Okay, the long awaited chapter! And one of the readers had an excellent question. Kyouya and Takeshi will actually be officially showing up in the next chapter, so please look forward to it.
And I give thanks to the awesome people known as FallenxLinkin and Eulphy Whitlock-Lupin. They've been encouraging my skills and I now have the newest chapter up for enjoyment, so I hope you guys thank them for me, FallenxLinkin especially. Now, onto the chapter!
"Giotto, Giotto," a voice called out from down the hallway. Pausing in the middle of signing off one of the maid's leave forms-her daughter had fallen seriously ill last week and she was needed at home-he cocked his ears to the side and wondered if he had just imagined Nana's voice. Staring at the oaken door in front of him with narrowed eyes, Giotto shrugged it off when no one came barging through the door and picked up the phone on his desk to make a call.
Thus, he was completely unprepared for the loud slam of the door as it was shoved open by a panting and slightly sweaty Nana, her swollen belly heaving in tune with her chest as Giotto's pen skidded across the desk and left a trail of black ink splashed across his papers. Taking in her disheveled appearance and dramatic entrance, his mouth shot off to calm her before he could even think.
"What happened? What's wrong, Nana, what is it?" Giotto asked, placing the phone back in its holder and ignoring the ink-stained papers in front of him in favor of Nana. Suddenly, a thought slipped through his calm and caused panic to shove it aside and well up inside him; he stood up immediately, blue eyes wide with fear.
"Oh god, did something happen to the baby? Are you both alright?"
Nana shook her head hastily, causing a momentary rise in Giotto's blood pressure before she gasped out, "No, no, everything's fine. I'm so sorry, I just-just wanted you to be the first. Come here."
The blonde paused as the tension left his body and was quickly replaced by befuddlement. Wanted him to be the first-? Laughing breathlessly, Nana took his hand and led it to her stomach, letting it rest there in wait for the newest surprise from the smallest member of the family. His brows furrowed in confusion and he was just about to ask her what she was doing after a few moments passed when felt it-a small thump brushed against his hand. His eyes grew wide and a soaring feeling swelled in his chest as another one came mere moments after, just barely thumping against his fingertips. He looked up to her smiling face in complete awe, his thoughts written all over his face.
"It really is the baby," Nana said with a wide smile. "I know the doctor said that I would be able to feel it all the time now considering I'm, you know, carrying the baby, but I wanted you to be the first one to feel it after me."
Giotto swallowed down the rush of emotions he felt and blinked away the burn behind his eyes, running his hand in circles over her stomach and waiting for another kick instead of saying anything. It would have been just a bit embarrassing if his voice cracked while thanking her.
"You're growing fast, huh, munchkin?" he whispered quietly as he crouched down after collecting himself, grinning when felt a thump against his hand that seemed like an answer.
Nana giggled as he rubbed his hand against her stomach, eagerly waiting for the next movement from his crouch on the floor. Opening her mouth to say something, her eyebrows furrowed as the sound of a camera shutter clicking sounded from behind her. She and Giotto turned to see Elena standing there with a camera with one hand and the other on her cheek, a nostalgic expression on her face.
"I remember when that was Daemon and me," she said, sighing almost wistfully as she remembered what it was like to be pregnant with her darlings. Realizing that she'd stopped taking pictures of them to indulge in her nostalgia and that they were staring at her in amusement, her cheeks tinged pink.
"If you two have time to stare at me, you most definitely have time to look photogenic. Time to make some memories! Go on, do something cuddly and cute."
Giotto shook his head with a fond grin and shared a look with Nana-which inspired another picture to be taken-before asking, "You're taking a lot of pictures for one photo album, huh? What are we gonna do when you realize you've filled the poor kid's album with just Nana and I from before he was even born?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Elena dismissed with a mischievious smile and jutting out her chin. "There's no such thing as too many pictures for an album. And anyways, this is just for the pregnancy album. We still have the albums for the birth and every year after that. Plenty of space to work with here."
Giotto laughed after mouthing her words in wonder, his cheeks turning a faint pink in his laughter as he tried not to fall on his butt from his precarious position on the floor. "How we survived with you in France, I have no idea."
"To be honest, I have no ideas either because you've all quite literally been proven to be insane," Elena said loftily with a wide grin as Nana laughed into her hand, remembering that poor psychologist. They weren't going to forget that one any time soon. "No worries now since I'm back now. God knows Nana can't rely on you heathens all the time. At least the mansion is still in one piece this time around."
Giotto opened his mouth to reply to her playful jab at himself and his Guardians-one of which she married, okay, she knew what she was getting into years ago-when something occurred to him and he turned to Nana with a disapproving frown.
"Wait a minute, you were speeding down the halls, weren't you?"
A bead of sweat ran down her head and she backed away from the blonde, laughing nervously and raising her hands in front of her face as if to protect her from his wrath. Before he could go into a full-blown lecture about how she shouldn't be running almost six months into her pregnancy he heard a knock on his door and his attention was taken away from the brunette. Sighing in relief, Nana silently thanked whatever God was out there for saving her and raised her eyes to the ceiling in relief.
"Come on in," Giotto called out as Nana slowly inched away from him, nearly sprinting in her haste to hide behind a giggling Elena, all too used to similar instances.
Quite unexpectedly, Alaude and Asari walked in side by side, an unusual pair that usually wasn't too involved with each other, not from a dislike of the other but because they worked in two different fields of the family most of the time. It was easy enough to see the the solemnity of the situation through Asari's gait and the look in his eyes, Giotto tensing at the stiff expression on Alaude's face and the tic in his jaw. While it wasn't obvious to those who weren't around him constantly, Alaude wasn't actually constantly tense or bloodthirsty; he had a bit of a temper that he very rarely actually acted on and the clear lust for destruction in his blue eyes both excited and worried Giotto. Asari's eyes flickered to the women as he walked in, giving them a smile before turning back to Giotto, the slight jerk of his head towards them causing Giotto nod in acknowledgement.
"Nana, Elena, do me a favor and grab G for me before heading down to the kitchen and grabbing me some lunch, if you guys wouldn't mind," Giotto asked softly, shooting them a small smile and causing them to pause, shooting each other hesitant looks. Studying the three men, Elena sighed quietly and accepted that they weren't to be involved in any famiglia business, tugging on Nana's sleeve gently.
"Come on," she murmured, her wavy blond hair swishing around her head as she turned and pulled Nana along with her.
Nana's brown eyes flickered towards Giotto once more and he nodded at her before she gave in to Elena and let herself be dragged along, Giotto closing the door behind him and locking it once he was sure the girls wouldn't be able to eavesdrop. When he turned back towards his Cloud and Rain Guardian his eyes glinted with a strength that never failed to convince Asari he had made the right choice in choosing to be by Giotto's side and Alaude that this was the man who would change the world.
"What happened?" Giotto asked briskly, walking to his desk and leaning against, his arms crossed. With so many things that could have gone wrong, he preferred to remain calm and waited for them to supply their own information without making assumptions. Panicking or making plans without knowing everything was something he'd rather not do unless in certain situations. One couldn't always pull things off quite like Giotto did after all.
"An enemy famiglia has been reported to have attacked certain facilities in Namimori and messages were sent requesting help. We must leave immediately," Alaude answered, his voice just as calm and measured as always even as his fingers twitched by his side.
Giotto paused in his reach for the phone, turning to the the two with a deliberate slowness and appraising them silently.
"Namimori," Giotto repeated, drawing the word out slowly, Asari nodding as he made the connection between the attack's location and their appearance together.
"Somehow the Dracone famiglia-or rather, from what the message said, we assume it's them-found out about our families and made a move that caught them off guard," he said. Motioning towards Alaude he continued, "His son is three, going on four soon and Takeshi is younger still, as you know. My father had to call in a favor to be able to send us the S.O.S and is currently looking to go in hiding until he can make it there. There's no need for us to pack, but we do need to borrow your jet. Management still has them all under maintenance and yours is the only one that almost done but they won't release it to us unless you make the order."
Giotto nodded in understanding before walking around his desk and pulling out a pen as he called Alberto to make the necessary arrangements. Quickly jotting down the details on a spare sheet of paper, he folded it in half and handed it to Alaude, who nodded and slipped it into his trench coat's pocket as Giotto sat down.
"There's already a car up front to take you to the hangar and all the flight details are on the paper. You'll still have to take a car from the landing spot and they'll be ready for you when you get there. You can ask them to go for reinforcements or choose to take care of the issues yourself, but that's your choice and they'll listen to your orders."
Pausing, Giotto stared them down and spoke slowly, his words sharp with authority. "If you need backup, do not refuse to ask for it just because you want to be stubborn and think you don't need it. You're not amateurs and this is your family-don't act stupidly. The Dracone have been waiting for something like this for a long time and things could get ugly depending on how badly they want this."
Alaude scoffed and Asari smiled with a dangerous edge to his lips, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana.
"Come on, Giotto, have some faith in us. We are the Vongola Primo's Guardians after all. If we couldn't handle something as simple as this, we would never have been able to get this far," Asari said cheerfully, his fingers wrapping themselves firmly around his katana.
Feeling an influx of warmth and pride in his chest at Asari's words, Giotto smiled brightly at the reminder of his legacy and their shared dreams for a better future. He and his Guardians would, without a doubt, change things for the better and continue their work. Until then...
"Give them hell for me," he said with a vicious grin, leaning back in his chair and watching as Alaude smirked, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.
"I don't need you to tell me how to do my job," Alaude stated, his voice lacking any ill will even as he says it, walking off.
"We're off, Gio!" Asari called out as he followed after him, waving one hand loosely in the air as a goodbye.
Giotto chuckled as the two left, shaking his head with a fond tilt of his lips. Lifting his arm up, he let his chin rest there and his blue eyes seemed to glow for a second as . He had a feeling that this attack meant something for their future, but he couldn't quite figure out whether it was a good one or a bad one. Sighing as he stared down at his paperwork mournfully, he wondered if G would make him fill out the papers for why he needed more copies of the ruined paperwork and figured he could get off not doing it if he asked really nicely. The door opened slight and Giotto perked up when Nana's head popped through.
"Still hungry?" she questioned, pushing the door open and waving the napkin covered sandwich in her hands around.
"Yes, thank you," Giotto answered gratefully, reaching for it as she walked forward to hand it over and unwrapping the napkin to reveal a bresaola sandwich. Shooting her a pleased look for bringing him one of his favorites, he gestured for her to sit down and pushed aside his paperwork.
"So," Giotto began after swallowing his first bite, "about how you were running in the hallway earlier..."
Okay! That was the third chapter! Sorry it was so short, but I didn't have much time since my finals are coming up but I wanted to give you guys a little something until I have more time. If you have any questions, leave a review or PM me. And for all those who have favorited or followed me, I remember you. I know pretty much all of you and make it a point to PM you for it. I appreciate everything and will continue to do such even if I'm really busy. So know that I appreciate all the little things.
AN: So I had my first day of highschool, yay! It was pretty good, surprisingly, but I'm guessing things will change later on. The only problem is walking home all the time because my mom won't be able to pick me up all the time and I therefore have to walk for an hour to get home. It's kind of fun though because one of my old friends is a sophomore and lives only a little bit away from me so we walked together for like 40 minutes.
Edited: 8/20/2014
A/N: So actually I changed Kyouya's age once more because I'd forgotten the part of age that involves birthdays, lol. Anyways, from now on, his official age is three because his birthday is in the first week of May and Takeshi's is in April. Therefore, Kyoya is two years older than Takeshi and will be turning four in one of the later chapters. Right now-or rather, in the latest chapter released, the date is May 1st. Sorry for all the trouble.