Chapter 50: Byakuran
"It's good to see you, Ze-chan!" a cheerful voice greeted from the table filled with mountains of sweets. "Or not actually, since I can't actually see you, but you know what I mean."
"Hello Byakuran." Zero chuckled in the direction where the voice of the man who greeted her came from. "You know, sometimes I wonder if we're really mafia bosses when I look at the food on the table… and how you're able to avoid the dentist or getting fat with all the sugar you eat." She gestured to the piles of sugary confections on the table which only allowed the white spiky hair of the man to be visible to her as if to emphasize her point.
"I have good genes." Byakuran shrugged before moving some of the sugary confections away to reveal a chair for the albino woman. "It's really good to 'see' that you aren't buried under your paperwork again, Ze-chan. Tsunayoshi-kun and I had a hard time with contacting you for a long while~"
"For the last time, I don't do this on purpose, Byakuran." Zero pouted before sitting down on the offered seat. "I can't help it that my Famiglia is kind of destructive and that they create massive amounts of paperwork because of that. Actually, now I'm talking about destructive people, Tsuna won't be able to attend this meeting because of an… accident in the Vongola mansion."
"An accident? Isn't that an everyday occurrence there?"
"It was a very unfortunate accident involving certain guardians who happened to cross each other's path. I'm sure that the results weren't pretty, even though I haven't seen the aftermath myself… Apparently, I wasn't allowed to come close to the mansion." Zero muttered the last part, but Byakuran seemed to hear it anyways.
"Very funny, Ze-chan. You of all people aren't allowed to come close to the mansion? That is the worst lie you can come up with." He snickered. "Though I can see the pineapple and the angry bird doing that."
"It's true though. I wasn't even allowed to come close to the gates." Zero huffed in annoyance.
"And since when have the gates stopped you from being able to get in the mansion?"
"Since Kyoya was there to stop me." Zero explained before straightening in her seat and blinking in realization. "Now I'm thinking about it, I haven't been allowed to get close to the mansion for quite a while already. Every time I come close to that place lately, a guardian is there to stop me… It's almost like Tsuna ordered them to stop me, but I was stopped by Kyoya today and that guy doesn't follow his orders... Or any orders."
"If Tsunayoshi-kun got his cloud to agree to his orders, then it must be a serious case…" Byakuran mused.
"And I haven't seen Tsuna himself for a long while, now I'm thinking about it. The last time I saw him was… well… in our last meeting! Is he avoiding me?"
"He's avoiding you?" Byakuran almost laughed. "Now you have to be joking, Tsuna isn't someone to give up so easily."
"Give what up?"
"…Forget that I mentioned that."
"…Sure. But, to answer your question, I do think that Tsuna is avoiding me for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with conflicts within the Vongola or something like that… I'm pretty sure that Xanxus calmed down over the years, but the possibility of him trying again is still there. What do you think, Byakuran?" Zero asked, slightly slumping in her seat at the mention of being avoided.
"I'm not sure. Maybe he is avoiding you with a good reason, he could simply be too busy to meet us though." Byakuran shrugged, leaning towards the woman after the gesture and petting her shoulder in a comforting way. "Either way it's his loss that he misses the opportunities of spending time with you. With us. More sweets for the two of us."
"Unlike you, Byakuran, I don't really have the genes that prevents me from getting fat." Zero pointed out while glancing at the food on the table. She offered the older man a small smile to show her gratitude for the comfort and shook her head in slight defeat. "Not getting ill? Sure, I'm as healthy as possible. But getting fat? Sadly enough, no. My genes aren't that convenient… Sometimes not at all, even. I'm not even able to get drunk if I want to be, so I can safely say that my genes aren't convenient at all."
"No way, you have great genes." Byakuran disagreed, turning his violet eyes to the equally purple eyes of the woman. "I would like to point out that you have never been fat in all the years that I've known you. Actually, you've been perfect since the moment I saw you and over the years you've only grown to be more beautiful and amazing, Zero."
"…You know, I still think that you're complimenting yourself whenever you say something that since we kind of look alike." Zero laughed. "But thank you for cheering me up anyways."
"We do look a little bit alike, don't we?" Byakuran agreed.
"Kufufufu, a little? Do you remember the last time that the three of us decided to hold a meeting in a restaurant instead of here?"
"I believe that there are still rumors about Tsunayoshi-kun having a marriage meeting with someone from the Gesso family." Byakuran nodded with a very forced closed-eyed grin which appeared even more strained when he remembered something else. "There are still some rumors circulating which state that you're my long lost illegitimate daughter, which is completely ridiculous if you ask me. Our age difference isn't that big, just a few years even."
"It's not weird why they thought that I was related to you though, considering that our appearances are kind of…" Zero mused before looking in the pale purple eyes of the man next to her with a hint of amusement behind the clear exasperation. "I can't blame the people who keep on making the same mistake, even though I want to blame someone. Not everyone has white hair and purple eyes after all. It's a rare occurrence that two unrelated strangers who have those features meet and happened to have the same kind of job as well. It's kind of a strange turn of fate, isn't it?"
"Maybe it is indeed because of fate that we were able to meet." Byakuran agreed absentmindedly, meeting the eyes of the woman with his own amused glint in his eyes. "And I'm glad that we did. I've found out that a world without you simply isn't the same… literally." The man whispered the last word like he didn't want his fellow mafia boss to hear it and he was successful in that.
"Hmm, a world without me, you say?" Zero wondered out loud, completely missing the whispered part because of her current train of thoughts. "I wonder if the Vongola is still in one piece without me in that world."
"Somehow it is." Byakuran laughed, though Zero started to notice that the usually cheery tone of his laugh was absent. "It's not the same without you, Ze-chan, but the Vongola is still fine. Different, but still the same almighty Vongola as it always has been and always will be… probably."
"That doesn't really make sense, you know?"
"It never does and yet, it is how it is." Byakuran agreed with a hint of bitterness in his voice that didn't manage to escape Zero.
"Are you sure that you're alright Byakuran? You're acting weird." Zero frowned at the uncharacteristic responses she got. She leaned forwards to measure the temperature of Byakuran's forehead with the back of her right hand and frowned once again when she didn't feel anything off. "Is the sugar finally getting to your head?"
"Not really~" Byakuran hummed half amused and half serious. He gently took Zero's hand in his and squeezed slightly as if to tell her that he was fine, but she didn't believe him.
"Not really?" She asked softly, pulling her hand away and moving it towards his head to measure his temperature again, just to be sure. This time, the male gently pushed her hand away before grabbing one of the opened bags from the table and offering it to Zero.
"Marshmallow?"
"You're avoiding the question, Byakuran." The albino woman commented, still taking one of the fluffy candies from the plastic bag despite the clear frustration in her voice. "And so does Tsuna. I initially didn't notice it because of work, but you guys keep more secrets from me these days."
"I'm sure that we all have our own reasons for doing that." Byakuran smiled, apparently unfazed by the words of the sulking woman.
"So you have a reason for avoiding the question?" Zero asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion at the answer before chewing on her marshmallow.
"Of course I have~" Byakuran hummed and Zero almost choked on her marshmallow because of the casual response.
"A-and you're not planning on telling me that reason, right?" She managed to say between the coughs.
"Actually, I was." Byakuran grinned, gaining the full attention of his fellow mafia boss. The man hid an amused laugh behind his bag of marshmallows at the amusing reactions he got from Zero before continuing. "Have you ever heard of the tri-ni-sette?"
"The tri-ni-sette?" Zero frowned. "Isn't it a song? I believe that I heard it… once upon a time."
"Actually, it's the key to ultimate power~"
"I'm pretty sure that it's a lullaby, Byakuran." Zero sweatdropped though she sounded unsure at the moment. "The Sea knows no bounds. The Clam passes down its form from Generation to Generation. The Rainbow appears from time to time before fading away… If I remember the lyrics right. It's just a song, not… a key to ultimate power."
"You don't believe it?" Byakuran asked with a cheerful laugh with no real emotion as he raised his hand in front of his face. "I even have the proof of it right here."
"Your ring?"
"The sky mare ring, yes."
"Mare as in… sea? Does that mean that the Vongola rings are the clams which are mentioned in the song?" Zero laughed nervously, slowly inching away from the sudden change in demeanor of the white haired man.
"And the pacifiers of the arcobaleno are the rainbow." Byakuran nodded, his smile growing wider when he saw the realization dawn on Zero.
"And what are your plans for the tri-ni-sette?" She asked. Byakuran chuckled at the quiet tone she used and leaned forwards to the younger woman.
"Maybe taking over the world?" He whispered in her ear.
"…Really funny, Byakuran." Zero stated, suddenly standing up from the chair and taking a big step backwards. She didn't sound like she found it funny at all, but Byakuran apparently did.
"I am serious, Zero~"
"You don't sound serious." Zero snapped. "And taking over the world? What are you thinking?"
"Oh, good that you ask." Byakuran exclaimed, clapping his hands in realization and standing up as well. "I was just thinking that you could perfectly help me with my plans." He smiled pleasantly while approaching the woman who was starting to make her way backwards.
"Your plans of taking over the world?"
"Indeed, I'm glad that you understand~"
"No."
"I'm afraid that you don't have a real choice." Byakuran hummed as he grabbed Zero's arm before she could move away any further. "You see, you're the only person who has the trust of the Vongola and the most suspecting members of the arcobaleno. Meaning that you're the best candidate to retrieve the Vongola rings, the lightning pacifier, the mist pacifier and the sun pacifier."
"You can't make me doing it, Byakuran."
"You're wrong~" Byakuran disagreed. "I can… and I will."
…
For a little while, Chrome could only blankly stare at the parachute after the recording was over. The last words of the man who looked a little bit like Zero echoed through her mind as she slowly allowed her dying will flames to embrace her for comfort.
"What happened?" She whispered to the parachute that apparently decided that it was its job to comfort the girl. "Please don't tell me that this is all what happened to Zero-chan. Please tell me that she's safe. That she is fine."
"Chrome… a robot can't answer your questions." Reborn stated regretfully before pulling his fedora over his eyes. "Zero… she at least managed to give us this message. What happened afterwards is a mystery that we have to solve ourselves."
"Please." Chrome asked again.
"Chrome…"
"I just want to- no, I need to know what happened."
"So do I." Reborn agreed before glancing at the parachute, which was still hovering around Chrome. The invention still tried to calm down the girl by hopelessly floating up and down, but Reborn noticed that it actually worked a little. Chrome's flames which surrounded her were slowly disappearing and before Reborn knew it, Chrome was back to sleeping on the couch.
"Thank you." He nodded to the parachute. "For calming her down and for showing us that message."
The parachute almost appeared to be surprised at the words, but Reborn wrote it off as his imagination. It wasn't like parachute could show emotions, no matter how weird the people who invented said parachute were.
The people who didn't exist anymore.
What happened indeed?
…
Omake: hot chocolate with marshmallows
It was a pretty beautiful day outside and it would have been a shame if I had to do my paperwork inside… or so I thought before my Famiglia acted on their own and banned me from doing my paperwork. Now I was still sitting inside, but instead of sitting behind a desk, I was sitting in a café because banning me from my paperwork apparently banning me from entering our base.
"One hot chocolate, please." I ordered with a sigh. I loved my Famiglia, I really did, but sometimes they simply didn't make sense. Even after being their boss for fourteen years, I had trouble with understanding their love for destructions. Somewhere I could still understand their love for inventing and creating stuff, but their love for destruction could be dimmed down a little. Or a lot, actually. A nineteen years old woman could only handle that much paperwork before being driven crazy.
The waiter returned with my order and I focused on the cup which was placed on my table. Maybe I needed to stop worrying about my mafia business and relax like my Famiglia ordered me to do. They really wanted me to relax, considering how they literally forced me away from our base and ordered me to avoid the Vongola and my students for today… But they acted a bit too suspicious for me to relax.
They wanted me to avoid my friends and my paperwork to the point that I wasn't allowed to return before Monday. What was my Famiglia planning to do in the weekend? The only special days in this weekend were… I could only think of valentine's day which was on Sunday's, but there was no real reason to force me out of the base for that.
It wasn't like I would receive love letters disguised as paperwork or something like that.
I laughed at the ridiculous idea of having to sign love letters instead of paperwork and returned my attention to the hot chocolate that I ordered. My Famiglia was weird and they acted suspicious, but that didn't stop me from loving them for the weird people they were.
"Personally, I think that hot chocolate tastes better with marshmallows." Someone mentioned. My head shot up in surprise and I gaped at the man across the table. Sure, I didn't notice anyone approaching which was a little surprising, but what really made me gape at the man across me was his appearance.
"…Marshmallows do taste good with hot chocolate, but I prefer it plain. Like my brother likes his coffee without any additions." I breathed while still eyeing the appearance of the man with surprise.
"Blasphemy!" He laughed cheerfully. "I couldn't believe that we're not related to each other first, but now I'm convinced. Nice to meet you, female Byakuran."
"Hmm… nice to meet you too, male Zero." I grinned back when the surprise was starting to fade away. "And who says that we aren't related to each other?"
"If you really were related to me, you would have been in the mafia." He nodded while gesturing to the shirt that he was wearing.
"Nice shirt, kufufufu." I laughed at the printed words on the shirt. "I can see that you're involved with criminal organizations because your shirt says 'I'm in the mafia'… You know, I think that the typeface kind of ruined the intended effect."
"No way, comic sans is awesome."
"It is." I smiled at the man who strangely looked like me. I never met someone with the same pale purple eyes like mine before… though, it the thought of pale purple eyes jolted an old memory in my mind. "…Gesso?"
"What did you say?" Byakuran asked with slightly wider eyes.
"Are you a Gesso?" I asked, remembering the many times that people asked whether I was a Gesso or not.
"How did you know?" Byakuran asked. "My name is Byakuran Gesso."
"…Nice to meet you, fellow mafia boss." I nodded after recovering from the second time that I've been surprised this day. "My name is Estraneo Zero, the Neo Estraneo Primo."
Hey guys, doubleyy here.
I know, I know, I'm late with this update. But in my defense, I didn't expect how busy 2016 was going to be for me. I'm afraid that updates will be slow in general in 2016 :(. On the brighter side, I've written this chapter? There're a lot of hints about what happened to Zero in this chapter. I wonder if anyone already knows what happened? Feel free to try and guess kufufufu.
Those are really interesting ideas, HaPPy2901… it somehow makes me get the feeling that I want to write more about Alex's timeline too. Maybe later :P. And about her former love life… maybe you'll find out about it somewhere in the upcoming arcs kufufu.
It's almost been an entire year since I started this fic and somehow I managed to get 450+ reviews before its birthday too… I really feel flattered. Let me reward you, my readers (and reviewers :D)
Omake 2: the daily life of the Sinclair's part 23
"Tch, wasted another bullet." Renato grumbled he saw who he actually hit. He looked away from the unconscious moron and looked into the crowd of human beings in the hope to find his younger sister.
Not for the first time today, he decided that he hated valentine's day.
It wasn't that he didn't get any chocolate, but he hated how their school organized a fair because of valentine's day and how the fair was too popular to his liking. Renato and Renata already lost their parents in the beginning of the fair, though Renato suspected that they were still watching them from somewhere, and somewhere in the middle of the event, even Renata disappeared in the crowd.
And then he was mobbed by a horde of fangirls, who gave him more chocolate than he would be able to eat in a lifetime, and afterwards… certain people managed to find him. He really tried to avoid these people, but apparently trying wasn't enough.
One of those certain people were shot down already… twice. Renatus failed to tell his son that his gun had fake bullets because he knew about the sistercom- overprotectiveness of his son. The man didn't want to risk any dead members of the mafia, but he didn't want that his son was without any weapon to protect himself with either.
That was why Renato got a gun with three bullets. Correction, a gun with three fake bullets.
Sometimes, Renato hated how his father seemed to know him so well.
Still, Renato was a trained hitman, or actually a hitman in training but it was the thought that counted, so even with fake bullets he managed to shoot one of the annoying people unconscious. Twice. One would think that you would give up chasing after someone after being shot, but no. not this moron. There was a reason why Renato hated most of the people in his class.
Renato had hidden three times from another horde of fangirls and safely evaded his classmates for another three times before he found Renata again and even then he ran into someone from his class. The one he wanted to keep Renata away from the most.
"Reborn! I'm here." Renata waved at him before he could pull out his gun again. The weapon felt a bit heavier than it normally felt in its holster when Renato approached his little sister and the badly disguised Chinese guy.
Really, the disguise was really bad. Renato recognized the transfer student in a matter of seconds. The purple robes in contrast to his usual red ones even had the same model and patterns, the only good thing about his disguise were the huge and gaudy glasses and the hat. To say the truth, even those objects weren't really worthy of being called a disguise, but it seemed to work for Renata.
The girl who normally fled for the Chinese transfer student as soon as he appeared simply thanked him with a bright smile and ran to her brother. Her brother who decided to not to shoot the last fake bullet at him because of one simple reason.
Pity.
He really pitied the Chinese teen for having to take the full force of unconscious mafia-seduction. Especially since Renata was the one who performed it. Renato had been at the receiving side of the smile before and he knew how the strong the blunt force of that smile was.
Then he saw the blush blossoming behind the glasses.
Nevermind, shooting the Chinese transfer student made him feel a lot better in the end.
Or in which Fo- I mean the Chinese transfer student was caught by the full force of mafia seduction. I really had too much fun by imagining what happened during the fair. Anyways thanks for reading and please review.
Doubleyy out.
