I usually strive to keep my characters in character so I did my best with our beloved Acrobalenos. Unfortunately I am not finished with the series and don't know all of their stories and quirks and future changes so this may not be entirely in character as it could be. I enjoyed writing this one immensely and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did creating it.
Translations and an important continuation note can be found at the bottom of the page.
Good Morning to the Sun
Reborn wasn't a person who dealt with early mornings easily; at least not if he decided he didn't need to wake up early in the first place. In fact, he was quite violent when disturbed from his sleep before he was ready to rise for the day.
Now, this wasn't news to anyone who knew him, least of all his fellow Acrobaleno. More than one of them had suffered the infant Acrobaleno's wrath from prematurely waking Reborn. An unlucky Acrobaleno (coughSkullcough) discovered what it was like waking the adult Reborn and hadn't reappeared for a few weeks afterwards.
A few months after the Acrobaleno returned to their natural state, it so happened that many of the Acrobaleno had regrouped at Tsuna's home; much to the boy's mortification, he had left a dust cloud in his attempt to escape the house when he saw the gathered group at his table that morning.
The apparent purpose of this gathering was in order to fill in some of the blanks regarding their transformations and any side effects felt by them (this was the only way that Verde could be convinced to attend this meeting). Honestly, it had been Colonnello's idea in the first place that they needed to keep their bonds strong and had dragged Lal into the mess by association, then Skull had stalked after them who himself was followed by an annoyed, unpaid Mammon. Fon had already been present at the Sawada due to visiting I-Pin and greeted them cordially, guiding them to the table as they arrived.
Nana, up and about since the crack of dawn, had eagerly began cooking a delicious feast for her Tsuna's 'friends from school'. She was cheerfully stirring some eggs in a bowl when she requested someone wake Reborn so he could eat breakfast as well.
The atmosphere between the Acrobaleno was an awkward one at best, usually, but this time it was one of tension. All but two of the Acrobaleno had been assembled. Yuni had respectfully declined due to business out of the country. Last but not least, there was Reborn who had taken up a semi-permanent residence within the Sawada house to continue training Tsuna. Reborn, who was still asleep upstairs. Reborn, the reason for the silent, gauging stares each Acrobaleno gave to each other. And finally,
"Skull, kora."
Instantaneous agreement arose from Mammon and Verde at Colonnello's declaration. Lal nodded decisively while Fon picked up his yunomi and sipped his oolong tea quietly. Skull took a moment of bewilderment before jumping up from his seat and protesting loudly.
"What? ME? No way! He'll kill me!" Skull hissed, paling to an unhealthy degree, "He'll castrate me! Someone else go!"
Colonnello leaned toward Lal and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, grinning widely, "I can't go, Lal hurt herself 'cause she's such a tomboy so I have to make sure she doesn't do something un-lady-like again, kora." Colonnello laughed at his own wit that quickly disintegrated into a yelp of pain as Lal, red-faced, elbowed him harshly in the stomach.
Mammon answered even before Skull could turn to him, "You still owe me my fee for tracking down Lal in the first place. Think twice before you ask me for something else, the charge doubles if you employ me before paying for a previous job."
Verde simply continued to write on the notepad he had brought with him, murmuring to himself. Lal was too busy prying Colonnello off of her to give an excuse but she managed a ferocious glare that had Skull wilting onto the tabletop, whining at his misfortune.
A quiet chuckle and clack of a yunomi preceded Fon's response, "I'll wake him, Skull-san."
Skull shot to his feet, pumping his fists in the air to show his victorious glee as Fon stood and made his way to the staircase, folding his hands into his sleeves. The other Acrobaleno watched him depart, even Verde sparing a glance of pity at him, with varying amounts of trepidation.
Everyone knew better than to simply walk into a room where Reborn was sleeping. The black-haired man was the greatest, strongest hitman alive and one didn't claim that title without a strong paranoid streak and a developed light sleeping pattern. Startling Reborn was basically begging to be shot. Startling him awake?
Well, there's a few bodies piled from such daring.
Fon also knew better than to simply walk into Reborn's room. He rapped his knuckles softly on the wooden door with a quiet, "I'm coming in." and entered the room just as quietly. Fon, familiar with the layout of the Sun's room, immediately found Reborn where he expected him to be, as immaculate as Reborn always was. For all appearances he was sleeping on his back, sheets pooled low enough to reveal that he was sleeping shirtless, and wearing a peaceful expression on his face. However, as such a light-sleeper, Fon knew that Reborn was at least subconsciously aware of his presence in the room.
Stepping closer, he scanned the Sun's face inquisitively. 'Peaceful.' He echoed his previous thought, studying the expression. Reborn usually appeared confident, smug even, but rarely did the hitman ever look truly peaceful. Fon smiled, sleep made pacifists of them all.
Fon leaned down hovering over Reborn slightly as he murmured rousingly, "Reborn. Reborn, you need to wake up."
The result of his wake-up call was instantaneous. Two hands seemed to materialize around his shoulders and he was pulled effortlessly over Reborn, seeing a brief flash of onyx glimmering in both annoyance and wicked amusement before landing on the bed between the wall and Reborn, now on his side. What progress the hitman might have made toward waking up reversed as Reborn closed his eyes, pulling Fon to his chest, and ceasing to move once again.
In response, Fon blinked sedately, just a bit red as he was crushed to Reborn's chest. He wriggled once, testing his flesh and bone restraints and found them unsurprisingly unrelenting. Instead of fighting it however Fon chose to settle against the hitman's embrace and proceed with Plan B.
He slung an arm over Reborn's waist, rubbing a small circular motion against his back through the material of his sleeve. Due to Reborn's tendency toward sleeping lightly, physical stimuli often prevented him from sleeping. It had saved his life more than once, Fon knew, but it also assisted in keeping the stubborn man from falling back asleep.
True to Fon's experienced assumption, Reborn made a noise of acquiescence above him. Fon was reassured by its softness, glad to know that the hitman was not genuinely angry at his early wakening.
"Assigned wake-up duty, were you?" Reborn muttered, his sleep-laced voice husky and deep.
Fon suppressed a chuckle, continuing his soothing massage, "I volunteered. Zǎoshang hǎo."
Reborn didn't respond but Fon thought he could feel the sharp smile on the hitman's face at his confession. A moment later Fon felt an firm pressure on the top of his head and before he barely even registered the sensation, it and Reborn was gone, the latter striding toward the closet. Fon smiled, slipping off of the bed as well. He moved to exit the room but paused at the threshold, turning around.
"Nana-san's making breakfast for us. Did you want anything in particular?"
Reborn looked up at him from where he was buttoning his shirt, piercing him where he stood with an amused smile and a roguish gleam in his eyes. Fon turned heading for the stairs with a slight flush of pink on his face in half-hearted hopes to escape what was sure to come.
And as he predicted he heard Reborn answer with what he was sure was a smug smirk, "Chinese, onegai."
Fon flushed darker and refused to comment as he entered the kitchen and tried to steady his nerves with his oolong tea. For a moment he succeeded, and then Nana questioned whether Reborn had requested anything specific for breakfast that morning and it took far too much will power to stop him from mimicking his dear student I-Pin when she laid eyes on Kyoya Hibari. He cleared his throat and intended to answer just as Reborn entered with, as Fon had guessed, a smirk on his face, his shadowed eyes daring Fon to answer.
Fon recovered himself, taking a relaxing breath before raising his yunomi and answering, "I'm sure he will be happy with anything you make, Nana-san." And took a sip. He ignored Reborn's silent amusement, in order to politely ask Mammon to remove his money from the table as Nana began to lay out her culinary masterpieces.
"Nice of you to join us Reborn, kora!"
"It's too early for this Colonello." Reborn said casually, taking a seat at the table. "Though with you in charge, I'm not surprised."
Colonello wavered between being unsure of insult and laughing before true to his nature, laughter won out. The rest of the morning was spent eating the delicious dishes that Nana provided for them, casually revealing small things about how they had spent the last few months. It took three hours, a full two hours longer than Fon optimistically thought possible, for the camaraderie to break down into an inevitable end to the get-together.
Mammon's sly nudges at Skull finally resulted in the Cloud blurting out that he didn't have the money for the job Mammon had done for him. A further slip of the tongue on Mammon's Acrobaleno name, Viper, resulted in Mammon chasing Skull from the house. Verde called an end to the meeting for him as well, claiming he had wasted enough time when valuable research could be done.
Lal, sensing an easy escape, claimed that she had to go train today. Fon thought Lal manipulated her former student quite well, as Colonello latched onto the excuse as an entirely different opportunity and offered to join her.
A few minutes of peace reigned afterwards. Fon had offered both his and Reborn's assistance with cleaning up but Nana had waved him off laughing, "You two always have to run off somewhere in a hurry! Don't worry about it." and so Fon stood up from the table as well, "I had better go check in on I-Pin." He had left her in a training meditative state at the Namimori Shrine and after meditating a full day and night, he was a little anxious to see how she was doing. Fon nodded farewell to Reborn, who was sipping his expresso contentedly, possibly the sole reason he had not provoked Skull during the entire three hour period.
He made his way to the door and was slipping on his shoes when he felt a presence appear behind him. Sensing who it was, Fon merely continued to ready himself for departure. Once he stood up he was unsurprised to feel the hitman move closer, nearly flush with his back but not quite touching, a similar pressure from three hours ago pressing against the side of his neck.
Perhaps to someone else, a renowned lethal hitman so close to such a vulnerable part of one's body might be frightening. The thought and emotion never crossed Fon's mind, he instead smiling indulgently at Reborn's display of affection. The pressure lifted and he heard Reborn say softly in his native tongue, "Buongiorno."
The not-quite-touching presence disappeared and back in the kitchen Fon heard Reborn begin a conversation with Nana about Tsuna taking a trip during the upcoming spring break for a 'stress-relieving retreat'.
Chuckling, Fon stepped out of the house, sliding the door behind him.
Zǎoshang hǎo – It means "good morning" In Mandarin Chinese.
Onegai – It means "please" in Japanese.
Kora – It means "hey, or maggot" in Japanese. This is something that Colonello is known to add to his sentences.
Buongiorno – It means "good morning" in Italian.
Yunomi – This is that brown/tan and wavy lined at the top cup you usually see anime characters drinking hot beverages (such as tea) from.
I am under the impression that Sawada Nana is a culinary master. She cooks so much for so many people with never-ending appetites. Bow to her mastery of cooking!
So yes, I hope you liked it. I am thinking of doing another one-shot of Reborn's point of view of this same one-shot or of another morning entirely. I figure it'll battle itself out in my head eventually but if you want one or the other you can let me know. I might be swayed.
Reviews inspire me.