ALiVE (KHR Fanfic)

102. Drag

102. Drag

Sae

"I'm not stupid," Sae scooped a strawberry into her mouth, "Rei-chan, Sui, even Papa," she chewed angrily, "They're all hiding something, but they're all terrible at lying."

Terrible at lying, Shamal couldn't help thinking, Sae's the exception, eh? 

Maybe because the other two kids take after their father.

"Rei-chan probably isn't trying to hide it," Sae pushed the empty parfait glass aside after she finish. Turning back to Shamal, her eyes were stuck narrowed and unamused. "Sui's never good at lying, she just doesn't talk much. And our Dad's pathetic attempt at lying isn't getting through anyone in the house."

Shamal was speechless. 

Sae spoke casually, boldly, with that overconfident gleam in her gaze-- she was like a witch, a very sly devil-- Shamal could hardly believe this was Ninomiya Sae.

"Well," Shamal gulped, able to keep his composure due to his line of work, "How long have you known?"

"For quite a while," Sae grinned. She gave no further detail, but looked out the window, presumably for signs of her sister. "Sui found out a while ago too. She decided to hide the fact, so I did too."

So Sui knows too, Shamal found himself no longer able to bee surprised.

"I don't really care what happens among the Mafia and all," Sae sighed, "But if Rei-chan and Sui-chan are hurt in any way..." 

Shamal flinched at the poisonous smile on her face. Sae was being bloody murderous with that smile-- holy hell, where's the usual sweet Sae I know?

Sae glared-- "Personally, I wanna go punch Takeshi-nii in the face."

Run Yamamoto boy your little princess has a family of lunatics-

"That aside," Sae suddenly jumped up with interest. Back to being the normal little girl she was, brimming with a cheerful and adorable kind of curiosity, she giggled. "Jamal-san, could I ask a favour of you?"

-

Vindice

THUD

Drew coughed as the sudden earthquake shook within him. His whole body shook, a sharp pang burst through his chest-- and his next cough brought up blood.

What the fu- But right after the swearing, his eyes widened in realization. Rei's heart, she realized, it's beating again.

"There they are," Jager said in distress, "Those Black Flames."

Lifting his head, Drew mentally swore. Well thank god the flames are here, now what?

"Regardless of how you have acquired them," the speaker was Bermuda, Drew guessed. She couldn't really tell who the voice came from. "We do not wish to incite excessive usage. I believe you are aware, but the strain it places on the body is of no laughing matter."

Drew tuts. Evidently, this flame came with repercussions. But now she has to use it to her advantage.

"If you think so too," her voice was croaky, but she smirked confidently, "Let me off the hook and leave me alone, would you?"

The joke was definitely not well taken. In the next moment, the chains around him were tightened like a corkscrew-- howling as she felt bones crush, Drew was dragged forward and into the black mist.

-

Sae

"You want to what?" Shamal was never one to be shocked so many times at once.

"Work under you!" Sae gleamed adorably, cheerfully smiling, wearing a naive demeanor as she spoke. "I wanna be Mafia tooo!"

Shamal froze. No sir, he told himself, she's a fucking adorable little angel but no, he repeated himself, You cannot be losing to your womanizer instincts now, no-

"No, Sae-chan," he groaned, turning away to help with his stern tone, "This isn't a game. I'd love to help, but-"

"If you don't help me now, I'll scream 'pervert' and start bawling." Sae said.

Shamal flinched. She's a sadist, he realized, she was a sadist this whole time- 

"Do it, then," Shamal stayed strong, "I'm not bringing a young girl into the Mafia, Omerta or not."

At that, Sae pouted. "I see," she mumbled, upset. "Then," she perked up again,. "Wold you at least tell me all those illnesses things you have?"

At this point, Shamal just facepalmed. "How on earth do you know that?" he groaned, "Why do you want to know?"

Sae grinned again, "I wanna know if something can help Rei-chan!" 

"They're not," Shamal sighed, "I've looked through his records once before because Reborn told me to. He has a lung condition even I don't recognize, dear."

Sae puffed up her cheeks whinily, "Stingy."

"Alright, alright," Shamal gave in, "I guess just telling you about the sicknesses won't hurt. But tell me this, where the hell do you get your information?"

"Yay!" Sae cheered adorably. "And where? Hmmm, a lot of places I guess. Sui's not the only one in the house that knows a lot of stuff."

Shamal sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

Who in the bloody hell do these siblings take after?

-

-

-

Tsuna

After the battle with Enma, Tsuna realized something.

Everything was nearly over now. Currently, Daemon and Chrome-- or Mukuro, were fighting. That was the last guardian battle until everything was resolved. The battle was now understood as pointless, thus there was no reason to continue.

The only issue left was Daemon Spade.

But where was Rei?

It seemed Yamamoto had taken notice of the fact as well. Both were incredibly unsettled by the boy's lack of appearance. Their eyes met-- and both realized the situation was terribly wrong.

When Tsuna voiced it out to Gokudera, he seemed to have just remembered as well. But at the call of Rei's name, the Vindice sent Tsuna a glare that shook his entire senses into disarray.

Tsuna realized the Vindice knew something regarding Rei. Without another word, they disaeared again, into their eerie black mist.

Tsuna wasn't looking forward to seeing them again.

"Tsuna-kun," Enma spoke up, "About that Rei-kun we brought in too..."

Tsuna snapped towards Enma in alarm. Come to think of it, Rei was here in the first place because Enma took him from the hospital.

"Adel told me that he ran off..." Enma spoke quickly, knowing exactly the urgency of the situation. "But before that, he was acting weird. Julie-- no," Enma's eyes widened in horror as he came to a realization. "It was Daemon that..."

Tsuna gripped his fists.

Daemon, the name was enough to fill his senses with fury, him again.

"What," he choked out, with a tone of anger he didn't know he had, "What did he do to Rei?"