A/N: This prequel is told from Lambo's point of view. To clear up more honorific stuff, touchan = dad, daddy, father, etc. Then Boss = Tsuna and Papa = Tsuna's dad.
WARNING: Implied FuutaxLamboxI-Pin
First, my parents and the Bovino left me… but I got then Maman…
"Lambo-chan, what would like for dinner?" I remember Maman asking this so many times and her telling Boss to stop Reborn or I-Pin from fighting with me. And yes, they were fights, not beatings!
For six years, I stayed by Maman's side even when Boss or Papa (Iemitsu-touchan) weren't there.
…But then Maman left me…
"And promise to visit me in Italy plenty, okay, Lambo-chan?" Maman pleasantly asked as she smiled sweetly at me.
Eleven year-old me could only blubber out a sloppy, "Yes, Maman!"
I wanted to go with her and Papa, but I-Pin and I had to stay behind and finish our education here. As soon as I'm done with school I promise to be reunited with Maman!
…and then I got Hato-nii and Haru-nee…
"You'll live with Haru and me from now on, Lambo." Hato-nii said, picking up some of my many bags. "Geez, how much stuff do you need?"
"It'll be fun. By the way," Haru-nee said with gentle smile. My heart raced when she asked, "What would you like for dinner tonight?"
"I'm telling you, it'd be a blast, Hayato-chan." Haru-nee said as we all ate happily at the small dining room table in our large house. Over the years, more furniture would come in and additional rooms would be attached on.
"You can do it, but I don't think being in the mafia and being a kindergarten teacher would work out for me." Hato-nii said with a scowl.
"I don't think you should do it, Stupidera." I said, pushing around the food on my plate. "You'd just scare everyone." My comment made Haru-nee giggle, but Hato-nii glowered at me
"See? Dealing with one brat is already enough!" Hato-nii remarked jokingly. We all laughed.
It was nights when lightning cracked the sky in half that made me sleep most peacefully, but some evenings when all was still and clouds covered the stars, I would have nightmares.
"Haru-nee, Stupidera, I'm scared. I had a bad dream." I said, knocking softly on their door, trying to conceal that I had been sniveling earlier.
Haru-nee let me in and I crawled in the velvety red canopy bed they shared, which made me want one too, in cow-print of course.
"Hey, hey," Hato-nii groaned. "What's he doing here?"
"He had a bad dream, Hayato-chan." Haru-nee told him, snuggling me tightly. "But it's okay now, Lambo-chan."
I nuzzled closer to her and asked, "Ew, why do you sleep in the same bed as Stupidera?"
The couple blushed and Hato-nii angrily answered, "Shut up, idiot cow! You know it's because Haru's my girlfriend!"
Something felt empty like a missing puzzle piece or hollow words. I didn't know what the emptiness was so I asked another question.
"Are you guys in love?"
They only looked at each other and then slept.
…And then…
"Hayato-chan, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!" Haru shouted at her boyfriend who attempted to retreat from the hallway to their room. "Hayato, did you hear me?"
"I heard you! Just… just leave me alone for a bit, will you?" He hollered, slamming the door closed so that she stood out in the hallway, stunned.
"Hayato!" She screeched, shaking the door handle. "Get out here and talk to me! We need to talk about this!"
Nothing. "Please…" she murmured, leaning against the door and sliding her back down it until she was sitting on the soft, red carpet below.
I don't know how long I had watched the argument go on before she spotted me.
"Lambo-chan…" Haru muttered. She stretched out her arms indicating for me to hug her. "It's all okay, Lambo-chan. Come here, please."
Her voice was so desperate that I could tell that she needed more comfort than I did. Slowly, I approached the woman and allowed her to embrace me.
"Everything's okay, right, Lambo-chan? Right?" She asked as she buried her face in my shoulder. I could feel her tears seeping through my shirt and onto my skin.
I was thirteen at that time. Around that stage, a disagreement like that was one of their worse fights, but I didn't know the quarrels would heighten and become more frequent.
"I saw you, Hayato!" Haru roared, trying to control her crying. "I saw what you two were doing!"
"What were we doing?" Hato-nii screamed. "We were just talking at the bar!"
"Stop lying!" Haru said. She shook her head. "I can't believe you anymore!"
"When have I ever lied, Haru?" Hato-nii's tone sounded accusing.
"When I caught you before and you tried to tell me otherwise, but I-!"
"Nothing was happening and you know it! Now, listen, I have work to do—"
"You always do that, Hayato! You try to pin this all on me and then say you have work. I will call Tsuna right now and tell him your work can wait because I want to settle this now!"
"Stupid woman! Your exaggerated emotions will never come before the family!"
"You don't think I haven't realized that, Hayato?" Feeling defeated, Haru fell to her knees and covered her weeping face. "I know how I feel doesn't mean anything to you."
Hato-nii's not heartless. There was no way he could just leave her there. Of course, he would always hug her and say sorry, then after her sobs stopped, he would go and get to his job. He wouldn't be there to see how much more horribly she cried after he was gone. Tears would pour out too fast for her to keep wiping them away and body would curl into a pathetic ball, yearning for relief.
I watched or listened from the stairs when their arguments took place in the dining room, kitchen, or entertainment room. I could hear them from the hallway when it was upstairs. The eavesdropping was held the rooms downstairs when they battled it out in the guest rooms, wine cellar, or other such places.
Goodness, it constantly amazed me that no matter where in the house (maybe we should call it a mansion) you were, you could hear their harsh words and hurtful threats of abandonment.
"Hayato-chan, I need you to pick Lambo-chan up from school today, got it?" Haru said with a giggle and wink.
Hato-nii smiled back and her and nodded. I remember trying to figure out what those little gestures could have possibly meant.
Thinking about it bugged me the whole day. The wheels in my head turned, pondering what their secret could have been. It distracted me from my studies, from the teacher's words, from my friends' jokes.
"Lambo!" Hato-nii called from the driver's seat of a new Porsche he had gotten earlier in the year. Without a moment's hesitation, I dashed over, excited to know why I was being picked up from school in a shiny new car instead of being forced to walk home. Walking would've been fifteen minutes, but driving felt like a few seconds!
When I stepped into the genkan (which Hato-nii had specially added onto the house before I moved in), I removed my shoes and looked around the mansion to see nothing but black.
"Why are the lights out, Hato-nii?" I asked. He just let out a strained chuckle in response. I reached for the light switch and when I flicked it on…
"HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY, LAMBO!" Boss, Kyoko-chan, Sasagawa Ryo-chan and Hana-san, Bianchi, I-Pin-chan, Dino-nii, Papa, Fuuta-kun, Yamamoto-san, everyone was there! But the most important one was… Maman! She was standing there beaming like there was no tomorrow and her arms open wide!
I felt five again when I rushed into her hold as though I would've died if I didn't. I needed to be reminded of a real mother's warmth, her love for me, and to hide the fact that I was bawling like a baby, truly living up to my nickname.
After I pulled from Maman I was able to see that even some acrobaleno, members of Varia, Mochida, and Kusakabe were there. Kusakabe must have been participating in Hibari-san's place. I would imagine that when Hibari was invited, he must've scoffed and said something like, "Why would I want to go to some kid's birthday party?"
It didn't matter much since all of this was beyond great! It was spectacular! I blushed from the excitement making everyone laugh a little. They made jokes about it, saying that I was sticking to my Italian roots by looking like a tomato. The teasing only made me redden more.
In the middle of our playful banter, Haru-nee entered the spacious dining room with a tall, fantastically decorated cake. It was draped in cow-print fondant. On the top tier was the word, "HAPPY." On the second was "BIRTDAY." On the third, "LAMBO."
We all giggled at the cake decorator's spelling mistake though Hato-nii was very angry about it, saying that he wanted to send it back to where we bought it and demand that they redo it. I can't remember how many times I had to calm him down and say that it was fine. Goodness!
I do recall though that several of my presents were either dangerous or Italian or both.
During the celebration, wine was taken from the cellar and pasta was eaten. Sometime within the confusion, Yamamoto-san and Hato-nii slipped away together, this made Haru-nee wear a look of worry.
Also, Fuuta-nii ended up teaching me some interesting magic tricks and I-Pin-chan whispered to me that she wanted to give me a special present some other time. This oddly made my face flare up.
So many times that day I let tears of joy slip out. It was so encouraging to see everybody join together and smile for my sake. It was sad to see everyone go. Especially Maman. She said that she would be staying in the area for a few days though, so I visited her again later. It was one of the most glorious days of my life.
I was particularly impressed with the way Hato-nii and Haru-nee made it seem as though they were happy together.
This solid stream of pretending ended the very next day.
"What were you talking about then?" Haru-nee slurred. It was early morning. She had coffee and was whining on in the kitchen.
"Can't we discuss this later?" Hato-nii asked as he looked in mirror to check the neatness of his suit.
Haru lazily looked at her watch. "You don't have to leave for another thirty minutes." She covered her mouth to yawn. "You have time to talk."
"I like to get there early because I'm the right-hand man." Hato-nii said matter-of-factly.
Haru-nee said the last part with him, because it was something Hato-nii seemed to consistently bring up.
"Well, let's just have a conversation before you leave just once today, please?" Haru begged.
Hato-nii scowled and spun on his heel to look at her sleepy form. "First of all, you're just going to turn the 'conversation' into a fight about last night. Second of all, you're only half awake. Let's have a sensible, adult chat when I get back later on."
"And if you don't get back until two in the morning like you did Thursday?" Haru said mockingly.
"See, you're already getting started. And I told you what happened that made me late." Hato-nii poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip, careful not spill any on himself.
"Don't give me bull, Hayato. What were you and Takeshi-chan talking about last night anyway?" Haru-nee said, getting back to her original point.
"Different, urgent matters that you wouldn't understand." Hato-nii muttered before taking a nervous gulp of coffee and then coughing as the heat stung at his throat.
"Try me, Hayato." Haru-nee pressured, taking a smooth sip from her mug.
There was a long string of silence.
"I'm leaving." Hato-nii announced. "Bye, Haru. I'm leaving, Lambo! Bye!"
"Bye, Hato-nii…!" I yelled weakly from the bathroom upstairs. I stared at my miserable expression in the mirror then used the back of my arm to dry my wet face.
"That's it! I've had enough!"
"Fine, I never needed you anyway!"
"What did you say?"
"I! Never! Needed! You!"
"You bastard! We'll see how well you'll do with me gone!"
"I guess we will! But you'd have to leave first!"
"Shut up already, I am leaving! I am packing my stuff and getting out of here!"
"Good!"
"Good!"
…Haru-nee left me…
I will never forget those words. "I've had enough, never needed you, leave, I am leaving, leaving…"
Without any further exchanges between her and Hato-nii, she was gone. She had gone to stay with Kyoko-chan until she could find permanent housing elsewhere.
The day after it happened, I called Fuuta-kun while in a muddle. I know I must have blabbered all my problems out to him despite him probably having important college exams to study for, but he listened all the way through and even tried to give me some consolation. When I regained control of my emotions he told me some funny rankings to cheer me up like top ten songs Hato-nii liked to sing in the shower and the top five things Boss likes to do when he's bored and no one's looking. We talked a while after that. When I first called him it was about noon or maybe one o' clock, but when we hung up, the stars were spread out in the sky.
I had said his full name then. I told him, "Good-bye, Fuuta Della Stella."
He totally ruined the mood when he snickered and replied, "Goodbye, Crybaby Lambo."
No longer was breakfast usually sitting on the dining room table waiting for me to gobble up, no longer did my clothes get ironed before I woke up, and no longer was my lunch packed and ready, waiting on the counter for me to pick up as I left out the door. I had to do all this crap myself now. For a bit of time, I tried to convince Hato-nii to hire a butler or preferably a cute maid, but he refused, saying that I should learn to do some simple household things on my own rather than depending on others. I was too afraid to tell him that I liked depending on others.
Yamamoto-san started coming over more often. He would sit around and converse with Hato-nii for a long time. They would joke about anything, talk about something, and everything in between.
Sometimes Yamamoto-san would stay over all day and all night. When brother and I would wake up in the morning, breakfast would be waiting for us. It almost reminded me of when Haru-nee was with us except one vital detail: Yamamoto-san makes a Japanese breakfast. Haru-nee knew that I preferred a French or Italian one.
For years I had gotten used to sluggishly rolling out of bed and down the stairs to a cappuccino or milk and a cornetto on a small plate and some fresh fruit on another. That was the way Maman had started preparing things for me when I was six and I had been accustomed to that ever since. Maman passed the secrets of the perfect Lambo breakfast onto Haru and so even she knew what I liked.
But then Yamamoto-san started leaving behind grilled fish, rice, miso soup, and omelets with ketchup. Hato-nii didn't mind it, but. I. hated. it.
If we had a dog I would have fed that crap to it. Who wants grilled fish in the morning? I want bread and jam and fruit, not soup and (goodness!) natto. Oh, yuck!
With Hato-nii watching, I felt obligated to eat it, though I genuinely astounded myself for not puking all of it up later. Seriously, I could go on and on about how much Europeans surpass Easterners when it comes to breakfast-making, but I digress.
Then there was I-Pin-chan. And that day. And the kiss.
I don't even know how to go into this. She met me at the house, we went onto the balcony, and she whispered, "Here's your present…"
And it happened. Our lips connected and my skin was on fire. My thoughts were running at one hundred thousand miles per hour and they were pretty typical, "Goodness! This is my first kiss! Awesome. Cool. Wait, shit, what if Hato-nii sees? Oh, that'd be embarrassing. Wait again, do I like I-Pin? Ah, geez, that'd be weird, huh? We've known each other for like ever. Crap, what if this ruins our friendship? No, nothing could ruin it. It's just weird 'cause it's I-Pin and I've known her as long as I've known Bianchi, Haru-nee, and, well, I've known Fuuta just as long too. What does he have to do with anything, he's not a girl! I still can't believe it… this is so unlike her. She must have gathered up a lot of nerve to do this. Or someone encouraged her to do it. Who? Bianchi? Nah. Kyoko? Possibly. Reborn? That bastard would do a crazy thing like that."
I'm sure I scared her a little when she pulled away and, engulfed in my deliberations, I shouted, "DAMN YOU, REBORN!"
The moment afterwards was more tremendously awkward than I can possibly even fathom to describe in words. To say that we were both glowing bright red would be an insanely gross understatement. If Hato-nii had walked in on that moment, I swear I-Pin-chan and I would have died.
The next day, I remembered to tell her thank you for the gift.
Soon four months passed by with Haru-nee gone. Hato-nii started smoking more heavily and he was out of the house a great deal more too. These things were probably constricted by Haru-nee before. She would say things like, "Stop smoking so much!" and "You need to pay more attention to Lambo!"
I was 14, I didn't need watching. I do admit that in such a gigantic house, it does make everything feel a bit lonelier when you were the only in there. I spent tons of time in the wine cellar. It had a lock, but I used grenades to get the door open.
During the weekends, I would drink wine, watch TV, surf the web, talk to girls, have friends come over, play one-man pool, go swimming in the actual pool, flirt with girls, read a book (I'm kidding), clean the toilets, kick Hato-nii's stuff, break Hato-nii's stuff, write lists about why I hated Hato-nii, wish Hato-nii would come back already, and be incredibly bored. It was fun.
One day when Hato-nii came home to see that I had shot some stuff in his room with my Beretta Px4 Storm (One of my manlier semi-automatic pistols), he came to the intelligent decision to give me a bit more attention.
Since that time, Hato-nii and I have been better friends than you could imagine. I-Pin-chan and I's relationship has become… complicated. Haru-nee comes to see me every now and then, so I don't miss her too much. I've only seen Maman once more, but I want to go to Italy again soon. Fuuta and I have been talking a lot, he's really comforting and nice. Yamamoto-san still is in the house almost every day and makes disgusting Japanese breakfasts. Oh, and I still haven't defeated Reborn.
That's the prequel. Hope you liked it and hope it cleared up some stuff. Basically, Lambo lived with Maman until he was eleven (so for six years), then he started living with Gokudera and Haru who had been together before he had gotten there. After about 2 years of him staying there, Haru left. Later, Yamamoto moves in which pisses Lambo off.
I was thinking about doing a prequel from Gokudera's POV and then doing the next segment in Gokudera, Lambo, and Yamamoto's life together. Tell me if you like that idea and I was thinking of doing more with the FuutaxLamboxI-Pin thing.