Summary: "Great, Takeru," Yamato said. "In an attempt to win a girl, you've successfully managed to anger the heir of a yakuza boss. For my safety, I'll have to disown you… I hope you don't mind."

Rating: T (Language, Content, etc)

Disclaimer: No, not even for a second. Haha.

Chapter 01

Looking out for better judgment…in a dark alley (Take 1)

"Taichi, I'm sixteen. I can walk home alone."

"Walk home? Yes. Alone? No. It would be a better idea if I just walked with you home. My boss would understand why I'm late." Taichi Yagami grabbed Hikari, his sister two years his junior, by the hand ready to sprint home. He wouldn't be too late if they ran the whole way at some (almost) impossible speed.

Hikari Yagami looked up at her brother who was nearly a head taller than her. This was a usual routine since he learned about the gang wars happening recently. However, Hikari was now unaffected by big brother overprotection. Knowing that she appeared to be innocent (for part of her really was), she glared furiously because it was the only way to get through to Taichi. Her chocolate eyes darkened as Taichi just looked down at her with a scoff.

"Taichi," Hikari said forcefully. "I'm not stupid. It's not like I will walk into danger." Breaking away from his grip, she clasped her hands onto her hips indicating that she was a "big girl".

It was visible that she was growing, height and all, into someone slightly older. Her green uniform however shattered the illusion and made her seem much younger. In his eyes, Taichi saw Hikari as a little girl who would never get married, let alone date. At least it certainly wouldn't be allowed. He stepped forward unassuming and knocked on Hikari's head like it was a wooden door that could show if anyone was home.

Hikari unblinkingly asked, "What are you—no, what do you think you're doing?"

The eighteen-year old continued rapping his knuckles against his sister's hair and explained, "I've heard that you're supposed to knock on wood, so you won't be jinxed by your own words."

Hikari tapped her foot and said, "You're not knocking on wood." She crossed her arms then as a sign of impatience. What was wrong with walking home alone? It's not like she hadn't done it before…

"Hmph, are you sure about that?" asked Taichi with a cheeky grin. He stopped knocking on his sister's head, and then shoved his hands into his pockets like he always did before he would take off.

But not that afternoon, he pulled out a regular silver whistle that shone innocently in the sunlight. "Just in case," he said, holding it out for her, "you get in trouble. Now go home, little sister."

His little sister beamed at him and gladly accepted his gift. "Thanks Taichi!"

The close siblings parted ways like they always did every school afternoon, unbeknownst to them that this would be the last time.

vXvXvXv

Clutching the shiny silver whistle, she walked several blocks before considering whether or not she should use the alley as a shortcut. Every once in a while, she would use the alley to take off a minute or two of the usual time it took to go home. Many people passed the path that had an alley no one paid attention to. It was abandoned, so no one could possibly jump her right then and there.

Had it not been for the loud traffic noises, she would've believed that she was the only one on the planet. With such thoughts in mind, Hikari gingerly walked through the shady area, her gaze fixated on her sneakers.

Then OCD hit her, and she followed her compulsion of re-tying her sneakers…in the middle of an almost-abandoned alley.

And then Hikari discovered she wasn't alone.

"Usagi, you jackass, if he's unconscious, who's going to find him?" said a husky voice in the dark alley.

When she first looked into the scene, she saw a blue-haired boy hunched on the ground and beaten to a pulp. Her hands muffled her quiet gasp upon seeing that he was so hurt and still moaning from the pain. Blood dripped from his nose and lips, and the bruises were just starting to form on his cheeks. Pathetically there seemed to be no way of him getting up since a hefty-looking peer had one foot on the victim's back further soiling the blue-haired boy's uniform.

Impulsively, she stood up and yelled at the one who spoke looming over his victim. "Hey you big bully! You leave him alone!" The bully, she noticed, was dressed in a uniform from Odaiba Prep, the school for rich folks and brilliant scholars. His two cronies, also dressed in the same attire, stepped into view with demonic grins plastered to their faces unlike their friend with a cool, uncaring expression. "Leave him alone!" she added with more bravado than bravery. "Or I'll call the police!"

'Someone, I NEED HELP!' she thought to herself. Frozen in fear, Hikari didn't dare to say another word.

"Shino," said the skinny boy to his collected friend, "check this chick out. I like her, don't you?"

Hikari's gaze flickered back to the blue-haired boy now lying on the ground unconscious. Horrified, she realized that she had to run. Surely he couldn't be able to help her in his physical state.

She took off, but was immediately pulled back by a fat, sweaty hand. It was the fat boy Usagi who had more muscle than she realized. Hardly unattractive, his repelling odor and unpleasing smirk caused her to cry out: "Let go of me, ya big thug!"

He merely laughed in response, his hot breath heating the nape of her neck.

"Don't molest her yet, Usagi. I fucking hate watching you do that," said Shino, lighting a cigarette. He advanced towards Hikari who continued to struggle in Usagi's grasp. With index and thumb, Shino took her chin and examined her face. From her perspective was seen a boy perhaps as old as her brother, maybe a bit younger. Steely eyes that darkened with every sneer squinted as they judged her close-up. Black hair contrasted greatly against his placid complexion.

After judging her appearance, he smiled a wolfish grin. She retaliated with a swift kick to the shin and attempted a kick to the groin, but he quickly pushed her chin away and dodged her foot.

"Careful, you almost kicked me there," he sneered.

Hikari clearly saw the lack of compassion he possessed and for a second had as much courage as she once had. "Hmph, are you sure about that?" she replied in the same manner her brother did some time ago. Then Hikari recalled the silver whistle Taichi gave her…

Under his breath he muttered, "Stupid whore." He resumed smoking his cigarette emotionlessly. "You don't know who I am, do you?" Shino asked. "Because you would've left your friend behind…but I doubt you're friends with Ichijouji here. We've made sure he doesn't really have any friends." His nostrils let a puff of smoke out, and he scoffed in Hikari's face.

'He is bad news,' thought Hikari examining his face. She could easily believe that Shino never smiled happily and that the boy never had a mother. If he spent his time having his friends beat up a defenseless peer, he could do other things she didn't want to think about. He was, she felt, as dangerous as a teenage boy could be, but her head told that he was much, much worse.

That was why she waited until his back was turned to use her silver whistle.

"SOMEBODY, HELP!"

"USAGI, PUT HER DOWN BEFORE—!"

"WHAT?"

Time moved faster than she could blink, for in one moment, help was on its way.

With a flash of yellow, Hikari instinctively ducked and felt Usagi get hit by one fabulous punch in the mouth. She could hear him let out an audible "oof!" before letting go and collapsing to the ground like a tall tree cut down.

Consequently she too was about to go timber until a pair of strong arms caught her at the back and waist. Her eyes in bewilderment flickered up to her savior's bright blue eyes. It was a blonde boy about her age although he certainly didn't look like a guy who could literally knock a fat boy off his feet.

"Who the hell are you?" hissed Shino as he flicked his cigarette to a puddle. Tilting his head back in an angle, Shino sneered with a wicked smile and stood upright shoving his fists into his pocket.

Shino's other friend, a skinny boy with a lip piercing, staggered forward hunching in hungry lust for some action. "That probably won't matter 'cause in seconds you won't remember, blondie."

In front of Hikari stood said blondie, an undefeated hero.

"I think you should leave that guy alone. I think it would be even better if you leave," said the boy unwaveringly. With a tough look in his eye, he remained grounded from where he stood expecting Shino and his friend to physically confront him.

Shino's lip curled back in a sneer. "What's your name, blond?"

"Takeru Takaishi, the one who decked your friend in one punch 'cause he was so inconsiderate to this innocent girl," replied Takeru harshly.

Hikari looked at him. He had a certain edge about him. 'What is it about him?' Hikari asked herself.

"Well, Takaishi, I believe we'll meet again some day. I'll be looking forward to that," Shino said. With a jerk of the head, his friend followed him with Usagi in tow, and they all left without another word save for the moment when Shino looked at Hikari and said:

"Forward meaning in the very near future."

Hikari shuddered and immediately gripped Takeru at his upper arm for safety.

The blonde looked down at her with an encouraging smile. "I hope you can forgive my lateness…" he paused wanting to know her name.

"Hikari. Hikari Yagami of Class 3-A in Odaiba High." Hikari neatly folded her hands and bowed from the waist to Takeru. "Thank you for saving me. I hope that there is some way I can repay you. But all I can say is, You won't tell my brother, right? Because he'd kill me if he found out what position I was in." A blush crept to her cheeks when she looked into Takeru's bright blue eyes. She pushed invisible strands of hair behind her ear and cleared her throat.

Takeru shook his head slowly as he picked up the unconscious kid named Ichijouji off the ground. "I don't think my big brother would approve of me smashing a guy's jaw in the middle of an alley. May I ask what you were doing there?" he asked as he propped Ichijouji onto his back.

Hikari looked at the sidewalk from whence she came and said abashed, "I was going through this shortcut…"

The blonde just shook his head and shrugged. "Things never go according to plan. What do you say if we get this Ichijouji kid to the place where he belongs?"

Much to the duo's surprise, Ichijouji groaned and whispered almost inaudibly, "Take me to the grocery store."

'A grocery store?' thought Hikari perplexed. 'He got beaten to a pulp, and he wants to go to a grocery store?' Her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked to Takeru with an identical expression.

He only looked forward and then up to the sky like he was really asking the heavens his question. "Why the grocery store?"

"My friend…can fix me up. It's the family grocery store three blocks from here."

Still confused, Takeru looked to Hikari who slightly embarrassed took him by the hand in the direction she was meant to have to taken. She didn't say much as they pushed through the crowded sidewalks and crossed the busy intersection. They were just adamant about fulfilling Ichijouji's request as soon as possible. The boy looked worse in the daylight—much worse than Hikari realized.

'How long was Ichijouji with those creeps? If Takeru wasn't there sooner, what would've happened?' Hikari bit down on her bottom lip as they found the grocery store Ichijouji mentioned.

Once they reached the grocery store, they hurried inside and were met by a purple-haired girl with round glasses.

"Hey…don't I know you from somewhere?" the girl asked Takeru.

Hikari blinked and looked at Takeru. He caught her looking at him blankly, which caused him to blush.

The grocery girl noticed this and said, "Oh no, no! I don't mean it that way! I mean to say, 'Don't you live in the same apartment building as me?'"

"Oh…yeah, that's right," said Takeru. "Um…my friend on my back's name is Ichijouji…"

"Your back's name is Ichijouji?" asked the grocery girl. "Oh haha, that's funny!"

Then she did a double-take.

"Wait…Ichijouji?!" Alarmed, she rushed to Ichijouji and recognized the boy even before she got a good look at his bruised and bloody face. "Ken! What the hell have you been doing lately? Oh my God! Ken, ugh! Why can't you just…? Ugh, never mind. I'll deal with that later…" She stopped to peel off her green apron and tossed it onto the grocery baskets a couple decimeters away. In a matter of seconds, she told her boss, who closely resembled her, that she'd make up for her time tomorrow and directed all three of her peers out the door and in the elevator up to her apartment floor.

Without another word, she quickly ran to the fourth door on the right and opened it not bothering to take off her sneakers. "Guys, bring him in quick!"

As if he didn't walk more than three blocks with someone on his back, Takeru hurried into the grocery girl's apartment followed by Hikari. Takeru laid Ichijouji on the couch whilst Hikari shut the front door. Swiftly the grocery girl frantically got her first aid kit and dropped on the ground at the side of the couch. She quickly tended to bruises and blood before anyone dared to speak.

When he groaned from the burning alcohol, she snapped, "Shut up, you stupid genius. I'm doing you a favor, so let me care of you since you don't know how to do it yourself."

In between the cleaning and applying bandages Takeru muttered to Hikari, "She sure is scary and determined… I know I wouldn't want to find her in an alley…" He nervously chuckled and accidentally bumped into Hikari.

"S—sorry," she spluttered. Another blush colored her cheeks, but she looked at Ichijouji like she didn't notice. She was also too embarrassed to notice Takeru staring at her again.

As soon as the grocery girl was finished, she turned to the duo and almost jumped. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized sincerely. Standing up, the girl smiled pleasantly and added, "I kinda' lack in the introduction department sometimes. I'm Miyako Inoue. I should thank you two for bringing Ken here." She bowed reverently. "It means a lot that you got him out of whatever dump he finds himself in. But…I hope you know that he is a good kid…" Miyako took off her glasses with a sigh and put them on the coffee table.

Hikari didn't know what she was saying until she blurted out, "Um…it was really Takeru here. He really got me and um…Ken out of a jam. I was walking through an alley alone when I saw some guys"—out of the corner of Hikari's eye, she saw Ken twitch even if he appeared unconscious—"beat up Ken. I told them to leave him alone, but was also trapped. If it hadn't been for Takeru—"

"—well, if you weren't there, Hikari…" interrupted Takeru.

They stared at one another until they found Miyako giving them a knowing look, but she quickly regained her blissful manner. "At least stay for dinner."

"Erm…yeah…that'd be nice," said Hikari, bobbing her head.

"Yeah, why not?" said Takeru.

Then the pair said simultaneously, "I just have to call my mom."

Miyako's grin widened to resemble the Cheshire cat's. "Of course, you two can use my room or something."

Hikari walked to the passage on her right and entered the room as directed by Miyako. She felt all too aware of Takeru behind her as she entered Miyako's room. Heart racing, she opened her messenger bag for her mini cell phone to call her mom. But once she dialed the digits, she and Takeru could hear her berating Ken.

"Ken! Don't you dare leave me in the dark! You know I hate it when you do this to me! This is like the third time you've shown up bloody and bruised. Then we have to cover up the marks, so your mom doesn't suspect anything! So she doesn't have to worry, but then I do!" screamed Miyako in frenzy.

Looking at Takeru, Hikari saw him shrug as if to say that Miyako was very much concerned for Ken's well-being. Turning back to their phones, she and Takeru called their moms to inform them about their dinner plans at the house of the new friend Miyako.

Somehow by the time the pair got to the kitchen, Miyako already had dinner set out.

"My mom just cooks dinner on her break, and then leaves it in the oven for a bit until I get here," she explained.

Dinner began like it was just another day, but to Hikari it seemed so surreal. Earlier she was bickering with her brother that she could walk home by herself but instead ran into a bunch of bullies, a bullied victim, and a blonde knight in shining armor. Then she was at a new friend's dinner table chatting with new friends like it was so normal.

When dinner was almost done, the laughter ended when Miyako put her chopsticks down.

"Ken, just be honest. You're in more trouble than I thought. I think you owe all of us here at the table an explanation."

Ken, as he was now called, looked at the three other people at the table. He did owe them an explanation since Hikari told Shino and his friends to screw off (not in those words exactly but something to that effect); Takeru knocked Usagi out (but that might cost Takeru a lot more than he asked for); and Miyako who was more concerned and would probably flip about what he was about to explain.

"I told you about my brother Sam, right, Miyako?"

Miyako nodded uncertainly, not knowing where this was leading.

"When I told you that he died from a severe amount of blood loss and some internal bleeding, I wasn't lying…" Ken looked down at the table, his gaze shifted to his trembling fingers. "He…was good at conning sometimes, a practiced con artist. It was a skill he didn't openly admit because no real con man would. He didn't really think about stopping his behavior until he got into a jam with Kiyoshi."

"The gang leader from Tamachi High?" asked Takeru sternly. Kiyoshi had a bad reputation among other gangs in the city. He alone could take down five guys silently and speedily…sometimes rumored to be one of the most deadly gang leaders in the region.

"Yeah, he's the one," replied Ken almost grinding his teeth. "Somehow Shino was wandering that same street when that happened and for the fun of it backed Sam up at the time. Kiyoshi, realizing who Shino was, decided to let Sam go without another word. Sam started to hang out with Shino regularly from then on and then quickly learned that he shouldn't have."

Miyako scowled in puzzlement. "Shino…the name sounds familiar."

"Ever heard of the yakuza boss Shino Hamizaki?" Ken asked folding his hands.

Hikari watched how the boy's face contorted into a pained expression.

"That's his grandson, the yakuza boss's heir. When my brother decided that he'd have enough of Shino's twisted…fun…he said that he wanted out. He knew he couldn't say that he wanted out just like that." Ken gulped and inhaled deeply. "He tried to play it Shino's way…but not as illegal and twisted… But Shino found out anyways and had some friends get my brother..."

Takeru was afraid to ask the question that hung in the air, but wanted to stay quiet a little longer.

"I've grown up, but I'm not like my brother in some ways. For one, I don't do any dangerous stuff. And two, I can't afford to make my parents worry more than they should… It was a while before they recovered. Still, Shino thinks that I'm useful since he found me at Odaiba Prep and found out I was Sam's brother." Ken looked at the three people watching him anxiously. "He's excited to take on the family business."

"So…" said Takeru finally, "…so what does this mean?"

Hikari bit her lip and gulped.

"It means that we're in big trouble."

She met eyes with Takeru, and she realized two things:

One, she was in danger.

And two, she couldn't let Takeru go down with her because of her helplessness.

--XoX—

A/N: Dragontune172 is back, ladies and gents.

Impulse has been set in motion since the end of August. Until now it has been kept nice and cozy in my hard drive. This story I hope shall be longer and thicker—I want a layered, two-part story here! So I've been taking my time and have been writing slowly and steadily instead of my usual impulsive, hardly edited updates. But maybe I've said too much…

If you didn't already know, the pairings are Takari, Kenyako, Sorato, and Koumi. If you didn't already know (second heads-up), I like to write pairings that authors intend. That's probably just me (haha). If you're thinking Hey, wait a minute! That Shino kid wasn't in the canon! Well, he actually was. No, I'm totally kidding. The yakuza people are all mine. (THANK GOD.) XD

More characters, more chapters, more fun, and more love along the way. Reviews regular? Updates will be regular, too!

Peace—

Dragontune172