Chapter 11

For you are still the same old you.

"Please."

"No."

"Pretty please~."

"No."

"I'll buy you that riffle you've been looking at."

"You mean the one with- Ah, I see what you're doing. No!"

The others hide their laughs as the pair walk through the corridor towards the living room.

"But Lal, kora!"

"I said no and that's final."

The pair had come to a stop in the middle of the living room, unknowingly making a spectacle of themselves. Fon, Luce and Skull are interested in how this was going to end, and were firmly on Colonnello's side. Verde didn't personally care, but was watching for research purposes- and as a result, on Colonnello's side too. Reborn watches with an amused smirk on his face, watching for the battle of personalities rather than caring about the actual result of the argument. Viper was asleep.

"I just don't see why!" says Colonnello, throwing one hand out to the side in emphasis and exasperation.

Lal has had enough of her student back talking her. So she slapped him. Quite a few times. "Trainees are there to listen to orders. You do not question what I say."

But Colonnello was persistent. "But Lal, we aren't talking about training, kora. You know that I'd follow your orders then since you are the best teacher in the world," Lal just growls- flattery wasn't working on her today. "We are talking about you as a person. And I know that this will be good for you."

She could never tell with Colonnello whether statements like that were sincere or just another part of his flattery. She'd never had anyone talk like that to her before; other trainees feared her too much to say more than 'Yes Ma'am'. Which was the way it should be. But not him. Deciding she wasn't going to take any more of this, she spins around on her heels and starts to walk out of the room.

Sniff. Whimper. Sniff. Cough.

And cue the waterworks.

Tsunayoshi, who was currently in Colonnello's arms, and the reason for the fight, starts to cry profusely. Lal's steps don't falter since she had had lots of trainees try and cry their way out of a punishment.

Did I say Viper was asleep? Well she's not now. Throwing the door open she storms in and up to the baby. Looking around she growls, "Who made him cry? He woke me up again and whoever did is going to pay for that." Fingers point in Lal's direction. "Lal Mirch, eh?" Ah, she could guess what was going on here then "Take him."

Lal stops walking and turns around. "What! Why should I take that brat? I have better things to be doing than babysitting an infant who can't do anything. I don't even see why the brat would want to come with me."

Lal should have known this was coming, but thrust a load of notes into Viper's outstretched hand anyway. Happy, Viper turns to Tsunayoshi who reaches out for her. Taking the baby in her arms, she shuts her eyes and places a fingertip on his forehead. "Tell me why Lal. Surely you'd have more fun with one of the others. At least they want to be with you." Lal growls at the remark but stays quiet, she wants to know the answer too. Everyone is shocked once more when they hear her laugh. Until the baby came, the only laugh they heard from her was an evil witch cackle when she had lots of money. "Good luck with that Tsunayoshi. But I think it can be done. You and Colonnello can do it. Just don't break her totally." Colonnello pats the baby on the head once he deciphers Viper's mumblings.

Viper advances on Lal, taking forceful threatening steps. "What are you scared of Lal?" she asks. "You think that something is going to change when you accept the child?" Lal takes a step backwards at those words. Of course not, she wasn't scared of anything. "You think we are going to treat you any differently? Do you think that the trainees won't listen to you if you suddenly look more like a woman than usual?" The slight blush on Lal's face said there might be some truth in that last statement.

Did Lal think she would be less threatening with a baby in her arms?

Colonnello gave her a look that said I knew that was what it was. Luce and Fon wanted to face-palm over such a stupid reason. Reborn pushes himself of the wall and takes a step forwards.

"Lal, think how threatening you would be with both a rifle in your hands and a gun-toting baby on your back. You'd have no blind spots then." Lal thought about that for a moment, so Reborn continued, "Think how well Tsunayoshi could do if he had an early start in training. If he was trained from a young age, then he wouldn't complain. He'd just accept it and get on with it."

"But COMSUBIN doesn't accept trainees so young." she mumbles, still trying to find any excuse not to be dumped with the baby for the day.

"Ptf." Reborn scoffs "As if you and Colonnello weren't trained to be snipers from birth." Which was true.

"Or are you too blinded by your personal issues to see his potential?" asks Viper.

Luce wasn't too sure if she likes where this conversation is going, yet what could she do? It was the nature of the people in this house. All of them were trained for their positions from birth, willingly or not. They were skills and talents that had presented themselves early on and had been trained ruthlessly ever since. And she could feel that Tsunayoshi had something special about him. So she will allow it, for now.

As the Boss of the Arcobaleno it was her job to make sure that all of her team grew properly and were happy. Lal seriously needed to grow as a person- she wasn't the only one though. So she had no qualms over using her authority, just this once. "Lal Mirch, I command you to take this baby out for the day." Lal gave her a blank stare. Luce very rarely used her authority like this. "I don't care what you do, nor where you go. Yet you are not to let this baby leave your sight, nor to be more than 1 metre away from you at any time. No harm is to come to him. You are not allowed to abandon him on anyone else either." The bag of baby supplies is slung around her neck and the baby placed in her arms. Being spun around, she is practically kicked out of the house.

So now she was alone with the useless brat. At least he wasn't crying.

Well she wasn't going to waste her day just because of some silly burden. This could be training for civilian interaction. There may be someday where she had to work whilst protecting a civilian and this would be good practice for her.

Walking down the street, she turns left at the restaurants and walks into the woods on that side of the Island. She is nearing the training grounds when Tsunayoshi whimpers and grabs the front of her suit. Looking down, the baby is waving towards some trees and looks worried.

Looking in that direction, she catches a glimmer of green that shouldn't be in that tree. Grabbing the gun she had tucked away, she aims and shoots at the intruder.

"Gyak!" the man shouts as he falls from the tree. Tsunayoshi grabs her again, pointing in a different direction. Forewarned, she had just enough time to spin round and point the gun in that direction before the bush rustles and a woman jumps out at her. One shot to the forehead and the woman stands down.

"That was pathetic! Even the baby noticed you!" Although before I did. Maybe he does have some potential after all. The pair infront of her bow their heads in shame and defeat. "Well, let's start training." She huffs, striding through the rest of the woods. They come out of the trees and into a grassy area which ends in some cliffs. Below the cliffs is a sandy beach and the clear warm blue sea.

Knowing she was going to be hindered by the burden in her arms, as well as the limits set by Luce, she decides to change her tasks for today. "Alright pups, we're going to be doing target practice today. Be glad Colonnello isn't here to put you all to shame!" Even if she was gruff, she still gave credit where it was due, and not that she would ever admit it, but Colonnello was a better shooter and sniper than she was.

The trainees scrabble around, finishing what they were doing and rushing to fulfil her orders. "What weapon first Ma'am?" asks one man.

She thinks for a moment before barking "Start with the crossbows." Trainees shout in agreement and run over to the storage shed to grab the weapons. There was no need to worry about them getting stolen. This was Mafia Row, where normal criminals feared to tread. No mere thief was going to get here. Everyone on the island knew they were her's and stayed far away from this area; they had learnt what happened if someone stole her equipment. Plus, this was a private retreat, so no criminal activities happened here. There were three forces on the Island that enforced the no fighting/crime rule.

Her trainees line themselves up infront of the targets, bows out for her inspection. After slapping a few silly for not looking after their weapons correctly, she settles back down at a good vantage point and shouts at them to begin.

Tsunayoshi had stayed quiet since the incident in the woods. Ever since he had seen everyone else, he had been watching with rapt concentration and focus. Even now, as Lal looked down to check if he was awake, he was watching the trainees intensely. Lal allows him to continue since he wasn't making any noise or fuss. After watching for 5 minutes or so, Tsunayoshi makes a discontented noise. Lal looks down at him to see if he wanted anything, yet he was still watching the trainees. So she did too. The trainee missed the shot, the arrow going wide. So of course Lal verbally bit his head off, telling the trainee that lives could have been lost if he wasn't careful.

Another 7 shots later, and the baby once again makes a sad noise. And the trainee misses the target. It was even a different trainee too. When the third person misses as the baby makes a noise, she decided to do something about it. "None of you should be allowing this baby to distract you. Just because he makes a noise is no excuse for missing the shot." The trainees look at her in confusion.

"Ma'am, we can't even hear the baby from over here. I didn't even know he'd made a sound."

"Fine. We're moving onto throwing knives." She growls. What's up with this child then?

From then on she keeps a closer eye on the baby. Every time he made a sound, the trainee throwing missed. At one point, the baby outright screamed, whilst pointing at the trainee. Giving the trainee a good look over, she sees the problem immediately. "Oi trash for brains! Drop the knife." Scared of the louder than usual shout, the trainee immediately drops the knife. "The way you were holding that, the moment you raised your arm back it would have released and hurt those behind you. You put the others at risk!" The trainee went pale realising what they had almost done, and quickly started to apologise.

The day continued in a similar fashion. None of the trainees dared to say anything when she started to feed the baby a bottle of milk. She still sat there watching them like a hawk. If anything, she was even scarier with the baby in her arms than she usually was. All the trainees knew that if they dared to suggest it was because of a motherly protective instinct they wouldn't make it out of here with any unbroken bones.

Seeing that the sun was soon going to set, she gave the trainees the last order of the day. "Enough! I'm going home now." Now whilst it didn't seem like an order, the trainees had been with her long enough to know what that actually meant. After giving their weapons a clean, they grab what equipment they need and disappear into the woods.

She gives them 10 minutes before she sets off home. She takes the same route to and from the training ground every day to give the trainees time to practice their traps. She wasn't surprised not to see any of them as she enters and makes her way home. Yet once again the baby makes a noise and points her in a different direction. Highly suspicious, she follows the baby's guidance, and makes it home without encountering any traps at all.

"Ma'am, how did you do that? You didn't walk near any of our traps. Usually you at least come close enough to nearly get caught, but this time you barely came close enough to see them." Asks one of the more forward trainees.

"Hmm, I need to test my skills too every now and again," she lies. "Dismissed." They all run off to undo their traps and go home for the night.

Lal, meanwhile, practically runs home. Slamming open the front door she shouts, "Viper!"

"Living room," says Fon, peeking his head out of one room. Nodding in thanks she strides down the hallway and into the living room. The others all go there too, wondering how her day with Tsunayoshi went.

"So Lal, are you wearing a fluffy dress?" asks Viper as soon as Lal opens the door. Lal is shocked by the question and momentarily forgets what she was going to say.

"Um, no." She replies.

"Are you cooing at the baby and being as frivolous as Luce can be at times?"

"No I am not!" Lal growls back.

"Did any of the men try to overpower you? Were any of the woman spiteful about you?"

"No… they didn't." She mumbles.

Viper 'humphs' over her win. "So you are still the same old you then. As we all are. Or hadn't you noticed that having the baby has changed nothing?" Lal swears that Viper would have one eyebrow raised and would be giving her a look. Lal looks down at the baby, who smiles up at her cheerfully. Suddenly, Lal remembers what she came in the room for, and it wasn't to prove Viper right.

"What did you do to this child? Did you give him some of your psychic powers? Or were you whispering in his ear or something?" she shouts, holding the baby away from her.

Everyone looks at her weirdly, since they all vaguely know what she's talking about. Verde immediately gets his Baby Observation book out. "Tell me exactly what happened to cause you to think so."

"And for the record, no it was not me." Adds in Viper. So Lal explains what just happened not moments earlier as well as what had happened during the day.

"It's like he has a built in radar or something." Comments Skull in awe afterwards. Reborn and Colonnello each give the lackey a good punch and a kick for such a stupid thought, even if they may have thought so too.

"Well I have no clue what it is, nor does it seem as if the baby has a clue either. He just gets these feelings and acts on them." Says Viper, opening her eyes after a 'conference' with the baby.

When she opens her eyes, she finds that Verde, Lal and Reborn all have a dangerous gleam in their eyes. She suddenly felt both sorry and worried for the baby.

"I don't care, the important thing is that he has it," says Lal.

"It'll be a great scientific study." Grins Verde, a tiny bit of his Mad Scientist side coming through.

"And we can put it to use," says Reborn, smirking hazardously.

It seems that our Tsunayoshi is in for a hard childhood.

And that ends the introduction arc.

So remember:

The first step is usually the easiest, it's the second step that's the hardest. But once you start it's hard to stop, for you are never fully in control. But once that step is taken, you'll look back and see, that nothing is really different, for you are still the same old you.

Join me as we take stroll down Mafia Row.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 05 March 2012

Edited: 27 February 2013.