Chapter 9 tells of a present for a feverish child
It was six in the evening and Tsuna was still in front of the mirror, fidgeting nervously as he checked his reflection yet again to make sure that he looked decent enough. He didn't want to dress shabbily and embarrass Giotto, especially since the latter took the initiative to ask him out today.
To ask him out today...
Tsuna shook his head vigorously for a good ten seconds in attempt to clear his thoughts and allow the blush on his face to subside. He still couldn't come to terms with the fact that he actually agreed to go to the festival with Giotto so easily last night. What was he thinking?
Wasn't it weird to go with one of his ancestors ? Especially when Giotto knew and accepted the fact that he was actually the Vongola Decimo already. Besides, he didn't know much about Italy 400 years ago and was sure that he wouldn't be able to keep up with the festival, celebrations, customs or even the correct etiquette. Heck, he was even facing slight difficulties in speaking Italian right now!
There was definitely someone else that Giotto wanted to go with... like his great-great-great-grandmother? Or perhaps he hadn't met her yet... But, he would definitely meet her soon right? Tsuna hoped that he would be able to see how Giotto's wife would look like before he returned back to his own time frame.
Maybe she's really pretty, with long brown hair and eyes. Or maybe she is really powerful and uses gloves like Giotto. This way, both of them can fight together and they can protect each other's backs...
'WAIT! WAIT FOR A MOMENT!' Tsuna screamed at himself in his mind and looked up at the mirror to see his reflection. D-Did he just imagine himself as Giotto's wife? No, that was impossible. What he thought was just about someone that looked like him – yet at the same time, it wasn't him. It definitely wasn't him!
Feeling an unusual weight on top of his head, Tsuna glanced up and looked straight into Giotto's sky blue orbs.
"What are you doing, Tsuna? It's unusual to see you so deep in thought. And, if you don't hurry up the entire festival would be over before you even step out of this place," Giotto teased while he happily ruffled Tsuna's chocolate brown locks.
He was only dressed in a simple white shirt and this made Tsuna feel overdressed. Speaking the truth, the clothes that he wore to this era – namely, his school uniform – was far too modern to be seen on the streets outside, and the clothes that he bought ever since arriving in this time frame was a little too big for him and Tsuna couldn't feel at ease if he didn't put on one more layer of clothes.
"Stop teasing me all the time! Besides, it's supposed to be a night festival so it starts only at seven, right?" Tsuna pouted slightly and pulled away, standing just out of reach.
"But there are many other things that we can do before they officially start the festival," Giotto grinned and stepped towards the brunet, grabbing hold of one of his hands and proceeded to drag the poor boy out of the room. "Like feasting and making sure the mood is right for..."
"Mood?" Tsuna gaped blankly as he watched the horrifying image of Giotto emitting a menacing and evil aura as he tried to curb his desire to let out an evil laugh. "What exactly do you mean by that? Why on earth do we need mood in a festival celebration? What exactly are you planning?"
A smile played at the corners of Giotto's lips. "Well, who knows?"
o0o0o
The festival seemed more normal and familiar to him than Tsuna expected – like most of the school festivals back in Japan, which he was used to. There were food stalls and game stalls, as well as those that sell merchandise. But of course, it never occurred to the brunet that all festivals were originally similar in form and were varied slightly when they were passed down in generations due to the mistakes when conveyed from generation to generation.
Tsuna was glad that he agreed to come to this festival. He could clearly see the customs and traditions the people in this town practiced, through their attire and the goods on sale. This could actually become part of his motivation to learn more about Italy whenever Reborn tries to teach him about that particular country. At least, his motivation would probably allow him to reduced the chances he would get bombed during one of Reborn's spartan lessons.
"You won another one again, G-san?"
G nodded as he stared down with a look of pure annoyance. His arms were overflowing from the sheer amount of prizes he won at the game stalls – ranging from delicious looking food to useless stuffed toys and redundant materials that he would not even bother to waste his brain cells trying to figure out what they were.
"Even if you use that expression, I know that you never throw all of those away! Since young, you have been keeping all these items in your room right? Your room is overflowing with them!" Giotto pointed at G's twitching eyebrows and burst into laughter.
G returned the blond's insults by extending an index finger to point at Giotto's empty hands. "I don't want to be told that by you! You didn't even win anything even though you stayed at the stall and played longer than me!"
Seriously, who on earth would believe that the boss of a steadily growing mafia family couldn't even aim and fire a gun properly? But then again, that might be the reason why Giotto chose those gloves as he main weapon instead of something more practical during fighting.
"Here, I hate sweet things," G scowled slightly while holding out the candy apple he just won, at Tsuna. After the brunet decided that it was perfectly alright to accept the gift, he took it over and licked at the sugar coating. It had been so long since he ate one of these.
"I seriously doubt that G can ever be honest to anyone, especially himself," Giotto sighed as he watched the crimson haired man storm off, glaring at all the humans who dared to block his way. Even when attempting to give a present, G always seemed so reluctant.
"But G-san has always been honest to you. Everything that he says to you has true emotions in them and he isn't hiding anything."
Giotto laughed while he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, I'm... you know... an exception! There are always exceptions, right? Besides, I'm his childhood friend so it doesn't really count! We grew up together so it would be weird if he still didn't trust me enough to speak the truth to me!"
Tsuna scratched the back of his head awkwardly when he realised that he just asked a very silly question, judging from the answer he received. "I guess that's true. Um... Is there any other place to go after this?" Tsuna attempted to quickly change the subject before Giotto managed to say something witty and made him feel more pathetic than what he felt already.
"Well, " Giotto trailed off and went deep into thought. "The sun has already set already so I guess it's finally time for the floating candles. It's the main purpose of this whole festival."
"Floating candles?"
Tsuna looked in the direction which Giotto pointed at - the river - and could see clearly that it was sparkling, especially since it was glittering and sparkling from the candles floating on the surface of the river. The small lights from the candle as the boats slowly floated away was illuminated the river, and the way they flickered made the entire area seem so pretty and calming.
Feeling very interested in this weird custom that he had never seen before, Tsuna rushed to the middle of the bridge that overlooked the river and peered down. It was then that he realised that the candles were placed in paper boats and were not actually floating on the river by itself.
"What are they doing?" Tsuna questioned, wondering what was the real meaning behind this practice.
Giotto kept pace with Tsuna easily and sipped as his own cup of juice as he followed the brunet's gaze to see what he was looking at. "They are making wishes."
Tsuna blinked. No matter what, he never thought that it was for that purpose.
"They write their wishes on a paper then fold it into a boat and while praying that it will come true, they put a lighted candle shining with hope and determination on it before setting it free. It's said to float all the way to the far end of the world while carrying the person's wish with it and when God sees the boat, he'd pick it up, read it and grant the wish – well, that's the reasoning behind this process."
"Sounds wonderful. Do all their wishes really come true?"
"No idea," Giotto admitted. "Do you want to try it out?"
Tsuna smiled and immediately made his way over to the river bank to take two pieces of paper and handed one over to the blond. "Of course! It's part of the festival anyway, right?"
Giotto nodded as he picked up an ink pen and scribbled his wish for the year on the paper before quickly folding it and placing the candle in the middle of the boat. Then slowly, he set the entire mass onto the surface of the river and watched as it floated down the river.
Although being born in this town, this was one of the events that the blond had never tried before, since his father – and himself – didn't really believe in such stuff and relied more on their own power to achieve what they want instead of trying to depend on some existence that might not even exist.
"Hey Tsuna, what did you wish for?" Giotto asked, trying to peek and make out the words while the brunet was busy folding the paper.
"D-Don't look!" Tsuna snapped and immediately tried to hide the boat behind his back. He didn't want anyone to see the wish he made, especially not Giotto! That would be far too embarrassing! Then, why on earth did he even write it down in the first place anyway?
"Jeez, just tell me about your wish! Maybe I can even grant it for you! Or perhaps... you want to hear about the wish I made first before you would tell me about yours?"
"N-No! Of course not! A-And, didn't you hear this famous saying before? It goes something like... 'A wish wouldn't come true if you tell someone else else about it'!"
Giotto looked away., a trace of guilt reflected in his eyes. He was feeling kind of bad for almost ruining Tsuna's dream – even though he never heard of that particular saying before, not to mention that he hardly trusted anything supernatural or superstitious. "That might be true, but..."
"No buts! Just promise me that you won't try to look at it! I want my wish to be granted, okay?" Tsuna pointed out while fixing the candle firmly to the bottom of the boat and placing it gently on the surface of the water so it would be able to float down the river with the wishes of the other people.
Proof that he traveled back in time to the past.
Evidence that he certainly existed in this era.
Yes, Evi..
"Tsuna are you alright? What happened!"
Said brunet had just collapsed into Giotto's arms. He was unconscious and his breathing was uneven and his face was flushed. Tsuna was running a high fever even though he was so energetic and showed no signs of any illness just several seconds ago.
"Answer me, Tsuna! HEY!"
o0o0o
When Tsuna regained consciousness, it was already very late at night – or rather, very early in the morning. He slowly sat up on the bed and the piece of wet cloth on his forehead fell off. There was no doubt that he had been carried back home – and very possibly by Giotto too – since there was no one else than Giotto beside him when he passed out – but where was that blond right now?
"So you are awake already?" Giotto stepped into the room and quickly closed the door behind him. "Are you feeling better?"
A small smile lifted the corners of Tsuna's lips. "Y-Yes I'm fine already! Perfectly fine! So you can go out and play with the others already! Sorry for falling ill even though it was supposed to be a fun festival!"
Giotto chuckled at the sight of Tsuna babbling out an apology that made no sense to him whatsoever.
"Tsuna," Giotto sat down on the bed beside the brunet and placed his forehead against the latter's to measure his temperature. At that exact same moment, Tsuna felt his heart thumping almost twice as fast as what it was supposed to and his face heated up at a rapid pace. "Looks like you are still a little feverish. If you want to recover by tomorrow, you better go back to sleep."
Tsuna blinked his eyes twice. He was already feeling so much better than before so why did he have to go right back to sleep after he finally regained consciousness? "What about you? Aren't you going to sleep too?"
Giotto raised a hand up and placed it on top of Tsuna's head – an intimate gesture which was full of love. "After you do. I have to take care of a few more things so you can go to sleep first."
"But-"
Interrupted suddenly by a pair of lips pressed firmly against his own, the feeling of it magical and soft that Tsuna immediately felt himself melting and all logical thoughts and ideas disappearing from his mind. However the kiss itself only lasted for a mere few seconds, the tingling feeling lingering at his lips, before Giotto pulled away and quickly tucked Tsuna into bed.
"It's a present as thanks for accompanying me to the festival, since I couldn't get anything for you... And you said this before – 'no buts', right? Now, move over and just go straight to sleep like a good kid, okay, Tsunayoshi?"
Tsuna stared down at the this sheet of blanket and hoped that his bangs were long enough to cover all traces of his blush before he swiftly flopped down on the bed, rolled over to the half that temporarily belonged to him and buried his face in the pillow, pretending to be fast asleep as soon as he deemed it possible.
Somehow it seemed that it was getting more and more weird for him to be sleeping in the same room as Giotto as days passed. And recently, he had been thinking that he had been feeling a little... strange around the blond, and this feeling was like how he felt whenever he looked at Kyoko – only a million times stronger.
But this feeling resembled love too much for Tsuna not to care. Besides it was growing every single time he looked at the blond – growing more and more – and it was engulfing his entire being.
And it looked like God has abandoned him or just wanted to make a fool out of him for his own amusement, because he didn't even bother to grant the wish he made. On the contrary, God was actually granting the exact opposite of his wish!
Speaking of which, his wish was...
Please don't let me fall in love with Giotto more than I already am.
- Sawada Tsunayoshi
Author's notes: First thing first, I just want to mention that if you find the festival mentioned in this fanfiction familiar, it is is based off on the traditional Japanese Obon festival (even though I just borrowed the idea of the paper boats and candles). Of course, the meaning of the festival is totally different as well. Please don't get confused.
Next, I'm sorry that I took this long to post. I survived through another one of my cram-exam periods and after that I updated other fanfiction first. Especially to all the people who were waiting eagerly for me to update this. I promise that the next chapter would definitely be up way faster than this was (obviously).