Chapter 46: Facing Demons.
This is a rather emotional chapter, but one that contains the key elements of what I had originally planned for this arc. A lot of things had to be added since Bermuda took Shinichi, so sorry if it seems like there is far too much going on. You can now see why I had to split these two chapters apart.
This is totally un proof read. I had done it but hit the refresh button and lost it all. It's too late for me to want to proof read it now. Meaning there will be more spelling mistakes than usual. I'll go back and change them later- I know they are there.
Gokudera and Basil had deliberated for a while over how to handle this specific mission, for it was one they would have to go on themselves rather than sending subordinates. Luckily enough, there was no chance of bloodshed or them dying from this mission since it dealt purely in the 'ordinary' world. It was strange to think of the two as separate, but when leading lives like they did, unless they wanted to end up in prison, they needed to think like that.
Basil really wished that Gokudera had less of a 'Juudaime' complex. He really wondered how Tsuna dealt with Gokudera at times. Maybe being the subject of such devotion was easier than watching it. They needed to see the Boss of a normal Corporation, however this man had such high standing that Tsuna himself would have been forced to go, not as Vongola Decimo, but as V.F'S Boss. However the problem was that, well, Tsuna wasn't here at the moment. However, it wasn't like they could tell him that. Whilst this man was determined- and had the power to- stay out of Mafia and Underworld dealings, other people around him secretly were. If they told this man that Tsuna couldn't see him, then it would no doubt be leaked and soon enough people would be at their doors taking advantage of both Boss and Heir being gone. Not a pretty prospect. But that was fine for they had a simple solution, if only Gokudera would play along.
But no. He was determined not to play Boss at all, not even wearing his face for an hour tops. Basil was quickly losing his infinite pool of calm, which apparently wasn't so infinite anymore. Basil would play the role of Boss himself in this little play, however he didn't have the knowledge to handle it. Since this was a talk between Bosses of equal standing, it wasn't possible for the Right Hand Man to answer questions for 'Tsuna'. As such it was not possible for Basil to sit there wearing Tsuna's face and let Gokudera handle everything. Basil was a CEDEF member, and stuck purely to Tsuna and Vongola's Mafia dealings. He very rarely dealt with something purely civilian. He wasn't sure how to handle this meeting, nor knew enough background knowledge to be able to take a good guess. Meaning Gokudera would have to do it. But the bomber was still being adamant about not pretending to be Juudaime. Basil hadn't figured out why this was so yet; Gokudera was Acting Boss, it was allowed. But it seemed that there was some psychological factor stopping Gokudera from crossing that line whilst Tsuna was still alive. He didn't have the time to try and figure out what this barrier was.
So here they were arguing over it. Basil almost wished Tsuna was here to order Gokudera to do this mission- of course Tsuna being here meant the mission wouldn't need to go ahead, but it was the fact that Gokudera followed Tsuna's orders without hesitation that Basil truly wished for. As he was thinking this he realised how he could get Gokudera to comply.
"Gokudera-dono, I believe that Sawada-dono would be very upset with thou and maybe even offended." Gokudera's eyes widened from the double blow. Basil had pulled out the Juudaime card, as well as allowing old Italian into his speech. Gokudera had found out through whispered mutterings of the CEDEF Heir, that old Italian words meant Basil was well and truly pissed and on the way to losing his calm.
"Juu-dai-me… would be upset… with me?" he stutters. That couldn't be allowed! His aim was to make Juudaime happy. "O-offended? I have done nothing to offend him at all!"
"You refuse to dress up like Sawada-dono, and he may take that as a sign that you don't like his appearance, Gokudera-dono." Basil watched as first Gokudera's face paled at the possible scoff to Juudaime he may have committed before he blushed.
"That's not true!" the bomber shouted. "I just… I just"
Seeing Gokudera was still having some sort of internal battle, Basil continued. "If you are not offended by Sawada-dono's appearance, then there is no reason for you not to do what he requires of you. Unless you want to let Sawada-dono down in his absence?"
Basil could almost see the fuse of Gokudera's anger deplete. "Of course I wouldn't!" he shouts, the loudest Basil has heard him recently. "I would never let Juudaime down. I have devoted my whole life to making sure he is happy and following his orders. To let him down is the same as dying to me!"
Basil nods his head, his calm returned once more. "Good. Then shall we be going Gokudera-dono? We were almost out of time anyway." If Gokudera hadn't caved in soon, Basil feared that he would have had to have gone with his escort without the Bomber, maybe with Yamamoto instead.
Gokudera stands and walks past Basil before opening the door to Juudaime's office. "You had better not give me a bad image" he grumbles before exiting to find the only other person they would need with them.
Chrome had been rather surprised when Gokudera had found her a few days ago, asking for her help on an assignment. In fact, she had been surprised by the summons to the house in general. It was the day after Mukuro-sama had disappeared, and she was sitting in their house shivering over the silence. It hadn't been this quite for a very long time- Ken made far too much noise. She had never thought she would have missed the arguments between Ken and Chikusa, nor Ken's absentminded growling due to the Animal DNA in his system. She didn't think she would have missed Flan and his sharp tongue either. But she did. She missed them all quite dearly.
She hadn't felt so alone in almost 5 years. And whilst she tried very hard to deny this part of herself and push it to the bottom of her heart, she still felt abandoned. It brought up bad memories of her parents abandoning her after the car crash. Although if they never loved her and cared for her to start with, could it really be called abandonment? She thought she had forgotten about those times, replaced with memories of Mukuro-sama and the others. But without them here, it all came back to the surface. She was alone. Totally alone with no one here to care for her, to love her, to need her. Why had Mukuro-sama abandoned her too? Was she no longer of use to him?
It was something she had feared ever since Mukuro had been allowed out of the Vendicare, that he would no longer need her. But the warmth in her right eye meant that the bond was still there. He hadn't broken it off. She had no idea what she would do if that bond between them was broken. It wasn't something she could control; She couldn't swap bodies with him, only he could do that. Without that bond, she wouldn't have anyone to go to. All she had now, she had because of him.
"H-hey, S-sis… " she had look up from where her head had been resting on raised knees, to see Gokudera looking anywhere but at her, a light blush on his face. Whilst they all considered each other to be family rather than Family, it was very rare that the self-imposed titles of brother and sister were ever used. Ryohei only used it since he had called Boss that from the start, before she had even arrived. The last time she had heard that address at herself was when she had cried when Mukuro-sama had been released. Boss had held her close, and comforted her, telling her that their family was finally whole. For it to be used now, and by Gokudera of all people must mean that she looks like a wreck.
When the pair finally make eye contact, Gokudera had growled. "Oi, stop crying damn woman!" he half shouted, at a lower volume than normal, a caring gesture from the bomber. She had lowered her knees and wiped the tears off on her sleeve. She had looked up in surprise when her wrist was grabbed and she was forcefully pulled up and dragged through her house. "As if I'm going to let a sister stay by herself when Juudaime isn't here to stay with you himself" he had mumbled- to her or himself she didn't know. However she was deeply touched by the gesture.
So she had ended up living back in her official room at the start of the Guardian Corridor. Each morning she had been accepted at the breakfast table with smiles on the other's faces, brought into any conversations going on. And never before had she felt so warm. She almost wanted to cry once more. Sure they had been together for 5 years now, but she had always been separated from them, always living in Kokuyo Land with Ken and Chikusa. An even then they had only been with her for her connection to Mukuro-sama. But she regretted her choice now. She knew that Boss was warm, but the atmosphere here was fever pitch and she loved it.
So when Gokudera went to find her this afternoon, he knew exactly where she'd be, in the Family lounge, listening to Lambo gloat over his mission yesterday.
"Oi, Ahoshi, shut your trap. I need her." He had shouted after his entrance had been ignored. Lambo like this could talk for hours, if he didn't grab her now, they'd never make it to the appointment on time. Before Lambo could start a verbal war with Gokudera, Chrome stood up and silently followed him, smiling back at Lambo to let him know it was alright.
"Is it time?" she asks as they walk down the corridors to the helicopter on the roof where Basil would be waiting for them.
"Yes, you're alright with what we need you to do, aren't you?" Gokudera asks, climbing the last set of stairs. Chrome nods when he looks over his shoulder for a response.
"I'm ready"
The Tenth Boss of the V.F Corporation and his Right Hand Man were lead into a conference room by the Boss on ConnEctioN himself, followed by the man's own vice President. The Conference room was high in the sky, looking over the tops of the nearby buildings and giving a view of the sky and surrounding countryside. It was also covered on two sides by mirrors, with the other two walls holding the full length windows and the door. The Man gestured to a seat and Gokudera sat down on it. Basil stood behind him respectfully, just like any Right Hand would do.
The meeting went rather well considering the disguises. Gokudera had been at enough of these meetings to know how Juudaime would react, and tried to copy them as best as he could. It basically meant being rather apathetic, brought on by the changes HDW Mode brought in his Boss. However, half way through, Gokudera made one vital mistake. He looked in the mirror. But instead of seeing himself, he saw Juudaime staring back at him. That was to be expected. But he knew it was himself behind the fluffy brown hair and chocolate eyes, yet the image presented to him was one of Juudaime being a Boss.
He's just a Bastard Son. What right does he have being so high in such a prestigious Famiglia like Vongola?
I bet be wormed his way in with the heir, flattering him and seducing him, just like his mother did.
He probably has the Heir wrapped around his little finger, manipulating him at every turn.
A Bastard Son can never amount to anything, he'll just bring Vongola down.
He wants Revenge for being a Bastard Son so decided to take Control of Vongola.
He's just after the Fame, Money and Power, I bet he doesn't care at all for the Heir.
Those whispered words were ones he secretly feared, ones that tore him up inside. He pretended not to hear them when the words had been whispered at the time, but they had driven a knife right into his heart. He was bringing shame to Vongola merely by his unworthy presence. This was why he had never wanted to take over Juudaime's place for a second, since the Mafia would assume it was all a ploy for him to gain power. And he had never even thought about doing that ever since Juudaime had saved him from his own dynamite all those years ago. Before, maybe he had wished for the position, to have a Family that respected him for once. That's why he had been lured in by Reborn's offer, been so determined to kill the pathetic trash in front of him. He had hated Tsuna from the moment he had seen the boy, the boy who had everything he'd ever wanted without ever lifting a finger. The Boy who wanted to throw all of that away, who didn't want the blessing being dropped into his lap.
But all of that had changed, and now he had all that he wanted. Juudaime had provided him with a place to stay, a warm loving Family, safety and security. He knew he wasn't worthy of any of it, not with such dirty thoughts, so he tried his best to redeem himself. Although he had a feeling that he could never balance the scales back out. Juudaime had done far more for him than he would ever hope to repay. But he had to overcome his fear of those words. He had to overcome his fear of being dropped back out into the streets once more. He knew, truly knew it, that Juudaime would never throw him out due to his past, but the image still flickered through his mind. He had to believe in Juudaime and the trust Juudaime had in him. He had to work harder than ever to make sure he never did anything to displease Juudaime, to show him that he never wanted the position of Decimo. He had to work hard and make Juudaime proud of him. Proud of the Bastard half breed Son.
"Tenth?" the voice snaps him out of his thoughts, as he blinks and breaks the mirror's spell. Basil places a glass of water down in front of him. "Is everything alright Tenth?" asks the Boss of ConnEctioN.
Gokudera nods. "A-ah, yes, I was just… admiring the sunset. You have such a prime viewing position from here." The Boss nods and looks out at the setting sun too.
"It is indeed pretty. And a perfect ending to our meeting, don't you agree? All we need to do is sign the contracts and it'll all be done. I look forward to working with you Tenth." Gokudera blinks once more before remembering where he is once again. Basil hands him a pen, giving him a slight nod- he had found nothing wrong with the contract and deemed it alright to sign.
Gokudera leant forwards to sign the contract. As pen touches paper, he sees himself out of the corner of his eye. He grits his teeth and signs the paper- he knew Juudaime's signature from having to sign so many useless piece of paper in his name. He wasn't going to let Juudaime down. Vongola would stay up and running and be in perfect health for his return, even if it meant fighting public opinion and his inner demons.
For Juudaime, he'd do anything.
Back in the helicopter Gokudera almost collapses into the seat.
"Get this illusion off of me Chrome" he growls deeply. As soon as the doors are shut and the helicopter in the air she does, materialising her own form too. She had been with them the whole time, projecting an illusion of Boss onto Gokudera and the image of Gokudera onto Basil, also handling how their voices were heard. Chrome may not have seen Boss during meetings like this first hand, but from Gokudera's description his voice had sounded like the deeply calm one he used when he was serious in fights. That she had heard plenty of times and could copy that effortlessly.
"Thank you for your help Dokuro-dono." Smiles Basil, giving the best bow he could from his seat.
Chrome smiles and looks down. "Anything to help Boss and the family." How could she say no to something like this that was for Tsuna's benefit? It wasn't as if her life was on the line either- this may have been the easiest mission she had ever been on. Not that it didn't take its toll. Holding an illusion, even ones as simple as this, for an hour took energy. She blinks and looks down at her lap when an energy bar lands there.
"Che, eat something. Juudaime wouldn't be happy with me if he heard that I didn't take care of you" She couldn't see his face from her seat, but suspected there was a blush there. He always blushed when he did something that went against his Bomber/ delinquent façade.
Chrome quietly accepts the snack, knowing that the only thing that could make this moment better would to have both Boss and the Kokuyo Gang with her.
Everyone had gathered in the Meeting room as soon as Basil, Gokudera and Chrome had returned from their trip. There was a sense of urgency filling the air; everyone wanted Tsuna back as soon as possible.
"Che, listen up nit-wits." Growls Gokudera from his seat. Everyone quietened down, ready to finally do something. "We've cleared all of the annoying shit that we needed to do for the rest of the month, hence why we sent all of you out at the same time. Now we can focus all of our efforts into finding Juudaime and know that there won't be any interruptions." The other's all nod in agreement. "So we need to compile what we know."
"Tsuna was kidnapped one week ago at 4:00 PM local time from the Crystal Plaza."
"A sleeping drug was used on him to capture him. Based on the probable scene, he was caught by surprise."
At this remark, Gokudera turns to Shoichi and Spanner, giving them a pointed look. Shoichi stiffens, a hand moving to his stomach for comfort before he looks around the room. He reminds himself not to do that in the future considering everyone was looking at him and that only made the pain worse. "Well… The thing is…" he starts, looking down at the desk and fiddling with the pen in his hand. "We are… it's hard to…"
"We are Mechanics not Chemists and don't know what the sleeping gas is." States Spanner in his straightforward way.
"Vongola's own scientists don't know what it is either." Shoichi comments now that the bad news had passed.
"So what are we going to do to the extreme?" questioned Ryohei, asking what the other's had on their minds.
"Che, I thought this may happen, which is why I sent Baseball-freak and the dumb cow to Japan yesterday." Gokudera sighs, flicking open a phone and hitting a speed dial number. Gokudera starts talking the moment Yamamoto picks up. "Go ask her." And hangs up.
"Her? Who are you talking about?" asks Chrome. The only people she could think of in Japan were Haru and Kyoko, but they didn't major in science at all. Nor Did Hana. Add in her and she had exhausted the list of female candidates… unless Boss's mother happened to be a secret scientist.
"I had originally asked Aneki if she knew what it was, but she didn't recognise the substence either- it even knocked her out, meaning it's got to be something brand new." Starts Gokudera, talking about Bianchi. "So there's only one other person that I can think of to help us. We're going out on a limb here to ask her since she doesn't know about the Family. Shinichi said she's a suspicious person, hence why I've sent the Yakyuu-baka."
"You're confusing me to the Extreme! Who is Yamamoto going to see?"
"Good morning, you're Haibara aren't you?" asks Yamamoto, looking down at the girl he remembered from the Christmas party.
She looks up at him with suspicious eyes, vaguely recognising him too- there were a lot of people at that party- before her eyes traverse to what's behind him. Ignoring the childish and bratty cow child, her eyes are drawn to the pair of black suited men looking around as if suspecting an attack or something.
"You're one of Shinichi's workmates aren't you?" she asks, not answering his question since she didn't need to.
Yamamoto laughs, and rubs a hand behind his neck , hoping to break the ice of the meeting. "Haahaa, yep, I am. I work for Tsuna and the V.F. too. Shinichi's a great guy actually.
"Yeah, Shinichi-nii is awesome!" agrees Lambo, finally finished looking around at the garden. "He and Kaito-nii play with Lambo a lot and he teaches me a lot of things too. Plus he never hits Lambo like Gokudera does sometimes."
This relaxed Haibara ever so marginally. She still had suspicions about the people Shinichi was with. There were just far too any secrets and things that didn't line up. She knew that V.F. had their hands in a lot of things, but chemistry and medicine had never been one of them before now and it had seemed strange to make the sudden leap into very crowded territory. And whilst the story they had given her at the Christmas party had satisfied her the and there, given time to dwell over it and pick it to pieces, more and more gaps began to appear.
So to find them at her door, without Shinichi, was extremely suspicious. She didn't miss the bulges on their escorts where she knew from experience guns were hidden. You didn't come from an organisation like she did without learning to recognise weapons, even as a scientist. She wanted them gone and as far away as possible as soon as possible.
"Is there something I can help you with" she asks interrupting whatever pleasantries Yamamoto had been saying. Yamamoto stops talking, pre warned by Shinichi's storied of her, and therefore not offended.
"Actually there is." Says Yamamoto, still smiling disarmingly. "Do you mind if we talk inside, it's not something we can really talk about on the street like this."
Haibara takes a few moments to think about this, focusing in on the sounds of the Hakase creating some new gadget behind her. She wasn't going to let her safe haven be invaded, not when there were other options. She slips out of her house scuffs before placing on proper shoes. She steps out of the house and closes the door firmly behind her. "Follow me." Before they can argue back, she had walked around the cow dressed child and down the garden path. Having no other option, they follow their last hope into the garden next door. Haibara takes a key out of her pocket and unlocks it before gesturing them inside. The three men and Lambo enter the house before she shuts the door behind herself. "First door on your right," she directs. It entered into the living room; she knew where any weapons she needed to defend herself with were in this part of the house- having put many of them there herself over the past few years.
She herself takes the arm chair, a better defensive position, whist the others spread themselves out of the sofas around the room.
"What is it you want?" she asks bluntly, in no mood to be polite with relative strangers.
"Can you two go stand outside?" asks Yamamoto, noticing how wary they were making her. Plus he didn't want to give anything about her identity away to them. He understood the predicament she and Shinichi were in. Once they are outside the house, watching the surroundings, Yamamoto turns to her. "I'm sorry that Shinichi isn't here to see you instead of us, but he's on an assignment for us in America at the moment and this is something pretty urgent." He wasn't going to tell her they had no clue where he was and used America since it had been his last known public appearance. "We need your help with something, analysing a chemical to be specific. Shinichi told us you were good with that sort of thing. Our own scientists can't figure out what it's made from and therefore can't track the source of it. We were hoping that you could take a look at it for us."
A Chemical? Haibara didn't like the sound of that. If they were analysing something a competitor had made then they should be able to figure out the ingredients themselves- all ingredients had to be on the package labels these days. How did they get their hands on something if they didn't know what it was? If ordering something in, they'd have to know its name to get it. So was it stolen? Had they taken the idea from someone else?
"What kind of Chemical?" she asks slowly. If it was harmful, she wasn't taking it back to Agasa's house.
"When Gokudera tasted it, he fell asleep and there were no other side effects, so we're assuming it's purely a tranquiliser. He did sleep for almost a full day however." Supplies Yamamoto, his cooler side having taken over. Haibara had noticed this, wondering why the need for such a drastic difference. Tranquilisers were a common thing these days, there were only so many compounds that forced the body into sleep. But why would the V.F. have hold of a sleeping drug? Maybe for their prisons? But then again, a normal tranquiliser would have sufficed, there was no need to create something new and unseen. Plus this Gokudera had tried it without knowing what it was, a pretty stupid mistake.
"Why do you need me to tell you what it's made from? Surely knowing it's effects are enough?" she questioned. She was not being tricked into making something harmful again. She had been there and done that and got the tiny t-shirt.
"Be-because Tsuna-nii is missing!" shouts Lambo before bursting into tears. He hadn't liked this girl's sharp tone and unwillingness to help. To be honest she scared him, she wasn't like any other 9 year old he knew. She was even scarier than some adults. He had forgotten the fact that she was an adult, just like he kept on forgetting that Conan was Shinichi. The others could accept it quicker because of Lambo's time traveling, but being the one who time travelled meant that he wasn't as used to the idea.
Yamamoto sighs at Lambo before slinging an arm over his shoulders and giving him a one handed hug. "It'll be alright Lambo, we'll find him, I'm sure."
Haibara raised her eyebrow at this. So Shinichi's Boss was missing? Kidnappings in high profile people wasn't too common, but common enough to be a viable reason for them to come to her door. However, she wondered why they hadn't told her this from the start to gain her sympathy. Yamamoto looks up and notices her look before laughing sheepishly.
"Haahaa. Yeah, about that. The real reason we've come to you is that Tsuna has been kidnapped. He's been trained in martial arts though and should have been able to defend himself against any attackers. So we suspected something was used. This substance was found at where we suspect the kidnapping took place. When Gokudera went to see what it was since he's our poisons and gas expert, he fell asleep almost instantly, from just a tiny lick. That chemical is the only clue we have to finding out where Tsuna is. You're kind of our last hope." Both males look at her with pleading eyes.
"If he's been kidnapped then why not wait for the ransom?" she asks. High profile people were generally kidnapped for the money and returned later on. They were far more likely to find the kidnappers through decoding their voice and background noise then through what chemical was used.
"It's been a week and no one's come forth to claim the ransom" Yamamoto explains. "We fear that he's actually going to be killed. That's why we need to find him as soon as possible. We've been trying to find him with our resources but there's been no luck so far."
"Well, if it's been a week, what makes you think he's still alive?" Their chances of finding him alive now where very slim. From the way the she'd heard the Organisation did things, they may have kept him around for a day or two to get any useful information out of him, but then he would have been tortured and killed, certainly by the weeks end. Once he had given out his information he was of no use to them anymore, especially if they hadn't asked for a ransom.
Both Lambo and Yamamoto pale, making her think that the possibility hadn't crossed their minds. How naive of them. Lambo starts crying harder, digging his head into Yamamoto's side.
Yamamoto's eyes harden, thinking about the truth behind those words "We would have been given evidence of that. The people we work with are the type to display their trophies, especially of a rival Boss" he mumbles to himself, but Haibara heard it all. And she didn't like the sound of it one bit. It didn't sound like the usual corporate backstabbing. No it sounded more… Underground. She wasn't naïve and knew that Major Corporations often had underhanded deals, it seemed that the V.F. were no different.
In fact, underground deals could explain some of the holes in the information regarding Shinichi's cure and the secrecy around it. Where on earth did Shinichi end up? More importantly, how did Shinichi end up with them? Through fear, or some sort of Blackmail? Were they in even more danger? Wait, they knew who she was… maybe not her adult name, but they knew she was like Shinichi, Yamamoto had practically said so.
Lambo, having also heard what Yamamoto had said, looks at him with wide eyes. To think about Tsuna-nii being tortured like that… "Gotta- stay- calm… No, Lambo can't take it anymore!" No, he'd go to the future where Tsuna-nii would be waiting for him with a grape candy. He pulls the purple Bazooka out of his hair and quickly shoots himself with it.
Haibara jumps back in fear of the god damned Bazooka the kid had just pulled out. She quickly ran to the bookcase whilst the pair were distracted and scrambled for the gun she had placed there. She knew how to use one, the Organisation had made sure of that. However when she turns around to aim it at them, it's to see a cloud of pink smoke. She quickly covers her mouth and nose with his lab coat sleeve, but luckily it doesn't reach her. When it clears, she finds herself pointing a gun at an adult instead. The man looks about 20 and resembles the child that used to be in his place. In fact judging by the facial markers, this would be what he could look like in roughly ten years time. He had the same weird fashion trend of horns in his hair and cow print.
"Yare, yare… I've used the Bazooka again it seems." Says the man looking at Yamamoto. He then looks around the rest of the room in curiosity, only to find Haibara pointing a gun at him. "Gya! Chibi-chan, don't shoot me with those special bullets again, I'll be good!" Yamamoto and Haibara watch the man duck behind the sofa.
"Lambo, you've met Haibara before?" asks Yamamoto, taking the transfer in his stride- 5 years of that would do it to you- and looking over the back of the sofa.
"Hm, oh that's right, this is in the past, she wouldn't have developed them yet." Adult Lambo sighs to himself before returning to his seat next to Yamamoto, eyes still on the gun.
"What the fuck is going on? If that was a magic trick then, I'll let you know I'm not in the mood for them and it's not going to persuade me to help you." She tries to hold the gun steady in her quivering hands.
"You have nothing to fear Chibi-chan. It's not a magic trick, I'm just from the future… oh shit, when is this?" He looks worriedly at Yamamoto. "She's not part of the Family yet is she?"
Family? Bazookas? Time traveling Bazookas of all things? She was scared. Confused and scared. Her panicked mind was quick to put together the worst case scenario like it always would do.
Family + Underground dealings + human trophies = Mafia.
The suddenly hushed conversation in Italian proved her point. She may not be able to understand them, but she could still recognise the language. Shinichi had somehow gotten caught up in the Mafia. He'd never go willingly with a pack of criminals… at least she thinks he wouldn't, Shinichi had too large a sense of justice for that. So they definitely had something on him. Maybe they threatened him to work for them or reveal his identity to the Organisation. It wouldn't be too far a leap for people like them to deal with the Mafia considering how world wide their dealings were. That threat could easily be used on her too since they knew she wasn't who she said she was. But Shinichi had said he was drawing the Organisation out… maybe this Family were using Shinichi's desire to get rid of them to get rid of rival competition? Manipulating him to their goals. Shinichi became rather reckless when they were involved and could have acted without thinking and now didn't know how to get back out again.
If it was the Mafia, or indeed any other form of Underground Group, then they wouldn't hesitate in using Agasa or the Children to get what they wanted. Shinichi had said that she was being watched for her safety, but maybe it was so that she didn't run for help? She didn't really have a lot of choice in the matter then. She'd rather she was the only one taken that to get the others harmed because of her selfishness.
"I'll help" she shouts. Yamamoto and Adult Lambo stop their heated conversation (she wasn't supposed to learn about them yet) to stare at her. "I'll help, but on the one condition that you stay away from the others. You harm them at all and I'll destroy all the evidence and your Boss will stay kidnapped." She would bite back if she had to.
Yamamoto smiles at her, still keeping an eye on the gun in her hand. "That's great. Of course we won't harm them. We never even had the intention to harm them. I don't know what made you think that."
"So where are we going to work? I refuse to do it at the Hakase's place." She was not letting Underground thugs anywhere near him, no matter how nice Shinichi's 'co-workers' had seemed at the party. She stopped thinking about that since that party had presented them in a totally different light. Although it hadn't seemed fake.
"Hmm, well, where ever you feel most comfortable really. I've been told that you can stay here or go to Italy where Tsuna was kidnapped. It would be easier of we took you there, but we don't want to force you to go anywhere if you don't want to." Explains Yamamoto. Evidence could be shipped or shown through videos, pictures and scans after all. When he sees the indecision in her face she smiles. "I'll give you a moment to think it over. Why don't you go and pack since you don't want stay here. Of course the V.F. Corporation can buy you whatever you may need."
Adult Lambo looks between the pair before finally clicking where on his mental timeline this is- dates never really helped settle in his mind where he was. "Oh! This was when Vongola was Kidnapped, correct?" Yamamoto nods. "Then, Chibi-chan, I'll tell you that you can find the solution eventually."
"You mean that we find Tsuna? Can you tell me where he is?" asks Yamamoto in desperation grabbing Lambo's jacket lapels.
"You know the rules, I can't tell you that. Just know that good things come out of th" and in a cloud of smoke there he was gone.
When Haibara saw that the little boy was back in place of the adult, she decided to walk out of the room. She wouldn't wrap her head around any of this. When she found Shinichi, he was in for hell.
I'm still not sure how far to go with Haibara here. If she goes to Italy, then she's going to learn the whole truth, but if she stays in Japan then she'll just stay suspicious. Any ideas? Oh, and tell me if you think I've done this right. I've never written her before so I'm not sure if I got her correctly. If it's nowhere near close then I'll re-write it.
See you all next time
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 15 August 2012