Title: Tiger and Tornado
Universe: Tiger and Dragon/My Boss My Hero
Theme/Topic: Reflection
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: Makio, Sakaki Nidaime, Ken-chan, Gin-chan, Tora, Hyuuga (Kuroi in the background and allusions to Yankumi from Gokusen)
Warnings/Spoilers: Nothing huge, I don't think?
Word Count: 1,311
Summary: Toraji meets someone who really, really wants to be a yakuza.
Dedication: Ann- Oh man this was kind of very hard! I don't think I'm good at Tiger and Dragon's tone yet. It's difficult. O.o Hope I didn't ruin it for you!
A/N: I don't remember the exact details of Tora's joining Ryuseikai and I'm just extrapolating age differences here or something, so forgive me. And sing TaD is older than MBMH I'm just going to pretend everyone in TaD is older than everyone in MBMH too. LOL Also, this kind of came out awkward and every time I reread it and tried to fix it, it just seemed to get more and more awkward and difficult to read. So I just sort of gave up trying to fix it and hope that what's left right now makes SOME kind of sense. Maybe. I dunno. LOL Tiger and Dragon fic is surprisingly hard to mix with MBMH fic because the two series' tones are so ridiculously different throughout. I think in this story the MBMH tone got subdued somehow, so it's all OOC. O.o
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

---

At the time, he hadn't thought anything of it.

But looking back, Yamazaki Toraji thought that maybe it had been the first spark of real contention he'd ever had with his life as a yakuza. He'd just been too busy doing his job to notice at the time.

It was more than ten years ago at the Kantou Sharp Fang headquarters that he first saw the boy— just a short, almost inconsequential meeting of two proud fathers showing off their eldest sons before they went on to discuss the issues of business and politics that the day's meeting was really supposed to be about.

"I don't know if you remember, but this is my son, Makio," a cheerful Kantou Sharp Fang nidaime announced first, presenting a long-haired young man with a permanently furrowed brow to his Ryuseikai ally. "He's just about the same age as Ginjiro here, I think."

"Ah, Makio-kun! Of course I remember, of course I remember. When he was small, he and Oedo's ojousan used to throw each other around all the time during the company picnics, ne?" Ken laughed, and smiled warmly at Makio. "Caused all sorts of mischief shouting at each other."

Sakaki nodded, chuckling at the memory. "That was him."

Ken's eyes twinkled as he regarded the boy. "Ma, well, it's nice to see you again, Makio-kun. Hopefully you and Ginjiro here will be great friends in the future, eh?" he suggested, and pushed his own son forward to properly greet Makio in turn.

"Yo," Ginjiro said, uncomfortably.

Yamazaki had been standing at the back of the room as the meeting carried on, doing his job and watching the suspiciously relaxed older man with the sunglasses standing behind Sakaki nidaime. Keeping an eye on him just in case the bastard was planning on trying anything slick on Oyaji-san or bocchan while the two of them weren't paying attention to him.

Beside him, Hyuuga—more nonchalant than maybe he ought to have been given how outnumbered they would be in this place should anything go wrong— grunted and suddenly elbowed Tora in the side. He appeared rather uncharacteristically amused.

"What?" Tora muttered, but didn't take his eyes off the man on the other end of the room.

"Oi, take a look," Hyuuga prompted. "The future sandaime of the Kantou Sharp Fang."

Tora's brow furrowed at his senpai's odd order, but eventually he complied and managed to slide his eyes away from the man in the sunglasses and instead, looked over to the kid in the black suit who was currently greeting Ginjiro and Oyaji-san.

He frowned. "What about him?"

Hyuuga shifted slightly, rolling his neck a little to keep the laughter from coming out. His lips quirked upwards anyway. "I think he looks exactly like you did at that age. Don't you?"

"Does he?" Yamazaki studied the young teenager a little more intently then, and supposed that he could admit to seeing some similarities between the two of them, maybe in the area of the jaw in particular. But even still—as far as Tora was concerned anyway— it wasn't enough of a likeness to be as funny as Hyuuga so clearly found it. Then again, Tora also figured that he wasn't the kind of guy who saw any reason to laugh in this line of business ever, so his opinion on the matter was probably moot at best.

In the meantime, Oyaji-san grinned and patted young Sakaki Makio on the shoulder. "Ah, Makio-kun, you've grown up so much since I last saw you. You're seventeen now? Eighteen?"

"Sixteen," Makio said.

In the back of the room, the guy with the sunglasses coughed. When he did, it sounded suspiciously like, "Fifteen."

Makio blinked. "Er, I mean. Fifteen. I'm fifteen."

Ken eyed him. "Huh. Fifteen, eh? You're pretty big for your age, aren't you? Strong too, I'll bet."

Makio nodded. "The strongest fighter in the region," he stated, without preamble.

Ken looked delighted. "Good, that's good. Every group needs a strong leader, don't you think, Ginjiro?"

Ginjiro just rolled his eyes at his father, pulling irritably at the tie he'd been forced to wear today. "Yeah. Sure, pops. Whatever you say."

At his son's tone, Ken sighed and turned to the elder Sakaki, looking heavily put upon. "Ah, kids these days," he said, waving his hand a bit hopelessly, "They have no respect at all. Maybe Makio-kun here can set Ginjiro straight when they've got to work together in the future, eh? That is, if they do choose to take over for us in the end after all. This is the kind of age where nothing like that is certain, eh?"

Sakaki nidaime looked as if he was going to respond, but before he could, Makio stepped forward. "Oi… I'm definitely going to be the sandaime of the Kantou Sharp Fang no matter what!" he declared, and the tone he used with Oyaji-san was fierce enough that it actually made Yamazaki and Hyuuga both step forward on instinct.

Two long strides were all it took before they were looming over their boss's shoulder, glaring down at the kid menacingly in an effort to force him to back down. But Makio only glared right back up at them and didn't look intimidated in the least. In fact, he looked kind of keyed up at the thought of a fight, even though his two opponents were both bigger and more experienced than he was. At that moment he looked much older than just fifteen. And much more dangerous.

But Ken only laughed at the teen's enthusiasm, waving his men off. "That's great," he said to Makio, admiringly. "That's really great that you already feel so strongly about your own future, Makio-kun. Some idiots out there don't know how to do anything but coast along in this life." This was punctuated with a pointed look over at Ginjiro, who just rolled his eyes again.

Makio nodded at that and stood up a little bit taller. "Yeah, well. No matter what, I'm gonna do it. No one loves the Sharp Fang more'n I do."

Something about the way he said that prompted Yamazaki to look down into the boy's eyes again. And when he did, he remembered that he didn't see a single bit of doubt in them. As far as Sakaki Makio was concerned, he was going to be a yakuza when he grew up. He was going to be the boss when he grew up. He'd already decided for himself.

And Tora found himself vaguely wondering what it might have felt like to be given that kind of choice in life.

After a moment though, Hyuuga coughed, stirring him from his uncharacteristic musings. Shaking his head, Tora followed the older man as the two of them stood down as per Oyaji-san's silent orders, returning to their corner silently so that the meeting could continue without the benefit of their scary faces in plain sight.

From there Tora went back to the familiar task of watching, choosing to keep a sharp eye on the old guy with the sunglasses standing behind Sakaki nidaime again. He didn't let himself think about fierce-eyed Sakaki Makio anymore.

It was Hyuuga however, who brought the kid up again, a few minutes later. "I was wrong," the older man began quietly to Yamazaki, sounding thoughtful. There was just the slightest hint of a smile on his face, and from the angle he was standing at, Tora couldn't exactly tell if it was a sad one or a happy one.

So he cleared his throat and asked, "Wrong about what?"

Hyuuga just chuckled. "On second glance, I think you and that kid don't look anything alike after all."

"Huh," Tora said.

He remembered wondering what had made Hyuuga change his mind all of a sudden like that.

He didn't get it until many, many years later.

END