Sorry sorry sorry sorry, I know this is ANOTHER one-shot and I should be updating something else! I'm sorry… but please read.
Summary: Giotto made a deal with her and her husband when everyone else would spit and curse at them; it was one they could not refuse and it left them warmer and safer than they had ever felt. Giotto died and their deal crumbled, but their promise remained to watch over Giotto's family as it aged. No one but Giotto could fulfil the deal- not one of the following generation's bosses- that is, until Tsunayoshi was born.
Would you make the deal?
She sauntered around the place, she was neither seen nor heard, but her steps reaped a kind of sorrow and joy every time she passed. It was both her duty and her pride to provide her service.
Normally one would not call her joyful or a blessing, but the precious people she soothed and watched over more than any other did. They also cursed her, but it was a different kind of curse than the normal people.
Her husband was a dark man. He was tall and long, broad and strong. Not many could fight him, in fact more often than not people collapsed under his pressure. People simply broke when he really decided to press them and shroud them with his aura. She laughed though, because she loved her husband with his dark presence and bright eyes.
Their job was not a nice one, they were collectors. Or more specifically she was a collector and he was the means to that collection- he made it easier though there were often times she didn't need her husband's help.
Usually she and her husband kept close tabs on people, especially those of the, darker persuasion. They got most of their business done in places where the dark-hearted resided. She was impartial to no one, simply fulfilling her role in the greater picture; he was tired of his work and the backlash it gave him. But it was their job.
It was a similar job, she was collecting the newest batch of inventory and he was filling out the paperwork to make her job easier when they saw a sight that was rare and glorious.
A young man stood within the thicket of the chaos their jobs created, he had a frown upon his face, and his friends were defending him as he stood reproachfully over the men dying by his flames. He had golden hair that glowed bright and true with a mantle of black upon his shoulder. It flared in the wind of the glade as she and her husband approached him to collect the souls of the men his friends' had killed.
The man shivered as her husband approached, a natural reaction if she were to comment on it. What was not common was the man's next course of action. He turned on his heel, his back to the battle, and he smiled a large, warm smile. He greeted them as friends would greet each other after a long separation and he extended his hand.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, my name is Giotto."
This young man made her pause for thought, because she had never met one aware of her presence when they were so young a full of life. This young man seemed to see her though, and a warm rush flooded her. Her husband kept the same expression- but his eyes were alight with possibility.
They made a deal with the man, his smile warm and his cause true, and while she and her husband could not guarantee anything, their jobs were to be very unbiased you see, the man simply laughed that warmthe flooding laughter that shivered through the woman and her husband.
"I'd never make a deal with you I didn't think you couldn't keep; all I ask is that you look over my family as they age."
Then man was beautiful, he was handsome and strong. He was brighter than the sun with eyes like the sky before her husband swept across the expanse. He was wonderfully caring, and was one of the only people she had met that didn't fear her dear husband or herself- in fact he seemed to want them closer to home. It was an interesting proposition he gave them, because it almost guaranteed happiness in both parties.
He was asking for her husband to give his family favour and herself to remove those they needed removing. In return his family would ensure her husband was properly respected and feared- or loved whatever the case may be- and that she was respected, and that her next collection was ready for her- she was promised a 'lightened' work load in the form of prepared and packaged merchandise.
It was an interesting and tantalising offer, both her and her husband were overworked as of late, her husband scoffed at and ridiculed. If someone helped make sure they did their job on time it would certainly make their lives easier.
"I can also offer you a home within the walls of my house. You can stroll the halls as you wish and you can interact with my people whenever you like. We are welcoming to all our guests if they serve us no reason to believe they are a threat. If it suits you I'd like to welcome you into my home."
Emotions writhed in their cores when the man smiled that warm, knowing smile, his eyes lighting with love and acceptance, and his form stilling with knowing calmness. They had never been accepted into a home, and they probably would have given the man their promise and bias with just that offered alone. As it stood they seemed to be in an all-win situation.
So they took the offer from the man.
It was beautiful really. Their home. The man they called Giotto, and he had a beautiful outlook on life and where he wanted his family to go. Neither her nor her husband knew what 'vigilante' really was, but they were protecting people from men who respected neither her nor her husband and she noticed she was collecting fewer and fewer innocents and children as this man's, Giotto's, rein. She even noticed that she and her husband became warmer, more embracing, and fiercely protective of Giotto and his precious people. It was definitely a win win situation.
Death was an unpredictable mistress. Her husband, Darkness, was more predictable. They lived together hand in hand for eons, their children, the ones that called themselves mafia thrived under their loving embrace. Of course they cried and bawled when she took away their subordinates and bosses, but they embraced her husband almost all the time; they embraced her too when she helped them take down a dangerous enemy. They had both seen so many of their families slaughtered and tainted- not by his touch but by their own- and it hurt them to see it, because these people were their children born form their loins and it hurt to see them tainted to the point where their own mother had to collect and remove them.
Of all the families thought, there was one that neither she nor her husband had ever really had a true grasp on. Giotto's family, Vongola, was the one family they made a deal with, and as per Giotto's parameters they made a deal with no other family and protected his as much as their unbiased nature allowed them.
When it came time for Giotto's family to die off both she and her husband were ready to break every law and allow them all to live longer.
Of course, that strange man with the eyes like the sky and the hair that glowed with golden warmth simply laughed at them.
"You have both kept your side of the deal, and I hope that means I have kept mine. However, I cannot guarantee my cousin will give you the same respect; I only ask you do your duty until a time comes when someone reclaims my dream and can give to you everything you deserve, including a place in our home."
Death, and her husband, Darkness, took Giotto in their arms, crying that their baby was dead and bawling with his unfair it was that the 'Secondo'- as the subordinates called him- was such a cruel and unworthy master.
She and her husband never considered Secondo a son, Giotto was the first child they actually felt was born form their loins, he was gentle, like her, and he was strong and mentally unbreakable, like him. Of course, for ages that was the only case of care they showed for the descendents of their son.
The deal with Giotto didn't stand with Secondo, Trezo, Quarto, Quinto, Sesto, Settimo, Otova or, as unfortunate as it was, with Nono. None of the generations felt as if they were personifying Giotto's deal, and as much as it hurt her to lose and son and never gain another, she was determined to be unbiased and only fall into a deal that hurt this much with an heir truly worthy.
That's not to say that Nono's generation didn't hurt both her and her husband.
They were the closest either had seen to being like Giotto, but Vongola had changed. They had become dark and black- but not in the same way her husband's darkness shielded the sky and let shine the small lights of the world- Vongola had become tainted with wrongdoings and blood, and Giotto would never stand for it if he had a choice in the matter. Though, Timotei, Vongola Nono, was trying to change it. Times had change and with it came a more violent, bloodied history, and Nono had little leeway in terms of changing Vongola back to its original purpose, thought he did give respect to her husband, he gave little respect to her, and because of that her husband could not feel sorrow when her duty took away three from Nono that she herself wanted.
It wasn't as hard to take Nono's sons as it was to take Giotto away. Death must be unbiased, but the way Nono cursed and blackened her name hurt, and even Death and Darkness can feel pain from jibes at their nature. She did take them softly, before the pain and confusion could hit any of the three sons she made she they were cradled to her chest and warmed in the way a mother showed off nightmares.
Her and her husband watched Timotei break under the strain of having an heirless famiglia. It hurt them to see, because their son's family had fallen so far. It was hurtful to know that they may have had a hand in this, but again, they were unbiased and the ultimatum Giotto gave them was the only one they would accept; so far no other boss had given them the same deal so they could not rightly protect the family.
Something amazing happened amongst the pain, Timotei pulled out a long scripted book, within its pages the family tree of Vongola starting with Giotto (and Secondo they were regretted to note) and flowing all the way through the years to Timotei and his sons.
Neither she nor her husband had ever seen the book, but they were surprised to find the elderly man looking down not his own family tree, but down Giotto's. As he looked the man became frantic. He whispered and mumbled and finally stopped on a man's face and name.
"Iemitsu!?" the shock was evident in his voice, and both her and her husband recognised the name, but not the impact it had on the man.
"Doesn't Iemitsu have a young boy? Tsunayoshi I think."
The implications hit her and her husband as hammers hit nails. It couldn't be true. They had followed Giotto's family throughout the entirety of the family's life. The last child born and adult grown was two decades ago. They had lost their children to foster care because they were unfit parents and she decided they didn't deserve Giotto's descendents.
"Giotto has another son?" of course she knew that the boy 'Tsunayoshi' was not technically a son, but to them, who had lived eons, there was no time difference between Giotto's death and Tsunayoshi's birth.
"How could we have missed them?" her husband's words sounded even more astounded than hers, and ever more hopeful, he was the closest to Giotto when the man was alive, and the death hurt him more than he ever admitted to her.
"Honey, let's go see him. I want to see him."
So they did, while Timotei explored the possibility of visiting this young ward- having wanted time away form Italy and away from all the Mafia business- she and her husband appeared in the home of Iemitsu and Nana Sawada, and their newest addition, Tsunayoshi Sawada.
It was a cozy home, small and homely. Of course it was filled with pictures and warmth and love. It made her hurt because she wanted this for themselves.
They stayed close to the child when they arrived at the humble little home, just far enough away that he didn't feel their effect, but close enough to test his awareness and his virtue. It was wonderful to be so close to a baby after so long and already they could tell this child was Giotto's child. He had that air, that aura that give him proud of Giotto's blood. Strangely enough the child's father didn't have the same aura, his was diluted and tainted.
Death and Darkness stayed close, and as the child played or slept they stayed closer still. They saw things, they saw future they saw present, and they saw something that lit them with joy.
This child did not fear death or darkness. He did not fear dying or being trapped in a room, shackled to the wall with darkness pressing against his chest trying to constrict him. This child feared pain, pain to his body, to his heart, and to his family. He would take death as a friend and darkness as an embrace, but he would not take them as enemies.
It was an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia as she and her husband looked over the new babe as he slept in his crib. As her husband entered the room the night became thicker, but the stars gleamed brighter than she had ever seen them.
She stroked the baby's thick, brown hair and when he cuddled into her hand she felt her breathe hitched. Every other child knew who she was before they understood the concept of 'dying' yet this child moved closer.
"Is he going to be the one?"
"I don't know dear," her husband hummed as he picked the child out of his crib and held him close, relishing in the warmth the baby provided. "we can only watch and hope."
Of course, they watched him closely. It was pleasing to see the boy grow normally, not surrounded by the wake of their power.
It hurt them to see Nono appear, before his sons were gone and before the desperation hit. The man sensed the power in Tsunayoshi that reflected Giotto's –not that Timotei knew that- and it made him fearful, because it was a raging, beautifully warming power. Timotei sealed away that power, deep into their newest child's brain.
It hurt her and her husband, because when Nono left, Tsunayoshi cried, he couldn't see them anymore. He cried and called out in his baby voice for the two who followed him through the entirety of his little life.
It hurt them to see him cry so much.
Their baby would look for them for two more years before bullying told him that 'imaginary friends' were stupid. It made her husband furious and for the first time ever she saw him bring his dark, suffocating aura down on someone with the full intention of instilling fear in them. That child never hurt their son again.
While they watched over Vongola, taking enemies and subordinate and sons of Timotei, one of them was always with Tsunayoshi, usually herself, because her husband missed the boy's warm smile and embrace more than he let on. They stayed close as he grew, and knew, if he were ever given the opportunity he would make a greater boss than even Giotto had been before him. Both knew though that Tsunayoshi was never to know the 'blackened' famiglia in his blood.
Nono grew desperate when his last son died and he realised he himself was growing closer to her embrace, her and her husband watched the man struggle with his health and his mind. Then something devastating happened.
The man decided to make Tsunayoshi his heir.
He sent a tutor to make Tsunayoshi strong.
He sent a man to make Tsunayoshi cry and start a family.
He sent a boy to give Tsunayoshi a resolve.
He sent rings to make Tsunayoshi fight.
Nono was killing their child and it hurt both of them inconsolably to watch their boy break every time he was threatened- more specifically every time his friends were threatened.
But, with the tutor came the most amazing miracle. Death and her husband, Darkness, watched with grinding souls as their son was pushed to the point of tears and fear. They wanted to kill the tutor- they had the ability- but something in their son's body language told them not to. Instead they watched.
Of course, Darkness had a hard time holding his wife- and himself- when that insane tutor shot their son.
She screamed black murder at the tutor when they say blood exit the wound. He saw red and it was difficult for even him to control the complete and utter devastation he felt seeing the prone figure of the boy who was his son as strongly as Giotto was.
Then he moved.
Never, in their entire lives, had either she or her husband felt such soul deep relief. It flooded them like a colossal wave and brought her to her knees. She wept thanking the god people believed she worked for, for saving her child. She cradled him just before he stood and took the world by storm.
It was later that evening, complaining of a headache that Tsunayoshi's tutor left him alone in his room. Their son rubbed his head with tears in his eyes as he shook memories loose.
Suddenly, as Death and Darkness looked on with worried, loving auras, Tsunayoshi looked up with teary eyes and a warm smile. "Mother, Father?"
Both of them froze, because both knew the boy well, and neither name was meant for Nana or Iemitsu. In fact, the boy did not speak of his 'father' with any kind of care, and the words he just uttered were filled with overwhelming love and relief.
He flung himself at the figures in the corner, and in turn, on instinct, Death and Darkness embraced back.
None of them understood why, and later Death and Darkness would understand that it was the release of his flames that let Tsunayoshi see and feel them again, and all three were determined to never allow something come between them again.
Tsuna started learning about Vongola, and in turn about Giotto. He was interested, and soon enough focused only on the original boss, pushing Secondo and the others farther and farther away from his mind. He would not repeat the same mistake.
Soon enough Death and Darkness started to teach him of their own deal with Giotto, one that was never recorded, or reinstated. They explained to Tsunayoshi the reasons for their betrayal of the deal, and the parameters that restricted them. They worried that the boy would not accept them; after all they had betrayed what was now his family. They knew Tsunayoshi was a loyal soul, loyal to friend and enemy and anyone worthy, he deemed this new family worthy now so both of them feared that they would be rejected for betraying something that was Tsunayoshi's.
Tsuna was shocked, but a warm, beautiful smile flooded his face. One that was eerily reminiscent of Giotto's own smile on the day of their deal with him.
"I'd never make a deal with you that I didn't think we could both keep; all I ask is that you look over my family as we grow."
She and her husband were stunned by the beauty, compassion, and trust in the words, because other than minor tweaks in the tone and inflection, they were near perfect replicates of Giotto's own words.
"I cannot offer you much; unlike Jiisan I am not rich nor popular nor smart. But the one thing I can offer to you is a home within the walls of my house. You can stroll the halls as you wish and you can interact with my people whenever you like. I will always welcome you home. If it suits you I'd like to you to stay with me."
She and her husband watched on from further down as their son, Tsunayoshi swept through the hall towards the gallery of portraits. He often did, because he was following Giotto's path, and sometimes he needed to be reminded exactly who gave him the privilege and warmth of his 'parents'.
His strides were long and looping with a grace of youth and strength, as he strode his mantle flared out behind him, it was the same mantle Giotto and few others wore, and it accented him perfectly. He was built like their first son, and it was amazing to see that their second son was taking after his big brother so smoothly.
Death and her Husband smiled as he walked- they followed slowly- because whispers and murmurs were flying across the halls. Everyone was surprised and astounded at the late Timotei's decision to make an 'innocent' the next heir of Vongola, each of them whispering about how unsuitable it was to put a child up to slaughter. Now they whispered for a different reason.
"Its as if he was made to be a boss."
"Did you hear the rumour?"
"About darkness and death?"
"Yeah, they say that Master Tsunayoshi isn't afraid of them."
"I heard one of the prisoners say that he was born from the black and death."
"I wouldn't be surprised, after all."
Both she and her husband smiled proudly when they heard the whispers. It was nothing so arrogant as to say they did birth Tsunayoshi, but they certainly had a hand in raising him to his current position.
Tsunayoshi entered the gallery of portraits, it was empty in the vast room, and Tsuna smiled, because he- and Death and Darkness too- could hear the locks engaging. When Tsuna was in the room few others were allowed to join him.
He strode quickly towards the framed portrait of Giotto and his guardians; it was a beautiful image with Giotto sitting arrogantly in the center with a warm, knowing smile on his face- which was resting on a hand balanced on the arm of his throne. His guardians stood around him on varying levels of relaxed flop. But Giotto was the most glorious, sitting in his mantle on his throne with a shining smile.
Of all the portraits –ten of them now – none looked the same, except for two. Tsuna's own portrait- sitting directly opposite so that Tsuna and Giotto were looking into each other's smirking faces- mirrored Giotto's. Decimo and Primo, two men who looked so similar, who believed in the same things and fought for the same things watched each other and shared that smirk of bosses. Knowingly, unsurprised, and glorified in the knowledge they held.
Tsuna's right hand pressed itself to the image of Giotto's face, a sad, beautiful smile flickering at the brunette's lips. His ring sparked for a moment with glowing orange flames, and both she and her husband could feel the warmth and appreciation flow in the flames.
"Thank you Jiisan, so giving me such wonderful parents." He turned with a smile directed at her and her husband and it turned into brilliance as his eyes swept their still forms in the corner. "I do hope you love our home as much as I do."
If you did not understand. She was Death, and her Husband/he was Darkness. Giotto made a deal with them to look after his family in exchange for respect and a place to call home.
I imagine neither Death nor Darkness had been welcomed into a home, and instead would always be criticised and hated, so they would accept Giotto's deal.
After a while they feel like Giotto is their son and even after fulfilling their end of the deal continue to watch over Vongola- because it is their first home and family. Of course they're upset and bitter that Vongola changes so much, and almost go back on their deal and kill off not only enemies but subordinates and bosses too.
Then Tsuna comes along and everything seems so much better for them!
I hope this helped if you didn't understand!
Another madness of mine XD
This is really another sorry to those looking forward to my updating my other chapters/stories. Right now I don't have time to put into writing chapters of existing stories, I do write some more when I can, but I feel that some of these plots need to be expressed before I can really finish say Violet Insanity or To the Untrained Eye. I'm so sorry to my WONDERFUL readers who are waiting. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!
Please review though; I'd like to hear your thoughts. I got inspiration from the ending of 'detramental's fic "what they could not see". Take a look if you want.
Thank you everyone!
~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3