Chapter Text
Several weeks had passed since Kyojuro met Bri in passing at the basketball courts. He had found himself thinking about her more than he cared to admit. As he left the dry cleaners and was walking toward his car he heard his name being called.
He turned his head at the feminine voice and was surprised to see none other than Bri walking towards him waving her hand with a smile on her face. The setting autumn sun behind her cast an amber glow on their surroundings. She was stunning. Just stunning.
“Hi!” she grinned up at him when she finally got close.
“Well hello there,” he grinned back at her.
“I saw you walking and thought I’d say hi,” she said, her cheeks had the slightest pink tint to them.
“Well, I’m glad you did. It is nice to see you again,” he answered.
“You too,” she said, her cheeks got a little pinker. She broke their eye contact and cleared her throat. “I was thinking about going down to Hinatsaru’s restaurant. I know Tengen said you guys all eat there regularly. Would you care to join me? If you were heading that way.”
“Unfortunately I am not heading that way at this time,” he answered, wondering if maybe he should be. He saw the slight disappointment come into her eyes. Well that just won’t do. He spotted the diner behind her. He gestured to it. She glanced behind her to see what he was pointing at. “Would you care to join me for dinner there?”
She turned back to him with a broad grin that lit up her eyes and warmed his chest, “Sure!”
It turned out to be one of the best decisions Kyojuro had ever made. Bri was witty. She was beautiful. She was funny. She was warm. Once she got comfortable she was very talkative. They ended up getting so lost in their conversation that their food was cold by the time either had taken their first bite. Bri was a helluva woman, and he was happy he had gotten to spend some time with her.
It had been after dark when they finished their meal. He had insisted on giving Bri a ride home, not wanting her to take the bus or to walk especially alone at night. He had watched her walk up the stairs, turning to wave at him before she let herself inside her apartment. He had not pulled away until her door was closed.
Kyojuro was in a good mood when he got to the Corps HQ. He had gone home and changed into his work attire, his black button down, black waist coat and red tie, before coming in. He was whistling to himself with his hands in his pockets when one of the new low ranking members called out to him.
“Hey man- did I see you with Bri earlier?” the younger man called out to him as he began to head inside.
“Why yes, you did,” Kyojuro answered, turning towards the voice and waiting for the lower rank to approach him. He was curious as to why this kid would know her name, instantly on alert. “Is she a friend of yours?”
“She goes to my art school,” the guy told him.
“Ah, I see. And what’s your name?” Kyojuro asked, not having seen this man before.
“Oh, its Kaigaku,” the man nodded to him. “Heads up man - she doesn't put out. You’re just wasting your time there.”
“Excuse me?” Kyojuro was thinking he must have heard this guy wrong…
“No, seriously, bro. You ain’t gonna get anywhere,” the guy laughed. “I took her out for coffee once and told her I would give her a ride home from class the next day. She wouldn’t even give me a blow job, man. She told me to drop dead and ran away. Not even worth the time.”
“I believe that the problem in this situation is you, not Bri,” Kyojuro addressed him. “A cup of coffee’s worth of a woman’s time and you think that you are somehow entitled to demand a blow job in exchange for a ride? Am I understanding this correctly?”
“Oh, I see… you like her,” the man grinned with mirth. “I hope you have plenty of lotion buddy. You’re gonna need it with her.”
“Cease speaking to me and of Bri this instant, ” Kyojuro said as he unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled back the sleeves early tonight. “This is your one and only warning.”
“You’re really willing to throw down over some prude bitch?” the man asked, not taking a hint.
Kyojuro laid him out with a punch. He knelt over him and picked him up by his shirt. He enjoyed the fear he saw in the man’s eyes. Good. Let him know she was protected and he would not tolerate anyone speaking of her like that.
The Hashira were not known to all by name so maybe this little shit did not realize she was Tengen’s sister. Maybe it was not some nefarious plot that he would know her name. Regardless of either, Kyojuro had now made it perfectly clear that she was protected and off limits. The man coughed on the blood pouring out of his nose.
“Never. Ever speak to or of Bri again. Her name is not to leave your lips. Do not go near her again. Or you will answer to me. Got it?” Kyojuro asked, getting even more in the man’s face.
“Y…Y… Yes sir!” the man nodded, eyes huge in fear.
Kyojuro dropped him so he thudded on the ground and stood up. He walked away before he could change his mind and beat the man into a bloody pulp like he truly wanted to do. It was not that he had pent up aggression or anger he needed to get out at the moment. It was a matter of someone speaking about a woman like that. Someone disrespecting Bri like that.
He shook his head and sighed as he walked in the door and headed to wash the blood off of his hand. He would probably hear about that altercation later. It was worth it.
As one of the 9 Hashira he answered directly to the Master. However, Himejima, the longest standing of the Hashira and personal guard for the Master was treated with damn near the same respect. He could put him in his place, but Kyojuro doubted he would.
The Hashira operated by each having specific jobs they oversaw for the Master. Kocho oversaw drugs and alcohol. Iguro was an expert at information extraction and worked closely with Kocho’s younger sister, Shinobu, to develop poisons and antidotes. Kanroji oversaw the Corps’ restaurant and entertainment interests. Tomioka and Sabito worked with old man Urokodaki on all modes of transportation.
And then came the boogie men. Masachika, Shinazugawa, Uzui and Kyojuro himself were the Corp’s justice system. For members and business interests - They were each enforcer, jury, judge and oftentimes executioner. Whatever the Master needed or wanted them to be, they were.
Kyojuro scrubbed his hands and reminded himself again that it was a bad idea to get tangled up with a woman, especially Uzui’s baby sister. The problem was he had thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent with her. He wet his hands and washed his face, hoping to clear his thoughts. He needed to engage his Hashira mode. Time to become the Flame Hashira once again. He headed into the main room where other Hashira sat. Iguro nodded to him in greeting.
Uzui sat sprawled out on a couch with his head resting on the back. He lolled his head to look at Kyojuro as he entered the room. “So, Rengoku, anything you’d care to talk about?” Uzuii asked.
“About what?” Kyojuro asked, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and heading to sit down next to him.
“About why you just laid that kid out in the parking lot maybe?” Uzui asked, gesturing to the security stream on the screens covering the wall across from them.
Giyuu Tomioka, the Water Hashira came into the room as he asked. He took a seat on the couch opposite them and glanced at Kyojuro. His stare annoyed Kyojuro for some reason.
“Anything wrong, Tomioka?” He asked.
“I was waiting for your explanation before I asked my question,” Tomioka said, sitting back next to a mountain of a man named Gyomei Himejima, the leader of the Hashira.
Kyojuro wanted to go find that kid and punch him in his face again for putting him in this position. Though he supposed his own misplaced rage was part of it. He gave a smile, “Nothing to be concerned about.”
“This is out of character for you, Rengoku,” Himejima regarded him with concern.
“Who’s Bri?” Tomioka asked
Uzui’s head snapped to Kyojuro, gaze narrowed on him. “Now you better have more to say.”
“The kid I punched is the one who did not give your sister a ride the other day,” Kyojuro answered. He was not even slightly worried about what Uzui would say to that.
“That’s all you’re going to tell him?” Tomioka asked. The man was dense and nosey and had no sense of when to shut the hell up.
“Is there more?” Uzui asked, glaring at Tomioka.
“He deserved the punch,” Tomioka shrugged before settling back against the couch with his usual sullen appearance.
“Obviously, he ditched my sister.”
“But he didn’t ditch her,” Tomioka cocked his head confused.
Kyojuro sighed, he had been trying to avoid making a big deal about it. “Enough.”
Uzui narrowed his eyes on Kyojuro, his thoughts finally focusing on important parts of the conversation. Just lovely. “Why would he be talking to you about Bri?”
Bri was awoken by a pounding on her door. She had fallen asleep on her couch watching TV. It was still dark out. Who the hell was it? She grabbed her phone for safety reasons and just happened to see a text from Tengen.
She went and opened the door for her brother with a glare. “What is your problem?”
“Inside, now,” Tengen glared back.
She opened the door and let him in, shutting it behind him. “What has you so upset?”
“You had dinner with Rengoku tonight, huh?” He asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against her counter and continued to glare.
“What business is that of yours?” she asked, cocking her head. “I can do what I want with who I want and when I want.”
“Answer the question.”
“Yes. I did,” she said, not allowing her brother to make her feel bad for what had honestly been the best part of her week if not month. Hell, maybe year!
“How’d that come about?” he asked.
“I’m assuming you’ve heard this from Kyojuro already?” Bri asked.
“Not quite, I’ll explain after you answer my question,” Tengen said.
“Ani…”
“No. Bri. I want answers.”
She sighed and walked over to her couch and sat down, rubbing her face to wake herself more. “I was leaving the art supply store and I saw him about to cross the street. I called out to him and asked him if wanted to join me for dinner at Hinatsaru’s diner but he was heading in the opposite direction. There was a diner right there so we had dinner together. That’s it. Now, your turn. Speak.”
“All I knew was the two of you went out to eat,” he said.
“And what? Did Kyojuro tell you?” It was better to know now if he was going to be like that. She didn't need a spy for her already nosey and overbearing older brother
Tengen saw the look on her face. She was now doubting Rengoku. His friend was a good guy and didn’t deserve someone thinking anything bad about him. He was honestly Tengen’s only actual friend. In the broad scheme of things Bri could do worse by far and at least he would know she was safe. Rengoku was an absolute gentleman, even compared to him. “Rengoku did not say a word about being with you, why he was with you or where you went.”
“Then how did you find out? Why did this come about?” she asked, gesturing to his presence now that he had calmed down a bit.
“I found out because he laid a kid out in the parking lot over a comment about you,” Tengen arched his brow at her.
“Huh?” Bri sat upright in shock. “What?”
“Yeah, Tomioka overheard the exchange and asked questions,” it was mostly the truth.
“I don’t know who Tapioca is but he should mind his own business.”
“I hope you know from now on I will only call him Tapioca.”
"I'd say it's well deserved! I hope it catches on! I hope it ruins his street cred!" Bri huffed and crossed her arms in annoyance at the situation. She had no clue what could have caused Kyojuro to snap like that but Tapioca needed to shut his big fat whore mouth.
Tengen groaned. His sister couldn't even make asking questions easy for him. Then again he had barged into her apartment in the middle of the night with no warning. He may have deserved a bit of the ire being thrown at him. Maybe. Tengen sighed. “Apparently it was the guy who was supposed to give you a ride home the other day, princess.”
“Oh, Kaigaku… that slug,” Bri grimaced and shook in revulsion. “What did the little troll say that got Kyojuro to knock him out?”
“Well first, apparently you failed to tell me the truth of what happened with your ride.” a dark shadow came over his features.
Bri sighed and looked down at her hands. She knew her brother would be mad and may act irrationally if he found out. But wait… How did that tie in? “Tengen, answer me. What did he say to Kyojuro?”
“According to Tapioca, he told Rengoku that he didn’t give you a ride home because you wouldn’t give him a blow job.”
“That’s… true.”
Tengen moved to sit next to her, taking a hand in his and squeezing it. “You don’t gotta be ashamed because a guy was a pig like that, you know?”
“I’m not ashamed. I didn’t trust you not to beat his ass. He’s a dumb college kid.” Tengen looked at her for more. “I shoved him off of me and got out of the car. That’s it.”
Tengen wondered if Kyojuro knew about the ‘shoved him off of her’ part. He was willing to bet not since the kid was still breathing.
For now.
“He’s a corps member with a gun.
That situation could have gotten out of hand.”
“I didn’t know that he was a member, Ani. But… I really thought he was an okay guy. I had been talking to him in class since the beginning of the year.”
“You don’t deserve to be treated like that. I’m glad Rengoku knocked him out. I wish he would have kicked him in his ribs and stomped his balls too. Now THAT would have been flashy.”
“What did the guy say that caused Kyojuro to do that?”
“He told Kyojuro he was wasting his time because you don’t put out.”
She gave a dejected sigh. “I’m not a prude. I just don’t think a guy is deserving of a blow job in exchange for a ride home after a single cup of shitty coffee.”
“It’s not. No guy is deserving of a blow job until you decide they are,” Tengen said firmly as he took her in, watching as she pulled her knees up and rested her arms on them before putting her forehead on them.
“Guys in college suck, Tengen. I’m tired of guys like this,” she said, her voice kinda muffled. “Kyojuro is the first guy that treated me decently other than you since Daddy died.”
He made a noise of disgust and pulled her into his arms. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head. “Tell me the bad news. How much do you like him?”
“I’ve only had one dinner with him, Tengen,” Bri sat back and wiped tears off her face. “Of Course now that he knows I don’t put out easily he’ll probably bounce too.”
“Don’t be shitty,” Tengen told her with an annoyed glare. “He’s a really good guy.”
“You’re right, I was being shitty. He doesn’t seem like that type of guy,” she gave her brother a small smile.
“He’s not. I mean it, he’s a good guy. And a gentleman,” Tengen took one look at her lovesick face and sighed. “Great. You like him a lot.”
“Just shut your stupid face,” Bri groaned and dropped her head to the side to rest it on the back of the couch. “Yes. I like him a lot.”
“What made you call out to him?” Tengen asked, curious.
She shrugged. “I’m lonely. He seemed really nice when we met. And sorry to tell you, my precious big brother, but your friend is smokin’ hot. Like holy fuck, Kyojuro is hot.”
“Down girl. Don’t make me get the hose.” Tengen laughed and reached over to ruffle her hair again. “You could do a lot worse than a guy willing to knock another man out for speaking bad about you after one dinner. You have done worse. Way worse.”
“Oh shut up,” she groaned, kicking him in the side gently. “Shouldn’t you be out committing crimes?”
“Yeah… But I came by to talk with you first. I wanted to hear everything from you,” Tengen said. “And now I’m hungry. Midnight pancakes?”
She smiled. “I’ll go get dressed.”
“Hey, princess!” Tengen called after her as she headed towards her room in the one bedroom apartment she had. She turned to look at him, waiting for a response. “I meant what I said. You could do a lot worse. He is a really good guy, a good person.”
“Is that your way of giving me some type of blessing?” she arched an eyebrow.
“Yes, it is. Little Miss I do what I want when I want but secretly want my big brother’s approval.”
“You’re gonna make me throw up,” she said, walking away with a smile. Tengen knew and approved. She bit her lip. Hopefully she’d hear from him again…
Kyojuro put out his cigarette on the ground as Uzui pulled up in the black SUV they would be using for the night. While Uzui had gone to get the vehicle from Urokodaki, he had visited Haganzeka and Kanamori down in the armory, gathering some extras for this job that their normal weapons would not cover.
Kyojuro owned and expertly wielded a number of weapons - Guns, knives, swords, bow, crossbow, and more. He was an expert in hand to hand combat. These were all things that helped him reach Hashira by 18. Here he was now, 24 and a Hashira for 6 years.
He sighed as he lifted the duffle bag off the ground and got into the SUV. This was not where he ever dreamed of being, but it was where he was. It allowed him to pay his and Senjuro’s way.
It allowed him to send Senjuro to a good school in the next town and have money set into a trust fund for Senjuro, done under someone else’s name so it could never be tied to him. Enough that no matter what, his younger brother would never want for anything again, even if something were to happen to him. He had a nice place, a nice car. So why did he feel like something was missing?
It wasn’t until recently that he had felt this… incompleteness. He lit another cigarette as Uzui pulled out onto the road, talking about something Kyojuro had not heard a single word of.
He needed to get his head in the game. He could wallow in whatever this was later. Right now, he needed to be the Flame Hashira once again.
“You went over the layout again, right?” Kyojuro asked his friend and fellow Hashira.
“Yes, mom. I did my studying,” Uzui said in the tone of an annoyed teenager. “Gosh!”
“Good, next do your laundry and clean your room,” Kyojuro took a long drag before blowing it out the window.
“You should quit smoking,” Uzuii said, giving him a side glance.
“Are you now my mother?” Kyojuro asked, taking another long drag.
“No. I’m not. Though I do look good in an apron. However,” he glanced at Kyojuro again.
“However?”
“However I can tell you that Bri doesn’t like the smell of cigarettes,” Uzui said, eyes back on the road.
Kyojuro mulled over his words in his mind and his response to them. He shouldn’t care about that fact, but he did. Because if she did not like the way it smelled, she definitely would not like the way it tasted. And he definitely wanted to kiss her.
But that was probably not something to tell her behemoth of an older brother. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Are you interested in her?” Uzui asked, eyes still on the road. “I’m asking as your friend and her older brother. Because she likes you, Rengoku. You made her happy when you had dinner with her. And I like seeing her happy. So, I’m not against it. I’m not necessarily for it. But I want to know where you stand. Is she just a friend or-”
“Uzui, we had one dinner together,” Kyojuro answered with more force than he meant to, earning him a side eye from the big brother next to him. He hadn’t wanted to delve into those feelings and thoughts tonight, but here he was.
Better to clear the air before they got to the job site, he supposed. “Yes, Uzui. I like Bri. And yes… I am interested in her. I really enjoyed our dinner the other night as well. She is very warm and very bright. She’s witty. She’s beautiful…”
“Yeah, what can I say. My sister is almost as flashy as I am! A total catch,” Uzui said in his normal playful tone.
“But Uzui, we are colleagues and friends. We know the ugly truth of what eachother does for a profession,” Kyojuro sucked in a long drag.
“Yeah, we are and we do,” Uzui said. “And yet I still told her, just like I am telling you, if you guys decide it’s something you want to do, go for it. But if you are taking the princess out, you better take her out somewhere nice.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.” Kyojuro was honestly a tad offended but he reminded himself that Uzui was just being an older sibling.
“You better protect her with your life.”
“You already know that I will.”
“Just remember, Rengoku. You break your heart, I’ll break your neck.”
“I would never. And I would expect no less,” Kyojuro smirked as he spoke. “And as for the neck breaking… you could try.”
Uzui turned and gave him a giant grin full of mischief. “Alright, got that off my chest. Now that us two gentlemen are done having that heart to heart… let's go be bad guys!”