Adopted Donquixote

Shattered Reality

Rosinante felt fury he had never known, when he found his sister curled up behind the couch, arms keeping her legs pressed tight to her little body, face buried in her knees, trembling violently, making little, choked noises. "Naka...what's wrong? What happened? Talk to me." He knelt down, and reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder, shocked when she jerked away from him, and raised her arm up to protect herself; his eyes widened in horror when he saw the bruising around her wrist, and red hand prints across her left cheek as if someone held her still, and slapped her silly. Rage had Rosi shaking to his core, and he called loudly for his big brother; only partially regretting it when Nakano backed away from the noise. "Did you find her?" Doffy paused in his steps when he saw the look of barely restrained anger on his baby brother's face. "Doffy, come here." Rosi backed away from his terrified sister so Doflamingo could see Nakano for himself, and moved to look out the window in an effort to calm down. "What the-who hurt you?" Doffy spoke more calmly, and Nakano couldn't hold back her tears; she crawled to her oldest brother, and hugged his leg.

He picked her up to hug her properly, already planning how to destroy the person who laid hands on his sister; her broken, and terrified sobs tore at him in a way he didn't know was possible. "Tell me what happened, Nakano." The little girl wrapped her arms around her protective brother, attempting to talk through the tears. "Th-they said I'm lying, and y-you're n-not really my f-family! They won't believe me!" Her words turned into full on sobs, and she clung helplessly onto Doflamingo, hoping he could take away her pain. Doffy moved to sit down so he could get comfortable while waiting for his sister to calm down; Rosi sat next to him, and held out his hand. Nakano climbed on his lap, seeking affection from the more openly loving Donquixote. "The kids...in my class. They don't believe that you're my family, they said I'm lying, and that mom, and dad only have sons. This...this girl kept saying I'm a...I'm a...comm...commoner. What does that mean?" Doflamingo glared at the wall as his brother answered. "Commoners are people who don't have as much money as we do, but you shouldn't call people that. It's not very nice."

"Oh...she called me that, then she hit me. Am I...am I bad? Did I do something wrong?" Rosinante was quick to hug, and gently shush her. "Of course not, people can't hit you, Naka. We'll tell mom, and dad about this when they come back. Do you want a bath before they get back?" Nakano nodded, wiping at her eyes; Doffy grabbed his brother's arm before he could get up. "Nakano. There's something we should tell you." Rosi glared at him, telling them it could wait until their parents returned, before he took his sister upstairs for the promised bath. He hated how quiet she was, and he could practically hear her thinking about what her classmate said; he knew lower class families weren't particularly fond of nobles, but he had no idea how vicious kids could be to each other. He helped her undress, and get in the water, miraculously without falling, and Nakano had a far away look in her eyes; Rosi talked about other things to try, and distract her, but nothing was working. He finally paused, and let his hands rest beneath the surface of the water for a moment. "Look at me, Naka." His words were soft, and he waited for their eyes to meet before he slowly lifted a hand to run his fingers gently through her hair.

"Don't listen to people like that, ok? You're our family no matter what anyone says, even if you don't look like us." "Why...am I different? My hair is dark, and it's curly, but not like dad's, and my eyes are pink. That's...not normal, is it?" "Hm. Your eyes weren't always pink, they started off dark blue, and changed colors. There's nothing wrong with you or the way you look, I promise." Nakano's face pinched, and she asked something that made Rosi's heart clench. "Is big brother mad at me? He...he always acts different to me than you do." "Naka...he's not mad at you, that's just how Doffy acts. He treats everyone like that, hey don't cry, it's ok." He stroked her hair, and rubbed her shoulder when her eyes got shiny. "Ro? It hurts, I don't want them to be mean again." Not caring that it would get his shirt wet, Rosinante pulled his sister in for a hug, not knowing what to tell her to take away the hurt. "I'm not mad at you." Doflamingo suddenly appeared in the doorway, and Nakano looked up at him from Rosi's shoulder.