Chapter 41

And a Martial Artist does Naturally.

A reminder that I do not own KHReborn, nor the third Opening by Cherryblossom.

Hello Everyone. I have another awesome piece of far art to show you. It's a moving picture of Viper Rolling in Money, inspired by a talk between me and Yoshikuni Itoe about Viper selling the Map Tsunayoshi created a while ago. I mentioned that she'd be rolling in money and now we all have a visual. So I hope you all go support her and check it out. It's simply adorable!

Since we all know that the name of this website never appears when its written in fics, it's the usual place (DA) just type in Viper Rolling In Money into the search bar and it comes up.

Second, I would like to thank my wonderful Guest reviewer from last chapter to be the only person to mention my favourite line from last chapter. I was laughing my head off as I wrote it and I'm glad to find someone else who liked it as much as I do.

So to my Guest reviewer: I agree, that line does suit Viper scarily well! I'm glad you like my updating speed, it's always been like this until I hit the summer holidays and then it went down the drain, lol. Hopefully, I'll be able to update twice weekly from now on. I'm very happy that you find these chapters satisfying, it's a nice compliment XD. The first few chapters were shaky since this is not my preferred writing style, but I'm happy to think that I've improved. I would be worried otherwise. I think after meeting Viper, none of us will look at Money the same again!

Tsunayoshi wakes up in the unsurprisingly cold room, glad that Viper had a special cloak she even wore to bed. Otherwise, he would need lots more layers to keep warm. As it was he was under her cloak, as well as being under the covers and another blanket. Viper's philosophy was why waste money on heating when layers were the cheaper option? He didn't mind, he just classed it as a free hug. So crawling his way out of the multiple layers, Tsunayoshi looks over towards the clock. Hmm, time for breakfast. He creeps over to Fantasma to see of the frog was awake yet. Fantasma had his own heating system otherwise he'd never be able to survive the coldness of Viper's room. The frog liked to be warm, hence why, out of his tank, he lived in Viper's cloak, in a pocket next to her heart where it was the warmest.

Seeing that the frog was actually awake, Tsunayoshi stood on the stool next to it and dipped his hand inside. Fantasma crawls over and climbs up his arm, causing Tsunayoshi to giggle. As soon as he does, both freeze for a moment before Fantasma makes a mad dash up Tsunayoshi's arm. As the pair suspected, Viper groans, rolls over and sleep-throws a Mist knife in the direction of the sound. Tsunayoshi ducks before running out of the room and gently closing the door behind him. Let it be known that Viper does not like her sleep disrupted.

Tsunayoshi runs into the kitchen, smiling brightly and wishes everyone a good morning. The responses vary depending on the ratio of caffeine to blood in their respective systems, except for Luce who was happy at any ungodly hour. Fon too gives Tsunayoshi a pleasant good morning in return. With a dozing Fantasma on his head Tsunayoshi walks over and jumps up to sit on Fon. Lichi and Fantasma exchange a good morning too before the pair jump onto the table for their own respective breakfasts.

"Did you enjoy the fair yesterday Reborn?" Tsunayoshi asks innocently.

Reborn glares at Tsunayoshi from under his fedora and pulls it down lower before barking out, "I don't know what you're talking about brat." Tsunayoshi just smiles and accepts it as it is. He had not been surprised to feel Reborn watching them at odd points throughout the day yesterday. Being able to sense when one of the Arcobaleno was watching him was a skill he excelled in. And Reborn was his most common stalker. It was surprising that his first real time off the island was with just Viper as company (not that Viper couldn't keep him safe, she was Varia Quality after all), but having Reborn there answered a few of those worries. Everyone trusted Reborn to keep anyone harmful at bay. All the customers who had seen Esper Mammon yesterday had been very nice actually. Very Nice…

"Tsunayoshi," Fon interrupts his thinking moment, "How would you like to accompany me today?"

Tsunayoshi swallows his bite to toast before smiling and hugging Fon around the neck. "I'd love that! Where are we going? When are we going? What are we going to do? Who are we goin-"

"Patience Tsunayoshi. Curiosity is a good quality in small pieces. You don't want to ruin the surprise now do you?" Tsunayoshi shakes his head. He liked surprises so it was best not to ruin them. But he was so excited to be going somewhere else today!

Thirty minutes later finds Tsunayoshi sitting on the front deck cross-legged, Fon opposite him, both of them focusing on breathing exercises. Tsunayoshi was feeling sea sick once again. Lichi is sitting in the gap between Tsunayoshi's legs, copying along with the exercise. Fon wasn't sea sick, but the best way to conduct these exercises was by doing it too, to be able to control the breathing time effectively. Tsunayoshi is certainly looking less green than when he arrived home yesterday. Sadly for Tsunayoshi this boat ride was longer than the one from yesterday.

When they do eventually arrive on land, they still have to walk for a short while before coming to a village hall. There is quite a crowd surrounding this place and everyone cheers when the pair arrive. Tsunayoshi is immediately the attention of doting mothers and other women who are all worried about the seasick cutie. Fon quickly plucks the child from these women before any damage can befall the child. Tsunayoshi gives him a smile in thanks. That had been scary. Apart from when he met up with the Cervello, he had never been mauled by women like that before. And he though Luce could be scary at times, try multiplying that by one hundred. Tsunayoshi dearly hoped never to repeat that experience again.

After another half an hour of pleasantries, welcomes, talks and other things, the crowd depart, leaving Fon and Tsunayoshi with around 20 or so children. Whilst not the whole population of children from this tiny fishing village, it was quite the large majority of them. Despite being famous, Fon still took the time to visit the tiny places maps often forgot. He derived much pleasure from meeting the people of these small villages and towns, comparing them to his childhood, and enjoying the greater innocence and purity the places offered compared to the big and bustling cities and towns.

Lichi perks up from her place on Fon's head now that the crowds have gone and take a better look around. Noticing the children, she jumps from Fon, onto Tsunayoshi, and from there onto the heads of all the other children, making the circuit with ease. The children laugh and gape at the monkey, all smiling as she lands on them before pouting as she leaves. Eventually she makes her way back to Fon, and that's when Fon starts his lesson.

Fon was here as a special instructor for their self-defence and martial arts lessons. Whilst not teaching them his special technique, he did teach them the basics of the other more common styles of martial arts. Tsunayoshi and I-pin were to be the only two people Fon wanted to teach his special forms to. And if not for her age, I-pin would have been brought along.

"Fon, who's that?" questions one little boy, pointing towards Tsunayoshi. Fon insisted that none of these pupils call him master since he was not their full time teacher, just a guest intruding for a small period of time. Nor did Mr Fon sound right either.

Fon smiles and crouches down next to Tsunayoshi, affectionately ruffling the boy's hair before leaving the hand on Tsunayoshi's head as he explained, "This is Tsunayoshi, a member of my family. I teach him how to defend himself too, so I thought you'd like to have a lesson with him as well." The little children look at Tsunayoshi before smiling and waving in greeting.

When order is retained once more, Fon starts with a basic warm up. "Ne, Fon, can we do it Colonnello's way?" asks Tsunayoshi.

Fon smiles and agrees, watching as Tsunayoshi runs over to the CD player. Patience and slowness were not things children of their age understood very well, and the children responded better to being active. Fon saw no reason to not follow the usual procedure when everything ended up at the same result anyway. The children were still being introduced to discipline at this age, and a slow warm up was something they could always adopt later. Plus he was here to give the children a change from their usual lessons anyway, so why not have a fast warm up?

As the music starts, the children murmur at the change before Tsunayoshi returns to the front and shouts encouragements at them.

~Jumpin'! Yeah oh run on time! ~

Fon is surprised when Tsunayoshi starts doing their usual warm up, yet at the faster pace, instead of using the one Colonnello had already taught the boy. The girls and boys watching, noting the familiarity of the moves, overcome their nerves at something new and join in with Tsunayoshi.

~B-b-b-b-b-burning Hit Time!~

So whilst the punches, kicks and held movements might not be as accurate as they usually were, it was worth it to see the smiles on the children's faces.

~Show me, Fly the Sky!~

Once the song ends and the children have finished warming up and singing the lesson truly begins. Tsunayoshi remains standing next to Fon, a metre or so away, with Lichi standing in-between Tsunayoshi and her master. The first thing that Fon does is go through the basic movements one at a time, starting off slowly and building them up.

"One." He would say and the children would stand in the basic stance and give a punch with their right hand.

"Two." Would be a punch with the other hand.

Three and four consisted of the basic kick, and the numbers thereon started on different forms and harder versions of the basics.

Tsunayoshi stands at the front, doing the exact same thing everyone else is doing with a cute little look of concentration on his face, his breathing slow and even. The other children keep taking looks at him, watching the way someone closer to their age and size did the moves. By this time Tsunayoshi was quite proficient in these basics, and felt as if he could do them in his sleep. Which was a good thing in case he ever did have to defend himself (and God pity whoever the fool that attacked him was). In return, Tsunayoshi was amazed at how well the others were doing considering they didn't have Fon as a teacher all the time like he did. Not to boast or anything, but Fon was the best after all. But then again, they most likely didn't have Lal, Colonnello and Reborn on them the whole time either. (After seeing all of the other houses in Mafia Row, Tsunayoshi finally realised that their house was not normal in any sense of the word. And he rather liked that fact. Normal was boring otherwise.)

Fon had been keeping an eye on the others, walking around as he spoke the numbers. By the time he had started walking around the others had done a few sets, and anyways, Tsunayoshi and Lichi were still at the front for anyone who got lost. Every now and again he'd stop and correct one of the children's posture, warn them to straighten a leg here or suck in their stomach there. At one point, he started watching Tsunayoshi, a proud smile on his face over how well the child was doing. So involved in watching his student was he, that he accidently counted one step too far.

"Eleven." He said continuing on the count. The other children in the class moved back into the basic position before realising that they didn't know what the eleventh movement was. Alternatively, Tsunayoshi, in an almost trance like rhythm caused by the repetitious movement and controlled breathing, just carried on on auto-pilot, bringing his leg in before flicking it out in a sweeping move. Quickly realising his mistake, Fon decides to make it into part of the class, and says the next four numbers, ending at 15.

"And that, young ones, are the next 5 moves that you will learn once you're good enough at the previous 10 you already know. So if you continue to work hard in lessons and practice in a safe environment at home then you'll quickly start to learn these movements too." The children nod in excitement before looking between him and Tsunayoshi and then clapping. "Indeed, a fine presentation there Tsunayoshi. I see you've grasped those moves excellently too. They were perfect forms."

Tsunayoshi ducks his head and blushes bright red over the praise. Whilst Fon was not stringent with praise, he didn't hand it out easily either. To have such high compliments from Fon truly meant something. Tsunayoshi couldn't be prouder of himself. Lichi takes this moment to jump and sit on Tsunayoshi's head, clapping too.

"Now let's have the cool down shall we?" recommends Fon to draw the attention away from Tsunayoshi. Cooling down was just as important as a warm up after all. Tsunayoshi nods and takes the cue before running back over to the CD player and turning the tempo button down. This time the song came out at a slower pace, one more suitable to cooling off and stretching with.

~l-l-lets go, music party~ Tsunayoshi started singing to this slowed down version too, adding in a funny slow-mo voice, which made the others giggle. It couldn't beat Colonnello's slow-mo voice though, Tsunayoshi had to admit.

~nice tension, pay attention~ Which rather suited a stretch in Fon's opinion, due to the tension on one's leg muscles at the precise moment.

~Are you ready? Go-Go ready Go Go!~

Luckily enough for the small boy, Tsunayoshi slept through the boat ride back. Fon placed him on the sofa before going and getting a drink. He came back and sat next to Tsunayoshi, stroking the boy's hair as he drank his tea. He was proud of Tsunayoshi today; the boy had done well.

"You know it always amazes me how much like Reborn you are, despite how much you claim not to be. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery some say." Fon says sagely, still looking down at the little boy next to him instead to the other person who had just entered the room.

"As if!" Colonnello denies. "There's no way I'd copy that-"

"Language Colonnello," chides Fon, raising an eyebrow in disapproval. Colonnello pouts before crossing his arms and sitting down on the other side of the sleeping Tsunayoshi. He'd have to work on his spy technique if Fon noticed him watching them today.

"He looks up to you a lot, you know," quietly informs Colonnello, smiling down at Tsunayoshi. "Whenever he gets the closest he ever gets to being stressed, he goes out onto the garden and practices those movements of yours. I think you're a source of calm and stability to him, especially with how whacko us lot are."

Fon hides a small laugh behind a robed hand. "You do know you've just insulted yourself right?"

Colonnello nods. "Yeah, I do." He sighs.

"However you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Fon adds in a while later. "He finds you calming too. Why else would he keep wanting to go and lay in a forest? For the backache and coldness?"

As Tsunayoshi rolls over and absently hugs Colonnello's arm in his sleep, Colonnello thinks about the truth in that statement. No, it certainly was not for the backache.

Short chapter is short, I'm afraid, but I never find writing a Fon-centric chapter easy. Plus I wrote this rather quickly too. Sorry if it's not as good as usual.

Oh and whilst it's still September, please make sure to check out the fic I wrote for Gokudera's Birthday, entitled Love through the Bazooka Cloud, which is kind of a love square between Tsuna and Gokudera and their TYL selves. It makes sense once you read it.

See you on Thursday!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 30 September 2012

As a martial artists does it naturally- Tsuna helps Fon to teach little kids martial arts.