A/N: I featured a few different languages so here's a key!
"Blah blah blah." = Italian
"Blah blah blah." = Japanese
"Blah blah blah" = English
"Blah blah blah" = Mandarin (A Chinese language)
Enjoy!
CHAPTER 2
"Oh wow! Takesushi is still open?" Elena grabbed Gokudera's hand and dragged the reluctant boy into the sushi shop.
"Hello, Tsuyoshi-san? Natsuko-chan?" She spoke in fluent Japanese, making Gokudera stare at her in wonder.
"Yes, coming!" A shout came from the kitchen. A man came rushing in shortly after, tying the apron around his waist. "Rockwell-san?"
Elena and him hugged before she sat down by the counter and gestured for the confused Italian to sit. Tsuyoshi grinned at the sight of Gokudera.
"Is this your little one?" Tsuyoshi asked. Elena shook her head. Tsuyoshi seemed to sigh before he extended a hand to him. "Hello there, I'm Tsuyoshi. What's your name?"
Gokudera paled, flipping through the book to find a clue for what he said. "He's Italian. Doesn't know a bit of Japanese." Elena said, prompting the two adults to laugh.
"Umm... I am... I am... Gokudera Hayato." Gokudera stumbled through the words, momentarily forgetting his name in his panic but remembering to say his last name first.
"Do you speak English?" Tsuyoshi asked in English instead. Gokudera was more confident in this.
"Ah! Yes! I do." He said, perking up.
"Great! How about I make you two some sushi? What would you like?" He turned his back pulling out a menu and handing it to them.
"Anything is fine." Tsuyoshi set to chopping up some fish expertly, occasionally making fancy poses and silly facial expression to entertain the boy. Gokudera was not impressed. At all.
After a while, Tsuyoshi turned his head.
"Natsuko! Where did you put the pickled plums?" Tsuyoshi shouted in Japanese, prompting Gokudera to flick through the book and not find anything. He glanced up at Elena who just waved her hand and dismissed him. It wasn't important for him to know.
Soon, a woman came trotting in from the back, a boy following close behind her. The woman had dark hair, much like the other two residents, but unlike the others, she had grey eyes. She smiled and moved towards the cupboards while the boy came around to sit by Gokudera. He was probably the same age as Gokudera but he was a lot taller. His black hair was short and his amber eyes spoke of innocence and energy. The only things making him seem the same age were his curious, round eyes and his face, round and chubby with baby fat.
"It's here." She opened one of the bottom cabinets and pulled the pickled plums out, handing them to her husband. The woman then tied an apron and began assisting Tsuyoshi, keeping up a relaxing conversation with Elena. The boy turned to look at Gokudera and suddenly grinned, much like his father. "Hi! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi! But you can call me Takeshi."
"I'm Gokudera Hayato. Nice to meet you." Takeshi's grin widened and Gokudera briefly wondered if he would split his face. Then he realized he was probably going to hate this guy the moment Takeshi started babbling in rapid Japanese.
"Bye Rockwell-san!" Takeshi waved excitedly at them as the two left the shop. Gokudera's eye twitched in annoyance as the boy smiled down at him. "Bye Gokudera-kun!"
He glared at him before turning away, causing the tall boy to laugh. Elena waved at the two before grabbing Gokudera's hand and walking away from the shop.
"I don't like that guy." Gokudera grumbled, puffing out his cheeks and shaking off Elena's hand.
"Why? Takeshi is really nice and was so excited to meet a new friend." She said, looking down at the grumpy child. Gokudera glared up at her.
"He's so annoying! Also, he didn't even care that I didn't understand him. He just kept talking as if we were friends!" He whined.
"Don't say that. I saw you smiling while you talked." Elena said, ruffling his hair just like how Takeshi did in the restaurant. The boy bristled angrily, hissing like an angered cat.
"Th-That's not true! You're just imagining things." The woman rolled her eyes at Gokudera's behavior and shook her head.
Soon after that, Gokudera started focusing on their surroundings. The small suburban houses were quiet. He wasn't surprised, children would be leaving school in around 10 minutes so it was bound to be quiet for now. He wasn't excited about when the kids would arrive.
"Next, we're going to the shopping district for a little snack. There was this one amazing cake shop that I'm sure you will love." She said. He again, wasn't focusing. He was too busy peering at houses and wondering what kind of people lived inside.
As they entered the cake shop, Gokudera was amazed. Then the amazement quickly flipped into disgust as he realized how pink it was. Sure, it was fancy and well decorated but... It was so pink. If anybody from his class saw him here, they would never let him hear the end of it.
After Elena ordered for him, they drifted off to a table in the corner and sat down. She took out her phone and made a phone call. Gokudera stared at her for a while before bringing out the notebook and opening a blank page. Might as well draw or something.
"What do you mean you lost it?!" Elena suddenly shrieked in Mandarin, eyes darkened in anger as she listened to the person who called. "That had all the info for Timoteo! ...Don't try blame the others ...This was your responsibility so fix it. When, I get back, you better have found it. If not, I'll make sure your wife brings flowers to your hospital room." She cut the phone and gripped it hard, denting the edges.
"Wha-? Miss, calm down!" He said as Elena looked as if she would crush the phone. "You'll break it!"
Elena stopped at that and looked down at Gokudera. "Ah! Sorry, sorry. It's just my assistant was taking care of my folders while I was away and he lost them." Instinctively speaking in English.
"Were they important?" He asked. Her eyes darkened and she was thoughtful for a few seconds before sighing and giving in. The child already knew a lot about the darker parts of the mafia, there was no point in hiding it.
"I had files for Nono regarding the drugs that Estraneo were producing before they were suddenly wiped out." She said in Mandarin, her voice barely audible. She knew that people might be listening to them. Gokudera's eyes widened. That was top level information that could probably start a mafia war if given to the wrong people.
"Whoa..." He said. She took a deep breath before smiling cheerfully like nothing had gone wrong.
"Anyway, let's enjoy the cake, ne?" Gokudera raised a brow at the Japanese word at the end of her sentence. She sighed and shook her head before picking up her fork.
Suddenly, Elena stood up, startling Gokudera into almost dropping his coffee cake.
"Mai-chan!" Elena rushed towards the doors.
"Mai-chan? As in the mascot?" Gokudera turned to see, a woman stroll in with two children by her side. He gaped at the woman who was pretty much a real life Mai-chan. She had the knee-length waves of orange hair and large bright eyes but she had glasses on instead and her eyes were grey. She also wasn't wearing lolita clothing but instead just wore a lime colored sundress with sandals and a dark green jacket. She looked startled but accepted the hug from Elena.
"Elena-chan? What are you doing here?" She said, voice soft and flowery but it was more mature than the voice Gokudera imagined for his teacher's drawings. Elena pointed back towards Gokudera.
"I'm escorting my student around Namimori for today. His name is Hayato but he doesn't speak a single bit of Japanese, weird right?" She said, making both adults giggle like school girls.
"Good thing school just ended. Kyo-chan speaks quite good English and Ryo-chan is learning. I think they'll be just fine. Kyo-chan, Ryo-chan, go over there and play with him. Also, speak to him in English, he doesn't know Japanese." She said to the kids.
"Okay! We'll extremely go talk to him!" The white haired boy shouted before grabbing his sisters hand and tugging her with him towards Gokudera.
Gokudera panicked upon seeing them arrive. What if they were like Takeshi and only spoke to him in Japanese? Ryohei grinned and placed a fist on his chest.
"Yo! I'm Sasagawa Ryohei, to the extreme! This is my sister, Kyoko!" He shouted, making Gokudera flinch from the sound. He was even louder than Celestina!
"Hi there!" Kyoko waved at him. Gokudera reluctantly waved back.
"Hi. I'm Gokudera Hayato." She nodded with an 'un!' before sitting down at the table her brother next to her and across from Gokudera.
"Your hair looks like an octopus!" Ryohei laughed, pointing and Gokudera's shoulder length hair. "Why don't we call you octopus?"
Gokudera frowned at him, glaring darkly. Kyoko hit her brother's arm and scolded him, making the boy pout. "Well, your hair looks like grass! I'll call you turf-top!"
Soon, Gokudera and Ryohei were arguing heatedly while Kyoko laughed on the side, helping her brother when he got stuck on the English words.
Elena and Mai looked on from the sides, thoroughly amused at their childish antics.
They walked out of the cake shop after a nice dessert (that Gokudera refused to eat), the two adults chatting animatedly. Ryohei was giving Kyoko a piggyback ride, causing the girl to squeal each time he suddenly started running and jumping. Gokudera looked to the side, spotting a river.
Being the curious, and frankly quite rash, child he was, he ran towards the water, looking at his reflection in the clear waters. Noticing a shiny stone, he reached for it but accidentally fell forwards, landing in the cold water.
A hand grabbed him and pulled him up, and twisted him around to face them. Gokudera opened his eyes once he was out of the water. He gazed into large caramel eyes, blinking back at him. The child was male but had extremely feminine features. His short brown hair defied gravity, amazing Gokudera. The boys school uniform trousers were now wet since he walked into the river to pull Gokudera back.
"Hi." The boy said shyly. Gokudera blinked back at him before standing up and out of the water.
"Hi." He said. The boy smiled at him.
"My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi... But, just call me Tsuna." Gokudera nodded.
"I'm Gokudera Hayato."
"Gokudera, why were you in the river?" Gokudera blinked at him, not comprehending it. Something about water?
"Oh! Umm..." He reached over and picked up the shiny stone. He showed Tsuna the stone, making the boy stare at it in amazement.
"Wow! Awesome. It's so shiny." Tsuna said, plucking it from Gokudera's hands and holding it up to the light. The light passed through semi-transparent stone, making his face go red with the light. "Do you live in Namimori?"
Gokudera made a face before rushing to the shore and opening his notebook. Finding the phrase, he looked back to the other boy.
"No. I'm Italian." Suddenly, Gokudera's stomach growled. He had himself to blame for not taking some cake. "Umm... I'm hungry."
"Eh? What?" Tsuna tilted his head. Gokudera decided to use gestures. He pointed at his eye. "Eye..."
Gokudera pointed at his stomach. "Stomach?" Gokudera mimed eating. "Eat... I stomach eat?"
Gokudera seemed hopeful, praying that Tsuna understood him. Tsuna was still confused for around a minute. Then Gokudera's stomach rumbled again. Tsuna suddenly understood.
"Oh! You're hungry! I'll take you to my house." Tsuna grabbed his hand and led him away.
"Kaa-san, I brought my friend, Gokudera-san, over! He's hungry so can you bring up some cookies?" Tsuna shouted as he and Gokudera walked up the stairs.
"Okay, Tsu-kun! It's nice that you finally brought a friend home. You're so grown up now!"
Tsuna sat on the floor, searching through piles of dirty clothes and pulled out two playstation pads. He hooked his Playstation 4 up to the TV and gestured for Gokudera to come sit next to him. Gokudera grabbed his notebook and started scribbling.
He showed it to Tsuna who tried to read it.
"Do you speak English?" Tsuna drawled, struggling to read. He looked at Gokudera. "A little." He said. "But it's no good."
He brought out a test paper and showed it to Gokudera. The score was only a 15.
"Oh." He shrugged and chose a random game to play. Soon, they were playing fighting games while munching on Nana's amazing cookies and shrieking like all kids would when their player character got hit.
After a few intense games of a random fighting game that Gokudera didn't bother remembering other than the crazy battle cries and flashy people with weird names('What kind of man goes by Jojo?' he thought), he lay next to Tsuna on the floor looking at a manga. He couldn't read the words but he got the gist of it by looking at the pictures so he didn't really mind. Occasionally, he would recognize words from his book and translate the sentence as best he could. He glanced over at the brunette who seemed fully focused on the book in his hands.
"Um... Tsuna? I'm hungry." Tsuna took a few seconds to register that before he looked to the ceiling.
"Ask kaa-san." Tsuna stated. Gokudera blinked at him for a few seconds. He sighed and stood up, walking down the stairs and towards the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Tsuna's mother was diligently making dinner in the most creative way. Even though nobody was watching, she would do fancy tricks and dance around the kitchen, truly seeming to enjoy herself. After flipping a spoon into the pot of sauce perfectly, she noticed Gokudera staring at her from the door. She smiled sheepishly and walked over.
"What is it, Gokudera-kun?" She asked. He stared at her, not understanding her question. He cursed himself for not bringing the note book.
"Um... do you speak English?" He prayed that she did since all the people he's met have spoken English apart from that Takeshi guy. She tilted her head.
"Well, I am no good but I will try. I am worse than my boy at English!" She said with a laugh. "You don't speak Japanese?"
"No, I'm Italian. I was on a school trip but I live in Italy." He responded. Her brown eyes lit up at his words.
"Like Iemitsu, my husband." She said, excitedly.
Gokudera quickly scanned through the names in his head before reaching an answer. "Iemitsu Sawada?"
"Yes! That's him." He paled at that. 'This kind but airheaded housewife was married to the Lion of Vongola, Iemitsu?! Then Tsuna's related to the mafia!' He thought.
"Oh my..." He said. Before he could think of an intelligent response, she had begun to babble, much like Takeshi but less annoying. He started to pay attention once she mentioned she knew other Italians.
"I know a few Italians. There was also Timoteo-san and Rockwell-san who visited when Tsuna was 5-"
"Elena! I forgot." He exclaimed. "Do you have Rockwell-san's number?"
"I think so..." She went to grab her phone and searched for the number quickly. Nana handed the phone to him. "Here you go. She said to keep it in case of emergency or if we were in danger, which is weird. I also have the numbers of-"
He tuned her out and dialed the number. After a few rings, a frantic voice came on, speaking in rushed Japanese.
"Nana-san? Are you in trouble right now? I can't get there any time soon because I'm caught up in looking for a missing child. I can forward the information to Iemitsu and I think he'll send the Japanese CEDEF branch to your house in less than five minutes and I'm pretty sure Ganauche is in Japan for business. He'll be glad to he-"
"Miss, shut up." Gokudera said simply.
"Hayato? Why do you have Nana-san's phone?" She asked stopping her mad dash through the shopping district and raising her eyebrow.
"I'm at her house. I got wet when I was looking for a stone in the river after you ate cake. This boy, Tsuna helped me and took me to his place. Apparently, he's also Iemitsu's son."
"You know about that? Not good... Anyway, I'll be there, wait for me." She cut the phone. Nana stared at him for a few seconds.
"What did she say?"
"She'll be here soon. Also, I'm kind of hungry."
Nana nodded, dragging him to the kitchen. "Sure thing. I think I have some octopus sausages that you can eat!"