Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chaos, corpses strewn all over the battlefield, the stench of blood is overpowering. Military bases, houses reduced to nothing more than rubble. However, the atmosphere within the base is extremely different; gone is the oppressive air of the front lines, replaced instead with laughter and cheers. People dancing, glasses clinking against each other. A festive ambience befitting of Calavaria’s victory after years of incessant battling.

“Man, it’s a good thing Yugo’s son stayed with us, a black trigger is better than a hundred—no, a thousand regular triggers.”A member of the council slurred, face flushed from the alcohol.

“This way our expansion wouldn’t be just a pipe dream, after all his trion levels are very high.Even when defies us he can be the next sacrifice.” Snickered unashamedly another member at the other side of the table. Everyone laughed at the implications of his words, it was as if they didn’t see a young boy who was robbed of his chance of properly mourning his father but rather a weapon at their arsenal ready to be unleashed whenever they wish.

On the contrary a pair of siblings, who were eavesdropping on the conversation  scurried away before they were noticed and went directly to the secondary kitchen quickly. One of them all but flung the door open and :

“YUUMA-KUN!!” She shouted, the boy dropped the pastry he was eating and got up to help her on a stool.

“What’s wrong Izukacha? Did they do anything to you?” He asked, brows furrowed walking up to them.

“You should leave as soon as possible! They are planning to take over the small nations near us!! You should forgo your search of Replica and flee immediately! The gate is ready right!? “ She said urgently. “ I heard them just now, they were saying if Yugo-san died for Calavaria you should too. Those bastards are planning to use up all your trion then discard you—That’s why you have to go as soon as possible.” She added, teeth clenching barely holding her anger.

Yuuma just clenched his hands, nails digging into the skin, freshly healed, weighing the options he has. Either he stays and potentially be sacrificed or go to Meeden, his father’s homeland and start anew but without Replica, without the small circle of friends he made all over the neighborhood, all alone. 

This should have been a rather easy decision to make but he once encountered a Meeden away ship from far away and according to the locals they weren't that friendly despite coming unannounced like that. Safe to say he is pretty apprehensive but the loud alarms blaring snapped him out of his thoughts.

Yuuma and Izukacha went towards the source of the noise while leaving her sibling behind to hide in case something goes wrong. Leaping into the buildings they arrived in front of the gate. Well actually it was connecting gate, the one Izukacha arranged for Yuuma after pleading with Raymond, his father's friend and the only good person in the council.

Since Aftokrator's orbit is far from Meeden, they have to go through Calavaria whose orbit is way closer. Three hamsters emerged from the gate, Izukacha ran to the nearest one and broke an opening into it to let Yuuma in, however the trion soldier started thrashing around. So, in a last ditch effort, she switched into a trion body, grabbed the albino and threw him into the bamster's stomach.

"SORRY ABOUT THAT YUUMA-KUN, JUST REMEMBER WE WANT YOU SAFE !!" She shouted barely meeting his eyes, as he is swept away into the gate connecting to earth.

"Man, is this a new way to torture us? Defense duty at dawn? They must hate us. That's definitely it."Rambled a border agent patrolling the middle tier of the forbidden zone leaving behind him a trail of sliced up trion soldiers.

"Stop whining Tachikawa-san, let's just go through this shift and go back to sleep, thank God it's a weekend, imagine if it was a school day." Replied his teammate Izumi.

Alert! Alert! Gate activity detected!

"Tachikawa, Izumi, there are two gates, deal with them" was said through comms.

" Two gates? There are clearly three gates, what are you talking about Yu-san?" Questioned Izumi through the comms.

"No kidding, we're already stumped by the amount of gates today, don't tell me you're starting to see things double now, Izumi-kun." Shot back Kunichika Yu their operator.

"Leave the chit-chat to later, there are a lot of neighbors this time, almost a dozens." Interjected Tachikawa from the side.

A horde of bamsters came through stomping their way cracking the floor and lunged at them. Both of them dodged the attack. Tachikawa sliced through three bamsters with ease and Izumi took care of the rest of them using his bullets. Until a singular bamster remained unharmed as its armour was noticably thicker so the attacks bounced off. 
 

"Woah, woah what kinda neighbor is this?" 

"Hell if I know, we'll send it to Kinuta-san after I deal with it." Replied Tachikawa readying his two kogetsu blades. He leaped high and 

"Senkuu Kogetsu" two X-shaped extensions cut through the bamster's body in two clean cuts.

While that should've sealed the deal, Yuma who is hiding in the bamster's stomach almost got his trion body cut in half as soon as he landed, so he called one of his black trigger's powers and smashed the trion soldier's back to escape. 

"Phew, that was close." Sighed Yuma in relief.

His relief, however was short lived since he was noticed by both agents. Izumi readied his bullets almost instantly and shouted:

"Asteroid!" Green trion bullets aimed at the humanoid neighbor who leaped from his place using bound, however the bullet's trajectory curved towards him so he had no choice but to deploy his shield and use the surrounding buildings to bear the brunt of the attack.

Yuma, hiding in one of the houses started to panic.

'Crap, crap, crap I need to get out from here now or else I'm dead meat.' As soon as he opened the door of the room he was in Tachikawa was waiting for him leaning beside the doorframe, he smirked and said:

"Yo" The albino retreated to were he was and prepared to use his black trigger.

"Woah, woah no need to make such a scary face we just want to chat." He stepped into the living space leisurely.

" Yeah right." Replied Yuma, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

The tension was palpable however it shifted when Izumi entered from the window behind Yuma and, without saying a word he diffused some kind of smoke that disoriented the neighbor's senses.

He feels unsteady on his feet and his head is pounding.

'What the hell is this.' His eyes blurred and he didn't notice both of them approaching him.

" We ........ve to ...... him to meet ..........-san."

"Good call, he'll ..........ow what ......... to him."

Tachikawa picked up the passed out Yuma and to the direction of border's headquarters.

Chapter Text

 Headquarters, Shinoda branch:

"Sigh."

Sighed a middle-aged man, his brows furrowing, clearly stressed about the trouble his charges were making: "Mind telling why did you use that smoke without running it through me first?" Said Shinoda, fixing a glare at both Tachikawa and Izumi sitting in front of him, who at least had the decency to look sheepish at their own actions. "What am I supposed to tell Commander Shido and Kinuta? This is still a prototype. What if your trion supply systems get damaged? Both of them flinched. He continued paying no mind to their reactions. And why did you start attacking first? This isn't the Kido branch; we aren't aiming to make an enemy out of the neighbors.

Both men are fidgeting in their seats, trying to get out of this awkward situation, when they hear the injured boy stirring in his sleep.

 'Huh? Where am I? And why does it feel so.... soft?'

He was puzzled, Yuuma recalls fighting against two meeden soldiers as soon as he landed and then— Nothing, only a dull ache near his heart near his trion supply system, and some difficulties breathing and yet he doesn't remember any sequence of events leading to a room where his attackers get scolded and he himself is lying in a bed for god knows how long, and-

'Hmmm? Why am I still in my trion body? I gotta turn it off.' However, his limbs are feeling heavy and his throat is itchy even tho he's sure he lowered the pain settings when making this trigger, so logically he shouldn't feel any pain or discomfort. As he tried again to remember what happened, he suddenly coughed, and a black fog came out of his mouth. He forced himself to stand up against the very comfortable bed, then opened his eyes to a blinding white light. He closed them again until he got used to the light.

He got up unsteadily and deactivated his trigger. He next turned towards the three Meeden citizens who didn't move an inch nor speak a word ever since they noticed him waking up.

Shinoda cleared his throat and hesitantly asked:

"How do you feel right now?" Yuuma squinted his eyes in suspicion and looked around the room he was in. The man who was asking how he was feeling is sitting at a desk facing the two soldiers, who looked relieved. Weird. The office is large with a sleek design. As he was still scanning the room for anything out of place or dangerous, he didn't notice Tachikawa walking up to him until a long shadow blocked him.

"What do you want?" Snapped the albino tensing up.

"Whoa, whoa, no need to tense up like that, just gonna apologize.". Yuuma still didn't believe him and unconsciously sought Shinoda, who gave him a small, reassuring smile and nodded at him slightly.

He turned back at Tachikawa and mumbled: "Let's hear what you have first, but I need your names ." 

Shinoda visibly brightened at that and urged them to introduce themselves.

Izumi sat up: " The name's Izumi Kouhei, the guy here is Tachikawa Kei." He said, pointing at his captain. "And you are?" He added.

"Yuuma, Kuga Yuuma." He replied curtly.

The air stilled for a moment, then Shinoda hesitantly spoke up: "Kuga, you said?" He pursed his lips, feeling oddly melancholic after saying a name from so long ago, yet still present in his memory.  

After a bit of contemplation, he shooed out the two A-rank agents and motioned for Yuuma to sit in front of him on one of the cushions.

The neighbor sensed the shift in the atmosphere and tensed up again until he saw the pained expression on the man's face.

" So.... By any chance, do you know someone who goes by Kuga Yugo?" Now, if the 14-year-old had lessened his suspicions before now they have increased tenfold.

"Who is this guy?  What's up with his reaction? How does he know about my dad? Unless.....", his eyes widened in realization, "This is the border organization that oyaji told me about, then it wouldn't hurt to tell him my real identity."  While Kuga was lost in his thoughts, Shinoda got increasingly nervous as the silence stretched out, just as he was going to brush it off and ask about the other questions that had been on his mind, Yuuma spoke up:

"He's my dad, however, he-, Yuuma swallowed back the lump in his throat, had been dead for three years now." He raised his head, and for the first time, their eyes met. Red and black stared at each other as the realization of what the boy just revealed sank in. Kuga Yuugo had been dead for three years, and he was none the wiser. They all thought he was just travelling around the world and occasionally visiting some neighbour countries. But to think that he left just like that. Shinoda gave a bitter laugh, then asked what was on his mind:

"If you don't mind me asking, ho- how did he die? He was a very strong individual, and as his disciple, I just wanted to know....." He trailed off, "If that's okay with you?"

His eyes softened a bit and answered in a small voice: "He protected me, and gave me a new chance at life thanks to this black trigger." He glanced sadly at the ring then looked back:

"Dad told me about his days in the border, he looked so happy. I came here to seek refuge because of a conflict that happened in another country. I know we started on the wrong foot, but can I join border?"

He looked taken aback, then smiled and rummaged through his desk drawers for the application forms and slid it towards him. Yuuma took a pen and started filling out basic information like name, gender, date of birth, etc... He stopped at the address and pondered for a bit, then decided to go with the house that his father lived in, he mentionned in passing that he liked Japan a lot so he lived there for quite a while and according to Replica, his name was also in the legal documents for 'just in case' he didn't expect it to become so handy. He slid back the paper, and as Shinoda looked it over, he realized that he didn't put his phone number in.

"You don't have a phone number?"

"No, why? Is it important?"

"Very."

Noticing the confusion on his face, he explained what he needed the phone number for and was shocked to learn that he didn't know what a phone is.

"Then, what do you use for communications?"

"Triggers ." He replied simply, "Let me look over this 'phone' and see if I can replicate it using my trigger."

Curiously, he handed over his device and watched in fascination as an identical phone was produced from the ring Yuuma claimed to be his black trigger.

When all is said and done, Shinoda taught him about the basic functions of the phone and put his phone number at his disposal to call him whenever needed. Just as Yuuma was about to leave, Shinoda called him: Your application is now registered; you'll get a message with the date and location of the written portion of the test." The albino nodded and left through a back door  that Shinoda thoughtfully pointed out to attract less attention until the matter is solved.

He leaned back on his chair and called back Tachikawa and Izumi to tell them about what had happened in detail. Tachikawa threw his head back laughing and suggested, "How about we recruit him to our squad? The shrimp managed to avoid Izumi's bullets and my Senkuu Kogetsu, he's pretty good." However, Izumi doesn't seem very thrilled at first for fear that Yuuma would be like Yuiga once he became a member but he eventually came around the idea because of his potential as an attacker.

Back to Yuuma, who is wandering in the streets of Mikado City, taking in the peaceful scenery —a stark contrast to Calavaria— a lot of buildings, weird machines with cans and meeden snacks in it and so much more. But nothing could've prepared him for what awaits him on the other side of his apartement.

Chapter Text

To be honest, he should've noticed something weird when he was at the front door. It was in such bad shape: the door itself was scratched a lot; there were concentrated around the lock, specifically the keyhole, which was extremely dirty, not from lack of usage but most likely from filthy hands. Not to mention the house itself; if the exterior was in bad shape, the interior was even worse. 

Wrappers, what seems to be a lunchbox? A carton of a colored liquid and a lot of pieces of dirty fabric, which turned out to be pieces of clothing when he got close to it.

'This place is totally ransacked; did someone break in? If so, what did they even steal? The furniture here looks heavy; no way they wouldn't be noticed.' 

 Lost in his thoughts, he missed the sound of footsteps shuffling in until whoever came asked him in a raspy voice:

"Huh? What's with this shrimp? Where the hell did'ya come from?" Two men emerged, one filthier than the other: matted hair, a gaunt face, something that would be too generous to call clothes, and all in all, the tell-tale signs of homeless people.

"He looks like a foreigner. Do you think he has something worth getting?" Chimed in the other intruder, all haughty and smug.

Yuuma's face contorted, disgust evident in his features; his anger flared at the audacity of those two strangers who had ruined one of the last things his father had given him.

"Get out." He said in a level voice, no less venomous, "This is oyaji's place, how dare you turn it into a goddamn dumpster!?" The pair of filthy men looked at each other and snickered, clearly not taking him seriously. This irked him even further; seeing as they wouldn't listen to him, the next logical step is to use force. 

Wordlessly, he leapt behind them, and before they could even register what happened, he had already knocked one out. This shocked the other 'freeloader,' who tried to reason with him: 

"L-li-listen man, we can ta-talk this out, right?" But Yuuma didn't bother to answer and struck him hard on the neck, rendering him unconscious on the spot. He sighed in relief and moved to drag them out of the house, but what he didn't expect though that a neighbour would notice him dragging two unconscious bodies. He contemplated what to say in front of this elderly woman, but he came up blank. How can you even justify lugging two bodies like a sack of potatoes anyway?

"Dear, are you related to the owner of this house?" Asked the elderly neighbor.

The fourteen-year-old boy shook his head and replied, "I am the owner of this house.

"Is that so? You look very young." She remarked. "Also, about those two men, it's best to call the authorities. They caused a lot of trouble in the past; to think that they've been squatting in the house adjacent to mine." She continued.

"I see. Then can you call them? I don't have a phone on me."  He lied to hide the fact that he doesn't even know the number for the police, which seemed to him like a unit that ensures the safety of the locals.

"Certainly, dear." She took out an old flip phone and dialed the local authorities. She turned back to him and flashed him a small smile. They said goodbye to each other, and Yuuma went back in to tell Shinoda about what happened, because while he's still new to Meeden, he's pretty sure the predicament he's in isn't normal by anyone's standards.

He reached into his back pocket, took out his phone, and dialed Shinoda's number. The device started ringing but apparently the call isn't getting through, so he tried a second time but it also went to voicemail.

 Left with nothing to do, he started picking up the trash that had accumulated for God knows how long, resigning himself to his fate. He even began second-guessing his own choices. 'Is living in Meeden going to be worth it?'

Meanwhile, outside of the meeting room in border's headquarter:

"Hey Shinoda, I can't help but notice that your phone has been ringing during the meeting. What's up with that?" Asked one of his co-workers a cigarette in his mouth.

"Really? I didn't notice." Replied Shinoda, while taking out his mobile to check who called him. His eyes widened when he saw he had 2 missed calls from Yuuma. His co-worker leaned in curious about his reaction, what he didn't expect though was that Shinoda to start walking away hurriedly.

"Sorry Rindou, I've got something to take care of." He said without turning back. When he rounded a corner, Rindou's smile left and mumbled to himself:

"What are you trying to hide Shinoda?" He then sighed and walked the opposite direction. 'Well, I could always ask Jin to see his future anyway ' Shrugging his shoulders, he continued walking to his branch.

Arriving at his office, he shut the door behind him and dialed Yuuma's number, while the phone ringed, he started imagining about the situations he faced that made him call. But, all he knew was that Yuuma was going to his house. What could go wrong? He snapped out of his daze when he heard Yuuma's voice:

"Shinoda -san? Hello?."

"Ah Yuuma-kun, sorry I didn't pick the phone I was in a meeting, what happened?" 

As Yuuma began detailing —well more like reporting—what went down Shinoda's eyes widened bit by bit, he finally managed to squeeze out some words:

"Stay there, I'll come then we'll think of something together about this, uhhh, situation." 

On the other side of the line, Yuuma thought that his tone seemed... off, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it meant all he knew that it wasn't hostile. After all he wasn't used to people worrying after him, he sat down in one of the relatively clean chair and waited for him to come. It was quite peaceful until loud sirens disrupted his rest —or at least some shut-eye from the events that happened. 

"Great, what now?" He complained audibly and stood to look from the balcony what's the source of the noise.

Outside, he saw two vehicles? Their shapes were not familiar to him at all, with flickering red and blue lights on top of them and he could make out the word 'POLICE' on the doors.

He squinted his eyes and leaned in the railings to see better:

'Way too showy, is this what their authorities look like? It seems inefficient.' He mused. 'Oh well it's not like it concerns me.' He shrugged and went back in to wait for Shinoda —his only acquaintance in Meeden, for now—.  

What he didn't expect though is for those police officers to come knocking at his door.

"We received a call about two drunken squatters, where are they right? Are you sure this apartment belongs to you?" The male officer fired questions at a rapid pace leaving him bewildered. The second officer noticed his reaction and asked in a much nicer tone:

"Kid, thanks to you we finally caught those nasty bas- uhhh, troublemakers, could you come with us? It's just a couple of questions."

Yuuma didn't believe him and glared at his partner, he followed his line of sight and let out a chuckle: "No need to worry, you'll actually have time to answer the questions comfortably." 

Still, the neighbor didn't lower his guard and snapped back in a clipped tone: "No need to sugarcoat it, I'm going to get interrogated right? Then let's get this done with."

Now it's the officers turn to look stunned, they quickly snapped out of it and turned to follow the white haired kid to the police car.

When Shinoda arrived, he was surprised to the cops blocking the entrance. He got out of the car to see Yuuma being escorted by two officers. He rushed without thinking and grabbed his shoulder, when they looked at him questionably, he quickly blurted out that he was Yuuma's guardian, they looked at him even more oddly and looked at the kid in confirmation, when he nodded they brought the two of them to the station just for some formalities.

The officer interrogating him shooed him after a couple of basic inquiries, and they went back to the house.

Shinoda visibly recoiled from the state it was in, and resolved to not let him live in a place as filthy as this.

"Hey, since you can't live like this how about you crash at Tachikawa's house? He lives alone." He suggested. "Also, I can call cleaning services but it will take a lot of time to restore it back to how it was." He added trying to convince him.

Yuuma put on his usual duck face and mumbled:

"As long as I don't stay in the streets but are you even sure Tachikawa will let me crash at his place? We fought and all." 

Shinoda laughed and said that Tachikawa was very interested in him, he even went as far as trying to recruit him quoting "Finally we'll have a third competent member. I can't wait to kick Yuiga out" 

"Then it's settled"

Chapter Text

"Man, why do I have to go to uni in the first place? Border already pays me a lot." Complained Tachikawa, slinging his bag over his shoulder

"Now, now, Tachikawa-kun, continuing your education is a very good thing." Said a woman walking up to him. "Besides, people don't hire those without degrees nowadays." She continued twirling a strand of her hair.

Tachikawa sighed dramatically and plopped back on his seat: "Come on now, don't go quoting the professor, Kako." He stayed silent for a bit then turned abruptly to her: "Or are you saying that I'm not gonna last?"

The woman— Kako, just laughed it off and exited the lecture hall without answering his question. He also exited the room and began strolling aimlessly on campus. He let his mind wander, thinking about what happened recently: From meeting a humanoïd neighbor with Japanese origins, to fighting said neighbor—he wasn't weak at all—to finding out a bit about his master's backstory and the origins of border. All in all, it was such a rollercoaster, that he just wanted to lay on the sofa and play with his G-box all day.

He was so out of it that he didn't notice someone calling out to him until he hit a brick wall face first. He took a few steps back and rubbed his nose. 

Just as he was contemplating his life choices, a hand slapped his shoulder and uncontrollable laughter followed. Blank faced, he deadpanned at Kako who is still wheezing. She collected herself and said: 

"What were you thinking so hard about hmmm? " She snickered.

Tachikawa, still rubbing his nose just mumbled two words absentmindedly: " My kouhai... "

The blonde froze for a moment, and started asking: " Ooh, who is it? Is it a girl or boy? Are they in border?". Tachikawa answered with a smirk of his own : "All I'm gonna say is... he's pretty strong." He looked so proud then it was almost comical. 

She held back the urge to laugh and just brushed off the matter, walking away. Tachikawa stood there for a minute, when he checked his phone he exclaimed:

"Oh, crap! I'm fucking late!"

Meanwhile, Yuuma was sitting at the bench, swinging his feet mindlessly, observing the surroundings and noting how different both worlds were, back there it was always turbulent with constant conflicts but here, it was nice, it was peaceful in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. 

He was snapped out from his thoughts by something tickling his legs, he looked down to see a four legged small creature with a green collar, it was rubbing it's head on his leg. He leaned down to grab it and put it on his lap to study it better. He looked into it's blue eyes and reached out tentatively to stroke it's back. 

Once he found it to be relaxed, he let it sleep on his lap while waiting for his soon to be captain. The scene was so wholesome that Tachikawa couldn't resist snagging a picture or two . When the albino, heard the shutter sounds,  he turned and fixed Tachikawa with a glare:

"You're late."

"Sorry about that, shall we go now?"

Yuuma just sighed and followed his after laying the cat on the bench. When they arrived at his house, the kid made a face and asked seriously: 

"Are all adults in Meeden like this?" He said pointing at the messy living room. The adult in question felt a bit embarrassed by being called out by someone 6 years his junior, so he quickly tidied up the living room and took Yuuma's luggage —which was bought with the help on Shinoda—. Yuuma sighed and started helping his soon to be captain, both of them worked in tandem