Todomatsu curled his legs and planted his feet against Atsushi's chest, shoving him roughly off of the slightly smaller man and knocking him flat onto the floor. Atsushi gasped as his back hit the ground, unable to gather himself for balance immediately. The Matsuno brother slid off the bed and pulled the gray shirt back down, straightening himself out and taking off the wig.
"Never trust a Matsuno, remember?" Totty jeered as Atsushi pushed the hair out of his own eyes with a free hand, moving to his knees before standing up slowly.
"You've finally sunk low enough to kidnap someone, eh, Todomatsu?" Atsushi calmly walked over to the dresser closest to the bedroom door and opened the top drawer.
"We haven't kidnapped (y/n), only borrowed her for the night," Todomatsu watched him carefully, studying his movements, "I told the boys that I wanted to strike a deal with you before (y/n) has the chance to come back."
Atsushi's hand froze as it started to slip into the drawer, his narrowed eyes glued to Todomatsu, "What kind of deal?"
"A simple one," Todomatsu sat down casually on the bed, tossing the wig close to the door, "You divorce (y/n), we leave you alone. You already know what kind of damage we can do to your properties and clubs."
"That's not happening. I have worked hard to make sure that she stays with me, and I'm not going to just give up now," Atsushi's eyes narrowed as his hand fully reached into the drawer and pulled out a 9mm pistol, aiming down the sights towards Todomatsu, "No deal."
With a swift movement, Todomatsu rolled to the other side of the bed and dropped to the floor, blocking Atsushi from a clear shot. Reaching for the knife he kept strapped to his right ankle, Totty waited for the other man to make any kind of movement. The opportunity came when he paced towards Totty's side of the bed, the hand that was holding the weapon met with searing pain as Todomatsu's knife embedded itself into the back of it. The sudden attack took Atsushi off-guard and he dropped the gun in pain and shock, clutching the now-bloodied hand and taking a few steps back as Todomatsu lunged forward to catch the pistol before it hit the floor.
"The hard way it is, then," Todomatsu quickly released the magazine and saw that it was fully loaded, shoving it back into the magazine well with a click. His normally happy eyes had turned cold and watched his bleeding prey before him -- a man now disarmed and partially disabled. Atsushi grunted as he pulled the combat knife out of his dominant hand, holding it awkwardly in his left before dropping it. He grabbed a discarded shirt from his laundry and pressed it hard against the stab wound, his hand shaking.
"How much further are you going to sink, Totty?" Atsushi backed up to the dresser and sat with his back to it, "Would you stoop to murder just to bring your whore sister back?"
Todomatsu stopped for a brief moment before walking towards the dropped knife, picking it up in his free hand and rushing towards Atsushi, his eyes hidden by the deep shadow of his fringe. Just before the knife plunged into Atsushi's neck, Todomatsu stopped and only looked at him with a slight tilt of his head, keeping the barrel of the pistol pressed against Atsushi's forehead.
"I'll only go as far as you push me."
The emptiness in Todomatsu's eyes sent a shudder down Atsushi's spine.
"So, go ahead. Push me further. Taunt me with whatever abuse you did to (y/n). Gloat about how 'obedient' you made her while she was with you. Mock me by saying that you wanted to break the weakest link of the Matsuno family so the rest would fall in line. Tell me that you arranged the marriage because you thought you could leash the Matsuno brothers if she was yours only by legal rights," The knife edge began to bite into Atsushi's skin, "Brag about how you wanted to take over the Ward with us as your prized guard dogs."
The shocked look on Atsushi's face told Todomatsu all he needed to know.
"You're signing the divorce papers. Tonight."
----
The festivities at the party were starting to die down as I watched various groups of people leave, waiting for the older three brothers to finish up whatever business they had to do. Ichimatsu had been talking with few others about medical practices and the various breakthroughs he's observed when treating his patients, and Jyushimatsu was back at the hors d'oeuvres table, cleaning up what other people hadn't finished or weren't interested in. I sat calmly with another plate of food that Jyushimatsu offered, still picking at it as a multitude of thoughts tumbled around in my head about what had happened in the past few hours.
Was Akumatsu considered one of my brothers? Would Todomatsu be okay with Atsushi? What was going to happen to me when I went back?
How long was I going to let myself be a pawn in this game that I didn't know the rules to?
"Lots on your mind?" Jyushimatsu settled into a seat on my right, finishing off what looked to be the last of the crackers from the table.
"Yeah..." I looked at him briefly before sighing and closing my eyes.
"Anything I can help with?" His chair creaked a little as his body weight shifted.
"Not really, no...Just have a lot of questions that need answers, and I don't think I want to know all of the answers yet," I opened my eyes to look at the ceiling high above me, domed and decorated with painted cherubs flying and pointing at various couples that were mostly naked, only covered by a flowing sheet or greenery from the surrounding trees.
"Any that...I can answer? Maybe about why you're stifled around me?" Jyushimatu's question made me look at him, noticing that he had leaned forward to examine my face, peering through his hound mask and onto the fox mask that I still had on.
"Uh...what?"
"Don't think I haven't noticed by now," He continued slowly, "I saw it every time we had a family dinner meeting, or when we passed in the halls. You don't look at me like you do everyone else, and it's made me think that I did something to make you avoid talking to me, besides those letters."
"No -- N-no, it's not that," I stuttered. I didn't think he noticed at all, "I...Well, it's kinda hard to say when it's brought up so suddenly. It's nothing you did at all, I just--"
"It's how I act when I get excited about a job, isn't it?"
I flinched and slowly nodded.
Silence filled the space between us before Jyushimatsu raised his left hand and put it on my right knee, giving it a soft squeeze.
"I'm sorry that my reactions made you scared of me. I would never do anything to harm you, (y/n). You do know that, don't you? Whatever job our brothers send me on, I enjoy doing it because that means I can actively take part in keeping all of us safe," I could see a small smile creep up his lips, "That's why I love what I do. Yeah, it's dangerous and requires a certain...aptitude...but I want you to understand that I wouldn't do anything that would bring harm to my brothers or to you."
"...I understand -- but it's like a completely different side of you. I like seeing your real smile, but when Papa and Mom started taking you all on jobs when we were young...it was like you had developed a different personality, and it only came out when Papa took you on 'errands' that dealt with his friends," I looked up at Jyushimatsu through his hound half-mask and took off my mask, "I get that it's all to keep the family safe, but I'd like to see more of the real you when we're...or rather, when we were at home..."
My mouth closed in a sad frown as the memory surfaced of my marriage and move out of my family's home. I would never see my sextuplet brothers ever again -- even if I begged Atsushi for the rest of my life. I doubt I'd see the outside social world until he needed me to keep up appearances, especially after I slapped him and my brothers swapped Todomatsu in my stead.
I felt wetness drip onto my left hand before realizing that I was openly crying. I quickly pulled the mask back down and rushed away, leaving my plate behind on the chair. I tried to wipe away the tears from underneath the mask, but more kept coming. A hand grabbed my left arm and began dragging me for a short distance before I collided with something soft, yet firm. The fox mask was lifted away before I could say anything in apology, and two strong arms surrounded me in a tight hug.
"It's okay to cry, (y/n). I'm strong enough to take this, too," Jyushimatsu's voice was unusually quiet as I felt one of his hands start rubbing the back of my head. I let my control slip through my hands, stifling my crying as much as I could against his chest before passing out from exhaustion.