Reasonable Doubt

The Shibusen were almost finished with the top two floors, and right as Joe was about to make his way to the basement he saw Maka and what looked like a dying teenager coming upstairs.

"Geez, we were wondering where you disappeared off to," then he looked at the purple-haired child, "Who's the kid?"

"Well this is Chrona; she actually has information we need and is willing to help us."

"Okay, um, let's talk about this outside by the car."

Maka nodded and motioned for Chrona to follow.

"Alright don't bullshit me who is she," the Sr. Enforcer demanded with absolute authority.

If Maka didn't know better, she would have forgotten that she outranked him.

"I don't think I like your tone Sr. Enforcer Joe… Either way it's not like it's any of your business of who I trust or associate myself with!"

While sneering Joe spat, "Well if they're going to be let in the family then it kinda is; I am the Sr. Enforcer after all, and I need to have good info on all the soldiers!"

Maka bit her lip and cursed.

"She's, uh, Medusa's daughter…"

At those words a sadistic grin grew on his face, "Oh this is way better than I thought! Heh, good idea Maka, she'll definitely make a good bargaining chip."

Chrona began to shudder at the man's words; the way he spoke reminded him of Medusa.

Then the lady Capo spoke up, "No Joe, that's not what we're gonna do! Chrona's going to join the Shibusen Family and give us all the information she has on Black Magic."

"You're being too naïve, there's too much of a chance that she'll just double-cross us and give up our secrets. I don't see any way of Don Shinigami even listening to your case."

Maka defiantly challenged, "Well last I checked you weren't the don; so I guess we'll just leave it up to Shinigami then!"

Joe just gritted his teeth and walked off.

Chrona stuttered, "S-So we're okay?"

Maka smiled, "Yeah, we're just going to need to get some people on our side when we present your case tomorrow."

"Will that be hard?"

"Nah, a couple of people owe me favors and I'm sure one or two will agree."

The young lady just talked on as Chrona intently listened though he had very little understanding of what she was talking about. Maka brought Chrona to her condominium and offered her stay for as long as she needed.

The next day almost all of the high ranking officers knew of the situation. So far Joe Buttataki had Yumi Azusa- a Consigliere, Spirit Albarn- an Underboss, and Justin Law- a Consigliere (Who honestly had no interest in the situation). As well as the support from one of the soldiers, Anya Hepburn.

Maka wasn't giving up without a fight though. She managed to gain support from some of her personal friends like Death the Kidd- a Capo, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa- a Capo, and Liz & Patti- Personal Bodyguards for Kidd. The pig-tailed teen also pulled some strings to gain some backing from Marie Mjolnir- a Consigliore, Dr. Franken Stein- an Underboss (He only wanted Chrona so he could have another test subject; which wouldn't be a problem... for now anway), and Tsugumi Harudori- a Soldier (She idololizes Maka and tries to emulate her).

As the meeting called to order, Don Shinigami made one of his rare appearances. He was wearing a black cloak that completely covered him from head to toe, and bore a Skull Mask that he wore at all times; some people believed it was because he was paranoid and felt he need it, others speculated it was to always keep his identity a secret, but whatever the case even his own son, Kidd, has never seen what he looks like.

The Godfather decided to just address the elephant in the room and so he started off with the big issue just to get it out of the way. Each side, with Maka on one end and Joe on the other, gave their arguments, and then all the members stated "their" opinions. Shinigami is the most difficult man to read, as far as who gets their way and who doesn't, nobody ever really knows until the don makes his decision. With anyone else, Maka can at least get an idea of what they're thinking but Don Shinigami was always a mystery to her.

"I will make my decision… After I have spoken with Chrona Gorgon."

At every syllable their don spoke, everyone seemed to hang onto every word. He then motioned for Chrona to walk with him into a private room where they could openly talk. Chrona waddled over with a look of dread plastered on his face.

After three and a half hours of conversing, the two finally came back.

The anxious Capo asked, "So, what's your judgment Don Shinigami?"

Without even looking up Shinigami answered, "Chrona seems trustworthy enough."

Maka gave a sigh of relief.

"But since you're the one who brought them in, you're going to be responsible for Chronas' actions. You do undestand what that means right?"

"Oh thank you Don Shinigami! That's not going to be a problem," Maka cheered.

If she didn't know any better, Maka could have sworn that the don just smiled and winked behind his mask. The gesture was not lost to Chrona either, but it didn't matter because he was just glad that the Shibusen Godfather didn't expose him as being a boy to Maka…

A.N: Aw Crap! Looking back I realized that I kept switching back and forth between names for the Reapers/DWMA/Shibusen family. For the record I want to call them the Shibusen Family, but I may subconsciously switch names again… As far as this chapter goes, it's kind of a continuation from "Breathing Ain't Living" but this would have made it too long (and I can be lazy); so I broke it up into two parts. Like I said, so far there's not as much drama/suspense going on as I would like but I think the art of build-up is lost in story-telling and I'll (try) to keep things running smoothly. Please Favorite and/or Review so I know if I'm pacing the story well, if there's another problem that I haven't noticed, and for motivation! Also, take guesses as to where you think the story's going (Might give me a good idea!) Thank you for reading! See ya in Chapter 5 bitches! ~Traffic9991