Guess who's back? Me! Well, us. The last time we updated was more than a month ago, wow! Well, I won't hold you guys back. Hope you enjoy!
Tsuna was, bluntly speaking, quite upset.
It wasn't much the matter of the Vongola, nor was it because of his friends. Or it could be, because it was about M.M. He thought it was going well. He expressed his thoughts to her, allowed her to understand what they could do together, and he was hoping to tell her how he felt about her by the end of their trip here to Italy (he was starting to miss his mother, and her food).
Thing was, M.M was avoiding him.
A lot, actually.
At the first glance of him, she would pack up whatever she was doing and disappear before he so much as got a word. Be it whether she was studying, playing the stock market on her phone or even just sitting down to have some tea, she would dart away to her room if he so much as looked at her. It was a bit...upsetting, which was bad for Tsuna. He decided to distract himself (no use getting self-deprecating after all) and did his work.
A few hours later, all he could think was who knew that the seemingly endless work piles would finish so quickly?
He stared at the towers of paper already signed and filed with a complicated enough signature that no one could forge it, but simple enough for him to remember. He should probably feel accomplished, but throughout his work, all he thought about was M.M, and he could help but feel a sprig of self doubt growing in him.
He shook his head, pushing away the feeling, and reached out for his phone. If he couldn't talk to M.M face to face, the best way was to call her. And if that didn't work, well, he had friends for a reason.
Predictably, she didn't answer.
He sighed, long and tired, before he pulled up his Guardians' numbers. He had a bad feeling about it though.
He promptly ignored that bad feeling.
He regretted it the moment he stepped into the room. After calling his friends and explaining the situation, he took to the town to humour himself. An hour or so later it was Yamamoto who had sent him the message.
Target secured, we'll bring her to the office ;)
The message brought another wave of bad bad bad through his system, and he rushed back to the manor. He understood the feeling as soon as he got back. In fact, the moment he got back, he practically threw himself bodily against the wall and banged his head. (He held himself back, and didn't actually do it, but it sure felt like it).
"I told you to bring her back, not kidnap her!" He protested, voice a half-squeak from disbelief, and awe at just how weird his friends can be.
He stared at M.M, who stared back, looking quite unimpressed. Her mouth was taped up and her hands crossed back, constrained against the chair. She wasn't happy.
Tsuna gave a long suffering sigh, before thanking his friends. They at least managed to help him catch her, though the results he didn't quite understand. He excused them and untied her restraints.
While she pulled off the tape over her lips, he prepared some tea, making a cup for the two of them. M.M accepted it with a bit of hesitance.
Tsuna sighed, and he dropped into the chair where he usually worked, spinning in small half circles. He knew better than to forgo his Intuition a second time, so he knew that if he waited, M.M would tell him anyway.
M.M carefully placed the cup onto the table, with nary a clink as he should expect of a mafia princess (albeit past), and turned to stare at him. It was unnerving, to stare straight into her eyes.
"So?" Her voice was harsh, and he fought back the wince. She really wasn't happy. He nervously scratched the itch at the side of his face, and looked anywhere but the girl. She glared at him for that action, and he swallowed a gulp.
"I- ah..."
"Get to it Tsuna."
"It's just," he took a shaky breath and before he knew it the words tumbled out of his mouth, pouring with hurt, "why are you avoiding me?"
M.M looked shocked, paling slightly as she too looked away from him. He didn't stop.
"Was it because of the Vongola? Were you uncomfortable with it? Or-or were you uncomfortable with it being me?"
Maybe she found out about his feelings, maybe she felt awkward because she didn't know how to reject him. Maybe it was his fault.
"No, no it wasn't you."
His thoughts skidded to stop and he looked up, feeling raw from the outburst. M.M looked fragile, and her shoulders were shaking.
"It's not you, it's...it's me." She gave a brittle laugh. "You don't know...what I did back before I met Mukuro, before I..." She pursed her lips. Tsuna blinked, before he squashed down his own feelings and reached out to touch M.M's hands. Like always she relaxed, and her shoulders stopped shaking. She looked up, seemingly stoic, but he dealt with Hibari and Reborn so he could see the hope in her eyes. She wanted, no needed, someone to listen.
"Tell me then."
M.M once lived a life of solitude, traversing the world with only a handful of money. At age 10 she found herself in Italy worth no memory but now that it's been returned, it was clear to her she had been there due to the Vongola. She was tired, and lonely, and hurt, but still she fought, beat, even killed if she had to.
But a young girl on her own always brought risks. It was always dangerous, and it wasn't much of a surprise that these...people did...things to her. It wasn't a surprise, but it still left invisible marks all over her, left ants crawling beneath her skin with no way out.
It ate inside her, even after she killed those people.
She fought harder, harsher, tried to ignore the incessant disgust that rolled in her stomach. On the good days, it worked. On the bad, she found herself gagging over the sidewalk, her precious food wasted in an empty alley.
At age 12, she had learnt more than she needed. She learnt the importance of money. She learnt that there was nothing more reliable than money. Money wouldn't hurt her. Money wouldn't leave her. Money was constant, her constant, and it painted the world around her.
At age 13, she found Mukuro. Or rather, Mukuro found her. He listened, and he smiled. He said to her, "join me" and she did.
And now this was where they were. She fell in love and she fell out and when she met Tsuna, she...
"You?" Tsuna pressed carefully.
"I..." M.M flushed, looking away as she thought about what she was going to say. "N-nothing. Never mind."
Tsuna didn't continue pressing, instead, he smiled. "Thank you for telling me, M.M. What they did to you, however," his eyes narrowed, and they glinted with a flash of orange light, "was not your fault."
She chewed on her lip. He sighed, before running a hand through his hair. He thought for a bit on what to say before he leaned back on his seat and wore a cheekier smile.
"So... you liked Mukuro?" She shrugged.
"Not anymore. He...has someone else." Tsuna gave her a small smile, comforting. She stuck up her nose with a huff, crossing her arms in a show of arrogance. "Besides, I moved on. I don't like him anymore."
"I see... Though," he looked at her quizzically, "why did you avoid me?"
M.M flush deepened, and she looked anywhere but him. Futilely, she begged him not to notice.
"M.M...are you..." Tsuna leant in closer, and she found herself staring into his eyes. Her chest thundered in her ears, and she closed her eyes as Tsuna leaned in.
He drew away, patting her head. He gave her an empty smile.
"I'll wait for you to be able to say it."
With that he stood up, and walked to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he turned. "Sorry about Gokudera and Yamamoto by the way. They didn't mean anything."
He smiled as he left, with a casual wave over his shoulder.
M.M stared dazedly at the door, before a blush burned on her cheeks. She covered her face in her hands, and fought back the urge to scream.
Tsuna only let the mask on his face fall when he entered the confines of his room. He dropped himself onto the floor and leaned back against the door, hiding his face in his knees as the embarrassment took over.
He let out a wordless mumble.
What did he just do?
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