Authors Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I had a couple exams so didn't have much time to write plus my weeks just kept getting really busy for some reason... Thank you to whoever mentioned that I was spelling Alaude's name wrong last chapter -.- Should be all fixed now. Enjoy!
Summary: Giotto has a secret which he has sworn to keep, no matter what. His 'left hand man.' Hidden away, a young boy has grown up helping the Vongola as best he can. Using the numerous skills he has plus he obsession with computers and technology. He quickly became a hacker that no one has been able to rival, but there seems to be more secrets that have yet to come to light between the two.
"Hello" – Speech
'Hello' – Thoughts
Chapter 5: Is that a cat, I see?
"Hey flame brain, where do you want me to put this idiot when we arrive?" Byakuran shouted from the back of the group before gesturing towards said 'idiot' trapped in his giant hand. (A/N: Before any mentions that this skill/technique thing is anime only.. I already know ;P)
Mukuro scowled and continued his struggle.
Giotto growled at the nickname but choose to ignore it and answer the question. "I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out when we get back to the mansion."
Byakuran grinned knowing full well he annoyed the growling man. "Jeez, you're all business aren't you."
"Hey um…" Cielo interrupted, "Not telling you how to do your job or nothing, but why haven't you just knocked him out yet?"
Giotto paused before answering, "To be quite honest it never really crossed my mind… And while you're on the line, what's going on with the other groups?"
"Huh?" Cielo made a confused noise.
"What do you mean huh? Seriously, have you had any of your energy drinks today or are you just this forgetful all the time?" Giotto teased.
"…I've had a few drinks today, but I'm still not getting what you're talking about." Cielo seemed to have completely forgotten about the entire operation…
Giotto had to stop himself from face-palming and just sighed.
"Oi, let me go!" A shout from Mukuro brought everyone's attention to him. Byakuran then proceeded to knock him out with a grunt.
"He means the other two groups that are also part of this operation, Cielo." G spoke up for Giotto this time, continuing the conversation as if nothing happened.
"Ohhhh, well why didn't he say so." Cielo said innocently.
"I did!" Giotto shouted but was ignored.
"Course you did, I guess I'll speak to you guys later. Call if I'm needed" Cielo pushed himself and his chair to another monitor before adding, "Bring more food when you come to visit."
"See you soon" Giotto grinned.
""Bye Cielo,"" came the multiple replies before he ended their call and Cielo moved to look at group 3.
Again, they seemed to have split up slightly the two fighters at front seemed to be making progress through the warehouse.
Cielo connected to group 3's ear pieces. "Yo, yo. How's it going on your end?"
"Yo, yo. To you too. So far so good, thanks for asking." Daemon answered as he maneuvered his scepter to smash it against the head of an enemy that was charging at him, who fell to the floor in a heap.
"Hn," This was the only answer Cielo got from Alaude.
"Well that's good." Cielo smiled, "Found anything useful?"
"Of course not.. All that's happened is those two 'monsters' are having the time of their lives fighting whatever is thrown at them." This time Lampo was the one who spoke and pointed towards said monsters. He hadn't got involved in any fights as of yet as when he arrived most of the enemies had already been taken out. Cielo just laughed.
"Ignore the lazy ass. We have some stuff, information that we found on computers mostly. We have either saved the information to a memory drive or tried sending it away to a secure email that you will be able to access. I was going to say should be able but knowing you, you're probably already into the system looking at it aren't you?" Daemon ignored Lampo's outburst and answered the question properly.
As Daemon was speaking he had headed off into the next room while the other two searched around for any more evidence.
Cielo had already started to look through the email account when Daemon mentioned it. "Correctamundo!"
Several minutes later – which gave Cielo time to run over to his kitchen to get another energy drink - a large object caught Daemon's eye.
"Yo, Kid!" Daemon caught Cielo's attention.
"Kid?" Cielo pouted and then proceeded to sigh, "Whatever… what's up?"
"There seems to be a large cage here. Can you see it?" Daemon asked, silently amazed at the sheer size of the cage.
"Hold on a second." Cielo scrolled through the different cameras, "Yes, I can see it… Well, that looks like it could fit an elephant inside, possibly two."
Daemon chuckled at Cielo's description. The room was fairly dim and there weren't many machines in the room. It looked like the room was specifically for the cage.
By now both Lampo and Alaude had also arrived to the room. Lampo gaped at the cage before moving towards it whilst Alaude didn't react and moved towards one of the few machines.
"This cage is huge!" Lampo put emphasis on the word huge; his eyes were sparkling as he ran around the outside of the cage like a child.
"Hey Daemon, is there anything inside the cage?" Cielo broke both Daemon and Lampo out if their thoughts and back to the mission.
"I'll have a look now." Daemon stepped towards the cage and looked around for a door of any sort. "Yo Mr Moody, is there a key over there by any chance?" He turned towards Alaude.
Alaude glared towards Daemon but searched around the machines and drawers nearby to see if there was any sort of key lying around.
"Hn, here." Alaude had found two different keys, both in one of the locked drawers which he had to break open. He tossed the keys over to Daemon before turning back around not waiting to see if Daemon caught them.
Daemon almost didn't catch the keys, as they were not attached together so ended up going off in two different directions. He tried the first key which was silver and looked brand new. It slid into the lock effortlessly. 'Well that was lucky. Wonder what the other key was for?' He slipped the other key into his pocket in case it may be needed at a later time.
As Daemon was about to turn the key, he heard a low growl causing him to pause. "Lampo get over here."
Lampo quickly ran over but stopped when he heard the growl again. "What was that noise?"
"Well obviously it was some sort of growl meaning there is probably an animal or something in there." Daemon stated, smirking when Lampo showed him a deadpan expression.
"Obviously… I meant what made the sound, genius. Why do I even talk to you guys?" The question was rhetorical.
"Hey, why don't you go in to see what it is." Daemon nodded towards Lampo, all the while the smirk still plastered on his face.
Lampo's eyes widened. "What? Are you crazy!?" Lampo backed away.
"Nufufufu, Well that's a question we may never know the answer too." Daemon laughed before turning the key fully, slowly opening the cage door.
"Move out of the way." Alaude had decided to come over and investigate the cage too. He pushed past both of them before entering the cage, ignoring the quick glance from Lampo and the glare from Daemon.
"What is it Alaude?" Cielo had now joined in the conversation.
Alaude didn't answer straight away. He had moved right to the back of the cage before stopping and looking downwards. "A cat?"
"A cat? Ok… why the hell is a cat inside a cage this big?" Cielo was seriously confused.
"That's not a cat dumb ass." A shout from behind Alaude, "Well it is just not one of your common household cats." Daemon moved past Alaude and bent down to get a closer look.
"Well… What is it then?" Cielo couldn't see inside the cage from the camera's so was eagerly awaiting the answer.
In front of Daemon was what looked like a leopard, though it was white, "A snow leopard maybe?" The question was directed more to himself than anyone else. "I think it's a cub too. They are meant to be endangered aren't they?"
"Oh my god! Is it cute?" Cielo asked the only question on his mind in that moment, ignoring Daemon's own question.
"Um.. I guess so?" Daemon was confused at the question. 'Well he's excited..'
"Can I kill it?" This little snippet came from Alaude, which was unbelievable.. As who in their right mind could kill a baby cat.. But then again.. Alaude probably had no 'right mind'.
"WHAT? NO! What kind of monster kills a small defensive cub? Baby Killer!" Cielo shouted down the ear piece making Lampo wince slightly.
"Nufufufu, His eyes are all funny looking. One is a dark blue and the other is like a hazel brown." Daemon had joined in and started scaring the cub even more, especially with the haunting laugh.
"Hey leave the poor thing alone you're probably scaring it half to death with just your faces, there's no need to make it worse." Lampo walked over towards the cub before picking it up from the ground and carrying it outside of the cage.
The cub whimpered a little before wiggling around trying to get away. Lampo kept a good grip on the cub so it couldn't get away.
"What are you planning to do with it?" Daemon asked as he walked out of the cage with Alaude.
"Um… I haven't really thought that through… Cielo, any ideas?" Lampo was looking around the general area to see if there was a small cage or something he could put the cub into.
Cielo immediately answered. "YES! I want him or her depending on what gender it is."
Lampo lifted the cub up a little higher and looked underneath it. "It's a boy…" His face was emotionless before he moved over to the other side of the room.
"Well, then I want him…" Cielo snickered as he watched Lampo through the CCTV cameras.
The sounds of numerous footsteps echoed through the hallway outside of the 'cage room'.
"Incoming." Alaude moved to engage the ten or so enemies that had entered the room.
"About time reinforcements arrived." Daemon smirked then followed and also started attacking.
Lampo had deliberately moved away from the fight. After a several minutes of looking around he noticed a small cage that could fit the shaking cub and bent down to put him into it. The cage was most likely used when he first arrived.
"Is everyone just going to forget about the cage and its size compared to the thing that was inside?" Lampo waited for a reply, "Nobody cares? Well… never mind then.." Lampo gave up after no one answered him. Alaude and Daemon were too busy fighting while Cielo was in his on dream world thinking about the cub.
The fighting continued for couple more minutes before Daemon shouted indicating the fight was over. "Well that was boring… They are so weak it makes me what to cry."
"Hn." That was Alaude agreeing with Daemon for what probably was the first ever time.
Cielo scanned the camera footage and looked at the large number of bodies that were either dead or unconscious, but mostly dead. He gulped trying to ignore it before starting to speak again. "Lampo, can you carry the small cage with you, please protect the poor thing."
"Mou… But it's so heavy." Lampo grunted before the cub growled at him from inside the smaller cage. "I don't think he even likes me."
"He probably isn't a fan of humans; I hope they didn't do anything horrible to him." Cielo felt sorry for the cub.
"Are we finished here then?" Daemon interrupted catching Lampo's attention and turned to Alaude who was already walking out the door and heading back to the mansion.
"Jeez, he needs to learn how to have fun… or just relax.." Lampo struggled with the cage and was barely keeping up with the two blood lusting monsters.
"Lampo when you arrive back home mention to Giotto to bring the cub down when he visits, I want to see him for myself." Cielo said excitedly.
"Will do Cielo. Though when I get back I'm going to sleep first." Lampo yawned indicating he was in fact tired.
"No, make sure you tell Giotto before you fall asleep or else!" Cielo warned Lampo.
"Hai, Hai. Will do." Lampo took the warning seriously before continuing to catch up with the other two and any other members of the Vongola who were standing guard outside.
Cutting connection, Cielo moved to the last group. "Well moving on… Group 2." Cielo reluctantly connected to Ugetsu and Mr extreme .a.k.a. Knuckles.
"How are things going with you guys?" Cielo asked seriously.
"Oh, Cielo. So far we've found absolutely nothing. But if we keep our hopes up, we will find something helpful." Ugetsu answered, you could practically hear the smile in his voice.
"Have you had to fight anyone yet?" Cielo was rather curious about this question.
"Only a couple. They weren't very extreme. Skirmishes at best…" Knuckles answered this time since he was the most likely to have gotten into fights. He was hoping for a better fight to show off his extreme fighting skills.
Cielo sighed, "And… What about the CEDEF's?"
Ugetsu shrugged, "To be honest, they've fought a few of them and easily knocked them out."
Cielo started, "While, I'm on the line to you guys. I wanted to let you know about Giotto's group." Ugetsu interrupted before he could continue.
"Did something bad happen? No one is hurt are they?" Ugetsu was concerned.
"No no, nothing like that. Well Colonello was hurt but Reborn healed him right up." Cielo quickly calmed him down.
"Oh that's good." Ugetsu turned to Lal. "Seems your student was hurt but Reborn healed him so he should be fine when you return."
Lal turned to face Ugetsu before smirking, "Oh is he now… Whoa..." Lal had to pause for a second. "Wait Reborn healed him? Now there's a surprise."
"I'll say." Iemitsu added.
"Hahaha," Ugetsu laughed. "Anyway, what did you want to tell me about Cielo?"
"Oh, Yeah. Giotto and the others ended up getting into a huge fight with one of the experiments that were at their warehouse. They are all fine though and are heading back to the mansion with the 'hostage' as Giotto put it. Alaude and the others are also doing the same with the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Cielo paused to day dream before snapping out of his thoughts and continued to speak. Ugetsu almost sweat dropped at the sound of Cielo's voice.
"I suggest you do too unless you can find something useful in the next few minutes or so." Cielo's voice turned serious as he was giving them some good advice and information.
"Copy that Cielo. Over and out!" Knuckles pretended to be in a swat team, laughing as he spoke.
"Be careful. Speak soon." Cielo said his goodbyes and called up Giotto once again.
"Hey, Giotto. How far you guys from the mansion now?" Cielo asked once he was connected.
"Cielo! We should be arriving any moment now." Giotto replied.
"That's good; the other groups should be heading back soon too." Cielo smiled and drank the last of the energy drinks he had on his desk.
"Great. When should w-" Giotto was interrupted.
"Hey Cielo, Have you got any marshmallows at your place?" Byakuran asked sneering Giotto before turning back to the conversation ignoring the scowl from Giotto.
Cielo completely overlooked the fact that Byakuran interrupted Giotto and answered his question. "Nope, I ran out the last time you were here, remember? Gee, that was so long ago."
"Well, In that case I'll just have to bring the biggest pack I can find when I come visit." Byakuran laughed.
"See that you do then Squishy." Cielo smiled fondly at the chance to see his 'family' once again.
They continued walking towards the mansion. Alaude, Daemon and Lampo where already there waiting just inside the gates. Giotto glanced towards Lampo and the cage he was carrying.
"What's the cage for?" Giotto raised an eye brow gesturing to the small cage.
"Oh," Lampo looked down at the cage and yawned. "We found a snow leopard; well what we think is a snow leopard."
"And… Why have you brought it back with you?" A bemused Giotto asked.
"Cielo told me to bring the cub back and tell you to take it with you when you visit him next." Lampo answered lazily.
"Oh right then…" Giotto just accepted it but still didn't really understand why Cielo wanted it.
"Well, I've done what I was asked to do. I am going to sleep, Night all." Lampo walked away from the others heading inside of the mansion with a wave.
"… Dismissed, I guess..." Giotto spoke sarcastically to himself before walking over to the cage and knelt down, looking at the cub.
'Oh now I get why Cielo would want it. It is because it's cute…' Giotto chuckled to himself. "Is it a girl or a boy?" Giotto glanced up to Daemon.
"Boy," came the simple answer.
"Well, I'll make sure you get it Cielo." Giotto began talking into the ear piece.
"Good~ It's sooo cute~," Cielo answered with a childlike voice, stressing the so.
While Giotto continued to talk with Cielo, Group 2 had finally arrived back. G waved them over as they came nearer.
"Seems your group had a big of a situation." Lal was the first to speak; this was directed towards Colonello who was now sitting on the floor next to G.
"Ah... Y-yes you could say that." Colonello answered nervously, stuttering a little.
"Just so you know, Lal… you student was really useless." Reborn appeared behind Lal surprising her but she tried not to show it.
"I heard." Lal smiled sweetly at her student, but what Colonello got from it was anything but.
"Was it Cielo?" Reborn asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes," Lal replied.
"Well done Cielo." Reborn smiled sadistically at Colonello, knowing exactly what Lal had planned for punishment for being 'useless'.
"I wonder if I could meet him one day." Iemitsu spoke up turning everyone's attention to him. Giotto looked over at him but remained quiet and stood up from the cage. He continued speaking to Cielo who couldn't hear the conversation.
"You'll be lucky. I've not even met him yet. And apparently he likes to 'play games' with people's mind," Reborn surprised everyone, but G and Giotto who had walked back over with the cage, as he was normally the first to know and meet anyone helping out the Vongola. (A/N: Just to clarify, the only people who have met Cielo (who are in the story so far) are Giotto, G and Byakuran)
"Speaking from experience, Reborn?" Lal smirked at him.
"I suppose you could say that." Reborn pulled the front of his fedora down to shadow his eyes.
"Well now that we're all back, put any evidence we found in my office and then you can go to sleep in one of our spare rooms. In the morning you will be asked to write a report on today's events." Giotto dismissed the groups. "More paperwork, wonderful!" He grumbled sarcastically.
"Will do sir," the response from both CEDEF agents.
"Hai/Yes/Hn," From the rest of the group. Reborn just remained silent and followed the rest of the group inside and headed to his room.
"G, can you carry this cage inside for me and get the maids to feed him please, but tell them not to take him out of the cage." Giotto ordered with a smile.
"Yes Giotto." G nodded and picked up the cage, which he thought was unbelievably light, and carried it inside.
"Well, I guess this is goodnight then Cielo." Giotto went back to speaking with Cielo.
"What? It's only…" Cielo paused to look at the computer screen for the time. "1am… I guess your right… Damn."
"Haha, too right I am." Giotto chuckled and proceeded to head into the mansion after the others.
"Goodnight Giotto. Remember the food and the cub, Oh and Squishy!" Cielo grinned and waited for the reply.
"Night Cielo and I won't forget." Giotto smiled fondly to himself.
Both turned off the ear pieces and decided it would be best to get some shut eye and turned in for the night.