Fighting Spirit

When Yankumi finally took both Yabukis to the teachers faculty, the guys started asking Ryu about Hayato’s father. The boy just raised his eyebrow and shrugged, letting the others know that he had nothing to say. Soon they gave up and went back to their previous activities, waiting for Hayato and Yankumi to come back to the class. Ryu relaxed in his seat and got engrossed in his thoughts. He closed his eyes and smirked at the memory of his first meeting with Yabuki senior at the age of twelve.

Ryu was sitting under the tree in front of the school, reading a book and waiting for his best friend to be done with kicking butts a few meters away. Ryu ignored the fight, not in the mood to get another bruise after being scolded and grounded the last time. He raised his eyes only when Take came out of his hiding spot from behind the tree, the same one Ryu was sitting under.

“Ryu, shouldn’t we help Hayato?” Ryu looked at the boy, then at the fighting group, and back to Take.

“No,” Ryu answered shortly and went back to his book. Take bit his lower lip, uncertain if he should interfere. He felt guilty; after all it was his fault that Hayato was involved in another fight the following week. Ryu, feeling his friends hesitation, sighed and while closing his book, looked at the smaller boy. “He fights because he wants to. You just gave him a reason to do it. They were on his “to beat up” list, anyway.”

“Eh? What did they do?” Take asked, his eyes wide and full of curiosity.

“They were picking on the girl he likes.”

Ryu shrugged his shoulders and leaned on the tree closing his eyes. He ignored Take who was staring at him, shocked by the news. Yabuki Hayato had a crush! While the smaller boy was processing the new information, Hayato jogged towards them panting slightly but having a big, proud smile on his face.

“Yo! I’m done. Now we can go.” Ryu opened his eyes and looked up at the ruffled boy. He raised an eyebrow, giving a silent sign to his friend. Hayato just rolled his eyes. “Come on, Ryu! I don’t look that bad, right?” Ryu looked him up and down before looking straight in the boy’s eyes.

“Your mom’s going to be mad at you.” Take said before Ryu could even open his mouth.

“It won’t be that bad. She will forgive me when I explain my reasons to her.”

“You mean that you were protecting the girl you like?” Take asked innocently yet with twinkling sparks of mischief evident in his eyes. Hayato blushed immediately but tried to hide it by glaring at the smaller boy.

“Shut up, Take! I fought them for your sake and not Marie-chan!”

“Marie-chan? So the girl you like is Marie-chan from class B?” Hayato blushed even more and grabbed Take in a friendly, yet warning headlock. Ryu only smirked at the sight.

“A hole.” Ryu spoke up making his friends to stop. They looked at him questioningly. “You have a hole in your trousers.” Ryu said and pointed to one of Hayato’s legs. The boy looked down and his eyes widened in terror.

“Oh, man~! My mom’s gonna kill me! It’s third time this month! Ryu! Can you do something?”He asked his friend pleadingly; surprisingly, Ryu was rather good at many things like cooking or math but, unfortunately, sewing wasn’t one of his best qualities.

“Your fault. I warned you before.” The boy got up and brushed off the dirt from his own pants. He started walking away but looked back at his best friend with a smirk, adding: “Besides… I like watching when you’re mom is scolding you; you’re so meek then, hugging her and offering to help her with dinner. The apron fits you perfectly.”

“Oy! Take that back!” Hayato yelled and followed the boy, Take walking after him with a smile.

“No.” Ryu said and ignored Hayato who was whining next to his ear about how unmanly wearing apron is and swearing that he’d never wore one in his short life. Of course, Ryu knew better, often being a guest in Yabukis’ house.

At the gate, Take bid them goodbye and went home while Hayato and Ryu made their way towards Hayato’s house. Hayato excitedly opened the door and went inside without taking off his shoes, followed by his well-mannered friend who actually took those few seconds to change into a pair of old slippers. Once Hayato entered the small room he stopped surprised. On the couch was sitting an older man. Hayato stood in the middle, completely frozen staring at the man who stared back at him. Ryu observed the man hesitant at what he should do now. Thankfully, Hayato’s mom came out of the kitchen.

“Ryu-kun! I haven’t seen you for some time. How are you?”

“Good afternoon, Yabuki-san. I’m fine, thank you. I’m sorry for coming without telling you first.” He bowed lightly in respect.

“Nonsense, dear. You’re always welcome.” The woman smiled widely and hugged the boy warmly. The man sitting on the couch raised an eyebrow before looking at the boy standing in front of him again.

“Oy, is he your friend?”

“Yes, he is. Have any problem with that, old man?” Hayato crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

“Odagiri Ryu. Nice to meet you, sir.” The boy bowed again. Even though no one said it, he quickly realized that the man is Hayato’s dad.

“You should learn manners from him. And take off your shoes, brat! You’re inside the house!” Hayato kicked off his shoes and looked defiantly at the older man.

“Done. Have something else to say, oyaji?”

“Oi! Watch your words! And clean this mess!” The man pointed to the pair of sneakers laying on carpet.

“Or what? Are you going to spank me?”

“You!”

The man stood up from the couch, ready to really give his son some spanking but Hayato quickly jumped on his father and they started fighting. The man caught his son in a headlock while Hayato tried to bite his dad and kick him. Soon they were rolling on the old carpet, completely ignoring shocked Ryu and Yabuki mama who only rolled her eyes.

“Come on, dear. I will give you some soup. Taku! Dinner!”

“But what with Hayato and Yabuki-san?”

“Just leave them for now. They will stop sooner or later.”

Ryu gave his friend and his father one last look and followed the woman into the kitchen. Taku was already there, waiting at the table facing the living room with a smile. Ryu sat next to the younger boy and thanked Hayato’s mother when she put a plate full of chicken soup in front of him. The boys were eating slowly, glancing from time to time at the two fighting figures. Somehow they managed to roll themselves on the other side of the sofa becoming an interesting attraction for the eating boys. Ryu and Taku stopped blinking, gaping at Hayato and his father, while automatically putting spoons of the warm broth to their mouth - they were completely engrossed in the fight.

A few minutes later the boys were still bringing the spoons up even though they already finished the soup. They stopped however when Hayato pushed his father a little too hard and they both hit the small table. The vase that was placed on it wobbled and before anyone could react, the ceramic vessel fell, crushing into hundreds of small pieces. Ryu and Taku became silent, but Hayato and mister Yabuki seemed to not even see a damage they had made. Ryu looked at Hayato’s mother, gulped heavily and quietly thanked for the food bringing his plate to the sink to wash it. Taku followed him silently but when Ryu looked at him the younger boy mentioned for Ryu to bent down a little. Ryu raised an eyebrow but did as he was told; his eyebrows raised even more when Taku whispered something to his ear. The older boy looked at his best friend’s brother before giving him a small smirk and nodding slightly.

The two boys went back to their seats. Yabuki mama was standing near the broken vase looking at it with unreadable expression. The truth was that it was her favorite vase given to her by her mother-in-law as a part of the wedding present. The vase was really old, hand-made and beautiful but also expensive and Yabuki mama could already imagine her husband’s mother complaining about not treasuring her gifts thus not respecting her too.

Ryu observed the woman carefully. At first she showed no emotions but soon Ryu smirked knowing perfectly well the expression Yabuki mama had on her face. She approached the two fighting guys. They didn’t noticed her at all before she hadn’t grabbed both of them by their ears and pulling them up.

“Ow, ow ow! Mom~! It hurts~!” Hayato exclaimed and the father added.

“Ouch! Oi, woman! Let go!”

Both struggled to get free but Yabuki mama just pulled harder making both guys look at her. Taku giggled from his seat while Ryu tried not to smirk to widely at how pale hayato’s and his dad’s faces became. Their eyes widened and they looked completely frightened. On the other hand, the woman was calmly looking at them with a small smile.

“Honey~ You know I don’t mind when you two are fighting, ne?” The man nodded in fear. “And, Haya-chan~, you know how glad I am when you get along with papa, right?” Hayato nodded as well and gulped. “Good. But did you two forget how much I hate it when you damage our house?” The two shook their head frantically. “And do you know what am I going to do now?”

“Y-you’re g-going to ground m-me for breaking t-the vase?” Hayato tried his luck; just like his old man.

“You’re g-going to g-ground the brat and m-make me do the d-dishes for a month.” Hayato glared shortly at his father trying to kick him before focusing on his mother again.

“Oh, no, no, my dears!” she smiled sweetly and the two relaxed; Ryu’s smirk only grew bigger. “You.” she pointed to Hayato. “And you.” She moved her hand towards her husband. “You will…” she stopped suddenly and her sweet ‘angel’ smile turned into sweet ‘devil’ smile. “You will… clean the whole mess. Now.” And even though her voice was normal, there was no doubt how angry she really was. But before the two could really follow the order the woman spoke again. “And the one who will make a better job won’t be punished for breaking the vase.”

With the last sentence, Hayato and mister Yabuki, straightened and looked at each other narrowing their eyes. The fight was on again and the two rushed to the small closet to take out the vacuum, some clothes and a broom. Ryu gaped at them, completely shocked. Of course, he knew how Yabuki mama threatens Hayato every time he makes something bad but he hadn’t seen THIS side of the woman yet.

Yabuki mama chuckled and sat down next to the two observing boys taking a random magazine with her and reading it. Ryu looked at her before facing the living room and staring at the two working guys with wide eyes. He had never seen Hayato seriously cleaning something at his own free will but when he was about to make a comment, he felt a tug on his uniform. He looked in question at Hayato’s brother who smiled at him.

“It’s always like that when dad’s home.”

“Hayato’s… so serious...”

“Un. Because he hates losing to dad in anything just like dad hates losing to Hayato-nii.”

“Okay… but why do they compete over... cleaning the house?” Taku just shrugged his shoulders.

“Mom just likes to use them to do the chores.”

“Oh, don’t say it like that, Taku-chan.” The woman said looking at the two boys with a smile before turning to her older son and husband. “I just use their fighting spirit for something other than breaking very.precious.things.” She said it loud enough for the two in the living room to hear her words. “You missed a spot, honey.”

“Ah! Sorry, dear, I’m going to clean it now.” The man answered smiling at his wife while Hayato took the opportunity to clean the mentioned spot. He smirked at his father before turning to his mother.

“See, mom? I’m better than dad. I cleaned the table thoroughly and even the spot dad missed!”

“You brat! You might be good with cleaning tables but lets see who’s better at washing dishes!”

“You will fail miserably, oyaji!”

The two guys rushed to the kitchen. Ryu just blinked watching the scene taking place in front of him. When the first shock finally lessened, the boy smirked. No matter how you looked at it, Hayato was like his father; stubborn, hotheaded, loud and... full of fighting spirit that made him pick up a fight with anyone who abused his huge ego. And apparently the person who unnerved Hayato the most was… his own father.

Ryu opened his eyes when someone poked him in the cheek. He turned to see the culprit. Take smiled at him and asked what made Ryu to smile so widely. At that moment the door to the classroom was opened and a very angry Hayato made his way inside followed by Yankumi. Ryu looked back at Take and smirked.

“House cleaning fighting spirit.”

Ryu answered to the puzzled Take and got up from his seat to go after Hayato to bring him back to class before the guy could damage another part of school property.

Or run into his father. Again.

After all, no one wanted to see the end of the world, even Ryu...

Though it wouldn’t be that bad if the two stubborn hotheads helped him do the laundry.