Guest: Thank you, I'm glad that you thought it was epic and that you liked it!
This chapter is for Dman6869, who wanted a chapter where Tsuna and his siblings stumble across and help out the man who inadvertently saved Kyoya (by dumping money for Tsuna to buy meds CH. 3) find true happiness.
I don't own KHR.
Tsuna smiled as he looked at his surroundings. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and shining with a few clouds passing by, and the temperature was pleasantly warm. Most of the Vongola guardians were either in a meeting or had some other business to attend to. But since they were all going to be completely free at around lunchtime (barring any emergencies of course), it was decided that they were going to have a picnic at a big park not far from town.
Lunchtime was about two hours away though so for the time being, Tsuna and his siblings were in the park with Reborn and Lampo to watch over them. They were the only ones that were available to babysit, though if Tsuna was being honest, they weren't doing a great job of it. Both of them were currently asleep in hammocks that were hanging side by side from a nearby tree.
Not that Tsuna was too worried or bothered. As long as they all stick together and didn't wander too far, they should be just fine. Especially since the park not only had a lot of open grassy fields for them to run around in, but also possibly the biggest playground Tsuna had ever seen.
"So what do you guys want to play? Tag? Hide-and-go-Seek Tag?" Takeshi listed as he climbed one of the steps that led to a slide. "I've also heard Lava Tag is pretty fun."
"Those games do sound fun Takeshi, but first, Kyoya! I challenge you to an extreme match of pull-ups!" Ryohei declared as he pointed excitedly at the monkey bars right by him.
"Hmm, alright," Kyoya accepted as he stretched his arms while he walked towards him. "One minute?"
"Yeah, whoever does the most pull-ups in a minute wins to the extreme!" Ryohei confirmed as he got underneath the monkey bars.
"I can set the timer!" Chrome volunteered as she held up her wrist, showing everyone her brand-new purple watch. Then she quickly put it down so she could push a very happy Lambo on the baby swing.
"Wow, even when we have time off you guys still want to work out," Mukuro commented with a shake of his head. "What a shame."
"Why are you acting like they're dead?" Hayato asked with an incredulous expression from his position in front of a tunnel.
"Don't waste your brain power on that Hayato, he's just jealous he doesn't have the arm strength to do more than five pull-ups," Kyoya cut in with a small, snide smile. Tsuna, despite himself, let out a sigh that was full of resignation.
Here they go again.
"Kufufu, normally I would be angry that you just insulted me like that, except I know for a fact that you've seen me do more than five pull-ups," Mukuro replied as he crossed his arms. "I know you're just playing me."
Tsuna widened his eyes as he perked up in delighted surprise.
Or maybe no-
"But honestly, I don't care. Count me in!"
Never mind.
Lambo, who was still being pushed on the swing by Chrome, laughed with pure delight.
"Extreme!" Ryohei approved happily as Mukuro joined him and Kyoya. "Anyone else want to join in?"
"Sure, I'm down!" Takeshi accepted with his usual carefree smile as he got off the step and headed to the monkey bars. "Tsuna, what about you?"
"Uh..." Tsuna pondered out loud as he looked to where Reborn was in the distance. From what Tsuna could see, Reborn was still sleeping in his hammock but one could never tell with him. "Not today."
Yeah, it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially when there was a man nearby who was just a bit too interested in tutoring Tsuna to make him the next boss of Vongola (despite Giotto repeatively telling Reborn that Tsuna did not have to inherit his position if he did not want to. Tsuna appreciated that he had a choice in the matter).
"Okay!" Takeshi accepted easily enough as he stood beside Mukuro. "Hayato, are you in?"
Hayato opened his mouth to reply when all of a sudden, there was a loud groan that seemed to come from the tunnel. Tsuna's slightly older brother slowly turned around and when he was fully facing the inside of the tunnel, his eyes widened.
"Ah, it's a zombie!" Hayato practically yelped as he jumped backwards while taking out his dynamite. "We got to burn it with fire!"
"Zombie! Where?!" cried an unfamiliar, deep voice from inside the tunnel right before a loud thunk. "Ow!"
"Tsuna, quick, get behind us!" Kyoya ordered as he quickly reached over, grabbed Tsuna by the arm, and pulled him behind his back before Tsuna had a chance to obey his oldest brother. At the same time, Mukuro grabbed Hayato and pulled him away from the tunnel while Ryohei made sure that Chrome, Lambo, and Takeshi were away from the unknown voice as well (Chrome was holding Lambo).
Just when they were all safely behind the three oldest kids in their family, shuffling noises came from the tunnel. Then the owner of the unknown voice appeared.
"Ouch," a middle-aged man with gray streaks in his blond hair and dirty, unkempt clothes muttered as he rubbed his head, his gaze directed at the ground. Then he looked up and when his gaze locked on to them, his brown eyes were lighted with comprehension.
"Hi," Lambo greeted him cheerfully with a small wave.
"Oh, I'm the zombie," the man murmured before he looked up at the bright blue sky. "What time is it?"
Still feeling somewhat nervous and wary, Tsuna tilted his head as he stared at the strange man.
Why did he have the feeling that he had met this man before?
"After ten," Kyoya answered curtly with a twitch of his fingers. Then he started to reach for his tonfas. "For scar-"
"Oh shoot, I definitely was not supposed to sleep that long," the man chastised himself as he quickly but clumsily climbed out of the tunnel. "No wonder you guys thought I was a zombie and got frightened. I'm sorry."
"Um..." Mukuro responded as he glanced at Kyoya, obviously unsure on what he should say to this man who was sincerely apologetic. "It's alright...I guess. Though, why were you sleeping in the tunnel? You're not a kid."
"Yeah, wasn't it extremely uncomfortable for someone of your size and age?" Ryohei asked, his eyes a bit focused on the lines on the man's face.
"Honestly, it was," answered the man as he stretched his arms towards the sun, flickers of uncomfortable pain racing across his face as if to emphasize his point. "But it was cool in there."
"How cool?" Kyoya asked, his expression completely interested and serious as his hands slowly got away from his tonfas.
"Delightfully cool, I had no trouble sleeping through the night," the man informed them as he turned around and reached inside the tunnel.
"The night?!" Takeshi exclaimed with wide eyes. "Wait...do you...live here?"
"I did last night," the man answered as he brought out a dirty black suitcase out of the tunnel. Tsuna's eyes narrowed as he focused on the suitcase, while a memory tingled at the back of his brain. But no matter how hard he tried to recall it, the memory just wouldn't come forth and tell him why this man and suitcase seemed so familiar.
"So you're extremely homeless?" Ryohei asked bluntly.
"Ryohei!" Chrome chastised in horror as she glanced at the man nervously.
"It's okay, he's right," the man confirmed with no hint of being offended. "I didn't always use to be, but that's what happens when you give all your money away."
And like a lightning bolt, Tsuna finally remembered where he had seen the man before.
"It's you!" Tsuna declared as he pointed at the man. "You're the rich man who dumped all the money unto the street and even threw staplers and pens at the people who tried to push me away!"
"Oh hey, I thought I recognized you!" the man exclaimed happily as he looked at Tsuna like he was a long-lost friend. "You're that nice kid who actually thanked me for the money!"
"So you're the man who helped Tsuna save Kyoya?!" cried Hayato as all wariness left his face to be replaced with growing appreciation.
"I'm Tsuna and this is Kyoya," Tsuna cut in as he motioned his hand at Kyoya when the man looked both taken aback and confused at the same time. "Kyoya was really sick with ammonia-"
"Pneumonia," Kyoya corrected him gently.
"Pneu-mon-ia," Tsuna repeated slowly. "And we didn't have the money for the medicine he needed until you gave it away."
"Thank you, I owe you," Kyoya said sincerely as he bent at a 90 degree angle towards the man.
"We all do," Mukuro added both sincerely and vehemently as he placed a hand on Kyoya's back, prompting him to stand up after a few more seconds. Tsuna and the rest of his siblings also nodded in complete agreement, even Lambo nodded firmly when he saw everyone else nod. It hadn't been that long ago when they had all thought that Kyoya was going to die in the cave. Thanks to Tsuna's intuition leading him to this man, they had managed to keep their strong and fierce protector of a brother by their side.
They really did owe him.
"...Well, what do you know," the man said softly as he looked at all of them with a vulnerable and touched expression. "My fortune actually did some good after all."
"Is that why you threw it all away? Because you thought it brought nothing but trouble, Mister...?" Takeshi asked as he stepped out from behind their oldest trio of siblings.
"Lombardi, Maso Lombardi. You can just call me Maso though," the man introduced himself as he sat down at the end of the tunnel, though he had to slouch forward in order to do so. "And that as well as depression. I wasn't born rich, and never really had a desire to be so. I just wanted to excel at being an accountant, which is what I always wanted to be. But then before I knew it, I was in charge of my own firm and people were flocking to me left and right for my attention. Because they were all more or less from the same circle, I thought they all truly cared about me. That is until I accidentally caught my best friend and my girlfriend...kissing each other."
"No!" Chrome gasped in horror, causing Lambo to gasp too as he covered his mouth with both hands.
"That is not an extreme best friend! Or girlfriend!" Ryohei exclaimed as his hands turned into fists.
"Betrayal on two fronts, ouch, that's harsh," Mukuro added with a shake of his head.
"No wonder you were sad," Tsuna said sympathetically as he also took a few steps towards the man.
"After that, it was just a downward spiral until I decided to both sell my apartment and quit my job. I was planning to retire to a small house or cottage or something just out of town when...a previous employee of mine said something that just made me snap. And well, you know the rest."
"Do you regret it?" Hayato asked, all of them having closed the distance between them and Maso at least a bit by now.
"Giving all my money away? Not really, especially since it actually saved somebody," Maso answered sincerely as he nodded towards Kyoya.
"You don't miss sleeping on an actual bed?" Mukuro asked.
"Well, I do miss that," Maso admitted. "But I've been getting by without one so far."
"But you probably extremely can't do that for long!" Ryohei exclaimed with a concerned expression. "Knuckle told me that the older one gets, the more their body extremely falls apart and the back is one of the worst culprits!"
"And you did say that the tunnel wasn't comfortable," Chrome added.
"I can't argue with that," Maso replied honestly. "But I still rather have a uncomfortable night's sleep than to go back to my previous lifestyle."
"Who says you have to go back to your previous lifestyle?" Kyoya pointed out.
"Yeah, you can be just a small-time accountant!" Takeshi suggested excitedly. "Or if you're tired of accounting, then you can be just something else! Like a restaurant employee!"
"Either way, at least you have a job that will help you pay for a place to live...eventually," Hayato reasoned. "I mean, look at us. We used to live in a cave before we got adopted and an orphanage before that and I gotta say, life is so much better and easier when you don't have to worry about going hungry."
Tsuna nodded in complete agreement. Not to mention, it was nice to live in a house with a working heater and air conditioner. And of course, proper guardians that actually took special, loving care of Tsuna and his siblings.
"...I still love accounting," Maso admitted eventually. "And I have worked in a restaurant before but...I guess I'm just afraid I might entangle myself into high society again, and I definitely don't want that."
"So you want your space, I get that," Kyoya surmised with empathy while nodding.
"Then what about a park ranger?" Chrome suggested. "I saw a sign as we entered the park that they were hiring."
"And don't park rangers have a log cabin that they can stay at?" Takeshi asked. "So you even have free room and board!"
"I think that depends on the park Takeshi, but still, being a park ranger will definitely give you the space you need," Kyoya supported.
"What do you think Maso?" Tsuna asked as he tentatively took a step forward. As Maso contemplated, Tsuna hoped that Maso would take up on their suggestion. He wanted Maso to be happy, and while he seemed to be fine at the moment, Tsuna knew that could definitely change.
Because while he had never once regretted running away from the orphanage with his siblings (and still didn't), it had been hard living with only the bare essentials in a cave.
What had almost happened with Kyoya being a prime example.
"This is a nice park," Maso finally commented. "Oh what the heck, I might as well try to see if I can get an interview."
"That's the spirit to the extreme!" Ryohei all but yelled as he raised his fists to the sky.
"I agree, though...you're not going to try to get an interview like that are you?" Mukuro asked as he focused on Maso's ragged clothes. "Because, no offence...your clothes don't look that good. Like at all."
"Oh don't worry, I couldn't bring myself to give away the suit my mother gave me after I graduated from college," Maso assured him as he patted the suitcase that he had been holding onto all this time. "It may be a bit old or out-of-fashion, but it still looks good. I made sure of that."
"You should extremely go change then! No time like the present!" Ryohei exclaimed excitedly.
"And a shower. You don't smell that good either," Mukuro added bluntly.
"Oh I bet I don't!" Maso laughed cheerfully before Tsuna could worry about him getting offended. Then Maso stood up and walked towards the direction of the bathroom.
"See you later kids! Wish me luck!"
"Luck! Bye!" Lambo called out as he waved energetically at Maso's back.
"Bye! I know you can do it!" Tsuna cried with a big wave even though he knew that Maso wouldn't be able to see it.
"You can do it!" Takeshi cheered as he cupped his mouth.
"Don't be discouraged!" Chrome added.
"Yeah, go for it in the extreme!" Ryohei yelled.
"Don't worry, I'll try!" Maso called back as he waved to them without looking back. Tsuna waved one more time before he looked back at his siblings.
"So...extreme pull-up contest?" Ryohei asked when they were all looking at each other.
"Yea!" Lambo cheered with both hands in the air. The extreme pull-up contest happened immediately after that, and after much yelling, cheering, strain, and sweat, Ryohei won. Then Kyoya, who had lost to Ryohei by only a few seconds, then declared that Ryohei be It in Lava Tag. Ryohei of course readily accepted and now three rounds later, Tsuna was on top of the tunnel slide, staying quiet as Chrome tried to find them while she climbed the playground set with her eye closed.
When Chrome slowly and carefully climbed the steps in front of her (not with Lambo, it was decided early on that Kyoya and Lambo were going to be a team) Tsuna bit his lip. Chrome was getting a bit too close to him for his liking and unfortunately, he was the only one in this section of the playground set. Which meant that he couldn't even hope that one of his siblings would get caught instead of him.
Tsuna looked down the tunnel slide and after some careful thought, decided that he could probably climb down it without much trouble. Should he climb down the slide and then carefully without touching the ground (those who were It were the only ones who could touch the ground, or 'lava'), get inside the slide and climb up it? Or should he somehow try to get around Chrome?
He looked back at Chrome and quickly decided that the latter option was too risky. So Tsuna instead carefully started to climb down the tunnel slide. He had gotten just half-way down when he heard a whisper.
"Hey little boy." Instantly, Tsuna's nerves went haywire as he slowly turned his head to the side. Down at ground, almost right underneath him, stood a man who wore well-kept clothes as well as a smile.
He didn't know why, but Tsuna didn't like the smile.
"I've lost my dog. Do you want to help me find him?" the strange man asked before he reached with both arms towards Tsuna. "Here, I can help you down."
His intuition then blared like a loud alarm.
"No!" Tsuna couldn't help but yell as he quickly swung his body over the opposite side of the stranger and let go. As he fell, the thought came to him that he could have just jump towards the man and punch him but technically, the stranger hadn't done anything bad yet. And also, Tsuna didn't know why but he had a feeling he didn't want to lay a finger on him, let alone punch him.
It was better to just get away.
But then, to Tsuna's horror, the man quickly ran underneath the tunnel with his arms outstretch towards him. Tsuna's eyes widened.
The stranger was going to catch him!
Then suddenly, a pair of arms that didn't belong to the stranger wrapped themselves around Tsuna and pulled him safely out of the way.
"I got you," Maso assured him as he brought Tsuna close to his chest and took a few steps back and away from the stranger. "It's okay, I got you."
Even though Tsuna could clearly see the displeased expression on the stranger's face, he felt safe and better as he lightly grasped the inner edge of Maso's clean black suit.
"What's going on?!" Tsuna heard Mukuro called out. Tsuna turned his head and saw all of his siblings running towards them, the game completely forgotten.
"Oh nothing!" the stranger exclaimed as he literally tried to wave his siblings' worry away. "I was just asking if your little friend wanted to help me find my dog when he accidentally fell."
"He didn't accidentally fall, he purposely let go!" Maso corrected the man vehemently as he gently put Tsuna down on the ground behind him. Within seconds, Tsuna was in the middle of a circle made up of his concerned and protective siblings. "And I don't blame him! I mean, what sane, functioning adult asks a kid they don't even know to help him find a dog! If you showed a picture of the dog and asked if you seen it, sure, that's fine, but to actually go with you to find the dog?! What were you actually thinking?!"
"That's a good question." Tsuna turned his head at the familiar voice, and sure enough, Reborn was slowly but steadily heading right for the stranger with Lampo right at his heels.
And both of them looked like they were only a few moments from taking their weapons out.
"Hi Po!" Lambo greeted the young man with a cheerful wave.
"It's about time you guys woke up!" Hayato exclaimed with a slight criticizing tone as Lampo gave Lambo a small wave.
"Actually, we were awake the whole time," Lampo corrected him right as they reached the stranger. "We were practicing feigning sleep while keeping close attention to our surroundings."
"You mean you were practicing, I was training you. You would have fallen asleep a long time ago if it wasn't for me," Reborn clarified as he stopped by the stranger's left side while Lampo stopped by the man's other side. Then Reborn placed his hand on the stranger's shoulder and even from where Tsuna was standing he could see that the hitman was gripping it tightly. "So to repeat my friend Maso here-"
"How do you know my name?" Maso interrupted, sounding completely bewildered to say the least.
"Just assume I know just about everything," Reborn answered nonchalantly before he narrowed his eyes at the stranger and squeezed the man's shoulder even tighter. "Now, what were you actually thinking?"
"Ah..." the stranger stammered. When Reborn and Lampo entered the scene, he had instantly looked scared and anxious, like a cobra that was cornered by a couple of mongooses. The man's obvious fear only increased as he gulped, his face growing paler by the second. "I...uh..."
"Oh no Reborn, I think he's tongue-tied," Lampo said, his words edged with fake concern as he tightly gripped the other man's shoulder. "What should we do?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Reborn replied as an evil smirk graced his face while he grabbed the man's arm with his free hand. "We have to get him help Lampo."
"Oh, of course!" Lampo agreed as he also did the same. Then both he and Reborn started to lead the stranger away from the playground, .
"No! I...I don't need help!" the stranger protested as he tried to pry himself free from Reborn's and Lampo's grip while Mukuro conjured up a pair of earmuffs and placed them over Lambo's ears.
"Oh no Reborn, I think he's in denial!" Lampo exclaimed, looking like he wasn't having trouble at all despite the man struggling.
"I see that Lampo, I'm afraid he's worse off than I originally feared!" Reborn cried in a mocking voice as they continued walking away like the stranger wasn't struggling for his life. "We're going to need to get him help as soon as possible!"
"Look-" the stranger tried to reason with them, the beads of sweat evident on his face despite the distance between him and Tsuna.
"Hey kids!" Tsuna looked away and saw Giotto waving at them, a big picnic blanket under one arm as he quickly headed towards them. G, Alaude, and Asari were right behind him and they were all carrying blankets as well. "We got out early!"
"Giotto!" Tsuna cried happily as he ran towards his favorite guardian and father figure while Hayato, Kyoya, and Takeshi headed to meet up with their respective guardians.
"Tsuna!" Giotto replied as he effortlessly picked up Tsuna with his free arm. "How's my little...wait, what are you guys doing?!"
"We're getting this man the help he needs!" Reborn called back in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Oh look, there's a tree! Perfect!"
Then, before the man or Giotto could protest, Reborn and Lampo swiftly lead the stranger right behind the tree. Tsuna couldn't see what was going on, but the noises that followed immediately after that...made him grateful that he didn't have to witness it.
"Uh...so my name is Giotto," Giotto introduced himself as he focused on Maso, clearly deciding to ignore what was happening behind the tree for now. "What's your name?"
"Oh...uh, it's-" Maso started to say, looking a bit uneasy for obvious reasons as G, Alaude, and Asari looked at each other.
"He's Maso Lombardi! He's an accountant who's looking for a job!" Reborn suddenly yelled from behind the tree while the guardians behind Giotto gave various forms of a brief farewell to their respective kids.
"An accountant? Really? We, Vongola, are looking for an accountant right now!" exclaimed Giotto as his three guardians left for the tree. "Are you at all interested in working with us? The pay is good, you do get days off, including major holidays, and you can even have a room in the mansion if you want! What do you say?"
"I..." Maso replied as he looked thoughtful, causing hope to blossom in Tsuna's chest. Then Maso looked at Tsuna and the rest of the kids, who were all giving him various hopeful expressions. Maso smiled.
"Are there any other accountants?" Maso eventually asked as the noises behind the tree grew louder when G, Asari, and Alaude failed to return.
"Just two," Giotto answered.
"Would I have to attend any fancy parties or anything leaking of high society like that?"
"No, not if you don't want to."
"Then," Maso began before he let out a sigh, the smile on his face growing bigger when he did so. "Yes, I would like the job."
"Great! It's yours!" Giotto accepted happily, causing Tsuna's hope to turn into joy.
"What? Don't you need to interview me?!" exclaimed Maso, looking both surprised and startled.
"I usually do, but since the kids clearly like you and I have a good gut feeling about you, I think we can just skip the hiring process. Not to mention, Reborn actually pointed you out, which is a big deal," Giotto explained. Then his gaze slightly hardened as he turned his gaze towards the tree. "Speaking of which-"
Giotto then gently put Tsuna down on the ground.
"I think I need to see if that man needs any more help." Then giving Tsuna's hair one last pat, Giotto headed off to the tree.
"You did it! You got the job!" Tsuna exclaimed happily as he ran to Maso.
"Extreme! This is extreme!" Ryohei yelled excitedly.
"And it's even accounting!" Takeshi cried.
"If you worried that you made a bad impulse decision, don't be, our family are good employers," Hayato added.
"It's true," Mukuro confirmed.
"I guess we will be seeing you more often from now on. I don't mind that," Kyoya admitted with a smile.
"Yay!" Lambo cheered.
"Are you happy Maso?" Chrome asked softly with a smile. Maso smiled.
"You know, I actually think I am." Tsuna smiled brightly as a result, despite the noises behind the tree growing even more...deranged when Giotto also failed to return from the tree. He couldn't help it.
Because just as Maso had helped his family, Tsuna and his family had helped him.
Reborn and Vongola helping out the stranger might have been too much, but honestly, the man would have possibly received worse treatment in prison (if they let him live to see the bars of a prison) and...I really wanted to make a SAO abridged reference.
So what do you think? I hope you like it because I am sorry to say...this is looking to be the last chapter. I am finally done with the prompts I received and unfortunately, I have been busier as of late. Not to mention there are other projects I want to devote my extra time to. I might post another chapter if I get the urge, but only if I get a strong urge.
This has been a lovely journey with you all. I really am glad that I decided to write this story and that it was so well received by you all. Please leave a review on your way out and until next time, have a good and safe time. See ya!