Nii-san?”

Takiishi was with a boy further up the street. Takiishi doesn’t seem to hear Sakura, but the other boy hears and turns around. The first thing Sakura notices about the boy was his eyes. These green eyes staring at him. Almost as pretty as nii-san’s eyes. They were almost covered by a set of black curly hair that sat on his head, almost.

Sakura watched as those eyes widened at the sight of him. “Woah, who’s this dude?”

At this comment, Takiishi finally turns around. It takes all but a second for him to register the face of his brother, and for him to ever so slightly brighten up. “Haru.”

Takiishi walks up to Sakura and begins patting him on the head, “How was school Haru?”

“It was good! How was school nii-san?” Ears red from such a simple gesture of affection.

Takiishi hums a response of indifference, a response he always gives when asked about school. Sakura always assumes that because his older brother is too smart for school, he must find his classes boring.

They both seem to forget about the very confused audience, who immediately makes sure he’s known. “Aww, Takiishi are you not gonna introduce us? Who is this guy?”

Sakura looks from the boy to his brother. The boy has a smile on his face while Takiishi just glares at him, it doesn’t seem like his brother is going introduce them anytime soon. The nameless boy realises that a second after Sakura and sighs before turning towards the youngest.

“The names Endo, Endo Yamato” he states as he stares, almost like he’s analysing Sakura.

“Sakura, Sakura Haruka” He states it clearly but he can’t help but feel intimidated with those eyes on him.

“Sakura huh? Well it’s nice to meet you,” and just like that, Endo seems to ignore Sakura’s existence, eyes kept solely on Takiishi. “Takiishi are we still going to get those burgers?”

“You’re getting burgers?” Sakura perks up at the idea of food, looking towards his brother.

Takiishi looks down at Sakura for a moment before reaching for Sakura’s wrist with the hand that was placed on his head, dragging him along in the direction of the burger joint. “Let’s go.”

Both Sakura and Endo look at Takiishi, eyes wide before saying in unison “HAH?”

And that was how Sakura found himself sat in an inner booth next to Takiishi as Endo was buying their food. Sakura felt guilty, like he was imposing on a friendly hangout. To be honest, friendly hangout felt too close to for whatever the relationship was between Endo and his nii-san. They felt more like acquaintances, or a one-sided friendship, heavy on Endo’s side.

Sakura looks over to where Endo is standing, waiting for the food number to be called out. He doesn’t know what to think of the guy, not having really spoken to him, not like the guy seems interested in talking to him. He has noticed that the guy prefers talking to (more like at) his older brother, and honestly, he doesn’t think his brother is actually paying attention. He hasn’t made eye contact with the dark haired boy since Sakura met with them, and has more than once cut the boy off mid ramble to speak to Sakura directly — he can’t tell if this is annoying the other boy, as he just picks back up on whatever topic he was discussing before he was cut off.

“Why were you out so late Haru? You’re normally home earlier than that.”

“Oh! Uhm.. I had detention. Lasted an hour and a half.” Sakuras gaze drifted from Takiishi to the table as he responded. It wasn’t completely a lie, he did have detention, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to tell his brother about the bullying from his classmates and the injustice he gets from the staff. Why worry his brother when he’s got it under control?

He could feel Takiishi’s eyes on him, like he was trying to read his mind. He didn’t say anything though, whether that was because he chose not to or because he was cut off by Endo’s loud personality as he came back with the food, Sakura is just grateful he doesn’t have to make up more excuses and lies to his brother. He doesn’t think he would be able to bare the guilt of lying to the only person who cares about him.

The food is shared out between the three of them and the rest of the time spent there is peaceful, a night that probably doesn’t matter to the others (from the way Endo didn’t have to ask Takiishi for his order, he can tell they come here a lot) but to Sakura, its a moment he wont forget.

Takiishi was… concerned.

It wasn’t an expected emotion. He went to school, sat in those boring lessons and ate the basic school lunches. He stayed after school to do those boring hour long study classes (he didn't need it but his parents said he should be even smarter, whatever that means). Like normal, he packed his bag got up to leave and the next thing he knows, that Endo kid convinced him to follow him to that one burger place that Takiishi likes. Takiishi wont lie and say that he stood strong in saying no to food, it was always so much better than the slop they fed them at school, and as long as Endo keeps offering to pay, he’s not going to ever say no.

Getting food was always a plus after dealing with a bunch of nobodies that thought they were on the same level as him. Let it be known that Takiishi fought in self defence.. of his honour and patience. The guys were cocky and annoying, spoke and laughed too loudly, and talked about things Takiishi did NOT care for in the slightest. Sure, Endo may go on and on about random topics that Takiishi doesn’t care for either, but at least he’s mindful about what will definitely piss him off, and proceeds to never cross that boundary. Takiishi didn’t respond negatively to what they were saying solely because he was ignoring them. Sadly, the boys only saw this as a sign to get louder and louder-

The breaking point was the physical contact from one of the boys. Takiishi thinks it was him trying to get the other to agree on a point or something. But that didn’t matter, even Endo knows not to touch him (although through trial and error). Not even a second after the hand rested on his shoulder, the boy was punched square in the face. He could hear a wince come from outside his peripheral, he assumes it was Endo.

“Yeah.. that was bound to have happened sooner or later. Takiishi, your patience lasted much longer than I thought it would! Have you been practicing meditation or something?”

Takiishi only rolls his eyes at Endo’s comment and then shifts his gaze to the others. The group are in a state of shock, jaws practically on the floor from Takiishi’s actions. And then like a switch flipped, the boys are immediately in uproar.

“What the hell man? What’s your problem?” One of the guys yelled out, clearly pissed off.

Takiishi looks over at Endo, boredom clear on his face. Endo has quickly become an expression translator expert of sorts when it comes to Takiishi and immediately understood the message: get them to go away now.

“Haven’t you guys caught on yet? You guys are pissing Takiishi off. You posers are such wannabes and are SUPER cringey and annoying in my opinion. Takiishi and I can’t be asked to deal with you guys. Leave.” By the end of Endos little speech he got colder and serious.

It was clear to see that the group was definitely getting shaken up by the severity of the situation, but for some reason Takiishi couldn’t understand, the boys kept pushing and just would not leave.

“Y-you can’t treat us like that, You broke his nose!” God, Takiishi could not care for this mindless conversation. “Who do you think you are?” Oh if that’s what they want to know, Takiishi can gladly show them…

The fight doesn’t last long, not surprising when you realise how weak the opposing team was. It ends with the group grovelling in pain and Takiishi and Endo walking off with not a single scratch. Endo is once again yapping away about random topics as they head off towards the burger joint. Takiishi doesn’t understand how Endo can continuously talk like this, he would find it impressive if he could be bothered to care, but alas, he didn’t. He lets Endo continue though, because for some reason, Endo waffling about random stuff will always be better than the shit that left the previous groups mouths.

As they get closer to the establishment, he notices Endo turn back and to look at someone. “Woah, who’s this dude?”

That question has Takiishi curious, so he turned around. And just like that, it’s like Takiishi feels lighter when he realises who is behind him. “Haru.”

Takiishi can’t describe or understand the mental euphoria he feels when he sees his brother. He’s never felt as happy as feels right now with anyone or anything, but his brother. And he doesn’t know how to properly express this emotion except through the only ways he has been since he met the most valued person in his life. He walks up to his dear brother and immediately starts patting his head, it has become their ritual every time they see each other. “How was school Haru?”

“It was good! How was school nii-san?” He watches those pale ears get warmer and warmer, fascinated as the shade goes from light pink to a deeper shade as he continues the patting motions.

He hums a small response to the question, feeling compelled to answer his brother, even if it’s not a proper verbal response. He doesn’t see the need to tell sakura about his boring classes and how some boys annoyed him to the point where he beat them up. He would rather hear about Haruka’s day.

He doesn’t get the chance to urge Haruka to continue on because Endo, of course, has reached the limit of how long he can stay silent. “Aww, Takiishi are you not gonna introduce us? Who is this guy?”

He watches his brother look towards Endo, him doing the same but glaring. Endo doesn’t know when to stay silent and one day it will piss Takiishi off like it never has before. Endo took the sign that Takiishi would NOT be introducing him, and so he took the initiative.

“The names Endo, Endo Yamato” he watches as Endo’s eyes flicker up and down, like he’s trying to figure out his brother entirely from the mere moments of seeing him.

“Sakura, Sakura Haruka” His brother says it with faux confidence. He can tell it’s fake from the way his fingers twitch and how he slightly shifts towards Takiishi.

“Sakura huh? Well it’s nice to meet you,” and just like that, Takiishi could tell Endo could not be bothered with his brother’s existence. And for that Takiishi is somewhat grateful — his brother should not be subjected to the overwhelming being called Endo Yamato. Endo spoke once more, eyes kept solely on him. “Takiishi are we still going to get those burgers?”

“You’re getting burgers?” He watches his little brother perk up at the idea of food, looking towards him. Takiishi knew there was no way he was gonna send his brother home, so he stopped patting his brother (much to his dismay), grabbed his wrist and turned towards the direction of the burger joint, pulling his little brother along.

“Let’s go.”

He doesn’t turn back when he hear’s the reaction from the two people behind him. It’s not like either will object or stop him so there’s no reason to dignify it with a response.

As Endo was buying their meals (Endo knows Takiishi’s order and since Haruka has never been here before he asks for a small simple hamburger. Takiishi is going to buy his little brother something different from that menu every time they get food here until they figure out his favourite.) Takiishi takes this time to look at his brother. He notices him looking.. tense. Not obviously, but from the way he’s messing with his fingers as he stares at where Endo stands.

He tries to figure out why his little brother is uncomfortable. Was it him? No, he’s always considerate when it comes to his little brother, checking up on him this whole time, in his own way. So that must mean it’s… Endo? Takiishi’s not blind, he knows that Endo has been ignoring his little brother, focusing on making his gestures directed straight at Takiishi, only ever taking Haruka into account when it came to taking his order. He wonders why it makes the younger uncomfortable but can’t figure it out. No matter, he’ll be sure to ask Haruka later.

What he’d rather know is why his brother is out so late? His brother doesn’t have any clubs (his parents don’t allow it), and he’s not one to wander around and always walks straight home. No way to know unless I ask.

“Why were you out so late Haru? You’re normally home earlier than that.” He watched those heterochromic eyes look toward him, widening slightly at the question.

“Oh! Uhm.. I had detention. Lasted an hour and a half.”

Hmm. Odd.

It’s not odd that his brother gets detentions, what is odd is how he refuses to meet Takiishi’s eyes after he’s answered Takiishi’s question. This only puts more questions in his head. What is he hiding? And why is he hiding it from me? Did something happen at school? During detention?

He thinks about asking him, but before he gets the chance too, Endo returns to the table with their food. He takes one look at his brother before focusing on the food in front of him.

Takiishi was.. concerned.

Chapter Text

Now, Sakura likes to believe he’s smart. Sure, he’s not the top off his class but he’s not the worst either. He’s positive if he properly studied and applied himself (and was actually given the proper equipment to understand his classes) he wouldn’t be far off from being at least in the top 10 smartest students.

That being said, while Sakura can’t do much about his book smarts, he likes to think he’s extremely “street” smart. All the other kids his age have to walk home with an adult or in groups, but he can walk home all by himself! And even though it’s small, he always uses his allowance responsibly! He never spends it all in one go the last time he did that he almost starved, would’ve if it weren’t for Chika and he always finds ways to stretch it. He’s mature for his age.

But no matter how mature for his age he is, sometimes Sakura is really, really, stupid. The signs were all there. The side eyes in class, the whispers where he could hear his name being said but chose to ignore it. He thought maybe if he took all the alleyways and avoided them, he could make it home without any issues.

That is the dumbest idea I have ever had.

Without realising it, he let himself get cornered and trapped in a dead end. He sighs and turns around. Well, lets get this over with.

Sakura spots the kids from the day before high-fiving each other. “WE GOT HIM! Did you really think you could get away from us after what you did yesterday?”

Huh. People really hold grudges-

He spots older kids, maybe 2 years older (siblings maybe?), walking into the alley. He notices the resemblances between a few of them, definitely siblings. God, why does he keep getting himself into these situations like this? He just wants to go home. Why do people say they don’t like him, and then decide they want to spend so much time with him? It makes absolutely no sense in his mind. Would it not be easier to just ignore his existence?

“Is this the guy lil’ bro? You weren’t lying, he is a Freak!” the group erupt with laughter as Sakura winces at the insult. It’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before, but this, the tone is so harsh. He does not want to be here.

“Listen here, freak. You messed with my brother yesterday,” The boy walks up Sakura, who immediately brings his hands up. There is no way he’s letting his guard down. “I can’t have you disrespecting my brother like that, so here’s what we’re going to do. I’m gonna beat you up, and your gonna stay down.”

A punch was thrown straight to Sakura’s stomach before he had a chance to react and move out of the way. He could tell that was definitely going to bruise later. No matter, all he has to do was dodge any others and make a great escape home, easy.. okay this is not gonna be easy. I’m definitely gonna take more than just one hit, why can’t they just leave me alone! It’s not even my fault, if his stupid brother just stayed away I wouldn’t have punched him yesterday. It was merely self defence.

He backs up and looks at the group in front of him. He didn’t care for kids in his class — if anything they would stay back and leave him alone. Afterall, that’s not why they’re here. They’re here to point him out to them. He looks at the older kids. There was four of them, three behind and the one who just hit him front and centre. By the looks of it, Sakura could tell that the leader was going to let his group deal with him and then swoop in for the final blow. So what better way to prevent that then to throw his first punch (remember in self defence) at the leader?

Right, okay I can do this.

Sakura charges straight ahead and into his target tackling him to the ground, throwing blows left and right onto the body underneath, until he was thrown to the side, “you BRAT—”

Sakura pushes himself up, trying to get back into his stance to figure out his next moves, when he’s gripped by his hair and his head is violently connecting with the wall. I am so going to feel that in the morning..

“You’re a feisty one aren’t ya!” The leader laughs as he pulls and pushes Sakura’s head of the wall and down towards the floor, to which he stumbles before falling at the feet of the other three. “We are gonna have fun with you.”

He feels the hair on the back his neck rise as he watches the grin spread across his face. “Felix, why don’t you and your friends go hang out at home, we’re gonna be here for a while, and its about to get pretty ugly. Don’t want you seeing that lil bro! Just let us handle this trash.”

Sakura watched as the kids walked away all smug like justice was being served, which was so unfair. Again, why was this happening to him?

Sakura heaves as another kick is sent to his stomach, he lost count of the kicks he’s taken from the others, he thought by now they would’ve gotten bored of him and let him go, but no, they still kick, punch and shove him, repeatedly, with no sign of stopping. Sakura barely has time to think between each attack on his body, his mind lingering on the pain that blooms, spreading. He has noticed that the leader of the group is just watching with a smirk on his face. I knew he was gonna sit back and do nothing.

“Alright guys, you’ve had your fun. It’s my turn now.” The boy pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on stalking over, grin stretching.

Ah, spoke too soon. Maybe this is my chance to fight my way out- “Hold onto is arms, we don’t want him escaping before his punishment is over, do we?” Spoke too soon again, dammit!

He’s hauled up by is arms as he tries to catch his breath. He can’t believe his luck. Why was this happening to him?

“Listen here freak, I hope you’ve learned your lesson. Never touch my brother again.” A nasty punch hits Sakura in the stomach, making him sharply exhale air left in his lungs, god that hurt.

“A waste of space has you has no right to touch my brother let alone breathe in his direction.”

It’s not like I was trying to-

“I’m surprised they let a creature like you into school! You don’t belong there.”

I was just trying to get home, I just want to go home, let me go home.

“You don’t belong anywhere.”

I just want to go home.

Sakura tries everything, pulling at the older kids holding him up to try and free himself, looking around to see if something could help him escape, but there was nothing, god there’s nothing, he can’t get out, he wants to leave, why wont they let him leave, he wants to leave, he can’t get out—

He looks to the entrance of the alley, maybe if he screamed for help someone would help him? No, of course no one would help him, they would come running to the sound of a scared child, but the moment they saw him they would leave, no one would ever spend a second to help him, he’s alone, why is he alone, why is this happening, I want to leave, let me leave, I want to go HOME—

Sakura goes slack, almost as if he passed out. Only he hasn’t, clear from the deep sigh that leaves his body.

A raw and guttural scream leaves Sakura’s throat. It stops after a few seconds, as he takes in a few deep breaths before he’s at it again, raw and full of emotion. With unknown strength, he crouches and pulls his arms towards himself, pulling the two kids with him, causing their heads to collide. They immediately let go of him to hold their bruising foreheads, giving Sakura an opening to strike. He turns to his right, punching the kid in the nose and then immediately kicking him between the legs. He doesn’t even wait for him to drop in pain before he’s focusing on the other guy, punching him in the stomach and kicking his shin. The kid drops, moaning in pain and yelping as Sakura lands one final kick between his legs as well. He turns to look at the leader, and strides towards him. The look in his eyes was cold, like he wasn’t all there. Rage, sadness, loneliness all combined and channelled into an overwhelming sea. But to the kid in front of him, it was like looking into a void. He shuddered from fear before angrily shouting out.

“What the- You psycho, what, did you gain some kind of super strength? Pathetic, you’re still not gonna be able to beat me! Just stand down so we can do this the easy way-”

Before he finishes his little speech, Sakura is charging towards him and punching him right in his face. He throws another punch and dodges a right hook from his opponent.

Left punch, right punch, dodge. Left punch, kick, dodge.

The sequence continues as Sakura remains focused, inching closer and closer, pushing the leader back further and further until he trips and falls. Sakura doesn’t stop though, following him to the ground and hounding in on the punches, with only a few words running through his mind: left, right. Left, right. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. I wanna go home, don’t stop. Left, right. Left, right. Don’t stop. Don’t stop—

Pain erupts from the back of his head before he is abruptly pushed off the boy and kicked in the stomach. He looks up, vision blurry but roughly able to make out the leader being pulled up by one of the last members of the group, forgot about that one..

Once more, Sakura tries to get up but stumbles and falls back to the ground, his head pounding and is vision blurry. His eyes refuse to focus no matter how hard he tries. What did they hit me with?..

He feels himself get lifted up by his shirt and braces himself for impact but it never comes. Instead he’s dropped to the floor and.. left alone? His head is roaring, he can’t focus on his surroundings, he has no idea what’s going on anymore. After a few minutes Sakura feels a hand on his face and flinches. However, it’s not a harsh hand. It’s.. gentle. It’s a warmth that Sakura can’t help but lean into. The next thing he knows staring into green eyes. He’s sure he’s seen those green eyes before but he can’t figure out where.

“Pretty, pretty green..” he mumbles before closing his eyes. He feels the hand freeze in its motions for a moment before he’s being manoeuvred onto his back and.. lifted? He can’t concentrate on anything.. he’s so tired…

Takiishi has felt anger before when his parents have tried to deny him something he wants, when teachers or people try to get to close to him. But this.. he’s never felt this emotion before. Makes sense that the only one that brings this, raw unnerving emotion would be the only person Takiishi truly cares about.

Haruka. His little brother. On the back of Endo Yamato. Unconscious.

If Endo didn’t explain himself in the next five seconds-

“Hey Takiishi! Look who I found!” Takiishi only glares, clenching his fists tight, the count down almost up in his head. Four, three, two-

“Found him in an alley, the one next to that busted pawn shop, fighting that annoying group of guys from school. You know, the whiny ones that kept following us? Well when I found them he was actually winning! And he would’ve won if they weren’t playing dirty” Endo’s tone gets colder, as if the memory alone was distasteful to think about. “One of the kids hit him in the head with a pipe, gave Sakura a concussion I assume. He was out of it moments after the hit. But don’t worry, I dealt with them!” Endo perks back up at the last sentence.

“I’m going to take him back to mine to check him for injuries- WHA- Takiishi! Where are you going?”

“Take Sakura to yours. I’ll meet you there in a bit.” Takiishi responds, heading off in the direction that Endo came from. He had to get rid of the feeling this new emotion gave him. He doesn’t understand it. Why did seeing Haruka like that make him so.. mad?

“PLEASE IM SORRY! ACK-” Takiishi throws another fierce kick that’s sends the kid flying to the side. This was the weakling that dared to pick on his brother? Pathetic. To trap his brother in this alley and to beat him up, and when he starts fighting back they hit him in the head with a pipe? Takiishi was not going to let this slide so easily. His brother was important to him, he’ll be damned if he didn’t take care of of these worthless individuals and make sure they stayed away from Haruka for good.

He grips the hair of the leader tightly and bashes his head into the wall once, twice, and then forces the boy to look at him.

“Takiishi I’m sorry, whatever we did, I’m sorry! Please let us go!”

Takiishi scoffs at the plea? Sorry? He’s sorry? “How can you plead for forgiveness and also claim to not know why you’re sorry?” He lets go of the boys hair, only to punch him in the face. “Did you show forgiveness when you hurt Haru? Did you let my brother go when he asked? Did you?”

The fear and confusion on the faces of the group immediately turns into horror.

“That was Takiishi’s brother?” “Oh god we messed with Takiishi’s brother? We’re doomed!”

The leader looks up at Takiishi, remorse written all over his face. Though, Takiishi can tell it’s not guilt for hurting Haruka, but regret because he got caught. Regret that he let Haruka get away and now he’s paying the price for hurting him. “Please! Takiishi we didn’t know he was your brother! He was picking on my brother and his friends and being a brat-”

Takiishi threw a punch at the insult to his brother, hitting the boy square in the nose. Seriously, did he think he was going to get away with that remark? “Listen and listen carefully. If you ever, EVER touch Haruka again, I will personally deal with all of you.”

And with that, Takiishi delivers a final blow to each member in the group before walking off. He makes his way to a convenience store to find something for Haruka.

I hope he’s okay..

Sakura wakes up to a white ceiling and a soft floor underneath him. He blinks a couple times, just staring at the ceiling. He feels sore. The pain in his head is still there but has ever so slightly gone down, just a little.

What.. happened?

He takes a minute to recall his memory before shooting up into a sitting position. I was in the alley.. that group and that stupid leader.. he remembers the panic, the insults thrown at him and then.. a scream? Did he scream? He remembers fighting back, finally having the upper hand, and then immense pain at the back of his head. And then.. green. He remembers looking at pretty green.. green eyes? They were followed with a kind caress. Someone actually helped him? He didn’t think that would ever happen. No one ever tries to help him.

He looks around the room he’s in and realises he’s in a bedroom. Nothing too extra, actually it’s quite simple. Sakura feels the soft sheets of what he realises isn’t a soft floor but a soft bed. He’s in a bed?

He hears footsteps approaching before the door is pushed open. “Ah, your awake! That’s good, thought you would be out a bit longer!” Green eyes. Those green eyes from the alley, the green eyes that treated him with such kindness.

Those kind green eyes belong to.. Chika-nii’s friend?

“How are you feeling? Bet your head isn’t feeling so great right?” Sakura tenses looking down to where his fingers are threaded into the sheets and nods.

People don’t like when I look into their eyes.

“As expected! Here, take these. These meds should ease the pain.” Endo (was that his name??) passed Sakura two pills and a cup of water.

He hesitated for a second before he took the items. Sure there was a chance it could be poison but, those eyes, he saved him. He doesn’t know why he did yet, probably because Chika asked him to, but Sakura decides that’s enough to trust him. He mumbles a quick “Thank you,” before placing the medicine in his mouth, water following closely behind.

“Awww, no need to thank me! Anything for you, angel!” Endo hums.

The shock in Sakura’s mind from the first statement was immediately replaced with embarrassment at the nickname. A light blush dawns his face as he stumbles over that to say. “A-Angel? I’m not a-“

Endo quickly cuts him off, eyes shining and hands moving fast as he explains his point of view. “You were amazing! I heard a loud scream come from the alley, I was already curious but wasn’t gonna go over. That was until I heard the second scream and just had to see what was going on. When I got there, there you were! Taking on a group of older kids all by yourself! It was so angelic! None of them could come close to hitting you unless you wanted them to, but even then it was so you could get a better advantage to hit them harder!”

“I’ve never seen such divinity in a fight! I mean- sure I’ve seen Takiishi fight and when he does it’s godly, but you? You hold the same rage, but it’s channelled a little differently.” He sighs, almost dreamily recounting the events.

“It’s a shame those weaklings couldn’t handle the punishment from a divine being as yourself and used such a trashy pipe to hit you” he scowls.

Sakura is.. confused. Why is he being compared to an angel? No one’s ever said positive things when he fights back, he gets called brutish, a monster, a terror. But here Endo is, complimenting him? Complimenting his fighting skills because he took on a group of older boys? And even getting mad because he was hurt? This is the same person who wouldn’t take a second glance at him when they first initially met, let alone talk to him or even compliment him. What is going on???

Endo grabs Sakura’s face, squishing his cheeks in his palms and forcing him to look into Endo’s eyes. “Your eyes were filled with such passion when you fought! It was beautiful! Even now they’re so pretty! I was blind to your divinity when we first met, but watching you fight? It completely unlocked your gracefulness to me!”

Sakura may have been lightly blushing before, but now, he was fully red in the face. “B-beautiful? P-pretty? I’m not-“

“Nonsense, you’re adorable!” Endo chuckles and squishes Sakura’s face once more just before the sound of the doorbell. “Ah! That must be your big brother!”

“Chika-nii?”

“Yeah, when you passed out, I picked you up and brought you to him. But at the sight of you he looked so mad and walked off in the direction of the alley. I can only assume what he did to those he bullies of yours! C’mon let’s go, can you stand?” Endo says as he lets go of Sakura’s face, one of the hands grabbing onto Sakura’s own and lightly tugging him upwards.

Sakura, still trying to comprehend the information thrown at him obliges and lets himself be pulled out the bed and out the room. He’s led down a hallway and downstairs. His surroundings are just as simplistic as the bedroom he was in. The walls are grey and so are the wooden floorboards, which are covered in a dark blue carpet. The entrance to the house was situated right in front of the stairway. Still holding his hand, Endo uses his other to open the door to an impatient Chika.

“Hi Takiishi-” the moment Sakura came into view, Chika stepped forward, dropping the bag in his hands to the floor. He proceeds to check Sakura’s face all over, looking at bandages and checking for any untreated injuries.

“Haruka! Are you alright? Where did they hurt you?” Chika takes Sakura’s unattended hand and pulls him into a new room, the living room. The three of them walked in linked by their hands as they sit on the couch, Sakura right in the middle of the two of them and very confused on where he should look. Should he keep his eyes on the floor? Or maybe he should look at his brother? Or instead at Endo since it is his house? He decides the best thing to do is to take a quick glance at both of them and then respectfully look back down at the floor. He turns to his brother to realise he’s being stared at, and with a quick glance at Endo, he realises that he is also staring. Too much attention on me..

The small silence has Endo furrowing his eyes, “Sakura-chan, are you still hurt? I bandaged any injuries I could see, did I miss any?”

“Oh, uhm,” he looks down at his arms and legs, wow he really did treat my wounds, they don’t feel awful— mostly minor scrapes and bruising. What he is starting to feel now that he’s focusing on his injuries, is the pain in his stomach and head. Definitely could feel worse without the pain meds though. “The bandaged stuff doesn’t hurt that much, the pain is mainly in my head and my stomach.”

At that confession, Chika and Endo stared at each other for a moment before looking back at him concerned. “Haru, can you show me your stomach?” Sakura nods and lets go of their hands and pulls up his top to reveal dark bruises. They lined his stomach, the edges being a mix of green and yellows, just like most of the bruises on the rest of his body. The main area of his stomach however, was littered with blues and purples, getting darker the further to the centre it got.

At the sight of his poor bruised stomach, the tension in the room became more apparent to him. He didn’t see Endo’s face before the boy got off the couch and made his way out the room and further into the house. Chika however, his gaze did not leave Sakura’s exposed stomach, lips pursed. They seem mad.. did I do something?

“Nii-san.. I’m sorry.”

The words shocked his brother enough to be snapped out of his thoughts to look at Sakura with confusion. First I made him mad now confused? Nice going Haruka. “Haru, why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yeah! listen to your big brother, Sakura-chan! Why do you think you need to apologise anyway?” Endo chimes in as walks through the doorway with an ice pack. As he sits, he offers the ice pack to Sakura. “Here, this should help with the pain and the bruising, hopefully it helps stop it from getting any worse”

Sakura takes it while furrowing his eyebrows and frowning. “You guys had to save me from that group,” he winces as he places the ice pack on his stomach, “and now you’re dealing with my problems.”

“Haru.. it’s not a problem to ask for help. Is that why you didn’t tell me?” Sakura nods “Haruka. I.. care about you, so much-“

“I care too! Now that I have you, I will not stand for any stupid bullies hurting my dear angel!”

Chika glares at Endo for cutting him off before continuing on “I don’t know what I would do without you. It.. hurt to see you in pain today, it hurt more that you didn’t think you could come to me. Haru, you can ask for help no matter how big or small the problem. Leave any problems to us, okay? We are here for you.”

His brother’s speech brought tears to Sakura’s eyes. From the moment Chika first came to visit him in the shed, Sakura felt wanted for once. He cherished every moment with Chika and never wanted to bore, or worse annoy, him with the treatment he received. But to hear that it made his nii-san upset that he was hurt? Sakura doesn’t know what to say.

It’s only when he heard sniffling next to him that he realised that Endo was crying too? Why was he crying? “Takiishi, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say! And the most you’ve ever spoken in my presence! But what you said is the truth,” Endo turns to properly stare into Sakura’s eyes as he says “I have only known you for two days and I would like you to know I would kill for you, no questions asked.”

“I don’t want anyone dead!”

“But if you did, just know you could come to me”

The insanity of the statement had Sakura giggling. If he had any doubts about Endo caring, it was immediately squashed. “Thank you guys, really. I promise if something ever happens I’ll come to you guys.” Sakura felt so warm, he had two people that cared for him. And he cared for them too.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about those guys ever again though.” Chika says, and though Sakura wants to question him more on it, he decides it’s easier if he just goes along with it. He leans back on the couch and takes a deep breath in and then out.

“So… what now?”

“Oh! We have leftover pizza in the fridge? You guys could stay the night and we could eat it while watching a movie? C’monnnn, my parents aren’t home and the nanny rarely checks in anyway!” Endo pleads, giving the best puppy eyes to the brothers. It may not work on Chika but it is definitely working on Sakura.

A sleepover, pizza and a movie? That sounds like fun!

“O-okay, sure! I mean, can we Chika-nii?” Endo’s puppy eyes may not work, but the look of a hopeful Sakura does.

“Sure, Haru.”

Chapter Text

Endo believes in God. Specifically his God. A God with the name of Takiishi Chika. His first ever meeting with his god will forever be engraved in his mind. Takiishi Chika was a raging inferno, untouchable by anyone who dared to try. Even Endo, someone so devoted to his God, has barely managed to stay by his side. But despite all that, his god still allows him to stay in his presence. Endo believes that this is what shows the difference between him and every other lowlife on the planet. He is the lucky one, the disciple to the most powerful and beautiful God he has ever had the chance of meeting.

At least, he thought he was the lucky one, until a certain someone made themselves known. A certain someone who has stolen his God’s eye. The gaze of his beloved no longer stays on just him.

And who is Endo without the gaze of his Almighty?

When Endo first met the kid, Sakura, his immediate thought was that he was pretty. The split coloured hair and the unique eyes were the first thing he noticed, obviously. I’d never be ignorant to notice someone with such pretty features. A little on the shy end, but that’s expected when standing infront of a god and their disciple. What isn’t expected, was that his beloved God was willingly giving this kid attention. At most he thought Takiishi would stare a little longer than he does at other people, but this kid got him to converse, show emotion, SHOW AFFECTION? Endo never thought he’d see the day. He thought he would be the one to illicit such emotions from Takiishi, if ever that moment were to actually become a reality instead of just fantasy (oh, Endo dreams of such a day..).

Just who is this kid to Takiishi?

The kid didn’t even have to ask, and Takiishi was already grasping his hand and dragging him off to their favourite burger place.

Takiishi, holding someone’s hand, taking them to get food?

Endo didn’t know what to say, actually he did, but he had a feeling if he did say anything it would result in a punch from his beloved God. But he can’t help it, he’s never seen or heard of this kid before, and yet it’s almost like he orbits much closer to his sun than Endo himself has ever gotten.

Endo doesn’t get it. He wants to, for the sake of not defying his God, but it’s hard with such little to go off of. He’s allowed to be jealous of some random kid that just swooped in and took the spot he’s been working so hard to achieve like it was nothing.

Maybe it was a test? To see if Endo was stupid enough to defy his God and speak up? No, Takiishi doesn’t do mind games. He’s always straight to the point or proving his point with his fists. So Endo must be blind. He is blind, he’s here mentally doubting his God all because of some kid? He’s sure whatever quality Takiishi is fond of will soon come to light and Endo will understand!

Probably…

Endo can’t remember the name of the song he’s humming, but he continues humming the catchy tune as he makes his way to meet up with Takiishi. They had split up after school for a bit and planned to meet back at the park. He thought walking through the high street would help him find something for Takiishi, whether that was a new toy, a new food to try out, definitely not something to persuade Takiishi that he was better than the kid from before.

In the distance, he hears a scream that catches his attention and weirdly enough, its got him curious. He would normally never bat an eye to a scream, but this one didn’t sound like it was of fear, but of anger. Not to mention it happened twice.It was definitely not from Takiishi, as when he fights its silent and deadly. If it wasn’t for his opponents crying in pain, Takiishi’s fights would remain elusive.

Oh this should be good.

Endo picked up his pace in hopes for front row seats to whatever was going on. And boy, did it not disappoint.

He sees that annoying group from school getting their shit rocked by Sakura. Two of them are on the floor holding some injured body part, another looking like he’s about to piss himself from fear, and Sakura Haruka, raining punches non-stop on the leader. The sight was glorious, Sakura looked like a raging element, not to be messed with unless you wanted to engage with such fury. The look in his eye made even Endo shiver.

Is this it? Is this why Takiishi was so obsessed with him? Endo gets it, only someone so powerful, even at a young age, would capture his Gods attention. He isn’t just pretty, he can fight with such skill and strength, it could possibly rival Takiishi, if nurtured enough.

Endo doesn’t know where this angel fell from but he knows that he’s never letting him leave his and Takiishi’s side. After all, Gods need their angels don’t they?

Endo is snapped from his trance a little too late, noticing the only uninjured boy finally growing a pear and joining in on the fight. Endo believes Sakura could have definitely taken care of him and finished off the leader, if not for that RATwhacking him with a pipe.

Honestly, the angel is a force to be reckoned with, but a pipe is plain dirty and unfair.

He watches as they kick his wounded angel in the stomach and immediately decides to step in. Allowing anymore unfair treatment to happen to his newest obsession is simply unacceptable. It doesn’t even take him more than two minutes to defeat the last two and check on Sakura. On the postive side, he’s definitely breathing, and is awake. However, his eyes are unfocused and each blink gets slower and slower.

“Sakura-chan? You still with us? You took quite a hit to the head.” He waves a hand right in front of Sakura’s eyes hoping that it helps but it’s clear it doesn’t do much. He checks over Sakura injuries, taking note of how many and where they are so he doesn’t make them worse when he picks him up. His hand caresses a bruise on Sakura’s cheek, being careful not to apply too much pressure. It baffles him that people would hurt such a beauty. He sighs before freezing from a mumbled whisper he barely hears escaping Sakura's mouth.

“Pretty, pretty green..” are the only words to leave his mouth before his eyes flutter shut.

Endo vows that he will do whatever he can to make sure Sakura Haruka is never hurt like this again.

The look on Takiishi is terrifying. It’s such raw energy that he’s never seen before.

All this for one person?

As expected, seeing your loving disciple walking with your angel unconscious on their back would cause for some concern. He should propbably say something though, because if he knows Takiishi (he does obviously), then Takiishi is definitely going to punch him if he doesn’t say something—

“Hey Takiishi! Look who I found!” Of course Takiishi responds with a hard glare, waiting for Endo to continue, he never was the patient type.

“Found him in an alley, the one next to that busted pawn shop, fighting that annoying group of guys from school. You know, the whiny ones that kept following us? Well when I found them he was actually winning! And he would’ve won if they weren’t playing dirty” The memory flashes in his head, and Endo feels his grip tighten on Sakura, a reminder that he’s safe (well, as safe as he can be right now, passed out and all.) “One of the kids hit him in the head with a pipe, gave Sakura a concussion I assume. He was out of it moments after the hit. But don’t worry, I dealt with them!”

He hoists Sakura up higher on his back and smiles at Takiishi. “I’m going to take him back to mine to check him for injuries- WHA- Takiishi! Where are you going?” He’s a little confused when he sees Takiishi walking in the opposite direction of his home.

“Take Sakura to yours. I’ll meet you there in a bit.” Takiishi responds and, oh, Endo wishes he could go with him to watch him reign his terror on those unfortunate vile twats, but he has to be a caring disciple and nurse the poor angel.

Endo, the ever reliable one, applies ointment and such to Sakura’s bruises and wounds, and arranges him so he’s comfortable on his bed. He does everything with care and feels pretty proud of himself when he looks over at his work one more. There’s not much he can do to help Sakura with the head injury. He’s lucky though, there’s no broken skin in that area. Endo should probably go find his poor angel some painkillers for when he wakes up but he can’t help but stare for a while. He’s so.. angelic, for lack of better words.

How can someone look at him and get violent AT him and not FOR him? It’s truly pathetic how low the rest of the world is.

Endo can’t help but smile when he thinks about the damage Takiishi is inflicting on that group. Sure, Endo left his fair share of bruises on them, but there’s no way Takiishi would let them have mercy after such a foul act had taken place, Endo sure wouldn’t.

He sighs and gently strokes Sakura’s head before walking out the room.

Where are those painkillers…

When he walks back into the room, Sakura is sat up and staring at him, only for a second, before diverting his gaze.

Huh..

“Ah, your awake! That’s good, thought you would be out a bit longer!” His tone stays cheery but he tries to keep a level of calmness to it, he doesn’t want to make a potential headache worse, let alone scare Sakura.“How are you feeling? Bet your head isn’t feeling so great right?”

He’s met with silence and a nod of agreement. Thanks to Takiishi, he’s fluent in silent conversations and can easily read Sakura’s slight actions. The tense shoulders, the fiddling with the fabric, the avoidance to eye contact, he probably has a raging headache and a mild concussion if anything.

“As expected! Here, take these. These meds should ease the pain.” Endo passes the water and pills to Sakura who accepts with slight hesitance and a quiet thank you. Expected as much, I mean, who wouldn’t be hesitant with someone they’ve barely met. But Endo can’t help it, Takiishi never says thank you for anything Endo does for him, but here comes along Sakura and it’s so easy.

Endo is never letting him go now.

“Awww, no need to thank me! Anything for you, angel!” Endo hums.

Endo has never seen someone blush so fast and so red as Sakura as he rambles on about how amazing his fighting skills are, its almost amusing how quickly it gets worse once he’s got Sakuras face within his grasp. Endo doesn’t think he would have stopped complimenting or teasing Sakura if it was not for the doorbell ringing. And watching the brotherly reunion was so worth putting a pause on his teasing. Takiishi doting on his little brother is the most purest moment he’s seen, ever.

“Haruka! Are you alright? Where did they hurt you?” He follows behind the duo as they walk towards the living room, and is confused by the silence that follows Takiishi’s question.

“Sakura-chan, are you still hurt? I bandaged any injuries I could see, did I miss any?” I swore I got them all, arms, legs, his head..

“Oh, uhm, the bandaged stuff doesn’t hurt that much, the pain is mainly in my head and my stomach.”

The response has him unsettled as he remembers the last attack the group got in before he came to the rescue, a kick to the stomach.. Once he saw the injury, he wasted no time going to the kitchen and grabs an ice pack. How did he forget such an injury, it should’ve been iced the moment he got home. He’s honestly shocked Sakura didn’t show signs of the pain earlier, if Takiishi didn’t ask, would he have ever said anything about the pain?

“Haru, why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yeah! listen to your big brother, Sakura-chan! Why do you think you need to apologise anyway?” If anything, Endo should be thanking him for divine foresight. “Here, this should help with the pain and the bruising, hopefully it helps stop it from getting any worse”

He watches his poor angel furrow his eyebrows. Does he truly not understand how much they care about him? “You guys had to save me from that group, and now you’re dealing with my problems.” Oh. Oh, he doesn’t know.

Yes, he knows his care is very much new and out of thin air, but he will not stand for this . He will repent for his sins against his angel, and the only way to do that is to show him his devotion!

“Haru.. it’s not a problem to ask for help. Is that why you didn’t tell me?” Sakura nods “Haruka. I.. care about you, so much-“

“I care too! Now that I have you, I will not stand for any stupid bullies hurting my dear angel!” It was an easy risk to take, cutting off Takiishi as he spoke. Given the situation, he knows Takiishi would prioritise Sakura over hitting Endo.

Takiishi glares at Endo, before continuing on “I don’t know what I would do without you. It.. hurt to see you in pain today, it hurt more that you didn’t think you could come to me. Haru, you can ask for help no matter how big or small the problem. Leave any problems to us, okay? We are here for you.”

This is the best day of my life. Seeing the light and having an angel, witnessing the affection between his God and his Angel, and getting to hear Takiishi speak for more than five seconds. AND it was the most heartfelt speech he’s ever heard. Endo can’t hold back the tears of joy in his eyes. “Takiishi, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say! And the most you’ve ever spoken in my presence! But what you said is the truth,” Endo turns to properly stare into Sakura’s eyes, making sure to drive the message into Sakura‘s heart and soul. “I have only known you for two days and I would like you to know I would kill for you, no questions asked.”

“I don’t want anyone dead!”

“But if you did, just know you could come to me”

His response made him giggle! SCORE! “Thank you guys, really. I promise if something ever happens I’ll come to you guys.” He trusts him! DOUBLE SCORE! Endo will make it his life mission to protect Sakura Haruka.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about those guys ever again though.” Chika says, and Endo is certain he won’t even see those guys at school after Sakura started the fight, Endo supported, and Takiishi definitely finished them.

“So… what now?”

“Oh! We have leftover pizza in the fridge? You guys could stay the night and we could eat it while watching a movie? C’monnnn, my parents aren’t home and the nanny rarely checks in anyway!” Endo is honestly tempted to beg on his knees if that’s what gets Takiishi to agree to a sleepover. But, just from the puppy eyes alone, he already sees Sakura folding. Oh, Endo can see the cycle. If he wants to do something fun, all he has to do is make it fun for Sakura! And if Sakura is in, Takiishi is by default.

“O-okay, sure! I mean, can we Chika-nii?”

“Sure, Haru.”

Oh, Endo can tell this is the start of a beautiful friend group with MANY adventures.