I'm sooo sorry. I know, it's been almost 2 months since I last updated. I had a lack of inspiration and time for quite a while, and I finally typed up this chapter yesterday and today. It's pretty short, yes, but I think the plot is actually starting to move forward. :D... And, well, this is kind of Ryohei. Not too much. (If you look at the chapter title, you may pick something up.)
Longer author note to be continued at the end. It's a happier chapter. Sorry, please enjoy!
Chapter 8: Before Dawn
"UNCLE!"
Ryohei burst into Knuckle's room, and the priest stared at him for a moment with something akin to shock before speaking.
"Good morning, Ryohei. Is there something you need?" he asked, adjusting his red scarf and brushing off his clothes.
The young boxer checked himself, or at least tried. He still yelled, "We have to go down now, Uncle! It's extremely today!"
"Yes, yes, I know, Ryohei!" Knuckle replied with a kind-hearted chuckle. "I was just getting ready. I'm coming now."
"Nraaaaah! I can't wait anymore! I'm going first!"
The boy ran out the door as loudly as he had entered. Knuckle smiled and sighed a bit.
"You kids have so much energy, I can't keep up anymore! Haha… when did we all get so old?"
xxx
The children, accompanied by Knuckle, Giotto, and Elena, waited in stiff anticipation on the front steps of their home. Mukuro and Kyoya were passive, leaning back and seemingly indifferent. Chrome was smiling timidly but joyfully and holding her older brother's hand, though, and he had to make an attempt to act excited.
Ryohei could hardly contain himself. He made Tsuna, who was sitting on the steps next to him, feel quite uncomfortable. But the brunette understood, and he said nothing about it. They were all excited, anyway.
It was when they heard a cry, a familiar voice ring across the empty street, that the boxer sprung up without restraint and grinned from ear to ear.
"Brother, Uncle!"
"KYOKO!" he roared.
They saw a flash of orange, and it was no doubt their cousin and his younger sister. Tsuna stood up as well, his eyes bright, and Hayato followed his boss. Takeshi laughed as always and Kyoya allowed himself a rare grin before closing his eyes.
The two siblings embraced in utter joy, and the other children (save Kyoya) crowded around them as well. At first Chrome hesitated, but a prod from her kind, smiling mother made her smile back and join them.
"Brother!" Kyoko was meanwhile saying. "I missed you so much!"
"We missed you, too, Kyoko!" Ryohei replied with laughter. "We missed you too!"
Knuckle had joined them, being their uncle after all, and Giotto and Elena watched happily from the side. "It's been so long since they've been so happy," Elena said softly, and Giotto agreed with a nod.
The blonde man glanced towards the sidewalk, past the large group, at the two other visitors. One was a middle-aged woman, reasonably older than Giotto and his guardians, with short blue hair, a white dress, and a peculiar mark under her right eye. At her side was a small girl around the age of five or six, and her face almost mirrored the woman's, though she had no markings.
Giotto smiled and said, "Good morning, Luce. And Uni, too."
Uni bowed a bit and beamed up at him.
"Good morning, Giotto-san!"
He chuckled. "You're a very polite girl, Uni. If you'd like, though, you could just call me Uncle Giotto. All of the kids say that."
The girl nodded happily, smiling in the bright way she always did. It made him smile wider, yet still feeling a bit melancholic.
"Luce," he continued, "How can I ever thank you enough? Not just for Kyoko. If you weren't there to help us so many times…"
Luce shook her head and looked gently at him. "There's no need for such gratitude, Giotto. It's natural to help a friend in need, isn't it? It's not as if your Family hasn't supported us before, either. And besides…"
"Grandma Luce!" Tsuna cried out, waving this small hands in the air. "Grandma Luce, is Kyoko going to be staying here? Is she going to be staying here from now on?"
Giotto glanced at his son, then at Kyoko, and back at Luce. He thought that she looked unsure. "It's fine," he told her. "Kyoko is our responsibility in the first place. There's no need to worry, Luce."
The woman smiled and, after a moment of though, gave her consent. Ryohei broke out into another cheer, and the children started to chatter loudly amongst themselves again. In the noise, Giotto saw Uni reach and tug her grandmother's arm gently, and say something to her that he couldn't hear. There was a look of surprise in Luce's eyes and something else in Uni's that piqued his Hyper Intuition. When Luce looked up at him, she asked him something he did not expect in the least.
"Giotto… Would it be alright with you if Uni stayed with your family for a night?"
The blonde blinked. "Sure," was all he could think of saying. "Why not? I'm sure Tsuna and the others would be happy, too. And, if you're not busy today, Luce, you can stay as well."
She laughed. "I suppose I'll stay until dinner, then. Thank you, Giotto."
"No, it's the least we can do."
The adults watched the children play and shout. Tsuna was holding Uni's hand and laughing, and his two closest friends were right by him. Kyoko and Chrome were hugging while their older brothers and Knuckle watched, either loudly or quietly. Kyoya had already disappeared into the house, perhaps because the crowd had gotten to big and noisy and he hated crowding.
It was as if they had forgotten, forgotten that there was a time when none of them ever thought they could ever smile again, let alone laugh and play. But of course Giotto knew better. He was the boss, the leader of the Family, and he knew them well enough.
For a moment, he thought he saw Uni staring at him. He thought he saw something in her innocent blue eyes again. But when he looked over, she was laughing with Tsuna and the others and nothing had changed.
"Alright, everyone. Let's go inside, okay? We might disturb somebody if we're this loud out here."
They rushed in, still excited about the whole thing. As he stood by the door, Knuckle smiled gratefully at him. Chrome passed with a quiet thanks to him for holding the door, and Mukuro nodded in respect. Luce entered last, shaking his hand for the first time that day, then following the others in.
Giotto took a last look outside at the now empty sidewalk and bright cloudless sky and closed the door behind him.
I don't know... personally, I think it's a bit jumbled, maybe.(Yes, again, I'm sorry for not being active at all this past month or so. All I've been doing is reading fanfics.)
In any case...
Arcobaleno. Yes, Luce is (or was, I guess) still an Arcobaleno, kind of. The Arco in this verse are not babies. They're just a sort of group of 7 strong people related to the mafia in some way. Their relation to this story is still somewhat undecided... but please don't go looking forward to Fon and Skull randomly popping up sometime in the near future.
The plot seems to be moving pretty slowly, I know. I mean... thus far, there really isn't all that much of a plot, I guess. Sorry. But slow not just because I update slow (uwaaah...) but I'm sure most of you know what I mean. I'm still going to go through with Ryohei, Lambo, etc... up to Tsuna. Because he's last. (I know some of you want some more attention to Tsuna and Giotto. I understand what you mean... I just like to give all characters their due attention. In this chapter and others, though, I will try to add them in more. Thank you!)
And also, sorry... I know I haven't exactly been replying to any reviews. I kinda... well... Anyway, I will try my best from now on. Please don't expect 1 sentence reviews to be replied to, unless it's a direct question. I'm here, now, anyway!
Finally, of course, please REVIEW! I mean, I've been a bad author and all, but please, reviews really do make authors happy! Yes, very very much so. So please tell me what you think, likes/dislikes, encouragement, flames, anything! Thanks for reading, stay tuned!
