Quick Recap…
While Tsuna and Gokudera are discussing their current situation with the Shimon Famiglia, Giotto overhears them and demands to know what they're talking about. When it is revealed that the tenth Shimon generation and the tenth Vongola generation are enemies, Giotto goes into a daze, shocked by what he heard, and walks away without another word.
Chapter Ten
Giotto stopped when he reached the clearing of where they trained, not knowing when or how he got there. The only thing going through his mind at the moment was what Tsunayoshi and Hayato told him. How could Cozart let this happen? Why did the Shimon Family want revenge? The Shimon Family should know that Cozart was alive after the war, since Giotto sent his guardians to help them.
Giotto placed his forehead on a tree trunk and just stared at the grass by his feet. What went wrong? He thought as he began to walk near the edge of the cliff. He frowned and made his way back to the tree but stopped midway. His face morphed into one of shock and pain as he realised something…
"It's not what went wrong with the Shimon Family," he said aloud. "It is what went wrong with the Vongola. It was never their fault, was it? The Vongola Family was the one that eventually strayed from their promised path."
With a groan of despair for his beloved Vongola, Giotto collapsed and stared up at the sky while the wind blew his blond hair to and fro.
"Even so, Tsunayoshi doesn't know the reason for why Yamamoto Takeshi was attacked. What are the Shimon Guardians thinking? They will end up fighting against each other if they don't resolve this peacefully."
After a pause, Giotto nodded determinedly. "I must tell Tsunayoshi what happened to Cozart." As his resolve to do that solidified, his Hyper Intuition began to alert him to oncoming danger.
He stood, brought out his gloves, and activated his Hyper Dying Will Mode in the same motion. At first, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary except that his Hyper Intuition was telling him that something was coming. Then it spiked. A moment later, he saw them.
Black clouds formed in front of him and an ominous sound moaned out from within the blockage. Suddenly the atmosphere seemed to be weighing down on him. The aura was so thick he thought he might choke on it.
Giotto recognised them as soon as he saw the tall, black cloaked and bandaged individuals. "Vindice," he breathed out. His cool eyes narrowed and he asked, "What are you doing here? I am no longer part of the Mafia."
Three of the Vindice stood before him looking as uncaring and emotionless as ever. He noticed the absence of the strange baby—the Arcobaleno.
"Giotto, you were about to reveal information to Sawada Tsunayoshi—information that he has to find out on his own."
"What do you mean? If I don't tell him, he might never find out—" Suddenly, Giotto had a flashback of when he, G, and Cozart spoke with the Vindice and made that oath. The air surrounding him chilled. Giotto took a step forward. "Surely you don't intend to make them fight against one another?"
"That is what we agreed on. We will not permit you to answer any of their questions concerning this matter. Otherwise, we will arrest you."
Giotto ground his teeth and glared at them. Any lesser being would have cowered from his gaze but the Vindice wouldn't be the law enforcers of the Mafia if they quivered beneath a freezing waterfall.
"Will you keep to your side of the agreement?"
The feeling of being helpless to protect his family rubbed him raw to the bones. "…Yes," Giotto said. "I will stand by my side of the agreement. I will respect our oath," he bit out.
"Good. Remember: We will not warn you a second time if you attempt to change the future."
"Wait. Are you the ones responsible for the appearance of those boys?"
As the dark figures began to fade he heard them say, "No. We are not."And they disappeared.
Giotto let out a short growl as he returned to normal. "So they won't let me tell them that Shimon is alive? How would telling them change the future anyways?" Giotto muttered and kicked at the loose stones by his feet.
If the Shimon boss of their generation will not believe in Tsunayoshi, then telling them won't change the future at all, Giotto reasoned as he made his way back immediately; he didn't want to stay there any longer, after the Vindice's visit. But it would convince Tsunayoshi that his family, the Vongola, is not at fault. At least, about the death of Shimon.
He had to think of something to tell them. He didn't believe that the Vindice will appreciate him telling Tsunayoshi of their meeting years before either.
No matter what happens in the future, we will make it right. The Shimon always stands by the Vongola, just as the Vongola will stand by them forever. There is no other way around it. That is a fact. We've endured through too much to be torn apart by whatever the problem is; the bond is too strong to be broken.
Tsuna was sitting out in the backyard as he waited for his ancestor's return while Gokudera paced back and forth in front of him. Ienari was still inside with his mother, unaware that his father hadn't returned with the two teenagers.
"He's been gone for at least half an hour," Tsuna said frantically. "What should we do if he doesn't return!?"
"Juudaime, I'm sure he'll come back," Gokudera exclaimed. "But after what we told him, I wonder what he will do to us…"
"Hiie! W-What do you mean, Gokudera-kun?"
Gokudera stopped pacing and sat down in front of his boss. "We just told him that the future between the two families is totally messed up. What if he does something harsh to us? Like trap us in a dungeon or…"
Tsuna's eyes widened and he shook his head back and forth in panic. "N-No way! That's ridiculous, Gokudera-kun!"
"What's ridiculous?"
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" Tsuna screamed and jumped. Right behind him was Giotto, giving them a curious look and a small smile.
"Primo!" Tsuna and Gokudera said in unison.
Giotto sighed. "Just Sawada is fine, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Tsuna calmed himself when he realised that Primo didn't have an angry or despaired vibe around him. "H-Hai…" Did Primo think of something? He seems a lot calmer than when we first told him about it, Tsuna thought.
"Primo-san," Gokudera ventured out in a polite tone, "do you mind if we talk about the Shimon with you?"
"I cannot answer any specific questions about what happened to the Shimon during the battle," Giotto said carefully.
"Why not?" Tsuna asked. Then he realised that he interrupted Primo. "S-Sorry!"
"It's alright, Tsunayoshi-kun. I'm afraid that I can't tell you. I'm forbidden to." Giotto stared at them, waiting to see if they got the hint. The chances of them meeting Vindice at such a young age was practically zero, but there was always the off chance that someone explained it to them in such a way that they knew how frightening they are.
Gokudera and Tsuna exchanged looks. Who could forbid the Vongola Primo from doing anything? Gokudera caught on first. "Juudaime, maybe Primo-san is talking about the Vindice?"
Tsuna yelped and looked around. The only other time he saw the Vindice was…when they dragged Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa away from Kokuyo Land. He still remembered the fear he felt in their presence.
Tsuna shivered. Yeah, they'd do the trick. But why…why stop Giotto from revealing something? Knowing what happened could help them avoid the inevitable battle against the Shimon. There must be more to it.
Not knowing about the oath kept the two of them in the dark, but there was nothing Giotto could do about it.
Giotto nodded. "That is why I cannot tell you about that battle."
Tsuna asked, "What can you tell us then?"
"I can only tell you what you already seem to know. Cozart and I were best friends ever since we met. He supported me throughout the building of the Vongola. We fought side by side through everything, from in the slums, and…I suppose, into the mafia. He was with me when I met the rest of my family. We all became good friends who would never abandon each other. I don't know how much more I can tell you," Giotto said.
Tsuna and Gokudera let that sink in. Then Tsuna smiled. "It's alright, Sawada-san. I don't believe that you would do anything to harm the Shimon Family. I wouldn't harm Enma either."
Giotto smiled back and nodded. "Thank you for believing me, even though I can't tell you the entire truth." He paused and said, "Cozart won't like it either if the two of you started a fight. He hates fighting amongst ourselves. And," he added sheepishly, "I'm sorry about before. I might have scared you a bit there. Usually it is G who does that."
The two of them quickly reassured Giotto that it was fine, and that they deserved it after keeping so much from him. While they apologised, Tsuna pondered over how Giotto phrased his words.
"He hates fighting amongst ourselves"…why does that sound…weird? I'll ask Gokudera-kun about it later. Maybe he'll know.
"One more thing," Giotto said before he rose. "Please keep this between the three of us. I don't want to worry anyone else."
He got up to walk into the house, wondering how long it would be until Alaude returned with his special delivery.
"This just proves that Primo-san never did betray Shimon," Gokudera said when he and Tsuna were alone again.
Tsuna nodded. "Ah…"
Gokudera continued to reason out his theories and discarding those that made no sense. He was oblivious to his boss' inner confusion until he spoke up.
"Gokudera-kun, do you remember when Primo said that Shimon hates fighting amongst ourselves?"
"Hai, Juudaime. What's the problem?"
Tsuna scratched the back of his head and said nervously, "It just sounded weird."
"Hm…" Gokudera closed his eyes and thought for a second. "Primo said, 'He hates fighting amongst ourselves.' If we go by the structural rules, take in the clause, phrases, and well, wrap that all in the syntax of the language…" Gokudera mumbled on about grammar structure until two minutes later, when he finally reached his conclusion that Giotto specifically put an emphasis on the word hate and made it present tense instead of past tense.
"EH?!" Tsuna thought back, to those specific words. "I didn't realise that…wow, I really am pretty useless."
"Juudaime's not useless—never! After all, Juudaime was the one who thought that something was wrong in the first place," Gokudera said quickly. "I wouldn't have thought of it at all if it weren't for Juudaime!"
Tsuna sweatdropped and leaned away from Gokudera. "I-If you say so," Tsuna said. "Anyways, so Shimon Primo has to be alive if he worded it that way."
Gokudera pumped a fist in the air. "Alright! Now we can go home and tell that to Kozato and beat them up and get that Dokuro girl back! I still can't believe that she got herself kidnapped…" Gokudera glared at nothing in particular and at everything at the same time.
That can't be the best thing to do, Tsuna thought. Unless the beat-them-up part of it is supposed to help us all get out of it alive, which I don't think it will!
"But how are we going to get back? We were sent here with no warning. We weren't even hit by the bazooka! Will we ever get back? Hiiiie! What if we're stuck here?!"
"Juudaime, there must be a way to get back!" Gokudera said, trying to calm his panicking boss who was currently clutching his head as if it would explode from all the problems coming to the surface.
Italy
Alaude was sitting at an isolated corner of an outdoor café, waiting for his meeting with the man who would take his package. Meanwhile, he subtly took another look around him.
The customers kept their eyes down or on their companions, murmuring in soft tones. The shopkeeper was busy paying his tax to the local police while the waitress was taking someone's order. It was just an hour before the morning crowd, which meant the customers here were early risers or worked around the clock. As it was an expensive café, he wouldn't find any labour workers coming in for a sip of coffee. It just didn't happen.
Alaude saw the man approach though his expression didn't change. He raised his cup to his lips and set it down again as the man took a seat.
The waitress approached to take his order but with a wave of his hand, she turned and walked away.
Without speaking, Alaude brought out the envelope and gave it to the man.
"Thanks! I needed the paperwork for this morning; the boss would skin me if he realised that I forgot it at the motel last night." The man had a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke, disguising the letters as a business document.
"I'm sure he won't be that cruel towards his own employees," Alaude answered in a bored tone. The man nodded.
"Are you up for some drinking tonight?"
"Hn."
"Great. We'll meet at the usual place. My niece has some things she wants to have delivered to her aunt, so if you don't mind, you could send them over to her when you go home."
"As long as it's not a big package," Alaude said. The man chuckled and tapped the envelope Alaude had given him.
"Thanks again. I'll see you later. Ciao!"
"Ciao," Alaude said in return and finished his breakfast in peace.
Yes, he would be leaving soon. Tonight, if possible—that is, after retrieving the package from Shimon. He was feeling more and more unsettled as the days wore on.
Alaude watched the police leave the café with bread in their hands from his peripheral vision. When they left, he stood and paid the bill.
Those idiots better not do anything stupid again, Alaude thought. What happened the last time he was away? Oh yes: they decided to travel the country side for some outdoor training and ended up getting lost for five days. And this time it seems like Giotto brought back a boy who just didn't seem to belong there. He itched to find out who that boy is.
That evening he met with the man as he promised. As quickly as he arrived, he left. Now however, Alaude had a different guise as he left through the back door. A little tweak here, a little dye there, and he was a different person.
He was more careful returning, as this would put it to the test of whether his false trail worked. He thought that he might've been followed twice but they were both false alarms. When it happened a third time, he knew something was up.
It happened when he was in the night market. It was in full swing and all the townsmen were out catching up with their friends and neighbours as their kids ran along the stalls, using the money they had to buy treats. He didn't stop, not even once, and he passed unnoticed with the help of the night. But he did get the feeling behind his head as though someone was looking at him. He turned the corner up ahead that would lead to the trains and when he glanced back, he didn't see anyone worth noting.
But spies were spies and tails were tails. They were trained not to be seen.
Alaude continued walking and casually stopped by a clothing stall, filled with vivid colours, very different from his plain coat. But there were enough pushing from behind him to mask his appearance. He waited.
And then he saw her.
A young woman dressed in a blue dress was strolling confidently down the street, casting flirtatious looks to any men who looked her way. But what Alaude saw in those eyes was frustration and impatience.
If he was to gamble, he would bet that she had at least one sort of weapon on her even if her mission was simply to follow him to see where he'd go.
And who would have ordered her to follow me? He planned to find out.
He walked into the open and knew the moment she saw him. He ignored her and continued walking towards the train station. He was also walking away from the market and into the night, lit only by the moon. He he heard a small shriek, a snap, and a body fall to the street.
Alaude ducked into a doorway and peeked out. He saw the woman clutching her ankle as though it was sprained from her fall.
This is a joke, Alaude thought. He looked to his right and saw stilled shadows. Curious to see what they'd do, he walked out in the open and looked at the woman. She acted as though she just noticed him and shouted pleadingly, "Help me, I think my ankle is sprained!"
Alaude approached slowly, noting the light footsteps approaching from behind him.
"Are you alright?" he said. Then she smirked.
Alaude reached out and grabbed both men by their outstretched arms and tossed them over his head. They went flying over the woman, whose face was now one of astonishment, and rolled twice. Alaude was on them before they stopped. He had them cuffed and dragged back to the woman in less than five seconds.
"What is this?" Alaude asked coldly. "That was too easy."
"W-What?" the woman stuttered. "I don't know what you're talking about! But…thank you for saving me! Those men were obviously following me!"
Alaude shook his head. He reached down and picked up the knives dropped by the men. He held them to their throats. "Talk."
The woman let out a small gasp and clutched her own throat. Alaude found this strange, considering the fact that she wasn't the one being threatened.
"We only wanted to earn some money tonight, you know?" the man blabbered. "Foreigners are always easy bait!"
"Don't tell him anything!" the other man said.
"You ain't held by a knife! I want to live!"
Alaude's eyes narrowed at them. He released the babbling man and knocked him unconscious with the hilt of the heavier knife. The woman soon followed after another quick swing. He turned his attention to the silent one, the one who wouldn't talk even if he was threatened. What could be so important that he couldn't just blurt out? At most, they were simply thieves. And knowing the police in this area, they could easily bail out with whatever goods they'd already stolen.
The man stared back at Alaude, but his once steady gaze began to waver beneath Alaude's.
"Who are you?" Alaude asked. The man opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.
So he doesn't even give his name, one of the most common responds when one is threatened with a knife… "What is your name?" Alaude asked instead. "Answer. Now." The knife pricked the man's skin as he stuttered His eyes rolled left and right. "Now. Right now, or else my hand will accidentally slip."
"M-Marco!" the man said quickly.
Alaude raised an eyebrow. "That took you too long to think. Who are you and what is your real motive?" More pressure was applied to the knife. Alaude continued to press the man for answers when the ones given to him weren't satisfying.
"Whose famiglia do you belong to?" Alaude asked finally. The man's eyes grew wide.
"What! I'm in no mafia! You're mistaken!"
Alaude's expression didn't change as he turned the man around and sliced off the man's jacket. The man tried to struggle, to complain, but the feel of the second knife on him changed his mind. Alaude began to search him for any marks. Any papers of instruction—anything.
He was in luck. The man was an idiot. He found both papers and marking on the man. There was a mark burned into the man's lower back in the form of a crest he recognised. In the man's boot were the instructions for his mission. Alaude glared at the man. What kind of person would keep orders on him during a mission? Never mind. It's their fault and Alaude wasn't one to complain about another's foolishness. He didn't sense anyone in the vicinity. So, he knocked the man out and began to drag him away.
Alaude continued on and took a longer route to the docks. Somehow the mafia had received news of his arrival, but they won't receive news of his departure.
"One ticket to France," Alaude said, eyes shadowed by the cap he wore.
"Tou-chan." Ienari stretched out the word. It was after dinner and the sun was setting when he approached his father.
"Ienari?" Giotto picked up his son. "What is it?"
"When is Alaude-ojisan coming home?"
Giotto hummed. If everything went smoothly, Alaude had already been in Italy for two days. Plus two more days of travel back, perhaps a few stops to throw off any tails, which adds another day, then… "Three days, Ienari."
"That is a long time," Ienari observed as wisely as any child could look. Giotto hid a smile and ruffled his son's hair. "I thought you were scared of your Alaude-ojisan. Why are you asking of his return?"
Ienari kicked his legs back and forth, telling his father that he wanted to be put down.
"I don't know, Tou-chan. Where did he go?"
"He went to visit some friends of his," Giotto replied.
"Why doesn't' Tou-chan visit his friends?"
"My friends are all here, aren't they?" Giotto said and started to poke at Ienari's side to make him giggle. Yes. All of Giotto's friends, except a few were here, in this very town. It warmed him whenever he thought of how far his friends went for him. They didn't have to leave Italy with them. He knew they all had some sort of life outside of the mafia. But they left it all behind, to follow him, to Japan.
"Time for bed," Giotto said. Ienari complained but he complied when his father gave him a stern look. Then Giotto sighed. "Ask Kaa-chan for a bed time story. I think she's been thinking about a certain one for a while."
Ienari's eyes brightened significantly as he ran to find his mother for the promised bedtime story.
Giotto on the other hand, went for a hike up the mountains where he was meeting with his Guardians.
Ugetsu arrived early, Giotto realised when he heard the flute. He's usually late, or comes with Knuckle. I wonder who else is here already.
Giotto brushed past the branches and stepped into the clearing. Asari, Lampo, G, and Knuckle were all there. His eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"What is it, Giotto?" G asked with a slight smirk. "Did you think you would be the first one here?"
Giotto shook his head with a smile. "I didn't think that I'd be the last one here."
"Well," Lampo said with a yawn, "with everyone preoccupied with their own problems and you housing those two brats, we didn't have time to do anything we wanted. So we thought to come early."
"Says the man who lazes about the entire day," G snapped. "You don't do anything."
"Ore-sama doesn't sit around idly," Lampo said and opened one eye.
"Really? Then name one productive thing you did today," G challenged.
Dangerous territory, Giotto thought. Once those two got going, there was no stopping it. "How about we start tonight's competition instead? Then we'd all have something productive by the end of the day."
Knuckle nodded. "That's good, Giotto. A good spar will release the tension."
"The loser will have to tell Alaude that his office was turned over," Lampo said.
Silence followed.
"What?" Giotto and G said at the same time. "Someone searched Alaude's office?" Giotto said with a frown. "Why didn't any of us hear of this until now?"
Lampo sat up and looked at them as though they were crazy. "Who would want to do that to Alaude's office when they know that he will just torture them to death afterwards? No one actually went through his office."
"Then you're suggesting," Asari prompted.
"Whoever loses plays a joke on Alaude before he comes back," Lampo said.
Knuckle patted Lampo's right shoulder and said in a very concerned tone, "I never thought that you had a death wish, Lampo. Are you alright? Do you need to talk to someone?"
Lampo shrugged him off. "Ore-sama is just bored! There's nothing to do!"
They all gave each other uneasy looks. No one wanted to prank Alaude that badly because though they may be on friendly terms after years of comradeship, Alaude would not hesitate to hurt any of them.
Lampo sighed. "Well if you are too afraid to go with this penalty, we could always do something else."
That would be best, Giotto thought wisely just as G snapped at Lampo automatically, "Who said we were scared? You better watch out, because you will end up being the loser this time!"
Knuckle looked at them all in concern while Asari has a slightly amused smile on his face. Giotto wanted to strangle G for saying that. Now he had no choice but to join them unless he wanted them to see him as a scardy cat. "Let's not take this too seriously, okay?" Giotto said as he fingered his gloves. "It's just a friendly competition like…always…" Giotto trailed off as he eyed his guardians, who were now looking rather serious and preparing for their friendly fight.
"I don't know about you Giotto, but I would rather not be the one who turns over Alaude's office," G said. He glanced at Giotto after double checking his equipment. He saw Giotto fingering his I-Gloves as he seemed to be thinking of something.
G smirked and said, "Maybe you should have brought your cloak with you today. No one is going to go easy on anyone today."
Giotto smiled at his friend. "No, I think I will do just fine."
"Will we do this as usual?" Knuckle asked. "Spar with a partner, and the one who loses will be sparing with the sparring partner who lost from another pair, and continue this until someone emerges at the top?"
"This time we should have a partner in crime," Giotto said slowly. "Who knows what would happen with Alaude. He probably placed traps all over his office.
The rest of them nodded.
"Great," Giotto said. "Let's get started."
"I challenge Giotto," G said.
Giotto gave his friend a dry smile. "Well that's nice of you to do so. What, do you want to get rid of me that fast, G?"
"Then all that's left is me, Lampo, and Knuckle," Asari said. "Knuckle, will you be the referee this time?"
"I believe that I am actually glad to accept that offer. It doesn't sit well with me to play this prank on Alaude, who is not even in the country to defend his territory," Knuckle said with a sigh as he sent a prayer up to God, hoping that his friends wouldn't be killed by Alaude no matter who won or lost.
Facing their foe, they got ready. On Knuckle's mark, they began to move. Slowly at first, looking for openings and recalling any moves that they know that their opponent might make.
Giotto believed that his Hyper Intuition would help him win no matter what. He also knew G since they were small, so he believed he would be able to defeat him.
It was this overconfidence that did him in.
When they began, things were going exactly as Giotto predicted. He would charge at G in his Hyper Dying Will Mode and get under his guard. Then G would jump to the left and shoot a stream of harmless Storm flames that left marks on his opponent, proving that he was hit. If those flames were truly deadly, Giotto would be wounded already.
As it happened, Giotto swiftly evaded the shot, his intuition telling him where G was going to shoot next.
Giotto fought in close quarters while G's archery was more suited for aiming at targets far away. Despite this, G still had his gun which he had customised to hold non-harmful bullets for these spars.
Even though Giotto knew of his storm's skills of fighting hand to hand, he still believed that he would win.
G ducked behind a tree to evade Giotto's flaming glove and returned fire. Just as quick, Giotto ducked and swung out a leg to trip G.
Being near the trees, G had to jump in order to avoid Giotto but Giotto had planned for this. He was up to meet G right when he landed and threw a punch at him which sent the red haired man flying.
G righted himself before he could hit a tree or the ground. He switched to his archery to hit Giotto with storm flames. Giotto was just straightening from the punch he gave G when the flames were coming towards him. He flew up to the air so he could avoid it. But the flames followed him no matter where he moved.
What? Giotto didn't understand how this could happen. Did G think of something new again? Experimenting, he dived down and pulled upwards just millimetres from the ground. The flames moved just as quickly, not crashing as he thought it would.
"G, what is this?" he asked calmly.
G smirked. "It will follow you as long as you resist, Giotto. Give it up."
Thinking of Alaude, Giotto shook his head and dived towards G, who was ready for him. G fired another shot which Giotto dodged.
Once Giotto took down G, the game would be over and he would be the winner.
As his gloves gripped G's shoulders and pushed him to the ground, aided with his own weight from flying straight down, he and G fell.
Giotto said, "There. I win."
"No, actually I believe that I win this round," G said as he gripped his best friend's arms, locking him in place. Giotto's head snapped up when he heard something flying through the air. Two beams of lights were closing in on him.
Then Giotto remembered the second flame arrow that G shot as he was charging forward.
"Damn you, G," Giotto said through gritted teeth as he tried to slip out of G's grasp.
"Not happening," G said and tightened his grip. Then the flames hit Giotto, covering his body with them. When they were gone, Giotto was flameless and staring hollow-eyed at G.
Knuckle approached them. "Giotto, I'm afraid that you lost this time."
"How did that happen?" Giotto exclaimed.
G scooted away and sat up laughing. "You were too concentrated on me then trying to figure out what those flames meant to you."
Giotto grumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" G said.
Giotto cleared his throat. "I said, if I had more time to think about those flames, I would have defeated you."
G deadpanned. "Not a chance."
The next night, Tsuna noticed that Giotto was acting a bit odd. Throughout the day, he was visited by Lampo, and they would leave the house to discuss something.
What could they be planning? Tsuna thought. He would have gone to Gokudera, but he was putting the finishing touches on the tree house he finished building a few hours ago. He didn't want to bother his friend for something as little as this.
After Ienari went to bed and Giotto blew out the last candle, he went to his own room. Tsuna lay awake, listening to Ienari's slow breathing and the crickets outside. He waited a while longer and still heard nothing abnormal. Then he slowly drifted off to sleep. He made himself wake up again, but he had no way of knowing how much time had passed. I hope nothing bad is going to happen! He shrieked in his mind.
Lampo brooded as he walked towards the shed which acted as Alaude's office. It was near his home, but not so close that it someone could find the connection.
"Ore-sama can't believe he lost to G," he said to Giotto.
Giotto smiled at him. "It was your idea to begin with. Maybe it's fate that has you with me here tonight, digging our own graves."
Lampo began to shake and Giotto's smile vanished. "I'm joking, Lampo. Nothing will happen to us, I promise."
"Are you sure?" Lampo asked. "Ore-sama really was just bored."
"You didn't think any of us would actually do this, did you?" Giotto asked. "You should have known that G would accept any challenge…" Giotto sighed deeply. "Oh well. Could you get us in?"
Lampo shook his head. "I tried to trigger one of the traps just to get over with it, but this happened." He raised a sleeve sorrowfully. It was in shreds, though his arm was still intact. "If Alaude's traps are this dangerous, I don't think I could survive the deeper ones!"
"Tch. That's why you're the idiot."
"G!"
G rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be? Of course it's me."
"I thought the prank was for Lampo and me to do." Giotto began to smile when he saw Asari and Knuckle just steps behind his best friend.
Asari laughed merrily. "We can't just leave you alone here, can we?"
Something is definitely wrong with us, Giotto thought. Are we really this bored?
G shrugged and pulled out a set of tools. "Anyways…this is how you get into Alaude's office. Sit back and watch the master work." He traced a finger across the front entrance, and then plucked at something. He had Giotto hold onto it carefully as he went to work on other wires that Alaude might have put in place. When he found them all, he began to pick the lock, which took several minutes.
When he was finally in, he found out how to disable the traps.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Lampo asked in shock. "Those were Alaude's traps!"
"Like I'm telling you," G sneered. "Come on, you scardy cat. Time for your prank."
Giotto carefully stepped into the office and looked around. It was much cleaner and neater than anyone would have thought if they saw the shed. In fact, it was more than just a shed but no one would notice. Alaude did a good job in hiding his office. The things that were in here must have taken Alaude a long time to gather and to organise.
Giotto continued to walk around, not touching anything. None of the others were either. They all just…looked.
He saw scrolls as well as bound books with titles that he recognised from Alaude's old office in the Vongola Mansion. And those titles were not describing the contents of those books at all. On several occasions, Giotto himself had used information hidden in those books for the good of the Vongola. And Alaude still had them when there was no good reason not to burn them.
They were closed off from the world in here, where everything was quiet and secretive. Giotto knew that Alaude had hidden cupboards all over the place to hide certain things, but he wasn't going to look for them. The prank seemed like an amusing thing to do in the beginning, but after coming in he knew that it was one of those ideas that he should have stopped before letting it go into action.
"Let's go," Giotto said after a moment. He turned and saw the rest of his family watching him. They turned to the door without complaint and exited, with G last to rewire the traps.
"Well, Alaude will definitely know that we were there," Giotto said and patted Lampo's shoulder. "I think that's enough for him to beat us all up when he comes back tomorrow morning."
Lampo suddenly lit up. "The candy!"
"If he remembers to bring it back and doesn't decide to keep it all for himself because of this prank," G said, knocking the happiness right out of their youngest member.
A/N: And this concludes the second last chapter to this fanfiction. Sorry it took this long to update it. I had it done on Christmas, but the network was down and I was unable to publish it… as for why I didn't have it finished before that… let's just say I didn't have it finished. I hope you enjoyed this filler-ish chapter, and happy holidays!
Anonymous Reviewers:
- Lady Ariadna: Yeah, he definitely needs his right-hand man xD Thank you!
- tsuna: I'm so sorry about the cliff hanger! DX It just somehow ended up that way… -_- Haha, thanks!
- Ros Haruno: No, I swear! XD My cliff hangers aren't planned.
- Great: Ienari's awesome that way :D
-LLM
Uploaded 2013-12-26th
Edited 2013-12-27th