empathy <asheiji>

4.

Shorter twirled his motorcycle keys on his finger, whistling a carefree tune as he hopped out the grocery store, crinkling bags of groceries on his arms. Ah, what a lovely afternoon it was. Luckily, none of the opposing gangs had figured out where he and ash were yet, so walkig outside freely was a luxury he could fully indulge in.

The man took his time to admire the city's happenings. There were two blond chicks walking their pomeranians, a tanned dude reading a magazine while smoking, an old man smelling some poppies and someone running towards him...

"Sing!!" Shorter recognised that jacket anywhere. He'd given it to sing for a birthday, after all. The younger boy was panting, his jet black hair tousled and messy,

"Boss! You gotta warn Ash abou... hah about Arthur, he just found out your location and he's coming to check your building complex right now!!" Sing spat out his message urgently, impatiently gripping the tight demin of his jeans "he will arrive in an hour. You have to get Ash and Eiji out quick!"

Shorter's systems revved to a start. He kept his groceries quickly, leaping into his motorcycle's seat and letting Sing grab onto him before zipping into the traffic. "Sing, call Ash and inform him immediately. Make sure to hold on tight!"

"Yes, Boss!"

- - -

Ash's nose perked at the whiff of a warm snack, whisking his attention away from the computer. It smelled... foreign. The scent was salty and plain, so he couldn't figure out what it was.

He turned to see Eiji walk in with a smile on his face and a white triangle on a plate. Ah. More japanese food. The day eiji stopped making ash try his country's cuisine would be the day pigs grow wings.

"What's that called, was it origami?" Ash asked, suspiciously eyeing the triangle.

"It's onigiri!! Origami is paper art!!" Eiji huffed.

"Well sorry, I'm an uninformed american who doesn't know anything about foriegn cultures!"

The japanese male set the plate on Ash's table and returned to his bed, sulking. Ash smirked as he bit into the rice. "Cheer up, I just finished doing my work." He swung around in his swivel chair to face Eiji, who pretended to bury his face in his book.

"Come on! You're acting like a kid!"

Eiji looked up with a frown. "I'm not!!"

Their banter was cut off by a shrill melody of guzheng coming from Ash's phone, the ringtone he'd assigned to Shorter. The blonde picked it up immediately, and his expression went from relaxed to alert in milliseconds. "What?!"

Eiji watched, alarmed. Ash nodded then hung up, worry written on his face. "Go get Ibe to pack all his shit and i'll pack our's!" He ordered. "It's Arthur!"

The japanese boy left for Ibe's room immediately, sending a volley of hurried knocks on the door. "Ibe san, it's important!!"

The door opened in an instant. " what's going on?"

"We have to pack and leave this place! I don't know why, ash said it was about arthur!!"

"Hurry!!" Ash barked from the other room, clearly they were pressed for time. "Fucker arrives in fifty minutes, we have to be long gone by then!"

"Okay!" Eiji replied.

They packed all they could; everything that might reveal the identities of those who had been in the apartment. Shorter ran in to assist his best friend while Sing stood guard outside.