Another Path Part 19 : That ran under a new sky

Sorry for the lateness (no-one has corrected me yet on the use of that word so I'm going to assume it really exists) of this chapter, but once again I wasn't satisfied by it and it is a bit shorter than usual.

I was glad to know that the last part with Hayato amused many of you, I had not planned it at first but it just suited the character so perfectly and it broke the tension of the previous chapter so well that I couldn't resist.

This time, a character no-one expected (or else you failed to mention it in your reviews ;)) and some talk about a detail that seriously bothered me in the manga once I noticed it.

All things considered, Tsuna believed that it had been much easier to persuade Vindice to properly investigate than convincing Shoichi that they would be fine and that it would be ill-advised to pack their things and try to disappear.

When the red-head had returned from his job with I-pin and Lambo, he had immediately sensed the tenseness in the air and had demanded to know what he had missed. A hasty report later and they had a hysterical inventor to calm down.

Eventually, they managed to make Shoichi understand that attempting an escape would not only be doomed to failure, but would land Tsuna in prison and would cast serious doubts on the innocence of Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa. Their best bet was on Vindice's integrity and investigating abilities or they could hope that they worked better than Vongola. The Sky still wasn't sure if such oversight was on purpose or if the largest Famiglia had wanted to get rid of a possible future threat. He had shared his doubts with his friends; Shoichi didn't believe that they could have done that to three abused children, but all the others (minus Lambo and I-pin who had left to play in their room) had a more jaded outlook. There were few things Mafia wouldn't lower itself to in order to destroy a potential enemy. And Mukuro had admitted that some of the security records probably showed him promising to destroy the whole Italian Underworld...

But calming Shoichi down had only been the second highest problem -for Tsuna at least. After Vindice's departure, Hayato had pretty much started worshiping the ground the brunet stepped on. He had stars in his eyes every time he even thought about his Boss who, frankly, found it quite disturbing. Tsuna had tried to work on the silveret's adulation, like he had done when he had recruited him. Unfortunately, this didn't work as well as the first time and Hayato still seemed to think the sun rose and set on his command. The most he had accomplished was to have the Storm stop singing his praise out loud. Most of the time...

So apart from this little issue, Caeruleus continued its activities as it had before as best as they could . And as expected, Shoichi and Hayato spent quite a lot of their free time studying the mark of contract on Tsuna's arm.

()()()()()()

Four days after Vindice's little visit, things had more or less already returned to normal. With the beginning of April and the warmer weather, they started receiving several jobs from people wanting to get their gardens into shape. As such, Chikusa -who had discovered a talent for gardening in the small backyard of the house- had a lot to do, as did Ken, Shoichi and Hayato who used their Sun Flames to discreetly boost the growth of the plants and practice their control.

Presently all four of them were away to help people with their gardens, Kyoya was in the neighboring dojo to teach -read 'painfully beat into them'- the basics of self-defense and Tsuna had just returned from delivering a translated document. Lambo and I-pin were with Kyoya, playing around the dojo (and helping the raven demonstrate their weakness to those attending his lessons. After all, how strong could you be if you were defeated by two innocent-looking five-year-olds?).

That left Tsuna with Hayato and Mukuro to hold down the fort. While waiting for clients, they had decided to practice their Japanese. The illusionist had been faster than his two comrades in learning the language, so he now had more lessons with Hayato than with I-pin and Lambo. The bluenet had admitted that witnessing Tsuna's memories had helped him greatly; indeed, in one's mind, it was the understanding of the words that was transmitted to the viewer, not their sounds. So language was not an obstacle in mind-reading, and instead gave the observer some basic understanding of the tongue.

At this point, both Hayato and Mukuro could handle regular conversation in Japanese, so Tsuna was focusing on expending their vocabulary and working on their accent. They were seated in the Office, in case customers arrived.

As such, they were not surprised to hear the bell at the door ring and waisted no time in stopping their studying. What did surprise them however, was the appearance of the client. They were used to middle-aged to elderly people, most of them rather common-looking. That was definitely not the case with this one.

This customer was much younger than usual. Tsuna estimated him to be only a couple years older than Kyoya or Mukuro, so around 15. He was also very eye-catching. His hair was messy and bright white. He had startling lavender eyes with a similarly colored tattoo under his left eye. It looked like three thin triangles stuck together and pointing down. He was sporting a mischievous grin for some reason. Even his clothes were unusual : blinding white trousers and jacket with silver and light purple highlights.

Tsuna could tell right away that he spelled trouble. But then again, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing : all of his friends' aura spelled trouble in one way or another, even meek Shoichi, the bully-magnet and too curious for his own good.

Might as well give this new weirdo a chance to say what he wanted.

"Welcome to Caeruleus" He stated the little speech he gave to every new client. "We do any legal job, provided it is within our abilities and we agree on a price. Are you here for a specific job or just to see how our company works?" They did receive a few curious people who were only here to see how a company allegedly ran by kids worked. The members were always polite with those not-quite-clients (or as polite as they could...) because they were usually the ones who spread their reputation the most. They were so intrigued by the company that they spoke about it all around them.

But this time, the white haired teen just stretched his smile further and shook his head. "Hello there!" He chirped cheerfully. "You're right, I'm not here to hire you, but I'm also not really here just to look around. I was wondering if you would take me as a part-timer." He tilted his head slightly to the left and tried to pull off an innocent/harmless puppy face. It failed quite spectacularly; his smile a tad bit too predatory and unhinged for it to work.

The others in the room just blinked wordlessly at the unexpected request. The thought of hiring others had never even crossed their minds for several reasons. First, that would usually mean hiring an adult, and they all adamantly refused to have a grown-up here constantly who would try to dictate their behavior because he's older or even make them close their company. Second, it wasn't a very glamorous job most of the time, so they never imagined that someone would volunteer for it. Third, their company wasn't exactly legal, as it hired children (although completely willingly and they had no other better place to go to). They couldn't just post an announce with an offer. Finally, despite them all enjoying their current lifestyle more than their previous circumstances, few would agree to let everything down (previous job, schooling or any other occupation) to spend large amounts of time with their strange group of miscreants. Also, the teen in front of them looked way too well-off to need to work here like they did.

"And pray tell, why would you want to work here?" Inquired Mukuro suspiciously, while Hayato and Tsuna regained their bearings. "And I believe it is polite to introduce yourself first, especially if you are postulating for a job."

The unknown teen only grinned wider. Tsuna thought it showed too much teeth for it to look anything but deranged. "My bad, my bad. I'm Byakuran Gesso, at your service. I heard a lot about your company and it seemed interesting. I am sooooo bored lately, I thought it would be fun. Don't worry, I'll still work seriously if you hire me."

Since stating his name, he had only looked at Tsuna and almost ignored the other two. It was a bit creepy, not only because of the almost hunger in his eyes, but because he acted like he knew the brunet was the decision-maker of the group. But due to his appearance -and his friends' threatening demeanor- almost nobody believed him to be the leader at first.

"You do know what Caeruleus does, right?" Asked Tsuna when it became obvious that this Byakuran expected a reply from him. He ignored Hayato's muttering about a 'white UMA' with long practice. "As I said earlier, we only accept legal jobs, most of them quite dull and boring. If we hire you, you will be expected to perform those jobs the same as any other member. You're OK with that? It won't be very exciting, you know."

The other gave him a knowing grin. "I know, but it's not the jobs I'm counting on to alleviate my boredom. I'm actually looking forward to the interactions with my colleagues." He seemed amused, as though laughing to a private joke. "From what I've heard, that should prove to be very entertaining."

Tsuna, Mukuro and Hayato exchanged wary looks. No one should be so happy to spend time in the same space as their merry band of crazies. At least the guy had the required amount of insanity himself to apply. Still, they couldn't deny that an extra hand would be useful (and they had no illusion that they could easily find someone that would fit in with the rest of them). The amount of job offers had increased a lot lately and they also needed time to care about their education.

The silveret and bluenet just shrugged and let Tsuna make the decision. He was their leader after all, so if it allowed them to skip on the annoying choices...

The Sky sighed and dropped his shoulders slightly. He couldn't think of anything to refuse this Byakuran. And the teen was right, just being around them would be entertaining, as long as he wasn't too fond of the idea of living or of peace. A quick check with his Hyper Intuition didn't reveal anything dangerous about the new guy, although it did give him an odd tickling impression. Nothing alarming, just unusual.

"Alright." He nodded. "We'll hire you for three weeks for now and assess your work. We'll decide after that if you can stay or not." It seemed fair to Tsuna. Byakuran would have a chance, and could be fired if his work wasn't satisfactory (in case he was only here to fool around). They could also let him go before Vindice returned if needed. The teen wouldn't be in contact with the Mafia that way. "You will be paid proportionally to the amount of time you spend here during the next three weeks. Is that alright with you?" The brunet extended his hand.

The other grinned even wider -although a genuine glint of happiness shone in his eyes- and shook Tsuna's hand energetically. "Deal! I wasn't here for the money anyway. I look forward to working with you Tsunayoshi-kun! With you too Hayato-kun and Mukuro-kun, and all the others!" He pulled something from his pocket. "Want some marshmallows?"

"Um, no thank you, Byakuran-kun." Said Tsuna, briefly reverting to his Japanese speech patterns. And how did the newbie know their names? He didn't remember any of them introducing themselves. "How did you know our names if you don't mind me asking? And how did you know to add Japanese suffixes? It's not very common in Italy to know Japanese, although I guess your name is Japanese. But then again, your surname sound very Italian." He mused out loud.

Byakuran just laughed. "I lived in Japan until I was adopted by an Italian couple touring the country when I was six. I still remember my mother-tongue. I heard of your names when I heard of your company." Mukuro noted that he didn't mention the name of his source, and that he called Tsuna 'Tsunayoshi', which almost nobody did, especially not clients who often had problems pronouncing the long name, but the illusionist said nothing. He had no concrete reason to be suspicious apart from the bad vibe he got from Byakuran. But he reassured himself by thinking that the teen would eventually let something slip if he was a threat of any kind, and Mukuro could 'deal' with him then.

But the white-haired male was still speaking. "Besides, aren't most of your names Japanese too? I mean 'Tsunayoshi', 'Hayato', 'Mukuro', 'Kyoya', 'Ken', 'Chikusa' and 'Shoichi' don't sound very Italian to me. And neither does 'I-pin', which looks Chinese. Isn't Lambo the only one with an Italian sounding name here?"

OK, this time Tsuna was officially worried of the knowledge Byakuran had of his friends. He even somehow looked as if he was familiar with those names, which was even creepier. Honestly, if Tsuna had sensed even a hint of deception or ill-will in the teen, he would have immediately thrown him out.

That being said, he was also curious as to why so many of his friends had Japanese names.

"Yeah..." He began, turning slowly towards his two companions. "Kyoya, Shoichi and I are Japanese, I-pin is Chinese, so our names make sense. But why do you two, Ken and Chikusa have Japanese names as well?"

Mukuro seemed uncomfortable about the subject -although he hid it well- and Hayato was fidgeting. "Well... You see, Tsuna-san, it was my half-Japanese mother who chose my first name. It was the only decision they allowed her to make about me. And I took her surname when I ran away from my father..." He was looking everywhere but at Tsuna, and it was blatantly obvious how much he disliked speaking of his father. The Sky went to gently pat him on the arm to convey his understanding while turning towards Mukuro to hear his answer.

The bluenet's voice was carefully blank. "The family Ken, Chikusa an I came from married most of its women with men from different origins and countries to try to have 'stronger' children... The names of said children were decided by their fathers. In our case, the fathers were Yakuzas, so they were Japanese." He also refused to look anyone in the eye after that revelation.

Tsuna could guess from what he had seen in the illusionist's past that the complete truth was a bit more gruesome than Mukuro was willing to admit -especially in front of a weird stranger. He felt terrible for even talking about the subject. "Sorry for asking." He apologized with a brief touch to the Mist's shoulder, the only soothing gesture the proud illusionist would accept.

The heavy silence weighed on them for a few moments longer before Byakuran spoke again.

"Wow, that was dark. Sorry for bringing it up." He thought for a second before a smile popped back on his face, although dimmer than before. "I know! Now that I'm officially hired, why don't you give me a tour of this place and an overview of my future duties?" It was a blatant change of subject, but it was welcome.

"Sure, I'll do it. Hayato, Mukuro, why don't you continue talking with each other in Japanese while I take him to visit the rest of the house?"

Tsuna had just finished showing Byakuran the Office, kitchen and dining room and was about to show the rooms when a thought hit him. "Wait a minute, we have no free room left! You won't have a place to stay here!"

Byakuran just laughed -Tsuna was starting to thing that that reaction and his nearly insane grin that he hadn't dropped for a while now hinted at some sort of mental disorder. Not like he would be the first member of Caeruleus with psychological issues though. "It's fine. I have a place for myself to stay for now. But it would be nice to have a room here eventually. Can't you evict someone else? No? Oh, don't look at me like that, I was only joking. I came here because all of you are interesting, there's no point if I have to make some of you leave. But you might recruit other people later, you know, so you should have new rooms made, Tsunayoshi-kun." He tilted his head to the right with a pensive face. It looked way too artificial if you asked Tsuna. "You know what, Tsunayoshi-kun, I know the boss of a construction company that owes me and my family a huge debt. Why don't I call him and ask him to build you another floor with lots of bedrooms and maybe a few bathrooms? All for free, you'll just have to tolerate the construction crew and noises for a couple months." He looked expectantly at Tsuna.

It was obvious to the brunet that Byakuran had planned this all along. The conversation felt too scripted and the coincidence of the teen knowing someone who could build rooms immediately and for free was too big. But his Intuition still didn't detect any trick : the offer was genuine. Plus, they could use more bedrooms for potential new additions (at the rate he was recruiting, Tsuna had no illusion that there probably would be more weirdos moving in before it was over) and it could give a proper bedroom to I-pin, who was currently still rooming with Lambo. The were both fine with it for now, but it would be best if they had some privacy when they grow up.

The Sky looked shrewdly at Byakuran for a moment, debating his answer. The teen looked at him expectantly with a large grin that was fast becoming his trademark. Tsuna eventually heaved a sigh. "You know what, do what you want. If the company you're speaking of can really build us new rooms soon and for free, then please contact them. You will of course receive one of the new rooms."

Byakuran cheered loudly with a victorious grin, and the visit continued. Tsuna was reluctant to showing the basement to the white-haired male. At least not while he was not a proper member. So he just said that there were labs and training rooms downstairs and specifically forbade Byakuran from going there for now. He didn't give more details and the other didn't ask for any, although he did give the brunet that knowing smile that had Tsuna thinking that he was aware of more than he let on. Still, they couldn't risk the teen discovering the existence of Flames if he was to leave them soon. Vindice especially would not appreciate that.

Tsuna willfully ignored the ringing of his Intuition that told him that there was nothing to fear on that front...

And now a little game (because it boosts reviews like nothing else ;) ). Which character or characters (they have to fit together in that case, like Mukuro, Chikusa and Ken) do you think will appear next? I have already planned it, so you won't change the story, but I'd like to read you opinions and reasons. I will post the names of those that guessed right next time. Thanks again for reading!