Tsuna woke up suddenly. He looked out the balcony over his shoulder and realized it was still the middle of the night. Rubbing his eyes, he was unsure of why he'd suddenly broken out of a sound sleep. He normally slept like a rock until Cress woke him. He glanced around in the darkness, wondering if maybe Cress had come in, but Tsuna didn't sense anyone else in the room. He shrugged, assuming he'd had a nightmare and couldn't remember it. He'd had a lot of nightmares the past week due to all the horrible things Xanxus had made him do. He shuddered and threw the covers up over his head at the thought. Xanxus hadn't pulled any punches in effort to either break him or get him to accept the bloodshed.
Tsuna sighed and closed his eyes, trying to force himself back to sleep. For the next half hour he tried, but he kept getting a nagging sensation. With a grumble, he threw back his covers and got up. There was no way he'd be able to sleep like this. He went over to his wet bar and poured himself a drink. Tsuna stopped as it touched his lips and he realized how much he'd been drinking lately. It had almost become second nature to go for alcohol instead of anything else. With a yawn, he decided to pour it out in the sink and get water instead.
Although he finally understood why his father always spent his first night home drunk, he didn't want to be like that if he could help it. He appreciated the effects of alcohol during those times that he felt like he was about to break, but this wasn't one of those. Turning off the light and scratching his stomach, he laid back down. Tomorrow after school would be his first day of work at the club, so he needed all the rest he could get.
He was almost asleep again when his internal alarms went off. Instinct kicked in and he rolled to the side, barely avoiding a flash of steel as it slammed into his pillow. Tsuna's inner flame surfaced and he tried to get up off the bed, but his feet became entangled in his covers. Someone jumped on top of him brandishing a large hunting knife. Was this one of Reborn's surprise encounters to keep him on his toes?!
Tsuna panicked when he was pinned to the bed by force and the sharp steel quickly decended toward his neck. Instinct kicked in again and Tsuna grabbed the man's wrist and tried to push it away. His eyes widened when he found himself slowly being overpowered. The knife nicked his throat and he finally realized this wasn't a surprise training encounter, but that the man on top of him was actually trying to kill him. His flame flared hotter from the knowledge, giving his arms the extra bit of strength he needed. Slowly, he was able to turn the knife away from his own neck. The intruder pushed harder, trying to regain the upper hand. Tsuna let out a roar and pushed harder. He felt moisture against his bare hands when the knife finally came in contact with the assassin. Where at, Tsuna didn't know, but he did know it was a damaging hit.
The man's strength waned and Tsuna got his feet untangled during that interlude. With a panicked movement, Tsuna used them to push the man across the room, sending him flying into the darkness. Rolling off the bed, he ran for the alarm on his control panel. Before the intruder could get back up, he'd hit it and a loud emergency siren began to go off. He turned quickly, putting his back against the wall to protect it. He cursed to himself as he fumbled blindly for the light switch. The lights flashed on and Tsuna blinked for a moment in blindness at the sudden change from pitch black to illumination. When his eyes finally adjusted, he looked around until he found the intruder. The masked man was laying unconscious on his stomach where he'd crashed after hitting the wall. Blood had begun to pool around his upper body from where the knife had been turned back on him.
Tsuna was saved from going over to him by the rushed entrance of several armed and angry men in black suits. They lowered their weapons when they saw that Tsuna was okay and the intruder had already been taken care of. As his father came running in, Tsuna watched as one of the black suits rolled the man over. The knife that had almost killed him was sticking hilt-deep in the base of the man's throat. Tsuna looked down at his hands in horror, suddenly realizing how much blood was on them.
He fell to his knees in shock, ignoring his father's panicked questions. He'd killed a man. With his own hands. The blood on his hands were from a dead man. A dead man that he'd killed. He'd never killed a man before. There had been those people that died during the Horsemen Incursion, but he had never been able to remember that. This was different. He was in total control of himself, yet he had still killed someone. Killing was something bad people did. It didn't matter if it was in self-defense. He, alone, had taken this man's life. The horror and knowledge of it left his mind blank with shock.
Then one of the black suits removed the intruder's mask and Tsuna wanted to scream.
"Jack," his voice broke on the word as he looked into the face of his friend. Dead, lifeless eyes stared back at him, the emotion he'd felt at the moment of his death forever etched into them; sadness. Tsuna stared back at those eyes until one of the black suits shut them. He looked down at the blood on his hands as it took on new meaning. Not only had his friend been trying to kill him, but he'd killed his friend. He was dead and it was Tsuna's fault.
He began to shake as his father seemed to grasp that Tsuna knew the assassin. Wordlessly, he threw a small blanket over Tsuna and escorted him to another room. Tsuna let him, still staring down blankly at his bloody hands. Tsuna was in a complete daze while his father washed the blood from his body. He continued to be in a daze even when the blood-stained robe he was wearing was pulled off and exchanged for a new one. He continued to shake in shock, the look in his eyes becoming more lifeless by the moment.
Iemitsu had Cress bring in some V Special and poured him a large glass. Tsuna held it absently for a moment before his father got his attention long enough to make him drink. His shaking calmed when the whole glass, half the bottle, went down his throat in one gulp. The dead look became a glazed one as the effects of that much alcohol hit Tsuna all at once. Within a minute, he had passed out.
He woke up all at once and sat up much faster than he should. Looking around, he saw that he was back in his own room. He must have gotten drunk to the point of hallucinating, considering the migraine he had. Tsuna rolled out of bed, instantly stopping the moment his feet touched the floor. A wave of dizziness hit him and he looked at the large bloodstain on the carpet before him in dismay and horror.
"It wasn't a dream," he said to himself with a ragged breath. He sank to the floor, his back leaning up against his bed as he continued to stare at the stain. About that time, Cress came in the room and seemed disturbed when he couldn't immediately see Tsuna. Coming around the bed, the manservant found him on the floor, eyes wide with shock. Forcefully helping him up, he guided him over to the sitting area.
"Don't look, Lord Tsuna. The cleaners will have that up before this afternoon." Cress came to a decision as he continued to look at the panicked and pale look on his master's face. Instead of breakfast, he brought Tsuna a drink to calm him. Tsuna didn't even seem to notice until two shots had already went down his throat.
"Are you calmer now, Lord Tsuna?" Cress asked politely. He handed Tsuna some aspirin, waiting anxiously on the answer. Tsuna nodded, the blood beginning to flow back into his face. "Would you like me to call the school and cancel your classes for today?" He continued gently.
Tsuna silently thought about it, numerous thoughts rushing through his head over the course of several minutes. Finally he said, "No, I'll go. If word gets out about last night and I don't go to school today, it might be considered a sign of weakness." He rubbed his face with his hands. "Honestly, I'd rather stay here and hide, but I know where my responsibilities lie."
Cress nodded and went to get Tsuna's uniform for him. The boy might be in shock, but he was already thinking like a boss should. It seems that the Ninth's training was working as intended.
Tsuna sat at his desk in Homeroom, the empty desk behind him bearing a silent testimony to the fact that Jack wasn't there anymore. He'd quietly told Cheri before she went to her own Homeroom about what had happened. She had been an accumulation of tears that had brought curious looks from passerby. In the end, she had decided to call a car and return home instead of going to class.
"Has anyone seen Jack?" The teacher asked when his name came up for roll call. The class muttered to themselves. No one knew. "Tsuna," he asked absently, "You two are friends, right? Have you seen him? His Family didn't call in for him today." Tsuna bowed his head and quietly answered the question.
"He's dead." Silence filled the room as the teacher collapsed into his chair.
"W-what happened," the teacher asked, unable to control the need to know. All his students were like Family and the loss of even one was a large blow. Tsuna got up and started to walk out. It had been a bad idea to come to class today, after all.
"Tsuna...?" The teacher asked. Whether the question was wondering where he was going or asking what had happened again, it was hard to tell. He gritted his teeth again and stopped in the doorway. The teacher had a right to know, but Tsuna couldn't come out and say it. Instead, he answered a question with a question.
"What would you do if an assassin tried to kill you in your sleep?"
"I-I'd kill him, of course." Tsuna looked at him coldly, letting him see the truth reflecting in Tsuna's eyes. The blood rushed out of the teacher's face as he realized what Tsuna was telling him. "Y-you...?"
Tsuna turned away silently and without looking back, he walked away.
Iemitsu found his son sitting against the open balcony doors in his room. He seemed to be deep in thought as he gnawed on his thumbnail. He was happy to at least see his son not shaking for once.
"I heard about you walking out of class," he said as he sat down beside Tsuna. The boy nodded, not paying attention. "Are you okay?"
"I won't break," came the absent reply. Tsuna continued to look out the doors, lost in his own world. Noticing blood on his son's thumb, Iemitsu pulled his hand away from his mouth to look. The nail had been bitten down until it had bled, but the boy hadn't noticed.
"It's okay to cry sometimes, you know," his father said softly. "I know you want to be stronger, but sometimes strength doesn't mean holding it all in. You've been through a lot." Tsuna finally looked at his father, his face full of anguish and heartache for only a moment before he covered it and looked back out at the horizon. That moment made Iemitsu's heart clench, then it clenched tighter as he saw his son's emotional withdrawal. Instead of breaking, his son was slowly imploding.
"Do you want to go home?" Iemitsu asked softly. The Ninth be damned. One word from Tsuna and he'd be back in Japan before he could finish saying yes.
"No," came the heartrending reply. "I've went too far to go back now."
"Do you want me to send for the others?" Maybe they would help his son release his emotions.
"No," Tsuna said simply, making Iemitsu's heart clench again. "Not yet. I'm not strong enough yet."
"Is there anything I can do for you at all?" His father begged, wanting to do something to help his son.
"Let me know when I need to leave for work."
Iemitsu supressed the urge to howl at the answer. It wasn't the type of help he was wanting to give. Tsuna's eyes became unfocused and he seemed to become lost in his own private Hell. He no longer even noticed the presence of his father beside him while he looked out the doors at the sky.
Iemitsu wanted to weep when Tsuna began absently biting on his bloody nail again.
"So you're the new kid, eh?" The man standing over Tsuna was at least six times his size, even after the height and muscle he'd gotten in the few weeks since coming to Italy. The man in question was the head bouncer at Pink's, which happened to be the name of the club as well as the owner. Tsuna nodded silently to answer the man's question.
"I don't like it," the Security Head grunted.
"What's that, Grey?" Another man said from behind him.
"This little brat is supposed to be Yellow's replacement on the weekends," Grey answered. Tsuna smiled a little to himself. Apparently not only the waitresses went by color code-names.
"Why not give him a test," the new man suggested. Tsuna groaned inside, but politely stayed silent. It would be better not to purposely aggravate his new co-workers.
"Alright. That sounds good, Indigo. We'll give him a test." Grey smiled, his face splitting in two by his extremely large mouth. He went over and sat at one of the tables spread around the back room meant for staff. He put up his arm, silently challenging Tsuna to an arm-wrestling competition. Tsuna smiled. Six times his size or not, he'd not lost in arm-wrestling since he'd gotten personal control of his flame. He sat down and clasped the man's hand. Raising his inner flame to right below the surfacing level, he waited for the cue to start.
"Go," Indigo called. Tsuna yawned when the other man couldn't get his arm to budge. Tsuna purposely ignored the amount of effort he was having to put in to keep it that way and kept a careless attitude. Grey's eyes flashed at the silent insult and he started to stand to get more leverage. Tsuna wanted to smile when the man took the bait. Taking the opportunity as the man's weight shifted, Tsuna put all his strength into one controlled thrust. Indigo gasped in surprise when Tsuna slammed Grey's hand into the table.
"Holy Hell," Indigo said. "I think that's a first, Grey." Grey rubbed his wrist and silently agreed with a nod.
"What color do you want to be, kid?" Indigo asked while Grey disappeared to find some ice.
Tsuna smiled, "Is Orange still free?"
"Orange it is," Indigo said, running a hand across his bald head. He was only two times Tsuna's size in comparison to Grey's six and seemed to be the type that was always playing pranks. Both Grey and Indigo didn't look to be older than their mid-twenties. Then again, it seemed very few in the mafia got much older than thirty before retiring or being buried. "I'll show you the ropes since I don't think Grey's going to be able to forgive you for a while." He gave a grin as he led the way out of the room.
"Mostly your job is to keep order in the main hall," he explained as he pointed to the area around the bar. "I cover the left booths, Grey covers the right. You'll only be needed up there if things get out of hand. That rarely ever happens, though."
"What do you mean by keeping order?" Tsuna asked, wanting it to be clear.
"Sometimes drinks flow a bit too freely and the audience gets out of hand. If a fight breaks out, it's your job to bust their heads and throw them outside on the street. If someone gets too frisky with a waitress and the waitress says no but they don't listen, it's your job to give the guilty party a warning. If they don't follow the warning, again, you bust their heads and throw them out on the street. Same thing for anyone that tries to get on the stage." He stopped, trying to decide something.
With a small sigh he continued, "Pink has two rules that everyone who comes in here knows. If you hit a waitress, you're subject to the bouncer's punishment. In other words, it will be our job to beat him within an inch of his life before tossing him out. Also, for those that pay for one of the girl's 'company' in the booths, they can't go past a certain amount of roughness."
Tsuna blushed, knowing all too well what Indigo meant. The booths weren't only for private parties, they were also bedrooms. Indigo continued, oblivious to his discomfort. "If they do, it calls for Bouncer's Judgement which is a punishment that will be decided and dealt out by us bouncers. Typically it's done in private, but not always. Hopefully you never have to be part of that."
"If it happens, I'd rather be there," Tsuna said, going cold. "This is all part of my training, after all." Indigo looked at him curiously, wondering what he meant but Tsuna just shook his head. Other than Red, Blue, and Pink, no one here had been told who he was.
"Last but not least," Indigo continued as they walked up to the bar. "Drinks are free for us, but don't get drunk while watching the room."
"Don't worry about that."
"What? You don't drink?" Indigo asked in surprise.
"No, I just won't drink any V Special while I'm here," Tsuna answered with a small grin. Indigo's jaw dropped.
"No wonder you beat Grey. If you can handle that stuff, there must be more to you than meets the eye. I tried a sip of it once on a dare and was out for three days. Even Grey can barely stand up after half a shot."
"Half a bottle knocked me out for the night, so don't feel too bad," Tsuna replied, running a hand through his hair in embarrassment. Indigo laughed at the comparison.
"Well," Indigo said with a handshake, "welcome to Pink's. I've got to go make my rounds of the booths, but I'll come back occasion--" He was stopped by the sound of two men yelling and a crash as someone was thrown into a table. "Looks like you got a welcoming party, kiddo." Tsuna nodded and walked forward toward the mob that was forming.
As Indigo watched, he stopped in place for a moment. Then, literally in the blink of an eye, there was a flash of orange and Tsuna was on the other side of the crowd of drunken fighters. Indigo narrowed his eyes. How did the kid--? One by one the fighters fell to the ground as their bodies felt the blows Tsuna had sent. Indigo looked at the boy codenamed 'Orange' with wide eyes.
"Doesn't seem too hard," Orange said softly, looking back with flame-lit eyes that sent a chill down Indigo's spine. The rest of the customers suddenly decided that sitting down and keeping to themselves instead of fighting was a much better plan.
"You said throw them out on the street, right?" Indigo nodded numbly to answer Tsuna's question. Picking them up two at a time by their collars, one in each hand, Orange hauled them out the front door and left them in a pile on the street. Indigo narrowed his eyes a bit at the tired resignation that was barely perceptible in the new bouncer's step.
"Not bad, kiddo," Pink said from behind the bar when he'd finished. "You-know-who hinted that you beat him, but since he never came out and said it, I wasn't sure until now." She put a glass of amber liquid on the bar, obviously her thanks for working so quickly. Tsuna took it without a second thought while Indigo left for his rounds.
As he drank, Tsuna kept his eyes completely averted from the show on the raised stage behind them. He had a feeling he wouldn't be doing much but standing around for the rest of the night, but watching something like what the girls were doing up there wasn't his idea of how to pass the time. Instead, he turned his back to the stage and leaned up against the bar, turning out to look at the audience.
Several of the tables were full of men completely engrossed in the show, making him blush at the unabashed looks of lust and desire on their faces. Others seemed to be full of men chatting and drinking, only looking at the stage occasionally. There were one or two tables that had men neither talking or watching, but were nursing their drinks quietly. Tsuna had a gut feeling that they'd just completed orders for their boss. Only one table had a woman in it that wasn't a waitress. She seemed to be in the last group of people. She didn't care about the show and she wasn't talking to anyone.
"Who's that?" He asked Pink. The bartender looked up at where he was pointing after she finished mixing a drink.
"That's White. She's one of ours. She's one of the girls that doesn't do waitress duties and only serves booth clients." At Tsuna's blush she amended, "Not that kind of service. She's called on when we have a shattered one."
"Shattered?"
"When one of our regular clients or staff is broken, she's the one that puts them back together." Tsuna shuddered, but Pink didn't notice. "She's good at what she does. Good enough she could have an outside practice, but she stays here with us. We sometimes get extra customers that ask specifically for her. I don't know her reasons for staying with us, but I'm grateful." Pink filled another order before continuing, "Make sure you keep an eye out for her, though. A lot of the time new customers won't want to pay one of the girls to fill their needs, so they go for her thinking she's another customer."
Tsuna nodded. It was his job, after all.
