Another Path Part 32 : That drew the rain in

Sorry about the lack of update in December, but that month was too busy for me to finish this chapter in time. I still read and cherished all your reviews and thank you for the positive and constructive comments. As for the few negative ones that have no point but to insult, help yourselves! It still boosts my review counter.

(And FYI, fanfiction is made for authors to do what they want, which includes featuring the characters that they like and taking liberties with the canon content. If other people actually enjoy the work as well, then that's great (it's amazing, honestly), but in any case, fanfiction is first of all for the author.)

I decided, thanks to all your supportive comments, to post on Ao3, one chapter a week (roughly) under the name Dragonfly_Dream until they catch up with this site, with a little more editing. You don't realize how much your writing has improved until you read your older works and cringe at every sentence. It's a wonder you amazing readers sticked to this story despite the terrible first chapters.

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

Convincing everyone to go eat dinner at a restaurant took some work, but nobody could deny that a break could only do them good. Tsuna managed to have all ten of them in agreement and ready by the time evening arrived.

Of course, not everyone was elated at having to interrupt their research and the methodical destruction of every Momokyokai base they found, but the Sky had put his foot down, and even Kyoya had relented with only a few grunts.

Tsuna had been more than a little worried about informing Kurokawa-san, but the girl was thankfully sensible and could see the necessity of a break. The rest folded without much of a fight.

Now, all ten of them had arrived inside the restaurant – a quaint little establishment called Takesushi. The smell that reached them had Tsuna droll before they had even entered.

"Welcome to Takesushi!" Greeted a man with a jovial smile, probably the owner. He didn't blink at seeing a bunch a kids, and didn't take the patronizing tone some people had in that case. "Did you book a table? I'm afraid you're a bit too many for the little room we have left if not."

"We have an appointment. Nine people, under the name Hibari." Cut in Kurokawa-san before Tsuna had a chance to answer.

(Skull was too small to have a place booked for him – one of the few perks of being the size of a toddler.)

Hayato shot the girl a dark look, and Mukuro's face took on a vaguely murderous cast; a mix of disdain, spite and hatred that Chrome must have learned to recognize for she placed a hand on his arm. Tsuna could have sworn Kyoya's fingers twitched towards the place he hid his tonfas.

It was flattering, but the Sky didn't want to make a scene. "Let's go." He prompted his friends when the owner took them to the closed room he had booked.

Ryohei-nii and Kyoko-chan didn't seem to have caught the tension that Kurokawa-san's actions had created, but Haru was not quite as oblivious. "This restaurant looks good. I've seen it from afar a few times, but I never tried it." She chirruped, but her voice oozed nerves.

For something that should have helped them unwind, it was not a good start...

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

Takeshi didn't often help his dad in the restaurant, but the college student that always attended to the clients was on vacation abroad, and the additional waiter sometimes hired for big groups was sick, so he had volunteered.

His dad said the customers had sounded about his age on the phone, so he would not be faced with adults or be made to handle alcohol. Takeshi was not an excellent waiter, but he knew the basics and could charm about anyone with his friendly disposition and his bright smile. He knew he would be fine.

Another group of clients – grown-ups, this time – had arrived at the same time, so his father had given him the responsibility of taking care of the party of kids his age from the beginning to the end of the meal, with no help. Given how much liquor the adults had already ordered, and the smell of alcohol surrounding them even before they entered, Takeshi preferred it this way.

He fixed his usual smile on his face as he entered the separate room. "Good afternoon! I'm Takeshi, and I'll be your waiter today. Have you already decided what you want to order?"

"I have." Announced a blue-haired boy with a strange hairdo. Next to him, a girl with a similar haircut and an eyepatch (his sister?) nodded shyly.

"Me too." Added a tiny brunet putting down his menu. "I'll ha-"

"I haven't." Cut off a frowning girl with long dark hair without even granting them a look. Takeshi thought she could have said that more kindly, instead of brutally interrupting the boy, but his smile didn't waver. "And we need to decide on a budget. It wouldn't be fair if some of us tool expensive dishes while others keep to the cheapest."

"There's an EXTREME lot of choice on this menu!" Cheered a slightly older boy with white hair. "I want to try everything!"

"That's a bit much, onii-san." Another girl, with strawberry blond hair, tried to calm down the excited older teen. If they were really siblings, they looked nothing alike, unlike the blue-haired girl and her older brother. "But you can order one dish that you like and try some of mine if you want."

"We still need a budget." Reiterated the dark-haired girl with a mulish air. "We should keep to the mid-range prices."

"Kurokawa-san," began the brunet boy decisively, "everyone should order the dish they want. It doesn't matter if one of us has a more expensive meal-"

"So you're just going to let everyone do what they want?! What kind of group do you run if you allow anarchy like that." Almost screamed the girl – Kurokawa?

Takeshi thought the brunet's boy control of his temper was admirable, and he even restrained his neighbor's fury with a hand, a silver-haired boy that was trembling from anger. "Kurokawa-san," began the brunet carefully, "this is not a dictatorship; people can order whatever they want, and I won't try to control such a trivial things. It's not like the prices here are all that high."

The girl harrumphed, getting on her high horses. "Talk about leadership skills!" She mocked, sneering. "It's a wonder anyone follows a sorry bum like you whe-"

She was interrupted by a loud bang. The dark-haired older boy had violently slammed his hand on the table. "Enough." He looked solely at Kurokawa; his glare was much more impressive than hers in Takeshi's opinion. "Don't forget who helped you when you needed it, herbivore."

Herbivore? What kind of insult was that; the way the teen said it, it sounded like the worst affront ever.

The girl was visibly gearing up for another round when the loud white-haired teen barged in the argument. "It is EXTEMELY mean to insult people, Hana, especially after they helped us against the yakuza!"

Half the party stiffened and stopped breathing, darting worrying glances his way like they expected him to get out screaming in fear at knowing they had had business with criminals.

For his part, Takeshi was actually pretty gleeful. His father had been threatened more than a few times by yakuzas for 'protection money', or else they would trash the restaurant. He had managed to drive them away without violence, but it had only been a matter of time before blood was spilled.

(While Takeshi had no concrete idea of his dad's skills with the sword he kept in their private little dojo, or how he acquired them, he knew without the shadow of a doubt that the blood wouldn't have been his. The way he handled his knives showed he was very accustomed to blades.)

Like most of Namimori's inhabitants, Takeshi had noticed the steady and recent decrease of the yakuza's influence over the town. Word was that an unknown group was systematically destroying their bases and arresting their members, but he had also heard rumors that said group consisted in children only.

Nobody had really given credit to that particularly far-fetched rumor, but now that Takeshi was face to face with the mismatched party in front of him...

Suffice to say that this was turning out to be much more interesting than he had though.

"How about you only tell me what you want to drink right now and give me the rest of your order when I come back with them?" He offered his best sunny smile, intentionally changing the subject.

The tension in the room was lifted in a collective intake of air.

"That would be great, thank you." Said the girl with a ponytail, clearly relieved for the change of subject. "I'll take a glass of apple juice, please!"

Takeshi quickly noted their order and left the room, eager to come back and learn more about the people that seemingly saved his father's business. They looked awfully interesting.

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

The food was delicious, it was too bad the mood didn't allow Tsuna to enjoy it to its fullest.

Every time he opened his mouth to say something, Kurokawa-san interrupted him and castigated his every opinion, steadily angering his friends with her conceit.

Even back at the Hibari mansion, she had tried several times to take his place as leader of the team, as decision maker, if less openly. Now that they were away from Kyoya's – and by extension, his – turf maybe she saw her chance to supplant him. Maybe she had even agreed so easily to coming here because she thought it would be an opportunity to take over.

It wasn't even her belief that she was better than him that annoyed Tsuna so much, although he knew it infuriated his friends. Hana had no experience outside of her cozy life in tiny Namimori, she had nobody relying on her like Tsuna's friends and adopted little siblings relied on her (even if the protectiveness she showed Kyoko-chan might be close to it), she didn't know how to defend herself and never had to fight for her life or her comrades'.

There would have been plenty of reasons for him to take offense or her condescension, but that wasn't what had him clench his fists so tightly every time she insulted him between the lines.

Kurokawa-san had no right to order his friends around like she clearly wanted to.

So Tsuna wouldn't budge on this one. He would never let her go that far, and that was all there was to it. The problem was that she didn't seem to get that.

"Our search would go faster if everyone made the effort of looking, through paperwork or on the field." Stated Kurokawa-san with a pointed stare in his direction.

Inwardly, he rolled his eyes. If she couldn't understand the absolute necessity of teaching Ryohei-nii how to control his Flames, then she was an idiot. Maybe she thought they could come back to it once the Momokyokai situation was over, but Tsuna had a family and obligations in Italy and would not stay in Namimori beyond that. They were not her subordinates, despite what she thought.

"I'm sure you are already doing an excellent job without me." He replied diplomatically, consciously ignoring the waiter – Takeshi – listening in on their conversation. The other boy didn't seem to be a threat, and their 'cover' had already been blown. "And Ryohei-nii needs training."

"Ah, yes, with those 'Flames'." She sneered and scoffed, miming the quote marks. "That thing that conveniently makes you the leader of your little group because yours happen to be orange!"

Tsuna threw a look at the waiter, but under his painfully stretched smile, he clearly had no idea what she was talking about. "I'm only the one to make decisions because my friends picked me as leader, not because of something that you are not supposed to talk about outside!" He hissed.

Kurokawa-san was about to retort something (probably another cutting remark) when the waiter barged back in.

"Enjoying your meal?"

"Very much." Replied Haru with a beaming smile that looked much less artificial than this Takeshi's. "Please tell the chef that the sushi are delicious!"

"Much better than the company." Snarked Mukuro without raising his head from his food; with how intensely he was focused on it, it was clearly to his taste. Kurokawa-san threw him a dark look, but returned to her food soon enough. She knew better than to begin an argument with the illusionist; it was Tsuna she had beef with.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Asked Takeshi. "I'm only here because we need additional help with big groups, so while I'm not waiting on you, I don't have anything to do."

"Sure." Replied Tsuna, already scooting over to make room. "And you don't have to force yourself to smile that much, you know."

Takeshi paused for half a second before sitting down beside him, fake smile sitting even more brightly on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please." Insisted Tsuna. "I have a little experience dealing with customers, so I understand the need to smile while at work, but since you're sitting with us, you can drop the act."

"... It's really not an act." Swore the other boy, upping the voltage of his artificial smile.

"You would probably feel much better if you stopped, you know." Persisted the Sky. "It looks painful."

His words seemed to finally reach Takeshi, because the unnatural smile fell from his face at once, leaving a blank and hyper-focused expression.

"Much better." Declared Tsuna, offering a smile to the other boy – he looked a little shell shocked for some reason. "So tell us, why are working here?"

"My dad owns the place." Replied Takeshi absently, still staring at Tsuna's face like he could read the answers to the universe on it. It would have been unnerving had he not been used to the focused attention of people like Kyoya, Byakuran or Hayato in his most devoted moods.

The other boy seemed to finally shake off his daze as he lost his inexpressive face and smiled – a true smile, with a bit of a sharp edge and a playful quality that looked much better than the former abomination. "And I think I should thank you for helping my dad keep his business running. The yakuza had been pressuring him to pay them money when you arrived in town."

Tsuna thought about denying for all of a second before his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I guess we haven't as discreet as we should have."

Takeshi laughed. "You were trying to hide it? I'm sorry to tell you that that was a terrible try."

Hayato growled, having remained silent until he heard something he probably took for an insult towards Tsuna. "Careful how you speak to Tsuna-san, you bastard!"

"It's fine, Hayato." Tried to soothe the Sky, at the same time as the waiter asked "'Tsuna'?".

The Storm threw him a last peevish look before he sat back down and continued his meal. Tsuna turned back to Takeshi. "It's my name, I'm Tsuna, but I would appreciate it if you kept all that you learn here for yourself, including our names."

The other boy raised an eyebrow, but nodded easily. "Sure. I wouldn't want to be a bother to the Guardian Angels of Namimori."

The Sky choked on his nigiri. Hayato helpfully poured him a glass of water (and threw Takeshi another hateful glance), that he downed before he spluttered. "The what?!"

He received a bemused look. "The Guardian Angels of Namimori? It's how people call you since they don't know who you are. Although they expect you to be grown-ups and not kids like me."

"... Right." Managed to reply Tsuna, throat still aching from his coughing fit. "I guess it makes sense for them to expect adults. We've been away for so long that they probably forgot about Kyoya." Takeshi made an inquiring sound, so the Sky elaborated; the other boy already knew too much to keep information from him now. He nodded towards his Cloud, who had already ordered a second serving and utterly ignored Kurokawa-san's glares. "Hibari Kyoya – it's under his name that we booked the room. He used to live here and keep the local criminals in check. You might remember him as the Demon of Namimori."

Takeshi hummed. "I do vaguely recall that name. It's kinda funny that he went from Demon to Angel, though. What brought you back here if you left so long ago?"

"We heard the Namimori was troubled by a yakuza group; Kyoya still sees it as his job to protect and keep order in this town, so there was no way he wouldn't have come."

"And the rest of you?" Wondered Takeshi; looking genuinely interested in the answer.

Honestly, it felt obvious to Tsuna. "I wasn't about to let my oldest friend deal with all of that mess alone; he would have been fine, but it's still a lot of work for one guy. Once I decided to come, Mukuro and Hayato chose to follow as well. Our other friends also wanted to come, but some people had to stay at home to take care of things. We met Chrome, Skull, Haru, Ryohei-nii, Kyoko-chan and Kurokawa-san here." He gestured towards each individual as he named them.

Takeshi tilted his head, looking puzzled. "You followed your friend in something like a gang war? Why? You don't look like much of a fighter."

The huff Tsuna let out was completely warranted, if a bit amused. "I'll have you know that I'm stronger than I look. And why wouldn't I have come? It's what friends are for, isn't it?"

The other boy blinked, gave him another intense, assessing stare, before changing the subject with an easy smile. "What do you think of baseball?"

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

From the shadow of his kitchen, Tsuyoshi watched the party of ten leave his restaurant, not knowing what to think of them.

He might have left the underworld since he had started seeing Takeshi's mother, but he remembered enough to recognize the toddler in a biker suit as the Cloud Arcobaleno, allegedly the most cowardly of the Strongest Seven and the lackey of the rest.

Skull Demort was known as a crybaby that always bragged and yelled, yet here he was, sitting contentedly on the little brunet's head, chatting happily about everything and nothing.

The rest of the group were kids around Takeshi's age, which had been why he had appointed his son as their waiter to begin with, before he noticed the Arcobaleno amongst them.

Yet besides a few raised voices he had heard from his kitchen, they had been a calm bunch, and their room was in the same state as when they arrived, which was rarely the case with the yakuza or mafia type, no matter the age.

Even stranger, was that there were definitely some of those same yakuza and mafia-type. The Hibari boy (he had lived long enough in Namimori to recognize a Hibari at first sight and to remember the infamous Demon of Namimori years after his 'disappearance'), the silver-haired boy, and the blue-haired one were not random civilians.

But even then, there were actual civilians. The Sasagawa boy often ran in front of Takesushi, screaming his head off, and there was no chance of that good and honest kid dabbling in anything unsavory. The three girls also looked completely innocent, even the scowling long-haired one.

He was a bit more unsure about the brunet boy. He seemed as harmless and unassuming as they came, but Tsuyoshi hadn't missed the way all the others (minus two of the girls) gravitated towards him like planets around a sun.

Even Takeshi had seemed attracted by the boy's aura, deciding to sit with them as they ate, something which his son had never done before on the work, even with classmates.

The restaurant's bell chimed as the door closed, leaving Tsuyoshi and his son alone in the restaurant, the drunkards form earlier having departed long ago.

"Tsuna said to congratulate you on your food." Said Takeshi, head down as he wiped the table.

"Tsuna?"

"The small one with brown hair." Explained his son, looking up at him with a smile.

Tsuyoshi fought down the urge to draw in a sharp breath. For all that he lamented it, he had grown used to Takeshi's artificial smile. He couldn't pinpoint when it had first appeared, but during the last years, it had been the only smile that his son ever showed.

But right here and now, in front of him, his little Takeshi was really smiling, not that empty stretch of lips that he sported before.

And it had appeared when he spoke of that little brunet. "He's really cool, you know. He followed his friend here, even knowing he would be in danger in Namimori. They decided to change things here, and they're really doing it. It's sort of amazing, don't you think?"

He turned thoughtful, and Tsuyoshi was still trying to find his bearings. Or his voice. Or the control of his limbs, because he wanted to hug his beaming son.

However, before he could achieve any of those things, Takeshi looked up, smile gone but a fire in his eyes. "Hey, dad, you used to be a swordsman, didn't you? Do you think you can teach me?"

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

No new characters for a while now, at least until the end of the Namimori arc (don't ask how many chapters, I have the story outlined, but am completely hopeless at predicting how many chapters that makes). You're still free to try and guess the next canon character.

I also know some of you won't like how I depicted Hana, but I can't imagine her simply yielding to the first upstart to arrive, even if he helped them. Especially so if she finds him incompetent – she hasn't seen him fight, and he looks like a fluffy ball of smiles and sunshine, not the leader of a bunch of bloodthirsty kids.

Congratulations to Lazylady, DreadPirateWombat, vale7887, KITSUNE TAKAHARI, Pandaaaa, Snaype1, , BoyishBlue, Phoenix, Dman4869, setokayba2n (who hasn't technically named Takeshi, but has been reviewing so often that I'll still accept it), aGnamZer0 (whose reviews are always adored and taken into consideration, even if I can't always reply), WingedWithFireyMana, Crazycatmeow, Shwae, Tsuki Banritt, Rajani-the-Freak, Natsuyuuki, Shiroshi.2, Kenny, haruyuki setsuka, Shiho-Akemi, Lucky Guard, pres1dentp0verty, Estellise, Static2000, MattDK, arisasonoda84, AnyelisRomero and a number of Guests for guessing it would be Takeshi!