Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Oi, Starrk, hey! Welcome back! Got worried you were in a spot of trouble down there! Looks like you brought some friends..."
Findor Carias flashed a disturbingly friendly smile as he greeted the younger man with his 'prisoners' in tow. Charlotte Cuulhourne gave a seductive wink in Starrk's direction, causing him to cringe. Aizen, Gin, Tousen and Matsumoto hadn't totally believed everything Starrk had told them about the transvestite mafia man at first, but now they saw the cold, hard facts right before their very terrified eyes. Findor looked more pleasing to the eye, but he was even more scary in truth.
"These guys are the intruders...they attacked Avirama and Ggio but were left weakened after knocking them out, so it wasn't very hard for me to finish it," Starrk explained, glancing down at the forlorn-looking Aizen. Charlotte's lustful eyes slowly and reluctantly drifted away from the mullet-haired man and fell upon Matsumoto's busty form. His eyes grew as wide as dinner-plates. Findor crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
"You did good, Starrk. Avirama and Ggio will be sorely missed, but it was a necessary sacrifice to protect our boss from harm."
"They're not dead, just unconscious."
"Then I'm sure they can find their way back once they wake up."
"I guess you're right, but that's still mighty cold."
"Oh, stop whining with that fake western accent of yours; it's not fooling anyone! In any case, as the heir to the mafia, what do you think we should do with these intruders?"
Suddenly, acting on what inadvertently put a major dent in Aizen's strategy, Charlotte took a step forward and unsheathed his blade. "I say we kill them all right here and now." he snarled in a manly voice.
'WHAAAAAAT?' thought Starrk, Aizen, Matsumoto, Gin and Tousen all at the same time.
"I don't like the way they look...especially that red-haired chick with the obscenely huge tits. It really pisses me off." Charlotte's words were dripping with scolding-hot envy towards the young woman. He wasn't very happy about Aizen's long, silky brown locks either, or the way that fox guy kept smiling at him like that.
Findor sighed, rolling his eyes. "You're always griping about how much you hate people that look better than you-"
"NO ONE LOOKS BETTER THAN ME! I JUST DISLIKE UGLY PEOPLE!" retorted Charlotte. He was like a little child throwing a tantrum.
Findor would have liked nothing more than to point out how flawed his partner's logic was, but seeing that murderous look in the transvestite's eyes made him think otherwise. Tousen gulped as he nervously eyed the long, sharp sword in Charlotte's hand. The last thing he wanted was to be sliced and diced to tiny pieces. Who would take care of Komamura if he was gone? Certainly not Aizen or Gin.
"Are you sure you wanna kill us? We die really easily; it wouldn't be much fun for you." Aizen casually remarked.
"I'm not looking to have fun. I'm looking to cut that pretty face of yours right off!"
"Oh dear...!"
"I think I should be the one to kill them," Starrk spoke up, "If I am going to be the next boss of this mafia, then I need to be able to become comfortable with taking lives, don't you think so?"
Findor's brow furrowed slightly for the briefest of moments. "Hmm...yes, you're right. You should be the one to do it. Shoot them once in the head each."
"Good. I'll just go to my room and get some real bullets. I ran out of tranquilizers already. I'll be right back." Findor's light-grey eyes intensely tracked Starrk's movements all the way until he disappeared past the front door of the small shack. Then, the blonde man removed his own sword from its scabbard and swung it once through the air. Matsumoto gulped.
"What're you doing?" Charlotte blinked in confusion, his long eyelashes sparkling in the evening light.
"I'm going to kill these intruders."
"What? But you just told Starrk-"
"That boy isn't going to kill them. He was always against the idea of killing people, so it would make no sense for him to suddenly be so willing. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was lying too. If anything, I'd suspect he's gone and planned some kind of secret plot with these strange people," Findor snarled through clenched teeth. He brought his sword down with its tip barely an inch away from the base of Aizen's neck. Gin was starting to lose composure; he didn't give a damn what happened to Aizen, but he loved Matsumoto and Tousen had alot of money. Unfortunately, at the current moment, the situation was not in their favor. There was nothing he could do without the risk of being cut down instantly.
"So what should we do?"
"We kill these intruders, and then confront Starrk. We do not know what he's planning just yet, so we just be careful with what we say or what we do to him. The boss is not the kind of man who would let even his own son get in the way of his supremacy; if Starrk is betraying us, he will be punished with death, as all other traitors have been."
"You didn't have to explain it so dramatically."
"Shut up; it's what I do, and you know it! I am doing this all for the boss! We must destroy everyone and everything that stands in our boss's path! He is our king!"
Findor pulled his sword back, and prepared to swing, only to realize that he could not; a large hand had grasped tightly upon the sharp steel. It was Ayon. A loud crack punctured the short silence as Ayon's other fist smashed hard against Findor's face, sending the man sprawling across the ground and into a nearby tree. Charlotte cursed loudly, and he too was knocked over by a surprise kick to the back courtesy of Kira. Aizen, Gin, Matsumoto and Tousen hastily undid the ropes tied around their hands and removed their own weapons from their respective hiding places.
Findor and Charlotte jumped back onto their feet with ease. "BASTARDS! DON'T MESS AROUND WITH US SO CARELESSLY!"
"Sorry," Aizen cackled like a maniac, "We're not dying today, my friend! Especially not by your hand!"
'It's not very fair that you get to act so cool like that...you didn't even do anything...' Gin thought in annoyance.
"Lilynette...? Lilynette? If you hear me, please answer back..."
Starrk quietly tip-toed down the old hallway, painstakingly trying to avoid causing the floorboards to squeak loudly underneath his feet. He also fought back the urge to cough as dust and tiny particles of mold filled his nostrils and his lungs. He really hated being in this crummy house, and he knew that it wasn't good for Lilynette's health either, but he really was the only one who actually cared about her. She wasn't just a little sister or a living reminder of Starrk's long-dead mother, but she was his first true friend. The one who had rescued him from the loneliness. For those reasons, even if he had to die to make it happen, he wanted to ensure that Lilynette will be able to live a happy, healthy life.
"Lilynette..." Starrk whispered again.
Eventually, he reached the door into his younger sibling's room. Carefully, slowly, he opened the door with the back of his palm. Upon stepping inside, Starrk gasped. Lilynette was still asleep in her bed, just like Starrk had left her, but now...her father, his father, the boss of the Luisenbarn Mafia, was standing over her with a solemn expression in his tiny eyes. Barragan Luisenbarn had left his room for the first time in three weeks, and it was to see his daughter. For a moment, Starrk felt sympathetic towards Barragan, but he shook that thought from his mind: his father never gave a damn about Lilynette before. What in the world was he doing here NOW? Then Starrk noticed the giant black axe that Barragan held in his left hand, faint stains of blood covering every inch of it.
"Dad..."
"Hmph...so you came to take her away from this place, huh? Take her away from the mafia...take her away from me..." Barragan's voice was rough and gravely, like as if he had been chewing on nothing but sandpaper all his life. He did not look away from Lilynette as he spoke, his mouth barely visible underneath the thick white mustache that adorned his face. Starrk knew it was foolish to stand there in the doorway with a dumbstruck expression, but his father had a powerful way of leaving people frozen with his presence alone. Age had not deterred his fearsome influence.
Starrk sighed; it was now or never. "Yes, father...I'm taking her away from this place. And I am leaving as well. Lilynette and I are not meant for the type of living that you are so accustomed to. We don't want to be apart of this mafia business. It's time to finally let the Luisenbarn mafia come to an end. I...I hope you understand."
Finally, Barragan raised his head to look at his oldest son, and the only son of his still alive. "Idiot," he let out a snort, "You've said those same words to me three years back, and my answer now is the same as my answer then. You will inherit this family as your own, boy, and you will lead the Luisenbarn Mafia back to the greatness it once held so long ago!"
"And my reply is the same now as it was then: No."
Barragan, surprisingly, chuckled at that remark. "Then, I guess my beatings from that time did little to change your mind, after all. How unfortunate. This time, I will not hesitate to kill you, boy, and even if you die, I will simply use that woman you brought to us outside and have her give me a new heir to raise and teach before I pass on. I've seen that whole fight down on the mountain path with the telescope, although I will keep the fact that you aided the enemy from Findor and Charlotte. If you survive and continue to complain, then it would be best to remove that which you are so determined to save," He gave a curt nod to the slumbering Lilynette after the last sentence. The sleeping pills he had slipped into her water earlier on really worked well.
"Last time you gave me a machine gun. How am I supposed to protect myself now? You have that custom-made axe with the strength to cut even steel in half...and I have a rifle without any bullets."
"So do you suggest we play a children's card-game instead? Or maybe checkers?"
"Well...that certainly would make things easier...but what do I do?"
"Hmph...I guess you'll have to figure out something for yourself, eh, son?" And after that, Barragan attacked with the swiftness of a wild animal pouncing onto its prey.
