Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn for it belongs to Amano Akira.
Chapter 4: Cherry blossoms
It was a usual afternoon when Tsuna was practicing playing the song Sakura Sakura on his koto to Xanxus, who had always been attentively listening to it since the boy started playing the instrument. It was only a month before Tsuna was able to play complex pieces impeccably, as if he had studied it for ages. Not long after that, the little brunette began to sing along while playing the song, filling the glamorous room with the most beautiful sound that ever graced the Earth, to Xanxus' opinion.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
In fields and villages
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the spring sky,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air
Come now, come now,
Let's look, at last!
After that, Tsuna decided to hold his routine tea party, and instead of doing it the traditional way, the boy said they should have a tea party while playing family in order to reinforce their intimate bond, which sounded so wrong in many ways coming from a seven year old child. Death glare and yelling thrown this way; cute pout and kicked puppy eyes thrown that way, Xanxus ended up on Tsuna's bed, with a tea cup in his hand while tossing an intense but futile glare at Tsuna, who had bunnies and teddy bears dancing around him. The older teen heaved a sigh, knowing it was useless to refuse Tsuna's wish. This boy was gonna be his death someday, Xanxus mused.
The only saving grace of this disastrous party was that there was at least some tea in his cup.
Not long after that, both were immersed in their usual act of "a family".
"Chanchus darling, have you seen Natsu anywhere?", Tsuna looked around, searching for Natsu.
"Here, trashy Honey."
And Xanxus threw a stuffed lion cub at Tsuna, who clumsily caught it and pouted angrily at the older teen.
"That was very terrible, Chanchus darling. What if I hadn't managed to catch him? Natsu could have got hurt, you know. It's high time you became a responsible to your son, Chanchus!"
Ah, the usual scolding session the Xanxus received when he threw their "son", the stuffed lion that Tsuna affectionately named Natsu. Well, at least it was not Simba. He grew totally fed up with the Lion King movie by their 10th time watching it.
"And stop using curse word. It would be bad if Natsu ever heard it."
"Yeah yeah yeah" was Xanxus's standard reply in this situation.
"Also, stop drinking wine. It's not good for your health."
"Yeah yeah yeah."
"Be serious, Chanchus. I'm very serious now."
"Yeah yeah yeah."
Xanxus made a loud yawn, effectively earning him two adorable inflated cheeks from Tsuna and during his loud yawn, he failed to notice the door opening and someone entering the room.
"Chanchus, are you listening to me?"
"Yeah yeah yeah."
"Oh hi, Grandpa."
"Yeah yeah yeah."
"Good afternoon, Tsuna… and Xanxus."
"Yeah yeah…"
That was when Xanxus realized that Tsuna was talking to someone else, not him, and that someone was someone he would rather not see him present in this room.
"Oh shit"
Xanxus turned around and came to face with the familiar figure of his father, an unfamiliar sense of panic rising in his chest. The old man didn't show any particular emotion, aside from his ever composed looks, on his face, but Xanxus could more or less figure out what was going on inside that head of his.
The old man was obviously not pleased about Xanxus' knowledge of Tsuna's existence in the castle, judging from the length his old man went through to hide the brunette.
"Nothing worse than a father's annoying nagging" was what Xanxus thought before returning his attention to Tsuna, who was happy to see more people in his room.
Xanxus was not scared of his father, not a bit; he was the Varia leader, goddamn it. However, listening to the old man's ever boring, exhausting and snooze-inducing rant was a fucking waste of time; he should spend that precious time drinking tequila, eating some high-quality beefsteak or maybe beating Shark-Trash.
Oh wait, this whole fiasco could potentially threaten his precious tequila's stock. He better watched out for the old man or he could end up deprived of his favorite drink for a month. Hell hath no fury of a Xanxus deprived of wine for just a day.
However, it soon turned out his tequila would be the last of his concern. And to say that afternoon tea party was a complete disaster was the most severe understatement he has ever made in his fucking life.
"Chanchus, mind you eating manner; you look like a barbarian. You're sitting in front of Grandpa, you know", Tsuna slightly scolded the black-haired teen while pouring tea for Timoteo.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Tsuna. It's way past noon so I'm sure Chanchus must be very hungry", Timoteo accepted the tea cup politely, twinkling of amusement not leaving his eyes.
If looks could kill, then Timoteo would have been a pile of ash now. With his glare fixated on his father, Xanxus chomped down his biscuits and grinded his teeth harshly as if he was chewing a piece of meat. If that little brat hadn't been here, he would have already made his old man into his shooting target. Ever since that old geezer joined them in their little tea party, he had been indirectly making fun of Xanxus, particularly Tsuna's mispronunciation of his name and scolding for his behavior.
What was worse, at the end of the party, his father made an outrageous suggestion that Tsuna and he should take a picture together to "reserve good memories". And then Tsuna just had to go and have another outrageous idea that they should make it more memorable by wearing animal ears.
Everything went so fast that the teen lost his comprehension of the situation, and by the time he yelled "What the fuck", Tsuna had become a kitty and a couple of bunny ears had just magically sprouted from his head.
And without any warning, Timoteo proceeded to take a photo, not forgetting to show Xanxus a very mean smile the held promises of real pain in Xanxus's ass later.
True to Xanxus's prediction, Timoteo never let Xanxus forget that incident
The old geezer blew it up, printed it out and put it on his working desk, completed with gaudy pink-heart frame. Every time Xanxus glared at his father, the old man just smiled knowingly while pointing at the picture and mouthing "Chanchus". Xanxus would be damned if his old man ever let his Varia squad know of this!
Damn that conniving old geezer and his blackmail material!
-o0o-
When Xanxus entered Tsuna's room that day, the little brunette clearly felt something wrong with the older teen. The same scowl was ever on his face, but it held a more severe undertone. The other's aura was fierce as always, but on the inside, Tsuna could sense something akin to shock, disappointment, disillusion, sorrow and, on top of all, immense rage, which immediately set the little phoenix on edge. It was true that wrath had always been a part of Xanxus' soul essence, but to feel it burning so fiercely without any restraint, preparing to burst out any moment, Tsuna couldn't help but worry about the other.
At the moment, Xanxus was angry, livid, infuriated and, above all, betrayed. Who wouldn't be after discovering his true heritage from Timoteo's diary, finding out he was not his biological son, and Timoteo had no intention to include him in the candidate list for the position of the next Vongola Boss because he had no Vongola blood? Then, what was point of telling him he was his son all these years and encouraging him to grow stronger? Did the old man just adopt him out of pity? Could it be he wanted to take advantage of his power and mould him into a perfect Vongola dog for the use of the next Boss? Just thinking about this made Xanxus' blood boil with immense vengeance.
Xanxus wouldn't have any of this. He was the user of the notoriously destructive Flame of Wrath and the prideful leader of Varia squad. There was no way he would tolerate being treated like that!
He was gonna to show the old man what he was truly capable of! And he was gonna pay a huge price for betraying him like that!
Xanxus was so deep in his thought of revenge that he didn't realize that his feet had unconsciously led him to Tsuna's room. Only when Tsuna gently tugged his finger did he snap out of his trance and see that he had arrived at Tsuna's room without an awareness of his surroundings.
"Chanchus, are you okay?", Tsuna asked shyly, worry obviously laced in his tone.
Looking into Tsuna's innocent eyes filled with concern for him, Xanxus could somehow feel his anger subside a bit and his chest less constricted than before. The dark teen was still wondering how he had managed to get to this room, but part of him somewhat understood the reason behind his sub-conscious movement.
He wanted to see Tsuna. To hear Tsuna say "It will be okay" and see the boy trying his best to comfort him with a hug despite the difference in their size.
Back to Tsuna, under Xanxus' intense stare, the boy shuffled his feet, chewed his lips nervously and cast his face down, trying to hide his slowly reddening cheeks. Both of his hands were behind his back, and it was obvious from the boy's body gesture that the brunette was trying to say something to Xanxus but just too embarrassed to talk it out loud.
Plucking up his courage, Tsuna looked up and locked his determined eyes with the black-haired teen while trying not to stutter.
"Chanchus, I don't know what made you so upset but cheer up. I…uhm…I made something for you. I know it's still early but happy birthday Xanxus."
To Xanxus' surprise, Tsuna showed him some peculiar accessory consisting of many feathers of red and green and a raccoon tail (he thought) and gestured him to kneel down. Xanxus did what he was told and knelt down to the boy's size. Then, Tsuna began to adorn to the teen's hair with those accessories. Once he was done, the boy led Xanxus to the mirror attached to his wardrobe in order to show him how he looked with Tsuna's present.
"Sorry, Chanchus. I know, it looks crappy, but this is the best I can give you. I thought you would look great with these feathers… you know… something that would make you cooler… not that you're not cool now, but I was thinking that some hair accessories would make you even cooler…or what's the word…ah..more badass. But well, in the end, it just ended up so horrible… Arghh, on second thought, just give it back. I'll make some…"
Before he could finish his sentence, the brunette found his small body engulfed in a tight embrace of a bigger body.
"Thank you Tsunayoshi. It is the best gift I have ever received."
Upon hearing that, Tsuna couldn't prevent a blush from creeping to his cheeks, so he tightened his hold around the other's body and buried his head into the other's firm muscular chest while Xanxus buried his face in the mop of brown fluffy hair, inhaling the ever sweet calming strawberry mixed with mint scent.
"I promise, Tsuna. On your next birthday, I'm gonna take you out of this room and show you the world. I'll show you the cherry blossom in Japan that you've always wanted to see. Just wait for me, Tsuna"
And both of them continued to stay in that position for a while, basking the orange light from the window signifying the coming end of the day.
-o0o-
The entire Vongola was in an uproar.
The Varia, led by Xanxus, had made a coup-d'état, managed to break through the security and reached Vongola Nono.
Just when he thought success was in his hand, the old man surprised Xanxus with a trick up his sleeves, which ultimately led to the rebellion's failure and Xanxus' demise. The Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition, a technique created by Vongola Primo, flared up and the black-haired Varia Boss soon found himself slowly devoured by a layer of thick ice.
The last thing that flashed in Xanxus's mind before he was completely enclosed in the ice was Tsuna's happy smile when hearing his promise about showing him the outside world.
"I'm sorry, Tsuna."
And everything turned completely black.
-o0o-
SNAP
One of the strings of the koto Tsuna was playing snapped, pricking his finger and causing it to bleed. The brunette quickly brought the finger to his mouth to suck the wound. An ominous feeling suddenly pervaded his heart as if telling him something terrible had happened.
Tsuna has tried to shake the bad premonition off his head for the rest of the day to no avail. What was worse, his intuition was telling him that something must have befallen on his black-haired friend; however, Tsuna tried his best to remain optimistic until his birthday.
Tsuna had utmost faith in Xanxus' promise.
When that day had arrived, Tsuna dressed himself in his best kimono and patiently waited for his friend to open the door and take him outside.
Yet, no sight of Xanxus' til the end of the day.
One day turned into a week and before Tsuna realized it, two months had passed, but Xanxus hadn't visited once.
Today, Tsuna diligently practiced his koto like always. The song Sakura Sakura reverberated the room and harmonized with the howling sound of the blizzard outside. Beautiful as it might be, the sound held an implying note of sorrow and loneliness.
After all, tears of the phoenix were falling again after a long time of happiness.
-o0o-
Tsuna felt something warm gently caressing his cheek and wetness spread along with the touch. He slowly opened his eyes, his blurry vision gradually revealing outline of a man, and once Tsuna had regained his consciousness, the young boss realized that it was Xanxus that was touching his cheek and he had somehow been crying in his sleep.
"What have you been dreaming, Tsuna?", Xanxus asked worriedly, his finger making a lazy trace on Tsuna's cheek.
However, the brunette didn't look in the Varia Boss' eyes, but instead opted to direct his gaze at an empty space. "I just dreamed about when we first met, about the time we spent together… and when you didn't come to visit for a very long time."
At hearing that, Xanxus' eyes widened a bit in surprise before narrowing down in mutual sorrow. Even after hearing that Tsuna was no longer angry at him for not keeping his promise and even understood his reason, Xanxus still felt guilty of his action back then, which had no doubt caused the younger one pain and suffering.
To Tsuna's surprise, Xanxus gathered him into an embrace.
"Ah, Xanxus!"
"Don't say anything, Tsunayoshi. Just… just let me hug you for a bit."
At that, Tsuna immediately understood that the older man was trying to comfort him. Xanxus had never been good with words, let alone comforting someone; therefore, he did the only thing that he could do and used to do when Tsuna was sad in the past: hug him.
As for Tsuna, after having subjected to many stalking and molesting attempts, he had grown kinda adverse to physical contacts, unless necessary. But for now…
"I'll make an exception to you this time, Chanchus."
The two of them stayed like that for exactly a minute before Gokudera arrived at the room and saw the scene. The silver-haired man let out a scream, took out a remote control that had only one button and pressed it hard. And a mechanic voice resounded the entire castle.
"Emegency Alert. Emergency Alert. Vongola Decimo is being molested in his office. I repeat again, Vongola Decimo is being molested in his office."
Quick as lightning, legion of Tsuna's stalkers and self-proclaimed lovers, led by Reborn and Tsuna's Guardians, made their drama queen entrance in less than 5 seconds, literally blowing up the door- Tsuna internally mourned for the 2-century-old door- and flashing their respective weapon at the so-called molester.
Tsuna could only silently watched as Xanxus and his rivals destroyed his office in less than five minutes, before they decided to move on to a new arena, and by new arena, he meant other part of the Vongola castle.
Outside, spring had come to Italy. Tsuna dreamily let his thought wander back to his home country and his hometown Namimori and the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
"Ah, spring. I guess I should start practicing Sakura Sakura for the upcoming spring festival."
BOOM!
"… right after I have finished stopping those buffoons from wrecking my castle."
TBC
First, thank you so much for encouraging me to continue this story and saying that this is not a shitty fic. However, i must also that, my friend is an avid fic reader and also a writer. He wrote many popular fic in other fandom, and his writing skill is amazing. Therefore, if he said it was shitty, I think it must be his honest comment and he also meant no ill-intent. He is my good friend, after all.
But still, I'm continuing this story. Who knows, maybe my writing skills will improve.