Chapter Twenty Three : seeps through


Over the years and without really meaning to, Tsunayoshi has become quite familiar with the general size and shape of the Tomaso house in Namimori's center - one of a kind, and unique. He often got invited over thanks to Naito and Nerina in… various guises, and had the dubious pleasure of meeting a great deal of their family; though only some of them were actually family. He'd never gotten used to how many of the occupants were simply loyal servants for what amounted to a very small family, mostly there to keep the place clean and otherwise be readily available for every passing whim the family itself might need.

Most of his peers were in a similar situation as Tsunayoshi himself - one parent, sometimes both, and themselves or maybe a sibling or two. There were certainly well established families of course - Kensuke's had a rich Namimori history, though only half as old as the Hibari clan's, and it seemed like Kyoko and Ryohei had some well-to-do Uncle who had supported them when they were younger and Naoko hadn't been able to take whatever job came her way.

But well, the scope of those households, of even Lark's Haven - it's not really comparable at all to the Cavallone estate. 'Wing' this and 'wing' that! And there are plenty of servants that Tsunayoshi would find troublesome to deal with. It's as if Cavallone Dino expects to be attacked at any time and those people would be expected to defend themselves or provide defense.

Or - it's possible that the people of Italy were simply scary, though even if that were true: then Tsunayoshi would set up his house like this, especially if it were a similar size. He'd make sure that there would be no one there who couldn't look after themselves in case something dangerous came up.

Honestly speaking, Tsunayoshi would put Haru and Kyoya up to the task of finding the bodies to fill those positions after he'd made his requirements clear. As much as certain people who associate with him prefer to depend on his sense of a person, Kyoya and Haru certainly have a unique outlook, and Kyoya's ability to sense weakness far surpasses Tsunayoshi's ability to judge a person's sincerity.

Sincerity is good and all, but if a person means the best and still crumples under pressure, then putting them into a dangerous position is stupid, right?

"It must be rough to run a place like this," Tsunayoshi says as the four of them exit the stairs into a hallway notably less opulent than the ones they've just left. Which isn't to say that it's not a beautiful hallway! It is. It's just that the rich, thick carpet has given away to some kind of stone floor that's sealed with something that makes it glisten like glass, and the wallpaper looks less textured and more like plastic than paper, which means that this place would be very easy to clean and nothing would soak into either walls or floor.

… the less said about how Tsunayoshi knows to notice this, the better probably.

"It is, but it's rewarding in it's own way," Cavallone Dino says. "Well, I should say it's a full time job, more or less, but I still can make excursions to come to helpless people's rescue."

"Ah," Tsunayoshi says, suddenly wondering just who is going to pay for all of this.

Come to think of it, it's couldn't have been easy getting involved in a kidnapping case on this scale! Even if Dino has money to spare on such flights of fancy, the situation must be incredibly complicated! Besides, someone should think of the law! It's obvious that they can't simply get the government involved given this situation involves 'other worlds,' but - retrieving them, and then calling in specialists?! This isn't some kind of paradise where money isn't a concern! A place like that doesn't exist unless you die to reach it!

But Cavallone Dino easily brushes over the matter, as if he doesn't expect Tsunayoshi to address something like that the way that old man Yamamoto would. They've moved on from some sort of interior wing - the one where Tsunayoshi and the others are living for the time being, the one without any windows - to a ground floor part of the house that Tsunayoshi thinks must also be a little centralized. That's the sense that he gets: that is must be equally accessible from all areas of the house, and the outside, in order to get any injured people to the ward as quickly as possible.

"For now," Dino says, "we've been keeping those two in the few ICU rooms we have stocked. It's fine for the time being, as things have been peaceful and there haven't been a lot of accidents recently-" As if he suddenly realizes that he can't just say something like that without an explanation, or that it might seem weird, Cavallone Dino gives a little start and turns a bit to fix Tsunayoshi with wide brown eyes. "Ah! You see, I raise horses for a living! But well, horses are large, powerful animals, and they have their own likes and dislikes and the such. Thanks to that, injuries are fairly common when a stallion or a mare with a foal gets anxious."

Cavallone Dino smiles then, and it even reaches his shining eyes, and oh: this person likes animals quite a bit, doesn't he? He's a bit like Kyoya in that way, minus the endless enmity toward people. "It's not foaling season right now," he finishes easily, "so it's no trouble to keep them there until they wake up. It might be the safest place in the house, actually."

"That's amazing," Tsunayoshi says. They even have ICU rooms? This place is already looking a lot like a better, fancier version of the room that Kyoya always arranges to have available to care for his underlings with. He can easily already spot a few machines that he suspects are pretty expensive, just based on the differences between the Old Hospital and that fancy one that the Hibari Clan are involved with.

The ICU rooms are more than just one or two - it's a whole wall of this ward full of windows and doors. All but the two are dark, and though it strongly reminds Tsunayoshi of the room with all those pods, the quality of the pressure here is completely different - and even that ebbs after a moment. Tsunayoshi presses his knuckles against his breastbone in reflex.

Zunetto, on account of being more familiar with the place, goes ahead of the group and immediately attaches himself to the window of the closest occupied room. "Ah," he says. "It's that girl!"

Tsunayoshi blinks and with a cautious glance at Dino and that child, he moves to join Zunetto. Even though he only vaguely remembers her, the sight of a ten year old child laying on the ICU cot, connected to monitors and an IV and all of that - well, it should probably upset Tsunayoshi except for the fact that she's obviously sleeping easily. She's even smaller than the younger Dino, with dark hair that isn't quite black. There's a warm flush to her cheeks, even -not feverish or anything, but healthy.

Yeah, it's easy to see how that was the trigger for Tsunayoshi snapping entirely. More rotten adults depending on children… ah, he had kind of hoped that it was an affliction that only Namimori suffered. Is it this entire world? What if the world this child comes from is also like that? Is Tsunayoshi really supposed to accept that? Could he really send her back to that?

"Her name is Yuni," Dino says as he and his watchful companion join them at the window. "That was a shocking discovery to make at that facility! It's one thing to kidnap teenagers, you know? Teenagers tend to have incredible 'life energy' - but it's not something for a child to be involved in. If she hadn't survived the extraction processes…"

That matches Tsunayoshi's thoughts so well that he looks over and up. There's no way that anyone could be such a good actor that they'd be able to mimic that kind of face, he thinks: Cavallone Dino honestly, sincerely hates that this Yuni was caught up in it. This might be an incredibly dangerous person in various ways, but Tsunayoshi's instinct really was right. He's a good person who cares about the well-being of animals and children. Tsunayoshi isn't either of those, but he thinks he might be able to trust Dino a little bit, at least.

"Don't judge by her appearances," the demon child rebukes. "This young girl is actually very powerful, you know. Even a scary monster like Nayo-chan wouldn't want to tangle with someone like her."

… that kid really called him '-chan' at the same time as calling him a scary monster, huh.

Anyway, it's not as if Tsunayoshi would fight a child to begin with? And that's a bit suspicious to dismiss witchcraft and then talk about how some young girl is 'very powerful' isn't it? He's really getting jerked around here. Then -

"Wait," he says suddenly. "Did you say this was 'Yuni'?"

Dino's expression is a bit interesting as he looks down at Tsunayoshi curiously. "I did. Those pods had their own databases with relevant information on the occupant attached to it. Hopefully that will make it easier to get everyone back home, even though the names of the worlds they came from were a bit arbitrary… but yes. This girl's name is Yuni. Do you recognize it?"

Yes, but not for the reason that Dino likely thinks. Tsunayoshi was suffering a lot at that time, but that white haired guy had been supporting him a bit, and he'd said something about a 'Yuni' - hadn't he? Yuni and Zunetto were the names he mentioned. "Maybe," Tsunayoshi says. "Someone must have mentioned it to me, but ah - if you're asking if I've ever seen this person before, then no."

"I see," he says easily. "Yuni isn't a person who exists in our world either, although I recognize the family she comes from."

"Or mine, but she's obviously a Giglio Nero family member," Zunetto says.

So there will be someone to take care of her if they can't get her back to her home. That's a relief, Tsunayoshi thinks. Although naturally, the best outcome would be getting her back home, but depending on only one possible outcome is dumb. "We can get her back home, right?"

"That's impossible for some low level lackey like me," Dino says without hesitation; it sounds more like he's stating an obvious fact rather than putting himself down - which, at least he understands his own position, Tsunayoshi supposes. "But we won't know that it's completely impossible until we've asked everyone who knows even a little bit about this matters."

"Those specialists you mentioned," Tsunayoshi says, and Dino agrees.

"They're comrades of Verde and myself, so they'll come at once when we call," the child says. He's just tall enough to be able to look in on Yuni through the large window. Despite his remark earlier, his face is a bit complicated, and Tsunayoshi doesn't have the feeling that it's because Yuni is stronger than a 'scary monster,' either. It isn't a look precisely as if he hates the thought of a child going through something scary, but - like he somehow thinks something terrible of the whole situation anyway. Such a serious expression is much different from all the faces he's used so far, and some weird thought intrudes that Tsunayoshi would like to set a hand on his shoulder or something like that.

As a person who still doesn't really get along with children very well, whatever that situation with Fon had been all those years ago, he absolutely does no such thing. "It would be nice if everyone could go home safely after everything," he says, but - well. Yuni is about as healthy and as safe as she can be until then, so his concern with her swiftly fades.

No one moves to stop him from stepping by them and going to the next window over. There's a weird prickling at the back of his neck, but it's different from what had pressed on him just a bit earlier. This feels a bit cooler. A little vague and changeable.

Tsunayoshi almost expects the world to stretch oddly when he lays his eyes on the guy laying in the bed, but - he's no longer stuck in the nightmare of being thirteen. This world is the real world, so it can't distort, and this body is Tsunayoshi's real body, so he can't either. And that guy - it's a bit unpleasant to see him, because his appearance later had obviously been the most true to reality. Someone has washed and brushed his endless lengths of white hair, but the way that guy looks? Not a bonsai at all, but something left sprouting in the dark, forgotten until long after it's become twisted and strange.

"Something's wrong," Tsunayoshi says vaguely. "I thought his pressure was warmer than this. Can I-" he looks over, and registers the odd way that he's being looked at, but: "can I go in to meet him?"

Dino seems a bit uneasy about it. "He's unconscious, so I don't know that it would do any good."

"Even if he's in a coma, people can still hear things said to them sometimes," Tsunayoshi says, although it's not really that he wants to say anything to that guy so much as he needs to check on him. "I can't go in?"

For a long moment, Dino simply stares at him, eyes sharp and assessing and a bit glimmering while that demon child and Zunetto watch on, the latter more anxiously than the former. "Alright," Dino relents at last, a bit reluctantly. He comes over so that he can punch a code into the door and then scan in his fingerprint.

What a strange length to go to, Tsunayoshi thinks. "Thanks," he says with only half his attention, slipping inside the moment the gap is large enough.

It kind of reminds him of stepping into TakeSushi a bit, honestly, except it's much less soothing than that. With the unpleasant episodes of fragility that had plagued him, Tsunayoshi had often retreated to TakeSushi just so that he could feel comfortable breathing, and often found himself napping in the living quarters at the back of the restaurant under his household's watchful eyes.

Ah, no, doesn't the way this clings to him remind him of going around Lark's Haven? Or no, the pressure generated by Hibari Sozui felt similar, except that it lurked in dark shadows and behind walls and under rugs, while this tries to cling while it also hides, like a needy housecat that has been abandoned and made mistrustful the rough treatment it had suffered. Not hostile, nor mean, but wary and more than willing to strike out with lethal force to protect itself.

This white haired guy is tall, or will be if he ever gets back on his feet. Despite the ravages of his awful neglect, Tsunayoshi can still see the edges of who he might have grown into - some super exotic ikemen. His eyelashes still cut across the sharp shelves of his hollowed cheeks like moth wings made of razor blades. His scarred arms are nothing but skin and ligament and bone.

Tsunayoshi's fingertips find the needle marks in his own skin, along the veins. Although he hadn't meant to come in here and say anything, his heart pangs. "You've lived a hard life so far, huh," he says, and then he reaches for the places where those painfully thin arms are marked with many, many, many more scars than his own. His skin is so thin it could be butterfly wings or dried flower petals disrupted by knots of flesh like the heads of pins used to put his limbs to corkboard.

"It must have been scary. You were lonely, right?" A little deprecatingly, he adds, "why else cling to a dame kid like me, who can't even make people call him by his name?"

Even though he looked right into Tsunayoshi's eyes and said called his bloodline blessed.

This guy's hands are rather large, his fingers long. They look a little wretched and frail: long, cracked fingernails and knobbled knucklebones. Even so, they dwarf Tsunayoshi's hands, as calloused and scarred as they are.

Tsunayoshi reaches upwards and rests his hand on the guy's hairline. It's about as close to patting him on the head as he can get at the moment. He didn't quite crush the system abusing this guy beneath his shoe like a bug, and he didn't 'teach them how to burn,' and in the meantime, that guy begged him desperately to live and drained out all of his own warmth to make it so, and wanted to make things up to him.

As if Tsunayoshi wouldn't have heard him out and done his best if he'd just been asked. Obviously allowances would be made for his situation.

"What's this guy's name?" Tsunayoshi asks, aware that he's being closely watched.

"The data on his pod only said 'Narcisse,'" Dino answers. "It's a bit odd, since even the ghosts had more information than that. There was no family name included, and unlike Yuni, he doesn't bare any particular resemblance to anyone we know. It's worth mentioning though that with a name like that, he's probably not Italian, so… it's not as if we're isolationists, but that naturally makes identifying him harder."

Tsunayoshi turns with a helpless frown. "Na- it's what?" Dino repeats himself, and Tsunayoshi stares. This isn't an unconventional cluster of sounds that he can nonetheless fit through his mouth like 'Zunetto.' Couldn't this guy have a more reasonable name?!

Actually, isn't Zunetto's face being a bit annoying right now - the expression he's making? Just because it's not a name he'll be struggling with doesn't give him the right to look like that… Tsunayoshi would like to know how his first couple of years in Italy went. As if he senses Tsunayoshi's ire, Zunetto startles and then guilty enters the room to come see to Narcisse, for whatever reason. Something under Tsunayoshi's ribs prickles and spits sparks, but since Zunetto is more or less within immediate arm's reach and doesn't actually put his hands on that comatose boy, he decides it's probably fine.

Though it does remind Tsunayoshi that he probably shouldn't touch someone who is unconscious himself, so he lifts his hand away from that guy's head; it's not like he's helping the situation with it.

Actually, he's a bit disheartened, he realizes. "I guess we won't know anything more about the situation unless he can tell us when he wakes up."

"If there is anything for him to tell us," Dino agrees. "You yourself don't remember much, and it seems like he was stuck there for some time."

"No kidding," Zunetto mutters in dismay. "Hey, is this really a person? Is this the guy you really were looking for, Nayo? Doesn't he seem more like a lich?!"

"Aha." Well, Zunetto really isn't wrong. Maybe it's a good thing that Tsunayoshi got a completely different impression during the dreaming, since he surely would have run screaming the other direction if Narcisse had shown up looking like this rather than the squishy-faced youth. By the time he had hinted at the truth, he'd said too much for Tsunayoshi to let him go, or be troubled by his appearance. "He is worse off than expected," he allows. "Although - you shouldn't call him the undead, you know? He worked hard."

"Could it be that you feel responsible for him?" that demon child asks a bit slyly from the doorway, like he's the second coming of Shioya or something come to harass him on the matter of Ryohei or Shoichi.

"No way," Tsunayoshi scoffs, turning away from the bed to show his pinched brow; it's not entirely off base, but: he looks down on this wretched little creature that isn't nearly as cute as Fon, despite whatever other similarities they may have. "What are you trying to imply? Isn't it a bit rude to take responsibility for an unconscious person without consulting them first? I have enough trouble as it is without asking for more that way."

Dino sputters and breaks into a sudden laugh that he quickly clamps down on with his hand. It's not a particularly mean laugh or anything, but there's something a bit unpleasant about it no matter how handsome Dino's face looks flushed with sparkling eyes. "What's this," he asks, amused. "I'm not sure I should be surprised, but - Nayo-kun, could it be that you're actually a kind person?"

"Ehh." It's not something he really minds from allies, but the fact that he's getting it over this from that person - Tsunayoshi cuts a heavy look down the side of the hospital bed to where Zunetto is still hovering over Narcisse. "Say, Zunetto," he says flatly, and doesn't flinch in the face of the stunned-fish look that gets turned on him. "Aren't you supposed to be shielding me from something like this? Those guys are making fun of me."

Yelping at the accusation, Zunetto says, "What kind of weird - no, actually, it sounded more like praise, so-" He cuts himself off with a flail, as if Tsunayoshi's outright annoyed expression is an indication of real threat.

And in what way had Dino's statement been praise, anyway? Admittedly, at thirteen he had even accepted sexual harassment as praise, but surely that's no excuse for Zunetto? In the end, Tsunayoshi is a guest, so it's not like he can just come out and say that all Dino is doing is congratulating him on not stooping to some shitty expectations that were formed before they even met.

"Ah - more importantly than that," Zunetto says in a hurry, looking to Narcisse, "isn't there anything that can be done to help this guy? With the condition he's in…"

"It's because of that condition that we can't," the child says bluntly, "although someone like you should already know that."

As easily as that, every scrap of simpering behavior is ripped out of Zunetto's posture. Only because Tsunayoshi is standing where he is can he see the edges of something awful in the expression on his face. Without looking up or over, Zunetto grumpily demands: "how should I know that?"

That demon child's black eyes are sharp and pitiless over that weirdly cold smile. "You have that sort of inclination, don't you?" he asks.

Though his sightless expression doesn't change, there's something about the set of his feet and his fingers on the blankets that suddenly seems a bit violent, and Tsunayoshi isn't the only one to think so; Dino cuts in swiftly, quiet but firm. "The ICU isn't the place to have an argument. Take it outside if you mean to continue."

The child grunts, displeased, but folds his arms across his chest and concedes. Zunetto's comparable grace about backing down is probably only thanks to that familiar distaste for fighting, and while he would normally forget about whatever ugly feelings…

"Thank you for thinking about it," Tsunayoshi says, and smiles when Zunetto glances up at him from his hunched position. "But I think he'll be fine. After all - he's made it this far without giving up, no matter how much life energy they took from him." Reflexively, he grimaces, and knuckles his breastbone, remember that awful feeling of being scooped out of his own shell. "For that guy… he'll refuse to die until he's been able to take his revenge, at least."

"Revenge," Zunetto echoes in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Ah - well," he says, since he doesn't think that mentioning the talks he had with Narcisse during the dreaming will exactly go over well. "His resolve is kind of scary, isn't it? If I'm remembering that room correctly, then they must have used him, again and again and again, to summon people from other worlds."

And then - oh, but Tsunayoshi realizes something. Being turned into a ghost must be an awful process. Narcisse must have listened to every one of them. They must have screamed. Narcisse had panicked when it was Tsunayoshi. He'd been desperate. He'd begged, and then he'd drained out all his warmth for the sake of-

Something cold slides right up Tsunayoshi's spine and he slaps a hand to his neck and glances upward, even though it was the reverse of what a drop of water would do - but ah. Of course there's that strange pressure in swimming eddies around his ankle.

"Nayo?" Zunetto asks, and Tsunayoshi blinks to find himself of the interrogative stares of three people, because - of course.

"Condensation, I think?" Tsunayoshi says, even though that's not what it is at all. His concentration had slipped and his guard had gone down a bit, but he has to remember that no matter how these people act: they're not trusted adults from Namimori. He's glad that someone thought to remind him. If he intends to get everyone out of this situation safely, then he can't be getting distracted or relaxing like that.

Showing his true face or baring his heart is absolutely prohibited, no matter what they thought they knew of him based on weird accusations of what he did while dizzy with sedation and hallucinogenic drugs.

"From where?" Zunetto wonders, sounding baffled even as he straightens to look at the ceiling.

"There shouldn't be," Dino says, also glancing that way. "The ICU should be more or less perfectly sealed. We can't have dampness in here or otherwise people won't heal, or they'll get worse."

"Maybe it was just a chill then?" he says vaguely, but the demon child gives him a long, blank look that feels very skeptical.

"Even if it's just that," Dino says. "I'll have someone look into it, though. The obvious aside, Narcisse is just resting rather than sick, so it should be fine for now."

"Thank you very much," Tsunayoshi says, anxiously touching his bare wrists. His restless fingers settle for circling the knob of bone there since there's nothing else, but it doesn't exactly help. "Without you, I don't think everyone could have left that place, or would have been recaptured…"

"Just because you woke up first doesn't make you responsible for everyone else," he says a bit dry, his smile a strange mix of tolerant and bemused.

Tsunayoshi stares at him for a moment. "No, but," he says, confused, "someone has to represent everyone's interests, right? No one else is really suited for it, unless Yuni has some hidden depths," or Narcisse, but from what Tsunayoshi has come to understand of him, he's pursuing his own interests and has no time for everyone else's, "but - she's ten. You can't put a ten year old in charge of her elders. She should be able to rest easy while her seniors take care of everything. So, ah-" he glances at Zunetto, but it's not like that guy's going to step up. "The only one that can do it is me, right? Instead of dealing with everyone individually, dealing with one person is…?"

Culture clash? He has to wonder, watching the others' faces. Well, that demon child seems to understand it well.

"Somehow I don't think Xanxus will agree to that," Dino says dryly.

"The one with the dark hair and the red eyes?" Tsunayoshi asks, thinking back to earlier in the lobby. "I see. It's fine. I can handle that much."

Zunetto sputters. It's hard to tell if the noise has roots in amazement or horror. "You can handle Xanxus of Vongola?" he demands shrilly.

Tsunayoshi glances pointedly at Narcisse, at which point Zunetto sheepishly allows himself to be herded out of the ICU room and into the hallway. He gives a moment to allow for Dino to shut and secure the door again before he says, "I don't care who his family is. On his own merits, he's an overzealous brat who thinks that going at full strength is worth respecting. There were dozens of people like him I've met, and probably over a hundred million in the world."

Dino laughs in disbelief. "Wow," he says. "You should worry about who his family is, though. They're scary people."

"I'm not sure what people in another world who I'll never see have to do with me," Tsunayoshi says mildly. "Unless the Xanxus in this world will have a problem with it?"

The question seems to catch Dino somewhat off guard and he actually has to think about that for a second before - "Haa. No," he admits. "I think the Xanxus of this world wouldn't care at all. But without knowing that, you should be more careful about rushing ahead. You can't try taking responsibility for a group of people and then drag them into some mess without knowing who is allied with whom."

"Dino, are you thinking of taking someone under your wing?" that demon child asks, snickering into the palms of his hands. "It's good to see you've grown so much, but starting out with a guy with no connections of his own, I'm not sure what kind of little brother he'd make."

"Um - I've already been raised, so I don't need it," Tsunayoshi says, especially since Dino looks like he's going to deny it.

"No, but - normally that might be the next step, after an agreement like you made," Zunetto says, "if the relationship is good. Although it's really way too early to decide something like that, and - ah, Nayo really doesn't have anything to offer the alliance."

"It's just a bit of handy advice," Dino says, waving them off, although he seems to be thinking something of it. "There's no way I could become someone's mentor anyway."

Even if Dino were inclined to try something like that, it's not as if it's something Tsunayoshi can decide on his own, anyway. His own household would probably be more or less happy to go along with it, but there's another household to consider. So far everything has been going well, he thinks, and he and Kyoko have managed to work together to seek the changes they've wanted to see all along - the changes which please them most - but Dino exists outside of Namimori and Tsunayoshi can't tie his household to that without consulting everyone, since it'll naturally split his power between those two places.

Besides that, the last thing that Tsunayoshi would want is to lead anyone from the outside world back to Namimori. There may be newcomers all the time, but highschoolers like him always manage to slide beneath the radar, and the newcomers are always way too leery of TakeSushi to come in and discover them anyway.

Or, well. They're leery of old man Yamamoto, which is the same thing more or less.

"Speaking of home worlds," Dino adds after a second, apparently just having remembered this issue, "Nayo-kun, there wasn't any information on you that we could find, which could cause a lot of problems when it comes to getting you home. Thanks to the way the facility was set up, all the information that wasn't isolated to the pods themselves was purged, and - well, even though the storage room where everyone else was didn't get destroyed, Verde said that your pod was removed from that room in order to call Zunetto to this world. The naming conventions of the worlds everyone came from is a little hard to understand… but we don't even have that when it comes to you."

"Ah," Tsunayoshi says. He'd wondered, given that they don't even know his last name.

It's a bit awful to think that he's separated from his household not by an ocean or continents, but by something as huge as worlds. It feels a bit awful. That charred out hollow in Tsunayoshi's chest has nothing to gorge itself on.

It's not as if he can replace those people in his household. He could never, never do that. It's no good if it's not them. What should he do?

"If you're sad about being so far away from home," the demon child says, and even though he's clinging to the fluffy fringe on the bottom of Dino's jacket, he looks up at Tsunayoshi with glittering black eyes - the normal kind of shine. "I'd be willing to comfort you."

So that's just the kind of personality this person has, Tsunayoshi thinks dismally. "Thanks," he says, "but it's no good after all."

The head tilt is perfectly angled to emphasize his lashes, the cute curls of his hair, and the childish, put upon pout. "You think I can't?"

This is definitely some kind of twisted game of this kid's, Tsunayoshi thinks, but before he can make any headway toward deciding just what this demon child is truly aiming for while distracting with strange implications, Zunetto sputters loudly.

"You can't!" he yelps indignantly. "Or no: I mean, you shouldn't! That kind of thing isn't good for kids!"

Ah - right. Zunetto keeps taking it at face value. Maybe Tsunayoshi is less shocked about it having remembered about four year old Fon being concerned about sharing a bed - say, though, hadn't Fon also said something about having an adult mind despite his childish heart? At thirteen, Tsunayoshi had written it off as some kind of strange roleplay, but after earlier when Tsunayoshi was accused of witchcraft and no one had debated the rationality of that-

That aside, Tsunayoshi says: "well, I guess it's true that children shouldn't have too many sweets, but - in this case, he can keep them, can't he?"

"Eh?" Zunetto blinks at him. "What are you…?"

Tsunayoshi smiles - the one borrowed from Nana for the sake of reassuring parents and older siblings. "That's usually what a child means when they want to comfort someone," he points out. "Haven't you ever been offered a favorite sweet or plush before?"

Zunetto looks uncertain of his intentions, as he might given what he thinks is going on - for Nana's son, he's surprisingly underestimating her techniques. "I'm not normally sad around children," he says doubtfully, and then at the last second seems to shake the distraction off. "No! Nevermind that! Is that even a normal child?!"

He points aggressively at the boy in question, who is still hanging onto Dino's jacket and looking singularly unimpressed with Zunetto. Dino laughs, but it's a bit nervous and strained. "What do you mean?" he asks. "Of course this is a normal child!"

If Tsunayoshi hadn't already decided it for himself, he would have known immediately that there's no way that child is normal. "Only - you called him your tutor," he points out.

"It's - ah, a game of sorts," he says a bit nervously, as if children with awful eyes roleplay as grandpas and tutors all the time.

"That aside," Zunetto continues flatly, unimpressed. "Isn't this kid Lazzero's?"

For whatever reason, more than weird invitations from that kid, or Zunetto's accusations regarding those invitations, or comments regarding the games that kid plays - this is the one that brings Dino to a suddenly halt. His surprise is too complete and too genuine to be artifice as he turns to give Zunetto a confused stare. "Who?" he says.

"La-ze-ro," he repeats impatiently. "You know. A sadistic meddler who resembles this kid a lot." His fists clenched and his brow furrows down deep, and suddenly Zunetto who has been more or less pretty harmless this entire time really does seem like someone to reckon with. "If it's him, I could understand it - I get it, he probably has a massive target on his back thanks to that - but raising him in such a way-!"

"Hey, now, hold on a minute," Dino says quickly turning to them completely and holding up his hands in surrender. "Whatever it is you're thinking, you're wrong, you know? I don't know any 'Lazzero' - this kid's name is Reborn, and… honestly, I'd probably sooner run screaming for the hills than meet his blood family."

The demon child snorts at that, but his expression is a bit smug.

"Am I really supposed to believe that?" Zunetto asks darkly. "This world… it's not that much different from mine." But in the face of Dino's honest confusion, his resolve starts to waver, glancing between Dino and Reborn. "You … really don't know Lazzero? The resemblance is…"

"Um - it's not really any of our business in the first place," Tsunayoshi says, deeply uncomfortable. "I don't think Dino is doing anything bad to Reborn-kun, even though you were lead to believe something like that. Do you really think… that if I had the slightest impression that he wasn't being looked after, I would tolerate it?"

Zunetto wavers further, looking a bit baffled and troubled as he glances between Dino and Tsunayoshi - and then his eyes round with surprise. "Oh!" he says. "I wonder what it was about Yuni that made you so angry that you - I mean. I thought maybe it was because she's a girl, but…"

"I'm not sure what her being a girl has to do with it," he says, a bit confused. "But that place was awful enough as it is - she was in one of those pods, so… she'd probably been through the same thing at least once. There was no way to keep my composure after that, when a ten year old who should only be worried about school work and game releases and catching shows on the TV is having to go through something unforgivable."

For a moment, Zunetto continues to look like he's been struck in the head, and then again in a different way - some kind of head injury that's made his face go slack and strange. "Yeah, I got it," he says, and even sounds like he means it despite the expression on his face. "Even if it's not something I think is possible for a lot of these kids."

Tsunayoshi already well knows it, and he knows who he blames for that. "Well, it's more or less an 'ideal,' isn't it?" he allows. "But even if it's just a lofty dream, that's the thing I strive for, so - it makes me a bit anxious when reality falls short."

Dino snorts. "Fighting the entire world for not matching up to your dreams is a bit of an extreme way of going about things."

Tsunayoshi can't help the laugh that comes out. "Sometimes I'm a bit of an 'extreme' person," he admits. "Or so I get told from time to time." But - well, will he ever get told that again? Even if there's a Yamamoto Takeshi, or a Miura Haru, or a Hibari Kyoya of this world… it won't be the same. Even if Kyoko and Ryohei exist, even if he meets them and Ryohei gets impressed and calls him 'extreme,' won't that just hurt?

Ahh. Tsunayoshi hopes that the him of this world can meet them and make them happy, too.

An unexpected, sweet voice calls out to them, then. They haven't yet made it back to the stairs given Zunetto's accusations, which only means that the group is treated to the full effect of a leggy woman with long reddish hair descending them elegantly, yet with transparent pleasure as she focuses on Dino. She has a lovely, throaty voice as she greets him, and though Dino seems taken aback, it's obvious she isn't unwelcomed.

Which only makes Zunetto's sudden shriek of alarm all the more startling, and then he latches onto Tsunayoshi as if he's not sure if he'd rather hide behind him or hide Tsunayoshi behind his own body. All he manages to really do is nearly yank Tsunayoshi off his feet while chattering his teeth. "B-bi-bianchi!" he manages in shuddering terror.

Although the woman only has eyes for Dino, it's obvious that Dino is aware of Zunetto's reaction, but he ignores it in favor of taking the hands that the woman, Bianchi, holds out to him. She smiles beatifically and gazes up at him in adoration even as Dino clearly questions what she's doing here, too honestly confused to have ever considered her presence a possibility.

Tsunayoshi twitches when he feels a weight on his pants, and glances down to see that Reborn has relocated himself to Tsunayoshi's far side, transparently trying to hide himself behind him and clutching onto to the loose leg of his pants. Really. Isn't seven too old to cling this way? Tsunayoshi isn't a giant of a man like Dino or Takeshi.

There's a second person following more sedately after the woman, and if not for Bianchi and Dino's obvious youth, Tsunayoshi might have guessed that he was their son on some level - the tolerant look he gives the two of them speaks of familiarity and affection. But for all that he's only about Yuni's age, he's about Yuni's age, so unless Bianchi was more or less a child herself there's no way she's his mother.

An older sister, then, probably. His hair is a darker red than hers, though subtle compared to some redheads that Tsunayoshi has seen, and his eyes are more gray than green. He seems to suddenly remember something as he comes off the stairs and gives a quick look around; his eyes completely ignore Tsunayoshi and Zunetto's existence as if they're furniture, and he spots Reborn.

Reborn grunts, sounding a bit smug at the sullen look of abohrance that crosses the kid's face.

"These are two of my new wards," Dino says, abruptly switching from Italian to Japanese, turning toward them. "This is Zunetto and Nayo. We were visiting the others in the infirmary. I - see that Zunetto is already familiar, but Nayo-kun, this is Bianchi Isabella-san."

Wow, her eyes look at the two of them like they're furniture as well, if unwelcomed furniture her fiancee has brought to their new joint home and she'll need to find a reason to throw out. "There's no need for '-san,'" Bianchi Isabella says. "Aren't we closer than that?" Her Japanese is even more perfect than Dino's, who is fairly conversationally fluent himself. She leans in more toward Dino, giving Tsunayoshi in particular a sharp look beneath the blade of her long lashes.

"Haa," Dino breathes, and under his breath says something in Italian for her ears only. Bianchi Isabella barely blinks at it. "Of course, to me this is Isa-chan," he allows toward Zunetto and Tsunayoshi, and she smiles, coldly smug.

Ah. A household member then. Tsunayoshi has been a bit puzzled about it all this time, but he supposes that it makes sense that Dino wouldn't willingly involve his household into a situation with other worlders. Then again - someone of Dino's age should really realize that there's no way his household could possibly leave him to face this situation alone.

Because Zunetto is too busy clinging to him so tight that his arm will bruise, and Reborn is sullenly trying to avoid detection, Tsunayoshi does his best. "Sorry to be an inconvenience, Bianchi-san, but for the time being, we'll be depending on House Cavallone."

For a second, it looks like Isabella might take umbrage at that, but her eyes sharpen and she studies him for a moment longer - perhaps realizing that he's taken note of her position within that household and has acknowledge it. It's then that Tsunayoshi graduates from 'unwanted furniture' to 'disgusting housepet' - which is at least a living creature that Isabella doesn't look inclined to cause harm. Her gaze drops at this point and her entire expression goes from cool disdain to warmth, and she cooes to him in lilting Italian.

Tsunayoshi had already more or less thought so, but it's a beautiful language. Reborn answers to her without any sign of his previous reluctance or sulking, even though he stays put. Isabella doesn't quite frown, but she doesn't look pleased. Some kind of endearment crosses her lips, and she reaches out, obviously calling Reborn to her side. At her front, Dino looks uncomfortable with the whole charade - so whatever it is about Reborn that definitely isn't 'normal,' Bianchi Isabella hasn't taken note of it and for whatever reason, neither Dino nor Reborn have been moved to inform her otherwise.

Obligingly, Reborn releases his hold and goes to her side, patiently accepting the maternal caress she gives his cheek before patting his shoulder, obviously dismissing him from the situation. Up until now, even when he was being unobtrusive, there'd been a certain complexity to Reborn's presence, but - as simple as that woman paying attention to him, it was almost like he's nothing more than a well-behaved seven year old. He even has a bit of a hop to his step as he crosses over to the older looking boy who had followed Bianchi in.

"Greetings, Ladi-kun," Reborn chirps, and then a bit of his usual aura seeps into his face as he smiles at the older boy. "Can you come play?"

Ladi recoils, fear and abhorrence visible on his face - but the usual kind, Tsunayoshi notices, that he's seen children give each other before when they don't get along. He burbles out some horrified Italian, but Isabella is quick to reassure him. Ladi hesitates, grimaces, and then swallows down his grievances for her sake.

"Um - why don't you boys keep busy until dinner," Dino suggests glancing at them. He doesn't seem unsympathetic to Zunetto's plight, but obviously matters with his household will come first. And well - obviously, removing Zunetto from Isabella will fix that problem nicely anyway.

Tsunayoshi holds his peace until he manages to get Zunetto up the stairs. He halfway expects to run across the boys in the hall upstairs, but they're nowhere to be seen, nor can he hear anything indicating that the boy, Ladi, is being tortured or anything. He spends a spare second wondering if he should take that to mean something sinister, but - well, Ladi hates Reborn a normal amount for a child, so it's probably fine.

Zunetto huffs an exhausted sigh as he loosened his grip on Tsunayoshi, allowing blood flow to return. Tsunayoshi winces slightly and rubs at the tender flesh. Bruises for sure, but - well, he's had worse.

More importantly: "Who exactly is Bianchi Isabella?"

"Only the most terrifying woman in the - well, Italy, at least," Zunetto says, still a little too wobbly to properly guard his words. He seems to sharpen up and focus a bit, looking first at Tsunayoshi with concern and then over his shoulder to where the stairwell is. It doesn't seem like Dino and Isabella are coming this way, though. "Come on, I'll tell you a bit while we catch up to the younger Dino and Xanxus to warn them."

"I see. She's quite the dangerous person, then," Tsunayoshi observes, readily falling in step with Zunetto. That guy's a bit transparent - Tsunayoshi has his protection and sympathy based entirely on his own ignorance of the situation, but as for everyone else? Zunetto wouldn't hesitate to leave them to the wolves, even if he wouldn't go as far as tripping them. For him to be willing to seek out Xanxus, who he's already gotten bullied by, the threat of Bianchi Isabella must be overwhelming.

"…well," Zunetto says after a second, frowning slightly, "yeah, but… maybe not so much in this world?" He seems to be thinking back, either on the scene they just left or older memories. Whatever it is causes him to subside for a bit with a troubled look on his face.

"Aha… somehow I don't get the feeling that she's very gentle," Tsunayoshi says. Certainly, she'd been docile enough toward Dino, but Haru had disabused him of the notion of a girl's gentle side being her only side. And Kyoko's gentleness has only ever been a thin layer of benevolence over her own unrelenting convictions. Tsunayoshi fully trusts Bianchi Isabella's determination that he's barely worth the position of 'disgusting housepet.'

"Well, she can be, to people she loves… in a way," Zunetto says, shaking off his dark thoughts. He sounds a bit doubtful. "But - ah, how to say this… well. She's definitely a person worth of respect? Um. No one to start a fight with? Ah - because of her excessive love toward the people she cares about, though, she can be a bit overprotective."

"O… kay? Um," Tsunayoshi says. Is there anything really unusual about that, he wonders? It's natural that if you love someone, or even if you're like him and can't properly connect your feelings to theirs… if it's someone whose happiness you want, you do anything to protect it, right?

Zunetto looks at him a little desperately. "If someone takes their attention away, it'll annoy her," he says. "And her- she-" He struggles a bit with himself, coming to a halt grasping at his hair, muttering before giving a frustrated growl. "She has witchcraft!" he bursts out urgently. "If she gets angry, all kinds of food items nearby will become poison!"

Tsunayoshi stares. But the fact of the matter is: it doesn't sound like Zunetto is lying. It doesn't feel like that at all, even though he's using 'witchcraft' instead of being upfront about it. No, it'd have to be 'witchcraft' to affect objects around them without their own hands, wouldn't it?

"I know it sounds crazy," Zunetto says miserably, desperately, lowering his hands. "But please keep an eye out, especially at dinner tonight! Anyone distracting or 'taking away' Bianchi's favorite people… she'll try to eliminate them!"

"No, it's fine," Tsunayoshi says immediately, and then reaches out to settle him. "I know you didn't want to talk about it, but you warned me anyway, so - Zunetto. Thank you."

And just as easily as that, Zunetto comes to a rest under the hand he puts on his shoulder, wilting with relief and giving Tsunayoshi that 'benevolent demon' look. Ahh. If even he himself is going to make that kind of face, then shouldn't Tsunayoshi just hurry up and become a kami already? Surely that would simplify his life.

Smiling, he suggests, "Let's go warn the others already, okay?"

As he falls in a step behind Zunetto, allowing the one more familiar with the layout to lead the way - Tsunayoshi reflects that he really doesn't fit in here at all. Although he'll certainly do his best in the meantime, if feelings like Bianchi Isabella's are things to respond with fear to instead of being met with the understanding that he had back in Namimori… worse than not being able to meet with his household again, Tsunayoshi will definitely be left all alone.

There's no way to protect people if the one terrorizing them is him.

-0-


NOTES:

* Somehow I really feel like Tsunayoshi, who has spoken nothing but Japanese his entire life and may be able to generally recognize the sound of a language, would find a name like 'Narcisse' impossible. Zunetto, who is fluent in Italian, has much better luck with a French name.

Not to worry. For now, Byakuran is being called 'Narcisse' but he'll correct them on his preferred name when he wakes up. Who knows which Byakuran was the first to come upon the name, since in most worlds, he steals it from himself and it continues to ripple outward from there.

* I literally didn't think about until I was thinking about Bianchi from Xanxus' perspective (his intermission coming up; it got quite long), but she's almost certainly a Cloudy Storm. It's probably the source of her Poison Cooking - the mix of Cloud Propagation and Storm Disintegration.

Also 'Bianchi' is a fairly common Italian surname, which is why it became her Family name. Doesn't she seem like an Isabella tho? 'Gokudera Hayato' is obviously not Hayato's birthname in Italy if his half-Japanese mother was supposed to be a secret, but likely an identity he created to be free of his household when he ran away. Supposing that Lavina's Japanese parent was her father, Gokudera might even have been her surname.

* That aside, Bianchi as a Guardian would be at least as terrifying as Bianchi in love. Despite styling herself as a 'mother' instead of 'big sister' in response to what she sees as Dino and Reborn's guardian-ward(foster child) relationship, she's not romantically interested in Dino which is why he can respond to her the way he does. She's become one of his precious family members. What a hilarious disaster!

* This chapter ended up dumping a lot of exposition. I went back and forth a lot, but in the end, I left it this way.

Despite having two yandere sharing space, don't expect a showdown between Bianchi Isabella and Tsunayoshi unless something unpredictable happens. There's just no reason for them to come into conflict. Unless Reborn provokes them. Which he might, being that kind of troll.

* Reborn strikes me as the kind who has that 'chivalry' notion of never making a woman feel unwanted or like she's done something embarrassing or awkward. It's even more important to him than his own pride.

** In case there's still some confusion: Before the start of the story, Tsunayoshi, aged 17, was kidnapped off the streets and smuggled out to the facility in Southern(ish) Italy. Chapters 1-20 were 17yo!Tsunayoshi remembering being 13yo!Tsunayoshi thanks to the VR and drugs, which accounts for the odd narrative. I forgot to mention it, but I intentionally had a line in the 'field trip' chapter of Tsunayoshi 'not wanting to see this again' - since we were almost to the part of the story where he would wake up. We caught up to the present day in Zunetto's intermission, and have continued in the present during those intermissions and 'in the absence of breath' and this chapter.**