Kururo Saruko: Here Comes your first (!) appearance!To all my dear reviewers and followers and People who read and favor this Story: THANK YOU I LOVE YOU! Authors note:
Well then enjoy or not, it's up to you!
Starting business
Two days later Hayato and her favourite three were renovating the office and store. Inukami and Saruyama really were a great help, manual labour was just their forte. They sat in the meeting room, eating lunch and talking.
"Oujo-san are you still searching for a flat?" Inu asked her, she didn't know why, but those three guys wanted to refer to her as Oujo-san (young Lady) and all her protests fell on deaf ears. After a while she had given up to beat some sense into them.
"Yes. Why are you asking?"
"A friend of mine is a landlord and has a free flat. Maybe he would give you a discount or something."
"What you mean this crazy person? Don't take the bait, the apartment complex is called -The Rainbow Paradise- It's full of Homos!" Saru interfered.
"And? I think Oujo-san will be safer there then in any other apartment." Kino had looked up from his magazine.
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look at the flat." she answered: "Can you give me his number? I would like to take a look."
"Sure!" Inu grinned and gave her the number of an questionable person with the name Soemon Chinose.
"I'm really glad that we were able to finished the renovation so fast. I had feared the worst." She smiled at her subordinates.
They grinned and were proud of their hard work.
The wallpaper in the office was a nice orange colour, not too bright, but fresh and lively like the weather today. The walls of the store were an entire different matter.
The wall opposite the windows had bright colours with an almost blinding design. The only thing they had left of the interior was the counter, it was a dark wooden one and looked almost like one out of a bar. It had it's charm and after they had put enough polish on it, it was as good as new. They had decided to make the store a mix between modern and old.
Inu and Saru had a great Idea for the changing cabins, they wanted to make them look like old toilet houses, the ones that you sometimes see in foreign films – made out of wood with a heart at the door. And that was the thing they were currently working at, Hayato and Kino wanted to help, but those two were stubborn – they would finish faster without them.
So Hayato and Tsukino sat at the counter and thought about a name for the store.
"Loch Ness … I think we would get some copyright issues with that one." Tsukino said.
"How about 2nd Station?" Hayato and Tsukino jumped out of their seats.
"Chrome where did you come from?" her heart was pounding like crazy, the mist guardians and their out of air appearance would kill her some day.
"From outside." she tilted her head, looking confused.
"... ah … yeah that makes sense." Hayato had sat down again and offered Chrome a seat, she sat besides her.
"2nd Station … sounds kinda nice." Tsukino looked at Chrome and nodded, Hayato thought for a while, but didn't find anything that would speak against this name.
"Well then, we name it 2nd Station!" She smiled at Chrome who blushed.
Then they talked about decoration and what they could sell besides clothes. It was decided that they would also sell accessories and bags. Hayato had a lot of no longer used things at home, she would sort out some of them to bring them into the store for selling.
"Maybe we could even make a contract with a tailor, who makes changes for our costumers." was Tsukinos idea. They talked about it and decided to wait, they should for now focus on selling things, talks about other expenses had to wait until later.
As Tsuna came into the store he was stunned. The colours hurt his eyes at first, but he got used to it in no time. Then he saw the changing cabins, they looked old and were sloped and had different sizes, it seemed like they could fall apart any second now. But at a closer inspection he saw that they were really well made and more robust than he thought.
"They just need painting." Inukami declared proudly.
"They are really good. Did you build them?"
"Yes together with Saru!" he grinned and looked proud at his work.
"When you are so good with things like that – Why joining the Mafia?" Tsuna didn't get it, those guys had real talent it was a total waste.
"Well .. Saru, Kino and I were kinda troublemakers since childhood, we didn't even finish middle school because of it, so … yeah it just came to this kinda." he shrugged his shoulders nonchalant, not caring one bit that he worked for a criminal organization.
"Than I guess we can be happy that you joined Vongola." And Tsuna gave him one of his blinding smiles, the kind of smile that could make women faint and men doubt their sexuality. Inu blushed and had to look away.
"Well it's thanks to Seguchi-san who had picked us up after a fight. He is a nice guy after all."
"Yes, that he is."
They talked some more, mostly about the store and how the renovation was going.
Tsuna found out, that Hayato wanted to make Tsukino into the main sales person for the store, even if he seemed shy, he really was an expert at convincing people to do things they normally wouldn't do – perfect to sell ugly clothes to doubting people. Inu told him, that Kino was mostly responsible for all the mischievous things they had done in their childhood days, but nobody ever believed him or Saru.
"Juudaime!" Hayato had interrupted them.
"Yes? What's wrong?" he had turned to hear, she sounded a little panicking.
"I just got a call, some of our people had an argument with a group of Yakuza, who wanted to sell drugs in Namimori!"
"If you say argument – do you mean a fight?"
"Yes. Our people are hurt badly, they didn't stand a chance!" Tsuna didn't know if Hayato was concerned about their well being or about their lack of fighting power. But she was concerned either way.
"Where are they now?"
"In the Namimori hospital."
"I will go to see how they are doing and to get some information out of them. Please wait here and be on you watch if there are really Yakuza trespassing out territory they will most likely search our headquarters."
"Do you really think they would go so far?"
"Yes. After a fight like that it's likely to get attacked right after."
"Then you shouldn't go alone. Take me with you."
"No, I need you here for the worst case, you are better at ordering people around then Chrome, you are our main strategist after all." He smiled at her and she puffed her cheeks out, wanting to protest, but knowing that he had a point. Today neither Yamamoto nor Ryouhei were here, they weren't needed for now and were on stand by.
"Should I call the baseball freak or Turf Top for back up?"
"No. I think you and Chrome are enough to handle some lousy Yakuza thugs, besides those two have their own schedules for today."
"If you say so." She smiled at him and he nodded.
"We can take the car to the hospital – I have a key and a drivers licence." Inukami offered.
"That makes things easier." Tsuna and Inu made their way out of the back entrance.
"Juudaime."
"Yes?"
"Please be careful." Tsuna smiled at Hayato and kissed her cheek.
"The same goes for you." As soon as he sat in the car Inukami drove away.
Hayato looked after them, with determination in her eyes she turned on her heels and walked back into the store.
"We have to close the blinds and lock the entrance." Chrome and Tsukino did what she said. They would close all doors inside too, the only door that wasn't locked was the back entrance.
If they would be attacked the enemy had to come sneaking through that door. Hopefully those Yakuza were smart enough not to cause a huge scene midday in the shopping district.
"Now we just wait and see what happens."
Tsuna arrived at the hospital and was let to the room of his subordinates.
The four of them were all beaten up, one had both arms broken and another a leg.
"What happened?" he didn't have time to waste, he had to know who, when and why.
The one who wasn't as badly hurt as his comrades talked about the fight.
They were on a walk around the town, because they had heard rumours about some guys who sold drugs to teenager. Out of experience they had known that the most likely place for shady business was near school grounds, but because they knew that the Namimori middle and high schools were protected and watched over by the disciplinary committee they figured that nobody would be suicidal enough to sell drugs there. That was why they had headed over to Midori High and found some suspicious guys talking to some girls.
After watching them for some time they had seen how drugs and money were exchanged, so they interfered, it was Vongolas policy to never sell drugs to kids and everyone in their territory respected those rules. But those guys were unknown and seemed like they didn't know a thing about Vongola in the first place.
At first it was just a normal argument, that soon broke out into a fist fight, then some more thugs came and held different weapons, from knifes to baseball bats, and beat them up in no time. They had claimed Namimori as the territory of the Bakeneko clan.
They were seemingly a new formed pseudo Yakuza clan and had no real knowledge of the real underworld business, for now they were more like a gang than a family, but they had gone against them and for that they had to pay.
"Thank you for telling me. I will take care of things from here, please rest and don't worry about medical fees, the Family will pay for them." Tsuna smiled at his men, they had worked hard and even if they had lost the fight they were able to get some info out of it. He motioned for Inukami that they would take their leave, there was nothing they could do at the moment.
Back at the store they met a bored Hayato and Chrome, Tsukino lay with his head on the counter, sleeping like he didn't have a care in the world. "Juudaime, welcome back." Hayato smiled and was all sparkling.
"I guess nothing happened?"
"No. It was quiet."
"That's good then. I think we have nothing to fear, whoever is responsible for the drug selling doesn't know about us." Tsuna told Hayato everything he knew about the Bakeneko clan.
"So all in all they are just a bunch of thugs with no respect for rules?" Hayato sounded annoyed.
"Seemingly." Tsuna sighed.
"Maybe we need someone from Midori to spy for us. The girls our guys saw could be just in between dealers." It was a suggestion from Tsukino that wasn't too far fetched. But Hayato didn't like the prospect where this suggestion would let them. The only person they knew from Midori was Miura Haru and they weren't in contact with her ever since she had broken up with Tsuna.
"Should I call Haru?" Chrome asked.
"You are in contact with her?" Tsuna asked cunfused.
"Yes. She is my friend, it's natural to call once in a while." Why was it that Hayato felt like Chrome had betrayed her?
Hayato and Tsuna exchange a look, they knew it wouldn't be easy to talk to this girl, but they had no other option left.
"Do it." was Tsunas answer.
Miura Haru was surprised as she received Chromes call for help with Mafia business. She was nervous, because the last time she met Tsuna and Hayato it didn't end well. It took her weeks to overcome her sadness and childish obsession with Tsuna. After she had thought a lot about her feelings she had decided that it never was real love she had felt for him. Haru had just been in love with the concept of dating and she had hurt her friends because of this. The first thing she would do was to apologize to them, she wanted to be a part of the group once again.
She took a deep breath and entered the shop.
The moment she opened the door all eyes were on her. She looked at Tsuna and a beautiful girl she had never seen before.
But then she recognized the silver hair and frown, it was Gokudera who she had called a perverted cross dresser. Tsuna had lost most of his cuteness he looked like a man you wouldn't like to mess with, but his eyes looked at her with sympathy and guilt. She smiled at them.
"It's good to see you again. I would like to help you out, to make up for all what I've done." she bowed deep to show that she truly meant it. As she looked up she saw Tsuna smiling and Hayato sighing, without wanting to she began to cry tears of joy. She had her precious friends back.
Tsuna had mixed feeling about Haru joining them as a spy. On one hand they needed her, because she could get information on the Bakeneko, on the other he wasn't sure if they should put her in this kind of danger and then there was the issue with her being his ex.
He didn't know if he could handle the whole issue professional enough and he wasn't sure if Haru had given up her feelings for him or not. But as she came into the store with an apologetic smile and hopeful eyes he knew that her obsession was over, they could move on and become friends again.
Hayato was not really in for it, she didn't like the prospect of this stupid woman to join the Family she had hurt her precious Juudaime so much. But she knew they had no other option for this matter, they needed Haru. Her only solution would be to kill the bitch if she attempted to make a move on her man, she would not forgive these actions. But for now she could accept her apology, every other feelings had to be sorted out later.
They told her about the guys who dealt with drug near her school and how they had seen some girls buying them.
"Hahi … I heard rumours but I couldn't believe them. But if they are really true then I have an idea which girls sell the drugs at our school." Haru looked pale and had a frown between her brows.
"Why do I hear a big fat BUT?" Hayato looked at her.
"Because … Those girls are not in my league. They all are out of some rich families, common folk like me are just like bugs to them and they like to show it." She shuddered at the thought, it seems like she had had some painful experience.
Hayato took her hand. "If it's too much to handle for you, don't force yourself." her voice was soft and reassuring.
"No. I want to help, but I need some tactic to approach them." She had resolve in her eyes, she wanted to proof that she was useful.
"Then pretend to be a junky, who needs something new." Tsukino suggested: "Ask around about the rumours, don't be too sneaky about it, look like you are in pain and needy, if there are really dealers they will come talk to you. If you talk with them directly they will know something is going on." Hayato and Tsuna looked at Tsukino like he was an alien.
"Why do you know things like that?" was Hayatos question.
"I like crime films and books." he shrugged his shoulders. "
That could really work. I mean, Haru is a cheerful and hyper girl, if her attitude suddenly changes everyone would suspect it had something to do with drugs." Tsuna looked thoughtful at her.
"I can play that role, it would be hart to pull of but I think I can do it." Haru had experience with acting – she was a permanent member of the theatre club at school.
"But don't be too hasty, show your changes slow – it has to look as natural as possible." Kino warned her.
She nodded.
With that they made plans – Which Infos would they need, how could they use them, what were the risks. They even decided on a SOS signal Haru could send them if needed. But the most important part was that they needed to know what kind of drugs were sold on Namimoris streets. Vongolas Japanese Branch was official talking business.
"Gokudera-san." Haru wanted to talk to Hayato alone and had taken her to the side.
"What is it?"
"I wanted to apologize about the things I had said to you. You are really a beautiful girl and I will do my best to accept this fact." she smiled.
"I accept your apology, but that doesn't mean that we are best friends. And just to make sure – don't touch Juudaime or I will kill you for good." Hayato could tolerate her, she was a necessary evil for the Bakeneko case, but that didn't mean that she would be all friendly and smiles with the stupid woman.
"I understand." Haru nodded and it seemed like she really understood the situation between them.
The next day the furniture and electronics for the office and shop arrived and everything was put together.
The office had two desks, one for Hayato and one for Juudaime, they were modern with glass tops and wooden legs.
The filing cabinet had white fronts and a wooden corpus, with that it was neither to dark nor to cold looking in there.
Everything had a light atmosphere and it was comfortable to work in.
Irie had brought over two computers he had worked on, they had a super secure system, nobody that wasn't Tsuna or Hayato could use them. Instead of a password they had too put their flames into them to get the system working. It was almost like a DNA scan and very impressive.
The new shelves and clothes rails were now lined up and filled with freshly cleaned clothing.
They even had two mannequin for display in their windows and had decorated them beautifully. The stores name was written in bold letters above the door and they had prepared a open sign.
At the blinding colourful wall the had hung some shirts and jeans.
It had taken them hours to calculate the prices for the clothes, they had struggled trough so many hardships just for this one day.
They all stood inside the store looking proud and satisfied.
"Tomorrow we will open up, we did advertisement all day long and I hope we have a lot of costumers. Please keep in mind that we don't take in clothes that are torn or dirty and make sure not to pay too much for them. We have contracts with clothing companies who will sell us the fashion from the previous year for half the price, with that we can keep our store running. I count on Tsukino to sell as much as possible without the store running out of clothes." Hayato smiled at Kino, who just nodded. They all were nervous about the grand opening of `2nd Station´ and hoped that they wouldn't get into trouble.
This evening Hayato and Tsuna walked home holding hands and enjoying the quite atmosphere surrounding them.
"I'm happy." he declared and smiled at her she just looked at him puzzled.
"About what?"
"That you are mine." His smile made her blush to the roots of her hair, he laughed softly and caressed her cheek.
"I guess the same goes for me. I'm happy to have you." she hugged him and had her chin on his shoulder, drowning in his warmth.
They stood like that for a while, not daring to move just jet.
"On Monday I will come back to school." Hayato whispered and Tsuna just nodded.
After some time they had to separate, they needed to get up early the next morning, because it was the grand opening of their shop.
Tsuna walked her home, but today he didn't sleep over, he needed to work on some homework he got in class. They said their good byes and the day came to an end.
How would you lure people inside a newly opened shop, that was selling used clothes?
Easy – with good looking guys and people who got inside and bought things.
Inukmami and Yamamoto had the role of the good looking guys who handed flyers to girls and talked them into visiting the shop. It was the perfect Saturday for a shop opening, the sun was shining and people were outside for a stroll or to do some shopping.
Chrome, Hana and Kyoko played the role of costumers, who just bought clothes in the shop.
They sat outside of a nearby café and talked about the nice sales person and how tidy everything was. Sometimes people would ask them where they could find the great looking guy and beautiful girl and they would tell him to look in "2nd Station".
And like Hayato had predicted it lured people in, some even bought clothes or just accessories. A few persons just came to flirt around and check them out, but all in all their store was fast becoming the talk of town.
It was really a great idea to even sell baby and child clothing, those were really expensive when you got them new, but used and in good condition they were cheap and cute all the same, so it didn't came as a surprise that they had a lot of young mothers as costumers.
Tsukino cooed about the cute babies and how much cuter they would look in this or that.
Hayato stood at the counter and took the money, packing the clothes in bags and handing out coupons for the next shopping tour.
During lunch the run slowed down, people had to eat and wouldn't show up any time soon.
But one person showed up, she came straight to the counter.
"How can I help you?" Hayato asked friendly.
"I would like to discuss business with you!" she declared and took some folder out of her bag.
She was so small that she had some trouble to look over the counter, but she looked mature.
"What kind of business?" Hayato was suspicious they had just opened the shop, this girl could be someone from Bakeneko.
"I'm an aspiring designer, but nobody wants to sell my clothes. I asked in every store and they all refused and now I'm here!" was she sad or angry? Hayato couldn't tell.
"Let us talk in the back." she suggested: "Tsukino take over and watch the counter for me!" She shouted to him, he was folding shirts.
"Sure thing!" She let the boyish girl into the back room.
"Ah! I forgot! My Name is Kururo Saruko!" she grinned and Hayato nodded, this girl looked like a cute little boy in punk clothes, her style was great.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Gokudera Hayato." They shook hands and sat down.
"Yes. Like I said I'm a designer and need some platform where I can show my products, but I don't have the money to pay for it!" she ruffled her already messy black hair.
"Am I in the right assumption that you have your designs in this folder?" Hayato was polity and had a great Idea.
"Yeah! Here you can have a look!" it was the first time someone showed interest.
Hayato looked trough it. There were casual clothes, Goth styles, Punk, evening and wedding dresses.
This girl had great taste!
She was a genius!
"I'm not sure if our costumers can effort designer clothes, but it wouldn't hurt to put some on display in our windows." Hayato smiled she had a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"But?" Kururo Saruko smelled a catch and narrowed her eyes.
"We need a tailor who could make minor changes to our clothes – for free."
"That's all?"
"That's all!"
"Where can I sign?" With that they made a contract. Kururo-san would bring them two sets of clothes for the window – a cute dress for girls and some punk looking clothes for guys. They agreed not to sell the clothes on the spot. Hayato would take orders from interested costumers and send them to her, after that she had to decide how much she wanted for her clothes. It was the best choice for now.
It was the first time Hayato had met the person who (In the near future) will design all her suits, evening dresses and even her wedding dress.
Back in the store Tsukino had a hard time with handling all the work by himself, Inu wasn't much of an help – he preferred flirting over selling and Yamamoto didn't even know how the register worked.
He never was as happy as this moment were Hayato came out of the back room, took over the counter and shooed Yamamoto away. She waved at Kururo-san who wanted to look around some time. Maybe she could find useful material.
Tsuna was upstairs in the meeting room together with Reborn, Seguchi and Hibari. They talked about the Bakeneko issue.
"It would be great if you and your men could also patrol near other schools to prevent more drug selling." He looked at Hibari, who made a face at the suggestion.
"Wouldn't that be contradictory to your plan of catching them during the deal?" Hibari openly glared at Tsuna, he had goosebumps and was nervous but he wouldn't show it.
"No. I think it would be more suspicious if they didn't see some action from our side. They have to know that we are after them – with that Haru would be out of the spotlight. They would focus on avoiding your patrols." Seguchi nodded, the boss had a point there, without some recognizable action from them they would most likely tend to assume they had a spy amongst their clients or friends.
Hibari thought for a while, Sawada had a point, but he didn't like to get ordered around, but then again it wasn't exactly an order – he just suggested what he could do for Namimoris peace. Glaring some more at the Herbivore he nodded, he would do it – because nobody would disrupt the order in his town. They discussed more plans to prevent and, if necessary, to eliminate threads.
After the shop had closed Hayato, Yamamoto, Inukami and Tsukino were just exhausted. They had never thought that so many people would show up. They had sold and bought clothes, bags and accessories, it was hard work and now they had to sweep the store and fold and organize the clothes anew.
But Luck was on their side – Chrome and the girls helped out, they didn't really work today and would feel bad not to help.
Hayato told them about Kururo Saruko and they were looking forward to her clothes, maybe they would be the stepping stone for a great designer.
Tsuna came down and counted the money, he nodded satisfied.
"You all did a great job today. Thank you." He bowed slightly and smiled at them.
Yamamoto scratched his head laughing, Hayato blushed, Inukami grinned proudly and Tsukino yawned.
Tsuna put the money in a safe, just he knew how to open it. On Monday he would take the money to the bank to let it transfer to the shops account. Luckily they had the next day off, so they could relax at home.
And that was something they all needed.
... That chapter was hard to write, somehow I lose my drive. But look forward to the next chapter it will have: fluff, fun and light s.m.u.t