Kaze stood with her back to the wall, creating a wide berth of space between her and other cheerful Mafiosi at the party. Normally, she would not even go near a place like this. She despised overly crowded places.
However, she was being paid to stand here and basically do nothing. Well, she was paid to babysit one cheeky Mafioso kid whose parents were afraid would cause a loud commotion at the party. Paid with box weapons or rings, of course. She didn't need MONEY.
Even so, this job was slowly chipping away her patience. She had to wear a party dress and stand for HOURS in high heels in a place full of obnoxious people. She even wondered if one of her enemies had paid her employer to give her a hard time.
Babysitting was never her fine point. To say she disliked kids was… in fact, quite mild. Kaze kept on her 'strictly business' face as she eyed the snotty brat. She didn't quite think that was working. She could feel her mouth twitching into a frown.
"My toy!" shrieked the said brat as he snatched other Mafioso kid's toy. "My toy!"
"That's mine!" The other kid screamed loudly.
A fight ensued.
Other guests stared at them in alarm.
"That should be my cue…" Kaze muttered unhappily as she walked towards the wrestling little horrors.
She grabbed the back of the kids' tuxedos, one kid per hand, and forced them apart.
"Look here, stop causing trouble for me and go back to the grubby corner you came from quietly." She nearly scowled at them.
Kid 1 stuck out his tongue at her insolently, "Why should I listen to YOU?"
Ah. I feel threatened by him.
"Don't hold me like that! Or I'll get my father to kill you!" Kid 2 struggled.
Oh? That's new.
"If you keep struggling, I kick your asses THEN let you go." All she wanted was the nice pretty ring. Why did she have to get caught up in babysitting of all things?
The kids pouted for a while. Trust me, pouts on fat and pudgy faces won't go well with anyone.
"Fine, but only if HE returns my toy." Sulk.
"Why should I? It's MINE now." More sulking.
Kaze intensely disliked sulking. Now, she only wanted to go back home and sleep.
"It's MINE! You SNATCHED it!" Kid 1 protested. Loudly.
"Shut up. You're giving me a headache. Now, be a nice little Mafia kid and return the toy." She growled angrily, "Before I'll do something that would cause my pay to be forfeited."
Kaze had put up with EVERYTHING for the ring. She had come to this stupid Vongola party to babysit some stupid Mafioso kid. But this kid was going to make her snap if he didn't listen to her. Soon.
"Fine." Kid 2 replied sulkily.
"Great," She sighed in relief and dropped her firm grip on the both of them.
"Kid. Ding." He cheered loudly and dashed off.
Kid 1 started crying loudly.
Had Kaze mention she hated babysitting already?
Her fingers twitched to summon out her Cloud type scythe and cut the head of the brat already. Or she could get out her box weapon, a lethal snake.
"But I won't get the ring…" She muttered in frustration.
Deciding to suck it up, she began chasing after the cheeky child. Not that she could run fast in high heels. Or find the child easily in the crowds of Mafiosi. To the hell with that, she couldn't even WALK properly with the heels on.
Bump.
Ouch.
Kaze collided into some dude who wore a stripy shirt. Wait, who wears stripy shirts to a party?
Not that she really cared.
"Sorry," She swallowed down her pride to say before craning her neck to look for her charge.
Why was the stripy freak still standing in her way?
"Ushishishi, some peasant has bumped into the Prince. She needs to pay." An annoying voice, from the moment she heard it.
"Pay?" She asked quickly, staring up at Stripes.
She was not going to PAY for anything. No way.
"Why don't you pay for hitting me?" She replied quickly, wondering why Stripes laughed… weirdly.
Stripes… well, didn't look stripy. Not his face anyway. Or what she could see of it.
His mouth was stretched into a wide smile, showing off his shiny teeth. She would like to see his dentist. Thick blonde hair covered his eyes so that it was impossible to see anything from above his nose. A delicate tiara rested on his messy locks. A TIARA?
The mafia had crazy people, Kaze reminded herself. Just a while ago, she had seen a fellow wearing a huge frog hat. So an eyeless stripy-shirt-and-tiara-wearing guy should not startle her…
"Ushishi. The peasant bumped into the Prince. Not the other way." Stripes smiled- or should she say he continued smiling?
In any other case, Kaze would have shot him a glare and challenge him to a fight. She did shoot him a glare but she had to find the toy-stealing monster first, not challenge self-assumed princes. Maybe later. If she ever saw his… eyeless face again.
She tried to brush him off. He was standing way too close for comfort now.
Too bad. He grabbed her arm. Tightly.
"Ushishishi, you can't run away from the Prince. You still owe the Prince something." Stripes laughed loudly as he leaned even closer to her.
Could Kaze sue him for sexual harassment right there and then?
"Tell me your name," He uttered, sounding less freakishly happy when I didn't respond.
"Kazuma, Kazuma Satou," She could feel a slight heat creep up her face.
Why did he have to stand so close to her? The last man to do such a thing had been found brutally murdered the next day in a construction site. But Kaze could feel that this man wasn't going to be as easy as the last.
"-And now, it's time for a speech given by the Varia!" The MC for the party announced.
"Tch." Stripes frowned slightly. "Why now?"
Kaze didn't think ANYTHING could make the man stop smiling. The sight of Stripes frowning was either very disturbing or very disturbing. Varia… Why did that sound so familiar?
"VROII! The loud scream into the microphone made everyone in the room jump.
"Tch," Stripes repeated unhappily.
It was great to see some negative emotion on his face for once. Kaze lit up her grade A rings, preparing to fight herself free while he was distracted.
"VROII! Get your ass up here, Belphegor!" Some idiot just screamed into the microphone again.
"The Prince would get his payment soon," Stripes ushishishi'd again. "After he gives the speech."
He released her hand after an evil glance to her lit cloud rings. The next moment, he appeared on stage next to some white haired freak. How did he do that?
A feeling of dread crept into Kaze's heart. The Varia… the assassination group of the Vongola, possibly the best. Maybe she should just leave and forfeit her pay. Yeah, she should.
After one last glance at the stage where the 'prince' and the person wearing a frog hat were arguing, she slipped out of the hall. Mafiosi were truly weird. She would never go near them anymore, if she could.