Mafia Affairs

Meeting the Mafia

   As Tanjiro walked along the dim lit road after his mission, he got this unsettling feeling that he was being watched. It was a pretty normal feeling as, for him, he felt this almost every night. He figured it was a demon who felt too threatened to show themselves and would always just shrug the feeling off. However, the feeling was...different this time. It was almost stronger and more eerie and threatening. Tanjiro placed his right hand on the handle of his sword, his eyes scanning every inch of land he could see, while he sniffed for anything unusual from behind. He took slower breaths to ensure he didn't miss anything. It went on like this for about another ten minutes. Whenever he heard something out of the ordinary he'd act and pull his sword out in an act of defense. Every time he did though he'd find that it was the wind or some sort of wild animal.
   "This is silly." He said with a sigh after a few false alarms.
He returned his sword to his sheath and let out a breath. He then looked around one final time. He then relaxed a bit and went to continue walking. However, as he did this, a bag was thrown over his head and he felt multiple pairs of hands grab his arms and legs. He had no time to react or defend himself. He was lifted off the ground and carried into a nearby building. His breathing was heavy and fast as he tried to wriggle himself free. He was sat down in a chair where the people who ambushed him began tying his arms and legs to it. He kept resisting, refusing to make this easy for them.
   "Let me go!" He shouted out as his kidnappers finished tying him down.
When they were finished, everything went quiet for a moment; except for Tanjiro's breathing that was still fast and heavy. Tanjiro listened for any sign of movement, for which there was none except for the faint sound of footsteps. The footsteps grew louder before eventually entering the room he was in.
   "I understand you have a lot of questions." Tanjiro jolted a little at the sudden dialogue that seemed to be coming from a man in his mid-to-late twenties.
   Tanjiro didn't respond. He continued to sit in shuddered silence.
   "You're Tanjiro Kamado, correct?" The man asked.
   Tanjiro kept his mouth glued shut. He had no idea who these people were and therefore refused to speak to them. He then heard one of the men sigh angrily and walk over to him.
 He smacked Tanjiro in the face and said, "you're not gonna get any answers to your questions unless you cooperate, so why don't you quit being stubborn and answer the question!"
 Tanjiro shuddered a bit at the sudden outburst but still said nothing.
   "Now, now, Satsu, calm down; he's our guest." Satsu scoffed and Tanjiro heard him walk away.
 He then heard someone stand up and make his way over to him. The bag was then taken off his head and he saw that he was in a room with at least eight people; all of them being men.
   "There we go. Now it might be a little easier for you to answer my questions." The man in front of Tanjiro said softly.
   Tanjiro kept his jaw clenched shut and began scowling at the man.
   "You are Tanjiro Kamado, correct?" The man asked again.
   Tanjiro, once again, said nothing but nodded his head slowly in response.
   The man smiled lightly, "wonderful." He then retreated back to his position on the couch on the other side of the small living room.
   There was silence once again as Tanjiro began to lightly scan the room with his eyes. All the men seemed to be in their early-to-mid twenties. They also looked really professional, like they were in a large business together or something. It kinda freaked him out.
   "Why am I here?" Tanjiro asked, finally gaining the courage to speak.
   "It's about time." Satsu scoffed.
   Tanjiro followed the voice and saw it came from a man with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, a scar along his eye that looked to be blinded, and the other eye being light blue in color.
   "You'll find out soon." The other man said, ignoring Satsu's comment. "For right now, we'll leave you here to relax a bit." He continued as he stood up and began walking towards the door.
 The rest of the men followed and Tanjiro was left all alone. He immediately began trying to wriggle his arms out of the ropes. He struggled for about five minutes before stopping. He was exhausted both physically and mentally from his mission and everything else.
   I have to keep going. For Nezuko."  Tanjiro thought to himself.
 He had decided to leave Nezuko back at the butterfly mansion to give her a longer break from fighting and right now he was super happy he did. He continued struggling with the ropes until, eventually, the one on his left arm gave out. Tanjiro smiled in relief and began untying the rest of the ropes. He noticed the men had left his sword near the door which he came to realize was locked from the outside. He sighed and went over to the window by the door. He checked the handle before discovering that it had been nailed shut.
   "Dammit." He whispered under his breath.
   Tanjiro turned and began examining the room he was in. There was a couch in the middle of the room and a fireplace in the back decorated with fancy looking snowglobes. He saw that the only option he had to get out was to go through the other door that would most likely lead to the rest of the house. It was risky but Tanjiro knew he didn't have a choice. He clutched the handle of his sword and walked over to the door. He pressed his ear up to the wood and listened. There were faint, distant voices coming from the other side but Tanjiro concluded that they weren't anywhere near the door. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. When he did, he found himself standing in a long, dim-lit hallway that led straight ahead. He began to slowly walk down the hallway, not letting his guard down for any reason. Last time he did he was ambushed.
   After making it to the end of the hallway, Tanjiro pressed his back against the wall and peeked around the corner. After ensuring the coast was clear, he began walking again. It was another long, dim-lit hallway that appeared to open out into a large room. Because of this, Tanjiro kept himself as close to the wall as possible. He walked and walked, making sure not to breathe too hard in case someone heard him.
   It was strange though. Tanjiro expected to run into someone by now. That or he expected to hear voices or the sound of shuffling footsteps. Nothing. Not since he left the room. The other thing Tanjiro found strange was the door to the room was left unlocked. He expected the men to lock it when they left as a sort of precaution but they didn't. Nothing about this situation sat right with Tanjiro which caused him to tense up more and clench his sword tighter. Another thing he didn't understand was, why would someone leave a weapon in the same room as their hostage? It didn't make any sense. He continued down the hallway, keeping an ear out for any sort of strange noise.
   When he neared the end of the hallway he stopped and listened. He still didn't hear anything. Still, he could feel that something wasn't right. It felt too easy. Suddenly, the lights flicked on, almost blinding him. When his eyes focused, he saw the same men from before standing there looking at him. Tanjiro quickly unsheathed his sword and stood in a fighting stance.
   "Now, now, there's no need for that." The head of the group said calmly.
   Tanjiro gripped his sword tightly and looked around the room for any sort of opening he could use to escape.
   "Calm down now. We don't want to hurt you. We simply wanna say "congratulations"." The man continued.
   Tanjiro looked over at him in confusion, his sword still raised.
   "You passed the test. It was small but not many do unfortunately."
   Tanjiro continued looking at the man in confusion. Test? For what?  He thought to himself.
   "Just get to the point, old man. You can clearly see he's confused." Satsu remarked.
   The man chuckled and returned his attention to Tanjiro. "The test was made as a way to see if you'd be worthy enough to join our mafia group."
   "What!?" Tanjiro exclaimed.
   "We've been watching you for quite some time now. We've noticed you're remarkable at fighting and coming up with quick, last minute decisions. We just needed to see how well you'd hold up in a hostage situation before we recruited you." The man continued.
   "R-recruited?" Tanjiro stuttered, still extremely confused about the situation.
   "Yep!" The man smiled gleefully. "We want to recruit you to our mafia Tanjiro Kamado!"
   Tanjiro said nothing. He just looked on in shock.
   "Well? Aren't you going to say something? We didn't go through all that trouble to recruit you for you to turn into a mute." Satsu scoffed.
   Tanjiro, with his hands shaking, took a deep breath and looked up at the man. "I'm sorry but, I'm already part of my own organization and I won't leave it to join yours. I don't mean to disappoint you but my answer is "no"."
   There was silence for a moment before the man sighed and looked at the ground. "You wanna know something Tanjiro?"
   Tanjiro raised an eyebrow at the question as the man looked back up at him.
   "It wasn't a question." Tanjiro's heart sank a bit as he felt something stick into the back of his neck.
   He raised his hand up to his neck and realized that he had been hit with a tranquilizer. He began to panic as he felt his vision grow weak. He dropped his sword and fell onto his knees, trying his best to stay awake. However, the effort was pointless and he fell over onto the floor. The last thing he saw was the face of the man who had a sly smile plastered onto his face, and then everything went dark.