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yusuke-of-valla · 1 year ago

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Whumptober Day 4: Fun Uncles

AO3

Written for the prompt: Shock

Nineteen years ago…

When the last mourner leaves there’s an air of finality. Like now that they’ve finished with the funeral, Dad is really dead.

Zenkichi, Tsuru, and Mom all just sort of sit around the family room, not saying anything, until someone’s stomach growls.

“Tsuru, could you please make some dinner?” Mom asks.

Tsuru wordlessly gets up and heads into the kitchen, but soon enough there’s a loud crash and the sound of plates breaking.

“Damn it, Tsuru!” Mom snaps, and Zenkichi follows her into the kitchen, where Tsuru’s standing, surrounded by shards of ceramic.

“Sorry, I was just—”

“I don’t want to hear it! Go grab something to clean this up.”

Tsuru hangs her head and runs out.

“That girl, she doesn’t know how lucky she is, beautiful, never has to worry about her weight, if she could be bothered to behave properly men would be lining up to marry her,” Mom huffs. “Couldn’t even wear proper clothes throughout the whole ceremony.”

“Mom, it’s hot out. You know Tsuru doesn’t do too well in the heat, especially not decked head to toe in black. Dad certainly wouldn’t want her collapsing from heatstroke just because of him.”

“Even more reason she should focus on being a proper housewife! She can’t even go out, so she could damn well learn to keep house.”

“Ok, ok, I think we’re all tired,” Zenkichi says. “How about we just call Oishi’s and get some food delivered. One less thing to worry about.”

Tsuru comes back in with a broom.

“You’re bleeding,” Zenkichi says as Mom snatches the broom out of Tsuru’s hands.

She starts sweeping the mess, and Zenkichi pulls Tsuru into the bathroom where they keep their first aid kit.

“I can do it, it’s not that deep,” Tsuru mumbles.

“Eh, come on, let me do it.”

“How mad is Mom?”

“She’s stressed.”

“Sure, but how mad is she at me?”

“Look, it’s been a long day, she’ll be over it in the morning. We’re gonna call Oishi’s and get some delivery.”

“Can we go pick it up?” Tsuru asks. “When you leave, I won’t have anyone to go out with, might as well spend as much time as I can outside of this place.”

“Why don’t you ask mom? Or one of your friends, didn’t you mention—”

“She doesn’t know about them,” Tsuru says, “for a reason.”

“Tsuru, you’re being dramatic.”

“No, I’m not. She’s worse when you’re not here.” Tsuru sighs. “Hurry up and get a job already so I can move in with you in Tokyo.”

“I still have five more months of training at the police academy. I might not even be stationed in Tokyo, you know.”

“I don’t care. Anywhere is better than here. Anyone is better than her.”

“She’s our Mom.”

“She sure doesn’t act like it.”

“You know she’s only like this because she’s worried about you, right? Now that Dad’s dead, she’s worried no one will take care of you if she dies.”

“Won’t you be around?”

“Well, you know how she is, she thinks that when I’m a family man, I’m not going to have time to look after my baby sister.

Tsuru kicks him. “I’m not a baby, dummy.”

“Sure sound like one, calling people dummy.”

Tsuru cracks a smile for the first time since Zenkichi came home for the funeral. “I guess if three years difference makes me a baby, you can carry me all the way to Oishi’s.”

“Yeah, no.”

“Come on!”

“No.”

Present

According to the forecast, the day they leave Sapporo is the hottest of the summer, and Yusuke can definitely feel that.

He feels like he’s wading through soup with all the humidity.

“Yusuke? Are you alright?” Morgana asks while they pack up.

“The heat,” Yusuke says. “And I’m sore from our fight with Shadow Mariko yesterday.” His neck and shoulders hurt, but they’re nothing compared to the pressure in his chest.

“Why don’t you rest for a bit then,” Haru says.

“I don’t want—“

“Nah dude don’t give us any of that ‘I don’t want to be an inconvenience’ crap,” Ryuji says, “rest a bit, we don’t mind.”

Yusuke’s too tired to insist otherwise, so goes to sit on the bench.

He sees Inspector head over to them.

“You kids almost ready?” he asks, but strangely it’s being drowned out by the ringing in Yusuke’s ears. Everything sounds vague and distant, and he can’t follow the conversation at all.

Then Inspector Hasegawa seems to nice him and the Inspector’s immediately concerned

He opens his mouth to say something that’s probably “Kitagawa?!” but Yusuke can’t hear it specifically because he’s too focused on the way everything’s spinning.

“Niijima, call an ambulance. Sakamoto, help me lie him on the ground,” Zenkichi says.

“Wh-what’s—” Niijima stammers but Zenkichi doesn’t have time for this.

Sakamoto helps him lay Kitagawa on the ground. “Good, now raise his feet slightly above his head,” Zenkichi instructs.

“Ok.” Sakamoto does, and there’s a small crowd coming to the scene, but Zenkichi doesn’t even have to tell Amamiya to keep them away.

Kitagawa still isn’t responsive, but starts taking gasping breaths that are fewer and farther between, so Zenkichi moves to perform CPR.

Old habits really do die hard. It’s been years since Zenkichi spent his summers taking CPR training, but his hands move on his own at the right rhythm.

He feels Kitagwa’s ribs cracks, and Sakamoto winces in sympathy, but Zenkichi isn’t bothered. He keeps going until Kitagawa’s eyes flutter open, just as the ambulance arrives.

Zenkichi follows the paramedics, who give him a questioning look, but Zenkichi doesn’t want to bother with it.

“I’m his uncle.”

The paramedic nods and lets him in.

Eighteen years ago…

There’s an inexplicable feeling of dread when Zenkichi comes home. No movement, not from Tsuru in her art room nor Mom in the living room.

His visit home was supposed to be a surprise, but he didn’t expect them to be out.

After waiting a second, Zenkichi grabs his gun before heading inside.

He feels some sort of relief when he realizes the door is still locked and has no sign of being forced open.

Unfortunately, he relaxed too soon.

Because when he enters, he sees his mother’s cold, dead, body at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by days-old dry blood.

Zenkichi wants to scream, cry, and throw up all at once.

Instead he runs upstairs to check Tsuru’s room.

It’s completely empty, but there are signs of a fight with broken canvases and paint cans that look kicked over. Normally, Tsuru’s window is always locked, but now it’s wide open and there’s the remnants of what looks like a sheet tied to the table.

Other than that, there’s no sign of Tsuru in the house.

Present

There’s a whirr of activity that eventually settles with Zenkichi sitting in the hospital room with Kitagawa.

A doctor comes in. “Hello, you’re his uncle?” she asks. “Have you contacted his parents?”

“No, they passed away,” Zenkichi says. “But I’m responsible for him at the moment.”

“Do you have his medical information?”

“No, but his mother suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”

“Of course, probably complications from the heat. Make sure he’s rested and hydrated and doesn’t stay outside for too long. You administered CPR?”

“Yes.”

“You did a good job. Cracking the ribs is a normal occurrence so I don’t want you to think—”

“I know, I did it to his mother too,” Zenkichi admits. He’d been absolutely panicked when she collapsed during a school picnic and spent the whole time inconsolable until his father explained he hadn’t made it worse.

“Ah, well I just didn’t want you worrying you did something wrong. You saved his life.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“Do you know of any medications he’s taking?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Well, I’d like to keep him for a bit just to make sure there’s no complications. I’m sure you’ve noticed but he’s severely underweight and suffering from anemia. We might end up keeping him overnight.”

“Alright, thank you.”

The doctor leaves and Zenkichi practically collapses into the nearest chair.

God, he’s more exhausted than he’s been in a long time. They’ll probably end up staying in Sapporo an extra day and—

Oh. Oh no.

Zenkichi pulls out his phone and calls Akane.

“Where are you?” Akane asks as soon as the phone picks up.

Zenkichi sighs. “Look, I’m not going to be home tonight.”

“WHAT?! What are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry! I don’t want to do this, but your cousin had a heart attack.”

“Huh? Grandma and Grandpa didn’t—”

“No, on my side of the family. My sister’s son.”

“Are you serious? You can’t come up with a better lie?! You only mention your sister sometimes and I sure as hell haven’t met her.”

“It’s really, really complicated. I promise I’ll explain tomorrow.”

“Yeah, whatever. See you.” The line clicks, and Zenkichi throws his head back. Why is his life like this?

“Is that your daughter?”

Zenkichi snaps his head up, and Kitagwa’s awake.

“Kitagawa!”

“Lying to the hospital is one thing,” Kitagawa says, “but there’s no need to lie to your daughter for my sake.”

It’s funny that for all Kitagawa inherits from his father, he makes the exact same look as Tsuru did when she caught Zenkichi in a lie.

Daring him to try and dig himself deeper.

“Er, right.” Zenkichi scratches his head. “Look, Kitagawa. I wasn’t… exactly lying.”

“So what you told the doctor was true? You’re my uncle?”

“You’ve been listening in that long, huh?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

The way Kitagwa’s glaring at him, Zenkichi feels a pang of nostalgia. Honestly, it’s been so long, he even misses Tsuru being mad at him. “I wanted to tell you, I just didn’t know the right time. It’s not like I can just walk up to someone I’m investigating and say ‘hey, I’m your long lost uncle!’”

“Are we still just people you’re investigating at this point?”

“Well…”

Kitagawa’s frown gets deeper. “Fine. Did you know my mother died? Why did you never come to pay your respects?”

“That’s… I didn’t think she’d want me there. Or to have anything to do with you,” Zenkichi says.

“Then tell me why. I think you owe me that, at least.”

Zenkichi takes a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Eighteen years ago…

Zenkichi hasn’t slept in weeks. If he’s right, he’s tracked Tsuru to Tokyo of all places. Supposedly someone’s seen her working at this ramen shop, so Zenkichi settles in to a seat by the door, and waits all day.

His tab is pretty expensive by the time Tsuru shows up, slipping in discreetly by the back and relieving a stressed-out high school student. She goes to talk with the owner and locks eyes with Zenkichi.

They stare at each other across the shop for a second, before Tsuru whispers something quickly to the owner, clearly apologizing, then heads over to Zenkichi.

“Let’s go outside,” she says, and Zenkichi lets her lead the way out.

They go around back, and the second they’re out of sight of any cameras, Zenkichi pulls her into a hug.

“Are you ok? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Tsuru blinks at him. “W-wow, I thought you’d open with yelling.”

“Who’s behind this? The owner?”

“W-what? No, behind what?”

“Who kidnapped you?”

Tsuru groans. “Oh, ok is that how Mom’s dealing with it? Of course not, it’s never her fault.”

“Tsuru, Mom’s dead.”

Tsuru’s face goes pale. “W-what? W-what happened?”

“Blunt force trauma to the back of the head, what do you mean ‘that’s how she’s dealing with it?’”

“I wasn’t kidnapped,” Tsuru says. “I ran away.”

Zenkichi feels his eye twitch. “What?”

“I ran away.”

“What do you mean you ran away?”

“I couldn’t stay in that house anymore, so I ran away.”

“On your own?! Tsuru, do you know how worried I’ve been?! Of all the stupid little—”

“Stupid?! Are you kidding me, I tried to tell you so many times, but you never believed me?”

“What about the canvases then?”

“Mom broke them! She’s been breaking them for years when she’s mad at me!” Tsuru snaps. “And I could never bear to throw them out, so I kept them and left them in my room so she’d remember why I left!”

“I thought someone had broken into your room because you felt like being dramatic?”

“Gah! This is why I didn’t talk to you!”

“Tsuru I haven’t slept in weeks trying to investigate your disappearance and mom’s death.” Suddenly Zenkichi stops, and he steps back from her. “...did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Did you kill Mom?”

“What? Have you gone crazy?”

“You had a fight, you pushed her down the stairs, and then you panicked.”

“First of all, that’d have to be a pretty hefty shove, and as you’ll remember I can barely throw a ball 30cm. All my life it’s been ‘oh no Tsurur you’re too small for that, yu’re too weak for that, you can’t do that,’ but now you think I can shove someone with 30 pounds on me hard enough to send them down the stairs?!” Tsuru gasps. “Besides, If it was an accident I would have called you.”.

“You didn’t call me when you decided to run away to Tokyo!”

“Because you’d tell Mom, and it wouldn’t be safe for—” Tsuru clutches her stomach and looks away. “That’s different, ok?”

“Then maybe when you left you left the window open and someone broke in and killed Mom,” Zenkichi says. “Either way you still killed her.”

“That’s— that’s not true.”

“Come on, we’re going to the police station.” Zenkichi says, grabbing for her wrist, but Tsuru snaps it back.

“What? N-no, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m betting you were hired under a fake name,” Zenkichi says. “You may have tampered with a crime scene.”

“I told you I didn’ kill Mom!”

“Well I can’t believe you now, can I?” Zenkichi says. “I thought you’d tell me about something like this, so how can I know you’re being honest with me now.”

“You’re not even working Mom’s case. They wouldn’t let you.”

“Oh so you want to call an officer and wait for a police car?”

“You’re just doing this because you’re mad at me!”

“No, I’m not, I’m acting as an officer of the law, and since you were the last one to see Mom alive, you’re a suspect, and should be interrogated.”

Tsuru looks down on the ground and mutters something.

“What was that?”

“...I hate you,” Tsuru says without raising her voice. “I’ve been so worried I was wrong not to trust you, and here you are proving my right. I hate you! I hate you so much!” Then she walks off.

“Where are you going?”

“To the police station, that’s what you wanted right? Then once they explain you’re ridiculous for thinking I could kill Mom, then I’ll decide if I ever want to talk to you again.”

Present

Yusuke doesn’t know how to feel after Inspector Hasegawa— should he call him Uncle?— finishes. He grasps for the first thought he can force into intelligible words.

“And after that?”

“I got chewed out for accessing information on a case I wasn’t working on to track down your mom, she showed her train ticket to prove she was already gone by mom’s ETD, and then she never spoke to me again,” Inspector Uncle Hasegawa says.

“Were you still angry with her?”

“I held out for a year being stubborn. Then I didn’t know how to talk to her.”

“Did you know about me? Did you know she’d died?”

“Yes. It’s not like I was stalking her or anything, but I… kept tabs on her. When she died, I’d heard you were living with a family friend, so I figured that’d be better for everyone.”

Yusuke would be lying if he said he didn’t see Hasegawa’s side of things. It’s not like he’d know what to say.

But another part of him is stewing in an ice cold rage. Madarame had always said he should be grateful, that Yusuke had no other family who would want to take him in. Was that just another lie or an accidental truth considering his uncle had never even tried to reach out to him after his mother’s death.

His mother’s death stands out as the one sharp point of the haze of his early childhood, and he remembers it being just him, Madarame, and a few other mourners. If Hasegawa had been there, he never spoke to Yusuke.

Though, given the look on Hasegawa’s face, now’s not the time to go into that.

So Yusuke swallows his rage. “Can you send the doctor in? I suppose I need to give her my medical information.”

“Oh, sure, of course. I’ll go tell your friends everything.”

Inspector Uncle Hasegawa gets up, and something in his bearing makes Yusuke feels as though he’s only added to the weight the man has been carrying all these years.

#uncle zenkichi conspiracy board #alto writes #whumptober #day 4 #yusuke kitagawa #zenkichi hasegawa #child abuse tw #ask to tag #hospitals #heart attacks #medical stuff i probably got wrong I'm so sorry

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