Chapter Text
In a precedented series of events, the sudden rise of the Nekoma clan was the hottest topic of gossip between patrons of the bar tonight. It seemed that overnight, the clan had risen in status and gained a significant amount of power and allies.
Sugawara, the barkeep was not very surprised, but he was a bit amazed. For Nekoma to climb the ranks this fast meant serious business. They had always been there, lurking in the background but never doing much. But now, they were taking the reins and bringing change. Daichi had been reasonably stressed the last couple of weeks.
“Fucking cats. I hate the lot of them,” Tanaka exclaimed as he took a seat at the bar. Daichi followed him closely and Suga gave him a welcome home kiss.
“Bad day, Baldy?” Suga asked, pouring cups of sake for both men. It was the least he could do to reduce their stress.
“Been a bad couple of weeks, Suga. Tell your boyfriend to make a deal with the cats already. They’re driving me nuts.”
Daichi grimaced at Tanaka’s statement. He was trying his best, okay?
“You know I do not tell Daichi to do anything. He’s stressed too. Kuroo does not let him rest.”
“Kuroo fucking Tetsurou,” Daichi sighed. He took the shot of sake and let out a huff of breath. “The best and worst thing to happen to Nekoma.”
Just over a month ago, Kuroo Tetsurou took over as the kumicho of Nekoma. He began reforms the minute he was given the title. He took a week to rework the ins and outs of Nekoma. Another week to get rid of everyone who was of no use to him and the clan. Within the third week, Nekoma was taking over major business deals throughout the city. A month in, Nekoma was now re-establishing its city-wide territory, cutting down every person who dared to stand in their way.
Daichi still had some trouble reining in the brats of Karasuno (read Hinata, Tanaka, and Nishinoya). Karasuno and Nekoma housed almost an equal number of rowdy, hot-headed, and energetic people. He had no idea how Kuroo Tetsurou, of all people, managed to run such a tight ship at Nekoma.
Daichi along with the whole of Karasuno had been run ragged trying to get back their drug deals and protect their territory. Those Nekoma gremlins seemed to be everywhere.
Nekoma and karasuno were not enemies but they were not on the friendliest of terms. They had always stayed on neutral grounds with one another, maybe with mild animosity at most. And for some bizarre reason, Fukurodani, who always stayed neutral, seemed to be supporting Nekoma this time. Fukurodani, a powerful ally backing Nekoma, and the long-standing partnership of Seijoh and Shiratorizawa meant Karasuno was left standing alone.
Kuroo ruthlessly went after every single business deal. Daichi was left scrambling as Kuroo seemed to know about every ongoing thing in the city, even the things he barely told anyone. There was not much anyone could do to stop him.
Just today, Kuroo had sent out an open invitation to all the clans; stay loyal and become partners with Nekoma, or decline and risk a war. If it was a month ago, Daichi would have called his bluff but, at this point, Kuroo seemed very sure about himself. He seemed assured that he could back up his words tenfold.
“Do you really think Kuroo is behind all this?” Suga asked earnestly. “He’s been in the yakuza for how long now? It just seems weird that he would only start acting this way, after becoming kumicho. He would have shown the signs, right?”
“Who else could it be? He’s probably been planning for this like forever. We just never knew about it.” Tanaka shrugged.
While Daichi did not reply to Sugas’s curiosity, he did wonder about the question asked.
Sawamura Daichi and Kuroo Tetsurou started in the yakuza around the same time. Kuroo went with the cunning cats and Daichi rose through the ranks in Karasuno. Neither of them came from yakuza families but they worked hard throughout the years, and both had incredible potential. Daichi became the Saiko-Komon of Karasuno under Ukai Keishin. Kuroo acted as Wakagashira under Nekomata. Kuroo had always been the cunning type. He was sneaky, a bit slimy when needed and a whole lot chaotic. Honestly, for all his cunning, he could be a bit of a dumbass sometimes. He was a good leader too, but this level of ruthlessness was brand new. It was as if there was a major driving force behind him.
While there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Kuroo Tetsurou becoming Kumicho, his recent bouts of behavior gave people enough evidence to doubt it all.
Daichi’s phone pinged to announce a text, effectively stopping his train of thought. He lazily unlocked the phone only to still completely when he read the message on the screen. A foreboding feeling shadowed him.
“Daichi? Babe? All good over there?” Suga waved his hand in front of Daichi’s face. A sudden tension surrounded the three people. Tanaka straightened up and focused all his attention on Daichi.
“Uhh Ukai-sama, he-,” Daichi caught Suga’s hand and faced them both. “Oyabun fixed a meeting with Kuroo Tetsurou. Tomorrow.”
Suga let out a gasp of surprise and Tanaka looked stunned.
“Holy shit! Fucking finally! Can I go with you?” Tanaka really wanted to meet Kuroo Tetsurou, the man responsible for all this chaos. Maybe punch him in the face once but that was a bit of a reach.
“Tanaka, no. It's two people from each side. No weapons at Ground Zero,” Daichi felt a massive headache coming his way.
Suga let out a sigh of relief at the no weapons comment. At least he could remain assured that no one from Nekoma would hurt Daichi. Surely, even Kuroo would not dare breach the rules of Ground Zero. Now, that would invoke an all-out war.
“So, you’re going with Ukai-sama and who is coming with Kuroo? Yaku?” Suga poured them both one more shot of sake each. Daichi was thankful for his boyfriend.
“No idea, Suga. Hopefully, it is Yaku or Kai.” Both were the best options to keep Kuroo a bit reined in, except for Nekomata of course.
“Don’t worry Daichi-san. Just make a good deal for us. I can’t wait to get rid of the damn cats,” Tanaka threw back his shot, gave a short bow, and merrily walked away.
Honestly speaking, Daichi was a bit jealous of the fact that Tanaka did not have to deal with the issues surrounding the higherups.
Kuroo would do his best to get on their nerves tomorrow. That was a given. Daichi could only hope that they would be able to reach good terms with each other.
*
Ukai told him to remain calm, steadfast, and suppress all his emotions.
A shred of panic and Kuroo would run Karasuno to the ground. They could not let him have the upper hand at any cost.
They reached Ground Zero 15 minutes early, just to gain a general idea and ensure it was not an ambush. Apparently, Kuroo had the same idea as he was leaning against his car, a smirk prominent on his face. Damn clever cats.
He was leaning against the passenger side of the car, his second nowhere to be seen.
“Hello, pretty crows! Shall we start discussions?” Kuroo spoke as he opened the car door for someone to step out.
The next one and half hours changed the entire course of Daichi’s life.
*
Ukai called for an inner circle meeting within 5 minutes of leaving Ground Zero. Daichi was still stunned about what went down, Ukai himself was processing the entire situation in his head.
It took 37 minutes for the inner circle to gather at the main house. Kageyama was arguing with Hinata about God knows what, Nishinoya was all but bouncing in his chair, screaming incoherent lyrics- Tanaka hyping him up while Asahi looked absolutely done with life. Tsukishima was texting someone- Yamaguchi probably and, ignoring everyone in a spectacular fashion. The noise settled down as Ukai took his designated seat.
They all took note of the serious expression on Daichi and Ukai’s faces.
“Is this about the meeting with Kuroo Tetsurou? Have we become allies with Nekoma now?” Nishinoya was the one to question them both, brave as ever.
“Yes, about that. We asked for neutral terms with them. Push comes to shove; we take their side as long as they do not interfere in our business. Nekoma also agreed to a business deal but that’s between me and Kuroo,” Ukai informed them all.
Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief. At least all the chaos would die down for now.
“Surely you did not call a meeting to tell us this. This could have been a text message,” Tsukishima spoke with a bored, matter-of-fact tone.
He was always too smart for his own good.
Ukai hesitated for a bit, not agreeing with his statement but not outright denying it either.
“Yes, you’re right,” he let out a weary sigh. Ukai wanted to retire; these kids were too smart for him. “I took Daichi to the meeting as he is my second, he’ll be your kumicho someday. Kuroo Tetsurou formally introduced his Kumicho to us today.”
The statement was met with shocked silence. No one really processed the words properly.
“What do you mean his Kumicho? I thought Kuroo-san was the Kumicho of Nekoma?” Hinata questioned.
Nishinoya was shaking his head rapidly as if to support Hinata’s question, Kageyama looked lost and even Tsukishima looked surprised.
“Yes, that is what we thought too. Turns out, we’ve all been kept in the dark. Fuck, I cannot believe Suga was right about this.”
Ukai was just so tired. "Kuroo Tetsurou is not the Kumicho of Nekoma. Kozume Kenma is."