Meeting The Rest of The Family:
"Not that I'm complaining, but I thought you were at some giant gathering of some sort. Why are you back so soon?" I asked as we proceeded down the mansion halls.
"Well, there was this call saying that my son just came in from Japan, there was a ruckus amongst the kids, and the giant octopus kind of destroyed the meeting hall." Dad just rolled off as we went on.
"Wait, you were attacked by a giant octopus?" I said in a bit of shock.
"Yeah, tasted great too. Sometimes I really have to wonder who does seafood better, Japan or Italy." Dad said thoughtfully.
"Does this happen often?" If it did, it might explain why nothing ever seemed to faze him.
"Eh, every so often. Last time something like this happened; someone had trained the alligators to attack on command. Got your mom that purse."
"What purse?"
"Didn't it show up in the mail yet? I sent it last week."
"When did the alligators attack?"
"Last week." I was about to point out how ridiculous that sounded to begin with, but dad was already opening a pair of doors. "Found him where you said he was Gokudera. Thanks."
"No problem Lambo." Gokudera waved from the table. It was a long table with a rather impressive spread of food on it. At the head of the table, there was a man in a black business suit with rather long, messy, and spiky hair. How it was even staying up like that was baffling me. Next to him were Gokudera and a woman with short brown hair in a red dress. Down the rest of the table, the men were all in varying forms of their suit, one with white hair only wearing the undershirt with wrappings around his hands, while the women who were there were in varying degree of dresses. Although, it did seem one woman with a skull eye patch was also in a suit.
The 'kids', if I could call them that, were sitting on the opposite side of the table, with Ryona at the end. Tazia was to one side as another girl in a fine blue dress sat on the other. There were three other guys sitting next to them, one of who was Kirata, all of them letting me sit at least one seat away from the girls.
"So, what's the big occasion?" I asked to the gathered group.
"Well," The man said at the end of the table. "This is the first time a lot of us have met you Sanget. So, we decided to have a rather big meet and greet." This did not seem to please Ryona all that much. I began to wonder why, but I happened to notice a box and a roll in the corner of the room. I went over to it and slightly unrolled the roll to confirm my suspicions.
"This was actually going to be Sugu's welcoming party, wasn't it?" Nobody seemed to want to answer me.
"It was." The man finally answered. "But that doesn't mean we can't introduce ourselves. I'll even start us off. I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, but you can just call me Tsuna. And beside me is my wife Kyoko." Tsuna indicated.
"You already met me, but this is my wife Ernesta." Gokudera said as he wrapped his arm around the shoulder of the woman next to him. She had light blond hair that was about neck length and in a pale blue dress. She gave a smile and a small wave.
"He already knows me too." Bianchi said. "So just get on with it."
"Then I guess it's my turn." A man with short, spiky black hair smiled. "I'm Takeshi Yamamoto. I'm the Rain Guardian and next to me is my wife Sasami." He greeted both of them with a welcoming smile. Sasami had short, smooth black hair that seemed to frame her face perfectly.
"Well, my wife couldn't make it tonight, but I'm here. The name's Ryohei Sasagawa." The man with the bandages said. "I'm the Sun Guardian and I hope you can fit in here." He said with a plastered grin across his face.
"And my name's Chrome Dokuro." The woman with the eye patch said. "I'm the Mist Guardian, and I hope feel at home here." She seemed to be the most soft spoken of the group, but she still held the same kind of welcoming feel the others had.
"Wait, that's six." I counted out. "I thought there were seven of you?"
"Ah, the last one would be Hibari." Tsuna said a bit hesitantly. "He doesn't really like sticking around for small events like this. He's the Cloud Guardian, and is not the easiest to get along with. It might just be a good thing that he's not here right now."
"Ah." I said. I got the feeling that he wasn't quite the man to say 'hi' to casually.
"On the other hand, why don't you start your introductions, Ryona?" Tsuna passed to his daughter.
"We've met." She said shortly, not making eye contact.
"So have I." Tazia added shortly after, just not as bitterly as I thought she would have.
"Same here." Kirata spoke up.
"Really? You made some rounds around the mansion today then, huh, Sanget?" Tsuna asked.
"You could say I drew some attention." I mumbled.
"Well, we haven't had the opportunity though." The guy next to Tazia said as he stood up and came over to me. He had short white hair like Ryohei, and the same kind of confidence. "Name's Hotaka." He said as he stuck out a hand. I took it and he gave a firm shake. "I'm Ryona's Sun Guardian."
"I'm guessing Ryohei's your dad?" I asked out of nowhere. It was honestly the first thing that popped up in my head.
He just laughed and draped his arm over my shoulder. "You have some sharp eyes there. Yeah, he is, but come on, sit next to me." He directed me over to the side with the others and he sat me down. Kirata was sitting across from me and dad took his seat next to me. Thankfully, Hotaka took the seat between Tazia and I. "So Hideki, go ahead and introduce yourself." Hotaka told the guy across from him.
"I will, just give me a sec." Hideki said. He was obviously taller than Kirata and had short, messy black hair like Yamamoto. "Like Hotaka said, I'm Hideki. I'm Katsumi's older brother. Nice to meet you Sanget." He said as he extended a hand over the table.
"Pleasure's mine." I said as I took his hand. I waited for the girl next to him to introduce herself, but she just sat there looking away from me.
"Well, come on Katsumi." Hideki nudged her. "He won't know who you are unless you introduce yourself."
"I don't want to." She said quietly. "He'll be mean to me."
"Ah, come on. He hasn't been mean the entire time he's been in here." Hideki nudged his sister a bit more.
"Uh, don't worry about it Hideki." I said. "Let's just get on with dinner, shall we?"
"Yes, let's." Tsuna said from the head of the table. "Everyone, help yourselves."
And that's exactly what I did. I took a few slices of ham and cheese cubes that were directly in front of me, as well as getting a glass of apple juice. I had the mashed potatoes passed and dug in. Dad seemed to have the same idea, because we both had the food on our plates before anyone else.
I could see the smiles on Hideki and Hotaka's face as the food just piled up. As we got to talking, I found out that Hideki played baseball and practiced kendo with his dad, while Hotaka had decided to try all sorts of physical martial arts after his dad introduced him to boxing. Although I couldn't believe him to be fifteen, he looked like Hideki and I at seventeen. I actually began to feel sorry for Kirata. He was sixteen and shorter than all of us.
Ryona, Tazia, and Katsumi kept to their own discussions about clothes, school, and boys, so I didn't particularly want to overhear what they were talking about. The adults were just talking about things I had no understanding of. Things like the recent Vindice escape attempt, or box weapon development, or relations with the Simon and Giglio Families were.
There really wasn't much else to do at dinner but eat and talk, but it was enjoyable enough. After it was all done, however, Tsuna and the Guardians had to leave for a private meeting, leaving the table, and pretty much notifying everyone dinner was over. The wives cleaned up the dishes and we were all shoed out of the dinning room. Kirata, Hotaka, Hideki, and I left as a group, just as Ryona, Tazia, and Katsumi left the opposite way. As we walked seemingly aimlessly, there were a few questions that came to mind.
"Where is everyone?" I asked for the second time that day.
"What do you mean?" Hideki asked.
"I mean, if this a mansion run by the mafia, shouldn't there be, like, underlings, or at least a staff?"
That just made Hideki and Hotaka crack up. I was just confused, but Kirata was kind enough to explain.
"Tsuna wanted to keep responsibilities and management low, so pretty much everyone you saw at the table are the people who live here right now."
"But this place is huge! Why would you want to keep the personnel low? What about the rooms no one uses? Wouldn't they get dusty?"
"Well, a lot of the rooms were converted." Hideki said after he caught his breath. "Like this one." He said as he opened up one of the identical doors. Inside was a complete dojo with sparring equipment and mats. "Dad and I keep this room clean on our own time when we use it."
"How often do you use it?"
"About two or thee times a week." Hideki shrugged as he closed the door. "So as you can see, we really don't need to have that many people here. And besides, our mothers said they wanted something normal to do while they were here. You did see the food right? That was made by them."
"How long was I sitting outside then?"
"A good three hours or so." Kirata said. "I think the garden was good for you. You really needed that bath."
"It wasn't raining out there Kirata." Hotaka laughed.
"I know what you mean. I don't get it, but I guess a nature bath was nice." I smiled. "So, what are we doing right now?"
"Well, I figured I could kick your butt in some games." Hotaka smiled as we entered yet another room. I had to stop and look around. It was actually a modest room with only three couches and two televisions sets, but all along the left wall were rows and rows of videogames for every imaginable game I could fathom, and even some I couldn't.
"Your dad really couldn't get over how boring it was in the beginning." Hideki said as he walked in. "To back up, you were right that there were plenty of people who were here during the last bosses reign. But Lambo was so persistent on having something fun to do, that this room eventually got started up. We've just collected games of all sorts since. Now, what should we start with?"
"I vote for Street Tekken IV!" Hotaka shot his hand up.
"You always want to play that." Kirata rolled his eyes. "You always win."
"Well, Sanget could win this time, we don't know." Hotaka defended.
"I'm just good with whatever you guys choose." I distanced myself from the choice.
"How about we play Metroid Bounty then?" Hideki said as he picked a game from the shelf. "Now that we have four players, let's see what we can do."
"But you always choose the only close combat one." Hotaka complained.
"Because I use him the best." Hideki said in response.
"Well, if we have a game, put it in and hand me a controller." I said as I took a seat on the couch. "I bet I can win."
"Bet you can't beat me!" Hotaka proclaimed as he took a seat next to me.
"Fine." Kirata said as he took a seat on a different couch.
"Great! Then here you guys go." Hideki said as he handed us our controllers and sat down. He grabbed a remote and turned on the TV and sat back. After that, we spent the next three hours trying to beat Hideki's score. It was fun and all, but I eventually couldn't stop yawning.
"Geez." Hotaka yawned. "Stop that already Sanget, you're making me miss my shots."
"Sorry." I yawned again. "I think I need to head to bed."
"Good point." Kirata yawned as he looked at his watch. "It's already 11:30. I think we should all head to bed."
"All right." Hideki said as he turned off the console. "You know where your room is Sanget?"
"Uh, sort of." I scratched my head. I wasn't really sure if using the room I was given was a good idea.
"Well, I'll show you the way." Kirata said as he stood up and stretched.
"Well, if you're doing that, then I'll just head off to my room then." Hotaka said as he got up. "See you guys tomorrow."
"Not if I get lost." I joked. It got a chuckle out of him.
"I'll just have to organize a search party then." He chuckled. "See ya guys."
"Night Hotaka." I waved.
"You two go ahead." Hideki said. "I'll close up here."
"All right." Kirata said as he left the room. I went after him and had to jog after him.
"Geez Kirata, how fast do you have to walk?" I said as I caught up.
"Sorry." He said as he slowed down a bit. "I don't usually walk with people."
"What about Hotaka and Hideki?"
"I just moved in recently from my dads." Kirata shrugged. "He said that mom wanted some time with me and Ryona would be a nice⦠test."
"Your mom's Chrome, right?" I asked blatantly. I don't know what was with me having to make these connections so directly.
"Yeah." Kirata nodded. "Dad runs his own gang, but he mostly just has them around for fun."
"So what does your dad so exactly?" I asked, curious to why both of Kirata's parent's wouldn't be in the same mafia group.
"I never really figured that out," Kirata said. "He always said that he was going to bring the mafia down, but all I ever saw him do was drill the guys around him. I never even figured out where the money to keep the house he's in."
"Well, if he's trying to bring down the mafia, maybe he's siphoning their bank accounts." I thought aloud.
"Probably. I don't think it would be all that hard for him either."
"I was kidding." I told Kirata.
"I'm not." He looked up me, dead serious.
"Your dad could seriously steal from the mafia, and not be noticed."
"Quite possibly."
"Geezus." I whistled.
"Well, here you are." Kirata said. As before, the doors looked exactly alike. I opened the door, and sure enough it was my room. I switched on the light and looked around, but nothing seemed to have moved.
"Why are you being so cautious? It's your room."
"Yeah, but Ryona had it in her head that this would be Sugu's room."
"Ah, right. Well, if you're set here, I'll be off."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow Kirata." I waved him off. He left and I looked around my room for my suitcase. I found it under the bed, so I guess Ryona or someone must have moved it. I took it out and popped it open and found nothing out of place, but knowing what's already happened to it, I was still suspicious.
But I didn't find anything weird in it after unpacking it into the drawers of the dresser. As a last step, I took off my suit and hung it up in the closet and got dressed in my usual pajamas. With one last look around the room to make sure nothing was going to kill me in the night, I got under the covers and began to fall asleep.
