Disclaimer: My fic, but no owns KHR.
He first saw the kid around when he was trying to run away from his gigantic workload. G kept nagging him to do his work, but who in their right mind would stay cooped up in an office for hours on end to do paperwork because some of his guardians were just having little sparring sessions that destroyed half of the mansion on good days and whole cities on bad days. Oh no, Giotto so wasn't going to spend his time slaving away for something that he guardians did. Uh, uh. Not possible.
Now, getting back to the Japanese kid with blank eyes. They really disclosed no emotion whatsoever, huh. Seems like there's a protective shield up and around him. Well... Giotto's not really sure what to make of that. Anyways, the kid is... an odd kid. He had frayed ropes tied around his wrists and there were shackles cuffed onto his ankles, that's weird. Is he an escaped slave? Or was he a prisoner that escaped? There's many children nowadays that work for the mafia so that's not much of a surprise if something like that happens. But surprisingly the kid hasn't been taken back yet. It doesn't seem like there were disturbances around here, other than the usual, so maybe he came from another country? He does look Japanese and not a bit like an Italian. Though, as they say, don't judge a book by its cover, so Giotto'll never know if that's true or not. Thus, he'll just assume the kid's an orphan. It's better to not judge before you know anything.
Putting that aside, the kid was skinny, too skinny for Giotto's liking. Sure, there were many other orphaned children on the streets of Italy, but Giotto has never seen one in a condition as bad as that kid's. The kid had bruises, scrapes, and burns all over his body. Most of the other kids aren't even in nearly such a bad condition, since most of them are in the orphanage that Vongola funds, but they usually escape and have to be coaxed into going back. It seems that they escape because they didn't like to rely on others and only found themselves more reliable because they think that they took care of themselves just alright. Or it was for some other childish reason. Even though Giotto says that those are childish reasons, he himself understands the children in the orphanage and knows that it really isn't as childish as it sounds. He was once an orphan himself and understands that the children, who had no support ever since they were young, was just scared of strangers who didn't know them at all helping them. If they trusted those kind strangers they might be betrayed and abandoned once again. They're just broken children who needs love, and Giotto understands that. That's the reason for the orphanage, he wants the children to be able to trust and believe again. The children who aren't in the orphanage are usually persuaded by people who work in the orphanage to go there. Giotto personally picked those workers in the orphanage and could attest to their kind personalities and their love for children. He even had a dorm for the workers at the orphanage so they could stay there and watch the children. Hence the reason Giotto thought that the kid would have been coerced into the orphanage by someone, but as days and weeks passed Giotto could still see the child wandering the streets.
At last, not being able to stand seeing such a malnourished child just going around like that, Giotto went up to the child, determined to sway the brunet kid to go to the orphanage.
"Hey!" Giotto called out to the kid, who was sitting at the edge of the fountain in the town square, cheerily. It seemed like Giotto startled the kid, because the next second that Giotto looked to where the kid was, no one was there. Except, there was a loud splash in the fountain and bubbles were floating up to the surface. When Giotto peered into the fountain, he could see the little brunet struggling to right himself in the water. So Giotto extended his hand into the water to help the brunet up. Surprisingly, when Giotto grasped onto the kid's arm he started to struggle even more than before and even escaped from him! Now, when was the last time that a kid escaped from him, Giotto can't even remember anymore.
Watching the young child, Giotto saw him wade to the other side of the fountain and get out, dripping wet. Giotto then rounded to the side that the child was on and held out a handkerchief to him, but the brunet just looked at him blankly before he stared at the handkerchief in Giotto's hand. Giotto, guessing that the kid didn't understand that he was suppose to take it, took it upon himself and started to reach for the kid to dry him up. When the brown eyed boy understood what the older person was going to do, he dodged out of the man's range in reaching him. Again, the kid surprised Giotto with his fast movements. But Giotto was concerned, the kid's eyes that were usually blank would become wary and cautious when people get too close to him. And, beneath the watchful eyes was well hidden fear. Not to mention, though it was barely noticeable, Giotto could see the shaking of the small shoulders. Someone must have done something to the brunet to cause him to act like that towards others. It's like he can't understand kindness or even anything relatively nice that's offered to him. He's also afraid of it, like he can't accept it. He doesn't want to accept it.
"Are you okay? Are you cold? Is somewhere hurting?" Giotto shot questions at the small child anxiously. Those questions meant more than the obvious. He was also asking about the brunet's mentality, feelings, and the reasons as to his silent scream for help. Giotto could see the message as clear as the sky when he stares into the depths of those dead brown eyes. He really wishes he could somehow help this kid.
Still though, the child returned to staring at Giotto blankly, seemingly not understanding what he was saying. Giotto thought that maybe because the kid was Japanese he didn't understand Italian? So Giotto tried conversing with the kid in Japanese, he learned it from Asari. But in the end, it didn't seem like the kid understood him either way. Consequently, Giotto decided to call up his guardians, not knowing what to do with the child. Though he has to choose carefully. Asking Daemon to help would only worsen the situation, he may even mentally scar the kid for life. Alaude wouldn't even want to bother with helping since he won't be interested. Lampo, nah, too much of a brat. Knuckles may be too loud and scare the kid away.G... maybe, if he doesn't blow and start throwing colorful words everywhere. Asari would be a good choice... maybe... if his too shiny and sunny smiles don't make the child feel uncomfortable.
That man -teen, boy, whatever- was weird. He had unkempt blond hair and beautiful sunset colored eyes that always attracted a lot of attention. Although the man always had a kind aura around him whenever he went into town, there was just a scary feeling to him. He always talked to everyone in town and was friendly towards everyone, even to the kids who were always playing pranks on him. He even helps strangers that he just met on the street and the brunet knows that for a fact. One time he saw the blond start a conversation with someone who just came into town and he even lent him some money when he heard the situation of the man's wife being sick and needed money to pay the hospital bill. That was just plain idiocy in the brunet's opinion because the man could have been lying about it and the money that the blond lent to the man was not a small sum. The brunet boy just didn't understand. How could someone be so kind like that to everyone? It just doesn't make sense, because the blond doesn't even get mad at those children, only chasing them with mock irritation and anger. Those kind of people are scary to the brunet though. The altruistic ones are always the scariest...
"Hey" Startled by the call, the brunet fell into the fountain and started to struggle for air when he couldn't find the strength to pull himself back to the surface. Suddenly, a hand came and grabbed onto him. The brunet boy, remembering times from when he was held captive, started to flail and finally got out of the grip of the person who was trying to get him. As he got out of the water he could see that it was the kind, but scary, person that he sometimes saw around town. When the blond went around the fountain and showed him a handkerchief he didn't know what to do with it. Was he suppose to take it? But then what would he do with it? The blond saw him not showing any kind of motion towards the handed out item so he advanced towards him. When he saw that the blond was trying to reach for him again, he jumped out of reach, scared to be touched by anyone.
Out of nowhere the person with sunset eyes asked, "Are you okay? Are you cold? Is somewhere hurting?" Understanding only parts of it, but grasping what it meant, the brunet child started to shut his mind down. He won't let anyone in anymore. No one can hurt him anymore and he's not a bother to them anymore. So it's okay just to leave him alone. He's just fine. He doesn't want others in. Why even bother with someone like him? He's the personification of mayhem. Nothing good comes out of interacting with him. People should just stay away. He's fine without them anyways... right?
When Asari saw Giotto, the teen was panicking and practically jumping up and down like a freakin' monkey. Okay, that wasn't a great analogy, and Asari knows it, but it works so deal with it.
At first when Giotto called him, Asari thought that it was weird because Giotto was suppose to be in his office doing paperwork, unless he snuck out again. While contemplating that, Asari answered the phone call unconsciously and what greeted him was Giotto's frantic voice screaming his head off, asking about what he should do. He was asking a kid if he was okay after seeing him fall into the fountain and suddenly the kid collapsed! So they decided to meet at the edge of the forest, that leads the path into the Vongola Mansion, to see what to do with the kid. It wasn't like they could actually just bring the kid into the hospital with no identification whatsoever and just bringing the kid into the Vongola Mansion could cause a lot of trouble.
"Calm down, Giotto. Breathe in. Out. In. Out." Asari said to placate Giotto. After Giotto composed himself, Asari finally decided that he would have his curiosity about that child leaning on the tree sated.
"Okay, so who is that child? Really, I mean it, don't lie to me Giotto." Said Asari with a serious expression that's rarely seen on the rain guardian's face. Even though he just took one look at the child, he could see that he was in a pretty bad condition. He needs to know what really happened to him.
"I-I really don't know!" Shouted Giotto desperately. He just wanted to help the kid and he still does. There's something seriously wrong with that kid and Giotto only realized how different the kid was from the others when the kid collapsed. The scrapes and bruises that littered the kid's body weren't just regular bruises from either playing around and falling or trying to steal and being chased and beaten, which was what Giotto first assumed. Those bruises were serious beatings that were meant to be excruciatingly painful. There were also the burns! Oh my- those burns! Those weren't just first degree burns! They were bordering second degrees or were on the second degree! Whoever did this to the child is unforgivable!
"Calm, Giotto. Calm. You're staring to hyperventilate, and that won't do any good to the child. Calm, and explain the situation. If not, we can't help him." Asari said soothingly to Giotto. If Asari wants to help, he needs Giotto to explain the situation without getting an asthma attack.
After that Giotto collected himself and was about to start explaining what he found to his friend when he realized that something was amiss. So he turned to look at where he left the kid a-and-
"T-the kid..." Giotto said pointing to where he left the kid, with Asari turning his head towards that direction too.
"H-he's GONE!?" Asari screamed.
When the brunet came out from his brain shut down, he saw that he was in an unfamiliar place. He was surrounded by trees and nature. It felt very nice at where he was. Then he started to wonder where he was and how he got there. Out of nowhere, he suddenly heard voices talking and turned his head towards that direction. There was two people standing and talking to each other. Well, really one was trying to calm the other frantic one down. Wait, isn't the panicking one the weird blond? So he was the one that brought him here? Still, it seems like the poor guy was hyperventilating and it was... all... because of... him...? Does he have to cause trouble for someone even when he 's not even doing anything? Will he always only be a bother? Is he going to get scorned later on because of this? H-he doesn't want to have anything to do with that. No, nothing to do with those people at all.
So, the brunet chose to run away again and not reach out for someone, something, to grasp on just because he felt that he didn't deserve it. Yeah... H-he doesn't deserve it...
