Ch1: Cat #1 Kenma/Hinata

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This chapter is dedicated to my reader and emoji queen, actually_tyna 👑❤️

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“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkegaard

Too hot. Too warm. Too far. Too sunny.

Kenma was too tired but there in the distance –

Someone putting out chairs and a table outside. With bright, orange hair.

Ha.

Found you.

Just like we knew we would.

11am. Did people drink cocktails this early in Okinawa? There was no one around. The sea sparkled and the sand beneath Kenma’s feet was white. A sign above the hut read, ‘Sunny’s’.

Funny.

Kenma adjusted the cool, silver 4.5mm at the crack of his back. Sure, he was physically the weakest one out of all of The Cats but he was the fastest shooter and his family knew that.

How would Hinata react?

Well the whole of Honshu was waiting for him to find out. Kenma swiped the sweat off of his forehead, conquered the sand and entered the hut.

A glass smashed.

At the back of the beach hut, behind the bar, surrounded by bottles of alcohol, shells on shelves and garlands of flower necklaces, stood a quaking Hinata Shoyo in a deep sea blue Hawaiian shirt, horrified.

But –

Click –

Click –

It was gone. The confident, undeniable, fearless, reckless Hinata Shoyo was back, aiming a gun for Kenma’s head.

And Kenma, who had also pulled out his gun, aimed right back at him.

‘Hello Shoyo.’ Kenma said.

Shit. Wait. The crow’s features were too harsh, his face was turning red – it was like lava boiling to the surface –

‘What. The fuck. Are you doing here?’ Hinata seethed with so much venom Kenma could taste it.

Fuck.

Hinata was holding the gun way too tight, his expression contorted with rage. It wasn’t how this was supposed to go –

There was supposed to be the element of surprise. In a good way. Not to mention… history. The last time Kenma had seen Hinata he had had the redhead’s tongue in his mouth. All those times, in stolen moments, when he and Hinata collided on thresholds in Tokyo… But Kenma’s ego barely had time to be bruised –

‘Turn around,’ Hinata commanded. ‘And leave. If not, I will kill you for everything that happened that day.’

Ah. OK. So now we were talking.

‘Did you think you could take our businesses,’ Kenma leveled, ‘at Koto, at Kawasaki, and that we wouldn’t try and claim them back?’

‘THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!’

Emotional. Hinata was scarlet, shouting, shaking with fury as if that night wasn’t three months ago but yesterday.

Was there no air con in here? It was far, far too hot.

‘Then what are you talking about?’ Kenma replied calmly. ‘No crows were harmed -’

‘This isn’t about The Crows -’

Oh.

A sowing needle pricked a line of ellipses across Kenma’s heart. Was this feeling… disappointment? It wasn’t heartbreak, that’s for sure. Kenma’s depth of feelings towards Shoyo equalled that of frequently encountering a neighbour’s beautiful cat: it was always welcome, always a pleasure, not thought of when you were busy but when the cat was in front of you, there was always the temptation to steal it and take it home…

A part of Kenma, if he had to admit it, had hoped that maybe, finally, something would happen on this island…

But now –

‘So you’re upset about… someone else?’ Kenma clarified.

Hinata hesitated and briefly bit his lip.

‘We didn’t know -’ Kenma began.

‘HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SOLD HIM OUT!’

Kenma closed his eyes.

That neighbourhood cat was gone forever.

So.

The rumours were true.

Kenma’s fantasies of lying in a hammock snuggled next to Hinata sipping Bacardi with pink umbrellas and a straw were dashed.

And suddenly, if what Kenma was thinking was correct, then right now his life was at stake.

Hinata’s face was creased in so much hatred that one wrong word, this would turn into a shootout.

‘Was I followed?’ Hinata asked through gritted teeth. ‘Back then. Toda. Is that how you -’

‘No. We were tipped off anonymously bizarre pieces of information: One of the addresses of the Big Bad Wolf, a list of businesses you had taken from us and The Crows’ growth since you joined. We wanted to overthrow you. Can’t deny that. But the leverage of the address, we were told would be for a proposal, a meeting.’

Hinata opened his mouth but Kenma quickly added –

‘He,’ Kenma emphasised, ‘sent me.’

Shock eclipsed every other emotion on Hinata’s face.

‘What?’ he breathed.

‘To undo our wrong. We were hired to find you and bring you back while he recovers.’

Kenma watched as Hinata’s eyes became momentarily glossy, as the crow swallowed down emotion and fought to maintain his angry stance.

So.

After all of Hinata’s messing around, someone had finally got through.

‘We should lower our guns,’ Kenma said. ‘My arm is starting to hurt.’

Surprise flitted across Hinata’s face.

‘I really don’t think you’re going to shoot me,’ Kenma explained, ‘seeing as it looks like you may want some information from me.’

Annoyance flared up again on those gorgeous boyish features. Kenma could feel the question Hinata was dying to ask. Hinata’s stance faltered, he hesitated, curiosity and concern flickering on that pretty face but suddenly his arm was taut again –

‘How do I know you’re not here to kill me?’

A different question to what Kenma knew was probably now burning in Hinata’s heart but a relevant question no less.

Kenma stared at the sunny boy, the boy who charmed his way into The Crows, with The Cats, through The Wolves… This boy, who smiled at Kenma that day, with sparkling eyes and engulfing warmth, that killer smile, who pressed a thumb into Kenma’s palm and might as well have pressed it into his heart – such vivacity, ambition and determination like Kenma had never seen before had exuded out of the crow. That lingering gaze… Kenma had not been able to look away. And Shoyo had smiled, he’d smiled in such a way that said I know I’ve got you.

Kenma had known, when Hinata had kissed him after their third encounter that it was just a test. For fun. Shoyo perhaps had an inkling, not to mention, an awareness of his effect on people, and his sudden lips on Kenma’s was perhaps an ego boost or confirmation that this effect was very much active. Kenma had known this. He had known this and knew in the moment that he should’ve shoved the crow off, what are you doing, dramatics, etc.

But instead he found himself falling, groping, holding onto Shoyo, and Hinata’s knowing smile against his mouth just made Kenma want to kiss him more.

The cat wasn’t stupid. He knew that Shoyo perhaps did this on a daily basis. Maybe this was why he was so good at making deals. Maybe he fucked whoever or they fucked him – maybe he fucked his way through The Crows and that was how he was let in in the first place.

But still. The warmth, the friendliness, the acceptance, the feel of being around Shoyo, in his presence, was so different to everyone else he knew that Kenma found that he didn’t care. So he kissed him some more. Even if it was one-sided. Even if all it did was feed the crow’s already bursting ego. If Kenma was getting something out of it too then why not? It had breathed life into his samey days, sun amidst his cold, teasing and aloof brothers, excitement to those deals and the rivalry: where and when would they cross paths again as neighbours on the same turf? Even though it was nothing more, Kenma had not expected anything more and did not regret any of it.

‘Why,’ Kenma asked, ‘would anyone want to kill you?’

Shoyo’s features softened and his arm slightly relaxed. ‘But you – you hired The Eagles to take back what I took from you -’

‘Yes but we never intended on killing any crows. Our rivalry has always been friendly, right?’

Hinata could not argue with that.

‘And if I had wanted to kill you I would’ve used a stealthier approach.’ Kenma released his hold, looped the gun around his finger and then placed it down on the nearest table with the smoothness of a cat. Hinata was more uncertain. He lowered his arm but placed the gun on the bar in front of him, at nearer reach than Kenma’s.

Kenma surveyed the place. Neat. Classic. Your typical beach hut. He strode forward taking in the hay roof, bamboo tables, wooden floor. He stopped in the middle of the hut and looked directly at Shoyo –

‘Like I said. I was hired. I’m here to bring you back.’

‘I’m not going back,’ Hinata glared at Kenma from behind the bar. ‘And if you think that you can take me -’

Kenma shook his head. ‘My orders weren’t to take you. Just to find you and talk to you. He said he didn’t want to… force anything upon you.’

Hinata swallowed. His lips trembled. Kenma was sure he could provoke the question out of Hinata –

‘He hasn’t been well.’ Kenma purposely added.

Shoyo gripped the bar with his fingernails, rigid. His eyes became wide, whole with concern. All annoyance – gone.

‘What do you mean?’ Hinata whispered. ‘What do you mean he’s not well? Tell me!’

Ha. Kenma felt like he was dangling a piece of string in front of a cat.

‘Sorry. I’m under strict orders to not tell you that.’

‘Why? What do you mean? Why can’t you tell me? How not well? Is he out of hospital? Is he being looked after? The Wolves are looking after him, right? I spoke to them, before I left, they said they’d make sure he was alright -’

‘Come back to Tokyo and find out,’ Kenma teasingly turned on his heel, went over and picked up the gun, shoving it down his back.

He heard the click of a trigger. And froze.

‘Tell me.’

Wow.

So they definitely weren’t just fuck buddies then.

Kenma turned his head over his shoulder, enough for the edge of his eye line to see the barrel of the gun.

‘I’ll be sure to tell him… that you still care. Even though… he listened to our whole conversation.’

Before Shoyo could register what Kenma had said the cat slipped out, soundlessly, leaving Shoyo standing alone in the hut. He tucked his gun in his waistband and ran around the bar and to the door, just as a tourist couple entered the hut –

They stole a few moments and Hinata cursed under his breath because a few moments was all it would take –

Hinata burst onto the wooden patio and jumped onto the sand, searching, scanning the beach.

But the cat was gone.

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