Family

02 - Xanxus

Vongola's mansion was no less than a modern castle. Three stories, black walls and pointy roofs, statues all over, a too big garden, gravel roads... Right out of a horror movie. Strange but good. And it didn't have that air of abandonment.

Xanxus strode pridefully through the corridor, Squalo at his back. He snarled at everyone they met and entered finally his rooms, leaving the Rain outside. Finally. He slumped in his couch and took a bottle of wine from the low table, not bothering with a glass, nor name and age. He didn't care. And he was in the mansion, anyhow, nothing less than perfect passed its doors.

He growled remembering what was going to happen in a matter of few days. A coup d'état. What else was he supposed to do? He was the heir, no matter what the others thought! He had the double X's in his name. He had the necessary strength to take over. He was Nono's son!

Only, he was not. He was not his bloody son. He was adopted, out of pity alone. He had left his mother, the one that had not cared for him an instant since his birth, to the streets. He had dug his way to the top with sheer willpower, training and training and beating the shit out of people that did not consider him Boss material.

All for nothing. Because he'd had no chance to succeed the old man from the beginning. So stated the DNA test. He was no Vongola. He was a stray. An adopted, pitied stray.

Pity was not something Xanxus accepted. He abhorred the thing itself. But, that same pity had put him in a powerful position. That pity was allowing him to pose as a threat, to gain what was rightfully his. His adoptive brothers were long gone. Enrico was shot in a feud. Matsumo had recently drowned. The youngest, Federico, had disappeared some weeks prior.

Even if they would fight this, there were no more heirs. Nono would have crumbled to that. There were no more. Xanxus was going to gain what was his. He only needed some more time to prepare.

The sounds of cars on the gravel paths brought him down from his planning. He stood, half-empty bottle in hand, and disclosed slightly the curtains of the window to the entrance. A limo, followed by two other black cars, parked right in front. A guard opened the door and Nono appeared. He had a happy smile, the same one Xanxus had seen the first time he had come to the mansion. A wave of new rage washed through him, but he ignored it and looked outside.

To his surprise, Lal Mirch joined the old man. They, however, did not walk in, but waited for a third person. The woman propped a hand in the limo and a tiny one gripped it. Of all the people he could have expected to come there, a child was not in his mind. Sure, there were children in their world, they were bound to be, but... This one. This one was different. This one... was fluffy.

Xanxus blinked and lost focus. What the fuck did he just think?! Fluffy?!? No. No no no no. First of all, he did not think fluffy. Never happened. No one would know. Second, how could he know?? He didn't even touch the boy!! Well, he seemed fluffy, with that caramel crop of messy, gravity-defying hair... STOP.

Ok. Enough. He let the curtains close behind him and gulped down the wine. Was it the beverage's fault? Highly unlikely. He had a strong resistance to it. By then, anyway... He shrugged, throwing the bottle against the wall. The crashing sounds followed him as he exited his room. Squalo was not there and Xanxus decided to sate his curiosity.

He walked through the corridor and took the stairs to the first floor, entering the living room. There were four, velvet red couches on the walls, a big low mahogany table in the middle, few lamps and drawn back red curtains that let the sunlight through the window. He stopped mid-way to a sofa when the door from the entrance opened, revealing the old man. He was looking back to Lal Mirch, that kept helping the child around with her hand on his one.