When Giotto came downstairs for dinner, he certainly wasn't expecting to see one of the Vongola maids there, dressed in some of Elena's clothes. Nevertheless, he smiled brightly and shouted in the direction of the kitchen, "Celino! We're going to need food for one more person!"
The redhead poked his head out of the kitchen, and smiled when he saw Bianca. "But of course, master Giotto," he said. Then, after a moment of hesitation, "Would you be willing to accept a few more guests at your table tonight?" The man had always wondered what dinner with his masters would be like, but, like the other staff of the mansion, he was much too shy; but if there was someone else already there, he was willing to take a chance.
Giotto's smile broadened. "But of course! The more the merrier, I always say."
By now, all the rest of the guardians and children had arrived as well, and none of them looked at all surprised that they would be having guests, and only Alaude and Kyoya were a little put-out; mainly because they disliked crowding in general (not that they showed it, of course).
As everyone moved towards their seats, Bianca looked around, flustered. Where was she supposed to sit?
Takeshi smiled brightly when he saw this and patted the empty seat beside him. "Do you want to sit beside me, Bianca?"
The maid smiled indulgently at him and said, "I would love to, young master."
As she took her seat at the table, Takeshi smiled widely up at her asked, "Are you going to be staying with us tonight?"
"Does young master want me to?" she asked in a playful voice, tilting her head to the side.
The young boy nodded his head frantically, and she let out a laugh.
"Well, it's settled, then," she said, looking at Giotto from the corner of her eye to gauge his reaction.
She needn't have worried, though, for the blond was smiling kindly. "Well then, after dinner, I'll show Bianca to her room. If it's not too much trouble, Elena, can you let her borrow some of your clothes for now? I'll send someone to her house to fetch some of her own clothes for her as soon as possible."
Bianca was more than surprised when Giotto said he would send someone to get her clothes; had Asari told him about what had happened? One look at Asari, who was sitting across from her, told her that he was just as surprised as she was. After a second, his face relaxed into a smile and he shook his head in exasperation. When he caught her questioning look, he said to her, "Giotto's hyper intuition is really uncanny at times."
Bianca gasped a little when she heard this; she'd heard rumours about it, but she'd never known that the young mafia don's hyper intuition really existed.
At that moment, Celino and the other chefs came in, carrying large trays of food in each hand.
As soon as the food had been set on the table and the newcomers had taken their seats, total chaos erupted; hands reaching for this or that, occasionally some of the kids (Hayato and Ryohei mostly) finding something to argue over, and the two male illusionists occasionally flashing disturbing illusions to try and dissuade someone from eating something . . . not that it worked, of course.
When everyone had settled with whatever they wanted, things quieted down considerably . . . not that it was at all quiet in any way.
"This food is good to the EXTREME!" shouted Ryohei, his cheeks puffed out with all the food he had stuffed in his mouth.
"Oi! Stop talking with your mouth full, turf-head!" exploded a certain angry silverette.
Said turf-head furrowed his bows as he looked at his younger brother. "Shut up, squid head!"
"Maa, maa, there's no need to fight," said Takeshi with a quiet laugh, trying to calm his two siblings.
At this point, G decided to make himself heard, shouting, "Stop it with the illusions, you sadistic pineapple heads!"
"Try and make us, you pink haired freak," replied both father and son at the same time.
"Cease your noise this instant, or I'll arrest you all," said Alaude in a dangerous voice from where he sat.
Of course, no one listened to him. When the shouting continued, the man looked as if he were about to leave the room, but Tsuna, who was sitting beside his father, threw him a look that said "you get up from your seat now and I will cry."
The skylark let out a barely audible, frustrated huff, and went back to eating.
As all this was going on, the rest of the guardians were eating quietly, while Bianca and the other guests stared at them with open mouths. Looking over at Asari, she asked, "Shouldn't someone stop them?"
The man let out a good-natured chuckle, and said, "Don't worry, they're always like this. No harm done."
"No…harm done?" she asked.
Now that she took a closer look, she realized that the barbs that were being thrown back and forth so casually clearly held no malice in them. For some reason, this situation reminded her of how she used to bicker with her brothers and sister when she was younger.
It was strange to see the normally mature guardians acting so childishly.
"They may seem to get along well during the day, but that's only because they're at work then," said Knuckle from beside Bianca, talking not only to her, but to Celino and the others as well. "They have to cooperate then, in case of an attack. As soon as the house is empty, they become like cats and dogs."
Celino let out a chuckle. "I always wondered how masters and young masters kept such close relationships, even though not everyone is always here. But I can see it now."
Another of the chefs, a young man by the name of Arturo, said, "But young masters are more like their fathers than I originally thought."
As the conversation went on, Bianca's attention slowly drifted to the rain guardian in front of her, and she felt her heart flutter a bit.
He was currently eating his food, watching the other guardians argue with an amused smile on his face.
Suddenly, though, he turned to look at Bianca, as if sensing her gaze on him. "Are you enjoying your stay so far?" he asked with his signature grin.
Letting out a laugh, the twenty-three year old smiled widely, saying, "It's not what I was expecting."
"Is that a good thing?" asked Asari, his eyes twinkling, and Bianca tried to keep a blush at bay. Could it be-? Was master Asari . . . flirting with her?
"Y-yeah," she stuttered, trying hard not to avert her gaze but failing.
Looking down at Takeshi, she noticed that he had a grain of rice stuck to his cheek.
Without thinking, she picked off the grain with a smile, saying, "That looks like it tastes good, Takeshi."
"It is…" he said, trailing off with a surprised expression on his face. "That's the first time you didn't call me young master," stated the boy in a matter-of-fact way.
When Bianca realized this, her eyes widened, and she started apologizing profusely, saying, "I'm so very sorry, young master, I don't know what got into me, I-"
The little boy cut her off with a smile, saying, "Yare, yare, I'm younger than you, so don't apologize like that, it's weird. Anyways, I like it when you use my name."
"Young master…" she said, trailing off.
Takeshi smiled brightly and said, "Just call me by my name! I never did like all those formalities, you know."
Before Bianca could reply, she was interrupted.
"Then you have to call me Tsuna!" the little brunette piped up from where he was sitting; apparently, everyone had stopped talking to listen in on the conversation.
"And I want to be called Ryohei to the EXTREME!"
"Hmpf, it's weird to be so polite to those who are younger than you. Just call me Hayato."
"U-umm, you're w-welcome to call my brother and I by our n-names," said Chrome with a shy smile.
Even Kyoya, surprisingly enough, spoke up. "My name doesn't include the words young master."
The young maid was taken aback at this, and even though she really wanted to refuse, the kids looked so hopeful (especially Tsuna), that he didn't want to disappoint them.
"O-okay then," she finally said and Takeshi threw his arms around her.
"This means you're a part of our family now," he said, his grin even wider than usual.
Asari was watching this scene quietly, and it warmed his heart to see that Takeshi like Bianca so much.
Maybe he wouldn't mind . . . but no, he was getting ahead of himself. After all, she was already engaged.
SkyGem: First, I'm so sorry I didn't update yesterday! I was actually writing this chapter, but an emergency came up, and I wasn't able to finish this. I'm really sorry! Oh but I hope you liked this chapter, ne? Please do leave a review and tell me what you thought~
P.S. I'll be posting a short one-shot in a few days . . . well, it's more like an omake for this fic, but anyways, I just wanted to let you guys know so you can look forward to it, ne? Ciao for now~