The tune later is inspired by Sleeping At Last - Lullaby. I just tweaked the lyrics a bit to fit Chuuya's thing with sheep. I still made it rhyme and could be sung over the music. Please go check that out because it's sooo good and it actually made me sleep lol.
:)
Also, shoutout to SnowShiro-Kitsune14 who also figured it out somewhat. It was interesting to see your thoughts and how this fic actually looks to you.
o0o
Whether it be emotions or actions, they were turned upside down.
Like riding a roller-coaster, one's heart and blood rate become chaotic.
"Come on, lamb," Chuuya said under his breath as he rocked her to slumber, "go to sleep."
It was one of those days where no amount of milk or swaying Chuuya did put her to snooze. The Port Mafia executive inwardly sighed as he briefly glanced at the bunch of papers on his desk. At this point, he would have to accept the fact that he'd have to pull another all-nighter to get those done. As much as he wanted to cuss up a storm because of it, he chose to just hold all those curse words in. He doesn't know how Kouyou was doing it but he'd rather not get another earful about babies mimicking his potty mouth.
But it was getting harder to keep that promise, by the second.
Making the nth lap around his bedroom and office, he decides to go around their floor for a change of pace and scenery. The boss had restricted access on their floor to prevent lower-leveled grunts from going up and gaining knowledge of Mamiko. Thus, Chuuya had full confidence that no one else other than those he trusts would see him carrying a baby around and not misinterpreting it.
Passing by his old mentor's office, he suddenly got struck by an idea. He remembers how Kouyou's humming made Mamiko go out like a light. For a quick second, he considers retracing his steps to ask her how the sound went. However, he reconsiders calling for her. He respects his mentor a lot but the memories of the other day were still fresh from his mind.
'I ain't a mother hen,' he inwardly scoffs, 'much less have some kind of motherly anxiety.'
Besides he doesn't think she'll appreciate it if he wakes her at this time of night.
After much walking without Mamiko not showing any signs of wanting to sleep, Chuuya realized that he'd inadvertently roamed towards the western part of their floor. It's the portion of the building rarely visited by any of them. It isn't because of something petty like ghosts or mysterious shit but there's just nothing important or worth going to in this particular corridor. Most of the rooms were just empty and dusty. There had even been a point in the past where they considered renovating it. However, their boss mentioned something like a reminder of some sort, which Kouyou somehow understood, so the subject was never brought up again.
Entering the only unlocked room, he didn't expect it to be much bigger than the ones he passed by. It looked like Mori's office with the floor-length windows and carpeted marble floors. But unlike his office, the hall-like room only offered a piano and its bench. There were also a couple of boxes and cases in the corner but that was it.
'A piano room? In the Port Mafia Headquarters?' Chuuya's eyebrows raised in disbelief, 'How come I didn't even fucking know this existed?'
The room was mostly dark but the old curtains were parted enough for the light from the barely full moon to illuminate the area. His footsteps echo as he went forward to the lone instrument in the room. His gloved hand slid over the instrument's lid leaving a clear straight trail over the dusty surface. Ignoring the particles stuck in his glove, he lifted the lid up and pressed a random key. The clear bright sound reverberated loudly making Mamiko squirm and whimper in his arms.
It was a good thing Chuuya's swaying managed to calm her down.
Exhaling deeply, he carefully sat down on the bench and gently laid her over his lap with the support of his Ability. Looking at the black and white assortment of keys, Chuuya slowly pressed another key and observed how Mamiko reacted. With only gurgling sounds coming from the baby, he used this chance to figure out what Kouyou's humming sounded like.
He had only learned the scales but he supposes it won't be too hard.
In a little over a few minutes, he had figured out four notes and Mamiko was starting to yawn. Considering it a little victory, he cheered a little inside. It gave him the extra boost to mapping out the correct order of all the notes. In his burst of excitement, he unknowingly added a few words to the tune he'd made.
"Goodnight…goodnight," he paused as he positioned his hand over the next keys.
"Says so…the sheep," he continues to add over the notes, unconsciously.
"I'll be," he looks at Mamiko's half-closed eyes, "…watching over."
Pressing C then B flat on the piano, he finishes, "Singing you…to sleep."
He replayed the string of notes and words a few more times until he was sure Mamiko's soft snores indicated her sleeping. He cautiously released his Ability's hold on her over his arms and swiftly made his way out of the room. He once again makes use of his Ability to quietly glide through the hallways without shaking Mamiko too much. Arriving in his own bedroom, he heads straight to her crib and laid her down slowly. He silently tiptoes on his way out, not without leaving the door ajar. He sighs with a bare hint of a smile on his face as he sits on his office chair.
Not wanting to ruin his good mood yet with the papers on his desk, he reaches for the wine bottle on the cabinet behind him and pours himself a glass. With the taste of sweet wine in his mouth, he leaned down to unlock the lowest drawer of his desk and pulled out a notebook. His lips twitched as he flipped through the pages filled with records and notes. He had followed one of Kouyou's advice in 'remedying' his cursing. She said that if he had to really curse or had far too many thoughts about something he wanted to curse at, he should just consider writing them down.
He naturally sneered at the idea at first because it was tedious and a waste of time – writing about his thoughts, that is.
Until Kouyou suggested that he should write about Mamiko as well.
Arriving at an empty page, he begins to jot down his thoughts about the day along with what he and Mamiko did along with the short song he made earlier. Putting the notebook back to its proper place and locking it, his eyes turn serious at the pile of papers on his table. He starts frowning as he sifts through the documents necessary for tomorrow's 'business' trip. They had to keep appearances so he still has to go to these monthly meetings held in their many 'legal' companies.
Unfortunately for him, both he and Kouyou were scheduled to leave on the same day and Mamiko has to be left in someone else's hands. Not once did he consider sending her to the boss (much less Ace who recently came back from his own 'legal' business) because even if he did a good job in taking care of her last time, his boss' obsession with little girls still leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth. Besides, the man was swamped with papers he had set aside when he and Elise brought Mamiko to town. Kajii was out, literally. He was planning his next big experiment and Chuuya would rather keep Mamiko away from all those explosives.
So that leaves him with one choice.
He was certainly trying to convince himself that his little girl would be okay in their hands as Kouyou reminded him over and over. He promises himself that he won't kick a fuss in about 5 hours later. He will reluctantly give them the benefit of the doubt. He just hopes he made the right decision in doing so.
"Tch," he scratches his hair in frustration, "I need another bottle for this shit."
Higuchi was going to die.
And to think that she swore an oath to two out of three executives that she'll treat this as a high-grade mission.
"Should the girl be harmed," the older woman clad in red kimono looked at her in the eye, "...I'm afraid, even I won't be enough to stop him."
'Forget about getting harmed,' the blond sunk down to her thoughts, 'The baby's not even here!'
She was so dead.
And to think she hasn't even confessed her admiration yet.
.
.
.
No.
There's still a little over 10 hours before the two executives return.
'Okay, Higuchi,' she slaps her palms to her cheeks, 'Let's think this through…'
Her eyes roam from left to right and back again only to feel her anxiousness come back to her in waves. No matter how much looking she did, there was just so much evidence that led her to believe that the child was kidnapped. What else could she say about how most of the furniture was turned upside down but being part of a scuffle that definitely occurred.
However, it was definitely peculiar how there seemed to be no signs of blood indicating that intruders made contact with her senpai.
'Nevertheless, the alarms should've been ringing by now,' the blond Mafioso thought as she looked closer at the playpen.
The playpen was as clean as it was when they built it from scratch a little over 4 hours ago. However, the baby toys that were supposed to be in it were incredibly scattered outside of it as if they were purposefully thrown out. As she was about to pick the stuffed doll up, she stepped on a very small white puddle of something. Looking ahead, she notices a trail of the same substances forming across her towards the overturned table and scattered papers. Curiously but cautiously, she follows it to a nearly empty milk bottle. As she was to get the bottle, she sees a familiar figure lying face down on the floor behind the table.
Her hands grow cold as she shakenly shouts, "A-Akutagawa-senpai!"
She hastily forced herself to run to the unmoving body of her superior and quickly checked him over. Flipping him over, she finds no blood nor large wound that could threaten his life which eased her worries a bit. Unfortunately for her, she found herself in a dilemma over how she could wake her superior up.
'Shake him? No. That would be disrespectful but then…' she glances at her superior officer's lips making her blush, 'I d-don't think t-that would be a-appropriate?! I m-mean the situation calls for it b-'
Higuchi quickly snapped out of her daydreaming as she heard the black-haired Mafioso groan into consciousness, "A-Akutagawa-senpai! Are you alright?! What happened?!"
"Shut up, Higuchi," the person in question groaned before he shot up angrily as he wildly looked around, "Where's that brat?!"
"The baby's gone missing, senpai," she replied as the two picked themselves up on the floor, "I didn't hear any alarms for an intruder but I suspect that someone may have kidnapped her. Has senpai made contact with-"
Coughing to his palm, Akutagawa blocked out his subordinate's rambling and inwardly seethed, 'That damn brat!'
"I'll be right back, senpai," the blonde woman salutes before closing the door to his office.
Akutagawa only absentmindedly nods as he was writing details of what went in his missions with great concentration. These papers needed to be done today while he still had free time and the events that happened in his mission could easily be called back from his memory. He didn't want to forget to write any significant detail by setting it aside to rest. In his old mentor's eyes, his slow progress right now would be unacceptable and would warrant punishment.
It was a good thing the child he was supposed to be babysitting wasn't distracting at all.
"Awuu Bwuu Ahhagaba"
Or not.
'Tch, why is it chattering?!' he pinches the bridge of his nose as he takes his eyes off the paper.
He narrowed his eyes as he looked at how the child reached out to the stuffed doll that was somehow outside of the playpen. Knowing that the noise would only grow and distract him if the child didn't get what it wanted, he got up from his seat, picked the toy up, and threw it in the pen. The child's happy gurgling noise went unappreciated as he headed back to his table to take his pen up again.
It doesn't take long for the child to make sounds again. He indifferently eyed the child and the ball that was outside the playpen. He rolls his eyes but ultimately did the same thing he did earlier. Telling the child to not do it again, he returns to his seat. But before he could even take a seat, the child made more annoying sounds for the third time.
Visibly irritated, Akutagawa just made his Ability zoom out to the toys - two dolls and a ball - and deposit them into the pen without him moving in place. Unfortunately for him, he didn't account for the child to scream at the black form of Rashomon. In his stupor, the child prompted the surrounding toys she had along with some of the furniture in his office to glow red and float. Thanks to the reflexes he had honed over the years, he had managed to evade the objects continuously hurled at him and his Ability.
Not wanting to get his office wrecked and his reports destroyed, the Rabid Dog of the Port Mafia quickly commanded his Ability to catch the thrown objects and furniture and return them to their proper places. In the midst of the hurricane of chaos happening in the room, he failed to notice a certain bottle hurtling towards the back of his head.
"Chuuya-san will murder us all," Higuchi murmured in the corner of the room.
'As much as I abhor that hellion,' the cranky teen thought as he rubbed the portion of his head that was hit by the bottle, 'Chuuya-san holds a higher position than me…she must be returned alive.'
Making up his mind, Akutagawa coughs but proceeds to go out of the room, which does not go unnoticed by Higuchi, "Senpai, where are you going?"
Blocking out the woman's inquiry, the black-haired Mafioso started to look around for any sign of the child's presence. Despite wanting to focus on the task at hand, the dull throb at the back of his head kept him from doing so. The way he got knocked out, by a child no less, was absolutely humiliating and it infuriated him so much. Shaking his head to chase the thought away, he chose the direction where he sensed some noise and movement. Ignoring the footsteps of his subordinate behind him, he quickly sped up when he finally set his eyes on the child on the floor.
Seeing the baby up ahead, Higuchi sighed in relief, "Thank goo-"
"There you are, you little runt!"
Once again, the child cried in surprise as Rashomon flew towards her. Upon the scare, the two mafiosos noticed how the stacked boxes of crates began falling down on them making them step back. With a resulting crash on the ground, particles of dust and wood shavings kicked up further blocking the two mafiosos sight of the baby. The child managed to float away leaving the two to shield their eyes and cough. Furious at the hindrance, the Rabid Dog ordered Rashomon to shred the crates off to clear the path.
"That little brat!"
Tachihara was having a good day.
The Black Lizard's last consecutive missions went very well. It also elicited great satisfaction in him as he and his team brought down hordes of men. Writing more reports than usual was a bit of a hassle but he finally finished and filed it away this morning. Now, he was free and was considering taking the day off to have some good ole muscle training to top the week off.
The thought brought a large grin to his face.
At least until something collided with it.
"Hey watch it!" he hissed at whatever it was that started to claw on his face nearly scratching the bandage on his nose away.
"There, senpai," he heard a woman's voice come from the left corridor, "Tachihara-san don't let the kid get away!"
'Why the hell would I not let go?!' he angrily thought in confusion, 'And what kid?!'
Successfully removing the thing on his face, he didn't have the chance to react as the brute force of Rashomon knocked him down. Losing his grip on the child, she fearfully floated away in another direction. As the pair of mafiosos jumped over him, preferring to chase down the kid, Tachihara was left dumbfounded on the floor.
Snapping out of his stupefaction, he quickly follows them, "Oi, what the fuck is happening?!"
"No time to explain," Higuchi answered as they made a sharp turn, "but if we don't catch her at all, we'll face something worse than death."
The rusty red-haired Mafioso didn't ask anything else. He was in disbelief as much as he was confused. On one hand, he couldn't believe three mafiosos were having a hard time catching a baby. On the other hand, he doesn't know why a kid could scare a trained Mafioso so badly. There was also the question of whether he should include this in the other report or not.
He doesn't even know where to start.
Tachihara's thought process halted as his senses alarmed him to stop. In a little over a second, he noticed something shiny set the bags of flour that the kid had knocked over on fire. Fortunately, the sprinklers did their job and the fire died down. It drenched them all in the process, however. No longer blocking their way, the three mafiosos crossed over with Tachihara picking up the lighter left on the floor.
Soon enough, an old man followed behind them from the intersection. An eyebrow raised in question, Tachihara just shook his head and gestured to Hirotsu to just follow the two in front. A little while later, after passing by the elevator that goes deeper underground, their little band of mafiosos was tailed by a similarly confused assassin.
"Oi, oi, oi, this is getting ridiculous," Tachihara shouts in frustration as he climbed over the mess of crates, "Can't we just stop and wait for her to get-"
"NO," Akutagawa growls as he sends out Rashomon again to try and restrain the child, "That brat needs to be taught a lesson!"
"Higuchi," Hirotsu calls for the blond's attention, "Is that the child Chuuya took in?"
She looks at the older man with a strained smile. Understanding the implication, Hirotsu nods while Gin and Tachihara stared incredulously at their blonde superior then at the kid ahead. They both initially thought that it was some baseless rumor spread by someone who wanted to pick on one of their executives. Neither of them took it seriously and only thought that the person had a death wish for doing such a thing.
Now that it was out in the open, the resemblance, at least color-wise, was very uncanny.
"Shit, so we- Hey! What's the hold up old man?!" Tachihara rubbed his nose as he stepped to the side to see what was upfront this time.
"It's a dead-end…"
"We clearly saw her going left here. There's no way-"
"Shut up, Higuchi!"
Over in another room, somewhere in the upper levels of the Port Mafia Headquarters, Ace eerily laughs by himself. He watched the footage from the screen where the chase of the runaway baby was still ongoing. Five trained mafiosos were at a loss at the wall they were staring at and he couldn't help but laugh at their situation. He doesn't even need to listen in to figure out the content of their frustrating conversation.
His laughs may have died down but the mirth in his eyes still showed. There was nothing more amusing than watching how a barely year-old baby evaded the capture of the Black Lizard and one Rabid Dog. His laughter picked up again when the little girl slowly fell asleep over the beams directly above the five 'elites'.
"Even the best of men forgets to look up…"
Kouyou amusedly shook her head as she watched her old charge repeatedly press the elevator button as if doing so would take them down quicker, 'At least he didn't crash the elevator down with his Ability…'
Lightly slapping his hand, Kouyou was only given a slight pause before Chuuya started fidgeting with a blue ribbon on his other hand. Quirking an eyebrow at the item, she notices that there were actually two pieces of ribbon. Embroidered with golden thread, the two ribbons were differentiated by two sets of kanji.
'To think Chuuya-kun would reach this level of endearing,' she happily thought as the elevator doors opened, 'Who would've thought he'd have someone personalize them with his and Mami-chan's initials.'
With the orange-haired man running ahead, Kouyou took a slower and calmer walk towards an old acquaintance leaning by the wall, "Hirotsu, this is a surprise. It's your day off, isn't it?"
Hirotsu gestured for her to go ahead as he walked beside her, "The children were being…rambunctious. Someone had to keep them in line."
"I see," she hummed at the underlying meaning, "I take it they managed to…get their act together? Despite being totally unaccustomed to the situation?"
The old man glanced at her as he pointed to the open door, "Have a look for yourself…"
The red-haired woman indifferently peeked at the utter chaos she found in Akutagawa's office. She shoots a loving glance at Chuuya trying to tie the ribbon on Mamiko's hair. As she surveys the rest of the room, she lets out a soft giggle at the position of some of her subordinates. Over by the displaced couch were a pile of dead-to-the-world bodies of Akutagawa, Higuchi, Tachihara, and Gin. Drenched hair, scorched parts of clothes, flour and wood shavings on their shoes – it looked like they had quite a 'blast' taking care of Chuuya's little girl.
"Hirotsu," the woman called, turning to the old mafioso with a twinkle in her eye.
Lips quirked into a hidden smirk, the man answered, "I believe you should ask Ace, instead."
Pleased at the answer, Kouyou gleefully maneuvered around the mess of sleeping mafiosos to where Chuuya had only managed to gather a few of the baby's hair into a ponytail, "Chuuya."
"Shhhh," the orange-headed mafioso gritted his teeth as he carefully looped the blue ribbon, "I almost got it."
Sighing at the young man's unrelenting attitude, the older executive turned to a frowning Mamiko, "I know it's hard, little one but you have to be patient with Chuuya. Chuuya is a prideful man who likes to assert his dominance despite his height-"
"Ane-san…" the younger executive flushed red in anger and shame at his old caretaker's words.
Playfully grinning at the young man's expense, she continues, "But don't let his height fool you. Chuuya is a very strong man and I have no doubt that Chuuya will do anything to keep Mami-chan safe and happy. Isn't that right, Chuuya?"
Burning redder than his and her old mentor's hair, Chuuya was at a loss on what to say, "I-"
"Uya"
Astounded at the sound the baby made, the two executives, even Hirotsu, gave the young girl a wide-eyed stare. Immediately snapping out of her astonishment, Kouyou coaxed the little girl to make the same sound. At the red-haired woman's cajoling, the knocked out mafiosos had also begun to stir. Noticing the presence of the executives in the room, the younger members quickly got up to apologize in various degrees of bowing.
"Shhhhh," Kouyou serenely replied making them quietly gulp to themselves.
"Mami-chan," she tried again as she got the baby's undivided attention again, "Who is this?"
The young girl followed the older woman's finger pointing to the man beside her. For a moment, both Kouyou and Chuuya frowned. Perhaps, it was still too early for the kid to actually say at least a syllable. Even so, they solely believed that they actually heard her say the end syllable of Chuuya's name.
After cluelessly looking at the orange-haired man, Mamiko patted his arm and babbled,
"Uya, uya."
Later that day, rumors spread down in the office front of the Port Mafia. There were two versions of it. The first was that the Black Lizard and the Rabid Dog put down a deranged bomber after much difficulty in catching said person. The other was that they almost failed to apprehend a witness after much struggle so they only got a slap in the wrist
Little do they all, or the rest of the outside world actually, know that the Tachihara, Gin, Higuchi, and Akutagawa were actually pardoned and got away scot-free because of a child's first word.
o0o
A/N:
I heard my niece say her first word a few weeks ago. It reflected on my work hehe.
Anyway, I've already written everything and I'm now only nitpicking the last few chapters for grammar and stuff.
Constructive criticism is welcome, by the way, and if you've spotted typos and wrong grammar that I haven't seen, feel free to comment them down, as well.
Chapter 8: February