Chapter 12
Under a short lived Sky
Hehe, Um, guys, I have a tiny confession. Not that you can tell from my fic, but I actually don't like babies. Yeah, I know right. So that's why…
Tsunayoshi stands at the gate to the Arcobaleno's house, looking at the wooden carvings on the oak doors, and to be honest, he's scared. His grip on Luce's hand tightens.
This was the first time he'd been allowed out of these gates.
Ever since he could remember they had told him not to go outside of these gates. He didn't know why, but he had never needed to go outside of these gates anyway. And if it stopped them from using that big scary tone on him, then he'd listen to them. He didn't like that tone. It meant he'd done something wrong.
"Nu-ah" Tsunayoshi shakes his head. "Luce, Natsu~." Luce looks down at him with her eyebrow raised. Oops, he'd nearly forgotten. Um what was that word again? "Please?" Luce smiles down at him.
Luce crouches down to be on his level. "You want Natsu to come too?" Tsunayoshi vigorously nods his head, and looks up at her with puppy dog eyes. Luce looks at him for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut and squealing. She swears that her little boy got cuter every day! So standing back up once again, she turns towards the house and shouts "Ne, Skull?" A few moments later Skull's head appears out of a window.
"Yeah Luce? Everything alright?" he shouts back. Surely something couldn't have gone wrong already.
"Tsunayoshi wants Natsu. Be a dear and get it for him." She points to Tsunayoshi, who is reaching his arms out towards Skull in askance.
"Sure sure! One minute!" and Skull scrabbles away from the window. 30 seconds later, he's running down the path with Natsu in his hands. Reaching Tsunayoshi he crouches down too. "Take good care of Natsu alright. We don't want him to get lost again do we?" Tsunayoshi shakes his head and reaches for Natsu once more. Skull hands Natsu over before ruffling Tsunayoshi's hair. "have fun alright"
During this time, Luce's opened the huge wooden gate. Seeing this Tsunayoshi grabs Skull's leg as he tries to leave. As the big wooden gates clunk fully open, Tsunayoshi jumps and hugs Skull's leg fully, trying to find protection behind it.
"haha, Tsunayoshi, you can't do that" Skull tries to detach the child, but Tsunayoshi firmly keeps his grip. Having no other choice, Skull tickles Tsunayoshi sides. Tsunayoshi screams and giggles, letting go in the process. "Go on with Luce then" Skull prods.
"I'm… scared" Tsunayoshi admits, looking down and hugging Natsu tightly.
"Well, you've got Natsu with you right? So there's no need to be scared. Groar!" Skull fake growls like the lion Natsu is supposed to be.
"Yes. You stay here?" Tsunayoshi asks timidly. Skull gives the boy a hug across the shoulders.
"I'll be here when you get back. I promise." And with that, he gently pushes the boy towards the gate.
Luce stands on one side, the side of the rest of the world, whilst Tsunayoshi stands on his side, the side of home and his whole world.
Bang!
"Heeii!" Tsunayoshi jumps in fright at the sound and small explosion of dust behind him and runs forwards. He and Luce turn around to look back inside, looking up at the branches of a tree. "Bad Reborn!"
"Well, you are over the line are you not?" asks the Hitman from his lazy perch in the tree.
Tsunayoshi looks down at his feet and realises that he is. "Oh. Yeah, I am."
"Well then, let's go" Luce says, holding out her hand for him to take. Tsunayoshi slowly slips his hand next to hers, grips Natsu tightly and starts to walk down the path.
In case you're wondering, Natsu is a stuffed Lion toy Tsunayoshi carries with him everywhere. Since everyone else had an animal with them, like Leon, or Cosmo, or Fantasma, Tsunayoshi decided he wanted one too. A stuffed Natsu was what he ended up with since he was a little too scared to get a real animal. Not that he told the others, but something had felt very right when he had laid eyes upon the toy. Something deep inside him felt a connection to it, as if he should remember it from somewhere. So he had insisted upon it.
The walk wasn't too long, but he still had to walk kind of fast to keep up with Luce. Tsunayoshi wasn't as scared as earlier when something inside told him that Reborn was following them. He always felt safest when Reborn was around.
Pulling on Luce's hand for attention, Tsunayoshi tilts his head when she looks down. "Where?" he asks. Luce blushes at the cute expression Tsunayoshi has on, but maintains her calm- just.
"We're going to see my daughter Aria and her Family. You need to be good alright."
Tsunayoshi beams up at her "Yes!" and continues to bounce along the path.
However, when he sees where Luce is leading him- towards another gate- and sees that it's directly towards a stranger, that feeling of fear returns. He hides behind Natsu, bringing the lion up to his face so he can't see.
"My my Mother, have you brought a lion to see me?" asks the stranger, a hint of laughter in her voice. "I hope it's not a scary one"
Something tells him that this woman is okay to trust. "Grr! Heehee"
The stranger takes in a big gasp. "Oh no, it is scary. What will we do?"
Tsunayoshi peaks his head out from Natsu's side, looks at the lady and goes "Gao~"
Two surprisingly strong hands grab him around the waist, pick him up and tightly hug him. "Mother, isn't he the cutest! How do you live with a face that cute?"
"It's hard, believe me. I just want to cuddle him all day. It's so distracting" says Luce, quite serious.
The woman returns her gaze to Tsunayoshi and hoists him onto her hip instead so they can look at each other properly. "And what's your name?" she asks gently. Tsunayoshi looks to Luce for permission, and she nods. He also looks behind him to where he has a feeling Reborn is. There is no response, so he assumes it's alright.
"I'm Tsunayoshi!" he giggles cheerfully.
"Well, I'm Aria, nice to meet you. Can you tell me how old you are?"
"Heehee, I'm four!" He exclaims, proudly holding up three fingers.
Luce laughs. "One more Tsunayoshi" He looks over confused, so Luce holds up four fingers. He looks down at his own three, and then looks rather embarrassed.
"Oopsie." He giggles.
"Well, why don't we go inside." Suggests Aria. "Gamma, open the gate."
Tsunayoshi is both surprised and confused by what he sees inside.
"Luce, what are they doing?"
Luce however, is too busy tearing up to answer him, so Aria does. "They are showing Mummy how much they love her and how much they miss her. When you do that, it's called kneeling, and shows someone how much you respect them"
The whole of the Giglio Nero who had been under Luce's command once were kneeling in rows lining the path towards the house.
"I thought I told you never to do that in my presence" she scolds, still smiling at them though. All of the men and women on the floor smile back up at her.
Even though Luce sees and speaks to Aria a lot, it's not generally at Aria's house. They usually meet for coffee in one of the restaurants in Mafia Row Central. If Luce ever does visit the house, she uses the back entrance just for this reason: She didn't want people bowing to her in respect anymore.
"You had all better stand or I won't be introducing you to him" and she points to the bundling in Aria's arms.
Aria leans down to whisper in Tsunayoshi's ear and he giggles. Whilst the attention is on him, he tries his best to look imposing (but ends up pouting and looking adorable) he claps his hands whilst looking at the people on the floor. "Stand"
Luce smiles at Aria, perfectly understanding. All the kneeling Mafioso stand.
He claps once again "Inside" and points to the house. "And… And" he can't remember what the last word was, so he looks back to Aria for help. Obligingly she re-whispers her last order "Coffee!"
Smiling at the little boy, they all follow his orders. Clapping was something Luce has used during her reign as Boss, and showed that her orders were absolute. The clap drew attention to the order and caused a silence when they were all arguing. Aria had also picked up the tradition, so it was funny to see the child use it too.
Aria and Luce follow the mob inside and walk into a private living room. Moments later, Gamma appears with a tray full of coffee and cake.
He sits there and sits there, but it's obvious that even though the conversation may be about him, there is actually no need for him to be there. So he does what any bored child does, and leaves the room.
He walks around carefully following the sound of playful shouting and laughing. That sounds like a good place to go. As he peaks around the door he finds the same man who had brought the cake in to Luce. He's got a child sat on his lap and is reading a story to him. Slowly Tsunayoshi creeps in closer and closer, until he sits at the man's feet. The man looks down at him, but shrugs his shoulders and continues on reading.
"So then the knight rode in and saved the Princess, stopping any of the bad men from harming her."
"What's a… knight?" Tsunayoshi asks. Gamma turns the book around to show the picture.
"They are people who protect others- It's a knight's job to make sure that no one else gets hurt, even if that means harming someone else"
"Ah, so like Reborn then! He goes around stopping bad guys from harming Luce, right?" He tilts his head, wondering whether he's gotten that right.
Gamma just bursts out laughing. "Reborn, a knight…!" but upon seeing that Tsunayoshi is totally serious, he rethinks over what Tsunayoshi had just said. "When he's protecting Luce then yes, Reborn is like a knight"
"That's so cool!" shouts Tsunayoshi, clapping his hands. "I want to be a knight too. I'll stop bad men harming Luce, and Viper and Lal, and even Skull!"
"That's a nice thought Tsunayoshi. Make sure to tell Skull that alright." Tsunayoshi spins around to see Luce standing in the door way. He runs over and hugs her. "Come on, we're going home."
"Okay" Tsunayoshi smiles sweetly. He turns around and waves to the pair who were reading the book. "ByeBye!" They wave back at him.
As Tsunayoshi leaves the Giglio Nero base, he waves and says 'byebye' to everyone, since that's what Luce taught him to do. Everyone smiles back and says bye too.
"Did you enjoy today Tsunayoshi?" Luce asks as they walk back inside the Arcobaleno gate.
"Yeah I did. So did Natsu!" he replies, shaking the lion in enthusiasm. Yet as he looks back up at the house, his heart clenches and he stops walking.
"Are you alright Tsunayoshi?" Luce asks, concerned.
"Hmm, but something's missing." He says absentmindedly as he turns to look back down Mafia Row.
"Really, but you've got Natsu there." Luce was sure that Natsu was the only thing they brought with them. Tsunayoshi had both of his shoes on, his jumper and coat, so what could be missing?
"I don't know. Here" and he points to his heart "Says something is missing"
Luce's not sure how to respond to that, so changes the subject totally. "How about pancakes for dessert today?"
Tsunayoshi jumps and claps "Yay!" and starts to run ahead, wanting the pancakes quicker. Luce watches, knowing what's coming next.
Slam! "Ouchie" there it was. "Luce, I fell again" Tsunayoshi still hadn't mastered full control of running yet, although he might just be clumsy. She wasn't quite sure yet.
Bang! Bang!
Tsunayoshi quickly rolls out of the way and scrabbles to his feet. "Reborn!"
"What did I say? If you fall, you've got to get back up immediately. You shouldn't fall in the first place idiot" Reborn steps out from behind the trees and over to the little boy.
"Yes Reborn. I'm sorry"
"ANYway, let's go back inside" says Luce, emphasising her point.
As everyone enters the kitchen for dinner, Tsunayoshi stands up on his seat and looks around him. Clapping his hands he says "Sit".
The Arcobaleno look from him to Luce before bursting out into raucous laughter. "You're 100 years too early to try that boy." Informs Verde.
"Skull sit down then" Smirks Reborn. The stuntman looks shocked at the insinuation.
"Yeah Lackey, sit down then." Says Colonnello kicking him towards his seat. Skull glares back at them, but sits down anyway and pours himself a glass of water.
"Stop! Bad Reborn, bad Colonnello. I'm going to be Skull's knight, so you have to be good!" shouts Tsunayoshi. Skulls eyes open wide in shock and he starts crying.
"Tsunayoshi thank you!" he runs over and hugs the living daylights out of the boy.
The others burst out laughing once again. Although they all found it cute.
"You learnt a new word Tsunayoshi." Says Verde "Where did you learn that?"
Once Skull has let go, Tsunayoshi turns excitedly to Verde. He loves it when he learns new things and Verde always praises him when he does. "I learnt two new words today! A knight is a person who stops bad men from harming other people." Verde nods to show Tsunayoshi has gotten it right.
"And the second?" he prompts
"Um, Aria told me it. Um, it was. It was, ah! Kneeling. They all did it to Luce."
"Well done Tsunayoshi" Verde praises, ruffling his hair as he sits next to the boy.
"What I really want to know is why you are going there tomorrow. I don't like that boy." Growls Reborn.
"Going where?"
… He grew up a little!
Plus Tsunayoshi can do more things at this age than as a baby. He's still an explosion of cute though XD. And by all means, I am no expert on 4 year olds either. Do you think Tsunayoshi would be able to talk more or not?
Message me if you don't get why I've named this chapter as such, although next chapter's title may help you to understand. Aria's about 20 here, as is Gamma.
And Happy Easter to those who celebrate it, and Happy Chocolate Day to those who celebrate that, lol.
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 8 April 2012