the way it all began | chapter 01

A/n: Um, for this first chapter, I will not get into the real mafia stuff yet. Sorry! I'm just going into backstories, explaining some stuff, etc. Plus, I'm not too proud of this one because I don't think I really captured Ushi's personality well. But then again, I don't know what he was like as a kid. Hope you guys like it, and here ya go!

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3rd Person POV:

Ushijima and (Y/n) never really questioned how they came to be. In all honesty, fate caused their paths to cross. Ushijima was not one to believe in things, but he believes in his relationship with (Y/n). With the legacy he has to carry out, the things he has to do—the things he's already done, (Y/n) saved him from insanity. That's a known fact. She's his savior, his queen, his angel; she's his. He'd probably be dead on the inside without her. She's his everything, she's his world—and no one is going to touch her. And it's the same way if you turn it around; she'd literally be dead without him. You don't know how many people have tried to kill his little angel—but that's a story for another time.

The day they met was one for the history books. They were only kids, a year apart from each other, but the connection they shared was one that only comes once every millennial. If Ushijima were to die, (Y/n) would be, not just ultimately devastated, but broken too. And if (Y/n) were to die... let's just say things wouldn't end all too well for anyone in range of the man.

Back then, though, things were different. Their relationship was just starting, and neither of them knew how to feel. The past always has the truth, the explanation. And so, here's their undeniable gospel.

Past Events (Ushijima is 8, (Y/n) is 7)

Ushijima's POV:

I was sitting in my living room, watching my father 'converse' with my mother and grandmother. It looked like they were arguing... again. They always argued for no apparent reason, and their constant bickering between one another made it hard for me to do anything! I'm a kid, so I don't know all that much, but I know I shouldn't watch or continue to listen to their meaningless disputes. So, I stormed out of the room, trying to regain my composure. My mother and father yelled out for me, and my grandmother backed up my mother. I wish they would stop.

"Wakatoshi Ushijima, you get back here right now!" My mother called out, her words ringing in my ears. But of course, my father had to input his opinion into her words.

"See?! That's what I mean; you're always telling him what to do when to do it, where to go! I'm sick of it!" He retorted, flailing his hands everywhere.

"I'm his mom—of course I'm going to be telling him things like that! It's not like you care about his well-being—always letting him run off to someplace on his own!"

I don't know how they started their newest fighting session of the day, especially right now. Just a minute ago my father was giving me a 'talk.' Not one of the puberty talks or where babies come from talks—I know the answers to all of those. He was telling me to find something to love. He was telling me to find an interest of some sort, a person, a place, an object—something, anything. He told me to find a thing to love, and then to protect it. I don't know why he did that, but he did. And so, I just nodded and continued with my day. But then, out of nowhere, my grandmother sparks up an argument, my mother takes her side, and my father disagrees with the both of them.

I'm too young for this. And so, I ran away from my house. I didn't want to listen to them anymore!

I ran. I ran, and I ran, and I ran as fast as I could.

I didn't want to wait around and just be a bystander, a vessel, to my parents' stupid fights! I ran some more, but I eventually ran out of breath. I stopped running and just walked. As I walked down the used and tattered road beneath me, my head tilted upwards, my eyes directed their attention towards the clouds which coated the orange and yellow sky.

I never noticed how pretty the sky could be sometimes.

It was around 5 p.m., and I knew that my parents never wanted me out past this time, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything at this point. I'm sick and tired of their aimless and stupid bickering—it's driving me crazy!

I'm their kid, but it's like they're annoying arguments matter more to them than me! They do it every day, and each one lasts for hours and hours on end, and I am absolutely sick of it all!

I go over to a set of swings and just sit there. I sit there for a few minutes, replaying the images of the past event in my head—thinking of all that when wrong, and trying to figure out when all this started. Tears well up in my eyes, and they fall to my knees.

'Why am I crying? That's odd. I never cry...' I thought, trying to stop. But it was no use. The tears just kept on flowing down my cheeks and I let them. It's not like anyone was here to see me so vulnerable. Actually, that was wrong.

I heard a noise coming from inside of a yellow slide to my right. It was a noise similar to the one I was making. It was someone crying. As I wiped the tears that streamed down my face, I grew closer and closer to the opening of the slide. I bend down to my knees, trying to get a look at who's inside there. It was dark, but I made out the figure of a... girl? She looked to be about the same age as me, and her head was buried in her legs. She was crying, just like me.

"Hello," I say, immediately getting her attention. Her head perks up in fear.

"Who's there?!" She exclaims, kicking the air with her legs. I assumed she tried to kick me. "D-Daddy? No! I don't want to see you! Stop it, go away!!" She yelled at me, and her screams echoed throughout the slide.

"I'm not your dad. I'm a kid—just like you." I explained to her, and she stopped kicking the air.

"O-Oh. Sorry about that." She apologized to me and tried to climb out of the slide. I moved out of the way so she could do so. She emerged from the end of the yellow slide and wiped a few tears that strolled down her cheeks. She was exquisite—even if she had been crying before I got here.

"Who are you?" Was all she'd asked, and I was so stunned by her beauty that I almost forgot how to respond.

"My name is Wakatoshi Ushijima," I said as I wiped the remaining tears on my face. "You?" I then asked her.

" (Y/n) (L/n)." Her voice, even though it was a little hoarse from crying, sounded so sweet and adorable. I wanted to listen to her talk even more. "Why were you crying?" She'd asked me, and so I exchanged my answer.

"Well, if I tell you, tell me why you were crying." After I said this, she paused for a moment, only a moment, before answering.

"F-Fine. That seems fair enough." She walked over to the set of swings I was just sitting on, and I did the same. "So, tell me—why were you crying?"

I hesitated, but then answered her. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled my reply. "My parents. They're always fighting, and I do not understand why." I sigh, before taking on my next sentence. "And it's like they don't even care about me. They find it okay to use me as a vessel for their arguments, and say how the other isn't being a good parent for me—when, in reality, neither of them have decent parenting skills! I practically take care of myself at this point. Neither my father nor my mother, not even my grandmother, bothers to take care of me! It's always, ALWAYS, myself. I make my own food, I shower myself, I sometimes make dinner for them, I shop for groceries, I buy the household items, I get my own clothes—what the hell do they do to raise me?! And when I look at other families, their children are happy and have caring adults to look after them. I just wish my parents would stop fighting, then maybe I'd be happy for once in my life!" I finished the last of my sentence before reality hit me like a truck.

'I ranted, didn't I?' I thought nervously to myself, glancing to my left, only to see (L/n)-san crying again. She spoke between her tears and sniffles.

"I'm...so...sorry to h-hear that!" She hugged me and buried her face into my chest. I'd never received this kind of warmth before. What was this feeling? Happiness? No, it couldn't possibly be. I just met this girl. But maybe... hugging her isn't all too bad. She feels and smells nice.

I continued to welcome her into my arms, my shirt beginning to get even more soaked now that her tears were embedded into it. But I didn't mind. We stayed like this for maybe 5 minutes before she spoke.

"Well," she sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Since you told me your reason... I have to tell you mine."

(Y/n)'s POV:

"Before I ran to this park and met you, I was at home." I was now sitting in Ushi-Kun's lap. He was hugging me, trying to make me feel better, and I tried to calm him down. I continued my side of the story. "I was nervously sitting in my chair, trying not to make eye contact with daddy. He was eating his dinner, and I was trying to not make any noise while I ate mine. Daddy would always get mad if I talked, moved, or made even the slightest of peeps at the dinner table. He'd hit me, then apologize, then touch me in weird ways. I always shoved him off, and sometimes it worked (other times not so much), but when his hands roamed my body, I didn't like it."

I couldn't see the expression Ushi-Kun was making, but I felt as if his eyes were just piercing right through me. As if he was mad at something—like he wanted to obliterate the hell out of someone.

I continued, "In the times where I was successful in getting daddy off of me, I ran to my room, and locked myself in there. He'd pound on the door, screaming and chanting the same words."

'LET ME IN! (Y/n) OPEN THE DOOR!' I did a good and accurate impression of daddy, then continued.

"I never liked it when he did that."

"I wouldn't open the door. Instead, I'd wait and cry to myself until he stopped. I'd wait for a good 15 minutes before he finally gave up. After that, I'd pull my knees to my chest, cry some more, and eventually fell asleep."

"I think his screams and constant pounding have scarred me for life. And I'm not exaggerating. Every time someone knocks on my classroom door, I freeze up, and tears form in the corner of my eyes. And whenever someone yells at recess, I think back to daddy's voice. He's terrifying. And when it gets terrible, I have a full-on breakdown in the middle of class. I don't mean to, but I do it! And when I do, it, the other kids make fun of me for being a crybaby. They bully me, push me around, and use me in any way they can. And it's all daddy's fault."

"At least, that's what I want to say." I sigh, and continue, "But he wasn't always like this. Plus, it's my own fault for not being strong enough to withstand both his and their continuous attacks at me. Daddy was a good person once upon a time. But that was when mommy was here. But she left us for another man, and now I'm left to deal with my daddy's drunken state."

"I feel as if his after-mommy-left-life goal was to terrify me right down to the marrow of my bones, and if so, he's succeeded. Or maybe he's just using me to take his anger out on someone. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that I shake whenever I'm near him, I cry whenever I think of him, and I definitely don't think he's a good, even decent, father figure. That much is absolutely true."

"I cry, I cry, and I cry, but no matter how much I do it, no one will be here to save me. Well, that's what I thought until today." I turned my head around to look at Ushi-Kun. "Today, I met you! Today, I think you helped to make me feel better, which is fantastic! So thank you for that!" I finished, beaming at him and just getting lost in his utterly beautiful olive hues.

Our eyes met, and I felt my heart skip a beat; but why?

Was it because he was so handsome? Because he was so gentle and vulnerable at this moment? Because he was a stranger who I'd just met, and for some odd reason, poured my feelings out to? Any of those reasons would suffice for a decent explanation, but which one was the right way to describe how I feel? That, I don't know.

Ushi-Kun spoke, "Hm. You are welcome. I never once thought I'd show someone what I look like in this state. I never thought I'd be able to talk about the kinds of stuff that goes on in my head—rather, in my household. So, I thank you, for being able to comfort me and support me even though I'm so vulnerable, even though we just met, even though you're a stranger who I know nothing of other than their name and past. Thank you." He flashed a small, genuine smile towards my way, and I swear I saw an angel within him. His smile was so cute and innocent it left me speechless.

"You- I- I mean- You're welcome." My words were so disconnected, I didn't know what to say after that.

"Say, what school do you go to?" He suddenly asked me, looking like he was in deep thought.

I wonder what he was thinking of.

"Oh, Hanashi Elementary School. What about you?" I replied, an unfamiliar feeling of eagerness beginning to fill me up inside. I kind of wanted him to say the same words as me, I wanted us to go to the same school.

"Ah, I see. I go to Tobaku Elementary School." He explained, much to my disappointment. If I was being honest, I wanted to see him at my school. Maybe it was a long shot, but I was really hoping for it to work out. I'll probably never see Ushi-Kun again, and all my sadness is going to come back tomorrow. How could I have been so naïve?

"I don't go there, but I have a friend there who does." He stated, lifting my spirits. I don't know why, but hearing that there was someone who had a connection to Ushi-Kun made me feel... relieved?

"Really? What's their name? Maybe I know them!" I beamed at him once again, and I could tell he was trying to hide a smile. I don't know why though; his smile is so fulfilling and adorable!

"His name is Satori Tendou. Does that sound familiar to you?" Sadly, and unfortunately, no. It did not sound, in the slightest, familiar to me.

I shook my head, looking at the floor.

He sighed in defeat, raked his right hand through his hair, but made sure he planted firmly his left hand around my waist. I guessed it was to make sure I didn't fall, but it was still so embarrassing!

"Oh well. I guess it was worth a shot. I must leave this up to him then." I wonder what he meant by that. "Ah, it's getting quite dark. We should go home now. Do you want me to walk you back?"

Ushi was right. I'd now have to go back to my wretched dad and have to deal with his yelling, and his touching, and his—his everything!

"I guess if I have to go back, I'd like you to come with me. So, yes, please!" I answered, a small smile stitched onto my lips.

"Alright. Come on, lead the way, please." He said as I got up off of the swing, Ushi-Kun following my actions.

He gripped my hand tightly as if he didn't have any intention of letting go. I liked this feeling.

We walked in a nice and quiet silence, which I hoped would never end. Obviously, it would, but I just wished it wouldn't!

As the two of us neared closer and closer to my house, I became more and more aware that this dream-like set of events would come to a close.

We approached the door of my house, where I was sure daddy was going to hit me the moment I stepped inside. I gulped down hard, the palms of my hands were sweating, and I was very nervous. I looked down at my chest, feeling the aching pain in my heart, just waiting for it to jump out.

I assumed Ushi-Kun noticed the way I was acting because he gave my hand a tight squeeze and shone that beautiful smile of his.

"It's going to be okay (Y/n)-san," he bent down a little to kiss my forehead, "I'll be here."

My face flushed, and I knew I probably looked like a ripe red tomato. Even though it was embarrassing, that kind gesture of his made me happy. A sudden wash of relief and satisfaction glazed over me, and my nerves calmed down. Ushi, even though I just met him, makes me unusually happy, and I want him to continue giving me the same feeling of warmth and love that I can't get anywhere else.

He giggled at my flustered face, which made me even more flustered. But then I realized; his laugh was so adorable. Just like his smile, just like his face, everything about him was so cute!

Wait—did I just say he was cute?! Oh no. NO! I just met Ushi-Kun! But...in those 2 hours I spent with him, I'd say he knows me better than anyone I've ever encountered.

"Now come on. If your dad gives you any more trouble, you come and tell me okay?" He said, giving me a reassuring smile which was almost too perfect.

"But, I don't know where you live. We don't even go to the same school." My head drooped down for a second, but I lifted it to listen to Ushi-Kun's words.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that." He kissed me again, but this time, on my cheek. Geez, how can he be so bold? Anyway, he started talking again, "You'll see tomorrow. Just endure the cruelty of your father for another 24 hours, please."

Why did he have to be so confusing?

"What do you mean, 'You'll take care of that?'" I asked, and to which he just chuckled.

"Heh. Just wait and see." He led me up the stairs of my patio, put his hand over mine, and rang the doorbell with me.

Daddy opened the door with an angry look on his face—one of the angriest faces I've ever seen him make. I turned around to look at Ushi-Kun for support, but when I did, he wasn't there.

Did he leave me? Why'd he run off? Did he lie to me? Oh well. I'll just wait it out like he said to do. Hopefully, this isn't a prank of some sort...

Daddy growled under his breath and harshly grabbed my wrist. I yelped in pain, but fought back the urge to cry any louder; I really didn't want to get in any more trouble than the amount I was already in.

I looked down at my wrist, thinking, 'That was going to leave a mark.'

Meanwhile...

Ushijima entered the door of his house where both of his parents were waiting for him. His mother was a tear-filled mess. His father wore a blank expression. He didn't look glad to have his son back, but he didn't look entirely disappointed to see him either. He was just... blank.

"My baby Wakatoshi!! Are you okay? What happened? Where did you go? Did anyone do anything to-" But before his mother could finish her sentence, Ushijima spoke up?

"Father, remember what you told me? How I should protect the things I love?"

As a response, the dad just smirked and nodded. The young boy continued with his speech.

"Well, I think I found that specific 'thing.' Rather, that special person. I'm not too sure if this is what you meant, but I know I want to protect her." He looked up at his dad, smiling. "I think she's perfect."

Ushijima's father just chuckled his reply. "Haha. Well then, you know what to do, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer.

"Of course!"