A/N: Hello again! I just want to thank everyone for their reviews and encouragement for the last chapter. You guys are amazing and no words can describe how thankful I am. I hope that you all enjoy the following chapters like you have the previous ones!
Not too many warnings for this part but I just want to apologize for nothing really happening too much in this chapter because, like chapter two, it's more of a set up chapter to prepare for the plot advancement in the other parts to come. Also, when people are speaking in another language, I will have their words in quotation marks and italicized.
For the other warnings, I apologize in advance for the spelling errors that I know you will find in this chapter because the baby version of Yamamoto has a speech impediment to add to his adorable factor. Just so you know, when Little Yamamoto speaks, his 'r's and 'l's will be replaced with 'w's and his 'th's will be replaced by 'd's. I'm sorry if that annoys anyone! _
Also, there is a rather large hint towards another pairing in here but I want to keep it a secret until you get to the part, so you guys will have to see for yourself. Even though I hint at the couple I won't be writing more of them into this fic, it's going to stay 8059. ;)
Despite those warnings and maybe some grammar problems and OOC (I sure hope not!) I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Part 4
Tsuna could only stare in shock at the two little children blinking up at him in wide eyed confusion, completely unsure of what to think, let alone on what to do. Everything had happened so fast that it was just too hard to take in. How, no, why were there two little children in his room in place of his friends instead of two full grown men?
Seeing that Tsuna was too busy staring at them and not doing much of anything else, the little versions of Yamamoto and Gokudera decided to inspected their newfound surroundings, their tiny bodies tense and unsure as they took in the unfamiliar room around them. Pale green eyes soon met uncertain light-brown as they finished their scanning of the room, looking upon the unfamiliar stranger standing next to them. The two toddlers gazed upon each other with confusion still set in their features but visibly relaxed once they subconsciously realized they were around the same height and age.
As Tsuna watched his two best friends' toddler forms shuffle slightly away from each other out of shyness, the future mafia don felt at a lost on where to start, the short teen's brain still trying to grasp the situation at hand. Before the brown-haired boy could think of what to do he heard the sound of a rather obnoxiously loud child call out to him.
"Hey, Tsuna! Where did these little kids come from?" Lambo questioned in stupefaction, his loud voice breaking the unnatural silence in the room like an explosive going off in a library.
Tsuna and the little Gokudera and Yamamoto practically jumped at the sound of the others booming voice; Tsuna having forgotten that Lambo was still in the room. The small teen couldn't help but notice his own question was along the same line as Lambo's as he witnessed the short cow-dressed kid make his way up to the little two-year-olds, both of the toddlers appearing unsettled by the older child's closeness.
Lambo stopped in front of Little Gokudera, his bright green eyes squinting as he looked down upon the silver-haired toddler in scrutiny. "Hmm…" The cow-child stated slowly as if he was deep in thought. "You look a lot like—Stupid-dera!" And with that exclamation, Lambo roughly pushed Little Gokudera's shoulder, the little silver-haired Italian falling down to the floor in surprise at the action.
"Lambo!" Tsuna shouted in bewilderment as he witnessed the rude handiwork of the Bovino child, the little version of Yamamoto backing away from the scene in fright as Lambo laughed triumphantly at his deed. "What—" But the brown-haired teen couldn't even finish his sentence before he was interrupted by the shouting of an enraged toddler.
Tsuna stared in shock as he then witnessed Little Gokudera stand back up with noticeable tears in his eyes that were yet to be shed. The little boy shouted at Lambo in a different language, his child-like voice full of indignation as he yelled at the taller boy for pushing him over.
The spikey-haired mafia don could only blink in confusion as he heard the broken, chibified version of what sounded like Italian fly from the silver-haired child's mouth. Little Gokudera's words seemed to land upon deaf ears though because Lambo acted completely indifferent to whatever the toddler spouted, the older child sneering down at the shorter boy before him like he had the advantage.
"I'm older, so I can do whatever I want!" Lambo yelled back triumphantly in response to the little Italian's words, sticking his tongue out for good measure at the seething little boy in front of him.
Tsuna was so baffled at what was transpiring before him that he didn't even notice when three new figures entered his room.
"Lambo, that's enough!" I-Pin shouted in still slightly broken Japanese as she ran up to the curly-haired boy and pulled him away from the offended silver-haired child.
"I didn't do anything!" Lambo exclaimed hurriedly, witnessing his childhood friend's eyes narrow dangerously as she dragged him a good distance away from the toddlers. "I was just playing tag!"
I-Pin knew that it was an obvious lie and she wasn't going to let her friend get away with it. As the little girl continued to argue with Lambo on the other side of Tsuna's room, it was the smaller teen's turn to finally realize the other company that had arrived. Standing in the doorway to the spikey-haired teen's bedroom were Reborn and Giannini. The little arcoboleno raised an eyebrow in question upon seeing the child forms of Gokudera and Yamamoto while the small rotund man beside him floated around in his usual spacecraft, his eye's round with surprise but soon turning into fear as he beheld the same sight.
"Oh my goodness! What happened, Boss?" Giannini bellowed in worry, his flying craft swerving up and down in agitation as he laid eyes upon the just as startled child-like versions of the storm and rain guardian.
The little version of Gokudera stared up at the flying man in shock, his jade-green eyes widening in realization at the figure levitating before him. "Alieno!" He exclaimed as he pointed at Giannini accusingly with Little Yamamoto hiding behind him, the Japanese boy's eyes wide in child-like wonder.
"Wha—I'm not an alien!" Giannini replied back in Japanese out of habit, shaking his air craft back in forth in his anger.
Tsuna eyed the agitated man and his hazardous aircraft warily, worried that the machine would somehow find its way onto his back at any given moment. "I don't know what happened, Giannini!" Tsuna started out in exasperation as he finally replied to Giannini's question. "Lambo came in and fired the bazooka at Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto tried to push him out of the way. After the smoke cleared, these kids were standing in their place!"
The rim of Reborn's fedora lowered across the arcoboleno's eyes as he took in Tsuna's explanation, his baby-like voice becoming dangerous. "It seems your modifications could use more work, Giannini."
Giannini squeaked in fright as he flew away from Reborn and retrieved the 10-Year-Bazooka from its discarded place on the floor, completely forgetting about Little Gokudera's previous insult. "I'm sorry, Reborn-san! I'll return it to the way it was immediately!" And with that, the frightened, obese, Italian man flew from the scene with the bazooka in tow.
"Take as much time as you need, Giannini." Reborn warned at the retreating man's form, the frown upon his face growing in seriousness as he returned his gaze to the two toddlers standing a distance away from him.
As the sun arcoboleno gazed upon the two children, seemingly deep in thought, Tsuna came to a quick and horrifying realization. "Reborn! It's been longer than five minutes!" The spikey-haired boy cried out as he grabbed worriedly at his hair at the revelation.
"Well, that's to be expected." The fedora wearing baby responded knowingly. "Giannini obviously changed the component of the 10-Year-Bazooka to the point that ten years no longer apply. It shouldn't be all that surprising that the time restraint changed as well."
As Tsuna took in his mentor's words, he slowly let go of his hair, his eyes shining with understanding. "Do you have any idea how long Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto will be gone?"
"No clue."
Tsuna sighed at Reborn's short reply; he figured as much. Already having a feeling as to where this was going, Tsuna decided to ask anyway. "So, what do we do now?"
Reborn smiled smugly at the obviously answered question, his big black eyes sparkling mischievously. "Now, you babysit."
The Tenth of the Vongola Family groaned out miserably at his mentor's answer, horrendous scenarios flashing through his mind at the thought of watching after a little Gokudera and Yamamoto. He could barely watch over Lambo and I-Pin before things would turn bad and they were nine-years-old now!
Once again, before Tsuna could think more on his terrified thoughts, the sound of yelling brought him back to reality. He quickly gazed down to where the yells originated to see Little Gokudera backing away from the little version of Yamamoto. The Japanese boy had his hand outstretched towards the other in a hand shaking gesture, his hazel eyes shaking in confusion as the silver-haired two-year-old yelled at him in his native tongue. It was obvious that Little Yamamoto had been trying to do the polite thing by introducing himself but since it seemed like Little Gokudera had yet to learn Japanese, the silver-haired boy didn't understand him. Because of that language barrier, the little Italian child looked troubled as he scanned his surroundings frantically, yelling out questions in the only language he knew to anyone who could understand him and give him an answer to what was going on.
Seeing at how frightened his little right-hand man was, Tsuna was quick to figure out a solution to the problem at hand. If they could all understand each other then maybe this babysitting job wouldn't be so bad. "Hey, Reborn?" Tsuna questioned with enthusiasm as he mentally congratulated himself for the bright idea he just came up with. "Do you think you could translate for Gokudera-kun?"
The little arcoboleno glanced up towards his pupil as he mulled the idea over in his head, a smug smile growing upon his face as he came to an answer. "Sorry Tsuna, a good mafia boss should learn to be resourceful and use the people in his Famiglia. This should test your persuasion skills and the abilities of your comrades."
Tsuna could only flap his mouth uselessly like a fish out of water at his mentor's words. "Why do you think I asked you then?" The spikey-haired boy shouted out in annoyance once he found his voice again. Why did Reborn have to make everything harder than what it had to be?
Reborn could only smile as he jumped onto Tsuna's bed and took a seat, making himself comfortable as his current pupil stewed in anger beside him. "Don't mind me," The little baby said as he completely ignored Tsuna's question. "I'll just watch your progress."
Tsuna shouted out in frustration as he saw his mentor's famous smile spread pompously across his face. Who could he turn to now in order to translate for him? Who in his family knew Italian? The young mafia boss's mind immediately thought of Gokudera but since he was currently off in another timeline, he obviously wouldn't be of any help. Tsuna's thoughts then went to Giannini but he quickly remembered that the stout inventor was busy at the moment fixing the 10-Year-Bazooka. Who did that leave him with?
"Hey, Tsuna!" Lambo shouted excitedly as he ran over to the spikey-haired boy from across the room, leaving a slightly concerned I-Pin in his wake. "Pick me, pick me! Lambo-san can translate!"
Tsuna's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. Lambo had arrived in Japan when he was only five-years-old after living all of his life in Italy. He had known both languages from such a young age and he was also closer in age to the two toddlers standing in the middle of his room. Lambo would be perfect!
"Thank you, Lambo!" Tsuna exclaimed in gratitude, happy that he was one step closer to settling this chaotic fiasco. "I forgot that you know both languages. It must have taken a lot of skill in order to learn two different languages at such a young age. I could have never done that!"
Lambo rubbed under his nose in a pompous fashion, basking in the little bit of praise he was unaccustomed to receiving. "That's because Lambo-san is super smart!"
"Um…yeah…" Tsuna mumbled indistinctly, knowing for a fact that that usually wasn't the case when it concerned his little cow friend.
As Lambo walked away and started approaching the two toddlers from the past— who were still standing in the middle of the room with Yamamoto trying to converse with a terrified and confused Gokudera—Tsuna began to worry about if his decision had been the right one. After all, Lambo had been pushing Little Gokudera around just moments prior…
The brown-haired teen shook his head vigorously to clear his thoughts. He should believe in Lambo. From what he had seen, I-Pin had given Lambo a stern talking to over the situation so Lambo was more than likely trying to redeem himself. Yeah! That had to be it! Lambo was also older and had a better understanding of right and wrong now, so this wouldn't turn out bad at all, right?
…Well, maybe being close by wouldn't hurt.
Feeling bad that he didn't trust Lambo enough for the kid to act on his own and that his Hyper Intuition was screaming at him to intervene, Tsuna followed Lambo as they approached his toddler-formed best friends.
As they came near, Tsuna was quick to notice the sad look on Little Yamamoto's face as Little Gokudera shouted something at the small boy in Italian again and backed further away from him to the opposite side of the room, his jade-green eyes wide with fright and uncertainty.
Frowning at what he saw, Tsuna knelt down next to the raven-haired toddler and gave him a look of concern. "Is everything alright Yama—err…" Tsuna started but broke off abruptly, not sure on what to call this version of his usually tall and happy friend. "Yamamoto…kun?" He finished lamely.
The bright-eyed little boy looked up at him with a perplexed expression, his brows knitted in confusion. "How do you know my famiwy name?" The little two-year-old garbled out as he looked upon the spikey-haired boy in front of him with big innocent eyes.
Tsuna felt, in that moment, an unexplainable urge to hug the little boy in front of him but resisted. Now was not the time to get caught up in how adorable the toddler version of his best friend was. A little freaked out by his last thought, Tsuna just shook his head and tried to come up with a way to explain to the curious little boy about how he knew his name. Thinking that lying somewhat was far more easier than trying to explain what was really going on; Tsuna came up with his reason. "Um…I visit your father's sushi shop all the time and he's told me about you?"
Not picking up on how Tsuna utterly failed in making a persuasive sounding argument by making it sound like a question, Little Yamamoto just smiled and beamed up at the spikey-haired boy who looked like he was internally chastising himself over his previous failure. "Oh, you know my owd man? Dat means you're my fwiend too!"
Tsuna smiled in relief that Yamamoto was just as believing of others as ever as the little black-haired boy bestowed him with one of his famous goofy smiles. "Yeah, we're friends. My name is Tsuna and this…" The brown-haired mafia boss explained as he grabbed hold of Lambo's shoulders and steered him into Little Yamamoto's line of sight. "…is Lambo. We're going to help you talk to Gokudera-kun."
At first, Little Yamamoto seemed wary at the sight of Lambo (the curly-haired kid's arrogant sneer not helping in lessening the little boy's worries in the slightest) but once he gazed back into Tsuna's big brown eyes and saw how honest and sincere the shorter teen was being, the toddler's regular smile came back onto his face, but this time, with a look of bafflement. "Gokudewa-kun? Who's dat?"
Tsuna was taken aback by this at first but quickly rebounded once he reminded himself that these two didn't have any memories concerning this time and place. "Gokudera-kun is the silver-haired boy right over there." Tsuna mentioned while pointing at the said boy across the room, the fiery Italian glaring back at them once he realized that they were talking about him. "He doesn't know Japanese so Lambo and I are going to help translate your words so that you two can understand each other."
Little Yamamoto's eyes lit up with unrestrained glee at the brown-haired teen's offer. "Wow, you can do dat? I don't know why I'm hewe but I'm gwad I met you mistew. Now I can pway with dat funny kid!"
Tsuna couldn't help but sigh at that. It was just like Yamamoto to want to play and hang out with people despite how uninterested they seemed at the prospect. Now, as for the other thing that the boy said, Tsuna thought it would be best that he gave another explanation so that there wouldn't be any misunderstandings down the road. "Um, that's really great that you want to make friends, Yamamoto-kun! As for why you're here, um, your dad wanted me to watch over you because he…uh…was busy."
The little raven-haired boy's eyes lit up with understanding at Tsuna's words. "Oh yeah! Pops seemed pwetty busy today wid his fwiends! But how did I get hewe so fast?"
"Um…?" Tsuna started, a nervous sweat beginning to run down his forehead as his mind rushed to come up with another explanation. To the future mafia don's surprise, Lambo beat him to the chase.
"There's this cool toy that can bring you to different places with just a press of a button!" Lambo gushed with excitement at the little white lie he was telling, waving his arms around for emphasis and acting out his words to the mesmerized little child in front of him.
Despite the poor explanation, Little Yamamoto seemed to buy it because his big, hazel eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Wow! It's just wike on de TV.!" The little boy then shifted his gaze back to Tsuna with giddy excitement. "Can I twy dat toy out, mistew?"
Tsuna felt himself beginnung to panic but calmed himself down with a deep breath. "…Um, sorry but it takes a lot of…uh, batteries…so you can't play with it now."
Little Yamamoto looked crestfallen at the news but Tsuna quickly added. "B-But you can play with it later!"
The raven-haired toddler's eyes widened back in excitement at the news. "Yay!" Little Yamamoto exclaimed as he jumped up and down happily. "Dank you, mistew!"
The spikey-haired teen couldn't help but flinch at what the little boy was calling him. It was weird to think of Yamamoto calling him anything other than Tsuna. "Um…You can just call me Tsuna, Yamamoto-kun."
Little Yamamoto looked like he was having some difficulty in pronouncing the syllable 'tsu' because what eventually came out of the toddler's mouth was, "Tuna?"
"…close enough."
Lambo burst into condescending laughter at how Yamamoto was pronouncing Tsuna's name. "What an idiot! He can't even pronounce a name right!"
As he saw his little black-haired friend's hazel eyes flash with hurt at the insult, Tsuna was more than ready to chew Lambo out for his rudeness but someone beat him to the chase again. In a short few seconds, I-Pin made her way over and slapped Lambo upside the head, effectively shutting the stupid cow up.
"Lambo! Apologize!"
A pitiful sniffle was all that was heard from the nine-year-old as he rubbed his now sore head in shame. "Sorry…" the curly-haired kid barely mumbled out in a grumpy fashion, keeping his eyes averted from Little Yamamoto and the rest of the people in the room.
Resisting the urge to grumble about how Lambo didn't sound sorry at all, Tsuna decided to finish what he wanted to do so that they could all start getting along. Who knew how long the little toddlers where actually going to stay there.
"Thank you for apologizing, Lambo" Tsuna began with as much courtesy he could muster in his voice for the problematic cow. "Now can you help us translate for Yamamoto-kun?"
With a sulky nod of confirmation Lambo started making his way over to a still agitated Gokudera; Tsuna, I-Pin and Little Yamamoto following close behind.
As they got closer to the feisty little Italian, the silver-haired boy looked around quickly for some sort of escape route as he backed himself into Tsuna's bedroom wall out of fear, unsure of where to go and frightened beyond belief.
Seeing how scared the other was, Tsuna made the kids stop just a few feet away from the agitated toddler in order to give him some breathing room. He could just too easily imagine Gokudera becoming violent if he was backed into a corner. Taking a deep breathe to calm down his nerves, Tsuna gently pushed Little Yamamoto forward so that he was in front of their little group. The Japanese toddler turned to look behind at Tsuna in uncertainty, his cheeks blushing with a sudden shyness.
Tsuna bestowed his toddler-formed friend with a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry Yamamoto-kun, just face Gokudera-kun and talk and Lambo with translate for you."
Seeming to understand what he was supposed to do, Lambo made is way forward and stood by Yamamoto, giving the raven-haired boy a cocky, yet confident, smile to try and reassure him as well. Taking strength from his new found friends, Little Yamamoto faced a distrustful looking Gokudera and spoke his mind.
"I'm sowwy if I fwightened you." The little Japanese boy started out, his tiny voice growing with confidence with every word that left his mouth. "I onwy wanted to pway wid you. My name is Yamamoto Takeshi and I want to be yo' fwiend, 'Goku-chan!"
Tsuna had to hold back a groan and a slap to his forehead at Yamamoto's new nickname for Gokudera. If he knew his friends like he thought he did, he knew that Gokudera wouldn't take too kindly to the cutesy nickname.
Breaking the spikey-haired teen out of his thoughts, Lambo gave Yamamoto a look to make sure the little boy was done speaking before he boastfully announced, "That's it? I can translate that no problem!" And with that, the curly-haired boy walked right up to Gokudera and started speaking in his native tongue. Gokudera's body instinctively stiffened in a defensive position as the taller boy approached, looking ready to pounce if Lambo so much as twitched his hand. He didn't want a repeat of the pushing incident.
Lambo, of course, seemed completely oblivious to the impending danger he was putting himself into and translated what Little Yamamoto wanted to say; his way. "That little spikey-haired kid wanted to say that he thinks you're stupid, you smell and sound funny, and that your hair makes you look like a little, grouchy, old man!"
The little version of Gokudera could only blink up at the cow-styled kid before him in astonishment as Lambo crossed his arms confidently at what he thought was a job well done. As the hurtful, childish words sunk in, the little Italian toddler gave a hesitant look towards Little Yamamoto, unsure if he should believe what the older kid had said to him. As jade-green eyes met friendly hazel, Little Yamamoto directed his trademark grin towards Little Gokudera, trying to reassure his unknowingly mistranslated words to the other with his smile.
Sadly, Gokudera didn't take it too well. The other's friendly smile only served to heighten the sting of the hurtful words he had heard, confusing the little Italian more and making him feel like he was being bullied. Hating that he was in a place that he didn't know with people he didn't know and that he was being verbally abused besides, Little Gokudera's eyes filled with angry, unshed tears. Feeling his blood begin to boil, the little Italian decided to stand up for himself and marched his way up to an unsuspecting Yamamoto, punching the innocent Japanese boy square in the jaw before shouting at everyone to leave him alone as he rushed out of the room, everyone too surprised with his actions to stop him or follow.
Tsuna berated himself over the situation as he rushed over to help Little Yamamoto back onto his feet, the Japanese toddler sniffling sadly as he rubbed his sore cheek. The brown-haired teen had to give the little one props for not breaking down into childish tears after such a traumatizing thing had happened to him; that just went to show at how tough and mature Yamamoto was in comparison to Lambo who was currently almost a decade older than the little toddler. Speaking of Lambo…
"Lambo! What on earth did you say to Gokudera-kun to make him act like that?" Tsuna yelled in frustration towards a now cowering little cow. The curly-haired boy wasn't used to seeing Tsuna so angry with him.
"I-I-I didn't do anything wrong!" Lambo defended himself pitifully as his green eyes watered up with tears.
This time, I-Pin jumped on her friend's case. "Don't lie Lambo! What did you say?"
"G-Gotta…stay…calm…" was Lambo's only reply as he began to blubber pathetically at everyone's anger-filled glares. Tsuna just sighed in exasperation, knowing too well that he wasn't going to get any information out of a cowering Lambo. Thankfully, Reborn seemed to take pity on his case because the little arcoboleno stood up from his seated position on Tsuna's bed and jumped down.
"This good-for-nothing cow decided to mistranslate Yamamoto's words." Reborn kindly explained with a note of irritation in his voice as he made his way up to Tsuna and the others. "He ended up insulting Gokudera instead and placed the blame upon Yamamoto as you have probably figured out by now."
Tsuna peered down at the little boy that he now held in his arms as the raven-haired child continued to sniffle and rub at his watering eyes. Like Reborn had just stated, he had felt like Lamb had lied about what Yamamoto had said. Why else would Gokudera react the way he did? The brown-haired teen glared heatedly down at Lambo who looked like he was on the verge of crying. He wanted to, more than anything, make Lambo apologize for what he did but knew that the troublemaking kid was too caught up in his own distress to find fault in his actions or to even verbalize anything in his current state. Instead, Tsuna just gave an aggravated sigh and turned his gaze towards an equally angered I-Pin.
"I-Pin?" Tsuna questioned, his anger-filled voice turning lighter as he looked down at the Chinese girl. The said girl peered up at him with questioning eyes. "Do you think you can take Lambo to my mom? I will talk to him about this later."
The braided-haired girl gave a solemn nod towards her friend/boss and quickly grasped one of Lambo's cow-printed arms and led him off, the cowering boy still sniffling in her wake as they left the room.
Tsuna gave an exhausted sigh once the silence of the nearly empty room enveloped him, his short reprieve disturbed once he felt a weight added to the shoulder that was opposite of where he held Yamamoto. Turning his head to his left, Tsuna was able to see that Reborn had perched himself onto his shoulder and was giving him an expectant look.
"I suggest that we find Gokudera before he gets himself into more trouble." The little baby stated knowingly with a frown upon his face.
Tsuna just nodded tiredly in response, he knew that Gokudera was in a very unstable emotional state at the moment and adding to the fact that he wasn't old enough to know any better, he could easily get himself into trouble.
As he made his way out into the hallway with Little Yamamoto and Reborn in tow, Tsuna almost ran into Bianchi who had just come up the stairs. The magenta haired woman looked perplexed about something because her brows were creased with worry. That look only intensified once she noticed the toddler form of Yamamoto in Tsuna's arms.
"What's going on here?" Bianchi questioned with a hint of anger in her voice, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she looked back and forth between Tsuna and the baby form of Yamamoto in his arms. "I could have sworn I just saw a younger version of my brother run past me on the stairs."
Tsuna began to sweat nervously as Bianchi's venomous glare barreled down on him, daring him to admit that he had done something to her precious little brother so that she could have a viable reason to poison him. Thankfully, Reborn knew how to calm an enraged Bianchi down.
"Lambo decided to use his newly modified 10-Year-Bazooka on Gokudera and Yamamoto. The bazooka malfunctioned and sent your brother back in time rather than forward." Reborn stated simply as he smiled up innocently at a still angered Bianchi.
With one look at Reborn, Bianchi's anger quickly dissipated to be replaced by unrestrained love. "Oh, Reborn!" The magenta-haired woman exclaimed as she swept the little baby up from a still nervous Tsuna's shoulder. "I'm so glad that the bazooka didn't hit you this time!"
Tsuna tried to cover up the 'you-got-to-be-kidding-me' facial expression he knew that he was showing with another heavy sigh, glad that Bianchi seemed to be appeased for the moment. Why did Gokudera and his sister have to be so hot blooded? At that last thought, the spikey-haired teen's eyes widened as he came to a sudden realization. Bianchi was Gokudera's sister, so that meant she was Italian as well!
Resisting the urge to slap himself in the forehead for forgetting about this obvious fact, Tsuna was quick to ask for the Italian woman's help. "Gokudera-kun doesn't seem to understand us, Bianchi. Do you think you can help translate for us?"
The magenta-haired woman paused in her cuddling of Reborn to give Tsuna a calculating look, her lip pursing up in thought. "Hmm…my brother looked like he was only around two or three-years-old, so he obviously wouldn't know Japanese at this point in his life." Bianchi started out slowly as she took in the form of Yamamoto to reaffirm her suspicions, despite the raven-haired boy looking slightly younger. She gave a disapproving grunt but gazed back up at Tsuna, looking torn at what she was about to say next. "If it's for my brother's sake, I guess I can help you out. Just don't get any ideas that I would help you otherwise."
Tsuna had to stop himself from replying back, knowing full well that if he irritated Bianchi too much she would either attack him or leave without helping him even if that meant not helping her scared little brother. He kind of expected her to act this way anyway, so it truly didn't faze him too much.
Readjusting his grip on the little Yamamoto in his arms—who seemed to be intimidated by Bianchi and was trying his best not to make direct eye contact; his tiny hands clutching at Tsuna's shirt in slight fear—Tsuna made his way down the stairs with Bianchi following close behind with Reborn still in her arms. It was soon that their group came upon the living room where they could hear the sound of uproarious laughter coming from inside. Curious as to what was going on, Tsuna and Bianchi entered the living room to see Tsuna's dad sitting by the small dining table in the room, his cheeks rosy from the bottle of sake he still clutched in his hand while the other hand held onto the back of Little Gokudera's suit jacket, the said toddler kicking and screaming to get free while the older man laughed at his antics.
Not sure on what to be more surprised about—that his drunken father was holding onto a squirming toddler while he laughed at him or that Gokudera had been wearing a fancy looking children's suit the whole time, complete with jacket, bow tie, shorts and long socks—Tsuna could only gape at the imagery before him, his mind almost shutting down at the overload of information.
Iemetsu continued to laugh outrageously at Little Gokudera's antics as the feisty Italian tried to struggle free from the older man's iron grip, spitting out his demands to be let go in his native tongue that obviously continued to be ignored. It was here that Iemetsu finally decided to voice his opinions. "My, my, you sure are a rowdy little guy! How about a nice drink to calm you down and warm you up?"
As Iemetsu attempted to pour a cup of sake for the toddler struggling in his grip, Tsuna finally came out of his little stupor at the mention of said alcohol and at remembering that Gokudera had come from a rich family so it was only normal for his younger version to be wearing a suit.
"Dad, what are you doing? Stop! Gokudera is underage!" Tsuna exclaimed in worry as he rushed over and grabbed his father's arm before it could pour his alcoholic beverage. The said blonde-haired man glanced up towards his son with a pout.
"But it warms you up, Tsuna~" Iemetsu whined in a drunken manner, the rosiness of his cheeks still present on his face.
"So does tea, Dad!" Tsuna responded in aggravation. Seriously, how was he related to this man?
It was a few moments after this, where Iemetsu looked back and forth between the bottle of sake in one of his hands and the disgruntled Italian toddler in his other, that the older man decided that his son was right and did the morally responsible thing by setting Gokudera back down. Once the silver-haired toddler felt that he was free once again, he made a mad dash for the door to get away from all of the crazy mean people in the house. Sadly, before he could make it to the doorway he was met by the face of his sister who looked way older than what he remembered.
"Calm down Hayato, no one is here to hurt you." Bianchi calmly reassured her frightened little half-brother, the words accidentally rolling off her tongue in Japanese out of force of habit.
Even if Bianchi had been talking in Italian, she had an idea on how her brother would have reacted and as the little boy screamed bloody murder and quickly maneuvered his way around her and out the living room entryway, her guess was right. Well, at least she had tried.
Tsuna could feel a headache coming on as he watched Little Gokudera disappear again in all his screaming glory, a deadpan expression marring his teenage features. He was a little surprised that Gokudera hadn't fainted like he usually did but he should have realized that the little boy would have acted negatively towards his sister anyway. Now he just felt like a complete idiot.
Bianchi sighed in dissatisfaction as she mumbled to herself and the arcoboleno she held in her arms, "I should have called him by his Italian name; he doesn't know his Japanese one yet…" She quickly glanced in Tsuna's direction to note that the boy hadn't overheard her since he was too busy trying to keep Little Yamamoto away from his drunken father and his sake bottle, the Japanese toddler laughing in joy now since he thought they were playing a game of keep away. "Sawada Tsunayoshi!" She yelled in slight annoyance at the commotion the three were causing; a plan slowly forming in her mind.
The ridiculous actions between Tsuna and his father stopped at the Italian woman's command, Little Yamamoto continuing to laugh even after their motions ceased. Bianchi gave another sigh of aggravation as she continued to divulge her plan that would hopefully help her brother. "Hayato does not take kindly to major change and is easily emotionally scarred if it happens. This situation is more than likely turning out that way, especially since he's in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. Add to the fact that my brother isn't naturally a people person to begin with and this is a recipe for complete disaster. I'm going to bring Maman and the children out for some shopping so that you can have the house to yourselves in order to calm him down."
As the magenta-haired woman's plan reached his ears, Tsuna couldn't help but agree with it as he thought it was also a good idea. The brown-haired teen gave Bianchi a grateful smile in return. "Thank you, Bianchi!"
The older woman just 'humphed' in response and replied. "You better calm Hayato down or you'll find poison in your next meal."
Tsuna gulped at the dangerous threat as he knew full well that Bianchi intended to keep her word. Knowing that her threat was being taken seriously, Bianchi made her way out of the living room to round up her group, ignoring the half-hearted call of Tsuna who asked her if she was taking his father along as well. Obviously she wasn't because the man was drunk and had already fallen asleep on the floor during their conversation. Tsuna needed to better his observation skills.
Once Tsuna was left in the living room with Little Yamamoto and the snores of his now-dead-asleep father as his only company, the brown-haired boy began to panic, wondering on how he was going to help Gokudera now.
With the sound of the front door closing, Tsuna was quick to realize that he was now by himself and the only one who could deal with this situation. That didn't make the future mafia boss feel better in the slightest. He felt so lost on what to do he didn't even know where to begin! Oh, why was this happening to him?
"Well, are you going to try and find another person to translate, No-Good-Tsuna?"
Tsuna practically jumped out of his skin as the nasally baby voice reached his ears. He quickly turned around to notice that Reborn had reappeared in the living room. Confused by this, Tsuna asked, "Reborn? I thought you left with the others?"
"I asked Bianchi to leave me here because I had to observe you." The fedora-wearing baby responded in an all knowing voice, the smile on his face quickly transforming into a frown as he continued. "You still need to find a translator, Tsuna."
Tsuna's chocolate-brown eyes shook in realization at his mentor's words, remembering what he still had to do. He still couldn't help but feel unsure though, just who could he ask for help now?
Seeing his uncertainty, Little Yamamoto decided to give the small teen a reassuring child-like pat on the shoulder he was currently resting against, bestowing his regular smile onto the teen as he turned to look at him. "Don't wowwy, you can do it Tuna-san!"
Tsuna smiled gratefully at his little friend's words, finding the way the little boy said his name too cute to correct. With a little more confidence, the brown-haired teen gave the Japanese toddler he was holding a nod of his head to show that he understood as his brain went into overdrive in trying to figure out who he could use as a translator. His dad was obviously out of the question now and wouldn't have worked anyway since he had been drunk, so who could he ask for help? Mukuro was the next person who came to mind but that was an obvious no. There was no way that he was going to be in a house with Mukuro alone! Also, if he remembered correctly, Chrome seemed to know a little Italian but if he asked her for help then Mukuro would probably show up at some point, so he definitely couldn't ask her either! The rest of the Kokuyo gang was also out of the question too since they didn't seem to like him much and wouldn't be of much help. Basil could help but he was currently in Italy and had been for the past two weeks in order to do some CEDEF work and Christmas shopping and Spanner was in the next town over so it would be a hassle to make him come down here.
That meant he was only left with…
"Dino!" Tsuna exclaimed in realization, a smile finding its way onto his face at the thought of the blond-haired don. Dino would help him no matter the situation because he was a former disciple of Reborn and his older brother figure. Why hadn't he thought of him before?
Reborn just smiled as his student finally realized the best person to call. He had known Dino would have been the best pick all along. "Good job, now make that call before Gokudera ends up doing something we might all regret."
Tsuna squeaked in fright at the reminder and placed Yamamoto down onto the ground, retrieving his cellphone from his pants pocket in the process. Finding Dino's name in his contacts, Tsuna pressed the call button and placed his phone up to his ear, waiting for Dino to pick up. The brown-haired teen began to worry as the phone continued to ring without any answer and was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to do this by himself but, thankfully, the sound of someone answering the phone reached his ears.
"Tsuna?" Came the reply on the other side of the line, Dino's voice sounding tired and a little wary. "Is something wrong?"
"Dino!" Tsuna sighed in relief, glad that his friend had picked up the phone; his relaxation short lived as the other's question brought the brown-haired teen's worries to the forefront of his mind. "It's horrible, Dino-san! Giannini modified the 10-Year-Bazooka and Lambo fired it and now Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto have been sent to the past for an indefinite period of time! So that means I'm stuck babysitting their—" Tsuna paused on his massive rant as he came to another realization. He quickly glanced down towards Yamamoto to notice that the boy was looking up at him in slight amusement from watching him speak so fast. "How old are you anyway, Yamamoto-kun?"
Little Yamamoto beamed up at Tsuna at the question, only too eager to answer as he jumped up from his seat on the floor. "I'm one and a half!" The little toddler exclaimed like it was the best thing in the world as he held up one of his pointer fingers to show his age.
Tsuna smiled at how adorable the other was acting as he returned to his one-sided conversation with Dino, but this time, in a calmer tone. "Yeah, so I'm basically stuck with two-year-old versions of Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto and Gokudera-kun doesn't understand Japanese. Do you think you can come over and help me translate?"
There was an eerie silence on the other end of the phone as Dino took in all the information Tsuna had divulged. As the silence continued, Tsuna wondered if his call had dropped and was about to ask Dino if he was still on the phone with him but, before he could, Dino finally answered. "Wow…um…" The Bucking Horse began, his voice coming out in irregular pants as he processed the information that his 'little brother' had given him, guilt soon lacing his tone. "I-I would love to help you Tsuna but…well...I'm sort of busy. Ah!"
Tsuna flinched at Dino's random exclamation, his ears slightly ringing from the loud sound. Not sure on what had just happened, Tsuna cautiously asked. "Dino-san, what are you doing?"
At the note of honest curiosity in the spikey-haired teen's voice, Dino could only stutter in panic on the other end of the phone. "N-Nothing!"
"But you have to be doing something if you can't—" Tsuna abruptly stopped once he heard a weird noise on the other side of the line that sounded slightly distant, meaning it hadn't come from Dino. "W-Was that a growl?" Tsuna exclaimed in fright, worried about what his blond-haired friend was getting into.
Dino could only continue to laugh nervously as Tsuna overheard something he shouldn't have. "Haha, you're starting to hear things, Tsuna…"
Tsuna just shook his head at Dino's lame attempt at passing the noise off. He was certain that he had heard something. "No, seriously Dino-san, what was that sound? I swear I heard it!"
"…Um…a bird?"
There was an awkward silence as Tsuna processed this bogus information, knowing full well that birds didn't growl (to his knowledge anyway). "I'm pretty sure that wasn't a bird, Dino-san." Hearing another ominous growl and a painful grunt from his friend on the other end of the line, Tsuna couldn't help but ask. "Are you in a dangerous situation right now, Dino-san?"
Dino panted heavily in response before he got the strength to continue. "W-Well, I—Ow! Yeah…kind of…"
Tsuna became even more worried at his 'big brother's' answer but persisted in trying to ask Dino for help anyway since he was the only option he had left in helping his friends. "If it's so dangerous then you should get out of there! You're the only one who can help me, Dino-san! Everyone else who can speak Italian is unavailable and Gokudera-kun is really scared!"
Dino made a noise like he was torn between two decisions. He was unsure of what to do until an idea popped into his head. "O-Ok, I'll help but…just give me twenty—Ow! Ok, thirty minutes! Just thirty minutes and I'll be over there!"
Still unsure of just leaving Dino to whatever was on the other side of the phone with him but glad that he at least got the young man's word that he would help him, Tsuna conceded. "Ok, I will see you in a half hour then…"
"Thanks, Tsuna!" and with that, Dino quickly hung up to continue doing whatever it was he was doing.
Tsuna stared at his phone in confusion at his friend's rushed goodbye until Reborn grabbed his attention. "So, what was Dino up too?" The little baby asked confidently, already knowing the answer.
The brown-haired mafia don peered down at his mentor, confusion and worry overshadowing his features. "I don't know but it sounded like something was trying to bite him to death over the phone."
And with those words finally falling from his mouth, Tsuna's eyes widened in realization and he blanched.
It was thirty minutes later that Dino arrived with Romario thankfully beside him, the blonde-haired boss of the Cavallone looking rather tired but not too battered, despite his hair being slightly ruffled in random places. Tsuna tried not to think about it too much or about how Dino probably had a bunch of hickies on his neck that were covered at the moment by the bulky green jacket that he usually wore; he wanted to keep a part of his sanity after all, and thinking about Dino doing weird things with Hibari wasn't going to help him with that case.
While he had been waiting for Dino to arrive, Tsuna had spent his time playing with Yamamoto after they had made sure that Gokudera was still inside the house. They had found that the scared little boy had shut himself up in the bathroom and had decided to give the child space until Dino could translate for them. And now that the blonde-haired don was here, they could finally make Gokudera understand them.
After explaining the whole situation to Dino, who was giving his 'little brother' his undivided attention this time (Seriously, Hibari? Did Dino have a death wish?), the group made their way to the bathroom where Gokudera continued to reside. With a knock on the door and Dino's calm and reassuring explanation about the misunderstanding, Gokudera finally, yet cautiously, opened the door.
The silver-haired toddler peeked out from behind the door shyly, still unsure if he could trust the people in front of him. Once his eyes fell on Little Yamamoto who was standing only a couple inches behind Dino, who was at the front of the group, Gokudera averted his eyes downward, looking quite ashamed of himself.
If Yamamoto noticed that the other felt bad about his actions he didn't show it, he just made his way up to the shy little Italian who still refused to look at him. Once he was a couple inches away from the other he held out his hand in a friendly gesture, a soft smile adorning his face. "Fwiends?" he asked kindly as he waited for the other to respond.
With a quick translation from Dino, Gokudera gazed upon the Japanese boy in front of him in confusion. He had hurt the other yet the raven-haired boy didn't seem to hate him for it. Why was that? Gokudera had never met someone as friendly and good natured as the boy in front of him. The people at the mansion hardly ever smiled—well, there was that one lady...
At the reminder of the angelic woman who shared with him her gentlest smiles and played him beautiful music, Gokudera gave the boy in front of him another good look. Realizing that he had the same air around him as that mysterious piano lady that came to visit him every once in a while, the little Italian boy knew that he could trust him. He had never had a friend before.
With still hesitant hands, Little Gokudera took Little Yamamoto's tanned and un-calloused hand in his own without saying a word, a small blush coming to the older boy's cheeks as he continued to avert his eyes out of embarrassment as he accepted the other boy's proposal.
If it was possible, the smile on Little Yamamoto's lips grew even bigger, his hazel-eyes dancing in excitement at his acquirement of a new and interesting friend.
A teenage Gokudera coughed and hacked as the pink smoke that had surrounded him and his arrival faded away, his feet feeling a little wobbly after making contact with the ground once again. His body gave an involuntary shudder as he remembered how Yamamoto's warm and protective arms had been ripped away from him just a few moments ago. Gokudera knew that even though he was trying to push Yamamoto away, the feeling of the other being taken away from him so abruptly had been jarring. The taller teen had been there one minute and gone the next in the blink of an eye. Even though Gokudera had his eyes closed at the time because the flashing colors in the tunnel were hurting them, he was sort of glad because if he hadn't then he would have actually seen Yamamoto be taken away from him.
It was bad enough that the silver-haired teen could remember the cold and empty feeling the other's separation had left him but thinking of actually witnessing the action take place completely nauseated him. Gokudera couldn't help but let another restless shudder roll down his spine at the thought. Even though he had hardly seen his lover for the past couple weeks, the loneliness that he had felt all month without the other was nothing in comparison to that one moment in the time tunnel. It had been a long time since Gokudera had ever felt so alone.
Disliking where his current thoughts were heading, Gokudera decided that the smoke must have cleared by now and that he could open his eyes to see where his ten-year-older-self had been moments before they had switched. Since he hadn't been shot at during the past couple of minutes he was busy thinking, he assumed it was a harmless location. As the storm guardian opened his eyes to view his surroundings, those same jade-green eyes widened further in surprise, and not to soon afterwards, into that of acute horror once the images he was seeing became fully processed in his mind.
His last thought had been dead wrong. There was no way in hell that this place was harmless.
Viridian eyes scanned his surroundings, not believing what he was actually seeing and truthfully wishing that he would have never seen this place again. He was in a very large room, so large that he would have thought of it as a living room if he hadn't noticed the big queen-sized bed placed within the center of the room, the posts of the bed of immaculate design and made of rich mahogany. The walls were a pristine opal with masterfully hand painted clouds and cherubs covering them like some long lost Michelangelo painting, the banisters made of the same wood as the bed posts and of the same intricate and expensive design. Oh! And how could he forget the expensive golden chandelier that hung from the ceiling or the ivory drapes that were drawn back from the four massive windows that were placed along the same wall as the gigantic bed— two placed upon each side in perfect symmetry—to let the afternoon sunlight bathe the room in its shimmering golden glow.
The very sight of the richly furnished room made Gokudera feel sick to his stomach, almost more so than his sister's face did. Just what the hell was his ten-year-older-self doing in his childhood bedroom at his father's mansion? This room had been as much of a prison to him as the whole freaking building had been and that was just for its design alone! He could appreciate the artistry and the beautiful design but it just wasn't him. It's like his father had purposely decorated the room that way to make his son out as some sort of little angel even though he had been a rough and unruly, and still unknown at the time, bastard child. This room didn't fit him at all, and neither did the mansion.
He completely despised them both.
Feeling himself beginning to hyperventilate as he was reminded of his childhood once again, and for the fact that five minutes had already past and he still wasn't out of his angelic looking hellhole, Gokudera made a mad dash for the ivory colored door on the other side of the room. He had to get out of there! Maybe he still remembered the escape route he had taken ten years ago! With the thought of escape solely on his mind, Gokudera didn't notice the scattered toys on the floor until it was too late.
"Gah!" The silver-haired teen exclaimed in surprise as he tripped over the scattered wooden blocks on the floor, making an unceremonious face plant into the fine cream carpet below him. While Gokudera tried to figure out on what the hell had just happened, he spied the scattered assortment of toys on the ground behind him. Each toy, from the building blocks to the bouncy balls and four-wheeled, pull-along, horse were of the same rich artisan design, looking very much like they would have been found in an antique store rather than a child's bedroom. The Guardian of Storm could only blink at the objects that had tripped him in confusion. Why would his toys still be out after all these years…unless…
Not wanting to even think about where his brain was heading, Gokudera stared vehemently down at the offending excuse for children's toys scattered amongst his feet. He remembered those stupid toys all too well. His mother, no, Bianchi's mother would always get on his case about not treating his toys right and that he had to be careful whenever he played with them because they were so expensive. Seriously, what was the point of playing with them if he couldn't be a little rough? Kids were meant to run around and be free in how they wanted to play, not restricted and watched over like convicts in a jail cell. It was no wonder why he had spent most of his time fighting with the kids of the other members of his father's famiglia, played the piano to practice for his real mother whenever she would come to visit, or why he had rather spent his time hanging out with a perverted Dr. Shamal than in this sad excuse for a children's room.
Gokudera couldn't stand being in the suffocating room for one more second. Ignoring the discarded antique toys on the ground, he finally opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway where he was met with rich burgundy walls, fancy table stands and vases and rows upon rows of pictures depicting the previous heads of the mansion, their morose visages mounted for eternity in golden engraved frames.
God, he hated this place.
A shrill scream sounded in the air, breaking Gokudera from his loathing thoughts. He quickly turned towards the noise to see a young house maid staring back at him in startled horror. Her eyes lingered for only a confused second before she ran back down the hall and turned the corner, disappearing from sight.
Well, that couldn't be good.
Just to affirm Gokudera's thoughts, the sounds of thundering footsteps echoed down the hall that the maid had disappeared from; the sound of masculine voices shouting orders towards each other in coarse Italian approaching closer by the second.
…Shit.
Realizing that the maid had thought of him as an intruder (which only made his suspicions rise that he was more than likely flung into the past rather than the future if the maid didn't recognize him in a more adult-like form), Gokudera high-tailed it out of there as he saw five burly men in suits turn the corner and rush towards him. In a flash, Gokudera's mind went a mile a minute as past memories of the mansion's layout splayed out across his thoughts like an elaborate blueprint, every intricate detail coming back to him far easier than he thought would have been possible since he had tried to forget about this place like every other traumatic memory he held.
As Gokudera turned another corner at Mach speed, he prepared himself with the knowledge that he would more than likely have to attack the men behind him in order to effectively escape. He knew he had his usual assortment of dynamite on him, and would have liked nothing more than to toss them at the men and destroy some of the architect as collateral damage but he wondered if he had enough time to light a cigarette before the men would start shooting at him. Maybe his Vongola Gear would be better?
It was here that Gokudera noticed that the men were getting closer, the sounds of their voices becoming louder with each step. He couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't started shooting at him yet. If the tables were turned and he was trying to catch an intruder, the first thing he would do was shoot at their legs in order to trip them or shoot one of the intruder's appendages to slow them down in order to catch them and interrogate them. His father's men had done no such thing yet.
Just as he was beginning to think that his father had hired incompetent men, Gokudera turned another corner of the extensive hallway and crashed into another warm body, his momentum causing him to fall forward and over the smaller form that he had run into.
Grunting in pain and hearing a similar, yet more feminine, sound coming from below him, Gokudera held his body up with his hands and glanced down onto the person he had bulldozed over, only to see a young girl with long magenta hair. As the little girl opened her eyes back up to do the same as her silver-haired attacker, jade-green eyes met their almost exact counterpart, both of them staring at the other in stunned silence.
'Holy shit,' Gokudera thought to himself as he stared down at a much younger looking version of his half-sister (she looked to be about eight-years-old). 'I really have gone back in time!' It was here, after realizing that it was his sister that he was looking at, that the teenage Italian noticed that said sister wasn't wearing any protective eye gear of any sort. With a violent gag and a clutch of his stomach, Gokudera fell over sideways from abdominal pain, effectively freeing his now younger-looking sister who stood back up as soon as she got the chance. As she gazed down on the convulsing young man who looked remarkably like her brother, the five men from before finally turned the corner and seized the suffering teen from his place on the floor.
"You're right, he does look like the young master." One of the men observed once he was able to get a good look at the boy while two others held the sickly teen up by both of his arms. "What should we do?"
"Stop! Don't hurt him!" Little Bianchi shouted up at her father's men as they thought up ways to deal with the familiar looking youth. "That's my brother!"
"Now, now, young mistress, just because he looks like him doesn't mean he is your brother." Another man piped up as he glanced down at the barely conscious teen held between two of his colleagues, the silver-haired bomber groaning pitifully as his stomach convulsed again. "Look, he's far too old to be who you think he is!"
The eight-year-old girl understood what her father's men were saying but she just had a feeling that she was right. "I know, but I get the feeling that he is my brother and he kind of sounds like him. Maybe if you take him to Father, he would know?"
The group of men paused as they thought the little girl's words over, wondering on what course of action to take. "Maybe we should." One of the men holding Gokudera up offered. "He does have an uncanny resemblance to the young master, so maybe Boss will have a better idea on what's going on, or better yet, have a better way of interrogating him."
With reluctant nods of agreement, the men started to drag Gokudera down hallway after hallway, the sickly teen barely keeping up or understanding what was going on. He had hardly heard a word the other men were saying because he had been too focused on his upset stomach.
After what seemed like an eternity, the men finally arrived at their destination, stopping just outside the double office doors to frisk the teen for any weapons. A couple tedious minutes later after the men were sure that all of Gokudera's hidden dynamite was confiscated (seriously, how could a boy his size carry around so many explosives and hide them in practically every nook and cranny of his body? He was like a human bomb!) Sadly, Gokudera still felt too sick to put up any form of resistance, so when the men finally found what they were searching for, he was dragged into a lavishly furnished office and brought up before a huge, beautifully carved, desk.
There, sitting before a surprised Gokudera's eyes was the form of his just as surprised father.
Yamamoto Takeshi could feel his feet meet concrete as he was brought out of the time tunnel with another cloud of smoke. The tall teenager coughed continuously as the pink smoke invaded his lungs, his thoughts just as clouded as his eyesight as the last few moments in Tsuna's bedroom replayed themselves. Just what had Gokudera meant when he had said that everything had been a misunderstanding? That he didn't hate him? Honestly, his silver-haired lover was confusing him so much right now that he was surprised he could still tell the difference between up and down.
Still, despite his anger towards Gokudera for purposefully lying to him and for confusing him to no end, he had still jumped from his seat once he saw that bullet fly towards his silver-haired companion, even though he knew full well that the bullet wouldn't hurt him. It was just instinctive for him to want to protect the other. Yamamoto could still remember how it felt when Gokudera was torn away from him during their time warp and he could honestly say that he never wanted to experience something like that again. Feeling the other taken away from him so easily made him feel like he was inadequate in protecting the people he cared about. Actually, with everything that was happening between him and Gokudera, that moment in the tunnel had felt like a foreboding omen; like time itself didn't want them together.
Before he could think more on it, Yamamoto was startled out of his depressing thoughts when an abrupt honk from a passing car drove by him. Realizing that his sight and hearing was back to normal, Yamamoto was finally able to see where the bazooka had taken him…and almost went into shock again at the overwhelming amount of sights and sounds that pervaded his senses.
Tall skyscrapers surrounded him in every direction he turned, hundreds of flashing build boards hanging off of their glossy surfaces. Thousands of cars and buses were jam packed onto the many busy streets nearby as busybody people tried to get where they needed to go. Not only that, the people on the streets seemed to outnumber the vehicles on the road ten to one. Everyone walked side by side with perfect strangers because there was hardly any room for personal space as they traversed the streets of the metropolitan shopping district. Now usually, Yamamoto didn't care too much about personal space but even he felt claustrophobic as the herds of people passed by him while he stood in place in the middle of the sidewalk and took everything in, the people giving him weird or irritated looks as they walked around him.
Ignoring the glares he was getting for not following the flow of pedestrian traffic, the tall teenager's eyes finally fell upon a building that told him where he was; the Tokyo Tower. Even though he was pretty far away from the imposing tower (the very top of it could only be seen from the angle he was at) he would recognize the architecture anywhere. So his ten-year-older self was in Tokyo before the bazooka had hit him? Was it for mafia business or for vacation? As those questions came to his mind, Yamamoto spotted a newspaper stand down the street. Curious as to what was happening in the world ten years from his present time, the dark-haired rain guardian made his way up to the stand to check out the headlines before his five minute quota was up. He knew he would be cutting it close.
Upon finally arriving at the newspaper stand, which took a little longer than he wanted because of all the people in the streets, Yamamoto was finally able to peruse through the various different newspapers, trying to find a headline that popped out at him. Weirdly enough, it wasn't the headlines that caught his attention but the miniscule printed date near the tops of the front pages that did, and when Yamamoto fully processed the date he was seeing he couldn't believe his eyes. According to the year printed on the newspapers he had gone back in time instead of forward! After he checked all the newspapers to make sure that it hadn't been a misprint and that he wasn't seeing things, Yamamoto came to a sudden realization that if the year was correct then he would have barely been two-years-old around this time. What on earth was his two-year-old self doing in the streets of Tokyo? And without his father no less! Did they get separated?
While the raven-haired teen worried over his previous thoughts and glanced around his surroundings as he shivered from the cold winter air attacking his underdressed body, he came to another realization; five minutes had already passed. Yamamoto wasn't sure if he should breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of the bazooka conveniently malfunctioning since that meant he had an indiscernible amount of time to get somewhere safe before his younger self was returned to his time. That also meant that he could be stuck in this time for who knows how long and running into his father at the moment would be, well, disastrous. Feeling a headache coming on at the thought of the explanation he would have to go through if that occurred but feeling guilty at the thought that he would have to somewhat avoid his father—the older man was probably worried sick at this point if he did get separated from his younger self and was currently looking for him—Yamamoto tried to think of what to do. It was probably best if he did find his father and tail him so that when he did return to his time, his younger self would be able to find him without getting into more trouble.
Well, that sounded like a good plan and all but where was he going to find his father? Tokyo wasn't exactly small.
Not wanting to give up even though his plight was beginning to seem hopeless, Yamamoto brainstormed like there was no tomorrow, trying to wrack his brain for anything that could get him heading in the right direction. Why would his father be in Tokyo...?
…Wait! Now that he thought about it, he actually remembered his father saying that he went to college in Tokyo, and as he thought about it more, he realized that his dad had actually gone to Tokyo from time to time during his childhood. Maybe those were for class reunions? If that was so, then his father would have had no choice but to bring his two-year-old self along so that he could go and visit his friends. Had his old man ever mentioned about taking him to Tokyo before?
Feeling that he was only going to worsen his headache if he kept the questions coming, Yamamoto went with his gut instinct that his father was in Tokyo for a reunion. Now if he was at a reunion, where would it be held? The bars would have just opened so that was a possibility, but if the reunion was for a bunch of people the bars might not be big enough, especially if it concerned his father's college graduating class. Maybe they would hold it at a hotel?
Nodding to himself in agreement, Yamamoto began to look around his surroundings again for either a bar or a hotel that was close by. He assumed that his younger self hadn't traveled too far away from the building the reception would have been held in, if that was the case at all. Catching sight of what looked like a four star hotel further down the street, Yamamoto immediately headed in that direction. He didn't know when the bazooka would decide to send him back so he had to be quick and efficient if he didn't want his younger self getting lost in the streets of Tokyo.
Upon entering the fancy hotel, Yamamoto had to force himself not to stare and gawk at the beautiful ornate design of the interior of the building, the lobby breathtakingly beautiful to any who wished to observe. The design was a lavish European style that affectionately reminded Yamamoto of his feisty little bomber. Shaking his head to clear his last thoughts, Yamamoto made his way over to the richly polished wood of the reception desk, asking the nearest receptionist if his father had booked a room there even though he was very certain that his father wouldn't have had enough money to rent a room in such a lavish hotel. The raven-haired teen was proven correct as the kind young receptionist shook her head sadly at the question. Yamamoto then asked if there was a class reunion being held somewhere in the hotel and to his surprise the receptionist beamed up at him and confirmed his question, pointing a dainty finger down the nearest hallway that led to a banquet hall.
After thanking the receptionist with a grateful smile, Yamamoto made his way down the hall, hoping that his luck was with him and that this was where his dad was supposed to be. Once he arrived at the double wooden doors that had the banquet hall sign hanging on the wall and a sign posted on the door that indicated the college class reunion (Yamamoto still couldn't quite remember what college his dad had attended, so he wasn't sure if he was at the right place or not), the dark-skinned teen cautiously opened the doors and peeked his head into the room, trying to pick out his father's face or voice among the throngs of laughing people within the gigantic room.
Thankfully he didn't have to search too long when he heard a loud guffaw from across the room, the voice a booming, thunderous, laugh that held a distinctive edge to it that Yamamoto would recognize anywhere. That laugh could only be his father's since he had heard that loud, joyful, laughter most of his life. The black-haired teen's hazel eyes quickly zeroed in onto his father's location, barely making him out amongst the crowd but still able to notice the reddish hue to his father's cheeks and an indiscernible drink in his hand.
Yamamoto frowned at this, easily seeing that his dad was getting himself drunk in the middle of the afternoon with his friends with no regards to being responsible and keeping a watch over his little son. That much was obvious. The raven-haired teen couldn't remember a time when his father had been so careless but maybe he had just succumbed to peer pressure…or maybe…
The light in Yamamoto's eyes darkened as a depressing memory surfaced to the forefront of his mind, an almost immeasurable guilt overcoming the tall teenager as he slowly closed the banquet hall doors and walked away, trying to forget what he had remembered. Maybe a walk would clear his head? Seeing as he was correct in his assumptions of a class reunion and that he was in the same building as his father, he saw no harm in investigating the rest of the lavish building to kill whatever time he had remaining.
It was here that Yamamoto found himself still on the ground level of the hotel a few minutes later, staring into a finely decorated restaurant where the beautiful tinkling of a fine-tuned piano reached his ears. For a moment the teen just stood there and took the music in, the soft and gentle tune calming his agitated nerves and bringing him to another memory, no, more like a wish. He had always wanted to hear Gokudera play the piano but had been too afraid to ask because he knew that the smaller teen became touchy whenever the subject was brought up.
He didn't know what got into him at that moment but the next minute, Yamamoto found himself moving into the interior of the restaurant, bypassing a curious hostess and a few waiters as he followed the sound of the piano. The taller teen didn't know why but he felt compelled to see the person who was playing such beautiful music.
Once the view of a grand piano came into view, Yamamoto stopped a distance away and looked on into the roped off section of the restaurant where the piano was placed. A young woman with long, wavy, strands of shining silver hair cascading down her back sat at the piano, her fingers gliding over the keys like water flowing over rocks in a stream bed, each movement perfect and natural.
Even though he couldn't get a good look at her face from the distance he was at, Yamamoto knew two things: 1) this woman was breathtakingly beautiful even though he couldn't make out what she truly looked like. It was just the way the women held herself so delicately, the way her creamy porcelain-like skin and silver locks shined underneath the lighting of the room, and the angelic air that seemed to emanate from her very being as she played the piano beside her with such skill that any onlooker would be envious. Everything the woman did seemed to be a work of art and Yamamoto couldn't stop his heart from beating faster at the sight of her. 2) He felt like he knew this woman even though he was pretty sure that he had never seen her once in his life. She just…reminded him of someone but he couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was because her hair was such a rare silver color that he couldn't help but be reminded of Gokudera? That and she was playing the piano, so maybe that's why she felt familiar?
Well, his reasoning aside, Yamamoto decided that he wanted a closer look, so ignoring the weird looks he was getting from the customers of the restaurant, he did just that. As soon as he started walking towards the piano though, the woman's song came to an end and she sighed in exhaustion. Drawing a little closer, Yamamoto still wasn't able to see her face but he did notice how her shoulders slumped in fatigue. Just as he was about to draw even nearer, he noticed a waiter make his way over to the tired looking woman out of the corner of his eye.
Yamamoto stopped and watched as the waiter bent down a bit to talk to the seated woman. By this point the raven-haired teen was close enough to hear what they were saying to each other, so it was no surprise that he was able to overhear the waiter address the young beautiful woman as 'Gokudera-san'.
All time seemed to stop as Yamamoto heard that name. He was so stunned at what he had overheard that he completely missed the rest of the two's conversation, only noticing the waiter help the woman up from her seat at the piano by her shoulders and steer her towards what looked like a waiting area for customers near the front of the restaurant. Still too stunned to really think of what he was doing, Yamamoto followed from a distance, wanting nothing more than to get a better look at the mysterious woman that held his lover's name.
When the waiter finally sat the woman down on a comfy looking couch in the lounge area and told her to take her time and rest, Yamamoto was disappointed to notice that the woman's back was too him now and that in order to get a better look he had no choice but to confront her. For some reason, Yamamoto felt himself becoming nervous at the prospect of walking up to her. He had never remembered a time where he had been afraid to meet new people before but for some reason he couldn't help but feel that this was some sort of momentous occasion, one that he should feel honored to experience yet cautious on how he approached it. The young baseball player's gut instincts told him to tread lightly.
Swallowing his nerves, Yamamoto finally found the resolve to make his way slowly towards the seated woman, like any faster movement would make the women suddenly disappear into thin air.
Like a ghost.
Making his way around the lounge area's couch, the raven-haired teen could see that the young woman's head was bent downwards; her form slightly slouched with her silver locks shadowing her face from view. Noticing that her breathing wasn't even and that he wasn't disturbing her sleep if he was to say something, Yamamoto quietly asked, "Um…excuse me?" he began awkwardly, his nerves coming back to him as he gazed upon the slouched feminine figure before him. Trying to be as polite as he could, he continued, "Um…do I know you?"
The woman's form seemed to stiffen as the questions left his mouth but eventually she brought her head up to gaze upon her questioner, her face one of pure curiosity.
Yamamoto could feel his breath hitch as he gazed down onto the woman before him, her face bearing an almost perfect resemblance to Gokudera Hayato.
A/N: And there you have it folks! Both Gokudera's run around a lot and trip over things while Tsuna's and Yamamoto's dads get drunk in the afternoon (I bet that they know each other and are good drinking buddies lol). How will Gokudera react to seeing his father again and how will Yamamoto interact with Gokudera's mom? Don't worry, all will be explained eventually, except for Yamamoto's luck. That's just unexplainable lol.
Also, I hope that no one disliked the mention of D18, but don't worry if you didn't, I might mention them in passing again in future chapters but I won't be showing it.
And I also want to mention that I got the Italian word that Little Gokudera said at the beginning of the chapter from an online translator, so more than likely it was wrong but I wanted a very simple word for Gokudera to say and most of the words for alien that came up were rather long and difficult sounding, which you wouldn't expect coming out of a two-year-olds mouth. So hopefully the word alieno is an actual Italian word and not just the word alien with an 'o' added to the end of it. Gosh, I felt like I was back in Spanish class when I wrote it! XD
Also, as another note before I tell you guys another story, the next couple of chapters won't be structured like this, meaning that they will be too long to have moments between Little Gokudera/Yamamoto, present Gokudera, and present Yamamoto all in one chapter. Each will have their own separate chapters so you guys will have to wait patiently to see what happens next for each person. Sorry! But that's how it works. =(
8059 Sims story: Ok, now that you guys have read about their first date and how they became a couple, I'm going to share with you guys a moment I noticed between the two as they were going out; one that I had no control of whatsoever.
My sister and I just created a new family, an adult Yuna, teenage Rikku, and adult Paine from Final Fantasy X-2, (hopefully most of you guys know who I'm talking about lol). After we got the girls settled, some people from the neighborhood came over to greet us. These people happened to be Sanji, from One Piece, and Yamamoto and Gokudera! From there, Yuna grilled some hot dogs and after everyone was done eating, the stereo was on so Sanji decided that he wanted to dance. The funny thing is, no one danced along with Sanji, he kind of stayed to himself in one corner of the house and danced by himself lol. Gokudera didn't like Sanji too much because he would always twirl his finger around his head to indicate that he thought Sanji was crazy XD (maybe he was too much like Dr. Shamal for his tastes lol). Eventually, my sister made the girls dance by the stereo and Gokudera actually got up and joined them (Gokudera likes to dance now because of my last story with Yamamoto~)!
While this was going on—and remember that my sister and I were playing as a different family so we had no control over our guests— Yamamoto just walked around everyone and laughed at how silly everyone looked while they danced. He then made his way up to Gokudera and Gokudera turned around to see what he wanted. Yamamoto then proceeded to jump into Gokudera's arms and Gokudera barely caught him and held him up XD (oh Yama, you're so silly!). After he let Yamamoto down, Gokudera and Yamamoto then proceeded to dance with each other while everyone else danced by themselves.
It was so cute to see the boys interact with each other outside of their house and in public without me controlling them. It really made me happy and hopefully it made you guys happy too. =)