Authoress: Hi hi~! I'm taking over this (bonus) chapter! Why? ...Because of the promise I broke halfway... *sighs in sadness*
I really DID wanted to update on the 23rd of April (2012), but why didn't I? Well, the answer waasss...
My birthday. I had just recently turned into an official teen (16 years-old).
NOTE: You can ignore the next part and just read the story. Or just keep reading from here...
My birthday party happened on the 21st of April, a Saturday. It was fun and it was going okay... untilllll Sunday. That morning was horrible. There was something wrong with the food that afternoon when I woke up! I cried because of it... (how weak!)
Then the 23rd, a Monday (my real birthdate), came. What happened?
I had just found out that we had this testing, for two days (Tuesday & Wednesday). Called ACT and PSAE... What are those! What do they even do? During those two days at home, my sissy little brother wanted our mom to setup Netflix in our... Blue...ray—well whatever it was, she needed the laptop (MY laptop) to sign-up for it (took a long time). And I also had to read about 60 pages of the book "And then there were none"... or something like that. Plus, filling out the assignment for it.
Then there goes my research project... I really do dislike (hate) how that certain teacher gives you these project and assignments like we have nothing to do at home.
...Why do I even have Honors for this class!
*sighs* Well, that's my explanation (and I guess rant)!
OH! And because I actually rushed this chapter... please ignore mistakes.
BUT PLEASE TELL ME IF THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG! I didn't get to re-read the majority of it, so I'll try to fix it later!
WARNING: They are sort of out of character... I think.
"Everyone! Please gather at the table!" A beautiful pregnant woman called to the others from the dining room.
After a few moments, there were shouting, yelling, threats, and insults heading towards the woman.
"No. If you think you can just boss me around, well you have another thing coming." A tall person in a dark cloak warned.
"What are you going to do about Viper? Kora!" A tall blond with sharp blue eyes retorted.
"Don't call me that! It's 'Mammon'!" Viper/Mammon corrected.
"He'll trash your room with crap probably." A man with a fedora hat thought aloud. "It'll probably epic too. Having your room smell like crap? How ghetto. If other people saw it, they'd think you have no class. Sounds sad, huh, Colonello?"
"Hah?" An animated vein appeared on Colonello's forehead as he glared.
"OHHH! I want to help!" A man with purple makeup cheered.
"Shut it, Skull!"
"Tch, you people are all immature." Another man with glasses mumbled before sitting down on a chair, interlocking his fingers together to set it on the table.
Reborn heard the other's mumble. "What did you say? Do you have do you have an itchy mouth, Verde? If you do, I don't mind smacking your face for you."
"What does smacking his face have to do with him having an itchy mouth?" A man with a braided hair sighed before setting down in a seat.
"Reborn never makes sense, Fon." Viper sighed.
"Oi... you guys," A woman with blue hair said warningly.
But nobody heard her.
"Take your tacky, fake army boots and sit yourself down at the table." Viper said as he moved to sit down as well.
Colonello twitched irritatingly at the insult. "Did you just insult my boots?"
"OHHH! He just called your shoes tacky!" Skull laughed.
"Excuse me?" Colonello's sharp glare looked at the other.
The latter yelped in fear before running to sit down next to the pregnant woman.
"Sissy." Reborn scoffed.
Colonello turned to glare at Viper. "Then how about you take your tacky emo cloak and use it to hide in your emo corner? Kora!"
"...Wow, you suck at insults..." Reborn sighed before sitting down as well.
"WHA—! "
"COLONELLO! SHUT UP, SIT DOWN, AND BEHAVE!" The blue haired woman shouted at the blond.
"HAHH? Lal! Why am I the only one scolded! Kora!"
"Don't talk back to me. Go do what I had said. Right. Now." Lal used her tone of authority.
Colonello gaped in disbelief. After "tch"-ing, he also sat down at the table. He could see some of the others holding back their laugh.
Lal sighed before taking a seat as well.
The pregnant woman giggled lightly. "Thank you, Lal."
"It's no problem, Luce." She said with a small smile.
"Now then, I have called everyone here for a special announcement." Luce said with a bright smile. "So please, don't ruin it, okay?" She smiled wider.
"Yes..." The men said in unison.
"What I have to announce is that—"
A loud gasp was heard. "L-Luce! I-is your baby coming out soon!" Skull asked in worry.
"Eh?" Luce blinked before giggling again. "No silly! It's not that! I just wanted to say I would like to have a family picnic with everybody!"
Skull blinked a few times. "...I like paintball—OW!"
"Skull! Stay quiet!" Lal scolded.
'Gross! A "family" picnic...!' The others thought in unison.
Reborn scoffed, "Retard." He pointed it at the purple one.
Luce sighed. "As I was saying, I would like us to go for a family" she made an emphasis on the word. "picnic."
"Huh, then where would this so-called 'picnic' be held?" Verde raised an eyebrow.
"Oh!" Luce clapped her hands once. "It will take place in our backyard, silly Einstein!" she giggled.
Verde's eyebrow twitched at the "nickname".
"Why the backyard?" Fon asked.
"I don't like to go anywhere far. Plus, when I'm big like this," she indicates her tummy, "I feel uncomfortable to go anywhere else."
"I see." Fon nods.
"So please, everyone, get the items we need ready!" Luce said gaily. "Oh, Lal! Please escort me to the bathroom."
"Yes, Luce." Lal made her way to help Luce stand and walk towards the bathroom. "You guys, get the food and drinks ready." She commands them.
"Don't forget to set up the fold-able tables and chairs." Luce added.
After they left the others alone, Reborn said, "Don't mess this up, idiots." He got up to walk to the front door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Verde questioned, adjusting his glasses.
"To buy food for this so-called 'family picnic'." He walked out the door and closed it, leaving the rest.
"...Sooo..." Colonello started.
"I'll make some food." Fon offered as he got up to find some ingredients to assemble his creations.
"I'll find the tables and chairs then, kora!" Colonello offered. "Mammon! Skull! I know you guys can't cook to save your life, so help me find those. Kora!"
"It's in the attic, smart one." Mammon said.
Colonello could've sworn that the other was rolling his eyes behind his hood. "Whatever. Come on, kora!"
"But I don't want to." Skull spoke up, trying to sound firm.
"And I don't care." Colonello walked away to find the attic with Mammon following suit.
"F-fine!" Skull sulked, but followed along.
"And what would you do, Verde?" Fon asked as he placed a wok on a stove top and turned the gas on high.
"I don't know." He adjusted his glasses again. "What do we do on this 'family picnic'? Any ideas?"
"Hmm..." Fon poured some vegetable oil in a ladle, and dropped the oil in the wok. "From what I've seen in television and out in the city, I've seen a lot of them play games while some of the others only talk." Then he mumbled saying he can use last night's rice to make the food.
"Games? What games?"
"I've seen 'tag', 'Frisbee', 'hide-and-seek', water guns on a hot day... all sorts, really." He cracked a few eggs into a bowl, stirred it with chopsticks, and gently poured it into the wok, making sizzling sounds.
Verde rubbed his chin in thought. "Is that so?"
Fon added rice, white sesame seeds, and seasoning into the wok. "Yes."
Verde got up from his seat and started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Fon grabbed the wok's handle and expertly flipped everything in it in one go.
"My room. I'll go look for something." The other replied before heading into his bedroom.
After a few moments, Luce and Lal came back.
"How are you feeling, Luce?" With a few more adjustments with making the fried rice, Fon turned off the stove.
Lal helped the woman to her seat. "I'm fine now Fon, thank you for asking." She looked at the fried rice that was still sitting in its wok. "You just finished?"
"Yes,"
"Oh! Then is it too much to ask to make gyoza?" She clasped her hands together happily.
Fon smiled, "Of course not. Please wait a moment." He started to look for the other ingredients.
Lal looked around. "Where are the others?"
"Reborn left for food; Colonello, Mammon, and Skull went to look for tables and chairs; Verde went into his room for something." He replied.
Luce nodded in approval. "We should do some work too Lal. Come! We should prepare more food."
"Do you have anything in mind?"
"How about cookies?" She playfully poked Lal's nose.
"Eh—o-okay..." Lal rubbed her nose.
"Come now," Luce stood up to pull the other into the main kitchen and instructed her to bring out the ingredients and how to prepare them.
By scratch.
-Meanwhile, (somewhere) at a pastry shop-
"Name your most popular item here." Reborn demanded.
"Our Rainbow Chiffon cake* here is very popular!" The female employee answered brightly, pointing at the cake in display. "It's very light in its taste, it's not too sweet; and its texture is very soft!"
"What's in it?"
"Strawberries, honey dew, bananas, cantaloupe, and light whipped cream mixed together are inside, and the other fruits such as grapes, blueberries, and sliced plums on top with more whipped cream."
Reborn stared at the cake in distaste. "...Sounds decent. I'll take that on the go." He shrugged carelessly.
After paying for the cake, receiving the change and the cake in the box, Reborn left the shop.
-Back at home-
"Don't you know how to walk, kora!" Colonello shouted at Skull. "Are you even looking where you're walking!"
"I am, Colonello-senpai! You're just moving too fast!" Skull whined.
"No, you're just moving too slow, Skull." Mammon said.
"Like you can talk. You're not even helping, kora!"
Both Colonello and skull were holding two fold-able tables, trying to move it outside. While Mammon... wasn't holding anything.
"...Oh," was all Mammon could say.
"'...Oh,' MY FOOT! GO GET THE CHAIRS, KORA!" Colonello grumbled while pushing Skull out the back door.
"Hmph, fine." Mammon went back to the attic to retrieve the chairs.
When they got out to the backyard, they unfolded the tables and chairs. Colonello was yelling at Skull, telling the weak(er) one to set the tables and chairs neatly.
Then moments later, Luce, Lal, and Fon came out with varieties of food and some drinks.
"Set them on the table!" Luce said. "Now, we're almost done... where's Reborn? He's still not back? What about Verde? What is he still doing?" Luce kept asking.
Fon replied, "Reborn is still not here, and Verde is still in his room, I'm guessing."
Lal asked, "What is he even doing in there?"
Colonello smirked. "Probably, making more crap. If not, he's probably doing nothing but watch some 'special videos'—OW! LAL!"
"Colonello, shut up. Just, shut up." She sighed deeply.
"I'm back." Reborn entered the scene with the box in hand.
"What is that?" Luce asked, taking the item from the man.
"Cake." He simply answered.
"OHHH!" Skull wowed. "What kind?"
"Rainbow something. I don't remember and I don't care." He took a seat. "Are we ready for this... 'family'" he put quotation marks in the air, "picnic?"
Skull answered, "But Verde isn't here ye—"
"I'm here." Verde also entered the scene, but with nothing in hand.
"What were you doing you silly Einstein?" Luce asked.
The other's eye twitched. "Something that we'll be doing later; and I won't tell what it is... yet." He also took a seat at the table. "Such a hot afternoon..." He grumbled.
The pregnant one clapped her hands. "Alright! Let's settle down now, everyone! Take a seat." When the others sat down, Luce commented, "I think this is our first-ever family picnic! Wow~! Now then, please, do not—I repeat—do not fight or argue or use vulgar words during our picnic time. Understand?" She chided them.
"Yes, ma'am." They said together.
The lady smiled approvingly. "Great! Now, let's eat!"
Ever since they started eating, there wasn't really much talking between them. Whenever they would talk to one another, there's usually shouting, yelling, fighting, insults, punches, kicks, and hair pulling involved. So without doing any of those, they don't know how to make a civilized conversation.
Luce sighed at the sadness of it. "How sad. Why don't you talk to one another?"
"It's difficult." Mammon said.
"Oi..." Colonello sweat-dropped. "It's pretty hot out here; aren't you hot in there?" He used his fork to point at the dark cloak Mammon was wearing.
"...N-no," Mammon answered.
"Riiighhht..." Verde said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey," Reborn called. "I'm done eating, can I leave?"
Luce blinked. "To where?"
"Anywhere but here."
"No." Luce said sternly. "Everyone is to stay here and enjoy one another's company."
'Ewww...' Some cringed.
"Then if your done eating, how about you go play? Like how I see kids do in T.V." She suggested.
Lal coughed lightly, "Luce... We're not children anymore."
"Well some of you sure act like it,"
Skull blinked a few times. "...I like paintball—OW!"
Reborn kicked the other under the table.
"Reborn!" Luce said scolded.
The other acted as if he knew nothing. "What? What happened?"
The lady sighed. "See? This is what I mean. If you act like this, the—Ara?" She blinked a few times. "Where's Verde?"
The others turned their eyes to the empty spot, where the silly Einstein was supposed to be sitting in.
"Oh," Fon said. "I saw him go back inside. He said that he 'needed to get something'."
Skull made a confused face. "Aaand that it iiiis?"
"This." Verde's voice came in another direction as some pressure of water came splashing into Skull's face.
"GWUFGHFM!" The weak(er) one fell backwards from his chair. "ITTE!"
"Huh," Verde looked at his water gun. "Did I set it a little too high? ...Oh well."
Mammon laughed. "Ha! That's a good one."
"Uwohhh! Verde! Pass me one! Kora!" Colonello shouted excitedly as he got up from his seat.
"Verde! Colonello!" Lal shouted. "What do you think you're doing!"
"What?" Verde said innocently. "Fon said that this is what others do when they go picnic... –ing."
Fon looked surprise that Verde was pointing the finger at him (not literally). "W-well, I did not know that that you would actually do what I thought of... let alone taking it to this extent..."
"People can twist many words into something new...-ish." Mammon said.
"No fair! I wasn't ready!" Skull whined as he stood up.
"Well are you ready now?" Reborn's voice asked.
"Eh? W-well I guess so..."
"Then heads up."
"Why—AUGH!" Skull's face was hit with a soccer ball.
That's right; Reborn had just kicked a soccer ball towards Skulls face.
"Reborn!" Lal scolded again.
Fon sighed again. "My my..."
Mammon clapped. "Can this get any better? ...Actually, I want some cash now."
"Mammon..." Fon shook his head in disappointment.
"I-itai..." Skull squeaked.
"I don't remember any of us owning a soccer ball." Verde commented. "Where did you get that?"
Reborn shrugged as he went over to pick the soccer ball up near Skull's head. "I just went back inside and grabbed it. I keep all my useless crap in all sorts of place."
"Yo! Let me join! Kora!" Colonello came running from inside the house with two water guns, looking a lot like Verde's, in hand.
The silly Einstein gasped... sort of. "Did you get those from my room?" He asked in disbelief.
"Uhh, pshyeah!"
"You broke into my room!"
"Not really. It wasn't locked so... yeah! Kora!"
"Bastard," Verde pointed his water gun at the blond, quickly triggering the water.
Colonello dodged it and ran towards Verde. He pointed his own water guns at Verde, but before he could pull the trigger, he noticed the soccer ball fly towards him. He quickly pointed the other water gun towards it to blow it away. "Damn it, Reborn!"
"Everybody's an enemy in this field, Colonello." Reborn smirked.
Lal couldn't hold it anymore. "Reborn! Colonello! Verde! Stop what you're doing and behav—" She couldn't finish what she was going to say as she was hit by water.
"...Ooooo..." Skull made a sound, as if one of his friends had just broken a vase that was a one-of-a-kind. "Lal-onee-san's gonna get youuu! Ooooo, Verdeeee!"
The latter smirked. "I doubt she can."
Colonello gulped. "This is pretty dangerous, kora..."
Reborn could only smirk too.
"Nee..." Lal had a dark aura surrounding her. "There's no turning back now, Verde." She cracked her knuckles. Then there was a tap on her shoulder. "Huh...?" She said in a low voice.
In front of her, was Mammon holding a water balloon in front of her. "Here," he handed it to her. "I made more. In case you want more."
"Is that so?" She slowly raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Just give me money later."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Mammon handed her more water balloons that he hid under his cloak.
"When did you have time to get that many...?" Fon asked, not really expecting an answer.
Verde chuckled. "Uwoh, how scary."
"Not really." Reborn suddenly snatched a water gun from Colonello.
"EHHH!" Colonello shouted in surprise. "When did you get here, kora!" He jumped back, away from Reborn.
"I just casually walked here thirty seconds ago. I'm like a ninja, huh?"
"'Assassin' sounds better."
"Oh, it does,"
Lal threw a water balloon at Verde, Mammon following.
Verde shot the balloons with his water gun to make them blow up halfway. He grinned in victory.
"Your back's wide open." Mammon said.
Verde's back was drenched. "Wha— Damn!"
"Your's too, Mammon! Kora!" Colonello tried to shoot the other, but instead of Mammon getting wet, it was Colonello himself who got wet.
Lal leered. "I thought I told you not to let your guard down?" She tossed a balloon into the air, caught it, and tossed it again.
"...Ohhh, you guys are so ON! KORA!" Colonello went wild and tried to shoot the people in the battlefield.
The others in the battlefield responded to do the same.
Fon sighed for the umpteenth time that afternoon. "Luce... Is this alright?" When he looked at her, he saw a happy smile on her face. "Luce?"
"Mm!" She nodded. "This is perfect."
Fon frowned in confusion. "But I thought that you wanted a family picnic."
"Well yes. But... this is fine too. Look at everyone's faces. Don't they look like they're having a great time?"
Fon took a look at his friends, and indeed, they did look like they're have a great time. Fon smiled too. "So you're content with this?"
"Yes! Very!" She giggled.
Skull sniffed. "I-I want to join... but I definitely know that I'll get hurt the most." He sniffed again.
Luce patted his head. "It's okay, silly clown! Come, let's eat the cake while they're still at it, ne?"
"Ohhh! Cool!"
After constant throwing, shooting, running, and dodging, everyone started to feel the fatigue coming, so they stopped.
"Minna! Hurry! Sit down!" Luce called.
When they did while they were all drenched. But they were handed a slice of cake from her either way. A few mumbled thanks. Then they started to talk how they would've gotten the other if they weren't tired; how they would win the next time they had another battle (with water); and how they would get better than one another. They chuckled, laughed, smiled, and even acknowledged each other (with name-calling insults).
Luce stared at everyone with a gentle smile. "Thank you,"
"Hmm? For what?" Colonello mumbled against his fork.
"Hn, I thought we sort of ruined this picnic." Verde thought aloud.
"Are you not mad, Luce?" Lal asked worriedly.
Luce shook her head in denial. "No, I'm not mad. Nobody here entirely ruined this picnic. I was a little upset when you started a water fight. But... when I saw everybody with such an adventurous expression, I couldn't help but feel like a happy mother! And for having me enjoy our first family picnic, it was splendid!" She smiled wider in delight.
Every one of them smiled back in response. And at that moment, they actually enjoyed each other's company that afternoon.
Then Reborn started to say, "...Why did I get this tasteless, stale cake? It sucks."
Yup, this happened before Luce sent the six of them to Tsuna.
*The "Rainbow Chiffon Cake"... That name with "rainbow" was TOTALLY coincidental! I was thinking of that Fruit Sponge Cake! I forgot the name of it while I was writing it...
But when I re-read some of it, I thought "WOW! ...I really suck at this now... What's wrong with me?"
Yeaahhh...
And 32 reviews on the previous chapter? *sniffs* You guys are the best!
So, I'll see you pretty-fuls later! XD
