20. Poverty

Word Count: 2413

"Good morning, Sawada-san!"

"Fine morning, isn't it, Sawada-sama?"

"Out on your usual morning stroll, Sawada-sama?"

"I hope you have a fine morning, Sawada-san!"

"Che. Not even five minutes into town and people are already bugging you," Gokudera grumbled against his burning cigarette, eyeing the people lining the streets in their markets and vendor carts with wariness.

"They're just trying to be hospitable," Tsuna waved to another vendor who greeted him before shifting his ochre gaze to Gokudera. "Honestly, Gokudera-kun. You don't have to glare at everybody as if they were going to attack me."

"It's in my job description," Gokudera mumbled, eyes glowing in amusement for a conversation often recurred. "Everybody must be considered a threat to the Vongola Boss; he must be protected at all times."

"Even if they're a bunch of townsfolk who need said Vongola Boss to sponsor and provide financially for their little town?" Tsuna's eyes shimmered in that same amused light in Gokudera's.

"Even if they're a bunch of townsfolk who need that Vongola Boss to sponsor and provide financially for their little town," Gokudera answered with a small smirk as he darted his eyes around the perimeter.

"Still so impossible," Tsuna shook his head with a smile, to which Gokudera flashed a quick grin in response before schooling his expression blank.

"Ah! Tsuna-san!"

Tsuna's eyes moved towards the familiar voice, his smile widening a bit and knowing Gokudera's scowl was setting in. His eyes met with the sight of a short haired brunette waving over-exuberantly with a matching wide smile that only grew as Tsuna neared her form.

"Good morning, Haru."

"Good morning, Tsuna-san!" Haru's eyes shifted to Gokudera, brightness dimming slightly, "And to you too, Gokudera-san."

"Che."

Haru obviously held back her retort as she turned with a brighter smile back to Tsuna. "Did you start your walk just earlier Tsuna-san? Haru's willing to provide a quick meal on the house!"

Tsuna's brows furrowed slightly though his smile remained, "You provide a free meal every time I come by here. The Vongola's always willing to fund little businesses as your deli but-"

Haru waved him off, "It's perfectly fine, Tsuna-san!" She beamed at him, rich chocolate eyes warm, "It's the least Haru can do since you've supported our town so much! Besides," she huffed, he chest thrust out proudly and her hands on her hips. "Haru may not look like it, but Haru's a real business woman! This deli here is one of Namimori's most popular shops!"

Gokudera snorted.

"Hahi!" Haru glowered at Gokudera, "Haru thinks you were implying something, Gokudera-san! Do you doubt Haru's business skills?"

"No, of course not. You're a successful business woman," Gokudera muttered under his breath lowly, but being his long time friend, Tsuna easily picked up the heavy sarcasm in his tone and he gave a reprimanding look at him.

Haru, fortunately, was oblivious to the exchange (Tsuna couldn't tell whether by choice or not) and beamed, "Then I'll get you your bread! Gokudera-san wants a croissant," Gokudera's face lit up slightly, "and Tsuna-san feels like having something sweet?"

Tsuna nodded with a smile, "Good guess."

Haru smiled widely, "But of course!" Her smile shifted mischievously, "Haru's an eligible bachelorette! She might one day be named Sawada Haru!"

Tsuna chuckle nervously, cheeks burning, while Gokudera's expression darkened. "Hey, you stupid woman, Ten-"

"I'll go get your bread!" And Haru turned away, nearly glowing as she walked into her deli, leaving the two to wait patiently, though Gokudera looked venomous. Tsuna shot him a nervous smile.

"Um, you do realize she was teasing me, right, Gokudera-kun? She knows that a woman from a little town like Namimori can't marry me and into the Vongola."

"She could've kept little 'jokes' like that to her happy ass self." Gokudera pouted, though Tsuna wouldn't tell Gokudera that he did.

And no later, Haru came out with two small brown paper bags, thin white sheets poking up from the opening. "Hai! A croissant for Gokudera-san," she handed him the bag in her right hand, "and sweet rolls for Tsuna-san!" She gave him the other with a near blinding smile.

Tsuna gave her a grateful smile, "Thanks a lot, Haru."

Haru flushed at the gratitude, "Anytime really, Tsuna-san!"

The two exchanged parting words and Tsuna and Gokudera were off, both rummaging through their brown bags, mouths watering just at the scent it exuded.

"That woman maybe annoying but she does know how to bake," Gokudera said after a bite of his croissant. Tsuna didn't respond right away, drawing Gokudera's attention from the bread to his boss.

"Tenth?" Gokudera questioned, watching Tsuna's expression flash sheepishly, before pulling out one of his sweet rolls with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, she did say sweet rolls," Tsuna said and bit into his roll.

Gokudera smirked knowingly, "She gave you two again?"

Tsuna nodded and swallowed, "Her kindness always makes me feel like I'm the hassle. Geez…"

"I can still go back and give a piece of your mind or two!" Gokudera's grin was childish, and Tsuna shuddered at it.

"Th-that won't be necessary, Gokudera-kun. Really."

Gokudera hummed with a frown that made Tsuna question his friend's mindset.

Suddenly, there was a girl in front of them, a huge bouquet of flowers in her arms.

"H-Holy sh-!"

"H-Hiiee-!"

"A-ah. Excuse me. I didn't mean to startle you."

The flowers shifted, and long, flowing dark violet tresses of hair fluttered, revealing a familiar face marked with a black eye patch. Tsuna's face brightened in recognition.

"Chrome!"

Chrome's lips twitched up subtly, her single violet eye glowing pleasantly in content.

"Vongola-san, Guardian-san," She nodded her head at them before bowing low, arms outstretched and flowers in hand.

"Mukuro-sama saw you two coming down the road and wished for me to give these flowers to you in greeting. He hopes that you could honour his flower shop a visit today."

"Why?" Tsuna and Gokudera inquired sharply at the same time; Tsuna looked sheepishly at Chrome, realizing how rude that was while Gokudera retained his glare on the girl.

Chrome only smiled, understanding in her eye. "That, Mukuro-sama has failed to tell me."

"Sounds suspicious, Tenth."

"Nothing less expected from Mukuro…"

"My, I'm hurt. I like to entertain the thought that I'm mysterious, not suspicious," a rich voice sounded in a low, almost sensual whisper right at Tsuna's ear that almost elicited a very high pitched shriek from him. Tsuna swiveled around, eyes wide and an accusing glare fixed on the tall being beside a startled Gokudera.

"M-Mukuro!"

"Hello to you too, Vongola," Mukuro's heterochromic eyes slid to Gokudera, "Dog."

"Why you-!"

"G-Good morning, Mukuro!" Tsuna quickly interjected, seeing where a conversation between these two could lead up to.

"Kufufu… Somebody's enthusiastic this morning." Mukuro tilted his head slightly, blue hair slightly covering his blood red eye, "If I didn't know better I would have thought you were throwing yourself at me, ready to let me take over that body of yours."

"And after years of hearing it, it doesn't make any more sense nor does it make it any less creepy…" Tsuna murmured, backing up towards Chrome slowly.

"Kufufu…" Mukuro began to slowly advance towards Tsuna, only to be stopped by Gokudera's firm grip on his shoulder.

"Hold it, bastard. You're not going to take another step towards Tenth."

Mukuro's smile was smooth and very patronizing, "Kufufufu… You just can't wait to get your hands on me…"

Gokudera flushed indignantly. "Asshole! It's not-!"

"…To make sure your precious boss is safe huh, Gokudera Hayato?"

Gokudera's face only reddened, "F-Fucker! Why do you have to make everything sound like a goddamned innuendo?"

"It's because he has the perfect voice for it, Mukuro-sama says," Chrome spoke up and Tsuna hiding behind her chuckled humorlessly.

"That doesn't make it any less disturbing!"

"Indeed. It makes it smooth, right, my cute Chrome?"

"Don't you dare bring in your wing woman! That's fucking cheating!"

Tsuna chuckled again, still lacking much humour.

A distant sound of metal falling attracted Tsuna's attention from the little group, causing Tsuna to turn a peer over his shoulder. Another distant noise sounded, accompanied by a few black bags rolling out from an alley a few stores over.

Tsuna's curiosity was peaked.

With a cautious glance at Gokudera, and then at Mukuro, he carefully turned around and started toward the alleyway, making sure not to draw attention to him by staring at who he was leaving and quieting his footsteps as best as he could in Italian shoes and somewhat cracked concrete.

His strides became longer and his footsteps even more controlled as he neared the alley, eyes flashing determinedly as he pressed his back along the brick wall, and slowly peeked around the corner, breath held in anticipation.

A little boy that couldn't be over the age of ten rummaged around in the garbage, dirty tattered clothes loosely covering his dirty, but already tanned skin. Tsuna's eyes widened; there was a wandering homeless boy in Namimori?

Tsuna stepped out from the corner and into the alleyway, the soft clicking of his heels alerting the boy of his presence. A thin, yet somewhat rounded face snapped up to him, the messy black hair around his widened hazel eyes fluttered around in its discord.

Tsuna could tell the boy was about to make a run for it and he quickly spoke, "Hold it right there, kid."

The boy's body twitched, a sign that Tsuna's assumption was correct as the boy forcefully stopped the thought of moving, and pinned Tsuna a fiercely untrusting glare at Tsuna.

It took the words out of Tsuna's mouth. No kid should have that look.

He took in a breath and gave the boy the gentlest smile he could, "Hey, I'm not going to do anything to you. You don't have to give me that look."

The boy's look only darkened but Tsuna kept up his gentle smile. Suddenly the boy grinned, wide and toothy, and it was so large that it closed the boy's eyes.

Tsuna knew then that the smile wasn't genuine.

"Haha! Then what do you want, mister? I'm sure the restaurant manager next door would really like to hear about this, don'tcha think?"

Tsuna fought from letting his smile become dangerous as a learned instinct Reborn forced into him when dealing with other important money heads. This was a challenge and his boss demeanour would not do in this situation, unlike other challenge situations.

"I'm sure he would," the boy's smile dimmed slightly, "but I'm sure we can just keep this between us." Hazel eyes snapped open wide and the boy's jaw dropped slightly; Tsuna had to fight from grinning outright at the surprisingly adorable expression. The look became confused as a pout formed on the child's lips, eyes searching in Tsuna's.

"Then why are you here? Everybody else would be calling the orphanage or the officials to forceful get me in the system." His head tilted, a naturally confused smile now in the place of the pout, "Why are you acting differently?"

A hand found its way into his trousers' pocket and Tsuna let his poise relax as he shrugged. "I don't know," Tsuna offered a small, sheepish grin, "I'm not a big fan of the system myself. I don't think I'd want to push that onto somebody who's obviously doing fine on his own." Tsuna raised a brow as he took in his dirty appearance and watched as the boy flushed, an embarrassed smile now on his face.

"Well," hazel eyes flickered mischievously as he slid a hand into a pocket his jeans, mimicking Tsuna's relaxed posture, "It's not like everybody can get successful like you, sir. Maybe the rich life isn't so pristine like you make it to be." His eyes swept over Tsuna's eggshell white suit with a brow raised and Tsuna couldn't help but laugh and felt a little bit of relief when the boy laughed along.

"Hey hey, sir!" Tsuna looked down, eyes still warm with laughter, and looked down in surprise to find the boy right in front of him, a large grin on his face and eyes glittering. He lifted a long, yet short, finger at his face, "My name's Yamamoto Takeshi! What's yours?"

Tsuna smiled, "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi. It's a pleasure to be in your acquaintance."

Yamamoto chuckled, "You talk really formally."

Tsuna's smile shifted sheepishly, "Eh heh. It's in the job description."

Yamamoto chuckled again, eyes still shining and opened his mouth-

"Tenth! What are you doing over there?"

"Ah. Discovered." Tsuna smiled nervously as he watched Gokudera start storming his way over to him, an amused Mukuro and Chrome on his heels.

"You have to leave now?" Sharp, large eyes bore into his, wide and disappointed, and Tsuna couldn't help smiling apologetically.

"Yeah. As a rich guy, I have to have somebody flocking me at all times," Tsuna shrugged helplessly and Yamamoto grinned up at him.

"See? I told rich life wasn't all you made it out to be!"

Tsuna laughed and heard Gokudera call out to him again. Tsuna sighed, "Hey, you should probably leave. Gokudera-kun can be nice when he wants to be…or really just around me, but he won't tolerate a kid in my presence. You'll get into some trouble."

Yamamoto's exuberance faded slightly but the smile remained. "Got it. You'll be here again right?" He folded his arms behind his head, "I wanna see my new friend again!"

"Only if you're here. I take a stroll every morning."

"Cool!" Yamamoto grinned widely and Tsuna could tell that was genuine. "Then I'll see you again, Tsuna-san!" Yamamoto started off and as he turned his back an idea struck Tsuna.

"Ah! Hey, wait!"

Yamamoto stopped and looked up curiously. Tsuna smiled nervously, "Here," he lifted the brown paper bag that had been forgotten prior to the moment. "It's some really good bread! I'm sure you could use the extra carbs better than I could…!" Tsuna tossed the bag and watched Yamamoto catch it with fluid-like ease.

And the smile that stretched his face spread just as easily.

"Thanks! A lot!" and he was gone, the area still warm from the boy's aura. Tsuna scratched his cheek, a little flustered at the warmth in his chest.

"Well, that's my over-saintly good deed today…" Tsuna muttered to himself just as Gokudera came up, worried complaints flying from his lips once at his side.

But it couldn't hurt to look forward to seeing the kid again.