"A ghost!?" shouted Gokudera. Ieyasu could practically see the stars in his eyes and a tail wagging as his storm inspected the brunette. He was still on the 'I'm going to be living with an actual spirit!'. Chuckling Tsuna nodded again, and began walking away, beckoning the 9 to follow him. "Would you like to go to your rooms first, or eat?" he asked, as they walked through the labyrinth of hallways. "The rooms," Reborn answered, and with the glare he gave each of them, there was no complaint.
"Alright. Reborn has already been there a few times, since the one at the end is mine," the looks Tsuna was given were ones of shock, horror, sympathy, and did I say shock? "Reborn, he's a ghost and a guy! That's cruel even for you!" shouted Ieyasu, who was, only being a middle schooler, a virgin. His face glowed with a nice rosy blush. Tsuna squawked an explanation, saying that was the one place he usually stayed in, and that he would do no such thing with a younger man. Reborn, however, took great amusement in the sudden development. With a characteristic sadistic smirk, the hitman leaned over to the brunette still stuttering out words and planted an innocent kiss on the cheek.
Squeaking, Tsuna jumped away, slapping a hand over his cheek. Natsu growled, getting in mauling position. "Damn it, Reborn! Don't do that!" he demanded, pouting. Sighing, the brunette near instantaneously recomposed himself, and continued to walk forward. Reborn whistled, as the ghost had just earned a bit more respect from him. The guardians, utterly confused, decided to just go with it and follow the two. In the back, Mukuro cursed. He knew sexual tension when he saw it, as clear as illusions.
Natsu, after that incident, closely guarded his master, glaring at all that let their eyes wander to the brunette. However, that didn't stop any of them from realizing that Tsuna was actually really beautiful. His long hair cascaded to nearly his upper thigh, brushed neatly, but the hair was still stubbornly messy, especially at the top. The color was also a pleasant chestnut, nearly identical to his eyes, but slightly lighter. They could tell Tsuna was centuries old by the gravity his eyes held, though his appearance seemed closer to Reborn's obvious age, in the upper twenties. Still, he had a complimenting amount of baby fat to his high cheek bones, but he looked thin, to a degree also similar to Reborn. He wore an undershirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark slacks, so they could tell he was actually muscular, but lithe, closely and tightly wrapped around the bone and miraculously hidden completely by clothing.
It also took them a moment, but they noticed a surprising amount of similarities not only to the hitman, but also to Ieyasu. If Tsuna had a more boyish face, with a stronger jawline, and different coloring, he could be Ieyasu's brother. It was only thanks to the spirit's eyes, sharp and narrowed, but with wide irises, that let the guardians match them up.
In practically no time (for Reborn, he seemed to arrive quicker and quicker each time he went there), they arrived at the hallway. 9 rooms in total, they were all king-styled with Vongola first gen alterations. "These are the rooms everyone from 400 years ago had. The same guardian will be assigned to each room. I ask that you refrain from damaging the furniture or ripping the drapes and bed sheets. However, the walls had always been destroyed, and have needed a good repainting, so don't worry if two rooms are… accidentally joined. When I call your attribute, please come up," he explained, smiling darkly.
"First we have Alaude's room. So, who would the cloud guardian be?" Immediately, Hibari moved from the back of the group to the front, standing eye to eye with the spirit. Tsuna didn't falter, and continued to smile. "Ah, how could I have missed you? I hope you enjoy it. If anything is unsatisfactory, please tell me. Yours is the closest to the exit, and the left window has a ladder to the right if you peek your head out. With that you can reach the roof, all the rooms on your side, and more. I'll just leave the rest for you to discover."
Hibari, surprised at how much the room actually appealed to him, walked in to further familiarize himself with it. He sat his single bag on the ground. Looking out the window, he let a small curve slip onto his face. Amazingly spying that amoeba of a smile, Tsuna continued, leaving the cloud to his own devices, and turned to the room across the purple room.
"This one is for the lightning guardian," Tsuna declared, looking around the group, only to feel a sharp tug on his pants. He looked down, to see a 5 year old version of Lampo with black hair. Kneeling down, Tsuna tentatively asked with the brightest smile he could muster (unbelievably bright, by the way), "Are you the lightning guardian?" Pausing, the child stared at the bigger person, before smiling, "That is me, Lambo-san! You are now my servant!" he declared cheerfully.
"Oi cow-!" started Gokudera, but his heart was stopped cold at the look Tsuna gave them. "The Decimo and I will have words have later," he said, before turning back to Lambo with another lovely smile, as if he hadn't just given the Vongola heir a death wish. "Uwah~! Amazing!" Lambo chirped, staring eagerly at the huge bed in the middle of the room, with a green silk canopy and and a velvet comforter. Tsuna smiled, pleased that Lambo was happy with it, and moved to the next. "This is the mist room, so…"
Immediately, the brunette recognized the twin pineapple hair cuts, despite purposeful attempts to conceal them. "Two mist guardians! Well, there's only one bed, but I'm sure there's another mattress laying around here somewhere…" he muttered, trying to pull back the memory. Mukuro and Chrome, shocked their illusion had been seen through, quickly materialized to the front of the group. Sighing, Tsuna returned his attention to the two in front of him. "You needn't worry about an extra bed. Nagi and I will be find with just one," Mukuro purred, causing those behind him to shudder. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised. You are that man's descendants," Tsuna whispered as he opened the indigo room.
The two walked in, taking in the dark room and illusions. If Mukuro wasn't mistaken, he swore there was a message encrypted in the patterns. Tsuna noticed this, and mentally remarked on it. Definitely Demon's descendants. He knew of the illusions. He was aware of all that happened in his mansion, including the 'secret' passages that Daemon added. He had some made when the mansion was first constructed, but the first generation mist had definitely made things easier. Passing through objects was always a strange feeling for the spirit. Because of that, he sometimes got stuck.
Playing with the idea, Tsuna whispered in the female mist's ear, "There's a surprise Daemon Spade left the mist, if you look hard enough." Pulling away, the brunette watched the surprise flash across her face before he walked to Knuckle's room.
"The sun guardian?" Tsuna asked, immediately answered with a loud 'EXTREMELY ME!' Out popped a silver haired, muscular teenager, with a sunny grin on his face. Smiling, the ghost opened the room, allowing the guardian to peer inside. "This room is totally EXTREME!" he shouted, haphazardly flinging the bag he brought onto the bed. "These windows are HUGE!" he exclaimed, staring at the view they gave.
"Yes, Knuckle liked natural light almost as as much as Alaude. However, the reason the windows in the cloud room are actually smaller than the rest is because Alaude, as former leader to a secret intelligence service and head of the CEDEF, didn't want very big openings for spies to creep in and kill him," Tsuna explained, his smile ever present. Ryohei seemed to not even care about the fact, maybe because future Hibari was similar, with an entire base underground. Most likely however, he was too oblivious to even hear him.
Moving on, Tsuna announced the blue, or rain, room. Yamamoto, realizing it was him, stepped up, happily introducing himself. Nodding, the brunette showed him inside. The blue door, which was actually a sliding door, was opened to reveal the Japanese themed inside. Whistling, Yamamoto set his bag down on the blue futon, which had depicted a sakura branch in the rain, and looked looked at the fancifully painted blue screens, ancient candle holders, tatami mats, and array of scrolls and flutes. "Hara? I thought Ugetsu treasured his flutes more than his life? Actually, I thought he sold them all," the tall baseball player wondered aloud, looking to the ghost for answers. With a touch of nostalgia to his smile, the brunette explained. "After moving to Italy, Asari wanted to remember his homeland, so he brought all these with him when it was decided. He also wrote in Japanese on those scrolls a monthly report to himself about... certain things. Even after 400 years, however, I have respected his privacy and never read them, even though he taught me Japanese. Also, even though he sold his most prized and professional flutes, he brought with him bamboo and made some over here. When they moved down the street, though, he took the furnishing, which returned to this room only when he moved back to Japan. He visited like the rest of them, to say hello bring back some bamboo for a flute."
Yamamoto nodded, and looked around the room again. "Did the bamboo die?" he asked. Surprised, Tsuna shook his head. "It got so large, it formed a small forest in the backyard. Feel free to visit, as the area used to be used as a training ground. I thought you might want to do that also, and haven't touched it. It's especially dense, so I would be careful," the brunette warned playfully. Yamamoto nodded, smiling in return. Tsuna moved on, with only Gokudera, Ieyasu, and Reborn behind him.
"This is the storm room, and judging by appearances, I would assume you are the storm guardian," Tsuna said, looking at Gokudera. Stiffly the silver haired teenager nodded, honored he was closest to the Juudaime. "This is your room," he presented, opening the door. Walking in, Gokudera examined the space, with red and white flame patterns dancing on the walls, a brown and red comforter, and dark stained wardrobe and desk. A large bookshelf was situated on the entire eastern wall, to which Gokudera immediately delved into. Tsuna chuckled, deducing the tenth storm guardian had just as much a liking to knowledge as the first.
Allowing the right hand man his silence, Tsuna closed the door, and opened the one next to it, painted orange. The brunette hesitated, all the previous times he opened the door flashing before his mind, and he looked back to the new owner. The spitting image of Giotto. Giving a shaky deep breath, Tsuna plastered on a smile, and opened the door. "This was Giotto's room. I hope you like it."
Ieyasu nodded, sensing the forcefulness of his smile, and entered. giving the host a grateful smile of his own, Ieyasu thanked him for housing them, and shut the door. Tsuna sighed in relief, glancing at Reborn. "That one was Shimon's, and you can have it. When Shimon 'died', all his stuff was burned, as was a tradition. You can fancy it any way you want," Tsuna said, before turning to his own room and closing the door. Right before the hitman was about to enter, however, Tsuna peeked his head out and shouted loud enough so they all heard. "Dinner is at 8!"
With a chorus of affirmations, the brunette regressed back into his room.
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All 9 guests wandered the halls to find the kitchen at the promised time. They had spent the last 11-ish hours inspecting their rooms and the mansion, sleeping, or wandering the city with Gokudera as a guide. The mansion was a forever changing chasm of confusion, and even though Mukuro had explored for a good 5 hours, he still couldn't keep track of the halls. Hibari had spent most of the time on the roof and in the garden, to which he pleasantly found had a perfect spot in the grass and multiple trees he could rest in and still see the mansion from. Not to mention it was the home of many small animals.
Using the ladder system, he was also able to locate and enter the kitchen first. Then Reborn, since he had been there before and managed to sense it out. The next was Mukuro, following the trail of Hibari, but the rest had to be corralled by Natsu. Finally, dinner started at 8:45.
The dining room was a long room with a table nearly the same length. On it was a satin cloth embroidered with colorful patterns, as explosive as a storm guardian and as calming as a rain guardian. Silver ice bowls holding centuries old red wine, sparkling silverware and platters, multi-branched holders with lit candles, and metallic goblets. The room itself was themed orange, with burnt amber wallpaper, white window sills, chestnut stained chairs with orange cushions, lapis lazuli fireplace, with a mirror above it, and orange patterned rugs that covered the chestnut floor panels. Above the table were two chandeliers, each with 21 candles in 3 tiers of 7.
Tsuna quickly bussed out the meal, complete with appetizer of salad and fruit and the entree of angel hair spaghetti with a tomato pesto. After he filled each goblet with an appropriate amount of wine, the brunette sat down. "Um, Tsuna… what is this?" Ieyasu asked when was seated, eyeing the burgundy liquid that swished in his glass. The host was about to answer, before Reborn cut him off. "It's grape juice. Unfortunately, you're still a kid, unless you were getting your hopes up thinking it was alcoholic," he teased, smirking. Ieyasu glared at him and, as the hitman expected, gulped the entire goblet down. Tsuna glanced worriedly at the Decimo, but decided that the amount he gave wouldn't kill too many brain cells, and let it be. The blonde promptly passed out on the table, but, as most of his guardians (or at least the ones that cared for his safety) had also been stupid enough to believe it was 'juice' passed out in similar fashion, no one moved to set him in a better position. Lambo was the only one that Tsuna actually had only given grape juice to, so he was still awake and happily stuffing the pasta down.
They ate mostly in silence, with the exception of the sound of pasta being eaten by the ones conscious (Tsuna, Reborn, Hibari, Mukuro, Lambo, Chrome). This was probably only because the ones that made noise, namely the sun guardian and storm guardian, were out of it. After the meal was finished, and the desert of carrot cake was passed out and eaten, did actual conversation start.
"Tsuna, I've been wondering this for a few days now, but who is Rosso?" Reborn asked. He saw the brunette flinch, and knew it was important. The remaining guardians also became interested, seeing as they knew next to nothing about their host. Tsuna mulled over speaking of the deceased, but, seeing the look on Reborn's face, he knew wasn't going to get out of telling it, and began.
"Well, when I was alive, I adopted a great number of children. This house was meant to house many after all. Even when it wasn't very old, this village was the only village in all of northern Sicily that had an orphanage, so after one especially bad year, there were many children crowding the facility. I adopted, over a course of about 20 years, nearly a hundred children," Tsuna explained, taking another sip of the wine. "Wait, how old were you when you died?" Mukuro asked. The math in his head wasn't adding up. "Hm? Oh, 40 I think," he replied. Everyone awake, even Reborn, stared at him. "You age really well," Chrome declared, followed by the simultaneous nod of the 5 guests.
Chuckling, Tsuna continued. Honestly, he had no clue why everyone who learned of his 'death' age looked so surprised.
"Well, one of those children was named Rosso, named by me because of his beautifully vibrant crimson hair (rosso=crimson). He was only about 8, and I had him for barely a few months, but he was one of the most remarkable of children," Tsuna exclaimed, a grin stretching his cheeks. "He could keep up with my movements easily, and although his physical strength was flimsy at best, his reflexes were like that of a born hitman, you could say. Not to mention his limitless curiosity of the nature around him, and the information he had picked up over the small time he lived. However, one day, he completely vanished. I investigated a little, and found he had ventured off to inspect some distant caves. I hired a watcher for the kids I had at the time, around 10, and went out in search of him. Even after a week's search with the aid of my sky flames, I couldn't find a trace of his storm flames. However," Tsuna paused, sighing, "He came back 200 years later.
"As you might think, I wasn't expecting to see any of my children alive, or look as young as I did. I did watch over their descendants, but I was completely taken by shock when Rosso returned at my doorstep, soaked by an ongoing storm. By that time, Giotto had moved down the street, but none of the guardians were in. I can't leave this place very easily, so I sent him a note and he came the next day. Rosso looked barely older than he did when I last saw him, but his cheeks were leaner, and his body molded into that of a small warrior. His beautiful crimson hair was nearly as long as mine was, going to the child's lower back. Another strange thing, one that I regret not paying more attention to, is that his eyes changed. Instead of the honey eyes he once possessed, in their place was an electric yellow. They were blank, wild with no sense of control. I fed him, washed him, gave him rest, but instead of the astute, quiet observing he had done centuries prior, now, all he did was hunt. Not the hunting foolishly cruel children did, not the way a hardened man would for his family. No, this was instinctive and primitive. He used his bare hands and teeth. But the biggest difference was the way he looked at the traditional ornamentation- my silver and gold trinkets." Tsuna paused, a mourning face weighing his eyes, sinking them into sorrow.
"Candle holders began to disappear, knives, daggers, and decorative swords. Even Giotto's goblet, made of gold, and the jade pendant I kept as a reminder of home was lost. Rosso, who barely ever spoke, denied any knowledge of it. However, after a month of no success in finding it, I did a 10 mile scan for the trace sky flames mine and Giotto's possessions carried. I found them near the perimeter. When I journeyed there, I found the objects were in a small pile at the end of a deep cave. I flew them back, and after I fed Rosso, went to my study where I had put the objects. I had a suspicion as to what had happened, but they were only confirmed when Rosso came bursting through my door, snarling and glaring dangerously at me, late in the night.
"Rosso grew canines larger than wild cats, his nails stretching inches and his cat-like irises gained cat-like pupils; thin and threatening. 'Tsuna,' he growled, 'Where is my treasure?' He honestly believed those were his own. I felt pity for him, and asked 'Why do you want it?' He howled in response, and grew. His nails turned into talons, teeth into knives, body into that of a lizard the size of four men. It's only thanks to the constant strengthening of the floor and walls that my home didn't give out. When he was about to lunge at me, I used a pre-prepared magic circle and cast a sealing spell into a pre-prepared vessel- a ring with a ruby crested inside. Even now, I sometimes hear Rosso howl furiously inside the gem."
Reborn, shocked at such a background, managed to ask, "What had happened to him?"
Smiling bitterly, Tsuna answered, "He made it too that cave. However, by the time I reached the one he had entered, he had already been cursed by the witch resident of the area. She had mistaken the wonder in his eyes at the mysterious, unknown of a dark cave for greed and turned him into a dragon. Then, she put him into a deep sleep, his presence going undetected until the day of her death. I never knew until nearly 3 months after I sealed my child."