"G. . ." whispered Asako when she caught sight of the man standing in the doorway.
G didn't seem to hear her, his gaze fixed on the little brunette.
When he heard what the man said, Tsuna looked back at the guests for a second then turned and ran up to his uncle.
Giacomo watched in quiet fascination as Tsuna went up to the man named G and slipped a tiny hand into his.
Looking back at the guests, Tsuna wondered who they were. If uncle G had told him to get away from them, did that mean that they were dangerous?
Squeezing his hand lightly, G smiled down at the little brunette, then let go and ushered the three boys out of the room.
When Giacomo saw the gentle smile on the man's lips, he frowned a little. Judging by what Asako had told him, G was supposedly rude and temperamental, completely different from what he was seeing right now.
A moment later, though, he was again reassessing his impression of the man because, the second the children were out of the room, G turned a scowl on them and said in a voice as cold as ice, "You three aren't welcome here."
Giacomo shuddered a little, and gathered his courage to try and reply to the man. Before he had to say anything, though, his wife thankfully spoke first.
"I have the right to see my own son, G."
G snorted when he heard this. "You gave up the right to call yourself his mother eight years ago, when you abandoned him."
Giacomo decided now was the time for him to interfere. "And we're here to fix that," he quickly said. "Asako regrets what she's done, and she wishes to make it up to both you and your son."
"We don't want anything from her," said G, crossing his arms. "Hayato and I are perfectly happy without her in our lives."
Asako was truly bewildered by the way G was acting. Once upon a time, she had known him like the back of her hand; she'd known almost everything about him and truthfully, no matter how much she complained about his temper and stubbornness, they had never before been turned upon her. Now that they were, she found that she didn't know how to handle it; G was still the same as he had been eight years ago, yet at the same time, he was so different.
When his wife stayed silent, Giacomo opened his mouth to speak, trying to calm everyone down. Being the ignoramus that he was though, the man said the one thing that he should never have let G hear him say. "We can take him off your hands."
G's head whipped around to look at the other man when he heard what came out of his mouth. Without thinking, he rushed forward and toppled the older man to the ground. Placing a foot on the man's chest, G took out his gun and pointed it at the man's head. "Try saying that again you son of a bitch."
Giacomo was shocked (to say the least) when he suddenly found himself lying on his back, staring down the barrel of a gun aimed directly at him.
G smirked a little when he saw Giacomo's bewildered expression. "Judging from the expression on your face, I'm guessing you didn't do your research before you came here. You have no idea what you've just walked into, do you?" When Giacomo didn't reply, G continued. "I guess it's time to properly introduce myself. My name is G, and I'm the storm guardian of what will one day be the most powerful Famiglia in all of Italy; the Vongola."
When he heard the name Vongola, Giacomo almost fainted from fright. He didn't have any ties with the mafia, but even he had heard of the Famiglia which, in the decade (give or take a year) since it had been formed, had slowly become a force to be dealt with in the underground. It now stood on par with some of the oldest Famiglias, which had been around for hundreds of years, and looked as if it would be surpassing them before long. Another scary thing about this certain Famiglia was that it even had some ties in the government.
"Ah, I see you've heard about us," said G smugly as he stared down at Giacomo. "That will make things a lot easier. Now, I'm only going to be saying this once, so listen carefully, okay? There's no way in hell I'm letting you take Hayato away from me. Do I make myself clear?"
Before this scene could go on any further though, a new voice interrupted them.
"Get your foot off the poor man, G."
Everyone in the room turned to look at the new arrival, and Asako breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Giotto. She had truly been scared for her husband's life because, knowing G; he really would have shot him. Now that Giotto was there, he would (hopefully) restrain his right-arm.
"Why the hell would I do that?"
"Because the man looks so scared he might throw up, and that would be a pain to clean up," said Giotto with a small smile. G obviously didn't find this funny, but removed his foot anyways. When Giacomo had gotten back to his feet, Giotto smiled apologetically and said, "I do hope you weren't injured, Mr. Moretti."
"Not at all," replied Giacomo with a strained smile. "You must be young Tsunayoshi's father."
At the mention of his son, Giotto's eyes narrowed. "And how, may I ask, do you know my son's name?" His voice had an edge to it, and Giacomo was afraid he had made another mistake.
"I had the pleasure of meeting him and two others, Mukuro and Kyoya I believe, before mister G made an appearance."
Giotto nodded, reassured. If Kyoya and Mukuro had been with him, then there was nothing to worry about. Then turning his thoughts back to what was going on now, his mouth stretched into a bright smile that was somehow scarier than G's glare (Which was plenty scary, thank you very much). Gesturing towards the door leading into the living room, Giotto said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay, but I do believe it's time for you to get going now. Oh, and please do not forget, next time I see you on my property without express written permission, I will not hesitate to have you arrested for trespassing. This is private property after all."
"Oh course," replied Giacomo with a nervous laugh. "I'll try to remember that."
Throughout the whole stay, Bianchi had been watching and listening silently, and even when her father's life had been threatened, the only thing on her mind was: when am I going to meet my little brother?
Now, as she followed her parents silently out of the living room of the mansion they were in (which was way bigger than theirs by the way), she felt more than a little disappointed.
Asako, who was actually quite happy to be leaving, patted her daughter on the head and smiled apologetically. Bianchi smiled in return to show that she wasn't holding it against her.
The Japanese woman's good mood disappeared, though, the moment she stepped out of the living room and saw four kids waiting for them outside.
"Dad!" shouted Tsuna the moment the adults were out of the room, and ran up to his father.
Two of the other kids stayed where they were, but the third one followed slowly after Tsuna. This boy had almost shoulder-length silvery hair, and looked just like his father. When she saw him, Asako's breath hitched. Despite all her misgivings, she suddenly felt an incredible urge to go up to the boy and to gather him into her arms; she felt an unknown yet familiar longing to be included in this boy's life.
"Hey, old man," said the silverette, making his way to his father. "Who are these people?"
G looked torn; he didn't know what to do. He had wanted to protect Hayato from the truth, but he knew that he couldn't lie to the boy. After a second of hesitation, he took his son's hand and pulled him closer to himself. "Hayato," he began. "This is the Moretti family. They came to ask for you to live with them."
Hayato's face became confused. "Why would I want to go live with them?"
"Because Ms Moretti, Asako, is your mother," replied G, wondering how Hayato would react.
"My . . . mother?" asked the boy uncertainly, the word sounding foreign on his tongue.
"That's right," said G.
"Why haven't I seen her before?"
Not knowing how else to put it, G said bluntly, "Because she walked away from us."
"Then she's not my mother," said Hayato, his expression curiously calm. "She lost the right to call herself my mother eight years ago. She's just the woman that gave birth to me, no more."
When she heard those words coming out of her son's mouth, Asako felt her eyes tear up a little; he really was just like his father.
Not even sparing her a glance, Hayato just turned his back and started walking towards the other kids. "The closest things I have to a mother are Aunt Elena and the maids, who helped raise me," he said over his shoulder. When he reached his brothers, Hayato turned to look straight into Asako's eyes. "They were the ones that helped take care of me when father and my uncles were busy; they were the ones that held me until I stopped crying; they were the ones that sang me lullabies until I fell asleep. They were there for me. Not. You."
While Asako stared at Hayato in open-mouthed shock, G just smiled proudly at his son, and when Giotto ushered the three (unwanted) guests away, he stayed behind.
When they were gone, G went up to the little silverette and wrapped his arms around him, saying, "You were really cool just now, you know?"
Hayato nodded silently into the embrace, burying his head into his father's shirt.
Looking at the other children, G motioned for them to leave, then led his son over to a nearby chair.
Sitting down, he pulled the little silverette into his lap.
Resting his head on his father's shoulder, Hayato felt a few tears slip down his face. There were a few moments of silence before Hayato said in a shaky voice, "I hate her. I hate her for what she did to us. I hate her for thinking she could just appear and make everything okay…I hate that she's my mother."
As Hayato vented, G just listened quietly, rubbing soothing circles on the boy's back.
Before long, the little silverette's words dissolved into quiet sobs. And still, G remained quiet.
When he was finally done, G just smiled at him and said in an almost nostalgic voice, "This reminds me of when you were still a baby. You used to cry over every little thing."
Hayato then let out a watery laugh. "I don't remember anything like that."
SkyGem: Saa~ for some reason, I'm so proud of Hayato right now XDD. Anyways, please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne? Ciao~