"Well, Giotto's talking to you! Shouldn't it be natural to answer him back?"
Annoying...loud voice…he's storm, huh.
"G, it's alright. That's why he's perfect for our cloud..."
...…should be the boss. Sky.
"You're right Giotto! He's really fit for our cloud!"
Happy go lucky. Rain…
"Che, I don't care who he is, but Giotto, please hurry up and get on with it, I'm hungry!"
Hn…he's going to get it from me later. Whatever. Should be the lighting guardian…
"He's cool. To the extreme! Giotto, you picked a great one yeah!"
Extreme sun guardian. Another noisy one. I'll kill him next time.
"Neh. Where's the mist guardian?" I asked my 'boss' who was smiling peacefully at his guardians. He frowned.
"You mean daemon…he came to our famigila about a day or so…but disappeared the minute I saw you…" 'Boss' replied.
Hn? I stared at a certain spot in the mansion. Surely he can't be here…but…what's that feeling that I get someone's staring at me? Annoyed, I growled.
"Hn…Come out from there, mist guardian. Its no use hiding from anyone of us."
I glared at the spot, receiving a low whistle from the sun guardian, pissed-off-but-amazed-look from the storm guardian, a questioning look from the rain, an annoyed look from lighting, and…
"Well…Alaude's right, Daemon…come out and greet him. Still…"
Giotto stared at me and smiled. His ring…I swore it just warmly glowed…
"…You're amazing, Alaude…I though I would only be the one whom notice Daemon, but looks like you did too…"
Another warm smile. I 'hn-ed', and immediately looked away. My attention was back to the spot when all the guardians around stared and talk again.
"Daemon, even though you're new here, that doesn't mean that you can skip Giotto's call of having a new guardian!"
The storm looked pissed. I remember reading their identity files. His name was G, if I remembered. What a weird name. Only one letter. He was also, I believe, Giotto's childhood friend and was the one included in starting the vongola. With another guy…who was it again? I shrugged it off my mind as I started to see mist around the spot where I glared at before.
"Nufufufu…I should praise you Alaude, but its nothing special since I already knew you would know I was here…"
A voice. Well, that was unexpected. The voice was…pure. Cool. Smooth. My eyes widen a bit, very little bit. I wasn't those types who likes being weak. Neither do I love crowds or people ordering me around. I go with my own pace. That's, me. That is what makes me, Alaude, the cloud guardian of vongola primo.
Anyway, the mist cleared up, and there stood…
Daemon Spade. I nearly let my guard down and blush. He was someone whom I read often in my reports. Although, I didn't knew that he was in the vongola. No wonder when Giotto said his name, it seemed familiar. He stared at me longingly. I mustered up my courage and glared back.
"Oya? You seem to be the one working as an agent in the international cops; name is Alaude, the one of the few who were chosen for only top missions, right?"
He spoke like he knew me. He knew me. How did he-..
"Nufufufu, don't underestimate my power in knowing everything, Alaude. Like wise, welcome to vongola. I bet you were going to regret it here, everyone's so weak. Excluding him."
He pointed to Giotto. Whatever. I was going to beat him anyway. The more I knew him, the more I wanted to be with him and learn more about him. It's strange. Like I loved him.
I paused. Love him? Okay, I hate him. I furrowed my eyebrows and ignored his words.
Giotto spoke.
"Thank you, Daemon. But I believe that the all of us here are still weak in fights, so we have to grow stronger-"
"Nufufufu. Don't forget you have one…important fighting player here in our family now, Giotto."
"Important player?"
"That's right. Alaude. He's way stronger than any of us here now. You should know that the best yourself. That's also why you chose him right?"
Annoyed, I cut in.
"Shut it, pineapple."
The lighting guardian, whom fell asleep earlier, (I'm not sure when) woke and looked around when he heard me say pineapple.
"Wha-? Pineapple? Where! I'm hungry! ~"
He whines and grumbled, after that sitting on a royal chair. I ignored him. But boss didn't.
"Lampo, wait a little while more okay? After that I'll help you to call your maids to cook something for you."
"Okay, okay. Thanks primo."
After that, he just listens and waited.
"Alaude, if what Daemon said is true, would you mind if you help us a bit? Alright, this is what I have in mind. We're going to have a -"
"I didn't agree on helping you. Neither did I say I wanted to join yet."
I didn't meet his eyes. I was staring at the floor, somewhere near his feet.
"You-!"
"G, relax. That's true you haven't agreed yet, but please do. Feel free to stay here till you think of your answer."
"Humph. Whatever."
The others stayed quiet.
"Okay then. We'll call this a day for all of us. You're all dismissed. And thank you Lampo, for waiting. Guardians, enjoy all you can for today. Because, after that, we'll all be going under harsh trainings."
After he was done, he went off with Lampo grinning.
The rain guardian, Asari Ugestu, together with G and the sun guardian Knuckle, all went out of the "meeting room".
I was about to leave, when-
"Nufufufu. You might not know where to go; you are new, aren't you? Since all the others don't care, I'll show you around. But you must give me whatever I want later, okay?"
"No. I can help myself, Dae-"
Before I can even finish saying his name, he pulled me out. Well. Not like he's new, he knows every single place in the mansion. (Which is about the size of the vongola base in the future, just much bigger, the training rooms have 7 different ones.)
"And also, I forgot the mention this but, you'll be my roommate. Since there's too many space for other things, there's little room for the guardians. So G and Asari Ugestu are sharing one, Knuckle and Lampo, thus making us both together. Primo...nufufu, of course, he's a boss. Not just having his own room of his, he's study table and all are in one 'house'. Pretty big if you'd ask me."
He blabbed more about the mansion even though I didn't really show any interest. A pretty hardy guy for a mist. And yet his eyes had shown that he hated the vongola and plan to destroy it. That's what I thought.
We were talking in our rooms now, which made me a bit taken aback...the room was huge. Really huge.
"Well now? Do you like this room? It's ours. That bed is yours. Dinner's at 7p.m. sharp, you know the way, right?"
I didn't reply. I just flung myself on the bed, showing how tired I was. I heard a rustle, then a weight above me…
"Nufufu…Alaude, do you know what happens if you fall asleep now? You happen to be on my bed…which means, you're going to sleep with me…"
A hot breath I felt blew into my ears. My eyes shot open immediately, only to stare at daemon on top of me. And, he was hugging me. I pushed him away quickly, then went to my bed, missing the touch. Wait, did I just say 'missing the touch?' okay, I'll take that back.
"Nufufu…you were cute for that moment there Alaude- chan~ I swore I just saw you blush…"
"Shut it watermelon."
I inwardly smirked when I heard myself saying that as his nickname. But I still lay on my bed, eyes closed and facing the other side of the wall. I felt a weight again. I want it so much, I wanted his touch so much but I held back and showed my pissed off - look.
"Watermelon? Nufufufu…my dear skylark, you really must want me to take you…"
I didn't knew what he meant by that, and I was angry that he knew my nickname. Yes, mine. Skylark. It means a kind of bird, and I hated it. I'm not a bird, I'm a human.
"I said shut up. And get off me."
I was certainly pissed off. The more I knew him, the more he shown himself around me. Like he allowed it to happen. Like he knew it was going to happen. I hate him.
"Nufufufu…only if you look here, Skylark Alaude."
Pissed, I turn. Shoving him off at the same time, but he push me back to the bed, with him on top of me. Slowly, he bent down till our face nearly touched. My face grew hot, my heart thumped wildly, and I frozed.
"Hm~ Alaude, looks like you already taken a liking to me, am I right? Nufufufufu!"
I pushed him away again, and I forced my face to be my usual one.
"Touch me, come close to me, and I'll kill you."
I threaten. He laughed again, making me more…pissed. Good thing a bell saved me. Doorbell. Daemon went to get it, and I was surprised that I saw Giotto standing there with G. I thought daemon mention that G. was with Asari Ugestu. Oh well, I shrugged it off my mind. Giotto spoke, and he was smiling all the way. Daemon looked angry and jealous…I'm not even sure why. I couldn't hear what they were saying, only,
"Alaude… how is he? Does he fit into the mansion?"
I heard Giotto asked.
"He's fine thank you. You know very well that I know how to take care of him. And he knows how to himself."
Daemon gritted his teeth and frowned. I came off the bed, and walked towards the both of them. Giotto saw me, he smiled. Brightly.
"I see you're fitting in well, my cloud guardian."
I saw daemon gripping on his shirt. Tightly.
"Hn."
I replied shortly, and pulled daemon out of the room, past Giotto, and just walked with him. He seemed taken aback. Shocked. Whatever. I just dragged him along. Outside the mansion.
"Nufufufu…where're you taking me, Alaude?"
"Away from Giotto. You seem to be pissed off whenever he's around you. Why."
I demanded an answer from him. He didn't reply for long, but then he spoke soon after.
"Not whenever he's around me, whenever he's around you."
His voice was soft. Tender. About to crack up. I stopped and looked behind me.
"You were…jealous? Of Giotto? Why?"
I ended up asking that one simple question, even when my mind was soon filled with thousands.
"Because when you first saw him, you were looking lovingly at him. When he introduces you to the all of us, you were only staring much at him. I don't know why but…I felt angered. I always felt that you were mine and only mine. No one should steal you away from me. You're mine Alaude. I loved you."
I heard his confession. Shocked, let's just say. I didn't want to admit how much I loved him too. I didn't want to.
"How're you so sure that I love you?"
I stared at him.
"I-…I don't know. When you love someone, you don't expect the person to love you back…I know that but…Nufufufu…you're always making me confused…Alaude…I'm sorry, I'll just leave you alone now, go make friends with Giotto with all you want…"
Now that wasn't expected. I thought of telling him how much I loved him as well, but I couldn't. So I ended up 'teasing' him, getting closer to Giotto.
G. and Asari seemed to be busy. The both of them disappear at the same time, and Giotto assured me that they both often train together. That was when it struck me. I still didn't reply him if I were to join the vongola family. He didn't ask…
"Giotto. I'm joining. Not to help you all. But to help everyone out there. Don't get the wrong meaning."
Giotto smiled.
"I knew you would help Alaude. Thank you so much. Shall we call everyone and assign they're respective training classes?"
"Wait."
I stopped him.
"Do you all even have weapons to train with? Mafia is more than just using guns."
Giotto's eyes changed. From sky blue to deep orange. An orange flame appeared on his forehead, making him look pretty cool with his long sleeve shirt and vongola cape. Sometimes, I wondered how he worked to get all those.
"Of course. I'll be using something I called a dying-will flame. I managed to take control over it and activate it whenever I need it. G. will be using guns most of the times, but I've given him a bow, which he is mastering it now, with Asari. The bow is specially created from our vongola weapons stall. The 'arrow' is only created by storm flames. G will have to master that before I sent him to a mission. While Asari is training with four small swords. He didn't come up with any techniques yet, even if G. taught him some. He just trains with G for now, and plays his flute when he's free."
"Hn. I see. What about Lampo, Knuckle and Daemon?"
"Lampo, I've given him a shield. I'm planning to make him fight; even he's scared and spoilt. The shields special. Not only it defends, he attacks as well. Knuckle…I'm only informed that he uses his body to fight. I asked him before if he needed a weapon, and he refused. But I've already got some things prepared for him. Daemon…well, he's a master in illusions. He'll receive something called "Devil Lance" just that I'm not sure when he'll get it. He's a mist after all, and according to my weaponry maker, mist weapons are hard to make. He'll receive it soon."
"…Hn. I see."
"What about you, Alaude? Do you have any weapons?"
"Yes."
"And what kind of weapons is it? I don't really see you fight with it even when I was watching you before. I only saw you fight with your body like Knuckle."
"You don't have to know. If you did, I'll kill you then."
I replied coldly. I wasn't going to let him know more about me. Daemon hated him because he thinks that I liked him. And I'm going to show that I don't.
"Okay, it's alright if you don't want to tell me. Let's go to the 2nd meeting room where everyone's close by. I'll announce the battle tags there."
I just followed him. Remembering my way.
-Few minutes later-
"Alaude has agreed to be in our family. This means, we're able to train properly before we do any missions. G and Asari will be in one training room. Lampo and Knuckle will be in another. Daemon and I will be alone in different training rooms. As for Alaude, you'll help to coach us when we're fighting. That's the biggest role and part you can play for us. Please do tell us our mistakes when we're fighting."
"Hn."
"Che…"
G. glared at me. I easily ignored him.
"Got you Giotto! Well then, when should we start?"
Asari agreed happily and question Giotto.
Lampo groaned.
Daemon stayed quiet. (Surprisingly.)
Knuckle started fighting air and shouting
"EXTREAM TRAINING!"
"First thing after breakfast tomorrow, everyone. Do get ready and rest up for today. That's all. You're all dismissed."
Giotto smiled and looked at all of us. I glanced at Daemon, and what shocked me was, he wasn't even looking at either of us. I wasn't even sure if he was listening. I caught up to him when we went back into the rooms, and I started the conversation.
"Were you even listening to what Giotto was saying?"
No responds. He locked himself into the bathroom. I knocked.
"Daemon."
I heard water coming down. He's taking a bath. Ignoring me eh? Fine. When he came out, he was still quiet. I didn't say anything too. Until I realized what time it was. 7.30p.m. we were late for dinner. Not like I bothered, but I'll be missing some important stuff that Giotto says during that amount of time.
"Daemon. Let's go. Dinner."
I tugged his shirt. He turned away.
"Daemon."
I tried again. He mumbled something. Soft, but I heard it.
"Leave me alone and go to your Giotto."
I snapped and punched him. I didn't say anything after that, I just walked out of the room and had my dinner with the rest of the guardians. I hated crowds, but Giotto said we were all in this together, so I ignored the fact, and just ate. After dinner, I told the others this will be the last time I'll be eating with everyone. Almost everyone. Then I went back to my room after I had a small talk with Giotto alone. I got to know Knuckle, Lampo, G and Asari more. By reading their files. And listening to Giotto a bit. He's the boss after all.
When I came into the room, I saw Daemon sleeping. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to apologize for punching him. I wanted to feel his touch again. But that isn't going to happen.
So I just held back, and went to bed. My first day in the Vongola family…
Was awesome…
In a way.