(Hello! Thank you to everyone that reviewed and favored, I appreciate it! This chapter came out longer than expected because I love Lampo and I have also RPed him so I had some headcanons that I tried to put in here. Also if you are interested in keeping up with my stories and when I will be updating on them I have made a blog for my fanfiction on tumblr. . . So if you are interested follow me there! :D Thank you again for your support! I don't own any of the characters, they and KHR belong to Akira Amano.)
Entering the city was a young boy of about sixteen years of age. He looked tired and worn; his clothes had holes and dirt on them. He was hungry, but most of all he was thirsty. He couldn't remember when the last time he had a drink of water was. He didn't even know how long he had been walking, had it been days? Weeks? He didn't know anymore, all he knew was that he was now trying to figure out if leaving his home was really the best idea.
He was tired of having to listen to his tyrant father - sure he got whatever he asked for, but that was more out of bargaining than love. He gets a new piece of artwork; he stays out of his father's hair for a while. That is usually how it worked, especially since his dad took advantage of his love for foreign and original paintings. Even when his mother was alive it wasn't great. He wasn't allowed to spend much time with her because his father was afraid that if he spent too much time with her he wouldn't have what it takes to become the next Lord of the land. The times he did get to spend with her he never took for granted. He tried to make the most of it, since it was the only time he really got to have any interaction with a parent.
When he turned fourteen however, she had fallen ill and the doctors, even though they were the best in the area, didn't know what to do for her. She continued to grow weaker as the days went on, until she died a few weeks later. Being left with only his father, the boy was neglected more than ever. He developed a lazy and selfish attitude from not being forced to do anything, aside from going to a few council meetings so that he had some insight on how the country was doing. Even then his amount of responsibility was low.
Looking around, all the boy could think about was that he had to find something to eat; he didn't know what would happen to him if he didn't. His stomach felt like it was starting to eat itself. He had been in the city for a little while before he made it to what seemed to be the center. There were a lot people walking around and a lot of merchants set up along the sides. Now all he had to do was find someone that was selling food. He looked up and down, standing on his toes so that he could see over the mass crowd of people around him. Then he saw it; a fruit stand. He had never been a huge fan of fruit, but in his situation he wasn't about to complain.
He walked over to the stand owner and asked for a few apples, bananas, and some peaches. He was filling his hands with more than he could carry till the point he just asked the man if he would buy one of the baskets to carry it all.
"Are you sure you have the money to pay for all of this young man? I hope you aren't going to try and steal any of this are you? Cause you don't want to know what happens to people who steal from me boy." The man said, pulling out a knife from his back pocket. It was one that he must have used to cut the large watermelons that he had on the stand.
"W-what?! N-n-no. I plan on paying for all of it sir." The boy stammered some of the fruit falling from his shaking hands.
"I have money right here; you can look if you don't believe me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little draw string bag. When he opened it the merchant could see that the bag was filled with little gold coins.
"Where did you get all of that money?!" The man half shouted, his face stuck in an expression of disbelief.
"W-well I thought that I would need it so I took some before I left my home."
Due to the man shouting a lot of people around them heard what was going on. Most of them looked over but continued on with their day. Others however had a different idea. A group of six older men that had just got done taking money from a man were just walking out from in between two buildings, and heard everything.
"You hear that boss? Sounds like little rich boy is a far away from home." One of the men spoke up with an evil grin spread across his face.
"So it seems. With the money he has we would be set for a long time."
"Then let's go get him." Another man said, cracking his knuckles as he started to walk towards the boy.
"No, wait. There are too many people here right now; they'll get in the way. We'll wait till he gets somewhere alone, then we take the money. We'll just follow him for the time being."
Eventually the man had put away the knife and took the money the boy handed him. Looking the coins over trying to make sure that they were really made of gold or if they were just fakes.
"It's real you know," The boy said, noticing what the man was trying to do.
"If that is true then listen to what I am going to tell you kid. There are many people in this city that will do anything to get their hands on money. So don't let anybody see you walking around with all of this, you understand me? Bad things can come of it, and from the looks of you I don't think you could handle the consequences. "
"T-thanks for the warning." The boy responded, taking the items he had bought and continued on his way. He had thought about staying in this city at least for a little while until he figured out what he was going to do, but after hearing a warning like that he started to think maybe staying here wasn't a good idea.
He had made it a few blocks before he noticed two guys come from around the corners a few feet in front of him. He felt his stomach sink, but decided that he was just being paranoid; putting too much thought in what the man had told him. What was the possibility that right after he got that warning he would get mugged, right?
The two men started to walk closer to him closing the gap in between each other so that he wouldn't be able to get around them. It was then he realized what was happening and decided to turn around so that he could try and make a run for it. Unfortunately when he turned around there were two more men standing right behind him; they must have snuck up on him while he was busy worrying about the ones in front. He tried to think of a way out of it; maybe he could run out to the side to get around them? When he turned he saw that he was blocked that way as well.
"What do you guys want?" The boy asked
"Don't play dumb with us, you know what we want," One of the men in front said, walking toward the boy. Once reaching him he grabbed on to his shirt, making him drop the basket he had in his hands.
"Now be a good little rich boy and hand over the money, and maybe we won't mess up your pretty boy face."
"O-Ok ok, I'll give you the money just don't hurt me, take whatever it is you need." The boy searched his pockets frantically grabbing the bag and handing it over to the man.
"That wasn't hard. You don't put up much of a fight."
"Of course he didn't boss; he has probably never had to solve a problem on his own in his entire life. He has had everything handed to him, so he has never had to deal with something being taken from him."
"Ah that is true, we should teach him a lesson boys, shouldn't we? We need to show him how things work in the real world."
"N-no, please don't hurt me, you got what you want. Put me down, I won't tell anyone what happened, I'll leave and you won't see me again, I swear." The boy begged.
While the men all had their attention on what was happening in front of them, they didn't hear that two people had snuck up on them. Before they took notice two of the men were easily subdued. When the others heard them fall to the ground they turned around to see two figures standing where their comrades once did.
"Now I am only going to ask you once; please put the young man down, and return to him what you stole." Giotto said, stepping forward so that he could be seen in a nearby street light.
"Oh really? And just what are you going to do if I don't?" The boss of the group spat, tightening his grip on the boys shirt.
"Then you're going to wish you hadn't walked down this street to begin with." G answered him, finishing the cigarette he had and grinding it out with his foot. "Now I suggest doing what my friend here said, and put him down."
"I'm tired of hearing you two try and order me around. Guys, take care of them."
"Why can't they ever just listen and put people down when we tell them to?" G sighed.
The men charged toward Giotto and G, two going toward each. They thought they could finish the fight fast if they attacked them two on one. Sadly for them, that method came nowhere close to working. G took out his two without a problem, and Giotto who had been working on his fighting since the day he partnered up with G had gotten much better when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Within moments the men were down, and unable to get back up.
"Impossible, how could just the two of you be able to take down my entire gang?!" The boss yelled.
"Easy, they can't fight. Everyone knows you don't come charging head on." Giotto replied, smiling like he hadn't just taken on and defeated two men twice his size.
"Why, you!" The man dropped the boy, causing him to fall to the ground, too scared to even try and get back onto his feet.
"I'll take care of him." G said walking up to the man. Even though the man stood a good foot or so over him his confidence didn't falter.
The man took a swing at G, though it was ineffective due to G being shorter and more mobile than him. G was able to dodge and kick the man's feet out from under him. He landed on his back and G took his foot and placed it on the man's chest adding pressure on it slowly.
"Now give back the money, and get out of here."
"No way, you don't scare me. You won't do anything." The man laughed
"Actually, he might do something." Giotto corrected. "See, I am the nice one, him…..not so much."
The more pressure that was applied to man's chest the harder it got for him to breathe. It was at this point he finally decided that the boy and the money weren't worth it. It was a lot safer and easier to go after people with little money than this.
"Fine, I'll give it back, just get off of me."
With that G took his foot off of the man and pulled him up by the collar. The man took out the bag that he had just taken from the boy not too long ago and handed it over to G. When he was let go of he started to walk away from the men and head his way back out to the streets.
"By the way, don't think you can go off and start robbing other people, we'll be watching you." Giotto called out saying the last part in a playing tone.
The man stopped in his tracks with an almost scared expression before running off and out of sight.
"You do know you sound really creepy when you do that, right?" G sighed
"I don't sound creepy, why would you even say such a thing? I'm truly hurt G."
"Because you do, and no you're not. Besides you deserve it after what you said about me back there. You're the nice one and me not so much, what is that supposed to mean?!"
"Well you were the one with your foot on a man's ribcage and almost suffocating him."
"Only because you wanted to come down here and save this guy!" G pointed over to where the boy was before noticing that he wasn't there anymore.
"Wait, where did he go?"
Giotto started laughing before he pointed over toward G and then down at his leg. The boy had managed to make his way over to him and attach himself to the red head's leg.
"Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?!" G yelled trying to shake the boy from his leg.
"T-thank you s-so-so much! I thought I was going to die back there! Is there any way that I can repay you?" The boy said in between sobs.
"Yeah there is, you can get off of me!"
"Aw G, I think he likes you."
"No, don't aw, this isn't cute this is disturbing and obnoxious. Stop standing there and get him off of me!"
Giotto walked over toward his friend and bent down so that he was at eye level with the boy.
"Hey there, my name is Giotto, and the one whose leg you have taken captive is G. What's your name?"
"L-L-L- Lampo."
"Lampo huh, well Lampo, where are you from?"
"M-my father is a lord of a land far from here. I ran away because I was tired of the way he treated me. All he cared about was power, and I don't even want to rule his stupid land when he is gone." Lampo answered calming down a little and letting go of G's leg.
"Well kid as much as that sucks, that sounds like a personal problem, and our work here is done. Just keep that money hidden and you shouldn't have any more trouble. Let's go Giotto."
"Wait, you're going to leave me here, all alone, at night, are you? Please don't leave me, I can't defend myself!" Lampo cried, grabbing onto Giotto this time.
"He has a point G, we can't just leave him here. " Giotto pointed out
"Yes we can, it's easy; it's called walking away. He is not going to be some stray dog that we take in because you feel sorry for it. "
"First off, he is not a stray dog he is a human in need. Second, that dog loves you and you know it."
"Ok, forget the dog; point is we can't just take in someone we don't even know."
"I think we can trust him."
"Why would you think that? And don't give me that gut feeling crap, I want a real reason. "
"But it is a real reason. It told me I could trust you and I didn't know you, so who's to say it's wrong this time?"
"You're just going to keep throwing that back in my face now aren't you?"
"Well it's true. Now then, how would you feel if you came back with us?" Giotto asked, making the decision on his own.
"You mean it? Wouldn't I be imposing?"
"Yes."
"Be quiet G. Anyway, it will be no problem at all. Though there is one thing that I ask you do for us."
"Sure, what is it?"
"As you saw a few minutes this town is full of a lot of bad people that prey upon the weak. The authority in this town is almost non-existent since most of the major criminals are able to pay them off so that they turn their eyes away from the crimes that happen here. So we go around trying to help people out where we can, but it's hard for just two people to do especially with a town as big as this one. Could you help us out?"
"I don't know how much help I would really be to you. I'm too afraid to actually go up to someone and fight them. I would be in your way more than be any use to you." Lampo responded with a tone of doubt.
"Nonsense, I'm sure that one day you will find the courage, especially if it means doing it to help someone out that needs it."
"I'm not too sure about that, but I promise that I will try my best to help you out in any way possible. It's the least I can do for everything you have done for me."
"Great! Now how about we head home, it's getting late, and I am getting hungry." Giotto stood up offering his hand down to Lampo to help him up.
"Yeah that sounds good," Lampo replied happily has he stood up and started to walk with the two men to his new home and life.
