Chapter 4 tells of how relationship, fights, and wounds are related
"Giannini," Reborn leapt up on the table lightly and faced the plump man, his look cold and expressionless. "How did the research go? Did you find anything useful? Exactly which era was that useless idiot sent to?"
"I haven't found out anything much yet. Please give me a little more time," Giannini pleaded.
"It's already been half a day," Reborn mentioned curtly and Giannini felt a lump form in his throat due to the hitman's death glare directed straight at him.
"There are too many shady parts about the ten year bazooka that I have to uncover first before I can come to a conclusion," Giannini tired to explain. "If I don't, I might get the wrong information about the current situation the Boss is in! Or there might be an accident and Boss would be trapped between the two timeframes and be unable to return!"
Reborn sighed as he jumped down from the table, his feet touching the ground. It was not like the Arcobaleno was really pining all his hopes on Giannini. It was a known fact that Giannini from ten years later was not to be trusted as an efficient mechanic and researcher, let alone a Giannini from ten years ago.
Reborn slowly made his way over to the door and paused for a moment before leaving the room. "I don't care about all the unknown mysteries of the ten year bazooka. If you can't find out and tell me which timeframe that dame-Tsuna was sent to by the end of this week, I'll be bringing the bazooka over to the Bovino familgia in Italy for them to investigate."
"R-Right!" After learning that his existence and knowledge was considered to be dispensable by Reborn, Giannini found his resolve back and immediately returned to his work at hand after Reborn left the room. "I'll definitely be sure to solve it before the time limit! Please allow me to have the honor of searching for the whereabouts of the Boss!"
o0o0o
Tsuna sat on a wooden stool in a corner of the shop as he watched Giotto chatting amiably with the young shopkeeper. The owner of the shop was an extremely beautiful eighteen year old female with her long light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.
Unfortunately for Tsuna, he was seated a little too far than he fancied, too far to hear the conversation between the two people. And they were speaking so softly as if they didn't intend to let anyone else hear what they were saying.
"Heh, Giotto is really popular, isn't he?" Cozart commented as he pulled another stool over and sat down beside Tsuna. "Are you jealous?"
Tsuna's jaw dropped at Cozart's assumption. "E-EHHHH? WHAT? NO!"
Cozart raised an eyebrow in doubt, smirking slightly. "Really?"
"O-Of course! W-Why would I b-be jealous?" Tsuna denied, bright pink dusting his cheeks.
"Well, I thought from the first look that you and Giotto were more than friends and brothers," Cozart laughed heartily, reminding Tsuna a little of Yamamoto. "Guess Giotto would have to work a little harder."
o0o0o
"So the head of the police forces here retreated to the neighbouring town?" Giotto leaned against the counter while he asked the young shopkeeper, Adel, a series of questions.
Adel nodded, smiling slightly even though the topic they were speaking about was grave. Giotto had asked for her to make this exchange of information appear to the others like they were having a friendly chitchat.
Even though they were supposedly in a rural town in Italy, it was also possible for the government officials to suddenly decide to check up on this town. But, it was also because that this was a rural town that Giotto had to resort to using an informer to gain the knowledge he needed.
"Are you sure that they wouldn't be returning here?"
"Fairly sure," she confirmed.
"Great. And if you don't mind, I'll be leaving now," Giotto grinned, tossing a silver coin over to the female who caught it deftly between her fingers.
Adel shrugged. "Do as you wish. I'll call for you once more news about the government and police comes in."
o0o0o
As quick as the whole day's events might have seemed, it took quite a bit of effort in finding a proper shop selling clothes and travelling between towns also wasted a lot of precious time.
Just hours ago, Giotto and Tsuna parted form Cozart in the neighbouring town since the red haired man decided that he desperately needed to return home to solve some pressing problems regarding his work and Giotto wanted to go back to the inn as soon as possible since they spent more than half the day outside already.
Once back in the inn, Giotto spoke mainly with G and Asari.
"You took way too long," G complained while lighting a cigarette. "How are you going to start the vigilante group officially if you keep putting off all the paperwork?"
Giotto sighed and leaned against the counter, taking a sip from the cup of juice. "I'm not putting it off! It's just that... I can't see the point for me to sign paper after paper when all their contents are similar! Why can't those creeps just hire a robot to sign all the crappy papers they need?"
"Then it defeats the purpose!" G snapped. "You are supposed to know and understand the contents of the papers that you are signing!"
"But the problem is that the contents of the papers are all-"
"That's why I told you that you must-"
Asari stepped in front of Tsuna and made his way towards the two quarrelling teenagers. "Now now, don't you think you should stop arguing?"
G glared darkly at him. "Shut your trap, you idiotic music freak!"
"What did you say?" Asari emitted a dark aura and cracked his knuckles.
"Wa-Wait," Giotto muttered, trying to move away from them when someone punched him across the face.
Tsuna stood rooted to the ground as he watched the rest of the people present in the inn cheer loudly at the sudden start of the brawl and quickly joined in the fight one after another.
o0o0o
As much as a friendly fight once in a while might be fun, Giotto didn't really like getting injured.
Fortunately for him, he got away from the fight simply with several bruises and scrapes. It could have been worse.
And unfortunately, that meant that he was still healthy enough to do his dreaded paperwork.
Giotto sighed.
Although he hated to plan and organise things, he knew that all of those were inevitable if he wanted to start the vigilante group officially. And it didn't seem like he had much of a choice seeing as G had pointed a gun at his head and practically commanded him to complete the entire stack of paperwork before ten the next morning, or else.
Giotto shuddered. G could be really scary when he wanted to appear to be so.
The blond sat down on the chair and grabbed several pieces of papers from the tall stack and started to skim through the contents quickly before signing on the line provided and yawned. Looks like he had to pull an all nighter tonight.
However, it seemed as though God had decided to reward him a little for his resolve.
A series of unsteady footsteps echoed around before knocks sounded from the other side of the door. Certain that it was Asari bringing up a cup of coffee to him , Giotto called for the person to enter.
"I brought you a cup of coff-" Tsuna muttered but his words ended with a loud cry. Tsuna fell forward and the tray crashed to the ground, the contents of the cup narrowly missing the pile of paperwork. Giotto rushed forward and helped Tsuna up, checking to see if the brunet was hurt anywhere. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! It's all my fault! Asari wanted me to bring a cup of coffee up to help you while you are working through the night, but I'm so clumsy that I tripped over my own legs and fell!" Tsuna apologised profusely and attempted to pick up all the broken pieces of porcelain. However, Tsuna never had any good experiences with anything with a sharp edge.
"Ouch!" Tsuna exclaimed when he cut his finger.
Giotto immediately knelt down beside Tsuna, a worried look on his face. "It's bleeding badly!"
Tsuna nodded in agreement as he looked at the massive amount of blood oozing out of the small wound. "Yes. But it isn't as serious as it looks. It's just a small cut."
Not buying the explanation, Giotto forced the brunet sit on his bed. "Sit down here and let me see the wound."
Tsuna held out his injured hand tentatively.
"It's not such a bad cut," Giotto analyzed after spending a full minute inspecting the wound.
"See, I told..." the brunet replied weakly but trailed off, his face turned ten different shades of red when he realised that his tip of his right index finger was trapped in a comforting warmth. "W-What are you doing, Giotto?"
Giotto was sucking on his wound gently.
"Gio-nii," the blond corrected. "Call me that when no one else is around."
"G-Gio-nii..." Tsuna muttered softly, utterly embarrased. The massive amount of blood rushing up to his face was making the end of his ears turn pink as well.
Why the heck was he blushing so much ever since he went back in time to this timeframe? Exactly what was wrong with him? Tsuna yelled at himself in his head. This was so unlike him! Or on second thought, maybe not.
Giotto released Tsuna's finger and pulled away slightly. Suddenly, Giotto felt that the short brawl he participated in just now didn't appear so fun and enjoyable anymore. "Sorry. This is the best that I can do for you since we used up the entire first aid kit to patch up everyone else's wounds just now."
Tsuna looked down at his fingertip which was glistening in the dim candlelight. "T-This is more than enough already. I-I'm sorry for all the trouble I always cause you."
And he really meant it. Ever since Tsuna came into this era, he had always felt that he hadn't done anything worth of praise. All he did was just to create more trouble and he always seemed to be protected by the others. Wasn't there something that he could do as well?
Giotto laughed, ruffling Tsuna's hair fondly as he proceeded to change the topic swiftly. "Do you want to stay here and watch me work or would you rather return to your own room and sleep?"
"I..." Tsuna looked up at Giotto gratefully and returned the kind smile. "I'll stay here."
"I see," Giotto laughed as he sat back down on the chair. "Feel free to fall asleep if you are bored."
Tsuna nodded and leaned back against the wall while he watched the blond begin his work. Giotto glanced sideways at Tsuna and a slight smile appeared over his lips.
If this was how he was exactly how he was going to work in the future, then he certainly wouldn't mind pulling all nighters for the rest of his life.
Author's notes: ^ ^ Giotto and Tsuna are steadily getting closer and closer, although they are still barely close enough for my liking yet! I hope that my last sentence wasn't too overboard... And I totally threw the idea of Tsuna spilling coffee all over the paperwork and helping Giotto get away from his duties, because... Imagine - how much G would slaughter Tsuna and Giotto the next day! That would be extremely heartbreaking for me to type! Lol.
On a side note, I'm trying to incorporate other pairings into this fanfiction, so you can tell me what other pairings you want and I'll see if I can add them in. Please note that I'm not letting anyone else go back into time or go into the future, so please do not tell me to add in a pairing with a Primo guardian and a Decimo guardian together. And, the Primo's guardians would be appearing one after another soon, so look forward to that? O_O"
To all the people who took the time and effort to review for the past chapters, thank you very much! And I hope that people would continue to review for this fic!