DISCLAIMER : Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: TOGASHI YOSHIHIRO, the publisher, the broadcasting companies of the anime both 1999 original version and 2011 remake - Nippon Animation and Madhouse, respectively and etc.

REPLIES TO COMMENTS

SakuraPetal91 : There are more surprises to come in the following last 2 Chapters ( ôu~)

Guest : We'll just see what happens ( ^u^)

Milye6: Well, Zoldyck Children are meant to be creepy xDD They are just being what they are and that still reflects on their drawings xDDD
Well what would people in past think is something we will find out in the sequel already xDDD

We're already 2 Chapters away from the ENDING, YAAAAY!

CHAPTER 27
- PACT -

"I'll give you a neat offer." He circled his finger around the lip of the goblet.

"How would you like to be the next heir of the Zoldyck family?"

WHAT? My eyes widened in shock. Sure Gramps was the one who always comes up with the craziest jokes within the family. But this time, his mischievous grin meant business. I hope he's not being serious.

"P-pardon?"

"We have all the power to do everything. In just one dial, you can be recognized legally as a Zoldyck. You'll live in luxury and you can finally make good use of your outstanding abilities." He took a sip. "But you know what's the best of all, you'll eventually be the one to handle the industry and have the power in your hands. All of these will be yours."

"But..."

"The advantages are boundless..."

My hands trembled. This was unexpected. I miscalculated the situation and never saw this coming. HOW COULD THEY DO SUCH A RECKLESS AND DESPERATE TRANSACTION TO SOMEONE THEY DONT EVEN KNOW?! This is NOT how we run our business! Am I missing out something?!

"Thank you Master, I am more than honoured to be given such offer. But I am far not worthy as I personally think the Young Master is the rightful one to be the heir and not some lowly peasant that I am." I bowed my head down, crumpling my pants with my fists.

"Death..." He interrupted me. "...is the only way out of this. It's everything or nothing. This deal involves the whole assassination industry of the legendary Zoldyck family just so you know."

"But, the Young Master..."

"...is not eligible to be an heir."

So that's it. Is this how desperate they could get? Is he THAT BAD to be distrusted and judged by his own family themselves even at an innocent age? Is this how lowly they see him? It feels entirely wrong to feel sympathy over Illumi and his situation. If he grows up to be the monster he is then sure he IS NOT eligible! But if they'd do something about his undesirable behaviour, things will be fine! The discrimination is not helping him! He can still change! Why won't they give him a chance?!

Or, maybe THIS is the exact reason why he became a monster. They were the ones who turned him into the monster he is in the present!

"I refuse." I denied flatly. I did not even know how did I get the nerve.

"The Young Master is the only eligible one to be the heir. If there's anything I would be risking my life for in this family, that is forging him to be an eligible heir and prove his worth of your trust." I stood up with my knees trembling out of such tactless move I did.

"Please excuse me Master if you don't mind, but the Young Master needs me right now and I have to get back to him."

I am practically doomed. I know they're planning to dispose of me later. I just defied a crucial order, rather a grave transaction involving the family's entire welfare. I insisted to do things my way knowing Im out of authority and pledged to break the rules to change their ways.

If so, Im ready to die. At least I died trying to do something right. I died on my way to correcting my mistakes. The best I could do is to hope that my death would indeed make a huge change and help for his betterment.

"Will you be leaving me too someday? You actually left your family. How much more someone you're not closely related to." He continued.

"If I did, what would you do?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He plainly answered. "It's expected. Sooner or later you will leave just like my other servants did before."

Behind his unemotional demeanor underlies a grim and solitary tune of suffering. This is how he started. At a very young age, he was already being drilled to close his soul from any emotions and he grew up mastering the trick that turned him into the devil. He was raised solely to train the next heir and to serve for the family in which he's nothing more than a special servant with the family's name and authority. And THAT IS with zero complaints. He accepted his cruel fate wholeheartedly.

This time I will return the favor while I still can.

"If there's any reason I'd be leaving, that'd be to the other world. I can't turn back anymore. There's nothing I will be going back to..."

Right. Because I will turn this into my new reality.

"SOOO!" I tried to liven the mood up. "I will be training you well to be the next heir! You should work hard for it! You should be strong! Hahahaha!" I pat his shoulder.

He gave me back his usual blank stare as his eyes followed the movements of my hands whilst I bit my thumb till it bled.

"Let's make a deal." I thrusted my bleeding thumb towards him as a sign of my pledge.

Confused, he stared at his own thumb then looked back at me. "What for?"

"JUST DO IT!" I nagged him that eventually convinced him to bite his tiny stubby thumb as well until it bled.

I pressed my bleeding thumb against his. Our blood started to mingle as it trickled down to the floor.

"Only death will impede me from fulfilling my obligations as you pledge to do whatever it takes to be the next heir under my supervision as my lifelong mission and obligation."

He watched the droplets of blood hit the floor as I finally took my thumb off his.

"THERE! Pledge completed." I grabbed a hanky from my pocket to wipe my hand then wiping his as well. "That's a promise! You promise me to be a competent and worthy heir as I promise to never leave you and train you up to all of your potentials. Are we good?"

"Mm-hm!" He smiled back at me. "I promise."

"Great!" I gave him back a grin, patting his head. "Oh isn't it getting late? You should be sleeping by now!"

"I'm not yet sleepy!"

"NO! You should sleep now!" I admonished. "Now hurry up and fix your bed, NOW!"

He didn't budge and just kept staring at me.

"We made a deal...!" I glared at him.

"Pffft..." He rolled his eyes and finally jumped off of his bed to start moving. "As if fixing stuff has got something to do about being an heir..." He muttered under his breath as he began to pick his stuff up.

"Are you complaining?!"

"Nah..."

"Make sure you return all of your stuff to where they used to belong! HUP HUP HURRY UP! 1 - 2 - 3! One way to being an heir is RESPONSIBILITY and BEING ORGANIZED!"

"Ooookay..." He let out a long 'okay' while moving around the room, fixing the rest of the misplaced objects and returning them to where they belong.

"Wait, wasn't it your job to do the fixing?"

"HEEEY! I thought I'm supposed to be your 'aniki' here! You're supposed to do as I say with zero complaints!"

On the bright side of the situation, Im starting to get the hang of bossing him around. It's not that bad to be the big bro here after all!

"'Kaaaay..." He responded. "True enough because big brothers are not supposed to be fun..."

"ARE YOU SAYING SOMETHING?! You better hurry up because you still had to brush your teeth before you sleep! Otherwise I'll brush them for you and YOU WOULDN'T WANT ME to do that!"

"'Kaaaay..."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I- I don't even know what to say!" Kikyo fidgeted around, overwhelmed by the situation. "YOU-JUST-ASKED... THAT WORTHLESS PEASANT TO BE THE NEXT HEIR?! DAD! ARE YOU NUTS?!"

She stood across Zeno and Silva who sat on the couch, speechless and motionless, seemed to be lost in their thoughts like they heard nothing.

"AND THE NERVE OF THAT BRAT TO REFUSE AND CREATE HIS OWN 'RULES'! WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING ON DISPOSING HIM RIGHT NOW?! THIS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND!"

"If he accepted the offer, would you stay quiet and calm about it? You will oppose regardless his decision." Zeno finally spoke out.

Silva looked back at Zeno in conformity.

"His ideas made sense. I actually admire the determination and dedication of that boy." Zeno continued with a slight chuckle.

"This is not the time to appreciate his direful impudence and misconduct! Why do you root so much for that suspicious, shady brat? Isn't what he did enough proof for you to realize he's trying to start a chaos within our family?!"

"Don't you see yourself in him?" Zeno turned to Silva who eventually stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going!" Kikyo admonished hysterically.

"I'll take care of this matter personally."

END OF CHAPTER 26