The Page-Turner
By Joliesme
Sawada Tsunayoshi was always amazed at the fact that his storm guardian could play the piano. Sawada Tsunayoshi have many talents; He could play the guitar; He knows many languages; He could do ballroom dancing; He knows every bit about entrepreneurship. Yet, the piano is something he could never understand. He knew about the C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. However, the black and white keys seem to be really foreign to him.
While in the mansion, whenever Tsuna passes by the pure white grand piano he would inadvertently touch the piece of wood and marble. His fingers would brush across the sleek surface of the piano and he smiles to himself. Even though he could not play the piano, he could hear the music produced from the musical instrument. He stands at the side of the white grand piano and imagined the silverette sitting down and placing his longer slender fingers onto the black and white keys. His fingers slid over the many keys gently, not allowing the musical instrument to make sound. A small smile played across the silverette's face and he closed his eyes to prepare. He took a deep breath and his fingers started to dance across the keys. The piano produces sound like never before and the astounding music closes Tsuna's eyes.
Tsuna opens his eyes and a sad smile was seen on his face. His fingers brushed across the keys once more, before he closes the cover of the piano. He turns around and slipped into his office silently as if he had never removed himself from it before. He sneaked a last glance to the white grand piano that was sitting in the middle of room before going into the corridor that leads to his office.
/
Gokudera Hayato would have never remembered that he could play the piano if his bossfriendcomrade had never seen the white grand piano while walking on the streets in Italy that day. Hayato had stopped just a second to give the white majestic grand piano a second glance. Tsuna, being the observant one, noticed the look that Hayato was giving the piano and dragged the man right into the shop, despite the fact that they were going to be late for Reborn's meeting. Tsuna asked for the price and when the shop owner replied 200 thousand, Hayato immediately shook his head frantically. 200 thousand may seem like the entire world to others, but with the Vongola, it would simply be a minute hole in the pocket. However, they could not go around spending money like that. 200 thousand could be used to rebuild at least one room in the Vongola mansion.
"We'll take it."
Hayato was relieved when he heard that. Wait, what? He turned around and saw the Tsuna signing the contract to have the item delivered over to the mansion and he stomped over, stopping Tsuna from handing his credit card over to the shop owner.
"Jyuudaime, you can't do that!"
Tsuna shot him with a 'no-nonsense' look and Hayato simmered. However, that does not mean Hayato had lost. Throughout the day, Hayato remained grumpy with his boss. When they were all at the dining table, for the first time in almost forever, Hayato did not greet Tsuna with his usual smile nor a "Good Evening!". Alas, it shocked the other guardians.
Yamamoto Takeshi, the rain guardian, elbowed Hayato, "What happened?"
Hayato glanced at the rain guardian and shrugged, refusing to tell anyone else about the incident earlier on. In actual fact, Hayato does not know the reason he was against the purchasing of the grand piano as well. It seems as if everything was… too good to be true.
The last time he played the piano was when his mother…
Hayato sobered and took another bite into his mouth. Sparing Tsuna a glance, he saw that the brunette was reading a stack of newspaper while eating.
This boss…!
Hayato bit back a remark and looked back down on his plate. He will not talk to Jyuudaime that day. He has to let the other know that he was serious about not wanting a piano. Sparing his boss another glance, he saw that the brunette was flipping the newspaper with two hands now; His plate of food left neglected. Biting down on his lips till he tasted blood, he coughed and pushed his food away, excusing himself from the table. Hayato knew that if he does not leave now, he would end up scolding his boss for neglecting his daily meals again, which would clearly mean that his boss would win this battle.
"Sit down."
Hayato pursed his lips and blatantly ignored the command from his boss. He would not…!
"Hayato."
Hayato sighed and sat back down. His plate of food was pushed back towards him and he grudgingly picked up the spoon to take another bite.
Tsuna coughed slightly, as he choked himself on a piece of vegetable. Almost immediately, Takeshi passed a glass of water over to his boss, while Hayato stared at the exchange. Pursing his lips, he gave his boss the best glare he could. Tsuna smiled sheepishly and continue to chew his food, thanking Takeshi with a nod, while his left hand continued to flip through the next papers.
Unable to take it anymore, Hayato slammed his fist into the table, earning a shriek from the maids and took the newspapers away.
"That's it!"
Tsuna smiled and acted as if nothing has happened. This time, he started to chat happily with Takeshi who finally understood everything, and was replying to Tsuna.
Hayato groaned. He lost.
/
The first time Hayato played the piano was one year after the marble white musical instrument was installed in the hall of the Italian Vongola Mansion. When the bosses of other Mafia famiglia come and go, they would comment on the piano off-handedly. The piano would either be "majestic, befitting of the Vongola Boss!" or "such a lowly instrument which would definitely be just for show." Either way, Tsuna would smile and glance towards Hayato, checking for his expression. Hayato shrug off the comments, even if they were very negative. The behaviour was unlike the usual protective Hayato, who would have definitely jumped at the idea of Tsuna's 'taste' being mocked. Shamal laughed when he first saw the piano and even patted Hayato on his shoulder a few times.
The first time Hayato played was after a mission, where his boss had taken a few bullets for the youngest guardian, Lambo. Lambo had been crying while Hayato was simmering with anger. Although the opposing team had been defeated by their own forces, he could not possibly calm down after his boss had suffered from severe injuries. Firstly, he had turned in the other don to Mukuro for interrogation. Hayato knew that the boss would ultimately turn into someone that was mentally instable after Mukuro's turn. He set Hibari onto the other's forces, levelling their base into debris and nothing but soot and mud. Even so, Hayato wanted to punch somebody.
When Tsuna first woke up, he coughed so badly that his oxygen mask was sprayed with blood. Hayato had panicked that the time for him to be without a boss to be near. He hated to even think of something so negative, but whatever the Sun Guardian and Shamal was telling him made him think otherwise. Overcame with sadness and guilt, he chanced across the majestic marble white musical instrument while making his way towards Tsuna's office. In a fit of desperation, he lifted the cover and sat himself onto the leather chair. His fingers brushed across the many keys and he applied soft pressure one of the keys. The sound that was produced was melodious and very soothing.
Soon, he found his own fingers dancing across the keys as if with mind of their own. He closed his eyes as he pictured himself laughing with his boss while his ever so clumsy boss tripped over his own leg, dancing to another song during ballroom dance lesson. Tears streamed down his own face and his teeth bit onto his own lips. He tasted blood, but even so, he would not stop.
He felt a warm presence beside him and at once, he wondered if his boss would be the one that was placing a hand on his shoulder. He hoped. Yet, deep inside him, he knew that it was simply Yamamoto Takeshi. Perhaps, that was why his fingers refused to stop playing.
He wondered how it would be possible for his fingers to even bleed while playing the smooth keys of the grand piano.
Against all odds, Tsuna recovered and he had called Hayato into his office right after he was cleared for work. Hayato strutted into the office, once again relieved that his boss had escaped from the clutches of death by mere inches. Tsuna confronted Hayato about hearing some form of melody while he was in the coma, suffering from the effects of hypovolemic shock, torn muscle tissues and punctured lung. Hayato had shrugged and left the office in a hurry, claiming that he had some other paperwork to be done, failing to see the wry smile of Tsuna.
/
It took Gokudera Hayato another two years before he touched the piano again.
Tsuna was always the person to make him touch the piano. He was tempted, one year ago to play a tune for Takeshi's birthday bash (after all, it was conveniently destroyed after an urgent mission had to crash the party). He decided against it after he saw how Takeshi had already been cheered up by the other guardians.
Tsuna was having a high grade fever and was delirious. All his guardians were out on missions and it was up to the butler to take care of the very sick don. Regardless of the illness, the don had forbade anyone to inform of the guardians of his current situation. While running on a high fever, the Vongola Tenth was still giving out missions and handling paperwork whenever he felt slightly better, causing his body to not enough rest. This had caused the Vongola Tenth to pass out of exhaustion several times.
Hayato was fortunate and relieved that he had finished his mission way before the estimated time due to a sudden cock-up in the enemy's plan. Upon finishing, he had quickly rushed back to the mansion as Tsuna did not pick up his own phone when Hayato called back to give his status report.
When Tsuna did not appear the moment Hayato reached the doors of the mansion as he opened it, Hayato knew that something was wrong. When the butler had rushed forward and whispered into his ears the news of the very sick boss, Hayato rushed up towards Tsuna's room, throwing his things onto the floor and quickly went in. Even without placing his hand on the other's forehead, he could feel the heat waves rolling off his body. Sighing, he changed the cool cloth that was on the bedside table.
That night, Hayato had been unable to sleep. After finishing all the paperwork that his boss had, he was resigned that he would not be able to have a good night's rest till his boss has fully recovered to take back his side of paperwork. Taking a stroll in the mansion gave the bomber method of relaxation.
He reached the room where the marble white grand piano rested. He walked towards the majestic piano and spotted a song sheet laying on the top of the piano.
[Gymnopédies by Erik Satie]
On one of the empty spaces on the sheet, Tsuna had written: Finally found the piece of music you always play!
With tears rolling off his cheeks, he sat down and played the piece of music that sickly Tsuna had prepared. Despite his illness, Tsuna had taken time to even find this.
Attracted by the music, Tsuna had woken up and trudged towards the piano room, still rolled in his thick blanket and had a piece of tissue stuffed out his nose. As the brunette slowly made his way towards the piano, he turned the page for the Hayato. Shocked, Hayato paused momentarily in his music making Tsuna 'tch'-ed him loudly. Smiling, he gestured for Hayato to continue and laid his head on Hayato's shoulder.
With the soft hum from Tsuna's lips and the continuous sounds from the majestic piano, the two stayed awake through the night with the melancholic piece accompanying them.