Side by Side

A/N: Just a refresher, but "Bun-san" is Shibuya's nickname.

Summary: A fic based on Ryuji and Tsukasa's conversation at the very end about her "cross-dressing" to attend some social gathering in order to ward off hordes of women from him. Tsukasa learns, a little, what it means to stand beside Ryuji.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Crazy Paradise.

Tsukasa:EEEEE!? Why the hell do I have to attend a party you're invited to, dressed up as a girl------!!?

Ryuji: I'm saying! That you'd act as my ward against other women!!

Tsukasa: I dunno---! This is the first time hearing it!

Ryuji: No way! I did tell you!! I wouldn't forget it!! It's when you were watching 'Today's News' and there were talking about the panda!!

Tsukasa: AA---!! I remember the news about the panda!! The baby panda was the cutest thing!! But I don't remember that!!

Tsukasa: Still!! I didn't hear that!! So I'm not going to cross dress!! {Hell no, I won't!}

--Tokyo Crazy Paradise, Volume 19

And true to her word, Tsukasa refuses to "cross-dress," despite Meiko-sensei's attempt at reasoning that since Tsukasa really is girl and publicly known as a girl, at least by those of the Kuryugumi who know anything, her dressing as one hardly counts as cross-dressing. But Tsukasa's stubbornness is not the kind that gave way to such insubstantial things as logic and so she dresses for the gokudo party just as she usually would have, in a sexless button-down shirt and men's slacks.

Ryuji, of course, is put out by Tsukasa's appearance but in the end merely shrugs it off, insisting with a menacing glower that he will make sure she makes up for it later "After all," he smirks to himself as they enter the limousine, "there are more important things I can use that favor on."

Tsukasa, oblivious to the words but somehow intuiting the intent, feels an ominous chill go up her spine. "So, what's this party about anyway?"

"It's a show of power." But Ryuji's response is as laconic as ever and leaves Tsukasa as baffled as before.

"Yeah, so I'm asking you what's this party about, so give me a straight answer!"

To head off any further bickering, Bun-san speaks up from the driver's seat. "The gokudo in the Kanto, Kansai, and Tohoku regions are converging to figure out what to do with Garyukai's turf now that they're out of the picture. The negotiations won't really be discussed this time, but who the main players are will be determined based on our showing. We want to use the opportunity to prove that Kuryugumi is stronger than ever, despite the men we lost at Megafloat. We also want to prove that we're not the police's dogs after handing over the kagi to them like that. And add to that Asago-san as the former seisai candidate not only leaving her position and but getting openly involved with someone from GRAVE, the private business of Kuryugumi can be turned into a vulnerability.

"Basically we want to convince them we're as tough as we always were and not to be messed with. Unfortunately, all the clan heads will be there too, and although most of them have accepted Tsu-bo now, they might use the officially still open seisai-candidate position to grasp for power in a public setting where if Sandaime contradicts them or seems to favor one over the other, it will be seen as a sign of weakness in the Kuryugumi by the other region leaders."

Shibuya wants to add that this is why Sandaime asked Tsu-bo to come with him dressed as a woman in the first place, so that the absence of an official seisai-candidate could not be exploited but knows it will do little good now.

"Those rotten old bastards!" Tsukasa growls, her hand clenched in a fist, furious that they can still put their personal petty power plays ahead of the concerns of the Kuryugumi as a whole, that they can be selfish enough to endanger someone like Ryuji who has never allowed his concerns any consideration before those of Kuryugumi's. In her anger, she does not notice Bun-san's implication that the seisai-candidate position is now only open in name only, that even the clan heads who might vie for power at this occasion have acknowledged that there is in fact an approved and agreed-on candidate.

Despite Bun-san's warning, Tsukasa is still thrown off balance by the sheer number of women who eagerly flock towards Ryuji. He is instantly mobbed and stands like a stoic island in a sea of fawning women, all artfully displayed voluptuous curves and carefully coiffed locks.

Tsukasa is furious and yet not quite sure at whom. She feels irritated at Ryuji even though she realizes he can't shun any of these women, she's livid at some of the two-timing vipers she remembers who had made Asago's life hell when she was the seisai candidate, but most of all, she feels enraged by a tall blonde who looks very much like Ryuji and is the most persistent in attempting to drape herself all over him.

"Who's that?" Tsukasa grinds out through clenched teeth pointing at the statuesque blonde whispering in Ryuji's ear as his face remains the usual, expressionless mask of ice.

"Shibata Azumi of the Gold Dragon Clan," Bun-san replies, adjusting his glasses. "She tried to replace Asago-san when she was still the seisai candidate using some underhanded tactics."

Even though Tsukasa doesn't even know the woman, just watching her sets Tsukasa's teeth on edge; as Tsukasa's anger begins to radiate from her in invisible flames, Shibuya shakes his head hopelessly. If it irritates Tsu-bo so much, why doesn't she do anything? But then, unlike Kamo-san he has never understood the strange relationship between Sandaime and Tsu-bo from the start and has come to realize that any attempt at intervention is a hopeless affair. It is moments like this, when he does not know how to help Sandaime as he should that Shibuya feels Kamo-san's absence the most.

It is finally Fujioka who remarks in his usual nonchalant way that if Tsukasa is so bothered by the goings-on, why doesn't she step in. "After all," he adds as if he does not care one way or the other, "isn't this a battle to protect Sandaime too?"

There is nothing like that combination of words and ideas—Ryuji, battle, and protection—for setting Tsukasa into action, and suddenly there she is, trying to elbow her way towards the center where Ryuji stands like the calm eye of a maelstrom. But Tsukasa had not counted on the tenacity of these women who neither realize nor care who the androgynous looking youth attempting to shove past them is.

One dark-haired beauty even shoves Tsukasa aside with a muttered "can't you see the adults are playing here, little boy?" her voice is laced with innuendo and sultriness. "You're wholly unconnected to what's going on, so scram!" and that is when it really hits Tsukasa that if she wants to stay by Ryuji's side, really stay there and be acknowledged as belonging there not just on the battlefield of weapons but all battlefields, she can't just make it a personal, private resolution. Ryuji's life doesn't allow for that. Given his public role in underworld politics, her role if she wants them to stand side by side will have to be public too. Nothing but she herself stands in the way of stepping forward and accepting that role. She does not even realize that she has been thinking all this outloud until she is being dragged away by Bun-san, happy tears of relief streaming down his face.

"Oh, Tsu-bo!" he exclaims dragging a prone Tsukasa. "This is just what I was hoping for! You want to stand beside Sandaime, right?" He pulls out the change of clothes and wig for her for that he had slipped along just in case for such a miraculous outcome . "Quick! Transform!" he exclaims as if she is a super-hero who will emerge with a new and unrecognizable identity to save Ryuji from the hordes of financially and hormonally driven women.

Holding the wig and dress in uncertain hands, Tsukasa walks hesitantly into a women's restroom. She considers her reflection in the full-length mirror of a bathroom as opulent as any she has seen after entering the high-powered world Ryuji resides in. The long silky black wig makes her look like another woman entirely and the red-hot strapless cocktail dress that leaves little to the imagination with its curve-hugging silk is exactly the type of impractical frippery that Tsukasa's very being detests.

Is this what she wants? Are these her only options? To hide her position in Ryuji's life or hide her self to claim her place beside him? Even before she has finished the thought, Tsukasa knows that this kind of moping doesn't suit her at all.

She pumps a fist and declares to her reflection, "If I'm going to stand by Ryuji's side, I'm going to do it my way, on my terms!" She takes off the wig and leaves it in a puddle of long black hair on the floor. Pulling out her the blade of her bugworm, she considers the dress before resolutely cutting off the skirt and slipping on the black slacks she had worn originally. She tightens the belt at her waist, giving the trousers more definition and shape. There, no constricting fabric around her legs that would prevent movement in an emergency.

Tsukasa looks at her reflection again and this time sees someone she can recognize. The strapless red cocktail dress now looks like a sexy crimson blouse matched with tapering black pants. Her hair is in its usual short bob, but she is very clearly female. She tucks away the stray thought that her new fashion statement looks like it has been unintentionally copied from Wakasa, who in that brief video she saw was clearly dressed in sensible clothes for a fight and yet did not leave any question about her femininity. Perhaps, Tsukasa thinks, she does not have to turn into someone else entirely each time she wants or has to "cross-dress" as a woman. Maybe being a woman doesn't mean becoming the exact opposite of who she is. A fighter and a woman not or. Perhaps there are some things the long gone Wakasa can teach her as a mother to a daughter after all, even if Tsukasa does not realize it.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Tsukasa is startled to find an eager Bun-san waiting for her, stars in his eyes at the thought that she will emerge feminine and gorgeous as Sandaime could want. She backs up in surprise, "You shouldn't lurk outside women's bathrooms, Bun-san! People might think you're some kind of pervert!"

"Here," she adds, handing her protector and the lopped of skirt to him, "Can you hold onto these for me?"

"What-what-what—" is all the stunned Bun-san is able to stutter out, unsure yet whether to be dismayed by the lack of transformation into an ultra-femme beauty or pleased with the change into recognizably female, athletic, and striking young woman.

"When I stand beside Ryuji, I want them to know who I am," she answers in response to the question he is seems incapable of articulating and leaves him behind still gaping as she heads back to the banquet hall.

She is again taken aback all over again by the crowd of eager women raving about Ryuji. No one has noticed her yet and there is still time to retreat. Is she really willing to go through with this? For all Tsukasa hates to think about all the unnecessarily convoluted politics of the gokudo world, she's not naive or foolish enough to not realize what stepping forward now would mean. She would, in effect, be taking one step closer to accepting the position of seisai that all the clanheads had been pushing on her once they discovered she was Wakasa's daughter. Even as the thought of that unearned approval makes her hesitate and almost turn back, she realizes she cannot bear to hand that position over to any of these women greedily crowding around Ryuji, who constrained by his position and the setting, stands stock still because he cannot afford to give offense to any of them or their families and thus show cracks in the solidarity of the Kuryugumi.

Tsukasa considers the question now facing her, whether she really is willing to step forward and face this onslaught of shrieking gold-diggers to stake her own claim to Ryuji. She takes one look at the tightening, taut look on Ryuji's face, all the emotions she has been able to see in the faintest smirks and expressions in his impossibly inexpressive face drawing inward as if never to appear again and she knows her decision has been made. This time as she tries to shove her way to the center, the other women grudgingly part at her sharp elbow jibes, recognizing as an equal who has a place on this particular battlefield. It still takes time and effort and a few bruises, but she makes her way past them, reaching Ryuji at last, and feeling peevish at what she has had to go through to get there, she berates him, "What're you doing you bastard, just standing there?" Her tone makes it more than clear that she is unimpressed by his manner of dealing with unwanted advances and flirtations.

He looks at her, eyes widening slightly as he takes in her altered and curve-hugging outfit in one glance but lingering over it nonetheless. But all he says is a clam, "You're the one who disappeared on me." And before Tsukasa can evade him, he has snaked one arm around her waist, his hand resting unrepentantly on her hip. She blushes, fumes a little, but doesn't pull away, as the two of them start to push their way out of the crowd of women who are caught flatfooted by the more than friendly reception this newcomer has received.

Shibata Azumi, however, is not someone to be pushed aside lightly and she places herself belligerently in their path, turning her hard eyes on Tsukasa, "And just who the hell are you that you think you can monopolize the Sandaime like this when there are so many women better than you in breeding and in beauty here?"

But before she can even work out a response to such a worthless question, Ryuji smirks slightly and says, "Isn't that obvious?"

Tsukasa looks up surprised, unsure where he plans to go with this. Would he introduce her as his bodyguard? Somehow, the thought makes her feel a little wretched, that their relationship would once more be reduced to just that, for while she will protect Ryuji even at the expense of her life, the term "bodyguard" reduces that impulse to lay down her life for his sake to nothing more than an obligation rather than the desire of her heart.

And yet, she does not want the titles the kumin have been throwing around so easily lately—anego or seisai, even with candidate appended to them—because while she has made peace with her anxiety over the katagi and gokudo conflict, she does not yet know if she can or think herself worthy to pick up such a role of responsibility. The parents who raised her would understand and respect her choices, she knows, and in her moments of doubt, all she has to do is remember Taku-nii's reassurances. In fact, what she has not been quite been able to admit to herself yet after seeing that brief friendly interaction between Wakasa and her parents is that perhaps GRAVE and the actions of some of the gokudo are separated by only a fine line of legality.

No, she does not want to be named just Ryuji's bodyguard nor does she want to be saddled with a title that would lay restrictions and limitations on how she could act. All she wants to be, whether beside Ryuji or not, is herself.

Tsukasa is drawn out of her musings by Ryuji's voice, which is surprisingly close. "She's Tokyo Crazy Paradise's Tsukasa." The smugness clear in his voice as his body language indicates just who she is with. Suddenly, the warmth of Ryuji's hand on her hip feels even more intense; the arm that had been holding her loosely pulls her closer and he leans his head down to kiss the side of her neck. Tsukasa flares a scarlet that matches her blouse, at the intimacy of the gesture and their closeness. She blushes with embarrassment and with anger at Ryuji for pulling such a stunt, but despite it all Tsukasa can't help smiling at having the words she had declared proudly to the kumin who asked what title she wanted—"That's obvious! In the past, future and even in the other world, I only have one name. Tokyo Crazy Paradise's Tsukasa!!"—so deliberately echoed by Ryuji.

"Don't worry," Ryuji whispers and he is still close enough that she feels his breath on the shell of her ear, "They'll know just who that is soon enough."

And then, putting on the face of a petulant child who refuses to hand over his candy before supper Ryuji tightens his arm around her waist and adds, "I'm not letting go." What he doesn't add is that not letting go is all part of his strategy for the gokudo world to figure out just who "Tokyo Crazy Paradise's Tsukasa" is. That even if she won't officially accept any titles yet other than her own name, her constant presence by his side and proximity to him would speak for just who she is to him. Not very subtle, but it would do.

But Tsukasa is still too happy by his acknowledgement and recognition of her to suspect any underhandedness. "That's all right," she says and leans into his side before sense comes back to her and she realizes just what danger she has placed herself in. She tries to draw back an instant later, remembering that giving Ryuji an inch is allowing him a mile, but it is already much too late.

"All right, you say," he smirks as she tries and fails to squirm away.

"That hand had better not go anywhere else!"

"Anywhere else? Like here?"

"Ahh! Ryuji you idiot!"

Bun-san shakes his head sadly, unable to tell if they've actually made progress or destroyed it and he is just so irritated by it all that he doesn't know how to tell them that they are causing something of a scene.

It is Fujioka who saves Bun-san again. Drawing in a long nonchalant drag from his cigarette, he drawls, "Hey, hey, keep the husband-and-wife squabbling for the bedroom. The rest of us are still here ya know."

And all of a sudden, Tsukasa is aware of the eyes of everyone around them trained on her and Ryuji and she is so embarrassed she tries to hide behind Ryuji with a muttered, "It's all his fault!"

But Ryuji is still too busy gloating over the "husband-and-wife" comment and strategizing how to convince Tsukasa to extend their squabbling to the bedroom—he wonders if he should ask Fujioka for pointers—and a scheming and predatory grin covers his face.

He is at last snapped out of his lecherous reverie by Tsukasa grabbing his arm and tugging him along relentlessly. "Stop fooling around! Didn't you say you had to go greet all the clan heads and the leaders from the Kansai and Tohoku regions?"

Ryuji slows her down by insinuating the arm that she has grasped around her waist again but is more than happy to be led off wherever Tsukasa wishes as long as they can go like this. Yes, we can face anything, he thinks, as they greet the head of the Red Dragon Clan, as long as we go like this, side by side.