Heyo people! Cielo here again! FM2 had a little incident with his computer, so he couldn't write the chapter. Nevertheless, I hope you can enjoy this chapter, and review (cos reviews are the food to our souls). Yes, I realise that this was probably one month after the last update, but we had a lot of deliberation over this chapter.
(Along the way I also got kinda distracted with the Super Dangan Ronpa 2 my siblings got me)
Hope you enjoy!
M.M fell to a stop, frown setting into her mouth. Tsuna, not noticing, walked a few steps ahead of her, before he similarly stopped and gave her a questioning glance.
M.M gave a shooing motion. "I...uh... I need to do something first."
Tsuna hesitated, his eyes unbelieving as he opened his mouth. His incoming question was cut off by a more irritated waving of an arm.
Before he knew it, M.M was dashing down the street and all he could do was be dragged off by the curious Yamamoto and Gokudera.
"Ne, Tsuna, where's that girl staying with you? That M.M girl?"
Tsuna frowned before shaking his head.
"I don't know..."
Something in his gut was giving him jitters. As if something inexplicably bad was about to happen.
He sent a cursory glance back at the direction M.M left.
She...could take care of herself...right?
Iemitsu mentally cursed as the redhead dislodged her clarinet, revealing her nunchucks.
This girl…
He quickly raised his pickaxe as the girl swung her nunchucks, grunting as it hit the wooden shaft of his weapon.
"Why are you watching me?" M.M snarled as she swung her leg up to kick the older man. Iemitsu yelped, jumping back to dodge the hit. The girl continued her attack, before Iemitsu stumbled.
M.M quickly used the chance. She swung out a leg, sweeping it under the older's feet. The man fell with a thump, and M.M, using the momentum of her attack, leant forward to push her weight upon the blond. She pressed her nunchucks into Iemitsu's neck and glared at him.
"Why are you here?" She demanded scathingly. "Who sent you?"
Iemitsu choked as the nunchucks pressed down his windpipe.
"M-M.M!" A familiar voice rang out. Iemitsu felt a rush of relief as his son appeared, eyes wide. Two of his guardians followed him, both wearing a different form of surprise.
Iemitsu felt her grip on her nunchucks tighten at the sight of the Decimo heir.
"Oi, get off Jyuudaime's dad you bastard woman!" Smoking Bomb Hayato pulled the girl off roughly.
Iemitsu rubbed his hands on his throat as he heard Tsuna scold the Vongola Storm.
"Gokudera-kun, don't just pull her off like that!" Iemitsu felt a flicker of amusement as the boisterous half-italian withered at the reprimand.
"Wait...Dad?" M.M questioned almost incredulously. The Kokuyo member looked between Iemitsu and Tsuna, almost gaping slightly.
Tsuna gave a nervous laugh. "Ahaha… Erm...Meet my dad?"
She blinked owlishly. "Your dad's the head of CEDEF?"
Tsuna sighed, before turning to Iemistu with a stormy look. "Dad, I told you not to hurt her!"
Iemitsu immediately pouted, making M.M stare at him incredulously.
"But I didn't!" whined the blond, "She was the one attacking me!"
Tsuna sent a questioning glance at M.M, who quickly averted his eyes. She looked away stubbornly, not saying a thing as she scowled at nothing.
Tsuna sighed, before standing up and pulling his father up.
"Let's just go back home. Dad looks pretty beat up" Iemitsu felt a flare of disagreement rise in him (He wasn't 'beat up' by a girl dammit!) "and we're too late to go to school anyway."
The look that his son sent him clearly asked for an explanation.
Iemitsu gave a resigned sigh.
Ah well, at least with these injuries Nana might dote on him a little.
A few nights ago,
The silence was thick, only to be destroyed when Tsuna all but slammed the file on the desk, eliciting an almost instinctive flinch from Iemitsu.
The Decimo's eyes burned with even fury, and with a strangled voice, he demanded. "Explain."
Explain why M.M was monitored much closer than Mukuro.
Why there were medical certificates about her.
Why, in fact, the reports had spoken of a mistaken Vongola attack on an allying famiglia that killed everyone except for a little girl, later documented to have lost her memory of the attack but retaining a worrisome loathing for the mafia.
His hands shook, and he felt rage bubble in him. It was a feeling he had only felt once in his life and that time, he killed Byakuran.
He fell into a seat and stared at his father, who stayed grim faced.
He waited, eyes a clear orange as he stared unwaveringly at his father.
At this moment, Iemitsu realised that right now, Tsuna wasn't his "son" but rather the "Vongola Decimo". Similarly, Iemitsu wasn't Tsuna's "father" but the "current head of CEDEF". He drew up some and sent a cursory glance at the silent Arcobaleno. Reborn tipped his fedora, and Leon gave him an unflinching stare.
He sighed, as he began to explain.
"Nine years ago, the Vongola was allied with the Famille de Mélodie, a french mafia group."
The little girl protested as her father pushed her into a closet, giving her a chaste kiss on her forehead. He smiled, almost looking as if it was the last she would ever see. It was clear to the girl that it may very well be. He hugged her tightly, his accented voice a tragic song as it played at her ear.
"Je t'aime, Manette."
The girl stared, eyes brimming with tears as her father closed the closet doors.
Something in her made it impossible for her to speak as she covered her mouth, biting back the urge to cry.
She flinched as the first of the gun shots rang out, others quickly following. Each fire was a thunderstorm that forced her heart to jump. She kept the grip on her mouth tight as she clenched her eyes close.
The familiar smell of gunpowder flitted into the closet, this time accompanied by the tang of blood. Her eyes widened, horror in the violet depths.
Suddenly the closet was open. A tall shadow loomed over her as she stared. Her small body quivered, her heart racing. The shadow turned, letting out a string of familiar sounding words as more men arrived.
Were they going to kill her?
She didn't know.
Her eyes flickered to the gaps in which the shadows didn't hide from her and she fought the urge to vomit.
Her father, her strong, indestructible, invincible father, was crumpled to the ground like a rag doll. Blood painted her father's suit, and holes filled his chest. Vacant eyes stared at her, and she screamed.
No… No… No it can't be… Nononononononononono-
The little girl crumpled, her vision going blank as she vaguely felt herself being lifted up.
The last thing that she saw was the emptiness where love once reigned in her father violet eyes.
Iemitsu's eyes were dark as he bit his lip.
"Later we realised that the Mélodie were innocent. A more in depth search of their members and allies came out negative. The only survivor is the girl you call M.M, whose real name is Manette Mélodie. She was the daughter of the Mélodie's boss."
He took a breath.
"Later she was brought to the Vongola where she recovered. But when she awoke she remembered nothing. A few days later she disappeared, and was only later seen with Rokudo Mukuro's bunch."
Tsuna's eyes were dark as he stared at the table. His face was pale and unseen to his father, his clenched hands were shaking.
He felt the urge to gag, to scream in disbelief but he knew better than to think the Vongola was clean.
"Nono agreed to the attack?" His voice came out choked.
Iemitsu looked away. "He did."
There was no explanation. No justification. Only the cold hard truth.
Tsuna felt his resolve burn like an inferno.
Question whirled in his head.
Why didn't they make the proper investigations before they attacked?
Why did Nono agree to such a massacre?
Why M.M?
Why?
He grinded his teeth together.
Iemitsu sat a little straighter.
"This is why we have to be careful around M.M. She may be marked as amnesiac, but the information is still outdated." His words came out a careful as he watched the Vongola Decimo.
Tsuna hesitated, before looking up again. "I see…" His eyes were thoughtful, calm even as his stomach turned at the thought of M.M getting hurt. "But I can't allow you to hurt her."
Iemitsu blinked, surprised.
"Right now, she's my friend. I will not allow you to hurt her, even if you think it's good for the Vongola. She is under my, as well as my guardians, jurisdiction, similar to Haru and Kyoko."
Iemitsu gaped, silent before he smiled incredulously.
"Tsuna, y-you can't actually be-"
Tsuna stared back, challenging the man to complete the sentence.
Iemitsu wisely shut up, before giving a resigned sigh.
Just because he can't hurt her, doesn't mean he can't send his colleagues to observe her.
Despite himself, he felt his lips twitch upwards just the slightest.
Looks like his son's Spring is here…
Albeit with someone who might want to kill him.
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