Chapter 33

Against the Wrong Family.

Sorry once again for the lateness, but I was participating in the Black Out Day. Whilst Mafia Row is safe, every one of my other stories either had violence, lemons or are based on songs- Especially Thief, which I am very proud about. So I didn't want them to be taken down.

KuraiArcoiris, there's something in here that you've been waiting for. It wasn't until I had finished the chapter that I realised that I had done what you had suggested, but this is the perfect place to put it.

A gentle pat on the head slowly wakes Tsunayoshi up. He blurrily opens his eyes to find Luce gently smiling down on him. She brushes some stray hair away from his face.

"Good morning, sleepy head"

"mmm… Good morning Luce."

She picks him up and carries him downstairs. Tsunayoshi tries to go back to sleep, lulled by her gentle rocking as she walks down the stairs. Tsunayoshi immediately wakes up when he feels the aura the others are emitting.

Seriously, were they still fighting?

It had been like this ever since last night. It seems that the others aren't too happy with where Skull is taking him today, however Skull had the perfect excuse: Tsunayoshi has been taken to every other Family on the island, including the dangerous ones. As a result, there was no viable reason for him not to take Tsunayoshi.

Of course, Luce had been there to calm everything down, set ground rules and make sure most people were happy. Tsunayoshi always admired the way that she was able to do this. He wondered what the house would be like if she wasn't there. He didn't want to think about that. In fact, he didn't want to think of a house without any of them in it.

Deciding he didn't like the bad atmosphere in the room, Tsunayoshi puts on a bright smile and says rather loudly, "Good Morning"

But he is ignored by everyone except Bermuda. Tsunayoshi pouts at this and goes to stand next to Bermuda who is leaning against the kitchen counter, watching the conversation. Bermuda didn't actually mind Tsunayoshi going where he was going today, for like Skull had been telling the others, Tsunayoshi had been everywhere else. Bermuda knew that none of this Family's men were in his prison. However he wasn't going to tell them that some had gotten rather close on some occasions.

Luce sighed and went about making breakfast for them all. Whilst having reservations, Luce also didn't mind Tsunayoshi going. But it had nothing to do with the Family Skull was seeing, but with Skull himself. She had noticed that every time Tsunayoshi was in danger, Skull had always protected Tsunayoshi with his body, always getting directly between their little boy and the enemy, whether that was Iemitsu or Bermuda. She knew that Skull would do anything he could to make sure that Tsunayoshi wouldn't get harmed.

Tsunayoshi accepts his breakfast of cereal from Luce and walks into the Battlefield. Placing his bowl on the table, he jumps onto Skull's lap, takes a huge spoonful and says "Come on Skull, we've got to be ready for today, don't we?" and holds up the spoonful near Skull's face with the obvious intent for the Stuntman to eat it. Everyone goes quiet at the interruption. Skull smiles at this show of trust from Tsunayoshi, nods his head, and eats the cereal Tsunayoshi had been offering him.

Reborn, still not too happy with the result, and too stubborn to give up that easily, raises his gun once more, but is stopped by a few words from Luce. "Hmm, what a wonderful espresso." She had once again dared to drink his espresso. Reborn snatched the rest away from her before it was all gone.

A few of the others give Tsunayoshi a hard analytical stare, especially Verde and Viper. What they were looking for was any hint of un-comfortableness, or apprehension from the little boy. Tsunayoshi was not very good at hiding his emotions from the others (it didn't help most of these people were exceptionally good at reading others like a book), so any hints should have been easy to see. Both were looking to see if Tsunayoshi's hyper intuition had provided the boy with any misgivings about the day to come. Verde because he had been documenting it, and therefore knew some of the tell-tale signs, and Viper because she had been around Nono for long enough to recognise the signs. There were none. It seemed that Tsunayoshi wasn't worried about the coming day at all. So all they could do was trust him.

They walked all the way down Mafia Row to get to this new house. It was next to Bermuda's house and opposite to the Estraneo's house. Skull unlocks the gate and walks inside, Tsunayoshi following him. There wasn't a lot to this garden really, just a lawn without any decorations. In fact, the only 'decoration' the garden could boast, was the few people sleeping sprawled out on the lawn.

Skull sighs and shakes his head "They must have had another party last night. Just ignore the drunks Tsunayoshi." Tsunayoshi nods his head but can't help looking at the people with interest. All looked dead to the world around them. One of these drunk Mafioso is collapsed over the doorway. Skull moves him out of the way with his foot before entering. After feeling the stagnant air in the hallway, Tsunayoshi decides it might be a good idea to leave the door open to let fresh air into the house.

The house is in really bad condition; there were bullet holes all over the place, the wallpaper was peeling off, there was graffiti all over the walls. The carpet was stained (by what Tsunayoshi couldn't tell), the furniture was ripped and battered. He couldn't understand why someone would want to live in a house like this, nor how they had let it become this bad. It was either that, or Tsunayoshi wondered just what kind of party they had had the night before. Skull looks around the house and sighs once more. In reality, the house always looked like this since they had parties nearly every night. Kicking some beer bottles out of the way, he slowly guides Tsunayoshi to the living room where hoped the Boss would be.

Opening one door, Skull half steps in before immediately backing out and taking a step away from it as if it was about to blow up. Tsunayoshi looks at Skull confused. With his helmet on, Tsunayoshi couldn't get a good look at Skull's face, but he seemed scared. "Haha, we're going to go a different way" says Skull before grabbing Tsunayoshi's hand and pulling him quickly away from the door. Verde's threat from last night was still ringing in Skull's ears. Verde came up with some of the most unusual and painful punishments Skull had ever seen. It wasn't like he wanted to get Tsunayoshi intoxicated or high either.

Finally, they make it to a room with the only awake people Tsunayoshi has seen.

"Wolf, I told you I was bringing someone over today. Why on earth is the mansion like this? What kind of impression are you trying to make?" shouts Skull, hand on his hips to look imposing.

"Oh, Skull. Why? We were having a victory party." Replies Wolf. Tsunayoshi gets his first look at the man and the feeling in his gut starts to turn bad. It's telling him not to trust this man. That this man isn't a nice person. The Boss is quite thin, rather pale, with short hair and brown eyes. He's wearing a black pinstripe suit, with lots of gold jewellery glinting around the place. As the man smiles, Tsunayoshi can see the glint of gold on his teeth too.

"A victory party for what?" asks Skull suspiciously. You never could tell with this Family.

"The Carcassa" the man says smiling broadly in pleasure. Tsunayoshi's intuition growls at the name. Tsunayoshi himself is quickly coming to the same conclusion as his intuition. Sometimes it was wrong, or just didn't see things clearly, but this time, it seemed spot on. "Have just secured the deal with those men from Africa. Speaking of, I'll need you to go there and collect the children"

"I will not!" shouts Skull, slamming his hands down on the table. Tsunayoshi had never seen Skull this mad before. Skull was almost a different person here in this building. "I told you, I am having nothing to do with your child trafficking. I don't believe that children should be used as slaves or as prostitutes."

The Boss looks at Skull for a few moments before sneering. "Oh really. So you'd rather that I tell the Arcobaleno your dirty little secret?" Skull freezes up and takes a step backwards.

"You w-wouldn't." breaths Skull shakily.

"Of course I would." Laughs Wolf. He stands up from the table and walks around it to be closer to Skull. The rest of his subordinates in the room all stand up too, crowding closer and closer to the stuntman. "I've kept your dirty little secret so far, but wouldn't be awful if it just… slipped out? It would spread like wildfire and sully the Arcobaleno name. You'd be kicked out, and then where would you be, eh?"

Tsunayoshi watches as Skull takes another step backwards, obviously scared of this man's threat. However in Tsunayoshi's opinion, this man isn't being very fair. Secrets were meant to be kept. He kept the others' secrets away from all of the other Arcobaleno. He never used it to blackmail people with. He doesn't want Skull to be scared any longer. Skull doesn't deserve that.

Standing infront of Skull, Tsunayoshi glares up at Wolf. "Stop it. You shouldn't threaten Skull!" he shouts at them. There is a silent pause before the men in the room burst out into laughter.

"hahaha, look at big bad Skull being defended by a tiny child. That the best you got Skull? How is he going to save you?" remarks the man snidely. Tsunayoshi grits his teeth and growls in his throat, just causing the men to laugh even more.

"Or maybe he brought the child to share in his dirty little secret" shouts one man from the side of the room. The men around all jeer at this.

"Of course!" agrees the Boss "Skull's just as filthy as the rest of us are. What a bad influence you are Skull" the man smiles, showing he doesn't really mean that. "You say you won't deal with our child trafficking, yet here you are, bringing the boy here of all places. You might talk big Skull, you might see yourself as better than we all are, but in truth, you're just a wimp. You aren't strong enough- that's the reason you came to us in the first place after all. So you are going to listen to me, and do what I say, or else everyone will find out that Skull from Hell is so unclean that even Hell won't take him in."

"T-t-that's not true! T-there are w-worse p-people than m-me!" Stammers Skull, backing away even more.

"Stop it!" shouts Tsunayoshi once more, his glare slowly getting colder and colder. "You're all just bullies!" Raucous laughter ensues.

"So, since you ain't going to stop us, how about you join the party? Even your kid here can join, ain't that right Snake?" says Wolf, giving Tsunayoshi a very unfriendly smirk.

Someone grabs Tsunayoshi and hauls him into their grip. Tsunayoshi struggles but goes cold when he feels something cold and sharp pressed against his arm. "Don't worry Skull, this is the good stuff, 100% pure and unprocessed." Informs Snake, the one holding Tsunayoshi.

Tsunayoshi watches as Skull goes stiff in anger, his fists clenching. He shakes ever so slightly, but the men around assume this is in fear. "Haha, not so high and might now are you Skull."

"P-put him down" whispers Skull.

"Eh? Can't hear you Skull. Where's the loud and confident stuntman we see on TV?"

"I said Put Him Down!" roars Skull. He steps forwards towards Shake and reaches to pull Tsunayoshi out of his grip. Snake, seeing this, lifts the syringe he had been holding against Tsunayoshi's arm back slightly and goes to puncture it into Tsunayoshi's skin. However Skull reaches Tsunayoshi just in time and pulls the boy out of Snakes grip, getting the syringe in his arm instead. Holding the boy close, Skull punches and kicks his way out of the room and runs down the clear corridor. He can hear the Boss's last words follow him

"Heh, leave him. He'll be back. No one else will take him anyway." Skull wished that those words weren't true.

Once Skull is a reasonable distance away- at the junction where Mafia Row Central crosses the main Mafia Row- he collapses into a bench, hugs Tsunayoshi tightly and bursts into tears.

"I'm so sorry Tsunayoshi. I should have listened to the others. I thought they were going to be on good behaviour for once. I should have known better. I'm so stupid. I'm sorry,"

"Skull… Skull… Listen to me Skull" Tsunayoshi tries to interrupt but Skull keeps on crying and apologising. So grabbing his hand, he drags Skull all the way back home.

Skull stops talking when his helmet is pulled off and he's pushed into Oodako's water tank.

"Skull be quiet and listen to me!" shouts Tsunayoshi from his position on the edge of the tank. He keeps going before Skull can interrupt him once more "You need to leave that Family. They don't deserve you! If they are going to treat you like that then you shouldn't stay any longer"

Skull sniffs and looks down "But the thing is Tsunayoshi, they were the only people to take me in. And with what I've done, they are going to be the only people who would consider taking me in"

"The only people? Why would you even look for them?" asks Tsunayoshi confused.

"Because everyone else is attached to a Family, so I thought that I should be too, to fit in more. I thought that if I joined and made a Family successful, then Reborn wouldn't laugh at me anymore."

Tsunayoshi sighs and walks around the tank to be closer to Skull's position. "Skull, you don't need to be attached to a Mafia Family to fit in. In fact, I like you even more because you aren't like the others. Skull wouldn't be the person I like if he was like Reborn. And where would the others be without you in the group too?"

He gives Skull a few moments to think that over before he continues.

"We still love you Skull. And I'm sure whatever you have done isn't really bad. You wouldn't do something like that!" argues Tsunayoshi right back.

"I am Tsunayoshi! I'm a horrible person! I was feeling really sorry about myself one day and I ended up resorting to taking drugs from them to feel better. That's my dirty secret"

"Skull" sighs Tsunayoshi.

"See, you're going to hate me now and then everyone else will and I'm sure Reborn will kill me for sure this time!"

"Skull, be quiet. I'm not going to hate you. You don't take them now right." Skull shakes his head.

"I stopped not long after we got you" he mumbles. "I never felt bad enough to take them after we got you. You were always enough to make me feel better"

Tsunayoshi smiles, takes a few steps backwards, runs and jumps into the pool right next to Skull. Skull catches him and is soon enveloped in a hug. "I'm not going anywhere Skull. And I never will. So there's no need for you to ever go back to that Family ever again." Tsunayoshi pulls back and looks at Skull straight in the eyes. "Promise me, you won't ever go back there."

Skull bursts into tears once more, but this time it's due to gratitude from all the love Tsunayoshi has given him. Skull is glad that Oodako is holding them up since he doesn't think he can swim anymore. "I will Tsunayoshi. I promise you" Tsunayoshi smiles and hugs Skull tightly once more. "But what if Wolf really does tell everyone?" he asks, worry filling his voice.

Tsunayoshi thinks for a few moments before climbing out of the tank. "Child trafficking means selling children right?" he asks. Skull blankly nods. Tsunayoshi climbs down from the pool and runs to the entrance of Skull's warehouse

"Bermuda!" he shouts. Bermuda steps out of a black portal and bends down to be on Tsunayoshi's level.

"Yes, Tsunayoshi? How may I be of assistance?" Bermuda asks, noticing Tsunayoshi's wet appearance.

"The Carcassa Family are selling children. Can you go and tell them off?" Tsunayoshi asks. "Tell them Tsunayoshi and Skull sent you and that they had better not mess with Skull again!" Bermuda smiles, and a quick look at Skull's red blotchy face and tearful eyes gives him a good guess at what had also happened that day.

"Of course Tsunayoshi. Selling children is against Mafia Code" replies Bermuda. He stands up and takes a few steps backwards. "Jacque, Junk, Appear" he orders. A few moments later, two more cloaked Vendice appear behind him. "Follow me." All three quickly disappear.

Tsunayoshi goes back to Skull and offers him the towel he had found laying near the pool. "Skull, I never did thank you for saving me back there." He smiles another of his beautiful bright smiles reserved only for the Arcobaleno "So Thank You!"

Skull climbs out of the pool, feeling worn out from all of the crying. But despite that, he actually feels better than he had for a very long time. Hopefully, he would now finally be free from his mistake.

It is rather quiet at the dinner table that night, and the Arcobaleno wisely give Skull his space. Tsunayoshi's look every time one of them started to say something mean quickly stopped any further actions. Bermuda wasn't there, still dealing with the naughty Carcassa.

Luce decides to cheer up the atmosphere. "Oh, Tsunayoshi, I have such a darling little outfit for you to wear tomorrow" she sings, eyes sparkling.

Reborn rolls his eyes. "Luce, please tell me you have not followed that Family's weird fashion trend. And why they chose that animal print I'll never know."

"Well because of their name of course!" replies Luce "Or maybe Verde can ask if he's not too busy having fun with them. Their house is like a playground for him"

Tsunayoshi couldn't wait to see who this lot were then. Although he was worrying slightly over what their house would be like if Verde found it to be fun. He has a feeling his brain is going to hurt after this trip.

I've always thought that the Carcassa were evil (they aren't allowed into Mafia Land because of their drug trafficking) and I don't think Skull should be with them. I've had this plan for them ever since I decided to do them. Skull deserves better than them!

I might not get the next chapter out on time since it's a long and complicated one. I've got to work out all of the kinks in it first. Thought I had better warn you guys.

And I want to thank you guys for over 500 reviews! I love you all to pieces. As a result, I'm going to write an omake and post it up once I'm done. I hope you all enjoy it!

Lots of love,

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 24th June 2012.

Grammar check 25/6/12