CHAPTER THREE

Pairings in this Chapter: Implied Byakuran x Gokudera & Xanxus x Squalo

Gokudera walked out of the room with Squalo closely behind him, he couldn't believe that Byakuya was 'him' he should have known it was him, a devices like this was something 'Ghost' was capable of. He felt utterly helpless and stupid; to think he could get away from 'him', the last thing he wanted was to drag Squalo into his own problem.

"So are you gonna tell me what the fuck was that." Gokudera had expected his brother to yell at him, curse or something, he didn't expect Squalo to be calm about this and to be honest a calm Squalo was worse than a loud Squalo.

"I don't even know what to say." It was the truth, Gokudera didn't think it was wise to blurt out that his psychotic ex-husband was out to get him, and he definitely wasn't going to mention that their marriage was both non-consensual and still in the process of being dissolved. He definitely couldn't tell Squalo that he would have to back off from their mission as it would be way too risky for him.

"VOII, don't give me that shit! The fucking bastard is threatening you, and somehow I'm involved in this shit. I know what the scum is capable of; I fucking deserve to know what's going on."

"You think I don't know this shit? You think I wanted to drag you into my problems? Fuck I thought I escaped him, I don't even know how he found me, you think I fucking want this?" his breathing was raspy and erratic, his hands were trembling. Squalo sighed.

"Fine, what's your connection with the fucking bastard?"

"A couple of years back, I had this job to steal some documents from some fucking minister's vault; the bastard was planning to create this device that could supposedly create some sort of semi-artificial life. According to the papers, the minister was gay and wanted to create a kid from his and his partner's genes, of course it was a pile of bull the fucking bastard was a womanizing asshole with at least five illegitimate mini-bastards. The program was supposed to be some campaign to support homosexual couples, anyway the only way to gain access was to sign up as one of the couples interested in the program." Gokudera paused for dramatic effect, the gears in Squalo's head turned; the swordsman gave his brother a look that said 'tell me you weren't involved.'

"VOII, don't tell me the trash was your partner." Gokudera's silence was all the answer he needed. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Shit I don't know, he wasn't that crazy then, it should have been an easy job, get a fake marriage, sign-up for the shitty program and steal the documents… Fuck I don't even know what I was thinking, after that fucking mission, he kept calling and offering more missions, he wasn't so bad then. I wasn't thinking."

"VOII, explain the marriage shit." Squalo had a feeling there was more to the mission than Gokudera was saying.

"I got a fake ID, and I'm assuming he did the same, our Alias got legally married in some fucking court. The fucking bastard thought the marriage was real." Okay, Gokudera wished he hadn't said the last part because Squalo looked like he was going to explode and take the whole building with him.

"VOOOOIIII, What the fuck! The shitty bastard thinks you're married?" Gokudera nodded somberly. "Shit!" Squalo began pacing around, trying to think of something to get his brother out of his 'marriage'.

"I can't stay here anymore, it's too risky." Squalo turned really slowly and stared at Gokudera in disbelief. He really couldn't believe the crap the brat was saying.

"And where the fuck would you go? We can protect you here."

"He fucking left flowers on my bed, I don't think safe applies in this scenario anymore."

"Shit! I'll think of something, your ass isn't going anywhere yet, we have a fucking mission to complete."

"Fuck no!"

"Stop being a fucking coward."

"Fuck you! You did not get stalked for years, you did not have some creep forging marriage documents legally bounding you to him, and some bastard did not track you halfway around the world."

"I'll think of something. And what the fuck are you going to tell them?" He flicked his wrist indicating the meeting room they just stormed out from.

"I have no fucking clue, the last thing I want is them finding out about this shit, can't we tell them some fucking lie?" Squalo glared at him, seconds later the glare softened.

"Fine, you fucking owe me."

(After Gokudera and Squalo stormed out)

"I knew there was something suspicious about him." Gianinni yelled, his body still trembling in fear. Reborn frowned, Gokudera's involvement with Byakuran while shocking was not entirely unexpected, what was unexpected was Squalo's involvement. Byakuran was obviously using Squalo to get to Gokudera. He briefly wondered if Gokudera was playing with them from the start, he cleared the thought because the younger silverette was obviously shaken by Byakuran's message and Squalo was visibly enraged. Still Gokudera was the only one with information about the weapon and Byakuran was obviously trying to get the younger silverette on his side, and the Arcobaleno couldn't allow that. Gokudera was their only chance at defeating Byakuran.

Xanxus shot at the trembling engineer, purposely missing Gianinni's head, all attention turned to the Varia leader. "The brat didn't know about the Millifiore Scum." Xanxus declared with absolute certainty, to be honest he had his doubts about Gokudera, but Squalo trusted him and if there was one person Xanxus trusted with his life it was Squalo.

Tsuna was deep in thought, even though Gokudera still scared him, he considered himself a good judge of character, and to him Gokudera wasn't a bad guy. The silverette was obviously being threatened, and Byakuran was obviously trying to get him on his side, the best way to do that would be to scare Gokudera and from what happened earlier he could see that Gokudera was definitely scared. He was interrupted from his musing when the doors slammed opened and the two silverette walked in, Gokudera was more composed, and Tsuna hoped the silverette wasn't going to leave them for Byakuran.

All eyes watched the two silverette cautiously; most eyes were on Gokudera the silverette in question glared right back at them. The first to break the silence was Bel.

"Shisishi, the Prince knew you weren't to be trusted."

"VOIII, shut up! We have more important things to discuss; the fucking bastard has already infiltrated the fucking mansion." Xanxus frowned. Vongola's security was top-notch, it was almost impossible to simply infiltrate the mansion, there was obviously a spy and Xanxus knew Squalo long enough to read between the lines, his silverette was accusing someone of double-crossing the Vongola and that somebody wasn't his brother.

"And how do we know, Gokudera isn't involved." This time it was Reborn who spoke.

"Tch, what the fuck would I gain from it? I'm not narcissistic enough to send myself flowers much less poisonous ones."

"Ano, Gokudera-kun, what does Byakuran want with you and Squalo?" Squalo looked at Tsuna like he had grown two heads, the answer was obvious. They had all heard Byakuran's message.

"The fucking scum wants the brat to join him; the bastard is using me to threaten him."

"Look, Can we just forget the whole message thing and continue the fucking meeting." Gokudera blurted out exasperatedly, he didn't want to continue discussing where his loyalties lie and he was sure if the conversation continued they were going to ask about his connection to Byakuran and the last thing he wanted was for them to know about that. Hibari raised an eyebrow at Gokudera's behavior, the silverette had been defensive since he came back into the meeting room, and Hibari had a feeling Gokudera's connection with Byakuran was more than he was letting on, he also got the feeling Squalo was covering for his brother, the cloud was determined to find out Gokudera and Squalo's connection to Byakuran. Hibari was also sure he wasn't the only one who had the same thought; he was going to drop the subject for now.

Squalo laid on his bed, sleep had evaded him and to be honest he wasn't comfortable enough to sleep, they had done a sweep of the mansion and came up with nothing, there were no bugs or any form of spying device, the background check on all the servants and workers in the mansion came up clean, something was seriously wrong. He trusted Gokudera despite their fights and bickering and he knew Gokudera wasn't on Byakuran's side, he also knew the others were suspicious of his brother. He supposed he could tell them about the whole marriage thing and clear their doubts, but he had promised the brat he wouldn't do that and he was a man of his word. He also had to come up with a way to protect Gokudera from Byakuran and to be honest Squalo wasn't sure he could do that… that itself was a frightening thought, it made him feel useless that he couldn't protect his brother, it made him feel inadequate that some bastard was able to infiltrate the mansion without leaving a trace. The door opened, Squalo didn't bother turning to who see it was, there was only one person who would come to his room without knocking.

"Trash, you owe me some explaining." Squalo sighed and scooted to the side to create some space for Xanxus, note that he needed to, the bed was big enough to fit four people.

"I know." His voice was soft and resigned, Xanxus climbed into the bed, and stroked his lovers hair affectionately

"We could do another sweep; we could find something this time."

"He isn't involved in the bastards plan."

"I know." Xanxus murmured softly into Squalo's hair, before giving his lover a kiss on his forehead.