A/N: None of the other guardians will be appearing! Only Tsuna and Gokudera will be time traveling in this fic. I'm sorry if you were looking forward to the others. But in this one it's just Tsuna and Gokudera.
You ask why I included Gokudera in the first place? Well…I felt that Tsuna needed someone there to be with him to experience the craziness of time travelling.
Chapter Nine
Sicily, Italy
A middle aged man going by the name of Tino was sitting by a table of a poorly lit bar in the middle of the day drinking whisky. He had a short unkempt beard and shaggy ginger hair. His face was ragged but his eyes were as sharp as they were when he was twenty. He had a cigarette between his fingers as he drank from his glass.
His head turned when he heard the door open. A stream of sunlight poured in before the door closed behind the man who entered.
He was wearing a cloth cap covering his black hair and wore a plain shirt and pants of the working class. His eyes scanned the near-empty bar and stopped at Tino's table.
Tino raised his glass in a greeting when he saw the man approach.
"Nice seeing you again. What did you do to those pretty blond locks of yours?" he asked the man.
"How many fingers am I holding?" Alaude asked as he held out two fingers really close together. Tino glared at him.
"I ain't drunk, boy! You know I don't get drunk, no matter how much I try to drink. I hold my liquor veeery well."
Alaude already knew that. It was one of the reasons why he trusted the man enough to continue contact after leaving Italy. He would never accidentally spill out information as long as he was sober. "What do you have for me?"
Tino took another swig and set it down with a thump. "Not a lot more than what I told you the last time you came for a visit. Want a drink?"
Alaude ignored the offer. Tino shrugged and poured himself more whisky. "Still no leads on where Giotto went after he left the seat to Ricardo. Oh hey, did I mention that Ricardo is marrying his daughter off to this other famiglia? The Maurinos, I hear. It happened last week so there is no way you heard of it before today. And then there's Daemon." He shook his head in disgust and spat on the ground. Soon after, a loud smack was heard as someone's palm hit a wooden counter. Alaude shifted his gaze to the woman cleaning the glassware.
"Martino! How many times have I told you to stop spitting on my floor?"
"Ah shut up, woman! It gets dirty all the time anyways! Just wait for the midnight crowd to come and you'll have more on your floor than I can ever put there," Tino shouted back. "And get some food for my friend here!"
The woman made a rude gesture at him but prepared a second dish.
Tino turned back to the conversation. "That Daemon is helping Ricardo cause havoc for those in the area. When Giotto didn't completely conquer all of Europe, Ricardo picked up from where he left off and finished the job. Well, except for this little bar—it's in the Tomaso's part of town. The damn famiglia has been at war with the Vongola ever since Ricardo killed their princess."
Bad move on Ricardo's part, Alaude thought.
Tino drank some more as Alaude's plate was delivered by a teenage girl. Alaude took one look at it and shoved the plate towards Tino.
Tino said, "Daemon was with Ricardo every step of the way. If there's blood on Ricardo's hands, there's double that on Daemon's. He's still making the Vongola the strongest famiglia out there. That's his goal. I guess he'll keep it as that till the day he dies."
"What of CEDEF," Alaude said.
Tino chuckled. "They are aloof as always. Nothing has really changed. 'The second Vongola'…they have no power at the moment, as we are in peaceful times. As peaceful as the mafia can get, that is. But I'd have to say that they were shifted more towards the mafia, since the group was only created when Giotto named Ricardo his heir…which happened later in the game, you know? But they will continue to support the Vongola."
Alaude stood and put down the money that would cover for the food and for Tino's update.
"'Preciate it," Tino said with a nod at the money. Alaude grunted and left the bar without another word.
"Hey! Bring over another bottle!"
"That was your tenth bottle, Martino!"
"Just bring the eleventh, woman!"
Alaude met with his other correspondents and got roughly the same information: nothing.
When he left the last location, the sky was darkening to an angry red. All day when he wasn't meeting with his contacts, he was surveying the Vongola's security, the guards posted, and their rest periods. It hadn't changed much from his last visit but it was always better to be sure; Ricardo might have thought to change things around a bit.
Now, Alaude was dressed in a proper suit that all the men who were part of the Vongola wore. When the clock struck midnight, he approached the side of the mansion and slipped through one of the secret passageways that the guards—or Daemon—hadn't bothered to keep an eye on. It was dusty, filled with cobwebs, and dark, but Alaude had no trouble navigating the twists and turns. He felt for the knob at the end of the tunnel and gave it a twist.
He stopped to listen but heard nothing. None of his senses told him that anyone was nearby. When he stepped out, he was in the middle of a well kept garden between a statue and the hedge. He carefully pushed the stone slate back into place and took a look around.
The fountain was still running but no birds were drinking from it at this time of night. They added roses to the flowers that grew in this area, and a small pond was built a few metres ahead with a bench a couple feet away.
Only a few rooms on the first and second floors were lit. The third and fourth floors were entirely dark, filled with sleeping Guardians and their boss.
He walked through the garden carefully, stopping once in a while as the guards who patrolled the grounds passed by. Alaude shook his head at the guards' lack of attention, since they didn't even bother to look around. If it were him, he would have known that something was off immediately. That being said, he reminded himself that he shouldn't get too careless and continued carefully.
He first entered the room where a certain group of guards were supposed to be sleeping when they weren't on duty. Since most took the day shift and only three were still in the mansion for the night shift, two of the beds should be occupied. But only one of them was.
Where is the second one? Alaude asked himself. He left the room and began to wander through the first floor. Maybe he went to the bathroom, since it was still too early to relieve the first guard.
He didn't like it when things or people weren't where they should be but there was nothing he could do with his limited time. He'd just have to be extra careful.
Walking through the kitchen, then the corridors, and then through the dining room reminded Alaude of the days when he himself lived in this mansion as well as the annoyances that came with doing that.
He remembered the times when Lampo would come running out, narrowly escaping a collision with Alaude while being chased by G who was screaming out curses at their youngest member over a petty thing. Most of the time, G would shout at Alaude for not stopping the boy. Thus, Alaude and G would start a fight, causing Giotto to come running at full speed with Asari right behind him.
Alaude shook his head at the memory. To this day, they were still as stupid. He cleared his mind and took a good look around the dark dining room. Guided more by memory than by sight, he walked up the staircase and avoided all the little creaks and groans that would sound if he stepped on those spots too floor would be for any guests that happened to drop by.
Across the hall and up another staircase led him to even more rooms. The boss' room was Alaude's target and he would find it on the third floor. When he neared the top of the stairs, he stopped to listen.
The last time he came, Ricardo had a guard posted outside of his study to discourage any spies who tried to come in. Alaude had simply waited for a change of shift; he already dealt with the replacement by drugging him. Because of that, the current guard had to leave his post to find his replacement which was all the time Alaude needed to sneak into the room.
This time however, he didn't hear and scuffling or breathing. Knowing that something was wrong, Alaude cautiously looked down the hallway and glared at the vacant spot outside of the boss' study. Where the hell was the guard?
Looking both ways, Alaude emerged from the shadows casted by the lamps and made his way to the double doors for a closer look. The door was closed shut as it should be but he heard men speaking quietly to one another within. If they were the boss or any of the guardians doing honest work in the room, they would have lighted some candles to see better but he didn't see any flickering lights from beneath the door.
Alaude's eyes narrowed as he listened to the conversation.
"Check the desk."
"I already checked the desk. What about the cabinet?"
"Shut up, I'm working on it. These locks are hard to pick."
It seemed to Alaude that Ricardo had spies in his own house, acting as guards for the very thing they were ordered to spy on.
"There might be something behind the portrait."
"Why would there be something behind it? It's a stupid portrait. Anyone would look there first."
"Just shut your mouth and check."
"How?"
Alaude snorted silently. Idiots, he thought as he opened the door a crack and slipped through. He closed the door and locked it. They even forgot to lock the door once they got in. He was definitely not going to let them ruin his work.
Faster than either of the two spies could see, Alaude ran at them and knocked them both unconscious. He handcuffed them both and began his own search of Ricardo's study ten seconds after he entered the room.
The spies may have checked the cabinet, but they might have missed any false bottoms or secret cubby holes in the walls. These were found easily by Alaude, but the things held inside didn't hold his interest for more than a few minutes so he replaced them perfectly and moved on.
He noted down the current allies of the Vongola. He also noted down the missions that Ricardo sent his Guardians on from time to time. They were not pretty.
Daemon's missions consisted of finding the weakest links in the Vongola and eliminating them. With his help, the Vongola had become ruthless, as Alaude already knew. People were already speaking of the Vongola with fear in their voice, unlike the admiration and respect they spoke with when Giotto was still there.
After ten minutes, Alaude had finished his search and the two guards were waking up. He walked to them and knelt.
They mumbled under their breath and their eyelids flickered.
"Where am I?"
"What—uuhh…"
Alaude waited for them to see his silhouette in the faint glow the moon gave the room.
They both started and tried to stand and pull their arms apart but that just caused them to fall over each other.
"Who are you?" one of them whispered at Alaude.
Alaude said, "You will forget you saw me if you want to live. You were searching Vongola Secondo's room. Do you think that will go well with them when they find you here in the morning? Or even a few minutes, as Daemon might realise something is amiss."
The men paled and began to shiver at the thought of Daemon finding them here. He would kill them—no, he would probably torture them first.
"Y-Yes, we won't mention you at all!"
"…" Alaude removed the handcuffs and left.
The way these two men were talking to each other while they were supposed to be quiet was ridiculous. How did they last this long to become guards of the boss' room in the first place?
CEDEF is getting sloppy. Alaude's hands twitched to beat someone up as he left the grounds of his previous home yet again.
He walked on in silence passing the open bars and beggars who watched him like a hawk watches its prey. Not in the mood to fight his way out of a mugging, he gave them fierce glares and brought out his handcuffs to make them back off. When they saw the handcuffs they shrank back.
"Damn cop shouldn't be wanderin' 'round here!" one of them muttered as Alaude got out of earshot.
Alaude slammed his rented room's door shut and locked it. After examining the room to make sure no one had been in there during his absence, he dropped the suit's jacket on the bed and proceeded to undress but stopped when he felt a package poke him in the ribs. He pulled out the envelope Giotto had given him the night before he left.
Right. He still had one more stop to make. But he'd deal with that when the sun rises.
Namimori, Japan
"Are you sure about this, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked. Gokudera nodded enthusiastically.
"Hai, Juudaime! The first thing I'll have to do is find some hay, wood, about a hundred nails, and a hammer."
"…Where are you going to find wood to make a tree house?" Tsuna asked slowly.
"I'll just chop off a few trees."
Right, like that's going to work! Tsuna thought his friend had finally lost his mind. He took that back when he heard Gokudera's next words: "Oh…and I have to find some offerings for the nature spirits which means I'll need some sort of animal, some candles, wine…" Tsuna sweat dropped. He's long gone. No one can save him now.
"Ne, ne, Tsuna-nii, what are you talking about?" Ienari asked. Tsuna looked at the boy sitting next to him and sighed.
-Flashback-
"Hayato-kun, will you be staying with G?" Giotto asked when they entered the yard.
"No thanks," Gokudera said as soon as the words left Giotto's mouth.
"I'll kick him out the moment he steps through the door," G said right after. "I don't need him bothering my daughter."
Gokudera glares at him. "Who would want to go to your house anways?"
"Where will you sleep then?" Giotto inquired.
"I'll build a tree house!"
Tsuna, G, and Giotto gave him strange looks.
"Gokudera-kun…how are you going to build one?"
"Just find some materials and it'll be all good!"
"Have you made one before?" G asked sceptically.
"No, but I know the main idea and how one looks, so it'll be perfectly fine." Gokudera declared.
-Flashback End-
"A tree house…?" Ienari said with a frown. "How do you make a tree into a house?"
"N-No, that's not it," Tsuna said. "You make a house in a tree."
Ienari's mouth dropped open in amazement. "Hayato-nii can make a house in a tree!?"
"Yeah," Tsuna answered slowly. I hope so.
"Here you go!" Kiku said and gave the the food that was their lunch.
"Itadakimasu!" Gokudera and Tsuna said at the same time and dug in.
"Whatever it is, I'm leaving now," G said. "I'm leaving the file with Giotto so when you're ready, take it and study from it."
"Thank you, G-san," Tsuna said in between mouthfuls. Gokudera just grunted.
"Whatever. See you brats later. Ciao, Giotto."
"Hm—Ciao," Giotto said absentmindedly as he listened to his son ramble on about his day.
When Ienari finally ran out of breath, Giotto grinned and said, "So you had fun, I take it."
"Hai! A lot of fun! But Tsuna-nii and Hayato-nii went somewhere with Gokudera-ojisan all morning…" Ienari said with a pout.
"We can spend some time with you later, Ienari," Tsuna offered with when he heard the boy's complaint.
Ienari beamed widely and jumped up and down laughing. "Yay!" he cheered.
"I'll see you later then," Giotto said. Ienari nodded enthusiastically and hugged him tight.
"Hayato-kun," Giotto said.
"Yes, Primo?"
Giotto sighed inwardly at the name. "The loggers are in the market now. Supplies of wood should be easy to find."
Gokudera nodded his understanding.
"And that concludes my lunch break," Giotto muttered. "I'll be back later this evening." He waved good bye and left them.
He was surprised to find G waiting for him. "G is something the matter?"
"Walk and talk," was all he said and he began walking. Giotto shrugged and followed.
"Well, what is it?"
"They somehow know about Shimon."
"Why would they know about him and his family?"
"I don't know how they figured it out. Either they met the family in their time, or the Shimon Family stayed in the records."
Giotto spoke quietly. "Whatever the records are, they should all state that Cozart died."
"In any case, it shouldn't matter what they know," G said. "It's not our problem. Besides, you and Shimon are still communicating with each other. His family definitely knows that he's still alive and didn't die in the war." Which makes me wonder why Tsunayoshi asked me that question, G thought.
"What did you tell them so far?" Giotto asked.
"Just a brief description of what the family is. Although the little Vongola brat asked me if Shimon really died in that war."
"And you told him…?"
"Nothing. I threw the rock at you."
"Aaahh…" Giotto nodded understandingly and then he suddenly had G in a headlock. "Yeah, what was that about anyways?" he asked. "You almost killed me!"
G struggled and managed to grab Giotto's other arm. "Shut up! It was never going to hit you. I made sure of that."
"You still don't throw rocks at people with no warning."
"Giving no warning is the point." G grunted as he freed himself but not before Giotto dug one of his knuckles into G's head teasingly.
After their little scuffle, they moved on with G going home and Giotto going to the lord's castle.
Only when Giotto left did Tsuna remember something he wanted to ask. "Gokudera-kun, how do you plan to pay for all of that?!"
"All of what, Juudaime?" Gokudera asked.
"The-The stuff you're buying to make this tree house!"
Gokudera smiled nervously and flapped a hand. He then spoke in a very cheerful tone saying, "J-Juudaime, there's no need to worry! Everything will work out in the end!"
Tsuna stared at him with a deadpanned expression.
Ienari ran back in and stopped at the table. "Kaa-san says we have to go buy food."
Tsuna blinked. "Eh? O-Okay…?" Tsuna looked at Gokudera. What...does that have to do with us?
Ienari continued when he didn't receive a more impressive response from the older boy. "Kaa-san said that you should come with us. For…wood?" Ienari asked with a confused expression.
"O-Oh!" Tsuna's slow brain finally began to turn its gears. "Okay, we'll come with you."
Ienari smiled widely.
"Ienari! Have you told them?" Kiku called from another part of the house. "I'm leaving now!"
"Haaaaaaaaai!" Ienari said and ran for the door while pulling Tsuna behind him.
"Hiie!" Tsuna stumbled but caught himself before he fell and embarrassed himself.
"Come on," Ienari said and pulled until they were out of the house and onto the road. Kiku shook her head at her son but couldn't resist a smile.
"Don't pull people like that, Ienari. It's rude."
"Sorry!" Ienari didn't look sorry at all. "I love today!" he said and took his mother's hand and began skipping along.
"Wood, nails, hammer, candles, live animal…" Gokudera muttered to himself the list of things he had to find.
"You really don't have to worry about the nature spirits," Tsuna found himself saying.
"But Juudaime, don't you remember that time, in the mountains? One of them almost attacked us because we were intruding," Gokudera protested.
That—that was Dino-san's turtle!
"Can we get some apples?" Ienari asked.
"No, they are too expensive this time. Let's find something else," Kiku said and moved them along.
Tsuna and Gokudera were walking further along, looking for the man who was supposed to supply them with wood. Along the way, they encountered someone selling little charms, another woman standing next to a stall filled with cloth, a small eating house, and a noodle stand.
Tsuna heard Kiku and Ienari greeting their neighbours as they walked, but he didn't pay much attention to them since he was helping Gokudera look for the shops he needed.
"I think it's around here," Gokudera said. "Look! This might be the blacksmith."
"…We still don't have any money."
Then someone screamed.
"Please give that back!" someone else shouted.
Gokudera and Tsuna were instantly alert. They turned their heads to the sound of the cry and saw a teenage boy trying to reach for something a man held over his head. The man laughed.
He had black hair and a stubby beard with a muscular build and stood six feet tall. His hands were rough, showing signs of hard labour and his voice was deep and intimidating.
The boy on the other hand looked as though he'd never lifted a shovel in his life, if Tsuna was going by his lanky form and twig-like arms.
Tsuna looked around and saw that people were still going along on their own business despite the commotion.
It's probably a daily thing then, Tsuna thought and slowly began to inch away from the commotion. It was then that he noticed Ienari staring attentively at the teenager and the man, who were struggling over something rectangular.
"Maybe we should just move on," Gokudera mumbled. "It's none of our business. The dude can probably handle himself."
"Y-Yeah…you're right," Tsuna said hesitantly. He didn't want to get involved in another fight. Plus, there was no Reborn around to kick him (which would force him to land in front of the bullies), so he'd take his chances on walking away quietly…
"Stop that!" a young voice shouted. Tsuna turned around and gasped. Ienari was standing in front of the man with a defiant look on his face, feet spread apart and little hands fisted.
"Ienari!" Tsuna ran to the boy and pulled his arm. "What are you doing?" he whispered frantically.
Gokudera and Kiku were right behind him. He also noticed that a crowd was beginning to form.
Market bullies were always around and they were part of daily life, but a confrontation with a third party was something out of the ordinary. Adding to that, it came from a kid.
So what do people do? They gather around.
"He should give that back," Ienari said. "It's not his!"
"Just stay out of this, brat!"
Ienari flinched but stood as firm as any nine year old child could stand in front of such a huge man. "No, you don't take what isn't yours!"
Mou, why does he have to be so noble? Tsuna thought.
Just then, the teen stepped on the man's left foot and elbowed him in the stomach. The man grunted and struggled to keep a hold on the box which was what the teen wanted to take back.
The man pushed the teen violently into the vegetable stall.
The box slid on the ground away from them both.
"You kids are all alike. None of you respect those who should receive it! And then you, you filthy wench, you had to go and leave, huh!?"
Mutterings began in the crowd.
"The man's drunk."
"At this hour? Shameful."
"No wonder his wife left him."
"And he's hitting that poor boy. Where is his honour?"
"I'LL GET YOU THIS TIME, BRAT," the man roared, his eyes red with anger as he pulled something from within his sleeve. The crowd gasped and took a step back. It was a knife. In his other hand, he held a gun.
"Ienari, get back!" Tsuna shouted and pushed the boy behind him so he staggered towards his mother.
"Tsuna-nii!"
"Ienari!" Kiku clutched at her son and hugged him so he couldn't be a target. "Tsunayoshi-kun, Hayato-kun—please get away from that man!"
"He has a knife!"
"He's going to stab those boys!"
"What if he has more than just a knife and that western weapon?"
"He must be crazy on top of drunk!"
That was the final straw. The crowd began to go crazy and people ran in all directions.
"Damn you. Where did you get that gun?" Gokudera demanded as he stood next to Tsuna.
The man raised his head and laughed. "You can get anything from those stupid westerners as long as you have the money. That's why they came to Japan, isn't it? To sell their weapons! You have no idea how much harm this thing does!" He let out another laugh.
Tsuna activated his flames and was next to the man before he could take his next breath. He reached for the gun, planning on melting the barrel but he had to jump out of the way when the man tried to stab him.
When the man tried to swing again, Tsuna ducked and came up fast. He used his gloved right hand to hold onto the man's left hand, stopping the knife effectively. Then with his left hand he reached for the gun's barrel.
In that split second, Tsuna changed his grip and aimed to simply disarm the man. It wouldn't be good if people came around to ask questions on how a boy was able to melt metal with his hands. He didn't need to cause his ancestors any more trouble than he already has.
Tsuna twisted the other arm so the knife fell out of the right hand and then he stepped back. Gokudera was there instantly to push the man to the floor.
"You idiot! Did you really think you could beat him?" Gokudera sneered at him.
"Gerrof!"
"What's going on here?" a snappy voice demanded from behind. Gokudera turned his head and frowned. He guessed that the men who were running towards him were what they called enforcers during this time.
"He was trying to kill me!" the teen said as he recovered his box, which Tsuna now recognised as a board game. "He had a knife and that weapon! These two helped me." He pointed to Gokudera and Tsuna, who was now out of his Hyper Mode.
Tsuna rushed to Ienari and Kiku. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
"Yes, we're fine," Kiku breathed out as she watched the law enforcers drag the man away. "Thank you, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Tsuna looked embarrassed as he ducked his head and rubbed his neck. "Well…I had to do something, right?"
Kiku smiled and absentmindedly rubbed Ienari's shoulders. "Yes…it seems like I can be proud of you both."
"Eh?"
Kiku shook her head. "I'm just…chattering. I'm still nervous."
"Excuse me?"
Tsuna turned around and saw the lanky teen behind him with a shy smile. Gokudera was approaching with an angry look on his face.
"Thank you for helping," he said with a smile. "I want to repay you and your friend!"
Tsuna was taken aback. "You what? But it was nothing!"
"Juudaime, what does he want?" Gokudera asked.
"I will definitely repay you!" he said again.
Repay us? Gokudera thought. Che! What does he think he can give us that we need?
"My family is in charge of the construction work that goes around in Namimori! So if there's anything that you need fixing, just say that Kibori Hikaru owes you a favour."
Tsuna blinked. "Kibori?" he said and turned to Gokudera whisper, "Doesn't that sound familiar to you?"
"Maybe," Gokudera whispered back as he tried to remember why it sounded so familiar.
"Hai!" Hikaru said with a wide smile. He spread his arms and said grandly, "My family owns Nami-Kibori, the local builders' company!" He spun in a circle, arms still embracing the world with lights shining all around, and stopped in front of them again. "We come near and far to your homes to fix whatever you need!" he dropped his arms and gave them a thumbs-up with his free hand that wasn't holding the game board.
Tsuna and Gokudera sweat dropped. "…"
"…Okay." Tsuna blinked a few more times to get rid of the spots he was seeing. Nami-Kibori…?
Tsuna recalled seeing a building with that name on it somewhere in Namimori…except that the name was plastered on a skyscraper, not some little store he and Gokudera were now standing in front of.
"Speaking of which…I do need some wood," Gokudera said numbly.
"Wood? We have wood!" Hikari said. "What would you like to build?" he asked excitedly.
"Nothing," Gokudera snapped. "If you give me the wood for free with some nails and a hammer then your debt will be paid."
Ienari turned to his mother. "Kaa-san…"
"Hm?"
"I thought we had to pay for stuff."
"…The thing is, Ienari…" Kiku started to say. "Sometimes you don't."
"But when don't you need to?" He thought of another question right after that one left him. "But does that mean I don't need to pay too?"
Hayato-kun, why did you need to do this? I didn't expect to teach my son the morals of good behaviour this quickly. You're confusing him! Kiku had a vague image of her making the boy sit seiza-styled(1) for an entire night.
"No, you have to pay every time you buy something. Do not let Hayato-nii fool you into thinking you don't," Kiku said.
"But…"
"Ask your father that question when he comes home. He will explain it much better."
"Hai…"
Giotto was sitting behind a desk calculating the lord's accounts, thinking about the tree house that Gokudera planned on building.
Can he actually build a tree house? Giotto thought with concern. Will they even be alright? I don't want any accidents to happen while they try to build one.
Suddenly, one of his coworkers barged in.
"Hey, guess what? Something happened in the market just now!"
The others crowded around him.
"What happened?"
"There was this man picking on this young boy!"
The others groaned and began to get back to their stations. "That happens all the time."
"No, listen. It gets better. "This chibi comes in and demands that the man stop."
"What, some kid?" They laughed. "He better run to his mother quick before the man does something."
"That's the thing," the news bringer said.
Giotto's ears perked at the lowered tone.
"The man brought out a knife and one of those western weapons!"
"A gun?" Giotto stood up from his seat fast. Someone was armed with a gun in Namimori? Weren't Kiku and Ienari going to the market this afternoon? His blood chilled.
"Yeah, a gun—oh Sawada, I think that kid was your son. He has blond hair and golden eyes right? Looked just like you, the kid did."
Giotto didn't stay to listen to the rest of the sentence. He ran out the door quicker than they've ever seen him run.
"Wait Sawada, he's safe…well he ran fast," the man said. "He didn't even stay for the good part."
Giotto's coworkers hit the man over the head. "Idiot! You just told him that his son was facing a man with a blade, of course he'd run!"
"But he's safe! There were these two young men who stopped it. The one with brown hair actually fought him! I saw the fight with my own two eyes."
"Hey, you three—get back to work!"
"Hai," they chorused.
No, no, no, no, Giotto thought as he ran. Please no. I would've known if something happened. No, no, no, no…where are they? He ran on, worried thoughts running through his head. His last moments with his wife and son were so brief. If those were the last things he said to them, he wouldn't know what he'd do.
He ran through the market looking for any sign of them anxiously. He grabbed at someone he recognised.
"My wife and son, have you seen them?" he demanded.
The man nodded vigorously. "There was a bit of trouble just now, but I think they left to go home—"
"Thanks," Giotto said as he ran. He dodged his neighbours and almost crashed into a few stalls but was saved by his reflexes.
The boys are with them, so they should be fine, right? They are from the future. Surely they have a few things up on their sleeves. Barely out of breath, Giotto rounded a corner and approached the houses. I don't know how well they fight, but they should be able to fend off one man. Two against one are good odds, he reasoned with himself as he approached his home.
"Kiku?" he called out as he entered. "Ienari?"
Running footsteps came from the back of the house. He let out a breath when he saw something blond hurdle itself towards him.
"Ienari!"
"Tou-chan is home early," Ienari said with a giggle. Giotto knelt to hug him so tightly that he squeaked.
"How are you, Ienari?"
"Good! Tou-chan, I stopped a bad guy in the market today!"
"Y-Yeah? How did you do it?" Giotto asked as he picked his son up.
"I told him to stop! And then he stopped. But he took out a knife and something black. Then Tsuna-nii told me to get back. Then he went VOOM! And BOOM! And AAH! The man was on the floor. Then Hayato-nii was sitting on him."
Giotto's mouth twitched at his son's sound effects and awesome gestures.
"I'm just glad you're safe."
"Why wouldn't I be safe, Tou-chan? Tsuna-nii was there."
"Yes, it's a good thing they were there. Where are they now?"
"They are in the forest. Said I couldn't go. Kaa-san wanted me to work on my mulipicashun."
"And where is kaa-san?"
"My room!"
"Let's go there then! But I want to speak with Tsunayoshi-kun and Hayato-kun."
"Okay."
Giotto found his wife and was relieved to see that she was alright too, even though he was certain that nothing bad happened to either of them.
"I heard what happened in the market," Giotto said to explain his presence.
Kiku nodded grimly. "That man had a gun on him. He scared me witless and I just stood there until Tsunayoshi-kun pushed Ienari out of the way."
"Seems like I owe the boy quite a few favours," Giotto said with a chuckle. "Could you tell me where they are?"
"They are in the forest building that tree house. I told Hayato-kun that he didn't need to, but he insisted."
"Where in the forest are they?" Giotto asked curiously.
"You can't miss them; they are so loud the wildlife has been scared off for the time being."
Giotto raised his brows. "Well that explains the noise I've been hearing," he said as he left.
"That guy was about to tell us something," Gokudera said as he hammered away. Tsuna passed him another piece of wood.
"He gave me this look," Tsuna said. "It was like he was hiding something, or I asked a question that he couldn't answer."
Gokudera paused and looked at Tsuna. "What did you ask, Juudaime?"
Tsuna scratched his head. "Actually, I was answering G's question. I told him I heard from Reborn that Shimon Primo was killed in the war. That is what Adelheid told us, right?"
Gokudera nodded and went back to building the floor of his tree house. "So the answer is whether he really died in that war. If he did, then that woman was right. If he didn't, then that means Vongola Primo didn't use his friend as bait which means Vongola Primo isn't the bad guy."
Tsuna nodded in agreement.
"Or," Gokudera continued as he hammered the nail home. Tsuna panicked. Or? Or what? There is no 'or'!
"Or, Shimon Primo didn't die in the war—not because Vongola Primo helped him out of the mess, but because he was strong enough to get out of it himself. That might mean that Vongola Primo really did use him as bait. If that's what happened, then it's possible that Shimon Primo bears a grudge against Vongola Primo, causing him to tell his descendants that Vongola is Shimon's enemy." Gokudera hammered the final nail for the floor and let the hammer drop to the ground.
"That doesn't sound likely, Gokudera-kun."
"Hai, Juudaime. But it's possible. Otherwise, how else did that idiot Enma come up with that story?"
"But Vongola Primo would never betray his friend!" Tsuna insisted. Gokudera faltered in his reasoning, doubting himself because of his boss' belief in the first boss.
"That's…very true, Juudaime. Primo doesn't seem to be that type of sneaky person."
"But we still don't have any proof. Even if Primo tells us everything, Enma-kun won't believe us."
"I'm sure Juudaime will find a way to convince him!" Gokudera said with stars in his eyes.
"U-Un…" Tsuna tried to smile. For some reason, I don't have that confidence in myself... "I wonder what everyone else is doing. It's the third day since I've been here. Chrome is still kidnapped. Yamamoto…I don't even know how he's doing."
There was a moment of silence as the two of them became lost in their own thoughts. Tsuna wondered for the umpteenth time if Yamamoto would be in the hospital if it weren't for him. What made Yamamoto want to follow him anyways? It was all a crazy mess to begin with. And what would Mukuro do to him if Chrome got hurt? He didn't even want to think about it.
How are they treating Chrome? Are they being nice to her? I hope they just leave her alone. Why did they kidnap her in the first place—to give us a reason to follow them?
Tsuna wondered if they would actually follow Enma if they didn't take Chrome. Other than Chrome, they didn't have anything of his. Except…he couldn't just let them get away with what they did to Yamamoto. And how can he live on knowing that there was a super big misunderstanding between them all? No, they definitely needed to clear this stupid mess.
Gokudera was the one to break the silence.
"The Shimon and Vongola were supposed to be as close as brothers, right?" he asked.
Tsuna snapped out of his brooding. "Uh…yeah that's right."
Gokudera crossed his arms. "Then there's even less of a possibility for them to hate each other!"
"But then how did the rumour get handed down so many generations?" Tsuna muttered with a groan. He pulled his hair with both his hands as if that could help him come up with an answer.
Gokudera had a troubled expression on his face. "Whatever it is, you have to be careful, Juudaime. That Kozato Enma is hell bent on getting revenge on the Vongola."
Tsuna nodded with a sad look in his eyes but tensed when he saw Gokudera staring in horror at something behind his boss. "Gokudera-kun?"
Then Tsuna heard the leaves crackle with the weight of someone stepping on them. He turned to see who had come…to see who could put that look in his friend's eyes.
There Giotto stood with cool shock marking every feature of his face.
P-Primo! Tsuna dropped the piece of wood he was holding to the ground.
…Not this again, Primo thought dully as he experienced a moment of déjà vu. Why do I always walk in at the most distressing times, to find something that I believed was impossible…to actually occur?
"H-How much did you hear?" his descendant asked hesitantly.
How much did I hear? Giotto thought. Oh, I heard enough to be thoroughly freaked out about what the future holds for my family. I heard about how the Shimon Family is trying to get revenge against the Vongola Family—my family. What else do I need to know? That we're basically enemies in the future? This must be a joke.
"I heard enough," Giotto heard himself say faintly.
What happened to the oath that Cozart and I swore right after the battle? What happened to our families being close friends forever, with the Shimon always there to back up the Vongola? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?
"I want you to tell me everything," Giotto said in a soft, dangerous voice. "I am in no mood for more excuses, nor am I patient at the moment."
As Tsuna and Gokudera tripped over their own words to spill everything, Giotto did his best to collect himself while he listened.
Did I really say that? Giotto wondered. That didn't sound like me at all. I don't think I've ever said that to anyone before.
Giotto listened as they told him about Kozato Enma, the tenth boss of the Shimon Family and his six Guardians.
He listened as his descendant told them about how they became friends, and then how one of Tsuna's friends and Guardian was attacked after baseball practice. It was possible that he might never lift another bat in his life.
He listened as they told him about Shimon's attack during the inheritance ceremony. Enma and his Guardians were the ones who gave Tsunayoshi and Hayato those injuries.
He listened and learned that one of them even kidnapped their Mist Guardian, while she was unconscious from the fight. None of them were able to lift a finger to fight back, thanks to the blood of Shimon Cozart…called sin that was used on the Shimon rings of the Earth.
And that was when, Tsunayoshi said, he was transported to the past. Right outside of Vongola Primo's doorstep.
Tsuna and Gokudera gave each other worried looks when they finished talking. Giotto hadn't said a word throughout the explanation and his expression didn't change a bit. What did he think of the whole thing?
Is he going to tell us what really happened? Tsuna thought. That was the main question that was running through his head over and over again.
They turned to watch Giotto carefully.
Giotto's mind was blank. He just didn't know what to think of this. It was…
"P-Primo, where are you going?" Tsuna asked worriedly when Giotto turned his back to them.
Giotto shook his head. "I need some time alone," he murmured so quietly he wasn't sure if they heard him or not.
A/N: (1) Seiza is a traditional sitting position that is pretty painful or numbing for those who aren't used to it. If you were to sit in that position for an entire night…well I think you get my meaning. For more info visit your best friend, Google.
Anonymous Reviewers:
- Hello: I bet you're half happy with this chapter…Tsuna spilled the beans but we don't see Giotto's reaction…
- Great: I don't think I'll be mentioning the wake-up method, sorry. As for whether they'll still be there when Alaude comes back…you'll just have to wait and see. :D
-LLM
Uploaded 2013-08-28th
Edited 2013-08-29th
