"What the hell are you doing here?" Ichimatsu took a few steps forward, his left leg barely brushing against my right as he stood next to me. The fake Osomatsu partially stood up from the bow with a cocky grin, his hand dropping a few inches.
"I merely wish to ask your little sister for a dance."
"I thought you said that you didn't care about 'family business', yet here you are surrounded by them," Ichimatsu narrowed his eyes, and I could see my three older brothers flinch from across the room to look in our direction.
"I don't and I know that you all are very protective of (y/n), now that she's back with you for the night. I merely want to--" The pause he made seemed to be uncertain, "--show that I mean no harm for tonight, and you five can relax."
Ichimatsu looked back at Jyushimatsu before giving a small sigh and taking a step away from me, "Fine, but we'll be keeping an eye on you, Akumatsu."
"Of course," 'Akumatsu' stepped in to take my hand before walking me towards the outskirts of the room, where the lighting was dim but you could still hear the music. My confusion was apparent, but he motioned for me to put down the plate that was still in my hand on the chair seat nearby.
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" I instantly asked after putting the plate down, quickly turning back to look at the man. His eyes were a dark red, now slightly narrowed after he listened to my question.
"I see they haven't told you anything," He took my hand and put his free hand on my waist, starting to lead me in a dance in time with the music, "You could say that...I'm all of the negative aspects of your brothers put into one man."
"What, so there's a 'good' version of them walking around with their face, too?" I slightly scoffed, resisting the temptation to roll my eyes.
"No," He smiled and leaned close to my ear, "I killed him."
A sudden chill ran up my spine as the man straightened up and pulled me along to a dance I didn't know the steps to. Despite me tripping over myself, his strong grip kept me standing up. I didn't know what to do and tried to look around for any of my brothers, but the dance had me in a whirlwind of confusion.
"I was the one who shot you during your performance, too. The look on your face was enticing, to say the least," The confession made me look at him, shock written all over it, "Yes, just like that. But I'm not here to shed more blood. I'm not on the clock for anything concerning you. I only wanted to spend a little time with my 'sister', just like my other brothers. A man can only get so jealous," He continued, never breaking eye contact with me.
"...stop..." I muttered, tearing my gaze away from his hypnotic dark red hues, "Please stop."
"Stop what?" He pulled my right hand high above my head and tugged on my waist, sending me into a spin that I couldn't control, "I'm enjoying myself here, and I thought that you'd appreciate the truth coming from me, rather than it being exaggerated by your brothers."
The room suddenly halted with me facing someone's chest, their arms around my back and my face nearly planted in their sternum. I squeezed my eyes shut and wrapped my arms around their back, feeling the familiar gun holsters underneath his suit jacket. A sound of disapproval came from behind me as I was pulled from the dance.
"Akumatsu, I think you've had more than enough time," Karamatsu's voice caused a rumbling within his chest.
"That was the shortest dance I've ever had, then," I heard Akumatsu scoff a little, "I apologize if I overstepped any boundaries that I didn't know about, but I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the time we've had, (y/n)," The sound of footsteps walking away signaled Akumatsu's exit and I glanced up at Karamatsu, who had a stern look in his eyes as he watched the other man leave.
"Kara..." I slightly pushed away from him and took a step back as he released his hold on me, "I know that I'm the little sister of the family, but I think you all need to tell me everything that's been going on. He said things that didn't make sense, and I don't even know if he was lying at all."
The pained look in his eyes hurt for me to see, but his lips turned upwards in a gentle smile.
"Of course, (y/n). Just give me a moment to round up our brothers and we'll walk you to our car. You'll spend the night at our house, and we'll switch Totty with you when he gives the all-clear," His voice seemed to be sad, but the smile was still present.
----
Todomatsu opened up one of the last few doors in an intersection to finally see a violin case laying on a lone chair in the wide room, an empty sheet music stand in front of it. He sighed as he closed the door behind him and turned on the lights, moving to open the case.
As his hand glided over the surface of the case, Todomatsu began to think of when (y/n) first started playing and how they all teased her about the screeching noise coming from her bedroom at night. Their parents were forced to set aside a room for herself due to all of the boys complaining, and made it soundproof from the inside out. He remembered how he'd still sneak out of the boys' bedroom to sit in front of that door and listen as the screeches of strings started turning into music. When she auditioned for the youth orchestra, Osomatsu had warned their parents that he'd let (y/n) continue to play when he was in charge, no matter what. After all, someone in the Matsuno family had to be happy on their own volition, and they wanted her to be the one to have it.
Todomatsu's memories were interrupted as the door behind him opened, revealing Atsushi leaning against the doorframe with a cigar in his hand and the smell of liquor wafting on his breath.
"Well, I'm ready to hear my private concert," Atsushi motioned for Todomatsu to play as he took the only chair in the room and sat on it. Totty moved the case swiftly out of the way before it was sat on, and scoffed silently before opening the case. The well-worn violin was still in great playing condition, but there were things that could be repaired or replaced. He took a mental note to get (y/n) a brand new violin for her upcoming birthday, and picked up the bow from its secured place.
"All right, just close your eyes and listen," Todomatsu lightly giggled in a different voice, mimicking his little sister as he rubbed the rosin block along the bowstrings. After doing a tune-up, his mind settled on what he knew of her favorite song to play.
The bow furiously drew across the bridge in such an intensity that almost surprised Todomatsu, but he kept up the act in front of Atsushi, playing the entire piece by memory. It wasn't the most challenging thing he had to do in his life, but the tempo of the short piece had him stumbling in a few places as the twelfth notes began to make his fingers stutter. The higher the notes went, the closer his fingers came to the bridge, and the more nervous he became.
As the last note was held, Todomatsu took in a silent breath, happy that he was able to complete the near three-minute piece. When he looked at Atsushi, both men's eyes met and Totty could plainly see that the man in front of him had other plans other than listening to his little sister play.
"That was a beautiful piece, (y/n)," Atsushi stood up, placing his cigar in the portable ashtray and beginning to walk towards Todomatsu, "I'm kinda surprised that you can play such a tough song so well."
"Well, I've been playing for quite a while, and I like playing the violin," Todomatsu giggled and slightly took a step back, playing the role of (y/n) quite well, "I'm glad that you enjoyed it."
"I'm sorry for slapping you earlier, but you were out of line. I'm glad to see that you've recovered and now know your proper place," Atsushi reached out and rubbed over the bandaid on '(y/n)'s' cheek, his eyes full of confidence.
"I'm not sorry for punching you," Todomatsu started to frown, "No one gave you the right to play with my family's lives like that. I know that you didn't just 'choose' me because you loved me for who I was, rather you did it to get a leg up on them."
The confidence in Atsushi's eyes wavered before falling into hatred. The hand on Todo's cheek grabbed a fistful of hair and dragged him closer, the sudden movement forcing the young brother to drop (y/n)'s violin onto the ground in order to keep the wig on. The distraction only lasted a few seconds before Atsushi's lips crashed onto Todomatsu's, and the guilt for dropping the prized violin turned into anger as he bit down hard on Atsushi's probing tongue.
"Ah...fucking again?!" The sudden pain caused the taller man to step back before he grabbed Todomatsu by the throat, "I can see you've learned nothing from your last lesson, (y/n)! You are my wife, and you will learn your place tonight!"
With a strength Todomatsu didn't account for, Atsushi nearly dragged him all the way to the master bedroom before throwing him up onto the king-sized bed. The anger in Todomatsu's eyes only grew as he realized that this had happened before, and (y/n) couldn't tell them the truth of how she 'convinced' Atsushi to bring her to the ball tonight.
"I don't think you want to do that, Atsushi," Todomatsu cleared away the tension in his throat, a smirk starting to grow on his lips, "I haven't been feeling 'myself' lately."
"I don't care what excuse you want to use, (y/n)," Atsushi forced his way between Totty's legs, his hands reaching underneath the oversized shirt. As soon as his fingers felt the flat pectoral muscles of Todomatsu's masculine chest, the confused look on Atsushi's face caused Todomatsu to burst out in laughter, "What the hell...?"