Friend (Mikoto Suoh x Reader): Part Six

    'Click, clock, click, clock,' went the sound of your heels on the hard concrete of the sidewalk. Anna held your hand in hers as you both walked to the dress shop together. Her dress had a long rip in it, so you offered to take her there, knowing none of the guys would want to (or would admit to wanting to). Besides, it gave the chance to spend some one on one time with the girl and you'd take her out to buy a new bathing suit for next summer.

    No one else came along with you, though several insisted. They thought two ladies taking a stroll by themselves through Shizume City was a bad idea, but you told them the shop would only take under ten minutes to get to and you could handle yourselves well enough, even if you weren't the strongest members. They just got protective over you two; you understood.

    You felt a gentle tug on your arm, snapping you out of your head space.

    “We're here, Y/N.” Anna glanced up at you, eyes meeting briefly before you smiled down at her, pushing open the revolving door to the shop.

    The place was absolute dress heaven, having dresses ranging from frilly summer to satin empire. You caught sight of the small lolita ones, guiding Anna to them. You let her search through them while you went up to the counter where several of the shopkeepers gathered around. You snickered a little to yourself as you went up to them, thinking about Mikoto or any other fellow Clansmen coming in here to buy Anna something. They'd suck it up for her, but you knew they'd get embarrassed or flustered at least a little, even Mr. Tough-Guy-King himself.

    “Hello,” you addressed one of the ladies, “could I have a repair done on a small lolita dress? None of my family is talented in sewing or mending and I have plenty of money to pay.”

    A middle-aged woman beamed at you, “Yes, we sure can. Do you have the dress with you?”

    You returned the smile, pointing over to Anna, “It's on my sister. I came here to buy a new dress for her, too.”

    She gave you a confused look, “Then why is she wearing it?”

    “It's torn in the bottom layers and it's her favorite dress, so she won't take it off, heh.” You shot her a guilty simper this time.

    Her expression changed to one of understanding, “Ahh, I see. Once she has the new dress, you'll give the old one to me so I can fix it. We can do that.”

    After you paid for the service, thanking the dressmaker, you found Anna staring at a red lolita with a black shawl, very similar the one she wore now, just reversed in colors.

    “It would look beautiful on you, Anna.”

    “You think so?” she asked, tone emotionless; yet you still sensed the hope behind the question.

    “I know so.” You took her hand again, giving her a reassuring squeeze before guiding her to dressing room to change, new dress in hand.

    Anna let the sides of her mouth curl upwards a tiny fraction then went to go put it on. You paid for the dress beforehand at the register so you could leave whenever she got done putting it on. After which you sat down on a chair next to the dressing room to wait for her. You pulled out the new book you'd checked out a week ago to read for a few minutes during your wait.

    You never did get a chance to read, though, for the second you opened it to the first page, a harsh whisper behind you caught your attention.

    “Are you crazy, Sawa? You can't wear a dress like that!”

    You took a discreet glance over your shoulder to see the speaker, catching sight of two women and a man who appeared the same age as you, sifting through some of the more expensive dresses. You made brief eye contact with the girl holding up a bright yellow sundress, making your head turn back to its original place in a hurry. 

    ‘Subtle, Y/N, subtle,’ you thought.

    It didn't stop you from listening, though. It's not like they tried being quiet about their conversation now.

    “Your fat would make it look frumpy.”

    The world stopped for a moment. Did she seriously just call her friend fat? From what you noticed, they had the same body type and the speaker was wearing a near identical sundress to one her friend held up! She was shaming herself, too! The man said nothing in defense or in protest, which made you even angrier.

    “Your boobs aren't small enough, either.”

    Thank goodness Anna came out then or you'd have gotten in some major trouble with those people. You couldn't stand any type of bullying, having been a victim in the past and a decent human being. You didn't want Anna to see you behaving that way nor did you want to start a fight when you only came in to buy something.

    “I'm ready.”

    You threw one last stare of contempt at the two before turning back to your Clansman.

    “Okay, beautiful, let's go find you a new bathing suit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    After handing in the torn dress and leaving, you went down a block to the swim shop, where you perused the selection of bathing suits awhile (trying to keep your mind off the earlier incident), until you found the perfect red one piece, neckline decorated in black bows, for Anna. She loved it. You started to head to the register when:

    “You need a swim suit, too.”

    You froze in your tracks, then turned your attention back to Anna. She held up a gorgeous bright red bikini, tassels hanging off the top half.

    “O-oh, Anna, I don't think I'll look good in that one. It's far too pretty for me. Besides, we're shopping for you, not me,” you dismissed in an instant.

    You didn't want to tell her the real reason you rejected the bathing suit because of how ashamed you felt.

    The scar from your surgery made you self-conscious of exposing your abdomen in any way. You thought you'd be made fun of the same way you had been back in grade school for the scars on your palms. Therefore, you avoided wearing tube tops or bikinis out of fear. Fear of being ridiculed, fear of being singled out.

    You thought you'd gotten rid of the toxic thing when you moved out of your adoptive parents' house. Yet it creeped back into you after seeing the life almost beaten out of your friend, after almost feeling the life drain out of you.

    You were fine when working at the soup kitchen or the library. Taking the self-defense class, talking to your friends, and biking took your mind off the trauma as well. However, when you got home, you broke. Being alone, doing nothing productive, no one to distract you, perpetuated your symptoms. Your body shaking, brain screaming, breathing rapid as you'd fall down on the floor, sobs wracking your body as you got terrible flashbacks racing through your brain. They invaded your dreams, too, causing daily insomnia.

    You didn't tell anyone, not even your fellow HOMRA members, about your consistent panic attacks, or your constant nightmares, or your diminishing self-esteem, though. You kept it to yourself, afraid of feeling like a burden or being rejected by the people you cared for. The bags under your eye sockets were getting harder to cover up, though, and trying to keep up the ruse of having energy all the time would drain the little energy you had left. It'd be only a matter of time before your deception got noticed by the people around you...

    “But you're beautiful, too, Y/N,” Anna's voice caught your attention once more, her head tilted in confusion. Why would you not take something which matched your beauty after buying her a dress that matched hers?

    The words were so simple, yet full of so much honesty, they caused a single tear to escape down your right cheek. You bent down and gave her a light kiss on the forehead in thanks, taking the swim suit in your grasp.

    “Thank you, Anna. I think I will buy it after all.” No promises you would actually wear it, though.

    You grabbed her hand up in yours then finally went up to the register to pay for the items. But life (such a surprise) decided it wasn't done throwing curve balls at you, for guess who walked through the door of the establishment next: none other than the bullied girl and her male companion. The other girl wasn't there with them.

    You got so distracted by their appearance, you didn't take notice of a certain Blue Clansman entering the shop as well.

    You paid for the bathing suits in a hurry, keen on leaving there quickly before you felt the need to cause a disturbance. You hated yourself for not defending the victim; however, you had an eleven year old in your charge who needed to go home ere her family began worrying.

    You had just put your fingers on the door handle when your ears caught the snap of a hand meeting a cheek. You spun a full 180° to see the young woman lying on the floor, a familiar expression of fear written on her face as she looked up at the man. You no longer saw her and the man; you saw yourself and Rino. Your anger, your own fear bubbled up out of your core before you could get it under control and you heard two loud cracks followed by screams of horror.

    His wrists hung limply in the air, his forearms bent at weird angles. You had broken his wrists and his arms. There was no denying your Strain status any longer, especially when a cold, female voice sounded right next to you, saying, “I need you to come with me, Ms. L/N.”

~~Two hours later~~

    “You see, Ms. L/N, I do not want to hurt you, despite what you may think. However, if you force my hand, I will not hesitate to strike you down.”

    You glared at the haughty Blue King, near wit's end after staying in his office for two whole hours, no breaks. You wanted to spit his eyes like you did to Rino, but the austere Lieutenant standing beside you, sword on hip, reminded you of how much more dangerous that would be. Besides, as far as you knew, he wasn't a criminal or had any intention of hurting you without provocation either.

    You'd been forcibly escorted to Scepter 4's headquarters by the ill-tempered Lieutenant Awashima, forced to leave Anna behind. Once there, you were guided to the Captain's main office, where you got a speech on maintaining better control of your emotions, thereby controlling your ability. The King gave you a special bracelet made to suppress powers like yours by the Gold Clan. And here you were now, anxious, irritated, trying hard to keep your cool.

    “Any questions?”

    You bit back a retort, reminding yourself of your place, instead choosing to reply in a polite tone, “Yes, I do. How did you find out about me in the first place? Both of you know my name and it's not like I've caused any trouble up until today.”

    “Your mother, of course.” He noticed the look of shock overcome your features. “I am going along with assumption you were not aware.”

    ‘No, no, no, no, no! It couldn't possibly-’

    “She belonged to a secret criminal organization responsible for the deaths of many civilians and Strains alike. She left you to foster care when she considered you no longer useful, disappearing from Scepter 4's radar, until two months ago, when she discovered the existence of your claircognizance digging through school records. She informed her comrades...”

    You stopped listening after those words, piecing the pieces of the puzzle together from there. She must've been the one to tell Rowan of your claircognizance! Your own mother was responsible for the near murders of you and your best friend Maiko. If people wondered why you had trust issues sometimes, you could tell them this new fun fact.

    “…You will be glad to know she is in custody and will not harm you any longer.”

    You shook your head to clear away the empty-headedness in time to hear the Fourth King's last words to you.

    You flashed a polite smile, adding a sincere thank you. He may not be your favorite person in the world, far from it, yet you could thank him for ensuring your birth mother would never hurt you or Maiko or anyone else ever again.

    “That is all, Ms. L/N. You may leave now. You will find your companions waiting for you outside.”

    You stood up out of your seat, bowed (although reluctantly) to the King out of thanks, then proceeded to leave the premises.

    True to his word, the moment you reached the outside, you noticed a small group of people gathered by the gate. As you walked closer, you recognized the faces of all the current HOMRA family standing there waiting for you, including Anna, which made you feel relieved.

    The huge gates opened up once you got closer and let you out for good, the anger towards others in you dwindling and getting replaced with the anger in yourself as well as the fear of your Clan's judgement.

    You didn't speak or look any of them in the eye except for Anna, not ready to see the disappointment or the revulsion in their gazes.

    “Are you okay, Anna?”

    She hummed an affirmative.

    You could feel holes burning through the back of your head. You knew they wanted answers, but they were too nice to ask right away.

    “Then let's leave this place. And I'll tell you guys everything. I owe it to you after leaving Anna alone.”

    On the journey home, you proceeded to explain almost every detail of what lead up to you having a chat with the Blue King, leaving out the fact of your crap self-esteem in the swim shop. You stayed ahead of all of them as you treaded your way back to home base, avoiding the necessity of meeting their stares.

    “So, news flash, I'm a Strain who can break bones like nobody's business whose birth mother loves murdering innocent people. Anyone else care to share how their day went?”

    No response. Before allowing your brain to jump to the worst conclusion, you reminded yourself of the past few months, how they saved your life, made you feel welcome. You guessed they just needed some time to process it. You did, too.

    You halted in front of the bar, not wanting to go in for fear of having a panic attack (you were sure you would get one soon after the shock of today's events) in front of them.

    “Well, I guess I'll head back home. I think I left my stove on by accident, and I don't want a burned down apartment on my hands.” 

    You almost got away with that crappy excuse, many of the members still in a daze over your words. But Anna wasn't going to let you and neither was your King. A certain, knowing look passed between the two, causing Mikoto to let go of her then latch onto your wrist before you had a chance to escape down the sidewalk. They wouldn't let a fellow member suffer alone.

    Your reflexes acted on their own accord, those self-defense classes kicking in, as a fist flew toward your unseen "enemy," nearly decking your crush/Clansman straight in the nose. Thank God Mikoto had good reflexes, dodging your fist in time.

    The redhead gave you no time for mortification, however, because he started dragging you into HOMRA immediately after, impassive face and all, ignoring your indignant noises of protest. When you both reached the stairs leading to his bedroom, he picked you up bridal style, not intending to let you escape. You were too damn surprised (not to mention embarrassed) to fight back or ask for help.

    Once the door to Mikoto's room was kicked shut behind you, your King gently placed you sitting up on the bed. You sat rigid, blinking in rapid succession while he leaned against a wall, scrutinizing your person.

    ‘Shit,’ you cursed in your mind. You were screwed. Thinking of having a melt down in front of Mikoto increased your anxiety tenfold and your body began shaking on its own accord, breathing becoming more uncontrollable by the second. You closed your eyes to try to get a handle, forgetting where you were in the grips of the panic attack. Your heart felt close to bursting out of your chest, sweat accumulating on your forehead.

    What happened next shook you to your very core in amazement. The Red King himself sat down next to you, put an arm around to your back, and whispered in a calm tone, “You can breathe. You're safe.”

    The man had never been in this kind of situation in the past. He couldn't walk off, or treat you the same way he treated any of the others in a similar setting. You required more delicacy and you'd been through hell a few weeks ago. You expressed your feelings in a different way than they did. But he knew reassuring you, holding you, would help ease your pain. 

    He continued to repeat the phrase softly in your ear, the familiar scent of cigarette wafting up your nose, until your breathing slowed to a normal rate again, the pressure on your ribcage released.

    Mikoto pulled away from you a bit, arm still encircling your back. A sense of understanding passed between you two as you met one another's gazes, your eyes communicating what your mouths could not.

    You'd forgotten all about your embarrassment as he laid down on the bed, taking you with him. You knew by now no protesting would work on the stubborn Red King, so you let yourself fall back into the comforter in his embrace. A yawn then stretched your lips, the lack of sleep beginning to catch up to you.

    “Get some sleep, Y/N,” you caught the rich, masculine voice telling you before you fell into a deep, restful sleep against your friend's chest.

A/N: I apologize if Mikoto or any of the other characters seem a bit OOC, but I had no real basis on which to draw from for the particular situations I wrote about. I decided to base their reactions on their characters and how I think their personalities would react. I highly suggest that you read the info on this story before leaving, too. It is very important!