Chapter Text
Hinata Shouyou really only ever cares about two things: taking care of his fourteen-year-old sister, and figuring out where his next high will come from.
When he says high, he doesn’t necessarily mean smoking or alcohol or drugs. Because—smoking’s nasty, and it smells, and it stains his teeth, and alcohol is only tolerable if it contains copious amounts of sugar. And sure, drugs are fine and all, he’s no stranger to doing a couple of lines of coke in the bathroom. But he’d like to live to experience more highs, thanks. Besides, the kinds of highs that smoking and drugs and alcohol offer—you grow tolerant of them. You need more and more of them to get the same effect, and unfortunately, Shouyou can’t afford that.
It’s lucky, then, that he can get his highs from elsewhere.
“Shou,” Natsu calls, poking her head into his room. “You got a match in an hour. We leaving soon, or what?”
“It’s in an hour,” Shouyou says in confusion, sitting up on his bed, tossing his manga to the side. “Why’re we leaving so soon?”
His younger sister—already outgrowing him, at only fourteen years old, she’s so damn tall—rolls her eyes as she leans against the doorway. “We gotta get there early, scope out the audience. All the rich fuckers like to show up early to claim their spots at the front.”
“The really rich fuckers get there late, and they shove their way to the front,” Shouyou points out, flopping back onto his bed. “So no point.”
Natsu scowls, and Shouyou thinks, uh oh. “Fine, I’ll just go down to the ring by myself. You have only yourself to blame if your precious baby sister gets kidnapped by a creepy old guy.”
“Wait, wait,” Shouyou says hurriedly as he rolls off his bed. “Fine, fine. I’ll get ready. Right now.”
His precious baby sister smiles widely, hands clasped behind her back. “Thank you, Shou-chan, my favorite big brother ever.”
Shouyou raises an eyebrow as he runs his fingers through his hair. Does he need to comb it tonight? “You don’t have any other big brothers.”
“Kouji-kun, Yukki-kun, for starters.” Natsu begins listing out names, ticking off her fingers, as she slips into her room. “Kinda sad how your friends like me more than you, yeah, Shou-chan?”
“Go get ready.” Shouyou sighs, then begins wrapping his wrists in his hand wraps, pulling the bandages taut.
His sister is his charge, and his most treasured one at that—has been since they were thrown to the streets five years ago. He’s been fighting in fight rings since he was fourteen, and she’s been picking pockets since she was ten. It’s barely enough to cover the expenses of this shitty apartment, where the hot water barely works, where there’s barely enough room in the closet to hold more than seven outfits.
Beggars can’t be choosers, and they were beggars not too long ago, so they make do. Shouyou doesn’t complain, because they’re frankly lucky to be alive, and neither does Natsu.
Sometimes, though, he can tell that she wants to complain. She never says it out loud, but he can see it in her eyes, clear as day—don’t we deserve better than this?
Shouyou stands up abruptly, shaking his head and slapping his cheeks. No time for thoughts like that! He’s got a match on in an hour! He needs to be as hyped up as possible!
“Let’s go!” he shouts as he kicks his door open, Natsu already sitting on the countertop, kicking her legs. He furrows his eyebrows as he says, “Should you be wearing that?”
“The rich fucks get less suspicious if it’s a pretty girl,” Natsu says casually, pulling her white jacket over her shoulders, readjusting the strings of her black spaghetti strap top. “I’ll be fine, nii-chan, don’t worry.”
“It works just as well if I flirt with them, doesn’t it?” Shouyou argues back. He doesn’t like the thought of his little sister getting put in danger like this—he’d much rather it be him that the rich fucks are trying to feel up. He knows that his sister can throw a mean punch, and that she’s more than capable of kicking a guy in the balls, but he still worries. “Don’t—can you change? Please?”
“Shouyou,” his sister sighs, slapping his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. I got that knife you got me—” She pulls out the pocketknife Shouyou got for her, expertly flicking out the blade. “And I’ll just stick anyone that tries to touch me in the throat.”
It’s Shouyou’s turn to sigh, but he concedes, slapping his sister on the back as she slides off the counter. “Okay. Keep yourself safe. Don’t—you know.” He makes some vague hand movements and noises as they walk out the door, hoping the message of don’t get yourself into huge trouble comes through. “You know what to do.”
“Damn right, I know what to do,” Natsu says as she shuts the door to their apartment with her hip, spinning the keys around her index finger. “Don’t worry about me, Shou. You just focus on your match. Who’s it against, anyway?”
“Don’t even know.” Shouyou places his hands behind his head as he walks, tilting his head to the ceiling. “I’ll find out when I get there. ‘Sides, the best fights are the ones where I figure stuff out on the fly, right? The crowd loves it when I just make shit up from my brain.”
“Yeah, like the one time where you fucking pantsed your opponent and publicly humiliated him in front of everyone,” Natsu snickers behind her hands. Her nails are long, and there’s dirt gathering under them—Shouyou will have to remind her to clip them soon.
Sometimes, he wonders if Natsu ever feels like she’s been robbed of certain parts of her—her girlhood, is that what it’s called? He’s never been able to take her shopping for new clothes, because they’ve always had to buy everything secondhand, or dig through the garbage to find new things. She’s never gotten her nails done, or gotten any jewelry that isn’t plastic painted to look like gold. Hinata Natsu deserves nice things, and unfortunately, Shouyou cannot give any of them to her.
One day, Shouyou reminds himself. One day. If we keep working at this, like this, someday, we’ll make it.
He’s delusional. He knows that much. Back when he fought in fight rings in Nerima, Kenma used to tell him as much, but in much nicer words. Kenma had always wondered how Shouyou was able to keep believing in himself as much as he did, believing that one day, he would make it through and the truthful answer was this—Shouyou had no idea. Maybe all of his work and his hoping would all be for nothing eventually, but everybody had to believe in something to keep themselves from going insane.
Shouyou’s mother believed in God. Shouyou believed in himself. And Natsu believed in Shouyou.
Really, he has no other choice. It’s either keep this delusional belief in himself alive, for the good of his sister, or just lie down and die. And Hinata Shouyou will not just…lie down and die. That’s lame. That’s so fucking lame.
Besides. They got out of Nerima, and now they’re in Shinjuku. And that had happened only after a year of throwing himself into fight rings and allowing himself to get beat up for money. His efforts hadn’t been done in vain. Sure, the apartments here are more expensive, and they’re still pretty much in the same exact position they were a couple years ago, but…
“Name?” the big guy standing at the doorway of the sports stadium asks.
“Hinata,” Shouyou says. “Hinata Shouyou, how’s your night been so far, sir?”
He watches out of the corner of his eye as his sister slips past the guard while he’s distracted, nicking something from his pocket as she goes. It’s an incredible skill, his sister has, to almost make herself invisible. Or maybe Kouji and Yukki were right—he just has an incredibly big presence, and everybody else looks small by comparison. He keeps yammering on with the guard, making small talk, until he sees his sister disappear into the throes of the crowd. From there, she’ll wander around, talk up a couple of the big shots that come to watch these fights, and pick their pockets clean.
After Shouyou gets checked in, he pushes through all the people in the basement to get to the locker rooms. There’s some shouts of recognition as he goes, some people eager to see the one and only Ninja Shouyou. He hands out high-fives, fist bumps, back slaps, etcetera. And then there’s some shouts of disdain, some people that he’s beaten in the past leering at him. To them, Shouyou just sneers or throws up the finger or makes some crass comments about their mother. It’s fine. It’s whatever. He pays no mind to them.
The only thing on his mind is the high that he’s about to experience, the thrill of the chase, the dopamine and oxytocin and whatever happy brain chemicals he gets from pummeling his opponent’s face in.
“Yo, Shouyou!” Kouji shouts as he enters the locker room. He holds up his hand in a high-five, and Shouyou gleefully slaps his palm against his. “You excited for tonight?”
“I heard the other guy’s a beast,” Yukki adds, holding out his fist for a fist bump. “You scared?”
Shouyou scoffs, tapping his knuckles against his friend’s. “Whoever he is, he’s got nothing on me. I never get scared, dontcha know?”
Kouji and Yukki make various noises of agreement, of course, the great Ninja Shouyou never gets scared of anything, they’re idiots for assuming otherwise. They slap him on the back and head out, waving as they go. He shoves his things into his locker, shoves it closed, and goes out into the fray.
There’s a lot of people here tonight, as always—Shouyou wonders how many are there to see him. There’s a match going on, one that Shouyou doesn’t bother to watch, because they’re sort of shit at fighting anyways. They’re just sort of blindly going at each other.
He likes the feeling of just unleashing all his fury onto his opponent, of course he does, but the best fighters don’t start off with their strongest attack. They wait for a bit, study their opponent, figure out their weaknesses and strengths, and wear them down slowly. The strongest attack should be saved for the finale, when the crowd’s cheering is at its loudest, and when the kick of dopamine is at its peak.
“Yo,” Natsu says, appearing at his shoulder like some sort of ghost. He doesn’t jump, he’s gotten used to his sister’s sudden appearances and disappearances by now, but he does flinch a bit internally. He’s good at knowing when people are sneaking up on him, but his sister’s the one and only outlier. “Check out that guy over there.”
Shouyou looks over to where his sister’s pointing, finding a guy that—well, Shouyou’s never seen a guy quite like that before. “Who the hell is that?”
The guy that both Hinata siblings are currently staring at is big—real fucking big. He’s got to be at least six feet tall, and he’s wearing an obnoxiously fluffy white fur coat. His hair is silver and black, and it’s sticking up in spikes. When he smiles, Shouyou sees a flash of gold in his teeth.
“He’s gotta be loaded,” Natsu says in an awed voice. “He’s gotta be loaded, Shouyou, he could pay for groceries for an entire month.”
“That’s true,” Shouyou whispers back, clamping a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “That’s true, Natsu.”
“And he looks pretty scatterbrained.” Natsu tilts her head, her long orange hair falling over her face. The guy is waving his hands around, and when he does, Shouyou also sees gold adorning his fingers. Rings. So many rings. And rings are decently easy for Natsu to steal. “Like he could be so invested in a conversation that he wouldn’t notice if I just…nicked those pretty rings right off his fingers.”
“That’s very true, Natsu,” Shouyou agrees. “You know, I think we should go have a nice, long chat with this gentleman before my match. Convince him to place a few bets on me.”
Natsu grins. They’ve been told numerous times that they share the exact same smile. The one for when they’re about to cause trouble is especially distinct. “I think that’s an excellent idea, Shouyou.”
They make their way over to the man, and it’s lucky that the man sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s talking with a couple of the people that handle the bets, but his attention is diverted when Shouyou and Natsu come up. No doubt, it’s because of their obnoxiously orange hair.
“Hello!” Shouyou says cheerfully, waving his hand. “Couldn’t help but notice that you must be new around here, I’ve never seen you before.”
“This stadium’s huge, though, I doubt that you’ve seen every new person that enters the fight ring,” Natsu says, punching her brother right on cue, like this conversation’s been perfectly scripted. “But my brother’s right, y’know? I think either of us would remember if someone as handsome as you came here.”
“And I’m pretty forgetful,” Shouyou laughs, scratching the back of his neck. “So what brings you here, sir?”
“Oh!” the man says, delighted. The people in charge of placing bets slowly begin to walk away. “Well, I’ve heard pretty good things about the matches being held here! Especially the one being held tonight—the one featuring…hm…” The man squints his eyes to look up at the screens featuring the match for tonight. The man’s eyes are a bright, almost molten, golden color. “Ninja Shouyou?”
Shouyou laughs, thumping a fist against his chest. “Well, you’re in luck, sir! You’re looking at the one and only Ninja Shouyou!”
The man laughs loudly, clapping his hands together. Shit, that’s not good. This guy might be similar to him, he might be the kind of guy that moves his hands around the more excited he gets. And they sort of need him to keep his hands still in order for Natsu to rob him. “You are, aren’t you! You’re kinda small, aren’t you?”
That particular comment causes Shouyou to bristle, just a little bit. Short jokes have always never sat right with him. “I think you’ll find that I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I look, sir! So much so, in fact, that you might consider betting on me!”
“Hmm…” The man plants a hand on his chin, leaving his other hand at his side. Natsu makes her move, acting like she’s just brushing up against the man’s side in order to wave hello to someone behind him. And it’s lucky that she moves quickly, because just as she’s pocketing the rings, the man moves his hands again. “You know what, I like you, kid! You’ve got some spunk in you! What’s your name?”
Natsu shoves her hands into her pockets, nodding her head as she walks behind the man. That’s his cue to wrap up the conversation.
Shouyou beams up at the man and says, “Hinata Shouyou, sir! I’m grateful for any support I receive!” He doesn’t hold out his hand for the man to shake, because that’d probably increase the chances of the man noticing he has no more rings, but he does bow his head. “And I gotta run now! I hope you’ll be watching me!”
And with that, Shouyou turns around and—
Runs straight into a very pretty lady.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Shouyou says as he holds out a hand to hold the woman steady. In the distance, he can see Natsu staring at him with wide eyes, silently urging him to hurry up.
The lady is wearing a loose black dress with long tulle sleeves, black leggings, and black heeled boots. It doesn’t look like an outfit that someone would normally wear to a fight ring, of all things, but Shouyou’s not going to judge. She widens her eyes—she has the most beautiful eyes that Shouyou has ever seen. They’re hovering somewhere on the edge between blue and green, and they sparkle like two brilliant gems. Her lips are dark red, and they curve up in a smile as she stares down at him.
“No worries,” she says quietly. Her eyes flick over to the other man, and she nods her head towards him. “There you are. I was worried I lost you.”
“Well, you found me!” the man says cheerfully, wrapping his arm around the woman’s waist, and—yeah, Shouyou should really get going now. “And this kid is the kid that we’re gonna be watching tonight, isn’t that exciting?”
The woman nods. Her eyes never leave Shouyou’s face. Distantly, Shouyou feels as though there’s a bead of sweat making its way down his face, like the woman can see right through him. Like she’s able to see right through the schemes they’ve been trying to cook up.
“Well,” Shouyou says, bowing to both the man and the woman. “I really should get going now!”
The man cheers, clapping his hands, and the woman glances over at him—at his hands.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
We have to go.
And Shouyou turns on his heel, sprinting after his sister, hoping that the woman isn’t going to connect the dots.
“What the fuck took you so long?” Natsu hisses as she grabs his arm. “What were you—”
“We gotta go,” Shouyou hisses back. “We gotta go now, just—”
He turns his head back as Natsu drags him away, trying to see if the man and the woman have figured anything out, if they figured out that they were just robbed. When he looks back—oh, good, they look like they’re just having a normal conversation. The man is talking with someone else, and the woman is standing right next to him, arms folded in front of her waist.
But for one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second, Shouyou watches her shift her gaze from the man, and over—
Over to him.
“Anyway, the rings are cool-looking, we’ll probably get a good amount for it,” Natsu says, fishing the biggest ring out of her pocket. Shouyou snaps his attention away from the woman to his sister, staring down at the frankly massive ring his sister’s holding. It’s a golden signet ring, with a stylized design of an owl stamped into the metal. Looks expensive. Looks important.
“You think this symbol means anything?” Natsu asks, holding the ring up to the light to see it more clearly. “Hey, you think it’s genuine twenty-four karat gold?”
“Who knows?” Shouyou asks, shrugging and rolling his shoulders. He turns to look back over his shoulder, and he finds that he can’t find any hint of the man or woman. “Doesn’t matter now.”
Nothing matters now. Nothing except for the high that Shouyou’s about to get.