Title: The Unlikely Duo
Summary: No one ever thought that the shy, easily-scared, five-year old Sawada Tsunayoshi and the aloof, very scary, six-year old Hibari Kyoya could become friends—much less best friends. It was such an unlikely pair after all, a really unexpected duo. But to everyone's surprise, they still did, eventually.
Warnings: OCs, since they're kids and almost (or more than?) half of the crew is from Italy or is not from Japan, and of course, OOCness—but hey, since they're still young and all, their personalities have to yet develop to that of we know (that's what I would argue anyway).
[Updated 11/3/15: Fixed some grammar mistakes.]
... .. .
Chapter 9: The extreme treasure hunt!
"Are you sure this is it?" Ryohei asked as he looked up at the tall tree in front of him.
"I'm positive!" Kyoko replied.
"Hmm..." Ryohei stared at the tree again, his two fists on either side of his waist, still half-convinced. It was now the start of their extreme treasure hunt, with a morning sun still leisurely climbing the highest point to the sky, while the four of them had their eyes stare up in wonder and amazement at the very tall tree, to which the first clue had riddlingly hinted:
"The tallest of them all;
Sometimes it's green, sometimes it's red.
But it's brown all the time."
The quartet didn't have to think for long to get the answer—Kyoko immediately deduced it as the tallest tree in the park. When the three boys questioned her how she knew, the only girl happily answered, "You see, a tree's leaves are green during spring, and then red at fall. But a tree is also brown all the time because that's the colour of its trunk, which doesn't change. Since the first line said the tallest among everyone, then it must be the tallest tree here in the park."
"Well, it's better than nothing!" Ryohei exclaimed before he finally climbed the tall tree, with shouts of "Be careful!" and "Don't fall down!" heard from the three below.
Ryohei climbed and climbed, his hands and feet getting tired from the physical exertion. I wonder where it is? He asked himself when he was halfway up. He then paused to rest his tired muscles, when he noticed something at the corner of his eye. A hole. A small hole that was most probably the home of a squirrel or some small bird. Moving closer, Ryohei stretched out his left arm and rummaged inside it, and after just a few seconds, his hand finally clasped what felt like an envelope.
"I found something!"
Ryohei climbed down as fast as he could with the envelope clamped between his lips. When he was safely on the ground, he opened the closed envelope in front of the others, revealing the second strangely cut piece of paper—the second part of the map, and the clue to the third one. Everyone cheered excitedly. Kyoko then hid the second piece, along with the first one, in her small bag for safekeeping.
Ryohei then read the second clue:
"Small as they are,
It's hard to see each one.
But together in a box,
I can play with everyone."
This time the four stopped to think.
"A box of really small marbles?"
"Some kind of bugs?"
"Maybe water?"
"Fish?"
"Tuna."
"..."
"It's sand! The sandbox!" It was Takeshi who answered. "It's hard to see each grain of sand, but when they're together, like in the sandbox, then we can see and play with them all!" he explained before everyone ran for the aforementioned box. The four were then immediately down on their knees as they began to dig with their hands for the next clue.
And after delving many holes and spending a good half hour on the box, Tsuna finally found the next clue buried deep in a corner. He then gave the third piece of the map to Kyoko, and the next clue to Ryohei.
"Littered around the park,
You always sit on it;
But had you ever looked under it?"
It was obvious what "it" was—a bench. The only problem was that there were dozens scattered around the park, and Namimori Park was rather large. But the four wouldn't easily give up. Still determined to find the treasures, they split up in four different directions and started their search—
—which was long, hard, and hot, what with the sun now high up happily and almost scorchingly in the sky. Sweat continuously tickled down the quartet's necks as each of them looked for the fourth piece, and it wasn't until an hour after noon when Kyoko finally found it underneath a really old bench. For another half hour she searched for the others. When they were all together again, the next clue was read:
"Look for the stray dog with a collar.
Tame it and you will find the next clue,
Anger it and you will never do."
They now all looked at each other.
"There's a dog that lives here?"
... .. .
Author's rambling: Do please ignore the Tuna part. I couldn't restrain myself and finally placed it there :D
Ciao.