Thanks a bunch for the follows, favorites and reviews :D Oh, to answer the question. No, there will be no romance, but you can expect loads of family fluff :D Most of it will be between Tsuna and Giotto 'cause I love 'em together! Enjoy~
Edit 2018: Hello again, I revamped this chapter and since I forgot the original plot, I included Chrome this time. (She was originally supposed to join them later, but oh well.) Oh and anything that is in italics and "quotations" indicates that the person speaks in a language non-native to the character, whose perspective you're reading.
Chapter Two
Knuckle's Parenting
When his consciousness slowly returned to him, Tsuna felt a warm breeze ruffling through his hair and grass tickling his face. It was wet with morning dew and the earthy smell around him made him wonder whether the bullet had failed and he ended up dead for real this time. Panic constricted his chest momentarily, but when he remembered the familiar pink tunnel through which they all fell, his heart calmed down again.
Ignoring the dull pain in his limbs, Tsuna sat up straight and observed his new surroundings with curiosity.
They had ended up on a hill covered with beautiful flowers, which bent slightly in the wind. In the distance, he could spot smoke rising out of chimneys from the rooftops of a town, which glowed crimson in the morning sun. The clearing was surrounded by a labyrinth of thick, old trees and their rustling, green leaves threw shadowy patterns across the mossy forest floor.
It was peaceful until someone groaned beside him.
"Juudaime, are you alright?" Gokudera clutched his head in pain, worrying about him despite his own injury. "I couldn't cushion your fall. I'm a failure as your right-hand man."
"I'm okay, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna nodded and gave him a concerned smile. "You're the one who is in pain."
"Oh, I'm fine. I had a rough landing, but it's nothing. I'm glad you're safe," his storm guardian replied, "but where the hell are we? Did it work?"
"I think we're in the 17th century," Tsuna answered intuitively as he walked up to Yamamoto to help him to his feet, "but I have no idea where we are exactly."
"Well, we can just ask someone in that town over there." Yamamoto said cheerfully, pointing his thumb towards the houses in the distance. "I'm sure they'll be able to tell us."
"We must be in Sicily, Young Vongola." Lambo brushed a hand through his raven hair. "Our family was founded here and we're supposed to protect the first generation, so it would make sense, right?"
"Right, Lal gave me a map." Gokudera dug through his pockets until he found the crumpled, old paper. "Leave it to me, Juudaime. I'll find out where we are. We don't need to ask random town's people."
Leave it to his storm guardian to do everything in his power to outclass his rain guardian's ideas and suggestions. Meanwhile, Chrome and Mukuro, who honestly looked like twins in their child form, had woken up as well and joined them.
"Kufufu … I assume were are in the right time period since Tsunayoshi hasn't freaked out yet." Mukuro brushed some dirt from his indigo jacket. "If I were you, I would keep track of a certain prefect though or you'll have the attention of every mafia family in the vicinity. Personally, I really don't care what you do, but I doubt bringing attention to yourselves on the first day is a wise move."
"Mukuro-sama is right," Chrome added worriedly, "Cloud-san doesn't like crowding."
Tsuna froze at their comments and frantically searched for his missing cloud guardian.
Hibari was at the bottom of the hill, already on his way to claim part of the town while a devastating killing intent surrounded him. After being crowded for an extended period of time, turned into a child and transported away from Namimori, it was no surprise that the prefect's mood had hit rock bottom.
"Hibari! Where are you going TO THE EXTREME? You don't know where we are. I don't even know where we are." Ryohei was running after Hibari, trying without success to reason with him. "Answer me! Hey, Hibari! You need to extremely wait for us!"
The only reply he got was an annoyed grunt, before the cloud guardian simply increased his pace.
"H-Hibari-san! Onii-san! Wait!"
Tsuna and his remaining guardians—minus Mukuro and Chrome who used the opportunity to disappear into thin air—ran after them. However, Hibari and Ryohei were faster than they had expected and they lost their trail after several minutes. The young boss worried for them, not only because they would probably get in trouble, but because they didn't know a single word in Italian apart from maybe 'Ciaossu', which technically wasn't even a real word but Reborn's butchered version of 'Ciao'.
After another twenty minutes of stumbling through the dense forest, they caught up with Ryohei at the town's entrance and were overwhelmed by the sight that greeted them. When they had traveled to the future, it had been a shock to see the differences compared to their own time, but it was nothing like walking through something they only knew from history textbooks.
Sun-dried ivy slowly climbed up the solid sandstone houses that stood closely to each other and were decorated with ornaments. Narrow alleys branched off of the main road, which was bustling with crowds of people going about their daily routines. The air smelled faintly of salt water, mixing with the delicious scent of freshly baked bread and tomatoes that street vendors were advertising at their booths.
"According to the map, this city is called Taormina." Gokudera concluded as they made their way through the crowd. "It's a port town north of Catania and east of Palermo."
Tsuna would've enjoyed to explore the historic town, but they had to protect unsuspecting victims from Hibari.
"Hibari is probably looking for a school to take care of," Yamamoto suggested thoughtfully. "Is there one around here?"
"Yeah. It's in the west part of town." Gokudera nodded and pointed to a spot on the map. "We better get there before he does."
The young boss sighed in despair. It was almost impossible to get the prefect to move from a place he decided to take control of and he wasn't sure how this historical society would perceive his distorted views on discipline. They were supposed to blend in with the town's folk, but with the way things were going it would be a miracle if they didn't land themselves in prison by the end of the day.
"That anti-social bastard." Gokudera growled. "Does he even realize he's jeopardizing our entire mission?"
"It's okay, Gokudera-kun, really." Tsuna patted his friend's shoulder. "I feel like we'll be around here for a while, so we might as well use the opportunity to get familiar with the city."
"Sounds like an extreme plan!" Ryohei laughed boisterously, making their ears ring with its volume. "Relax, Gokudera."
"If Juudaime says so," he grumbled, "I'll try to memorize as much as I can. You can count on me."
"Thank you." Tsuna smiled. "That's a big help."
Passerby glanced at them suspiciously as they made their way along the dusty road and held their bags closer to their bodies, probably suspecting that they were a gang of pickpockets. It must be out of the ordinary to see five children running through town without parents, but that was on the bottom of his list of priorities at the moment. They still hadn't found a sign of Hibari and he had just noticed that Mukuro and Chrome had mysteriously vanished as well.
Half an hour later, they arrived in the shadow of a tall, historic church that towered over a large town square. It must've been a Sunday since the place had turned into a market that sold everything from oriental spices, expensive cloths and glittering jewelry to ripe apples from local orchards and fresh fish from the harbor. It was a mess of colours and voices, but oddly charming.
A loud, grumbling sound made the group stop in their tracks.
"The great Lambo-sama is hungry," Lambo whined, tears gathering in his eyes. "Buy me some food, Young Vongola."
Tsuna knew from experience that while those tears were partially fake, his little brother was close to throwing a fit. One would think that Adult Lambo was more mature, but in reality he could be worse than his child version.
"I already bought you bread five minutes ago and we can't spent all of Mammon's money on the first day." Tsuna shook his head and sighed. "With those interest rates, our debt to the Varia will be astronomical. Also, stop calling me Young Vongola. It's too suspicious and who knows what will happen if someone eavesdrops on us."
Lambo crossed his arms above his chest. "I don't care. I'm hungry."
"Stupid cow! Stop annoying Juudaime with your antics and blowing our cover," Gokudera scolded him and grabbed the lighting guardian by the collar of his white shirt. Lambo ignored him and stared at Tsuna with pleading eyes, which prompted the storm guardian to shake him violently. "You're acting like a five-year old."
"Yare, yare. If you haven't noticed, we are five-year-olds." Lambo shot back and started to pick his nose for emphasis. He inspected the snot on his finger before wiping it on his captors shirt. "Which means you're the one blowing our cover by acting like you have a stick up your ass. In fact, you should be rewarding me with food."
"You stupid cow," Gokudera yelled and continued to shake the bread for earlier out of him, "don't wipe your boogers on me. You're disgusting!"
"Stupidera, let go of me!" Lambo wailed, tears streaming down his cheeks like a waterfall. "Stupid Stupidera!"
Tsuna and Yamamoto watched in mild surprise while the silver-haired chibi continued his assault until Lambo snapped and pulled out a grenade out of his pocket. With experienced fingers, the lighting guardian pulled the pin and dropped the explosive at their feet. Shocked, four pairs of eyes locked onto the pink grenade and Lambo used the distraction to escape from Gokudera's iron grasp, bolting away from the group with a scream.
Not knowing what else they could do, the four children backed away from the explosive as far as they could and attempted to shield themselves. The grenade exploded with a bang, leaving a crater on the cobble stone path and a terrified Italian crowd behind. The people around them scattered, screaming 'mafia' on top of their lungs, trying to find shelter in the closest alley.
"That was extremely uncool." Ryohei inspected the minor scratches on his body. "We scared all those nice people away."
"So much for blending in," Gokudera muttered, "it's that stupid cow's fault."
"Well, he's still just a kid," Yamamoto reasoned as he peeled himself off the ground. "You didn't have to be so violent with him."
"Nobody asked for your opinion, baseball idiot."
"This is bad! This is so bad," Tsuna whimpered and gripped his head in panic. "Hibari, Mukuro and Chrome are missing, and now Lambo ran away, too. Something terrible will happen, I can feel it. And we've made a scene in public which means people will notice us. Maybe we'll even get arrested or burned at the stake, who knows how strict the laws in this time are. I'm too young to be thrown in jail. What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry. I will bring that idiotic cow back, even if I have blow him to pieces." Gokudera glared in the general direction where Lambo disappeared. "You can count on me, Juudaime!"
His storm guardian's personality did a 180 when he gave his boss a thumbs up. Tsuna squinted to get rid of the image of dog ears and tail, which his friend had magically grown. Without waiting for his reply, Gokudera took off after Lambo, which made the young boss look up to the cloudless sky, wondering what he did wrong in his life to deserve this.
"Ma, ma Tsuna. It'll be alright," Yamamoto attempted to calm the panicking brunet. "Onii-san and I will look for Mukuro and Chrome. You can go look for Hibari and Gokudera is already after the kid, so no worries."
"That's what worries me the most," Tsuna countered and hung his head. "Fine. We'll meet in front of the church in an hour. Please try not to destroy too much, okay?"
The young boss knew that his words fell on deaf ears. Even if they agree now, they would forget his plea as soon as they left his side and he didn't exactly trust the innocent grins his guardians were sporting before they split up. There was no doubt in this mind that this would end badly.
As if to confirm his grim thoughts, Tsuna could hear terrified shrieks in the distance, which made finding Hibari's location less of a challenge. Usually, he'd try to keep his distance when the prefect enforced discipline, however, he had promised the others to take care of this. Ignoring his flight instinct, the brunet child ran towards the screams.
It couldn't get much worse, right?
『ボンゴレファミリー』
A beautiful woman in her mid-twenties with long wavy blond hair stormed through the fancy halls of her friends' estate, heels clacking on the polished marble floors.
Normally, Elena was a very gentle, patient and kind-hearted person—a trait which many men admired her for—but even she had to draw the line somewhere. Two days have passed since she arrived at the Vongola mansion in order to visit her fiance and it had taken them only one day for her to be ready to pack her bags and call a carriage back home again. Of course, their antics could be endearing at times, but a majority of them made her ears bleed.
Elena wasn't sure how much more of them she could tolerate before she snapped, if she hadn't already.
It was a struggle to be one of the only women in the household and she greatly disliked having to scold a bunch of adults on a daily basis. It made her feel unladylike and she really hated being unladylike. That was not the kind of image she wanted to portray to her future husband, but they had left her with no choice.
Anger rippled off her in waves as she approached the grand double doors that lead to the dining hall. She could already hear their voices through the wood, which meant that they were probably fighting again. Her hand rested on the cold, metal doorknob for a moment before she took a calming breath and opened it.
Elena stared at the scene in front of her in shock.
"Stop it, Daemon! I'm suffocating!"
Daemon Spade, her fiance, was in the middle of ramming the end of his scythe into a green-haired teenager's throat, who was struggling to escape his fate.
"Can't breathe! Gah! I'm dying." Lampo gagged, tears of pain gathering in his blue eyes while he attempted to kick Daemon away. "Someone! Anyone! Help me."
She knew them well enough to know that Lampo probably brought this treatment upon himself, however, she didn't approve of her future husband's violent tendencies. Apparently, neither did Alaude who had been watching the assault with narrowed eyes and swiftly decided to handcuff the illusionist. The detective didn't care for Lampo in particular, but he was a stickler for the law and would arrest anyone who attempted to take someone's life.
Lampo didn't miss the opportunity to hide beneath the table to regain his breath, when another meaningless fight ensued between the cloud and mist guardians.
Elena pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep a control on her temper.
Her gaze fell upon a red-haired man, whose flame tattoo covered most of the right side of his face, hoping he'd intervene in the fight. However, G's attention was focused on the food war between himself and Knuckle. The priest was the last person she expected to throw his breakfast around since he worked at the local church where he always reminding the town's folk not to be wasteful and grateful for what they have.
"It's a food war to the maximum!" Knuckle roared loudly and threw a chicken wing at G. "I won't be defeated."
The only person in the room who actually made an effort to pacify the other guardians was Asari, though he also burst out into laughter, which is why nobody took him seriously. As soon as a glass of milk landed in his face, the Japanese swordsman joined the food war a little too enthusiastically.
Elena clenched her firsts while she looked for the only person who possessed the authority to end this disaster of a breakfast.
She found him sitting at the end of the dinner table with his head buried in his hands. A few bread crumbs—undoubtedly collateral from the food war—were stuck in his golden hair, but he didn't seem to care. It was obvious that the great Vongola Primo was at his breaking point and Elena felt a wave of sympathy for the man. Giotto seemed to be at a complete loss and had already accepted the situation for what it was.
"What in the world are you doing, you complete morons?!" Elena decided to take the offense, satisfied by the silence her question was met with. "I've only been her for two days and all you do is fight, yell and destroy the mansion like a bunch of barbarians. You're adults for God's sake, so get your act together."
"I'm sorry for their behavior, my love." Daemon said smoothly. "I was attempting to teach Lampo some table manners, but you're correct those barbarians are a lost cause."
"Don't try to weasel your way out of this. You're just as guilty as they are, darling." Elena glared at him, before addressing the entire room again. "Did you learn nothing from last time? I cannot believe my plan to make you take responsibility failed so miserably. I guess, I will have to resort to much more drastic methods this time."
The founding family flinched collectively at the implication.
Once upon a time—actually three months ago—they had driven Elena mad to the point where she took it upon herself to teach them responsibility. She had dragged them to a local pet store and forced them to choose an animal that they would have to take care of. Of course, they had only picked smaller pets that would be easy to keep. Knuckle had decided to adopt a fish, who only needed food twice every day. At first, the yellow guppy had seemed happy in his bowl, but neither he nor the rest of the animals survived the loving care of the Vongola guardians.
"I hope by methods you don't mean making us adopt pets again," Giotto pleaded with Elena, who had her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at them. "It don't want to be responsible for more animal deaths."
"Elena, please remember what happened last time," Daemon warned. Honestly, he wouldn't mind getting another animal if it meant that his future wife would be pacified and his rabbit had been a great subject for experiments, but he had to try at least. "Not even the stupid fish survived and it only needed fresh water to live."
"Oi! He was just taking an extreme nap," Knuckle protested, defending his fish-sitting skills. "It's not my fault he was tired."
"Ah right, how could I forget? Of course, fish normally sleep upside-down on the surface of the aquarium." G snorted and rolled his red at the priest's stupidity. "I'm honestly relieved you didn't get yourself a bigger animal, moron."
"God bless his soul." Knuckled ignored the sarcasm and folded his hands in prayer. "He was a good fish, always swimming in circles to the maximum."
The other guardians were mildly freaked out by his behavior and even Alaude increased the space between himself and the priest. Reminding himself of the topic of their discussion, the blonde detective glared coldly at Elena, silently demanding an explanation. She smirked cunningly, eyes twinkling with mischief that closely resembled her fiance, which made Giotto uncomfortable.
"You obviously didn't take the pets seriously, which is why I decided that you'll have to take care of something you can't ignore or forget about." Elena paused dramatically, putting her hands on her hips before uttering one single word, "Adoption."
They stared at her as if she had grown three heads.
"You're kidding, right?" Lampo, who had been hiding until now, crawled out from under the table. "You know I hate brats. They're noisy and dirty and annoying and they steal things. Should I go on?"
"We couldn't even take care of the damn pets. What the hell makes you think we can take care of stupid brats?" G argued heatedly, looking to the others for agreement and most of them nodded their heads. "It's actually irresponsible to let us take care of children. Lampo is barely even an adult himself."
He actually did have a point there, but Elena was too determined to give up.
"Yes, children are much harder to take care of, but they teach even the most chaotic people to be responsible," she explained. "Not to mention, you won't be young forever and if you really don't want Ricardo to take over, you should think about who else is going to take your place. None of you are engaged, apart from Daemon and I. You need to start thinking about Vongola's future."
"And you think picking random brats from the street to succeed Vongola is a good idea?" G muttered and shook his head. "Seriously. That's insane,"
"G, how could you say that? If you haven't forgotten, we were orphans as well and I doubt there is anyone who loves this town more than the people who grew up in it." Giotto stood up from his chair and fixed his childhood friend with a small smile, though his golden eyes were thoughtful and calculating. "To be honest, I've been concerned about Vongola's future as well. There is this nagging feeling, I don't know how to describe it, but we cannot keep going like this forever. My cousin keeps getting stronger and while he is part of my beloved family, I don't think our ideals are the same."
Vongola Primo turned to Elena with an appreciative smile.
She knew that Giotto had a soft spot for orphaned children since he knew how hard life on the streets was. He did everything in his power to support various local orphanages and Elena knew he had already played with the thought of adopting an heir, especially after his last fight with Ricardo.
Of course, there were many women who would jump at the chance to court the legendary Vongola Primo, but the man's mind was too focused on protecting the town to think about romance. All of his previous love interests had been scared away by his guardians and at this point, Elena was sure the man would end up marrying G before he could ever exchange a meaningful sentence with a woman.
Alaude shot his boss a look that said 'I know what you're thinking and I don't like it one bit', but Giotto ignored him.
"I think it's a good idea. We should at least give it a try," he said to his guardians. "If it doesn't work out, then it'll still be a good experience and if it does, we'll have successors that can take our place when we retire. Come on, everyone. Don't be heartless."
Obviously, his decision was met with wild protest from his guardians. Elena smirked triumphantly when Daemon and Alaude glared at their charming blonde boss in exasperation, knowing that once he had made up his mind it was very unlikely he would change it. When G and Lampo cornered Giotto, trying to convince him that this was a terrible idea, he side-stepped them elegantly and clapped his hands.
"I'm glad we all agree," Vongola Primo announced cheerfully, leaving no room for argument. "We'll go to tomorrow."
Instead of dealing with their reactions, the blonde man walked out of the room with flowers surrounding him, already lost in thought about the new addition to his family. Meanwhile, Alaude made himself scarce as well, in hopes that if he put enough distance between himself and the mansion, he wouldn't have to partake in their idiocy. He had CEDEF to run after all and children had no place in the dangerous lives they were living.
Elena watched the guardians and decided that they had taken it better than expected. Their parenting skills might need some serious work, but she believed they could do it if they put in the effort.
"I can't believe this idiotic boss," G cursed, suppressing the urge to bang his head against the closest available wall. "We all agree—my ass!"
"Think positive. It might be fun." Ever the optimist, Asari laughed happily and shrugged. "We should do our best to raise them well, de gozaru."
"Asari is right. We're actually doing an extremely good deed by giving these children an opportunity for a better life," Knuckle exclaimed excitedly. "I can't wait to the maximum."
"I actually feel sorry for the brat that gets adopted by you." Lampo sighed, already making plans to hide his secret stash of sweet from the children. "Don't forget to feed them. Don't make them run 'extreme' marathons and most importantly, keep them away from me."
Knuckle pumped his fists in the air, though he looked serious. "I won't repeat my past mistakes!"
"I'll believe it when I see it," G commented skeptically. "Elena, I really hope you know what you've done."
"Of course, I do." She sing-songed happily and threw herself at Daemon in delight. "I know it's earlier than you expected, but we're going to be parents, honey."
Daemon's smile was strained when he replied, "I can't wait."
『ボンゴレファミリー』
Tsuna ran as fast as his feet could carry him, dodging civilians and other obstacles along the way. He risked a glance over his shoulder, only to find that the furious prefect was still hot on his trail. Jumping over a stack of wooden crates, the young boss made a beeline for a narrow alley in an attempt to outmaneuver Hibari, which would hopefully increase his head start.
His quick decision-making payed off because not a second later, a steely tonfa connected with the wall where his head had just been and created a brutish looking dent. Unfortunately, that's when his lucky streak ended since the alley turned out to be a dead end. The brunet had always wondered how he would die, but he never thought it would be in some random street around four-hundred years in the past.
"I'm s-sorry, Hibari-san, but you were drawing too much a-attention to us." Tsuna stuttered and backed further into the shadow of the alley. "It d-didn't look like that school needed discipline … or at least, they didn't w-want any."
"That's not your decision to make, small animal." Hibari said coldly. "I agreed to come along with you, but I never agreed to follow your orders."
"I n-never gave you any orders, but we need to lay low f-for now," he defended nervously, "You want to return to Namimori as fast as possible, right? That's why we should work together and not against each other."
"I'm not going to hide with you like a bunch of frightened herbivores," Hibari muttered as he slowly stepped forward, cornering him like prey. "Luring the Pesca Family out in the open and fighting them will be more effective. I'll bite them to death and then return to Namimori."
"I'm sorry, but that doesn't s-sound like a good idea. I m-mean … they're not after us, but after the first family and once they realize we followed them here, I'm sure they'll speed up their plans. We don't even know how they plan to assassinate them, what they look like, where they are, what their abilities are or whether they already made allies in this time period. It's dangerous to pick a fight without knowing what we're dealing with."
After his passionate speech, Hibari's eyes narrowed and drilled holes into his skull, making him debate whether he should enter Hyper Dying Will Mode. Dread filled his stomach when Tsuna noticed purple flames lighting his cloud guardian's favorite weapons.
"Hn. I know that." Hibari said annoyed. "That's why I was gathering information."
"H-how would you gain information from beating up children?!"
Earlier, the young boss had followed the screams to the local school building, which, as expected, the prefect had been attempting to take control of. While a majority of the Italian students had looked amazed by the five-year-old who was able to reduce their worst delinquents to a bloody puddle, the teachers weren't as amused. After all, those delinquents were the sons of mafia families and vigilante groups.
Throwing self-preservation to the wind, Tsuna had managed to gain his cloud guardian's attention—and wrath—by throwing a stone at his head to lure him away from the crowd that had begun to form. That was also the reason why he had been running for his life with the prefect on his heels for half an hour, stumbling over his feet more than once.
"Those herbivore students had valuable information," Hibari said irritated, "but you had to interrupt me."
"H-Hibari-san, they were already unconscious! How were they supposed to tell you anything?" Tsuna muttered beneath his breath, but his guardian heard it nontheless.
"I would've kidnapped one of them and made them talk." The blunt statement made the young boss cringe with pity for the chosen delinquent, wondering why his guardians had no qualms to perform illegal activities. "I could've returned to Namimori earlier if you hadn't interfered. That's why you will pay, herbivore."
"You don't even speak Italian?!"
"I'll bite you to death!"
Tsuna yelped in fright, but before Hibari could deliver his punishment they were interrupted by a woman.
Her voluminous figure filled out a crimson, floor length dress and the golden rings on her thick fingers indicated that she was at least part of the middle-class. Black wavy hair that was streaked with gray strands had been pulled together in a strict bun and the wrinkles on her face deepened as glared at them over her beak-shaped nose. Wheezing from exhaustion, she towered over them and blocked their only exit from the dark alley.
Following behind her were two men in black suits, one tall and the other short, who were attempting to catch their breath as well. Tsuna deduced that they must've been following them for a while and kicked himself internally for not noticing.
"Are you the ones who caused a commotion at the market and the school?" The woman asked sternly in Italian. "And don't you dare lie to me, young man."
Tsuna looked at Hibari for help, but his murderous glare reminded him that the cloud guardian had never attended Reborn's tortu—lessons. At least, the prefect had the mind to put his cloud tonfas away and shot passive-aggressive stares at the group of herbivores, tapping his feet on the ground impatiently. Apparently, he could tolerate one herbivore's presence, but the additional three made his blood boil.
Slowly translating the sentence in his mind, Tsuna could understand the gist of it and nodded guiltily. "Yes, w-we're really sorry. We didn't mean to hurt anyone."
"I thought so. Still, I would love to talk to your parents about the damage you have caused." Her sugary smile was meant to comfort them, but Tsuna could sense the underlying contempt behind it. "Someone needs to pay for the repairs and compensate the families of the children that you harmed."
Internally panicking, the young boss wondered what he should say since their parents haven't been born yet and he wasn't sure whether Mammon's money would be enough to cover the expenses. Sure, he could lie but he had never been a particularly good liar nor did he like doing it. Hibari wasn't any help either since the entire conversation went over his head and he probably didn't even care.
"U-um," Tsuna began eloquently, "our p-parents aren't alive, so they can't compensate you. If you tell me your name, maybe we could come to an agreement? We could w-work it off or something."
Technically, that wasn't even a lie but he still felt guilty about telling half truths.
"My name is Maria Carcere and I'm the owner of this town's most prestigious orphanage." Maria announced, voice swelling with pride. "We don't only take in children from the streets, but we discipline them into perfect little angels. Today must be your lucky day."
Her mouth stretched into a large smile that might have looked friendly to an outsider, but sent a round of shivers down his spine. Tsuna didn't trust her one bit and even Hibari, who hadn't understood a word they said, frowned warily.
"Miss Carcere, what do you m-mean by that?"
"I'll take you in and teach you some manners, so that incidents like today won't repeat themselves." She put her hands on her hips and motioned for her two companions. "Franco, Mario. It seems like we have new additions to our family. Please escort them to the carriage."
It seemed like 'escort' was an euphemism for 'man-handle them if they resist' since Mario and Franco glowered at them as though they expected a fight. Hibari was neither impressed nor intimidated and his deadly aura made the two men hesitate while Tsuna contemplated the pros and cons about this development. Maria might not be a good person, but staying in her orphanage would help them blend into this time's society.
"This m-might not be that bad," Tsuna whispered to Hibari in Japanese, after having summarized the gist of the conversation. "We'll have food and shelter for tonight. If it's bad, we can always leave tomorrow."
Much to his relief, the prefect listened for once and quietly agreed to his plan. Maybe his speech from earlier had unexpectedly changed his mind. Maria watched them suspiciously out of the corner of her eyes while Franco and Mario led them to an open carriage. Reluctantly, the children stepped onto the vehicle and made themselves comfortable on the hard, wooden benches.
"There are more of you, aren't there?" Maria questioned the small brunet when she sat down in front of them. Meanwhile, Mario took the reigns and urged the horses into a moderate trot while Franco sat next to the woman, presenting her with a stack of files. The orphanage owner read them with a critical eye. "The town's people reported eight foreign children running around and causing trouble."
"Y-yes, the are my friends," he replied defensively, "but they d-didn't mean any harm."
Tsuna watched with mild disgust as her rolls of fat wobbled up and down every time they hit a bump in the road. His intuition warned him that although she claimed to run a successful orphanage, she didn't have a heart for children at all.
Maria opened her mouth to retort something nasty, but a green lightning bolt in the distance interrupted her. Her companions looked at the clear sky, attempting to find the tell-tale signs for an approaching thunderstorm, and shrugged in confusion when they only found the brightly shining sun. It wasn't uncommon to observe abrupt weather changes in the port town, but it wasn't even humid enough for rain.
"Miss Carcere, could you drive us that way?" Tsuna pointed in the direction where they had seen the lighting bolt. "I think one of my friends might be in that area."
She huffed annoyed in response, but ordered her men to follow his demand nontheless. It only took them ten minutes to find what they were looking for.
Lambo lay unconscious in the middle of the street with tears streaming down his face. Next to him towered an enraged Gokudera, whose silver hair stood up in random directions as though he had stuck one of his fingers into an electrical outlet. A street vendor was rambling about his precious apple booth, which had been turned into a lifeless heap charcoal after being fried by lightning. The panicked man had begun to pray, probably thinking God was punishing him from the heavens.
Gokudera's expression lit up when he noticed the approaching carriage that contained his beloved boss.
"Juudaime! You found me," he yelled enthusiastically and grabbed Lambo by his collar, dragging him over the cobblestone road. Tsuna winced, predicting that his lightning guardian will wake up with painful bruises all over his body. "I got the brat like I promised."
The young boss began to sweat under Maria's disapproving glare. "That's g-great, Gokudera-kun."
"Who's that old hag? Did she kidnap you?" The storm guardian dropped Lambo to pull out his dynamite. "Don't worry, I will rescue you. Prepare to die, old hag."
"Who are you calling an old hag, brat?! Show some respect," Maria snapped, not noticing the explosives. "Franco, add the damage to the apple stand to the list."
Wait, they were keeping track of everything? As if to answer his thoughts, Franco pulled out a parchment and scribbled a few sentences on it with an elegant feather. It appeared to be a list of the destruction they had caused, each entry providing a number that displayed the debt they had accumulated. Great, they had only been here for three hours and had already acquired a criminal record.
Mentally, Tsuna went over the ever growing list damages and sighed in despair.
They had injured sixteen students from the local school, put a crater in the wall, exploded part of the town square, terrified the civilians, fried an entire fruit stand and whatever Mukuro had done in his free time. In law terms that was dangerous bodily injury, trespassing, destruction of public property and Gokudera was about to add premeditated murder to the list.
"Ma, ma. Calm down, Gokudera. It's not that easy to kidnap Tsuna and Hibari," said Yamamoto, who came strolling out of an alley with Ryohei and his mist guardians. How the athlete managed to find Chrome and Mukuro and convinced them to cooperate would always remain a mystery to him. "There must be a logical explanation."
"I know that, baseball freak." Gokudera retorted angrily, but slipped his dynamite back into his pocket. "I was just making sure."
Tsuna rushed through an explanation while his guardians were ushered into the ride by Mario and Franco. Meanwhile, Maria watched them warily and left the soon-to-be crammed back to sit at the front. The young boss prayed that she wasn't noticing their uncanny resemblance to the first generation. They must be famous around town and he assumed that most citizens knew what they looked like, which made laying low a lot more challenging than it needed to be.
Mukuro chuckled eerily when Mario grabbed Chrome roughly by the arm to lift her into the carriage. He unceremoniously stabbed him in the leg with his trident, making the man yelp in pain, before hopping on the carriage himself. Mario cursed beneath his breath, but since he couldn't find his attacker he took his place in front of the horses without complaint.
"He was trying to help her up," Tsuna scolded. "That was unnecessary."
"Debatable," Mukuro shot back. "You should be grateful that poking his leg was the only thing I did."
"You call that poking?! He's bleeding!"
Regardless of their violent tendencies, Tsuna was happy that they were finally reunited, although everyone looked a little worse for wear. Most of them were covered in dust with scratches and bruises decorating their skin. They could actually pass as a group of orphans right now.
"Where are we going to the extreme?" Ryohei asked, watching as they drove by houses and shops. "And why is Lambo passed out?"
"Didn't you listen to what Juudaime said?!" Gokudera grumbled. "We're taking advantage of that old hag. She's going to take us to her place and give us food."
"You make me sound like a villain," Tsuna complained. "She's the one who wanted us to come with her."
"That's so nice of her." Yamamoto grinned and patted him on the back. "We need to repay her kindness somehow."
"We need to repay more than that." The young boss laughed nervously as he thought about their debt to the town. "They kept track of the destruction we caused, which means we either have to spent Mammon's money or work it off."
"Boss, I brought you a souvenir." Chrome said suddenly, smiling shyly while she produced four neatly rolled stacks of Lira notes from her bag. "It's not much, but it should last us a while."
"C-chrome?" Tsuna asked hesitantly. "Where did you get that much money?"
"The bank." The girl shrugged and tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Mukuro-sama and I walked to the counter and asked if they could give us a loan or else. They were very nice afterwards and said we could keep the money as a present."
"You mean you stole it," he translated her warped perception of reality into normal human language. "Oh my god, you robbed a bank."
"Kufufu … technically we didn't rob it." Mukuro clarified and Tsuna glared at him in disbelief. "We convinced them to give it to us and when they did, we left peacefully. If someone offers you money, why wouldn't you take it?"
"No, I'm pretty sure threatening employees and leaving a bank with money that isn't yours is still a robbery." Tsuna pressed through his teeth before burying his head in his hands, wishing he could disappear from this planet. "It's only been three hours. I can't believe you pulled a heist in our ancestor's town. How did this happen? Is the police after us? Are we being followed right now?"
"You underestimate me, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Mukuro leaned back in his seat and gloated at him. "Of course, we're not being followed."
Tsuna knew better than to hold onto hope when it came to his mist guardian since that usually ended in disappointment. However, if there was the slightest change that Mukuro didn't screw them over, he'd hold onto it with his entire being this time. "How?"
"Mukuro-sama and I used our illusions to turn into Daemon Spade," Chrome explained. "Despite being an aristocrat, he didn't have that much money in his bank account, so we had to improvise."
Tsuna saw trough the excuse and groaned. Daemon came from a rich family and was probably loaded, which means that the only reason they robbed the bank in his name was out of spite. "Improvise? That was your plan all along, wasn't it? You just hate the man. That's why you decided that impersonating him to take his money wasn't enough and threw him under the bus."
Mukuro didn't even try to deny it. "He had it coming."
"You're taking this eye for an eye thing way too seriously."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree." Gokudera added thoughtfully. "We need the money and after everything he's done to us in the future, it's the least he can do to repay us."
"Hmmm~ He's part of the Vongola family, which means that indirectly the money is ours." Yamamoto grinned. "He just doesn't know it yet hahaha."
"That's not how it works," Tsuna argued in vain, "and don't justify Mukuro's actions."
"You don't like my present," Chrome said sadly, staring at her lap in shame. "I'm sorry, Boss."
"N-no, it was very thoughtful." Tsuna replied quickly. Even if what she did was wrong, it was almost impossible for him to be angry with her, which was probably why Mukuro gave her the money in the first place. "I just wish you didn't steal it. Well, what's done is done."
A comfortable silence settled over them and the exhausted boss relaxed in his seat, watching the scenery pass them by.
Ever since the failed inheritance ceremony and the drama with Shimon, he had been wondering what the town Primo had vowed to protect was like. At first glance, it was like every other town, but once you took a closer look you could see clear signs of poverty. Facades were crumbling, carriage wheels broken from the bumps in the old roads, holes littered the rooftops that were definitely leaking when it rained, rats gathered next to garbage in the alleys and the people were struggling to earn their daily bread, performing backbreaking labor.
Despite all of that, Taormina had a certain charm to it that was hard not to notice. People were smiling despite the hardships they had to endure and even the thugs he spotted lingering at the taverns were laughing boisterously. Tsuna wondered what the Italian government was doing with the taxes because improving these people's living conditions didn't seem to be on their list of priorities.
It took them another hours until they arrived at their destination.
"Welcome to your new home, children!" Maria chirped from the front seat and clapped her hands together. "Come on inside. I bet you'll like it here. It's not much, but much more than you deserve after your behavior in town."
The run-down mansion in front of them had little to no greenery surrounding it, as though even the plants decided that the living conditions there were sub-optimal. It was eerily silent for a place that was supposed to be packed with children, which only added to his discomfort. Paint was flaking from the gray walls and the windows were barricaded with thick iron bars, which made their temporary home look like a prison. No, even a prison was more welcoming that this.
Tsuna briefly wondered whether they should make a run for it and set up camp in the forest instead. However, his plans were thwarted when the heavy, iron gate that was equipped with barbed wire, closed behind them. Maria smiled broadly at the children with a sinister glint in her eyes.
"Let's talk about the house rules."
『ボンゴレファミリー』
"Come this way, Vongola!" Maria said sweetly as she led the group of famous, handsome and rich men through her orphanage. "I can't wait to show you my little angels."
Heels clacking loudly on the stone floor, she increased her pace as she led them down a long hallway. Giotto regarded his surroundings with a critical eye, trying to keep repressed memories from his own childhood at bay. A short man with a thick mustache approached the caretaker, worry deepening the frown on his face.
"Miss Carcere. I took care of yesterday's troublemakers like you ordered."
"Thank you, Mario." Maria nodded curtly, lowering her voice as she bent down towards him. "Staying in the basement will teach them a lesson. They had absolutely no table manners and considering what they did to the town, the punishment is certainly fitting. Now go and guard the door, I'm busy with clients if you haven't noticed."
Mario bowed. "As you wish, ma'am."
The woman was unaware that he could hear every word and turned around to them with a bright smile. "I'm sorry for making you wait, gentlemen. Please follow me."
"Primo, do you really think this is a good idea?" G asked him tentatively, shooting the caretaker a suspicious glance. "We know nothing about parenting and that woman seems malicious."
Giotto ignored him, masking his frustration with a smile, and simply followed the corpulent woman with his mantle flowing behind. His guardians had spent a majority of yesterday evening to convince him to reconsider his decision. The constant banging on his office door, which he had strategically locked and shoved a couch in front of for good measure, had given him a headache.
"Don't worry, G. My gut feeling tells me that everything will be fine, de gozaru." Asari grinned at him, which only fueled G's irritation. "Do you think they have Japanese kids?"
"Oi, flute idiot! Don't make it sound like we're looking for a pet species." G elbowed him in the ribs. "Do you think they import children from Japan to Italy? That's human trafficking. What's wrong with you?!"
Their short argument stopped when they arrived at the unexpectedly silent dining hall. The children were dressed in a simple, brown uniform and stood in a perfectly straight line, bowing respectfully to their guests and potential new parents. Maria smiled proudly at them while Primo and his guardians felt uncomfortable by their unnatural behavior.
Giotto frowned at their military-like attitude and was disappointed by the lifeless smiles he received. Their eyes were void of emotion and their actions seemed rehearsed. In his book, if children weren't noisy and playful then something was seriously wrong.
"Lady Carcere, your children look very …," Giotto struggled for the right word, "... healthy."
It still wasn't the word he searched for or wanted to say, but the woman didn't catch his forced compliment and nodded eagerly. "I discipline them everyday, so that their future parents have nothing to complain about. In fact, the mayor has repeatedly complimented me on my educational methods, even though they might be controversial nowadays. Personally, I still believe the old-fashioned way works best."
Giotto honestly didn't want to know what she meant by the 'old-fashioned way', but he had a good guess. It wasn't unusual for orphanages to resort to violence, especially since a majority of their charges came from the streets and usually solved their problem with brute force as well. However, he had done his best to reform their ways, the issue was close to his heart after all, but apparently there were still places in Taormina who didn't accept the changes.
"I have no idea how to raise children, but that seems to be the wrong way." Knuckly whispered to Lampo, who stared at the situation in mild disbelief. "God bless these children to the maximum."
With an eyebrow raised, Daemon turned towards Elena, who was nodding dejectedly. Giotto knew how she felt because even if they adopted some of these kids out of pity, it would be a miracle if they were fit to inherit Vongola one day. The vigilante group's members were far from being law abiding citizens and he wasn't sure whether you could teach being rebellious to the most obedient group of children he'd ever seen.
Giotto wanted nothing more than to help them, but he had the feeling it wouldn't work. It was something about their empty eyes that told him they had already given up on something vital.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
A sudden crash followed by cursing and yelling broke the uncomfortable silence like a spell. In less than a second, his guardians were on full alert, warily watching their surrounding and preparing for an attack that never came. Instead, Maria's face turned tomato red, which made the other orphans shrink back in terror. Giotto took their body language as confirmation that they were, in fact, being physically abused.
However, they would need more than a reaction to effectively prosecute the orphanage owner.
"What was that?" Vongola Primo inquired curiously as Miss Carcere was about to bolt out of the room. "It sounded like something broke."
"There is no need to be alarmed. Yesterday, we picked up a few troublemakers fresh from the streets. Those poor things were confused and unfortunately started bothering the neighborhood, which is why we generously decided to take them in." Maria explained while her voice reached higher octaves. "There are such a handful though. Everything was fine at first, but as soon as they saw the orphanage they became volatile."
"Why didn't you let them go?" Daemon asked. "It's obvious that they would've preferred to stay on the streets."
"Well, they had destroyed parts of the village. As fellow concerned citizens, we couldn't let them roam around freely," Maria lamented dramatically. "Please, remain here and pick from my angels while I deal with those troublemakers. You may to talk to them."
She sent a stern look towards her favorite angels before she left the room.
"Oh my, I can't believe that woman." Elena released the breath she was holding as soon as the door closed. "She's absolutely horrible. Did you hear what she said about traditional methods? I wouldn't be surprised if she abuses these poor children."
"I will arrest her when I find evidence," Alaude announced and his decision was met with agreement. The detective examined the group of frightened orphans in front of him, searching for signs of physical injury. "We should interrogate them."
"Interrogating sounds a bit harsh, don't you think?" Elena suggested carefully. "They are already scared as is. Maybe we should introduce ourselves first?"
"Hello, my name is Knuckle. It's extremely nice to meet you," the sun guardian said, offering his hand to one of the older children. "How do you feel about your life in this place?"
"I love it here. Miss Carcera is the best caretaker we ever had," the brainwashed ten-year old replied quickly, shaking the guardian's hand ridgidly. "She can be strict, but only when we did something to deserve it."
"O-okay." Knuckle chuckled awkwardly. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"I like cleaning the house," he answered robotically.
"Well, I guess chores can be extremely fun as well, but I meant things like playing hide and seek, you know?"
The child appeared confused by the question. "Last week, we were allowed to fix the roof. It was leaking above Miss Carcera's room, so I'm happy we could help her."
Alaude pinched the bridge of his nose and even Knuckle could tell that questioning the orphans wouldn't get them very far. They would only give them rehearsed answers out of fear for punishment, so they would have to gather their evidence elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Giotto could hear more crashes and screams in the distance, though they seemed to be getting closer. An impressively loud voice yelled something that sounded like "LET'S ESCAPE TO THE EXTREME!" in Japanese and everyone in the dining hall shuddered collectively at the volume. The blond man looked at the double doors that separated them from the noise with interest, his intuition nagging at his mind to open it. Not to mention, his guardians seemed just as curious as him to meet the troublemakers.
"Shut up, damn boxer! Your yelling makes my ears bleed! And let go of me or I will blast you to pieces, you old hag." Another person shouted colorful insults at who he presumed to be Maria. "I'm not joking."
"Ma, ma. Don't injure her," said a calmer voice in an attempt to calm their friend down. "I know you don't understand me, but I would really appreciate if you would let go of him."
Asari broke into a smile once he recognized his mother tongue. Even though they often spoke Japanese at the Vongola mansion, the swordsman must miss his home country a lot. Giotto was happy for his rain guardian, but grew increasingly exited at the prospect of getting to know these children. They seemed lively and the way they talked to each other reminded him of his guardians.
"Kufufu … Why? I'd be entertaining to watch. Besides, it's not like that woman doesn't deserve it."
Vongola Primo and his guardians froze, looking at Daemon who seemed to be equally stunned. It might be a coincidence that three of those problem children had a similar voice that his guardians, but he had only ever heard that kind of laugh once before. Elena was apparently thinking along the same line since she was glaring daggers at her fiance.
"What?" Daemon snapped. "You're accusing me of cheating just because his voice sounds like mine?"
She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Daemon was about to protest when more voices interrupted them yet again. At this point, Giotto thought that this was a great cosmic joke at his expense brought about by his wish to meet more noisy and playful kids.
"Herbivores, I will bite all of you to death!"
"Yare, yare. Instead of fighting that woman we should focus on escaping."
Light footsteps echoed in the hallway until they stopped right behind the door of the dining hall. They watched with baited breath as the door fell out of its angles and cluttered uselessly to the floor. A cloud of dust surrounded them, robbing them of their vision and making them cough lightly.
"Everyone, come over here." More footsteps followed the demand. "I think I found the exit … probably."
When the dust started to settle, Giotto could spot a five-year-old child with spiky brown hair, whose clothes were smudged with dirt and skin was littered with scratches. Warm chocolate eyes widened in shock once they landed on him and his companions, slowly realizing that he hadn't found the exit after all. For a short moment, it seemed as though an understanding passed between him and the kid until …
"HIIIEEEEE!"
… the boy screamed as if he had seen a ghost. And Giotto had no idea how close to the truth his comparison actually was.
To Be Continued ...
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