AN: Hello, people. First of all, thank you for reading this story. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

On a side note, if anybody's willing to beta this story, please contact me. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation.

Summery: It's hard to survive in the dark side of the world, in the hands of criminals, gamblers and smugglers, but then again, it's not the roses that have thorns; it's the thorns that have roses, and Yuki is a thorn. Yuki X Shuichi.

Of Thorns and Roses

Chapter One

"I told you not to disturb me."

"We're really sorry, sir, but the Boss has sent you a gift."

Yuki raised his eyebrows and glanced at his own reflection on the man's sunglasses before nodding his head and letting the men in black in. One of them, Yuki didn't know his name and never liked him, grunted as he threw an unconscious body on the floor. It made a soft 'thud' as it hit the Persian carpet on the floor. The man stepped back and stood near the other two, as if standing close to them could somehow protect him from an unknown danger.

Yuki glanced at the body for a split second before turning around and glaring at the man standing in the middle. He seemed to be in charge; one could tell from the impatient looks he threw at everything, demanding the respect he seemed to be in need of.

"I told you I don't wanna deal with prostitution. Are you dumb?"

The man took off his sunglasses. His eyes widened in surprise, narrowed in anger and he finally looked down at the floor, hiding whatever emotion that was about to appear on his face.

"We know that, sir, but the Boss said that it's for you to keep."

Yuki smirked before moving forward and clenching the fat man's collar in his fist, slamming him to the nearest wall, making a black vase tremble on a wooden table and fall, shattering to million pieces.

Nobody looked at it.

"Tell your Boss that I'm tired of his god damn jokes. Tell him I don't need his god damn gift, and if he does this one more time, I'll make sure he'll regret it. Do you understand that?"

"But, sir, The Boss-"

Yuki was about to reach for his gun but stopped short as he heard a yelp behind him. Turning around, he watched as the body twitched a few times before starting to thrash around, trying to get rid of the handcuffs and the blindfold covering the eyes. The boy had apparently woken up.

'Perfect.', Yuki thought as he moved toward the body, looking at it as though it was a cockroach he had to get rid of as soon as possible.

"Hand me your knife." He ordered one of the men and was pleased to immediately feel the coolness of the object in his extended hand.

"Where am I? What is-?" Yuki covered the mouth to prevent anymore unpleasant noise from forming and ripped the blindfold in two with a swift motion. He stared at the eyes filled with fear and a smirk formed on his lips.

"Where did you find this one?"

"His father's a farmer. Couldn't pay us. Sold his son." The man in the middle hesitantly replied.

Yuki chuckled without humor. "Wise man. Who would want to keep this?" He glared at the boy then, daring him to open his mouth and talk. The boy seemed to know better.

"What else did Tohma say?" The only blonde man in the room asked as he grasped the arms in a bruising grip, picked the body up and threw it on a leather sofa. The boy winced in pain and opened his mouth to protest, but stopped short as he felt the edge of the knife on his neck.

The fat man hesitated for a second and swallowed before replying, "Sir, he…he said he hoped you did the right thing and came out victorious from the test."

Time suddenly seemed to stop moving, and silence fell on the room like a black curtain Yuki stared at the eyes and a side of his lips went up and formed a cruel smile. He traced the knife on the side of the boy's face and rested it on the lips that had gone white out of shock and fear.

"What's your name?"

The boy on the sofa opened his mouth, closed it and then opened it again, but no sound came out. He winced as the edge of the knife drew a line on his lips and blood tickled down on his chin. Red drops fell on the boy's worn-out jeans.

"Shuichi," The whisper echoed all over the room and flew away out of the open window.

"Shuichi," The blonde man repeated the name, each sound articulated clearly and it sent a shiver down the prisoner's spine.

"Do you know why you're here?"

The boy was unable to answer, but for the first time, nobody seemed to mind that.

"I see a lot of pretty boys like you around here, and my Boss thinks I'm too lenient with them; he seems to think that somehow I'm too kind to them, and I shouldn't be."

Others became uneasy in the room, as if they were aware of something that they should never mention aloud.

"Do you know why you're here?" The man whispered as he stood up and rested his hands on either side of the boy's head, his knee resting between the boy's legs.

"My Boss wants me to prove him wrong. He wants me to send him your head and prove to him that it's only and only the Family that matters to me."

He fisted the pink hair in his fist then and yanked the boy's head back then, exposing the long neck. He pushed the edge of the knife in and watched in satisfaction as blood spurted out.

"Should I do that, Shuichi?"

"No, no!" was the boy's answer, his shout echoing in the room and sending the birds on the branches flying away.

"No?" Yuki asked and let go of the boy's hair. A few pink strands flew down, disappearing between the flowers of the carpet.

Yuki's eyes darkened as he leaned in, his face close to the boy, so close that he could almost taste the blood on the pale lips. "No, you say? Give me one good reason why, and I just might spare your life."

The lips trembled then, and the boy closed his eyes. He opened them, and glanced at the golden eyes, certain about what he was about to say.

"I just wanna live."

Yuki drew back then and raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy with eyes that were bright with satisfaction. He walked toward the man in the middle and rested the knife on the fat neck. The man swallowed, but knew better than to step back.

"Tell your Boss I don't give a damn what he thinks. I'm keeping this pretty boy and it's time he learnt to deal with it." He put the knife in the man's pocket then and shoved him backwards; the man staggered and hit the wall. He swiftly bowed then and fled out of the room.

"You two," The men moved forward, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "Keep this thing in the basement until I decide what to do with it."

Yuki moved toward the boy and picked up the torn piece of cloth from the floor. The whimpering boy looked at him with wide eyes, tears sparkling in them but not falling down.

"Keep in mind that I don't like unpleasant noises." He whispered and shoved the piece in the boy's mouth. He nodded toward one of the men, and he picked up the boy in one swift motion.

The men hurried out of the room, and the door clicked shot behind them. Yuki walked toward the window, watching the green leaves shining under the sun. He lit a cigarette, put it between his lips that tasted slightly of blood, inhaled deeply and exhaled.

The smoke slowly disappeared between the bright rays of the sun.

Yuki threw the guard at the door his car keys.

"Keep an eye on it." He ordered the young guard. The boy bowed down and furiously nodded his head. Yuki looked at the boy from behind his sunglasses; the Chinese boy didn't look older than seventeen. He had gotten used to seeing them around Tohma's mansion. In a government where severe punishment waited for the poor families with more than one child, they had no choice but to sell them to the Japanese Yakuza. Granted, no bright future was a head of the boys, but it at least gave the families a glimmer of hope, even if it was bound to die away at last.

Yuki ran his hand down the boy's black uniform, put something in the boy's pocket and swiftly withdrew his hand. The boy's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to talk but stopped short as Yuki rested a finger on his lips.

"Thank you, sir, thank you!"

The boy whispered in a very bad Japanese accent and bowed one more time. Yuki nodded his head once and entered the mansion without looking back.

He had never enjoyed visiting this place. Whether it was because of Tohma's presence or the decoration of it, he did not know. The furniture, the brothers, even the pictures on the wall seemed to be frozen in time. He had never felt comfortable in it, and he preferred it that way.

He walked up the marble stairs slowly, taking as much time as possible in order to delay their doomed meeting. He stopped before the wooden door and reluctantly handed his gun to the man standing at the door. Tohma's bodyguards always annoyed him. He supposed if somebody really wanted to get rid of him, these fat, stupid men wouldn't really be able to stop them. Oh well, Tohma had always been a coward, and he'd always stay like that.

He entered without knocking, too irritated to bother with such trivial things.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't see you giving one of my men money to run away from here." Tohma calmly stated as he turned around in his chair and gave Yuki a lazy smile.

"Oh, but I made sure you were looking from your window as I did it." Yuki replied as he sat in front of the Boss, glancing at the contents on the wooden desk between them.

"So you decided to keep the gift after all."

Yuki did not reply. He chose to light a cigarette instead, and gave the older man a cold look.

"I'm sure my men told you what I expected you to do."

"Your stupid men sure did." Yuki answered and let the cigarette fall on the red carpet, watching in satisfaction as it made a mess on the floor.

"The game you have started playing will not end well, Eiri. After your brother betrayed us, all eyes are on you."

"Oh, please. All eyes have been on me for as long as I remember. I'm handsome like that." Yuki chuckled, but there was little humor in it.

"This is not the West, Eiri. Sure, these people are Yakuza and you're their big brother, but your taste in your…partners is not something they will tolerate, and even I can not stop them if they decide to do something about them."

"Tell me, Boss," Yuki talked after a long silence as he stood up, walking round the desk and standing in front of the older man, "Are you saying this because you're worried about me?"

"Of course, Eiri. I know it doesn't mean much to you, but you're a member of the Family, and protecting the family is my job." Tohma avoided eye contact as he replied.

Yuki leaned in, his hot and moist breath touching the other's face, "No, Tohma, I don't think it has anything to do with the Family. I think you're jealous."

Tohma scoffed as he stood up, walking away from the man and staring out the open window. "And what would I be jealous of?"

Yuki was silent for sometime. He walked toward the man then, and leaning on the wall, gave him a sad smile. "You're jealous because I don't care about you the way I care about them. You're jealous that I don't look at you the way I look at them."

"That's ridiculous." Tohma's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Is it?" Yuki stood closer. "Then why did you follow me all the way to America? Why did you marry my sister?" Yuki's eyes darkened, "Why did you ruin my life? Wasn't it all because you wanted to be closer to me?"

"I'm not a queer, Eiri."

"No," Eiri replied. "You're too scared to be one."

"You'd stay away from boys if you knew what was good for you." Tohma looked at Yuki, making sure the younger man could see that he was serious. "I've been too lenient with you."

"Then get rid of me." Yuki walked toward the door, his shoes clicking on the floor. "Because if you don't, it would end up with you choking in your blood on the bathroom floor. If you know what I mean." He stepped out the room, not giving the man any time to reply.

Sure Tohma was the Boss, but it was always him who made the last statement.

"What do you mean you won't do anything about it?"

"What do you want me to do? Run into their territory and bring him back? Why don't you get it? He didn't want to stay here. He ran away from here knowing fully well what he was getting himself into."

"He's only seventeen, Eiri. He's just a kid."

"You're adorably naïve, my dear sister. Tatsuha has never been a kid." Yuki replied as he sat on his chair and lit a cigarette, ignoring his sister's glare. Damn it, he wasn't in the mood for her motherly advices tonight.

"Have some mercy on your poor lungs then!" The older woman hissed angrily as she pulled the cigarette and threw it out of the open window. "And why are all the windows open in the middle of the night? It's cold outside!"

Yuki ran his fingers through his hair and glared at his sister. "Get out of my room, Mika. I don't wanna deal with you right now."

Her eyes looked funny for a moment, but thankfully no tears fell. "Of course you don't! Why would you? Lately your life has become all about revenge! You don't care about a damn thing anymore. You don't think I don't understand why you do the things you do, but how can I not? I raised you, Eiri! I watched you-" A sob broke out from her lips, and she covered her face with her pale hands.

'She's crying, damn it!' Yuki wanted to say something, but none of his thoughts seemed soothing, so in order not to aggravate the situation, he kept his silence and watched as more tears fell down his sister's face. God damn it, he hated emotions and emotional people.

"Listen to me," He finally snapped, running out of patience, but before he could continue, his door opened and one of his men walked in. Sure, being the Big brother in the family had its own troubles, but he couldn't help but admit that it felt good sometimes to jerk some people around, especially people who had given him a hard time when he was a kid. He knew they hated him; him, his lifestyle and anything related to him, but he also knew that he impressed them; he was their superior and they had no choice but to obey.

Life couldn't get any better.

"Sorry to bother you, sir, but we've finally found the files you were looking for." The man said as he walked toward the desk and put the files on it. Yuki looked at the bandaged hand of the man and raised an eyebrow.

The man looked embarrassed and averted his gaze. "It's the…kid, sir. He…bites everybody."

"What kid?" Yuki asked as he flipped through the pages, purposefully ignoring his sister who seemed to be seething in the corner of the room.

"The kid the Boss sent you last week, sir. He's been in the basement ever since." The man swallowed before continuing, "What should we do with him?"

Yuki frowned in confusion for a moment and then he remembered. "You mean that pink haired boy?"

"Yes, sir. You asked us to keep him in the basement until you decided what to do with him."

"You're keeping a human being in the basement?" Mika snapped and walked toward his brother.

"Yes, I am. Wanna know why? It's your husband's present!" Yuki lost the patience he'd been trying to keep for the last hour and finally screamed. Mika knew better than to yell back.

"Sir," The man hesitantly stepped forward, "Should we send him to…Takaba?"

"No," Yuki snapped as he stood up. "I'll deal with him tomorrow. I have a business to attend."

"Race driving again? You were supposed to-"

"Keep it." He murmured as he walked toward a chair in the corner of the room and picked up his brown letter jacket, swiftly putting it on.

"Wait. Did you say the boy had pink hair?" The older sister asked as she walked toward her brother. Yuki was about to say something inappropriate, but then turned around and bit his lip instead, but damn, the woman was stubborn. She caught his hands in hers, an act Yuki despised, and gave him a dangerous smile.

"I have an idea. Why don't you bring him up here?" Yuki stared at his sister's eyes, but couldn't read anything in them. He finally sighed, defeated, and nodded toward the man in black, and he left the room as quickly as his feet let him.

Yuki stared at the boy curled up on the leather sofa, his hands and feet bound, a piece of cloth covering his mouth but his pants still audible, filling the silent room. He looked more like a wild cat, with eyes narrowed, ready to strike at any moment.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea, Mika."

"I think it's a perfect idea." She replied, flipping one hand in the air. She moved toward the boy and peered at him closely, eyeing him up and down in a way that was almost dangerous. "He's petite. No one will notice."

"I'm not sure why I have to bother with all this." Yuki sat on the handle, ignoring the existence of the boy who seemed to be growling next to him, out of anger or frustration, he did not know.

"Because you have a reputation to keep, and you'll be doing this poor boy a favor. What were you thinking? Keeping him in the basement for so long?"

Yuki sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I'd forgotten he was there."

"Well, untie him already!"

Yuki glared at his sister but obeyed her comment nonetheless. Drawing a knife out of his pocket, he reached toward the boy's face but hesitated and drew his hand back.

"Get me the soda on the desk, Mika."

The sister handed him the drink and opening the bottle, he put a straw in it.

"I'm gonna cut a line on this, if you move your head, I'll cut your face with it? Do you understand me?"

The boy narrowed his eyes but nodded his head nonetheless. He waited until the straw was between his lips and then started to suck as though his life was dependent on it.

"Poor boy! Didn't they feed him? Look how dirty he is!"

"We're Yakuza, Mika, and here's not a kindergarten. He should be dead already." Yuki bitterly stated, but his eyes softened as the boy kept on drinking, surely too thirsty to care how stupid he looked at that moment.

"Ok, that's enough!" Yuki yanked the bottle back and threw it at the other side of the big room. The bottle hit the floor and fell into the bin.

"I'm going to untie you, but listen to me. If you make one wrong move, I'll behead you right here, and I don't care that my sister's standing right next to me. You understand me?" the boy nodded his head, but stiffened as the blonde reached his hands, then feet and untied them. The boy got rid of the piece of cloth covering his mouth and started to rub the bruises left on his wrists.

"I want you to listen to me carefully because I'm going to say it once. I'm feeling benevolent tonight, so I'm going to offer you a choice. If you do what I ask you, I won't keep you in the basement anymore. If you don't do it, I'll send you back to Tohma and he'll do whatever he sees fit, and let me tell you, he's not as generous as I am. You got that?"

The boy nodded his head, listening attentively.

"My sister, she…she's feeling rather creative. I don't like what she has come up with," He glanced at his grinning sister, "But I have to admit that it's a good idea, and you seem to fit right into the… plan." Yuki rested his hand on the back of his neck, trying to come up with the right words to say. "I want you to…you should dress in that and come with me…somewhere." He hesitantly pointed to a short dress hanging on the wall in front of them.

The boy looked at dress in surprise. He was quiet for a while, then his eyes narrowed and he screamed, "Are you insane? My dignity is all I have left, you murderer! You want to take it away from-" He was cut short as Yuki slapped him hard across his face, his face falling to the side. Mika yelped and ran toward the boy but stopped as Yuki grabbed the boy's collar and yanked him off the sofa, throwing him on the cold floor. The boy was trying to say something, but Yuki's hands on his throat stopped any sounds from forming.

"Stop it, Eiri!" Yuki ignored his sister.

"Listen to me, you ungrateful brat. No one raises their voice in this house, you hear me? You're lucky you're alive. You have no dignity here, no pride. Remember who you're dealing with." Yuki let go of the boy's throat and listened to him coughing and choking.

"Maybe I should send you to Takaba after all. Do you know who he is?" Yuki grabbed the dirty collar one more time, lifting the boy's head off the floor. The boy whispered an inaudible no.

"He's Tohma's dearest friend, a man who's famous for his rent boys in the city. Maybe I should send you there after all, and believe me, you won't be a pretty sight to see anymore. He'll make sure you'll beg for your death and will never give it to you, and when your body becomes useless, he'll throw you out, and you'll die either of AIDS or withdrawal. Would you like that?"

"Let go of the boy, Eiri. Don't scare him like that!" Mika yanked his brother's shirt, pushing him away from the young boy. Yuki walked to the other side of the room and lit a cigarette, all the while staring at the full moon outside the window.

"He's lying. He'll never send you to Takaba." She whispered as she helped the boy to a sitting position.

"I know it sounds like a horrible idea, but you'll be helping my brother a great deal. I know he's a little bit cruel, but he's a fair man. He'll keep his word, and he's right. You wouldn't want to see Tohma's bad side."

The boy stayed quiet and stared at flowers of the carpet.

"I'll do it." He finally said, his voice coming out strong. He looked at the blonde standing at the window, and the older man nodded his head, hiding the surprised look that was about to surface on his face.

Well, this was going to get interesting.

To Be Continued…

Reviews are like Yuki and Shuichi kissing; I need them in order to survive.