Chapter 7: Susurrus

1400 hrs, Monday; 4 January,Year 2100

Why had Mukuro wanted to know about her relation to Reborn? A part of Tsuna was dying to know, but the other part did not. And besides, did Mukuro know Reborn? The answer to that was quite obvious. But there was something about the way Mukuro spoke Reborn's name that did not come out right – acid, it was acid and scathing, hate that dissolved all flesh down to the bare bones. Reborn had not visited her for months now – he was too busy with his work, work with the Vongola Entertainment Company. Maybe during this time, he might have bumped into Mukuro and gone about antagonizing people.

Highly possible. I heard from I-Pin that all the residents in this house work there. Tsuna connected some of the dots in her mind, before roughly shaking her head.

"Nothing to do with you, Tsuna," she whispered lightly to herself, "nothing to do with you."

She was looking at her feet as she hurried away from the room, her fringe shadowing her eyes as she went. Her body actions drew a bit of attention from the other maids, who stared at her as she scurried past them.

"I heard that she went into Master Mukuro's room."

"Probably fired, hah! That's what you get for being inexperienced."

"Will she disappear?"

"Disappear?"

"Like the rest."

"Shush! Speak not of that! Get to work."

Tsuna heard these snide remarks as she walked past her colleagues. Disappear? She wondered what that was about – it made her heart thump a little faster. She made a mental note to ask I-Pin about the talk of disappearance.

"Hey, you!" a voice called out from behind her. She felt a hand grip her shoulder to stop her from walking.

Mukuro sat at his table, stroking the sides of the photo frame as he stared out of the window. Out of the side of his eyes, he could see a small crack at the side of it.

"Oh?" he was not very amused to see that, his smile fading away.

"Hm."

His phone that had once sat idly on the table began to vibrate, sending out shrill beeps as it did. Mukuro ignored it, and continued to stare at the lightly falling snow drops. The phone stopped vibrating, and paused in silence for a second before it started again.

Mukuro, with a swift hand, grabbed the phone and flipped the cover open, tapping on the "receive call" button on the screen.

"What?"

"Is that all you can say, what? You're late,"

"Be quiet, Reborn. I'm leaving," without waiting for a reply, he ended the call, snapped the phone cover shut and stood up.

There's more to it…I'm sure.

"Eh?" Tsuna turned around, a little faster than she had anticipated, which led her to losing her balance. Thankfully, before her bum could come in contact with the cold hard floor for the umpteenth time since she started her job, a strong arm grabbed her from underneath her waist, preventing her from falling.

"Eek!" she squealed, before she realized that she was in close contact with a stranger, and a man, no less. She grew redder and redder as the seconds seemed to tick by with excruciating slowness.

"Ah! Sorry to the extreme!"

"What the – GYAH!"

The arm released her suddenly, and she fell to the floor all the same.

"Oow, that hurts," she cried, rubbing her rear as she tried to get up on her feet again.

"SORRY TO THE EXTREME, AGAIN!" the man yelled with so much power and volume, Tsuna could not help but fall back to the ground as she cupped her ears. The man extended a strong, muscular arm to help her up. Tsuna grabbed it, appreciative of the help, but not so grateful for the numb sensation of her backside coupled with the ringing of her ears.

"Thank you," she coughed up.

The man had white hair that spiked up and grey-blue eyes that reflected intense determination in them, just as the way he spoke.

"Anyway! To cut to the chase, new maid! Can I have lunch delivered to my room? Two extreme servings please! Lambo's eating too," he said quickly, before turning around with great speed, jogging off down the corridor. "Thanks!" he called as he waved the back of his hand.

"Eh? Ah? Wait, what?" Tsuna stood, dumbfounded, blinking at the figure moving away at a great speed.

What…?

She shook her head, going on her way.

"Lunch, huh? I'll have to head down to the kitchens," she muttered as she went on her way again.

At the kitchens, she found two chefs at the stoves cooking, and a lady who was washing some dishes at the sink. The lady wore the typical brown maid uniform that everyone else wore, so Tsuna knew immediately that she did not work at the kitchens, but was one of the regular maids in the mansion.

"Ah, what's this?" she turned around. The woman was middle-aged, and had a homely look as well as a motherly tone in her voice. "A new one? Well, welcome to the kitchen!"

Tsuna gave her a nervous smile.

"Er, I need to deliver lunch."

"Lunch? Well, to whom, darling?"

"Uhh," Tsuna racked her brains for an answer. She had not asked the man for his name, but she remembered that there was one other name mentioned in his loud and quick request.

"Someone called Lambo-san, I might think…and the loud, white-haired one," she said softly, unsure.

"Ah, you mean Master Sasagawa?"

"I should think so," she said.

"Alright. Maurice! You heard the lady!"

"Aye, ma'm!"

While waiting for the orders of food to be cooked, Tsuna once again took out her handy map, looking for "Sasagawa's" room. Her finger traced the map, looking all around for it. "Uuuuuuh," she muttered to herself, furrowing her eyebrows in frustration.

"Hey, your order is up!" the chef said, placing the last plate on a trolley.

"Ah, thank you!"

Tsuna folded the map and put it back into her pocket again before walking up to the trolley. With a shy nod, she said a small word of thanks to the woman and the chef before making her way to Sasagawa's room.

After turning a few wrong corners and hitting a dead end, she managed to locate the room. She could hear the excited shouting of two men and sounds of energy blasts and things crashing coming from inside the door. Tsuna knocked on it, at first soft and unsure. No one had heard it, so she gathered more courage and gave two harder knocks on it.

"Excuse me? Sasagawa-san? The food you ordered is here!"

"Ah! Thanks! Just open the door – whoop! Darn, I died. Pause the game, pause the game!" Tsuna heard the background music stop, and heavy footsteps getting louder and louder. She opened the door, and looking down the small walkway she could see Sasagawa-san approaching, and behind him, a suave-looking young teen. Tsuna rolled the trolley in before the well-built man took over from her.

"Alright, I guess that should be it. Uh, enjoy your meal!"

"Will do, will do! By the way, Miss-New-Extreme-Maid! What's your name?"

"Sawada Tsuna," she replied with a smile.

"Ah, Sawada Tsuna, is it! Good to meet you."

"S-same here."

"Ryohei-nii! Hurry up!"

"Coming!" Sasagawa-san chuckled. "I'll be seeing you around then!" he said, pushing the tray back into his room.

"I guess so," Tsuna replied, turning around and exiting the room.

I hope so.

Tsuna wandered back down, wondering what to do. She could clean the rest of the rooms, she thought, and that would be what she would do. In fear of ending up in a similar situation as before, Tsuna checked the map carefully.

"Don't enter Master Hibari's or Master Mukuro's rooms. Take caution."

She remembered I-Pin's words to her, and since Sasagawa's room was occupied, that left Lambo-san, Gokudera-san, and Yamamoto-san's rooms to clean. She nodded to herself, picking out Yamamoto's room to clean first, since she felt the most comfortable with him. Inside, she wondered what sort of room he would have.

"No time to think about these idle things!" she said, returning the handy map to her pocket before walking to Yamamoto's room. When she got there, she found the door to be slightly ajar. She opened the door slowly, closing it quietly. When she looked up, her mind turned blank, unable to process anything at all.

"Hiee-k!" she gave a shrill cry, before clamping her mouth tightly and placing her hands over them.

There, on the bed, lay two men – two men she could make out to be both Yamamoto and Gokudera – sleeping cosily under a thick comforter, together. Tsuna could feel the blood rushing to her head, and as soon as she could get her mind to function again, she felt something moist dripping from her nose.

Crap! Tsuna swiped her hand from under her nose and saw that it was blood. Nosebleed!

Then, at the worst timing possible, Gokudera stirred, opening his eyes and letting out a loud yawn. He got up slowly and turned to the direction at which Tsuna stood frozen.

"Who the hell's there?"

Yamamoto now shifted a bit, groaning as he rubbed his eyes. His arm flopped lazily back to the bed, and he let out a loud yawn at the same time.

"Uhn…? Hayato, who's there?" He turned a few times more before getting up, propping himself on his elbow. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the blurry figure that was Tsuna.

"Sorry for intruding!" she said quickly, a hand grabbing her nose and the other opening the door. She closed it as quickly and as quietly as she could, running off to look for a toilet. Images were now rushing through her mind – Tsuna was embarrassed. She could not let the world know!

She could not let the world know…that she was a closet Yaoi fan girl.

He wasn't naked! He wasn't naked! He wasn't naked! They weren't naked! They weren't naked! They – oh, Tsuna, stop thinking, just stop!

She managed to find a bathroom just in time, before the bloody mess went out of hand. Wiping her nose clean, she panted softly, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Although being fed with more, Tsuna looked paler than ever before. Perhaps it was the effects of working at the place, but she did not know. But what she knew was that working in the mansion was as thrilling, maybe even more thrilling than a ride on a roller coaster. The thing was – Tsuna hated roller coasters. The last time Reborn had forced her on one alone, she was all jittery the whole of the afternoon and the next morning.

"Not good, not good, not good," she muttered to herself. "At least they were clothed."

The bleeding had now stopped, and Tsuna's breathing became more regular. She wiped her face once more, adjusting her hair and head piece before walking back out into the corridor, acting as though nothing had just happened.

"Oi!" Tsuna could hear the distinctive voice of Gokudera's now. Her knees started to turn jelly. This was too much happening to her in one day! First it was with Mukuro, and now this!

Reborn taught you better, Tsuna!

Tsuna took a huge gulp of air before turning around to face Gokudera.

"Y-yes sir!"

Gokudera grabbed her wrist roughly, dragging her to the side.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing at all sir! Nothing, nothing at all!" Tsuna lied in an attempt at shameless self-preservation.

"Tell me, what did you see?!"

"I saw you and Yamamoto-san lying in the same bed and sleeping innocently and not in any other manner that might send millions of girls flying in a giant rage and a massive nosebleed sir!" she hastily replied, clearly intimidated. At her reply, Gokudera placed a palm over his face, shaking his head in frustration, at the same time, mocking Tsuna's stupidity.

"Anyway! I need to clarify with you in case your stupid head interprets it the wrong way and you start spreading gibberish about us. In any case, I do not sleep with that blockhead the way that you're probably thinking!"

"Of course, sir! The both of you were…dressed!"

"Ugh…if this clarifies things for you…"

Gokudera looked away, a pained expression of melancholy on his face. Tsuna tilted her head in confusion, before raising her hands and shaking them furiously.

"If you can't tell me then, please don't! I don't want to trouble you."

"No, it's alright."

Gokudera looked at Tsuna again. Her face – her eyes – it all made it easier to remember. Remember the good memories – and yet, so agonizingly easy to remember the horrid things so hard to forget. He clenched his fists.

"It's something we always did, and we still always do. We're childhood friends – we used to share a bed like that, together."

"Ah, I see. Well, uh, that's sweet. I-I'm sorry for intruding!"

"No, it's fine," Gokudera looked down. "You can go. Just don't tell everyone you see about this. Keep quiet, you hear me?"

"Yes sir!" Tsuna affirmed nervously, running off again aimlessly.

Gokudera watched as she took off, her shadow disappearing further in the distance.

Something…something the three of us used to do together.

A/N: Wait what? I didn't just write that. 8D

Hell, it's 2.30 in the morning and my mind is messed up.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

doremishine itsuko: Yes, her name is only Tsuna - Tsunayoshi sounds far to masculine and I don't really want to sidetrack to much from her original names. Pairings are also involved, so worry not.

Seriyuu: Link made D

Bloodstained Pierrot: Only learned how to use them recently though!

kikyokyoyahibari: Truth to oneself, lies to the world.

Everyone else: A HUGE THANK YOU!