Disclaimer: Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira-sensei. The author does not gain anything in writing this fanfiction, well, except having fun screwing with the characters. (^Δ^)v

Ghosts of Future Past

Summary: Something was off in the Vongola mansion. Rumors spread among the servants, the guardians are confused, G is curious and Giotto is aghast that someone's been impersonating him. Canon-ish AU. Drabble series.

Sightings

Giotto convinced G that they couldn't ignore the rumors anymore two weeks after they started; especially when even the other guardians started experiencing weird stuff too.

The first weird stuff was with Knuckle.

"Good day Giotto…" Knuckle greeted as he entered his friend's office. He sat down next to Giotto's table and whispered conspiringly. "How was your trip today?"

"Huh? What trip?" Giotto asked. "I swear I'd like to go somewhere but unfortunately I've been stuck here in this office for hours."

Knuckle widened his eyes as if realizing something. "Oh! I'm ultimately sorry Giotto, I didn't think it was a secret." He winked at Giotto. "Do not worry, I won't tell G. The Lord knows your good intentions. You just want to check the town's welfare personally."

Giotto was not able to tell Knuckle that, really, he didn't go to town that day since his sun guardian immediately exited his office, loudly muttering about ultimate secret-keeping.

G, who had just returned from fetching snacks, seeing Knuckle leaving the room, found Giotto deep in thoughts. "Hey Gio, what did the priest tell you?" he asked.

"Nothing much really," Giotto answered. "Except that apparently, I went to town today and Knuckle's keeping it a secret from you that he saw me."

G raised a brow at that. "What the heck is he talking about? We've been together this whole time."

The next one was with Ugetsu.

Giotto was already heading to Ugetsu's room when he bumped into him in one of the hallways of the mansion.

"Ah Ugetsu! I was about to go to your room to give you this." Giotto reached out and handed his friend one of his precious flutes.

Ugetsu smiled gratefully at Giotto as he saw the instrument and clutched it tightly to his chest. "Thank you very much Giotto. I really thought I have lost my flute. I did not know where I have dropped it and I have been looking for it everywhere."

Giotto just smiled; happy that he had helped his rain guardian and friend. "I found it inside my room. You probably left it there."

Ugetsu tilted his head in confusion. "But… I have never gone inside your room, Giotto."

Giotto realized later that actually, he's the only one who could enter his room.

It wasn't the last but Lampo's case was what made Giotto talk about the weird happenings with G.

"Giotto!" Lampo barged into Giotto's office, crying indignantly. "Where did you put Lord Lampo's bag of candies?"

Giotto, already too tired of signing the endless piles of paperwork from hell to deal with Lampo in one of his moods, replied very patiently. "I didn't get any of your candies Lampo."

"But but… the maids told me you confiscated it a while ago!" Lampo insisted accusingly as he searched the drawers of Giotto's table. He opened one and triumphantly yelled. "AHA! I knew it! Here it is!"

Giotto suddenly stood up in surprise, not minding the papers that scattered around him when he moved. "What!?" he sputtered. "But – How did it get there?"

Lampo only gave him an annoyed glare and sauntered off the office like the usual obnoxious little lord that he is.

Witnessing the scene, G clicked his tongue, seemingly not impressed with his bestfriend. "Gio, seriously, if you want to hide the candies from that brat, be sure to put it somewhere really hard to find. Your drawer's kind of a given."

G waited for an annoyed comeback but it didn't come. Instead, what Giotto said after startled him.

"Hey G, I have to tell you something."

Giotto shot his bestfriend a very serious look.

"Okay…" G huffed as he started, "So let me get this straight. That time when Knuckle said you were in town, we've already established that you didn't go anywhere."

Giotto nodded.

"Then, you found Flute-freak's flute inside your room and both of you don't know how it got there."

Another nod.

"And lastly, you're saying you never went to the kitchen to get the brat's candies but the maids said you did. It's either you're denying your stupid prank or the maids are lying. Of course, I am more inclined to believe the former. "

"G!" Giotto whined. "I swear I didn't even know Lampo hides his candies in the kitchen."

G stared at Giotto intensely. "Right, let's say you really didn't do it." Giotto shot him a dirty look which he easily ignored. "Considering everything that has happened, I can only say that maybe someone is playing a prank you."

G paused, and then looked at Giotto. "Or…"

"Or?" Giotto stared at G expectantly.

"This is just one of your antics again." G deadpanned.

Giotto restrained himself from the urge to smack his bestfriend on the head. "G… I'm being serious here."

G sighed as he reasoned out. "Well, what do you expect me to say here Giotto? It's quite obvious that no one here will ever prank you; you're Vongola's Boss. The only ones who can is me, and I'm pretty certain I'm not doing anything, and Cozarto who's on the other side of Italy. That option's out. Unless…" recognizing what Giotto has been suspecting the whole time, G sported an are-you-kidding-me look.

"Are you kidding me?" Of course, G had to say it too to accompany his expression.

Giotto explained as he tapped his temple lightly. "Hyper-intuition's been nagging me ever since hearing the kitchen rumor. Our maids are trained; it'll take a very skillful illusion to fool them. Daemon's the only one qualified considering, but we all know he's too proud for a prank and he's been away with Elena for two weeks."

"So… You're saying that the culprit might be the rumored ghost in the mansion?" G asked incredulously.

"…Which had been active for two weeks, yes." Giotto replied decisively.

The two childhood friends exchanged heated stares for a few minutes.

And like always, G was the first to relent.

Seeing that Giotto's normal stubborn look when he had decided on something, G sighed in resignation. "So what now?"

Giotto beamed, proud to have persuaded his bestfriend again. "We're ghost hunting! I want to know why the ghost's been appearing as me and confusing people."

"Really now? Don't you have a phobia of ghosts?" G mocked, remembering some of Giotto's childhood faults.

G flushed at his bestfriend's teasing but recovered quickly. "I – I've survived assassins, I'm sure I'll be fine with apparitions. The dead can't hurt the living; you were the one to say that."

"Fine. I'm just checking." G just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ah... Don't give me that apathetic look G, we both know you're very curious now, too! You're the one who's really into the paranormal stuff." Giotto cajoled.

"Sure." G smirked. "So when are we hunting your doppelganger?"

Giotto blinked.

"My what?" Giotto asked.

"Doppelganger. That's what your ghost-double is called." G stated as a matter-of-factly.

Giotto stared at G in wonder. "You really know this stuff, don't you?"

G just watched at Giotto in return. "I do. So I'm asking again if you're really, really sure you want to meet your double."

"Just how many times should I tell you I'd like to see the ghost?" Giotto frowned.

"Well, you see… There's a myth that if someone sees his own doppelganger, it's an omen of death. Just so you know."

G smirked.

Giotto paled considerably.

A/N:

So, two chapters in a row. It wouldn't leave me alone unless I've written this down. Just tells how stressed I am; typing up fanfiction instead of reviewing for a major exam tomorrow. Yay me!

Head-canon states that G is Giotto's nagging, teasing, caring babysitter. Behind closed doors, they banter like that. I'm actually thinking that with Cozart, they're a real riot. Giotto became phasmophobic because G and Cozart (who are paranormal geeks) ghost pranks him when they were younger.

Also, like what G said in the anime, he's the only person who could tolerate Giotto's weird antics. XD

You guys think this is going somewhere? I'm not sure myself. LOL

Thanks for the quick alerts, faves and reviews. Comments are highly appreciated!