Fast Love
The Millefiore murderer is the hot news that speeds throughout the entire Vongola family. From the lowliest subordinate to the Tenth himself, this assassin is no funny business. He starts with the members at the lowliest pyramid of power, making his way to ordinary people that had relations with his enemy family.
No doubt [Name] hears of this from her husband, Yamamoto, still as caring and thick- headed as he is in his high school years. She takes caution in everything she does and makes sure any suspicious stranger is to be dealt with her rehearsal hiding skills.
It is a normal day, as usual; she wakes to find her husband at the door, ready to leave and hugs him tightly. She buries her head in his chest and takes in his cologne scent.
"You'll be home early today, right?" She whispers.
"[Name], I can't guarantee that! You know how much I have to do in a day. It'll be almost impossible for me!"
"…Takeshi?"
"Hm?"
"I love you, no matter what happens."
"I love you too! Even though you may say this every morning, I never grow tired of it! Say good morning to Takara for me." She smiles against his suit and gives him a kiss for a safe day. The August heat sweeps into their air- condition home, no entering wind nice enough to provide a breeze for her enjoyment.
Her mornings after the departure of her beloved husband are always the same. She wakes up her over- energetic daughter and cooks breakfast, which is no problem; it is the decision what to do the whole day with her that makes [Name] use the organ that lay unoccupied in her head consider their schedule.
Takara, meaning treasure in Japanese, is similar to the given meaning of her name; she is the treasure of her parent's life, no matter how corny that sounds. She's full of energy, girly like her mother, and simple like her father. But mostly comparable to [Name] herself because she has the same [h/c] locks and big and bright [e/c] orbs. The schedule for the day is: make arts and crafts, lunch, play games, dinner. Easy and simple as that.
[Name] ties her [h/c] locks up in a ponytail and prepares the materials for Takara to make sketches of random objects in the house. Even though she's very energetic, [Name]'s strict voice commands Takara to stay in one spot.
Takara yells with joy as she is given a marker and paper, ready to draw to her imaginary's content, and runs to her room upstairs. Her mother smiles and begins to prepare lunch; [Name]'s ability to think up fun recipes and make them come true is her specialty but it requires time. Her mind drifts off in the land of cooking and food heaven when she hears a click from the front door.
The kitchen is far away from the front door but this quiet click makes an eerie sound; [Name] stops whatever she is doing and listened. Not a sound heard again, she resumes her actions to gather cooking materials for the sandwich she is making.
An arm wraps itself around her neck and she gasps.
A black gloved hand holds a knife against her collar.
The other hand holds another knife very close to her.
[Name] freezes in front of the murderer; the Millefiore murderer to be exact.
"Don't move," a gruff voice states.
"Trust me, I don't plan to move." A cut form on her cheek and a small crimson liquid slowly forms down.
"Don't push it."
"Well, I know you're going to kill me." [Name] knows long ago that she is going to die sooner or later, either at an old age or by the hands of the Vongola enemies; she expects this to happen when she accepts Takeshi's proposal. But she didn't expect it to be this soon. Not when she has Takara to look after when Takeshi is at 'work'.
"Of course, I plan to kill you. Here and now." Shit, too soon.
"…hey, you want a sandwich? I'm making one now."
"I'm the enemy, you're going to die in a few minutes, and you're offering me a sandwich?" He lowers his arms but still stands behind her.
"Why not, I want to make something before I die, right?"
"No, not right. You, miss, have a problem."
"What problem?" [Name] airily says as she reaches in a drawer and takes out a bandage, applying it to the cut on her cheek. "I'm sure you've been killing nonstop, plus not resting for hours! You, my man, need a delicious sandwich to freshen up."
"…fine. But you better make it now in front of me, in case I don't get poison. After that, you die." [Name] shrugs and begins to set up a sandwich that will satisfy her murderer's tastes.
I need to find a way to distract him, even if it's for one minute. I need to warn Takara to enter situation #5. Yes, they practice many dangerous scenarios if one ever shown up under the command of the late Tsuna; he always cares for people like this.
[Name] would pay so much money for his expression right now, telling her that she doesn't have to do this. But Tsuna, you can't understand a mother's mind.
The mystery man sits across the counter, watching as she slowly prepares the ham and cheese sandwich.
"Oh, don't put too much ham on it. And do you have a different type of cheese? Maybe like parmesan, not cheddar." She gives him an apologetic face.
"Ooohh, too bad, don't have any of those. How 'bout Swiss? That's all I have any ways, sorry."
"Oh sure, that's okay with me." [Name] rummages through the fridge, only to return empty handed.
"Man, can you wait a moment? I think we have some in the extra fridge I keep in the garage. And don't worry, I won't do anything. I'm going to die anyways, so why bother running away?" The killer went into a thinking process before he gives her a nod.
"Fine. Even if you do run away, I'll hunt you down until I know your dead. So hurry up, I'm starving," and [Name] left the kitchen, carefully closing the door behind her as she runs around the house, looking for her daughter. [Name] hears her child's off-key voice through the door of her room and stops. Have to calm myself down; I don't want to worry her at a time like this.
She opens the door to find Takara on the floor, singing incomprehensible words and drawing scribbles on a piece of paper. Her head looks up, ponytail bouncing down, and she smiles.
"Mommy, look at my drawing! Isn't it beautiful?" [Name] can't help but chuckle at her offspring's happiness and her expression softens with a hint of sorrow; she was going to miss that. I have my whole life ahead, my path in front of me. I'll miss so many things: breathing, living, the simple things in life and most importantly Takeshi and Takara.
[Name] sighs. "Takara, you remember situation #5, right?" Takara franticly nods. "Mommy needs you to practice it but this time, when an hour has past, I want you to call daddy and tell him to join the game too, okay?" Takara confusingly glances at the clock on the pink wall.
"When the small hand goes from the ten to eleven?"
"Yes, that's right. You know where the nearest home phone is, right?" Takara jumps up and gleefully points to the extra phone on a table.
"This, right? Oh, and I know daddy's phone number too! I'm going to win this game! Just you watch mommy, I'll make you proud!" Takara's vision is block when [Name] kneels to the ground and tightly embraces her, squeezing her body firmly.
"Mommy?" The woman pulls away and examines her daughter's features.
"I know you'll make me proud," she says as her voice breaks. "Mommy will be away for awhile so hide under the bed, okay? Don't forget the instructions I gave you and don't come out of your room until daddy comes in, you hear me?"
"Mommy, be back soon, okay? I want to play this game with you and daddy too!" [Name] pauses for a bit before giving her daughter the happiest smile she can manage.
"Yes, I'll be back soon."
[ooooooo]
Takeshi is at the Vongola headquarters, in the middle of a meeting with the rest of the guardians. He jokingly listens to the homily the Tenth boss is giving everyone about the loose murderer when a ringtone breaks up the speech.
"Yamamoto? Is that yours?"
"Oh, sorry Tsuna! It's Takara. Looks like she wants to chat again! Maybe she wants to talk to you; she looks up to you Tsuna!"
"W-what?"
"Takara! Hi, how are you!" A high-pitched, joyful voice shouts something into the receiver and Yamamoto laughs. Gokudera angrily gives a glare to the ecstatic man, Lambo sleeps in the comfy chair, Chrome awkwardly fidgets in her seat, Tsuna is in great confusion that a child likes him, Ryohei extremely grins amd Hibari is nowhere to be seen.
"Sure, a game? I'd love to play with you but daddy is at work right now! Go and ask mommy to play with you, daddy will be home soon."
Everyone listens as mumbles from the handheld device is heard and Yamamoto's expression suddenly goes pale.
"Takara, can you say that again? Daddy didn't hear correctly." The tension in the room increases and everybody freezes.
"I'll be home right away to play that game with you, okay Takara? Be a good girl and I'll bring Tsuna for you too. Just stay in your room," and he snaps the phone shut, expression harden and stiff as he stands up and head towards the egress.
"What did she say?" Tsuna asks.
"Come if you want, I'm heading home."
[ooooooo]
The first one to enter the disruptive home is the owner himself. The first couple of rooms in the home were fine, still the same as always but a sinister mood never left. That is until he sees the kitchen.
The preparation for lunch is still on the counter and only an empty plate with crumbs is set across from it. The floor is cover with dark blood escaping from the slice on [Name]'s neck, her eyelids peacefully covering her cloudy [e/c] orbs, never again to be use for sight.
The guardians stand in shock at the ghastly sight, only moving when Tsuna shakily but sharply yells "Someone, call for a medical team, I want the three of you to search the house but not Takara's room, and the rest scan the perimeter! The killer couldn't have gotten far!"
Yamamoto kneels down and clutches his wife's corpse into his strong arms, in disbelief that she is lifeless. Her resting expression holds a miniature smile but it covers up the pain and grief that she held inside. After what seems like eternity, his boss speaks.
"I'll go and keep Takara company." Footsteps fade away and Takeshi draws her body to his, hand gripping the back of her head, her [h/c] hair entangles in his clasp and eyes close in doubt.
As if like it was a prayer that he is making in a church, he whispers her deceased name tenderly.
"[Name], [Name]… [Name]…"
[ooooooo]
A Year Later
It is a calm day and the skies are clear with not a single cloud in sight. A gentle breeze blows over the tall grass and some against a man's trousers.
In his rough left hand, a bouquet of flowers is wrapped in a ribbon. On his ring finger is a ring and in his right hand, the man grips another similar hoop.
He stands over a headstone, over a grave to be more exact, which is buried under a field of grass, just like the decease woman described in her will.
A forced, sorrowful smile is upon his lips and his brown eyes narrow intensely at the stone.
"[Name]," he whispers.
No one responds.
"Tsuna was right," he continues. "You didn't have to go."
The wind gives him a draft on the back, causing the man to smile that silly grin of his.
"You're right; this is no time to mope."
He glances over at the little girl in the backseat of his nearby Honda, very comparable to [Name] herself. The matching [h/c] locks curl at her chubby cheeks and her eyelashes close down over the very same [e/c] orbs.
Another gust of air blows the man towards the direction his vehicle, as if beckoning him to head there.
The man now laughs.
"Okay, okay, [Name], I'm going!"
Takeshi proceeds towards that direction but stops, and heads back to the headstone. He gently lays the bundle of blossoms near the foot and walks off to his slumbering daughter.
As he strolls there, the breeze carries off his soft voice, whispering "[Name]" one more time.
AN:
*scoffs* This is such an ooolllllllddddd story! Pardon the mistakes and whatnot, this was one of my earlier works and wanting to keep it the way it was, I didn't change anything. Also, this was my (failed) attempt to write in present tense. Again, sorry for the mistakes and failed present-tense attempt! \^o^/