Pairings: BernardoXGian, IvanXGian, LuchinoXGian, GiulioXGian, AobaXClear, AobaXVirusXTrip, AobaXRen, AobaXKoujaku, AobaXNoiz, AobaXBakshi, VirusXTripXGian, AobaXGian
Warning: Contains minor hints of rape, violence, extreme swearing and heavy scenes of smut.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dramatical Murder or Lucky Dog 1. All rights go to the respectful owners
Chapter 11 - Dramatic Meeting
The cruise ship slowed down once it reached the end of the docks. Its large body was eased into the empty space where it had docked from and finally pulled to a stop after a few minutes of parking it just right against the edge. The men who were accompanying Koujaku and Noiz all looked to be relieved to finally be back in their homeland while still being on high alert for any suspicious activity from the city that stood in front of them.
It was quite busy early in the morning and it surprised Koujaku that the people could walk around carefree despite probably knowing that the mafia families were more or less in charge of the place. He still had his doubts with the mafia and that would not change so long as they were around but if it was to see Aoba again, he was willing to put up with their presence and affiliations for now.
But there was something that was bugging him even more than the mafia members. A certain someone had thought it was funny to put one of their rabbit cubes onto his nightstand and woke both him and Beni up from their slumber in the form of an alarm clock. Noiz had apparently stuck the cube in his room while he was fast asleep and when confronted with the incident, claimed that it was because 'you wouldn't wake up otherwise'.
Koujaku looked back to see Noiz leaving the ship's cabin carrying both his suitcase and the belt of cubes that he usually had around his waist. He was happy to finally be around the new people than having to be around Noiz for the remainder of the days. As though the man could feel his stare, Noiz looked down at him as he began his descent from the ship's deck and down the ramp that crossed the water. He didn't say anything and continued walking until he went past him. It would seem to anyone as though he were walking into a meeting and looked to fit right in with the other men wearing their suits proudly.
Suddenly a red Alfa Romeo came into view and stopped just next to the men who were idling nearby to a stack of barrels resting to the side. A blonde with spiky hair and a bubble of gum sticking out of his mouth got out from the driver's seat. Two other men got out with him from behind, both of them taller than the first yet the one with the light purple hair looked to be rather timid and shy compared to the others.
The men looked around and figured out right away who the newbies were just by the clothes. Both Koujaku and Noiz stood still. They both knew that this city was their territory and if Koujaku knew how any sort of organization worked, it was to first let the other party know that you did not mean any ill intentions toward them. But that was not the way they handled their own problems and continued staring the men down through intimidating stares.
But what the blonde man said surprised the both of them. "Sorry we're a bit late! Your friend seemed to have changed his mind about meeting you guys. That big guy might have said something to him though...Ouch!" One of the men who got out behind him struck him from on the back with an open palm.
He had wavy red hair that had been tied in the back with a red bauble looking pony tie and a small scar on his right cheek that was partially hidden by his bangs. "You can't go starting things that might get blown out of proportion, idiot." The other man who looked to be watching them more intensely than the other two, often looked around with a serious expression.
Koujaku knew who the man was talking about and had to bite his tongue to hide his aggression. Mink had obviously said something to Aoba and in his mind thought that the man must have threatened him. He took a side-long glance over to Noiz and ducked his lead low to show that he approved of them and that he should be the one to talk instead.
Although Noiz used to be rotten when it came to manners, he surprised him when he came back from Germany with a suit instead of his Rhyme outfit and his usual geeky hat. The missing piercings from his face had made it so that he thought he had been looking at a totally different person when he first met up with him. Looking at the man now, he seemed to fit in with the mafia league. Noiz turned his gaze to the men who got out of the car and walked up to them holding out his suitcase. What was he doing?
Curious, Koujaku cautiously walked up as well. Because he was still a bit on edge with the whole mafia ordeal, he kept a bit of a distance. Noiz opened the silver case and showed the men surrounding them the contents of it. It was as though they were looking at a mini computer room from the future one that exceeded that of the era of cellphones. Three light blue and see-through computer screens floated in the air.
The man with the blonde spiky hair seemed to be the most intrigued about the screens and was constantly pulling on the red haired man's coat sleeve. "This was the last known footage I could get before they left. I think they must have switched their base of operations. It's the only lead I could get for the time being."
Koujaku realized that the video footage on the screens were that of the remote controlled camera he had in the small rabbit cube that was found and eaten by Virus's snake allmate. The three men watched the screens, seeing the same two figures that they had seen back on the ship when they first viewed it. But aside from their acquaintances, there were two other figures who were standing behind them but only their legs could be visible as they were in a spot where the camera had been blocked by the car's tire.
"Oi, Luchino. Wanna make a bet?" The blonde man asked as he smiled from ear to ear disregarding the recording he was watching. The man with the red hair looked down at the other man with an annoyed glance.
"What's the point on betting if I know your system. The universe seems to have claimed you be lucky till the day you die. There's not much in it for me if I bet against you." The blonde man shrugged his shoulders. Noiz shut the screens down and closed the case.
"I bet one hundred that those extras were the G.D." This caught both Koujaku and Noiz off guard as they never thought the people helping Aoba would be able to know who these men were despite not being able to see their faces.
Koujaku felt slightly irritated but kept quiet as he wanted to find out more about how the man came to know who it was so fast. For all he knew this could all just be a well planned trap for all of them. "Sorry to interrupt, but how is it that you guys know who it is without even seeing anything properly? We know our enemies faces but the other two...are you saying you've seen theirs?" Koujaku asked. Noiz gave him an angry look but did not say anything.
This was his way of life, ascertaining the truth before jumping into the help of unknown hands. He wanted to make sure they all weren't just being duped into thinking they had Aoba and in the end find out they were working for Virus and Trip all along. The blonde man stopped smiling and then held out a ring tied to his neck with a dark brown necklace.
"Hm...I'm feeling lucky this week so I'm sure I know who those two are. Well...one of them." The man looked over at the other man who had the purple hair and smirked.
"Signor Gian, you don't think it's..." The man stopped when he saw Gian holding up his index finger as though telling him not to say anything more.
Luchino looked between the two of them and then let out a heavy sigh. "Bernardo also would have known who it was without you two being secretive. We are a family who stick together. That includes you, Giulio. I know you'll look out for Gian but our main target now is obvious."
Gian pouted his lips and looked off to the side while Giulio began to blush and looked off in the opposite direction. "I'm sorry, they are in a technical term, our dogs of the family and don't get out often. I am Luchino Gregoretti of the CR-5. Bernardo has already made dozens of calls to his employees so we should find them within sometime during the week or month."
The man's voice was very relaxed and calm as he spoke and Koujaku could not believe how a man was able to put up with such odd behavior. Noiz returned the man's warm welcome by shaking his hand like a businessman would. "I'm Noiz and this guy is -" Before he could continue talking, Koujaku gave Noiz a swift jab to his lower back with a small punch. "This 'guy' happens to have a voice. I can talk for myself. Sorry, my name is Koujaku."
Noiz straightened his suit at the back while Luchino smiled at them politely and held out his hand to the two beside him. "This is Gian Carlo and Giulio Di Bondone. Gian is our boss while our real boss is away on a sort of business trip but mostly just for show." He chuckled while Gian quickly turned to him and pounded on his chest in frustration.
"Stupid! That old geezer's just taking a nap in the Bahamas somewhere. Bernardo told me. You should consider yourself lucky that I didn't send you with him, he was hoping to bring you along but Bernardo said he needed you here for other reasons." This seemed to have shut Luchino up.
"A-Anyways...we shouldn't be talking here, who know what these G.D. bastards do on their days off..." Luchino quickly regained his composure and looked around the area. His eyes showed great concern for what might have been lurking around and watching them.
"G.D.?" Koujaku was interested but only slightly as he needed to know what or who to look out for. The man opened the car doors for Giulio and Gian to get back into the red car while Noiz took the other side.
"They call themselves Grave Diggers and right now are the only other family to give us CR-5 members some trouble here and there. But in the end we own half of the city so their main real problem is their mutt, Bakshi Christensen. We did have a sort of peace treaty in the past with them thanks to Bernardo but...it's mostly a void contract telling each other to get the hell off our property."
He then got into the driver's side on the right side of the car and waited for Koujaku and Noiz to adjust to the small car's seating arrangement. Giulio sat in between Gian and Noiz while Koujaku had the privilege of being seated next to Luchino in the passenger's side. The other men who had arrived with them on the boat, had gotten a ride all for themselves in two sets of limos that had arrived along with the main car.
While Koujaku sat uncomfortably in his seat because of the car doors, Noiz did not seem to mind the doors at all and acted as though he had been riding in it his entire life. Given that he was from another country that still used cars as everyday life compared to back on the island. As Luchino was about to start the engine back up, the muffled sound of a phone ringing stopped him in his tracks.
Everyone looked at each other with curious looks but only both Gian and Luchino knew what it was and Luchino quickly rummaged through the car's extra compartment that had only been used to store the warden's treats, the man who had been the previous owner of the car before Gian and the others stole it for themselves. They had installed a car phone into it. Although Bernardo was against the idea at first as it was his car and he thought it unnecessary to install something that caused him to groan because of the reference it created when he was back at the hotel but he allowed it because Gian had insisted they have one in it.
Even though Bernardo was good at answering the phones, he hated doing it. Luchino pulled the phone out of the glove compartment and simply stuck it between Koujaku and himself putting the phone on speaker so that everyone could listen in. Gian let out a sigh as his stomach let out a low grumbling sound. The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be doing something in the background and it made each of them question the noise.
Luchino started the car up while the person on the other end decided to talk at that exact moment. The voice shocked all three of the mafia family members. The person on the other end was Cavalli, an elder member who used to be one of the captains of the CR-5 before handing it down to Gian Carlo. He occasionally oversaw things when the boss could not while instructing Gian on how to act and when and was mostly active with the council of the higher ups within their family.
Both Noiz and Koujaku could sense the air around them grow tense but whether it was out of fear or anxiety or both, would stay a mystery. The captains each said their formal greetings to the man and shocked Koujaku as their behavior of being carefree seemed to disappear and their faces were now serious and focused on the voice.
"Sorry, but I had Bernardo take a short walk for me. It seems the warehouses that our men have gone to were found dead. Thankfully our janitor has seen to each of the scenarios but..."
The pause that followed after the sentence caused both Luchino and Gian to freeze from doing anything that would distract them from the call. There was a slight bit of static before Cavalli's voice finally came back.
"As you can probably guess, the only culprit for so many deaths in one night would be none other than that man, Bakshi."
"I personally asked Bernardo to allow Giulio to go after him but without proof that he did it, the G.D would surely try to pull something over our eyes and get us in trouble with the members of the other families."
Koujaku and Noiz let their eyes travel around the other three and their expressions. From what he could tell, these men were having quite the time trying to get rid of just one man. But he was more worried about Aoba and his condition and was hoping they would start to get moving already.
It was against a mafia family's Omerta, a code of silence that forced their members to not breath a word to the cops or to enemy families. But most of the time, the CR-5 were constantly feuding with the Grave Diggers and it was only thanks to Bernardo and the current treaty that was stopping the G.D from completely taking their part of the city over. If they wished to, they would be capable of overrunning their HQ if not for the treaty.
But just because there was a treaty did not mean Bernardo could not keep tabs on their whereabouts when their guest was concerned. After all, they had confirmed that the twins who had entered the city were now laying low from their radar and to top it off, with a man who seemed to be the devil himself with the way he acted on his own.
Luchino leaned forward and began the long drive back to the hotel while Cavalli and Gian spoke. During the trip, Koujaku could sense a strange shift in the air around the man that sat next to Noiz. The man's face was cast with a dark aura and he could feel a slight evil intent of blood lust. But it disappeared the moment Gian slapped a hand to Giulio's back and his regular and timid, bashful face came back.
Koujaku tried to focus on the scenery as the car drove past the city buildings but his mind was more focused on wondering what Aoba would be feeling once they met again. He looked to his shoulder where Beni had been sitting and resting and noticed the bird was still wide awake.
He thought for sure the bird would sleep a bit longer as they did have quite the journey the past few days. But the bird appeared to have the same thoughts in mind as he did. To see for their own eyes whether Aoba was OK or not. The call soon came to an end leaving all those in the CR-5 with a gloomy look on their faces.
Gian however despite his sad expression, tried to lift their spirits by explaining to them both about the joys of their town and sugarcoated the situation with excitement. "So your name's Noiz?" The blonde man asked. Koujaku looked over his shoulder curiously to see how the younger man would react to the question. He had always wondered what his name was and he knew it could not have been 'Noiz'.
But Noiz did not reply to the question and instead handed Gian a business card. It had both his name and his family's business information along with his profession. Although he helped with his brother, Theo, he seemed to also have had a side job that included hacking. "Oh! We could use a guy like you here if you ever need a change of view. Right, Luchino?" Gian gripped the back of the driver's chair resulting in Luchino to accidentally swerve the car to the side for a bit.
Gian quickly let go and sat back while putting his hands up in defense. "Sorry. But I will have to refuse your offer. Aoba is currently the only thing I came for. I'll be heading back after this is over." Noiz's answer angered Koujaku as he thought he did not get the memo last time.
"Aoba doesn't belong to you or to anyone for that matter! He's not going with you just because you brought a silly trinket from home." Luchino snickered beside him at the sudden outburst from the man and soon they could see the hotel within their view.
Because it was still early in the day, there were not that many cars to draw attention from and were now all standing outside the red car, parked in front of the hotel's main entrance. Four men with nice, clean black suits filed out of the hotel building one by one. Among them, a man with long light green hair stood in the middle of them. His green eyes reflected the sun's glare causing them to shine a brighter green than that of his hair.
Koujaku and Noiz stood side-by-side while the other three stood off to the side. Luchino gave Bernardo a form of greeting by simply nodding. Gian was the first to get a 'welcome back' greeting. "Hello, my honey! Did it go well?" The man asked and practically bounced his way forward only to stop in front of Gian.
As though this was an everyday thing, Gian responded with the same type of greeting. "Yes, my darling. Mister Luchino was gentle with us." Both Noiz and Koujaku could see Luchino blushing but did so with an angry expression on his face.
"Bernardo, those jokes only work on Ivan, not me. Plus you'll give them the wrong idea." He pointed his thumb back over his shoulder to Koujaku and Noiz. Bernardo smiled apologetically and then proceeded to kiss the back of Gian's hands.
Koujaku who thought it looked rather more real than fake, looked away to give the two their bit of privacy. However, Noiz kept staring at the scene. 'If they're all like this...would Aoba...no...but...' Koujaku's thoughts felt jumbled like a puzzle box and he had a hard time trying to convince himself that the men seemed decent enough not to try anything. He had written off the fact that it might be a trap as they had not shown as much as hostility nor could he feel any ill will against them.
Bernardo finally let go of Gian's hands and greeted the two of them properly. "Welcome! We're glad to have new guests since the hotel's financing had been going down as of late and we the CR-5 will be happy to accommodate your needs. But I'm pretty sure you're both eager to see your friend I assume?"
One of the men who had been talking on an earphone tapped Bernardo on the shoulder and whispered something into his ear. The man's eyes darkened for a bit before returning back to normal. He smiled again while turning his back on the five of them. "Sorry, but I seem to have another arrangement with the phones. Gian, honey, would you like to accompany me to my room?"
Gian, at first was puzzled by what the man was saying secretly but went along with Bernardo anyways, leaving both Giulio and Luchino behind. Luchino let out a heavy sigh and brushed part of his bangs from in front of his eyes, pushing it back as though he had been in deep thought. Giulio who had been patient with the entire ordeal seemed to be in deep thought as well but with a rather scary expression.
Noiz seemed to be accepting it all and was about to head into the hotel as well when Koujaku grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back. "Let go." Noiz pulled his arm away by force. Koujaku grit his teeth together. He did not want to be the only one left to try and save Aoba if it had been a trap. But Noiz did not seem to think like this and was ready to jump into an open firestorm by the looks of it.
Noiz gracefully stepped inside the hotel but was suddenly stopped by a couple of men standing nearby. Luchino and Giulio followed in after him with Koujaku trailing behind. If it was to be a trap, he thought it better if the other two taller men went in before him. Although Noiz had told him that both Mink and Clear had made it before them, he saw no signs of them. This was what had been worrying him since they showed up at the hotel.
"I'm sorry, sir but we insist." One of the men who were standing at the doorway on guard, was trying to convince Noiz to let him pat him down for any weapons he carried.
Koujaku brought his hand to his face and sighed. "Just take your cubes out, those are the only weapons you got aren't they?" Koujaku asked him. Noiz looked back at him but didn't say anything and soon he was digging out all the cubes he had brought with him. They were not the only weapons he had on him though, he had also brought along his silver, metal, finger less gloves that he used to wear a while back.
The men finished patting Noiz down and turned their attention to Koujaku. He knew right away he was probably not going to be able to carry his sword with him everywhere like he wanted but if it was to see Aoba, it being a trap or not, he wouldn't mind. Noiz however did not appear to care one way or the other if he had weapons or not. That was probably the only thing he did like about the man. Koujaku handed the men the sword that he had wrapped and tied to his back.
When they were finished patting them both down, the men looked to Luchino for their next order of business. Luchino was the 3rd captain in charge and took charge when Bernardo or Gian could not while both Ivan and Giulio concentrated more on the combat division and fought with the G.D members more personally than both Bernardo and Luchino.
But Luchino did not give them any more orders than to stay at the front and keep watch on any suspicious activity and proceeded to show Noiz and Koujaku t their designated rooms. He showed Noiz to Bernardo's telephone room, explaining to him the ins and outs of the place and what went on.
He showed Koujaku to his own room as it was stated that they would be sharing one. It was spacious and tension free and allowed Koujaku to feel a bit more at ease. He let Beni rest on the room's round dinner table while he and Luchino went to Aoba's bedroom. Mink had passed them in the hall but did not say anything to acknowledge that Koujaku was there and walked past both of them as though they were strangers. Koujaku did not mind this and continued to keep his thoughts on meeting with Aoba for the first time in three years.
A/N: Sorry I meant to upload this a few days ago but then had to go to doctor appointments with my mom and then shopping after that and just lots of things seemed to happen all at the same time but yes, they have finally arrived and are going to meet Aoba, finally!