As alluded in my last chapter, this chapter will be very Gokudera-centric, and by Gokudera-centric I mean it will have a lot of Gokuderas in it.
REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS: Neszriah- you rock! KusajishiFuktaicho- I'm starting to believe you are indeed an Absolutely Hopeless Goku-fan, CanadianCookie- thanks for giving me 10 reviews in one sitting! ColinatorGX- That was totally the feeling that I was going for! Thank you all for the awesome reviews!
~8~
'Twas the night before the weekend was over, and all through the Namimori Hospital, not a creature was stirring, not even a nurse. Except…
One hospital room's window slid open and the wind pulled the curtains out of the building so that they billowed out gently. The silhouette of a person came climbing down along the side of the building from the window. The person looked like a young girl with long silver-white hair that shined in the moonlight, she was dressed in a black vest and t-shirt with a red and black plaid skirt.
When she landed on the ground, she glanced around quickly incase anyone was watching her and ran off into the night. She ran around throughout Namimori before she approached an apartment building, then she slowed down to a walk and was about to cross the street towards it when a black car halted in front of her and a window rolled down.
"Hanabi," said the person from inside the car, the identity of that person in the car surprised her.
"You-" she managed to say before being pulled into the car and driven away.
~8~
"Alright Hide, today I have a mission for you," Reborn announced after he had kicked Hide out of his bed.
"I'm not doing your crazy dangerous 'missions' anymore, Reborn," he said while trying to get off the floor.
"They aren't that dangerous, the last mission was going to get milk for your dear, sweet mother," the infant said innocently.
"That last 'mission' you sent me on ended with me being chased all over the neighborhood by really big dogs," he said flatly, "If this one ends with me being chased by anything else, I'm not going."
"But this involves Hanabi."
Hide froze and asked Reborn suspiciously, "What about Gokudera-san?"
"Rosario has informed me that Hanabi has been kidnapped," his tutor explained.
The young Vongola Boss fell on the floor laughing and exclaimed, "That's ridiculous! What makes you say that, Reborn?"
"She told me that she wasn't in her hospital room this morning and the nurses did not see her leave the hospital at all."
"But Gokudera-san hates being in the same room with Rosario, she probably just escaped the hospital or something," Hide dismissed this with ease.
"That may be so, but apparently Hanabi's landlady was up in the middle of the night and saw her being taken away by a black car," Reborn continued and then took out a disk, "It's all on video tape too."
"Are you serious?" Hide raised a skeptical eyebrow and asked, "Who in the world would want to kidnap Hanabi?"
"Anyone who wants to threaten the Twelfth Vongola by holding hostage his right-hand man, or lady as it were," the infant pointed out.
"She's not even my right-hand man-I mean lady!" Hide yelled in frustration, "I don't even have a right-hand anything!"
"Sure you do, Hanabi volunteered whole-heartedly for it."
"That's only because she was the first to suggest it!"
"Even so, a proper boss cannot function without a right-hand at his side," Reborn stated, "And if you still don't believe me that Hanabi has been kidnapped, then believe this."
"Believe what?" Hide then got a phone thrown at his face.
"H-Hello? Um, Mr. Reborn, sir?" a voice on the phone asked, the phone itself was lying on the ground after being dropped.
"What was that for Reborn!" Hide yelled without thinking about the phone.
"Hello! Is anyone there?" the voice asked again.
"Oh!" Hide quickly grabbed the phone and held it up to his ear nervously, "Um, hello?"
"What? Whose this?" the voice asked.
"Er, I'm his student?" Hide looked at Reborn unsurely, "My name's Sawada Hideyoshi."
"Hideyoshi? As in the new Twelfth of Vongola?" the voice sounded surprised and then suddenly became very polite and formal to Hide, "I am so sorry, young sir!"
It sounded like a man, an older man too, and the way he said 'Twelfth' couldn't help but remind Hide of Hanabi.
"Um, you wouldn't happen to be Gokudera-san's dad or something, right?" Hide asked the phone.
"Dad?-Hanabi?-Oh god, no!" the man on the phone then laughed and said, "I'm Hanabi's brother, Nagi, Gokudera Nagi. Hahah! That's hilarious, young sir! Me? Her father!"
"Brother? Gokudera-san has a brother?" Hide asked, he had never heard Hanabi ever talk about a brother and had just assumed she was an only child.
"Yeah, she doesn't really bring me up that often, does she?" Nagi laughed, "Well, that doesn't really bother me, have you seen her though? She's not at her home."
"Have you checked the hospital?" he asked.
"Hah! No offense, young sir, but my sister isn't likely to stay in a hospital for long!" Nagi laughed, "No, I'm afraid she's been kidnapped, no surprise there."
Hide nearly choked on his spit when he heard this, "What! You even think that!"
"Well yeah, can't really think of anything else," her brother said dismissively and then added, "I'm counting on you, young sir, to help my sister out!"
"W-Wait! What?" Hide began but Nagi had already hung up on him, the boy stared blankly at the phone until Reborn kicked him in the gut.
"I've already called Suzuki and Sakuraba to come over," his tutor informed him.
"What about us?" Adam eagerly asked as he crawled out from underneath Hide's bed.
"No, you won't be needed for this," said Reborn.
"That hurts Reborn, being told that we won't be needed," the foreigner whined.
"Complaining will not change Mr. Reborn's mind, Adam," said his sister, Anna, as she slid open Hide's closet door from inside and hopped out of he closet, "Boss and Mr. Reborn may use us as they need to, it's only fair that we don't barge in where we're not needed."
"You get to go Anna."
"Thank you, Mr. Reborn."
In response to this, Adam's mouth fell open and he yelled, "What! Why does she get to go?"
"Because she's smarter than you," the infant stated.
"No way she's smarter than me!" he argued and then said, "I mean sure, she gets better grades, she comes up with better plans, oh, and she makes some pretty nice things every now and then, and…um…what were we talking about?"
"Why are they so weird…" Hide grumbled into the palm of his hand when he slapped his face with it and then quickly realized something, "Wait, why am I already used to you guys appearing in random places?"
~8~
"So the scary girl went missing, huh?" Morita questioned while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I see…"
"Yeah, I just told you that three times already," Hide nodded.
"Why did she go missing though?" Suzuki asked.
The boys were walking down the streets of Namimori with Anna leading them, she was holding something that was small, square, and black with an antenna on it.
"She probably got lost or something," she muttered.
"Reborn said she was kidnapped," Hide explained again.
"Kidnapped? Is she rich or something?" Suzuki asked.
"Not that I know of," the blonde shrugged and noticed that Anna's antenna was poking out at him, "Anna, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to find the Smoking Bomb," she said while keeping her eyes on the square gadget in her hands, "This is a radar that checks for any explosive compounds in the air, it's normally used by the police to find exploding mines and other bombs. I felt it was most fitting for finding the Smoking Bomb."
"Isn't that a little insulting to her?" he asked.
"No, not really."
"Hey guys, this is just something I thought of, but if she was kidnapped, then why don't we go to the place she was kidnapped?" Morita suggested, they were all quiet for a few seconds and then decided to head towards Hanabi's apartment.
As great as the investigation was going for them, the group soon found a dead end in the case when they actually reached Hanabi's apartment building.
"Um, Reborn said that she was kidnapped here," said Hide as he pointed to the street corner that was across the street from the apartments.
"There aren't any tire marks, that means the driver wasn't in any hurry," Anna noted and looked down the street, "I'll go and talk to the landlady."
"Okay, um, what should we do?" Morita asked.
"What do you think, Sherlock?"
The boxer fell silent as the girl turned around and quickly headed towards the building.
"She can be scarier than the scary girl when her brother's not around," the boxer said and then added, "Who's Sherlock anyways?"
"She's probably a little mad because she didn't think of going to the place Gokudera was last at before you did," said Suzuki in his always cheerful manner.
"She didn't tell us what we should be doing though…" Hide muttered.
"Well, Sakuraba-kun, you got us this far, what do you think we should do?" Suzuki asked jokingly.
"That was only just a passing thought," Morita sighed reluctantly, "I'm fresh out of those right now."
"Oh come on!" the raven-haired boy slapped him on the back playfully and grinned, "You gotta have one idea, even if it's a bad one!"
"The only thing I can think of is how in the old cop shows where they dusted for finger prints and stuff," the boxer said thoughtfully and then added triumphantly, "And also checked for clues!"
"Clues to what?"
"Clues to how or why she disappeared, I think," he shrugged and began to look around the place.
Suzuki and Hide looked at each before shrugging and joining in the search as well.
"What are you doing?" a voice asked.
They looked up and saw a girl with long silver hair that was tied up in a ponytail and wearing glasses on her face. She was dressed in a grey sweater and a plain brown skirt that went down to her knees. Hide's mouth fell open in absolute shock when he saw the girl.
"Gokudera-san?" he asked in disbelief.
"T-T-Twelfth!" Hanabi gasped and looked around nervously, her face turned bright red and her glasses fell to the bridge of her nose before she quickly pushed them back up, "Wha-What are you doing here!"
Suzuki looked as shocked as Hide but Morita was the only one on the verge of dying from laughter, "Hahahah! The scary girl looks like a normal girl!"
"Quit laughing you freakin' giant-bastard!" Hanabi growled, "Don't mock me!"
Why is she taking 'normal' as an insult! Hide wondered but said out loud, "Gokudera-san, I thought you were kidnapped!"
"Huh?" she questioned, "Where in the world would you get that idea?"
"Reborn told me! He said you were kidnapped!" the young Boss stated.
"Reborn-san? I'm sorry Twelfth, but that's wrong, there must have been a misunderstanding," she shrugged.
"But-but your brother-?" Hide stammered and was then cut off by Hanabi once she heard the word 'brother'.
"Nagi? Boss, my brother always thinks I've been kidnapped whenever he doesn't know where I am," she said dismissively.
"But what's with those clothes?" asked Suzuki, he was pointing out the fact that she normally wore miniskirts and vests and lots of chains not plain clothes like the ones she was wearing.
"Ugh, my grandpa made me wear these," she grumbled, then she held up a grocery bag and said, "I just went to the grocery store to buy coffee with him."
"Grandpa?" they both questioned, right then an old man dressed in a really nice looking black suit stepped out from behind her.
He was tall, or taller than Morita, and he had silver-white hair that could have either been from old age or could have been natural, seeing as it was the same color as Hanabi's. His hair style was very strange to Hide as well, his hair reached just below his chin and flared outwards making it look like he had an octopus head, and he wore black leather shoes though that had nothing to do with his hair.
You could tell that he and Hanabi were both related because they both had the same annoyed and pissed off look. You could also tell that they were both annoyed and pissed at each other because they kept giving each other annoyed and pissed off looks.
"He caught me in the middle of the night while I was escaping the hospital and put me in these dumb looking clothes," Hanabi rolled her eyes as she explained to Hide, but she was then interrupted when her grandfather grabbed her ear and started pulling it.
"Don't talk to the Twelfth so impolitely!" he scolded her, he released her ear and said, "Now say you're sorry for your rudeness."
"I'm sorry, Twelfth, for my rudeness" she muttered with a hint of reluctance.
"Speak up, Hanabi!"
"I'm sorry, Twelfth, for my rudeness!"
Hide's sweat dropped and he said uncertainly, "Um, it's alright…?"
The elderly man then bowed politely to Hide and said, "I apologize for my granddaughter's insolence, young Twelfth! I also apologize for any trouble she's been bothering you with!"
"I haven't been bothering the Boss at all!" Hanabi tried to argue before her ear was pulled violently again.
"And as for you, young lady!" her grandfather turned back to her, "You are a disgrace, running around with barely any clothes on!"
This seemed to be the last straw for Hanabi as she reached for a deck of her exploding cards but she was shocked when her grandfather held up her deck in his own hands and said, "Are you looking for these? Don't think that I don't know you! And where are your glasses?"
"I was wearing contacts grandpa! Contacts!" she yelled at him while trying to find another deck, "And I was wearing enough clothes!"
"If you call a mini-skirt a piece of clothing!" he scoffed and added, "And you're not old enough to be wearing contacts!"
"Anyone's old enough to wear contacts, you old bastard!" Hanabi folded her arms across her chest in frustration.
"Don't talk to your grandfather that way!" her grandfather pulled at her ear harshly once more.
"Ow! Don't tell me what to do! Ow!"
"Hey, Hide," Suzuki whispered as the grandfather and granddaughter continued to argue, "Isn't it funny how much they are alike?"
"I'm nothing like this bastard!" Hanabi yelled.
"And I'm nothing like this girl!" her grandfather added and then stated, "I don't run off to other countries without telling people!"
"I told Nagi!" she argued.
"He said that you were kidnapped!"
"He always says that I've been kidnapped!"
"Pahahah! She looks normal!" Morita was still laughing.
"Quit laughing at me you freakin' giant!" Hanabi yelled at the boxer.
"They're definitely alike," Suzuki nodded to himself in an assuring way.
"We're nothing alike!" they both said in unison.
Gokudera…Hide thought in horror, There are two Gokuderas!
"If you're going to keep acting like this, then I see no reason in staying here in Japan to look over you!" her grandfather yelled.
Hanabi was taken aback by this statement and said shakily, "W-What?"
"You heard me, young lady!"
"No…" she shook her head in disbelief and turned around to run away while screaming, "No! You're just going to make me train!"
"Oh no you don't!" her grandfather reached out and grabbed her ear again, he pulled it ear to keep her from running away, "I'm not letting you run away again!"
"Like hell I would want to live with you!" she screamed as she threw her own little fit, her grandpa seemed to have an iron grip on her ear.
"Don't swear in front of your elders!" he scolded again.
"Um, isn't this going too far?" Hide asked.
They both stopped bickering and stared blankly at Hide in silence; Morita's laughing being the only other sound around them. Hanabi and her grandfather both regained their composure and dusted themselves off before Hanabi's grandfather took out a cell phone from his pocket.
"Ahem," he coughed for everyone's attention, "I know just how to solve this, I'll call the Tenth himself and ask him to decide."
"That's no fair!" Hanabi argued, "He's your Boss! What about my Boss?"
"Eh?" Hide questioned.
"Fine, then we'll let the Tenth and Twelfth decide," the senior said maturely.
"Fine!" Hanabi agreed.
"Fine!" he said back as if the first 'fine!' had been some sort of challenge.
"Hold on now!" Hide interrupted the would-be fight, "I refuse to talk to that guy!"
Hanabi's grandfather sighed as he put away his phone and said "Very well, young Twelfth, I will listen to you, but how do you suggest we get over this problem?"
"I think I have the solution for that," said a small squeaky voice, they all saw Reborn coming towards them while dragging something that was large, wrapped in lime green ribbon, and moving around.
"Reborn!" Hide yelped and then noticed the thing he was dragging was moving and making noises, "What is that thing you have?"
"Look for yourself," he said, the green ribbon retracted itself into a chameleon that crawled up Reborn's arm and revealed a body that was breathing heavily.
"Thank god, I could barely breathe…" the person huffed, it sounded very familiar to Hide.
"Nagi?" both Gokuderas asked, each were surprised and confused at the brother's sudden appearance.
"Huh?" Nagi looked up and saw his sister and grandfather, so he quickly got up and said with genuine amazement, "W-What are you guys doing in my hotel?"
Hanabi rolled her eyes and said, "Look around you, genius."
He did look around and yelled with even more amazement, "When did my hotel turn into a suburban street corner!"
His sister slapped her head with the palm of her hand and said, "We're in front of my apartment building, Nagi!"
"I am?" he asked, he stared at her for a little bit before exclaiming, "Hanabi! You're not kidnapped?"
"I was never kidnapped!"
"Oh, well that's a huge relief!"
Nagi was a tall, young man that looked strikingly similar to Hanabi and their grandfather. He had silver-white hair that was cut just below his ears, and had light green eyes. He was wearing a black suit, similar to his grandfather's except he had his open instead of buttoned closed. He was very handsome too, like super model handsome, and it seemed he had the brains of a super model to boot.
"Ahem," Reborn coughed and pulled on Nagi's pants which the man quickly grabbed before they fell down.
"Sorry, Mr. Reborn, but could you not do that?" he asked as politely as he could, "I forgot to put on my belt today."
"If you don't shut up, I'll do a whole lot worse," the infant warned and then he turned back to Hanabi and her grandfather and said, "I think Nagi here is the solution to your problems."
"What are you talking about Reborn?" the grandfather asked suspiciously.
"Nagi can take care of Hanabi while your doing your business in Italy," Reborn explained, "He can make sure that she doesn't run around and get herself in trouble."
"He can barely take care of himself," he pointed out, "And he has enough problems as it is, he doesn't need to take care of his baby sister."
"I'm not a baby!" Hanabi grumbled.
"Are we in some sort of custody battle or something?" Nagi asked, he walked over to his sister and put his elbow on her shoulder and said, "I don't mind taking care of Hanabi, plus I sort of already lost my job so this will give me something to do. And the doctors said I needed a new outlet, this'll be great for my therapy!"
"Great, now my ridiculous brother gets to take care of me," Hanabi rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on now, Hanabi!" he grinned and said, "I know you, and you've probably been running around the place with out a care in the world. I'm gonna have to establish a curfew and rules."
"I don't need a curfew!" she argued.
"Sure you do, all kids do," he nodded to himself as if this was fact.
"Well, if your taking care of her then I guess I don't have to," their grandfather said in a satisfied tone.
"And I guess I'm perfectly happy with out that old bastard to make me train like hell every day," Hanabi shrugged, her ear was then pulled harshly by the old man.
"Don't say curse words around the Twelfth!" he scolded.
"What sort of mixed up family is this…?" Hide groaned.
"I think it's nice!" Suzuki chuckled.
"Normal!" Morita was still laughing and cracking up.
"Shut up you freakin' giant! Ow!" Hanabi yelled but got her ear pulled again.
"Excuse me for ruining this sweet family moment," Anna interrupted, she had gotten back from talking to the landlady, "But I found someone very interesting."
Rosario appeared from behind her and said worriedly, "Hanabi! I was so worried about you when you weren't at the hospital, so I came here! Oh? Nagi and Gokudera-oji are here too?"
And all at once Hanabi, Nagi, and 'Gokudera-oji' fell to the ground while clutching at their stomachs and foaming at the mouth.
"Oh no!" Rosario gasped, "I forgot how weak and ill you guys are!"
What sort of crazy family tree is this! Hide gawked.
"Family is such a sweet thing," Reborn stated.
You're only making it weirder!
"Normal! Hah!" Morita was still laughing and holding his sides, "Oh man, now my stomach hurts!"
"I'm kinda wondering what the whole point of this is," Hide sighed.
"Well, we got to meet Gokudera's gramps and her brother!" Suzuki pointed out cheerfully, "That's something."
"This is such a waste of a day," Anna rolled her eyes.
Rosario knelt down to her relatives and cried out dramatically, "Don't worry! I'll stay by all of your sides while you are all at the hospital the whole time!"
"It feels like my insides are burning!" Nagi groaned.
"Welcome to my world," Hanabi moaned while clutching at her sides.
I think this day only ended with pain…Hide grimaced.
~8~
"Geez, what kind of mixed up family is that?" Hide wondered aloud as he and his friends walked back to his house, the only ones left out were Hanabi and her relatives because they were still getting their living arrangements together.
"There are crazier families, Boss," Anna pointed out, "The Smoking Bomb's is just slightly more ill than others."
"Hide, the Grandhart-sister is right, all families are different," said Suzuki as he swung an arm around his friend and continued walking, "Gokudera's family seemed like a pretty happy family to me."
"You call yelling at one another and beating each other up a 'happy family'?" he asked.
"That's probably just how they talk to each other, Hide!" the raven haired boy grinned cheerfully.
Hide sighed and decided not to argue this anymore, he honestly wanted nothing to do with family issues since he believed that his was already as messed up as could be.
~8~
Hanabi was really reluctant to let her brother share a room with her, she was even more reluctant when her grandfather wanted to see where she lived.
"What's with this place? It's a total mess in here!" he immediately said upon entering.
"I'm so sorry that this place doesn't live up to your snobbish standards," she said sarcastically and quickly guarded her ears from any pulling.
"I think it's nice!" said Nagi while looking around, "Cozy actually!"
"How can you live in such a small place?" her grandfather asked as he searched the one kitchen, one bedroom, and one bathroom apartment.
"I didn't exactly think you guys would come over to where I live," she said, "Much less live with me."
Her grandpa ignored her and was already searching through her refrigerator and complaining about how little food she had.
"Hanabi, I'm going to use your bathroom real quick," her brother said.
"Isn't it your bathroom now too?" she asked but Nagi had already gone.
"Hey Hanabi-chan," her grandfather called to her again, "I need to talk to you about something."
"If it's about my choice in clothing then forget about it," she said flatly.
"It isn't, now come over here!" he called again, she walked into her kitchen and saw that her grandfather was sitting on a stool and beckoned her to come closer.
"You aren't going to start pulling my ears again, are you?" she asked cautiously.
"No, it's about how you went to the underground base two weeks ago with the Twelfth," he said, "Now come closer, I can barely even touch you from this distance."
Hanabi was surprised and wondered how he heard about it, but instead she still took a step closer to him and said, "If you're going to lecture me again about the 'values of life' and all that crap, I-"
She was cut off when she felt a hand pat her on the head, it felt warm and welcoming as it gingerly patted her head and reminded Hanabi of when she was little. She remembered this hand would never dare to slap her away when she needed it, she remembered it would carry her when she was too tired, and she remembered it would pull on her ears when she was being bad. She remembered it was her grandfather's hand.
"You did a good job, Hanabi-chan," he said in a kind tone, he then withdrew his hand and turned around, "For a kid that is."
Hanabi smiled at him and said, "Thanks, geezer."
"I'm not a geezer!"
"You're pretty damn old to me."
"Why you-you ungrateful little girl!"
"Ow! You said you weren't going to pull on my ears!"
"That was then, this is now!"
"Ow! Quit it!"
"Where is that bag of dynamite that I gave Reborn to give you? I bet you didn't even use them, right?"
"Why the hell would I use them? I told you: I hate explosives!"
"I'm back."
"Shut up Nagi!"
"Don't tell your brother to shut up!"
"You're the one that told him to shut up! And he's my brother! I can tell him to shut up whenever I want!"
"Actually, you both told me to shut up."
"This is none of your business, Nagi!" they both yelled in unison.
Nagi smiled hopelessly as they started to argue, he walked out of the small apartment to balcony where their yelling was now only slightly muffled. He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, not even bothering to light it, and he leaned his elbows on the railing while looking out at the sky.
"I think I can get used to this," he said to himself quietly.
~8~
So that's Gokudera-oji, I hope that made you all happy since I tried to make him as much in-character as humanly possible while also making him very grandfatherly (or fatherly, which ever one you choose), its definitely not as easy as writing Yamamoto-oji as a grandfather or Tsuna-oji as a grandfather (yes, I have some stuff for that written out already). If some of you guys are angry at me because I made Gokudera-oji out to be like an angry old man that tell kids to get off his lawn then I'm sorry, but there's like a huge generation gap between Hanabi and Gokudera-oji! There's bound to be conflict and disagreements!
And many of you may be wondering "What's up with Nagi? He totally isn't like Gokudera-oji at all!" well, I'm going to get to that in the next chapter so stay tuned for it! Also, if you want to read more about Nagi then hop on over to my other story Al Cielo, which is like the prequel to Skywards! Except its more about what's going on in Italy and more about Hide's cousin Domeki! Please read!
In other news, I took the Mary-Sue litmus test for all my characters and the results were a little humorous to me, I posted them on my forum, Just another Forum, and there's also a link on there to a very accurate site where you can do a litmus test on your OCs too! :D