Hi!~ Well, this was on my list to do for a time already haha. I'm weak. The other day I was reading and said "You know what? I'm finishing this." And I did! Yaay!
I hope that you like it!~
Haru finally finished his report. It had been a long night, and he longed a tea and his bed. Still, he didn't mind. Getting into Initium had been a good choice.
He still remembered that night. Someone had paid him to get information on the Black King, the leader of Initium. He had managed to get into the Black King personal room, and had gone through his archives. Nothing. Nothing in his laptop. There was absolutely nothing that could merely link him to an illegal activity, even less to what he planned to do.
He suddenly felt the sound of a gun pointing to his head.
"Do you think that I would be as fool as to have evidence with me?"
It was a deep voice. Still, somehow it didn't seem threatening to Haru. He had learned to trust his instincts, and he did exactly that.
"Then, where do you save everything?"
"My head is enough for that."
It seemed an honest answer. He couldn't help but laugh a little, ignoring his current situation. "I see. That's why they call you the invincible leader, right?"
"You seem to have hear a lot about me. Care to tell me what you know?"
"Mutsuki Hajime. That's your real name. You were the heir to this empire, and you proved worthy of it. That's why it is still standing even when your parents retired. Your subordinates respect you. But still, you don't have anyone by your side, you never had second hand. It's the best to not have openings, right?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, he was sure that he was going to get shot. It didn't happen. Instead, he put his gun back into its place.
"Yayoi Haru. You are a great hacker and sell information. I've got to admit that I'm amazed with your skills. No one ever had gone as deep as to find my private room and less my name. I'll answer. I don't have a second on command because I still haven't found someone that I feel fitting for the job. That aside, having someone like you could be benefiting for us. If you are interested, give me a call."
Haru then decided to see the man. He was tall, not as him but still. He had an incredible presence, an elegant aura surrounded him. The purple butterfly, the symbol of Initium, fitted him in a unique way. He had that same symbol in a necklace, that could be seen since the first buttons of his purple shirt were open. He had dealt with a lot of clan's leader before, and expect to see those same eyes searching for power of money in the King, but it didn't happen. Whatever his eyes had, it was not greed. It intrigued him. "I'm not in all of this. You said it yourself, I just sell information. Why do you think that you would be different of all the rest that made me a proposal before?"
I can give you money. I will crush your most important things in life. Haru expect an answer just like that. It never came.
"Call it a gut feeling if you want to."
He was interested. The King was really mysterious. Would he be able to understand him if he got near?
Not long passed before Haru dialed the number in the card.
-o—
"Aoi. This is your target. Bring him here tonight. I want him sober enough to understand."
"Of course, Hajime-san."
Aoi had practically gotten into Initium's affairs by accident. Maybe it was more curiosity what leaded him there. The small wish to change his goody two shoes life. Then, the Black King took interest in him. He had been his informant for a while, and then he got him even more near. Something about preferring to send him to collect debts.
The guy that he was searching for, had sold things from Initium, and he would never be forgotten. The clan had enough money for that loss to be considered a laughing matter, but that wouldn't be a fitting message. You didn't mess with Initium.
As soon as he made his way to the club in which that man was, they let him pass immediately. The small necklace with the butterfly was enough for them to recognize him.
He was drinking. Great. He would have to make time to sober him up a bit before getting him to his clan base.
"Do you want some?"
"I don't drink while I'm working."
"Woah, so uptight. Come on, then, what do I owe your presence in here?"
Was he playing idiot? Or did he really thought that they hadn't noticed what he had done? "The King desires to speak to you."
"Ah, ha ha… Didn't he get my messages? I've been occupied lately. Could we leave it for another day?"
"It was not an invitation. It's an order."
The guys who were with him immediately understood and surrounded him.
"Okay, okay! I'm going with you!"
-o—
"Hajime-sama, we are here."
Hajime gave him an approving nod and told him to brew some tea for them. The man started to notice the severity of his crimes when he saw the King's face by himself. Aoi made his task while Hajime told the man all that he had done wrong. He went pale and started making really pathetic excuses. Aoi wanted to laugh. The man got up suddenly and tried to escape, but it took him just a few moves to immobilized him.
When the man looked up to him, Aoi felt something wet in his face. He had spat him. He felt his insides going mad with rage, but the mere thought of what was about to happen calmed him. They called him prince for a reason. He didn't lose his cool over stupidities like that. Calmly, he took a napkin and cleaned his face, while Hajime was dragging that guy back to his chair.
"Do you think that spitting to one of my loyal subordinates could help you in anything? Go ahead. Spit me, too." His voice didn't raise, but it was pure venom. When he didn't move, Hajime proceed to choke him. "Do you know where I'm making pressure? Aoi, care to enlighten him a bit about the way he is going to die?"
"… Air is prevented from entering the airway due to compression of the neck. That compression causes the asphyxia than then kills you...With Hajime-san strength, it wouldn't take more than five minutes. Thrashing around… makes it worse. The air goes out faster."
"And why, did this have to end this way?"
"No one disrespects the King or his subordinates without paying the price."
A little bit of pressure on their necks and there wouldn't be any power or money to save them. Soon, the man dropped in the floor. He made a call, and then turned to Aoi.
Hajime had killed that man with his bare hands, and now was smiling, really smiling, to him. Such a turn seemed unbelievable.
"Let's go eat."
"Y-Yes!"
It was scary. So much. But it was also extremely exciting. Maybe it was the adrenaline of seeing how a life faded away so easily. Aoi wasn't sure, but he didn't dislike it. He wanted to see more. He wanted to be at the King's side.
-o-
Arata had been following his family tradition when he joined the Mutsuki clan, Initium. The first time that he met the King, a strong feeling developed inside him. Respect. Admiration. That wasn't something that he felt easily, and less for people that he didn't know.
"You are too slow. Unfocused."
Every time the knife connected with his body it left a cut. He remembered something about not being soft with him because he was a newbie with a family inside. Arata would be a mere dog to anyone else, but Hajime was there, going out of his way to train him. Anyone else would try to be like an untouchable person, but he wasn't in the slightest like that. Maybe that was what made him so scary.
He had given Arata a lot of tricks to dominate his weapons, and a lot of different techniques to attack. But that didn't mean that he could execute them as easily as he understood them.
Arata was better with long-range weapons, but he needed to be able to defend himself. Besides, Hajime was an excellent fighter. He was accurate with every hit and movement, seeing things that not everyone would.
Arata wanted to be on his level.
That kick in his stomach made him focus back on what was in front of him. Hajime was holding a knife, moving around him, taunting him. He had to be patient. Hajime was not a man with noticeable openings, so he had to be careful to attack in the right moment.
They had been at it for a long time already, and even if he had more than (Probably) fifty cuts in his body, that few string of blood in the cheek of his adversary was more than enough for him to be proud of.
"'You don't lower your guard even if your adversary is tired', right, Hajime-san?"
He knew he was being cheeky. Had it been anyone else, and it would have ended bad. But the King just gave him an approving smirk before lowering his weapon.
"We'll stop for today."
"Yes."
Before leaving, he threw him a strawberry milk bottle. Heaven itself.
"Good job. Get that treated."
"Yes, Hajime-san."
With a little smile, he left. Arata laid on the floor for a bit more. He could feel how the bruises started to appear, and the cuts kept bleeding. He was tired, and it would be a bother to drag himself out of the room to get his injuries treated. They weren't that serious now that he had time training with Hajime. They had been way worse.
"Ah, I'm going to sleep for a bit."
-o-
Koi had fucked it up. Badly. His victim was still alive, and had finished the treat with the other clan. Someone else had to finish it.
His body ached because of the beating he had received as a part of his punishment. Now, he was alone on the room, with the guy tied in a chair in front of him.
He had been advised. The King had been interested on him, and, if he accepted to be trained by him, he couldn't get anything else than perfection. The fact that he was still alive must have meant that he was lucky. As soon as he thought that, the King entered the room.
"Haru informed me that the information that we got changed at last minute. Still, you should have been able to take care of it, Koi. There's a similar job to be done in a few days, and you will do it. Because you won't fail again."
"Of course I won't, Hajime-sama."
He lowered his head to show his respect. Yes, the information had changed and Koi was put on a bad spot. But he should have been able to improvise. He had been taught how to do it.
Hajime and the man exchanged a few words. For what Koi knew, that one had been an acquaintance of years, when The Princess was still on charge. Hajime had felt rage when he knew that he had betrayed him.
When he looked up again, Hajime was ready to kill him.
"I'll see you at hell."
The King Smile. That smile that was deathly. A low voice, and a peaceful face. Koi couldn't help but shiver when he saw it.
"Koi."
"Ye- Yes."
"Clean him. Someone like him doesn't even deserve to die in our space, so get him to his territory. Let it be a lesson for the rest."
"Yes!"
He was given a chance to make it right. This time, he would do it perfectly. There just wasn't any other way.
-o-
Kakeru had bad luck. That was something that they all knew. If he had gotten up in ranks in Initium, it was because beside everything, he was skilled. Or that was what he wanted to think.
"Did you find it?"
He heard the voice from his earphone. He was in a mission commanded by the Black King himself. It was important. He usually leaved things to the others. When he was there himself, it was something that they couldn't afford to fail. So, Kakeru was surprised to be one of the chosen for it.
He could understand Haru, he was the best hacker they had. Hajime's second in command. Aoi and Arata were a great combination, with large and short attack ranges and the way they complimented each other, as if they had known the other their wholes lives (Even when they had said uncountable times that they've never seen each other before.) Koi, the one who was the same age as him, was great spying others, and also knew a bit about hacking. While him and Kakeru could work as jacks of all trades, they certainly were better in hand to hand combat. He was amazed to be put at the same level than them.
"Kakeru."
"Not yet, Hajime-san. Sorry, I was going through some guards. I still didn't found anything."
Yeah, the mission. They had to retrieve some things in an important hotel. It had to be a serious thing if Hajime had wanted those closer to him on it.
They got close in an unexpected way. Kakeru of course knew who the King was, but actually sharing a dinner with him one night seemed unbelievable. He was waiting for Koi to appear, and then, suddenly, he appeared. He seemed tired, so he offered him something to eat. Kakeru was surprised of how less intimidating he was in that moment. (He still was. Just not that much.) When he went to introduce himself, he got surprised with him saying a lot of things that had happened before. The fire incident. The explosion. The police. The priest. (He refused to talk about that one. The only ones who would even knew about it would be him and Hajime, thought something told him that Haru already knew and had passed the information to the others.) He also stated how he had gotten out of every situation. Kakeru had been mortified about it, but the other seemed more amused. It was a nice atmosphere. Suddenly, they started to share moments like that.
Even when Kakeru had seen Hajime kill in really cruel ways, he wasn't that scared of him. He didn't seem to have greed or desperation for the power that the clans could give. As him, Hajime seemed more curious. He knew that he wasn't bad. Of course, he wasn't good either for the standards of some people.
"Use your bad luck. Create an unexpected situation and use it to your advantage."
He remembered that advice. He was nice in his own way. And that was enough.
-o-
The Black King didn't get involved with the people in the lowest ranks unless there was someone that he considered that, at least, deserved a chance to be proved by himself. There had been a lot of disappointments but those five were there because they had proved to be worthy. They had gained their place with their abilities.
Hajime had never had a group to rely on, not because he didn't feel like having one, but because he never felt at ease with others. If he couldn't be sure if the people around him wouldn't stab him by the back, what purpose had giving them important ranks?
But those five had been the first ones to make him feel like that. Haru, Aoi, Arata, Koi and Kakeru. He was sure of trusting them.
The purple butterflies that they now carried in their bodies were a contract, something that proved their value in the clan. Their worth to the Black King. Their worth to Mutsuki Hajime.
The lowest people couldn't even dream with those tattoos. The trust of the King was something that took years to gain, and they wouldn't betray it for anything. As well, the tattoos he had on his back (Around the one he got when he became the head of the Initium clan) were also a contract. A promise. To protect them. To believe in them. To cherish them. To be his family. The butterflies that represented each other were in the colors that suited them.
Green, Haru, as refreshing as spring. Meeting him had been one of the best events in his life.
Blue, Aoi, bright as the sky. The way they could understand each other was amazing.
Orange, Arata. It was a strong color that could be shocking at first, just like Arata was. A reminder to take things more slow, to one's pace.
Golden, Kakeru. The living proof that all good things in life were not based just on money.
Pink, Koi. Fresh. Joy. Love. He couldn't think in more words than those, that was what he felt while being in Koi's company.
He was glad to have them watching his back.
"Is it okay, Hajime-san? Doesn't it hurt?"
"It's okay, thank you. What about all of you?"
"I'm okay. It doesn't hurt in the slightest, Hajime."
"I'm the same! It doesn't hurt, Hajime-san."
"Me too! It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would!"
"It hurts. But I have strawberry milk to soothe it."
"Don't be such a baby, Arata! It's okay, Hajime-san!"
"I'm glad, then. We'll leave in an hour. We have a meeting with the White Demon Lord."
"Yes!"
He was a King. A really scary one when he wanted to. Those guys were his knights. His colorful knights.
The ones that wouldn't leave his side by anything. Not because they were scared of what would happen if they did. Because, just like them, he had proved to be worth of following.
Hi again!~ Ah, I really wanted to do a mafia au sometime. I'm glad that I finally got to haha. I hope that you enjoyed it!
Bye~