Chapter 21
Under this starry sky.
I'm messing with time once again guys. The problem with Tsunayoshi being 4 is that those younger than him aren't born yet. For example in reality Fuuta is actually 5 years younger, 9 to Tsuna's 14. So to make this chapter worthwhile, Fuuta is being born earlier, as shall I-pin and Lambo (who are coming later alright). As a result all three of them shall be 2. I hope you don't mind.
God, my own plot had backed me into a corner! Really, who's the author here, me or the Fic? For I have a weird feeling it's not me.
For those who guessed Yamamoto because of the rain thing- I both can and can't see where that came from. Obviously Yamamoto is the Rain of the Sky, yet why would they not want it to rain when he was around? Anyway, all shall be revealed. And please refrain from head-butting walls, I'd like for you to be able to read more Reborn fics, rather than be in hospital with a concussion. And just know you aren't the only one, about half the people guessed him first.
When Luce said to him last night 'Don't worry we are going somewhere totally safe' Tsunayoshi thinks she forgot where on Earth she was living. Mafia Row was named as such since it's residents were, as the name suggested, all in the Mafia. So for starters, Totally safe didn't quite apply. Admittedly, Mafia Row was the most peaceful place in the Mafia, a safe retreat for Bosses to rule from, where there was no crime. Hmm, that's not quite true… No crimes against others on Mafia row… wait no, Family fights… … … No one stole from other's houses in Mafia Row, there were no street brawls in Mafia Row, there were no deaths through violence on Mafia Row- that kind of crime, for once again, this was the Mafia.
Anyway back to the point. Luce's idea of Totally safe was indeed safer than certain fedora wearing people's idea of Totally safe, but still Tsunayoshi wanted to know why Totally Safe apparently allowed buff teenagers to swing a metal ball that was as big as he was around as if swinging a tennis ball attached to a rope? For in this particular house, there indeed was a teenager swinging a huge metal ball on a chain as easily as if it weighed nothing. Tsunayoshi could quite easily guess how much that would hurt if it impacted his body. He simply wouldn't feel it for he'd be dead in an instant.
However apparently it applied as Totally Safe since the teen was using said metal ball to magically move leaves and flower petals into a pile instead of using a leaf blower or rake. Tsunayoshi didn't have a clue how it happened, but it looked awesome. He vaguely wondered what it would be like inside the tornado, looking at the swirling mess around him- scary or breath-taking? He pouts slightly as the display finishes.
"Isn't it awesome kora?" asks Colonnello, seeing the look of wonder on Tsunayoshi's face. When a look of thoughtful thinking appeared on the little one's face (Which Colonnello was afraid to admit looked scarily like Verde's thinking face) he answered the unspoken question. "He's controlling the air, or more specifically the wind" That doesn't help matters, Tsunayoshi still looks like before.
"Ne, Lancia, come over here and show Tsunayoshi your Serpent Ball" shouts Luce, seeing the teenager was done. He nods and walks over, keeping the ball as still as possible so he didn't invoke it's power. Since the ball actually weighed more than he made out, he puts it on the ground when he reaches the rest of them. He then sits down next to it since he was quite worn out from his morning chores. Tsunayoshi sits down too, fingers tracing the snake like patterns with focused interest.
"The air is forced along the tracks creating certain reactions which I use to help me" The teen known as Lancia says. He has spiky black hair and two scratches across his cheeks.
Once again seeing the confusion on the little boy's face, they decide to give up. He was only young after all.
When Tsunayoshi had first walked into the mansion and seen the man, he was immediately scared. But seeing how nice the teen infront of him was, that feeling dissipated.
Tsunayoshi is even more interested when Lancia stiffens and shoots towards the house at the sound of a child's crying.
"Lancia! Lancia! Pick up!" the voice is shrill and muffled by the tears. When the shouting stops, the other's assume that Lancia has found the child. And indeed, moments later, he comes out holding a small bundle.
"hehe, sorry about that, Fuuta doesn't like it when he wakes up without me there" the teen explains, shifting the wiggling bundle in his arms. "I thought I had longer before he woke up"
"Fuuta?" asks Tsunayoshi, pointing to the blanket in Lancia's arms.
"Yeah. If I remember correctly it's him Luce brought you to see." He says, looking up at Luce to check if he was right.
"Yes, I just wanted to see him once again. He is almost as cute as Tsunayoshi was." She says happily.
"Well let's go inside, kora. I don't want him to get cold out here" suggests Colonnello. Lancia nods and directs them towards the parlor of the mansion.
"Boss sends his regards that he can't be here to greet you." Lancia informs as he walks down the corridors. "He's dealing with a little trouble in Venice at the moment." Luce nods in understanding as Lancia holds open a door for her.
"That's alright. Tell him we said hello when he gets back" she replies before taking a seat on a sofa.
Colonnello takes a seat in an armchair at the insistence of Tsunayoshi. He would have been fine standing or leaning against a wall, but the brunet insisted. Colonnello immediately found out why when Tsunayoshi proceeds to sit on his lap. Colonnello tries to become one with the chair when Luce glares at him, miffed that Tsunayoshi hadn't sat with her. Lancia smiles at this before taking his own seat between the two to stop anymore arguments.
"Luce!" comes a shout from the blanket and two little arms appear, stretching towards the woman. Her glare instantaneously changes into a smile as she looks at the boy and offers a finger for him to hold.
"Hello Fuuta. Nice to see you." She greets.
"Luce, Luce, Luce~" the baby sings. Now sitting down, Lancia folds the blanket down so that the baby can be seen.
The boy was around 2 years old, with mouse brown hair and huge dark brown eyes. "Ahh~" sighs Tsunayoshi thinking how small and sweet the boy looked. That sigh drew the baby's eyes in his direction. They stare at each other for a few moments before the baby reaches out for him too. Tsunayoshi clambers off of Colonnello's lap and onto the sofa next to Lancia. Kneeling on the seat he looks down at the boy. Fuuta has to almost look backwards the see Tsunayoshi, but still continues to reach for him. Eventually Fuuta makes contact and grabs Tsunayoshi's nose. Tsunayoshi goes cross-eyes trying to see Fuuta's hand, before giggling.
"Has he showed any more signs?" Colonnello asks, looking at the interaction between the two boys.
Lancia looks in the man's direction before looking back at the boy and smiling. "More and more every day. In fact the more he learns how to speak, the more he does it. For Verde's notes, the gravity field is getting stronger too. He's already destroyed 5 vases through lifting them off the ground. Nor does it seem to correlate to his physical strength. At the moment, 1kg is the heaviest thing he's caused to float. He can't pick anything near that heavy up physically yet."
"What are you talking about? Is he special, to have Verde look at him?" asks Tsunayoshi, looking up at the elders around him.
Luce smiles at the boy. "Yes he is. He has the ability to rank things. He gives them an order based upon a certain question. His ability is limited by his understanding though. But an example of a question might be, Who does Tsunayoshi want to see most right now?"
Luce didn't realise that it would create a reaction in the baby. She didn't know he could understand that much. Maybe Fuuta's need to see Lancia after a nap linked to the question. Either way, Tsunayoshi was about to get a first-hand experience of Fuuta De La Stella's unique ability. The blanket Fuuta is wrapped in starts to float as does the cushions and the mugs of coffee on the table.
"Hear you… Please… Two… Verde… One… Viper" the little boy blinks and everything returns to its place. The coffee barely makes it back into its mugs.
"Alala, You want to see Viper the most at the moment?" Luce asks, looking at the boy.
Tsunayoshi looks down. "Well, yes. Viper could always understand me when everyone else couldn't. She'd be able to communicate with him better"
"Ah, just like when we first got him" says Colonnello in understanding.
Lancia looks up in confusion, he hadn't heard that before. Seeing the look, Luce turns to Tsunayoshi "We'll be eating lunch soon so why don't you and Colonnello go get washed up before joining us?" she smiles sweetly at the boy who jumps up from the sofa, excited by the prospect of lunch.
"Okay~" he grabs Colonnello's hand and pulls the man up before leading him out of the room. The baby frowns when Tsunayoshi leaves the room and reaches out for him.
"Back!" he shouts, wanting Tsunayoshi to return.
"It's like everyone says, Tsunayoshi isn't ours" she admits.
"And do you know whose he is?" Lancia asks gently, squeezing Fuuta tightly. It's not like they knew who Fuuta belonged to either.
Luce looks down and balls up her fists. Lancia thinks he can see her shaking slightly. But not in anger, in fear. "Yes we do. We'll be visiting them soon. I'm just so scared. I don't want to lose him. What if his father wants him back? What if Tsunayoshi doesn't want to stay with us? He's just such a vital part of our lives. He's changed us, and for the better too. It makes me wonder who would miss him the most if Tsunayoshi did leave."
Both gasp as things start to float once again. They couldn't believe that the two year old understood that.
"Hear you… Please… Four… Skull… Three… Verde… Two… Viper… One… Reborn"
And at that moment it starts to rain.
"Reborn?" whispers Luce, not believing the ranking the boy has come up with.
"I know, but it's raining. He's always wrong when it rains, didn't Verde confirm that."
The boy in his arms starts to cry. "Lancia. Feel bad!" he whimpers and tries to curl up more, wanting to get rid of the bad feeling. He hated the rain; it always brought on this bad feeling. He felt ever so empty inside and he hated it.
"He said it before, I'm sure. But his result. I can't believe it."
When did the rain start to fall? Was it true or not?
Later on Colonnello was shocked with the results too and decided to keep it a secret between them. Both adults had reason to smile though, since from the moment when Tsunayoshi returned, Fuuta wouldn't let go of his hand. It was a tough job to get Tsunayoshi out of the gate to the mansion without Fuuta. There was almost a scene of tug-of-war over Tsunayoshi. But eventually Nap Time came back around and Fuuta no longer had the energy to hold onto Tsunayoshi.
The man in the trees gapes at the small boys before him.
"But, but! He shouldn't be born yet! Not for another year yet. In fact, Hayato shouldn't have found out about his mother for another 4 years yet."
"Ah-hmm-hmm. That's the thing about parallel worlds. Everything happens at different times. If Tsunayoshi hadn't been with Hayato then, Hayato wouldn't have gone to get him a drink and found out like he did. In the case before us, all it takes is for one event to change. All it takes is for that boy's parents to go on a date that they didn't, or decide the time was right now instead of then. After all, parallel worlds pivot on change."
"You've been talking to yourself haven't you? I'm sure I had that speech before I came here." The man looks sidewards at the small boy who knew far more than he should.
"Well with you here, I might as well learn this now. Parallel worlds are my domain, Mr, Time Traveller."
Colonnello and Lal look at the table of adults before them and Lal sighs. "Fine you can come, but promise me that you won't tear the place apart if things don't go your way. For a start Nono wouldn't be very happy and nor would I. Even if it is a part time job at the moment, I would like to keep it, as I'm sure Colonnello does. It's the only time I can get away from the COMSUBIN recruits, and quite frankly I enjoy the change of pace. I won't be able to if you destroy him and the building."
When none of them answer her right away, she quickly grabs a riffle and balances it on the table, aiming directly at the rest of the group across from her. "Promise me!" she shouts. Even Colonnello who has been on the receiving end of her shouts more than anybody else fears that particular shout. It was a good thing Tsunayoshi was asleep in bed, in Verde's soundproof room. There are grudging nods from the others but none of them look at her. She can tell there were some 'crossed fingers' under the table. After all, she couldn't expect them to not fight back, it was just who they were.
Ah, there we go, back out of the corner. Thank you Byakuran! I love light-bulb moments don't you.
The ranking about who would miss Tsuna the most if he died was suggested by HebaAce. I changed it slightly since I don't think a 2 year old Fuuta would understand death, so I made it more plot relevant, I hope you don't mind. I'm giving credit for the idea to them! I hope I did it justice. And my reasoning for the rankings… Well it was suggested that Reborn be number 1, so it was. For spot two and three, I think that both Verde and Viper would miss Tsunayoshi if he left. However I think that Verde would just revert to how he was before Tsunayoshi arrived- eg secluded in his lab- but possibly never let anyone else in again. I think Viper would find it hard to re-adjust to not having the boy around anymore, especially if she can still see him every now and again around the place. And for Skull, he wouldn't have his Knight anymore and no one to defend him. The rest, not so much. And then it rained, lol. So would he or won't Reborn miss Tsuna if he left?
Next time is the answer some of you have been waiting for! And I've been very good and given you two lots of clues for where we are off to next!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 05 May 2012.