Chapter 51:
You Ask Everyone
Thank you all so much for more than 1,000 reviews! I was totally gob-smacked when a reviewer pointed it out to me. Thank you for supporting this fic for so long and I hope you'll continue to do so.
Warnings of a slightly jumpy chapter.
Hayato jolted awake when arms slipped under him, but a quiet shh and a warm hand rubbing his back soon sent him back into sleep. The next time he awakens, it's to the sound of his sister's voice. Gak!
When Luce hands Hayato over, she assumes that Hayato is still sleeping instead of having fainted at the sound of Bianchi's voice.
"Tsunayoshi didn't come by to see Hayato after he left the house did he?" Luce asks the pink haired girl.
Bianchi links her hands behind her back and swings from side to side, the image of a cute innocent girl. "No Miss, I haven't seen Tsunayoshi since last time he came to see Hayato." You see this woman here was her mortal enemy. Not only did she spend a hell of a lot of time with Reborn, but Luce also seemed to be able to counter her poison cooking just by smiling at the plate. It put her skills to shame! But she would win one day. Her feelings of Love were stronger than Luce's, Bianchi was sure of it.
Luce nods, having expected the answer and gives Hayato one last pat on the head before she leaves the Gokudera Household.
"Well?" She asks as she walks towards the next house. Anyone watching would think she was talking to herself. But she wasn't.
"Negative." Reborn growls. He had gone inside their house and searched it from attic to basement to garden shed in hopes of finding the boy. No one saw him of course, since he had been just like a phantom.
As she passes the house belonging to the Cervello, Lal joins them, shaking her head quickly. Skull joins them soon after, coming out of the American Nuevo House. None of them had seen Tsunayoshi, nor were they concealing the child in secret.
"Tsunayoshi didn't come to your house yesterday did he? I know he likes sliding on your floors. He mentioned that he wanted to come yesterday, so I was wondering whether he had." Asks Colonnello to the masked Geigue. The three Russians look between themselves.
"Negative. We have not seen the child since two months ago when we went through that three day heat wave." Explains Viktor.
Anastasia suddenly flicks her chain-scythe behind her, the scythe bouncing against the wall and being redirected around the corner. "You underestimate us if you believe we will not notice your presence in our house." She hisses, flicking her weapon back into her hand. Fon walks around the corner looking composed even if he had just been caught. "You think we shall let you wonder freely?"
"Calm down, kora. We have a reason." Colonnello says, hand slowly inching towards the smoke grenade in his belt in case they needed to make a quick exit.
"You are looking for the child." Nikola says, somehow giving off a smug aura despite his expression being hidden behind the bone mask. "You would not have asked us otherwise."
With the cat out of the bag, the aura of the other two turns deadly. The Geigue were experienced and considered one of the most dangerous Famiglia, so they could tell that Fon was currently more dangerous than Colonnello who was openly showing his discontentment. Fon was an expert at hiding his presence (he had forgotten about how ice creates reflections and hence gotten caught) and not showing one trace of his aura. So whilst it may seem to anyone that he wasn't affected, the Geigue knew and even took a few subtle steps away from him.
"Then you should know that lying to us is not the best tactic right now. So I'm going to ask it simply this time and I expect the truth, kora!" Colonnello knew that the Giegue were smart, and that they wouldn't risk going against the Arcobaleno. They clearly understood the different levels they were on. Colonnello was pretty confident that the Giegue were not going to lie to them.
"Are you currently in possession of Tsunayoshi?"
Three shakes of heads.
"Have you seen Tsunayoshi in the past 24 hours?"
Three more shakes of heads.
"Fine. But if you do see him, let me know as soon as possible." The pair quickly disappear, leaving three Russian assassins to take a breath in.
"Tsunayoshi isn't with them either." Fon reports when they meet up with the others.
Amazingly enough, it's Skull that stomps angrily towards the next house on their list. "If these drunken idiots have taken Tsunayoshi for something as silly as revenge or insurance then I shall personally escort them to the Reaper myself." Skull kicks the lock off of the gate before kicking the doors open with a resounding slam. Reborn follows the fuming stuntman with an amused smile on his face. Looks like Skull had a backbone after all.
"WOLF! Get out here now before I- *beeeeeeeep*-" The following sentence was one that Tsunayoshi would not have been very happy with, but had Colonnello and Reborn nodding in appreciation. If Skull could go through with those threats then they would truly be impressed.
Wolf saunters out of the house, smoking something that certainly wasn't tobacco. "Heh, at least I got a pair, unlike you." Wolf smirks, retorting to Skull's threat. "You so scared of me that you brought back up? Although you've got some guts coming back after what you and the brat did. Half of my men left after the Vindice came for an extended stay." Wolf spits in distaste.
"Lowlifes like you deserve to be disbanded." Skull bites back, striding up to the man. "But I really couldn't care less. I don't belong to you anymore and I will never lift another finger to help you."
"Oh?" The man smiles widely, revealing discoloured teeth and a few gold implants. "So you don't care if I tell them that the Immortal Skull is far more breakable than he lets on? How about I bring you crashing down off that high horse and remind you that you belong in the mud like the rest of us."
"I really don't care anymore. Tell them. They are far more of a family to me than you ever were." Skull finally crosses the garden enough to stand only a step away from the Carcassa Boss. Skull grabs the man's collar and pulls him close. "I couldn't care less about that. What's more important is whether you've taken Tsunayoshi or not. I'm fully prepared to level this place to the ground if I have to. And no one will stop me."
"Haha, so there is testosterone in you. But tell me one thing. What makes you think I would tell you?" Wolf spits on Skull's helmet ( since it was covering his face) before giving the stuntman another disgusting grin.
Skull brings his arm back and punches the man across the jaw. He's knocked out like a light so Skull lets him fall to the ground before kicking him out of the doorway.
"If you know how to act like a man then why don't you?" asks Reborn as they all enter the house.
"Why? Because Tsunayoshi is in danger and I have to do something to find him. Plus I've always wanted to punch him like that. He deserves it." Skull says, his voice sounding deeper due to the helmet he had on.
"Studies in animals have shown that parents become more aggressive when there is a threat to their cub." Verde comments offhandedly, peering cautiously at some plants that were not flowers. "I do believe that we are currently exhibiting similar tendencies."
"Nah, Skull's just feeling manly because he had his helmet on. He wouldn't have done it otherwise." Colonnello laughs, following along behind Skull who was kicking down doors like there was no tomorrow.
A thorough investigation of the house reveals that the Carcassa haven't taken Tsunayoshi either.
"I'll handle this next one." Verde says, a smug smile on his face. He walks away from them, waving with his all-access card he had for the Estraneo Laboratories. It had actually started as a pass just to get him into the room containing Tsunayoshi's friends, but Verde had tampered with it and changed the programming. It now let him anywhere he wanted to be. Being a Scientist means that the Estraneo didn't mind his presence, even if he was somewhere other than the room he was supposed to be in.
Whilst Verde is doing that, Lal goes into the CEDEF headquarters and goes to ask Basil if he had seen Tsunayoshi recently. Tsunayoshi quite liked Basil, and Lal suspected that Basil had been teaching Tsunayoshi some of the old-style language Iemitsu had taught him, in Tsunayoshi's attempt to sound more like Bermuda on an ego trip. Considering how little old-style language Bermuda actually used, Tsunayoshi knew a lot. She asks the other team members of the CEDEF if they had seen Tsunayoshi either, but makes sure not to tell Iemitsu about it. The others agree not to tell their Boss either. They adored the bubbly child almost as much as everyone else did, despite Iemitsu's personal vendetta.
But both come back empty handed and information-less. A quick check in the Tomaso House reveals that Longchamp had seen Tsunayoshi, but the time meant that it was before Belphegor and Levi had seen their little brother, meaning that Tsunayoshi had been safe and sound, and most importantly, still on the Island at the time.
Tsunayoshi had gone swimming with Lal earlier that morning so it was unlikely that he would visit the Sasagawa Gym again, but the Arcobaleno still checked. Tsunayoshi wasn't there, nor had he gotten hungry and visited any of the restaurants Mafia Row Central had to offer. Nor had he been dragged in to be used as a mannequin by Haru and Sakura again. They had a habit of doing that without Luce's permission.
Verde walks into the Bovino's House, letting Lal in too so the woman could search the place secretly. Verde doubted that the Bovino were going to be trouble though. Even if they did have Tsunayoshi, they were likely to tell him if he asked. The Bovino weren't really the type to deceive, plus they all knew that Tsunayoshi was Verde's Observational Subject and therefore was hand's off. They had scientific respect for each other.
When Verde walks into the main laboratory, it's to be met with a mouthful of baby blue smoke. Coughing he holds a sleeve over his mouth before going and finding Vittorio.
"Where has the smoke come from?" he asks when he finds the Bovino Boss.
Instead there is a joyous shout of glee from the epicentre of the smoke. "Kyaa! Boss I was there! For 10 seconds I was there!" There is a flurry of activity, starting with congratulatory hugs and handshakes before the science kicked back in and results were recorded. A storm of questions rained down on the poor subordinate who 'had been there' for 10 seconds.
"Wow, that's some reaction, what did you do, figure out transportation at a molecular level?" asks Verde, getting slightly caught up in the atmosphere. The Bovino and he were friendly rivals after all.
"Oh no, Verde! It's far better than transporting matter from one place to another. We have started on the next form of travel that human kind has never fully dreamed of before. My dear Electra was transported to an Alternate dimension!"
Verde was envious. Verde was mad that they had gotten there first. Verde was angry. Verde was… going to let it go. Traveling Dimensions was nearly as bad as traveling through time. However, the differences in timelines meant that influences weren't going to be as common and less distortion was going to happen to either dimension. Basically he was glad that they weren't playing with Time again and therefore warning them about the dangers of inter-dimension travel could wait...
It… could… wait… He had to… find… Tsunayoshi… first.
Mentally pulling himself away from the experiment that he dearly wanted to dig into, he forces his mind back onto the really important thing here. "Tori, have you seen Tsunayoshi anywhere?" Verde wasn't one to beat around the bush, and at the moment, Vittorio wasn't fully listening to him either. It was highly likely that he'd forget about the particulars of this conversation.
"Tsunayoshi? Saw him yesterday during our evacuation. He commented about the smoke and offered to get you to help. I knew what had gone wrong so I sent him on his way. I think he went to the Varia's place after that."
Well that didn't help at all, Verde already knew he went to the Varia. What he wanted was what had happened after the Varia. So Verde strides out of the room without even a goodbye. Not that Vittorio cared, he was too busy grilling his subordinate for information. Lal joins him at the gate and reports to the others that Tsunayoshi wasn't in their building either.
House after house they check, verbally asking and sneaking around the houses. Sadly it was law on Mafia Row to respect privacy and not sneak into another's house. The Arcobaleno couldn't be seen breaking one of their own rules. They got around that through the loophole of openly approaching the members of the house. After that, sneaking around the house wasn't against the law- the Mafioso inside should be more vigilant. But the Arcobaleno were the best and they hardly got caught by anyone accept by the Vongola and the Varia. In general it was either Reborn, Lal, Colonnello or Fon that went sneaking around the houses. Luce did one time, and that was for the Giglio Nero house. That way if she got caught, no one would mind her presence.
And finally, they've run out of houses. There is nowhere else on this island for Tsunayoshi to be hiding.
An icy calm settles over the Arcobaleno. It was clear. Someone had taken THEIR Tsunayoshi.
But he must have been taken from somewhere on this island. It was time to start looking for clues then.
They open their gate and are shocked to find the majority of Mafia Row standing outside with figurative tourches and pitchforks.
"Explain Trash." Demands Xanxus. "You've been asking some weird questions and it's time to set things straight." There is silence for a few seconds as everyone quietens down to hear the Arcobaleno's answer. They don't say anything though. So Xanxus does.
"Have you lost our little brother?"
The silence is filled in anticipation as they realise that everyone has had the same thought. When no answer is forthcoming, Xanxus growls and points his X-guns at them, the guns whining as he charges them up. "I wants an answer Scum!"
"Calm down Xanxus. They have not lost him." Explains Primo, walking through the crowd.
"Che, how stupid can you get?" scoffs G. ignoring how Xanxus points one of the pair of guns at him. "The brat isn't like that. He must have been kidnapped, or else they'd know where he is. The brat doesn't do anything without them."
"Well we've got to get him back then!" cries Dino, tripping over his feet in his attempt to walk to the front of the crowd. The crowd give a cheer of agreement.
"Stealing is breaking the peace of the Island." Kurogane Hibari comments, a dangerous smile alighting on his face and the face of his silent son standing next to him.
"Why didn't my Mist-trash tell me about this?" shouts Xanxus before he storms off with the grace of a caged lion.
"Where is Mammon?" asks Nono, noticing that she wasn't with the rest of the Arcobaleno.
Viper leans back breathlessly, bracing herself against the floor. She spends a few seconds regaining her breath before checking upon the child before her. Mukuro was even more breathless than she was.
"One more time." Viper says, leaning forwards once again. Mukuro grits his teeth in determination before nodding.
Mukuro's Path of Hungry Ghosts and his Path of Demons did more than strengthen him. Trained in the correct way, like Viper had spent all night doing, it could also be used to communicate with ghosts and demons alike. Viper was providing raw Flames for Mukuro's continued attempts at communicating with the many ghosts on the Island in hopes that one of them had seen what had happened to Tsunayoshi. But these Ghosts, being Hungry Ghosts, weren't playing fair. Hence the continuous attempts.
Mukuro was just as adamant as everybody else to get Tsunayoshi back. Tsunayoshi getting kidnapped was not in his plans. He had thought that the Arcobaleno were better at protecting their hidden jewel. He needed Tsunayoshi for his plans to succeed. The boy could not be allowed to be killed or seriously injured beyond repair. Mukuro couldn't use a broken tool.
"I… I've got it. We need… to go… to… the…"
"Haha! Berde! Berde! Pick up!" giggles Fuuta, walking on unsteady feet towards Verde with his arms raised in want of a hug. He still hadn't learnt that Verde didn't give hugs. It was toddler logic that everyone handed out hugs. However Verde just picked him up for observations.
So instead, Luce gives him the hug the tiny boy wanted. "Hello Fuuta."
"Hello Luce!" Fuuta smiles, patting the mark under her eye like he always did.
"Good Afternoon Arcobaleno." Lancia greets, walking over from where he had been keeping an eye on Fuuta play in the garden.
"I assume you've heard about the current situation?" Verde asks, getting straight to the point. Somehow everyone seemed to know that Tsunayoshi had been kidnapped. Lancia nods. "Then I'll be borrowing Fuuta for a few seconds." Lancia looks concerned but doesn't say anything. Verde had been careful when dealing with Fuuta and had never harmed the child so far.
Luce smiles down at the little boy in her arms. "Fuuta, can you help me? You see Tsunayoshi's playing hide and seek with us at the moment. Can you tell me where he is right now?"
She gently lets go as Fuuta hovers in the air. Small leaves twirl around in the vortex created. Luce has to hold onto her hat, but Fuuta still wasn't strong enough to lift anyone heavier than Tsunayoshi currently. Fuuta had the strange ability to know things that he shouldn't. Verde hadn't found an explanation for it yet and was highly reluctant to believe in this 'Ranking Planet' that Fuuta swore talked to him. Verde had at first dismissed it as an imaginary friend and a lucky fluke. But as Fuuta started to give Verde more and more information that he shouldn't know, Verde had to concede. Nor could he deny the swirls of galaxies that lit up Fuuta's eyes when he used his abilities.
"Please Ranking Planet, answer my question… Yes, I hear you… The Top 5 places that Tsuna-nii is are… Germany, England, Italy, France and in number one…"
Aaaaaand in Number 1 is…
You'll have to keep on reading to find out. I know Bermuda isn't in this chapter, he's coming in next time.
Is anyone else sad to the extreme that KHR ended? And so suddenly too. The ending seemed a little rushed to me. But if we have learnt anything from KHR it's to tackle life with your Dying Will! That and if you ever have a baby dressed in a suit claim to be your tutor, believe whatever the damn child says!
See you next time!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 08 November 2012.