AN: I couldn't find a suitable nursery rhyme about crows, so I wrote my own. I'm quite fascinated by bird symbolism; there's more to it than the first glance.
SPOILER ALERT (unless you've read up to the Varia arc): In response to a reviewer, I know it's confusing to write that Xanxus is "not Nono's illegitimate child", but being "not illegitimate" doesn't make it "legitimate". Basically, Xanxus was thought to be a product of his mother and Nono getting together outside of marriage (hence the "illegitimate" part), but then he discovers that he's not a bastard child at all - not Nono's one anyway, which means he's completely unrelated to Nono. Hope that helps.
The new character here is of my own creation, but he is related to someone in the KHR universe. Otherwise, the disclaimer still applies. And don't worry; the main characters will be here soon enough. The focus is still on Tsuna.
Onwards to chapter 2!
The Golden Canary
A crow of murder
With a decoy nest;
What would be found
And what will be wrest?
Chapter 2: The Crow
When papa waved him off, Tsuna fought hard to keep the pout off his face, but only managed a few seconds before he walked away to sulk. In the back of his mind, he knew the call was important as it was rare for his father to look so serious around him, but being ignored always made him feel so small.
He hated being small. It gave mean boys the chance to bully him.
If only I can be as tall as otou-san is; then I'll be safe! And important!
He set his mouth in determination, although he faltered at the idea of eating more veggies. He hated his veggies, but okaa-san always tricked or bribed him into eating them.
Oh! But papa promised ice cream after the phone call, so he allowed himself to forgive him for being busy, even though they're supposed to be having fun together. He smiled inwardly, relieved that he didn't have a reason to stay mad at his father for long.
Okay. Time to find that one last bird so otou-san can listen to us sing!
With renewed determination, and knowing that time was running out, he walked a little further away towards the tallest tree, glancing back every once in a while to make sure that he wasn't 'wandering too far'. He knew his beloved birds preferred tall trees to be closer to the sky, so upwards he looked while wondering if he should sing something to coax them over.
«CHE COSA?! Lui e quale esercito?!»
He jumped at his father's raised voice, and saw him looking quite upset.
Tsuna frowned. This was the other reason why he hated these 'secret calls' – they made his otou-san sound so serious, even when speaking in a foreign language. And when they upset him enough to raise his voice like now, he knew it wouldn't be long until his father would be walking out the door and declaring he'd left to 'become a star'. Even though it sounded cool, it made him and okaa-san sad to see him leave.
But…is there a way to make him stay?
At that moment, there was a rustle of leaves coming from behind, and he turned to see a bright yellow bird sitting on the bush next to the tree. It was as small as Tsuna's hand, even with its fluffed-out feathers.
Ooo! It's a different bird! It looks like…a baby chicken?
The 'chick' suddenly took off in an uncertain flight, making tight circles in the general direction of the forest.
"Ah…wait!" Tsuna panicked, scrambling after the bird while trying to keep an eye on where his father was at the same time.
"Hoh-hokekyo! Or um, kuku-kuri?" He tested out different bird calls, hoping one would make the yellow chick interested enough to fly towards him, but none of them worked.
To Tsuna's relief, it landed not too far away – this time on a low branch of a tree to the opposite side of the fence.
He walked right up to the low railing; low enough for even his short stature to climb over, and he hesitated.
In the back of his mind, he could hear his father's voice echoing, "Now don't go wandering off too far," layered with all the other times either his mother or father had said similar things about strangers and dangers and blahblahblah. But birds weren't dangerous, and if it concerned their happiness as a family, then…
He looked over again, and saw his otou-san's frustration in his expression and in the way he walked back and forth.
He made up his mind.
I'm not 'wandering off' anyway; I know exactly where I'm going! I think.
With that thought, he hopped over the fence just as the bird flew off again, deeper into the woods.
Maso De Luca's fingers twitched for a cigarette that he can't have.
Stupid superior just had to send me on a stupid mission where I can't have even one bloody cigarette because it might, might scare away my stupid target, he groused to himself. His neck was already aching from looking skywards too much, and so far, his search turned up with a big fat nothing.
«It'll be easy, even for a rookie Mafioso like you,» he says! Well, newsflash Signore Sadistic-Marchesi – I'm looking for one of the rarest songbirds in the whole of Japan, in the middle of a frickin' amusement park because someone didn't do their frickin' research! And then it turns out this bird is most likely non-existent!
He sighed, carding a hand through his cropped black hair. Indistinct, ordinary, and average, if you ignored his height. But 'average' just about summed him up, which was probably why he was sent here instead of somewhere with a higher success rate, like, say, the American National Bird Sanctuary. In addition, his superior somehow found out about his embarrassing past of being a huge otaku, and while he understood the logic («An Italian who can speak Japanese? Let's send him to Japan!»), it still made him feel like a dog being led around by the nose.
However, he couldn't say no even if he wanted to, not when he was so low on the pecking order. If he even made the pecking order.
Subsequently, he found himself relegated to the oriental side of the world with little to no hope of finding the fabled "Golden Canaries" of Japan, which – according to the bird-keeper he met yesterday – died off about six years ago despite breeders' efforts to save them. Although the hour-long lecture about different native birds was more interesting than he'd expected, it just made his current prospects worse, because now it meant he'd wasted an entire week. And even after obtaining this bit of information, he still had to check every last corner, because he knew that all who failed a mission will be punished, excuses be damned.
He shuddered, and refocused on his task. The list of possible areas grew smaller with each trip he took, and so did his future prospects.
The only other areas left after this one are either little kiddie parks or people who own a canary for a pet, and I'd rather shoot myself than let it come to that.
He paused to squint at a bird hopping about to the far left, but it ended up being a common sparrow.
Kill me now.
He trudged on while remaining as quiet as possible, frustration warring with his sense of duty, when someone's soft singing drifted in, clearing a path through his haze of thoughts.
He whipped his head around, wondering if he was hearing things when it stopped. But it started again, stronger this time, and he cautiously followed the sound until he could see a small clearing.
There, off to the side, was a brown-haired bambino with a yellow bag, and he was singing a happy tune in Japanese. His back was to the older man, so Maso quickly manoeuvred himself to a better vantage point behind a tree, then leaned in for a closer look.
"Mi~dori tanabiku, nanimori no! Da~i naku shou naku, nani ga ii."
The boy looked no older than four, and to his surprise, he was singing to…a bird. A yellow bird.
His bubble of hope burst just as quickly as it came, as Maso realised it was just an ordinary domestic canary. Golden canaries were supposed to have golden eyes (hence the name), but this one had the same black eyes as a normal canary.
Looks like I'm screwed unless I can find a way to turn lead into gold. He sighed, resigning to his fate.
"Mi~dori tanabiku, nanimori no!"
The kid seemed to be a little more stubborn as he repeated his song, gentling his voice until he sounded as sweet as honey.
"Mi~dori, tanabiku!"
It called back, and the boy's face split into a huge smile.
"Wah! Suge!"
In his excitement, the boy stepped closer to the bird, and Maso rolled his eyes, fully expecting the bird to take off in fright. To his astonishment, it gave a happy chirp instead, and hopped into the bambino's outstretched hands.
"Mi~dori, tanabiku!"
"Nanimori no! Da~i naku shou naku, nani ga ii!"
Boy and bird sang, one teaching, the other learning, and Maso listened, unwilling to disturb the duet. But as he listened, a dangerous idea began to form in the recesses of his mind.
A stupid, outrageous, risky-as-hell idea, but if he could pull it off, it could very well place him in the Hall of Fame among his famiglia, turning his misfortune on its head. And he did just decide to give in to fate, and fate brought him a singer, even though it wasn't the one he was looking for.
Maso knew no matter what song a bird was singing or how beautifully it sang, it would always still be…well, a bird. And no bird could ever take the sweet crooning of a human voice, as being proved by a child and his canary.
A child who was currently alone, and with enough potential that even an untrained, ordinary, and average man like Maso could see. Enough for him to earn forgiveness from his famiglia's wrath.
His feet started moving before his mind caught up, and in a split second, he held an armful of stunned, then struggling child. He'd already clamped a large hand over the boy's mouth, and the boy's pathetic attempts to scream and to kick and claw him were useless against a grown man, let alone a Mafioso.
Pure terror made the boy desperate, but Maso was desperate too.
Run, stupid, RUN!
His mind finally kicked in and he fled the forest, heading back the way he came in. He wasn't sure how long it would be until the boy would be found missing, but he wasn't taking a single chance. This was his ticket to stay alive, and possibly even be promoted, and he would fight tooth and nail for whatever he could have.
Once he broke through the copse of trees, he skidded to a stop, instincts firing around. Luckily, there were no passersby in his vicinity, and he forced himself to calm down enough to do a quick survey.
First, he checked the kid, and frowned when he discovered he'd passed out.
Crap. I must've covered his mouth and nose by accident.
But he could feel the shallow breathing of the boy skittering across his arm, so everything worked out in the end. Now he wouldn't have to force the boy's cooperation into pretending they're related, or whack him unconscious in broad daylight. He also noticed that one of the boy's shoes had come off at some point, but it was too late to go back for it. Instead, he took off the remaining shoe and moved to place it in the boy's backpack, then found something else he could use.
Pulling out the light green hoodie, he dressed it over the kid's shirt and tugged the hood down to cover as much of his messy brown hair as possible. He did the same with his own jacket, then shifted the boy so it looked like he was sleeping against Maso with Maso's arms still carrying his body. They would now look like a matching father and son to any prying eyes, and Maso prayed the impromptu disguise would hold, at least until they were on a plane to Italy.
Slipping an arm around to secure the boy, he walked quickly but as leisurely as he could towards the exit, making sure to stick to the concrete path. He was foolish enough to leave signs of where he'd been, and he couldn't afford any more mistakes.
He avoided being in the direct line of sight of as many people as he could without making it look unnatural, then went through the gates and straight to the parking lot where his rental car was waiting, strapping the boy in before climbing in the driver's side.
Almost there, almost there, he chanted, and the car rumbled to life just as he heard the tinny announcement that it was thirty minutes to closing time.
He pulled out and up onto the highway, narrowly missing a bus that had slowed to a stop, and it wasn't until they were cruising at a comfortable speed that he realised the enormity of what he'd just done.
He glanced at the boy strapped in the passenger seat, and tried to quash the feeling of guilt in his gut.
I did it. I actually did it.
AN: If anyone manages to guess which famiglia Maso is from (you can PM me if you like, but no spamming please), I'll post the next chapter up earlier. :) I'm keeping to a 3-day schedule, but some of these chapters will be long, so please bear with me if it takes longer than usual.
I'm also trying to keep any swearing to a minimum, but the rating of the story may go up due to a number of different factors. This is a story about the mafia, and I know it's nowhere near as pretty as Amano-sensei makes it out to be. There will be violence, child abuse, illegal activities, etc. Hell, I've already included neglect and child kidnapping, and that's the least of Tsuna's problems. There won't be anything too graphic, but that doesn't mean the aftermath will be any better.
On another note, my favourite animal character in the whole KHR universe appears! If only for a brief moment. Don't worry; he'll be back. Eventually.
As always, thank you for the continued support.