Mafia Row

Chapter 48: When Something Important

I want to apologise for not answering back to your reviews and PMs recently. University had been driving me up the wall and stealing all of my fanfiction time away. I have like 3 pages of chapter alerts in my inbox that I haven't read. And whilst I shouldn't technically be writing this chapter, I needed to take a break from working.

I would like to thank Stalker of Reactions for the initial idea for this arc (an extreeeeeeeemely long time ago), along with anyone else who suggested similar ideas.

To the Guest who commented on the birthday chapter: I hope you had a good birthday! It's funny that you mention that idea. It was suggested a very long time ago, so I'm already one step ahead of you. You'll see what I mean sooon, kufufu~

To the Guest who posted last chapter: I'll make sure to put the Hitman meeting in for you.

"Wow! That's so pretty!" Tsunayoshi gapes, watching as the lotus blossom bloomed in Mukuro's hand. "You're getting better each time I see you!"

"Kufufu~ Thank you for the compliment, Tsunayoshi." Mukuro bows his head in acceptance of the praise before closing his fist and letting the petals fall to the ground.

"Ahh, I want to see flowers again, byon. A roll in the grass would be so good!" Day-dreams Ken, tongue lolling out to the side of his mouth as he stares into space. Tsunayoshi and Chrome giggle whilst Chikusa sighs.

"I'm sure there will be lots of grass once you're out of here." Tsunayoshi reassures. He blinks as the floor of Ken's cell flickers green and a ghostly image of grass appears for a few moments. It flashes into view a couple of times, getting weaker with each appearance before disappearing completely. Tsunayoshi reaches through the bars to check that Chrome is okay when she falls against them.

"Chrome, that was sweet. I've never seen you cast an illusion that big before!" he praises. Since he can't hug her due to the bars between them, he settles for wiping the sweat away from her brow and patting her on the head. She smiles in thanks before laying down using Mukurowl for a pillow.

"Well done, My dearest Chrome." Mukuro says softly, smiling down at her.

Tsunayoshi glances down at his watch and pouts. " Aww, I have to go now. Mammon's due back from her mission any time now." He stands up and heads for the doorway.

"Bye, byon!" waves Ken, with Chikusa nodding in agreement.

"We shall see you soon, My precious Tsunayoshi." Smirks Mukuro. Tsunayoshi gives them a wave goodbye before knocking on the door.

It opens and the guard lets him out before checking that the experiments were still in their cells. A scream fills the air and Tsunayoshi shudders. Whenever he was in that room, the screams never reached him, but the moment he left they came back full force. Tsunayoshi didn't like the Estraneo one bit. He'd never set foot in here if Mukuro, Chrome, Ken and Chikusa weren't trapped here. He was going to get them out of here, he promised.

Running is quickly as he can, he exits the Estraneo house before turning down the street. It felt so much better to be out of there. The house had this weird coppery smell that he didn't want to be reminded of. As he takes in a deep breath he starts to jog down the road in the direction of the Varia's house.

Over the past few months the Arcobaleno had been letting Tsunayoshi spend more and more time out of the house by himself. It wasn't like he could go anywhere and it had been made clear that Tsunayoshi belonged to the Arcobaleno. No one wanted to offend them by harming Tsunayoshi, knowing it was a one way slow trip to hell. Plus they were all enamoured by the small child anyway. Having been training him for so long now, Tsunayoshi could defend himself long enough to shout out for help if he ever was in trouble. Fon had taught the boy places to press to make arms and legs go numb and stop working. And finally, they had gotten annoyed with Tsunayoshi's constant pleas to leave the house.

"Heh-hey! Peace Tsunayoshi, what's got your panties in a twist?" asks Longchamp, about to return into his house with Pantera standing behind.

"Mammon's going to come back soon!" Tsunayoshi replies, stopping in his jog to talk to the Mafia Heir.

"Awesome! She should come round one day. I've got these spiked leather gloves that'd look rockin' on her!" The boy smiles broadly before ducking under a pinwheel thrown by Pantera. "That's the spirit Pantera, let's go do some target practice. See you around Tsunayoshi!"

Tsunayoshi nods with a strained smile on his face. He did not like the sound of those gloves, they wouldn't suit Viper at all. He sighs when he sees the internal carnage going on inside the house, but decides to ignore it. He needed to get back to the Varia house.

He continues on on his little walk, taking a curious glance to the side when the sound of a gate opening reaches his ears.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-sama!" Shouts Hayato, running over to where Tsunayoshi was.

"Good morning Hayato!" Tsunayoshi says back, looking happy to see his friend again. "Where are you off to?" He takes a glance behind the pianist to see a household maid waiting patiently for them to finish.

"We were going out to buy some snacks for our meeting later! Is there anything that you wish for Tsunayoshi-sama? I'll make sure to get the best." Hayato leans forwards expectantly, waiting for whatever words fell from Tsunayoshi's lips. This boy had cheered him up at his darkest moment and remained his light in the dark. It was only natural that he'd try to make Tsunayoshi happy in return.

"Yeah, I'm looking forwards to it!" Tsunayoshi replies. He thinks about Hayato's question, sticking a finger to his lips in thought. "Hmm… I don't want to be a bother…"

"It won't be a bother at all!" Assures Hayato.

"Well... could you get some pocky sticks? Haru showed them to me yesterday and they were really nice. I'm sure you'd like them too. You can get them from Takesushi."

"Of course Tsunayoshi-sama! If you like them then I'm sure that they are delicious." Beams Hayato, writing the items down on his hand with a pen that appeared from nowhere. Tsunayoshi really wanted to learn that skill.

"We should be on our way then Young Master, or else you shall be late for your lesson with Master Shamal." Prompts the maid, looking down at her own watch.

"Bye Hayato! See you later." Says Tsunayoshi before running off. If he didn't then Hayato wouldn't stop talking and he'd be late for his lesson.

But there's something weird going on at the Bovino house. Not that anything normal ever happened there, but this was certainly something new. All of the Mafioso who lived there were piling out onto the street whilst the house spewed a bright blue coloured smoke. The smoke seemed like the pink smoke he'd seen once before, but was almost the opposite colour. He wondered what it came from.

"Tori, what's wrong? Do you want me to get Verde?" asks Tsunayoshi after finding the man in the crowd. That smoke didn't look good. The last time he had seen that much smoke was when Viper had last snuck into the kitchen to cook. There was a reason that she never cooked them dinner like the others did. Viper could burn a pot of water.

"Oh no, there is no reason for that. I know exactly what went wrong this time. I was not expecting such a reaction to occur, however. The house shall be safe. The smoke isn't even harmful, it's just too opaque to see through." Tsunayoshi nods his head slowly, a silent 'oh' forming in his lips before his attention is torn away by Lambo.

"Lambo wants sleep!" Tsunayoshi laughs. Lambo seemed to have bed hair, if that was even possible, and weary eyes. He must have just been woken from his nap.

"Here Lambo, have this." Tsunayoshi reaches into his pocket and grabs the candy sitting there. Kyoko had given it to him this morning when Tsunayoshi had been at the gym with Lal for an early morning swimming lesson.

Lambo's eyes light up, tantrum dissipating for now, and snatches the sweet with hands like lightning bolts. Before Tsunayoshi can even blink the sweet had been unwrapped and stuck inside the child's mouth. With Lambo now pleased, Tsunayoshi leaves before Tori can start giving him statistics and drawing a graph to represent how many times the Bovino make a mistake in their work. Despite knowing these figures, the Bovino never actually took them into account and acted on it. The gift that they had gotten him for his birthday had done something totally different from what the note said it should have done.

Finally making it to the Varia house, he lets himself in. As the door closes behind him, he leans against it and takes a deep breath. That walk had been busier than he had expected. But now he had to concentrate. He swore that the Varia's garden was filled with more traps every time he visited. It was, the Prince didn't like the fact that the Kitty made it through so easily each time. It was an offence to the Prince's genius!

After dodging wires, bullets, knives and axes he finally makes it to the front door where Belphegor is waiting.

"Shishishi, the Kitty looked like he had fun ruining the Prince's hard work." Belphegor laughs with a razor sharp, slightly malicious grin. Tsunayoshi lays on the step below Belphegor before panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Ha… you did…ha… a really good…ha… job, your Highness." Tsunayoshi says as he rolls onto his back to stare up at the Prince. Viper had tried to tell Tsunayoshi that Belphegor wasn't really a prince, but Tsunayoshi refused to hear it. If Bel said he was, then that's what Tsunayoshi would call him. Plus Bel had given Tsunayoshi a nickname, so he could just say he was returning the favour.

Belphegor laughs once more before leaning down and patting Tsunayoshi's hair like he really was a kitten.

"Hn, little bro's here. Belphegor why didn't you try harder this time? You knew he was coming." asks Levi, leaning against the open door way. Tsunayoshi waves a greeting but is too busy catching his breath to actually verbalise one.

"Kaching! Dare to mock the Prince?" growls Bel, flicking one of his knives in Levi's direction. Levi leans forwards so that the decorative knife thunks into the door frame instead. Belphegor's smile turns mischievous as he turns back to Tsunayoshi. The Varia might be the only people in Mafia Row to joke about trying to kill Tsunayoshi. He knew they were completely serious though. The Varia set their traps at a higher level each time, making sure that Tsunayoshi stayed Varia Quality. And in their opinion, that meant life threatening situations- none of them had interest in anything less than that. It wasn't challenging enough otherwise.

"Is Mammon, Big Brother Xanxus, Big Bro Squalo and Big Sis Lussuria back yet?" asks Tsunayoshi, finally sitting up. He had gotten used to calling Viper Mammon in front of other people, especially the Varia.

Levi shakes his head. "Boss said that there were some added complications and that they wouldn't be getting back until midnight."

"Ahh, Mammon's not back until Midnight? Who else shall share the Prince's strawberry ice cream!" demands Belphegor wearing a princely pout. "Fine. The Prince shall just eat it all himself. She shall have to beg at my feet if she wants any."

Tsunayoshi giggles at Belphegor's words, knowing that almost the exact opposite would happen. Instead, Belphegor would sit on the arm of her chair and whine until she allowed him to feed her the ice cream. "I had better go then if she's not coming back until later." Tsunayoshi sighs before standing up. Belphegor places a hand on Tsunayoshi's arm and holds him in place whilst trying to supress giggles.

"We'll see you later when Boss returns then." Levi says, pushing off the door frame to stand up straight. Tsunayoshi nods in agreement so Levi turns around. "Ouch! Belphegor!" Levi growls. What had happened was that when Bel had thrown the knife earier on he had hooked the handle of one of Levi's unbrellas. Levi leaning forwards meant that it came out of it's holder. As Levi had turned around, Bel had pulled on another wire, drawing the umbrella backwards before letting it drop and slam into Levi's face, giving him a shock at the same time.

Belphegor finally lets his supressed laughter out, pointing a finger at Levi as he rolls around on the floor. "Serves the peasant right for insulting the Prince!" Levi growls before taking a swipe at Belphegor. The child jumps up and runs off a little way out of Levi's range before turning around and sticking his tongue out. That enrages Levi further and a game of chase ensues. Tsunayoshi laughs at their antics before walking back down the path to the gate. At least this time he knew where the traps were.

Leaving the house he turns to return home.

"Excuse mi! Excuse mi!" Hmm, that was a voice he'd never heard before. And what a weird accent. He turns towards the forest where the voice had come from. "Ah, I've gotten mi foot stuck. You think you could 'elp mi?"

Tsunayoshi, ever helpful and wanting to please Tsunayoshi, walks into the forest.

Viper walks into the Arcobaleno house at one in the morning, wiping off the strawberry ice cream that Bel had gotten everywhere. No matter how much she refused, Belphegor kept on trying until he got what he wanted.

The strange thing was that everyone was still up. Even stranger was the sight of the Gokudera's boy child curled up asleep on one of the arm chairs. All eyes in the room turn to her when she enters. They then turn to the space behind her and then on through the door.

"Is he having trouble removing his shoes?" asks Fon, standing up to go and help.

"What do you mean? It's just me." Says Viper, confused.

The already strained atmosphere in the room turns to ice. The Arcobaleno turn to one another, adding that to the information that Hayato had brought.

"Why? What's wrong?" asks Viper, getting worried by the looks on the Arcobaleno's faces.

"We really hoped that he was with you." Mumbles Luce, biting her lip. She looks up at Viper. "You see, the thing is…"

Bwahaha! Cliff-hanger! I think this may be Mafia Row's first cliff-hanger. I hope you like it, hehehe .

*Spoiler for the latest KHR chapter* OMG a wedding! How adorable is that? I love Colonnello's face in the panel where Reborn reminds Tsuna that Lal is now an adult. It looks like he's day dreaming and almost drooling over seeing Lal dressed like that, hehe.

See you next time- assuming I'm not buried under a pile of books.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First published 25 October 2012

Small edit 26/10/12

No notes today since it gives my plot away.