To be honest, I've been having a bit of a bad time lately, so this chapter's come out a lot darker than I had originally intended. It's really quite angsty, so apologies if you aren't into that genre; I'll try and tone the rest of the fic down.

Two days later, Mukuro arrived back in Italy. He had left his car at the airport on his trip up to Japan, having paid the last of his own money to have it kept there for when he came back. The man was absolutely exhausted, and he felt as if he were about to fall asleep any second as he drove out to Belphegor's home, ready to investigate what Dino had told him.

After – narrowly – avoiding quite a few accidents due to his sleep deprivation, Mukuro finally arrived out the front of his friend's house. He parked the car against the curb, keeping out of view of the living room window – if Bel saw he had arrived, he would have a chance to cover his tracks, after all.

Mukuro knew that Bel didn't lock the backdoor to his home; the blond was convinced that no one would come in through the backdoor seeing as he had a padlock on the gate leading in to the backyard – the only issue was, Mukuro knew how to get around the padlock.

It was lucky the neighbours didn't own a dog as the blue-haired man had to use their yard to climb over the fence; their side of the fence held ledges that were easy enough to climb – it took mere seconds to have climbed the fence and arrived at the backdoor.

Just have to be as quiet as I can... Mukuro took a deep breath as he opened the door, glad that it didn't squeak. Can't let him know I'm here...

The younger adult was happy to see that at least one of his rules had been followed; the house was relatively clean compared to its usual trashed appearance. It was just a shame the man hadn't respected his friend enough to obey all the rules – namely, don't corrupt my little one.

There was no one in the kitchen or the adjoining dining room, Mukuro noticed. He wondered if the two were perhaps in the living room, but that, too, was proved incorrect as it was void of all life.

Bathroom...? Mukuro started moving to the hallway where the smaller rooms branched off, only to still as he heard Fran scream in pain.

The young man didn't care that he was running towards the master bedroom loud enough for his presence to be heard – all that mattered was something was going on and, so far, it sounded as if Dino had been right all along.

The door to Bel's bedroom was open, and when Mukuro finally stood in the doorway, he was too horrified by what he saw to be able to speak, much less move and stop what was happening.

On the bed, Fran laid beneath Bel, his face scrunched up in pain as his tiny fingers dug into the blond's shoulders. He was being rocked violently along the mattress as Bel thrust in and out of him at a rough pace, and from where Mukuro was standing, there was no doubt in his mind that his beloved charge was being raped.

"Get the fuck off him!" Mukuro roared as he finally found the strength to move forward and shove Bel from the bed. He winced as Fran screamed again, his insides having been torn open by the careless exit.

"M-master...!" Fran curled into a ball as he cried, not understanding what was going on – he could see that Mukuro was angry, but at whom? Was he going to be in trouble for playing this game? Was he really going to be taken away from Mukuro forever because someone found out?

Bel, who had taken a few seconds to realise that his best friend had just gotten into his house and caught him in the act, panicked. He jumped to his feet, moving to grab Fran from the bed before Mukuro could.

"It wasn't what it looked like! Honest!" Bel tried to explain – the honest truth was that Fran had agreed to this once again, so it wasn't as if he had forced the boy into it!

"What were you doing, then?" Mukuro snarled as he stepped closer, reaching out for Fran. "Playing doctor? Because from where I'm standing, it looked as if you were raping him!"

"It wasn't!" Bel protested, taking a step back so that he backed into the wall behind him – if he could hold Fran hostage, he knew Mukuro wouldn't hurt him. "I asked him if I could do it and he said yes!"

"Don't lie to me, Belphegor!" Mukuro spat. "Give him to me!"

Fran trembled as he curled in closer to Bel, terrified by what was going on; his body was aching and he just wanted to go home.

Bel was helpless as the youngest was pulled from his arms – he knew he'd be lucky if he got out of this without the cops being called on him, considering it was Mukuro's kid he had done it to; while the two were best friends, Mukuro wouldn't give that a second thought, wanting only for Fran to be safe.

Mukuro ignored the older male calling after him as he walked through the house and towards the front door. He shifted Fran into one arm as he opened it, storming out to his car. He was aware of some of the neighbours being out in their yards, a few people on morning jogs passing by – it was no surprise all of them turned and stared as Mukuro carried out a naked and bleeding boy who was in hysterics.

"Mukuro, wait!" Bel wanted desperately to explain himself, hoping that if Mukuro understood it had all been consensual, the younger would forgive him – it was a long shot, but he could only hope. "Mukuro!"

Mukuro didn't turn around again until he had carefully placed Fran in the front seat of his car and wrapped his jacket around the shivering boy. He wanted to hurt Bel, to make him suffer and feel the same kind of pain he was sure Fran was feeling, but instead he settled for spitting out, "Get his belongings now."

Bel bit his lip as he ignored this, trying again to calm his friend. "Mukuro I –"

"-Get his belongings!" Mukuro shouted as he took a step forward, shoving at the smaller male. "Get them so we can go home!"

Bel was silent for a few seconds before he nodded, knowing he had caused enough trouble as it was. He disappeared back into the house, presumably doing as ordered.

Some of the neighbours had come closer, obviously concerned by what was happening. One or two of them had grabbed their phones, and Mukuro feared them calling the police – while he knew he had to take this to the police, he didn't want it done so soon, not until Fran could have a chance to calm down about this.

"If you're calling the police, please do not worry about it," Mukuro called out to them, forcing a calm tone in his otherwise shaking voice. "I'm going to take him to the hospital and then go from there myself."

The onlookers nodded as he quickly ended the call, settling instead for watching.

"M-master..." Fran had tears running down his cheeks as he reached out with a tiny hand, gripping the white button-up shirt his guardian wore.

"What is it, little one...?" Mukuro knelt by the car, reaching out to pat teal hair in a soothing manner.

"I-it hurts..." The boy winced as pain shot up his spine, tears falling harder.

"I know..." Mukuro leant forward, kissing the boy's forehead. "We're going to go to the hospital as soon as we leave here and get you fixed up. Okay?"

Fran nodded, knowing he could trust the man.

Mukuro just glared as his once-best friend walked back out of the house, carrying Fran's bag in his arms. His pet mink had curled up around his shoulders, seemingly content as it was taken towards the car.

The blue-haired man snatched the bag from the older male before he placed it in the backseat of the car.

"You are not to go near Fran ever again, Belphegor," Mukuro growled as he slammed the back door closed. "Do not ever talk to me again – if you so much as come near my house or us in public, I will not hesitate to call the police and tell them what you've done."

The younger adult spared no further words to the blond as he pulled his keys from his pocket and instead moved to the driver's seat.

Bel stood by the curb as he watched with a frown, not knowing what to expect – what was going to happen from here on in?

Most of the onlookers standing on the road had moved away, giving Mukuro room to drive as well as avoid the car coming towards them. Bel just stared after his friend, lost in thoughts. He snapped back to reality only when he felt his pet jump from his shoulders, finding the furry white creature running across the road to chase one of the neighbourhood cats.

"Mink!" Bel shouted, trying to move forward and catch the animal, but it was too late; the onlookers gasped and cried out as they witnessed the small animal go under the wheels of the car that had been travelling towards the commotion, a horrid screech filling the air.

Brakes were slammed as Mink shrieked in pain, flung out by the back wheels. The crowd had no idea what to do as they watched Bel running towards the animal, gathering the twitching, broken creature into strong arms.

"Mink...!" Bel hugged his pet to his chest, his mind in a blur; he knew it was too late to do anything for his beloved mink, and the last thing he cared about was the blood that was quickly saturating his own clothing – all that mattered was his pet was about to die. "Fuck...! Mink...! No!"

Tears leaked down the blond's face as the driver of the vehicle ran towards him. He couldn't find the strength to take in anything anyone was saying; the only thing he could think about was the fact that in less than ten minutes, he had just lost both of the only friends he had in this world.

"Mink!" Bel screamed, unable to even get off the road; he felt as if his chest was tearing and his head about to explode. "No!"

No one knew what to do; they could only watch as the man sat on the side of the road, crying as he hugged his pet.

~~XX~~

After a visit to the hospital where the nurses ran a rape kit, took evidence, and then cleaned the boy up, Mukuro took him home so that he could heal. While Fran was resting out in the living room so that he could watch the TV, Mukuro had curled up in his own bedroom, needing to have a sleep himself; he was feeling so down with everything that had happened, he didn't have any motivation for anything.

Mukuro was just about asleep before he was jerked back into reality by Fran's voice, seemingly close by.

"Master...?"

Looking towards the doorway, Mukuro sighed as he found the boy standing in the doorway, looking sad. Sitting up, the adult made room on the bed for his charge.

"You're supposed to be resting..." Mukuro couldn't find it in him to be stern with Fran; the boy had been put through enough. "What are you doing up?"

"Master, my frog is still at senpai's house..." Fran curled up against his guardian, looking up with sad teal eyes. "Can we go get him...?"

Mukuro patted soft hair, wishing he could say yes – but even to get back Fran's precious toy, he didn't want to go back to Bel's house.

Instead, the man soothed, "I'll buy you another one, alright?"

"But that one was special..." Fran buried his face in the strong chest. "Please?"

"Little one..." Mukuro closed his eyes as he let out a breath. "...Little one, this is not a good time... Please, go back to the couch and rest... I need some alone time..."

Fran nodded in understanding. "Sorry, Master..."

"It's okay, little one."

Mukuro knew he was being stupid – he had reacted in the same manner he was now after his breakup with Hibari. For days he had refused to get out of bed and neglected himself as he wallowed in depression, and he had only gotten out of it because Bel had been there to snap him out of it.

But this... This was worse than the breakup. This made Mukuro feel as if he had failed a human being for having been the one to leave Fran there. He felt as if this was all his fault, as if he hadn't cared enough to find somewhere else for Fran to stay. He knew he should have taken the boy up to Japan with him, but he had declined in fear of forever being in debt to Squalo, worried that amongst everything else he had to pay off, he would only bury himself deeper.

Part of Mukuro feared Fran would hate him for what he had subjected the younger to, like Fran would never trust him again. As much as he tried to reason with himself, he just couldn't talk himself out of the idea that if anything went wrong with the way Fran grew up, it would be his fault now.

Mukuro wished he was as strong as people gave him credit for – no matter how prideful he held himself, he considered himself one of the weakest people he knew who hid behind a playful smile and kind words.

Maybe his own reason for being weak was having shouldered everyone else's problems, trying to fix them and shoving his own to the back of his mind.

Yes, that must be it; Mukuro's downfall was that he was just too kind, and he had no one there for him the way he tried to be there for everyone else.

~~XX~~

After eventually having calmed down enough to be guided back to his own home, Bel had immediately taken the corpse of his best friend out to the backyard. He had spent hours digging a grave for the little animal, and even longer sitting by its side, mourning.

When Bel had at last gone back inside, the first thing he saw was that stupid frog Fran owned, sitting on the couch and staring at him with lifeless eyes.

The blond sniffed as he grabbed the teddy by the arm and carried it into the kitchen. His hand trembled as he grabbed a knife from the cutlery drawer and went to work on cutting the teddy into as pieces as small as he could manage until nothing was left of it.

It wasn't that Bel blamed Fran for this – he had known all along what he was doing and how wrong it was – it was just that he couldn't stand that stupid thing reminding him of how far he had fallen in regards to his feelings towards the boy. The man who had been known as Prince the Ripper during high school didn't have feelings or cared for anything – he lived his life fooling around and using others for his own guilty pleasures.

So why was a stupid kid the first person he had really felt an attraction to? Was that why it hurt so much knowing Fran had been taken away from him? To be honest, he didn't know what loss hurt him more; Mukuro's, Mink's, or Fran's.

Whatever the answer was, Bel knew he wasn't going to have an easy night.