A/N: I want to thank the very very nice people who reviewed on this story! Your words fuel me! This is sort of a long chapter… think of it as a New Year's present from me! Hehehe! To my readers, have a happy New Year and please support me in 2009, too!
Color of Your Soul
Chapter 4: No-Good Dino
Nobody is ever alone, even if you reach a dead end
What's important is to be able to fly, to be able to fly together
We surely haven't forgotten
We'll remember how to fly
It was a bright and sunny day when Dino turned sixteen. His father's mansion was filled with wealthy-looking women and regal, intimidating men. Dino was a well-disciplined teenager due to his father's early death and Reborn's rigorous trainings. He smiled politely as each guests came to congratulate him. He knew well in his head that these attendees were very important to the future of the Chiavorrone family. One of the things that his father always reminded him was the importance of the ties between Chiavorrone and Vongola.
After shaking hands with another wealthy couple, Dino shifted his gaze toward the big table occupied by the group of Vongola. The 9th leader of Vongola seemed like a gentle person, but his Guardians were all very daunting. Dino wondered if he'll ever turn out to be as strong as them.
Dino noticed an approaching silhouette and turned to look at the visitor. He was a little shocked to see a little girl standing in front of him, with big eyes looking at him like he was a wild animal.
Before Dino could think of what to say, the little girl spoke.
"Angel…" the young black-haired girl whispered, "… are you an angel?"
"Na… Yotsuba-chan… you don't need to walk me all the way home," Tsuna said to Yotsuba, who was walking closely behind him, on his way home.
"Don't be silly, Tsuna-kun, I have to make sure you're safe because I'm your body guard after all!" Yotsuba said in her ever-sleepy tone. Juxtaposing to her words, her tired eyes were almost closed into two slits. This made Tsuna unable to decide whether to laugh or cry.
Tsuna has known Yotsuba for a few weeks now, and each day he is surer of Yotsuba's existence being a joke. First of all, she never takes anything seriously. Whenever he asked her a question she always answered it superficially and it was probably something weird that changes the subject. Second of all, she's got just as much IQ as Yamamoto Takeshi, and although Tsuna isn't in the position to say anything, but Yamamoto's IQ is probably the lowest besides himself. Didn't Reborn say that she is very smart? Didn't she declare that she was going to be the "brain" of Vongola? He remembered that day when Yotsuba received a 12 out of 100 on her math test, beating Yamamoto by one point, Gokudera was furious.
And third of all, her whole person was just a big mystery. He never heard her talk about her family, or her past. The fact that she has a transforming yeti, which was sitting on her shoulder right now, as a pet is totally ridiculous.
"Tsuna-kun, you should watch where you're going…"
"Eh?" Yotsuba's voice pulled Tsuna out from his train of thoughts. When Tsuna looked up he noticed that he almost bumped into a scary man in suits. Stepping back as he panicked, Tsuna soon realized that there was a whole group of those scary men in front of his house. Tsuna thought about running, but the men all lined up and bowed at Tsuna, acknowledging him as Master Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Tsuna-kun… you didn't tell me you had more family members…" Yotsuba commented, thinking, "these people can't be Tsuna's family… but they look familiar…"
"Wha… what are these people doing here?" Tsuna cried.
"Who knows," Yotsuba said in a carefree way, "well, now that you're safely at home, it's time for me to go!"
"WHAT?" Tsuna cried louder, "ISN'T THIS A DANGEROUS SITUATION?"
Yotsuba shrugged, "Well, if you want to invite me to dinner that badly… I guess I can stay!"
"…" Tsuna was speechless. Yotsuba smiled and pushed Tsuna into his house from his back.
"I'm home!" Tsuna called.
"Welcome back, Tsu-kun!" Nana came out from the kitchen happily, "Ara! Yocchan is here too?"
Over the few weeks, Reborn has kindly "asked" Yotsuba to join Tsuna's family for dinner, and therefore Yotsuba has met all the inhabitants in Tsuna's home, including Lambo and I-Pin. Nana's cooking was, of course, the best Yotsuba has ever tasted.
"Sorry for bothering again, Nana-san! Nana-san's cooking is the best in the world!"
"Ara! Yocchan, you are too sweet!" Nana's eyes glittered with happiness and her hands clasped together, "Tsu-kun, you have a guest in your room! I never knew Reborn had such a good-looking friend!"
Studying Nana's flustered cheeks, Yotsuba thought, "I knew it… it's him…"
"A guest?" Tsuna repeated and walked past Yotsuba. He climbed the stairs and went into his room, while Yotsuba lagged behind, still deciding whether to enter or leave.
Tsuna entered the room saw another couple of those black-suited scary men. Not knowing what to do, Tsuna immediately scolded Reborn who was sitting on the floor casually. Of course Reborn never takes any of Tsuna's scolding. Reborn kicked Tsuna and introduced the blonde-haired man sitting in Tsuna's chair, Dino Chiavarrone.
"My… my senpai?" Tsuna asked incredulously. The handsome man put on a charming smile and stepped closer to Tsuna, adding on to the name of "Dame-Tsuna" by throwing belittling remarks like "unimpressive appearance" and "no aura".
Tsuna seemed to shrink smaller and smaller with each comment thrown into the air by the duet of Dino and Reborn.
"Isn't that enough, Dino?" Yotsuba said as she finally entered the doorway, and Tsuna was never happier to see her. "Weren't you just as useless as Tsuna-kun is when you were this age? Or maybe you were even worse because at least Tsuna doesn't trip over his own feet while walking!"
Was that supposed to make me feel good about myself? Tsuna thought.
"E-eh?" Dino's cool smile suddenly turned into a troubled expression, resembling Tsuna's, "Reborn! You didn't tell me that Yocchan was going to be here!"
"Didn't I tell you that Yotsuba became Tsuna's bodyguard? She's gotta be with him all the time," Reborn said innocently, "and after all these years are you still scare of Yotsuba, Dino? Looks like I haven't trained you enough!"
"Ehh?" Tsuna was surprised. This intimidating man is scared of Yotsuba?
"It's not that I'm scared of Yocchan!" Dino put on a sour smile, "it's just that Yocchan hates me and likes to give me trouble! And I've never done anything to her, either! She's the one that thought I was a…"
"Dino, do you really not know when to be quiet?" Yotsuba shot a silencing look at Dino, a little red in the face.
"I… I do…" Dino sweat-dropped.
"Good," Yotsuba said, "well, since you're probably here to lecture Tsuna-kun, I'm just going to sleep right here until dinner time!"
Yotsuba plopped down on Tsuna's bed, ignoring Tsuna's protest and fell asleep. Sighing in defeat, Tsuna sat down across the little table from Dino. Dino, too, sat back down on the tall chair, putting back up his confident smile.
"Sorry about all the bad things I said earlier… don't take it personally!" Dino said, "to tell the truth, I wasn't fit to be a mafia leader at all before I met Reborn!"
"Before you met Reborn? You mean…?"
"Before you, I was training Dino!" Reborn said, sitting on the armrest of Dino's chair.
"WHAT?"
"Reborn's training was not easy… I still remember the days when I almost got killed everyday," Dino said. He retold his memories of Reborn's life-risking tasks and his failures at first. Those stories made Tsuna even more scared of Reborn's plan for him. Dino laughed.
"I wouldn't be a good leader if I hadn't met Reborn!" Dino said, "Reborn is a good teacher! You'll learn a lot from him!"
"Really?" Tsuna said, doubt overflowing from his tone, "Dino-san… how come you know Yotsuba-chan?"
"Yocchan?" Dino had that sheepish smile again, "Well, I met her when she was only a little girl!"
"Ehh? You mean… when you guys were still in Italy?"
"You're right!" Dino said, "It was my sixteenth birthday when I met her. She thought I was an angel because I had blonde hair and I was wearing a white suit!"
I… I never thought Yotsuba-chan could ever be naïve before… Tsuna thought.
"And after Yotsuba saw how weak Dino was, she thought that Dino was trying to fool her and started hating him!" Reborn added.
"Hey!" Dino pouted, "Don't say that!"
Tsuna sighed, "So Yotsuba-chan has been on the queer side ever since she was that small…"
"Hahaha, Yocchan does do a lot of weird things!" Dino laughed, "but she really is a nice girl… even though she always made fun of me, she was always there for me too… haha, and to think that I'm eight years older than her!"
"Dino-san…" Tsuna said. It was hard for him to believe that Yotsuba was actually of help to this successful man.
Just as Tsuna was thinking about that, I-Pin broke into the room with Lambo following behind, two grenades in his hands. Tsuna wasn't even that surprised when Lambo tripped and his grenades flew out the window, but Tsuna was surprised when he saw that Lambo still held the safety pin.
Dino saw that his men were in danger, and reacted quickly. Leaping out the window, he took out his whip and shouted an order for his men to get back. He caught the grenades with his whip and sent them into the sky so that they couldn't hurt anyone.
Tsuna saw Dino and his men laughing and joking with each other and thought that they were so cool. Reborn told Dino to stay over for the night and Dino's men left to the hotel.
"Yotsuba-chan! Dinner's ready!" Tsuna called from downstairs.
Yotsuba stumbled down the stairs, still looking sleepy. She was leaning from side to side when she got to the dinner table. Dino smiled at her.
"Yocchan, did you have a good sleep?"
"…" Yotsuba stared at Dino and looked around, "Dino… where is Romario?"
"Romario?" Dino repeated, "He and the others already left! We can't fit everyone in this kitchen after all!"
Yotsuba looked uneasy, "… I think I should leave…"
"Ehh? Why?" both Dino and Tsuna exclaimed.
"You're not staying, Yocchan?" Nana looked over from her shoulder, "but I prepared a lot for you guys!"
"Don't you think it's rude to turn down Mama's invitation?" Reborn said as he pointed his gun at Yotsuba. She sweat-dropped and sat down.
During the dinner Yotsuba was quiet. She chewed slowly and listened to the others' conversation. Dino talked to Tsuna as though he was a respectful elder. Yotsuba watched as Dino made a mess on the dinner table and wondered why no one had noticed. By this time Dino was explaining the relationship between the Chiavarrone family and Vongola family. Finally Nana noticed the mess that Dino was making and it also made Tsuna very shocked. Dino tried to make an excuse saying that he was used to eating with forks and knifes.
Yotsuba snorted. Dino pouted at her with watery eyes, flushed in the cheeks.
Dino… some things just never change, ne? Yotsuba thought, a smile forming on her face.
Yotsuba was only eight years old that year, and the worst things you can do to a little girl are 1) take away her dolls and 2) lie to her. Yotsuba stumped into the garden with her cheeks puffed and round like an eating hamster. Her brows furrowed, clearly she was mad about something. The cause of her anger, Dino Chiavarrone, came after her.
Dino learned that the girl who just called him an angel was an important member of the Vongola family after he had told the girl that he wasn't an angel. Who knew that the girl would be that mad to know that he wasn't an angel? Seriously, the girl lives in Italy. Blonde people are everywhere on the street! Dino sighed and approached the angry girl from the back.
"Hey, are you all right?" he asked carefully.
"Go away! You… angel-imposter!" the girl shouted.
"I'm not an angel-imposter! I never said I was an angel in the first place!"
"Then why do you have blonde hair and pretty eyes like that?"
P…pretty eyes? "I was born with these! You can ask anyone here!"
"Liar, liar! You're a liar, too!" Yotsuba said angrily, eyeing the blonde boy with distaste. But her eyes turned curious when she saw the odd shape inside the boy's pocket, "…what is that?"
"This?" Dino reached into his pocket and took out a turtle, "his name is Enzio."
Yotsuba admired the turtle and her cheeks turned to a rosy color.
"Do you like him?" Dino asked.
Yotsuba nodded.
"Here," Dino put Enzio on her hands, "you can play with him if you want! Just don't get water on him!"
Yotsuba removed her gaze from the turtle and to the young boy, and blinked. Dino thought that the girl wasn't angry at him anymore, so he said, "My name is Dino Chiavarrone. What's yours?"
"Mikami Yotsuba," the black-haired girl said, "and this is Enzio!"
"I… I know…" Dino sweat-dropped, "he's my pet…"
"No," Yotsuba turned her back on him, "to punish you for trying to fool me, Enzio is now mine!"
"Ehh?" Dino cried, "you… you can't do that!"
Yotsuba made a face, "until you dye your hair back to its normal color, I'm going to keep Enzio!"
"I SAID: I WAS BORN WITH IT!" Dino shouted.
Yotsuba ran. Dino chased after, but tripped over himself after only three steps. Hearing the loud thump, Yotsuba turned to see Dino face-down on the grass. Yotsuba smiled, but Dino wasn't able to see it as he was kissing the grass. Yotsuba went to help him up.
"I guess you're really not an angel after all," Yotsuba said as she held out her hand, "Angels can fly, you know?"
Dino stared at Yotsuba, speechless.
"Go back in and wash up your face!" Yotsuba said, "You're ruining all the pretty flowers here!"
Yotsuba got pulled out from her flashback as the sound of Lambo's scream came from the bathroom. Both Tsuna and Dino stood up to the scream, but Dino tripped and fell after taking just one step. Tsuna was shocked again, but there was no time for him to feel surprised so he ran up the stairs. They found Lambo crying and unable to move in the bathtub. Tsuna scolded Lambo for wearing his clothes in the bathtub, but an enlarged Enzo emerged from the bathtub, making Tsuna fall backwards.
"Enzio!" Yotsuba gasped with joy while Tsuna panicked.
Tsuna was screaming as if he was tortured when Enzo started to eat up the bathtub. Dino took a step, "Step back, guys! I'll take care of my own pet!"
Dino lashed at the giant turtle, but hit Tsuna instead. Yotsuba was way down the hall at this moment. Reborn sighed and ordered Leon to hop onto Tsuna's face. Tsuna's was then transformed into Romario's. Thinking that Tsuna was Romario, Dino was able to retain his skills and tamed his pet turtle.
"I'm sorry, Enzo!" Dino said as he blew dry the turtle.
Yotsuba took hold of the turtle when it shrunk to its original size, "Enzio! I missed you!"
Dino smiled, "Yocchan still really likes Enzio, ne!"
Yotsuba ignored Dino, "Poor Enzio… it must've been hard on you to be with No-Good Dino all the time!"
Dino toppled over. Tsuna sighed. He was glad that his home wasn't eaten up. Yotsuba yawned and fell asleep with Enzio still in her hands. Dino gently removed Enzio away from her hands so that Enzio's spikes wouldn't hurt her. The girl didn't stir at all.
Yocchan… Did you miss me, too?
When Yotsuba was ten years old her favorite place to be was on the trees in the Vongola garden. This day, also, she was playing with a turtle named Enzio on top of a tall tree. Her back against the stump of the tree and one of her legs was hanging down.
"Miss Yotsuba! The young master Dino Chiavarrone is here to see you!"
"Okay," Yotsuba said. In a few minutes a shuffling sound came near the tree.
"Yocchan!" Dino, now an adult at age eighteen, called out to her, "Will you come down from there?"
"Why?" Yotsuba said, "Can't you come up here?"
A shade of red appeared on Dino's youthful, handsome face, "Yocchan… you know I can't…"
Yotsuba laughed, "Why not? What a waste of Reborn's teaching if you're not learning anything!"
"Yocchan!" Dino pleaded, "I'm going on a training trip with Reborn tomorrow; I need Enzio back!"
Yotsuba stuck her tongue out, "You said I could play with Enzio all I want! Besides, you can't always rely on Enzio, you know! That's why you're so weak!"
Dino frowned, "I'm not weak, Yocchan. Can't you be a bit more respectful? I'm eight years older than you!"
Yotsuba waved her hands at him, "You're as old as Nii-chan, and you can't even put up a good match with him! Isn't that what you call weak? Enzio probably likes being with me, anyway, so that he doesn't have to always save you!"
Something snapped inside of Dino, "Enzio! Get over here!"
The turtle obeyed his master and wriggled out of Yotsuba's hands. Yotsuba was surprised and couldn't catch him as he jumped into Dino's hands. Yotsuba followed suit and landed in front of Dino. She was a bit taken back as she saw the angry eyes of Dino.
"Yotsuba," Dino said, "I've had enough of this. I always had to put up with you even though you made fun of me and took my Enzio away all the time! I don't even know why I let you do those things! I can't let a little girl who can't even stay awake boss over anymore! Don't ever come to the Chiavarrone mansion to steal Enzio again, or I'll get really mad!"
Yotsuba looked as if she was going to cry, "Dino… I hate you!"
Dino sighed, "Yocchan… you have to stop being selfish…"
With that, Dino left for his trip. He looked back to see Yotsuba's indifferent expression, but in her eyes he was sure that he saw a little bit of hurt.
Tsuna and Yotsuba left the house in the morning to see Dino's men crowding on the street again. Dino came out also to say that he didn't need any pick-up. His men made an excuse of just happening to pass by on a walk. Tsuna smiled, looking a bit admired at the relationship between Dino and his families.
"Good morning, Juudaime! I was just wandering and I happened to come here!" Gokudera approached from the other side of the street, waving happily.
"Gokudera-kun!"
"Yo, Gokudera-kun!" Yotsuba waved coolly.
"Wha..what? What are you doing with Juudaime so early in the morning, woman?"
"Well, I stayed over at Tsuna-kun's home last night and we did lots of exciting things together!" Yotsuba said in a high-pitched voice, wiggling left and right with her hands on her cheeks.
"WHAT?"
"Heee! Gokudera-kun, Yotsuba-chan is just joking, put those dynamites away!"
It was only the beginning of the day and everyone is already very energetic. After Gokudera, Haru and Yamamoto also came. Tsuna felt happy that he has friends that like him like Dino's man to Dino. Yotsuba saw Reborn and Dino's mischievous eyes as she passed by them to leave with Tsuna and his friends.
On their way to school, Gokudera was telling Tsuna about Dino. Yotsuba scoffed when Gokudera said that all older men are his enemies, which earned her another yelling from Gokudera. Yamamoto asked Tsuna if he'd done his homework, but Tsuna forgot. Just when they were talking about the homework, a red sports car sped by and kidnapped Tsuna. Immediately Gokudera and Yamamoto chased after the red car, despite Reborn's warning about the danger of the yakuza Momokyokai.
Before Haru can comprehend what's going on, the red car made a detour through the neighborhood and came back to where they were. Dino stepped out of the car while wearing a smile.
"I like them," he stated, "although, I wouldn't say that they're very calm."
On the passenger's side Romario exited along with a tied-up Tsuna. Haru beamed at Tsuna's safety.
"What is the meaning of this, Dino-san?" Tsuna asked angrily.
"Sorry, sorry! I just wanted to test your family!" Dino answered casually.
"Test?"
"You must be really happy, Tsuna!" Dino said, "It's rare to have families that care so much about their boss!"
Tsuna blushed and denied the compliment, though he really felt happy. Things weren't over, though, because Reborn then said that Momokyokai was actually a real yakuza that resided in this region. Tsuna and Dino yelled at Reborn for being so extreme, but the snot bubbles that came out from Reborn's little nose signaled that he's sleeping. Tsuna couldn't think of anything else but to run after his friends, so he departed. Dino followed suit.
"Yotsuba-chan! Take care of Haru-chan for me!" Tsuna hollered in the front.
"…" Yotsuba saw the two young bosses off. "Saa, Haru-chan, shall we go to school now?"
"Hahi?" Haru stood up, "Yocchan, you're not going to go after Tsuna-san?"
"No, I'm sure they'll be fine," Yotsuba yawned. Besides, I don't want to be near Dino when his subordinates aren't there. "Don't you trust Tsuna-kun, Haru-chan?"
"Yes! Yes, of course!" Haru said happily and followed Yotsuba, "but… Yocchan… this isn't the way to Namimori Middle School…"
"Oh?" Yotsuba stopped in her track, "well, since we're late anyway, let's go get some cakes!"
As expected of Dino without his subordinates, he was useless at the fight with Momokyokai. Not only did he whip himself, he also whipped Gokudera and Yamamoto in the face. That made a big laugh from the thugs. Reborn appeared and shot Tsuna with the Dying Will Bullet and the Clenched Fist Bullet. Sooner or later Romario and the rest of Dino's men arrived and Dino was fired up again. The four of them fought off the yakuza and everything was well. Dino stayed over at Tsuna's house again that night.
It was time for Dino to leave the next day. Tsuna was somewhat relieved that Dino wasn't going to stay anymore, but he was going to miss this brotherly figure for sure. After giving Tsuna a few more words of encouragement, Dino was ready to leave. Before stepping into the car Dino turned back again to face Tsuna.
"Oh yeah, Tsuna," Dino said, "Do you know where Yocchan lives?"
"Yotsuba-chan?" Tsuna repeated, "Yeah, it's the big elite apartment near the shopping center. Why?"
"I want to drop by and give her something," Dino smiled, "Thanks, Tsuna! And good luck with everything!"
The doorbell interrupted Yotsuba's slumber. She lifted herself up from her bed as if it took her whole body's strength, and rocked back and forth toward the front door. Cursing whoever that bothered her, Yotsuba fumbled with the lock and finally opened the door. Dino stood there smiling.
"Yocchan, good morning!"
"…" Yotsuba looked a bit surprised, "… I thought you were leaving?"
"I wanted to come see you first," Dino said, "can I come in?"
"…Sure…" Yotsuba stepped aside and let Dino in, "where's Romario?"
"They're waiting downstairs for me," Dino said while Yotsuba raised an eyebrow at him, "Don't worry!"
Yotsuba led Dino to the living room and motioned him to sit on the couch. She sat down across from him and they talked about what happened yesterday. Yotsuba didn't look very interested, but Dino knew that she's listening. She always did. After a few minutes, Yotsuba reminded Dino that he should leave soon.
"Yocchan," Dino said as he stood up, "this is for you!"
Yotsuba looked at the neatly-wrapped box suspiciously and took it from Dino's hands. She gasped when she opened it, taking out a stuffed toy that looked exactly like Enzio. She looked back up at Dino with grateful eyes.
"I had it specially made before I came here," Dino smiled, "you've always loved Enzio. So I thought I'll give this to you so that when Enzio and I are back in Italy, you won't be lonely!"
Yotsuba returned the smile, "Don't be so full of yourself. I've got Kabi now, you know?"
Dino smirked, "Then I'll take it back!"
Yotsuba grasped the stuffed turtle tightly, "No!"
"Hahaha," Dino laughed and patted Yotsuba on the head and made for the door. "You take care of yourself, now!"
"…Thanks, Dino," Yotsuba said right before Dino stepped out of the door, "and sorry for always stealing Enzio and making fun of you all the time. I guess I wanted to always keep something of yours with me so that you'll always come back to me. You've been my only friend since I was little after all…"
Dino turned back and smiled, "Yocchan, I thought we've been through this years ago!"
"I can't help it," Yotsuba smiled sourly, "have a safe trip, Dino!" Because four years ago I didn't tell you this, and you didn't come back for a long time…
"Thanks!" Dino gave her a reassuring smile and left.
Yotsuba stared at the closed door for a while, and then went upstairs to change into her uniform.
I missed you a lot, Dino.
TBC.
A/N: Whew! I hope that didn't sound too much like DinoxOC XD! Dino is supposed to be like a brother figure to Yotsuba… REVIEW PLEASE!