Reunion

A tan skinned man slowly walked up a small set of crumbling stone steps to a wooden door. A small girl followed closely behind him, her bare feet scratching against the wet ground. Even though he hadn't been there in years, he still had the key, which had been stowed away in a cluttered drawer to be forgotten about.

It was only after he met the girl he was now accompanied by that he was pushed to re-open this door, a door that he had never seen himself returning to.

Masao Takeda was a name infamous among the residents of Central City. His reign of terror had ended three years ago, and his gang had settled down quite a bit in his absence. It was rumored that the new leader of the gang was a young, inexperienced teenager who didn't understand how life in city worked.

What most misunderstood though, was that JumpAHead was not a regular gang. Unlike the usual dangerous and hierarchical gangs, JumpAHead was more like a family. Although they committed crimes, murdered people, and caused trouble in the city, the dynamic inside the gang was close and familiar. They were simply a group of close friends trying to survive and rebel against COT.

At first it started as a way to fight back against COT. Once COT started warning citizens about them and calling them a gang instead of protesters, they took on the label proudly.

Knowing this, Masao had no hesitation to return to the people he had abandoned three years ago. They knew his situation, accepted it, and had even visited him a few times after the accident happened. Life had to go on though, and soon they stopped coming from the other side of heaven's gates to visit his small apartment.

"Is Masao afraid?" Yoli asked nervously, sensing his hesitation.

"No, I'm not. I just...haven't been here in a long time."

The door was always locked. He knew that because it was a rule he had put in place during their most active years. The large, four bedroom house that they used as a "clubhouse" was situated in a secluded section of Central City. The building was five stories tall, but only the first floor was being used.

It was a special type of building made by COT during the construction of the city. They were meant to house multiple families and each story was accessed by staircases on the outside of the building. However, these staircases had been ripped off many years ago when the buildings were deemed unsafe to live in. Their structures weren't made to last and COT was worried that the homes would collapse.

It never did though.

He first knocked on the door three times to let them know he was there, and then he opened the door. Yoli grabbed onto his waist when the door was slowly pushed open.

He carefully stepped forward and peered inside. The main room was dimly lit and looked virtually the same as it did last time he was there. One of the bedroom doors opened and a skinny guy approached him.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked before he could see Masao. Masao didn't need to see him to know who it was. He knew everyone's voices by heart.

"It's Masao, why don't you be a little more respectful 'ya little runt," he said. Yoli was softly whimpering behind him.

"M-Masao?" the boy opened the door wider and the purple haired man stepped inside. "Masao!"

"Nice to see you again, Kei."

"Guys! Guys! Masao is here!" the boy yelled, running to one of the bedrooms to wake up someone else. Masao closed the door behind Yoli and they walked into the center of the room.

Kei returned from the bedroom with a weary looking man who was rubbing his eyes.

"Why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour you freak?" the man asked. He was blond and Yoli recognized his face from the photos in Masao's room.

"Hideo, what's up?" Masao nodded to the blond.

His eyes widened when he noticed the purple haired man and he immediately ran to him, pulling him into a tight hug that almost knocked him off of his feet.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Masao said, stumbling backwards.

Yoli gently grabbed his hand and hid behind his back, eyeing the strangers with curiosity. She knew she shouldn't be afraid of them since they were friends of Masao's.

Kei had tan skin like Masao, but his hair was short, choppy and black. He was tall and skinny and wore a plain white shirt with jeans. On the other hand, the blond man named Hideo had light skin and a longer haircut that was light and airy. His eyes were brown and he wore a black and white striped, long sleeved shirt with a white button up shirt on top. Around his neck was a necklace with a large red x on it. The only thing they had in common was that they were both shorter than Masao.

"What are you doing here?" Hideo asked, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Someone wanted me to come 'rekindle my relationships'," Masao groaned, glancing at Yoli. The others hadn't noticed her until he pointed her out.

"How in the hell did you get a girlfriend, with you being locked up inside and everything...?" Kei questioned.

"She's not my girlfriend but, well...it's a long story...heh," Masao rubbed the back of his head. He was lucky that Yoli gave him a shock a few hours earlier or he would be too tired to talk to them.

Hideo furrowed his brows and looked down, as if seeing Masao was painful for him. He hugged the purple haired man again, harder this time and wrapped his hands around him like he would never let go.

"Are you still sick?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I found a way to work around it. That's why I'm here right now," Masao answered. Hideo clung to him, unwilling to move apart.

"I don't remember you being this clingy..." Masao laughed awkwardly. He flicked Hideo's forehead and the blond backed away, rubbing the spot. "You guys go to bed early these days?"

"Dude, It's 1 in the morning," Kei pointed out.

"Exactly, what happened to all the parties? Laaaame."

"Things aren't the same without you. No offense Kei- but he can't get any of the guys pumped up about COT like you did," Hideo said, glaring at Kei. The two boys had always had a small rivalry because they were both quite attached to Masao.

"So what you're telling me is that the whole gang fell off? You guys just sit around all day like me?" Masao sighed, pressing against his nose bridge with frustration.

It was understandable that he would be upset. He had worked hard to build their reputation as a dangerous rebellion against COT, and in his absence they had seemingly done nothing to continue his work.

"We don't just sit around! But you know that I can't lead like you do Masao!" Kei said, his fists clenching. "You can't just...show up and act like everything's how it used to be. Things change."

Yoli lightly grabbed the back of Masao's shirt, getting scared because of Kei's sudden change of tone. He rested his hand on her head to calm her, lightly combing his fingers through her hair as Kei chewed him out.

Another bedroom opened and a taller woman with long messy hair stepped out. "Would you boys shut up!?" she shouted.

"Kaho? I'm surprised you're still around," Masao laughed, waving to the woman. Yoli tilted her head and peered around his back to take a look at the new person.

She was wearing a revealing set of leopard print pajamas. Her nails were long, pink and had flower charms on them. She looked like a toned down version of a gyaru. Her hair was wavy, dark brown with blond highlights. Yoli noticed that Masao was staring at her, specifically at her chest, which was larger than her own.

"Who let this money black hole back in? You've got to be joking!" she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Masao is a black hole?" Yoli asked, speaking for the first time in their new location.

"N-no Yoli, she's kidding," he laughed, patting her head. Kaho used to call him a black hole to tease him about how much money he sunk into gambling and eventually it became somewhat of a nickname. Kaho stepped closer to him, peering at Yoli who was giving her a cautious and interested stare down.

"Who is this you've brought with you?" Kaho glanced back to Masao, who looked towards Kei and Hideo for help. "Did you kidnap her?"

"No! I didn't kidnap her," he said defensively. He wrapped his arm around Yoli in a protective manner, shielding her from the interested older woman. "You're scaring her."

"Oh, don't you start that. She should be scared of you," she laughed, standing in front of Yoli and lowering herself to get a better look at the girl. Kaho was quite a bit taller than Yoli. "My name is Kaho, what's yours?"

"My name is Yoli. I live with Masao," she answered without thinking.

"Gahhhhh!"

"She lives with you?" Kei and Hideo said unanimously.

"Oh you poor thing!" Kaho scooped Yoli into her arms, giving her a sloppy, but enthusiastic embrace. "How long has this lazy, messy, disgusting excuse for a man been keeping you hostage?"

Masao was too overwhelmed to defend his name, just standing there in shock as his three friends crowded around Yoli and bombarded her with a mirage of questions. Yoli answered each and every one with careful thought, explaining their entire situation in detail. By the time they were done questioning her, they were all sitting on the couch in the main room. Masao was zoned out, staring at the wall as his life's details were spilled.

He was just glad that none of the others had woken up. It was unfortunate though, since these three were the ones he was closest to.

"If you need anything, just call me. I understand that a woman can only survive for so long with a man until she gets fed up!" Kaho said, petting Yoli's hair. The younger girl nodded naively.

"She won't be leaving me, and she will not be calling you," Masao grumbled.

"Oh, you don't have any shoes on! Shame on you Masao, forcing you disgusting kinks on her," she shook her head in disappointment.

"W-what the heck? You think my shoes would fit her? She didn't have any shoes on when I found her, what was I meant to do?"

Kaho went into her bedroom and returned with a pair of white boots. They had fur around the top and sparkling laces.

"You can keep these. I outgrew them years ago," she handed the boots to Yoli, who happily put them on. They clashed with the plain male clothes she was currently wearing.

Masao laid his head back, staring at the ceiling and trying to block out the sound of the others talking. It had already been a few hours since he got his last shock from Yoli, and he was starting to come down from it. He could feel a slight headache coming on and his energy was slowing waring.

He didn't want to ruin everyone's mood, but it was like they had forgotten that he quite literally had a heart condition. That was the reason they were separated to begin with. After his accident, he decided to move away so he wouldn't be a burden on them. Living like he does in the company of others would only cause them stress and annoyance.

As he was zoning out, he felt something snuggle against him. He looked down lazily and saw Yoli beside him, her head resting on his arm and her hands moving to wrap around his arm.

Apparently during his zoning out, Kei and Kaho had returned to bed. Only Hideo was still awake. He was sitting at one of the bar stools at the makeshift bar table in the left corner of the room. Yoli shut her eyes and yawned, nuzzling her head against him.

"Still got a drinking problem?" he asked Hideo without looking at him.

"Yeah," the blond replied plainly. "Still got a smoking problem?"

"I do. I wonder which of us is worse, the alcoholic or the chain smoker..." Masao chuckled. "Haven't had a cigarette in a few hours though, is that a good thing?"

"I'm surprised. I was actually a little confused when I saw you without one in your mouth at first," he said. "Is that girl changing you?"

"Yoli? Hell no," Masao sighed, looking down at the girl sleeping against him. He took out the pack of cigarettes from his neighbor and lit one with the lighter around his neck. "You don't mind the smell, do you?"

"Nah. I kinda miss it, actually," Hideo laughed, his tone lightening a bit. "I scrubbed the walls after you left, but they're still stained. It stopped smelling as strong though."

There was a long silence, one of them blowing out smoke, the other staring at an empty cup. Hideo didn't need to say a thing for Masao to know what he was thinking. They had been best friends since they were little, and Masao knew better than anyone what Hideo was feeling.

"I didn't want this place to change," Hideo finally said.

"I...didn't want everything that you left us to go away. At first, it felt like you were just on a vacation. But then...all those little things that you did to this place started to fade."

"Did they, now?"

"I didn't visit because they all told me that you were too sick for visitors," Hideo picked up the empty glass and rotated it in his hand. "But...what did you expect me to do? Just come see you whenever I wanted to?"

The glass rolled out of his hand and fell onto the tile floor, shattering into pieces.

He banged his fist on the counter over and over again. Masao winced as he heard Hideo's choked sobs that barely made their way out of his throat. "You left me! I missed you!!"

"You left me and all I had left of you was this rotting building!"

Masao was silent. He caressed Yoli's hair as he listened to Hideo cry behind him. Eventually he wrapped his arm around the girl and picked her up bridal style. He didn't care if he was tired, he was going to get her home.

Hideo watched him walk to the door, his eyes red and wet. The blond boy followed him to the door and opened it for him without complaining.

"I'll be back another day. Take care of the others like you have been, okay?" Masao asked.

Hideo nodded silently, looking at the girl who was sleeping peacefully in his best friend's arms. Her hair beautifully fell down the side of her face, and her small body fit so perfectly in his arms.

Masao walked out to his motorcycle and set Yoli down on it, making sure she didn't fall over. He put his black jacket over her shoulders to shield her from the cold. A sharp wind swept past him, and droplets of rain fell around the two of them. He looked back at Hideo who was standing at the open door watching him. Masao sighed and walked back towards him, taking his cigarettes out of his pocket. He pulled one out of the box and handed it to his friend, who was taken aback.

"If you miss me so bad then smoke it. That's what this place used to smell like, isn't it?" he said with a smirk. Hideo nodded blankly, watching the purple haired man walk back down the steps and get on his motorcycle. He watched him and the girl ride away, vanishing into the pitch black night. After a few minutes, he closed the door and retreated back inside.

There was only one man he had ever smoked with in his life many years ago. He wasn't into cigarettes like Masao was. He was a raging alcoholic with anger issues. Despite his issues, that one man had never judged him. He was invited to spend those days by his side. Because of that night, Masao was the only person he would ever obey. The only man who had his respect.

It was on a cold night like this one, in a place not too far from that clubhouse, where he met his best friend.