AN: The second chapter is up! Question: what scenes do you want to see between Tsuna and First Gen? I'm open to suggestions.
That's all, hope you will like the chapter.
Arc I, Target II: Meeting Tsunayoshi.
Cold. That cold appeared ever since Papa visited with that strange man he was told to call Grandpa, and the fire that was always with him, inside him, disappeared when 'Grandpa' touched his forehead with a fire-lit finger, leaving Tsuna cold and scared and lonely.
And then, when he was caught in the clutches of cold and sickness, Tsuna heard a voice of a man. It was unfamiliar but kind and soft as the stranger sang him a lullaby while stroking his hair. Tsuna fell asleep in minutes, listening to the gentle song.
For the first time in a while, he felt warm and safe.
And his inner fire was back.
Tsuna woke to his room, feeling much better than yesterday. Blinking, he looked around - he was alone. Where was the owner of the kind voice? Or was it just a dream?
"Tsu-kun!" at that moment, Nana came into the room with a bright smile on her face."Good morning! How do you feel?"
"Much better!" the little boy told his mother happily, forgetting about the mysterious visitor for the time being as he focused on Nana."I do not feel cold anymore!"
"That's great, sweetie," Nana breathed an inaudible sigh of relief at the news and seeing that the sparkle was back in her son's eyes. The fear of her child suddenly losing the will to do anything and falling sick shortly after Iemitsu's boss visit, and helplessness as the medicine didn't work was still fresh in her mind. "How about we freshen up and go to have breakfast? I made pancakes."
"Yay, pancakes!" Tsuna exclaimed in happiness; he loved pancakes, especially the ones with chocolate chips.
Nana smiled softly at her son's enthusiasm as she scooped him in her arms and went to the bathroom. Just before they left, something told the brunet to look in the corner. He did but there was only space.
Only it wasn't true. Unknown to Nana and Tsuna, the First Generation watched the scene.
"He bounced back pretty quickly," G remarked as mother and son left the room."Hard to believe he was so sick yesterday. "
"The kids recover quickly thanks to young age and proper care, G," Knuckle told his fellow Guardian. "Giotto's presence also helped Tsunayoshi as you saw. "
"Yeah, yeah, I got what are you saying. It also seems that his intuition started to work. He looked at us, even though we didn't reveal ourselves."
"The Storm is right," Alaude agreed with G." If his Intuition continues to progress, with the right training we will be as strong as you, Giotto. "
"We will see," Primo said. "It's best not to rush in such situation; he's a child, so we should reveal ourselves carefully, lest we scare him."
"A sound idea," Asari agreed with his boss.
"Now, let's part ways. Since we are staying with Tsunayoshi, we should explore the house and Namimori."
"Count me out," Lampo told his friends with a yawn. "I"m taking a nap."
With these words, he laid on Tsuna's bed and closed his eyes.
The others shook their heads at Lampo's unchanging laziness and had gone their separate ways to explore Namimori and Sawada Household.
Wanting to remain close in case he was needed, Giotto went to the living room first. Listening to Tsunayoshi and Nana's chatter that came from the kitchen, the Vongola's founder looked around: the place was warm and cozy, books and toys scattered around - a sign that a child lived here. He liked it, but couldn't help but think that something was missing. His amber gaze wandered around in search of the missing piece when something caught his eye.
It was a picture on the wall.
Pictures to be precise. Curious, the blonde came over to inspect them closer.
The pictures showed the Sawada family in various stages of life - Nana and Iemitsu's wedding, Nana's pregnancy, and Tsuna's birth and growth, and other happy moments. Giotto smiled at them softly, reminded of his own wife and son, but then frowned a minute later as he noticed one detail: Iemitsu stopped being a frequent figure in photos shortly after Tsunayoshi turned one, popping every now and then, if at all. Actually, not only photos, but the whole house referred to the fact the family missed and needed a husband and father.
That was the missing piece his intuition picked on.
Briefly, Giotto wondered if it was his fault that Iemitsu stayed away from his family.
"It is not your fault, my friend," Knuckle's voice snapped Primo from his thoughts suddenly before his mind could go further down that path.
"Am I that obvious?" the blond asked as he turned away from the photos to look at the priest, not surprised that Knuckle knew what thoughts were running through Giotto's mind; his friends knew him like no one else did after all the years they spent together, and Sun Guardian's next words confirmed it:
"I know you, Primo. It's just so like you to blame yourself for the deeds that were not your own. You are not responsible for Iemitsu's choices," as the ex-boxer said that, Sun and Sky look in the direction of the kitchen where Nana was telling her son that they couldn't go to the playground today due to Tsuna still recovering from sickness; the little boy pouted at that, but went to his room like his mother told him to. "He's the one who decided to ignore such gift from God and harm his child with his ignorance, not you, Giotto."
"I know that, Knuckle. I also know he wants to protect his family. I just don't understand why he has to deprive his son of a father figure to achieve this."
Knuckle sighed. He didn't understand that either. "None of us do, Giotto, none of us do."
"Yeah… And I think we will never understand this."
While that conversation was going on, upstairs in Tsuna's room, Lampo woke up from his nap. Yawning, he saw that the kid was reading something at the table. Out of curiosity and boredom, he stood up and looked at what a book was: fairytales with pictures.
The Lightning Guardian snorted at that. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised you're reading those. You're a kid after all."
Unknowingly, Lampo revealed his presence because Tsuna gasped in surprise, looking at the young man in shock and fright, and before Lampo could understand the reason for such reaction, the little boy took a book and hit Lampo on the head with all his might and a loud "Kya!".
Whack!
"Ouch!" the Lightning Guardian cried out as he nursed the spot where Tsuna hit him. Geez, for a five-year-old, brat sure could hit painfully.
In that moment, Giotto and the other Guardians arrived, having heard the scuffle.
"Lampo, what happened?" Primo asked with worry. His gaze stopped on his scared grandchild, then moved to his youngest Guardian who was grumbling to himself and realized what happened.
"You revealed yourself to him, didn't you?" The blond sighed in exasperation."Lampo…"
"I'm sorry, Giotto! It was an accident, I didn't mean for this to happen!"
"It's okay, Lampo," Giotto assured his distressed friend who relaxed slightly at the words - he hated letting Primo down. The blond heard G grunt "Not meant to happen, my ass" in Lampo's direction and told them to stop before they could start a fight and focused on frightened Tsunayoshi.
"Hi," he said to the boy with a gentle smile as he crouched in front of the brunet, revealing his presence. "It's okay, I won't hurt you. My name is Giotto, what's yours?"
"T-Tsunayoshi," Tsuna replied, finally lowering the book he hit the green-haired stranger with. For some reason, this man in front with warm amber eyes and a soft smile didn't scare him and made him feel safe and he relaxed a bit.
"It's nice to meet you, Tsunayoshi. I'm sorry my friend scared you. We were just unsure how to introduce ourselves to you."
"Huh?" Did the kind man said "we"? Tsuna looked over the man's shoulder to see other men standing in the room. Noticing he was staring, they gave him a smile or friendly wave of a hand. Blushing in embarrassment, the brunet turned back to Giotto. "You want to be friends? With me?''
"Yes," Primo said, not liking the tone of disbelief in the boy's voice. He didn't have to turn to know that his Guardians tensed, not liking the tone either.
They were right to worry because his grandson's eyes well with tears. "Why? Nobody wants to be friends with me - I'm weak, clumsy. Others say that's why papa so rarely visits because he is embarrassed at having such useless son."
Giotto's heart ached for Tsuna at that. Poor child. He was cast aside by others simply because he was weaker than them and with a father that rarely visited. In other words, this was yet another fallout of Iemitsu's decision. First, seal, now this. Just how badly his descendant screwed up?
No matter. He will wonder about that later. Right now he had a child to console.
Scooping the now crying Tsuna in his arms, he hugged the boy to his chest.
"Shh," Giotto murmured, rubbing Tsuna's back soothingly."Don't cry. You're not alone anymore. Everything will be fine, shh."
Some time later, Tsuna calmed down. Wiping tears from his eyes, Giotto asked softly:
"Feeling better?"
Tsuna nodded." I'm sorry. You probably think I'm a crybaby now," he said, still sniffling a bit.
"Well, you're a cry-" the green-haired man began to say when the man with platinum hair came over and hit him on the head. "Oi, not that spot again! What was that for, Alaude?"
"Be quiet, can't you see the child is still upset? Don't make it worse," the man called Alaude said before saying to Tsuna," "Don't listen to him, he says silly things sometimes. I'm Alaude and that is Lampo."
"It's nice to meet you, kid. Sorry for scaring you earlier," the one now known as Lampo said. "Gotta say you have quite a strength in your hit."
"That's because it's easy to knock you out," G snarked, then grinned at Tsuna. "Hey, kiddo. My name is G."
The five-year-old furrowed his brows in confusion from where he was still sitting in Giotto's lap. "How can your name be G?"
"That's a nickname. His true name is a grave secret," Primo whispered in a fake conspiratorial voice, causing his grandson to giggle, while G glared daggers at his boss who just grinned mischievously in reply.
Asari and Knuckle introduced themselves last and after that, introductions were over.
The rest of the morning and day was spent getting acquainted with Tsunayoshi. The boy was talkative once he got over his shyness, and asked all sorts of questions.
Still, that question came out of the blue for them.
"Giotto-san?" Tsuna called.
"Yes, Tsunayoshi?"
"What is this on your forehead?" the little boy asked, pointing to the Dying Will Flame on the blond's forehead.
"Er…" the First Generation shared a look at this before Primo answered with a half-truth."It is my special power, so to speak."
"Wow!" Tsuna said, looking at Giotto in awe. "You're like a superhero!"
Giotto's lips twitched in amusement - his Guardians also smiled at Tsunayoshi's words. "Well, yes, I'm a superhero because of this as you say."
Though he didn't see himself as such. Not after he failed to protect the person that mattered to them all.
"Cool! Can I have this ability and be a superhero too?"
You already have it, was the collective thought of the First Generation before Giotto answered:
"Perhaps when you are older," Primo said, ruffling the boy's spiky hair. Tsuna pouted, but accepted the answer.
"Tsu-kun!" Nana's voice came from downstairs."Come down! Dinner is ready!"
"Coming!" Tsuna replied, going to the door. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Giotto and the others. "Giotto-san, you will be here when I return, right?"
"Of course, so don't worry," Giotto assured his grandson with a smile."Now, don't make your mother wait, and remember: this friendship is our little secret."
Tsuna nodded at them with a brilliant smile and left the room.
The moment he was gone, a smile left Giotto's face and he closed his eyes, sighing heavily and running a hand down his face.
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Giotto? Are you alright?" It was Asari.
Primo opened his eyes to see his family's worried gazes. "I'm fine. Just...I knew Iemitsu was protecting them this way, but I didn't know things were that bad."
"That's not protection, Gio, that's a fucking abandonment!" G swore, having held back only because of the little Sky." He's so narrow-minded that he doesn't see that his family needs him and that his son is being isolated. Man, and I thought my old man was bad, Iemitsu just takes the cake in shitty parenting. Timoteo too. "
"Yeah," the Rain Guardian agreed, then frowned. "Tsunayoshi-kun's last question though…"
"He's scared," Lampo spoke up, voice quiet. His friends looked at him, listening to his explanation. "Sure, he has a mom that loves him, but he's lonely. He's afraid that when he returns to his room, we will be gone, the first people that accepted him for who he was, and he will be alone again."
"Lampo…" Giotto said slowly. All of them knew that his Lightning Guardian was speaking from experience. Lampo's father spoiled his son rotten, but not out of love; just so Lampo would stop bothering him while all Lampo wanted was to be loved by his father. When Primo took him in, Lampo did everything he could to catch their attention. At first, they thought it was his spoilt ways showing through until they learned the truth and saw behind his mask. It took a while for Lampo to see that they loved him and wouldn't abandon him and let go of that fear.
And now, his grandson was suffering from the same problem.
Damn you, Iemitsu.
"I don't know the kid yet, Primo," the Lightning Guardian said, eyes solemn. "But I don't want him to feel lonely; I don't want him to go through everything I did before I joined you. "
"We feel the same way, Lampo," Knuckle told him.
With that, the conversation was over.
An hour or so later, Tsuna came back with his mother, getting ready to sleep. The First Generation hid themselves from the woman, but Giotto sent a wave of warmth through their bond, so Tsunayoshi would know they are here. Judging by the smile the boy got the message.
"Giotto-san?" Tsuna whispered into the dark once mama kissed him goodnight and left the room.
"We are here," Giotto replied as they appeared to the brunet, standing near his bed. "What do you need?"
Tsuna looked at the man shyly. "Can you sing me a lullaby you sang to me yesterday, so I can sleep better?"
Surprise flashed on blond's features - he hadn't thought Tsuna would remember him singing him a lullaby as the five-year-old was so sick yesterday - but he smiled nonetheless, and said with a nod:
"Of course."
Tsuna brightened at the answer as Giotto sat down on the bed and began to sing a lullaby.
And as he sang, lulling Tsuna to sleep, Primo made a promise to himself that they would be here for Tsuna as long as the boy needed them. And he wouldn't be alone. Never again.
That was the promise all of them intended to keep and fulfill.