Chapter 24

You'll find that friends

Anyone who has only seen the anime and not read the manga won't actually know who this Family is, since they were so unpopular they were cut out. And whilst that may have given it away, I'm sure most of you had already guessed it. If you are interested, he's in chapters 44-47 inclusive. Now I've never written him, nor a character like him before, nor am I anything like this man, so I'm not sure how this will turn out.

At Breakfast, Tsunayoshi looks around the table and smiles at how everyone is getting along. Not a lot has really changed, not that he can remember all that far back. Verde is still scribbling notes with one hand whilst eating toast with the other. Colonnello and Lal are flirting/ arguing- you can never tell with those two. Viper is, as usual, upstairs asleep. She doesn't like to be up early if she doesn't have to be. Skull is trying to attract attention and avoid Reborn's killer glare at the same time. Reborn is trying to ignore everyone around him but ends up snapping at Skull when the stuntman gets too loud and obnoxious. Luce and Fon just stare on, both with a simple smile on their faces, watching the others whilst holding their own conversation. Tsunayoshi looks down at his drawing of the scene, with everyone drawn in the colours he thinks represents them. Not that he'd tell them that, yellow wasn't exactly a colour to describe Reborn after all. But he still felt like it was the right colour for him. It wasn't until then, with it all drawn out that he realised he's drawn using a rainbow of colours- Viper was included in the picture, he had just imagined what she'd be doing, most likely counting the money she had won from last night. He was in the picture too, coloured the same orange Luce was. It wasn't due to his admiration of her, he did admire her though, but he just felt like it was the right colour for him. And looking down at the pack of crayons, he remembered something that had been bugging him for a while now.

He was snapped out of his contemplation by Skull. "Come on Tsunayoshi, it's time to get dressed for today." Skull seemed quite happy today for some reason. Maybe he liked this Family too? Fon stands up too and smiles at them.

"Don't worry Skull, I'll get him dressed, why don't you finish up breakfast first?" Skull couldn't exactly argue, since in his haste to leave already (which had nothing to do with getting away from Reborn's glare… honest) that he had left half of his breakfast unfinished, whilst Fon had eaten all of his and even washed his plates up. So in defeat Skull sits back down. Luce smiles at them before looking back to Fon.

"Everything you need is in your room." She then looks at Tsunayoshi, a tiny bit of worry in her eyes. Although it seemed normal motherly worry than Mafia Mother worry, which was always a good sign. It was the type of worry that meant she thought he was going to fall over, or get wet, or something else non-lethal. So whilst confusing the little boy, he didn't worry and just followed Fon up the stairs.

When upstairs and in Fon's room, Tsunayoshi stands in his underwear before Fon hands him something he's never seen before. No wait, he has worn this before, when he went to the Varia. "This is really lightweight body armour Tsunayoshi and it should stop you from getting hurt if something goes wrong where we are going." Fon explains.

Tsunayoshi tilts his head and looks up at the older man. "What are you expecting to go wrong?" he asks. He's not really worried for he can feel that Fon isn't worried either.

"Well this Family isn't exactly a family as such. They fight a lot, often with guns. We just want to make sure that you are protected in case they start another family fight, that's all. Of course me and Skull shall be there to protect you the whole time anyway. But you know Luce" and here Tsunayoshi rolls his eyes "She's just being protective as usual."

Luce knew how to take protection to extremes. She has even wrapped him up in cotton wool when he was first learning to walk so it didn't hurt as much when he fell. In actuality, it doesn't work very well. You need so much cotton wool for that to work that Tsunayoshi could have easily joined a field of sheep and not look any different. Reborn took protection in a different slightly more creepier extreme with stalking and shooting. Tsunayoshi wasn't sure which he was more scared of. Although scared wasn't the right word for it. Like everything else, he saw it as natural and not weird or creepy at all. It was everyone else that saw it as such.

So with this hard material against his chest and back, Tsunayoshi felt like a super hero in their suit, or maybe a Power Ranger. On top of that went a normal pair of jeans and a t-shirt, as well as a jumper. It was a good thing the island had moved into a colder climate recently, or else Tsunayoshi would have been overheating. He peaks into Viper's room, dodges the customary Mist knife (apparently it was an instinctual reaction so he took no offence to it) and said his goodbye. He received a half-hearted goodbye and a pathetic attempt at a wave before she rolled over and went back to sleep. He follows Fon downstairs, meets back up with Skull and says goodbye to everyone else.

They walk down Mafia Row and end up at the house next to CEDEF HQ. Tsunayoshi stares at the gate and wonders if the nails are supposed to be half hanging out of the gate, and whether that huge padlock actually works or not. Skull knocks on the gate, helmet left at home for once. The gate slowly opens and Tsunayoshi can see why Luce wanted him to be safe; there were bullet holes everywhere, a few dynamite explosions and even the odd gun and riffle laying about the place.

In front of him is a boy that looks to be the same age as him. He has on a leather jacket with lots of metal studs on it, chains hanging off his belt and lots of safety pins attached to his t-shirt. His hair was in large spikes, obviously gelled like that. He even had a few piercings, although only on his ears. He looked like a more extreme version of Skull. Both wore leather and had piercings after all. The chains reminded Tsunayoshi of Gokudera slightly, but Gokudera certainly wore them more… tastefully.

"Hey, it's Skull-ull-ull! Back from Hell again?" Tsunayoshi looks at the boy weirdly, wondering what type of greeting that was. His house certainly wasn't Hell thank you very much.

Skull however laughs. "Haha! Of course. Ever the Reaper didn't want me after I rode over 5 rings of fire backwards. I must be too awesome for him!" And Skull gives the boy a Rock sign with his pinkie and index fingers. Tsunayoshi finally gets what the boy meant now, he was talking about Skull's job.

"Who are you?" Tsunayoshi asks. The others hadn't told him who he would be meeting.

The boy takes a step backwards and holds a hand towards Tsunayoshi is a stop gesture. "Whoa, peace peace! Don't get cha panties in a twist. I'm Naito Longchamp, soon to be the 8th Boss of the Tomaso Family."

Well, this boy was certainly… flamboyant. Tsunayoshi extends a hand and smiles at the boy. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Tsunayoshi"

"Tsunayoshi-chan! It's cool to meet cha too. Any friend of Skull's a friend of mine. He's like the most awesome guy I know, right." Naito says, giving a really big grin. Instead of shaking Tsunayoshi's hand like the boy expected, he slapped it a few times in some kind of secret handshake. Tsunayoshi followed along as best as he could. Skull performed it perfectly soon after though, as did Fon when the boy said hello to him.

"And who is that behind you?" asks Fon, looking over the boy's head. Naito takes a step backwards and smiles at that person, before raising his arms in a presenting gesture.

"Haha, glad you asked. This is my girlfriend, Tianna." The … girl, looks down and blushes before giving Naito a push against the shoulder. Tsunayoshi's eyes widen however, when that seemingly gentle push of embarrassment actually sends the poor boy flying into the wall a good 5 metres away. The girl had a mass of curly red hair that looked like a gathering of snakes, along with a tiny nose and a huge chin. She looked thinner than a rake, and Tsunayoshi could easily see some of her bones. How she had the strength to send Naito flying like that no one knew.

Said boy stands up from where he had landed, wipes the dust off, places a plaster on his cheek and skips back to where they are. "Ah, gawd, you are just too beautiful for your own good ya' know that. Just lookin' at cha blows me away." Looking over the girl who looked even scarier than Medusa, Tsunayoshi sure hopes the phrase Beauty is only skin deep actually works and something Naito believes in. Naito turns to them and starts waving in the direction of his house. "Come on, come on, let's go inside." And he walks away.

Tsunayoshi sticks close to Fon as they walk through the garden. Whilst Naito might be different from what Tsunayoshi was used to, he could see that Naito loved life and was rather enthusiastic about everything. It was as if he didn't let anything faze him, and kept on going regardless, which Tsunayoshi found admirable. Tsunayoshi was wondering first what a girlfriend was, since he assumed there was some reason for stating that she was a girl rather than just a friend. It had sounded like one word rather than two. He'd have to ask Verde later.

As they are half way across, Fon sighs and picks Tsunayoshi up. "Really, this Family need to sort themselves out. Maybe some meditation would do them some good" Just as he's about to ask what Fon meant, Tsunayoshi hears the sound of arguing. A few moments later, he also hears the sounds of bullets, and finally notices that they are in the middle of a battlefield. Fon just continues on walking, jumping over bullets and bending out of their way as needed. It almost looked like a graceful slow dance. Needless to say, both made it across unharmed. Skull on the other hand had stood in the middle, hand on hips and laughed at them.

"I am the immortal Skull, feared by the Reaper himself. You're bullets can't harm me!" and he laughs his gloating laugh. Until, that it, a bullet grazes his leg. At that point, he yelps like a spanked puppy and runs like a headless chicken, hands in the air and screaming his head off. Fon sighs at Skull's actions whilst Tsunayoshi just laughs, assuming Skull is acting for him.

When Naito hears Skull's scream he looks backwards and laughs it off. "Seems like we are having some internal disputes, or that's what my Dad calls it at least. It's nothing to worry about." Tsunayoshi wasn't too sure about that. Even in his house, the Arcobaleno didn't try to kill each other… too often.

Once in the safety of the house, they sit down in the living room, where a few others are present. Tsunayoshi notices that a different girl is sitting next to Naito. "So who are these people?" Tsunayoshi asks, moving his gaze from the new girl to three people standing back to back on the other side of the room. One was wearing headphones and seemed slightly older than them. The one in the middle was an adult, wearing a butler's outfit and finally on the left was a girl, again older, who was wearing a Lolita black frilly dress, her hair covering her eyes.

"Hm, oh them. They are my Family. Starting from the right: Lunga, Mangusta and Pantera. Although they're a bit weird in the head" he smiles as if that was a compliment, accompanied by another weird hand gesture that Tsunayoshi had never seen before. The girl, Pantera, looks at Naito and the girl sitting next to him, and pulls out a pinwheel. Naito freezes, putting his hands up defensively. "Whoa, whoa, peace peace. You ain't drawing your weapon here are ya Pantera? That's not nice to our guests. They ain't even done anythin' yet."

The girl takes aim and throws the pinwheel, which to Tsunayoshi doesn't look dangerous at all. He is soon corrected as Naito dodges, and the pinwheel chops off the shoulder of his jacket and embeds itself like a dart into the wall. More follow the first, and Naito dodges them all easily. "Hah, you have such bad aim, silly. They are over there you know." And he points in Skull's direction. However Pantera doesn't change her aim. After a few dart pinwheels are thrown she stops and resumes looking back at the floor.

"And what about the girl sitting next to you?" asks Tsunayoshi. She hadn't been hit by the pinwheels either.

Naito puts an arm around her shoulders. "Oh this? She's Fierra, my girlfriend." Tsunayoshi couldn't see her face since it was covered by her black hair. She was wearing a velvet cloak that covered her body too. She raises a hand and waves at them, and releases some weird clicking noises, which apparently are a greeting.

"Haha, I love it when you do that. It's so cute that I leave you breathless!" Naito says beaming at the girl.

Fon looks down at the boy, one eyebrow raised. "But what about that girl who was at the gate? Wasn't she your girlfriend?" he enquires.

"What Tianna? Naw, we broke up ages ago." Naito explains, seemingly unfazed by the break up. "Hey, Fierra, could you go get us some tea?" The girl clicks some more before leaving the room. "So what should we do? Play a game maybe?" he asks, bouncing on the spot

"Um, shouldn't we wait for her to return?" asks Tsunayoshi, looking towards the door the girl left through.

"What's this? Someone refusing to play with Longchamp-kun? I'll soon change that!" It was the butler, Mangusta, who had spoken. Out of his jacket he had pulled out a handgun and aimed it at Naito. Tsunayoshi jumps forwards to save the boy, only to be held back by Fon. The bullet was shot, although it glows weirdly. Naito was hit in the forehead and fell backwards onto the floor. A zip appeared along Naito's torso. It unzipped and out came Naito, only in his underwear, a small crying person coming out of his forehead. Naito himself was crying too.

"My past has been complete darkness. My future shall be complete darkness." He says before sniffing. "Since my Family are always fighting all of the time, I've never played a game with anyone. No one else would play with me since they think I'm annoying. I've never had a chance to win a game before. Even when I play against myself, I always beat me."

Suddenly Tsunayoshi felt really sad for the boy. Skull was crying buckets of tears.

"Naito!" Skull cries.

"Skull" Cries Naito.

And the two run towards each other and hug, crying together.

Ignoring the melodrama in the corner, Tsunayoshi looks up at Fon who seems unfazed by the pitiful confession of the boy. He just had a sad smile on his face, and his eyes flicked to the outside where the battle could still be heard. Seeing Fon's lack of reaction, he is also reminded of what the others would have done. They wouldn't have sat and consoled the poor boy, they would have gone and sorted out the problem. Or in Reborn's case, forced the boy to deal with his own problem.

"Naito, it's time you played with your Family. You should go out there and stop the fighting between them" Demands Tsunayoshi, standing up and stamping a foot. Then he smiles. "And playing a game could bring them together. Come on I'll help you."

"Ahh, gee wiz, Tsunayoshi-chan, that'd be awesome." Shouts Naito before leaving Skull and running out of the door. Tsunayoshi gasps and follows the boy to see what he has in mind.

Naito's plan, however, seems to consist of running into the middle of the battlefield and shouting at his men. "Hey now, peace peace guys. Ya all gotta stop fighting. It's not good to fight you know. How about we stop and play a game instead?"

"Yeah and we'd crush your wimpy asses any day" shouts a man on the left.

"Ha, you wish. We'd beat you with our eyes closed, no matter the game"

And the battle started once more.

Tsunayoshi starts to panic realising Naito is right in the middle and apparently too stupid to notice. However just as he was about to risk it and go save Naito, a flash of pink runs past him. Or maybe rolls is a better description. Another girl, this one built like a boulder stands infront of Naito, hands spread wide as if defending him. One bullet scrapes the girls shoulder and she shouts out before falling to the floor.

"Now guys that ain't fair. Ya know we don't go attacking girls, no matter how beautiful they may be. And especially if they are my Girlfriend. So stop fighting and apologise to her" he shouts, looking down at all of his men. They all stop, since it's Mafia code not to hurt a woman.

Fon takes this moment to step onto the still battlefield and attempt to talk peace to the feuding Family. "There are better ways to argue and settle scores. How about playing a game like football. That way no bystanders get hurt and there are rules to define the winner fairly." He had gotten the idea from the stray ball he could see in a pile of debris.

Mangusta looks at both sides of the mini war and decided that Fon's advice isn't being taken well. So to try and save the situation he pulls out his gun and shoots at Fon. The man though, turns and chops the bullet, making it land on the floor, him untouched "The Desolation bullet is useless to use against me I'm afraid." He says.

"The desolation bullet?" asks Tsunayoshi. He had wondered what the shining bullet from before was.

"Yes Tsunayoshi. When shot with it, it forces out the saddest side of you there is. You end up saying something really gloomy that makes everyone around you sympathise and pity you. As a result they are more inclined to do as you say." So that's why he'd felt so bad before, thinks Tsunayoshi.

Tsunayoshi turns to the men around him and gives them a glare. Most of the men freeze, not realising a small child could give such a scary look. As usual it was subconscious and an amalgamation of what he had seen from the others on a near daily basis. Skull remembers it as similar to the one he had given in the Shimon house, but this one was less powerful. Naito's Family's situation was less important that Natsu being abused it seems. "You all should be good and play together!" he shouts. "Families play with each other and smile with each other and like being with each other. And I don't see that. Shouldn't you be having fun rather than trying to kill each other?" Family was rather important to Tsunayoshi, and he always tried to keep the peace. It made him sad when the others fought, and it seems like it made Naito sad too.

Speechless, the Tomaso men have no choice but to follow the wishes of the little boy. Him being with two Arcobaleno helped somewhat. So the ball is rescued from its home in the trash and a game of football is started. Naito looks very happy with the situation. Fon decides it's time to go home now. So dodging footballs that are flying faster than they should be, they make their way to the exit. Tsunayoshi waves goodbye to Naito who is too busy playing to come and give them a proper send off.

Later than night, as they are settling down for dinner, Tsunayoshi asks who he's going to see next.

"Ahaha, Tsunayoshi you have the pleasure of going with the great Skull-sama once more" shouts Skull.

Tsunayoshi looks confused. "I'm going with Skull again?" he asks. Seeing Skull's dejected look he hurries to say "Not that I mind, but I've gone with him quite a lot recently."

Reborn lowers his fedora before saying gruffly "I want him out of the house. Recently he's been too loud"

"Destroyed my experiment"

"Disturbed my sleep"

"Interrupted my practice."

"He made a good target though"

"Disturbed my meditation"

"Ruined my cooking"

The rest admit, all looking towards the culprit.

"Haha…" he laughs nervously "oops?" he ducks his head and raises his shoulders.

"We are going to visit the Family that own the biggest Gambling ring in the world. I'll be coming to translate for you. I'll make sure-" Viper states

"-To add it to my tab, I know" laughs Tsunayoshi. Being part of the Varia, she had to know at least 7 languages.

"And these people come from a culture that loves Stuntmen" gleefully informs Skull, perking right back up again. "I've done a whole lot of shows there."

"Really. I can't wait to meet them then." Smiles Tsunayoshi, glad that someone loves Skull.

Extra:

As Tsunayoshi was sitting at the table eating dinner, he was reminded of his earlier question that he had been meaning to ask Verde.

"Ne, Verde. What's a girlfriend? Can I have one?" he asks cutely, tilting his head as he usually does when he's asking a question.

A few jaws drop around the table, and glares are sent in Skull's direction since he had suggested visiting that Family. Luce didn't seem very happy with his question. Had he said something wrong?

Colonnello laughs. "Good One Tsunayoshi. A girlfriend is a girl that you feel really close to and would like to live the rest of your life with."

"So is Lal your Girlfriend?" Tsunayoshi asks, making sure he's understood correctly. There is muffled laughter from some of the others. Reborn just laughs outright at the look on Lal's face. She has gone rather red and is looking downwards. She is also shaking.

Colonnello smiles. "Yeah, I would like to think so. She'd make the best girlfriend in the world". Already knowing the consequences of his words, Colonnello pushed the chair back as soon as he answered, getting ready to run. For Lal hadn't been looking down in embarrassment (She had really, she just wouldn't admit it). She had been looking down to control her anger. With Colonnello's answer, she shot up and went to punch him in the face, narrowly missing. Both left the room, Lal chasing her worthless student, who was laughing the whole time, not apologetic at all.

"So are Luce and Lal and Viper my girlfriends? I'd want to live with you guys forever!" he laughs smiling brightly at them all.

"Smooth kid, smooth" chuckles Reborn, watching the faces of the other two girls present in the room.

Luce smiles sweetly at him "I'm honoured Tsunayoshi, but I'm already taken" That was obvious considering she had given birth to Aria.

However no one could see what Viper's reaction was. She just hid further under her hood.

And there we are, one Tomaso Family. That was harder than I thought it was going to be.

That little crying bit in the middle with Skull and Longchamp was inspired by the bit in Soul Eater where Soul and Black Star do it and Death the KID shoots them. It was really funny.

Good luck guessing who the next lot are, it's hard not to give them away. And god knows what I'm going to write for them.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 20 May 2012