A/N: I seem to be apologizing alot, don't I? D: But I am. Sorry! I didn't realize what Finals meant until it came and overwhelmed me, and after that it was a whirlwind of packing, going home for winter break, and dozens of gatherings and reunions.

Anyway... HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope this slightly longer chapter will make up for the long wait. Now that I'm on a break and everything has settled down, the next chapter should come along much quicker. Nothing like nagging and reviews to help speed up the process though. ;)

And to all my faithful readers, thank you so much for the reviews. I hope you'll stick with this story a little longer...

Disclaimer: I wish I owned these boys...

Summary: Mafia AU And we see how the Prince fell in love.

~Prequel~ Underworld: The Captive Prince


"Fuji! Fuji!"

A murmur of voices reached him, and incomprehensible shouting was in the background. Shaking his head gently, Fuji sat up slowly as his senses returned. Ignoring the ringing in his ears, he kept his eyes closed and felt the tremors in the ground as the men ran around the compound, gathering those who were injured. He could still feel the heat around him.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he was suddenly lifted onto his feet.

"Fuji-sempai," Momo's voice sounded worriedly, "let's get you somewhere safer."

"No," Fuji shook off his junior's hold, "I'm okay, check on the men."

"But-"

"It's fine Momo," he cut in, sliding on his customary smile, "I managed to roll far enough. The blast just shook my senses a bit."

The purple-eyed youth was not convinced, but knowing better than to argue with Fuji, he nodded and headed towards where the wounded were being treated. Fuji watched him go, smile slipping off his face. He furrowed his brows in consternation and turned towards the site of explosion.

The container was no more, except for crumbling bits of the bottom panel. But the grass around it was singed for no more than a ten meter radius; Fuji knew, he was not lucky to have escaped the blast. Someone wanted him alive.

Casting one last critical eye over the scene, Fuji whirled towards the rest of the team. Oishi glanced up sharply as Fuji descended, "Fuji, you're bleeding-"

The latter paid no attention the steadily darkening patch on his side. When he spoke, his cool and controlled words sent a warning loud and clear.

"There's a stain I need to get rid of."

Headquarters

Tezuka remained alert and upright, fingers steeped together with his elbows on the desk. Gazing at Echizen Nanjiroh thoughtfully, he leant forward to address the older man. "I believe it can be done. But," he sighed and rubbed his temples. "Are you sure-"

The heavy oak doors slammed open and a panting messenger rushed in. All three rose to their feet, Tezuka towering over the desk.

"What is it?" He asked sternly. No one ever disturbed the sanctuary of his study unless for an emergency.

"T-there was an attack at the docks sir!"

"What?" With a short nod to both elders, Tezuka strode towards the doors, "Excuse me."

Ryuuzaki waved his apologies off. "Better check on your men." To the youth by the door she barked, "Inform the infirmary! How many injured?"

"Fuji-sempai and the four men with him, ma'am. It seems as if he managed to warn them in time to avoid most of the blast."

"But?" Tezuka demanded, sensing hesitation. He swept out of the room, followed closely by Nanjiroh and the wizened woman. The messenger scurried after them and continued his report.

"Fuji-sempai suffered a deep wound to his side. While it is not fatal, he is refusing treatment until he is back at the headquarters."

Tezuka's face darkened. Without another word, his long steps soon brought him out of sight. Nanjiroh and Ryuuzaki paused at intersecting corridors, watching the Captain's hurried strides.

Then, Ryuuzaki smirked. "He's worried."

Nanjiroh glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Him and Fuji are close, aren't they?"

"Rather than that…" the old woman chuckled, "Despite Tezuka's title, Fuji is the one who really holds the reigns here."

"A man who lives by his own rules…" Nanjiroh mused, "I'm surprised he is under anyone's command at all."

"Well," the two resumed their walk towards the main hall. "Fuji's loyalty is not to be underestimated. He's a mystery, that one."

"I suppose it's time to collect my brat and go," the man stopped and scratched his head. "Hm…"

A light tap of footsteps alerted the seasoned people and they turned to see Ryoma coming towards them. To the untrained eye, he looked the same as he had hours ago except his hair was more ruffled, but Nanjiroh frowned at the tenseness in his son's frame.

Ryuuzaki raised an eyebrow. "You're not at ease," she surmised and was rewarded with an impressive scowl.

"Ryuuzaki-sensei," he returned stiffly, bending at the waist. "It's been a while."

"Not so long I can't read you like a book, Ryoma."

Darkened gold locked onto her own misty grey, and Ryuuzaki was struck by a sense of unfamiliarity. Has the boy grown up so much already? He must have seen something in her face because the intense stare softened into one of reluctant fondness.

"Nothing to concern yourself over," he threw out generously and without another word, slinked towards the entrance. Nanjiroh only sighed and muttered "brat" under his breath, and followed his son.

Ryoma walked briskly, thoughts whirring about in his head. Eiji had brought him down into the kitchens, and introduced him to "Taka-san". The man with side burns was built firmly, and the width of Ryoma's body was only a bit more than half of his; the way he laughed bashfully and the clumsy bow he executed did not match his image but Ryoma took it in stride and shook hands with the gentle man. Taka had been making sushi—an interest he inherited from his father he explained—and with enthusiastic cheer he had herded the two visitors onto a bench by the work table and whipped up a plate of Ryoma's favourite sushi. Eiji jabbered on excitedly.

"Taka-san makes all our snacks for us, nya!" the red-haired man grinned, gesturing wildly with his hands. "And then the chefs get upset."

And Ryoma noted that they were; the four chefs who catered all the official meals of the day sat sulkily on one side of the room, and one stuck out his tongue good-naturedly.

"He's taking our job!" He whined.

Eiji just laughed and Taka rubbed the back of his neck. "Only because the main team keeps bugging me…"

They spent better of the hour bantering, Eiji throwing endless stories of their exploits at him, and despite himself, Ryoma found himself drawn into the lives of these people. Then Eiji's phone erupted in a series of senseless gurgling and giggling.

"It's Oishi!" The acrobat chirped.

Ryoma only rolled his eyes at the man's excitement but inwardly he was curious about what the call was for.

"Oishi, Oishi!" Eiji launched into the conversation before the other side could even get a word in. "You won't believe who-"

"Eiji! It's an emergency!" the other man's frantic voice broke in. Eiji immediately threw away his initial cheer. He put his phone on speaker so that everyone could hear. "There was an attack at the docks and Fuji, that idiot, insisted to wait until he reported to Tezuka. Even though he's hurt!"

Ryoma straightened up at those words. Oishi was still speaking, explaining the situation to Eiji but the green-haired boy filtered his words half-heartedly, ears trained on the faint commotion in the background. Then suddenly, a familiar clear voice, if not a little strained, rang out, "I said it can wait!"

Eiji leveled a worried frown at the phone as Oishi paused in his explanation to yell at the other man, "The color of your shirt isn't even white anymore!" There was a loud flurry of rustling and then silence.

"Hello?" Oishi's voice crackled over the phone. "Anyway, I called the infirmary already. I want you to send more guards to the perimeters and meet us at the back entrance."

"Got it."

Eiji snapped his phone shut and shook his head. "Fujiko's not happy huh…"

"That Fuji…" Ryoma muttered.

Eiji glanced at him surprised, then said, "Oh, right! You met him a while back when Fuji's otouto got kidnapped!" Noting the curiousity on his kouhai's face, Eiji grinned. "Fujiko's an interesting guy, ne?"

Ryoma scowled at him and turned away. "Go do what lover-boy told you to."

Eiji's face bloomed bright red. "H-He's not-!"

The younger teen simply raised an eyebrow. "Hn." He nodded to Taka who was silently fretting, and turned to leave. "See you some other time, sempai."

"Wait, you're leaving already? Stay and I'll introduce you to the team! It won't take long for them to patch Fuji up."

The other just waved, already heading up the stairs he took down to the kitchens earlier. "Ja."

Ryoma shook the memory off as his feet brought him to the main gate. With a slight tip of his head to the guard, he slipped through the door opened for him, ignoring his father's presence at his back.

"Seishounen…" Nanjiroh drawled. "What's the hurry?"

"I'm hungry." He replied noncommittally. "And if you paid more attention to your pocket, you'll realize mom's calling you."

"What? Ah, shi-"

Infirmary

"Fuji."

The brunette in question sat up in his bed quickly, moving to rise, ignoring the protests of healer next to him. Oishi, who stood vigil by his side, sighed in frustration. The blankets fell from onto Fuji's lap, a trickle of red dotting the white bandages around his waist. Tezuka narrowed his gaze.

Deep blue drew his eyes back up, noting the seriousness of one who rarely shows it.

"Tezuka."

"Sit down before I ban you from going out." The Captain delivered sternly. "You can report to me from your bed."

It was a measure of how unsettled Fuji was that he made no joke about his Captain's words. Tezuka was once again, struck by a sense of unease. But the cerulean-eyed man did as told and Oishi relaxed slightly.

"The men told me about their misgivings, and I went to investigate." Fuji started. "And while I dissuaded them that a loose animal was in the vicinity, I saw something else instead. An empty bullet shell."

"And then you found..."

Fuji nodded. "There was black powder circling around the container. But the blast itself was not meant to kill."

Tezuka stared at him for a while. "You think it's a warning."

Fuji nodded, but seemed reluctant to say anything else. Studying his friend carefully, Tezuka raised his voice. "Everyone, back to your stations." Noticing some people dallying, he barked sharply, "Now!"

Oishi gave his Captain a nod. "I will be waiting in your office." The healer turned away from Fuji's bedside to his office at the end of the infirmary and visitors of the ward hurried out, eyes on the floor. Other injured men were either unconscious or quickly willed themselves to sleep. Tezuka took the seat vacated by the healer and waited.

It was another ten minutes before Fuji spoke. "Twice, Tezuka." His eyes were closed again, but the edge had not left his voice. "I was caught twice."

Tezuka laid a hand on his shoulder. "Fuji, maybe you happened to be in the wrong place at the right time."

His friend growled uncharacteristically. "No." His eyes narrowed. "Coincidences like that doesn't happen here. Not in the Underworld." Catching the slight tenseness of Tezuka's jaw, Fuji softened his tone. "You know my suspicions are right."

The Captain sighed, but did not disagree. With a last squeeze to the shoulder, he stood. "Don't let your guard down."

Fuji grabbed his shirt before he could leave. "Don't tell the others."

Tezuka frowned at him.

Fuji smiled sharply. "You know, I distinctly remember a letter in someone's drawer addressed to-"

"There's nothing to tell." The other man cut in, voiced pained and tinged with… was that a blush on his face? Laughing to himself, Fuji released his friend and slowly lowered himself back onto his pillow. Although he brushed the injury off as nothing, the heavy throbbing at his side only increased with every movement he made. Sighing, Fuji brushed away his worries.

Tonight, he would heal. But afterwards, everything was fair game.

Tezuka's Study

Tezuka closed the door behind him and leaned against it tiredly. He could not shake off the sense of unease Fuji's words created; but he also did not know how great of a threat these incidents should be treated as. Not to mention Fuji's last excursion to rescue his brother only resulted in more questions and no answers, despite the Elite's efforts.

"Tezuka…" Oishi's worried voice pulled him back to the present, and he crossed the room to sit at his desk. Seeing the glass of water and aspirin awaiting him, he thanked his second-in-command with a small twitch of his lips.

"Aside from the explosion, were there any other problems?"

Oishi shook his head. "Delivery was smooth as usual and nothing out of the ordinary anywhere else either." He leant back in his chair. "I have also posted more men at the borders just in case. Although I doubt anything would come tonight. Anything else you want done?"

The Captain's shoulders relaxed slightly. One problem was easier to deal with than many. Hopefully it would stay that way. "I want detailed reports from every safe house and storage areas; step up the training for Arai's group, and shift the delivery times every other week."

"Got it."

"Go rest." He said, and pulled a stack of papers towards him. Oishi nodded and made to leave but then paused.

"Tezuka… is Fuji… safe?"

Don't tell the others

"He will be if you keep Eiji away from him," he replied, choosing to bypass the question.

OIshi smiled wryly. "As if that's possible. Don't sleep too late!"

Tezuka waved his concerns off and turned back to his paperwork. "Don't tell the others indeed." He murmured.

Atobe's Mansion

"Seigaku was attacked?" Atobe shot up from his grand leather recliner.

"Relax." Yuushi pushed his glasses further up his nose. "It wasn't at their headquarters. His leader stared at him suspiciously, so he elaborated. "From what I've heard, they were attacked at one of their delivery points. Fuji was injured."

This raised an eyebrow. "That's not someone I expect."

"Indeed…." The blue haired man sipped from his glass of wine. "Apparently it was from an explosion. Minor, but still consequential."

"I see." Atobe looked at his friend. "And where did you hear that from? Tezuka isn't so lax to let any incident like this reach outside ears."

Yuushi grinned. "You know Gakuto, he has to know everything that involves his rival."

Atobe snorted, and pushed out of his chair elegantly. "Well, I think it's time we paid a visit to our dear friends." He snapped his fingers. "Kabaji."

"Usu." The lumbering giant stepped out from the shadows.

"Send word to Tezuka. We will see them in a week's time."

Yuushi raised an eyebrow. "A week's time? I thought you'd be more impatient to see Tezuka."

The silver-haired man smirked. "Time to do some research of our own. We can't go empty handed after all."