Author's note: Hi, everyone! Looky here! Another chapter! ^_^ I hope this one is a lot more entertaining than the last. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I haven't owned Katekyo Hitman Reborn for the last nine chapters; I still don't now.
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Chapter ten: Wani's Swimming Pool~Part two
"Bye, Mama!" Takeshi waved happily to the brunette woman, who was leaving her little sons behind to have their first swim class.
"Oh yeah, see you later." Hayato said in a distracted tone, his eyes fixed on the glass doors leading to the pools.
'Take me with you!' Tsuna wanted to scream. But that seemed silly when he had his two brothers next to him. So he tried for a smile and just waved, squeezing Hayato's hand for reassurance.
"See you later, boys! Have fun!"
Together with the other three children, the Vongola boys were led to another set of glass doors, situated at the end of the waiting room. As the tinted doors were pushed open, Tsuna could hear all of the children (including himself) gasp.
Outside the building was a large expanse of land, completely surrounded by towering trees. Six crystal clear pools, all of different depths and shapes, were situated in the strange, smooth, grey ground.
"Here it is, my little students!" Rosie said, holding her arms out for emphasis. "By your open mouths, I'd say you're pretty impressed."
"Yes!" Most of the children exclaimed at once. A sudden chatter began, as all the kids wanted their opinion heard.
"The water's so clear!" A blond haired girl squealed.
"Look at that pool, Kumi!" Her brother spoke, pointing to one of the swimming holes. "It's shaped like a turtle!"
"And that one's a cat!" A little brunette shouted, her long brown ponytail bobbing up and down as she bounced excitedly in place.
"Look, Takeshi! Tsuna-sama!" Hayato pointed. "That one's a bird!"
"I don't want to see." Tsuna mumbled miserably, covering his eyes with his hands.
"That's right." Ichihiro smiled kindly. "All the pools are shaped after certain animals and have a different depth."
"What's a depth?" The brown haired girl asked.
"Not 'a depth'. Depth is how deep something is." Hayato corrected, patronizingly. The little girl glared.
"Thank you, Hayato." Ichihiro patted the grey head. "Now, the deepest pool is the bird, or dove, to be more specific. But we won't use that one for quite sometime."
"For now, we'll just be using the turtle shaped pool." Rosie finished. "It's not too deep, so it's perfect for you kids to learn swimming in. But let's first introduce ourselves, hm? Let's all say our names and ages."
All the little children chirped their agreement. The little blond siblings went first.
"My name's Ookami and this is my sister, Kumo." The boy explained.
"We're twins and always do everything together~!" Kumo sang. "Oh, and we're six!"
"My name's Takeshi!" Takeshi beamed at everyone. "I'm five!"
"Hayato..." Hayato mumbled, suddenly uncomfortably with all the eyes on him. He tried to hide his uneasiness with a scowl. "I'm four."
"Miura Haru!" The girl smiled and bowed elegantly. "I'm four years old right now! It's a pleasure to meet all of you!"
"What a little lady!" Rosie laughed kindly, clapping at the four year old's introduction.
Hayato and Tsuna looked at each other and shrugged. "I think she's just weird." The Italian whispered. Tsuna nodded.
"My name's Tsunayoshi, but Tsuna's fine. And I'm four, too."
"That's my father, Wani-san. And everyone knows me," Rosie finished up. "And lady's don't need to give away their age. So let's just get started! I'm going to split you children up in to groups of two, each. That way we all have somebody with us at all times, okay? So, how about... Kumo and Ookami stick together. Takashi and little Tsunayoshi. And then Hayato and Haru! Okay?"
The twins and Vongola brothers smiled at this arrangement, but Hayato shouted, "That's not fair! Why do I have to get stuck with this girl?"
Haru's mouth dropped in astonished anger. "Hahi?! Well, Haru doesn't want to be with a big meanie, either!"
"Good!"
"Fine!"
"Better!"
"Wait a minute!" Rosie called a time out. "What's wrong with you two? You only just met each other and you're already fighting? Hayato, why can't you be with Haru-chan?"
"'Cause I don't want to!" The little boy huffed. He couldn't tell her that he was afraid of the little brunette. Through all the excitement of the day, Hayato hadn't thought about that he would be forced to meet with other people. Memories of his time at the orphanage and at Nai's house surfaced, causing him to shiver.
Hayato covered up the tremble by rubbing his arms and pretending to look cold, but Takeshi noticed. He, too, was thinking of the past and the effects it had tolled on his brother. He opened his mouth to say he would be Haru's partner when a little voice beside him beat him to it.
"I'll go with Haru." Tsuna volunteered, raising his hand like in a class room.
Hayato looked at the brunette, clearly seeing the comforting message the younger boy was trying to convey. 'It's alright. No one will hurt you here.' Hayato let his arms drop. He didn't feel cold anymore.
Rosie turned to Tsuna. "Thank you, Tsuna. That's very nice and I hope Hayato and Haru will remember how nice you are being." The instructor said pointedly.
The two children lowered their heads, embarrassed. "We're sorry..."
"That's okay, I just hope you guys can get along better in the future. Now, everyone take your partner and sit next to each other on the different stickers beside the turtle pool. Be very careful while walking, okay? The floor is slippery."
Rosie pointed to the smallest pool, where the children could see three different colored stickers at the head and flippers of the "turtle". Hayato and Takeshi took the left flipper, while the blond twins took the right. Tsuna and Haru made their way slowly to the head.
"Okay!" Rosie called loudly so she was heard by all the children. "I'm going to get in first, and then each of you will take turns coming in. I'll help you to make sure you-" The young woman was interrupted by a loud and quick banging on the glass doors. "What on earth... I'm sorry, kids! Just sit tight and I'll chase away this guy." Rosie walked off quickly, slightly worried about the meaning for this unexpected visit.
The children sat patiently, letting their bare feet dangle in the cool water. The twin's laughter echoed quietly in the room, while Hayato and Takeshi played I-Spy. Tsuna and Haru just sat in awkward silence.
Two minutes passed. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Where was Rosie?
"Hey?" A sudden voice beside Tsuna asked. The brunette looked at Haru, who played nervously with her yellow bathing suit's skirt. "I'm sorry about calling your brother a meanie. Please don't be angry."
"Huh? I'm not angry!" Tsuna said, surprised.
"Really? Then how come you're not talking to me?"
"W-what?"
"You were being real quiet!"
"Oh... well that's just because I'm-"
"You know that's rude!"
Tsuna stopped short. He looked incredulously at the little girl waving her finger in his face. "What?!" He demanded.
"It's rude to ignore people!" Haru repeated.
"But-! You weren't saying anything either!"
"That's because I thought you might be angry with me."
"So?"
"So, it would have been awkward for me to start a conversation with a person who might be angry at me."
"But I wasn't mad!"
"How was I supposed to know that?"
"You could've asked!"
"But what if you were mad at me? That would have been weird!"
"But I wasn't!"
"But what if you were?"
"But I wasn't!"
"But what if you were?!"
"But. I. WASN'T!"
"But what if-"
"Oh stop it! Now you're being rude!" Tsuna huffed, crossing his arms and turning away from the girl. He wasn't entirely sure what "rude" meant, but it must have been mean because of the way Haru's face was contorting.
"Rude? Me? RUDE? You dare to call me rude!? You mean, terrible, ill-behavied, terrible terrible little boy!" Haru screamed indignantly.
Tsuna covered his ears. "I can't hear you!" "Ugh!" Haru suddenly jumped up. "I'm telling Rose-chan what you-" But she never finished.
Haru had turned too fast and had slipped on the wet floor. She fell backwards while Tsuna watched in horror as she fell into the pool.
"Help!" Haru flailed her arms about widely, screeching and holloring at the top of her lungs. Tsuna jumped up, just as the other children reached them.
"What happened?" Takeshi asked quickly.
"We have to help her!" Ookami said, bending down and reaching out to the panicking girl.
"We don't reach!" Kumo cried, clutching her hands tightly together.
"We need Rosie-chan!" Hayato said, racing off towards the glass doors, Takeshi and Kumo close behind him.
"Help! Please help!" Haru cried out.
"They won't make it in time." Ookami whispered quietly, like he heard them do in Batman.
"But, they have to!" Tsuna exclaimed, a huge amount of guilt suddenly weighing heavily on his little heart. 'But what if they don't?' He asked himself.
"Oh... help!" Haru gurgled.
'What if they take too long?'
"Pl-please! Someone! Save... me...!"
'Someone... needs to help her!'
Tsuna knew what he had to do. He quickly pushed Ookami out of the way.
"H-hey! What are you do-"
And jumped into the water.
"Tsuna!" The blond boy cried.
But Tsuna didn't hear him. Time seemed to slow down for the little Japanese boy. He seemed to just float above the water for a few minutes, like a lily pad on a pond, before he gently felt the cool waves flowing over his body. He thought he felt his feet touch solid ground for a moment, but decided it was only his imagination. He perpeled himself off of some unknown surface, straight towards the drowning girl.
Tears ran down Haru's pale face, mixing with the chemical filled pool water dripping from her now lose and tangled hair. For just a second, her eyes opened and she stared right into the face of Tsuna. Her wet bangs framed her beautiful, hazel, squinting pupils.
Then Tsuna caught her. He held her effortlessly, in a style he had once seen his dad use on his mom. One arm under her legs, the other cradling her head.
"I'm sorry for being rude." He mumbled, before throwing her asside like a sack of potatoes, where Ookami could pull her to safety.
Haru turned to him and screamed, "I won't go without you!" And tried frantically to catch his hand.
But Tsuna only shock his head. "Go on... with out me..." He whispered as he fell into the waves.
"Tsuna!"
"Tsuna!"
"Tsuna-sama!"
"Tsuna! The water's only three feet deep! Your feet should reach the bottom!"
Tsuna blinked. Life returned to normal speed. No longer was he a dramatic hero trying to save his woman at the cost of his life, but he was just four year old Tsuna, sitting at the bottom of a children's pool.
Tsuna planted his feet firmly on the bottom and straightened his whole body until his head shot up out of the water. After gasping for breath for a few moments, he noticed (slightly embarrassed) that the water only reached up to his neck.
"O-opps... sorry." He grinned sheepishly.
Rosie sighed heavily with relief. "Oh, Tsuna! Thank goodness you're okay!" She pulled the little boy out of the water and nearly crushed him in an embrace.
"C-can't... breath... again...!" The little hero gasped.
"Oh! Sorry." She put him down. "Oh, Tsuna-kun! You were just amazing! Saving Haru like that!"
"You saw?" Tsuna asked.
"Yes! You are Haru's hero, you know! Oh, I might not have made it in time if you hadn't jumped in." She again began to suffocate him in a hug.
"Hurray for Tsunayoshi-sama!" Hayato cheered.
"Hurray!" Everyone echoed.
Haru ran up to the boy, her eyes still red from crying and the water. "Oh... Tsuna-san..." She whimpered. She suddenly threw her arms around him and screamed, "You're my Kyuuseishu!"
"W-what?!" Tsuna asked, as the girl hugged him. "Please get off!" He tried to push Haru off, but she just smiled and kept him in an embrace. "Help! Someone!"
"Father!" Rosie hissed angrily at her father. "You were right there! Why didn't you help Haru?"
Ichihiro put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulders. "Because then Tsunayoshi wouldn't have learned not to be afraid of the water."
"What?"
"I knew Tsunayoshi wouldn't let the girl drown, and would eventually jump in to save her. And if he needed help, I was right here."
Rosie was silent for a while. But she soon smiled and hugged Ichigiro. "Well, your parenting skills leave a lot to be desired, but it's no wonder my grandparents put 'hiro' at the end of your name."
The older man laughed and directed his daughters gaze to the group of children. Rosie chuckled.
"Get off Tsunayoshi-sama!" Hayato demeaned as he grabbed Haru's legs and tried to separate her from Tsuna.
"Come on, Haru-chan!" Takeshi grunted, trying to loosen the girl's grip around his brother's neck.
"H-help!" Tsuna choked out.
"Looks like Tsunayoshi has a fan!" Rosie laughed.
•••
"Ugh..." Hayato, Takeshi and Tsuna groaned as they left their swim class. Going through complete terror, saving a girl from drowning and then learning how to float really took it out of a kid.
All the boys brightened when they caught sight of their mother. "Mama!"
Nana turn and opened her arms to catch the three children who barreled into her embrace. "Hello, Tsu-kun! Takeshi, dear! Hayato! Is that a black 'n blue?"
"Yeah, but I'm fine, Mom!" Hayato smiled.
"Well, that's good! Did you have fun?"
"Um... sure!"
"Uh, yes?"
"It was... fine."
"Excellent! Now, I want to introduce you to a friend of my from when I was a young girl in high school! Meet Miura Mina!" Nana gestered to a young woman around her own age. The woman was petite and pretty, with shoulder length, reddish-brown hair and very red lipstick.
Mina bent down to look at the boys. "Hello, Tsunayoshi, Takeshi, Hayato! I have a girl just your age, you know. Would you like to come over to my house and play with her why I catch up on old times with your mom?"
"Oh yes!" Tsuna smiled, speaking for his brothers.
"What's the girl's na-"
"Mama!"
All three of the boys froze.
'No, please no!'
'Why? Why?!'
'Oh dear...'
"Mama!" Haru skipped over and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. She turned and noticed the horror stricken boys. "Oh Mama! You've met Tsuna-san and Takeshi-kun!" She discreetly stuck her tongue out at Hayato.
"Yes! And they're coming over to play with you after they have their bathes at home!"
"Really?" Haru ran over and gave Tsuna another bone-crushing hug. "Yay! Tsuna-san wanted to come over so he could see me!"
Tsuna sighed heavily. "Mama? Can we take another swimming lesson? Like, right NOW?"
•••
I hope I made some HaruxTsuna lover very happy with this chapter! :) By the way, that reference to Hayato's social problems will explain his personality later, so I needed to fit that in. Hope it wasn't too awkward. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you tell me what you think in a small review! ^_^
Quick thing: I want to write a Christmas one-shot involving one of the Vongola couples that I like best. But, I'm not sure which couple to write it for. I'll be posting a poll about it on my profile, so please check it out! Before you vote though, three things:
One: I already have an idea for a two-shot between Kyoko and Tsuna, that I will definitely write and post after Christmas, so maybe you want some other couple for this story?
Two: I have a multi-chapter story idea for Mukuro and Chrome, but it's really slow and I already have three multi-chapter fanfics, so I probably wouldn't post it for a LONG time! Still, thought I'd mention it.
Three: Is it okay to post a song fanfiction if you post it under "song and anime crossover"? If not, I'll just neglect the lyrics.
ONE MORE THING BUT DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE AND DO NOT LIKE TO KNOW THIS THINGS LIKE ME! :
A few days ago, twenty-seven people, eighteen of which elementary school children, were shot and killed in a Connecticut school by a young twenty-two year old who suddenly went mad. The man ended up shooting himself afterwards. Please, keep these people and their friends and family in your hearts and prayers this Christmas.
The Bible says that, if two people pray for the same thing, it is sure to be answered. A fellow fanfiction author, penname Seme in Training, is sick with cancer. Remember her and pray that she gets well. :')
My aunt is pregnant! With twins! But, it took a very long time for her to get these babies and we are all worried about the twins and her safety and health. Please, pray for them!
Thank you and God bless!