Chapter 1: Of Notes, Gifts and Hitmen
Sawada Tsunayoshi wasn't an idiot.
He wasn't a fool like any other naïve children. He was smarter than most, especially his brother. His brother. Just hearing his name struck fear and annoyance in his mind. He hated his brother; he hated his brother for hating him without any reason. He feared Sawada Ietsuna for always bullying him and abusing him without any reason. He hated his mother for not ever trying to stop what his brother did; he hated his mother for neglecting him. It was just as if he didn't belong there, as if he was just an extra presence. Ietsuna had always gotten everything. He went to school, had friends, got gifts from their mother, his party was always celebrated with his friends.
Him, he never went to school even though he was the same age as Ietsuna which is 7. He was both self-studying by himself and sometimes taught by his God-father, Reborn and his friend, Verde. He was born in October 13th, 6 minutes before midnight and Ietsuna was born 4 minutes after midnight, to be truthful. He never cared about gifts either, probably he was used to it, but it still hurt to be ignored and neglected by your own brother and mother. That's why he was very confused when he saw a gift waiting for him on his bedside when he woke up on October 14th.
It wasn't just any gift. It was a special hand-crafted locket, he can tell by its quality. One strange thing about it was the pendant; the pendant was frozen and encased in ice, based on the texture. But the ice wasn't cold like the usual ice cubes. In fact, he felt an instant connection with the ice closed locket and felt warmth, not the normal warmth but parental warmth. At that time he saw a small neatly folded piece of paper. He picked up the paper as gently as he could as if the paper could turn to ashes in any second and unfolded it.
'Al mio caro bambino dolce:
Tsunayoshi, vi auguro un felice compleanno.
Vorrei poter dire che mi dispiace per te in questo momento, ma non ci riesco. Madre è molto occupato in questo momento. Ma ti prometto, non appena il problema è risolto, tornerò per te, in quanto è un errore per voi di essere lì.
Poi ci incontreremo con Padre.
Si prega di non dire a nessuno di questa lettera...
Arrivederci ~
Ti amo, il mio bambino.'
Tsuna cried silently as he clutched the locket to his chest. It just hurts so much but at the same time it was so warm and happy, and the Italian words: Madre? Il mio Bambino? He knew Italian and 4 other languages (not counting Japanese) thanks to Reborn and Verde, and he knew that Nana, he refused to call her mother after the letter, didn't know a single drop of Italian. So it must have been his real mother, so he was right! He didn't belong here, but why would his mother send him away?
He re-read the letter. '... I promise as soon as the problem is resolved, I will come back for you...'
I will come back for you. The words echoed in his shocked mind. So she will come back, but what problem does she have? War? Business? Mafia dispute? The second one seems unreasonable as he had a feeling his mother is associated with the underground, just like Reborn and Verde and father. No, Iemitsu-san too after all, Reborn and Verde did tell him the truth unlike Iemitsu-san. Iemitsu can't be his real father too then... But did he know? Or did only Nana knew?
So many questions ran to his head, he didn't hear the bedroom door opening till a deep velvety baritone voice reached his ears by the invisible sound waves, "You seem to be in deep thought today Dame-Tsuna. Are you unhappy today because of the usual thing? And why are you crying?"
Tsuna jumped as he heard the intruder say something but relaxed a bit when he heard the voice familiarize with his instincts.
"Reborn..." He said as he jumped to the man and hugged his waist as his height let him. Reborn didn't say anything as he felt his shirt get wet and hugged his godson to comfort him instead.
"So, Dame-Tsuna... Now that you calmed down a bit, mind telling me why you suddenly cried when you saw me?" Reborn questioned the tiny eight-year-old brunette that was still rubbing his teary eyes. Reborn wondered if Ietsuna or Nana made him cry but his hit man instincts said that it wasn't and that he should listen to the brunette. Tsuna didn't answer, he instead picked up the letter and the locket that was hastily thrown to his bed earlier and shoved it to the unsuspecting hit man's hands. Reborn raised an elegantly arched eyebrow at the two items in his gun-calloused hands.
He brought up the letter to examine the beautiful cursive handwriting of the Italian words scattered on the thick, crisp white paper on black ink and widened his eyes as he realized whose handwriting it was. No, it can't be, he thought as he examined the frozen pendant connected by a pure gold chain and fought back a profanity that threatened to come out of his mouth. There was no doubt about it now. The ice was part of his technique, but why was the brunette shocked? Perhaps Nana had hid all the letters and gifts to that brat Ietsuna? So that's why some of the brat's presents looked something like what Diana would have given to Tsuna and Iemitsu is too much of an idiot to realize things like that. Heck, he didn't even know the truth of Tsuna since Nana didn't tell him and was able to get with it. Damn, he thought as a wave of stress came to him, both Iemitsu and Diana is going to flip when they knew the truth of two different things.
-Chapter 1 End-
Translations to unknown words:
'Al mio caro bambino dolce:
Tsunayoshi, vi auguro un felice compleanno.
Vorrei poter dire che mi dispiace per te in questo momento, ma non ci riesco. Madre è molto occupato in questo momento. Ma ti prometto, non appena il problema è risolto, tornerò per te, in quanto è un errore per voi di essere lì.
Poi ci incontreremo con Padre.
Si prega di non dire a nessuno di questa lettera...
Arrivederci ~
Ti amo, il mio bambino.'
(This is the Translation)
'To my dear sweet bambino:
Tsunayoshi, I wish you a very happy birthday.
I wish I could say sorry to you right now but I cannot. Madre is very busy right now. But I promise as soon as the problem is resolved, I will come back for you, as it is a mistake for you to be there.
Then we will meet up with Padre.
Please do not tell anyone of this letter...
Goodbye ~
I love you, my child.
Author's Note: Phew! That's Chapter One people. Hope you guys enjoy it so far. I hope you don't mind my two OCs. I'm really sorry to have them but I just need to have them for this story to progress. Also, for the translation, I translated it from Google translate so yeah… it probably sucks. Any questions or will be appreciated (no sarcasm included) whether its critics or flames. Please forgive me if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I am still learning after all. I know some of you, my older readers may be pissed for wanting to know the condition of Aftermath of the Skies but well… Just enjoy this in the time being! *runs away*