A/N: I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter once again, and for anyone who favorited the story. You guys rock! I told you that I'd give you a short chapter to make up for the longer last chapter, so I hope I don't disappoint you guys!
This chapter will follow manga chapter 51 and anime episode 68. Both the manga and the anime were very similar in most places, but I will mainly be using the anime version up until the ending, because the anime added some 8059 interaction moments that the manga didn't, and because the ending of the anime episode will not work out well for the story as of yet, since Giannini and Tsuna's father show up. Giannini will appear in the next chapter, but I didn't feel like introducing him just for the sake of this chapter since it's not important for him to be present anyway. That, and I didn't want to make the chapter longer so I could keep my promise XD
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I want to thank my beta GStorm59 for helping me edit this chapter too! It surprises me on how many little mistakes I can miss!
June Bride!
I stared at the invitation in my hands in complete disbelief. This had to be a joke! There was no way that this was even plausible!
Despite what I thought, though, the wedding invitation for my sister's and Reborn-san's wedding was staring me in the face in all its immaculate glory; a red ribbon in the shape of a heart surrounding my sister's and Reborn-san's name in the middle of the card. Something told me that this was entirely my sister's doing, and that Reborn-san was either along for the ride out of fear of his own safety, or coming up with a plan then and there to get out of the wedding. There was no in between.
Regardless of what the truth was behind the circumstances, though, I knew that I had to attend the event. Even though seeing my sister was not something I'd really want to do…and I was sure that something strange was going on with the wedding invitation…the principle of the situation still stood. I was family, so it was only right for me to attend the wedding. That, and if this really was a misfortunate misunderstanding on my sister's part concerning Reborn-san's feelings, then I had to be there to protect the Tenth when my sister would undoubtedly go postal on everyone within a five kilometer radius of the church.
With that in mind, that Sunday, I got dressed in my finest suit (which consisted of a black jacket, shoes, and slacks, a purple shirt that had a popped white collar and cuffs, and a violet tie), placed a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses into the breast pocket of my jacket, and headed out the door. I started heading towards the Tenth's house immediately instead of heading directly for the church the wedding invitation had directed me towards. It was only right for the Tenth's right-hand man to escort him, after all!
Before I could reach the Tenth's house, though, I bumped into a very unwanted guest as soon as I made it to the usual crossroads. Just my fucking luck! I just had to run into Yamamoto of all people! The idiot was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white shirt underneath and a dark grey and dark blue striped tie. It didn't look too bad on him, but he honestly looked out of place in the damn thing, which only made me think more on how this idiot really wasn't made for the mafia world.
"Haha, sorry, Gokudera! I didn't see you there!" Yamamoto laughed out joyfully; not sounding apologetic in the slightest. "Are you heading to Tsuna's house, too?"
I just glowered at the other in answer before I briskly walked past him and avoided eye contact. I had been doing that for the past month now, ever since our vacation to Mafialand during Golden Week. It was now the first week in June, and I still didn't know how to react to Yamamoto. A lot of things had happened that had…made me question my previous thoughts concerning Yamamoto and his intentions towards me. I had almost—almost—started to believe that the baseball idiot only wanted to be my friend, what with him saving those pigs I had bonded with on the cruise. If it wasn't for that…one thing that happened later on…I would have actually considered the possibility that I had thought wrong of him, but I knew now more than ever that he was a guy that really couldn't be trusted. Like I had been telling myself from the beginning, Yamamoto was only out to get my position as the Tenth's right-hand man, and he was doing this by trying to lead me into a false sense of security with the promises of friendship. I mean, why else would he want to be my friend? I treated him like shit! The only explanation was for sabotage, because I wasn't worth any form of friendship.
"Hey, Gokudera, wait up!" Yamamoto called out to me as he ran to catch up. "There's no need to be like that! Let's just enjoy this event your sister and the Little Guy came up with!"
…This guy was a fucking imbecile…At least, I thought he was…but if he was so conniving as to try and convince me of his friendship then didn't that mean he was just playing dumb? Yamamoto had definitely shown himself to be smart in certain regards…
"Shut up, you idiot! You're annoying me!"
"Ah, don't be like that," Yamamoto chided playfully as he ran up beside me and scanned me over with his eyes. What the fuck was he—?
"Hey, Gokudera, did you tie that tie yourself?"
I just stared at the other dumbfounded, wondering how we had gotten to the conversation at hand.
"Of course I fucking did, you retard! I live by myself, remember?" I yelled out in aggravation.
"Haha, alright, alright, stupid question, I know," Yamamoto laughed out as he brought both of his hands up in a calming motion. "I was just surprised that you could tie a tie so nicely! I had to ask my dad for help with mine, haha!"
I just turned my head away from Yamamoto and focused on the road ahead of me again while rubbing at my temples. I could feel a headache coming on already.
"That's not all too surprising to hear, since you lack any sort of brains," I grumbled out in annoyance as I heard Yamamoto laugh uncomfortably next to me.
Before the idiot could say anything in response, though, another annoying voice reached our ears. To my undying luck, we met Lawn Head, his sister, Haru, and Kurokawa down the road, a few blocks away from the Tenth's place, and Lawn Head was calling us over in that overly-loud and aggravating voice of his. Ugh, I knew that today was going to be a bad day.
Lawn Head and his group waited for Yamamoto and me to approach before we started walking towards the Tenth's again. As we walked, and our group made small talk (minus me, of course, since I didn't have time to waste on the losers around me), I took note of everyone's attire. Lawn Head was wearing a black suit jacket, shoes and slacks, with a blue shirt underneath and a red tie. Kurokawa was wearing a sky-blue, sleeveless dress that had a darker blue trim around the top and bottom and went down slightly past her knees. She was also wearing dark blue heels. Sasagawa was wearing a pink spaghetti strapped dress, with matching pink-strapped heels. Her dress stopped slightly above her knees, and also had a small strap tied around the middle to make it look like the dress was partitioned in two. The Stupid Woman had her hair in pig-tails, which made her look even more immature than she normally was, and she was wearing a short-sleeved, sea-green dress that had a dark green bow on the chest and along the trim on the bottom of the dress, as well as matching green strapped, open-toed heels. Haru was also wearing a matching necklace, like the other two girls, but she was also carrying a small white purse around her arm.
I wondered then if the others within our group were thinking along the same lines as Yamamoto, since they all seemed to treat Reborn-san as a kid instead of a little person. Did they all think this was just a fun event to go to? A mock wedding instead of the real deal?
…Well, maybe it really was a mock wedding? I mean, my sister was probably taking it more than seriously, but I couldn't see Reborn-san thinking along the same lines. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he was just using Bianchi instead of actually caring about her, since that seemed to be the type of guy Reborn-san was.
It bothered me that I really didn't know how to feel about that.
Just as I thought this, our group arrived at the Tenth's front gate, where we were greeted with the sight of the Tenth freaking out in his pajamas while he stared at a wedding invitation in his hands. Well, Reborn-san obviously informed the Tenth at the last minute again…
"Tsuna-kun!" Sasagawa sang out happily in greeting to the Tenth, catching his attention since his back was slightly turned towards us.
"Yo, Tsuna!" Yamamoto greeted as well as soon as the Tenth's eyes fell upon our group, our boss looking very much surprised.
"Tenth, we're here to pick you up!" I called out next as I swept an arm across my chest and bowed courteously to my boss. Even though I knew by how the Tenth looked at the moment that he was more than behind on the matter at hand, it was still better to keep up appearances than call my boss out on his slip up, especially when it wasn't his fault. I didn't want to embarrass him any more than he probably already was, and, not only that, but it made me look even more like a good right-hand man, especially since I was wearing the right attire at the moment.
"Tsuna-kun, let's go to the chapel together," Sasagawa chirped out with an excited smile then, as if to encourage the Tenth to hurry up a little. The Tenth didn't seem to be catching on to what was going on, though, because he just stared at all of us like he couldn't fathom what was going on.
"H-Huh?" My boss questioned in a taken aback tone as he stared at Sasagawa in particular.
"What? You aren't ready yet?" Kurokawa complained (more like bitched) as she placed a hand on her hip, looking annoyed. Back up, bitch-face, I won't let you talk to the Tenth like that!
"What chapel are you…?" The Tenth began to question again, effectively distracting me long enough for my anger towards Kurokawa to dwindle (but only a little bit). Before he could fully complete his sentence, though, Lawn Head rushed forward and got all up into the Tenth's face.
"What are you talking about, Sawada?!" Lawn Head yelled out intimidatingly, which was actually his normal voice, causing the Tenth to back up with a freaked-out look on his face as Lawn Head loomed over him.
"It's the chapel where Reborn-chan and Bianchi-san's wedding is being held!" The Stupid Woman chimed in as she hopped forward towards the Tenth. She undoubtingly wanted to look extra cute in order to woo my boss' affections, but she just ended up looking like more of an idiot, in my opinion.
At these words, the Tenth's attention was then directed to me, his eyes scrunching up in confusion as he stared at me incredulously.
Quickly figuring out what my boss' scrutinizing look was for, I tried my best to make myself sound selfless in order to impress him. "She may not be much of a sister, but I should still celebrate this occasion. That's why I'm coming along."
As soon as the words left my mouth, the Tenth seemed to finally realize what was going on. With a startled scream the Tenth looked down at the same wedding invitation the rest of us got, understanding soon dawning on him that this whole situation was actually happening.
When the Tenth settled down a few minutes later, he was encouraged to quickly go and get dressed. The Tenth was chastised by his mom for not knowing about the wedding, since she was already dressed in a light-blue, short-sleeved dress, and even the kids were dressed up for the occasion with I-Pin in a traditional Chinese wedding tunic, and the Stupid Cow and Ranking Fuuta in black suits. As soon as the Tenth was dressed (in a black suit with a burgundy undershirt, and black tie with dark-grey polka-dots on it), all of us finally headed towards the chapel.
Once we arrived at the Roman Catholic chapel twenty minutes later by bus ( I was really surprised that Namimori even had one, since most of Japan was either atheist or into Shintoism and Buddhism), we entered the ornate building and headed towards the dressing rooms where my sister was applying the final touches to her ensemble. I hurriedly donned my dark-tinted sunglasses just as we entered the room.
Now literally being unable to see except for a few dark figure outlines in front of me, I just followed the outlines into the room where I saw another dark figure a few feet away, sitting down…at least I think that's what I saw… maybe that was a chair…
As soon as I thought this, I heard the girls in our group gasp out in awe and comment on my sister's attire. I even heard the Tenth comment on my sister's beauty, like he hadn't expected to see her like that. I just took everyone's word for it, since I didn't want to chance actually looking at my sister. It was undoubtable that she'd actually look pretty on her wedding day, but underneath all the make-up and the innocent-looking dress, she was still a sick monster. That would never change.
"Thank you," I heard my sister speak humbly. "I've always wanted to be a June bride."
"June brides are wonderful!" The Stupid Woman suddenly exclaimed, sounding like a complete dork. What the fuck was so exciting about a June Bride? Weren't all marriages supposed to be exciting?
"I'd love to be one too," Sasagawa commented as well a few seconds later, sounding wistful.
As the girls started to murmur amongst themselves, I heard the Tenth's voice again as he gasped slightly in surprise.
"You're okay with being around Bianchi, Gokudera-kun?" The Tenth asked with a twinge of concern.
"Of course, Tenth!" I piped up excitedly as I turned in the direction that I had heard his voice come from and faced the closest dark object I could make out. "It's because I can't see a thing with these sunglasses on!"
"Um, Gokudera," I heard Yamamoto's voice far closer to me than I would deem necessary. "Tsuna's over there."
"Over here?" I asked as I turned in the opposite direction, hoping that I was facing him correctly this time.
There was an awkward pause then, the atmosphere in the room getting a little uncomfortable for some reason. Thankfully, this tense atmosphere was broken by the Tenth's mother, who commented then that she had let my sister borrow her old wedding dress.
"You still had it?" The Tenth gasped in surprise.
"Of course," The Tenth's mom chirped happily. "I planned on having your bride wear it someday."
"That's a lovely wedding dress!" Sasagawa gushed out suddenly. "I wish I could wear it."
…
Now's your chance Tenth! Take it! You could actually make this the perfect moment to confess! Put a ring on it!
"I'm against it!" The Stupid Woman suddenly shouted out as Sasagawa, Kurokawa and the Tenth's mother giggled amongst themselves.
Damn it, Woman! Why do you always have to be so annoying and in the way!
"Eh?" I heard my boss question before Haru started gushing about her perfect wedding.
"I already decided that I want a Japanese-style wedding! And as for the reception, I'll dress up as a wedding cake!"
"What the heck?!" The Tenth gasped out in shock towards the Stupid Woman's fantasies. I was seriously starting to wonder if it was possible for a Japanese person to be too Japanese myself…
"Hey, Tsu-kun," the Tenth's mother interrupted my thoughts with a gentle suggestion. "Reborn-kun is in the next room. Why don't you go and see him?"
I heard the Tenth fumble over his words in surprise before he made a noise of affirmation. The clicking of the door behind me probably signified that the Tenth had left the room to go and see Reborn-san before the wedding ceremony would take place. Since I really didn't want to stay in the room with my sister, I made to follow my boss and visit with Reborn-san as well to see if he really was going through with this whole ordeal. When I tried to leave, though, I felt my body bump into someone else's. Damn it, who was in my way now?!
"Hey, Octopus Head!" I suddenly heard Lawn Head bark at me. Had he been the one I had just ran in to? "I wanted to say this for a while now, and I don't really understand what's going on, but it's extremely rude for you to wear sunglasses on your sister's wedding day! You're supposed to see her in all her extremely beautiful glory before she's handed off to another man!"
Before I knew it, I could suddenly see. I just saw a split second image of Lawn Head holding onto my sunglasses before I hurriedly closed them, in fear that I would see my sister at any moment.
"What the fuck, Lawn Head! Give me back my sunglasses!" I shouted out in anger as I blindly reached forward where I had last seen them, but my hands only grasped air.
"No!" Lawn Head shouted back with determination to my left. Had he moved? "It's a brother's duty to share this last day of innocence with his sister before another man comes into her life! You can't do that if you can't see her!"
"Like fuck I care about something like that!" I hissed out in annoyance as I started randomly grabbing at the air around me, hoping that I'd catch Lawn Head in some way. "I'm pretty sure she's not 'innocent' anymore anyway!"
I heard disapproving gasps from the women in the room then, and a tired sigh from my sister, but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting my sunglasses back! I knew that I was just as blind with them on as I was without, but at least with them I didn't have to keep my eyes closed all the time! That got tiring, damn it!
"Now, now, let's all settle down." I heard Yamamoto murmur soothingly close by, which only irritated me further. Like hell I was going to calm down! My physical health was in danger here! "Senpai, Gokudera really needs those sunglasses back because…um…he has allergies!"
"What?" I gasped out in confusion before I figured what the other was insinuating. I didn't like the idea of working with Yamamoto, but I was too desperate. "O-Oh yeah, my eyes get watery in the spring so I…uh…need sunglasses to block the dust and pollen out…yeah…"
There was a short pause where I wondered if the lie I told had actually held up, but then I heard Lawn Head grunt out a noise of understanding.
"Ah, I see. You just wanted to hide your watery eyes so that people wouldn't think you're crying, but there's no reason to be ashamed! " Lawn Head burst out with a fiery cry. "Tears are not something a man should have to deal with, but only a true man can shed tears and not feel ashamed of his own passion! We should both train to the extreme in order to be true men for both of our sister's wedding days, so that we can send them off with joyful tears!"
"Oh, Brother!" I heard Sasagawa sniffle out, sounding touched by her brother's words.
"Don't worry, Hayato, there's no reason to be ashamed of your happiness for me," my sister spoke up sweetly.
"What the serious fuck are all of you on?!" I screamed out incredulously. How the hell had we even gotten on this subject?! Fucking hell, Yamamoto, was your purpose to try and embarrass me?! Like hell I'd ever trust you again!
…And did I hear Lawn Head and Sasagawa sobbing in the background?! Were they having an emotional moment together or something? What the fuck was going on?!
"Now, now, Senpai, don't start jumping to conclusions," Yamamoto laughed out in amusement then. "Gokudera just really needs the sunglasses so that his eyes won't be irritated."
Lawn Head's only response was to cry out his sister's name and beg her to not leave him for a man with ill intentions, much to Sasagawa's embarrassment.
All I could do was grumble to myself and rub at my temples. A headache was definitely forming by this point. I felt bad for the Tenth, since Lawn Head would be his future brother-in-law if he ever got the courage to confess. The damn jock would undoubtedly be a literal cock-blocker throughout the Tenth's and Sasagawa's relationship, including after their marriage. The retard would probably never see little nieces and nephews because he was too overprotective of his sister.
"Here you go, Gokudera." Yamamoto's voice interrupted my headache-inducing thoughts then. A few seconds later, I felt someone grab my hand and place a familiar pair of sunglasses within them.
"Don't touch me, Idiot!" I growled out in a flustered state as I quickly placed the sunglasses over my eyes. "I don't want to catch your idiocy!"
Yamamoto just laughed, like I had just done the most amusing thing. I grumbled under my breath again, swearing furtively in Italian towards everyone in the room. Most of those curse words were directed at Yamamoto, though, because I hated the fact that I felt slightly grateful for his help.
The wedding ceremony dragged on in the most painful way imaginable. Leave it to the Roman Catholics to make a wedding unnecessarily long with all of their pomp and circumstance. This was exactly why I didn't miss going to church. Not only was it boring and too long for its own good, but there were so many stupid rules to follow so that the heads of the church could have power, and it was also completely redundant for mafia men to go to church in the first place. As soon as the service was over with we'd go back to killing, cheating, and destroying anything that got in our way so what was one church service going to do? In my opinion, our souls were too hypocritical to be redeemable, too filled with violence and greed to be considered anything less than an advocate of the devil himself. Church was utterly pointless and only served to fill our heads with false hope that could never truly be ours.
I couldn't stop thinking along these lines as I listened to the service still going on in the background. Thankfully I couldn't see anything because I'd just get more restless and annoyed with the slow pace everything was going at. At least it was getting to the point where Bianchi and Reborn-san would exchange their 'I do's'.
As I listened into the service again, I heard my sister announce her 'I do' with certainty. When the priest asked Reborn-san the same questions, though, there was an awkward pause that had people murmuring in their seats. Reborn-san eventually said, 'I do' a few seconds later, much to everyone's relief, but I couldn't stop thinking about how uncertain Reborn-san had seemed. Something was up…
Just as I thought this, I overheard the Tenth screaming something about an alien throwing a disc around on the ceiling—Wait, what?!
Throwing my head back and forth wildly, I blindly scanned the cathedral's ceiling for the U.F.O. I guess it had been a false alarm, though, because the wedding ceremony continued a few seconds later with no mention of the U.F.O. again. Just what had that been all about? Was that a purposeful distraction set up by the Tenth? If so, what had it been for?
Unable to stop myself from thinking that something was definitely up now, everyone filed out of the church to head to the banquet hall across the street for the reception. Once everyone was settled down at their seats, and the bride and groom were sitting at the front table, everyone was served non-alcoholic wine. After the wine was served, my sister then proposed a toast, which everyone cheered for before we drank from our wine glasses.
As soon as we were done with the toast, an announcer went to the front of the room and told everyone that the program was about to start. I hadn't heard about a program for the wedding reception, so I was curious as to what was going to happen, and a little disappointed that I wouldn't really be able to see what was going on.
"First up is an acrobatic sushi performance by an acquaintance of Reborn-san's, Takesushi," the announcer explained.
Wait…Takesushi? As in, Yamamoto was putting on a performance?!
Apparently I was only half right, because I heard Yamamoto's father a few seconds later, announcing the show he was going to put on for everyone. I wondered why Yamamoto's father would even bother taking time off work to come to a wedding for people he didn't really know, but I assumed that either Yamamoto convinced him, or that he really just wanted a day off from work…although he brought some of his work with him in this case, I guess.
While I thought this, I heard Yamamoto and his father putting on a show on stage. I heard Yamamoto calling out to his father as he tossed him fish, and I heard the mad slicing of knives as well. Gasps of awe were emanating all around me as the show progressed, which only made me slightly disappointed in the fact that I couldn't see what was going on. I mean, it's not like I actually wanted to see Yamamoto showing off, but I bet his dad was super fun to watch!
As soon as the performance was over with, our tables were served the sushi that had just been prepared, which I was actually excited to taste. Nothing could beat Takesushi sushi in my opinion. Yamamoto's father had a real talent for it.
Just as I thought this, I heard a very strange sound. It sounded like mechanical whirring but it was almost drowned out by the sound of Reborn-san screaming in the most peculiar way.
"Shininininininininininini…!" Reborn-san continuously screamed out as I heard a loud splash, followed by shots of electricity as everyone in the reception room gasped at whatever they were seeing.
"What's going on, Tenth?!" I shouted out desperately to my boss as I stood up and rushed over to him, hoping that he'd fill me in on the situation because I swore I could still hear mechanical whirring…and it was coming from the direction that Reborn-san seemed to be in.
"Um, Sir? I'm a waiter…" was the only answer I received.
….Son of a bitch!
I was so embarrassed by my lack of sight that I almost missed what happened next. If it wasn't for the venomous aura exuding from the front of the room, I probably wouldn't have noticed that my sister was about ready to kill something.
"Where's Reborn?! Who hid him?! He'd never act this way!" She suddenly screamed out in fury, causing everyone in the room to go silent in what was probably fright.
In that next moment I heard Cavallone and the Tenth trying to calm my sister down, telling her that Reborn-san was so nervous that he wanted to go for a swim (where was it that he swam? I can't see anything!). My sister seemed to buy this because I heard her cooing over Reborn-san a few seconds later, who remained silent throughout the whole ordeal.
"The groom has been soaked by a love-filled event. He will now change his attire," I soon heard the announcer for the wedding say…and it seriously sounded wrong within the context of the situation.
As the Tenth and Cavallone mentioned that they'd help Reborn-san change, I secretly followed after them as best as I could (I accidentally ran into a few people and walls as I tried to figure out how to get out of the reception room and outside). Once I felt the sunshine on my face, I took off my sunglasses and tried my best to get used to the light that suddenly hit me. With my eyes squinting in slight pain from the adjustment, I made my way across the street again and to the church dressing rooms.
Once I reached Reborn-san's designated dressing room, and overheard voices coming from inside, I placed my ear against the door to find out what my boss and Cavallone were discussing.
"I thought it was all over…" I heard my boss sigh out in fear.
"Don't worry, Tsuna, it just shorted out because of the water, it should be fine now I think."
As soon as I heard Cavallone's statement, I couldn't help but feel victorious. I had been right! Something had definitely been up!
Knowing that my thoughts had been confirmed, I quietly opened the door and slipped in to see Cavallone and the Tenth huddled around 'Reborn-san' with a remote control in Cavallone's hands. Ah, so that would explain the mechanical whirring.
"So it was a fake," I spoke up then, my tone serious as I closed my eyes, crossed my arms, and leaned up against the door behind me. "You might've fooled my sister, but not me."
"Gokudera-kun!" The Tenth called out in surprise as I opened my eyes again to look his way.
"I have sharp ears," I mentioned as I uncrossed my arms and started walking towards the Tenth. I was going to explain to him one of my many good attributes that made me an excellent candidate for the right-hand man position! "That motor sound totally tipped me off."
"Uh, well…" My boss stuttered out as I stopped before him, his brown eyes staring up at me in apprehension.
"Let me…" I growled out in determination before my excitement overtook me and I sent my boss a thumbs-up and a smile. "Let me help you, Tenth!"
"…Huh?" The Tenth questioned in surprise.
I smirked triumphantly at this, knowing that my boss hadn't expected me to be so smart in my deduction! "I'm guessing that Sis set up the wedding herself, and Reborn-san ran away, leaving this robot as a stand-in?" I hypothesized as I confidently placed my hands on my hips.
With one look at my shocked boss' face, I knew that I had hit the nail directly on the head. Man, I look so good to the Tenth right now! I bet he was seriously impressed!
With a slight spring in my step, I turned away from my boss and made my way over to Cavallone.
"There's nothing to worry about now that I'm here," I declared before I ripped the remote control out of Cavallone's hands. "Fork it over! This is a job for the Tenth's right-hand man!"
"H-Hey, you…" Cavallone stuttered out, looking taken aback by my behavior.
"But you can't see anything when you wear those sunglasses," my boss brought up then with a note of concern in his voice. "Will you be okay?"
"Don't worry!" I exclaimed happily as I confidently stared down at the big remote control in my hands and started to memorize the buttons and what was labeled beneath them. It was so great that the Tenth was willing to let me try despite my slight handicap! "I'll just take them off from time to time and squint if need be! This is how you control it, right?"
And with that, I pressed a button on the controller that was labeled dance, and the Reborn robot started shuffling his little body.
"Ciaosu. Ciaosu. Ciaosu," the little robot declared as he walked forward and shook his arms up and down. Before I could be too amused by the action, though, I heard the door open behind us.
"Who's there?!" I called out threateningly as I quickly glanced behind me towards the door. As soon as my words left my mouth, the Stupid Cow peeked his head around the door with a mischievous look on his face.
"Is that a toy?" He asked with an excited giggle as he stared at the remote control in my hands. "It's a toy, right," he stated more than asked as he started slowly walking towards me like he was actually being sneaky, even though the dumbass was in plain sight.
"Lambo!" The Tenth called out in a mixture of surprise and warning. I knew it wasn't good if the Stupid Cow got his hands on the controller, and the Tenth seemed to be certain of that too.
"Can Lambo-san press the button? Just once?" The Stupid Cow questioned in a sing-song voice as he continued to slowly walk towards me like he was going to jump me at any second.
"No way, Stupid Cow!" I shouted out in anger as I glared at the retarded toddler. "You can't control this thing!"
"Let Lambo-san use it!" The Stupid Cow demanded as he jumped at me and latched onto one of my arms, struggling to reach the remote.
"Damn it! Get off!" I growled out in frustration as I shook my arms back and forth as vigorously as I could, trying to get the persistent toddler off, but the Stupid Cow hung on like he was riding a bucking bronco…Speaking of which, why the fuck wasn't Cavallone helping me?!
"Lambo-san touched it!" The Stupid Cow suddenly laughed out, which only made me even more frustrated so I shook my arms even faster. Eventually, I was able to dislodge the Stupid Cow with Cavallone's intervention (finally).
Once the Stupid Cow got told off by everyone, we all headed back to the banquet hall across the street with Cavallone holding onto the robotic Reborn-san. When we entered the hall, I squinted my eyes practically all the way shut as I moved around until I got back to my table. I noticed then that I was sitting at the same table as Yamamoto, which automatically made me uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore it as I conspicuously placed the remote control in my lap and slipped my sunglasses back on. It was hard to do since Yamamoto started asking me what I had and what I was up to.
"The groom has changed and returned," I heard the announcer guy declare then. "We will now cut the cake, which was made by the bride herself."
…Oh crap this wasn't going to be good! How should I approach this situation?
As I thought this over, I heard the announcer continue to explain how my sister's and Reborn-san's faces were etched into the second layer of the cake. Before I could decide on a course of action, though, I felt the remote control ripped out of my hands. Shit!
I immediately started feeling around for the remote control, knowing that the Stupid Cow was somehow involved because I could hear his crazy giggling nearby. Not only that, but I heard the Tenth freaking out, and all of the guests gasping around us as the Stupid Cow undoubtedly made the robotic Reborn-san do who-knew-what on the stage.
"Gokudera-kun! What are you doing?!" I heard my boss scream out in terror above me as I got onto my knees on the floor and started feeling around for the remote control down there as well. "Hey! Lambo!" The Tenth's terror-filled screams continued to fill the room, only confirming my earlier suspicions of the Stupid Cow being involved.
It was then that my sister started to scream and ask where the real Reborn-san was, and I could feel the menacing air around her overtaking the room. Shit! Shit! Shit! How could I have messed things up so badly already?!
"This is bad!" The Tenth cried out a few seconds later. "Lambo, give me the remote!"
Of course, the Stupid Cow refused, just to make things more difficult. I couldn't see what was going on then, but I heard I-Pin yelling at the Stupid Cow as well before a loud explosion went off. The hell? Had the Stupid Cow dropped one of his grenades? Don't tell me he blew up the remote control with him!
Apparently, though, instead of a grenade, the Stupid Cow had managed to hit himself and I-Pin with the Ten-Year Bazooka, because I heard 'Adult' I-Pin asking the Tenth where Mr. Kawahira was, and I heard 'Adult' Lambo's voice commenting on how good the sushi was. Kurokawa even started fawning over him for some dumbass reason I didn't understand. But, since Adult Lambo was in the same room as my sister, it was no surprise that Bianchi went ape-shit the moment she saw him.
"Romeo!" She hissed out scathingly, her voice cracking with unrestrained anger. "I knew something was wrong…You never learn…So this was all you're doing?!"
I could smell the familiar scent of my sister's poison cooking again, and it was coming from nearby. Was it the wedding cake or...
"I'll send you back to hell!"
Nope, it was my sister creating more poisonous food to undoubtedly throw at Adult Lambo. Shit, this wasn't good…
To my surprise, before my sister could strike the pathetic, older teen, Kurokawa seemed to stop my sister.
"Wait! You're getting married! An old flame shouldn't matter!" Kurokawa insisted. Why was she bothering to even protect Adult Lambo? Was…oh yeah, didn't the Tenth say that Kurokawa had developed a crush on him or something? She still actually had that?!
"Get out of my way!" My sister hissed out, sounding almost deranged with anger. I could hear Sasagawa desperately trying to calm my sister and Kurokawa down now, and the Stupid Woman and Lawn Head sounding excited about what would happen next. What was wrong with those two?! If my sister went crazy here now, we'd all be dead, not just Adult Lambo and Kurokawa (although a good half of the guests in the room were actually better off dead in my opinion anyway)!
It was then that I heard the Tenth asking Cavallone on what we should do. In that next moment, I heard Cavallone mention how the Tenth should leave everything to him, and then I heard a few beeps. Did that mean that Cavallone had the remote control again?! Damn it, had I wasted my opportunity to prove myself to the Tenth?!
"This…is…a…test…" I heard the robotic Reborn-san say then, which brought me out of my earlier thoughts. Had Cavallone made the robot say that? I really wish it was safe enough for me to look, but I knew that my sister was close by…
"Test?" My sister gasped out in shock.
"That's right," Cavallone quickly interjected. "Reborn wanted to see how many tests you could overcome before you got married."
"Yeah, yeah," the Tenth added enthusiastically. "That's right."
I heard a disturbing sounding 'splat' then, which made me wonder if my sister had dropped her poisonous dishes onto the ground.
"I knew, Reborn…" My sister spoke up then, her voice shaking with emotion. "It's fine. In face of our love, this is nothing."
I let out a slight sigh of relief at her words. It looked like my sister's anger had been quelled once again.
It was then that I heard Kurokawa gushing at Adult Lambo. Thankfully, though, before she could get too carried away with her girly act, I heard a poof, and then the Stupid Cow's annoying voice again. Kurokawa immediately reacted negatively to the retarded cow's presence by screaming bloody murder. It then sounded like she threw the Stupid Cow, because I could hear him go screaming past me, and then I actually heard Shamal call out in pain. Had the Stupid Cow hit him?
Oh well, who fucking cared, right?
Once everything calmed down again, the room was prepared for a candle-lighting service.
My sister and the robotic Reborn-san were going around to each table to light the center candles and it was my duty, yet again, to try and prove myself. Cavallone had given the remote control back to me in exchange for watching over the Stupid Cow, so that the same incident wouldn't happen again. At least I knew that one of my problems was out of the way but now I was faced with an even harder obstacle. The room was now pitch black, which made it literally impossible for me to see anything, not even shapes, so I was somehow supposed to operate the robotic Reborn-san without sight, even if I was to take off my sunglasses.
"Lambo-san wants to play with the controls some more," I heard the Stupid Cow gush at the table next to mine.
"You can't," the Tenth commented sternly in return. "You've caused enough trouble."
"Nuh-uh," the Stupid Cow admonished. "It's because four-eyes over there sucks."
…Wait, was he talking about me?! And was he blowing me a raspberry right now too?!
I seethed at the comment, my breaking point already reaching its limits. I was so fucking done with this kid!
"Damn, Stupid Cow!" I screamed out in anger as I jumped up from my seat and faced the way I thought I had heard the toddler's voice.
"Hayato," I heard my sister's voice speak affectionately, which brought me into a state of disbelief. I was staring at the Stupid Cow, wasn't I?
Sick of not being able to see anything, I decided against my better judgment and removed my sunglasses.
I immediately regretted it.
"Thank you for coming," I heard my sister speak gratefully as I stared into her jade-green eyes, which were lit up by the flame of the large candle that she and the robotic Reborn-san were holding. I could feel a cold sweat break out all over my body as I stared into my sister's happy face.
With a scream of pain I fell hard to the ground, hitting my head on the floor with full force. Just before I blacked out, I heard a cry of pain from Cavallone as well, and a lamenting whine from my boss. I also heard Yamamoto nearby, asking if I was okay. Had I messed up the mission? I'm sorry, Tenth…
When I opened my eyes again, I felt really out of sorts. I couldn't take in anything for a few seconds, my brain not willing to function normally, but I was eventually able to comprehend that I wasn't in the banquet hall anymore.
Taking notice of the wet, cool cloth against my forehead, I shakily reached a hand upwards and slid it off, before I glanced around the room. I could feel myself lying against something, which I noticed a few seconds later as the couch that had been in Reborn-san's dressing room within the church. What was I doing here?
"Glad to see you're awake," I heard Yamamoto let out a sigh of a relief. As I turned to look at him in surprise, I could see him smiling gently at me as he sat in a folding chair before the couch.
"W-What the hell am I doing here?!" I stuttered out, feeling flustered all of a sudden. Why was I back in the church of all places, and why was I alone with Yamamoto of all people?! Where was the Tenth? My sister?!
"You passed out when you saw your sister's face," Yamamoto reminded me nonchalantly. "When the wedding event was over, and everyone was heading home, I carried you over here and asked the priest if you could rest in the dressing room for a bit until you felt better. He was really kind and offered to get a wet a cloth for you too to help with the slight fever you had."
"I didn't need your help!" I hissed out in indignation, feeling my pride plummet at the mention of being carried across the street unconscious. How embarrassing! "And what about the Tenth?" I quickly tried to change the subject as I heard Yamamoto protest a bit. "Is he alright? Did my sister find out about…?" I trailed off then, forgetting the fact that Yamamoto didn't know about the plan.
"Oh? Are you talking about the robotic Little Guy?" Yamamoto laughed out in understanding, which shocked me to no end. Did that mean that the Tenth's and Cavallone's plan had been found out?! "It was pretty easy to see that it wasn't the real Little Guy when he puked oil all over your sister. She was pretty pissed about that, haha! Bianchi-san actually started turning everything she touched into poison…It was pretty scary…" He added uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his head. "Thankfully the real Little Guy arrived before she could cause too much damage and congratulated her on coming up with a very strong Poison Cooking technique. Apparently, that was his plan all along, and the rest of the wedding event was called off. Your sister was surprisingly understanding of that."
I blinked in slight surprise at this knowledge, but I soon realized that I had kind of expected an outcome like that originally. Really, who would want to marry my sister in the first place, right?
"And the Tenth is okay?" I asked again, my voice growing impatient.
"Oh yeah, Tsuna is fine! He didn't get hurt at all," Yamamoto reassured me with a smile. "He was more scared than anything. But after your sister calmed down and the wedding event was called off, he was better. The Little Guy made him follow him to do some training of some sort, so he didn't stick around long after the event was called off. He was concerned about you getting home, though, and so was my dad, since he doesn't know about your sickness trauma. That's when I offered to look after you until you felt better to walk home."
I felt a swell of warmth in my chest at Yamamoto's words. So the Tenth had been concerned about me, even though I failed the mission? And even Yamamoto's father was concerned? They were such nice people. I truly didn't deserve their kindness.
"Che!" I huffed out a moment later, not wanting to look like I was touched by the sentimentalities. I had an image to uphold, after all. "Well, I didn't need your help."
"…But you were unconscious, and everyone was clearing out of the reception room. I couldn't just leave you there…" Yamamoto commented, a note of confusion in his voice.
"Well, I would have preferred that more than being indebted to someone who just wants to use me!" I shouted out louder than what I had expected. It was like those words had been sitting and stewing deep within my being, just waiting to be said.
A look of absolute shock dawned on Yamamoto's face, his eyes staring into mine, looking completely perplexed and…hurt?
"Is…Is that what you think I'm trying to do?" He asked softly then, almost tentatively, like he didn't want to actually know.
"Well why the hell else would you keep trying to help me out and be kind to me?" I growled out in contempt as I narrowed my eyes at the other, wondering why he was trying to play innocent. "All I've ever done to you is treat you like shit! Why the hell would you want to be kind to me unless you had an ulterior motive?!"
There was a short pause then, the air between us growing thick with a weird tension I couldn't quite place because Yamamoto…instead of showing anger or sadness at my words like he usually tried to play off…his features actually went blank. I couldn't read him.
"You already know that answer because I told you before," he stated simply then. "I know it's hard to believe, but I actually do care, you know."
"…That doesn't make any sense," I whispered out after a pause, my voice filling with disbelief and confusion as I glared at the other distrustfully.
Yamamoto just chuckled lightly at my comment before he sent me a small, soft smile.
"Yeah, I know, but then again, I'm an idiot and not supposed to make much sense, right?" He spoke gently then, his eyes dancing with amusement and…confusion? All of a sudden, Yamamoto seemed uncertain of what he just said, because he rubbed the back of his head again and averted his gaze from mine. The only thing I could do was just gape at the other, wondering what the hell just happened and what it actually meant.
"Well, I guess you're feeling better, so you can probably walk home soon," Yamamoto commented offhandedly, like our previous conversation had never happened, as he reached for something out of the corner of my eye. Before I knew it, a glass of water was handed to me. "Here, you should drink that before you go. It will make you feel better."
With that said, Yamamoto stood up and walked towards the door. After wishing me well, he left me alone in the room with my thoughts. I just stared down at the glass of water in my hands, unable to comprehend the conversation that had just happened. It almost felt like déjà vu in a sense, because I knew that I had had conversations like this in the past with Yamamoto, where I had called his motives into question, and every time he'd answer in a similar way, that he had no ulterior motive. But…it just didn't make any sense any other way! How could he actually care about someone like me when all I had done was yell at him and tried to kill him?
I felt my hands begin to shake then as doubt started to consume me. No! I couldn't start to doubt myself now! Not again!
With a little more force than necessary, I placed the glass of water in my hands down on an end table by the couch I was sitting on, causing water to splash over the sides and onto the wood. Damn that Baseball Freak! Why?! Why did he always have to do things that made me doubt my views of him?! Why did he always have to sound so sincere?!
A/N: And there you have it guys, another chapter done! I'm one more chapter closer to an action arc, which will probably still take me half of the year to get to! *does happy dance while crying in despair* Damn you Daily Life Arc! Damn you for being so ridiculously long! I've been writing this story for two years already! Holy crap that's weird to think of…
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter even though it didn't have as many 8059 hints in it, and it was kind of difficult to write since Dera couldn't see anything for most of the time -_-* Really, the only 8059 hint that showed up was in the anime when Yama ran to Dera when he fell unconscious after seeing Bianchi, and since Dera was unconscious during that…well, I had to improvise with the 8059 scenes again XDD I hope that you like them ;D
With that said, I'm not quite sure what the entirety of the next chapter is going to entail, but Giannini will at least be introduced, and Chibi Dera will make an appearance ;D
Fan-girl Theater:
Yamamoto hummed happily to himself as he walked towards Tsuna's house with a grumpy Gokudera beside him. They were both dressed up for the wedding, and all Yamamoto could think about was catching the bouquet. If he did, that meant that he would get married next!
"What the hell are you smiling about, Baseball Freak?" Gokudera grumbled out in annoyance.
Yamamoto smiled mischievously in turn.
"Just thinking about catching the bouquet," he chuckled out as he sent his boyfriend a smoldering look. "Then I can have Gokudera all to myself for the rest of my life."
The silver-haired teen's whole body flamed red in embarrassment at his lover's words.
"L-Like hell I'd ever let you catch it!" Gokudera stuttered out in flustered bewilderment. "I'd rather look at my sister's face a dozen times over before I'd ever let that happen!"
"Aw, but Gokudera…" Yamamoto whined out, his eyes becoming crestfallen at his love's refusal.
"No way in hell!" Gokudera shouted out stubbornly, enforcing his earlier words with a determined glare.
Yamamoto felt his chest tighten in pain as he averted his gaze from the other and sadly bowed his head. Maybe Gokudera didn't really feel the same way about him as he did? Or maybe he just wasn't ready for it yet.
Not wanting to believe his first thought, Yamamoto decided to keep himself upbeat and believe that Gokudera just wasn't ready to spend his life with him yet. They were only fourteen after all, there was no need to rush.
Suddenly feeling the need to share a moment with Gokudera, Yamamoto quickly came up with an idea. Feigning that the June weather was too hot for him, the young baseball player wiped at his brow with the back of his hand while his other hand loosened up the tie around his neck.
"Man, it sure is hot today, huh?" He commented offhandedly as he loosened the tie to the point that it came off.
During this whole episode, Gokudera was starting to feel guilty because he knew that he had hurt his boyfriend's feelings. It wasn't like he…like he didn't want to spend his life with Yamamoto…it was just a scary thought to think about at the moment. Before the Italian bomber could feel too guilty, though, he saw Yamamoto take off his tie.
"Are you an idiot?" The silver-haired teen sighed out in exasperation while he shook his head. "It's still early in the morning so it's not that hot out, and you don't know how to tie a tie, remember? How the hell are you supposed to get that back on?"
"Ah, you're right!" Yamamoto played dumb, which he knew he was exceptionally good at. "I guess that means you'll have to show me how to do it then, right?"
Gokudera just stared at his boyfriend with a deadpanned expression on his face, Yamamoto laughing like an idiot all the while, like he actually thought he had fooled him into thinking that he hadn't untied his tie on purpose. What an idiot.
Feeling affectionate warmth overtake him the next moment, Gokudera couldn't stop the small, amused smirk that appeared on his lips.
"Sure, whatever," he muttered offhandedly as he reached up and grabbed the tie from Yamamoto's hands before he started to retie it for him. Gokudera could feel Yamamoto's warm gaze on him as he focused on making the tie look acceptable, his own body reacting to the gaze with a warm blush on his cheeks. Even though he couldn't see it right then, Gokudera knew that Yamamoto was smiling at him.
…Oh, fuck it!
Unable to handle the whole situation anymore, Gokudera abruptly tightened Yamamoto's tie to the point that the other started to choke.
"Goku…dera…" Yamamoto gasped out in slight pain before he felt the other's lips slam into his. Just as he felt Gokudera meld their lips together, he also felt the other loosen the tie again to its proper place. A sigh of relief left the young jock's lips at both actions.
All too soon for Yamamoto's tastes, Gokudera pulled away from him, his jade-green orbs averted from his and a prominent blush adorning his cheeks.
"What the hell, you bastard, just do what you want. Go and catch the bouquet for all I care!" Gokudera huffed out, looking so utterly embarrassed by what he had just said that he couldn't handle being around Yamamoto anymore. With that thought in mind, he let go of the taller teen and ran off towards Tsuna's house, all the while cursing at the other in Italian. Yamamoto just watched his lover go with an excited smile on his face.
"Alright, I'll make sure to catch it for the both of us!" Yamamoto laughed out jovially.
"Shut up! I don't care!" Gokudera's distant voice sounded from down the street, which only made Yamamoto laugh even more. Gokudera really was the cutest.