Once again, I'm surprised. In so little time and with only two chapters out, this story is more followed that the others have been in similar conditions. I wasn't betting much on it, even writing with the sinking feeling this story would have been completely ignored. However, here it is, with already 88 follows and 49 favs, 10 reviews and 1'172 views. I want to thank you, every one of you, those that show their presence and those that keep tabs of when I update in silence, hidden. Thank you, so so so much, I'm beyond moved :)
Bell2629: Squalo! Tsu-kun's cuteness is overwhelming, some are just too stubborn... At the beginning!
CatunaCaty: No prob, thank you for reviewing! :D
Shiho: I can, don't worry ;) I'm happy you review :D
Fallenstreet: Really? Fantastic! More than "despite", I'd say "also thanks to his background", because such a young boy is sure to change after such things and, luckily, Tsu-kun changed for the better :)
crayontesla: Iemitsu must be supervised, Tsu-kun can't catch Iemitsu's virus of idiocy :P Lal has everything under control... For now xD I think so, too :)
Kawaiirina: I focus on the descriptions of the changhes in the character's mind and perspective, on the actions that cause the changes. Tsu-kun is a child, is learning the language and can't well support a meaningful conversation... yet. They'll come, eventually :) I already have plans for those I haven't written about yet xD Thanks!
KITSUNE: Yo soy muy feliz de leer esto, muchas gracias :D
Thanks everyone, for following, reviewing, favouriting... Thanks a lot!
Words: 3533.
Enjoy!
03 – Squalo
The first time he saw the child, Squalo wanted to kill him. He didn't know why, he simply wanted to. It was instinctive, raw and wild. A feeling, an urge, like a hungry shark that wanted a prey. That needed a hunt.
Now, that was no news to him. He always sated these thirsts. The strange thing was… Child. Five-years-old. His Boss' new interest. Okay, said that way, it seemed something totally different from what it was… Scratch that. His Boss' new distraction. Yes, that fitted. Also, Nono's protected. Iemitsu's son. Lal Mirch's mother-henned. Those pretty much summed up all the reasons why he could not lay a nail on the boy.
Plus. Why would a child raise his fighting instinct? Had he that much talent? Or was he an imposter, bound to reveal himself as a traitor… No, highly impossible. The former had more possibility of being true. Mostly considering his Boss' behaviour.
At first, he had seemed taken aback. When Squalo approached Xanxus after the incident number one, the raven-haired had a thoughtful expression. Entirely different from when the determination about the coup d'état shone in his eyes. Yes, Squalo knew the true intentions of his Boss. He overheard him when the teen was blowing off steam in a training room. He knew better than to tell him, anyway. He loved breathing.
So, his surprise about the changed behaviour after incident number two was totally understandable. The determination was back, but Squalo felt the shift in the objective. Incident number three quite explained the problem. Okay, Xanxus did not collect his pride to do it himself, but being civil in the same room of Nono while talking about a delicate topic… Well, his Boss had earned a statue… Maybe the child, too.
Yes, because, after incident number two, Squalo had gone to him and politely asked an explanation. That did the trick, apparently, but the child was still tight-lipped.
He cleared his throat and knocked at the boy's bedroom. After a while, the door was opened and a pair of amber eyes landed on him. All the courage he had collected vanished in the pit of those orbs. He felt ravished, his insides out in the open.
"Si..? (Yes…?)"
"Uhm… I've no problem with Japanese." Better be polite.
"Oh. Thank you… You are..?"
"Ah, yes… I'm Squalo, Xanxus is my Boss."
At that, the child blinked and nodded. "I'm Tsunayoshi. Please, come in." He shifted to the side and the silver-haired entered. "Take a seat."
He did. The room was the norm, with orange as a main colour, armchairs around, a lit fireplace and a big bed.
"So… What do I owe the pleasure?" Ah, excessively polite.
"Well… I wanted to ask you a few questions."
"About your Boss?" A flash of gold made him freeze.
"Yes." He nodded, slowly blinking. "He's changed after meeting you."
"I see. You can ask, but I'm not sure if I can answer everything." He seemed a bit uncomfortable in the armchair.
"I wanted to know what you told him."
He stayed silent for some moments. "I offered him my help, simply."
"And he accepted it..?" He said, surprised.
"Guess so…"
"What…"
"No, that I can't answer."
Darn. "Then… did you help him?"
"I did."
"How…"
"Nope. Can't tell." Frustrating. "Why don't you ask him?" Ha suddenly asked, tilting his head.
"Because…" … if he was lucky… "… he would send me to the hospital." Squalo scoffed, sinking in the armchair.
"You sure?" The teen blinked. "You said he is changed, right? You could try."
Uhm. Yes. He could. And pray for forgiveness. God forbids Xanxus understood Squalo was seeing him softening. But…
"I think he trusts you." Tsuna continued. "He would not allow you to follow him, if not. In this case, you should offer him help, even if he refuses it at first. If you really want to be by his side, you should face his stubbornness and pierce through it." The child smiled.
Squalo nodded, taken aback by the wisdom behind those words. … Well… An attempt would not kill him.
The attempt did not end with his corpse in a concrete column.
Squalo was following Xanxus to the Varia mansion when he gathered the necessary courage. He decided to be sneaky, at least.
"Boss, the guards are busy gossiping today?"
Xanxus snorted. "'Bout me, I bet." Snarky, but manageable.
"You?"
"Changed and shit."
"Seriously?"
"Brat's fault. Trashes love gossips."
"Shall I shut them up?"
"Leave them be, I don't care."
Like that, he got daily snippets of his Boss' thoughts. Incident number three happened, and he began following Boss around more. He ended up training with him and Tsuna, quite interesting. The patience Xanxus showed as much as the child's quick learning and strength.
He experienced the mother-hen antics of both Lal Mirch and Iemitsu. Xanxus did not enjoy the idiot's presence and Squalo could not help but agree. The man fawned over Tsuna, treating him like a child. Well, he was, but not at that level. Couldn't his father notice the wisdom and pain in his eyes? Idiotic.
More than once, Tsuna had to stop fights against his father with puppy eyes and pouts. Squalo suspected the boy knew their weakness to those and used them only when in dire need. Xanxus kept blindly thinking the child was not aware of them. Bullshit. He didn't tell so to his Boss.
He felt entrapped by the new pace Tsuna was giving them. Sure, not at the level his Boss was, but entrapped nonetheless. The guards, too. He had noticed them following the boy with their gazes and smiling back at his greetings.
He shuddered. Xanxus was rapidly being conquered by Tsuna. Was he the jealous type?
Poor world…
"Timo-jii…" Squalo cringed at the nickname, almost letting his half-empty teacup fall. "Told me that, a week from now, is Xanxus' birthday." The assassin suddenly knew the implications of this topic being talked about… and shuddered. "From what he told me, I understand the way his flames work." Oh, yep, training session always covered theory, too. "So… I asked about those guns Settimo (the Seventh) used." And morning lessons were paying off, it seemed. "And he is seeing that they're ready for that day." Tsuna smiled. "You want to join in?"
That was pretty much how Squalo earned the first true smile out of his Boss' stern façade. Tsuna's merit, of course. He had to contact a sculptor.
When Xanxus told him about Tsuna's birthday approaching, he felt that the sculptor was a bit… too much. And out of place, for a child. Squalo strolled through the mall for hours before understanding that nothing would pick up his attention. What could he buy a to-be six-years old?
Toys, no. Clothes, no. Food, no. Books? That could be an idea, but which? He had recently discovered that the boy had taken a liking to studying languages… Tsuna had almost mastered Italian, even if he felt visibly embarrassed talking like that. Children had frightening skills. He was covering English and Russian… Maybe a book in one of those languages?
For that, he needed internet. A threatening for a quick deliverance. And money was not a problem. Surfing the list of available books, he noticed a few that talked about ancient legends and folklore stories. He put a total of five in the cart and bought them. A trip to the office of the company and the threatening was done, too.
The box arrived at Varia mansion within two days, three away from the birthday. The books were in perfect condition and he let a maid wrap them up nicely in blue paper.
Meanwhile, Squalo kept an eye trained on his Boss. That was right about to explode when he brought the gift in his private rooms. And hid it, just to be sure… He side-stepped the idiot Prince's traps, scattered all over the Varia mansion, and told the puppy-man to go away from his position to leave them alone.
He then knocked at Xanxus' door and the crash of, probably, a bottle against some wall followed. Squalo took it as a permission. He entered and closed the door behind him, not moving more. The room was tidier than when he saw it the last time. No furniture was broken, maybe a bit displaced. The only thing broken was the bottle, and the little wine in it splashed on the white wall. Poor maids.
"What, trash." Ah, he hadn't called him that way in a while.
Xanxus didn't like to be read. Telling him 'You don't know which present to buy Tsuna' would have been like signing his own death. So, he proceeded to step on neutral battleground. By the way, there was a thing he would have liked to give the boy, but there were… problems.
"You remind Nono of Secondo. Tsuna reminds us of Primo."
The widening of Xanxus' eyes was hint enough that he had understood the implications of Squalo's sentences. The smirk that followed was anything but reassuring. But it died when his Boss understood what he would need.
"The old geezer."
Exactly.
The hand-guns Xanxus had received were made with Nono's researches, powers and industries. He needed to ask him about something akin. And that brought a second problem… The reason why they were reminded of Primo, the reason why the idea was so fitting.
During training, when Tsuna risked being hurt, but mostly when Squalo or Xanxus missed a step when fighting between themselves, something kept happening, which had a dangerous explanation. The boy's eyes would flash gold, like the very first conversation he'd had with him, and the flicker of something orange on his forehead would signal a frightening speed.
The first time it happened, Xanxus had let it slide and declared the training finished. After Tsuna had left, his Boss told him about the Hyper Intuition of Vongola. From that, Squalo understood what the 'flicker' was. Flames. Strong flames.
They had kept the subject 'secret', trying to adjust training according to the witnesses. But, if Xanxus wanted to go for that gift, he had to tell Nono. True, they were on less angsty terms, but this needed a whole different level. Squalo watched as his Boss thought it over, waiting to see if he was willing to go to this length for Tsuna.
The raven-haired huffed, stood, muttered a 'follow me' and exited the room. Before the assassin could understand where the car was taking them, he was standing in Nono's office, hearing an interesting and unbelievable conversation.
"Tsuna has flames." Xanxus sat, without a greeting, legs crossed. "He's got Vongola Hyper Intuition, too."
Timoteo blinked, astonished. "Oh…"
"I've seen the gold flashes in his eyes, stronger than yours." He interrupted Nono. "I've seen the flicker of flames on his forehead, every time he rushes to save or protect someone."
The old man swallowed, interlacing his fingers under his chin. "This is… Unexpected. Why haven't you told me sooner?"
Squalo hid a flinch. Nice question. He himself didn't know that. The answer Xanxus gave threw the two off.
"I didn't want to share."
Yeah. The jealous type. Squalo watched as Nono tried to hold back a chuckle. A glad smile surfaced.
"I see. And why are you telling me now?"
"Birthday present. Primo."
The assassin could see the gears working in Nono's eyes. "Nice thought. I'll see what the researchers can do. They were clever with your guns, gloves won't be a problem… Still, they will be… temporary. He's just a child and we don't know his element."
Xanxus nodded, both in understanding and agreeing, before standing and opening the door, Squalo behind him. He stopped, however, briefly, looking at Nono one last time.
"Definitely a Sky."
And left.
The little birthday party became a big birthday party when the guards, the maids and the butlers who were on break appeared in the large dining room. Xanxus, wine glass in hand, and it was already strange given it usually was the entire bottle, almost growled at the many people gathered. Nono just chuckled while Lal shook her head in mock exasperation. Iemitsu kept blabbing about his 'cute, flabbergasting, friendly, kind Tuna-fishie'. Almost disgusting. If Squalo and Xanxus had not stopped him yet, the man had to thank his son's presence and birthday.
Tsuna was mildly enjoying himself. Mildly. Because he seemed… Off.
Yes, he was smiling politely at everyone. Yes, he was eating delicious food. Yes, a mountain of different presents was on the table at his right, ready to be unwrapped. But.
The boy was not giving them a passing glance. He kept looking away every time he could, losing his focus. What was the party lacking? What was the problem? Even Lal Mirch and Nono were stealing worried glances.
Before Squalo could voice his thoughts, though, Xanxus detached his back from the wall he was leaning on and walked towards Tsuna. The assassin blinked and followed his Boss. The six-years-old was again looking away and didn't notice them until Xanxus grabbed him from the back of the shirt and strolled in another room. Squalo stopped every attempt at following them.
The raven-haired slowly, because gently was not in their vocabulary, put Tsuna in an armchair and sat in front of him.
"What's the problem, brat." Not a question.
Tsuna gaped. Then dropped his gaze. And tears welled in his eyes. Now, they were assassins, Squalo could not go hysteric. But he damn well bordered that. And Xanxus was not in a better shape. He had paled slightly.
"I…" A sniff. "I miss… my mom…"
Well. Shit. That explained it. Squalo scratched his nape, holding back a sigh. Xanxus was observing the boy with narrowed eyes.
"She…" A hiccup. "She used to… *sniff* Celebrate with me…"
It was not something they could help with. A mother's loss… His Boss had explained him what had happened. Well, not exactly explained, he had inadvertently answered some well-placed and unsuspicious questions. But that was not the point!
Squalo was at a loss. This was not a situation that could be approached with a procedure or by just killing. Hell, the one in question was already dead… The assassin was not acquainted with… Familiar issues. He did not have a family, abandoned at the door of an orphanage as an infant. He had never really blended in the institute. The other children were mostly… problematic. Black background or illness. He had run away at age nine. A Mafia group took him in for errands and he learnt from there the basics. Then, a downhill.
He had met Xanxus a year or so prior this whole… situation arose. And it was changing both a lot. For the better, sure. Because… Tsuna had this ability… To claim and attract to himself. To make others comfortable. To ease pain.
This time, it was the other way around. And there they were, frozen to the spot, watching the boy cry silently. Useless…
The assassin took a step to the child and knelt to his eye-level. If he needed… comfort… he would have given him… comfort. He did the only thing he knew of. A hand on the other's shoulder. He felt it was… not enough… But… It was something. The reaction, however, was not expected.
Slim arms circled his neck in a tight grip. His white shirt felt wet on the shoulder and he froze for a moment. Then, following the example, Squalo brought his hands on the child's back and robotically brushed. He felt a tinge of warmth on his cheeks at the affection showed towards him.
The realization dawned on Squalo. Tsuna, for once, was relying on him. So strange, considering how the boy was closed and collected. His pain was visible in his eyes, but nowhere more. Hard to see, harder to ignore once noticed.
Without words, because he didn't have any to give, Squalo let the boy disclose and vent. Although it was silent, his mind was obviously filled. Maybe he had been holding back, not only for himself, but for his idiotic father, too. This was… a kindness that both of Varia members did not know. They do not do hold back.
After some more hiccups and sniffs, Tsuna let him go. Squalo looked at the other's face. Wet lines were on his cheeks, eyes red and leaking nose. He took some papers from the near table and offered them. The child started wiping his face and blew his nose soundly. That was when banging came from the locked door of the party room.
Squalo snorted. Great. Now they would think that everything was their fault. Just great. He went to the door and leaned on it, just for precautions. After all, his Boss was still not done.
Xanxus had stayed silent, sat and hunched forward all the time, elbows on knees and fingers interlaced loosely. While Tsuna regained control and his face got a bit less swollen, his Boss lifted a hand slowly, as if unsure, and then got it to ruffle the boy's hair. The act did wonders as Tsuna smiled brightly, truly. And melted them. Almost literally.
Squalo let the nuisances break down the door, shifting to the right. A mountain of guards, Iemitsu on the bottom, Lal and Nono standing behind the pile, crumbled to the floor. Tsuna chuckled, making his father puke rainbows. Honestly…
Fortunately, Tsuna had regained enough control and he felt a lot lighter, atmosphere speaking. No more looking away or losing focus… What they wanted. A thoughtless Tsuna. A happy child.
And when exactly had he gone from 'kill on sight' to 'make his childhood nice'? As much as Squalo searched his mind for an answer, he didn't really need it. So, he let the subject fly away from his ear and enjoyed the party, waiting patiently at Xanxus' side.
With Iemitsu's idiotic and eye-rolling antics, Lal's fussing and mother-henning, the guards, maids and butlers disappearing to their positions and Nono sitting in an armchair with a glad smile, the evening passed by fast. After eating the delicious cake, Timoteo had seen to that, Tsuna was directed to the gifts by Lal.
There were clothes from the no-names, toys from Iemitsu – the idiot –, a yukata from Lal, a bit too big overcoat from Nono with the note 'for future events' and a wink – suspicious. All followed by thanks and smiles. When all the guards were gone, Squalo locked the door and gave out his present. Tsuna was surprised and pleased, although he had mentioned with a blush that he still couldn't read them. The assassin shrugged it off with a grin at the success.
Xanxus shoved him aside, in a gentler manner than usual, and produced a little black box from who knew where. Tsuna took it with a thanking nod, the brat had understood his Boss rather well. He unwrapped it carefully and let the paper slid on the table. There was a transparent box in his hands, in which two black leathered gloves with metal plates on the knuckles were laid.
The boy slowly lifted the lid and brushed a finger on the smooth material. He took the gloves and wore them, that fitted wonderfully his tiny hands. There were holes through which the tips of fingers passed and were uncovered. He looked cool with those.
"Primo…?" He asked, wide-eyed.
Xanxus nodded curtly. "You should learn to control your flames."
Anything Iemitsu and Lal were going to say was shushed gently by Nono. Squalo smirked.
"Flames..?" Tsuna seemed confused.
Knowing his Boss' hate towards speech, the assassin took charge of explaining. "What do you think it is that allows you to be so fast when trying to help someone?"
The boy blinked. "I… I only wanted to help."
"You wanted it so strongly that you used your flames." Squalo explained. "It's something that you inherited from your… father." He held back the 'idiotic' remark.
Tsuna looked at Iemitsu, that was gaze-questioning Nono, that was smiling at the child. "It's true, Tsunayoshi. You have a gift and you need to control it, because it's dangerous to let it go wild." He turned to the angry man at his side. "Now, Iemitsu. He is your son, he needs your permission, I suppose."
"But–"
"You know that he needs to learn. No matter how young, if he is strong as Xanxus states, then you have to think of Tsuna's well-being."
That did the trick. Iemitsu was crumbling to the ground. He looked at his son, that was patiently waiting, and nodded, defeated. Tsuna's happy smile melted away all his anger. Lal smiled, she was convinced, too. Squalo was not worried about her, the woman was a lot more responsible than her Boss.
"It's settled, then." Nono clapped his hands. "Arrangements need to be made. I would leave it to you, Xanxus, but your flames work differently." At that, his Boss snorted. "I'll see who I can hire."
"Is… it a problem…?"
"Oh no, don't worry." Timoteo crouched down, ruffling his hair. "It's a pleasure."
Squalo couldn't hold back a grin.
And he couldn't know who was Nono's idea of a tutor.
Aaaaaand... Next is...
YaMi: Reborn!
Oh... So you can support my idiocy, sometimes...
YaMi: We're talking about Reborn, I'm excited, too.
Well... Fine. See ya!