Thank you everyone for your patience. I hope this chapter is worth your wait.
Special thanks to Readera, Aseel11, K for sending in prompts. I think I fell a bit more in love with these characters after writing this chapter, and hopefully you will too after reading.
Moving
[Moving and packing is always fun. - Readera]
"No, no, no. I said centered, does that look center to you?!" Hayato growled in frustration. "Two inches to the left, no, no, too much. You empty-headed idiots! Don't you know how to follow simple instructions?!"
Hayato rolled up his blueprint and marched over to the couch. "You guys can't do shit," he declared, shoving the blueprint into Yamamoto's hands and then shoving him and Ryohei out of the way. Then, carefully, he pushed the couch precisely four inches to the right. Snatching the blueprint back, he took a few steps back as he unrolled it.
Hayato glanced between the couch and the blueprint of the house - which contained not only every room of the house, but also Hayato's meticulous notes on the exact location of where all the furnitures in the house should be - and then finally grinned in satisfaction when he saw that it was exactly where he wanted it to be.
"Now that's what you call centered," Hayato said, turning back to Yamamoto. "Let's go -" Hayato's vein twitched. "Where did lawn-head go?"
Yamamoto's lips twitched as he gestured to the door. The word "EXTREME" could be heard from the yard, right before Ryohei entered. Hayato felt his heart stop for a moment when Ryohei, lifting a bookshelf taller and wider than him by himself, bumped it against the doorway.
"You moronic lawn-head!" Hayato shouted, running over to Ryohei. "How dare you damage Juudaime's bookshelf and house?!"
Hayato was prevented from further yelling when Juudaime, upon hearing his words, popped his head out from top of the second floor staircase. Hayato immediately straightened in attention, Ryohei forgotten. "Gokudera-kun, is everything alright? I heard shouting," Juudaime said.
"Yes, of course!" Hayato replied. How can he be Juudaime's right-hand man if he can't even handle something so small like moving into another house?
Juudaime smiled. "That's good," he said, about to go back, when he paused. Hayato stood there attentively, waiting. "And, umm, Gokudera-kun, I know I bought this house and the furniture, but you know that everything is yours, right? After all, I bought them all for you guys."
Hayato's mind, heart, and body halted for a moment, Juudaime's words echoing in his mind. Yours , he said. For you.
Hayato pressed his lips together. He was above bursting into tears over every scrap of kindness people give him. He wasn't, however, above showing gestures of appreciation over Juudaime's generosity. Hayato took in a deep breath and was about to bellow his undying loyalty and gratitude when Juudaime yelped and said, "Onii-san, be careful!" upon spotting Ryohei with the bookshelf.
See, Hayato thought to himself, even Juudaime is telling the lawn-head to be careful with the furnitures.
"What if you get hurt?" Juudaime continued, running down the stairs.
Ahh, Juudaime is so kind even to the undeserving. Hayato was about to mentally lavish more praises upon Juudaime when a thought registered with him.
Hayato did a double-take and yes, Juudaime was running down the stairs. "Juudaime!" Hayato shouted, remembering the bruises that Juudaime got the last time he did that. Hayato rushed forward and was at the bottom of the stairs just in time when Juudaime yelped, slipped, and fell, slamming right into Hayato.
"Juudaime!" "Gokudera!" both of them shouted, jolting up from the tangled heap they made at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you okay?!"
Both Juudaime and Gokudera stared at each other, concern and anxiety for the other written all over their faces, before they laughed.
"I'm okay, Gokudera-kun," Juudaime finally said. "Thank you for catching me."
Any time, Hayato was about to say, when he spotted Lambo at the top of the stairs.
"Ahh, Dame-Tsuna and Baka-dera is playing around instead of helping!" Lambo bellowed. A glint appeared in his eyes, before he began jogging a few steps back. Hayato had a bad feeling about it. "Dogpile!" he exclaimed and then he launched himself down the stairs and onto Juudaime and Hayato.
Hayato winced upon impact and heard Juudaime let out an oof . "You stupid cow!" Hayato shouted, about to swat Lambo away when I-Pin appeared on top of the stairs.
"I-Pin, it's a game, jump down!" Lambo shouted and I-Pin's eyes lit up with childish excitement.
"Okay!" she exclaimed, just loud enough to just cover both Juudaime and Hayato's screams of "No!" and then she took a flying leap off the stairs.
Hayato put a protective arm around Juudaime, trying to shield as much of him as possible, and waited for an impact that never came.
Or rather it did, but not where he expected.
I-Pin landed with a light thud right beside Hayato on the floor, beamed at him, and then proceed to lightly toss herself onto the heap of people. "Dogpile!" she exclaimed happily, and Hayato heard Juudaime let out a sigh of relief and a small laugh.
"Hello, I-Pin, Lambo," Juudaime said, patting them each on the head. "If you're here, who's helping okaa-san with decorating your rooms?"
Right on cue, there was a call of "Lambo? I-Pin?"
Fuuta appeared at the top of the stairs and at this point, Juudaime just sighed as Fuuta's eyes lit up at the sight of the human pile. "Come," he said with a soft smile, beckoning with his hand like an armful of two kids was not enough.
Fuuta's face brightened and, unlike the two idiotic kids who leapt down the stairs, he thankfully decided to run down it instead. For a second, Hayato worried that Fuuta was going to fall off in the same way that Juudaime did before, but then he made it safely down the stairs in a record of time, and then Fuuta's safety was the last thing he was worrying about as Fuuta belly flopped onto the heap with a giggle.
Damn, this pile's getting heavy, Hayato thought. How did cushioning Juudaime end up cushioning everyone?
A pair of feet appeared in Hayato's view. "Hahaha, this looks fun," Yamamoto said, grinning down at them. "I want to join."
"Yamamoto," Juudaime said weakly, evidently about to deter him.
"I'll kick your ass -" into next week if you sit on Juudaime, Hayato was about to threaten, but then Juudaime yelped about Hayato cursing in front of kids and so he shut up. Also, there was no point because Yamamoto already sat down.
"I'm going to kill you," Hayato declared. "You better run now, because I'm going to kill you."
"Maa, maa, don't be like that," Yamamoto said from his place on top of the pile, over the kids' shrieks of mock fear and delight since he was sitting on them as well, though Hayato could tell Yamamoto was holding most of his own weight.
There was a thud . Ryohei had finally managed to move the bookshelf inside and spotted them. "Hey, oh, what is this? This looks extreme!"
"Yes, an extreme pain in the -" ass , Hayato was about to say, but then he remembered Juudaime's chastise and awkwardly finished, "butt."
He ignored the kids' giggles at the word 'butt.'
"Anyway, get us up, lawn-head!" Hayato demanded from beneath the pile.
"Onii-san, please help us up?" Juudaime asked.
Ryohei grinned. "Alright," he said, and then proceed to part his arms, leaned down, and grabbed everyone in the pile.
"Holy -" Hayato belatedly remembered that he shouldn't curse in front of the kids " - cow. How did you just lift us all in one go like that?!"
Ryohei carefully dropped all of them onto their feet and then raised an arm, flexing his muscles. "You can be strong like me if you join the boxing club, octopus head!"
Hayato looked at him for a second, before turning away. "Yeah, no thanks," Hayato said dryly. "Juudaime, are you alright?"
Juudaime smiled at him. "Yeah," he said, just as the kids shrieked, "Maman!" as they ran up the stairs.
Hayato looked up to see Nana and Bianchi on top of the stairs. He didn't know what made his stomach hurt more, the sight of his sister with her goggles temporarily pushed up to the top of her head or the camera in Nana's hand. From Bianchi's smirk, Hayato knew that he should be worrying about future blackmail materials.
Later Kyoko swung by with a cake and Nana and the kids (and Bianchi, but she was careful not to let Hayato see her) cooked some food for the housewarming. As everyone gathered around with a cup of soda in hand, Hayato looked around the house and thought, Home.
Cooking
[I hope to see how gokudera take it up to himself to do the cooking and everything and lambo and the others keep complaining.. - Aseel11]
Lambo's lips pursed in an obnoxious pout. "Eh, why does Lambo-san has to cook? And baka-dera is cooking for two days?"
Hayato's finger twitched on top of the cooking chart that he drew up. "I wouldn't want to eat your cooking either, but fair's fair. Monday is me, Tuesday is takeout, Wednesday is any two of you" - Hayato gestured to Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta - "Thursday is me, Friday is takeout, Saturday is Bianchi and whoever didn't cook this week, and Sunday is at Juudaime's house. I didn't hear you complaining when I cooked nearly all the meals for the first two weeks we moved."
Fuuta piped up, "I like Gokudera-nii's cooking. It taste like home, just like Bianchi-nee's cooking" - his face turned a little purple - "but without the food poisoning afterward."
Hayato blinked at those words. Did his cooking really taste like Bianchi's, even after all these years? Hayato thought back to Bianchi when they were younger, with her love for cooking and her strange ability to turn anything she cooked poisonous, intentionally or not. Bianchi was good at cooking, Hayato knew, or else he wouldn't have fallen for the same trap and ate her cooking all those years back when they lived together; at least, until Hayato's body began to send distress signals at the sight of Bianchi because evidently he was too stupid to not learn his lesson after getting food poisoning the umpteenth time. Afterward, Hayato tried to reverse engineer her cooking and he supposed had some degree of success, especially since Bianchi sometimes tried to teach him.
Hayato exchanged a look with his sister, and only felt slightly queasy at the sight of her with goggles on. With any luck, they could move up to sunglasses within the next month and then just an eyepatch in another month, until he can finally face Bianchi again without anything covering her face and not faint. "Well, I did learn some of my cooking from her," he finally said, looking away. "If you guys" - Hayato looked pointedly at Lambo - "learn well from her, you can take over all the meals."
Lambo wrinkled his nose at the thought as I-Pin exclaimed, tugging on Bianchi's sleeve, "I learn!"
"I want to learn to bake, Bianchi-nee," Fuuta added.
Lambo perked up. "Sweets?" he asked hopefully.
Bianchi laughed, her expression softer than Hayato had seen since she was in her home under her mother's thumb. "Then I'll gladly teach you."
Bedrooms
Hayato thought it was a disaster waiting to happen the second Fuuta, I-Pin and Lambo each claimed a bedroom on the second floor, leaving the remaining two bedrooms on the ground floor for Gokudera and Bianchi.
"You mean you kids want me to leave a whole floor to you practically unsupervised?" Hayato asked with eyebrows raised. "Heck no."
Lambo tackled Hayato with a cry of, "baka-dera, baka-dera, baka-dera!" while I-Pin looked up at Gokudera with questioning eyes.
"No?" she asked with the tilt of her head.
Hayato almost felt bad. Almost.
Hayato looked away and caught sight of Fuuta, who smiled with the soft understanding expression of someone who was careful not to have any expectation or hope to begin with so he could not be disappointed, and Hayato's stomach plummeted.
"No, no, no, that's the second time you used that one me," Hayato stated, narrowing his eyes on Fuuta. It took the breath out of Hayato like a punch in the guts the first time he saw that look. "You asked the Ranking Planet to rank my weakness, didn't you? I remember objects floating around me."
Fuuta beamed at him, his smile wide and proud as he pulled out his Ranking Book and got onto his hands and knees to flip to pages that were two-thirds his size. "Gokudera-nii's first weakness is disappointing others," Fuuta read aloud. "His second is people who have no expectations at all."
Bianchi clapped her hands together, drawing all of their attention to her, before Hayato could reply.
"Alright, kids," she said, "how about we decide like this?"
Xxx
The kids ended up getting the second floor. It was unbearable for the initial two week and Gokudera was so close to switching their bedrooms, agreement or not, but thankfully by the third week, their excitement of having a whole floor to themselves eventually died down to a tolerable level.
(And no, Gokudera going up the second floor to wake the kids up and opening the door of Fuuta's room to the sight of I-Pin and Lambo curled around Fuuta protectively in their sleep did not play a role in his unexpected patience at all.)
Mediation
[I'm curious what kind of roommate agreement or house rules they would come up with. Or would they just ask Tsuna to mediate everything. -Readera]
[a lot of fluffy stuff. - Aseel11]
"Juudaime, you can just leave your shoes - " Gokudera didn't get to finish his words before two shadows fell down from the ceiling, eliciting a loud "Hiie!" from Tsuna and a "Would you guys fricken stop it?!" from Gokudera as he smacked one of the shadow into the ground and round-kicked the other into the far end of the house.
"Gotta. Hold. It. In," Lambo whimpered, crumpled at their feet. Tsuna flailed when he spotted the tears that lined Lambo's eyes.
"Don't cry, Lambo!" Tsuna screeched, desperately racking his mind for a way to stop Lambo's tears. "Here, have a piece of - " Tsuna triumphantly pulled a piece of candy out of his bag, only to have it snatched out of his hand a mere second later.
"Hahahaha, baka-Tsuna," Lambo exclaimed, tears gone and running away, "the candy's mine!"
"Round two!" someone said determinedly, and then I-Pin slammed into Gokudera's stomach like a bullet train.
"You fricken brat!" Gokudera huffed. Tsuna winced as he slammed into the wall, and thought he heard something like pride in Gokudera's voice.
I-Pin evidently heard it too. She beamed widely at Gokudera like it was a compliment, before running off into the house after Lambo.
"Those kids are nuts, Juudaime," Gokudera said as he picked himself up with the shake of his head. "Today's Monday." Gokudera raised his voice, gaze raised to the second floor. "Perfect time to deep-fry the stupid cow for dinner!"
Tsuna couldn't help but let out an amused smile when, from the second floor banister, the words, "Bleh. Baka-dera!" came down.
"Dinner!" Gokudera shouted back, before abruptly turning to Tsuna and turning distinctively red. "Er, Juudaime," he said awkwardly.
He's embarrassed that he got into an argument with the kids in front of me, Tsuna knew.
Tsuna's smile widened just a little, before he tilted his head to take a whiff of the air. "Something smells sweet," he commented.
"Ahh," Gokudera said as they finished taking off their shoes and actually went beyond the foyer of the house, gladly grabbing onto the change of topic. "Fuuta's probably baking."
Sure enough, Fuuta was in the kitchen working at some dough with a rolling pin. Flour, cookie cutters, and parchment paper scattered all around him as the oven glowed orange in the back. He was humming under his breath and had a small apron with little bears on.
"Gokudera-nii, Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta smiled when he saw them. "I'm making some cookies."
"It smells nice," Tsuna commented as Gokudera said, exasperated, "Again."
"Bianchi-nee said you can never have too much food," Fuuta recited back at them seriously, and Gokudera cracked a smile. "Besides, I baked brownies yesterday," Fuuta pointed out, like the sweet that he chose to make was the issue here.
Gokudera frowned at the reminder. "Yeah, I'm locking up your cookies. What time did you guys sleep again after somehow finishing all four batches of the brownies you made yesterday?"
Fuuta's smile turned sheepish. "Lambo and I-Pin said they tasted good. You said so too, Gokudera-nii!"
Gokudera let out a huff and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, but - "
The oven let out a ding , and Fuuta hurried to it. "It's ready!" he said, just as two other pairs of voices above shouted, "It's ready!", followed by a set of footsteps running down the stairs.
"Ahh, it's not fair!" Tsuna heard Lambo exclaim, just as I-Pin landed lightly against the ground floor. Tsuna stared at I-Pin as she gracefully unfolded from her landing stance to skip over to the kitchen, and then glanced up to the banister on the second floor.
I'm going to get a heart attack if I actually live here, he thought dimly as I-Pin joined them at the table.
"Smells good!" I-Pin said, eyes gleaming as Fuuta placed the cookies onto the table.
"Wait for it to cool first, I-Pin," Fuuta said with a gentle tone, and she nodded, feet swinging as she gazed at the cookies admiringly with her head rested on both hands.
"Surprise attack!" Lambo shouted, and then he bowled right into I-Pin's back.
"Ahh!" Tsuna shouted, heart in his throat as I-Pin fell off the chair. He looked at Gokudera in panic, but Gokudera was busy trying to pull a cookie off the parchment paper without it breaking into many soft pieces.
"I-Pin, are you alright?" Tsuna asked, helping her up. He took step back when he saw I-Pin's dangerously gleaming eyes.
"Stupid broccoli-head!" she shouted and the next thing Tsuna knew, Lambo was running with a cry as I-Pin chased after him.
Tsuna stared at the empty space where Lambo and I-Pin were two seconds ago. He turned at the sound of Fuuta's giggle.
"Don't worry, Tsuna-nii, they're like that a lot," Fuuta said as he imprinted cookie cutters into the flat dough. "You want to help?" he offered, gesturing to the cookie cutters he had on the side.
"Sure," Tsuna said dimly, reaching for a cookie cutter.
"Ahh, Tsuna-nii, wash your hand first!" Fuuta astonished sternly. Tsuna looked at Fuuta, at his apron and at his hand crusted with flour, and wondered which of them was the older one.
"Right," Tsuna said, going to the kitchen sink. "Where's Bianchi?" he asked as water ran over his hand.
"She's working," Gokudera answered, straightening from where he leaned over trying to pry a cookie off the sheet with no avail. Tips of the star shaped cookie was gone, while a bit of its center remained stuck on the parchment paper. "Took a job and said she'll be back in a week or so."
"A job?" Tsuna asked, cocking his head to the side, wondering what kind of place only hired for a week.
"Yeah, assassination," Gokudera answered and Tsuna choked. "Somewhere in Belgium. It should take more time to travel to and fro than to do the actual job."
"Bianchi-nee said she'll bring back some chocolate and get me a recipe book for baking!" Fuuta added excitedly.
Tsuna startled at Fuuta's non-reaction to Bianchi's occupation, before recalling that he had been in the Mafia longer than him, even if Fuuta had only been chased for his ability to rank and for the knowledge in the Ranking Book. In fact, Tsuna thought, looking at Fuuta, Gokudera, and then up at the second floor to Lambo and I-Pin, all of them have.
It was a strange thing to acknowledge, that to many of the people close to him, the Mafia was a way of life, not this strange scary place that was thrusted upon them. As he cut into the dough with the cookie cutters, Tsuna wondered if he had been born in the Mafia, would that life had been easier for him to live in?
"This is your last batch, got it?" Gokudera said, ignoring resulting Fuuta's pout. "Save the rest for tomorrow. I have to cook dinner soon."
"Alright," Fuuta acquiesced, just as I-Pin and Lambo ran down the stairs again.
"Baka-dera, I want Oko - " Lambo paused and looked at I-Pin.
"Okonomiyaki," I-Pin supplied helpfully.
"Baka-dera, I want okonoyaki!" Lambo exclaimed.
"Yeah, no," Gokudera rejected without a backward glance. "I was gonna make lasagna; I don't have any ingredients to make okonomiyaki."
"Go buy, baka-dera!" Lambo huffed.
"No way," Gokudera said. "We're eating lasagna today. We can order okonomiyaki tomorrow."
"I want it now!" Lambo stomped his foot, looking increasingly frustrated. "Now!"
A look of annoyance entered Gokudera face. Tsuna had a bad feeling about it and suddenly wished Yamamoto was here. He was good at dispeling disputes before they got out of hand.
"How about I go buy the ingredients and we can make okonomiyaki today and lasagna tomorrow?" Tsuna offered, trying to compromise.
"No!" Lambo screeched, glaring at Gokudera, as Gokudera said, glaring down at Lambo just as hard, "Juudaime, with all due respect, we can't spoil the stupid cow like this all the time."
All of a sudden, Fuuta cut in, his voice strong and clear and just a tad mischievous, "First to the front door."
Before Tsuna could ask what he meant, Gokudera, Lambo and I-Pin whooshed past him, all racing to the front door. Gokudera threw a flash bomb to clear the way and Tsuna closed his eye just in time to avoid the worst of it. He opened his eyes to the sight of I-Pin vaulting over Gokudera's head and jumping off Lambo like a stepping stone to launch herself at the front door.
"I win," I-Pin said, beaming from where her hand touched the door.
Gokudera sighed and Lambo whimpered as they picked themselves off the ground. "What do you want, I-Pin?" Gokudera asked.
"Okonomiyaki," she said with a soft smile.
Gokudera exhaled. "Yeah, I figured," he said, as Lambo cheered. "Okonoyaki! Okonoyaki!"
"It's okono mi yaki, you idiot." Gokudera rolled his eyes. "C'mon, you two are coming with me for the groceries then," he said, ushering them to change their shoes. "Fuuta?"
"I want to finish baking and cleaning up," Fuuta said, and Gokudera nodded in acceptance before he caught sight of Tsuna.
"Ahh, Juudaime," he said, looking between Lambo and I-Pin -his charges that he promised food to- and Tsuna, who he saw as his top priority. "Umm… I'm sorry that I'm such a bad host!" he exclaimed, bowing waist level.
Tsuna watched Lambo try to kick Gokudera in the back and be pulled back by I-Pin with an astonished, "Lambo!"
"Ahh, it's okay," Tsuna said with a smile, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll stay with Fuuta, and umm…" His smile turned sheepish. "It's been awhile since I ate okonomiyaki. Can okaa-san, Reborn and I eat here today, maybe?"
Gokudera's body whipped up, his eyes wide. "Of course, Juudaime, you're always welcome!"
Tsuna smiled, touched to hear those words.
After Gokudera, Lambo, and I-Pin left for the grocery store - each with two of Fuuta's cooled cookies in hand - , Tsuna asked Fuuta if they usually settled their arguments with a race.
"Uh-huh," Fuuta said, as he cleared the kitchen counter of the last of the baking equipments. "Bianchi-nee thought of it."
"So someone not in the argument would choose a place and whoever's in the argument would win if they reach there first?" Fuuta nodded. "Then what if all of you are in disagreement?"
"Including me?" Fuuta asked, looking up at Tsuna, eyes wide. Tsuna nodded. "Then I win."
"Huh?" Tsuna asked. "Why?"
Fuuta smiled. "Because I usually don't care and don't get into arguments, so I usually win by default whenever I want something," Fuuta explained matter-of-factly.
Tsuna sweatdropped. "Ahh, of course."
Piano
The day Bianchi returned from Belgium, a large package arrived in front of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household.
"No," Hayato said, even almost as soon as he saw it. He gazed at the people who brought it to their door, dressed in black suits and, to those who knew what to look for, carrying firearms. Hayato didn't recognize any of the people, but that didn't mean he didn't know who they came on the orders of or what the large package they came bearing was. "Take that back and fuck off."
"Hayato," Bianchi called, coming out of the house, a pair of sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose.
"Miss!" the men of Bianchi's father exclaimed, all bowing at the sight of her. Gokudera gritted his teeth.
"Thanks for bringing it here, Gotoh," Bianchi said. "Tell Papa thank you for me when you get back, would you?"
"Of course," one of the men in the front - Gotoh - said. "We'll be going now then."
"Take that with you!" Hayato growled. Gotoh paid him no mind as he gestured his people to leave, as though Hayato was beneath his notice.
"Hayato!" Bianchi said, her voice sharp, and Hayato's fingers tightened around the dynamites he whipped out. One of the men casted a contemptuous look back, and before Hayato could throw the dynamites, a purple pie met the man's face.
"Gotoh, train your men better," Bianchi barked, as Gotoh's men paled at the sight of their fallen comrade. Bianchi's eyes narrowed. "Or I'll do it for you."
Gotoh bowed in their direction. "Of course, Miss," he said. He jerked his head to the side and two people came forward and grabbed the poisoned man. "I'm sorry for this unsightly subordinate."
"Hayato," Bianchi said, after her father's men were long gone and Hayato was just staring at the spot they vacated and the package they left behind.
Bianchi caught the hand that Hayato lashed out at her. "Why the fuck did you bring that here?!" he snarled, incensed and almost feral.
Bianchi stared at him for a long while, her grip on his wrist almost painful, until she at least voiced, "I missed you playing."
Hayato let out a laugh and jerked his arm away. "Yeah, because I don't play anymore," he said, turning away to head back into the house. "Call your father's men back and tell them to take it away."
"No," Bianchi said, a simple statement, and that stopped Hayato in his track. "The grand piano is yours. It stopped belonging to the mansion the moment you left it."
"It's not mine and I don't want it. I don't want anything of that despicable man's!"
Bianchi stepped forward. "That man is your father and he bought it for you. No one else in the family plays it and I sure don't have the talent, despite what Mama wants."
Hayato whirled around to face her. "I'm not part of that family!"
"You are whether you want to admit it or not, regardless of what other people think!" Bianchi shouted back, her eyes blazing. "You are my brother and I'll strike down anyone who say otherwise!"
Hayato stared at Bianchi, dumbfounded and eyes wide, before finally looking away. "That's not the issue here," he said gruffly, and after a beat, added, "Sis."
"That's one of the many issues here," she corrected, some of the tension finally bleeding out of her. "But the piano doesn't have to be one of them. Lavina" - Hayato was sure Bianchi noticed his flinch at his mother's name, but she ploughed on anyway - "would have wanted you to continue playing."
"She's dead, Sis, she's dead," Hayato said, sinking onto his knees. "Don't tell me what she would have wanted or not."
Bianchi slowly enveloped Hayato in her arms, as though expecting to be pushed away, but Hayato was just so tired. "The time that she spent with you was unfortunately little," Bianchi said, her voice soft, "but it was still time you spent together. And for that brief period of time, you were happy, weren't you, learning and playing the piano?"
Hayato couldn't stop the first trickle of tear nor the second. After awhile, he stopped trying.
Idiosyncrasies
All members of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household had roots in the Mafia, Bianchi recognized, so she supposed it was expected that all of them would have a certain idiosyncrasies as well.
I-Pin was the walking dichotomy between skill and age. She was so young, yet had such skills beyond her years. Bianchi knew that I-Pin's frustratingly silent way of moving especially bothered Hayato, who prided himself in his awareness. I-Pin generally walked with a whisper, in the same exact manner of people knocking before entering a room, yet when she truly wanted to hide her presence, not even a whisper could be heard from the sole pupil of Arcobaleno Fon. The first time the young assassin used those skills on Hayato, Hayato had his dynamites and Bianchi her poison cooking out within seconds. Seconds that could have meant the difference between life and death. Yet I-Pin merely smile in that pleased manner of her and backed off, and so the next time I-Pin tackled him and caught him off guard again, Hayato merely took it as a challenge to one day sense her approach, which was fine by Bianchi.
Lambo, like all kids, was brash, loud, and obnoxious. He took those qualities and multiplied them by ten, and Bianchi sometimes looked at this small child with cow-prints clothes, a grating personality, and a complex a mile long, and wondered how negligent the Bovino Family was for Lambo to continually up his antics until they reached the level they were now, how desperate Lambo must have been for someone to pay attention at him. Bianchi thought of Lambo's propensity to tear up at almost every little thing, but how he always tried to be tough and, despite tears brimming his eyes, tried so hard to not let them fall. Bianchi thought about Lambo's little mantra "Gotta. Hold. It. In." to himself and she wondered whether someone else told him that or Lambo learned to tell himself that since he was old enough to understand that he only had himself to rely on. Then she recalled Lambo surprisingly quick recovery when anyone showed concern or asked about him, and became thankful that he was with them now.
Fuuta, Bianchi found, was a source of endless calm, almost always the eye of the chaotic storm. She wondered if Fuuta ever realized his behavior was the textbook example of an information broker, an observer who stayed just close enough to witness the storm from a safe distance but not let it actually affect him. She wondered how much of Fuuta's behavior and calm was innate and how much of it was learned survival instinct after being chased all his life by mafiosos who wanted to use his power for their own gain. Bianchi thought back to how often furnitures in the house leave the ground as Fuuta ranked miscellaneous things to a pass time - best grocery to buy in Namimori, number one cafe to visit, Hayato's first and second weaknesses - and wondered if Fuuta knew how to live without always having some sort of information - negotiation power - at hand anymore.
Hayato was her brother and she knew him in a way few others do, having grown with him during their childhood. But others knew a part of Hayato that she was not privy to either, from Hayato's devotion to Tsuna - and she wondered if Hayato knew already, that he was more devoted to Tsuna, the name that he didn't think himself worthy of calling his boss, than the actual position Juudaime that he called him by - to Hayato's surprising talent at herding kids. Bianchi thought back to Fuuta's ranking that concluded Hayato was suited to be a nursery teacher, and wondered exactly how inaccurate it actually was, despite the rain affecting Fuuta's communication with the Ranking Planet. If Tsuna chooses not to go down the Mafia path, will Hayato follow? she wondered. And would he be happier because of it?
Bianchi's hand reached out without a thought, snagging onto the back of Lambo's cow-print clothes. "Come on," she said, depositing him back onto the stepping stool in front of the chopping board. "The chicken breast won't cut itself." A gleam entered her eyes. "Or would you rather I prepare it?"
Lambo, in a rare similarity to Hayato, quickly turned purple at the thought. She chuckled. It only took Lambo twenty times of eating Bianchi's poison cooking despite being warned not to to realize that no matter how good Bianchi's food taste and smell, they did not get along with his stomach that he stopped putting everything edible in the house into his mouth. It would have been flattering if only his groans weren't a pain to deal with, so maybe that would teach him some restraint.
"Come on, you're the one who wanted fettuccine chicken alfredo," she urged.
"Lambo-san is bored," he whined.
"Better bored and knows how to cook than starving then dead," she said, grinning when Lambo turned pale. "I know you know how to do this. Your ten year later self helped me cook after I confirmed he was not Romeo. Cut it like this."
She took a piece of chicken breast and demonstrated how to cut it, watching as a sliver of purple dance over the cut before disappearing again. She would have to put this piece aside for herself now, since only she was immune to her own poison cooking.
As she taught Lambo to cook and remembered the past times she taught Gokudera, I-Pin and Fuuta, she thought that as horrible a curse as it was to have someone good at cooking unable to feed the food that she so lovingly prepared to others without poisoning them, teaching someone how to cook and having them pass on her cooking wasn't too bad either.
Sick
[Gokudera get sick and they feel guilty and try to make it up for him - Aseel11]
Bianchi didn't know how it happened, only that one minute I-Pin and Lambo were playing and the next they were fighting. That happened a lot, so Bianchi ignored them and continued watching television until apoof sounded. That, too, was not too unusual. Lambo used the Ten-Year Bazooka often, almost like a game, and it would have been concerning if it wasn't so entertaining.
What was not normal was the scream that followed a second after the poof , followed by I-Pin running into the living room with panic in her eyes.
"Who's hurt?" Bianchi asked, grabbing the first-aid kit in the kitchen before running after I-Pin. I-Pin was trained by the Arcobaleno Fon. Danger wouldn't scare her, she would react by fighting, but harm to people around her would. In the back of her mind, she thanked heavens that I-Pin trusted them enough that her first reaction was to grab an adult in the house.
"Lambo!" I-Pin answered. "Ten year. Hurt!"
They screeched to a halt in the hallway of the second floor to the sight of Fuuta crying with frightened eyes above an older Lambo covered in bruises, blood and scrapped clothes.
"Where are you hurt?!" Hayato exclaimed, throwing off his shirt in preparation of wrapping it around the source of the bleeding. Hayato must have ran straight for the scream the moment he heard it.
"I'm dying," older Lambo moaned. "I'm dying - ow!"
Hayato grabbed older Lambo by the front of his shirt and shook him. "Where are you hurt, you stupid cow?! Do you want to die?!"
Trust Hayato to make a concerned question sound like a threat. Bianchi glanced at older Lambo from a distance and came to a conclusion the same time awareness entered older Lambo's face.
"Eh?!" older Lambo exclaimed, looking between the worry etched into Hayato's features and Fuuta still clinging onto older Lambo and crying.
The adrenaline in Bianchi's body slowly faded when she realized he was fine. Bianchi scooped up I-Pin into her arms, brought her trembling body to her chest, and walked forward.
"Look closely, Hayato, Fuuta, I-Pin," Bianchi said, trying her best to exude calm through sheer force as she knelt beside older Lambo's body alongside them. "Those are surface wounds. When you get a cut on your forehead, it bleeds a lot, trickles down, impedes your vision, and cover your entire face until you look like a ghoul, right? Look closer, there's more blood than wounds on his body."
Fuuta looked at Bianchi incomprehensively, which Bianchi expected since he didn't have any combat background, but I-Pin was turning in Bianchi's arms and taking a closer look at older Lambo, and Hayato's breath caught in his throat for a moment before he peered closer too. When both I-Pin and Hayato sucked in a breath and nodded, Fuuta's cry finally slowed to a hiccup.
"Lam - Lambo's okay?" Fuuta asked, tears rolling unashamedly down his cheeks as he blinked. "Really?"
"Oh," older Lambo breathed, taking in all the people surrounding him like he was at his deathbed, and Bianchi wanted to sock him one. "Well, well, so that's what happened. No wonder - oww!"
Hayato punched older Lambo across the face. "Get up," Hayato growled, standing himself and half-pulling older Lambo along with him. "I'm going to punch you again!"
"Gokudera, calm down, ahh! I'm not dying but I'm still hurt!" older Lambo exclaimed. "Mercy!"
"How did you get those injuries?" Hayato shook older Lambo. "Where did our Lambo get sent to?!"
A trickle of cold rolled down Bianchi's spine at those questions. She didn't even think of it, but if even the older Lambo - assuming he had gotten stronger in ten years - was injured to this extent, what hope did his younger counterpart had at getting alive out of whatever situation older Lambo was in?
"We pissed off Tsuna and he sent us to train at Hibari's!" older Lambo shouted. He yelped as Hayato dropped him back onto the ground again.
"So he's fine," Hayato heaved out, practically demanding older Lambo to say 'yes'.
Older Lambo rubbed the back of his head. "Well, he might be getting some bruises from Hibari, since Hibari's prey" - older Lambo pointed at himself with a wry grin - "me, escaped from him, so he might be frustrated, but other than that." He shrugged. "Hibari scares me, but we all know that he wouldn't let anyone touch the Family. Younger me is as safe as he could be."
Hayato's lips twisted to an ugly parody of older Lambo's wry grin. "'We all know', huh?" he said, dropping onto the ground bonelessly beside Fuuta. Hayato placed a hand onto Fuuta's head and gently pressed him against his chest. Fuuta buried himself against Hayato immediately with a sniffle. Bianchi watched older Lambo watch the gesture with a soft smile. "Are we talking about the same Hibari? What has the world come to?"
Older Lambo shrugged again. "Can't speak about the future. Just… I'm sorry, alright? I didn't know and well, no wonder you guys had such a bad reaction when I came back ten years ago."
"Bad reaction is an understatement," Bianchi said as I-Pin finally crawled out from her arms, her eyes red-rimmed. "You're grounded for life."
Older Lambo grimaced. "Alright, alright. Okay, but… I was a vulnerable little kid, okay? Be gentle with me," and although older Lambo said it in a joking manner, there was indeed something vulnerable in his body language.
Bianchi let out a sigh and opened the first-aid kit that she brought with her. "What's the worst of the injuries?" she asked. "I might as well dress your wounds for the remaining time."
Older Lambo stared at Bianchi for a moment, before he at last closed his eyes with a giggle. "You guys are the same as ever, huh, ten years before and ten years after." He looked at all of them surrounding him each in the face, and smiled. "Thank you."
Then, the younger Lambo was back.
"Got. To. Hold. It. In," Lambo said against the ground, his clothes ripped like he just barely managed to dodge a predator's attack multiple of times. Or in his case, older Hibari's attacks. Bianchi spared a moment to wonder how strong Hibari would be ten years in the future, and then Hayato grabbed Lambo and punched him across the face.
Bianchi closed her eyes briefly, as both I-Pin and Fuuta shouted in shock. In retrospect, Bianchi should have expected that response. Hayato was never good at handling loss.
Lambo was staring at Hayato, wide-eyed. He blinked, and the tears that were bimming his eyes spilled over and slid down his cheeks, gliding over the red cut on his face. Then, Lambo was sobbing and screaming earnestly, flailing in midair against Hayato's hold and reaching for his afro.
Bianchi winced.
"Don't. You. Fucking. Dare, " Hayato growled and Lambo froze all over again like a deer in headlight.
"Gokudera-nii," both Fuuta and I-Pin called out, Fuuta reaching for Lambo and I-Pin for Hayato, and Bianchi spared a moment to wonder if the arrangement was at random or did they instinctively realized that Fuuta would be a better at calming Lambo while I-Pin had combat ability that could at least hold off Hayato for a bit. Bianchi placed a hand on both of their shoulders, catching their attention, before gently shaking her head.
Fuuta's hands clenched at each other, while I-Pin's teeth gnawed at her lips, but Fuuta and I-Pin both listened. Bianchi rubbed their backs comfortingly, but she wasn't sure how much it helped.
"You're never using the Ten-Year Bazooka again, do you understand?" Hayato continued. When Lambo didn't reply and just stared blankly at him with tears streaming down his face, he barked, "Lambo!"
Lambo flinched.
Something broke in Hayato's expression. Lambo took advantage of that like shark sensing blood.
" Baka-dera! " Lambo cried, kicking and screaming, and Hayato dropped Lambo in surprise. Lambo landed on his feet and quickly ran into his room.
"Lambo!" Fuuta and I-Pin shouted, sprinting after him, and the door slammed into their faces.
"Go away!" Lambo shouted back through the door.
"Lambo," Fuuta called, evidently struggling for calm. "Please, Lambo. Please. Let us in."
"Lambo?" I-Pin said, her voice wobbly, and knocked against the door in a pattern that had to be a secret door code that they agreed on beforehand. "Lambo?"
Bianchi watch Hayato grit his teeth, before tearing down the stairs. Bianchi hesitated for a moment, glancing between the kids at the door and Hayato's retreating back, before running after Hayato.
She caught him just outside the gate. "Hayato," she called, grabbing his wrist, and he flung her hand off. Any other day and she would have ploughed on without blinking an eye, but it was just too much today with the Ten-Year Bazooka Incident and now this.
She flinched.
"Hayato," she said, almost as soon as she realized her mistake, but it was too late.
He let out a laugh. "Sis, I fuck up everything, don't I?"
"Hayato, please," Bianchi said, pleaded, and she hated how brittle she felt. "They need you."
"I can't do this right now, I can't!" Hayato exclaimed, growing more and more hysterical with every word. "Why did I ever think I could do this?"
Bianchi forced herself to breathe, to take a deep breath in and to exhale just as deeply. Then, she stepped forward and slapped Hayato across the face.
Hayato stared at her and this, too, stabbed into Bianchi's heart. "Snap out of it, Hayato!" Bianchi barked, and something in Hayato shifted because even in despair, his brilliant brain could recognize the parallel between this scene and the one with Lambo. "You did what you thought you had to do. It wasn't nice, it wasn't pretty, but you thought it was necessary, didn't you? So why are you doubting yourself now? Why are you running from your own mess?! If you want reassurance, I'm telling you right now, yes, I would have done the same exact thing as you if I thought that was the only way to get through Lambo. We don't get to be the good cop all the time, Hayato. Sometimes parenting requires you to be the bad cop." Bianchi blinked and her eyes felt wet. "But you just realized that now, didn't you?"
Hayato took in a shuddering breath. "I shouldn't have hit him."
"No, you shouldn't have," Bianchi agreed, and some vicious part of her was vindictively pleased at his flinch, because fuck, everything was a mess and fuck Hayato for almost making her shoulder everything. "He came back from a sparring match from future Hibari. That must have been scarring on its own and the first thing you do after he came back to his time, what he thought was a safe place, to his home, and you hit him. Ever heard of words, little brother?"
"Shit," Hayato said, running a hand through his hair. " Shit . I fucked up big time."
"Yeah, you did," Bianchi said, softening her voice towards the end. "Now go fix it."
Hayato took a step towards the house. "Yeah, I - " He looked at her. "Hey, I'm sorry."
Bianchi let out a laugh, and roughly wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand. "I said fix things up with Lambo, not with me, idiot," she said. "We're good."
Hayato looked at her for another moment, and then carefully stepped forward and enveloped her in his arms. "Thank you," he said, squeezing her tightly around the ribs. "Thank you."
Then, they went back inside to fix their family.
Bianchi ushered I-Pin and Fuuta away from Lambo's door, and Hayato knocked.
The last thing Bianchi heard was Hayato tentatively calling out "Lambo?" and Lambo immediately shouting back, "Go away! I hate you!" before they walked downstairs.
Bianchi made all of them wash their faces, before they piled in on the couch.
"You okay?" Bianchi asked, hugging I-Pin and Fuuta tight. She brushed a kiss onto each of their forehead as she felt them lean in.
"Gokudera-nii hit Lambo," Fuuta said, and Bianchi's chest clenched as Fuuta trembled against her. Bianchi hugged him closer, like that could stop the trembles and erase his fear.
"To teach?" I-Pin cut in, glancing at Bianchi and Fuuta with innocent, impressionable eyes. "Master hit me to teach," she said, and Bianchi closed her eyes for a moment.
"Close, I-Pin, but that's a little different," Bianchi said, struggling on how to explain. "Fon teaches you martial arts. He has to teach your body on how to react. Hayato…" Bianchi took a deep breath. "He shouldn't have hit Lambo. He should have tried talking to him, because we're not teaching his body. We want him to understand that he shouldn't use the Ten-Year Bazooka anymore and why. Does that make sense?"
Slowly, I-Pin nodded, while Fuuta remained silent. He already knew all of this, Bianchi knew, especially with his past of others chasing after him by force so he can do their bidding, whether he wanted to or not. "Hitting bad."
"He shouldn't have done that," Bianchi agreed. "Hayato knows that now, he regrets it, and he'll never do it again."
"Gokudera-nii was worried," Fuuta finally spoke, his voice so soft it nearly got swallowed against her sweater.
"And it made him do a very stupid thing," Bianchi agreed, as some of her worries dissipated. Fuuta was scared, but he seemed more scared of the situation and of the past that it reminded him of, than of Hayato. He did seem a little frighten of the violence Hayato was capable of, but he didn't see Hayato as the bad guy or as an enemy, and even understood why he did what he did, however stupid his action was. That was more than Bianchi could hope for. "And that's why he needs to talk to Lambo now, because Lambo needs to know."
Fuuta and I-Pin both nodded against her. Bianchi wanted to say more to reassure them, but she didn't know what to say anymore, so in the end, she gently coaxed both of them to sleep. She drifted in and out of sleep herself, until she finally sensed a presence in the room.
It felt familiar.
"Reborn?" she uttered, and he placed a finger against his lips, looking down at I-Pin and Fuuta against her numb arms.
"I checked up on Gokudera and Lambo," he said, and Bianchi unwittingly held her breath. "They're fine," he said, noticing her expression, and something in her chest loosened as she exhaled.
How did you know? Bianchi wanted to ask, and the question must have showed on his face, as he continued, "I saw you and Gokudera had an argument outside the house." A smile slid across Bianchi's face. Argument was an understatement.
"It's fine, sleep now," he said, so painfully gentle. "I'm sorry for waking you up."
Bianchi obeyed, closing her eyes again and this time, she slept fitfully knowing that her family was fine and that Reborn was there.
Xxx
Hayato became practically Lambo's slave for nearly a month afterward, but as Reborn promised, everything was fine between them again.
Lambo promised not to use the Ten-Year Bazooka anymore and for most parts, he didn't break his promise. Although the household, especially I-Pin and Fuuta, were getting better at calming Lambo down before he could pull out the Ten-Year Bazooka, years of reflexive habit was hard to break and sometimes they couldn't stop Lambo in time. When Lambo come back from the future looking so utterly contrite, Hayato took one look at him and didn't have the heart to get angry when he saw that Lambo was alright.
They all still wanted Lambo to be careful though, since they didn't want him to blast himself into a future situation that he couldn't handle, and after the Ten-Year Bazooka Incident, all member of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household, against all odd, all grew closer.
[Everyone gets worried sick and Gokudera feels guilty and tries to make it up for Lambo]
Victim
[I would like to see more about Takeshi and hibari together - K]
Suzumi Nano crept around one of the bigger two-story houses in Namimori, checking every door and window she passed. As expected, all the ground floor openings were locked.
She let out a huff as she headed back to the tall, sturdy-looking tree that she passed by in the backyard. She didn't expect this family to make things easy for her, though it would be nice for a change.
Nano rolled her neck and stretched her limbs for a bit, then started her climb up the tree. The tree had long, thick branches that extended nicely to a second floor window, which - if one looked closely - was left just a bit ajar.
That was all the opening Nano needed.
Bingo, she thought, as she wedged her fingers through the gap and tugged. Nano jumped in with barely a sound once the gap was large enough for her to get through.
Now, she thought as she straightened, where should I - ?
She froze when she caught sight of the little girl standing in front of her, her single braid on top her head curving in a bow as she tilted her head to the side to consider Nano.
When did she get there?! Nano thought as cold sweat pricked her skin, making all the hair on her body stand up. She wasn't there before, and I didn't see or hear her coming!
The girl continued to stare at her. "Who?"
Nano's mouth dropped a little, staring back at the girl like an idiot, before she inwardly face-palmed. C'mon, Nano, get ahold of yourself! It's just a little girl. It's not like you've never came across an unexpected situation before while burglarizing a targeted home. She didn't even run off screaming like the Disaster of 2002. You can still salvage this.
"Hello, I'm a friend of your parents," Nano said soothingly, lowering herself to a crouch in front of the girl. She distinctively remembered spotting an older woman and a rough-looking man entering and leaving the house while she was doing surveillance from a distance. "What's your name?"
The girl blinked. "I-Pin," she answered.
Nano couldn't sense any nervousness or tension from the girl - I-Pin - at all. That's good, she thought. She fell for the lie, and answered my question. I've gained her trust.
"Nice to meet you, I-Pin," Nano said, brushing her hand against her covered face for just a second to remind her tittering heart that no matter how strange or unusual it was to be talking to a target while she was in the middle of the job, her identity was concealed and that she already calculated the risks to be relatively low. "I'm just here to get something your parents were holding onto for me," Nano lied. "It'll only take a second, so why don't you just go back to sleep? I'll be gone before you know it."
I-Pin looked at Nano for a long moment, before finally shaking her head. Nano's heart sunk. "Master said…" I-Pin paused for a moment, brows crinkled in thought, before starting again, "Master said tell him if anyone come in."
"Master?" Nano asked, latching onto the first thing to ask. Inwardly, her mind whirled with scenarios of how to get I-Pin back to bed without her alerting anyone else of Nano's presence. Or should I just cut my loss and come back another day?
I-Pin nodded. "Master's not here." Nano's heart soared. "Tell Bianchi. Tell Gokudera." I-Pin nodded to herself again and turned to go.
"Wait!" Nano cried, reaching out to grab I-Pin and the next thing Nano knew, she was lying prone on her front. What the hell…?
Nano glanced up to find I-Pin staring down at her, her expression never changing from the calm that Nano first saw her with.
"We go," I-Pin said. She took Nano's hand into her and walked forward, casually dragging Nano's stunned body behind her.
The same icy cold feeling prickled Nano's body again. This child is not normal, she thought desperately. And if even a child is like this, what are the adults like?
Nano had no intention of finding out. Nano snatched her hand out of the child's hand, and flipped herself up to her feet.
I made a mistake, she thought, running towards the window. I should have never targeted Namimori just because it was a quiet town that seemed to have little to no self-awareness or self-preservation against crime. Three feets to the window. It's not that they don't have self-preservation, it's that they don't need to!
One feet. She was all but ready to dive out, when, in the corner of her eyes, she spotted a spark of light. Her head turned unbidden, and the last thing she heard was a "Oh no, you're not escaping," as a dynamite stick exploded in front of her.
Xxx
Bianchi's brows twitched. "Hayato, we just finished renovating the house not long ago," she said, slowly turning to her little brother. "Ever heard of overkill?"
Hayato quickly put away the rest of the dynamites in his hand, and coughed. "Just trying to make sure she wasn't getting away," he said. He looked down at I-Pin. "You okay, I-Pin?"
I-Pin nodded and pointed at the unconscious woman crumpled near the smoked window and wall. "Intruder."
"Yeah, we figured something was up when heard a thump upstairs," Hayato said. He smiled down at her. "Good job."
I-Pin ducked her head, her cheeks pink from the compliment.
"Gokudera-nii? Bianchi-nii?" Fuuta stood at his bedroom door, rubbing sleepily at his eyes. "I heard something. Is everything okay?" Fuuta straightened at the sight of I-Pin, sleep evaporating from his eyes. "I-Pin?"
"Everything's fine," Bianchi said, stepping in before things got messy. "I-Pin just found an intruder. Probably just a bulgar."
Fuuta relaxed as I-Pin nodded in assent. "Where's Lambo?"
Hayato snorted. "Probably still sleeping," he said, and sure enough, Lambo was snoring away in his bed when they all poked their heads into his bedroom. Fuuta adjusted Lambo's blankets before closing the door behind him.
"Go back to sleep," Bianchi said to Fuuta and I-Pin. "Your Gokudera-nii will take care of the rest."
"What?!" Hayato exclaimed, as Fuuta and I-Pin nodded their assent and trudged back to their rooms. Bianchi gave him a look. "Urg, fine!."
Xxx
Saitou Hisano's eyebrow twitched as three groaning bodies were dropped into a pile by the front desk of the Police Station.
"Arcade two blocks from here. Delinquency," Hibari said, and Hisano spared a moment to pity the kids for having been caught red-handed by Hibari Kyouya himself. Kusakabe or any of Hibari's subordinates might have shown some mercy for the minor infraction, but Hibari didn't know the meaning of the word 'mercy' at all.
"Hibari-kun!" Rei-san - a woman in her late-fifties who was reporting the loss of her home key - called out just as Hisano was about to make a comment. Hibari turned. "I haven't seen you in a while. Take pity on this old woman and stop by for some soba soon, would you?"
Hisano wondered if Rei-san had a death wish, to be so casual with the Hibari Kyouya. She steeled herself in case Hibari responded violently.
Hibari blinked. "I went by three months ago," he said carefully.
Rei-san waved a hand. "That's ages ago!" she insisted. "I have to thank you for helping Keigo knock some sense into his nephew too! He's studying properly now."
Hisano wondered what Keigo's nephew had to do with Rei-san, and why Rei-san had to invite Hibari for soba to thank him for his efforts. It sounded like an excuse more.
"Which reminds me, Keigo said you've been going 'round Take-Sushi more often," Rei-san continued. "Tsuyoshi's sushi is good, but you can't forget about the other people that were there to watch you grow up either," she insisted. Rei-san looked at Hibari and paused. "Hibari-kun, are you - ?"
Hisano wondered if her eyes had gone bad or was Hibari's cheeks really lightly dusted pink.
"I'll come by," Hibari cut in before Rei-san can comment.
"Tomorrow," Rei-san bargained with a wide smile. Hisano couldn't believe she was going to see Rei-san's infamous bargaining skills at hand. Many grocers in Namimori grumble good-naturedly about the goods that Rei-san swindle out of them with her whirlwind personality, quick wit and sharp mind.
Hibari startled. He opened his mouth, and Hisano already knew a refusal was at the tip of his tongue.
"Ah, ah, I can't believe Tsuyoshi stole your affection from me," Rei-san lamented, as loudly and dramatically as she could. The teenagers in the delinquent human pile perked up. "He wasn't even there to change your diap - "
Hisano did not need the mental image of baby Hibari in diapers.
"Next week," Hibari offered, as flustered as Hisano had ever seen him be, even as he glowered. It would have been cute if only it wasn't like looking at a disgruntled wolf that would tear your throat out the moment you poked at it one time too many.
"Great!" Rei-san grinned, like that time frame was exactly what she wanted. It probably was. Rei-san's demand that Hibari meet her tomorrow was too ridiculous, no matter how you looked at it, but once Rei-san threw out that deadline, Hibari would be forced to meet her time halfway there. "I'll see you next week then!" she beamed.
Hibari huffed lowly under his breath, before turning to go. Maybe Rei-san's reckless bravery was infectious; Hisano found herself calling, "Hibari-san" right before he swept out of the Police Station.
The look that Hibari gave her had none of the forbearance that he directed at Rei-san. "What?"
Hisano inhaled. "Please refrain from excess violence towards the people that you are restraining." Hibari's eyes narrowed. "The unconscious burglar that you left tied up in front of the Police Station had extensive bruises and" - Hisano trailed off, realizing, as she finished, "... burns…"
The Police Station had automatically assumed that Hibari was responsible for the burglar's capture, since it was typical of behavior of Hibari to leave beat up criminals at their doorstep, so the police didn't look closely into it, but since when did tonfa cause burn injuries?
"I did not capture any burglar and Kusakabe didn't report anything."
Rei-san chuckled lowly as Hibari's eyes sharpened.
"He did always hate not knowing all the ongoings of Namimori," she whispered to Hisano, as Hibari demanded, "Where was this?"
Hisano told him. Despite the fact that it should be confidential, Hisano wasn't really worried about being reprimanded, since Hibari was practically part of the police force of Namimori in everything but name. Hibari could ask any police officer anything and they would all divulge what they know, not only because he was frighteningly capable and his tonfa could cause hell of a bruise.
"The omnivore herd," Hibari said afterwards in recognition, looking surprisingly thoughtful.
Hisano didn't even want to ask. Anyone that could cause those injuries on the burglar and have Hibari call them omnivores , she was staying the hell away from.
[I would like to see more implied Takeshi and hibari]
