A/N: I'll just drop this off, I'm not in the right mind to write more.
Enjoy.
Scene 31:
Lambo Bocca
She felt light.
With each movement of her legs, she could feel herself growing lighter and lighter. It was becoming sightly difficult for her to move through the feel of the wind pressing against her so she actually had to bend forward, making herself as small ass possibly.
She could feel the steady pumping of the flames that had managed to escape at her sudden decision, rushing through her veins.
Were the flames making her lighter?
Was she moving quicker than should be possible?
She would have to check that out at a later date.
In front of her, she could see the running kid at a much closer distance, and from the looks of it, he was truly frightened for his life.
It was at that moment that the one thing that couldn't happen at that moment, happened.
The kid must have been running for quite some time trying to get away from the man. His knees suddenly buckled under him sending him tumbling to the asphalt, a loud cry of pain tearing itself out of his throat upon his collision.
The man was on the kid within seconds.
Sh watched as the man violently grabbed the kid by his curly black hair and yanked him to his feet, the kid bravely holding in his cries of pain, desperately clutching onto the man's forearm, using his own muscles to reduce the strain on his scalp as his feet dangled half a foot off of the ground.
She sees the man raise his arm, hand tightly clenched in a fist as he prepared to strike the kid.
She just couldn't allow that to happen.
Without really thinking, she rammed herself with all her strength at the man, something she knew wasn't all that much.
Hence why she was so surprised at just how far the man flew.
He stumbled a good few feet before crashing to the ground.
She hoped that would give her the time she needed.
Running to the boy, she took him into her arms, cradling his trembling frame against her chest as she rubbed him over the bank, trying to ease the pain he was obviously in.
Glancing to the side, she watched as the man picked himself off the ground, his anger practically radiating around his head.
There was no way she would be able to get away with the kid like this.
Fury in his eyes, the man stomped over to them, hands clenched at his sides.
"Why would you defend such a brat?!" he screamed, making the kid twitch in Tsuna's arms. She couldn't help but to tighten her hold on him.
Before she knew it, she felt her face morph into that same, familiar calm.
She narrowed her eyes at the man, her expression otherwise relaxing. For a split second, the man could have sworn he saw the image of a growling lion, covering her, her messed up hair only adding to the image by giving a physical mane to the illusion.
For a split second, he completely froze up.
"No grown-up should ever raise a hand against a child." her voice was deeper than one would expect from such a petite young woman, her hand brushing over the kid's curls as she stared down the man in front of her.
It took a moment before the man seemed to realize that the girl was just that, a girl, a very small one too.
"I don't give a shit," he growled, stomping up the last couple of steps until he was just in front of the two.
What little rage that had entered Tsuna's body washed away the second she saw the man raise his hand. Letting her arms fall from the kid's quivering frame, she tightly shut her eyes as the meaty hand grabbed hold of the hair at the back of her head.
With a pained yelp, Tsuna was yanked away from the kid's side, forcefully brought back to her feet as the man loudly growled in anger.
Bringing her up to his face, Tsuna was suddenly hit with a wave of a horrible smell that threatened to make her dinner crawl back up her throat.
"I do whatever the fuck I want!" the man bellowed, making Tsuna flinch at the sound, even more so when he gave her head a rough shake.
Suddenly, something very distinctive yet foreign found itself pointed at the man's temple.
Tsuna felt her eyes widen in familiar fear at the sight of the object, her blood running cold as an unpleasant memory hit her like a ton of bricks.
A gun.
Slick, and black, with golden details, three barrels attached to what looked like a strange revolver contraption, a very different brand from the replica that had been pointed at her at the start of the school year.
She felt terribly cold at that very moment, actively forcing her core to not act up.
"Then it's only fair for me to do what I want then." a familiar, gravelly voice sounded through the air. "Isn't it?"
Turning her head at the same time as the man, Tsuna found herself staring at the profile of a very, very pissed off Gokudera, though his fury was concealed behind a face of indifference, his olive eyes pinned on the side of the man's face.
Wide-eyed, Tsuna just couldn't seem to properly register what she was seeing.
In front of her, the man chuckled. Though his chuckle sounded slightly panicked.
"You're not going to shoot me," he mumbled, his voice betraying the fear he was really feeling.
Shrugging his shoulders, Gokudera pressed the gun harder against the man's temple.
"I don't give a fuck what you think."
He glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eye, seeing the absolute fear on her face.
His eyes narrowed into a glare, his finger tightening on the trigger as he turned his attention back to the man.
"Drop. The girl." He growled with such a menacing tone that Tsuna could feel the frightened shivers running through the man through his hand. Or… were that her own shivers?
Eyes locked on Gokudera from the corner of his vision, the man's hand tightened on her hair before he brutally shoved her away from him, sending her skidding a short distance over the asphalt and yanking yet another cry from her lips.
Eyes having locked on Tsuna the second she was pushed away, a furious growl ripped it's way from his throat as he turned his attention back to the man.
That, apparently, was as much panic as the man could handle, as he chose to turn tail and run from the scene, leaving the three to collect themselves.
Gokudera stared after the retreating figure, gun still raised, until he vanished from his line of sight.
The second the man was gone, Gokudera practically threw himself onto the ground at Tsuna's side, dropping the gun as he put his hands on her shoulders, looking her right in the eye with a slightly panicked expression.
"Are you alright?" he asked frantically, looking over every exposed part of her body, which unfortunately happened to be quite a bit what with her wearing shorts.
"Yeah..." Tsuna insisted, eyes firmly pinned on the gun. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Sighing, Gokudera grabbed hold of her head, one hand on either cheek as he forcefully turned her attention towards him, locking his eyes with hers.
"That was really stupid of you, Juudaime." he stated, a frown marring his aristocratic features as he looked at her. "Just running off into trouble like that." his hands fell to her shoulders.
Ignoring his words, Tsuna's eyes moving back to the gun on the ground.
The last time she had seen anything akin to one of those things outside of the TV screen, she had wound up in a three day coma.
Seeing one again… really put her on edge.
"Where did you get that?" she asked frantically, turning towards the man she had dubbed her best friend. Her eyes wide as she took in Gokudera's calm demeanor.
He let out a long sigh as he calmly brushed her over the hair.
"I always carry one with me."
Her attention snapped towards him.
"You have more than one?"
Choosing to ignore this question, Gokudera looked away from Tsuna, his hand once again closing around the handle of his gun as he picked it up and brought it into the general direction of his back pocket.
Gun put away, he looked back at Tsuna.
"I found them necessary when living in Italy."
Necessary?
The "no weapons in public" rule was global!
What the fuck was he talking about?
A pained whimper cut off any and all thought she still had surrounding her friends questionable possession or the reason as to why he would have the need for them in the first place.
That would have to wait for another time.
The two teens turned around to see the kid sitting a few feet away from them, his one hand clutching tightly at a rip in his shirt where Tsuna was sure he would be sporting a particularly terrible scratch. One that would be worse than the other scrapes and bruises that littered his small body.
Glancing further down, she couldn't help but to notice that he wasn't wearing shoes.
His feet too, were covered in scraped, though the majority of them looked like he had scraped up the scabs of older ones.
He looked to be in terrible pain.
Carefully, she crawled over towards the kid, falling to her knees in front of him.
Having fallen into shadow, the kid looked up at Tsuna, and his eyes widened in obvious recognition at the sight of her. Of course, this left Tsuna in a state of utter confusion as she didn't remember ever seeing the kid before.
Glancing down at her hand clutching the thin arm, she instinctively reached out towards him, her fingertips brushing against the back of his hand, making him flinch at her touch.
She shied away from her, eyes firmly pinned on the ground, refusing to look at her.
"Please..." she whispered softly, still holding out her hand. "Don't be afraid of me." she gave him her kindest smile, hoping that the kid would ease up.
He threw a hasty glance in Gokudera's direction, his features contorting into more of an actual fear for his life rather than the shocked fear he more when looking at her.
He obviously recognized Gokudera as well. But how?
She turned back towards her friend.
"You know this kid?" she asked softly, letting her hands fall into her lap.
Gokudera had rose from the ground, and Tsuna found herself consciously looking for the lump in one of his pockets were the gun should be located.
She frowned when she didn't find any.
Where had it disappeared off to?
Gokudera scowled as he brushed his hands over his pants, dusting off some of the dirt that had stuck to them.
"He's a pick-pocket," he answered courtly.
Meaning, the kid was the one that had gotten to Gokudera. Tsuna added in her mind as she allowed her eyes to wander over the kid's appearance once again.
It hurt her to think that someone as young as this boy would have to resort to pick-pocketing.
Gokudera wasn't done talking however, much to her surprise.
"He's also the kid that crashed into you last week."
This made her frown, but in confusion this time.
Tsuna had, by no means, a bad memory. So why couldn't she remember a crashing into her at some point last week? One would think one would remember something like that.
Seeing her obvious trouble, Gokudera decided to elaborate.
"You had a fit right after the collision."
A memory came back to her.
The feel of the sudden crash against her side that had shocked her to the point of her heartbeat speeding away on her right outside of the convenience store.
It had been one of the scariest moments of her life, feeling as though her heart was attempting to beat its way out of her rib-cage. Of course she wouldn't have been paying any attention to her surroundings at that moment.
It was no wonder she couldn't recall seeing the little boy that had crashed into her.
Slowly, she turned back towards the kid, feeling a wave of sadness washing over her as she noticed him still staring at her in fear.
Releasing a deep breath, she gave him a gentle smile.
"What's your name?" she asked softly.
The kid hesitated for a moment before uttering with a small voice:
"Lambo Bocca."
'Lambo Bocca', Tsuna repeated in her head as she noticed Gokudera's hands clenching.
That was an Italian name.
Considering her history with the country, that just couldn't be good.
But… she just couldn't leave him here.
Gently, she put her hand on the kid's shoulder, feeling him trembling under her touch as she carefully, calmly, gently, rubbed her thumb over the boy's collarbone. He turned his trembling head towards her, meeting her eyes for the first time.
She smiled softly.
"Where do you live?" she asked, keeping her voice barely louder than a whisper.
She didn't need to speak louder than that. She was afraid to do so.
Eyes widening, Lambo started to fidget something terrible.
"Why do you want to know?" his throat convulsed into a hiccup before the last words slipped out between his lips.
Tsuna deliberately kept her eyebrows from twitching into a frown.
He was too frightened. Too guarded for any (apparent) eight-year-old to be.
Just what had he gone through?
Calming herself, Tsuna brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
"We need to get those scrapes treated." she smiled again, making a point to look the kid right in the eye as she crouched in front of him.
"Juudaime," Gokudera spoke up from behind her. She silenced him with a raised hand.
She didn't have time for his overprotective nature right now.
Under her hand, she felt the kid tremble even more violently than he were before.
"L-L-Lambo-san can d-do it h-himself." his young voice stuttered, turning his face away from hers, pointedly looking anywhere but at her face.
He glanced at her hand from the corner of his almost impossibly bright eyes.
It was a shame that he was so terribly frightened. Those eyes could be glowing should he be the happy child that she knew he was under the fear.
It was no question about it.
From where her hand rested on his shoulder, she could definitely feel it.
It was an eerie feeling, the sensation of another human beings active flame core frantically sending erratic pulses of contained flames through the body. It was at that moment that she knew, only the fabric of the dirties cow-print shirt was keeping her skin from absorbing those flames and allow them free range of her body from the inside.
She didn't know how she knew this, but she did.
It was a good thing the fabric was in the way, she knew that too. Whatever kind of color of flame this kid has, she is absolutely positive that it is not blue.
She was knocked out of her train of thought when Lambo suddenly started to raise himself off of the asphalt, awkwardly, mindful of his scrapes as he moved. He couldn't quite get the balance necessary to rise as his hand still clutched at his arm, making his ascent unsteady.
Quickly, Tsuna brought her hands up to his forearms, steadying him.
"You won't get to everything yourself." she insisted, maneuvering her head to force the kid to look her in the eyes again.
"Juudaime," Gokudera spoke up again, his voice more insistent than before. "You really shouldn't be doing this." there was an irritated tremble to his gravelly voice. She could just imagine him frantically ruffling his hair. "We don't even know the damn kid!"
She chose to block out his words.
Keeping her gaze locked with Lambo's, she could tell that her stubborn streak was showing in her eyes, and Lambo, proving to be an uncommonly perceptive kid, could see it.
Hesitantly, his head bobbed into an agreeing nod.
On instinct, Tsuna raised her hand to place her palm against the boy's dirt-covered cheek.
A split second after the touch, Tsuna recalled her previous relief at the fabric obscuring the actual skin contact between her and the boy. The second that followed, she realized that she could no longer feel the pounding underneath his skin.
She almost frowned at this revelation.
Then it hit her.
Everything about her bloodline powers were one way or the other directly tied to her emotions. Determination to bring it forward and more than likely control it. So… why wouldn't her determination for her desire to reach someone be the trigger for the strange, absorbing portion of her power?
The second it reached him, that power was no longer activated.
Smiling, she brushed her thumb over his cheek, weaving her fingers into the ebony curls at the back of his neck, instinctively knowing that the gesture would serve as a calming stimulant.
She could feel the nerves under his skin relaxing under her touch, making her relief at his change of attitude towards her all the more filling.
Leaning her head in close towards his, she lowered her voice into an actual whisper.
"You just wait here for one second."
"This is a really bad idea." Gokudera voiced as he picked his bags up from the bench.
Sighing, Juudaime secured her own grip around hers. Allowing it to rest on her hip, she turned towards her friend, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
"I really don't care." she took on an air that Gokudera rarely saw on her. Her stubborn side, the side of her personality that really wouldn't stand for someone telling her she can't do something.
She herself had told him he needed to have the ability to tell her no, but it had taken quite some time before he had truly understood why he needed to have that ability to begin with.
At least, to what extent her stubbornness reached.
She had many faces, as people often did, but the interesting thing with Juudaime wasn't that she wore masks depicting personalities that really wasn't her, the faces she wore were masks blocking aspects of her, most of said aspects being her good parts. The most common face he'd seen her wear was her cold one, the mask that blocked everything apart from her take-no-shit attitude.
The more time he spend with her, another layer of her mask was removed, allowing him to see more of her.
The best part of it.
He wasn't actively trying to remove her mask.
The more comfortable she got around him, the more she willingly unmasked herself simply with him being himself.
Maybe that was one of the reasons why.
Juudaime was a very understanding and caring young woman with a great sense of empathy and the understanding of human nature for someone who had been bullied for so long, perhaps that was what had made her so observant, not to mention sensitive towards the signs of someone being put down by someone else.
The bullying had also ensured that she cared little about how other people treat her, even when some of the acts done to her were borderline abuse. But, if there ever was an incident concerning something or someone she had come to care about, she would suddenly become unmovable, stubborn to the point of a rock being more likely to spontaneously change into a dove than her changing her mind.
She was aware of this streak of hers, and she knew she would maybe, one day, need someone of his intellect to persuade her from something that may end up as a dangerous.
This, however, was not such a moment.
Watching Juudaime shifting her gaze, he followed her eyes to look at the boy standing just a few feet away from them, staring at the ground with a constantly shifting stance.
Looking back at Juudaime, he noticed her stature relaxing at the sight of the kid.
Observant as she has always been, Juudaime turned her head back to him just seconds after she did.
Se took a deep breath, eyes closing for a brief second before she looked at him again, that stubborn expression back on her face.
"By now, you should have learned to trust my hunches," she stated, her voice lower than it was before, her gaze shifting back to the kid every other second.
He saw her fingers tightening around the paper of the bag before she took a step closer to him, eyes now carrying intent in those milk-chocolate orbs.
"He's Ignited, Gokudera-kun," she whispered.
Gokudera felt his own eyes widening at her words, his own sight shifting back to the boy for a split second before he turned it back on Juudaime.
He forced himself to shake his head, clearing his mind of his shock.
"How do you know?" he managed to utter after a couple of swallows.
She took yet another step towards him, closing the distance between them even further.
"I could feel it," she whispered, speaking with a voice filled to the brink with shocked awe at her own words. And he could feel it too. "I think..." she continued, glancing back at the kid. "I managed to repeat what I instinctively did back with Yamamoto-san after the fall." Gokudera felt his temper flare inside his chest at the reminder of her second brush with death.
It had taken quite some time, but the delinquent had finally managed to get the fully story behind the stitches she'd had to remove and he had not been happy about it.
To think that he had almost not met her, and almost lost her once he had.
"Only this time," Juudaime continued, forcing Gokudera to return his focus to her voice. "Instead of tapping into someone's dormant flames, I could feel his active ones pulsing through his body, even without actual skin contact."
The crinkling of paper sounded as her fingers twitched.
Gokudera was proud to say that he himself was also a very good judge of a persons thoughts and emotions. Nowhere near as talented as Juudaime, of course, but he knew his fare share.
He never had to use those skills on the young woman standing in front of him.
Just one other reason as to why he followed her.
"You're not responsible for this kid Juudaime," he whispered back to her, not really trying to convince her to change her mind, he knew it wouldn't do much.
"I feel like I am," Juudaime whispered back, eyes not wavering.
Sighing, Gokudera shook his head in an exasperated manner.
"Alright..." he breathed, no longer whispering. "You win."
To his surprise, she frowned at him.
"Please tell me you're not just saying that." her head tilted in that familiar way it always did whenever she believed he was restraining his own opinion.
His lip twitched into a smirk as he shook his head once again, this time in response to her question.
"No." once again, he glanced back at the boy who was obviously starting to become restless just standing there out on the open. "He is just a kid." he agreed with her mindset. "He couldn't cause you any physical damage." she rolled her eyes at his words, but a smile played on her lips.
It was strange to him, knowing that someone could understand him as well as he could understand someone else, and allow it. But seeing as it was Juudaime, he didn't feel threatened by it.
He had to force his face into a scowl.
"But I still don't trust him." he snarled.
Juudaime's smile just widened, a light laugh slipping from her lips as she shook her head in an amused fashion as she started her steps to walk around him.
"You don't trust anyone." she chuckled.
"I trust you." Gokudera immediately interjected, spinning around as she continued her steps towards the kid.
She paused, her smile still remaining as she turned back towards him.
"Well, apparently, I'm not anyone, am I?"
It was a rhetorical question. She quickly turned back towards the kid, putting her hand gently on his shoulder as to not startle him.
Gokudera watched as the kid looked up at her, those bright eyes staring at her in awed worry.
It was at these moment that Gokudera completely forgot just what she really were, and what she was going to become one day.
"No… you are not."
As the teens soon discovered. Lambo was faster, and more agile than both of them put together.
He maneuvered himself through the trees expertly and quicker than a snake, or a squirrel. With the agility of a monkey, he swung himself from certain branches, performing moves that could only be described as self-taught par-core.
The teens actually lost complete sight of the kid on several occasions, making them fear that he had changed his mind and bolted on them, but they always found him waiting behind a tree just a few more steps into the forest he had lead them into with a quiet apology before he continued leading them stars-knows-where further into the labyrinth of thick trees.
It was when they reached a particularly old one, hollowed out by nature.
He let his young hand wander over the bark longer than any other in the words.
"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, taking a few cautious steps in his direction.
For a moment, the kid said nothing. Then, he quickly shook his head, glancing back at Tsuna over his shoulder.
"It's nothing," he muttered, and kept walking.
Weaving through the trees for another ten minutes, the small group finally came to a stop in the middle of a small clearing, small enough and with branches so tightly woven together that very little light was able to slip in through.
From an artistic standpoint, Tsuna couldn't help but to think the scene belonged in a gothic photograph somewhere. She didn't like the feeling she got from the place.
Tsuna was the first to notice the door.
Almost completely hidden under tall grass was a large, rusty, metal door sunken into a raised area in the ground. Lambo was walking towards it with a much more confident stride in his steps than before, he grabbed onto the handle of the door, standing along the long side of the rectangle the metal created and pulled it open.
It didn't open correctly, giving off this horrible screeching noise as the kid pulled.
Frowning, Lambo bumped the metal with his knee.
A light clicking noise was heard, and as Lambo kept pulling, the horrible noise was a much more bearable one.
The kid shoved the door open the rest of the way, sending it swinging onto the grassy ground with a surprisingly soft 'thud'.
There was now a hole, a square opening that revealed a shadowed staircase leading down into the ground. Tsuna could feel the damp air almost radiate from the dark depths, giving her a hint on just how deep the stairs went, along with how long the door had been closed.
It was a bomb shelter.
The kid ad led them to a bomb shelter in the middle of the forest, and an old one too.
The thing had probably been around since the world wars or longer.
Briefly, Tsuna and Gokudera shared a look.
The kid threw a passing glance in their direction before he slid down the stairs into the darkened depths, closely followed by the two teenagers.
For a moment, everything was completely black. But then, a small pale orange light illuminated the end of the staircase, showing off the entrance to a small make-shift home.
Walls supported with boards and pillars, ceiling help up with half-rotten poles, and floors being little more than stamped-down soil. A small pile of ragged blankets formed a poor excuse for a bed in one of the corners, the only light coming from an old oil lantern sitting on an old, dented, metal barrel who's color had long since faded to gray.
Horrified, Tsuna spun around on the spot, taking in the sight with wide-open eyes.
Shaking, she turned towards the kid whom was standing next to the lantern, studying the two of them wearily.
"You live here?" she asked him, not surprised to find her voice breaking.
Dutifully, Lambo nodded in answer.
Having followed Tsuna's example, Gokudera had too looked around the room, only his eyes had fallen on something littering behind a wooden crate.
Settling the paper bags on the ground next to a wall, he walked over, peering over the crate with an expectant frown on his face.
Wallets.
Hundreds of them thrown haphazardly into a miniature mountain.
Sitting down in front of it, he didn't have to ruffle through it for too long before his fingers closed around a familiar piece of blood-red leather.
His wallet.
Flitting it open, he could still find his cards, his ID, his personal pictures including the one Juudaime had insisted on the two of them taking during one of the times they met when she was out shopping. But no money.
Nothing was missing, except for the money.
This shouldn't have angered him as much as it should have, but this only proved that someone had gone through his wallet. One of the two things he felt was absolutely personal.
Growling, he could no longer contain his anger as he spun around and stormed straight up to Lambo, grabbing him roughly by the shirt as he shoves the walled up in his face.
"Why do you steal from people?" he demanded, eyes narrowed.
For a second, Lambo appeared to be confused, then the expression changed into one expressing his disbelief that the answer wasn't obvious.
"How else should I get money for food?" he asked, bewildered.
Growling, the delinquent grabbed the kid's shirt with both his hands, lifting him up into the air, successfully pulling a distraught sound from his throat.
He shook him violently, having seemingly forgotten that Tsuna was still there, staring at the scene with wide eyes.
Quickly, Tsuna set her paper bag down by the door. Storming over her friend as she kept shaking the little kid in the air.
Grabbing hold of his wrist, she locked eyes with his olive-green ones as she manually lowered his arms. Once she felt the vibration indicating the touch-down of Lambo's feet on the ground beneath them, she moved her hands to pry his fingers off of the kid's shirt.
She kept her eyes on Gokudera as the man growled and turned away from the two, hands coming up to furiously ruffle his hair in frustration.
Taking a deep breath, Tsuna turned her attention back to Lambo, gently putting her hands on his shoulders as she turned him around towards her.
"You know," she spoke, getting down on her knees in front of him. "I just can't allow you to keep living like this."
For a moment, the kid looked absolutely terrified, his eyes widening dramatically as he tried to pull himself away from her hands. She didn't allow him.
It took a while before he calmed down enough to stop struggling.
"Then, where is Lambo-san supposed to live?" he asked, voice barely audible.
Taking a deep breath, Tsuna mentally went over the option she had reached in her head. But, she really couldn't reach another conclusion that the kid could probably agree to.
"Would you like to stay at my place?"
Two pairs of eyes widened comically at the words, Lambo stiffening under her hands.
"What?" his voice shook, eyes glistening as he looked at her.
"Juudaime..." Gokudera asked from her side, looking at her in absolute disbelief. "Do you realize what you're saying?" it was one thing to help a kid patch up his scraped after having fallen on the ground, but to invite a street-kid to live with you?
She didn't even look at him. She kept her attention on the kid.
"Do you mean that?" he asked, voice trembling as a small tear slid down his cheek.
Smiling, she nodded in affirmation, bringing up her hand to brush her thumb against his cheek, weaving her fingers into his curls as she wiped the tear away, taking the chance to wipe away a smudge of dirt as she did.
"What do you think?" she asked softly.
For a moment, Lambo said nothing. Then, his gaze fell to the ground.
"Can Lambo-san really…?" he whispered, his hands fumbling with the hem of his shirt.
Still smiling, Tsuna nodded once again.
It took a moment, but Lambo finally raised his eyes to her.
"Okay."
"Juudaime," Gokudera spoke up again, having studied the room for a moment. "This really isn't a good idea." he insisted. The only reaction he got was the same stubborn expression she had given him before they went there.
He couldn't help the groan that left his lips.
Looking around again, he spots a small, dirtied and torn dark green backpack sitting in the corner of the shelter.
Now normally, this wouldn't have caught his attention, but there was something vaguely visible on the front of the pack. Something that had most likely previously been brightly painted in white, but now, had faded away to the point where there was little change between the shades of green, but he could still see the marking in the dim light.
An insignia.
An insignia that he actually found painfully familiar.
It looked something like a bulls head with horns very prominent in shape where they weren't in color, but it was too faded for him know what it had been originally.
Color drained slightly from his face either way.
He could think of at least ten symbols that could have been, and none of them spelled good news for Juudaime.
But it was still a kid, a kid that on his own couldn't cause Juudaime too much pain.
Looking at him, Tsuna took Lambo into her arms.
"I don't care," she mumbled.
The kid needed her.
They had been walking for a good half hour.
Tsuna's one arm was wrapped around the paper bag, allowing it to rest on her hip as she walked, her free arm lay around the lightly trembling shoulders of the dirty boy walked next to her. His pack was strapped to his back, his own arms clutched around an old pillowcase tied together with a piece of shoestring.
What was inside the make-shift sack, Tsuna didn't know.
Gokudera walked a few feet behind them, arms clutched tighter than necessary around both of the bags he had assigned to himself as he kept his eyes firmly pinned on the faded logo on Lambo's backpack. It was too faded for him to recognize exactly where he had seen it before or even what the logo stood for, but the sight of it sent a sense of terrible unease through his body.
Shaking his head, the delinquent quickened his steps, falling into pace at Tsuna's side.
Still trembling, Lambo raised his head up to look at Tsuna.
"Will your mother like Lambo-san?" he asked, his voice shaking as he appeared to force the words out of his throat.
Tsuna's arm stiffened in a comforting way around the kid's shoulders, tilting her head downwards to send him an equally comforting smile.
"She's going to adore you."
"How can you be so sure?" the kid asked, halting his steps and thus forcing his two companions to freeze up alongside him. Tsuna turned her entire body towards him, keeping her arm wrapped around his shoulder.
Her smile never left his face.
"Because I know my mother."
Thankfully, this was enough to get the kid to start walking again.
By the time they reached the Sawada household, Lambo was practically shaking out of his clothes at the nervousness he was presenting.
Every other step was taken after a great deal of hesitance on the kid's part until he completely stopped in front of the gates after Tsuna's gentle whisper that they were there.
His big eyes widened even further as he stared at the building, like he had never seen anything quite like it before.
Slowly, he turned his head towards Tsuna, meeting her expectant eyes.
"Do you really live here?" he asked quietly.
She smiled gently, giving him a nod.
It took some serious coaxing before they managed to get the kid in through the gates, even more to make him step in through the front doors, and when they did, the kid wound up frozen once again, eyes frantically moving around the room as he seemed eager to take in every single detail.
"That took a long time." Nana's voice sounded from the kitchen, making even Lambo's eyes freeze up, staring in a terrified manner at the open kitchen door.
Steps could be heard, indicating that Nana was walking towards them.
"What kept you?" Nana froze in the doorway, eyes locking on the short addition to Tsuna's small group.
Frightened, Lambo stepped in behind Tsuna, the majority of his body hidden behind the bag still resting on her hip. Half of his face showed as he peered around the teenager, studying the woman that was still standing in the doorway.
Prying her eyes away from the kid, Nana looked at her daughter.
"Who is he?" she asked, keeping her voice leveled in consideration to the trembling hand visible on her daughter's waist.
Gently, Tsuna let her hand fall on the kid's shaking shoulder.
"Lambo Bocca." she answered with the same tone of voice as her mother. "He'd been living in a bomb-shelter up till this point."
Nana's hand flew to her mouth, wide eyes locking on the kid's trembling frame.
From the stairs, Reborn almost soundlessly descended, his cold obsidian eyes falling on the kid as his feet hit the wooden floor.
Tsuna felt Lambo's shaking cease up under her hand, completely freezing in place as he looked at the tutor. This reaction wouldn't have surprised her so much if she hadn't felt the almost overwhelming sense of recognition in the shudder that ran over his young skin.
She would have to deal with that later on though.
Shoulders shaking, eyes welling with tears, Nana removed her hand from her mouth, swallowing a couple of times as she allowed her shoulders to seize in their light shaking.
Clearing her throat, she straightened her back.
"And what..." she swallowed again, blinking away her tears. "Has he been doing up till this point to provide for himself?"
"Pick-pocketing." was Gokudera's immediate, deadpanned answer, stepping out from behind Tsuna.
Tsuna snapped her head in his direction, giving him her best, irritated look as she felt Lambo's shakes return to his shoulders.
A frown marred Nana's features, looking quite out of place on her normally smiling face.
Lambo's trembling intensified.
Nana's eyes pinned on the trembling figure standing behind her daughter. Her hands fell on her hips, showing off that stubborn streak that her daughter so rarely revealed she'd inherited from her.
Sure, her husband was a bit on the stubborn side too, but not in the same way.
Iemitsu was ambitious when he put his mind on something he would do anything until he reached his goal.
Truly, her daughter took after both her parents.
"We're gonna have to change that, won't we?" her eyes and demeanor softened slightly as she noticed the scraped littering his tanned skin. Letting her gaze travel downwards, the frown returned as she spotted the bandaged, bare feet he was standing on.
Eyes much kinder than before, Nana looked into Lambo's bright green eyes.
"Where are your shoes?" she asked.
A glance downwards would show Lambo flexing his toes, but no one were at the moment.
"Lambo-san..." his young voice broke for a second before he could keep going. "Lambo-san's shoes fell apart a few weeks back." his arms tightened around the bag, making their eyes turn towards the shoestring keeping it together.
Sighing, Nana shook her head once more.
"We're gonna have to change that too." she took a few steps forward, bending over as she held out her hand towards the kid's quivering frame. "Come with me." she said with a smile. "We have to get you cleaned up."
Stepping up from behind Tsuna, just a little bit, Lambo looked up at her with worry plain in his eyes.
She smiled, stroke him over the hair, nodding in encouragement.
Hesitantly, Lambo fully stepped out from behind the human shield he had created for himself, carefully placing his trembling hand in Nana's. He still refused to look at her though.
Starting off towards the bathroom doors, Nana turned her head back towards the teens still standing practically in the doorway.
"You put those groceries in the kitchen."
She vanished, along with the kid, behind the bathroom door.
Tsuna let out a sigh, silently pleased with how the situation had played out.
Moving the bag so that both her arms circled it, she dutifully walked into the kitchen, closely followed by her tutor and best friend.
She knew Reborn had questions, but she wanted her hands free before she could deal with them.
"What happened?" Reborn asked once Tsuna had allowed her bag to fall onto the counter, Gokudera's two following closely.
"The kid was chased by a thug." Gokudera answered for her as she started digging for the perishables. "Most likely picked his pocket and got found out." he leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest.
Nodding, Reborn turned towards his student.
"What did you get from him?" he asked after a moment of silence.
Putting down a carton of eggs, Tsuna turned towards Reborn, ready to answer when Gokudera decided to deliver the one point of her observation that he most likely believed was the most important one.
"Juudaime said he was Ignited."
Intrigued, Reborn raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed he is." he agreed, obsidian eyes turning towards Tsuna. She didn't know how but she got the feeling that he was a bit shocked with her conclusion. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"
Biting her lip, Tsuna let out a long breath as she absentmindedly treated an itch at the back of her wrist. Everything about this day had been strange in her eyes.
"I could feel it." She answered in a low voice, not looking at either male.
"Interesting..." Reborn hummed, Tsuna could practically see him adding that little factor to their future training sessions. The part of the training that would be more or less experiment instead of proven functioning methods. The man finally raised his hand, gesturing towards Tsuna. "Continue."
Taking a deep breath, Tsuna gathered the words together in her mind.
"He felt… deceived." she exhaled, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Like… he'd been so badly played by someone he trusted that he doesn't know whom to trust anymore." her voice grew more and more heavy with each syllable uttered.
The two men watched her as she spoke, taking in the emotional tool she put herself under.
"I also got this strong sense of helplessness." she continued, desperately trying to ignore the feel of their observing gazes. "Along with an equally strong need to survive." she finally dared to look at her tutor. "He's a mistrusting kid with a high level of determination." she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "There really is no wonder his core Ignited."
Reborn nodded at her words, leaning against the wall as he crossed his arms, his eyes shadowing over in thought.
She had become quite skilled in her judge of character over his stay in the house.
It had been good, to begin with, but he had ensured that it became better.
Once every day, he would show her a picture of a person he knew and tell her to inform him of everything she could tell about the person's character.
Of course, because it was just a picture, she could never actually tell everything, but what she was able to tell, was always very accurate, if not spot-on.
Opening his ears to the teens in front of him, he caught onto the first real argument he had ever heard transpire between the two of them.
"I'm still not over you having a gun." Tsuna voiced her disbelief as she turned towards her friend.
Gokudera took a deep breath before he made himself face her, turning to make his face as indifferent as possible, which was tough work considering the situation.
"It's for protection." he insisted, leaning one hand on the counter as he made a point to hunch over his back in order to make himself not tower over her all too much.
An irritated noise tore its way through Tsuna's throat.
"You know how I feel about guns!" she almost yelled, throwing a hand up between them.
"Mine will never, ever, be pointed at you." Gokudera promised sincerely.
Tsuna only groaned at this, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"For some reason, that does not make me more comfortable!"
Reborn sighed heavily.
He seemed to have been doing that a lot as of late, but what could you do when dealing with teenagers?
"Alright." the tutor finally breathed. "I'll leave the kid alone."
"Reborn-san!" Gokudera exclaimed, snapping his head in the other man's direction, obviously not pleased with the decision the man had reached. His olive eyes glancing in Tsuna's direction, noticing how she had turned away from the men, returning her attention to the paper bags.
"Gokudera." Reborn's voice held a scolding tone to it, making the delinquent turn his head turn to the floor with just the one word. "The two women in this household have obviously taken a liking to the kid." he glanced at Tsuna's back. "What right do we have to go against the will of the owners of this house?"
Both members of the male gender looked at Tsuna, checking to see if she would react, but it looked as though she had completely shut off her ears to them.
Perfect.
Taking a few steps towards the living room, Reborn motioned for Gokudera to follow him.
Once in there, Reborn pulled the large sliding doors connecting to the kitchen shut, turning towards the delinquent.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Gokudera asked, referring to the strange symbol on the kid's bag.
Reborn nodded slowly.
"Yes, I did." the tutor crossed his arms over his chest. "And if Tsuna is right, the kid must be feeling nothing less than dead inside." he glanced towards the sliding doors in the direction he knew Tsuna was still located in. "Nothing is worse than being deceived by family."
Gokudera brought up his hand, ruffling the hair at the side of his head.
He pinned Reborn with a worried look.
"Will they come looking for him?"
Reborn closed his eyes for a brief moment, thoughtfully.
"Even if he did, they would have no real claim on the kid anymore." he finally answered, pinning Gokudera with a meaningful look. "A deceived member is well within their rights to leave."
The light was dimming outside her window later that night as Tsuna sat calmly on the side of her bed, Lambo's back pressed against her legs as she gently ran a hairbrush through his black curls.
She was surprised at how silky it was.
Why couldn't her hair be as easy to manage?
The poor kid had spent a good three hours in the baths with Nana, furiously scrubbing away at the dirt and dried sweat clinging to his skin. His hair had taken about twice as long as that.
Now, when cleaned, Tsuna could see his surprisingly pale complexion despite the olive, Italian tan, and the adorable caramel-colored freckles decorating his cheeks.
Nana had managed to find one of her husband's old pajama shits for the kid to wear. She had pulled Tsuna to the side to tell her she would try and find time soon for the three of them to head out and buy everything the kid would need. The old clothes would have to do till then.
She had to roll up the sleeves several times before the kid could stick his hands through the opening, the hem of the shirt reaching tell over his knees. Tsuna got the feeling that the kid appreciated just having a clean shirt on for a change.
They had been sitting in silence for about five minutes before Tsuna finally deemed the kid calm enough to start asking questions.
"Lambo." she spoke up, keeping her voice calm.
The kid turned his head slightly to show he was listening.
"Did you live in Italy before?"
His shoulders stiffened, but she didn't get any sense of apprehension from him. Just sadness.
She didn't like that.
"Lambo-san did..." the kid answered after a moment's hesitation. "Three years ago."
This brought a frown to Tsuna's face.
"What made you leave?"
It took some time before Lambo found it in him to answer.
"One of Lambo-san's brothers told Lambo-san to find and kill a man." his voice had been so quiet that Tsuna had to strain her ear to hear him. When his quiet words finally sunk into her mind, she found herself wishing she hadn't.
Her brush froze mid-stroke through the silky curls.
"W-why would your brother tell you that?" she asked, unable to stop the shocked stutter.
"Lambo-san don't know." to Tsuna, it sounded as though the boy was just barely keeping himself from stuttering. "He… he said Lambo-san would become a powerful man if he did." a sob racked through his throat. "That everyone would love Lambo-san." he was definitely sobbing now if the shaking of his shoulders was anything to go by.
Tsuna could feel a distinct ache inside of her, as though a cold hand had grasped her tightly by the heart, now viciously attempting to yank the organ out of her chest.
How could anyone, let alone your own family member, say something so horrible!?
Lambo brought up the back of his hand to wipe at the sides of his face, his shoulders still shaking.
"Lambo-san..." a sniffle cut through his shaking voice before he could continue, it took a few more before he found the strength to push through them. "Lambo-san… has lived a nightmare for three years."
Tsuna could see that without him having to say it.
The evidence was all over his pale skin.
Jagged scars littered his shoulders, arms, legs, anywhere the shirt didn't cover really. She could have sworn that she saw cigarette burns on the soles of his feet, and at the back of his neck. She could see the beginnings of a bright red scar running along his spine, following his veins.
She recognized that kind of scar…
She didn't want to think about it, it was too horrible.
Having noticed her silence, Lambo looked at her over his shoulder.
Tsuna could see the wet traces over his cheeks, his big electric green eyes lined with red.
"Lambo-san did what he needed to survive." he insisted, his voice holding a tinge of fear as he watched her.
Was he afraid she was going to throw him out?
Smiling gently, Tsuna put her hands on either side of Lambo's head, turning it back around before she resumed the movements of the brush, gently running her fingers through the curls as they bounced back towards his skull.
"You're lucky then," she said kindly, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Large eyes turned towards her again, those bright green orbs filled with confusion. That look only made Tsuna smile all the more.
"You're lucky we found you." she affectionately brushed a curl from his eyes, still smiling.
Slowly but surely, Lambo started to smile back.
"Lambo-san thinks he was."
For the entirety of the conversation, neither of the two knew that they had a spectator.
Behind the slightly open door, Reborn peered in through the crack, observing the two with utmost interest.
It wasn't that he was suspicious of the kid, he could see it just like Tsuna had that the kid was just that, a kid that had been through a traumatic experience. Tsuna, a girl that had been through several traumatic situations throughout her life herself, should be able to see the signs clearly know how hard it was to live with such burdens.
She probably thought that she had some sort of obligation to help the kid through his troubles, given her overly accepting nature.
Deciding that he's had enough of their conversation, Reborn removed himself from the door, taking a few steps down into the corridor as his mind whirled.
An eight-year-old kid gone for three years after his own siblings set him up for an impossible mission… why did this situation ring such a loud bell in his head?
Still pondering, he fished his gem out of his pocket.
Withing but a second passing, barely even having time to activate a contact, he put the device to his ear, waiting patiently as the beeps echoed through his skull.
"Put Dino on." a brief moment of silence. A smirk playing on Reborn's lips as he stuffed his free hand into his pocket. "It's his tutor."
A/N: Okay… I don't think I have anything interesting to mention about this chapter, I'm a little burnt out at the moment so I'll just leave this here.
Please tell me what you think (I do not understand Spanish, sorry, but I have made do), you have no idea how happy each review makes me.
This has been:
A message from Her Ladyship.