If disappointment was a concept, then Shura's picture would be printed next to its definition in the dictionary. That's right, Shura, бриз's youngest associate, a feared hitman, someone whose belief lied in one person, felt he was at the top of disappointment.

At the moment, someone more disappointed than him didn't and couldn't exist. It was scientifically impossible— or so he said.

Either way, there he was, standing in front of an apartment door, note to in hand with the address neatly recorded onto, he stared at the taller raven head his usual smile painting his lips.

Kakimoto Chikusa, if his memory served him right, was the boy's name.

"If you're looking for Mikaël, he isn't here. He went back to France yesterday, you missed him," the taller of the two said, not waiting for the pink head to ask. Chikusa was clever, and Shura easily recognizable, it didn't take long for the Kokuyo Gang member to recognize him.

Shura pursed his lips before signing. Who knew, perhaps the fifteen-year-old was proficient in Sign language. 'When will he come back?'

Chikusa gazed at him with his usual deadpan before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He disregarded the pink's movements, not the least bit proficient in Sign language before resuming. "You can always go to Hirose if I remember correctly he should be part of бриз too right?"

Shura frowned. Hirose. The name sounded awfully familiar yet he couldn't quite remember where he had last heard it. He blinked his cerulean eyes in contemplation before nodding and inquisitively looking up at the teen.

Chikusa silently exhaled, disliking what seemed to be a one-sided conversation before he answered the mute question. "Come in, I'll give you the address."

Shura numbly nodded, a grin plastered on his face as he followed the beanie-wearing teen inside.

That was a week ago, currently, he resided by the Hirose residence under the title of 'Mikaël's family member'. He felt quite satisfied, being associated with his Boss' name in such fashion.

The Hirose couple was friendly and suspicious free, never questioning his motives nor the reason for his arrival. He admitted that Junichiro testifying for him was a plus.

Speaking of the boy, he felt the raven head was quite intrusive. Following his shadow everywhere he went, always trying to speak with him, pushing his luck a bit too much and taking a mile for an inch.

He was a pain, but also his Boss' friend, supposedly, so he refrained himself from shrugging him off too harshly. A shame the boy didn't have any tact and wasn't willing to understand that he didn't want to have anything to do with him.

Shura sighed for the nth time today, already feeling an incoming headache as the tactless teen stalked closer to himself.

'Heya, Shura!'

Shura blinked his headache not quite the same as usual. A smile unconsciously crept up his face, covering the plastic one he was used to wearing.

How cute, he mused, the way the raven's hands stiffly moved to draw those two words. He didn't think the raven would try to learn Sign language in an attempt to speak with him.

As his heart was about to sway in the raven's favor, he refrained himself. What Sign language, it isn't so uncommon to know a thing or two on it nowadays, he mentally countered.

The light sound of a finger tapping against the table reverberated in the silent room. Shura paused, opening his eyes to look at the finger and listening to its rhythmical pace.

He felt himself flush without meaning to. His body grew hot and before he knew it he had hit the raven on the shoulder in mild rebuttal before storming out of the room and up to the guest bedroom.

He locked the door, sliding to sit on the floor as his hands covered his flushed face. Ahh, now he remembered who Junichiro was to him.

How embarrassing.

Jun blinked, a bright grin creeping his face as he brought a hand to cover his lips. Argh, Shura-chan was really too cute. Even cuter than his dream lover.

::

"Oya oya? Isn't that Mikaël?"

Ryota's golden eyes flickered to his left, settling on a familiar figure before he nodded his head in acknowledgment, a practiced grin plastered on his face.

"Ara, isn't that Six?" he rhetorically countered with the same cheerfulness as the illusionist.

The ex-Vindice prisoner merely laughed the nickname off, not bothering to correct the green as he was the one who introduced himself this way in the first place. He didn't dislike the name as it gave him a sense of faux camaraderie with his fellow 'undead.'

"In the flesh," Mukuro confirmed, walking closer to the green head who sat at the shore, a pair of child's shoes on his lap. His mismatched eyes swept over the stream, easily spotting Fran and his apple hat before he zeroed his gaze on the forest.

"Kufufu," he laughed— fakely so as usual but Ryota didn't bother with it. Both of them were really fake when it came to the way they spoke. "I would have loved to catch up with you some more, learning of your hobbies, life experience, and name," he admitted a sly smirk dancing on his lips, "but as you have other guests, I won't hog up all of your attention," he teased, eyes gleaming under the sunlight.

Ryota hummed, not answering the Mist user, he carefully closed his eyes, keeping 'Ella' up to look after his brother he allowed his Flames to move about like sonar to pinpoint his so-called guests.

It didn't take long as they were close by and not trying to hide. Not a second after he spotted them the obnoxious voice of his brother's future mentor reached his ears.

Ryota froze, his grip on the pebbles tightened and for a short instant, his Mist Flames condensed into defensive spikes all around the stream, lacing themselves with specks of Storm and Sky Flames they appeared particularly ferocious.

"Voiii, is this the way you welcome us, trash?"

"Shishi, are we that scary?"

Pulled out of his stupor, Ryota easily defused his Flames, letting them scatter at once before gathering them in the palm of his hand again. He looked up, noticing that Ella's figure was still there, though frozen on the spot and that his brother wasn't fazed in the least. He heaved a relieved sigh.

Casually, he stood up. A pair of kid shoes in one hand as his other dusted his pants off, he flashed the newcomers a practiced grin. His features were unruffled by their loud voices and hidden threats, unlike when he first met the Varia, Ryota didn't feel as scared or intimidated.

He had flirted with death more than once, barely managing to escape it every time and his encounters with it were far more terrifying than with a group of dangerous assassins. He wasn't the same as before who couldn't fight or defend himself. If push came to shove, he had the skills to defend himself and his brother.

Maybe— no, surely he wouldn't manage to kill them all but incapacitating some of them while allowing his brother to flee was definitely plausible.

He paused, only now realizing the turn of his thoughts and refrained himself from shivering. Since when was killing something he could easily bring up and think about?

When did his view of the world wrap so much?

He mentally scolded himself. There was no use dwelling over the way his mind decided to cope with his situation, beggars weren't choosers. He didn't have the luxury of choosing when it came to his survival, the world he lived in— the one he was forced into wasn't kind enough to give him a choice.

His musing lasted less than a second, making his every move seem fluid and natural as he turned to face the Varia. "So, to what do we owe your visit?" he asked, momentarily flickering his gaze to Mukuro as he was another target of his question.

"Ha, of course, we came to fetch the tra—"

Squalo spluttered from the elbow jab Lussuria gave him as the said Sun cut his vice-captain off. "We came for Fran-chan, why else would we come?" he rhetorically asked, preventing his superior from blatantly insulting the child to his brother's face.

Although it was true Squalo called mostly everyone trash, it didn't mean that it made everything simpler. Lussuria was sharp, like the others he had noticed the changes in Mikaël's behavior. The teen wasn't someone to fear just yet, but being on good terms was always better, especially if he turned out to be бриз's future Pakhan.

"You want to take Francchi away?"

"My, my, no need to put it like this," Lussuria soothed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Only, since we all received those 'memories' we thought it would be good to get acquainted with our youngest member. Didn't we?" he affirmed, casting a glance at his fellow assassins for their approval.

Leviathan grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing while Squalo clicked his tongue, only Belphegor vocalized his answer.

"Shishishi, of course," he agreed. "Comradeship is important," he stressed, voice laced with both mirth and disgust. "Bonding with our latest addition sooner is always better."

Lussuria beamed, mentally throwing a thumb up at the blond teenager. Fortunately, Bel was always there to back him up! "Right, right, it is as Bel said!" he chirped.

Ryota's smile didn't falter, nor did it deepen. He kept himself perfectly composed, taking note of Fran's growing curiosity from afar. "I see," he acknowledged with a nod. "You want to take Francchi back with you," he deduced, his eyes flickered to Mukuro's figure on the side and he hummed.

"Kufufu, as Fran's future master, of course, I came to check on my pupil to teach him," Mukuro smoothly provided, not missing a beat. "In fact, I'm sure Fran would prefer going with his old master rather than with a bunch of old men."

Bel's hand twitched, reaching for one of his dagger he stealthily threw one at the illusionist. "Shishi, who is an old man you said. Certainly not this Prince, I hope," he hissed, a few knives dangling at the tip of his fingertips, ready to be thrown at any given moment.

"Kufufu, I dunno. Did you feel targeted?" Mukuro taunted.

"Shishi, let's just kill them and take the brat," Bel proposed, voice dripping with eagerness as he began to sharpen his knives.

Mist Flames slowly gathered around the ex-convict. "Kufufu, for once I have to agree with you," he evenly answered, his trident materializing in his extended hand.

"Don't worry Big Brother, I'll protect you!" Fran's voice broke the growing tension. Stepping in front of the taller green head he positioned himself between his brother and the strangers.

He cleared his throat under the dubious eyes of the assemble before he began moving his arms and legs in a strangely organized dance, unknown words slipping past his lips as he tried to shoo the strangers away.

Ryota observed in mild amazement as Fran nursed the two groups' growing nerves. With a wave of his hand, he casually discarded his illusion of Ella and instead gathered some in the palm of his hands in case things went south.

"Wait, what is that idiot doing!"

"Voii, don't ignore us you shitty-brat!"

"Fran, don't you remember me!"

Amid this chaos, Fran's dance came to a halt. He tilted his head, stared the heterochromatic eyed teen up and down with a deadpan before gasping.

"That threw me up a loop," he breathed with some surprise lacing his voice. "I'm surprised that on this mountain there would be a pineapple fairy," he confessed before swirling around to look at his brother. "Isn't that unbelievable Big Bro!"

Ryota snorted, fake coughing he lightly patted the child's hat. "Yeah, I too am surprised," he admitted with some difficulty, trying to tame the growing laughter at the pit of his stomach.

"Shishishi, good, good, that's our Fran!" Bel cackled, his statement quickly followed by the other members' jeers.

Their voice brought Fran's curiosities to a pause. His head snapped in Varia's direction and he narrowed his eyes before gasping in surprise.

"Ah! Now that I look closer I recognize the long-haired one," he marveled, eliciting an approving nod from Squalo and a dubious look from Ryota. "Or rather I know everyone with him, you're all one team," he calmly declared.

"Ding, ding, ding!"

"He finally noticed uh?"

Ryota bit his lower lip, knowing another wave of laughter would come to him. Fran had no recollection of the future, how could he know the Varia if he didn't know Mukuro?

"You guys are tooth decay fungi," he gasped. Another wave of laughter took Ryota over as the Varia began to angrily rebuke the boy, in the meantime, said boy resumed his mystic dance. "Onbura Kokko, Donbura Kokko," he sang, following precise beats. "Go away, go away."

"Don't stop me, I'm going to kill this damned brat," Mukuro howled, struggling to break free from Chikusa's arms.

"I'll kill him—"

"Wait, Bel!" knives flew Fran's way, aiming for his face.

Fran froze, hurriedly pulling on his hat and crouching down to evade the incoming impact. Behind him, Ryota's golden eyes narrowed, gold blended with stormy red as he easily pulled his brother behind him.

Flames, a mess of red and indigo gathered around his fingers as he easily seized each one of the teen's daggers between his fingers. His move was clean and elegant, he had copied it from Shura during his trip to the future.

Using the centrifuge force, he spun on himself to throw the knives with as much if not more aggressivity. After all, while Belphegor's words were half-serious when it came to killing the child, Ryota's reaction to killing to protect his brother was dead serious.

"Don't touch him," he growled, the earing on his left earlobe glowing under his locks of green.

Belphegor's surprise by the counterattack lasted a bit less than a second— as expected of a pro, before he cackled, grabbing his daggers back he observed as the Flames imbued in them scattered.

"Shishi, or what?" he taunted, feeling especially excited at the prospect of a fight, easily throwing the Fran case at the back of his mind. "Do you want to fight this prince?"

Ryota frowned his smile gone before he exhaled, a sickeningly sweet grin plastered on his face. He straightened his back, keeping Fran behind. "Of course not."

Mukuro who managed to extirpate himself from Chikusa's grip rolled his shoulders. "Step aside Mikaël, no matter how much I like you I still have to teach that brat a lesson," he threatened.

"Big Bro, are the fairies gone?" Fran muttered, taking a curious peek at the crowd from behind the tall green head.

Ryota could feel the slightly calmer mood plummet from his brother's words, he sighed.

"Shishi, you really have a death wish—"

"Kufufu, I couldn't agree more."

Ryota bit his lower lip. "Stop, stop, stop! There's a misunderstanding there!"

"Oya? Are you saying that this brat didn't call me a 'pineapple fairy?'"

"No, what I mean is—"

"Shishi, are we not 'tooth decay fungi?'"

"Wait, let me—"

"Enough chit chat, let's give him a good spanking."

"Stop!" Ryota ragged breath echoed, he felt particularly exhausted by the whole ordeal. "Francchi lost his memories of the future, he doesn't remember any of you!"

Silence settled, mixed feelings could be read on everyone's faces as one thought crossed their mind: useless.

From behind Mikaël, Fran tilted his head. Memories of the future?

Dundundun, next chapter, into the Arcobaleno Arc, expect a few surprises (ﾉ'ヮ')ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Thanks for reading, until next time^^