How are you? It's been so long since I've seen you and Giotto, almost 4 months if I'm not mistaken, I haven't heard from you two at all…Maybe you've been really busy?
In any case I decided to write to you guys…it's taken me over a month to write this… I feel a bit stupid and I don't really know what to say.
Things in Northern Italy are okay, I miss living with you guys in Sicily…I'm sorry I didn't say good bye…I wish I could have…
I miss you guys a lot…and I really hope you write back.
From Rick.
The streets of a small Sicilian town were crowded with people, the shuffling of footsteps blended in with the small murmur of chatter and vendors who were selling their produce.
Two figures weaved their way around the crowd expertly, both were men and both stood out of the crowd with their unique traits. The first male had yellow blonde hair and molten honey coloured eyes; he wore a white pin-striped suit and a black cloak hugged his shoulders, the man had weird metal gloves on his hands which had in metal writing; 'Vongola 'I' Famiglia'.
The other male had fire red hair and crimson eyes, his clothing was more casual than the other man; he wore a light brown-almost white-flannelette shirt that was buttoned up lazily and had a half-done up green tie. The man's first most and noticeable trait though was the red tattoo on the right side of his face, which went down his body from what the eye could tell. The man also was scowling slightly and the cigarette in his lips was placed between them firmly as the streets seemed to get busier.
The man with red hair slowed to a stop in front of a small shop, he looked over at his companion who smiled at him warmly. "I'll wait outside then, G.," He said to the red head.
"I won't be long Giotto," G. said with a nod as he ducked into the shop, weaving through some of the people. Giotto smiled and leaned his back against a brick wall, near one of the fruit vendors. His golden eyes shut to a close slowly and a small smile made its way on his lips.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there were only a few clouds that floated along the blue sky, Giotto chuckled to himself at the slight irony.
Giotto then frowned; something was nagging at him, his hyper intuition?
Opening one of his eyes Giotto saw something move stealthily from the corner of his eye to the fruit stand he was near, his other eye opened and his eyes widened slightly.
A girl with short brown, almost guy short, hair and violet eyes was looking at the small apple stand with hunger filled eyes. The girl was wearing attire that men would usually wear; a white flannelette shirt and black trousers with suspenders that were hanging loosely.
Giotto observed the girl carefully; she was as white as a ghost and looked unhealthy, her hair was dirty and there were dirt marks and red marks on her shirt. The girl chewed on her bottom lip as her violet eyes darted up to the vendor-who had their back turned- and then back to the apples.
Nobody had noticed her yet, apart from Giotto. The girl looked around nervously and then swallowed, she extended her hand slowly and then quickly swiped three apples in her hands, she then bolted before anyone else would notice.
At the time she bolted G. walked out of the store with a small semi-automatic pistol in his hands, he and the girl collided and she stumbled back. "Tch, watch it boy," G. growled, slightly pissed off.
The girl frowned slightly and then bowed, not saying a word before she ran off again. G. walked to where Giotto was and noted that he had watched the whole event. "Did you know him Giotto?" G. asked.
"Maybe, G. I want you to follow-" before Giotto could finish his sentence G. let out a huff of air.
"I'm on it Primo," he said. "Why you want me to follow a random kid, I have no idea," he mumbled with a frown. G. shrugged to himself, he never questioned his childhood friend, Giotto always had a reason and explanation for his actions and orders.
G. looked in the direction the boy had set off and started to tail him, he frowned to himself. The boy's pace was slow and sluggish, was the boy injured or just tired?
G. kept tailing the boy and they soon reached the out skirts of the city which started to slowly enter the woods, G. frowned slightly, there was nothing out in these woods apart from trees and wild animals. Was this boy homeless or something?
Suddenly the boy tripped over a dug up root and fell to the ground, the apples he held tumbled on the ground and G. watched in silence, he watched as the boy coughed from the fall and slowly rise to his knees, the boy stood up slowly and G. heard his stomach growl- almost echoing in the woods.
Giotto then suddenly appeared beside G. silently. "Thought so," He murmured. G. raised an eyebrow at Giotto who then motioned to the boy and G. looked over and swore as the boy started to fall, G. caught him and blinked, looking at his features more closely he was actually a she.
G. coughed awkwardly, feeling slightly stupid. "Come on G., let's take her home," Giotto's kind voice said. G. nodded and picked the girl up in his arms, she wasn't heavy at all- she weighed about as much as a feather.
Luckily for the two of them the house wasn't far away and they reached there in under half an hour, Giotto opened the door for G. and the two walked in.
"Welcome back Giotto-san," Greeted a Japanese man, he had dark black hair and dark eyes, he was wearing a traditional blue and white Japanese priest robe and smiled at Giotto and G. when they walked in.
"Welcome back to the extreme!" Said a highly enthusiastic voice, another male stood next to the Japanese man, he wore a black priest robe with gold trimmings and had a crimson red scarf that hung around his shoulders loosely, he had a white-slightly dirtied- bandage across his nose and his eyes were a dirty yellow in colour.
"Asari, Knuckle," Greeted Giotto with a soft and kind smile, G. greeted them with an eye roll as he shifted the girl's weight so he wasn't so uncomfortable. "Can you to please do me a favour?" Giotto asked them.
"Sure what is it Giotto-sama?" Asari asked.
"Can you please make up some beef stroganoff with fettuccini pasta?" Giotto asked. G. scowled lightly when he mentioned the dish.
"We'll make it taste extremely awesome!" Knuckle exclaimed with a fiery passion in his eyes. Asari smiled at Giotto and nodded; saying that he would have it made right away.
Giotto thanked the two and he and G. went to his room.
G. laid the girl on Giotto's bed and pulled the covers up over her, he noticed how white she looked and how unhealthily thin she was. G.'s eyes softened the tiniest bit- he felt almost sorry for her, no one should be that unhealthy.
Giotto had pulled a chair up and G. leaned against the wall, Giotto hadn't asked him but he knew he wanted him to stay. Smoke slowly drifted up to the ceiling as G. took in a drag of his newly lit cigarette, the smoke drifted out the large open window of the second story room.
Then scent of food then wafted in through the door and Giotto noticed that the girl was slowly starting to wake up, her nose twitched lightly and her eyes slowly started to flutter open.
First she saw the ceiling and then she suddenly bolted up straight, looking around in absolute fright. Her small hands gripped the sheets tightly as she saw Giotto and G.
She froze in fright and Giotto smiled at her warmly. "It's okay," he said. "You're safe here,"
The girl didn't look convinced and was still looking around like a scared rabbit. She froze when the more dominant smell of food reached her nostrils.
Asari and Knuckle then entered, Asari held a large white bowl in his hands which was filled with a delicious looking meal. "So you're awake?" He asked with a smile as he walked over to the girl- She shuffled back against the bed and shook her head. Signalling that she wasn't going to eat.
G. frowned. "Please eat," Giotto reassured with a smile. "You need to,"
The girl shook her head stubbornly and scrambled out of bed to make a run for the open window, G. was quicker and the window slammed shut with a loud 'bang'.
The girl froze and then clutched her stomach as it growled almost painfully. She shakily sat on the ground, still clutching her stomach and G. waved for Asari to hand him the bowl, which he did.
"Eat or I'll make you," G. said as he looked at her blankly. The girl glared at him and made sure her mouth was shut tightly before shaking her head again. "Fine," G. growled as he stabbed the fork into a piece of beef. With his other hand her grabbed her jaw tightly and in a painful way.
Asari sighed. "Really G. that's no way to treat a lady…" He murmured.
"It's this or she starves to death," G. pointed out as he squeezed tighter- making her mouth open forcefully. He put the fork in her moth and made it close, he then blocked off her nose and she shut her eyes tightly.
After a few moments of resistance the girl gave up and swallowed the food. Everyone could see the slight relief on her face as she did. "Are you going to eat now or do you want me to force you?" G. said as he waved the bowl in front of her.
The girl glared at him with her violet eyes then took the bowl from his hands, he gave her the fork and she stabbed it into the food and started to eat hurriedly. G. rolled his eyes. "You're welcome," he grumbled, the girl nodded in response and continued to eat.
Moments passed and the only sound was the girl eating. "What's your name?" asked Giotto softly as he crouched down to her level. The girl didn't answer him but only continued to eat.
"Tch, give up Giotto, I don't think she's going to answer," G. growled as he went to leave.
"G…" Giotto said softly. The girl with-drew the fork from her mouth and swallowed.
"Ricky." She stated as she kept eating. G.'s brows rose and he blinked in surprise. G. wandered over to her slowly and sat on the ground next to her.
"Hn, so she talks?" He said with a smirk. Ricky nodded and wasn't speaking again. "What were you doing out in the woods?" He asked as he took a drag of his cigarette, Ricky looked at him and then put the fork down as she had finished, her stomach growled again and Asari smiled and took her bowl to go and fill it back up.
Ricky bit her lip and looked at the ground. "You don't have a home…do you?" Giotto asked softly. Ricky tensed up and shook her head; her dirty brown hair fell over her eyes as Giotto nodded to himself. "If you want to you can stay here,"
"No," She replied quickly. G.'s eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.
"Tch, why the hell not?" G. snapped, to almost everyone's surprise. "You have no home. So what the hell are you going to lose by staying here?"
"Everything comes at a price!" Ricky snapped suddenly. She looked at the ground as she spoke to G. "No one ever shows such kindness and hospitality without wanting something in return," she mumbled.
"Tch, Giotto does, who the hell do you think you are?" G. snapped. "Giotto is the nicest, welcoming person that I know and your blowing off an offer to have a place to live!?"
Ricky suddenly stood up and bowed to Giotto, Asari and Knuckle before she rushed out of the room.
G. followed after her and he grabbed her upper arm, she felt something press against her forehead- the barrel of a gun. Ricky glared at G. from the corner of her eyes. "What are you going to do? Shoot me?" She asked.
"I'm fucking tempted to," G. seethed, venom lacing his voice.
"Then do it, if you're going to point a gun at someone just shoot them and kill them," she spat. "if you're trying to scare me with that…that gun, it's not going to work," she said as she looked at him straight in the eye.
'Blam!'
A few strands of Ricky's brown hair slowly fell to the ground and G.'s pistol was still smoking. G. flinched slightly when he noticed that Ricky hadn't even flinched or blinked. "I told you, stupid threats like that are nothing to me," She said blankly.
G.'s grip on the gun tightened and he flicked the revolver for another bullet. "And why not?"
Ricky looked away and to the ground. "I've been shot so many times that it doesn't faze me anymore," she said in a low voice. "So don't threaten me with a useless gun like that again-"
'Blam!'
A bullet ripped through Ricky's right shoulder and she hit the hallway wall from the force, blood started to stain her shirt as her hand clutched the newly formed wound. G. smirked in satisfaction but that died down with the look Ricky gave him- one of absolute disgust.
G. didn't care. "Tch, you stupid bitch," he growled. "You keep acting like you're higher than everyone else-"
"And why shouldn't I?!" she yelled. "Tch, you're just like Papa, looking down on me because I'm a woman!" she spat. "I'm sick of being blamed and shot for something that I never had a choice of!"
G. frowned. "What the hell do you mean by that?" he asked.
"You want to know?" Ricky yelled as tears welled up at the edge of her eyes. "My own papa has shot me on more than one occasion, all because I would speak up against something in the streets that was in just! All because I was a woman and all because of that he blamed me for his problems!" she yelled, her voice growing with each word. "I was tortured every day for my life! I never told anybody and I always faked a smile! But I'm sick of it! I'm sick and tired of people judging me because I'm a woman I should have just as much of an opinion as any man!" she snapped.
G. blinked, he sure as hell was not excepting that. Blood slowly dripped down her shirt and Ricky started to fall forward- G. caught her and swore under his breath.
"Honestly, what with this entire ruckus?" Asari asked as he walked down the hallway with Knuckle. The two stopped when they saw Ricky and G.
"She's an extreme sleeper!" Knuckle whispered. G. face palmed.
"Idiot get me some bandages now!" G. barked. Knuckle blinked a few times and noticed that Ricky was bleeding so he did as he was told.
Asari raised an eyebrow as he put an arm around Ricky with G. to help carry her. "G. what did you do?" He asked as they walked to G.'s room.
G. looked away and glared at the wall. "I shot her," he muttered. Asari smacked him upside the head.
"G.! That's horrible! Even for you!" he scolded, G. kept glaring at the wall.
"Shut up, I don't need you scolding me music-freak," he growled. Knuckle caught up to them and he opened the door.
Asari and G. set Ricky down on the bed and Asari started to take off her top.
Everyone in the room froze in shock, bile rose to their throats. "By god…she wasn't lying…" G. muttered as his crimson eyes widened slightly.
Ricky's chest area was rippled in bullet scars, burns and cuts to the point where there was barely any visible, normal skin. G. clenched his fists, he felt like an utter ass now.
Dear Rick,
Has it really been 4 Months? I think you're mistaken though…Giotto and I send a letter a month. Maybe there are issues with the mailing?
But Giotto and I have created a Vigilante group with a new friend of ours; Cozart Shimon, maybe you would like to meet him sometime?
I miss you too,
G.
