I thank ilover145, Grisia, Kawaii Fruits, Bloodofvongola, Angelic Fluffle, wynos15, Pure Red Crane, mar9893, Franzis-chan, Clams-and-Rainbows, Bloodofvongola again :) and MegaAnimeFreako for reviewing my story :D
I thank 5862-senbonzakura, Aki Sou, Angelic Fluffle, Ayumi Chizuka, Bleach-ed-Na-tsu, Bloodofvongola, Cellio, Grisia, Hikage no Hana, Hoshi Yuhi, Kamami, Lily Lauren, Meganlei, Mimi522, Naruka Uzumaki-Namikaze, Slylark-san, TaitZu-chan, Yuki28, ameidu13, liryla, oblivion17, sharp1e, tanakayoichi, thegreatanddillustriousLEADER, Rumu for following my story :D
I thank ilover145, Angelic Fluffle, Ayumi Chizuka, Cellio, Gallifreyan Annihilator, Hoshi Yuhi, Kamami, Kawaii Fruits, Meganlei, Naruka Uzumaki-Namikaze, PhantomsWorkshop, ShioriErz, Slylark-san, SoulNinjas, XxKatelynnexX, Yorutsuki-Lunia, Yuki28, ameidu13, heart44hayatolover, liryla, rsxus for favouriting my story :D
I apologize gravely if I spelt any of the names wrongly or I accidentally miss out your name.
Please do tell me your thoughts on this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but I do own the plot story, or some OC if they appeared in the stories.
This is a G27 story, rating is K for now, but may rise according to the story progress.
Chapter 4: Past
Tsuna's POV
'Ouch!' I whimpered as I fell in a heap onto a cold and hard ground. My eyes were still adjusting back and fro the blinding brightness of that light and the enveloping darkness around me.
Something tickled against my legs and hands, but I ignored it. The pain pulsing in my head was much worse.
It hurt terribly, and I had no idea how I was forced out of HDW mode. My hands automatically went up to my head and rub the temple to ease the pounding ache that came in waves of Tsunamis.
My eyes finally got used to the dark environment and yet another surprise left my mouth agape once again.
I was in the midst of a flower bed, a rose bed of pretty white roses that shone like crystals. That explained whichever the thing that was tickling my leg, and it is still tickling me. I adjusted my leg into a more comfortable position.
I looked up at the sky. The sky sparkled like brilliant diamonds kept secretly in a black velvet box, never revealing the true meaning of their existence. It was certainly a lot starrier than the sky at Namimori. The headache subsided a little and I was able to think straight, probably, again.
Where am I? I was in that room chasing after that person who looked exactly like me….. Eh? Then what happened afterwards? Why am I here?
Trying to shake off the headache still throbbing badly, I stood up, shaking left and right, to get a clearer and better view of what's beyond the flower bed.
A magnificent mansion came into view. Among the misty night air and darkness, it glowed softly in its own special demeanour. It looked familiar.
'Primo, sei sicuro di lasciarlo andare proprio così?' A little rough yet slightly deep voice rang out louder and louder. Instinctively, Tsuna ducked down again. Footsteps were getting louder as well. They are getting nearer.
(Primo, are you sure about letting him go just like that?)
(A/N, I used Google Translate directly so I doubt the language is accurately, but I wanted to try anyway.)
'Sì, ma se dovesse apparire di nuovo ...' Another voice… But this voice is richer and more velvety like, however this sound…. Where have I heard it before I wonder?
(Yes, but if he were to appear again...)
And what the hell are they talking about anyway? Is it Italian? I should have listened to Reborn about the importance of learning Italian damn it.
'G, Ho la sensazione che qualcuno non familiare vicina.'
(G, I sense someone unfamiliar nearby)
'Nemico?' The rougher voice sharpened as he gave a sweeping look around the vicinity to the avail.
(Enemy?)
Did they notice me?
'La mia intuizione è me non dice.'
(My intuition is telling me not)
My eyes blurred and spun around as my headache got the better of me. My vision swum and darkness crept into it slowly as I feel my jelly legs giving way like a paper crumbling in the wind…
o0o
My consciousness stirred as my brain starts up and the clogs within it started to run from sleep mode. My headache has subsided, and I was laying on… maybe a bed? It felt soft and warm, but the atmosphere is slightly cold with a soft night breeze constantly blowing in my face. Was the window open?
Forcing my eyes to open slightly, it was so bright; it reminded me of that light…. Huh, what light?
My fingers twitched a bit and my hands moved to support my body as I propped myself up on the bed with my elbows.
'Siete svegli,' the same velvety like voice he heard before came from the other side of the room.
(You are awake)
I shook my head a little to clear away the last bit of consciousness threatening to fade and cleared my mind of any thoughts of falling back to sleep again. But what is he saying? I still can't open my eyes fully. It was just too bright. Squinting my eyes, a pair of golden honey eyes with unreadable thoughts staring at me came into view. It was a quite the mesmerizing eyes, one that could easily kill fan girls with nosebleed immediately. Mysterious and bright, eyes like the sun itself, sweet as honey, sparkling little stars. They looked like the Honey Stars cereal I used to eat when I was younger.
As my eyes adjust to the light, I realised that the person was sitting on an elegant couch, beautifully leathered and resting upon golden plated legs. It resembled the one I had in the room at Vongola HQ back then. But as I looked around, I recognized more furniture. The same wall paper, there were a lot lesser furniture that I remembered. However, the couch, the table, the bed and the wallpaper and some other furniture were exactly the same. The Vongola emblem is also printed across that same stretch of wall, but it looked pretty much newer than he remembered, it was not in tatters and as yellowish.
What actually made more of a difference was the person sitting opposite.
Let's talk about his clothes first. He was wearing a pin striped vest coupled with a white shirt on the inside with long pants and shinning leather shoes and a long flowing cloak with golden decoration and ornaments. He was wearing metallic gloves, the same as mine except with different emblem. He's had the roman numeral of one, which my gloves will change to become as well when using Zero Point Breakthrough First Edition. But there wasn't the Vongola ring… Come to think of it, I don't have it either ever since I reached this place, where did it go?
Okay, now to describe his appearance. His eyes were enough said. Locks of sparkling, and I really mean sparkling, blond hair decorated and framed his beautifully featured, heart-shaped face with its porcelain skin. His hair stood up the way my hair was like, unable to be smoothened down with even the best hair gel in the world. It was a pain in the morning trying to smoothen it down (even if it's a little), it was one of the cause of my tendency to be late to class. I would look like a hideous dinosaur trying to act cool if I didn't do that. His hair was certainly messy, but messy in a good way, it made him look good. That was such an irony. His fringe was extremely long, and he would probably be bitten to death by Hibari if he actually attended Namimori Middle with that hair of his. His lips seemed soft like a pillow and pink like peach. It was certainly appealing. Appealing? What am I thinking about? I can feel my cheeks burning up slightly as I closed my eyes to collect myself together again.
'Non sei senti bene? Il tuo viso è rosso'
(Are you not feeling well? Your face is red)
'Eh? What are you talking about?' I stammered, barely understanding what he was talking about.
'Ahh… Japanese huh.' He spoke lightly, immediately recognizing it was Japanese. His voice was like the sound of wind chimes. Delicate and precise.
He…. Is he Vongola Primo? Tsuna thought in his head. He had seen him a few times before. During the inheritance trial and the trial where he met all the past Vongola Bosses.
'Primo?!,' I shrilled as realization finally hit me. He IS Vongola Primo, if that is so, where am I? Is this the past? How did I get here? Where are Gokudera, Yamamoto and they all?
Apparently, that shocked him for a bit before it was replaced with that calm face he have been putting on. His shocked face was…. Cute. I never noticed it before because I was anxious and shocked out of my life during those critical moments, but he was pretty, very pretty. There were no other words to put it. Handsome just don't cut it.
'That was a surprise… Only my guardians know and call me by that name.'
'Primo!'
People rushed into the room and I was startled by the appearance of sudden guests. But they were all people I have seen before. G, Asari, Lampo, Knuckle immediately rushed in and up the staircase.
G held up his gun at the ready, but was shocked when he saw my face, which was what exactly happened to all the worrywarts.
I backed up against the wall, and noticed that the position of the bed was slightly different as well. When I was using the room, the bed was in the middle of the bed room and not beside the bedroom wall.
'Speak in Japanese. Seems like he can only understand Japanese,' Primo smiled softly and stood up to approach me slowly with elegant steps.
'Primo… He looked like a mini version of you!' Knuckle said each word slowly and apart, not believing his own eyes.
It was rather unbelievable anyway, can't blame him. Imagine seeing a twin of yourself somewhere out there on the street, or worse, in a flower bed of white roses. What a joke, it sounded exactly like Byakuran trying to bring another version of himself to the same world.
'Primo, is this the boy that we picked up in the garden just now?' G mumbled softly as he took out a cigarette from his pocket.
'G, no smoking in front of under aged kids, and yes, he is,' Primo chided as he sat down on the bed as well. I instinctively moved to the other corner of it, as far away from him as possible. I still can't believe I actually thought that way towards Primo.
How could this happen? Does this mean I'm actually in the past? But how? I was in this room yes, but… What happened? I remembered I was having an inheritance ceremony… Then…?
Questions whizzed through my mind as I sat there with my hands hugging my chest.
G reluctantly put the cigarette back in its box, grumbling under his breath.
'You need a smoke here and then after all.'
'Nufufufu, he could be an enemy, Primo.' Upon hearing that voice, I immediately tensed up and got off the bed to confirm my suspicion to my dismay.
Alaude and that traitor Daemon was looking up from the first floor of the room.
I gave that Daemon a death glare from the 2nd floor down. After all, it was him who caused the mess between the Shimon and the Vongola. The him who was insanely obsessed with creating a perfect Vongola, I could never forgive nor forget him for whatever he had done to us.
'Seems like he disliked me already,' Daemon chuckled without a care about the glare I was giving, shrugging it off as though it was normal. Too bad I wasn't Xanxus. He would have been dead by now.
'It isn't surprising, seeing that you give off hateful hormones,' Alaude spoke. His voice was almost the exact replica as Hibari's. I wonder how I-Pin would react to this situation.
'But, who are you?' Asari Ugetsu said pointedly, looking into my direction. His eyes were gentle and calm like an undisturbed water surface. Yamamoto…
'Sa-Sawada Tsunayoshi, or Tsuna for short…' I strung my words together as the nerve breaking atmosphere was making me unnaturally nervous. The atmosphere grew ten times thicker and was crushing my windpipe.
'What were you doing, lying unconscious in the Garden, and even among my favourite white rose bush…?' Primo asked.
'Primo, this brat is definitely suspicious! Appearing out of nowhere and he looked like you,' G was hot-headed, just like Gokudera. He's smart, but he doesn't let anything go through that hard skull of his.
'G, He isn't a bad person.' Giotto reached out his hand to pat me on my head. He smiled slightly as his warm hand continued to pat my head softly, like I was someone precious to him.
His warmth was alluring and gave off a sense of security; he was definitely someone with leadership power and he had a magnetic aura that somehow draws people to him. He was handsome (or more like pretty) as well. The warmth he radiates resembled the sky, boundless and amiable. He makes people wants to trust him immediately.
In respond to him, I gave a tiny smile, a light pink dusting my cheeks.
He is definitely Primo, the Primo I have always wanted to meet for a very, very long time.
Cross that, it makes me sounds old.
o0o
'G-san, what do you guys normally do?' I asked as G strolled along beside him with his hands in his pockets, after being asked to 'babysit' me by Giotto while he go and settle some paperwork regarding me. It wouldn't be an awesome matter if I were to be discovered by the legislature or the likes without an identity.
'… Killing brats,' G mumbled as he smoked the cigarette.
'Wha-?'
'G, stop fooling around with him already,' Giotto chuckled as he mysteriously appear out of nowhere and was in front of them in a split second.
'Primo, your speed has increased again,' it was the first time I actually saw G smiled.
It was always an acrimonious scowl on his face, as though everybody in the world owned him overdue big bucks, just like how Gokudera always behaves to strangers or people he doesn't like at one look. But smiles do fit him very well. G has very silky and soft striking pink hair, or Magenta as insisted by him, and the tattoo that rises up from the chin up towards his eyes on the right side of his face was sexy. His eyes were like rubies itself, shining its mystical soft glow. He too, has very even and smooth skin, though not as translucent as Giotto's one. His smile made him look even more handsome, though it did hide a slight smirk as well.
'I was climbing the mountain,' Giotto smiled as he placed his hands on my shoulders and pushed me into a brisk pace, making me having to catch up to his pace. Thank god for Reborn's Spartan training on making me do running training, if not he would have died of exhaustion by now. More like, I had already died quite a few times already and ended up not going to school for a few days.
'Huh? Where are we going now?' I turned back to face Giotto's poker face which was actually really that close to breaking a smile.
'Secret,' Giotto said each syllabus of the word separately, navigating me and pulling a scowling G along around the mansion. It was like he knew this mansion by the back of his hand.
Obviously he knows right, he built the mansion. What am I thinking, dame-Tsuna.
'We are here,' Giotto pushed open the door to the dining room.
'Welcome, Tsuna!' Asari broke into a big smile as he popped some sprinklers.
'Sawada, it's nice to have you here!' Knuckle took my hand and shook it enthusiastically. I instantly made a mental note to visit the doctor later as I massaged my reddened hand.
'Nufufu~ Life will get more interesting around here,' Daemon signature laughter echoed around the room as he popped another sprinkler. Ribbons and small bits of colourful paper scattered around me like fallen petals.
'Well… Nice to meet you, Sawada Tsunayoshi,' Alaude shook my hand formally. At least he knows how to shake another person's hand properly. But isn't it rude to call a person by their full name?
Something suddenly landed on my head and patted it lightly repeatedly. I turned my head and found G suddenly taking a keen interest in petting and touching my hair.
Reader's POV (Sorry for the abrupt change in POV)
'It feels like I'm actually petting the actual Primo's head,' G eyed Giotto with a playful glance. 'Just like how I do every night.'
'Whhaat? G!' A light pink spread across Giotto's pale cheeks as his eyes flashed hints of embarrassment and his mouth agape in plain shock.
'Geh,' Tsuna redden a little, unable to believe what I just heard. What exactly did they do every night? That's what I want to know too.
Both Giotto and Tsuna blushed in exactly the same way, a cute and innocent one.
'O yah, o yah~ what do we have here, Primo is blushing.' Daemon smirked as he sipped his red wine, enjoying the show playing in front of him.
'Primo is blushing, Primo is blushing~~,' Lampo sang in an annoying sing-song voice as he prattled around Primo, scattering sprinklers and flower petals around him like a flower boy.
'You people…' Giotto looked down and his shoulders trembled uncontrollably as Lampo continued his amusement at getting Giotto to blush.
It all happened in an instant.
The light went out, and came back a second later. It was a silent second.
All except for Tsuna and Giotto was knocked out completely on the floor, their listless souls floating out from their mouth.
'I'm sorry, please don't mind what this idiot of a red-head just said,' Giotto said as he brushed off invisible dusts off his gloves as his face held a satisfied expression. Just a minute, I mean second ago, he seemed so child-like. Now he was back to his calm poker face.
'E-Erm….' It was the only respond Tsuna could give.
'Come, let's cut the cake. It was a special order I had to pull some strings to get from Jackson's Pastries. They are the best in Italy,' Giotto pulled Tsuna along. It seemed to Tsuna that Giotto was the one that was more excited about the party than the one it had been held for.
Giotto cut 2 slices of cakes skilfully without spilling any of the topping on the two-tier cake.
'His strawberry shortcake is still the best I ever tasted,' Giotto smiled as he tasted the goodness melting in his mouth as the soft interior quickly slid down his throat and the icing that was of the perfect balance of sweetness slowly followed afterwards.
'So Primo-san love strawberry cakes huh, how unexpected,' Tsuna laughed as he took his share of the cake and begin to taste the meltingly sweet cake.
'Tsunayoshi, don't call me Primo-san. It's too formal, why don't you call me just Primo, or Giotto. My name is Giotto. My guardians don't know my Japanese name, and I didn't bother to tell them anyway. I'm a full blooded Italian, but my mum really loved Japanese culture so she gave me Ieyasu Sawada as part of my name though it wasn't one that I normally used. Giotto Ieyasu Sawada, that's my ridiculously long name. Primo was the name my friends gave me and I actually rather like it,' Giotto smile broaden and his eyes became small slits of yellow as he savoured the cake.
'Heh, that's something I didn't know… I only know you were Giotto, from a family tree map Reborn brought.'
'Who's Reborn?'
'A-Ah! It's nothing at all!' Tsuna shook his hands violently in a flustered manner, and for a moment, he forgot that he had a plate of cake in his hands. Damn.
'Gaah!' Tsuna's fingers were inches away from the plate of cake before it landed, whether for the good or actually pretty bad, on the platinum haired man in a pitch black trench coat. And you can blame it on Tsuna's poor agility if anything.
'Oh no… You have done it now….' Giotto placed his dear cake down and grabbed Tsuna's right hand and…
'Make a break for it!' Giotto shouted as a white-haired monster came charging dangerously behind.
'Hiiiii!' Tsuna could only shrill as he was pulled along by Giotto like a balloon into a top-speed dash. It was a speed that would make Usain Bolt cry of shame.
'Windows will be broken once again…' Giotto sighed out audibly as he pulled Tsuna into bridal style as he arched his back forwards before he sprang up to the window and broke through it. It was like how Tsuna broke free of Torikabuto 'Grid of Sea Snakes' in the Choice battle.
'Wah! What are you doing, Giotto-san?!' Tsuna blushed like a red neon ball with his bangs attempting to cover much of the ball. He was like a bright red ball with some hair growing out of it, thinking 'Hey, let's try growing on a ball-head!'
'Recusing a damsel in distress,' Giotto calmly said as he ran through the garden, the flowers only being swayed towards the direction of the wind after a few seconds.
'Eh?' Tsuna's eyes opened big and wide.
'…Don't tell me you don't know what a damsel is…' Giotto sweat dropped. They were approaching the entrance gates of the mansion.
'Noo… My English test score was 1/100…'
'Wow that sure is a good score to get. Never mind about that, let's go for a walk outside the town! And to visit an old friend of mine. I'm sure he will love to meet you.'
And just like that, Tsuna was whisked off to god knows where by Giotto.
o0o
Hehe, finally the starting chapter on the arc. I hope you like it! :3 Please tell me your thoughts and some ideas to share.
Tsuna: Why am I always being carried bridal style? I'm a guy you know, I have my pride.
Giotto: You are pretty light you know, it was a breeze…
Tsuna: Says the person whose hands nearly broke
Giotto: …
o0o
So about the Decimo's family members, I may take Grisia's suggestion. It will definitely be funnier if someone like Mukuro were to clash with Daemon, or Hibari trying to kill Mukuro every now and then. But I needed a suitable time to introduce them in. As for Pure Red Crane, I definitely agree it would be easier to write the story with just Tsuna, less words to write and edit. It's honestly time-consuming to write and edit as well. And Tsuna's personality is easier than the others to write…
And I realise one thing... IT'S HARD TO VISUALISE HOW Italy in the past looked like T_T and considering that I suck at history, I may just infuse modern stuff into the Italy of the past. I kind of regretted making the setting in the past.
Ah, and one thing to make sure, the story is taking place currently in a small town in the outskirts of Italy.
Please look forward to the next chapter!
For now, goodbye!