Canterella Part I
Summary: Tsuna had never felt so confused in her life. Sneaking into her room just to give her a rose was one thing, but drugging her tea and kidnapping her and then randomly asking her for a dance was another. Just what did Enma want? Dark. 00xFEM!27. Rated T for character death and poison and stuff.
Disclaimer: I SO TOTALLY OWN IT—*shot by angry lawyers*
A/N: So, this is actually a sort of collaboration fic between me and my friend, MamaSweg (thanks in advance!) I actually meant to upload this story sooner, but recently I lost my thumb drive and consequently all my story files went missing. *goes quietly into a corner to cry* Anyway, this story has actually been running around my head for quite a while, but it's only thanks to my friend that I managed to finish it. Ah, yeah, as the title shows, this story is based on the Vocaloid song Canterella. The plot itself is actually based on a mash-up of several Canterella PVs that I've watched.
This story is set in the Victorian era. You know, where everybody's clothes were really fancy-looking and difficult to wear.
Staring back at you
Staring back at me
Locked inside our own closed-off world.
An awkward silence.
Tsuna shuffled her feet uncomfortable under Enma's intense gaze. She couldn't bring herself to look at him directly. Meanwhile, Iemitsu and Makoto continued talking to each other, completely oblivious to the tension between the brunette and the redhead.
"…so tonight's party will be at 7pm, all right?" Makoto was saying.
"Yeah. And-…" Iemitsu placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "-we can expect Enma to be there, right? Otherwise poor Tsuna won't have a dance-partner. Right, Tsuna?" He laughed, gently patting his daughter on the head.
"Y-Yes, Papa." Tsuna blushed with embarrassment. "E-Enma-kun… please do come."
Enma bowed his head slightly and lifted Tsuna's hand to his lips. "If it's Tsuna who asks me to come… then I will definitely be there. Tsuna felt like there were a billion nerves in her hand when Enma brushed his lips lightly on her hand. His hot breath on her skin made her shiver.
"That's settled, then!: Iemitsu laughed, patting Enma on the back. "In the meantime, you two can spend time together to catch up. Both of you haven't seen each other for a long time… and maybe, you guys can even…" Iemitsu batted his eyes as he pretended to kiss the air with a lecherous expression on his face.
"P-Papa!" Tsuna shrieked.
Enma looked in another direction, the corners of his mouth twitching into a knowing smile.
"Iemitsu, let's go." Makoto rolled his eyes and dragged the blond away.
Tsuna was left standing alone with the last person on earth she wanted to see.
"Papa!" You're home!" The little brown-haired girl squealed as she flung herself into Iemitsu's arms. But as soon as she spotted the red-haired boy standing beside him, her excitement turned into embarrassment. She immediately hid behind Iemitsu and looked shyly at the boy.
"Tsuna, this is Enma." Iemitsu gestured at the boy. "He's Uncle Makoto's son and he's about a year older than you."
Tsuna slowly stepped out and looked shyly at Enma. "Hello… she whispered and curtsied.
Enma smiled and leaned down. "Let's play!" he said, holding out a hand.
Tsuna immediately brightened up and took the outstretched hand. The two children ran off into the sunshine-filled garden.
"So how long are you going to stay?" Iemitsu turned around to ask Makoto, who had been standing in the background all this time.
"Oh, a few months. It will be nice to stay here and relax. Besides, Enma looks so happy with his new playmate." Makoto looked out into the garden and saw the red-haired boy happily running around with Tsuna.
Tsuna stared down at her tea and fiddled with the ribbons sewn onto her skirt.
"Sorry…" she blurted out.
"For what?" Enma stirred his tea nonchalantly.
For hurting you back then she wanted to say, but when she looked at the boy – no, he had grown into a man since she last saw him – her courage failed her and instead she said: "For… because of Papa and what he said just now. You know…" Her voice trailed off uncomfortably.
"Oh, that. I don't mind. Uncle Iemitsu was just joking around." Enma shrugged. He then asked the standard question of universal politeness. "How are you?"
And Tsuna answered with the standard reply of universal politeness. "I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm fine too."
Then, to fill the awkward silence, both of them simultaneously drank their tea.
"So, um…" Enma finally broke the silence. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, nothing much…" Tsuna began to say. Then she realised that if she answered like that then there would be another awkward silence. "Ah, I've taken up sewing lately."
"Is that so? Then have you read any good books lately." Enma's eyes rested on her face. He seemed to be preparing to ask a dangerous question.
"Uh… well, no. What about you?" Tsuna was tired of answering questions all the time.
Enma's eyes flashed. "I've been reading a book about this family who used a poison called Canterella to kill each other."
"P-Poison?" Tsuna looked queasy.
"Yes… if used in small amounts it causes the person to fall asleep. If a large amount is used, the person dies."
"L-Let's change the topic, shall we?" Tsuna looked sick. She didn't like talking about poison or murder.
Enma's mouth was twitching. He looked like he wanted to laugh. Of course… Tsuna has never liked this sort of stuff. He thought. Finally, he asked quietly: "Are you still playing the violin?"
Tsuna's whole body stiffened. She suddenly stood up from her chair, accidentally knocking over her teacup. The liquid spilled onto the table. She muttered: "Please excuse me, I just remembered that I have something important to do. I'll see you at the party tonight."
She walked quickly out of the room. At the doorway, she paused and said:
"No. I stopped playing the violin years ago."
Let me just say that inside of you,
I see myself,
Hiding in your memories.
'A few months' turned into a year. Makoto's 'visit' turned into 'staying here'. He rented a house in the town and set up a business. After some time, he brought his wife and his daughter Mami to live with him and Enma.
For Tsuna and Enma, this was a dream come true. They played together. They played together happily and Mami occasionally came to play as well.
More than once, Makoto had joked that Tsuna was as good as a daughter-in-law, to which Tsuna would blush and toss her head.
Then one day, Tsuna went missing.
Iemitsu panicked. He organised a search party and they ran up and down the town and searching for the little girl.
Meanwhile, Enma had not heard of this yet. He had gone out of town with his family for the day and returned in the late afternoon.
As he walked back to his house alone, (his father had some business to attend to and his mother and sister had gone with him) he suddenly heard a small cry coming from a back alley. He went to investigate and found Tsuna sitting there crying, her dress dirty and torn.
"Tsuna! What's wrong? Why are you here…?" Enma rushed forwards towards the brunette.
"Enma-kun… Enma-kun…" Tsuna looked up and started to hiccup and cry at the same time. "I'm scared… Please take me home…"
"Can you stand?" Enma tried to pull her up but she shook her head and pointed at her swollen ankle.
"Alright then…" He crouched down and gestured for her to climb onto his back. "Can you try and climb onto my back? Then I can carry you."
When Tsuna was safely on his back, Enma began to plod forward.
"What happened?"
"I was taking a walk when I saw something sparkly back there." She gestured at the back alley. "I went to take a look and I tripped and fell and…" she began to cry again. "Hurt my ankle… I tried to get up but couldn't… Papa must be so worried… I've been gone since lunchtime…" she hiccupped.
"Okay, okay… Uh, my house is nearer to here so I'll take you there first, okay? We need to bandage your ankle first."
They fell into a comfortable silence as Tsuna found comfort in Enma's warm back. After reaching his house, Enma rested Tsuna on his bed and proceeded to call Iemitsu. Then he carefully bandaged the girl's ankle.
Tsuna winced at the pain and started to cry again.
Enma sighed and scratched his head. "What to do… what to do…?"
"Ah!"He brightened and ran into another room. He came back with a key dangling from his neck and a mysterious wooden case.
He patted Tsuna on the head and said: "I have a surprise for you." He took the key from his neck and smiled as Tsuna finally looked up. He handed the key to her.
Tsuna (still hiccupping) unlocked the wooden case to reveal – a violin?
Enma grinned and began to play the instrument, hoping to cheer the girl up with his music.
It worked, as Tsuna began to smile and clap her hands.
By the time the song was over, both of them were laughing.
"Hey, hey, Enma-kun."
"Yeah?"
"Teach me! Teach me how to play the violin… please?" Tsuna pointed at the violin.
The party was packed with people. Every single one of them was wearing a masquerade mask.
Tsuna's skirt rustled as she moved, her mask hiding her uneasy expression.
In spite of what she had done just now, she still hoped that Enma could make it to the party.
Acting oblivious,
But yet we both pretend
Our intoxication can be sensed
"Excuse me, miss?"
Tsuna spun around again to greet a young man in a black mask.
"May I have this dance?" He asked. He leaned forward and stretched out his hand.
Tsuna took the stranger's(?) hand and was swept into the dance floor.
It's you, isn't it… She thought as she moved her feet to the music.
"Enma-kun, is that you?"
"…"
"Enma-kun?"
"…you look beautiful."
"That's… you're not answering my question!"
Enma laughed. "Listen, they're playing our song."
"What song?"
"The song that I played for you a long time ago."
With a sudden crunch, Tsuna realised that it was that violin song…
The music stopped.
Enma knelt down before her and smiled to thank her for the dance. Their eyes locked on each other, none of them wanting to break the connection.
Slowly, she moved her hand towards his face and reached for his mask.
"Stop." Enma grabbed her hand. Putting a finger on his lips, he took out a key from his pocket and slipped it into her hand.
"Goodbye." was all he said before he started to retreat back into the crowd.
"Wait! Where're you going?" Tsuna called out but he was already long gone.
"Fiancee?" Tsuna repeated hollowly.
"Yes… Enma said something about going back to his fiancée." Iemitsu yawned.
"When did he…?"
"Last night, after the party. Eh? Didn't he tell you?"
"…No." Tsuna said in a monotone to mask her disappointment. She turned and stormed up to her room.
A/N: AWWWWW YEAHHHHHH FINISHED TYPING.
Okay, I know I'm super horrendously late in updating my other fics, but seriously right now I'm having major writer's block and I have no idea how to continue those stories. My brain is just…
Reviews please! Enma and FEM!Tsuna is so much love~!