CHAPTER 4: A GLASS OF WATER, PLEASE
It has been a few weeks since the roof-falling incident happened. The boogie man never came out of the closet or from under the bed again. And Tsuna was beginning to wonder where he went, if perhaps, he had imagined it all. But Tsuna was content with the way things were. The boogie man was never to be seen! And that itself was enough.
"Tsu-kun!"
Tsuna looked up, mouth stuffed, to his mother as she smiled. She talked to him as she cooked, absentmindedly stirring the soup on the stove. Tsuna swallowed his obstruction from talking and blinked owlishly up at his mama, "Yes, mama?"
"Well, your papa is working the whole night because of something or another, but I'm actually being called back by the district board tonight."
Tsuna blinked. What was a district board? Nana, catching Tsuna's confusion she explained, "It means the school would like to have a word with me, sweetie. I may not make it back in time." Nana was a middle school teacher. Well actually, was a middle school teacher. After Tsuna was born, she had gotten a lot busier, so she had quit being a full-time teacher and into a part-time substitute.
"So mama and papa won't be coming home tonight?" Tsuna said sadly, catching the most relevant things in her explanation.
"Yes, Tsu-kun. So Kyoko-chan will be taking care of you while we're gone, okay?"
Tsuna immediately brightened up upon hearing that. Kyoko was Tsuna's babysitter. She is the really nice girl who lived across the street. She was about maybe five or six years older than Tsuna and gladly took care of him while Nana and Iemitsu was out. He believed that she was in middle school…He thought. He couldn't remember. Often, Kyoko would think of the most fun games while they spent time with each other! He loved her so much! Tsuna bounced in his seat, "When is Kyoko-chan coming, mama?"
Nana glanced casually at the clock on the stove. "In about maybe an hour or two. I have to call her to make sure she can make it." Nana moved towards the phone and punched in Kyoko's number. Nana waited until the dial tone was done and the Sasagawa residence picked up.
"Ooh! Mrs. Sawada!"
Tsuna cringed from his seat. It was Ryohei. Kyoko's older brother—who had nothing in common with her—be it looks or hobbies. Tsuna had first met him when Nana dropped him off at Kyoko's house because she was busy teaching again. Tsuna clung to Kyoko's leg the whole time playing games. As they were drawing some of their favorite animals with crayons, Ryohei had crashed through the front door screaming at the top of his lungs at how nice of a workout he had and wondering aloud what Kyoko was planning for dinner. Tsuna had screamed, and hid behind Kyoko as she calmly (probably used to Ryohei's behavior,) had informed Ryohei that they were going to eat after Tsuna left. Ryohei peeked behind Kyoko's legs, grabbed Tsuna, and began spinning him around the house. Ryohei had only thought all children liked being carried like an airplane like Kyoko had when she was little, but definitely not Tsuna. Ryohei stopped the spinning when Tsuna promptly threw up all over him.
Well, least to say, after that, Tsuna took every opportunity to avoid the Sasagawa residence and preferred Kyoko babysat him over at his house.
Ryohei's wild loud chatter continued. Nana only smiled through the phone and greeted Ryohei politely. Tsuna could hear the scary man's boisterous voice from the phone all the way across the kitchen table. He wondered why his mama didn't bother pulling the phone away from her ear. She always did have high tolerance level for noisy children.
"Ryohei-kun, could you please give the phone to Kyoko-chan? I'd like to speak with her." Nana said politely after Ryohei finished shouting about how wonderful the weather was today.
"Right! I'll get her for you, Mrs. Sawada! Kyoko!"
A long pause of silence issued between the two occupants in the kitchen before Kyoko's voice filtered through the receiver, "Hello? Mrs. Sawada?"
"Kyoko-chan! How are you?"
"I'm good, Mrs. Sawada."
"I'm really sorry for the late notice but could you perhaps look after Tsu-kun tonight? Something has come up and Iemitsu can't stay tonight" Nana asked in a apologetic voice.
Tsuna heard Kyoko hum thoughtfully, "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Sawada but I don't feel so well today. I'm afraid Tsu-kun might catch my cold."
Nana giggled silently as she watched Tsuna deflate a bit and pout disappointedly.
Nana smiled forgivingly into the receiver, "It's alright Kyoko-chan, I'll just call up Haru-chan, okay?"
Tsuna froze in his seat. Oh no. Haru was Tsuna other babysitter when Kyoko-chan couldn't make it. The exuberant, eager-to-please girl was probably even moreso disliked by Tsuna than Ryohei—and that was something all together. Tsuna's head snapped towards his mother as they exchanged goodbyes and she wheeled around and smiled apologetically at Tsuna, "Sorry Tsu-kun, Kyoko-chan can't make it right now so I'll just have to call Haru-chan okay?"
Tsuna gasped childishly in horror, "No mama! You know how scary she can be! Can't I just go to Kyoko-chan's house for the night?"
"But Tsu-kun," Nana softly chided, "Kyoko-chan is sick and she doesn't want you to catch her cold."
"Please, mama, anyone but Haru!"
Haru owned a costume shop. She was the same age as Kyoko, and they were really good friends. There is an easy explanation why Tsuna was so traumatized by her. One time, Haru went to the Sawada residence dressed as a shishi-mai. A shishi-mai is a traditional costume masked dancer with a flowing white mane weaves in and out of the crowd and performs daring feats of coordination it's task is to bite the heads of children for good luck. It was self-explanatory why he harbored hate for the dancers. The monster bit Tsuna's head of course! He tried ripping it off violently and spitting it out to the crowd! The fiend! That's why on his first meeting with Haru, he screamed so loudly, so frightened by Haru, he never went out of his room the whole night! Because despite Haru's bouncy smile—she's an evil witch that likes to bite children with her shishi mask and flaunts about on her broom at night! It explained everything!
"Sorry, Tsu-kun, but Haru is the only one available tonight."
Tsuna nodded in defeat, his throat closing up in anxiety and made his way out of the kitchen. He sat on the sofa in the living room and pouted there as he heard his mama talk to Haru over the phone.
"Alrighty, Mrs. Sawada!" he heard Haru say, "I'll be there faster than you can say 'the shoemaker's children go barefoot!'" Nana smiled to herself. Haru always had an odd way of talking. Not only did she speak loudly, enunciating each word distinctively, but she paused after each sentence as if waiting for someone else to speak, although it was obvious she hadn't finished what she was going to say.
"Alright, thank you so much Haru-chan, you're a real life-saver!"
"No problem, Mrs. Sawada! I'll be there in a few minutes! Say hello to Tsuna-san for me!"
"Okay, bye Haru-chan!" Nana hung up the phone happily and made her way to the living room, "Good news, Tsu-kun! Haru can make it!"
Tsuna groaned and pulled a pillow over his head.
—
"Hi Mrs. Sawada!" Haru chirped as Nana opened the front door.
"Hello, Haru!" She greeted, she took at step back and motioned to the outside, "I'm going to take my leave now, Tsu-kun has already eaten his dinner so you don't have to cook okay?" Nana said, adjusting the laptop case on her shoulders. She was dressed in a professional suit with a pencil skirt and tan pantyhose, the perfect teacher-look.
"Alrighty! Where is Tsuna-san now?"
"Oh he's in the backyard playing—make sure he doesn't hurt himself! I left the first aid kit on the counter."
Haru saluted to the young mother, "Okay, have a nice trip, Mrs. Sawada!"
Nana smiled at Haru and motioned to close the door, "Oh!" Nana said, faltering, "And Haru?"
"Yes?" Haru said blinking curiously.
"As lovely as it is, can you please take off the kappa mask? I think Tsu-kun will be frightened…" Nana said apologetically.
"Oh. Right." Haru said sheepishly as she took it off and placed it in her bag gently.
After the two exchanged goodbyes, Haru skipped off to find Tsuna. Just like Nana had said, Tsuna was playing with his light purple ball in the backyard. Upon, seeing Haru approach, he froze on the spot. Haru didn't seem to notice and flitted up to Tsuna like a butterfly. Tsuna hated butterflies. Those icky, deceivingly-beautiful bugs! Just like the witch called Haru!
Tsuna squeaked fearfully as Haru squatted down and bubbly spoke, "Tsuna-san! How are you? What are you doing? Can I do something?"
On the onslaught of questions, Tsuna just stared at Haru awaiting her first move. Perhaps she was going to transform into a shishi-mai again? Maybe her neck would stretch and stretch and stretch like a rokurokubi! The horror! When Tsuna didn't respond Haru kept her bubbly self but instead asked, "Ha-hi? Hey are you hungry or something? Can I get you something to eat?"
Tsuna nodded no in reply. What if she was like the witch from Hansel and Gretel? She would trick him into getting into a cage and stuff food inside of him until he was fat—then she would eat him!
Haru just hummed thoughtfully, "Then how about we play a game?"
Tsuna watched as Haru reached into her bag and pulled out several colorful paper and placed them in between Tsuna and her. "Let's fold origami, Tsuna-san!"
Tsuna didn't speak and picked up a green origami paper and began folding a small tiny samurai hat silently. He learned this at school, he remembered his was the ugliest but Gokudera beat up the kids that voiced it. Yamamoto's was as equally ugly as his was but everyone just laughed along with him. After that Tsuna was determined to get it right. He practiced making samurai hats in class or home until they were perfected like a real professional. Tsuna took pride in this skill, but wished that his determination could've been used for something far more useful than origami.
"That's so cool, Tsuna-san!" Haru said, entranced by Tsuna's quick movements, "Can you teach me?"
Tsuna stared up at Haru. He contemplated on showing Haru his pride-and-joy. What if she took credit for it? Most people would believe her because she has magical powers that could control your mind. But there wouldn't be any harm. He learned from a book anyway. Finally, he nodded. Haru squealed in delight (Tsuna cringed) and got up abruptly (Tsuna flinched) and ran inside the house. When she came back, she was holding newspapers. Tsuna looked questioningly at the newspapers.
"Let's make life-sized ones! Then we can both wear them! I hope Tsuna-san's papa doesn't mind if I take a few of his newspapers!"
Haru and Tsuna actually had fun making the samurai hats. After they were done, the two played as samurais searching for imaginary enemies. The two tumbled around the grasses, stealthily hiding behind trees and using the shed house as their home base. They also made make-shift paper katanas and they battled eachother! In the end, Haru lost, gave all her treasures to Tsuna in defeat. But Tsuna, honor bound by chivalry and righteousness, gave the treasures back to Haru and they lived in harmony together! It was dark in the backyard now and the two samurai watched the stars above.
"That was really fun, Tsuna-san!"
"Yes, it was Haru." Tsuna said softly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
Haru grinned at sat up, "Ha-hi! I think we should get going inside and wash up! We're all dirty!"
Tsuna followed Haru into the kitchen and they washed their hands. After that, they settled with watching TV for the rest of the night. They watched a cartoon channel until they eventually dozed off. After having all that fun in the backyard Tsuna was starting to get drowsy. Haru had already fallen asleep and was snoring away on the couch arm. Tsuna positioned himself into a comfortable position and closed his eyes.
"Herbivore."
Tsuna's eyes snapped open and he turned to look at where the voice came from this time. The boogie man stood in front of the kitchen cupboard, (which was still left a bit ajar from his entrance) examining the sleeping Haru on the couch.
"Y-You're—!" Tsuna said fearfully, he would've edged closer to Haru but he was too scared to move.
"Yes, me." The intimidating tall man said annoyed; as if he was tired of everyone having the same reaction. He pointed at Haru, "Who is that?"
Tsuna jumped off the couch and put himself between Haru and the boogie man's pointed finger, "This is Haru, a friend! Leave her alone—" Tsuna said, voice shrinking of its determination then he added meekly, "—Please."
"But not long ago, you said you didn't like her." For a second Tsuna froze, how did he know that? When the boogie man's foot started tapping against the floor impatiently for an answer Tsuna struggled to keep his voice even.
"Yes, I did…B-But that was before I actually started to know Haru…" Tsuna voice trailed off.
"I see…" The man said drawling it out, he took three long strides over to the television and shut it off with a single elegant pale finger, "Don't waste electricity, herbivore."
Tsuna fidgeted nervously as the boogie man sat down in strange exhaustion onto the coffee table. The tall man ran his hands through his hair and glanced out the glass door to look at the moon. It was dark in the house, save for the lamp near the sofa. The boogie man looked bleary and extremely put out, something Tsuna never thought he'd ever see.
Before he could stop himself he blurted out, "Where have you been?"
The boogie man stopped running his hands through his hair and turned to glance at Tsuna, "Places." He said simply.
"O-Oh." Tsuna said weakly, inwardly beating himself for asking out a question without putting too much thought into it. At this rate, he was going to get himself killed!
"Do you have water?" The boogie man said coughing, making Tsuna jump a mile high.
Tsuna nodded fervently before jumping off the couch and scrambling to the kitchen. He could see the boogie man over the counter still sitting on the coffee table, but this time he was giving Haru an antagonizing stare. Although Haru was not awake, she squirmed; as if she knew danger was near. Tsuna gave wary looks at the two, and he hurried faster to get the cup of water ready. He silently prayed the boogie man wouldn't kill Haru while his back was turned. Tsuna almost tripped as he made his way back to the living room. The water sloshed violently by his shaking and stumbling and a lot of water spilled onto the floor as he walked. The boogie man gave Tsuna an irritated frown before taking the glass of water from Tsuna's shaking hands and gulping down what was left of the drink.
After draining the cup dry he put it on the coffee table, he sighed gratefully for the cool water. He stood up and stretched a bit, getting the kinks out of his neck. The boogie man moved back to the kitchen cupboard and opened it wider so he could squeeze back inside.
"W-Wait!" Tsuna squeaked fearfully. The boogie man faltered and gave Tsuna an unblinking stare, waiting for him to continue. "W-Who…" Tsuna trailed off. Gulping, he raised his voice again, "W-Who are you?"
The boogie man continued his unwavering gaze before he slowly said "You may call me Hibari." His voice was clear and deep, like the ocean. Without another word, Hibari squeezed into the kitchen cupboard and closed it shut behind him. Behind Tsuna, Haru snorted in her sleep.
A/N: I hope you all liked this, I certainly did. So we finally know who the boogie man is (that's pretty obvious) and Tsuna finally learns Hibari's name. (Thank god because I'm sick of typing, 'The boogie man said this' 'The boogie man did that' etc, etc.) Ah yes, the kitchen cupboard. I was getting a cup from the pantry when I realized I should use the kitchen cupboard in his new appearance. xD One thing I'm pretty sure that you guys don't know is probably the rokurokubi. Its nature is to take the appearance as a normal beautiful girl during the day but at night, its neck stretched and stretches and stretches! For a great example of a rokurokubi, think of Orochimaru in the Naruto series.
ANIME SPOILERS: I'm really glad we're getting a move-on here! So now we'll finally see some real kick-ass stuff from here on out! And Mukuro is coming back! (Yeah, and that will probably be like 50 episodes from now. PFFT.) This is going to be awesome. Does anyone else think that Mukuro of the past might pop out in the future? Or do you think that the future Mukuro will stay for a while longer? I don't think the past Mukuro will come to the future at all. Because Chrome is already there to represent the mist guardian. Hmmm.