So if you've read the 'Sweet Whispers' series, you know there was a very short spiel about me graduating, getting really sick for a month, moving, getting a new job, and having this huge thing with my laptop being infected with like 27 trojans. (let's just say I lost a lot of files…) I was really busy. Sorry for the wait guys. THANK YOU to all those who love to read this story and take the time to leave wonderful reviews! It means so much to me! It really does!
I'll try to update a bit quicker after I can figure out how to love this series again. I just have a few bad memories when it comes to this series... OTL
Chapter 12- Lambo + Ryohei: Let's play too!
"Lame! This isn't what I signed up for! Disappointed to the EXTREME!"
"Yeah yeah! This is boring!"
Haru watched as the two males before her were complaining. They had heard the stories from the others that their box animals had turned human for a time. Ryohei and Lambo came running over, curious about what their box animals looked like—but… they looked the same!
Lame! So lame! SUPER LAME… TO THE EXTREME!
The two were begrudgingly complaining as they sat on the couch after Haru asked them to sit down while she go to prepare some snacks and drinks for them. The snacks at least would placate Lambo, and she was sure that if he was given some tea, Ryohei may just settle down.
That was the hope at any rate.
Kangaryuu stood next to the couch and nudged Ryohei's arm (who was still complaining, by the way) to reveal a bomb she had stashed away in her pouch.
He didn't know by which method the animals were turning so he didn't know what he was looking at. Gyuudon walked up behind the kangaroo and bumped into her with one of his horns, causing her to drop the bomb from her small hands.
"POOF!"
A puff of smoke filled the room and Haru could already feel the sense of dread in the pit of her stomach from the sound she just heard coming from the other room. She had a good idea what that had meant. The scream of horror soon following was only solidifying her thought
Another one of the animals have changed into a human, right? The sound of Ryohei's confusion and Lambo shouting something about, 'can you still kick Gokudera's butt?' had Haru changing her mental assessment.
Not just one, but two of the animals must have transformed. A sigh. She continued to boil the water she needed in order to brew the tea. As she was doing that, she was looking around for the cookies that she knew she had to have somewhere in the kitchen. The animals liked to work together and get into everything, so she had to get very good about hiding treats that box animals shouldn't be eating—like cookies.
Quite used to the shenanigans of Tsuna and the rest of the guys, she was casually ignoring the screams of panic coming from the guys.
When she returned with a tray with juice, tea, and cookies, she saw—nothing. Ryohei had run up to her and covered up her eyes.
"Just wait a bit, okay? Lal Mirch is getting the clothes for the box animals."
Ah... yeah, they would be naked once they transformed, huh? Being patient, Haru waited for Lal Mirch to give the clothes to the box animals and aid them in changing before Ryohei removed his hand from her eyes.
Before her stood a tall woman with light brown haired woman with scars littered around her body along with some wrappings around her joints wearing some training gear. Those came from Lal Mirch no doubt. The woman was very muscular! As expected from Ryohei's box animal, right?
The other one… wow. He was tall! He towered over everyone in the room! He had long black hair, a menacing scowl, and his foot kept hitting the ground with an impatient thud. Both animals were very muscular by the looks of things.
That much was to be expected out of a kangaroo and an ox, however. She wasn't surprised by that, but she was surprised by how tall Gyuudon was, and by Ryohei's reaction.
"Y-You're a girl! I thought you were a dude!"
All the women in the room stopped to stare at Ryohei. She had a pouch, didn't she? A pouch a mother kangaroo uses to carry her Joey? Haru didn't even know where to start retorting. Sometimes she worried about Kyoko's older brother. Sometimes she wondered if he'd gotten punched one too many times in the head.
Especially when it came to his ability to make excuses. You really think they'd truly believe you when you say you were having a sumo tournament when you were in fact wearing your boxing gear, and was standing in front of a large boxing ring?
Suuuuuure you were playing Sumo.
"Stop wasting time. Kangaryuu promised to spar with me if she turned into a human. Why not join us?"
The boxer stopped having a mental crisis when he realized that he could truly box with his box animal. He would train with his box animal a lot in the future, but he always had to be wary for the time she'd decide to use her feet. A full-grown kangaroo could easily destroy someone with a single kick after all.
Like this, he could spar with her no problem! "I'll go! Boxing to the EXTREME!"
Watching how easily he shifted his mood from being confused to very excited, Haru giggled to herself. That was always such a nice thing about Ryohei. He was always so full of energy. He was very protective and considerate, wouldn't you know? He was a great older brother.
He looked out for Haru whenever she came over for a sleepover, and he was great with I-pin as well! He gave her a doll that looked like her teacher! Isn't that sweet of him?
Watching the three walk down to the basement to spar, Haru then had to pay attention to what the other two were doing. Most likely, they were up to nothing good if Lambo had a say in it.
With the other two, Lambo was climbing up Gyuudon's body and perched himself on top of his broad shoulders.
"Let's go bet up Gokudera!" The small cow child cheered.
A snorting sound came from Gyudon's nostrils and he nodded his head once before he started heading for the door. Immediately, Haru ran for the door, along with a certain feline who happened to hear what was going on with the annoying screams of the two guardians woke her up from her cat-nap.
The temperamental feline was hissing menacingly at the door with Haru having her hands at her hips, glaring disapprovingly at the both of them. "That is NOT a good idea-desu! Bad Gyuudon, and bad Lambo. You shouldn't resort to violence." She huffed.
Gyuudon, being the obedient animal he was, didn't want to waste the energy in fighting so he lowered his head regretfully. Lambo on the other hand was not so obedient and was always willing to fight someone. "Ahodera was mean to Lambo! He needs to get punished! He hit me and called me stupid!"
That was the usual, wasn't it? With a shake of the head, she pointed over to the tray of cookies she had to set down in order to stop Lambo and Gyuudon at the door.
"Cookies! Let's go Gyuudon! Nyahaha!" The obnoxious laugh was followed by another low snorting sound, courtesy of the humanized ox.
Still carrying Lambo on his shoulders, he walked back over to the other room and set Lambo down so he could chow down on the cookies that Haru brought over and sip on the grape juice she poured out into a glass.
With his master busy eating snacks, Gyuudon sat on the couch and watched his master eating the cookies happily. His eyes cautiously remained on Uri when she walked into the room alongside Haru.
"Hm? Do you not like Uri?" Haru hadn't been aware that Uri made an enemy out of Gyuudon. She knew that she bullied Natsu and both of Yamamoto's box animas, but she didn't know that the ox and this small feline didn't get along either.
Like owner like box animal, huh?
"Her master bothers mine. I'll protect my master. He's still young." Gyuudon answered in a low baritone voice.
She had always wondered whether or not the box animal truly liked his master being that he was so young and childish, but it looked like she didn't have to worry at all. The ox saw it as his duty to watch over the child and protect him from harm, whether it be in a fight, or against the storm guardian.
He may get tired from Lambo's crazy antics, but he may have adored the child in his own way. "A baby cow needs protection."
Ah. The horns, wasn't it?
How cute! Haru giggled to herself at the thought that Gyuudon believed Lambo to be some kind of weird cow with the way he dressed and the horns that he always had in his hair.
Content with the cookies that he just shoved down his throat one after the other, Lambo climbed onto Gyuudon and started to tug on his long hair. "Ne ne! Play with me! Let me ride on your back!"
Holding Lambo up with both of his hands, he hoisted him up onto his back, a gentle smile forming on his face when he heard Lambo's childish laughter.
This was almost like watching a surrogate father and his child playing together. What an adorable picture this was.
"Keep watching over Lambo, okay, Gyuudon? Make sure you don't do anything too dangerous, or Haru will be very disappointed in you. Haru is going to go and check up on the other pair."
The ox-man nodded his head and was walking in whichever direction Lambo was pointing to. This was so much fun being able to travel around without having to use your legs!
Walking down towards the basement, she could hear the sounds of people sparing. The sounds of heavy hits, and the shuffling of feet on the mats was something she'd gotten used to having been living with Lal Mirch for a while.
She watched as the three were sparing with each other, giving Kangaryuu no rest. Even if she was struggling to deal with two people, she was enjoying herself by the looks of things. Lal Mirch was fast and attacked relentlessly while Ryohei packed more of a heavy punch.
Sitting on one of the steps on the stairs, she watched as the three were sparring with each other. It was interesting to see that Ryohei wasn't holding back on his punches even after finding out that Kangaryuu was not a 'he' like he'd originally thought she was. He must have had a lot of trust in her sturdiness.
Everyone was exchanging blows, making Haru wince every once in a while, wondering how it was that they could continue sparring like that when they were getting hurt. She didn't like being in pain so she wasn't so sure she'd be able to continue sparring if she were put in the same situation.
The smile on Kangaryuu's face brought a smile on Haru's face as well. It was obvious that she missed sparring with Ryohei. He was the one who trained her to box after all, so being unable to box alongside him must have made her feel lonely. Not only that, the other animals were not bipedal, so they weren't able to box with her. Sometimes Lal Mirch would take her up on the challenge but that wasn't very often.
Lal Mirch did have her own work that she had to take care of after all.
"Are you purposely going easy on me or were you always this weak?" She taunted her master. That couldn't be helped, could it? There was bound to be some muscle differences between Ryohei of today and the Ryohei of the future. Her words were enough to fan his fighting spirit some more and he started to pull even faster punches, trying to put more of his weight into things.
As she was watching the three of them fighting, she didn't register the sound of someone else coming down the stairs behind her. That is, until she heard a shrill 'BADADADA~! CHARGE!'
A black and white blur flew past her, and it took little time at all for her to realize that Lambo had launched himself towards the three fighters. This cow child was never thinking about the consequences! Whatever it was that the 'big kids' were doing, he always wanted to join in!
Before she knew it, her feet were already moving. She had to either stop Lambo or protect him. Especially since the one he was hurdling towards was Kangaryuu, who was too preoccupied with the fight between Ryohei and Lal Mirch to even notice that the thing launching towards her was not an enemy.
"Lambo-chan! That's dangerous!" It was a tense moment to say the very least. Lambo was hurdling in the middle of the fight, and Haru was running after him, attempting to catch him. She knew it was a bad idea, she knew this was dangerous, but she'd rather get herself hurt than to watch Lambo get seriously injured.
They knew very well that Haru would do anything to save the children, even sneak out of the base to get I-pin medical help, though she knew that there were dangerous people looking for them outside.
There was also the time she, Lambo and Tsuna were hanging off a bridge for dear life and Haru told Tsuna to let her go in order to save not only himself but also Lambo. She was a selfless girl when it came to saving others. A trait that sometimes people overlooked for forgot whenever they saw her gallivanting around the town with her newest costume creation.
With her hands outstretched, she grabbed Lambo and held him close to her chest, eyes closed, ready for the impact.
A loud 'BAM!' could be heard, but she didn't feel a thing. Apprehensively, she opened her one eye to see that Ryohei had gotten in between her and Kanaryuu and deflected the fist.
"What were you doing!? That was dangerous! You should never run into a fight like that!" He sternly scolded the two, but a lot of his anger dissipated once he saw Lambo crying. It seems that seeing that he'd made Haru get in harm's way due to his careless actions, coupled with the fact that he'd gotten seriously reprimanded right now caused him to cry.
Quite shaken herself, Haru held Lambo close to him and cried quietly as well. She was really scared you know? She could've gotten seriously hurt and who knows if Lambo would've gotten hurt as well! He was still such a young child, so it wouldn't take too much to fatally injure him.
It was terrifying to know that Lambo could've gotten seriously injured while he was visiting her and the rest of the animals.
Gyuudon quietly walked up to Haru and took Lambo into his hands and threw him up into the air. A fun game that he saw that Lambo often played with the other older boys. Soon enough the young cow was laughing once more, putting the previous event behind him.
"Haru is sorry everyone. She just saw Lambo in trouble and before she knew it, she ran into the middle of things to help." Sniffling, she bowed her head.
The three calmed down and looked at each other. This was a good enough sign as any to tell them that they were done for now. Ryohei patted the top of her head, "No one got hurt so it's fine. Stop crying. It's commendable that you ran in to protect him, but I could've handled the situation fine. You know I'm sturdy, right? You should just let me handle the brunt of it all. I don't want to see you getting hurt."
If she had gotten hurt while he was around to prevent it, Kyoko would give him Hell. Though that wasn't the only reason why he didn't want to see her hurt, of course.
Kangaryuu gently punched his arm and motioned towards Haru once more.
"I know! You should learn to box! I've taught Kyoko a few things, so I should teach you too! That way you can better prepare yourself if this ever happens again." This also served as an excuse to talk to her some more.
Given that had just happened, that was probably a good idea. "Haru would love to take you up on that offer, thank you Kyoko's nii-san." She smiled.
Appeased, the box animal walked over to where Lambo and Gyuudon was to offer her apologies with some candy she kept on her person. You might not know this, but Ryohei liked to carry candy around in case there were some crying children around. It helped with Kyoko when they were kids. (how else did she become so obsessed with sweets as she grew older?)
As this was the case, Ryohei would sometimes ask her to carry some treats around with her for such occasions. Smart forward thinking of an older sibling.
POOF!
The clothes that were being worn by the animals either tore or slumped loosely on the animals once they've reverted back to their original forms.
Haru was very low key thankful that they weren't wearing any of her clothes like the other animals up till this point have. They were small animals so reverting back to their original forms didn't harm her clothes, but Kangaryuu definitely would have torn through some of her clothes.
Though, Haru didn't think that any of her clothes would have fit her in the first place. She was much taller than Haru, and her build was very muscular. It was a good thing that Lal Mirch had some clothes for her to wear as she kept some extra clothing around for whenever she had to train anyone.
"Alright, it's getting late. Before you make Sawada's mother worried, you should take Lambo home already." Lal Mirch advised.
It didn't seem like Lambo wanted to leave, however. He loved being with his box animal! Gyuudon was so much fun to play with!
Though he didn't hate his master, he did quickly tire out from his overabundance of energy, characteristic of children. Gyuudon was hoping that someone would take Lambo away so he could finally relax for the day.
Don't worry, Ryohei knew exactly what to do in this situation. "Lambo, if we don't leave now, you might not make it in time for Sawada's mother's cooking. You want to have 'Maman's cooking, don't you?"
MAMAN'S COOKING! He had to go and eat food! She had the best cooking in the world! Immediately he jumped off Gyuudon's back and ran over to Ryohei and started tugging on his clothes. Let's go, let's go!
The older male picked him up and had him sitting on his shoulders. "Alright, I'll be leaving with Lambo now. Take care. If you come across any troubles, just call me." With that Ryohei left with the excited cow child.
What an eventful day this was. Looking at the two box animals and Lal Mirch, Haru smiled brightly. "Well then, will you help haru get the food ready for the animals, Lal Mirch-san?"
Climbing up the stairs, she knew this was going to end up being a chaotic time. These animals grew way too excited when food was mentioned. Every day was a warzone around this time of day and she needed Lal Mirch to help her if she wanted to get out of this alive.
Random, but for those who may remember the 'Aspiring' series, I still do plan on revamping it. I will however make it YamaHaru, but because I feel guilty about it, I'll also write out a new GokuHaru story to make up for changing the pairing. (spoiler: Princess Haru, anyone?)
I was also suggested/requested to write ou Haru and a Xanxus x Haru fic and those two I'm still in the planning stages for. I'm taking my time with it since I have to plan some things for it. The Xanxus one I know is probably going to be pretty long.
UNTIL NEXT TIME, FOLKS!
-Neospice12