twenty four

turning gold

I woke up the following morning with a crick in my neck, and a small hangover, surprised I slept through the night, and even more surprised to see who I was sharing a bed with.

I smiled, sitting up with a yawn, staring at Murayama's angelic features as I stretched my arms over my head, hearing the satisfying sounds of my back cracking itself back into shape.

Carefully pulling myself out of bed, I grimaced as I accidentally put my bare foot into a pile of cold noodles from one of the plates we'd heated up the night before. Cursing under my breath, I pulled a stack of tissues out of the box and tried to wipe the curry sauce off my feet before I managed to get it onto the carpet. After that disaster had been dealt with, I moved to check my phone, make sure everything was alright with Hiroomi and Daichi, and to make sure Yasushi got Sakura home safely, especially considering they both lived in the area near the Murder District.

What I found instead was a string of calls I was in no mood to return.

Tsukasa, Tsukasa, Tsukasa, Nakagoshi, Tsukasa, Yasushi, Tsukasa, Tsukasa, Yasushi, Tsukasa, Nakagoshi, Yasushi, Yasushi, Fujio.

Whatever was going on with the kids could wait until I was slightly more awake.

I set about getting ready for the morning, stripping out of my stale, alcohol-and-smoke scented clothes, pulling on a fresh pair of jeans and letting my hair out of the braids, all the while trying not to wake my softly-slumbering boyfriend.

I plugged my phone in on top of the dresser, reaching into the second drawer for a fresh, pristine white Guns N Roses shirt.

"How long was I asleep for?"

Jumping at the sudden disturbance, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest until I realized that it was just Murayama waking up.

"Jesus Christ, Hot Shot." I chuckled, trying to get my breath back

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The boy laughed sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck as he sat up, the plush blanket falling off the side of my bed

I chuckled, the hand holding my t-shirt coming up to cover my chest "And I was trying not to wake you."

Murayama yawned, running his fingers through his hair. "Do you remember how much I drank last night? I smell like cheap beer."

I shook my head with a smile. "More than I did, but I also seem to remember a fairly drunk Nakaoka spilling his beer on you."

"That must be it." He chuckled, leaning his head against the wall "Who let him drink, he's gotta be what, fifteen?"

"Well, it's his mother's problem now."

We both laughed for a minute before the silence became awkward, almost like we weren't quite sure what to do next. I was still only half dressed, but frozen in place. So frozen in place, in fact, that I didn't realize my shoulder's weren't covered, the deep scarring visible for all to see.

"What happened to your shoulders?" Murayama's face went dark with concern

"Oh." I frowned, realizing that all the angry pink scar tissue was on full display. "That. It's acne scarring. Remember how I said teenage girls could be cruel? Well, back then I had really thick hair, and it was almost impossible to wash so it always ended up being greasier than it probably should have been, and that grease sinks into your skin, clogs the pores. It was really bad, and even though I should have left it alone, they just kept mocking me, and teasing me, so I kept picking and picking at the spots, trying to get them to go away, but I just ended up making it worse. They scarred so deep that my shoulders are a permanent wreck."

The boy got up from my bed, wrapping his arms around my waist an gently pressing his lips to the scarring on my shoulder. "I think you're gorgeous."

I smiled before turning my head and gently kissing him on the lips, before throwing my shirt over my head and making my hair look borderline presentable. "Do you want a fresh shirt?" I said, reaching into my closet "That one reeks."

After fishing around for a little bit, I pulled out a white Hawaiian shirt with a very flashy toucan feather print on it, one that I stole from Kaz one summer I spent in Okinawa.

"What the fuck is that?" Murayama frowned as I tossed him the shirt

"It's the best I've got, Yoshiki." I chuckled, pulling a blue Hawaiian shirt over my own shoulders.

I grabbed some of the dishes and leftover leftovers from the night before and headed back into the kitchen. After dumping the plates in the sink, I reached for a fresh glass, my stomach dropping to my feet when I heard the voices in the living room.

"Is Midori alright?" It couldn't be

"She's really shaken up, but I think she'll be alright." Noboru said to the visitors. "She's tough."

A chuckle. "Don't I know it."

Taking a shaky breath, I walked out into the living room, my suspicions confirmed.

"Masaki." I said slowly. "Hiroto. What the hell are you doing in my house?"

Masaki smiled. "Midori! It's nice to see you again!"

"No." I said slowly. "If you guys are here, that means it's really bad, doesn't it."

Hiroto shook his head. "We don't know that. Cobra called us last night, said a mutual friend of yours was up in arms about what happened at the building site. It could be nothing, we just wanted to make sure."

I turned to Noboru. "Get them out of my house, Noboru."

"Midori, come on." The boy shook his head "Cobra's just trying to help."

"Then tell them to talk to Daichi. I can handle this myself."

"That's what you said last time when you locked yourself in your room and didn't talk to anybody for two months!"

I shook my head, unable to fully digest what was happening. Once the Amamiya's were involved, it was real. It was the full thing, S.W.O.R.D involvement, large-scale Container fight-like situations. And I wasn't ready to accept that. I wasn't ready to go through all of it again.

"I can't believe you." I said quietly before turning on my heel and heading back down the hallway, pushing past a surprised and concerned looking Murayama as he laid eyes on Masaki and Hiroto

"Let me talk to her." I heard Masaki say in the background

"Don't." Noboru shook his head. "Give her five minutes to calm down first."

It took everything in me not to climb back into bed and pull the covers over myself, become catatonic to the world around me. My room had always been a safe space, but now it seemed like it was glaring at me, jeering. Pointing fingers. The wall of artwork I'd created in my youth now seemed dark and depressing, almost everything done in a dark, angry black ink.

Even the old picture of the Sato Seven glared at me, reminding me that one day I'd probably end up like them to other people: names I could barely remember.

When Masaki knocked on the door, I almost didn't want to let him in. Almost.

"You have a boyfriend now." The older male smirked

"Shut up." I shot back. "Something in my life was finally going right, and then that prick Ice had to ruin it. This fucking town, Masaki. It sucks the life out of you. Should have left when I had the chance, you know?"

We both sat on the bed, and I reached for one of the large pillows that Murayama had squished during the night, clutching it close as I fought back tears.

"But you didn't." Masaki pointed out. "You stayed, even in the aftermath of the Container Fight and the attempted takeover. Why?"

"I don't think I could ever leave this place, even though everybody else did." I said "Back then, I was the glue that held everybody together. And then Shuntaro broke up with me, Odajima moved. I don't even know what happened to Tatsumi, but if he stayed in Hope Hills, he's done for. Odajima and I were the only ones that stood a chance."

Masaki nodded along, even though I knew he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

"I had something to prove. I had to prove that I wasn't just going to run away again when I couldn't cope with things, like how I had run back to Okinawa after graduation

"When I last saw you, you either over-ate or barely ate at all, cried almost all the time and got no sleep." Masaki started "I remember I told you that you needed to pull yourself together, and you did just that. I am so proud of you. Pulling yourself together was half the fight, Midori."

I nodded, slowly finding my voice again. "I know what we need to do. Just like last time, at the Container Fight. We can't be sitting ducks anymore."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Masaki asked, panic in his tone

"I'm taking the fight straight to the Mighty Warriors."

NOTES!

This feels a little rushed with the whole 'the amamiyas are back thing', but it's going to be important later. i swear this cast is so big even though i tried to cut people out of it, but i swear it will all make sense eventually.