Hello people! So, I was reading mafia AUs for other animes, and then I suddenly got a brainstorm for this storyline. Characters will be a little (or very) OOC, but you will see bits of their original character settings here and there, if you look closely. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sousei No Onmyouji/Twin Star Exorcists, just the plot and some OCs (some more significant than others).

Red. It was the colour of many things, but one of the most significant would be blood - something that has never been, and still wasn't, foreign to Mayura. Blood of her enemies, of the victims who died by her hands and of her parents who were killed when she was at the mere age of seven.

To her red was a vulgar colour: it was the first sign that spells out one's inevitable death, at least in the world she lived in. Despite being surrounded by it on a daily basis, she could never get used to it. The crimson red liquid, its coppery taste and uniquely - and strangely - sweet smell. It was unexpectedly intoxicating yet unbearably disgusting at the same time. She couldn't stand it. So much so that just the thought of it revolted her being, like her entire soul was disgusted by the idea. It was quite astonishing that she came into contact with it so frequently despite despising it. It was like the world denies her existence its wish to stay away from blood and death altogether.

However, as vulgar as it may appeared - in the form of blood, that is - red was also the colour of fate and love. And she got hit by both so hard and fast, she never even saw it coming.

Mayura stared at the small, almost vacant room she considered her home for the past 10 years. There were a few, really small, piles of clothes, folded neatly and well-organised into tops, shorts, pants, skirts and undergarments, at one corner of the room. There weren't more than three pieces of each.

In another corner was a filthy-looking, but undeniably comfortable, mattress, with an equally comfortable blanket and pillow. Thanks to which she was able to sleep soundly every night. Next to the mattress was a small tin can, filled with coins and bills, the money she earned from working part-time at a small café nearby.

Despite how run-down and old this place was, it was actually quite sturdy. It happened to be an abandoned apartment, and she, by the devil's luck, had found it, uninhabited.

Of course, it went without saying, she was living alone.

Why? Simple, her father was murdered, died from a gunshot wound in his temple. His death caused the family ruin. Since that day, she and her mother went into hiding, having gone bankrupt a short while after her father's death.

Upon finding out about her father's death, she would have believed that was the roughest bump on the road, and was right until that point. If it hadn't been for the day she found her mother in the corner along the street near where they lived in secrecy, raped and murdered. Only three years later, and she had lost her mother too. She had been raped while out working, and died from a deep gash in her neck, most definitely caused by a knife.

If it hadn't been for the fact that she was out with Rokuro, Benio and the gang that night... she most definitely would've have been done in there and then too. Since then, she had been living by and for herself.

Oh yes, she did mourn for them, cried over their deaths for many nights in a row - she was absolutely crushed over losing the two individuals who she loved and considered most precious and important. But she eventually straightened up, believing her parents would want her to live life to the fullest and without regrets. After all, they would never blame her for their deaths. She knew that best.

Despite all this that had happened to her, she continued to look forward, knowing that dwelling on the past had no meaning or significance, as it wouldn't change anything. She could only hope for fortune to strike in the near future.

However, even she never would have expected for said near future to be so soon.

"Good job today, Mayura-chan! You're shift is over, so you may go now. You look like you could use some rest. Manaka-chan will be taking over from here on," The manager of the café Rose Maiden Latte, Amano Teresa, exclaimed, eyeing her green-tipped blonde employee, who appeared slightly more out of it than usual.

Upon hearing those words, Mayura offered a small, grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Teresa-san. I kinda needed a break."

Watching Mayura a little while longer, Teresa settled down on a chair in front of her, and stared her straight in the eye. "Today… it's that day, right?" Seeing how Mayura's eyes widened slightly while she stiffened upon hearing that, Teresa knew she'd hit the bullseye, and sighed herself.

"I knew it, I shouldn't have called you to take over Mika's shift today. You should have spent more time with them," Teresa scolded herself, guilt eating away at her conscience.

Mayura let out a laugh and waved both hands in front of her. "It's fine, really! I was running low on money, anyways!"

Teresa nodded silently as she watched her employee stand up and walk over to the locker room, changing out of her maid uniform and into a pastel green, long-sleeved crop hoodie, and a white, skater skirt, along with a pair of beaver-brown ankle-high, laced flat boots.

She grabbed her bag out of the locker and slung it over her shoulder. Teresa eyed the outline of Mayura's weapon on the bag and gave a small smile. "Be careful on your way home. I heard the local mafia's activities have been occurring more irregularly and frequently."

"Don't worry! Thanks to you, I became a lot more capable of protecting myself," Mayura replied, and Teresa nodded in understanding. "True, you may have been in a gang, but you're still no match for me, let alone a member of an international-level mafia."

"I know, I get it. I'll be careful, I promise," Mayura replied with a bright smile, catching Teresa slightly off guard.

As she watched Mayura approach the back door, she muttered in a low voice, "I pray that you never lose that innocence and light of yours, Mayura."

"Hm? Did you say something?" Mayura asked, turning around to face Teresa, who simply covered up her slight panic with a smile.

"Nothing! Give your parents my greetings!"

"Sure!" With that, Mayura stepped out. As soon as the door was shut, Teresa quickly walked over to a secluded corner of the employee's office, and looked around, ensuring there were no employees within earshot, and quickly dialled a number.

As soon as the line connected, a smooth and low voice spoke.

"I hope you have a very good reason for calling my personal contact, Teresa-san. You know this line is restricted to my mafia members only."

"Is that what you should be telling to your only information broker here, and the best in town, at that? Besides, I wouldn't have called unless it was important. It's about the local mafia's recent activities. Are you aware that they are looking for Mayura?"

"...You know where she is?"

"She works for me, that's all you need to know. Now, you tell me, why are they looking for her?"

"Because we're looking for her as well."

Upon hearing this, Teresa's posture straightened, as her tone became guarded and defensive. "Why?"

"I assume you know, where she lives, since she works for you, as you've so conveniently stated earlier." The voice on the other end replied, his tone cool and unfazed by Teresa's underlying threat.

"Unless you've got a damn good reason, I refuse to tell you anything anymore."

At the other end of the line, the person almost rolled his eyes at how childish that sounded. "...To repay my debt, and fulfil my superior's last wishes."

"...Very well. I'll send you an address, but you better not tell her about our affiliation with that man, not until the right time comes."

"Naturally, that goes without saying. You've worked hard these few years, I'll watch over her from now on."

"...You're kidding, right? I've been watching over her for almost ten years, she's as important as family to me now. You seriously think I'll just cut off all ties with her because you're gonna to watch over her now? Don't give me that shit."

"Well, what do you want me to do then?"

"Even if you take her in, I still want her to work at the café on the weekends, at the very least. She deserves the semblance of a normal life, you and I both know it. She didn't deserve this, after both of them got killed. She wasn't at fault at all. Hell, she doesn't even know."

"...I know. I'll consider your words."

"Then, I'll leave her in your...capable hands." Teresa hung up and sighed. Her eyes fell on the back door, the one Mayura had exited mere minutes ago, and a devastated expression came over her. "I'm so sorry, Mayura..."

As soon as she had stepped out, she slipped on her pastel pink headphones and began playing the song 'Kanadeai' by Itowokashi from her smartphone, which Teresa bought for her, along with the headphones, as a birthday present last year, before pulling the hood over her head.

Shoving her hands and handphone into the pockets of her hoodie, she made her way back to her abandoned apartment. Crossing a junction that was really near her home, she noticed something parked right in the middle of the road - a goddamn limo. She raised a brow upon noticing it.

"Why is there a limo here?" she asked no one in general, as she continued walking down the familiar streets towards her home. Sensing an impending danger, she slipped one hand out of the pocket of her hoodie and to behind her back, hand resting on the handle of the silver pistol she kept tucked in the waistband of her skirt.

Upon reaching the door of her house, she spotted a lone figure, dressed in a skin-tight black dress shirt, tucked into black dress pants, and black leather shoes donning his feet. Over it, he wore a black, formal-looking collared jacket, which ended below his hips.

Mayura could practically see his muscles bulging out of that shirt, and mentally assessed his strength. There was no way she would win in a physical fight, meaning she had to figure out a way to outsmart, and the rest of his lackeys, who were very obviously the men she spotted on the way. And lucky for her, no one knew their way around this part of town better than she did.

His hands were shoved in the pockets of his pants, but she could make out a gun in one of them, and judging by the size and shape, if she had to guess, it was a Remington 1866 Derringer. She let go of her own pistol to remove her headphones and kept them hung around her neck, before bringing her hand behind her back once more and tightened her grip on her own pistol behind her back. Her other hand, which had been in the pocket of her hoodie, rested on the blade of the dagger that had been kept in there the entire time.

"May I help you?" she asked politely, her usual smile on her face, her senses alert and ready to strike anytime. The stranger, upon hearing her voice, turned to face her and studied her for a moment. Determining that she wasn't of any danger or threat from her casual, laid-back stance, he replied, "I'm here to see Otomi Mayura."

"What business do you have with me?" She asked, taking him by surprise, which was barely shown on his face, the only subtle signs being the slight widening of eyes and his body tensing up. Removing pulling a hand from one of his pockets, he reached out a hand towards her. "Come with me. My superior has business with you."

"What kind of business? As far as I'm concerned, I'm an orphan, and my own guardian. There is nothing significant about me, that would require the attention from someone as important as your superior," Mayura responded, making sure not to show any emotion other than the calmness she had displayed so far, as she wrecked her brain for a plan, a backup plan and her escape route. She noted how his grip on the gun hidden on his pocket tightened, and her eyes dulled slightly. So, he wasn't hesitant about using brute force? Well, neither was she.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. I'll only say it one more time: come with me." Hearing the threatening tone in his voice, she slowly took a step back. Thinking that she had been intimidated and was now attempting to run away, he felt his confidence brimming and took a step forward, believing he would be able to easily catch her if she made a run for it. That confidence instantly dissipated, however, when she raised her head and revealed the feral smirk on her face. "No."

Mayura then sprinted forward and grabbed the hand that was still in his pocket, while knocking him down in the process. The man struggled to pull his hand out of her grasp while getting himself away from under her, but she refused to slacken her grip, and instead tightened it, resulting in crushing his wrist, while she pinned his legs down with her knees on his thighs.

Opening his mouth to shout for help, Mayura immediately pulled out her silver pistol and shoved the barrel into his mouth, effectively shutting him up. He literally stopped breathing as he slowly looked into the eyes of the girl before him, and felt trepidation from the ice-cold gaze her initially warm eyes now gave, smiling sweetly all the while.

"I really didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice, y'know? Since you are from the mafia and all, I can't afford having you and your men spilling shit about me to anyone in the underground world. It would be too inconvenient for me." Letting her bloodlust flow freely, which effectively freaked out the man below her, she pulled the trigger.

The sound of the bullet being shot rang out through the air, as crimson red splat from beneath his head. She watched it flow out with dull eyes, before hearing footsteps approaching her house. She made a run for it, running across the corridor, and making her way down the steps. Stopping at the second floor, she jumped out of the paneless window and onto the stone surface of the shelter built against the other side of the very same wall.

Leaning against the wall, she readied her gun towards the window. Just as she predicted, one of the men leaned his head out of the window to confirm, if she had taken that route. While the other men ran right past and down to the first floor, as soon as that man made eye contact with her, she fired a shot right through his mouth, ignoring the splattering of blood, which landed on her face. "What was that?"

"I heard a gunshot from upstairs."

"Wasn't that where Jun was?!"

"Someone go call for backup! Quickly check if she's there!"

Giving her cheeks a quick wipe with the back of her hand, she rolled off the shelter, just in time to see another man round the corner, with his back facing her. While some of the men ran back up to check on their fallen comrade, she, as silently as humanly possible, snuck up behind him, before quickly wrapping an arm around his neck from behind, with a hand clamped on his mouth. In his surprise, he panicked and struggled to escape from her grip, which wouldn't be so easy, considering that she was using a technique called 'the Snake's grip', formed to restraint one's movements, that Teresa had taught her, and the said manager had god-like strength - seriously, how was Teresa so strong despite being only two years older than her?! - it allowed her to use her free hand to swiftly draw her dagger out of her pocket and swipe it across his neck, her other hand muffling any sounds all the while.

Watching his form slump lifelessly on the ground, she quickly backed up against the wall. She was now outside the building she live in, which was surrounded by all sorts of structures. It was now her territory that they were in. It didn't matter, if they were the mafia or whatever, she'd get rid of anyone on her turf. Making a dash for it, she smirked to herself when she heard one of the men exclaim to the others that he had spotted her, and began chasing her.

Perfect. Now all she needed to do was lead them to one of her traps.

Running into the nearest building, she dashed up the stairs to the rooftop, the rest of the men easily keeping up. As she reached the edge, she turned around to face them. There was four of them left, barely out of breath, making her curse her bad luck under her breath. If she had a weakness, it would be her lack of stamina, which increased over the years, but definitely still no match for experienced hitman. She left out a shaky breath as the four slowly inched towards her, seemingly overconfident that they had her cornered. "C'mon, girlie, you don't wanna get hurt, do you?"

She lifted her head and gave a soft smile, catching them all off-guard. Taking a step back, she felt her foot rest on the edge of the rooftop, and watched with triumphant satisfaction at their bewildered expressions, as she replied in a sweet tone, "I'd rather die than to follow you."

With that, she pushed herself off the building.

They soon registered the shock that came over them and ran forward, finding no sign of the girl, dead or alive. Seeing that there was a balcony right below, they groaned, thinking she must've played them by landing down there and escaped from whichever room that was connected to it. They all followed suit and landed below, but as soon as one of them set foot into the room via that stone window, they got another surprise: a bomb.

Which effectively took out two more men. Hearing hearty laughter from behind, the remaining two men whipped around, looking through the window of the building right opposite the one they were in, and found the green-tipped blonde making her way out of the room. They paled, realising they were fools for thinking she expected to outsmart them with that simple trick, and never saw this pre-prepared plan coming.

Deciding that just the two of them were no match for her, in her turf, where she probably had traps planted everywhere, they began to withdraw. Making their way out, one of the two, who had dirty blonde hair that was gelled back, said, "Let's go back and regroup with the others. We stand a better chance with larger numbers. Give them a call."

"Understood," the second one, with a messy nest of raven hair, replied, fishing out his phone, and began dialling a number. Right before he could click the call button, he heard the sound of something heavy fall to the ground. Turning around, he jumped back in surprise to find his companion lying on the ground, a deep hole of a gunshot in the temple. Feeling a chill run up his entire being, he quickly drew out his own gun, and held it up while looking around, ready to shot at the first sign of anything that drew near. Caught up in his current activity, he failed to notice a certain figure approach him, her footsteps lighter than the gentle gust of wind that blew by, a dagger in one hand and her pistol in the other.

When he turned towards her, it took him a moment to realise she was there, but by the time he did, she had fired a shot at each of his hands, causing him to drop his gun in surprise and howl in pain as he fell to his knees, desperately trying to ease the pain. It served as a nice distractor as she walked towards him, this time swiftly kicking him across the face, knocking out a bloodied molar. Growling in pain and unadulterated rage, he began to rise, only to fall back down as she, like at his hands, planted a bullet into each of his thighs. He helplessly gripped his thighs as crimson continued flowing out constantly, showing no signs of stopping.

As he kneeled in the puddle of warm crimson, he looked up at the girl before her and gave her his deadliest glare, his being shaking with rage-filled humiliation. A group of seven experienced, professional hitmen, defeated by a mere teenage girl. He all but spat, "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

She was sorely tempted to laugh at his poor attempt to intimidate her, at this point, as she simply stared back with dull, cold eyes, void of light, her lips wearing a small frown. She raised the hand holding the gun, and shoved it into his mouth, before replying in a condescending tone, "I'm Otomi Mayura, the one you seek, and the one who will end you, here and now. No hard feelings, since you all brought this upon yourselves by looking for me."

She winced at the feeling of the now cold blood trickling down her hands. Not her blood, but that of the last man she killed. She never liked how it would turn cold, it disgusted her for some reason. Her eyes then landed on the man lying next to her, and stared at the cellphone that had fallen out of his hands when she had sealed the deal. Seeing that it was still unlocked, she picked it up and studied his saved contacts and her eyes fell on the name 'Chiinu'. Opening it, she looked at the number, and decided that this must be their boss, considering the names of every other contact saved was under some weird nicknames.

Not that she was any better, on her worse days.

Saving the number into her phone - because, who knew, this information may come in handy one day - she checked all the hitmen and collected their weapons and money, which consisted of 100,000 dollar bills. Raising her eyebrows at the amount they brought with them, she gathered them all and placed them in her bag, before hearing footsteps around the corner. She let out a curse and made a run for it: she forgot about the backup they had gathered.

Unbeknownst to her, or any of the men chasing her for that matter, a crimson-haired boy, who was only two years older than her - and considering that she was 17, he would be 19 - had been watching her intently from high above, tailing her and observing her movement every second of the way, with several men by his side. He noted how the men chasing her were in rather large numbers and had blocked off every possible escape route there was. Unless she had the ability to fly, she'd never get out of that.

A male, who was undoubtedly older than the said boy, had the same crimson-coloured hair, and stepped forward to stand beside him. Looking down at where the younger male was looking at, he quickly assessed the situation and whistled. "She's gonna get herself killed. Are we going soon?"

"...Just a little longer, Keiji. Let's see how well a fight she puts up without any tricks prepared. Only then can we see her true strength." He muttered in response, his long, grey scarf flowing sideways as a gust of wind blew by, staring down at the blonde all the while.

"What will you do now, Otomi Mayura?'

Mayura clicked her tongue in annoyance as she rounded the corner. She was surrounded, and didn't have enough time to prepare her own weapons. Even with the number of guns she had in her possession now, should she lower her attention on her surroundings to take them out, she'll be the one to get killed. Gritting her teeth, she slipped her dagger and the Remington Herringer into the waistband of her skirt as she readied two guns, one in each hand, the safety undone and raring to go.

At the first sight of someone's head, she immediately shot at the poor victim, who fell to the ground due to the well-placed bullet to the temple. At this, the rest pulled out their own weapons and began their retaliation. Constantly on the move, she continuously fired both guns, not wasting any time to aim, and managed to eliminate a few of them. She came to a stop and swiftly moved out of the way in time for a blade to zip right past her face, but flinched when she felt a bullet graze her thigh.

Shooting at the throat of the man who attacked her with the knife, she ignored how his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell backwards, more concerned about her current problem: that had been her last bullet. She dodged a fist that came her way, and crashed the now empty gun into his temple, causing the world before his eyes to black out as blood oozed out from his head. Mayura dropped the gun and used her now free hand to grab the man by the collar and held him before her, causing any and all bullets fired her way to get implanted into his body.

"That bitch, she's using Hiro as a human shield!" Mayura's eye twitched at that - she hated being called that - and sent a fiery glare that man's way, instantly causing him to wilt and regret ever saying anything. Maintaining a firm grip on the now dead man, she pulled him along as she ran off, continuing to shoot at the men surrounding her as she made her way away from where they were and into an opening. Clicking the trigger a few more times, she mentally groaned: this one was out of ammo, too.

"Looks like you're out of bullets, while we still have plenty to spare. Why don't you give up, missy? You don't stand a chance against all of us." Mayura flashed the man an angelic smile, catching him off guard, as she tossed the gun aside. She pulled out the Remington Herringer and swiftly shot him in the abdomen, causing him to double over in pain. Letting out a dry laugh, she stared at him in a condescending manner, and said, "Who said anything about running out of bullets? I, too, have plenty to spare. And don't you know better than to underestimate me just 'cause I'm a girl?"

Dropping the now useless human shield - his body was full of holes now, sooner or later a bullet was going to go right through him and hit her - she dashed down the streets and as she rounded the corner, she paled at the realisation that dawned on her: being so caught up on escaping and getting rid of all of them, she took the wrong turn and was now in a dead end. She let out a low 'tch' and turned around to face the corner she just went around and saw their approaching shadows. "Damn…"

"Now?" The older boy, Keiji, asked, and the younger boy sighed, seeing as there was no point watching, since the outcome was clear as day, without having him to see this through to the end.

He gave a small nod and said, "Now."

Mayura huffed in exhaustion. If this was a game, her stamina was definitely depleted by now. However, it wasn't a game but real life, and she was undeniably near death's door. Her left hand gripped on her right arm, from which blood leaked out, as she remained on the ground, leaning against the wall behind her while facing the men who had been chasing her and were panting slightly. She had taken a bullet to her right arm and left leg, and was now barely able to move for she had used up all her energy fighting back.

"C'mon, you must be tired now. Why don't you just be a good girl and follow us?" There were six men left - none of them were the least bit tired out - as one of them spoke, somehow still naive enough to believe she would obey them at this point, after everything that had happened. Mayura remained the defiant character, as she tightened her grip on her dagger and weakly held it before her. But what held them back from advancing was the deadly look in her eyes, that dared any of them to come forward. Despite her completely wasted state, something told them she was still able to kill them with them none the wiser.

All of them, including Mayura, jumped at the sound of a gun going off and the sight of one of them falling forward, and instantly a pool of blood formed on the ground around the corpse's head, startling them all. The remaining whipped around, ready to shot, but weren't fast enough to avoid getting killed by professionals far superior to them. One by one, they went down, with Mayura watching from where she was, eyes widening in alarm. There was more of them and they weren't from the same mafia. She watched these new figures warily, unsure of how, or if, she should react at all.

As her eyes roamed over the new group of mobsters, they landed on the one standing in the middle of them all. She studied his appearance: ridiculously long eyelashes - she briefly wondered how that didn't make him look feminine but all the more handsome - sharp chin, and a lean yet muscular stature.

He was dressed in a simple, white dress shirt, untucked and rather loose on him, along with dark-blue, skinny jeans, which were stuffed into the black, combat boots that donned his feet. Over it all was a long black, collared coat - holy crap, was it made of high-quality wool? - and a grey scarf that wound around his neck twice before flowing behind him. Everything he wore looked expensive as hell, the kind of luxury she could never afford to enjoy.

But the features that stood out the most was his crimson, spiky hair and sky blue eyes. Despite it being a much hated colour to her, she had to admit, it suited him well, it almost looked natural. And she could tell that he was strong, too. Stronger than any of the men that just came and took out her enemies.

She couldn't say for sure why they had saved her: for all she knew, they may also be her enemies.

She tensed up as he walked towards her, with very obvious confidence in every step he took, not even wavering once when she shot him a deadly glare. Stopping right before her, he got down on one knee and closed in on her, his face barely inches away from hers. Despite feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the close proximity, she stood her ground and sharpened her glare. At which he simply gave a faint smirk in return

As he raised a hand and slowly reached for her, her hand, too, shot out and grabbed hold of his wrist, with barely enough strength to keep it from advancing any further, and threw it away from her, still breathing heavily. The momentum caused his body to lean back a little, giving her time to grab her dagger once more. She knew this was suicidal, considering the fact that the rest of the men were still here and able to plant a bullet through her brain any moment, but she was still going to do it. He narrowed his eyes at the gesture. Just as she swung it towards him, he grabbed her hand with ease, the blade between his middle and fourth finger, before twisting it. Letting out a yelp, she loosened her hold on the handle of her dagger, which dropped to the ground, when he released his hold on her hand, clattering noisily as the metal made contact with the stone floor.

Keiji, who was watching this exchange intently, raised both brows at her actions. Just what did she hope to achieve, aiming a blade at a mafia boss at point-blank range? Even if, in the off-chance, she did manage to kill him, there was no way she would've been able to somehow run away and survive not getting killed by the rest of them…

Was she already ready to die? Or did she simply not care?

She clutched her now twisted left wrist and winced slightly, and without warning, he grabbed a handful of hair from her scalp and pulled it back, forcing her face upwards, eliciting a low groan of pain from her as she screwed her eyes shut.

"Listen well, 'cause I'm only going to say this once." She slowly opened her eyes, and found him staring right back at her with a cold, punitive gaze - one far colder than hers - which caused her to swallow thickly as she gave a small nod, waiting for him to continue speaking.

"We just saved your sorry ass from getting killed, but after that stunt you just pulled, I don't intend on letting you off the hook so easily. Here's the deal: we'll continue to keep people like them," he began, gesturing towards the corpses that laid around them, "away from you, but in return, you will work for us to the death. As a slave."

Mayura's eyes widened as her brows furrowed, and began to protest, "What the hell do you mean, 'slav-'"

"Or, you can join them, and die now." The rest of her protest died in her throat as despair was evident on her face, coming face to face with the barrel of the gun he held at her forehead. Despite her rash actions from just mere moments ago, she didn't want to die. To die now, or to die later, she was literally being forced to choose between the two, but the outcome would still be the same. However…

"I...don't want to die now," she eventually said, grudgingly - she absolutely hated losing, almost as much as she hated blood - as she kept her head low, biting her bottom lip as she awaited his response. Hearing the shuffling of clothes, she looked up and watched him tuck his gun away into the waistband of his pants, before shoving a hand into a pocket in his long coat, the other reaching out for her, which she hesitantly took and slowly raised herself.

Rather than raising herself up, she could practically feel herself getting pulled up by him, literally. She regained her balance and quickly straightened her posture, absolutely refusing to fall forward into his arms, which were held out slightly, ready to catch her. Seeing that she was fine, he dropped both hands to his sides, before shoving them into the pockets of his coat.

"You live around here?" She gave a nod, to which he acknowledged and turned away from her. "My men will pick you up tomorrow to bring you to our headquarters. Make sure to be ready by eight o'clock, sharp."

As he began to walk off, her voice pulled him back. "Wait!" Turning his head to the side, just enough for him to look over his shoulder and make eye contact with her, his eyes took in her weakened appearance as he waited for the rest of the question.

"Who are you?" Hearing this, he stared her right in the eye, neither side breaking their gaze from the other, and this continued for a few more moments, with his men surrounding them and watching their every move. This time, he turned around with his body facing diagonally away from her as he held his chin high. "Boss of the mafia 'Vermillion Wing', Ikaruga Shimon."

Hope you like it! Please do review!

XOXO, anime4life2112