Hello again. I thought that I will post Chapter 2 till I still have some time. Thank you so much for all favs, follows and reviews!
I had fun writing this one... XD I just want to add that all of them are speaking Italian, not English or Japanese. Remember that they are in Italy.
At the end of the chapter they are some small bits about what's going to happen in next part so be sure to read it! :P Okay, enough with the ramblings.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own KHR or its characters... bla, bla, bla.
DOOMED TO THE PAST
Chapter 2
"So… the two of you are… architects?" asked Giotto uncertainly.
"Kufufufu~~ Yes, I guess you can phrase it like that. We are artists. Unrestricted, independent and free-spirited souls aiming for the improvement in the most deep and devious recesses of human minds." The aforementioned sentence was followed with an entirely convincing and trustworthy smile. "Our dream is to make people around us understand our creativity and creations. Isn't that right, little brother?"
"Um, haha, yes, exactly…" Tsuna gulped silently and facepalmed inwardly. Mukuro sure had the talent for lying through clenched teeth and telling half-truths with the big fake smile on his face. He couldn't even grasp the idea of devising such a long rant about their mock life in a complete detail with so little time. According to Mukuro's blubber they were brothers, who had been abandoned cruelly by their parents when they had been barely few years old. Since then they'd been wandering aimlessly almost starved to death. The younger sibling – meaning Tsuna – was in a definitely worse shape and if it wasn't for Mukuro's desperate prayers and pleas, while panhandling on the streets, they would surely be dead by now. Exactly around that time, the godlike and miracle-working Master going by the name of Pao Pao had found them and saved from tragic decease by divulging and acknowledging their marvellous talent in the all art-related areas. Or something similar like that.
The angry snarl from G. made Tsuna uneasy. "That doesn't explain what you were doing in my bedroom at all. The same goes for the Pony here, walking into Daemon's bathroom out of nowhere."
"Pony?" scoffed Mukuro trying to hold back his killing intent. He didn't succeed in refraining his eyebrow from twitching violently, however. What the hell was wrong with this guy! If it wasn't Pineapple, which was completely ridiculous comparison by the way, Pony would take its place!? So what if he wore a ponytail? Geez, idiots. All of them. G. only smirked wryly.
"Well, I explained it just a minute ago, didn't I? Security guards let us in due to our freshly-made agreement. We were supposed to have a look at your ballroom and try out some new designs for it. Unfortunately we got lost on the way there." Mukuro drawled out slowly.
The redhead rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh, is that so?"
"Calm down, G.. The best way to know if they're telling the truth is to ask the security, right? We should do just that. But before that – you alright there, little one?" Giotto's firm tone softened slightly when he directed his question to the pale and wobbling Tsuna. Even though his headache had lessened significantly he still was a bit tipsy and woozy.
"Y-Yes, thank you. We're sorry for inconvenience." Brunette muttered softly in response looking at everything apart from the three men standing in front of him and Mukuro. Eye contact would be a bad thing at the moment. A really bad thing. Even after all this years under the tutelage of Reborn he was still crappy at telling lies. He had no idea how they were going to get out of this trouble. And anyway, he wasn't little or small! Well okay, maybe just a tiny little bit, but he was still a fully grown-up man!
Giotto smiled casually at this. "Don't be. It's not a problem. Daemon, would you please go and talk with the guards? We need a confirmation of their story."
Said man snorted disdainfully and redirected his intense glare from Mukuro to the Primo. "Why me?" It was pretty obvious that he wasn't so keen on leaving the two intruders to their own devices.
Blonde sighed tiredly. "Just go. Please."
Shortly after Daemon's furious departure they were led into a cosy office filled with books and some comfy armchairs. Albeit furnitured differently, Tsuna easily recognised it as the same room his own bureau was located in. The office of all Vongola bosses. It was still really hard to get used to this freaky and bizarre situation they had found themselves in but he managed. Somehow. While they were sitting down in front of the shiny desk, Tsuna was able to whisper into Mukuro's ear quietly, "What's with the security? You're crazy?"
"Don't worry, my cute Tsunayoshi. I have everything under control." Mist Guardian murmured back amused.
"Oh, do you? What? You're gonna take over their bodies?" Maybe his intended sarcasm would sound a tiny bit better if he wasn't all but panic-stricken about the whole ordeal.
However, the deadpan expression and meaningful silence was all the answer he needed. Seriously? He groaned miserably when he thought about the possible consequences of such a careless action. Since the sound he'd made directed all of the attention at him, he soon found himself under the scrutinizing stare of the reddish and piercingly blue eyes. He coughed awkwardly and blushed madly.
Fortunately Mukuro was able to save the day. "You okay, Tsu-chan? Don't tell me you're getting worse again? I'm sorry, Giotto-san, G-san. Tsu-chan's been recently undergoing a really nasty case of flu. He's still not feeling well."
'Stop calling me Tsu-chan!' he screamed at his guardian inwardly – completely mortified.
Tsuna cleared his throat embarrassed. "No, honestly, I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy… Mukuro-nii?" he improvised out of the blue and hoped for the best. The bluenet's content smile told him that he did the right thing.
"Are you sure? I can ask the medic to check up on you." Giotto inquired attentively.
Tsuna declined politely. "No, that's not necessary but thank you."
"Giotto, come with me for a moment" G. said suddenly. Primo turned his confused gaze to him but followed nonetheless. After the two of them had left the room, Mukuro and Tsunayoshi tried to appear as inconspicuous as they possibly could. All in all, it was perfectly obvious that they were being watched. Although treated with kindness and grace saved especially for guests, they were still probable trespassers or spies. Carefulness needed to be maintained and precautions needed to be taken. That's why they didn't trade even one suggestive or relevant word about their uncomfortable position. They weren't safe yet. After all, they were inside Vongola Mansion – the heart of the mafia world.
##***##
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Giotto? Are you out of your mind!? 'Are you alright, little one?' What are you? His mommy!? They can just as easily be here on a mission for some enemy famiglia. You know very well about our recent conflict with Nuevo. I wouldn't be very surprised if Primo Nuevo sent them." G. seethed and glared at his boss heatedly.
Giotto sweatdropped at the angry fierceness before him but quickly changed to a more serious manner, "I know that and I understand your reasoning, G. But still… I don't know. I have this feeling in my gut. They seem…"
"A feeling!? A FEELING? The hell, Giotto!? Are you serious?" The redhead rudely cut him off.
"Yes, I'm fully serious! I don't know about you but I know better than to not trust my Hyper Intuition, G.! Now, please, calm down and trust me."
The Storm Guardian sighed wearily and closed his eyes for a second. He could already feel the beginnings of the horrid headache. He simply couldn't understand how easily Giotto was able to accept things such as this. It was unthinkable. And definitely not plausible. At least not for a mafia boss. He was too gullible for his own good. But these two… there was undeniably something not right with them and with the way they miraculously appeared out of nowhere. He didn't care about Giotto's intuition, he trusted him of course but still. His boss tended to be too naïve more often than never. And it would be a long time till G. would be even prone to trying to trust these people in the office behind him. Well, it's not like he needed to do this anyway. They will be either gone or dead in a few hours anyways. "By the way, what your almighty intuition tells you about this story that the Pony had told us?"
Giotto threw him a dirty look. "Honestly? I don't know. It didn't seem like he was lying but something is wrong here. Not exactly dangerous or deceptive, just… wrong." He adopted thoughtful pose. It was, without a doubt, confusing. The blonde didn't even have the slightest idea about why he was so trustful towards these two foreigners. He just had this funny feeling. That he could do it. That they were not threatening in any way. Confusing indeed. "So you're saying that this Tsunayoshi is actually a guy?" chuckled Giotto suddenly.
"Huh? Yeah, why?" G. asked baffled.
"Well, you know… You wouldn't guess just by looking at him. He looks kind of…"
"Feminine?" suggested the redhead.
"I suppose. I mean, how can you be so sure about his gender? You don't trust them anyway, they could be lying about that too" teased the blonde-haired man.
G. looked up irately. "Why would they be lying about something like that!?" he snapped wildly. Then he looked away and began staring madly at the wall in front of him. "And besides, he has… you know…"
"Hmm? What?" Giotto grinned.
"You know… the… the… Jesus Christ… male privates, okay?" The clearly abashed look on G.'s face amused the blonde even further.
"Oh, I see. And you know that because? Don't tell me you got this far with him already before I came in?"
G. sputtered indignantly. "What are you...!? You… That's… It's not… GIOTTO!" Primo laughed loudly and ruffled his friend's hair.
"Your face… haha, priceless." The man cackled mischievously.
"All of you seem to be in pretty high spirits." Came the irked growl. "Do I need to remind you about the situation at hand or will you just stop behaving silly for a moment?" Daemon raised his eyebrow mockingly at G.'s angry blush. The redhead glared irritably in response.
Giotto quickly tried to cover up the fact that he was snickering causing the other two to roll their eyes. "So you're back, huh? What the security said?"
"They reported that these two were indeed only going to have a look at the ballroom. Guards let them in and assured me that they pose no danger." Daemon relayed sourly.
"Oh really? That's curious…" Giotto retorted looking at the closed door behind him. "And you believe them?"
Mist Guardian smirked and answered vaguely. "Oya… Do I have a reason to think that they were lying?"
Primo looked at him sharply. "You tell me."
"Nufufufu~~ In fact, I believe they were telling the truth, Boss." Daemon remarked snidely and widened his smirk unsettlingly.
"I see. Good then."
##***##
"Everything seems to be in order. Security guards validated your version." After few long and stressful minutes of the men's absence, they came back with bright smiles on their faces. Or rather – Giotto came in with a smile, while G. emanating menacing aura and scowling furiously. How Daemon-san hadn't been able to uncover Mukuro's creepy trick – Tsuna had no idea. But he wasn't going to complain, after all it had turned out better for them this way. Although he had an inkling that it wasn't everything that had transpired. All he knew for certain was that if he wanted to come out of this mess alive – with Mukuro alongside him, mind you – he would need to play his role as a bluenet's younger brother perfectly. He didn't know how he was going to do that though. Yet. But he promised himself that he would do what's in his power to succeed.
"I understand that now you are going to work on our ballroom, am I right?" G. smirked. It was almost comedic how hard he tried to act civilized and relatively sociable. And failing utterly.
Tsuna realized with a start that the question was directed at him and tried to reply with some reasonable excuse, "Um, yeah… We will. It just that… I don't feel very well, Mukuro-nii…" Decimo did his best to look as weak and shaky as he possibly could. Which actually wasn't that hard since he still felt this nauseating pounding in his skull.
Giotto shot him a worried glance while G. snorted scathingly. Mukuro quickly bypassed the sneering Daemon and kneeled in front of Tsuna looking at him soothingly. Or so it seemed to bystanders. The bluenet swiftly touched together their foreheads and pulled the smaller male into his arms. All of the present were oblivious to his cunning smirk. 'It's time to put up some illusions' – he thought mischievously. "Oh my, Tsu-chan! What a terrible fever you have here! What am I gonna to do with you in this state? Obviously, you can't stay in this freezing cold outside…" Mukuro murmured with visible concern.
'Fever? What fever? Why the hell are you pulling me inside these damn schemes of yours!' Tsuna groaned miserably in his mind.
Giotto seemed taken aback for a second but then approached the two pseudo-brothers carefully. The blonde couldn't help the slight worry that started bubbling inside of his stomach when he examined the petite brunet. He looked almost like he was about to faint right here and right now. Instead of coming closer and comforting the boy – since he really wanted to do so– he inquired, "What do you mean by freezing cold? Where are you two staying at?"
Mukuro chuckled bitterly and discreetly pinched Tsuna's hand harshly. The Primo directed his alarmed gaze at the brunet again when he heard sharp and painful intake of breath. "'Staying at?' Don't mock me, Giotto-san. You really expect that we have a place to stay? We do not have any money or belongings – as you probably already know the world is full of thieves and dangerous people. We were going to earn our bread while working on the ballroom… but it seems that this unfortunate misunderstanding…" The bluenet inhaled grimly and let his long bangs shadow his eyes. He completely ignored the burning glare from his boss.
Giotto fidgeted uneasily and glanced at the redhead, who was shaking his head and mouthing his disagreement animatedly. The blonde felt inconveniently trapped. If he offered to help them, G. would kill him; if he refused, he would die from his own conscience pangs. 'Great doing, you idiot. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.' he thought to himself unhappily. He couldn't be even certain if the bluehead was telling the truth. But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't bear to look at the hopeless state the smaller intruder was in. And it's not because he's too soft. It's just that the dejected posture and downcast expression of this Mukuro guy mixed with almost crestfallen and terrified face of the little brunet did the thing. It was truly heart-wrenching sight for him.
Daemon, on the other hand, was observing the spectacle before him with a great share of amusement. He had a vague inkling that the conclusion of this situation will give the two foreigners an upper-hand. Oh, don't be fooled – he didn't trust them even one little tiny bit. Especially the older one. Blue hair, disturbing smirk and creepy laugh? Please, what idiot would believe someone like that? He was also perfectly aware of the fact that there was something wrong with the security guards. They seemed drugged, controlled or something along this way. He wasn't sure which one yet. He had also thought for a moment that he could detect some illusions around their minds but that was impossible. Still, he was going to check it anyways. 'Nufufufu~~ Don't you worry, Rokudo Mukuro. I will watch you very closely. All the time….' Dark chuckle nearly escaped his mouth but he was able to cover it up with a cough. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted with a few words that started it all. The sentence that resonated through the abruptly dead-silent room, bounced from the walls and hit all of them head-on causing immediate chaos. 'As expected.' Daemon could not stop his smirk from turning into a dangerous, shit-eating grin. 'It's going to be fun."
"If that's the case… well, I guess you can just stay here."
Done! How was it? Please, please, leave your opinion in a review. :) Btw; I love G. soo much, I don't know why actually, I just do. So there will be a lot of him in this story... :P
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: Alaude, stalking Daemon, Mukuro and Tsuna trying to fit into the unfamiliar era, some interactions between Tsuna, G. and Giotto and more... XD