"Are you sure you have everything?" Giotto asked for the hundredth time.
"I'm sure, papa!" said Tsuna, smiling brightly.
"Yeah, you don't need to be so worried, Uncle Giotto," said Takeshi from beside the small brunette.
"We'll take good care of nidaime* at school!" said Hayato in a chipper voice.
Giotto had to chuckle at this; he found it absolutely adorable how attached Hayato was to his son. G on the other hand, found it a bit worrying, but he didn't seem to mind too much, since he, like the other guardians, was also quite fond of Tsuna.
The thing that puzzled him, though, was why Hayato insisted on calling him nidaime instead of secondo; maybe because he thought it sounded cooler? Ever since the kids had started getting Japanese lessons from Asari a year ago, they had been fascinated with Japanese culture, which explained how Hayato knew how to perform a proper dogeza, and proceeded to perform one every time he 'disgraced nidaime.'
Ruffling the little silverette's hair, Giotto said, "But it's not only Tsuna I'm worried about. You guys haven't been able to communicate much with other children. Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"Of course! We'll be absolutely fine," said a five-year-old Tsuna**, trying to reassure his dad. "Anyways, big brothers Kyoya and Mukuro, and big sister Chrome will also be there! There's nothing to worry about!"
Sighing, Giotto placed a kiss on Tsuna's forehead and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyways, if you guys need us, you know the number. I'm sorry, we can't pick you up, but we'll be waiting at the mansion for you when you come home, okay?"
G and Asari, who'd kept quiet until now, came forward to give their sons one last kiss and a goodbye, and before they knew it, the three had run off towards the school building.
From the way the adults were acting, you would have guessed their sons would be gone for a whole month or something, instead of the five hours they would be spending in school.
By the time the arrived at the mansion, Giotto was downright gloomy, and Asari and G were little better.
When Daemon ran into them in the hallway, he let out a chuckle. "Kufufu, I remember how it felt on Mukuro and Chrome's first day of school. Do you want to know how to get your mind off of it?"
Giotto looked at his mist guardian hopefully, wondering if there really was a way so that he could stop worrying so much.
"Just find a way to keep yourselves busy! Giotto, you can work on that never-ending pile of paperwork! Squid-head and Asari can help you too!"
Feeling a little dejected at the thought of all that paperwork, Giotto trudged off towards his office with his storm and rain guardians following him.
They were all so preoccupied with wondering how their sons were doing that they didn't realize that the majority of the paperwork they were signing was bills for things Daemon had 'accidentally' destroyed on his latest assignment in America.
Back at school, Tsuna and the others were actually having fun.
They had all 'coincidently' ended up in the same class
Their teacher, a pretty lady with shoulder-length, jet black hair and shocking blue eyes by the name of Alessa, was quite nice, and allowed them to sit with whomever they wanted. The desks were arranged into groups of four, which meant that the three Vongola kids sat together, with one seat to spare.
They were chatting together happily when someone interrupted them by tapping Tsuna on the shoulder to get his attention.
When Tsuna turned and saw a boy their age with wavy/curly, dirty blond hair. He had a pair of goggles on his head, and a bored look on his face.
"Si?" asked Tsuna questioningly, tilting his head to the side.
The boy smiled (just a little), and asked, "Would it be okay if I sat with you guys?"
Tsuna, who was quite happy at making a new friend, replied immediately with, "Of course!"
Patting the seat beside him, Takeshi said with his usual carefree smile, "You can sit beside me!"
"Che. If nidaime is okay with it, then I don't mind."
Sitting into the available chair, the new boy looked at them all with slight curiosity. "My name is Spanner," he said conversationally. "What about you?"
"I'm Tsunayoshi, but you can just call me Tsuna!" said the brunette with a wide smile.
"I'm Takeshi!" introduced the oldest of the three of them.
"I'm Hayato," said the silverette, seeming a little pissed.
The expression of curiosity in Spanner's eyes was more evident now. "Those don't sound like Italian names?" he said, making it sound like a question, as if he himself wasn't too sure.
Shaking his head, Takeshi said, "I'm half-Japanese on my father's side, and Tsuna and Hayato are half-Japanese on their mothers' side, so we were all given Japanese names."
"I see . . ." said the boy, trailing off.
At that moment, their teacher gathered their attention. "Okay, has everyone found somewhere to sit?"
There was a collective, "Si, maestra!"
"Good," she said. "Now, let's move on to our lesson, okay?"
When the class was dismissed for lunch, Tsuna and the others (including Spanner, whom they had become good friends with) made their way to the cafeteria, and who was waiting for them by the entrance? The twins and Kyoya, of course!
"Nii-san!" Tsuna shouted the Japanese word for big brother in delight, making a beeline straight for Kyoya. The skylark just smiled and patted his head as the brunette threw his arms around him.
Moving on to Mukuro, Tsuna glomped him too, saying, "Fratello!"
"Kufufu, why hello, Tsunayoshi, how is your first day of school so far?" asked the young illusionist, mimicking his father's laugh.
"It's good!" said Tsuna before moving on to Chrome and hugging her too. "Sorella!"
Smiling a little shyly, she said, "I'm happy you're having fun, Tsuna."
Spanner, who was watching this scene with great interest, turned to Hayato and Takeshi. "Are those twins Tsuna's siblings?"
Rolling his eyes, Hayato said, "We're all siblings, idiota."
"What?" asked Spanner with wide eyes.
Takeshi laughed and threw his arm around the confused kid. "It's complicated," he said. "But basically, our fathers are all really close friends who work for Tsuna's father, so we were all raised as siblings. But only Mukuro and Chrome are actually related to each other."
Spanner nodded, still a little confused.
"Who's this?" asked Mukuro, looking suspiciously at Spanner.
"This is our new friend Spanner!" said Tsuna enthusiastically. "It's okay if he eats lunch with us, isn't it Mukuro?"
"Kufufu, of course it is, Tsunayoshi dear. Come along then, the lot of you. I'm starting to get hungry."
After a forty minute long lunch, the students all made their way back to class.
As they all took their seats again, an hour and a half flew quickly by, and before they knew it, it was 1:30, and it was time for everyone to go home***.
Tsuna and his brothers (and Spanner) were all chatting animatedly to each other, and, as expected, the moment they stepped out of the building, the first thing they saw a sleek black limo.
Saying goodbye to Spanner, they left the surprised boy and headed straight for the limo, where they were greeted by the driver holding the door open for them and the three older kids. From the way they had acted, Spanner would never have believed they were rich kids; not to mention he still wasn't entirely sure what their relationship was to each other.
Shaking his head, he turned to look for his mother, who'd promised to pick him up.
Spotting her, he ran up to her and hugged her around the legs.
"Hey sweetie," she said with a smile. "Did you have a good day at school?"
Spanner nodded his head yes, and began explaining all about the new friends he'd made.
Meanwhile, in a small town in Japan, a young boy with short white hair was riding home with his family in their car after eating dinner at a restaurant.
"So, did you guys like the food," asked the boy's father.
"Hai!" both the young boy and his even younger sister said at the same time.
"The food was EXTREMELY good! We should go there to eat again sometime!"
"Onii-chan is right!" said his little sister. "Can we go there again next week?"
Their mother laughed. "Next week is too early. If you eat too much of something, you'll start to dislike it, now you don't want that to happen, do you?"
Both the siblings shook their heads, the younger one saying, "Iie."
"We can go there again at the end of October, okay?"
"Hai!" they said together.
Their father smiled to himself. He loved his kids to death, and if they wanted to, he would take them to that restaurant. His wife, though, wasn't quite as keen on 'spoiling' the children, as she liked to say.
He was so busy listening in on his wife's conversation with their kids that he didn't notice the car that was headed straight for them until it was far too late.
The headlights of the car washed over the whole family for a second, laughing and talking; the last moment they would have before their world was torn apart.
The two cars collided, and the next thing Ryohei knew, he was opening his eyes to find himself in a hospital bed.
The boy tried to sit up, but he was gently pushed back down by a nurse. "Don't get up, Sasagawa-san," she said. "You have some serious injuries."
Now that she mentioned it, Ryohei realised that his head felt as if it was being crushed in a vice.
Looking over at the nurse, he asked quietly, "Where is everyone else?"
The nurse flinched at this question and looked away.
Starting to get panicked, Ryohei asked, "Where are my parents? What happened to them? Is Kyoko okay?"
The nurse slowly shook her head, tears spilling from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Sasagawa-san, I'm so sorry. . ."
*Nidaime: it means second generation. I've been wondering what to do about Gokudera's nickname for Tsuna, and I eventually decided to change it to nidaime, since it would make more sense than Jyuudaime, and it's not too different. I hope you guys don't mind it too much.
** In Italy, school isn't mandatory until the age of six. All children who will be six years old by December 31st following the start of the school year can register for primary school.
*** In Italy (as far as I know) students go to school six days a week from 8:30 in the morning to 1:30 in the afternoon. I'm not too sure about this, so correct me if I'm wrong.
SkyGem: Wah, the first cliff-hanger (kinda) of this fic. Also the first real tragedy that occurred . . . Anyways, I'm sorry, this chapter was kinda shorter than the others, but I promise, the next one will (hopefully) be longer. So anyways, please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne? And I'll see you all tomorrow~