MONTH OLD TOY DYNASTY MOVING INTO NAMIMORI
A month ago from today, a sole proprietorship manufacturing toys mysteriously sprouted in Rome, Italy. Since that time, the unknown business has grown into a toy dynasty, known in over 39 countries as 'T.S. Happily Ever After'.
Recently, the company has begun construction in the abandoned mall center, formerly known as 'Kokuyo Land'. Kokuyo Land, having been previously shut down and then later destroyed by an earthquake, will now be turned into the first 'T.S. Happily Ever After' branch in Japan.
The person behind the creation of the dynasty has yet to be reached for an interview. There was no possibility of catching a photo of the unnamed CEO as well.
What a day… Nearly nine months after he had received the package containing a seed that would turn out to be Mukuro. And four years to the day since his baby brother died.
He stared at the clock next to Gokudera's bed; since about a month ago when Mukuro had left, he had been hiding with his friend, knowing that it most likely made his mother happier to never have to see him. In about another hour, his mother should be done at the cemetery. It had become tradition for her to go to Lambo's grave and set out breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him, chattering on and on as if she had fooled herself into believing he was still alive. She never leaves until after 10 at night.
He waited, eyes dry and expression grim, if he waited another half hour, he could get to Namimori cemetery an hour or so after her departure and then there would be no risk of running into her.
"Hey, Tenth…" Gokudera stood in the doorway, gazing at his friend with great concern. "Please let me come with you."
Tsuna smiled tiredly at the silverette. "I'm sorry, Gokudera… but I just really want to do it by myself this year…" Which was a lie, but he didn't want to drag them with him. Having them there, he would feel as if he was being accused instead of comforted, as if he was mocking his dead brother by bringing his own friends along.
"See, Gokudera?" Yamamoto arrived and threw a careless arm over the other teen's shoulders, smiling somewhat sadly. "He can do this by himself."
"Idiot!" Gokudera snarled, shoving his elbow back into the baseball player's belly. "Don't be so familiar with me!"
Tsuna stared at them, aware that something had changed between them since a month ago. That, and – since he was living with Gokudera – he had come to suspect that they might have something a little more than reluctant (or reluctant on Gokudera's end, anyway) friendship. But he was most likely wrong…
Yamamoto was overly friendly with everyone and Gokudera liked to beat Yamamoto as much as he liked to beat everyone… hell, maybe even a bit more.
"Alright, if you need us, we'll be at my place, kay?" Yamamoto grinned comfortingly.
Tsuna couldn't help but feel that Yamamoto and Gokudera were substituting for his parents, always being so considerate and caring… "Okay."
"We'll see you in the morning, Tenth."
They left him alone, finally. Tsuna listened as the front door opened and shut, a lock clicking into place. He sighed and lied back down, staring at the clock as if he could make time go by faster.
He made his way carefully among the gravestones, unable to feel the terror he had once been enveloped by whenever he had entered the cemetery after dark.
He wasn't afraid anymore because the last time he had been afraid of the dead, Lambo had been afraid with him. It had been Halloween and Reborn had been particularly angry at both of them; instead of taking them home after a failed outing with Tsuna's other friends, the tutor/baby sitter had dumped them in a graveyard and had then drove off. He hadn't come back until the early hours of the morning. His amused smirk as he had found them both, shivering and half-mad with fear, still haunted Tsuna.
He made his way along, not bothering to be in a hurry; Lambo wouldn't be going anywhere. Midnight was still a good while away, so it was still Lambo's anniversary.
He stared up at the sky; for March weather, it was as cold as December. He huddled into his coat as he stared at the heavy, pale gray clouds above. The temperature throughout the day had been cold, now that he thought about it…
For a moment, he wondered if his mom was okay, having spent her entire day in the cold weather with no source of warm but maybe the food she had brought with her and her coat. And then the moment was over; she would be happier if he didn't think about her.
He ran a hand through his unruly locks as he edged deeper into the chilly night. Lambo's grave came into sight.
He stopped short, startled by what he also saw in sight. There, at Lambo's grave, was a large mass. It was too large to be his mom's and he had no clue whom else it could be. Maybe it was a stray animal that had caught the scent of his mom's cooking?
The mass shifted, as if it could feel him watching it. He couldn't make it out in the darkness, but he somehow knew it was looking at him.
"… Tsuna?"
In that moment, the world crashed and the nebula imploded. Or maybe that was all within his own mind and heart… "D-dad?"
"So it is you…"
He wasn't sure what to do; run away or run towards the man he hadn't seen in nearly four years. "W-what are you doing here?" He trembled where he stood.
"You wanna come closer? It's hard to talk with you when you're so far away."
He didn't know what he wanted to do… Nonetheless, he moved unsurely forward until he could make out the blonde of his dad's hair and his muscular build. He was, surprisingly enough, not wearing his familiar orange jumpsuit or boxers with a shirt. He wore somber black clothes that made him look younger than he was and yet the look in his eyes – that Tsuna could only see as he came even closer – made him look ancient.
Iemetsu smiled tiredly. "How's it been going?"
"… W-why'd you leave?" His hands clenched at his side. "When we needed you, why the hell did you leave us alone?"
The smile died instantly. "I knew this was coming."
"Damn straight this was coming! You left us before they even buried Lambo in the ground and you never came home since! It's been hell at home! We've needed you there, but you never once showed up!"
"I know." It was strange how demure his dad was; he was usually so outspoken and confident, rather lazy and mostly a happy drunk. It was weird that he was before Tsuna now, dressed properly with not even the faintest hint of alcohol in his voice or on his skin. "And I know that you've needed me more than others."
"Th-that's not true! Mom's needed you more than me!" And, in that way, he had needed his dad most. If even for a moment that his dad could have made his mom look at him like a son again, he wouldn't feel the way he did. "She still needs you!"
"You're a good kid, Tsuna." His dad stood up and came towards him, a tall, broad form that easily towered over Tsuna and then some. "I've talked to Dino a few times… he says Nana is… blaming you for what happened."
He flinched and looked guiltily away. "W-well…" He really didn't have anything he could say to that. "Hiiee!" He blinked owlishly as he was enveloped by furnace-like heat, suffocated by a steely body as his dad hugged him for the first time in years.
"I'm sorry, Tsuna… I was so busy blaming myself that I didn't think about you guys…"
"B-blaming yourself?" But, why?
"You weren't there, Tsuna. Hell, you weren't even close to being there; some Russian could have beaten you to Italy by five hours." He chuckled humorlessly. "I was there… I was three feet away, telling him to catch up with Reborn while I talked to a shop owner who I can't remember the name of. And in between the 12 feet separating me and Reborn, a wannabe mobster rolled down his window and began shooting at random." He buried his face into Tsuna's hair. "It's not your fault, Tsuna… There was nothing you could have done."
"… Why? Why tell me this now? Why show up now?" Tsuna whispered, his throat constricting. Those were the words he had wanted to hear for so very long… for so few and yet so very long years… He finally had it; his own father was telling him what he had always suspected but had never been able to believe. "It's not your fault." Beautiful words… But why couldn't Iemetsu have told him earlier? Years earlier?
The giant of a man laughed again, the sound a roar and yet it was a hollow echo to Tsuna who felt that the emotions usually supporting the noise were absent. "You wanna know the truth? I don't have a clue. I woke up this morning, stared at a bottle of wine for a couple of hours, and then flew down here without really thinking about it. It was just time to finally see my boys."
Tsuna couldn't help but notice that his father used the plural form of 'boy', as if he had wanted to see both of them instead of just Lambo. Despite how bad it made him feel, he also felt happiness.
Iemetsu put a hand on his shoulder and the other on the grave. "It was just time."
"… Is it time to see Mom too?" His voice was a hoarse whisper. Despite himself, he tangled his hands in his dad's shirt, reluctant to let go. "She really… needs you…" Maybe if she had him around, she would want Tsuna back too.
"No, she really needs Lambo. But Lambo won't be coming back, Tsuna. He's gone and it's not your fault." Iemetsu squeezed him tightly; Tsuna could feel his heartbeat against his cheek, strong and steady. "It's my fault. Hell, it's the thugs' faults for deciding to shoot him. If we want to go all the way, we can just blame the entire universe for making that the day we went out on the town and that street the one where Lambo wasn't attached to someone's leg." His voice was so bitter, it was scathing. "But it was not your fault. That I can vouch for."
Tsuna looked at Lambo's grave over his dad's bulging bicep, seeing through the grass and dirt to the tiny coffin beneath, the horrific image of a decomposed 5-year old boy coming to mind.
"But, big brother! You have to come with us!" Lambo had stood there, tiny hands clenched at his cow-print clad hips, fiery green eyes tearing up. Reborn had been at the doorway, cell phone in hand as he talked to their grandfather. "You gotta!"
"But it was not your fault."
Lambo's infuriating and yet heart-warming smirk replaced the 5-year old corpse in his thoughts. "If it wasn't my fault…" His voice was hoarse. "Then it couldn't have been your fault, either… because if I can't fly across countries to take Lambo's place, you can't see into the future and stop bullets."
Iemetsu laughed again, the roar sounding a little more real than his last bellow. "Let's just say that it's time to stop blaming ourselves. Lambo would call us crybabies if he saw us like this, being all self-pitying."
Tsuna couldn't stop the nervous laughter that spilled over his lips. He startled at the sound; he couldn't remember having ever laughed harder in the past four years, though he could vaguely remember some close-calls. "Yeah, dad… you're right."
He could see Lambo in his mind's eye, standing short and proud as he mocked Tsuna for crying while on the verge of tears himself. Yeah, he would have called them both whiners had he been alive to see them.
"So when Tsuna comes through the door, we'll all scream 'welcome home!', and then we'll jump out of our hiding places – "
"Idiot! We jump out of our hiding places and then we scream 'welcome home!'"
"THIS IS EXTREME!"
"Hahi! Tsuna will be so happy when he sees the cake Kyoko and I made!"
"Mmhm! We made it with only the best ingredients."
"Stupid girls! This is his little brother's anniversary, not the Tenth's birthday! Don't be so inconsiderate!"
"Hahi! Well, stupid man, what's with hiding and then jumping out at him? That's what people do at birthdays!"
"At birthdays, they scream 'happy birthday!'. We're saying 'Welcome home!'. We're doing this to make him feel better, not to rub it in his face that his brother's dead!"
There was a small, heartbroken moment.
"Mah mah, Gokudera, that was a little harsh…"
"Octupus-head, respect women TO THE LIMIT!"
"U-um, guys…"
"Hah hah! Oi, Shoichi's back!"
"Who're calling Octupus-head, Lawn-head?"
"YOU WANNA SETTLE THIS LIKE MEN?"
"Wait, Tsuna's on his way here – "
"Bring it on!"
"Gokudera – "
'Crash!' 'Boom!' 'Shatter!'
The door creaked open, a terrified Tsuna on the other side. What was going on?
The first person to greet him was the mousy redhead, Shoichi. He was, for one reason or another, bent over with his arms wrapped around his belly, the blonde Spanner leaning over him and rubbing his back. The blonde was murmuring something about how 'cute' it was that he got stomach aches when he was nervous.
"Welcome home, Tsuna!" Haru and Kyoko collectively cornered him at the door, faces suggesting that there was nothing wrong as they held out a small, lavishly decorated cake to him.
Beyond them, Gokudera's apartment had been trashed, the table turned over and walls demolished along with blood stains on the floor and some broken glasses. It was a lucky thing Gokudera didn't own much.
"T-Tenth!" The silverette caught sight of him from where a dog-pile had formed in the entrance way between the bedroom and the living room/kitchen. "Welcome ho – gah!" Ryohei's fist caught in the jaw. "Bastard!"
"EXTREME WELCOME, TSUNAAAA!"
"Hah hah! Tsuna!" Yamamoto was also part of the dog-pile, but he seemed to be the only one trying to break said pile apart, somehow in the middle of it. "Welcome home!"
"W-welcome home, Tsunay-yoshi…" Shoichi tried to smile through his pain; it ended up looking like a grimace. Spanner lazily waved at him and muttered a 'yo' before turning back to the redhead and soothingly brushed his hand through his hair. The bespectacled teen smiled nervously at the attention.
Tsuna took a moment to take this all in, not quite understanding what he was seeing. If he hadn't known any better, they were celebrating his birthday on the anniversary of his brother's death, which wasn't such a great thought. Be that as it may…
He ducked his head as his shoulders began to shake.
"Gah! You bastards, you've made the Tenth cry! All of you, out of my apartment! Tenth? Tenth! Are you alright?"
"Hah hah, wait, Gokudera; I don't think he's crying."
"Tsuna?" Kyoko curiously tilted her head.
"Hahi! Are you okay?" Haru rested a hand on the brunette's shoulder.
"Mmph… Tsch… Hah hah hah!" He couldn't hold it back any more. He grabbed his belly and laughed like he couldn't remember doing for a very long time.
For a long moment, everyone stared at him as if he had lost his mind. And then Yamamoto chuckled, followed by Haru and Kyoko, and then Spanner and Shoichi smiled. Gokudera stared with awe and Ryohei took the moment to throw his knee into the stunned silverette's belly, which surprisingly drew no reaction.
Tsuna wiped a tear from his eye, finally gasping for breath. "I'm glad that I have you guys for a family…" His smile was so radiant and so, for the first time in years, real that Gokudera's bottom lip quivered.
"Gokudera?" Yamamoto whispered into his ear. "Are you okay?" He rubbed the silverette's back, already knowing the reason.
"… You wanted to make sure he kept smiling?" Tsuna was smiling; he was smiling like they were the center of his newly reconstructed world, his eyes warm as he accepted the cake from Haru and Kyok and then was kissed by both of them on opposing cheeks.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? Fuck you, I'm not a crybaby!" Gokudera strangled Ryohei in retaliation, which was strange because it had been Yamamoto to invoke him.
"You wanna play that way, huh? EXTREME!"
"Hiieee! Gokudera! Big brother! Please stop fighting!" Tsuna rushed after the two rolling forms (three if Yamamoto could be counted for being dragged along) before they could hurt themselves further.
"You're so cute, Tsuna." Kyoko laughed softly. "You're always taking such great care of your friends."
"I remember all over again why I fell in love with you!" Haru cried out, reminding everyone of the crush she had had on Tsuna after he had saved her from drowning following being forced to drink an adrenaline shot from his tutor despite his own inability to swim.
Tsuna finally managed to tear the group apart, panting harshly as Ryohei marched right back into the living room/kitchen and began asking Spanner and Shoichi about how good of fighters they were, all but terrifying Shoichi.
Tsuna had Yamamoto's head on his shoulder, the baseball player humming happily after having heard his friend's laughter, and Gokudera's possibly broken arm in both of his hands as he probed uncertainly (he had no clue what he was looking for, but Gokudera looked so hopeful that he would be the one to help him) for shattered bones.
"Tenth…" Gokudera murmured quietly, drawing the brunette's wide-eyed attention. "… Welcome home."
Tsuna smiled for him. "I'm home."
Author's Note - I'm back! Did you miss me?