A/N: Yay~ 5th chapter haha. Sorry it's later than than when I usually update but I hope you like this one. For the next chapter, I'm hoping that if you guys have any ideas, please feel free to say so. Thank you for reading this far and keeping up with me. Enjoy~
~Sweetness~
Chapter 5 - Please Read Between The Lines
In the dimness of the night, the only thing that fell directly under the moon's spotlight was the Vongola heir and the new blood.
This. This was the other pureblood. That man's son.
His fiery eyes fell upon the spiky haired boy as he pressed tightly against their family heir, but he couldn't hide it. He was no fool. Even though Ricardo had kept quiet about it this whole time, he knew. A scowl settled on his face.
"There is no love that comes with our duty,"
He shifted his eyes from Giotto to the smaller boy. Were all the people he knew fools? He finally locked the fiery red irises on the boy who was staring right back at him as he walked closer. The brown haired kid's gaze followed him as he came near, stopping to bend low in front of him so that their eyes met; the boy's breath turned non existent as he held it from the unknown man.
"Let him eat you already," he growled, "Or I will,"
…...
Who was this man? He looked at him with such hostility that the stranger's wrath started to hypnotize his senses.
He couldn't keep it in anymore; he needed to breathe! Tsuna's breath escaped from him in staccato as he tried to hold it in and an embarrassing heat pinched him as he saw the man's nose twitch.
"S-sorry," he tried to squeak in.
The man's frown only settled in deeper and the boy's ears popped. Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise as a monotone ringing filled them and the room turned murky. It was as if something was enveloping the very walls of the gym. The long face of the mysterious stranger flashed rhythmically with static – stretching and reverting back as if the space was being warped.
What was happening?! Tsuna clutched his chest as a heaviness overpowered him. Fear. It was fear growing inside his brain as he grew confused. Wishing that someone would explain what in the world was going on, something stuffed down his throat and he couldn't even scream for help.
He evaded the sight of the suited man staring intently at him and escaped his line of view to the window far off in the other side of the gym behind him. Nothing was making sense. The scene outside was malicious – a sinister inkiness seeped into the red colored sky, the moon shinning a sanguine flush.
"I want this to be the last time I see you untouched,"
The clear domineering voice cringed through every inch of his flesh.
"I want you eaten and taken,"
…...
There was an aged look shadowing his face as he came in the Vongola residence. Yes, he was called for matters concerning him, but the situation was all too troubling on its own. The servants greeted him as he was welcomed in as a familiar face and led down the corridor to meet the man who called for him.
A door barely opened as they entered the narrow hallway and a tall man appeared from the ornate place, his sudden presence exuded the same authoritative dominance all nobles gave.
"Reborn," Ricardo came out of the room.
It wasn't actually the best of times to see the second heir to Vongola family.
"Secondo," he nodded at him back.
The second heir signaled the servants to leave them, and the two who led Reborn in bowed to leave. There was a cushion of silence as they waited to make sure they were safe from earshot before the Vongola continued.
"Your blood is here," his gruff brows tightened.
The door Ricardo came out of remained open and he pulled it wider as Reborn followed him back in the private room. His expressions remained stiff, but his shoulders relaxed as he saw the small brown haired boy he cared for tucked neatly in a bed. The boy's lips parted peacefully as he droned in his sleep; there didn't seem to be any injuries on him. A great chunk of the worries Reborn held lifted from the back of his mind. Tsuna was fine.
The second heir remained grounded near the bedroom door as he watched the arcobaleno quietly walk forward towards the bed, hands in his pockets. Reborn's fedora tilted as he looked down to the sleeping boy and he held out his hand, his thumb softly brushing Tsuna's smooth forehead. He's alright. His body suddenly betrayed him and the man's eyes shook.
The arcobaleno immediately pulled his hand back startled by the brief anarchy of his emotions against his better judgement. He slipped his hand back into his pocket and turned to the man waiting at the door. Nothing happened, his eyes didn't need to turn sharp for the Vongola to know.
"Can I see Giotto?" he changed the topic.
"Primo doesn't want anyone to see anyone right now,"
"Let me talk to him," he insisted.
Reborn walked back out the door stubborn when Ricardo stopped him.
"You said you would stop this," the man's words laced heavily with accusation.
The arcobaleno stopped in his tracks as the two stood shoulder to shoulder, both facing the other way.
"I stopped the war with the humans, I didn't stop the war against the vampires. The internal war will always go on as long as there is desire for personal gain rather than the benefit of the families,"
His words were the right summary and premonition, but the blame the second heir placed on him wouldn't be taken back easily.
"He is your blood," Ricardo's voice urged firm.
The troubles the arcobaleno buried deep inside himself began to bubble out of the lid he muffled it with. The lid was gone. It burned away. The worries had become too hot to contain and they have become reality. Yes, Ricardo was right. It was blood that bore him responsible and he had reacted too late. His lips sealed from saying anything back. It may be late, but that doesn't mean he couldn't fix it. He could fix everything. That's all he'd ever done, wasn't it?
Fix the war. Fix the strife. Fix everything.
He brushed by the man beside him and continued to walk out of the room like he intended. Truly, no one could ever see that he was just one man. It just happened that he was the closest to superman.
…...
The fluorescent lights burned above him as they lit up the room. They made sure that everything was exposed – all of it, even the tiniest shadow. He felt naked as he sat at the edge of his bed, slumped. Giotto's fingers uncurled to reveal the golden rings sitting on his palm.
It was funny. He was too serious for the ironic smile that crept up on his face. He slid his original ring onto his left hand but the other one's weight still pulled problematically on his other. His stare became black as he sunk into deep thought at Tsuna's ring.
It really was Tsuna's ring – that was his blood encrusted on the golden metal. The boy's father had kept a vial of his blood from when Tsuna was young, and the father had made the ring himself to give to Giotto. It was decided that he would take Tsuna. It was decided.
More like he was the only one that could take him. It was a pure blood's duty and... and...
His hand twitched to hide the golden ring that was not his. How could he fulfill the task given to him if the boy was going to give the cursed object back?! It's not mine, Tsuna! It's yours! He was not supposed to have this right now!
He was about to throw himself back on the bed when a knock stiffened him. He calmed himself at the spare second he had before his bedroom door opened. The Italian turned at the incoming guest and saw the curly sideburns of his frequent visitor.
"Reborn-san,"
The tall man leaned against the door frame with a calmed expression, his silence meaning that he had immediately recognized the troubled expression the teen wore when he came in. He looked away as the arcobaleno looked him up and down.
"It must've been a rough night," the man saw the bruises covering his arms and chest. To top it off, he even had a bandage wrapped around his head when Daemon had hit him on the back of his head.
"Yeah," Giotto nodded, "it's been rough,"
The blond suddenly found himself unable to control the expressions he was making. His cheeks kept pulling his lips to a fake smile and he just shoved his head against the bones of his thumbs, his hands curled into fists. What's gotten into me? He sighed deeply as he tried to drown the unreasonable feelings trying to show. It must've been because Reborn was here.
He was used to dumping his emotions onto the man who acted as his mentor. Both his parents died a few years after he was born due to an assassination, so there wasn't anyone to teach him how to become a leader. In the end, the head of the Arcobaleno familia took him under his wing; Reborn practically raised him. The man knew everything about him from his best to his worst, and right now he was being at his worst.
He slipped up today with the basketball game, but that wasn't what filled his head. It had actually been a year that he built up the initiative to give the ring to Tsuna today, and had asked Yamamoto to watch the boy while he fixed the voices in his head telling him not to. Wasn't it their vow not to take blood unless they loved each other? There had to be love...
Hitting on Tsuna earlier, it felt empty. Because he was trying to force it, he created a big mess.
"I'm sorry," he whispered feeling overwhelmed by it all, "but it's going to take a while,"
He didn't want to talk, but just think for a while. He heard the sound of the door being moved as the arcobaleno decided to leave him for now.
"I'm sorry too," the wood creaked, "I wish I could tell you that you don't have to do it, but I can't. I leave it to you, Giotto."
…...
Living like everything was normal, he had to. Tsuna and Giotto hadn't gone back to school yet, but they had to act normal.
"You're up next Yamamoto!" his friend smiled widely as he came back to the bench from a homerun. They were finally tied and they had two outs before for the last inning.
Yamamoto gave his usual confident smile as he fixed his helmet.
"Yosh!" he swung his bat to get the feel as he went up to bat.
He nodded to the pitcher and readied himself into position. The boy on the mound shook his head a few times remembering that the dark haired boy was a clean up hitter and wanted to get the right pitch to strike him out. The batter's grip felt oddly more secure as his ring was gone, but an uneasiness still tugged on him as his source of comfort and power was gone. Not like he relied on the unnatural strength he hid in his ring, but the weight on his hands just felt different.
The pitcher finally nodded and leaned back for the throw. Yamamoto should just be happy. Tsuna didn't immediately shove the ring back at him when he gave it to him that night. The hot breaths he stole from his friend as they kissed tingled the memory of his lips. He should really be happy! A loud thack echoed in the air as he swung at the ball.
"Woah!" the people at the sidelines awed as everyone's heads looked up.
"It's a homerun!" his teammate at the bench pressed against the fence exited. "Run! Run!"
The white dot in the sky disappeared. The wind pushed his hair back as he passed through the bases. His team grew wild as they took the lead; they won this game.
In the end, they won 7-6. The guys dumped the water from the cooler on him as they cheered another victory. At least this felt good. They left off in a good note as they headed to the locker room to change.
"Yamamoto!" one of the guys jumped on him.
"Woah!" he stumbled almost hitting his locker.
Another came up and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "Man, we won another game thanks to you! We should go out and celebrate! I'll treat you!"
The guys screamed at his ears and at each other when he slipped away.
"Sorry guys," he smiled apologetically, "but I have to go somewhere today. Maybe next time,"
"Whaaaat?" his teammates pulled a disappointed face. "Alright, but next time! You better go next time!"
He finished putting his shirt back on and waved them goodbye as he got out of the locker rooms. He strapped his duffel bag across his shoulder as he hurried out of the school gates when he saw a person at the corner of his eye. The dark haired student leaned against the brick wall at the entrance waiting for him still in the burgundy uniform.
"Are you going somewhere?" Asari tilted his head.
Yamamoto stopped running and slowed down surprised that the other boy was still there after school. For a second, he hesitated. He looked around to see if any of the other committee members were around and found them alone.
"To Tsuna's house," he looked to his senior. If it was just Asari, he could tell him.
The older boy smiled as he looked to Yamamoto's empty hand which he tried to hide. "You should. You should always be near your ring at all times in case something happens,"
The playful smile Asari played on him lightened his spirits. So they found out already, huh?
"How did you know?" he rubbed the back of his neck.
"It has been a few days and I live with you, so I'm bound to notice. Besides, you can't hide anything from me,"
The two looked at each other knowingly; the words had a double meaning to it. He didn't want to hide anything from a guy he considered as his brother but there was also the power of the Japanese royal family who had the ability to invade the deepest part of your mind if they wished.
"I really want to see Tsuna," he admitted. "He hasn't came to school for a while,"
The smile on Asari's face slowly melted.
"Don't worry, he'll be back soon. Maybe you should wait until he comes back,"
"But I really want to see him though,"
The senior straightened up from the wall and and a cold wind passed by.
"I know you do," the breeze played with the older boy's hair, "but right now you shouldn't. He isn't at his house at the moment,"
Yamamoto's eyes sharpened. With Giotto then?
"Then... he's at the Vongola house?"
"No," the other shook his head. "He's with the Arcobaleno,"
The final word carried into the whispering wind. Arcobaleno – the strongest family in the world of vampires.
…...
"I didn't know this would happen,"
There were faint voices somewhere in the distance. Tsuna didn't want to hear them, but they intruded his deep slumber. Being pulled from the comfortable haze, the two men continued.
"Hmn... I knew that Kokuyo was already moving, but I didn't expect this either,"
There was a slight pause of incoherent disagreement until their voices rose again.
"Only Mukuro was put in the penitentiary, but Daemon was able to escape. He disappeared before the Vindice even made it to the scene,"
"He's still out there then? Can you find him?"
"He doesn't have a ring," there was a slight frustration in the answer. "He's not part of the family, so there's no way to trace him."
Their serious voices were tuned quiet but they still bothered him; every word they spoke was audible and the brunette couldn't help but wake. He opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room. Shifting his position, a silky cloth wrinkled on an unfamiliar bed. He let out a groggy groan as he felt like he'd been sleeping for days.
Tired from not moving for so long, he rubbed his eyes and sat up trying to clear his vision. Barely able to make anything out, the foreign room he found himself in made him feel as if he was intruding. Who's room was this? His brows bent at his intrusion.
"-Tsuna,"
Hm? His head cleared at the sound of his name. His head turned to a slightly open door where the only source of light came through. The yellow glow drew his curiosity in as he tossed the white sheets enveloping him aside. Why was someone talking about him? And who?
He was careful to keep his feet light. Tiptoeing to the open door, his toes felt through the soft carpet layering the floor – lucky that it was there to drown out his steps.
"Is he okay? I heard he was knocked out. He didn't get injured, did he?"
"No, he's fine. Ricardo just put him to sleep,"
There was a short pause.
"Ricardo huh?... I remember him. He's a dangerous man,"
"You can trust him," the other assured, "I trust him,"
Tsuna pressed his eye against the open crack of the door. Peeking into the other room, there were two men conversing across a glass table. One was a gruff blond who was standing with his back turned against the peeping boy. He wore a black robe with a white sash wrapped loosely around his waist. His frame seemed so familiar. The other was a slimmer man dressed in a handsome black suit and tie, his fedora sitting comfortably on his head as he leaned his face against his hand; his elbow stood putting pressure against the arm rest.
The man who stood let out an exasperated sigh. "I should have returned sooner. I'm sorry,"
The other waived him off at his words.
"It was turning into a pure blood's matter so it doesn't really matter," the man on the black leather couch frowned. "The problem between us is over after all, so there's not really a need for you to trouble yourself. I called you back for something else,"
The suited man tilted his head up giving the brunette a better view of his face. His curly sideburns were supposed to be a dead giveaway, but he only noticed it now when he saw the man's clear face.
"Uncle Reborn!" Tsuna swung the door open.
The two men jerked their heads at the sudden interruption. The suited man dropped his arm down from his face as the other quickly turned around.
"Tsuna!" the blond man in the black robe jumped.
At the turn of his face, the hard masculine features of the priest finally wired into the brunette's brain.
"Dad?!" He couldn't believe it. It was a double surprise as he didn't even know that his father was in Japan. Wasn't he still supposed to be in Europe? "What are you doing here?!"
His eyes wavered at the sight of the person he hadn't seen in a year. His father gave him a warm smile and waved him over. A surge of happiness washed over the boy and he ran over as the priest gave him a monster bear hug.
"Ack!" his back cracked from the massive strength. "Too tight!"
The man gave a hearty laugh as he let him go.
"You've finally woken up! Are you feeling better?"
The brunette coughed as soon as he was free, his lungs reforming and regaining his ability to breath again.
"I-I'm okay," he wheezed.
His chest finally settled and he looked over to the man on the couch who turned quiet; the Italian watched him carefully as he stared. It was an odd expression but the suited man seemed to fit perfectly with the sleek leather couch, the cream colored walls, and the European styled furniture. Tsuna finally noticed the different feel of the foreign room.
"Your in your uncle's house," his father explained.
"Hm?" he perked up.
"He was the one that picked you up when your friend called. You've been sleeping here for days,"
"What?!"
His face flushed at what he was being told. He'd been sleeping at someone else's bed?!
The blond man ruffled his son's hair and faced the Italian.
"Thank you for taking care of him," he bowed and made Tsuna do the same.
"Uh... T-thank you!" the boy repeated. "Uncle Reborn!"
Reborn gave his lady killer smile at their gratitude but kept a modest attitude.
"It's fine. He's a son to me after all,"
Iemitsu nodded and looked back to the boy whose head he held in his hand. Suddenly, a loud pitched beeping broke into the air and his father took something from his pocket.
"I'm sorry," he looked at this flashing phone, "I have to take this,"
He looked at the other two apologetically and strutted out of the room to take the call. Tsuna watched him go as the few seconds with his always disappearing father ended; the door closed and he was left alone with the owner of the house.
With no one to lead him, the boy didn't know what to do. He stood there awkwardly waiting. Should he keep standing or should he sit down? He looked around the room for what to do, but the lingering feeling that he intruded in the foreign house kept him from making a decision. It was odd. Even though he knew his uncle ever since he was born, he was a close friend of the family after all, he'd actually never visited this home before. Waking up for his first time in the house seemed unsettling.
"Tsuna," Reborn called out to him.
The boy turned his gaze to the older man as he hinted at the spot next to him on the couch.
"Why don't you sit down?"
The relief of someone else deciding for him in what to do showed on his face. He gave a meek compliant nod and waddled over, his legs still shaky from not being used. His legs sunk in the cushion as he sat down and a hint of nostalgia bit him.
It was just like when he was a little kid; the mature person beside him sat like he always did – his legs crossed, his arms outstretched all host like across the top of the couch. In his memories, the image of the cool composed gentleman was always the same. Come to think of it, he had more memories of the Italian than his dad; Reborn took care of him more than his father did.
"Thank you again, for taking care of me," he gave another thanks.
His uncle gave a nod.
"Um, Uncle Reborn,"
"Hm?"
"Is my mom here too?"
The man suddenly looked tired. "No. She suffered a panic attack after hearing what happened to you. She's at the hospital,"
A horrified look painted the boy's face and the man turned to him brushing his palm across the brunette's messy bed hair.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine,"
The boy closed his eyes like a cat feeling a little better.
"Your friend's cousin called and said that you fainted at another school after a basketball game. She panicked at the call so I had to come take you. I called your father as soon as I got you,"
Tsuna tilted his head. "Friend's cousin?"
"Giotto's"
The name echoed in his head. Giotto...
There were bits of flashbacks of the past events that ignited in his mind but all he could remember was up to when Julie was injured. Is that when he fainted? Tsuna looked away from his father's friend trying to concentrate on what had happened. He tried to dig more into his memories when a burst of pain shot through his brain like a protective gate.
"Hn!" he flinched grabbing the side of his head.
Something wouldn't let him remember any further.
"Tsuna!" Reborn quickly held onto the teen; his sudden convulsion put him on alert. "What's wrong?"
The brunette's face twisted in pain not giving a reply. The Italian waited for him to calm down unable to do anything when a few moments passed and the boy finally eased.
"Does your head hurt?" Reborn tried to discern if it was finally okay to ask.
Tsuna gave a slow nod. "I... I can't remember..."
"Remember what?"
"What happened after the game,"
Reborn grew quiet with worry. Tsuna noticed the silence and felt the unspoken comfort the older man was giving him. Uncle...
"Hm?" the man looked at him. "Why are you smiling?"
The boy couldn't help it as his lips spread even wider. "Nothing," he shook his head, "it just feels like you seem more like my father,"
Than my actual dad. He didn't include the last part.
Going over what he just said, the brunette grew a shameful flush.
"I-I mean you're always there, and you spent a lot of time with me as a kid! I-I just... um..."
He racked his brain trying to figure out how to fix his blurp when the suited man grew impatient.
"Just say it,"
Tsuna bit his lip from the demanding voice to keep from stuttering.
"T-thank you, for taking care of me and letting me sleep at you house,"
He forced his eyes down to avoid eye contact so he couldn't see the man's reaction. Did he say it right? He grew the courage to look back up. A smirk planted on the Italian's face which somehow made him look pained. So he said it wrong? He felt the man's arm slide off the couch behind him as Reborn got up.
"Then you better thank me for lunch too,"
"Hm?" the brunette stood up following him.
"We're going to one of my favorite restaurants right now. You haven't eaten, right?"
…...
"Ah...ah... ah!"
Dino bit down the pain as his shoulder gave a loud crack. He hissed it silently trying to man up, but everyone else did the same; everyone was licking their wounds. All of them had congregated for a short meeting at the gym in a pissy mood since none of them could actually practice while grumbles of pain escaped each and every one of the members.
"I think I've been fouled too many times," he groaned as he switched to his other arm.
Enma laughed next to the vice-captain and punched his shoulder. "Haha – ow!"
The red head's own elbow cracked. The captain gave a goofy grin at bad karma.
"I can't believe we lost!" Gokudera screamed. "Those punks didn't even know how to play! Argh!"
The silver haired hot head rubbed his swollen cheek still red from the hit. This time, the whole team went along with their star player's complaining.
"Those guys were real asses," one of the jv members agreed. "They sprained my ankle!"
"Look at all my bruises!"
"Dude, I have a cut on my arm!"
"You guys think you have it tough," their goateed varsity player eyed all the complainers, "look at my eyepatch!"
All the ballers stopped talking and looked at the peeved red head, Julie's injury topping everyone else's, bringing them into a state of seething hate against the team from their latest match. In every member's mind, there was no way that Kokuyo deserved that win against them. The overtime was undeserved, and most of the points were due to fouling the Namimori team. The atmosphere in the room sunk into an ominous feel when their team's clown broke the brooding.
"Haha! Julie, you look like a pirate!" Naito grinned at him.
"What did you say?!" the injured teen pounced on the smaller boy and wrapped him in a choke hold.
"Gack!" Naito's throat squeezed, "I can imagine you saying 'arg!'... *cough... Try it... *cough *cough... Ack!"
His teammate only squeezed harder.
"Hey, Dino-san," Enma ignored the murder scene happening, "about the game. Shouldn't they have cancelled it from Kokuyo's behaviour? They attacked us first and basically broke every rule,"
Their vice-captain's face seemed to age the second the subject was mentioned. "Well, we're already talking to the coaches and the other people involved, but the Kokuyo coach won't admit it. Our coach already went over to the other school to see if any of their students would stand up and support that their basketball team did instigate the fight,"
"Did anyone speak up?"
"Yeah, this one cheerleader girl," the bronco nodded.
Enma's brows went up. "Really? I thought no one would say anything since they love their basketball team over there. Kokuyo's pretty famous,"
"Me neither. But what's great is that she even had a recording of the game so they'll probably take out our loss and disqualify Kokuyo from competing. The video's only up to a few seconds after they fouled Julie, but I think that's evidence enough. The overtime that happened isn't as important,"
What he was saying was good news, but still, that didn't make up for all the damage they took. The blond looked around his circle of members and frowned at all their injuries.
"I wonder if Giotto and G are okay," Enma read his thoughts.
The vice-captain cast his eyes down. "I feel sorry for dragging them along when I knew that Kokuyo was going to be violent. Our last game with them was like that too," he sighed. "But I have seen G since I'm in the floor with the third years, and he seems fine. I haven't seen Giotto though,"
"I heard he hasn't been coming to school,"
"Yeah," he looked at the red head. In both of their minds, the image of the elder of the pineapple brothers sneaking a hit on the back of the Italian's head haunted their conscience.
"I hope he'll be okay,"
…...
Seven days. It's been seven days, a whole week, since Giotto hasn't come to school.
The platinum blond looked up at the huge mansion as he entered. What has gotten into the spiky blond? It wasn't like him to be like this. It was more anger than worry that clouded the visitor as he made for a surprise visit.
The tall white gates opened as soon as the guards saw him and he easily made it past the front entrance. Two men opened the main doors and he was greeted by uniformed servants inside the house when one familiar butler walked up to him.
"Master Aluade," the wrinkled man with a graying moustache bowed to him. "What may your business here be?"
"I'm here to see Giotto," his blue eyes bit the old butler.
The servant stood firm. He knew Alaude already, and most of his old fears of the unpredictable teen had disappeared. The only side he had ever seen of the young man was his gentleness when he was with the spiky blond that they served; to him, there was no intimidation in the frosty glare.
"The master of the house does not wish to see anyone right now," he looked straight at the boy.
"That doesn't matter,"
Alaude shoved his way through, lightly pushing the old man aside.
"Sir! There are no guests allowed for the moment!"
The teen ignored him and headed for the stairs leading to the upper floors. Barely setting his foot on the first step, the man chasing him finally caught up.
"Sir!" a firm hand held his arm back.
The platinum blond was about to snap when a familiar voice called his name.
"Alaude?"
He stopped short of just glaring at the aged man before he ripped his hand off and looked up at the staircase. There, at the very top, was one of his own classmates.
"I was wondering when you'd be paying a visit," the handsome boy smiled.
The boy's shoulders calmed and the butler let go of him. He watched the Japanese walk down the steps to meet him until they were a few steps apart.
"Giotto doesn't want to see anyone right now," he repeated what the butler had said.
The blond's brow twitched. All he heard was the word "no" which pissed him off even more than when the servant had said it. Getting told twice was twice more than enough.
"You talked to him?" he gritted.
Asari didn't answer.
"Tch," the pale boy snapped his head at the useless question.
He stomped up the stairs ignoring their warnings when the dark haired teen spoke again.
"If you go up there, you would only make him not want to see you even more,"
Alaude gripped the waxed railings as he paused. Why did they want to stop him so badly?! He just wanted to see Giotto!
"What did Giotto say?" he refused to look back at his long time acquaintance.
"He didn't say anything to me, but he let me read his thoughts,"
And he was thinking for everyone to stop me from seeing him? A bubble of jealousy welled up inside the blond. How could Asari see him, but he can't?!
"No," the other teen read his mind; he was obviously still using his invasive trump card of an ability. "But his thoughts are filled with confusion and worry,"
"If he needs help, then the more reason I should be next to him,"
This time, the platinum blond looked back down finding that Asari had been staring at him the whole time.
"He's worried about love," the dark haired teen somehow managed to keep a straight face.
The word "love" sounded as if it took more than a minute to form from the boy's mouth, and a pang of pain squeezed Alaude's chest. Love? If it's love, then he should be up there! He was about to turn and run up the stairs to the Italian's room.
"And Tsuna,"
The last words wrapped a string around the blond's legs. His nerves stopped him from moving at the mention of the name.
"Tsuna?" Alaude's face crumpled. Why would he mention that name? He took a moment to clear his head; his lips turning dry. "What does that kid have to do with anything?"
Love. His lover. Another person.
"Does he... love him?"
The sound of his dumbfounded voice even shocked the butler who knew about the eager boy's transparent feelings.
"What does it seem like to you?" the dark haired teen kept himself from scolding the blond's wrong reaction. "Do you think he's inlove with Tsuna?"
Forgetting that everyone could hear their raised voices, the servants on the floor scurried off to different rooms to avoid the scene. Asari waited for the boy's response but he just stood there at the top of the stairs looking up at the last step.
Truthfully, Alaude didn't know. Did Giotto love him? Has he even said that he loved him back?
No... The blond blinked. He hadn't said it. He had never said "I love you."
"Yes," he slowly turned around.
Asari's eyes widened. His friend's blue eyes were soulless. Alaude was naturally pale, but the blank look he had, his skin turned a lucid alabaster white.
"Yes, I think he does,"
Thinking back, Giotto never really chased him back either. So... was it just one sided? His knee bent to take a step down closer to the floor. Like a puppet, his legs took another, then another until he finally met the tiled bottom.
What did he come here for again?
…...
For some reason, Asari was getting angry. Not necessarily raging upset, but something seemed off. The youngest member of the committee, Lampo popped a bubblegum flavored candy in his mouth. Sweets somehow made him feel better.
"Mah, Asari, are you angry?" he took a moment to take the sweet from his mouth to speak.
The dark haired teen gave a sigh.
"What do you do when someone tells you the wrong answer? Do you tell them?"
Lampo didn't know what his friend was talking about.
"Yes?" he raised his brow.
"But what if it's not up to you to correct them?"
He didn't like where this was going. There was supposed to be some complicated answer to this and the curly haired boy didn't want to get involved.
"Get the person who is supposed to correct them, I guess. If they're the only one, then they're the only one,"
Asari turned away to the window. Lampo put the candy back in his mouth and watched his friend puzzled. The dark haired teen was already sitting at the window sill and now he was looking outside. If he wanted to go outside and not be in the classroom, then he should go outside, not block the air coming in.
Sitting at the teacher's desk because he can, Lampo shifted his gaze to his other friend at the back of the room. Their scarred red head isolated himself at the far corner of the room brooding about something or another.
"Hey," he called behind him to the muscular teen writing on the board.
"Yeah?" Knuckles stopped setting up the complicated math problem they were supposed to go over.
"Something's been wrong with G lately, don't you think?"
The other boy looked over his shoulder and turned to where he was looking. The red head they studied leaned back in his chair and dipped lower into his seat.
"He's been like that ever since the basketball game,"
The classroom door suddenly opened and the two boys jumped. A dark aura creeped into the room as their certain blue eyed, platinum blond vice-president walked in. A sweat mark dropped on the boys' faces as he dragged his feet in and slowly trudged to his seat.
"At least it's not as bad as that," Knuckles whispered.
Lampo noticed that Asari had turned his head back into the classroom to stare at Alaude. When the teen noticed that the curly haired boy was looking at him again, the dark haired student resumed to staring outside of the building.
"Ugh..." Lampo groaned not being able to handle the whole sulking thing, "What's wrong with everyone?"
…...
Ding. Dong. Dong.
Ah~ Music to his ears.
He just couldn't handle their depressing moods! He knew he was the youngest out of all of them so maybe he didn't get it, but that didn't mean he had to be trapped in their dilemma. He had tried talking to G – he wouldn't talk about it. He had tried talking to Asari – he didn't make any sense. He had tried talking to Alaude – he ignored him. (There was also that not-so-subtle hint that he might beat him up if the boy tried probing any further.) As for their committee president, he couldn't even get near Giotto seeing that the servants told him to stop trying to call and to not even try coming for visit. Knuckles was the only other normal one!
"Ah..." he let out a much needed sigh.
It must be the Catholic school. It must be messing with their minds; just the thought of being cooped up in a strict organization made him nauseous. He was never interested in religion anyways, but the pact with the humans came to an agreement that they had to congregate at an easily controlled and powerful establishment. Well, for the humans anyway. They believe that the Catholic priests could control them. He had to get away from it all.
He happily walked away from the small little community called Shinsei Namimori and every meter further he got lifted a load from his shoulders. Stripping off the school boy uniform as soon as he got to a fancy building in the most expensive part of the city, he coated himself for the night of sin. Lampo – the young charming host/ bartender/ waiter who, technically, was working illegally for being under-aged. But the company he worked for didn't know that.
He put on the slim fitted black pants and white collared shirt topped with a vest. Today, they assigned him to be the waiter of one of the company's more renowned restaurants. It was kind of boring being a waiter though; he'd rather be the bartender for the bar he worked for all last week where tips and gossip were the best. Being a waiter was the same as a host except the the clients you served gave you a bit more attitude and overall, being a host was so much more fun that you hang out with people - not be their dogs.
"Lampo!" one of his co-workers called out to him as he finished fixing his cuffs. "You're getting table 13! There's three people!"
"Okay!" he called over.
Lucky number 13 – first table of the night. This should be good. He hurried past the counter to get the menus and briskly walked to his assigned table. A few meters away, he could hear the three already.
"You said lunch, but it was already night time," a young voice spoke up. It sounded like he heard the person before.
"I said lunch? I meant dinner," a lower pitch answered the first speaker.
"Haha. You're still a night owl, aren't you? Did you sleep through the afternoon and loose track of time?" a different baritone joined the conversation.
The three voices continued to converse and as the young waiter got closer and closer to the table, a bad feeling rumbled in the pit of his stomach. Oh God. Every good sense the curly haired boy had screamed at him to pull back. Walk back! Walk back! Tell the other guy to handle this!
"Tsuna?" he almost dropped the menus.
The spiky haired boy sitting at his assigned table turned his head.
"Lampo-san!" the boy called back in the same surprise.
"What are you doing here?" he went up to the boy.
He hadn't seen the small teen ever since last week from the incident. Everyone had been thinking something bad happened to him since Giotto wasn't coming to school either, but what was the kid doing here? In his restaurant?! Shouldn't he be dying in bed?! Not dying – but something like that!
The curly haired boy looked at his customer amazed that he was okay.
"I haven't seen you in school, everyone's been worried about you!" he continued.
Tsuna gave an apologetic look. "Sorry. I just woke up today,"
"Huh?"
Just woke up?
"He's been asleep for the past few days," the person sitting next to the kid explained. "He's been sick,"
Lampo turned to see the man who just spoke and saw a buff blond with a short cut. His hard features and black wardrobe didn't match. Was he a priest? He unknowingly stared as he recognized the man. This was the guy taking care of Tsuna.
"Priest," he slipped out the name most vampires would call him by.
"A friend?" the man looked to the brunette.
"Yeah," the kid nodded.
The waiter forced out a smile. Okay... Work just started to suck. Apparently, he can't escape school.
"Lampo," another voice called to him. The tone sounded like a familiar.
As the young teen turned around, he immediately wished his eyes could unsee. The curly sideburns, the handsome face and dark eyes, the signature fedora – double fudge. Freakin' lucky number 13.
"Reborn-san," his palms grew sweaty. Hopefully, the nervousness didn't come through in his voice. "I didn't know you go to this restaurant,"
Cool and composed on the outside, his mind was about to jump from his head just to get away from this situation. The head of the Arcobaleno familia, what was going on?!
"I see you started working. Did the school approve that?"
The powerful man gave an evil smile sending a chill of uneasiness through the waiter's body and the Arcobaleno head loved it. Oh, cruel entity who's watching over him, please stop with the sadistic punishment! This was just for a little pocket money!
Lampo didn't answer but tilted his head playfully.
"Should we order?" the blond man interrupted them trying to help him out.
"Okay," Tsuna nodded. The boy picked up the menu and scrolled through the orders.
"Alright, what would you guys like?"
The curly haired waiter took out his pad and pen waiting, but the brunette's face kept growing darker and darker.
"I can't read any of this..."
Everything they listed were in Italian and the only thing the boy knew was Japanese.
"That's alright," the suited man across the table gently pressed the boy's menu down. "The waiter can tell us what's good. What would you recommend, waiter?"
The slick grin on the arcobaleno's face kept reappearing. It was lucky number 13.
…...
"You're not hungry?" his father turned to him.
"Hm?" Tsuna looked up. He gave a weak smiled and dropped his fork. "I guess not,"
"You have to build up you strength, son!" the man patted his back, "You haven't eaten in days!"
Somehow, he just didn't want the Veal Marsala in front of him, or whatever it was. It just didn't seem that appetizing.
Reborn eyed him like he was studying his every movement and it felt like his uncle wanted to say something. The man didn't eat either, he was just playing around with his wine as they both watched his father eat.
"If you're not feeling it, then maybe we should get dessert,"
Used to the social events, the suited man signaled for their water and the green haired teen quickly came over.
"We're ready for dessert,"
Reborn continued talking to Lampo, but he just tuned him out. For some reason, Tsuna just couldn't pay attention. He had a hard time focusing as he watched his plate get taken away. He tried taking a sip of his water to wake him up but his throat remained parched. It felt... dry.
His uncle kept a watchful eye on him as he picked up his cup of dark wine again. The rosewood colored liquid circled in the glass as the man swirled it around. The brunette watched as he played with his beverage getting captivated by the deep dark color.
Clink. Tsuna snapped his eyes awake.
"Your desserts," their waiter smiled at them.
The green haired teen set the small cream coated plates in front of each diner along with their utensils. Finally, the waiter carefully took the huge tiramisu cake from his cart and set it on the table.
"From the owner," he explained. "He said he'd like to give thanks to one of his regulars,"
Lampo's and Reborn's eyes locked as the young man referred to the suited man. The older of them looked as if he wanted to say something but kept it in as he took a sip of his wine and the waiter just tried his best to ignore it. The curly haired boy grabbed the long cutting knife for the cake and as he was about to stab the sweet, Reborn quickly called his name.
"Lampo,"
"Hm?" the sharp voice startled him. He jumped too much and the waiter accidentally cut himself. "Ahh!"
The young teen hissed at his own mistake. Quickly dropping the knife, he squeezed his left hand where he made the cut.
Tsuna stared at his senior's misfortune as he bit his lip forcing himself not to scream from the pain or else he'd disturb all the other customers. It was deep. The dark red liquid fluidly slipped through both the boy's hands as he tried to stop the bleeding and somehow, Tsuna was amazed by it. The beautiful color, the grace as it dripped down the boy's wrists staining the white cuffs of his shirt.
The brunette absently reached for Lampo's hands and kissed it. His tongue reached deep between the crevices between his fingers and the green haired waiter let out a horrified look. The metallic taste barely tingled his taste buds when the older boy pulled away.
"Tsuna!" he looked at his lower classman in disbelief.
The shrill shock in his voice slapped the brunette back to reality.
"What?" the boy shook his head. He didn't know what he was doing.
Tsuna looked around the table confused as the older men studied him. Did he do something? He shifted his eyes to their waiter and saw a red stream oozing from his hand.
"Lampo!" he reached for the older boy's hands again. "You're bleeding!"
The green haired teen didn't reply.
"You should get that bandaged," Reborn cut in.
The injured boy was a little shaky as he nodded and took his leave. Tsuna watched as he left to the back room not getting what just happened.
"Still thirsty?" his uncle brought him back to the table.
"A little bit," Tsuna smiled.
There was a little satisfaction tingling his tongue. Still, the water he drank didn't quench his throat. It wanted another drink.
…...
"To the baseball team and their fifth straight win in the season!"
"Yeah!"
The guys gave a toast as they cheered and clanked their drinks together.
The guy next to him chugged his drink and threw his arm around Yamamoto.
"Ah~" he let out a refreshed breath, "I'm glad you changed your mind, Yamamoto,"
He finished chugging his drink too and smiled.
"Yeah, well, my plans got cancelled,"
"Mhn, your girlfriend ditched you, huh?" his friend teased.
"It's more of a family issue,"
"What? What's the problem? The dad has a gun?"
The baseball star gave a moment and thought about it. "Yeah. I think he'll shoot me,"
The guys who heard burst out laughing and hit the table. Good thing they booked a private room in the restaurant so no one else heard their monkey laughter.
"Good luck to you!" one of his other teammates raised his glass. "The baseball god may have blessed you, but the goddess of love, not so much,"
Yamamoto laughed at their kick back attitude. He was wishing the goddess would bless him too.
"Hey, Honjou," he turned to the guy whose arm was resting on him.
"Yeah?"
"How did you get this place? This restaurant is in one of the most expensive districts in the city,"
"Hmn, well, my aunt actually is the manager of this place so I was able to get us a discount. I mean, we just won against the team who ranked number three in the last season, and that's enough reason to celebrate. Yeah!"
"Yeah!" the other guys heard him cheer and followed along. Whenever one of the guys ever said "yeah," they all just repeated it even if they didn't know what it was about.
"You know," his friend continued, "Namimori was just a boring school before. It excelled in its science department, and sports wasn't really encouraged. We don't get the best of players so we could never continue the season, but ever since you came along, we've been doing well."
"Sempai," the dark haired teen chuckled to where the senior member was getting it.
"No it's true! Because of you, we actually made it this far! We've never made it this far! Tell you what," the older boy poked his chest. Was his friend getting drunk off of soda?
"What?" he played along.
"Since you've done so much for the team, I'll tell you my secret,"
"Secret?" he smiled shaking his head, "It's okay. I don't want to know your secret, sempai,"
"No, no, no, no!" the boy shook his hand. "My secret."
He looked deep into Yamamoto's eyes and when he thought the older boy was going to be serious, Honjou started to giggle. Okay, his sempai was drunk.
"I know this place in the park that nobody knows about. It's totally secluded, and all the times I went there, there was no one else there. It's clean, it's got this really good view of the lake and a clear view of the sky, totally amazing. I've only taken a few girls up there, and they tell me that they always love it. Trust me,"
"I trust you," the dark haired teen nodded.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah,"
"Alright then," his senior went back to being serious. He leaned close to his junior's ears and whispered the secret location of the sacred spot. When he was done, he quickly pulled away. "I now officially give that spot to you. It's been my spot for years, now it's yours. Promise me you'll take your girl there and I will promise you that once she sees that spot, you won't have to worry about daddy's bullets,"
"What?" Yamamoto laughed. He wasn't following any of this.
What did that have to do with the dad's bullets? He was pretty sure if he took Tsuna to that spot, he'd get shot. No. He'd die.
"Promise me," his senior degraded to the puppy dog eyes. "Take your lover to the secret place, man. Take them to the spot."
He didn't want to answer and just smiled awkwardly instead.
"Yeah, Yamamoto?"
The boy kept being persistent and shaking him. After a few nudges, he finally gave in.
"Yeah, I promise," he made a white lie.
His friend dropped his mouth happily. "Yeah?"
"Yeah,"
"Yeah!" the whole team cheered hearing the magical word again.
The guys in his team were so simple. If his life was like baseball, living would be so much easier.
…...
After eating so much and drinking so much, they finally finished up and got up to leave.
"Man~ that was good!" Yamamoto stretched his arms as they walked outside the restaurant.
The other guys put up their hoodies as it was getting cold and shoved their hands in their pockets.
"Hey," he looked up across the street. "Is that a new restaurant?"
The building had a bright yellow glow from the lighting inside. The height of the multistory establishment was so huge.
"No, but it got taken over by a new manager a year ago so the place changed," one of his friends answered. "It used to be a studio, but they changed it into a restaurant or something. There's supposed to be an Italian floor, but all the places there are overpriced."
"Too rich for our blood," one of the guys whistled.
"Hey guys!" their coach yelled out from a far off distance. "You guys want a ride or what?"
"Ah! Coming!" the boys yelled running over to the rest of the group.
Most of them couldn't drive yet so they had to split up into three different cars – Yamamoto falling into the group with the coach's car. The adult led them down the street to the building for the parking lot as they hurried out of the cold.
"Hey Yamamoto," their coach looked back at him.
"Yeah?"
"Is your arm okay? I know you insisted on playing so I let you, but did your wound reopen?"
"A little bit," the dark haired teen admitted.
"You're injured?" one of the boys walked closer to him; he was a freshman like him and a new recruit. "I didn't know. Can I see?"
Yamamoto rolled up his right sleeve to show the bandaged arm.
"I have a cut up to here," he traced the wound from the middle of his forearm up to his elbow.
"Woah. How did you get that? Were you in a fight with gangsters or something?"
He laughed at his teammate's wild fantasies and rolled the sleeve down.
"Dos it hurt?" the boy squished the injured arm.
"Ow!" he flinched his elbow away.
His hurt reaction caused mischievous grins onto the other guys that were also catching a ride.
"You guys!" he warned them.
His team mates didn't listen and dived at the already injured boy.
"Ow!" a bunch of scrawny fingers went at him at once.
One of them, luckily, was a senior member and pulled the guys off of the victimized teen.
"Stop!" the older boy sounded pissed.
The coach helped separate the idiotic members away and gave Yamamoto some space.
"Are you okay?" the man looked at the injured teen.
The dark haired boy rolled his sleeves up again and a red blotchy line seeped into the bandages hidden underneath.
"Hmn..." a low grumble came out of Yamamoto's throat.
The coach glared at the younger members seeing the damage. "You guys are getting drilled next practice,"
"But coach!"
The senior smacked his teammates for being dumb as they realized what they've done.
"Make it the whole week," the older boy was really angry at his juniors. He was one of those people that took any type of assaults seriously.
The baseball star didn't really mind that his friends were messing around, but that meant his cuts would have to heal for a longer time. He gave a disappointed sigh. Besides, he was going to sneak into the Arcobaleno house later. He needed his body to heal as fast as he can so he could run away as fast as he can as soon as he got Tsuna.
Yeah, Asari told him not to go and "daddy's bullets" were always an issue BUT he wanted to see Tsuna. How many times did he have to say it?
"Yamamoto?"
See? He wanted the brunette so bad, he could hear him calling his name.
"Yamamoto,"
The boy that he missed spoke again. It was like he was there in front of him.
"Hey," someone nudged his side.
"We're here already?" he looked around the parking lot.
He turned to his friend who motioned his head to look the other way.
"What?" he turned to where the boy was pointing.
His mouth dropped as he saw the image of the brunette standing at the next car over. Next to the sleek black sports car besides their rusty van was the boy he was planning to kidnap.
"Tsuna?"
His disbelieving breath blew into the cold air creating a white cloud.
"Yamamoto!" the small boy ran over and hugged him.
He stood there in shock as the slim arms wrapped around his waist. When the squeeze was over, the boy still hadn't let go and instead just looked up at him; the chocolate brown eyes taking a peek to see his face.
Was he hallucinating? Tsuna was in a formal dark collared shirt, all dressed up, and hugging him right now. He refused to believe this fairy tail until he looked back to the black Lamborghini. Two scary looking men stared at him and it finally clicked. The one on the left was a priest, and the one on the right was a suited man with curly sideburns.
It actually just connected when he looked at the swirls of the black sideburns. Right in front of him was the head of the Arcobaleno familia! He slowly looked back down to the boy that was hugging him. And this is Tsuna.
Somehow, Yamamoto could just feel the seconds of the life he had left begin to tick away. Wasn't this the moment he was waiting up for? To grab his friend and just run away? A sharp glare pierced at him and he was pretty sure it was coming from the more dangerous looking man standing a few feet away from him. His sempai's words at the restaurant suddenly echoed in his brain.
Take your lover to the secret place, man. Take them to the spot.
The park. He needed to get to the park.