Thank you for the love everyone! I've caught the flu, but typing this is taking my mind off my aching body and head so you get this chapter early. I have a ridiculous scene for Tsuna's first meeting with Hibari planned out, so I want to get the next few chapters out of the way to reach that part. In all honesty, Daemon was supposed to be Tsuna's first word, but I figured there would have been too much future antagonism between G and him for that.
There will be supreme fluff for a while until Reborn comes. Things will get serious then and a plot will appear. The new Decimo OC won't be introduced until Reborn is. I'll try not to make him too unlikable. Also, this will probably end somewhere after the Varia Arc.
This takes place before Tsuna's first word.
Any language other than English used in this fic is taken from google translate. Therefore, expect inaccuracies.
Warnings: OOCness
'Other language'
Chapter 2: Infant Days (or the Things That Happen Before Tsuna Learns how to sit up by Himself)
The infant was incredibly tiny. Cradled in his mother's arms, his latest descendent was fast asleep and his mother was fast following him into slumber. As Nana's tired eyes drifted shut, Tsunayoshi's eyes blinked wide open and stared.
Giotto gave him a warm, tender smile.
"Hello little one. Welcome to the world. I'm Giotto. Your grandfather."
Tsunayoshi's brown eyes widened and he smiled back a big happy toothless smile.
"Gooo…"
Giotto gasped. He could hardly contain himself and his own eyes grew big and wide. He was so…so cute!
"Awwww."
Screw what the others would say. This was his great-great-great-grandson and like hell was he going to pass up this chance to watch this adorable being grow up.
Glowing indigo mists permeated the room as a tall figure stepped out and up to the cradle. Giotto had been over the moon with happiness at the birth of his latest progeny and he was skipping about in an almost disturbing manner around the shared Vongola soul space.
Despite Daemon Spade's half-life and continued existence on this plane, a part of him still resided in the Vongola Mist Ring. He had an advantage though. Not only could he possess living creatures, he could still physically interact with objects without close proximity to his ring.
Giotto was getting on his nerves and frankly it was disturbing to see the normally mature man act like a fool…well a bigger fool than normal. Then again, he had done this for each continuation of his line. Iemitsu was a foolish man as well, but he couldn't be blamed for his genes. He was also doing a pretty good job as head of CEDEF. Maybe that was in his genes as well. An eternal connection to Vongola whether he realized it or not.
The babe looked so fragile. His tiny chest rose and fell with each puff of breath. Feminine features and thick tufts of brown hair, obviously from the mother, were starting to spike in a rather familiar way. There was no way that he wasn't related to Giotto though. The babe was nearly the spitting image of the blond.
He stretched a single finger out to touch the sleeping infant's slightly curled palm. The chubby fingers automatically closed around it in a tight grip and his eyes snapped open.
Daemon couldn't prevent the soft gasp from slipping past his lips as he stared into flickering orange eyes. There hadn't been a flame this pure and powerful in Giotto's line since Giotto himself.
Daemon hadn't planned to do more than take a quick look and leave much like he had done with Iemitsu, but…with the way Vongola seemed to be heading…
Then the babe smiled.
Giotto's spitting image indeed. The younger they were, the more malleable they were. Such potential would most likely be wasted in civilian life if he didn't meddle a bit. He supposed it would be worth another visit sometime in the near future.
"You shouldn't get so attached, Giotto. This is only going to end in heartbreak."
The blond ignored his friend as he continued to exchange nonsense with the baby.
"I'm serious. Remember Iemitsu?"
"Aabbllluubblluubbluuuu," went Giotto, wiggling his fingers by his head.
"Awwaaah. Ooooh pleh. Pleh. Plaaa," replied Tsuna, opening his mouth wide.
"Once his foster parents had their own kids, he forgot us in favor interacting with tangible, living humans. When he grows up, he's going to do the same thing Giotto. We're just ghosts. Fragments of the past. You can play and talk to him now, but eventually we'll be written off as imaginary friends or figments of a dream. "
"G." There was a serious note to his name. "I know that, but haven't you heard? It's better to have loved and lost than to never love at all." The steady resolve flickered on his forehead and in his eyes. It didn't tell G anything new though.
"Giotto…" Raking a hand through his hair, G shook his head and sighed. "Alright, it's your call."
"Great! Come over here and let Tsuna see you!"
He scrowled and approached the wooden crib. The baby tilted his head a little and stared back with huge brown eyes. G's gaze softened at the sight.
"Play with him a bit, G. Like this!" Giotto face contorted into a creepy expression. "AAWWWOOOWOOOWOOO!" He began waving his arms in the air flopping them around like limp noodles.
"And make a fucking fool of myself? Like hell! Are you trying to give the kid nightmares?!" G shook his fist angrily at his friend.
"Don't taint his virgin ears!"
"Wah! Wah! Wah!" Tsuna raised a tiny fist and shook it at Giotto as well, leaving the two men to gape at him.
"Hey, Giotto?"
"Yeah, G?"
"Don't move."
"Wha-Ow!" Giotto clutched his head, rubbing the spot where G had smacked him.
Tsuna cheered and waved both of his chubby arms into the air.
"Heh. Looks like he thinks you're an idiot too."
"Tsuna…" Giotto's eyes were wide and watery. "G…how could you?...turning my innocent Tsuna against me."
"Warhwahwar!"
Pfft. Ah well. He guessed he could stick around a while longer. G was already liking Tsuna so much better than Iemitsu. There really wasn't much to do in the ring anyways and this was way more entertaining. He was going to hold this incident over his friend for the rest of eternity.
Nana had gone out for some much needed girl time with her friends and Iemitsu was left alone with his son for the next three hours. The first two had been fine as Tsuna slept through them peacefully, but he woke in great discomfort afterwards.
"Whew. What's the heck has Nana been putting in your bottles, Tuna? That's some seriously strong merda there."
Tsuna's wails were growing louder and louder.
"Alright, alright. I gotcha. I'd be crying too if I had to put up with that smell any longer."
A fresh diaper, a new bottle, and the consequent mess Tsuna's burping made had Iemitsu scrunching his face.
"Naptime champ!"
Unfortunately, Tsuna did not want a nap. Or more milk. Or his toys. Or the strange scary faces that his father made.
"C'mon Tsuna." He begged. "Work with me here. Papà non sa ciò che si vuole." As Tsuna continued to cry to the better part of an hour, Iemitsu occasionally slipped into Italian.
"Wait, wait. Here Tsuna. Here's your pacificatore!" With a desperate, but still gentle, shove, he stuffed the plastic orange pacifier into Tsuna's mouth.
Tsuna's mouth opened as his little tongue worked to push it out.
"Maa, maa. What's the matter?"
The pacifier stopped moving and was simply held in the infant's mouth. As Iemitsu stared at Tsuna with bated breath, Tsuna stared at the glowing man half covered by his father.
"Oh. Grazie Dio."
With a sigh, Iemitsu settled into a rocking chair in the corner of the room.
Tsuna's face scrunched up and his father froze in horror.
"Isn't it tiring to keep crying?"
Tsuna's face relaxed as the man came back into view and continued to talk. Tsuna didn't understand him, but the sound of the man's voice was pleasant to hear.
"How about I play a song for you?"
The man placed the strange long toy against his mouth and blew. A soothing feeling washed over the room and Tsuna continued to watch the man for as long as he could. He wanted a toy like that too. One that could make pretty sounds just like the one the man had. Iemitsu sighed softly as Tsuna's eyes closed. He might as well take a nap too. He felt that he deserved it after all. When Nana came upon the scene, she quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a photo.
"This is going to be my new wallpaper," she smiled.
Peering over her shoulder to gaze at the tiny screen, Asari Ugetsu smiled as well.
Tsuna squealed out loud at the new glowing man spitting out his pacifier in the process.
"My…what a loud cry you have little one."
Knuckle looked over to see Nana cooking in the kitchen. Tsuna was on the couch next to his father who was snoring away in front of the TV. A barrier of pillows surrounded the infant, even though he could hardly roll much less sit up without aid.
"But that just means your lungs are healthy and hearty to the LIMIT!" The priest pumped an enthusiastic fist up at the end.
"Mah!" Tsuna copied him to the best of his ability and giggled at the pleasantly surprised expression on the man's face.
"Truly a gift from God," the man murmured in what was probably the lowest tone he had ever uttered in his life.
"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have children of my own, but then I see little ones like you and I am reminded that we are all children of God."
"Mah!" Tsuna punched the air again.
"Oh? You want to see a real punch?" Knuckle considered that for a moment. Technically…showing off a few boxing jabs and feints wasn't really fighting was it?
Nana smiled at the sound of cheerful squeals and peals of laughter over the sound of the TV.
"I wonder what kind of game those two are playing? They sound like they're having so much fun."
"Geez. I really don't see what the fuss is all about."
Tsuna gurgled happily at green haired teen.
"All babies do is eat, sleep, and poo."
"Umm!" The baby continued to hold his arms up, one hand tightly fisted around a plush bell rattle.
"They're noisy and they stink."
Giggle. *Jingle-Jingle-Jingle*
"You're noisy and you stink."
Lampo pointed a finger into Tsuna's face nearly touching his nose and making the baby go cross-eyed. He could almost imagine that he could feel the air exiting Tsuna's nostrils, but that was impossible. They weren't in close enough proximity to their rings to be able to physically affect the living world.
"You look really stupid like that you know."
He poked his finger closer and was grabbed.
"What the-Hey! Let go!"
Shit. How did this happen? He definitely wasn't imagining this now. He could feel the soft baby skin squeezing around his pointer finger in a surprisingly strong grip. What was he going to do? He didn't want to accidently hurt the brat. Bodiless soul or not, Giotto would kill him if he hurt one of his last living descendent. Tsuna made the choice much easier. Lampo could definitely feel the slimy wetness as Tsuna stuck the finger into his mouth.
"Ewewew!"
He hastily yanked his hand back, yelping and trying to shake off the disgusting feeling, but it wasn't leaving. He tried wiping it on an upholstered armchair and then a desk, but his hand went right through them both.
"You little brat!"
Tsuna laughed in glee. *Jingle-Jingle-Jingle*
Lampo looked at the shine on his still wet, and still totally not drying, finger and back at Tsuna.
"Since this is your fault. You get to deal with it." With that, Lampo wiped his finger on the soft fabric of Tsuna's pastel blue onesie. Huh. What do you know. It worked. His finger was now dry, but Lampo still shuddered at the remembrance of baby spit and the thought that it could have been stuck in perpetual dampness forever. Still…he reached over again, making sure to not touch the damp spot and poked Tsuna's belly.
Tsuna giggled at the touch and dropped his rattle over the side of the crib.
The rattle landed with a soft whumph and a final jingle.
"Wah?" Tsuna looked at his empty hand in amazement, then at Lampo and back to his hand, flexing in surprise.
*snerk* "Pffft. Oh god. Where's a camera when you need one?"
Tsuna then turned his wide wide wobbly eyes up at Lampo.
"What?"
"Ooo wah?"
"Don't look at me like that. I can't get it for you."
"Wah wu." Doe brown eyes became bigger and a little shiny. Oh no.
"C'mon. Don't cry. You don't really need that do you?"
"Wah wu. Wah wuu. Wah wuuuu!" Tsuna's cries grew increasingly frantic as he began to wave his tiny arms and legs.
"Alright, alright! Look. I can't actually touch anything unless it's touching you…wait." Lampo gently grabbed a flailing fist and reached down to pick up the rattle. Ew. It was a little damp too. He quickly thrust the rattle back into Tsuna's arms and wiped his hand onto Tsuna's belly.
"You better appreciate this. I, the great Lampo, just got my hand covered in your nasty drool for your silly little toy."
"Wah wuu."
"My is Lampo. Lah-Mm-Poh."
"Ahum." Tsuna shoved the wider end of his rattle into his mouth. Well…that explained the dampness.
"Gross! Don't you know where that's been? Your dad's nasty bare feet were just there an hour ago. You're shoving Essenza dei Piedi into that cavern you call a mouth."
Tsuna continued gnawing on the plush and ignored him.
Lampo sighed. Babies were more trouble than they were worth. He looked down at the content expression and sighed again as he sank into the conveniently placed chair by the cradle. Thankfully, he didn't pass through it. Probably because of the hand that was gently stroking Tsuna's head.
"So unfair," he huffed. "I could never say no to that face." He still didn't like kids.
Tsuna paused in his efforts to completely saturate the jingling plush with drool. "Am-ou!"
And he definitely wasn't smiling at one with any sort of affection or fondness.
Then the enormity of the last five minutes sunk in. Holy…Giotto was going to freak when he heard. No one in the line had ever been able to touch them, not even Iemitsu.
…Well, Giotto could wait a little longer. After Tsuna fell asleep of course. It had nothing to do with the fact that Tsuna had really, really soft fluffy hair and that Lampo was enjoying the touch of something new for the first time in decades.
There was a serious irony to this situation. Even without knowing his proper heritage, Iemitsu had eventually ended up with the Vongola, as head of CEDEF to boot.
Alaude glanced across the hall at the soundproofed study that Iemitsu was currently arguing with someone in. Apparently, Nono had received an offer for an alliance from a previously neutral famiglia and wanted a second opinion before agreeing to it. That meant that Iemitsu had to coordinate the research team about said famiglia from his home at 1:34 am. He had originally gotten up to deal with Tsuna and nearly had him back asleep when he received the call. That was ten minutes ago.
The baby had spent the entire time staring up at Alaude, quietly sucking on the end of his blanket.
Not too long after Lampo had returned, the ninth's guardians had had to deal with a traitorous family strong enough to warrant the use of their flames. Giotto and all of his guardians had returned to the shared soul space to watch over the battle, but Alaude noticed that Lampo had been more distracted than usual. He quickly cornered the teen and had him spill the incident when they were alone.
Alaude had left as soon as he was able to get away without suspicion. The Lightning Guardian, Ganauche III, had received a bloody gash on one arm and another on his back. Lampo, looking a little green at the sight forgot that he was supposed to tell the others about his discovery and Alaude decided to see it for himself first, before the others would come crowding around.
He slowly reached forth and tugged on the blanket gently. Tsuna clearly felt it and gripped his end tighter, sucking a little more persistently on his damp corner. Alaude touched the mattress in the crib next and his fingers slid past the cherry oak bars and through the mattress like air. What was the difference? He looked at the folded towel that made Tsuna's pillow and touched that next. His fingers met resistance and he stroked the soft terry cloth almost in wonder.
This time, he decided to try touching Tsuna himself. He gently tapped the back of a chubby hand and Tsuna let go of the blanket grabbing his finger instead. The warm soft skin was definitely a shock and Alaude couldn't keep the almost breathless awe off his face. He found himself gripping the railing of the crib and realized that his hand was actually staying there. He could actually feel the cool hardness of the wood and it contrasted greatly to the heated skin still wrapped around his finger.
Skin. Skinship. On a hunch, Alaude pulled up the bottom of the blanket and to his satisfaction, Tsuna's lavender onesie was footed with white pads at the bottom of his feet. The only things he could interact with were the things Tsuna was directly touching himself.
"Bonsoir. Je suis Alaude." Let the others teach him Italian and Japanese and anything else they wanted. He was going to ensure that this boy would be as fluent in French as he was.
Tsuna continued to stare up at him for a moment before giving the blue eyed man a big smile.
"Aah laaah."
"C'est ça. Alaude."
"Allah!"
A gentle smile made its way to the man's face.
Alaude was torn. He wanted to hold Tsuna, but what if he dropped him just because he lost skin contact with the babe for even a moment? What if this strange wonderful ability suddenly stopped working?
He looked at the short chubby fingers still wrapped around his longer slender one and then at the study door. Iemitsu was still talking. Alaude knew that the man would be busy for a while yet. He had at least until sunrise which was hours away. His fellow guardians probably wouldn't come back just yet either.
Well…he really shouldn't…
"Allauh!"
Tsuna babbled a little more in incomprehensible baby talk and held up his arms with obvious intent.
Damn. Dammit. Dammitdammitdammit. It had been so long.
Almost giddy with glee, Alaude gently picked up Tsuna and made sure that the infant's head was securely nestled in the crook of his elbow as he sat on the rocking chair in the corner.
Oh how he missed this. He hadn't held a child in his arms in centuries. It was the most wonderful feeling ever.
Rocking back and forth, Alaude began to softly sing a French lullaby.
Tsuna's eyes slowly drifted shut as this new man held him tightly and lovingly. Just like the other man. But the other man had went away and never come back and this new one was here now. He glowed just like the others, just like the shiny white plate outside that was too high to reach, but no one else had picked him up when he wanted them to. Except this one. This shiny man was his new favorite. Just like his Jingle-Jingle toy and his blanket and kitty-printed milk bottle.
Omake: Giotto's Revenge
Stealthily, and pointlessly, sneaking around the house, Giotto made his way to Tsuna. Iemitsu had gone out and Nana was folding the laundry as she watched a daytime soap opera. Tsuna, in a cradle to the side watched the mobile of plush zoo animals spinning lazily above him. No wait. That wasn't a mobile and the animals weren't spinning. They were frolicking. The blue haired Mist Guardian that was responsible for this was crouched in front of the cradle with his back to Giotto.
"Mmm. Mah!" Tsuna vigoriously jabbed at the crocodile doing a handstand and it exploded in a burst of sparkly green confetti. A bubble with a glowing '3' floated in its place. Giotto noticed that there were three more bubbles with glowing numbers as well. Bubble '2' was smaller than Bubble '3' and Bubble '0' was the smallest of them all.
A cavorting ostrich exploded next leaving a new bubble with glowing '4' in its place. It was bigger than the last one. Then a tiger. A penguin. A chimpanzee. Giotto's eye twitched as he realized that Bubble '8' was a hippo shaking its obscenely exaggerated bubble butt cheeks. What the hell was Daemon showing his great-great-great-grandson?
The final animal, a back-flipping giraffe, became the largest bubble yet with a '9' in the center.
With a wave of his hand, Daemon arranged the bubbles in numerical order and ascending size.
"This is zero." He stabbed the first bubble with the tip of his scythe. The bubble popped and released a low tone while the 0 rapidly grew in size. "One." He stabbed the next bubble and a higher pitched note was released. "Two." And so on he went until they were all popped and the large glowing numbers floated in a ring above them. Daemon swung his scythe and the numbers were now scrambled.
"Now. Which one came first?"
"Giii."
Tsuna pointed at Giotto who was coincidently in the line of the 0.
"That's right. Good job Tsunayoshi." He smiled down at the infant. "Now what's the next one?"
"Giiii-ooo." The infant pointed again at the same spot.
"No. No. The next number. Come on Tsunayoshi." He urged. "You can do it! What's the next number?"
"Giiiooo!" Tsuna pointed insistently at his ancestor and Daemon whirled around, eyes wide in shock.
Apparently, Giotto could wear G's smug shit-eating grin just as well as that pink haired bastard could.
"Sooooo…I see you've met my cute little descendent."
"I-I was just checking to see if…if he was showing signs of Hyper Intuition."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really really?"
"Really really." Daemon's tone became flatter and flatter. "This is the first time I've met the babe."
"Aemahn!"
At Tsuna's response, Giotto's smirk grew wider.
Nana's show had reached a commercial break. Glancing at the crib, she saw a sleeping Tsuna and hurried to the kitchen to make a cup of tea before the break was over. As she stepped through Giotto, Daemon took the brief obstruction of sight to disappear taking his illusions with him.
"Aemahn!" Tsuna called.
"Tsu-kun? Just a moment! Mama will be right there!"
Later, that night Giotto reappeared with several pictures in his hand.
"Do you know who this is?"
"Aemahn!"
"That's right! Who's a smart boy? Who's a smart boy? You are. Yooouuu are."
Tsuna giggled and smiled at the silly man that he saw more than anyone else.
"Now who's this?"
"Giiiii-oooo"
"Right you are! That's me! Giotto!"
"Now…remember him?"
"Warhwahwar!" Tsuna waved his fist in remembrance and Giotto gave an evil smirk that would have made his Mist Guardian proud.
"This is Genevra. Gen-nev-vra."
"Giii…"
"Geeeen-neeeeev-vrrrraaaa. Genevra."
"Giii…neee-whaaaa."
As Tsuna sounded out his new word, Giotto could barely contain his glee at the thought of G and Tsuna's next meeting.
Oh Daemon. Keep telling yourself that. Also, foreshadowing from our favorite melon-headed illusionist.
Drown people! Drown in the fluff! Because Heaven's Garden is coming out to be kinda angstier than I expected and I needed a break from it.
Tsuna's too cognitive for his age, but I'm going to ignore that for the sake of this story.
My Giotto's a spazztic fool when it comes to his descendants and Alaude's greatest secret is that he adores kids and is a wonderful daddy. Maybe I'm just biased though… Haru has nothing on him when it comes to loving babies! The songs he sings to Tsuna are French lullabies I found on the internet. I'm not much of a songfic person though, so look up the full lyrics yourself.
1. Dodo bébé (Sleep Baby) -A lot of people will recognize this one or at least the tune.
2. La poule blanche (The White Hen)
3. Je serai un nuage (I'll be a Cloud)
4. Do-do ti-chéri (Sleep Little Lovely One)
Skinship is a very important thing for infants/children as they're growing up. It's probably why Alaude wins the first word contest. That and the fact that he's actually trying to teach Tsuna words instead of the gibberish Giotto spends most of his time spewing.
G and Giotto are best buds who sort of pick on each other here.
Knuckle is hard to write. ;-; I can't get a good feel for this guy and Iemitsu is apparently a heavy sleeper in his own home. Somehow G and Lampo were the easiest to do and Lampo was definitely my favorite one to write. Can you imagine being covered in baby drool forever?
I'm trying my best not to make this an Iemitsu-bashing story. He's clearly a horrible father, but he does care for his family and tries his best...somewhat…but being in the mafia is a big deal too, especially with his position.
Merda- Crap; shit
Papà non sa ciò che si vuole.- Papa doesn't understand what you want.
Grazie Dio- Thank you God
Essenza dei Piedi- Essence of Feet
Bonsoir. Je suis Alaude- Good evening. I am Alaude.
C'est ça- That's right.