Disclaimer: I don't own KHR plzkthx. I barely even read it anymore :(
Note: If a piece of dialogue is underlined, that means it is in Italian. Otherwise assume it's in Japanese.
After Tsuna had finished his second helping of food, he just simply stared at Lal with a natural child-like curiosity. He was amazed that a baby could look so mature with weary eyes that spoke of years of experience. And those eyes felt SHARP. Lal's gaze intensified as she glared at Tsuna as she would a soldier in training.
"Hieeee!" Tsuna squeaked, looking back down at his empty bowl to escape Lal's gaze.
Lal was a trainer for the military. She was not a babysitter nor a mother. Tsuna had not mentally matured much from the tiny baby she first saw years ago and it was hard for Lal to be anyone else but her usual gruff self for the kid which probably wasn't helping the kid's nervousness at all. She was honestly at a loss about how to take care of the eight-year-old boy so she did the most reasonable thing that she could think of: she stuck the boy with Basil.
"Basil, get in my room," she ordered into her communicator device.
Sure Basil was only one year older, but at least the boy knew his way around the base and she hoped that Tsuna would calm down with a companion that was close to his age.
"I shall be there in five minutes," a voice replied shortly after. Lal gave a grunt of acknowledgment. Five minutes and this awkward meeting would be put to an end. The arcobaleno took this time to examine Tsuna closer. The boy was extremely thin with a bit of a feminine figure. She could tell that he had definitely taken after his mother more than his father in both physique and mind. But there he was, staring at her with curious brown eyes again despite his earlier fear. Maybe he did take after Iemitsu, just a bit.
Lal heard the door to the room open and she began to walk out. She stared at Tsuna one last time before leaving to inform Basil about his new charge. "Maybe there's hope for you yet, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Meanwhile, outside, Basil stood with his back straightened and muscles tense. He wasn't quite sure what Lal wanted from him, but the last time Lal called him, she had, as per Iemitsu's request, put him through hellish conditioning not meant for kids his age. He really hoped that this wasn't the case.
"Basil," Lal greeted.
"Re-Reporting for duty ma'am," he replied, giving a brief salute. He knew the Vongola wasn't a military organization but many in the CEDEF knew that Lal appreciated the familiar gesture, even if she never openly admitted it.
"Iemitsu's kid is here and you're baby sitting."
"Wha...What?" Basil was absolutely confused. Iemitsu had never brought his child to work before, although he had mentioned having a son to Basil before.
"This is a secret right now. According to Iemitsu, his son accidentally got trapped in his luggage, probably because he never double checks after throwing all his stuff in there. Don't be as careless as your teacher while handling the kid."
Lal had already began walking when Basil finally realized his superior was really dropping the task of taking care of Iemitsu's kid to HIM. Basil knew that he was well-trained for his age but to be put in charge of a kid while he was barely old enough to be legally home by himself? Well, the mafia rarely followed laws, but most importantly, "w-wait! I don't know how to speak Japanese!"
The Arcobelano briefly turned around to glare at Basil for missing the obvious solution to his dilemma. She wasn't here to babysit TWO stupid brats. "Use the internet."
Basil stared nervously back and forth between a laptop and Tsuna who had redirected his staring from Lal to Basil. "Uh...Um...Hello...name is Basil," the boy greeted in broken Japanese that had an atrocious accent. Surprisingly, Tsuna understood.
"Tsuna," he replied in a soft tone.
"Huh?"
"My name. Tsuna," the younger boy reiterated. He seemed to understand that the other boy didn't really speak Japanese well and kept his own speech fairly simple.
"O-oh. Nice meet you Tsuna-dono," Basil replied with a relieved smile, happy that he could communicate on some minor level with the other boy. Basil had even added the respectful honorific and was quite proud of himself for that. The son of his boss and teacher deserved respect after all.
'...Weird,' Tsuna thought to himself, unfamiliar with being addressed as -dono, but the new boy seemed nice at least.
The two stared at each other for a little longer before Basil realized he had no clue how to continue on from there. Judging from the empty bowl, Tsuna had already been fed. What else was there to do in taking care of a kid?
'Think Basil think! When I was younger, what did I do?'
Sadly for the boy, all he could recall was training and conditioning. And reading on occasion, but all the books here were not in Tsuna's native language. The younger boy probably wouldn't appreciate practicing push ups either.
Basil was looking back and forth between his computer in another attempt at communication. "Hmm...uh...Tsuna-do...no?" However, fortunately for Basil, he did not even have to try as Tsuna had suddenly drifted to sleep in a fit of exhaustion. Well, considering the timezone differences and the experience of having been dragged thousands of miles away from home, Basil found Tsuna's tiredness quite reasonable.
Basil fetched a pillow and a blanket for the sleeping boy. "Good night," he said, gently patting Tsuna's head. Basil had never had a brother before. Well, he might have had one somewhere out in the world. He wouldn't know for sure because he didn't quite know his family well. Basil was just a lucky kid who had happened to garner Iemitsu's pity when the boy clung to Iemitsu's pants during a shoot-out at an orphanage. He was one of the few survivors and was lucky enough to be taken in by the CEDEF at Iemitsu's insistence.
To Basil, Iemitsu was like a father. But Basil didn't dare hope that Tsuna became his brother. The mafia was not a nice world and Basil wanted to see Tsuna retain his innocence for just a bit longer.
"Intruder alert, intruder alert, intruder alert, in-"
"I'll...I'll prove myself to everyone! Take this!"
"Tsuna!"
The eight-year-old boy had a horrible wake-up call in the form of a dynamite stick flying right at his face. Tsuna's eyes widened as he quickly noted that the fuse was almost out on the stick. The world seemed to slow down around him and he noticed that the trajectory of the dynamite was quite predictable. He could do this. With reflexes Tsuna didn't even know he had, he managed to catch the dynamite stick by its wick and put out the fuse.
Just as the young boy was about to let a sigh of relief, another dynamite exploded to his right and he was pushed back by the explosion. Smoke and heat filled the room - obviously a sign to get out, now.
Through the smoke, Tsuna managed to spot light from a distance and ran towards it. Thankfully, it was the entrance to the hallway. The attacker was out of sight, and all looked suspiciously safe. However, Basil was not outside either. Tsuna had a feeling that the two were still inside, probably fighting it out.
He was a bit worried for his new friend, but the worries were quite short when he spotted some black-suited men turning the corner into the hallway. 'They don't seem very friendly,' Tsuna noted to himself when he saw that they were holding guns. It was a miracle that he wasn't hyperventilating right now. Instead, he felt quite calm. But that was probably for the better anyways.
With a clear and focused mind, he was more likely to survive.
Tsuna ran down the hallway and bounded into the first open door he spotted. And following his pattern of luck the last few days, Tsuna ended up in a holding area for prisoners. The power and calmness that he felt earlier disappaited and he was left with only exhaustion. It was like a lightswitch had turned off on Tsuna. The boy suddenly collapsed.
Poke. Poke. Jab.
"Eep!" squeaked Tsuna as he rolled away from the source of pain and was jolted awake when his head hit reinforced steel. "Ow..."
"You're that boy from earlier..."
Tsuna reached up to rub his throbbing head gently, but noticed that he couldn't just move one hand alone. He was in handcuffs. Well that was odd. Giving up on the awkward motion, Tsuna settled with sneaking a peak at his attacker. The boy looked around his age although the white hair definitely seemed out of place on a boy. "W-Who are you?" Tsuna asked, temporarily forgetting that this was not Japan.
The boys eyes seemed to widen. "Japanese, huh?" The silver-haired boy noted as he switched languages. "It's none of your business. Who are YOU?"
"I...I'm Tsuna," he answered lamely.
"Pff, what a ridiculous name," Gokudera stated, not even bothering to look at the other boy anymore. He was putting all his attention on picking the lock of his handcuffs with a hairpin he had conveniently brought along.
"U-um, where are we?"
"In a prison you idiot, aren't these handcuffs and bars an obvious clue?" Gokudera responded, huffing in frustration at the stupid question.
"O-oh," Tsuna replied meekly, shrinking away from the other boy's fury. However, it seemed as if the other boy wasn't even paying attention to him anymore so Tsuna felt that it was safe to stare, and stare he did.
The other boy was in bad shape with clothing torn in several places and disheveled hair. The slight swelling around his cheeks and a large gash on the left arm especially earned an internal wince of sympathy. Tsuna wondered if picking the lock was painful for the other boy.
"Ha, got it!" Gokudera smiled triumphantly as the handcuffs fell off his hands. "Now to pick the other lock..."
The boy moved towards the lock on the cell and began to work his lock picking skills on that as well. Gokudera was so absorbed with his work. It required all his attention to ignore the pain on his arm and focus on feeling the shape of the lock. Tsuna thought it was quite fascinating: the look of pure determination on Gokudera's face. He wondered what drove the other boy to try so hard to escape. Of course, being a prisoner probably wasn't so good, but they were safe now. And his dad worked here and his dad was good (probably) so prisoners weren't treated bad (probably).
But then again, what did Tsuna know about his father? He barely saw the man nowadays.
Minutes passed and Gokudera had still not succeeded in opening the lock. Something else did open though: the door. Without really thinking, Tsuna grabbed Gokudera and pulled him away from the lock. He managed to grab the incriminating hair pin away as well.
"Hey! What was that fo-"
"Shhh!"
Tsuna put his hand on Gokudera's mouth and motioned with his head to the man that had emerged from the door. At that moment, the man, who had previously been surveying all the other inmates, turned his attention to the two boys.
"Hey, what are you doing with your handcuffs off?"
Tsuna took a deep breath, searching for that inner calm he felt earlier. "His wrists were hurting so I took them off with this," Tsuna handed the hairpin to the man as a peace offering and the man grudgingly took it. "We promise not to do it again, could you just get him a medic? Please?"
The man glared at Tsuna. Without any warning, he grabbed Tsuna's hand and twisted it roughly. The young boy let out a scream of pain because that was all he felt at the moment. His arm exploded in agony at being twisted into an unnatural position. "Don't try to escape again. Now you'll really need a medic."
The man did leave after that although he left no promises of a medic. Despite his arm still being in pain, Tsuna did feel relief that the man had left and that Gokudera remained unharmed.
"Why...Why did you do that for me idiot?"
Gokudera seemed to look at Tsuna with awe and admiration in his eyes. No one had stuck up for him like that before. But here was a random stranger who took a punishment meant for him.
"Well...you were already hurt. I didn't want you to be more hurt," Tsuna replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Idiot! Such an idiot!"
Tsuna gave a small nervous laugh. "So, what's your name?" He asked for the second time.
"Gokudera. Hayato Gokudera! To atone for my horrible behavior to you, I will follow you for life!"
"...Eeeh?" Tsuna was alarmed that the boy was now on his knees grabbing Tsuna's good hand and fixing a very serious gaze at Tsuna. The brunette had a feeling that Gokudera was not joking.
"Uh...You don't have to really..." Tsuna began, backing away a little. He was too young to have a follower!
"...You...you don't want me? I'm not good enough, am I?" Gokdera dropped Tsuna's hand and looked down at the ground with the look of a kicked puppy.
"No no! That's not what I meant at all Gokudera-kun!"
Gokudera, however, didn't seem to hear Tsuna. "I came here to try to get into the Giuliano famigliaby prooving myself in this raid but I've failed and gotten myself captured! Now not even a kid wants me! I'm such a fail-"
"No you're not!" Tsuna kneeled down and put his good hand on Gokudera's shoulder. He gave his sweetest smile to the depressed boy. "I-I just don't think I'm ready for a follower. But will you be my friend Gokudera-kun?"
This seemed to have sufficiently cheered the other boy as Gokudera jumped onto his feet with his good fist clenched in determination. "O-of course! I will be your best follower AND friend forever!"
'Uh...not what I meant but if it makes him happy...'
Just then, the door opened again and a familiar figure walked in. "Tsuna-dono?"
A/N:Yay new long chapter. Sorry if there are any small mistakes, this is unbeta-ed so please feel free to point out mistakes if you find any.
Darn, I still feel like I'm leaving some plot holes because I am still a bit lazy to do all my research again. Anyways just a few brief questions to any of my non lazy reviewers who are willing to look up this for me (this will probably speed up my next update):
1) When was Xanxus frozen by the Ninth?
2) What are the differences between the Japanese/American school system? I remember looking into this a while ago but...pff -memory loss-
What grade level would Tsuna be at 8? And what would he be at 14? Does the Japanese school system go up to grade 12? Because in my home country, it only went up to 10. I'm not sure if it's country thing or an asian thing.
Thanks to everyone who has kept up with reading this by the way. I really appreciate all your support and I will endeavor to update more this summer!
I was wondering: Would you guys like to see characters from the future arc/shimon arc in this fic? If so, I'll be looking for a beta or someone who can answer all my questions about the future arc/shimon arc. So kinda like a consultant? Lol. I may include characters from those arcs or other cannon elements. Like I read somewhere that *SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT* Tsuna's dad supposedly killed the Shimon family but it wasn't actually his dad. How long ago did this take place? I've just been reading the manga on and off so I probably did miss a lot of the plot and I honestly don't like the manga enough to read through the recent arcs.
