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Blood and Smoke	By : krazykiwi16 Category: +. to F > Baccano Views: 1408 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Baccano, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
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- 14
Kelly & Claire's Childhood :D

Enjoy!

1919

The sweet smell of popcorn and candyfloss filled the air, the noise of horns, fanfares and the carousel rang through the night as Circo Romani was opened for entertainment. A family of four arrives outside the circus and they buy tickets from a young twelve year old, with black hair and midnight blue eyes, but she looks older with her eye lined with black, and her already developed chest. Kelly waves at the two children in the family before they run off into the circus lined with concession stands and booth, their parents closely behind.

'Kelly, how many tickets left?' a man in an orange jumpsuit with spikey orange hair juggling with wooded rods lit on fire, asks her. Kelly unafraid counts her remaining tickets,

'About fifty left before we completely sell out'

'Oh ho? Wow you are a little miracle worker aren't you? Just like that fake gypsy said you were'

'Who you calling fake?' a young chocolate colour woman dressed in a long flowing skirt, and a white blouse under a black corset and a red shawl around her shoulder, approaches the two already by the entrance.

Kelly chuckles, as the gypsy and the fire shooter argue,

'Zest is just being cranky, Numa stole his cigarettes' Kelly pipes, when the gypsy kneels down and pinches Kelly's cheeks,

'Owowowowowowo! Scarlet!' as the women lets go and Kelly pouts, rubbing her sore cheek, while Zest chuckles walking away entertaining some families.

'Sorry m'dear, you're so cute I just couldn't resist' before she walks away, as people crowd her stall.

Soon all the tickets are gone and Kelly doesn't have anything else to do, she looks back at the large tent that looms behind her, hearing the roar of the crowds mixed with the sounds of animals and music. Oh how Kelly wished that she was a part of the magic that made people smile, but she was on her way to being an acrobat, so it wouldn't take too long, another year and she would be on that ring. It was getting late and Kelly knew she had a long, hard day of cleaning the ring, feeding the animals, training to be an acrobat and most importantly learning to cook with Numa. A shiver runs down her spine at the thought of working with the gangster like man. Yet the meadow was so lush outside the circus and the moon was so big, so bright she couldn't resist talking a stroll, and then she was drenched within seconds as rain showered hard upon her.

She stretches her arm out, enjoying the rain tickling her face, and she spins round and round in the rain when she notices an older boy with a hat staring at her a few feet away, he too soaked, he looked tired and he had a travel bag over his shoulder. He watches the girl who had stopped spinning in the rain with a look of caution, and recoiled back when she skipped to him.

'Hi!' beaming happily at the boy, her face extremely close to his, his face crimsoned, his heart was hammering in his chest, and he dipped his head low trying to hide under his hat.

'Hmmm?' Kelly chimed, her head titling to one side in puzzlement, hands behind her back she bent down trying to peek under his hat to see his hiding face, the boy's brown eyes widened and he blushed even more when he got a full view of her soaked t shirt, revealing much. He removed his coat and placed it around the girl, avoiding eye contact, he was unsure why he was acting so weird around the girl, especially from the moment he saw her smile in the rain without a care in the world, almost welcoming the rain.

'Are ya lost?' the girl asked.

'No….but I'm looking for Circo Romani, but I doubt a dumb broad like ya know where it is?' he was afraid of the girl, it was like she had cast some sort of enchantment on him.

'Circo Romani?' tilting her head the other way, drawing the words and then it clicked in her head.

'Ah!' she said it so loudly; she scared the poor boy who fell on his bottom, splashing water everywhere.

'I live there' she said matter-of-factly, not noticing the boy had fallen to the wet ground.

'I can take ya there!' and she turns to the boy,

'Whatcha doing down there?' smiling at the boy, who turns away before staring hard at the girl.

'Can I join Circo Romani?'

'Join? Ya gonna be our new older brother? Yahooo!' she dances happily in the rain, leaving the boy really confused when his nose starts to itch.

'Achoo!' the boy sneezes, sniffling a little.

Then the girl stops dancing and with a serious face and tone says,

'If you're out in this rain ya gonna catch a cold'

This broad has got a few loose screws, rolling his eyes at the strange girl, but he catches the coat that is thrown back at him.

'Here ya go, that'll keep ya warm..…Achoo!' she sniffles a bit, and giggling shyly says,

'Well….seems like I caught a cold' she hugs her body, shivering slightly and the boy sighs and covers both him and the girl but the coat doesn't help as its soaked but what helps is the close, body contact that keeps them warm as they walk back to the circus.

'What's ya name?'

'Kelly Johnson, and yours?'

'Claire Stainfield'

'Claire? Like a girl's name?' he rolls his eyes, this wasn't the first time someone questioned his name, nor will it be the last time.

'I like it, it's good ta meet cha Claire' she pipes up happily, this was definitely the first time someone liked his name, it caused Claire's heart to race even faster, and never had he wanted anything like he wanted the girl beside him who was humming softly, purposely stepping on puddles. Leaving his brothers behind was a good decision, and he looks forward to his new life at the circus with this cute broad even though she's a tad eccentric, he wasn't exactly normal either.

1920

Circo Romani was opened for another night of entertainment, crowds flood in and take their seats in the stands as the magic of the circus surrounds them and everyone is lost in the excitement of the performers. First a magician plunges swords into a box which he had previously placed his assistant in, and the crowd gasps when the assistant steps out the box uncut, and smiling. The magician's trench coat flares over the assistant and she vanishes behind the coat, turning into a deck of cards that flutters to the floor. The crowd is awed at the magic.

Next performance was a group of clowns, amusing the audience dressed in bright costumes and clown make up as they pulled hilarious stunts, making the crowd laugh.

Then the Ring Master stands in the centre before the crowd, dressed in a pair of riding pants, boots, coat tails and a top hat, a monocle in his eye, holding a loudspeaker.

While the ringmaster was addressing the crowd, Kelly was high up in the rafters wearing a sparkling red and black leotard, her thick black hair tied in a bun. Her heart pounds with excitement and nervousness, it was her first time performing in the ring, she swallows and takes long deep breaths when calloused but gentle hands grab her shoulders, massaging them and she instantly relaxes.

'I can hear ya heart beating from just standing infront of ya! Calm down, it'll be fine, just do it how we practiced' Kelly stares into dark brown eyes of the fifteen year old Claire; his red hair gelled back, wearing a red and black leotard. He refused to wear it if it was sparkling.

'But there's always a net, there's no net today!' whispering furiously in his face that was close to hers, both teenagers were nearly the same height and appeared to be the same age but Kelly was actually two years younger than Claire. Despite her childlike nature and innocence she had quite a busty body meanwhile Claire had the signs that he would grow into a very handsome man. His face was no longer boyishly round like it was last year, his chest and shoulders filling out becoming muscular, also due to the constant training and the hard workload at the circus, his arms were thick with solid muscles.

'I'll catch you like I always do' he smiled, bonking his head with the girl's, who beamed a smile back feeling better. The ringmaster stops talking, and the music begins to play, it was time. Claire was up first, with a feline grace he runs and leaps through the air high above the ground and grabs the hoop in the middle, before hanging upside down by his knees.

It's then Kelly's cue to jump, adrenaline pumping through her own toned, slightly muscled body she soars across the air, when she hears the cheers of the crowd she feels confident and twists her body in the air before grabbing Claire's outstretched hand. With a strong upwards pull from Claire, she springs up into the air and grabbing the top of the hoop she naturally manages to lift her lower body and performs a handstand on it.

Claire swings the hoop back and forth before flying off it, somersaulting in the air and landing on the other side of the rafters. Kelly was still maintaining her handstand on top of the hoop, when Claire comes on again, reaching for the hoop but Kelly's eyes widen as she notices that from the angle of Claire's jump he wasn't going to reach the hoop. She could see it in Claire's eyes that he too noticed the obvious. It takes her a split second to make a suicidal decision, with fiery determination she drops off the hoop, twisting her legs round the bottom of the hoop, and miraculously grasps onto Claire's wrist just in time, wincing from the stab of pain in her shoulder as it protests against the unexpected strain.

For a second the circus was so quiet you could hear a needle drop, and then it boomed into life as the audience stood, slapping their hands together, stamping their feet, as they had witnessed something spectacular. The ringmaster wipes at his forehead, and announces that the show has ended, which the audience is sad about.

While the audience file out of the tent, Claire lets out a shaky breath as Kelly slowly pulls him up, cussing between clenched teeth.

'I didn't think I'd be saved by a brat' Claire grips the hoop himself, and relaxes as they are lowered to the ground.

'Yeah, well this brat is always there for ya' her pouty lips said nonchalantly. As soon as both acrobats were safely on the ground, the Ringmaster hugged both of them tightly, relieved that they had survived and made one hell of a show.

'Wow, what a hell of a debut huh? We're gonna make a lot of money with you two' chuckling happily, looking down at the ever smiling Kelly, and the disinterested Claire.

Then Numa the chef of the circus came, he was a lanky man, his eyes permanently lined with black and he had wavy black hair, a cigarette was always in his mouth. Rumours went round that he used to be a mafia assassin but whether that was true or not, he definitely had a mobster like demeanour.

'Ya realise they could have nearly died?' he tells the Ringmaster bitterly.

'But, they didn't. Kelly saved her boyfriend in time'

Kelly's smile drops in an instant as she splutters, her cheeks blushing 'He's not my boyfriend' pointing at Claire who merely shrugs and huffs,

'Like I would be attracted to scrawny brats like her' smirking at Kelly who seems satisfied with that answer, completely oblivious to the fact he was insulting her.

Numa chuckles, smoke curling from his mouth as he stares down at the male teenager, 'how exactly is she scrawny?'

'Er…Ouch!' Numa bonks a fist down on his head, and drags a protesting Kelly by the ear, scolding her for being reckless and that she should drop being a circus freak and just become a full time apprentice cook. But he is genuinely concerned as he takes her to the doctor who was on sight.

'Other than her right arm feeling tender, she's alright. Kelly and Claire for some reason have interesting, special bodies. Kelly had no problem with training from when she was little, and somehow managed to withstand her injuries and such. And Claire, he was able train his body within a year and managed to catch up with Kelly who's been training for years now. Look at them now, successful acrobatics'

'Yeah, yeah real fucking special! Anyone realise they coulda died?' Numa lights up another cigarette, dragging on it deeply.

'But we didn't die Numa…eek!' Kelly hides behind the doctor as the cook glares at her, but his expression softens, glad Kelly was okay.

'Kelly, you up for some cooking?' grinning at her, and she bounds over to Numa happily. She did like Numa, he was like a protective, bullying older brother to her.

'Yup!'

Hours later and Kelly is thoroughly shattered from the day's events, and helping Numa cook for everyone. She's washing dishes, yawning ever so often, trying desperately to avoid sleep when Claire stumbles into the trailer, he too exhausted and leans onto the girl, his arms encircling her neck as he inhaling her sweet scent that has an added zing of tobacco from Numa's constant smoking. Kelly carries on washing wearily and tries to shrug the red head off,

'Get off would ya?'

'Kelly…I'm sleepy, when are ya coming to bed?' he was practically dozing on the girl who was starting to struggle under his weight.

'It shouldn't be too long, and ya can always sleep in your bed'

'Ya know I can't sleep unless I'm warm'

Then Numa bursts in, and Claire jolts awake, letting go of Kelly. Both he and Kelly sweat dropping under the heat of his gaze as they shared the same thought that one day they were going to be sleeping with the fishes.

'Oi! Kelly! I said no outsiders in the kitchen!' lighting up a cigarette stylishly.

'He's not an out-eeek' she hides behind Claire, who decides to leave as he doesn't want to feel the gangster cook's wrath.

'I'm going, I'm going, Kelly I'll wait for ya' and heads out the trailer.

'And I'm telling ya just go ta sleep' but she's not annoyed and she carries on washing the dishes, humming as she does so.

'Kelly isn't he too attached to ya? Be careful or you'll have your heart broken' Numa sniggers.

'Why would my heart be broken?' she questions Numa who joins her at the sink, towel drying the dishes she's washed.

'Heh..don't worry about it, but ya guys are like two peas in a pod'

Kelly stops washing the dishes as her head tilts to one side, thinking deeply,

'I like Claire…cuz he has red hair, I mean Zest has orange hair but red hair is….more….special. He's odd though, he'll say things like the world is his, which makes Lily angry, well I think cuz I don't speak French but she waves her bible thingy' Lily the French speaking ribbon dancer, fifteen years old and very religious.

'Does that scare you?' Numa asked calmly, used to the random ramblings of the girl beside him.

'That he might rule the world? No, cuz he's completely wrong. The sun is the ruler of this world; actually that makes Lily angry too. He's a my bestest friend here though' as she remembers Lily throwing the book at her making her nose bleed, then the next day Claire puts frogs in Lily's bed, scaring the girl.

'Bestest is not a word ya know?' Numa says, listening intently.

'Whatever but it's annoying when he sleeps in my bed but he says he's homesick, and he misses his brothers at home' Kelly resumes washing the dishes.

'Or he just prefers your pillows' he murmurs under his breath, shooting a quick glance to her not so small chest before looking away with a small smile. The two teenagers were both so unaware it was cute. It was these moments where he's glad that he left the mafia lifestyle and continued his passion in cooking. Yes. He was a former Mafiosi.

After a while of working in comfortable silence, Numa forces Kelly to head back to her tent and get some sleep, which she does. She slips into the already warm sleeping bag, hugging the head of red hair that immediately nestles into her chest. She's too tired to try and kick him out, not that she ever does and lets out a content sigh as she drifts off to sleep.

Several weeks later, the circus has packed up and moved to another picture perfect scene of meadows and forests, with a cliff top not too far from where the circus is. And as always with any new place the Circo Romani moves to, Claire and Kelly go off exploring: wading in streams, climbing trees, tumbling down hills, and then they come across a meadow of strawberries. Kelly reaches down and plucks a couple, passing one to Claire before excitedly biting into hers, the juice dribbling down the side of her mouth.

'Yummy!' she squeals, smacking her lips, and grabbing another one.

'You baby' Claire teases but bites into his, enjoying the sweet taste that reminds him of something but he can't quite put his finger on it.

'Ya…Ya…Ya're a carrot top!' Claire had always called her a baby but she wasn't, she was thirteen now.

'Haha what the hell? My hair ain't orange like Zest's!'

'Then…' she ponders for a long while, then she looks at the strawberry in her hand, a light bulb switches on in her head, ' Strawberry top!' a big wide smile on her face.

'Alright, now ya getting it' Claire giggles pretending to be evil and pounces the girl to the ground, and starts tickling her, she laughs non-stop, tears form on the corner from her eyes as Claire is relentless with his tickles and then Kelly bites, as usual.

'Ouch!' the girl always had to bite him which starts their daily play fighting, which often ends with Kelly crying. Claire frowns, thinking of a good way to punish the girl as she cheekily waggles her tongue at him.

'I'm telling Numa!' a mischievous grin on his face, knowing the girl was afraid of the cook, well he was too but he'll never admit that. He bolts, heading back to the circus.

'Ah wait! No fair' she runs after him, but she stops when she hears a loud crack from the forest behind her but she shrugs it off, an angry Numa was her top priority. A man stood in the shadows of the trees, a dark grin on his face. He had chosen his next prey.

Numa was sitting in his trailer, it was a rare day of rest and he was enjoying it with a cup of coffee, and reading the newspaper, he didn't even need to smoke. Then all that vanished when Claire burst through his door, yelling. His eyebrow twitched, and he reached into his jacket for a cigarette. Kelly then came in, she too yelling. He lit his cigarette.

'Kelly bit me!' glaring at the girl who faced him, their foreheads pressed against each other in anger.

Numa stood up, rolling the newspaper in his hand.

'Claire pushed me!'

Then one after the other Numa hit their heads with the rolled up newspaper. Very pissed.

'Right? So ya kids came to me cuz ya both wanted ta punish the other? Claire, ya clean these dishes!' referring to the mountain of dishes behind him.

'What! Kelly could do them too!' he absolutely despised doing the dishes.

'No, she does them all the time, not to mention she weirdly enjoys it' looking at the happy-go-lucky girl with sceptical eyebrow arch.

'Hah! Shame on ya Claire…eeek!' she watches nervously as Numa approaches and kneels before her, placing a finger on the faint pink line on the corner of mouth, and tastes the tip of his finger.

'Oh strawberries? Where did ya find them?' he could feel Claire's scorching anger, and Numa smirks finding it entertaining that he knew how to ruffle Claire's feathers.

'Errr, not too far from here, follow the stream, and up the tree, climbing a branch across the river and then through the tree trunk and there is it' a wide smile on her face as she remembered how fun it was pretending to be pirates with Claire.

'Haha is that so? Then ya can go strawberry picking'

'Yaaay!' she punches the air, and then freezes, remembering it was supposed to be a punishment, and with a little fake pout she tries to look sad.

'I-I mean aw'

'Well get to it then!' Numa barks at the both of them, supressing a chuckle. He loved these two; it was probably the closest thing to a family of his own. However, Kelly was like his own daughter since he was the one who found her, abandoned outside the circus one night. He had loathed the rule of 'you find a kid, it's yours' from the ringmaster and he was forced to look after her, even gave her a name and everything but he has never regretted it. The kid was sparkling and bright like a shining sun and had a long life ahead of her, she'd make a good chef one day, or a good wife as he turned his head to the arrogant, rude red head that was clumsily washing the dishes. Heh as if I'd hand over Kelly to an impertinent kid like him! Numa chuckles to himself before opening the paper again, he skims over the report of a young man called Jacob who's a dangerous rapist in the area, unconscious of how significant that information was.

Kelly is alone in the sea of strawberries; she's already grabbed a half basket of strawberries and decides to take a break. She looks up at the sky; it was so endless and so beautiful. The sun smiles down at her, as if it's saying hello and Kelly has no qualms about yelling a 'hello' back to the sun. The winds flows through her shoulder length hair, tendrils wisp around her face in the gentle breeze. She continues plucking strawberries, humming merrily, not noticing the trained, soft steps of the muscular, black haired man behind her. She sees a shadow, and thinking its Claire she turns and the harsh smell of chloroform assaults her, beating Kelly into blackness. The smirking shadow catches the limp body before it falls, the basket has fallen over, strawberries rolling away, and then hauling the girl over his shoulder he vanishes into the darkness of the forest.

Reviews please :)
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Blood and Smoke