Wedding Rings

Years ago Squalo had cut off his left hand to beat Tyr the Sword Emperor. Xanxus had laughed at him then and called him an idiot. Squalo still grinned while clutching the bloody stump with that arrogant smirk and air of confidence saying he would never lose again. Xanxus did not care much of the promise made then.

Now, sitting by the long haired man's side Xanxus wished he had enforced that promise the shark made back then. "Stupid trash," his voice lacked the usual harshness. "Don't you dare die on me…"

The pale silver haired man continued to lie on the hospital bed unconscious. If Xanxus had not known better, he would have thought this man as a breath taking beauty. His skin matched the color of his hair and bed sheets. However Xanxus knew the constant tint of pink on the man's cheeks when he was beside him. "Even in his sleep he was always blushing as if he knows I'm there," Xanxus thought to himself. "Trash, you made me fall this hard for you so I'm not letting you go so easily. When you wake up I'm going to tie you to me so that you will never disobey my orders again…"

Xanxus's mind went back to the flashback from a week ago. The faithful right hand man had jumped in his way and gotten himself stabbed right through by Jagger. Xanxus's arm did not even hurt. His heart stopped the moment he saw the beautiful man's eyes flutter close. The blood that flew created a picture of perfection in the short span and Xanxus panicked. He was afraid of losing such an important person in his life. The crib incident had invaded his mind as he watched the man who held his heart fall almost lifelessly to the ground. At the thud of a limp body that he once held beneath him moaning and squirming made Xanxus sick.

He had ordered the man to get up but the man did not even twitch. Never had Squalo disobeyed him. He knew better than to do that and yet this time Squalo had disobeyed him for a week. Xanxus was at loss of what to do. He felt that he could do anything to bring back the man who always yells when he speaks. He never thought that one day he would come to miss that annoying voice.

Moving his fingers through the silver locks, Xanxus bit back tears that threatened to fall. He was not weak at all. Squalo had kept his promise to not severe his hair and serve Xanxus forever. Until now he had kept this one vow which served as a consolation to Xanxus. "As long as you have your hair long trash, you must continue to serve me. I won't let you die that easily…"

When Squalo did not respond Xanxus gave in to the ache in his heart. He held the unconscious man gently in his arms and buried his head into the silent man's chest, allowing the tears to fall.

He inhaled as deeply as possible the familiar scent tampered by the massive amount of drugs and morbid smell of death lingering in the hospital. Missing a right arm simply proved inconvenient when he tried to bring his shark up and found he could not support the man properly without the other arm. Xanxus cursed.

After contemplating if he should move the injured man, he decided against it and settled for a simple kiss on the lips before leaving. It had been a week since Xanxus entered the hospital in his bloodied state. The staff attended to him while he refused to move from his beloved's side. Days and nights passed by and Xanxus only starred at the sleeping man beside him, tormenting himself with the memories of Squalo getting stabbed in front of his eyes.

Sometimes he would fall asleep beside the man and wake up feeling glad that it was only a dream but reality came crashing down on him when the sliver haired man did not move an inch from his bed. Xanxus thought on many occasions in that one week he may go insane. The rest of the Varia dropped by initially but decided not to when they saw the depressed state their boss was in. Xanxus had refused any food and water offered. Instead, he opted to starve with the one lying on the hospital bed. Squalo did not stir and the doctors were beginning to lose hope.

A kiss later, Xanxus lingered for a little while more before slipping the ring he had in his hand all along. Squalo was missing a left hand so Xanxus decided to place it on his right ring finger. Xanxus laughed at the absurdity of the idea. He was missing a right arm while Squalo was missing his left. Even without wedding rings they would already make a perfect match. Then again, some things cannot be gone against. The symbol of the rings in any mafia tradition is a promise for life to that one person. A ring is a symbol of claim and the mate wearing the ring belonging to another person will be protected. Xanxus blamed himself for not having the courage earlier to put the ring on Squalo thinking the man was strong enough to fend for his own.

"If I had put the ring on you earlier this may not have happened. No matter what, harm befallen on a mate is an outright declaration of war. Because of that brat I can't even kill the one who did this to you. I really don't deserve you."

Xanxus heaved another sigh and began to turn around. Just as he reached the door and was about to leave, he heard a faint noise from behind him. He paused. His ears strained to pick out another sound but there was none. Deciding that his tired mind had been playing tricks on him, Xanxus opened the door to leave and froze when he heard another sound.

He whipped his head around and saw the pale man's eyes open and lips parted. He looked awful but otherwise, alive. The sound came out hoarsely from the cracked lips. "…ss. Shi..tty… boss…"

Xanxus blinked. Squalo stared back at him. Without hesitating anymore he hollered for the doctors and sent a few nurses scrambling. Dashing to the side of his beloved he tried his best to sit the man up. Pouring water clumsily, he made the man drink. Relief and happiness flooded the scarred man. "You're back shitty shark trash. How dare you disobey my orders!"

Squalo managed a weak laughter before wheezing out "Won't happen again boss." Squalo smiled and Xanxus's expression softened immediately. He hugged the man to the best of his abilities. "Don't do this anymore shark, you had me worried there."

Squalo could only smile. The doctors came in and Xanxus waited outside anxiously. When they came out of the room, Xanxus glared at them. "Well?"

The doctor stuttered nervously. "I-It's a complete miracle… he is making a steady progress recovering…"

Xanxus grinned and made his way back to Squalo's bed. "Trash, we are going to get married once you are out of this hell hole."

Squalo laughed weakly. "How? I don't see a way you can put the ring on for me… if anything we are already an item. We have matching missing limbs."

Xanxus guffawed. "That's what I thought trash. But I already bought the shitty rings so I placed it here," Xanxus lifted Squalo's right hand to let him see the ring sitting nicely on his ring finger.

Squalo snorted. "So like you to marry me without my permission shitty boss."

Xanxus shrugged. "It's not like you have a choice damn shark."

Squalo smiled. They shared a long kiss.

When Xanxus broke apart, he whispered "Do you forgive me?"

Squalo caressed his cheek with his right hand. "I do."

They both laughed afterwards at how it sounded like a marriage vow. Xanxus noticed how tired Squalo had become and bumped their foreheads together. "Sleep trash."

Squalo complied. Xanxus stayed by his side and when the breathing evened out, Xanxus planted a soft kiss on the shark's forehead. "I love you," he whispered before leaving abruptly.

"I love you too," Squalo whispered back when the door had closed. He slept contentedly and the ring on his finger sparkled with a mixture of sky, storm and rain flames.

Beneath the ring was engraved "Always mine, Xanxus."

Author's Note: wrote this because I felt like I was out of practice with writing only a series right now. I hope I have not lost touch with writing. Please review if you find any room for improvement. By the way, I love this pairing. They are really sweet people