This story is thanks to an awesome Mafia AU idea that a friend posted a little while ago. After sending a message they were very happy to let me use the AU as well. I've actually always carried a bit of a fascination with organized crime so I was excited.
Note: I'll be using traditional mafia titles to describe the roles within the group. All student characters will be assumed an older age because of the nature of the story. While I won't specify but I do treat them as ages 20-22.
Mafia Boss- (Karma) The leader of course who has final say in the most important of matters. Most of the time, all the money gathered from crimes comes back to him. He is also in charge of assigning who fills the other roles.
Consiglier- (Nagisa) This is typically known as the Right Hand to the boss. They have a particularly special connection in that they have the right to challenge or even argue apart from offering advice. Although it's not usually ever a bodyguard I do like the idea and I'll use it.
Underboss- (Itona) The underboss usually will take care of things such as conflicts between group members, managing the "Capos" and other matters. He is the second-in-command.
Capodecina "Capos"- (Nakamura, Sugino, Kanzaki, Isogai) These people are sort of the 'managers' in their field. Mobsters tend to have several fields of interest. One Capo will be in charge of illegal gambling while another oversees money laundering. Sometimes they're split geographically. (One has a part of the city another takes another part etc)
Soldiers and Associates- Soldiers actually work for the group. They answer to the Capos and do a lot of the dirty work like distributing or dealing the drugs, racketeering and the violent matters. Associates do not work for the group. They'll often just be contacted as their help is needed in specific ways. If they need money laundering advice, they'll ask an outside accountant they trust not to tell. Otherwise, they have no connections. Other students will fill these roles as they come up.
The rain wasn't kind to the lower slums of the city, especially at night. It left puddles in the broken sidewalks and in the numerous potholes that riddled the streets. It weighed down on the canopies that hung over the small shops doors and once all the stray animals were drenched, the air itself smelled like wet dog. Everything was damaged, cramped and pitiful.
Karasuma wasn't accustomed to being called down to such a place. Typical meetings with this sort of group took place in hotel restaurants or exclusive island resorts. However, if the money took him to a shady back alley ramen restaurant, so be it.
As he approached the address he found the shop closed. In front, a young woman with light brown hair in a high ponytail, dressed in a black pantsuit blocked the entrance. The closer he got, the harder she stared. Somehow, she recognized him, and tilted her head, signaling that he enter from the side door.
He walked past her and down the side of the shop where he found yet another soldier waiting. He was dressed more casually, with a pair of jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. It was unsettling to see a young man with long bangs that covered his eyes. Being unable to read someone made Karasuma very cautious. The guard didn't speak a word, but rather shoved him against the wall rather harshly and began patting him down.
"Take it easy," Karasuma warned.
The soldier ran his hands up and down the mans torso, checking his pant line for weapons or devices. As he patted down the breast pocket he pulled out a pen.
"It's just a pen," he explained.
Ignoring the response, he broke it, tossing it down the alley.
When he was satisfied, he opened the door and allowed Karasuma inside.
The older gentleman pulled at his coat, straightening it as he walked down a narrow hall to another door, unguarded. As he opened it slowly, the sound of laughter spilled out and echoed around him.
The room was rather large for a small restaurant. The lights were bright and the yellow walls made the space seem almost cheerful. Inside was a long table turned horizontal, littered with bowls of noodles, sauces, garnishes and meats for the ramen.
While there was a lonely seat for him on one side, other sat four individuals on a long cushioned bench that ran the length of the table. All but one had stopped what they were doing when he came in. On the far side, a young blonde woman, fairly beautiful were it not for her scathing glare, very smartly dressed in a white blouse with black coat and skirt. On the other was a man with a short, spiked type hairstyle. It was a very pale blue. He wore a grey sleeveless shirt and comfortable pants. For some reason, he seemed rather indifferent.
In the center were two more gentleman who seemed to be entangled with one another. One had a unique ponytail style blue hair and azure eyes which made him unforgettable immediately. He wore a white shirt with the long sleeves rolled up and a black vest with a blue tie. There was something different in the way he stared. It was much more analytical and perceptive. While his expression was blank, it was obvious he was reading Karasuma.
The last was much more interested in the company he held in his arms. His hands wandered rather freely all over the other and his nose was buried in his neck, whispering and smiling. As he traced his nose upwards, grazing his lips across the blue haired mans jawline he opened his eyes and took notice that they were no longer alone.
Unlike the others, he stood out in a frightening way. His smile seemed devious and showed sharp canines as it pulled to show his teeth. The suit he wore was expensive, but more casually worn, as it lacked a tie and the first couple buttons were left open. His red hair was striking against his pale skin and light eyes. Inside of those eyes flickered something horrific and unrelenting. It was the sight of bloodlust so strong it could be triggered at any moment and no doubt send this man into a frenzy. They were designed by nature to make people second guess a confrontation with him.
"Please," he said graciously, flickering the monster in his eyes, "have a seat."
Slowly, he sat down on the single chair that was set out for him.
The pair of lovers slowly pulled themselves apart, but still sat close to each other, keeping their hands to themselves for now.
"We haven't met before, but I certainly know a lot of things about you. I have to say I'm rather impressed with your work as of late and tracking you down proved to be difficult," he explained. Just then, from the side door, a young blonde man came out and handed the lady in the room a small bowl of chopped green onions, which she passed to the redhead.
He presented it to his cherished companion and it was hard not to notice the change in himself as he spoke. He was suddenly gentle and soft spoken. "As requested my dear. Now, we may eat."
The others didn't hesitate to begin reaching across the table gather noodles, meats and whatever else they wanted in their bowls. Seeing everyone grab from every plate showed the guest that everything was safe to eat and there was no ill intent here.
Still, Karasuma wasn't prepared to share in the niceties just yet. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with you, my host."
That devious smile crept up again, "No I suppose you're not. I'm Karma. I'm the head of our family. This charming fellow at the end is Itona. The lovely young lady who seems quite fond of you," he sneered sarcastically, as she was still glaring rather hatefully in his direction, "is Nakamura. I believe you met outside. The handsy man that felt you over, is Chiba. Here," he said snaking his hand around his lovers waist, "is Nagisa."
"Why have you called me here," Karasuma asked. "You went through a lot of trouble it sounds like and to send a large sum of money ahead of time is rather unusual."
Karma swirled his noodles around in his bowl lazily, "I'm interested in your expertise. Your name seems to come a lot when people talk about assassinating. After some digging I found out about your prior employment with the government and I was convinced you would make a valuable ally."
"I don't have any government information that would be of use to you."
"Oh please," Karma replied with a laugh. "I don't care about government workings. We deal outside the reach of the law."
Nagisa finished his bite and gently laid down his chopsticks, "We were hoping you would be interested in a contract. Work for us exclusively to help protect our assets and territory."
Karasuma wasn't one to get involved with anyone in particular long term, but it was known that he'd take any job for the money, leaving no one to truly trust that he wouldn't turn on them. A few were even out to find him in hopes of prying information from him.
"In return," Nagisa continued, "we can offer you protection from anyone seeking to put your head on a spike as well as a more than reasonable salary."
"Why are you interested in employing an assassin for this job?"
Itona answered, with a low, flat voice, "Everything we do for now must be done in secret, including our battles. Assassins know how to fight in the shadows. People capable of chop jobs, drive-bys and other shoddy methods are easy to find. We prefer to keep things simple in some cases."
Some cases. Like any other 'family' of crime, they had their share of breaking knees and gun downs. The promise of protection was rather tempting, but the young age that they all displayed was a little unsettling. Still, it was the first time anyone offered him such a job and those who were a part of the family, were protected. The bond came before law, religion and morality. Besides, why not collect a salary for the just the occasional job here and there.
"I'll do it."
Nagisa actually smiled at him. "I'm glad you decided to join us."
"Then it's settled," Karma rejoiced. "Welcome to our 'll head back to the office after this and discuss details."
It was then that Nakamura received a message. She read it intently then pushed her bowl away, "The shipment is inbound."
"They're early," Itona hissed.
"Dock inspection took the bribe. Saves them a couple hours when no ones walking the ship hull to hull," she explained as she stood up and smoothed her knee-length pencil skirt. "They're about to begin unloading, as soon as a crane is available."
Karma took one last bite and forfeited his chopsticks, "Change of plans. Karasuma, you ride with me. Itona, contact our buyer and inform them of the update and begin arranging the hand off. Take Nakamura and Yada to assist. The rest will come with me to the dock to receive the shipment. We'll call Okuda on the way."
Everything moved quickly after that. Together the walked down the hallway but once they were outside they split off into their groups, each one climbing into an oversized SUV. The interior was all black, with two cushioned rows other than the front seat. Karma and Nagisa took a seat furthest in the back while Chiba and Nakamura sat in the first row.
A young bubbly driver turned her head. "Where to Boss," she inquired in a delightful tone. Her orange hair was as bright as her personality.
"The dock please, Kurahashi."
She saluted from the front seat with a smile on her face, "Yes, sir!"
As they pulled away and headed down the street, they crossed over into the city. It was then Nagisa took notice of another set of headlights behind them. He knew that Itona and the others were heading in a different direction and couldn't help but feel uneasy.
They rode in silence for a few moments while Karma clicked away on his phone. "Alright, Okuda will meet us there to test the goods. If science says it's good, this should all go smoothly."
"You don't just try them," Karasuma asked. It was usually the norm for someone to literally test the product before distribution.
"I like having my wits about me and a coke head thinks all drugs are good drugs so they're only good for making sure it's not baking powder. I have someone that can test quality without anyone snorting up. Family rule, no one snorts coke."
It was then Karma noticed Nagisa turned around once again, looking out the back window. He reached out, touching his finger to his cheek and tracing a small line downward. "What's wrong, Nagisa?"
With a small sigh, Nagisa look at him, "That cars been behind us for a while. I have feeling they may be following us."
From behind them there was a small thud. A bullet impacted with the ballistic glass, leaving a white smudge in it's place. Karma smiled, "I have feeling you're right."
Chiba was already unbuckling his belt, ready to remedy the problem. He crouched onto the floorboard and lifted the cushion from his half of the seat revealing a small MAC-10 with loaded magazines.
"You're seats loaded too Karasuma," Karma chimed. Another shot bounced off the glass. "You're hired and I believe you've already been paid for today."
Following orders, he unbuckled his belt and lifted his seat. "A Glock?"
"It goes full auto," Karma assured. "Silencers please, people are trying to sleep. Chiba you too."
With the guns loaded they cracked the side windows and fired at the vehicle behind them. Chiba managed to put a few rounds into the hood of the car, but it wasn't enough to stop them. He pulled back, taking refuge in the car from shots headed in his direction. It was difficult for them because to fire they'd almost have to hang out of the window, making them easy targets. It was best to fire a few rounds and pull back inside, watching as bullet after bullet painted snowflakes all over the back window, particularly in Karma's direction, not that he seemed to care too much.
The driver amazingly seemed rather unfazed by the chain of events. With a cheerful tone she warned the passengers, "Brace for impact!"
A second car had pulled out into the street, stopping itself across the road to block the way. Two men hung out the window trying to shoot out the tires. Chiba grabbed onto the assist bar attached to the door, but Karasuma wasn't fast enough. Kurahashi took a slight right and impacted the rear of the vehicle, bending the back axle and sending it sideways where it collided with the side of the SUV causing a terrible grinding of metal. Karasuma flew forward, the passenger seat in front kept him from flying into the windshield. His gun slid from his hand and landed in the front seat floorboard.
He crawled between the seats, reaching down by Kurahashi's legs trying to find his pistol. The sound of peppered gunfire was in the background.
The young lady looked down for a moment, "It's nice to meet you."
Karasuma raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, you too."
Finally, he found his firearm and put himself back in the fight.
In the back Karma smiled, keeping a protective arm around Nagisa and continued to evaluate the situation. He wanted to join in, but in case of the unimaginable, the whole family would be sent into turmoil. This was something his beloved got onto him about quite often.
"Kurahashi," Nagisa yelled, "I'm uploading an alternate route for now, follow the GPS. We can't lead them to the dock."
"Yes, sir!"
The SUV turned onto an open highway that headed towards the shoreline. On a weekday night, there were little to no cars to be found.
Chiba fired a few more rounds and managed to flatten the front tire on the drivers side, sending it into a spin out on the highway. The moment they thought it was over, a third vehicle, also an SUV drove up from an on-ramp came up from behind and pulled beside them rather quickly.
Nagisa turned to look out the side window and a bullet collided with the ballistic glass, leaving a white blotch that aligned almost perfectly with his forehead.
That was the tipping point. Karma's half smile disappeared and everyone could see that monster rise in his eyes. Rage began flickering to life.
"Hold your fire," he said decisively. "This one's mine."
"Karma," Nagisa pleaded quietly. "Look at me, let them finish this."
Everyone jerked to one side as the other car rammed them, trying to push them off the freeway.
There would be no negotiating. Karma freed himself of his seat belt and was reaching behind the seat and pulled out a gun with a large round barrel.
"What the hell is that," Karasuma demanded.
Chiba frowned, knowing exactly what that was. He rolled up the window, buckled himself back in and wrapped both hands around the assist bar, tucking his head.
Karma laid his finger on a button and slowly the sunroof pulled open. Nagisa gave up on convincing and put his hands over his head.
"Kurahashi, I want you to sideswipe them on my mark."
"Yes, sir!"
Karasuma buckled himself in and grabbed the bar. The only one unfastened was Karma. He threw his leg over the back of the seat in front of him, planting it between the two gunners, loaded what looked like a large black cylinder and grabbed the sunroof for support.
"Now."
On cue, the driver pulled to the left, pushing the other car violently away from them. In the moment it took for the pursuers to scramble inside the car Karma emerged from the sunroof, took less than a moment to aim and fired the weapon with a large almost hollow sounding pop and planted the black round in the car. The other driver began to correct the SUV and tried to turn back towards them.
Then, it exploded.
Fire shot from every window, reaching far enough to lick the sides of their own car. Karasuma watched in horror as the flames rolled against the glass and the SUV took a portion of the force and veered to the side. The car tilted and everyone held their breathe, save for Kurahashi, who for the first time showed fear as she screamed.
Thankfully, it wasn't enough. The car slammed back down and after a nervous jerk or two of the steering wheel, the driver had control of the car.
"Are you fucking nuts," Karasuma yelled.
Karma sat back down quietly and buckled himself in.
"That should be the last one. Take us to the docks."
As everyone quietly tried to gather their thoughts, Nagisa could feel a familiar hand in his hair. He looked up to see Karma's eyes. Slowly, the fire was pulling back and his smile was returning. The threat was over and they were safe.
That was more than enough for the two of them.