My workplace is a crowded, stinky, ill-lit area with a makeshift ring at the center. I really have two jobs; this one, where I'm headed right now, and a part-time lifeguard at the public pool, just like my father when he was around my age, but hey, I'm a much better swimmer than Papa! But then, being a part-time lifeguard does not earn me enough money to pay all I've got to pay and buy all I've got to buy in order to live my life; and so, I decided to fight for survival, literally. I am a prize-fighter in an underground arena; well, it is better than using the speed of my hands by picking pockets in the streets. I risk my life in every fight and people risk their money on me; if they win through me, I get a percentage of their winnings, but if I lose, well, I really lose. I dedicate every fight to my father; I consider every punch a touch closer to finding him and every kick a step nearer to where he is, but I consider every blow that hits me a push worth three steps away from him.

"Akio is here!" I heard someone from the crowd announce.

For the past two years, I was not Sasagawa Yuu, I was Hakujitsu Akio. Why? Because I wanted to live a new life and I want to lead the mafia away from me. I have enough evidence to say that they looked for me during all those years. I do not know if the ones looking for me were friends or foes, but whichever they are, they're still mafia and I extremely refuse to get into it. Though I know that once I reunited with Papa, I would not be able to escape the mafia life anymore, but I don't care because I know that Papa would be there for me. Right now, I must admit that I am afraid, and that's the reason why I'm trying to escape the mafia life. I am afraid to enter that horrible world alone, without my father to aid me. But, I would tell myself over and over again, I cannot escape that kind of life; I promise that once I know of my father's whereabouts, whether he is dead or alive, I would stop running away and face my destiny.

I took my denim jacket off and stepped into the rickety ring. A bell rang and the crowd cheered, signaling the start of the bout.

My opponent joined me in the ring.

This is going to be easy. I thought, after seeing Kou-niisan, my opponent.

Kou-niisan is one of my friends in this kind of industry. He was older than me by two years. He entered prize-fighting with the same motives as I have: to fight for survival, literally. Yesterday, he told me that he found a better, high-paying job and that his bout for this afternoon would be his farewell fight before leaving the arena.

"I'm gonna lose that fight." Kou-niisan told me as we sat on a bench together yesterday, drinking our root beers. The only thing he did not foresee is the fact that I'm the one he's going to fight.

Kou-niisan put up a good fight or show, rather, and I helped him with it. I still fought seriously, though the outcome is already known to both of us. In the end, I won, of course. I gathered my winnings which were of a great amount that I can pay the rent for my apartment immediately and still have some more left. I treated Kou-niisan to a snack of pizza and root beer, our favorites.

"Why don't you work with me, Akio?" Kou-niisan asked me as we sat on the docks together, eating pizza.

"What's the work?" I asked, a little interested.

Kou-niisan leaned over to me and spoke with a hushed tone. "I'm into the mafia."

My entire body froze, the pizza slice I was lifting dropped from my fingers.

"Whaddaya say, huh?"

"Er." I stammered and lifted the pizza slice once more. "No, thank you."

"Ooh, you'd be sorry! It pays five times of what we get from here."

"I-if that's so," I tried to sound normal "What's your job in the m-ma-mafia?" I just can't bear to say that goddamned word!

"Hm? I belong to this search group. We need to look for this boy named Sasagawa Yuu."

I tried my best not to blurt out the root beer I had recently sipped. I swallowed it with some difficulty and I was coughing afterward.

"Something wrong, Akio?" Kou-niisan asked me, concerned.

"N-nothing." I drank some more rootbeer and sighed deeply. "What're gonna do if you find him?"

"TERMINATE." He said, closing his palms as he spoke.

I shuddered slightly. "Wh-why? What has he done?"

"You seem quite interested with the matter, Akio."

"Well, why won't I? Of course I'd like to know the job thoroughly before jumping into it." I said defensively.

"So, you want the job, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Very well then," Kou-niisan cleared his troat. "This boy is a next generation member of this Vongola family, and this family is an enemy of the family I'd be working for. Right now, my family is looking for every next generation member of the Vongola and they are going to kill them afterward so that the Vongola would easily be destroyed."

Sora! I though; Maybe that's why those guys were trying to kidnap Sora, and that boy, Arashi; both of them are in danger!

"Hm? Is anything wrong?" Kou-niisan asked, noticing my expression.

"And this boy," I tried to sound casual and lead the conversation into my refusing the job. "This boy did nothing wrong to the family you'd be workin' for?"

Kou-niisan glared at me.

"If that's the case, Kou-niisan, I'm not into it." I said, stressing the last phrase. I stood up. "Think about it, Nii-san, you'd be 'terminating' an innocent kid who did not even harm you?" Lies, pure lies, I just harmed him in our recent brawl.

Kou-niisan kept on glaring at me. "Y-you're right."

"Well, Kou-niisan, it's already too late for you to refuse."

"No. I'll refuse. I'll go straight to them right now and tell them I'm backing out." He stood up.

I turned my back into him and began to walk away. "I won't be surprised," I muttered. "If I'd get the news of your death tomorrow, Kou-niisan."

He sank back into the bench, helpless.

"You're already into it. Now, there's no escaping it." I said and turned back to him.

He just kept on sitting on the bench helplessly while gazing blankly into space, thinking thoroughly of how the matters stood.

I walked towards him and pulled out a dagger from my jacket as I did so. When I was in front of him, I flung the dagger straight into his heart within the blink of an eye.

"I'm sorry, Kou-niisan." I whispered into his ear as I wrapped my hand around him while the other held the dagger on his chest. "If I won't kill you, you'd kill me."

"S-sasagawa Yuu." He whispered weakly.

Tears rolled down from my eyes when I heard him call my name before dying. It has been two years ever since I was last called that name, and the last time I heard this name, it came from Papa's lips. I withdrew the dagger from him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Kou-niisan. I'm so sorry." I sobbed.

Author's note:

YAY! Let's get to the name meanings again! :D

Hakujitsu- bright sunshine

Akio- glorious hero

Yuu- superior (well, I just derived 'Yuu' from my own name, and it turned out it's got a Japanese meaning as well.)

Kou- light

~PLEASE REVIEW TO THE EXTREME!~