AN: Sorry for the slight delay again, because of reality. I'm the type of person who prefers to take things a little slower, but make sure I get it right the first time around, than try to rush to the finish but then end up having to fix a lot of mistakes.
Regardless, thank you again for all the support.
WARNING: Mild swearing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, but I did create Maso, Gavino, and Lodovico to fit into the plot.
The Golden Canary
Intermezzo: Tre
«Good mor...ning, Leo-kun, Signore Massimo.»
Lavina paused at the boy's hunched form, wondering why he was walking like an old man. Strange. And he hadn't given her a verbal response; he simply nodded without looking at her.
«Salve Signorina Gokudera. I'll be waiting outside as usual.»
«Very well. I'll see you later.»
When teacher and student were alone in the music room, she gave him another critical look and was about to say something when he straightened himself, expertly hiding a wince that she would have missed if she weren't looking so carefully.
But something else caught her attention.
"Leo-kun? Why do you have makeup on?"
His eyes widened and he actually looked as surprised as she did.
"Wh-what? I'm not wearing makeup!"
"I'm pretty sure I know what makeup looks like, and I see it on you."
She knelt down and reached out a hand slowly to his face, pausing as he reflexively shied away before remembering it was her and not one of his many bullies.
He stood as still as he could when she cupped his chin with a hand and quickly yet gently rubbed her thumb on his left cheek, then pulled away to show the light dusting of brownish powder that came off.
"See? This is…is…" She gasped in horror when she caught a glimpse of exactly what the concealer was concealing. "Is that a bruise? Are you okay? What happened?!"
She saw Leo pull away again, but she kept her hands on his shoulders to prevent him from moving too far.
"Tell me. What. Happened."
"I-i-i-it's n-nothing! Really!"
Even though Leo-kun was frantically shaking his head and Massimo's warning echoed in her mind, she just couldn't let it slide.
"Leo-kun. Please, tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone else." She grasped his hand in her own, and pleaded with her voice and eyes. "This much. Please, let me help you at least this much."
Leo was silent for a long moment, subconsciously worrying his bottom lip. She knew that if he revealed anything, it would be vague at best, but it'd be better than nothing.
"I, I did what you said. About helping people."
She cocked her head, trying to remember exactly what she'd said. Something about being kind…and breaking rules…
She paled considerably at the thought.
"W-wait. I'm guessing you tried to help someone, and got in trouble for it? And I was the one who encouraged you to do this?!"
Leo quickly shook his head, trying to reassure her.
"No! I j-just got hurt because I'm pretty useless and helping people."
"Oh Leo. Don't say that; I'm sure whoever you helped appreciated your kindness anyway." She sighed. "Well. I suppose getting upset won't help your bruise, but I want you to promise me something." She gave him a serious look, and he nodded. "Promise that next time you try to help someone, find a way where no one will get hurt, or at least not too badly. Can you promise me?"
He nodded again and she smiled a watery smile, then gave him a tight hug.
Leo gasped and flinched away, making her release him almost immediately.
"Leo? What's wrong? Did I hurt you? Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"
She could see he was trying to shrug it off, but his pale face and tense posture told her otherwise.
With a dreadful suspicion, she darted a hand to lift the corner of Leo's shirt upwards, and she gaped at the mottled purple skin underneath.
«Dio mio!»
Mortified, the boy jerked back and tugged his shirt down to cover it up again. He turned pleading eyes to her, silently begging her not to say anything more.
She rubbed her temples, letting out an exasperated sigh. Trouble seems to follow him like a leech, and my meddling's not helping.
"Are you sure you're okay? Absolutely sure? Do you need to see the doctor, or at least put some cream on? You can't tell me that doesn't hurt."
He shook his head for everything but the last statement.
"It hurts, but…but not really." He blushed. "I-I mean, it hurts, but I don't feel bad about it. Is…is that really weird?"
He looked at her anxiously, honey-brown eyes willing her to understand.
She did, and she was blown away. Here was a young child who, despite his own horrific situation, didn't mind getting hurt for someone else's sake. This world needs more people like him. And she'd do anything to protect this little spark of hope as much as she could.
"It is kind of weird, but a good kind. The best kind." She beamed at him, and put her arms on his shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "Even though I don't know exactly what you did, you still chose to do good, and I'm proud of you."
When the corners of his lips lifted into a shy yet genuine smile, she knew she'd said the right thing.
«Where is he?! Where's that little shit?!»
«Uh, you might wanna calm down boss–»
«Calm down? CALM DOWN?! That stinkin' runt ratted on us somehow, and now all our asses are on the line! "I told you not to damage the prisoner visibly, Paulo," he says. And we didn't!»
«Umm, actually, you did. You accidentally landed a kick on his cheek. Ow! The heck was that for?!»
«You know Rossi, for someone so smart, you can actually say pretty dumb things sometimes.»
«Grazie, Enzo. But can you please put your common sense to better use and help me find that freaking runt!»
«Yes boss.»
Tsuna held his breath from his hiding place inside the unused closet, waiting for the sound of stomping feet to fade. That evening after he stood up for Lambo, Oni-san had pried the events from him, although he left out the parts about the cow-child. The older man had frowned, and sent him to his room to have dinner while muttering something about his dislike for repeating himself.
He knew it would get him in trouble with the teens, because even when he tried to lie about tripping and falling on his face, Oni-san had pointed out that his injuries weren't possible unless he had his hands tied behind his back.
He'd gotten quite good at finding all the possible hiding spaces in the mansion, at least within the restricted areas he was allowed to enter.
His head whipped around to the sound of footsteps and dove back into the closet, barely managing to close the door with a silent click before the teens rounded the corner again.
«'Tch. He's not here either.»
«Don't mind it boss – we teach him tomorrow afternoon anyway, and there's no way he can hide then.»
«Yeah. This time, we'll just aim for his body.»
«Gross man; I didn't know you were interested in little boys.»
«What? That's not what I – ewwww, hell no!»
The other two laughed at Rossi's expense, and Tsuna shuddered reflexively.
I think I need more hiding places.
Lambo scowled. He hated being the last one to be picked up from school, almost as much as he hated school itself.
Lambo doesn't need to learn anything; Lambo is already a hitman!
But he faltered, knowing he still hadn't succeeded his latest mission: To eliminate the strongest Mafioso in mafia school. His papa and Don had said as much; to «kill the strongest in order to prove your own strength.» It was a big mission, and he knew if he could do this, the other kids would finally see how great he is and stop making fun of him just because he's from the Bovino famiglia.
He sniffed, rocking back and forth on the edge of the school gates he'd climbed up on. He tried his best to tolerate whenever things didn't go his way, but it was hard to fight against three big boys, even with all the special weapons papa gave him.
Lambo will be the Don of the Bovino famiglia! Lambo will rule over everyone and make them play with me whenever I want!
He didn't like being made fun of, and he liked getting hurt even less, but if there's one thing he hated the most, it was that nobody believed he could do what he said he'd do.
And if he were a little more honest with himself, he'd admit that it made him feel very lonely.
It started when his mama went to «be with the stars», as papa said, and even though he could kind of understand why mama would leave him for the stars (she'd always say all the coolest and strongest Mafiosos became stars), he had no one by his side anymore. He'd asked papa what he could do to bring her back to them, to Lambo, but his papa just looked at him with wet eyes and told him he should become a star too.
It made sense. Kinda. So Lambo put up with the loneliness so he could become strong and cool, like a star. Then maybe mama would finally come back.
But then Lambo found someone who didn't laugh at him, or hurt him. Someone who made the loneliness go away by singing a beautiful song; the same way mama made him feel better when he tripped or fell down or made fun of by the other kids.
And as much as he wanted to say he didn't need any help because he was "The Great Lambo", he couldn't deny that the blond-haired boy made him feel safe. Wanted. Like mama did when she was still with him.
He sniffed again. And that kid had the nerve to trick Lambo and run off before he could ask him anything, like his name or where he lived.
Stupid blondie. Why doesn't he go to school? Maybe he goes to a different one.
The sound of a laughing group of kids interrupted his thinking, and he looked over to see his target and his lackeys coming out from the secondary school section.
Oh! I gotta try out my new gun! He stuck a hand in his hair to pull it out, then paused when he thought of a better idea.
Wait…when Lambo saw the stupid blondie, stupid Paulo seemed to know who he is. I know! I'll go ask them where the stupid blondie is. Then he can play and sing more songs for Lambo!
He cackled with unrestrained glee and dropped down, landing on his butt with an oof. But he ignored the pain in favour of running over.
«Oi! Stupid grass-head! Stupid no-eyes! Stupid Paulo! Lambo needs you to answer his question!»
Gavino stood ramrod straight, a stark contrast to his coworker who was hunched over and pacing back and forth behind his desk.
«It's not working, Gav! Not anymore!»
«Don't call me 'Gav.'»
He sent a half-hearted glare to Lodovico, but the urgency of their situation wouldn't change. They needed a solution, and they needed one fast.
«What's the latest development? You know I've been busy.»
A snort.
«I hardly know anything you do anymore. You do everything so secretively that I sometimes wonder if you've fallen off the face of the earth.» The older man shook his head out of admiration of Gavino's skills. «No wonder you were so quickly appointed as the Don's 'Left Hand'.»
«The opposite could be said of you, Signore 'Right Hand'.» He waved off their official titles, preferring to be known for what he did rather than a bunch of cheap words on paper. «And you know that everything I do, undercover or not, is for the sake of this famiglia. Even this whole uccello fiasco.»
Lodovico winced, running a hand through his silver-streaked hair.
«I heard bits and pieces about your secret project from my son Rossi, and believe me, it still took me a while to put two and two together. Really, Gavino? You think a child can succeed where drugs can't? Where science can't?»
«He poses a better chance than our most recent bird-brained idea.»
«…You're cracking jokes now. You know I hate it when you try to tell jokes – it makes all my hairs stand on end.»
«Why, thank you. That is a great compliment.» There was an edge of sarcasm in his voice, yet it couldn't cover the eerily pleased expression on Gavino's face. «All joking aside, I think my subordinate Maso has a point – the song of a child has the potential to exceed the song of a bird.»
«But we need more time! Time to train, to experiment, to test and retest! And we're running out of it, and fast!» Lodovico stopped pacing and threw his hands up in despair. «The nightingale worked for the longest – six whole months – and the lyrebird wasn't too shabby either, but most of the birds either died from our subordinates' stupidity, or from our Don shooting them for not singing on command, singing too loudly, too softly, too brightly, etcetera etcetera!»
«Hn. Another reason why a child works better – they're easier to train. You try teaching a morning bird to sing at night, and I'm sure your hair will go white within the month. Or you'll turn bald from pulling it out.»
He scowled. «Whatever; that's not the point. The point is, we can't go on like this. Those six months that the nightingale bought us were absolute heaven compared to our lives a year ago, and our subordinates, let alone us superiors, aren't willing to go back to where we were. Don't try to deny it Gav – even you mellowed out enough to let Piedro's stupid mistakes slide. Mistakes that you would've shot him for just weeks ago.»
«Don't call me Gav.» But he grudgingly agreed, knowing that his counterpart was right, as he often was. «Anyway. How long do you think the birds we have left will last?»
«My best estimate? Six months, tops. And if we absolutely have to buy more time after that, then we can either smuggle more nightingales or resort to hypnotism. And you know how much I hate anything to do with pseudoscience.»
«Hm.» Gavino tapped his chin thoughtfully, going through other possible solutions before settling on a conclusion. «All of this can help alleviate the symptoms, but they can't provide a cure.»
«Damn right. And we need that cure before the entire famiglia is dead from the aftereffects.»
«Alright. I'll talk to Maso and see what we can do.»
«Thanks.» He shot him a grateful look. «And remember, Gav – mum's the word.»
Agunshot rang out, and Lodovico's eyes widened to dinner plates at the sight of the smoking bullet hole two inches to his left.
«What the hell?!»
«I told you: Don't call me 'Gav'.»
It'd been nine months, two weeks, three days and two hours since Tsuna was kidnapped, and Iemitsu was burning in his own personal hell.
After their heated meeting, he'd apologised to Nono for being rude, even though both of them knew he didn't really mean it. But Nono simply nodded, and told him to return to his duties.
Duty. He'd never been so disgusted with that word before. Before, it was a badge of honour and pride to be in his position, and he'd been thrilled with the trust that the leader of the great Vongola famiglia placed in him, but now it just sickened him with every passing day.
With their manpower halved, rebuilding was frustratingly slow, and since he was the leader of the external advisors, managing the aftereffects of crises fell under his jurisdiction, especially in terms of finding out all the Varia members who defected, their motives, and investigating the whole truth behind the horrid affair.
Which basically meant a LOT of paperwork. Paperwork he had to do while his baby boy was out there suffering god knows what. Paperwork he had to complete while he could be investigating and finding clues he might have overlooked. Paperwork he had to do while his wife waited at home, calling him every day to see if he finally had an update for her.
He'd stopped answering her calls altogether a few months ago – something he never thought he'd ever do.
He wasn't sure exactly when it was, but something inside him broke.
Which is why he found himself with a scrawled phone number on a piece of torn paper, his fingers hovering over the final digit he needed to press on his recently-purchased burner phone.
It was an idea he had a while back. He knew he couldn't ask help from people within the Vongola, or even close or distant allies in case Nono caught wind of it. But he needed people with good investigative skills; skills that included methods most others didn't approve of.
It took him a while to figure out how to contact the Don of this certain famiglia, especially since he couldn't let anyone else find out, but he finally found the phone number he needed through the black market.
Desperate times, desperate measures, and he'd passed that point ages ago.
It's not right to do this. To ask for help? From an unallied famiglia? From a famiglia that does unspeakable things to others for the sake of science? The broken pieces whispered, but he quashed them down.
I have to do this. For myself. For Tsuna.
He took a deep breath, cast one last look around to check that he was truly alone, then pressed the call button.
His phone barely had a chance to ring before it was answered.
«Salve, Estraneo Nono. I would like to employ your...services.»
AN: Lodovico is Rossi's father and the Don's Right Hand Man, while Gavino serves as the Don's Left Hand Man. One runs the main operations and assists the Don directly, while the other handles covert operations and is in charge of cleanup so the police can't track them down or arrest their members. Everyone under them are considered grunts and minions who do most of the dirty work. Again, I created this character for the sole purpose of furthering the plot, so he's more of a side character, even more so than Gavino is.
No cookies for guessing who the next KHR character will be, although I think his appearance will be different from what you may expect. Feel free to leave a favourite, follow, review or comment to let me know how the story's doing! And please let me know if it ever gets too confusing, as sometimes the plot is really clear in my own mind but I may leave out several important details that I think are unimportant (but were actually important exposition for the reader).