Chapter 11: One Thousand Cranes

"Hey. Did you know? Did you know that if you folded a thousand cranes, your wishes will come true?" The Girl said as she crawled up to the dark haired boy. She huddled up, her scrawny knees squeezing tightly against her chest.

"Really? A thousand cranes?"

"Yes, a thousand cranes! I heard the story from Father. It goes like this – "

"Wait. So, did you really fold cranes?" A nod.

"How many?"

"Ahah! Just ten, only ten!" The Girl said cheerfully, sticking up her ten stubby fingers. She smiled brightly.

"That's a long way to go. Here – do we have paper? I'll help you. You're too weak to finish them all by yourself."

"I can do this!" The Girl puffed her cheeks up.

"You just recovered from a fever. Oh, let's do this together." The Girl smiled brightly again at the proposition. She got up cheerfully, running up to the drawers and taking a pile of papers out.

"Oof!"

"Hey, watch it. Here – I'll help you," the Boy got up on his feet as well and scurried across the room to help her.

"Ugh…"

"Eh? Are you alright?"

"There's an awful buzzing in my head. It's getting louder," the Girl dropped the pile of papers, clutching her head in her palms.

"Are you okay? Are you – "

Tsuna awoke abruptly. She could hear a loud, urgent buzzing in her ears. Taking a few seconds to recollect her thoughts, she immediately pressed the "connect" button on the tiny communication device attached to her ear. It was convenient to the very least – one could forget to bring their phones along with them, but was still able to have a handy communicator that was linked to their cell phone just in case. It was also very handy when one's hands were fully occupied.

"Tsuna-kun! Oh, dear lord, Tsuna-kun! Don't scare Haru like that. I went to your apartment this morning to get you to try on some costumes – the landlady said you weren't there. Oh, god! I thought you had gotten abducted or something! Where are you? Haru's coming to save you!"

Tsuna immediately flinched at the string of words that were strung along a long, endless thread – at the end of Haru's speech, she could only produce a confused grumble.

"Aaagh?"

She then heard Haru's cell phone being taken from her, albeit with a few cries of protest in the background. This time, a familiar and missed voice came onto the communicator.

"Hello? Tsuna-san! I-Pin here. Are you safe?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm safe. What's Haru going on about?"

"She's very worried. I got a call in the maid's resting lounge this morning – Miss Miura sounded really urgent. She asked if you were around, but you weren't. Then she told me that you were abducted, so I rushed all the way down to the address that she gave me. Thank god you're safe though! Don't give us a heart attack. What's happened to you?"

Tsuna was still groggy, having not fully awakened yet. She shoved the blanket off herself, jumping a little when her feet met the cold marble flooring. She picked up her phone and checked the time.

"Oh no!" It was already one in the afternoon – Tsuna was incredibly late for work!

"Hello? Tsuna-san? Are you still there?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry I-Pin! I got evicted last night – so I ended up wandering and by some coincidence, ended up back in my old home. You two go back to work first – this apartment is really close to the Vongola mansion. I'll be right over in thirty minutes!"

"Ahh? But the land there is expensive! Exclusive, even! Tsuna-san, you can't be one of those fairytale princesses who work as scullery maids and turn out to have royalty in their blood, could you?"

"That doesn't matter! Crap, I'm really late now – I've got to go. Bye!"

"Wait, Tsu – "

By then, Tsuna had already disconnected the call, quickly folding the blanket up and stuffing it to the side. She went over to her box of personal belongings, digging through it for her toothbrush and work outfit – and then went through a hurried shower. All this she managed to do within a record time of ten minutes. When she had gotten out of the bathroom, she found some watery scrambled eggs as well as overcooked sausages – and a note with elegant handwriting next to it.

"Didn't cook this – the robot did. – Reborn."

Tsuna smiled at the note, picking up a fork. She then stabbed one of the crispy sausages, raising it to her nose and giving it a quick whiff. She nibbled a bit of it – shuddering as she chewed the horribly cooked breakfast. It did not help at all that it was rather cold by then.

"You should really know better than to blame your cooking on the poor robot, Reborn," she chuckled. It was one of those rare acts of affection that Reborn performed for her – unfortunately, Reborn, being Reborn, refused to admit this soft side of his, always putting the fault on some other object for his terrible culinary skills. What he did not know was that Tsuna knew – and appreciated – the gesture. She picked up the plate, emptying its contents into a lunchbox before stuffing it into her extra bag – the other one had been left at Haru's office. Tsuna then ran off, a coat slung over her shoulders.

When Tsuna approached the gates, she was huffing and puffing, trying to regain her breath. She heard her name being called from the distance.

"Tsuna-san!"

"Tsuna-kun!"

Two different voices called out to her simultaneously. Tsuna looked up – she saw I-Pin and Haru getting out of the red car, running towards her.

"Haru! I-Pin! Sorry for being late!" Tsuna willed herself to run a little further, but being her careless self, she stumbled over a crack in the pavement, falling down flat on her face. She felt two pairs of hands, each grabbing her left and right arms to help her out.

"Careful, Tsuna-san. You're really careless," I-Pin spoke to her in a chiding tone.

"Ha-hi! You can't scare Haru like that again! You're not permitted to!"

"I guess I'll try," Tsuna muttered. However, she felt very guilty about worrying her two friends. Clasping her hands together, she bowed to the two of them.

"Sorry for worrying you guys! It was a sudden move – so I couldn't really inform you. I think we should really get to work now, I-Pin. It's already one forty-five – I'm going to get skewered!"

"It's alright – I explained to Master Yamamoto. He looked a bit anxious too when I told him what happened, but I guess it worked out!"

"Anyway – I've got to go back to handle some documents. I'll head back now – oh, and, why don't you stop by my place for dinner tonight? I still need to fit you into some costumes," Haru said.

"I really appreciate the gesture, but – "

"No buts! See you tonight!" Haru turned, running back to the car. There was no such thing as rejection in her dictionary, was there? In any case, Tsuna decided that it was about time that they should get to work. She drew a long breath.

"Oh well, let's go in to work," she said, taking out the lunchbox from her bag. "I'll eat on the way."

"Wow, Tsuna-san. That takes a lot of skill, doesn't it?"

"Not really," she replied, popping off the lunchbox's cap. I-Pin took a peep at its contents.

"I have more dumplings back at the lounge – I think it's safer for your stomach – "she immediately said upon looking at the food

"It's alright, I-Pin. But this is really delicious, though it doesn't look like it. It has a special ingredient inside."

"Special ingredient? In this simple dish?"

Tsuna laughed again, picking up a half-eaten sausage and popping it into her mouth.

"Yup! It's something like the special ingredient in those dumplings of yours, but different."

I-Pin looked a bit eager to know by now, listening intently to Tsuna.

"What is it?"

"Love."

Tsuna had indeed finished her meal by the time they reached the lounge. She set her bag down, taking off her coat at the same time.

"Right! It's time to do some work. What are you going to do first, I-Pin?"

"I'm not sure. I could give the windows a little scrub – or mop the floors. You, however, should not forget your duties. All the masters are home today, but they're probably out of their rooms. Take this opportunity to clean their rooms up."

Tsuna frowned slightly. She had wanted to work with I-Pin, and she had so many questions to ask – particularly regarding disappearance. So far, nothing major had happened to her after that encounter with Mukuro, but she was not about to take any chances. Was I-Pin lying when she said it was a joke? Deep down in her heart, she honestly hoped that it was.

"Oh, and wait – can you set this down on Lambo's desk when you're in his room? He needs it a lot."

I-Pin passed her a small storage chip.

"No problem."

Bidding a farewell to I-Pin and a promise to meet up again after work, Tsuna dutifully set off in the direction of Lambo's room. She flipped the chip over, wondering what Lambo would have needed in the storage chip, especially from I-Pin. Before Tsuna knew it, she was standing outside Lambo's closed door, staring at the little chip in her hand. She raised a hand to give it a few solid knocks.

"Lambo-san? Are you in, Lambo-san?"

"Ah – yes. Is it the maid? Just press the button and come in."

Tsuna looked to her right-hand side and found a button. She realized then that Lambo's room was the only room in the entire mansion that used a mechanized door. The rest of the band members had traditional wooden doors that lead their room, and even Reborn did not like the notion of having a mechanized door in the apartment. Too gaudy, he had said it was. Many people switched from traditional doors to those automatic ones over the past few decades, but there were still quite a few who preferred the old way of, well, swinging the door open themselves.

The door slid open, and Tsuna stepped in. She found Lambo lounging on his sofa, playing some games on the latest portable gaming console.

"Uh – I-Pin told me to deliver this chip to you…"

"Oh yeah, my homework from Friday. Just put it down on the desk and you can start cleaning the room," he said lazily, pointing towards his desk while keeping most of his attention still on the game.

Homework? They're classmates? Another question to ask I-Pin now.

Tsuna did as she was told, then went on to tidy the room up. By four thirty, she had finished clearing up all the rooms that she needed to. She stretched upon closing Gokudera's room's door, giving a nice, long heave of satisfaction and relief.

"Oh! Sawada! You're safe!" Tsuna turned her head and found herself looking up to face Yamamoto.

"Ah, Yamamoto-san. It was just a false alarm by Haru. You shouldn't really worry about me."

"Oh, that's great. Thank goodness!"

"Is there anything you would like me to do?" Yamamoto scratched his head a bit, before revealing the guitar case that had hid behind his back.

"Ahaha! I guess you knew I had a motive behind calling you out again. Well, actually, Hibari left his guitar back at the practice room – trust him to be so muddle headed – and I can't find him anywhere. I have to… go somewhere now."

"Ah – I'll deliver it to him when I see him," Tsuna stretched her hands out, gingerly taking it into her arms.

"Thanks, Sawada! If you can't find him, then just enter his room and put it in the cupboard nearest to the bathroom. If he makes any noise, just tell him I told you to. Well then, I'll be going!" Yamamoto ran off in the opposite direction. He seemed to be asking her for favours all the time – then running off. Tsuna did not mind though – it was her job as a maid after all.

"Oh, yeah! Wait!" He stopped in his tracks before he ran too far.

"Eh?"

"I need your help with one more thing."

"You can ask me for help with anything," Tsuna smiled.

"You're coming to work tomorrow right?"

"Y-Yeah. That's true…" What was he getting at? Tsuna wondered.

"Right – I'll tell you tomorrow then – just don't wear that maid costume of yours to work. Bye!" And then, Yamamoto was on his way again. When he had gone, Tsuna realized the implications of the task left upon her.

Wait…Enter Hibari-san's room?

Tsuna ventured down the hallways, turning at various corners and trying hard to locate Hibari's room. He apparently disliked herd behavior a lot, so his room was isolated, far from the rest of the rooms. Even if Tsuna was shy and socially incapable, Hibari was a much more anti-social man than her. So how he had managed to capture the hearts of many of his fans was a mystery to Tsuna. Then again, she thought, girls tended to fall for the "cool and aloof" type of boys as well. That would probably explain Hibari's unique charm.

She finally located his room on the far side of the mansion, knocking on it once, then twice, and finally thrice. She remembered that she was not supposed to be going in, despite Yamamoto saying that she could, but she also figured that the guitar was probably a very expensive one, and it would not bode well for her to leave it just outside his room. What if it got taken away by accident? Then Tsuna would really have to take the blow.

There was no reply from the inside, so Tsuna was at loss of what to do. Could she risk it? Just take the guitar, stuff it into his cupboard and quickly run out. She had barely escaped with her skin when she got into trouble with Mukuro though. Hibari's temper, or so she heard, was supposedly far worse than Mukuro's.

Finally, Tsuna decided that she did not want to stand outside waiting anymore. She opened the door slowly after testing that it was not locked, and then peeped through the small cracks. There was a fragrant smell of soap and shampoo wafting in the air – it seemed as though someone had just taken a shower and left. Once she made sure that there was not a single person in there, she snuck in quickly on her tip-toes, opening the cupboard nearest to his bathroom. She quickly put it in the almost empty cupboard – but the only other item in there caught her eye.

A string of a thousand cranes.

A/N: I realize I always make Yamamoto randomly pop up to give errands to Tsuna. Gonna have to let go of that weird habit of mine – but I really had to this time since it was really important D=

Anyway, another quick and rather short update (I actually wrote this 1 day after I did chapter 10, but it needed a lot more polishing as I had to revise my planning for this story) before I charge into test war zone. I have a lot of projects coming up as well – but I won't say that this will be on hiatus though. I'll still find time to write it =)