Chapter 84
Omake H.
Happy Families. Part 1
Mafia Row ABC:
A is for the Arcobaleno
B is for the Baby they brought home
C is for the Care they gave him
D is for the Differences this baby brought
E is for Everyone the baby was introduced to
F is for the Friends that Tsunayoshi made
G is for the Growing Family they got
H is for Happy Birthday!
Mafia Row is now 1 year old! Can you believe that? We've gone through alot together, from finding Tsunayoshi, to introducing him to nearly the entire KHR cast, to gaining Bermuda as one of the Arcobaleno, to finding out about this mysterious fight in the future, and what Sky had done with Tsunayoshi. Then we had a day in the life of an Arcobaleno, Tsunayoshi's first witness of a killing, Tsunayoshi getting kidnapped, then his adventure to the Canon Dimension, and finally getting possessed by Mukuro and gaining Mukuro, Chrome, Ken, Chikusa and Hayato as 'housemates'.
That's a lot of stuff.
I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed our journey so far, and I hope that you all will be coming along with me for the rest of the ride- an extremely long ride at that.
Thanks you so much to the few people who have already wished Mafia Row a happy birthday.
To my Guest reviewer: Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments you left, I appreciate them a lot XD
And on this special occasion, the plot bunnies decided to leave me to fend for myself. But eventually one decided to wiggle its rabbity ears at me when I was reading through reviews. So PN1428, you gave me a Valentines Plot Bunny on Valentine's Day, so I thought I might as well do it now. I wanted this chapter to be one filled with the WHOLE of Mafia Row, and so it is.
So to all my dear readers… Enjoy.
"Right Natsu, are you ready for this? It's going to be hard, but I'm sure we can do it. We have to do it."
"Shh! Natsu! We have to be quiet. We're on a Super Secret Sneaky Spy Mission."
"Exactly, our mission is very important, so we can't mess it up."
"Have we got everything Natsu? You sure? We can't come back… Good. Right, let's go then."
"Mamma Luce, I'm going to go play!" Tsunayoshi announces, putting on his shoes and his dog coat that went down to his knees.
"Okay then Tsunayoshi. Have fun." Luce says from her position on the sofa watching the latest episode of a show she had recorded. Her eyes only left the screen for a moment, watching the boy leave out of the back door, before dramatic music and a woman's scream drew her attention back to the television. Oh no! Who had shot Jenny? Quick where's the remote?! Rewind!
Tsunayoshi gently shuts the door behind himself before crossing the garden. He made a few quick checks, scanning the windows to see if anyone was watching him. He couldn't feel anyone's gaze on him, nor were there any shadows at the windows. It seemed that no one had notic-
"Oya Oya, where are you off to, my dear Tsunayoshi?"
… Noticed him… Tsunayoshi turned back around to face front, seeing Mukuro rather up close. He took a step backwards, quickly looking back at the house, before grabbing Mukuro and hauling him towards the bushes and trees.
"Mukuro! Be quiet." Tsunayoshi hisses, "I'm trying to sneak-"
"Tsunayoshi-sama! Good Afternoon!" Hayato shouts, running over towards them.
Tsunayoshi runs towards him and quickly places a hand over his mouth. "Shh, Hayato. Not so loud." He peers behind him, making sure that the shrubbery isn't moving. Hayato nods, so Tsunayoshi removes his hand. "Let's go back to your house. I don't want them to find me."
Mukuro raises an eyebrow at Tsunayoshi's weird behaviour, but follows the little boy carrying a lion plushie back towards his house. Hayato runs ahead to hold open the door for him, bowing Tsunayoshi-sama inside. He glares at Mukuro before making sure to walk in directly behind Tsunayoshi-sama. Mukuro glares at the silveret's back but follows them inside anyway.
Gokudera Hayato was annoying at times, very brash and so easily flustered. Mukuro loved to exploit that fact, and often sharpened his tongue on the bomber boy. It causes lots of arguments, many involving bombs and illusions. Lancia had slowly learnt to deal with these arguments, but no matter how many times he removed the bombs from Hayato's person, they always made it back. Similarly, Mukuro's trident disappeared before he had a chance to take it. However the boys knew their limits, and their shared pasts and hatred of the Mafia system gave them some tolerance of each other.
"Tsunayoshi!"
Tsunayoshi's eyes widen. "Oh no. I've run out of time. Natsu, we've got to be quick!" He spins on his feet, facing Mukuro before giving the older boy a hug. "Happy Valentine's Day Mukuro!" Before Mukuro can react in any way, or even change his look into a sarcastic smirk, Tsunayoshi's let go and pounced on Hayato. "Happy Valentine's Day Hayato!" The bomber turns as red as his favourite colour, stuttering and spluttering as if he didn't have a genius mind, frozen to the spot. Tsunayoshi jumps back, sees this and gives Hayato a smile and a quick hair ruffle before running into the shared living room.
"Chrome! Happy Valentine's Day." He sings, running across to the sofa she was on. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, then makes Natsu give her one too, which makes Chrome giggle, before running across to the other two. "Happy Valentine's Day Ken, Chikusa!" He hits Ken lightly on the head with Natsu before doing the secret handshake with Chikusa. Then he's off running again, this time into the kitchen. He climbs onto the table to see Fuuta. "Hello Fuuta," He smiles. He takes a teddy bear chocolate lollipop out of his bag before waving it in Fuuta's face. "Happy Valentine's Day." The child giggles before taking the lollipop and sucking on it.
"And a Happy Valentine's Day to you too Tsunayoshi. You're rather energetic today." Lancia says, looking up from the newspaper he was reading.
Tsunayoshi places a few things onto the table, rolling one of the items across to Lancia. "And to you Lancia. I'm really busy today. I've got to work hard and sneak behind Reborn's back."
"Tsunayoshi?!"
"Ah! They're coming. You can't tell anyone I've been here. Quick sign this!" Tsunayoshi quickly placed a pen and a piece of paper infront of Lancia. Seeing the boy's frantic expression and the way he kept on looking at the door, Lancia quickly signed the blank piece of paper. Tsunayoshi smiles brightly, giving a quick 'Thank you' before running out of the back door.
The residents of The Shed look at the door the child has just exited from, pondering why he was in such a hurry. They look at the table to find a few chocolate truffles sitting there, one for each of them.
"Why is he trying to hide from the Arcobaleno?" Lancia asks rhetorically, since Tsunayoshi had mentioned Reborn and it was Fon's voice he was running from.
Fuuta giggles, waving the chocolate in the air before he stills. "I hear you Ranking Planet…"
Lancia groans as things start floating around the room. He still forgot about Fuuta's ranking ability.
Tsunayoshi runs in the opposite direction to where he heard Fon shouting from. He takes the long way around the house, running down the Eastern wall instead of the closer Western wall, but Fon was sure to spot him if he went that way.
He gets as close to the gate as he can, now there was only the open stretch of grass between him and escape. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out without being noticed.
"Yare Yare, what are we going to do with you?" Tsunayoshi spins around, scared that he had been caught, but instead finds Mukuro carrying Chrome, both hiding in the bushes like he was. "Trying to escape like an orange clad prisoner from a prison." Mukuro smirks.
Tsunayoshi pouts, it wasn't his fault that his favourite colour happened to be orange. Then he looks down and remembers that he's not even wearing orange at the moment, instead he was wearing his brown dog coat and black trousers, shoes and shirt: His sneaking spy costume a la Luce. He frowns at Mukuro for the misleading joke. Mukuro smiles happily back, a smug look in his eyes.
"Anyway, I don't know why you are trying to escape this cage, but we'll help you out. It's going to be fun going against the Arcobaleno. I never imagined you would, my dear Canary." Mukuro raises an eyebrow, waiting for a reaction, but one didn't come. Or at least not the one he was expecting.
"You will? How are you going to help?" Tsunayoshi asks eagerly, eyes shining bright.
"Kufufu, we shall. Chrome and I can cast an illusion to hinder their sight of you." Tsuayoshi opened his mouth to protest, but Mukuro carried on. "That is why I have Chrome here with me. Together we can create something that has a chance of affecting the Arcobaleno, but it will be for a very limited time, and could be broken easily if they wanted to." Tsunayoshi nods gravely.
A cloud of mist covers the hands of the siblings, and their tridents have appeared.
"… Good luck." Chrome whispers. Together they stamp their tridents on the ground, and a billowing cloud of mist covers the gate.
Tsunayoshi runs forwards, the cloud not hindering his sight in the slightest and quickly unlocks the gate. He had watched the others enough times to know how it was done. He quickly slips through the gap and closes the door behind himself.
Now out in Mafia Row, he slips across the pavement and across to Aria's gate, on the look out for any of the Arcobaleno. He knocks on the gate, surprised when it opens almost immediately.
"Come on in little one." Says Gamma, a small frown on his face. "She's in her office." Tsunayoshi nods, running quickly through the Giglio Nero house. Once in the house, he puts his back to the wall, tucks Natsu under his arm before holding his hands in a gun position. He slides across the wall, peering around corners before continuing onwards. He smiles and greets anyone who says hello to him. All the adults smile and gently laugh to themselves over the antics of the child, wondering why he was acting so.
"Hey, what's Tsunayoshi doing?" Asks Tozaru, watching the child slink around a corner.
Gamma sighs. "Acting stupid as usual." He replied, before striding forwards and picking Tsunayoshi up. "I'd imagine that you don't have time for messing around?"
Tsunayoshi nods and lets himself get carried, ready to jump out of Gamma's arm if he sensed any of the Arcobaleno. However they make it without incident to Aria's office. Gamma knocks on the door before letting himself in and then putting the boy down.
"Good afternoon Tsunayoshi." Aria says smiling gently at the boy.
"Happy Valentine's Day Aria!" Tsunayoshi says in return, more calmly than he had done to his friends earlier. Aria was always a very calm person and made the people around her calm too. He jumps onto a chair before taking a handful of the sweets out of his bag and placing them on her desk. He then looks down at his shoes. "I didn't have enough time to make one for all of the Giglio Nero." He reports sadly.
Aria's smile grows as she rubs the boy's back in consolation. "Don't worry sweetie. I know who to give these too."
Tsunayoshi smiles back up at her. "You do?"
Aria nods.
"You really don't need to escort me every single time I come here Gamma. I know my way around."
"Of course you do Lady Luce, but your standing demands an escort."
Tsunayoshi's gasps before looking for an exit. "I can't let her catch me."
Aria nods sagely before picking the boy up and placing him under the desk.
"Good Afternoon Aria!" says Luce happily as she throws the doors open. Gamma is behind her, looking apologetic that he couldn't stop the energetic woman from entering.
"Ah, Gamma, perfect timing. I need this package to be removed." She gestures to a bag on the floor behind her desk.
Gamma frowns slightly, not remembering what was in that bag earlier, but goes to follow his Boss's orders anyway. When he picks the bag up, it's far heavier than he was expecting.
"What's in there dear? An old computer or something?" Luce asks casually.
"Hmm? Oh no, nothing like that. Those are all the invitations for the Spring Ball I had written. Someone had informed me that Giglio Nero were hosting it, but I was informed this morning that it was a mistake. So I no longer need those thousands of invitations. And weren't they pretty? All my hard work's gone to waste." Aria hands one of the invitations over for her mother to take a look at.
In the meantime, Gamma makes his escape. He puts the bag down just infront of their gate. "Did you do what you needed to?" He asks as Tsunayoshi climbs out of the bag.
Tsunayoshi nods, leaning down to grab Natsu too. "Yeah. I just need you to sign this piece of paper." Gamma frowns once more, not having a clue as to why he needed to sign a piece of paper, but did so anyway, just to make the brat leave quicker. "And make sure to see Aria with Nozaru and Tozaru before Aria eats your presents. You know how much she likes chocolate." Gamma nods slowly, knowing the truth behind that statement. This was why he hated Valentines, Aria got far too much chocolate during this time.
With a quick glance to check that Luce hadn't spotted him- he didn't realise that her episode was going to finish that quickly- he slips out of the gate and sneaks his way towards the next house.
A scan of his palm print lets him into the Guesso house, and he quickly runs inside before he's spotted. With a sigh of relief he walks down the corridor, letting Natsu check around the corners for him.
"Hm-hmm. I see a sugar fairy has descended upon us~"
Tsunayoshi jumps, almost screaming if it wasn't for a hand over his mouth. "What brings the fairy to my domain?" Byakuran asks, leaning forwards close to Tsunayoshi's face. He remembers to remove his hand first.
"Happy Valentine's Day Byakuran!" Tsunayoshi replies, not even bothering to lean backwards.
"Oh yes, a happy day indeed, Hmm-hmm. A whole day dedicate to the sugar that is romance. But what makes it even happier is all of the chocolate. Did you know that more than 36 million boxes of chocolate will be sold for this special occasion?"
"No I didn't. How can you even make that much chocolate?" Tsunayoshi asks. Byakuran only waves a hand in answer, saying it didn't matter. "I don't have that much chocolate, but I do have some for everyone." He reaches into his bag and plucks out some chocolates. "Here you go." He then gives Byakuran a mock glare. "Don't eat them all yourself. Make sure to give them to the others too." Byakuran laughs, but promises nothing. Tsunayoshi rolls his eyes at that before handing the paper over to be signed. Byakuran instead drew a smiling marshmallow, but it would serve Tsunayoshi's purposes.
"Are Shoichi and Spanner in?" Tsunayoshi asks, starting to walk down the hall towards their lab. Byakuran slings an arm over Tsunayoshi's shoulder as they walk.
"Of course they are Tsunayoshi. Going to give them some fairy dust too?" Byakuran asks, his smile never leaving his face.
"Of course!" Tsunayoshi says, beaming at Byakuran before pushing open the door to the mechanic's lab. "Happy Valentine's Day Spanner and Shoichi!"
The pair look up from where they were drawing a picture and smile at Tsunayoshi. The boy skips over to their work station and takes a look at the picture. Another robot. Again. He smiles, before laying down two of the sweets where the robot's eyes would be. "Make sure to eat these okay. Sugar is good for the brain, right Spanner?" Tsunayoshi laughs because it was Spanner who had told him so. Spanner nods, picking up the sweet and taking a look at it. "And make sure that Byakuran doesn't eat them all, the others should all get one." He looks back at Byakuran, giving off a scarily sweet smile that Byakuran knows not to defy.
"Oh-ho~ back again Verde? We are very honoured to have you grace our halls once again. I'm sure those two will be delighted to see you."
"Hn."
"No, Verde's here!" Tsunayoshi hisses, looking around frantically. Why were they following him today? "Look, I wasn't here okay? Don't tell and I'll make you some more of these okay?" Byakuran nods vigorously, running cross the room to place his hands over Spanner and Shoichi's mouths. He was not being denied more sweets.
"Fairies don't exist right?" Byakuran says, smiling fakely sweetly. The pair of mechanics nod too.
"Good, so how can I get out of here?" Tsunayoshi asks, still looking around. Out of the window maybe?
Spanner walks forwards slowly as usual before pushing Tsunayoshi into a robot they were working on. It was made out of cardboard at the moment, but it was only a rough design.
The door opens soon after, and Verde sees Spanner drawing lights and bolts onto their life sized robot design, with Shoichi and Byakuran talking about making a machine to create marshmallows for them.
"I'm going to work on this outside." Spanner announces. "Better light." The other two nod and continue on with their discussion.
Verde doesn't care, instead turning towards Shoichi. "What did you make with the parts I gave you this time?"
Tsunayoshi gasps in relief once they make it outside- the robot had been on a trolley so they could move it around the lab easily. Plus it had been hot in that box. "Thanks Spanner." Spanner smiles, handing Tsunayoshi a cherry red spanner-pop before continuing to draw lights onto the robot design.
Tsunayoshi escapes from the house, knowing that there was no need to worry about Verde since he would be too involved in whatever project he had going with the child mechanics.
The next place on Tsunayoshi's list was Dino's house. Romario greets Tsunayoshi before taking him to the back of the house where Dino was reading a book in the sun- homework.
"Hey Big Bro Dino~" Tsunayoshi waves, standing over the blond and creating a shadow across the book. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Dino grins, rolling over and standing up. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too Tsunayoshi."
He raises an eyebrow when Tsunayoshi starts looking around suspiciously. "Reborn's not about is he?" Tsunayoshi whispers. Dino laughs and grins, thinking Tsunayoshi was wanting to get away from the demon tutor from hell- like he wants, but he knew the feat was easier said than done.
"No no, Reborn's not here. I haven't seen him all week." Then Dino gulps. That meant he was due to arrive soon! Dino shivers.
Tsunayoshi relaxes slightly after hearing that. "Phew, that's good. Then I can give you these." He reaches into his bag and pulls out three chocolate truffles. "This one I made especially for Enzo, Luce says he can eat this one." He says, pointing to a green wrapped sweet. "The other one is for Romario."
"Aww, lil' bro that's awesome!" Dino says, hugging Tsunayoshi. "I'll make sure he gets it. But I don't have anything for you." He pouts, checking his pockets for sweets.
"Don't worry, you can help me by signing this. I'm using it to prove Reborn wrong." Dino grins evilly with Tsunayoshi at that before quickly signing the paper. Anything to prove Reborn wrong.
"Young Master, Fon has arrived to see you."
Dino looks confused, wondering why Fon was here. Tsunayoshi on the other hand panics.
"Oh no, if Fon finds me than he'll take me back and prove Reborn right!" Now where to run, the pond or the flower bush?
Dino too starts to panic, not wanting to be the reason Tsunayoshi couldn't prove Reborn wrong. In his panic he trips, slamming into Tsunayoshi and sending them both into the flower bush. Luckily it didn't have thorns, but the bark was a little rough.
Fon walks around the house to find Dino face first in a plant and sighs. "It's no wonder Reborn asked me here to work on your balance." He shakes his head- he didn't think it was possible to trip as much as the young Dino did. "Meet me in the gazebo once you've patched yourself up, we'll start our first lesson then." And then he walks past.
Dino looks up, waiting for Fon to walk past the rose trellises and out of sight before clambering off of Tsunayoshi.
"Hehe, sorry little brother, the plant root tripped me up." Dino says, holding a hand out to help Tsunayoshi up.
"That's alright Dino. I hope you have fun with Fon!" He then runs off, smiling at Romario when he opened the gate.
Sticking low to the grass to avoid suspicion, he crawls all the way to the Bovino house. Another scan of his palm print gets him in here as well- as Verde-sama's subject, he apparently had the right.
When he gets inside the house, he's met by Vittorio and Lambo who are coming up the stairs leading to the main laboratory.
"Tsunayoshi!" Lambo screams. "Candy candy candy~" He makes grabbing hands towards Tsunayoshi, knowing that he always had a sweet for him (Tsunayoshi had learnt his lesson after coming here the first time).
"Good Afternoon Tsunayoshi." Vittorio says, adjusting his glasses with one hand before peering through them at Tsunayoshi. "It is a rare phenomenon to see you here without Verde. I believe this has happened only 3 times with in my memory. Are you here to play with Lambo again?"
"No sir." Tsunayoshi says shaking his head whilst walking closer. "I'm here to give this to Lambo for Valentine's Day." He holds up one of the candies. Lambo's eyes widen before he rudely snatches it out of Tsunayoshi's hand. It is immediately consumed, the baby making pleased sounds as it sucked on the sweet. Lambo then reaches out for Natsu wanting something fluffy to cuddle in preparation for nap time. Tsunayoshi lifts Natsu up to let Lambo stroke him. It isn't until a little too late that he realises that Lambo has sticky sugar coated hands.
Tsunayoshi recoils, taking a few steps backwards and brushing off as much of the sugar as he can.
"I am sorry for that Tsunayoshi. Lambo likes to take toys with him before nap time in his crib. The substance will come off if you-" Vittorio proceeds to tell Tsunayoshi a lengthy scientific way to remove sugar from the fibre strands. "But I'm sure that Verde can do that for you." Tsunayoshi nods, not having gotten a word of the explanation anyway.
"Wahhh! Nap time!" Lambo demands, starting to bawl tears.
Vittorio sighs, bouncing Lambo on his hip to appease the child. "I shall be leaving then Tsunayoshi."
"Oh, before I forget here's one for you too. Do you mind signing this for me?" Tsunayoshi asks, holding up both sweet and paper. Vittorio nods, pocketing the sweet. He didn't mind signing for the sweet either, used to that being scientific policy for deliveries and chemical permissions and such.
Tsunayoshi makes his exit before Lambo can demand to keep Natsu.
The walk to the next house takes a little longer, but there were plenty of trees to hide behind along the way. He politely knocks on the door to the GateKeepers House. He isn't surprised when Kyoya drops from the tiled roof, tonfa ready to strike downwards.
Tsunayoshi jumps backwards, hissing as dust blooms around them from Kyoya's impact. Kyoya leaps forwards, one tonfa at stomach height, the other at head height. Ducking, Tsunayoshi raises one hand to defend his head with, before rolling backwards before Kyoya can change his attack.
"Good Afternoon Tsunayoshi. What brings you here today?" Tetsuya asks, sitting on the veranda chewing a grass stem as always.
"Afternoon Tetsuya. I came to give you these." He throws Natsu high into the air reaching into the bag to grab what he wanted. Kyoya ignores the plushie taking a flying trip, knowing from experience that attacking the lion named Natsu was a very bad idea. He had been thoroughly thrashed by the herbivore last time he had done so and he wasn't in the mood for a full on battle at the moment.
Tsunayoshi uses one of Fon's kicks to block the next tonfa attack since his hands were busy; as his foot comes back in contact with the ground again, he ducks and swerves around Kyoya's body, coming up at his back before throwing four sweets at Tetsuya. He catches Natsu before turning round, plushie raised, to face Kyoya once more. Kyoya freezes, inches away from the neck of the lion cub.
"What are these for Tsunayoshi?" Tetsuya asks, holding the sweets up.
"I came to say Happy Valentine's Day, and those are sweets for you all. There's one for both of Kyoya's parents in there too." Proper manners demanded so. "This one in yellow is sunflower seeds for Hibird." Tsunayoshi states, holding the final sweet, and walks across to hand the more delicate package to Tetsuya before getting him to sign the paper.
Kyoya drops his tonfas and steps away in disgust. "Such a useless holiday, only causing chaos. It's undisciplined." He had been warned by his parents the lengths some people would go to hand out Valentine's chocolate.
Tsunayoshi gulps, taking a few steps away from Kyoya.
"You came here for that?" The GateKeeper asks in a quiet voice.
"Err… yes?" Tsunayoshi replies. "Heeii! I'm leaving now!" He runs off quickly before Kyoya can come after him.
"Tch. Still an herbivore." Tuts Kyoya before turning away from the path. Sweets were not his thing, but it would be undisciplined of him not to eat something someone had bothered to hand deliver to him.
Tsunayoshi stands back on the main Mafia Row, hands on knees panting from his close escape.
"Oh, Tsunayoshi, are you alright?"
Tsunayoshi looks up and sees Bianchi, holding a purple heart shaped box. He stands up straight, eyes on her hands the whole time. Who knew if she was keeping some rocket or pineapple leaves on her to turn into knives at any given moment? "Yes, I'm fine, I was just leaving the GateKeeper's house." Bianchi nods in understanding, most people left either running or crawling from that direction. Tsunayoshi was one of the lucky few to be running.
"Who are you giving that to?" Tsunayoshi asks, daring to point at the suspiciously normal looking purple box tied with a red ribbon.
"To my love Reborn of course!" Bianchi swoons, eyes glittering at the mere thought of Reborn. "It is the day of Love after all."
Tsunayoshi nods, reaching into his bag to pull another sweet out. "Yeah, Happy Valentine's Day Bianchi!" He says, smiling sweetly at her. He really hoped that this didn't turn poisonous whilst still in his hand.
Bianchi looks at the sweet suspiciously. "I gave one to Hayato too, so I thought I should give you one." Tsunayoshi continues, guessing why she was suspicious. He wasn't declaring his undying love for her or anything.
"Oh that's so sweet Tsunayoshi." Bianchi praises, soothed by the mention of her brother. "I'll have to make sure to visit him whilst I'm there." Tsunayoshi mentally felt sorry for Hayato and made a mental note to check on the boy once he got home. Hopefully Lancia would be okay looking after Hayato- he had never seen a Bianchi-stricken Hayato before.
"C-could you sign this for me?" Tsunayoshi stutters, holding out the piece of paper- her technique only worked on food right? "It's for Reborn-" She immediately signed the paper.
"Bye now Tsunayoshi, I have to go see Reborn before he escapes!" Bianchi says quickly, seeing her business was done here. The sooner she was away from him the better. She tolerated him because Reborn and Hayato liked him… and because he was cute… but he was still a rival for her affections!
Tsunayoshi watches her practically float down the street, surrounded in a rosy pink glittery cloud as she thought of the rather dashing Reborn. Tsunayoshi wondered whether it was something only girls could do, he'd seen Luce, Elena, Sakura, Kyoko, Haru and Mai float like that, often at cute clothing or puppies or something.
He is pulled out of his thoughts as something lightly hits the back of his head. Reaching a hand up, he grabs the object, finding that it's a paper aeroplane. He looks around, trying to find who threw it.
"Oh, sorry brat." Grudgingly says Shamal, sitting on the wall surrounding the Gokudera household. "I was trying to make a new plane to keep Hayato on his toes with." He gestures to the paper planes scattered around the crossroads.
"Hmm, you had better clean those up before the GateKeepers see them." Tsunayoshi points out.
"Or I'd get a punishment from the lovely Kazuko Hibari. A woman like steels she is." Shamal sniggers lecherously. The innocent Tsunayoshi doesn't get the joke, and tilts his head, unsure of why getting a punishment from the GateKeepers of all people is something to laugh at.
"Are you alright?" Tsunayoshi asks, worried about the shade of red Shamal has turned.
Shamal blinks and shakes his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Anyway, what are you doing here without anyone standing over you?"
Tsunayoshi jumps at the reminder, frantically looking around to see if he could spot any of the Arcobaleno, or feel their eyes on him. Luckily he couldn't. "I'm here to give this to you." Tsunayoshi says, placing the sweet in the paper plane before launching it back towards Shamal. The assassin catches it, taking the sweet out.
"I usually don't accept chocolate from men-"
"Luce helped me make it."
"-But on this one occasion, I will."
"Oh, can you sign this for me? To let Luce know that you liked her chocolate?" That wasn't true, but mentioning Luce got Shamal to do most things. Indeed, Shamal jumped off of the wall, took the pen from him and signed in a cursive flourish, leaving a heart and a few kisses afterwards. "Thank you. I'll tell Hayato that you're planning something good for him. I bet he'll be excited."
Shamal frowned, the boy had just totally killed the mood. "Hn, whatever brat. Now if that's all?" He pushes Tsunayoshi away, making flicking gestures with his hands. Tsunayoshi laughs at Shamal's sudden change in attitude before walking off down the street.
"N-Natsu, are you r-ready for this house?" Tsunayoshi asks nervously.
The Cervello.
He loved the Cervello, he really did, but they got rather excited around him. It was almost like he was a collectable doll made from gold or something.
He didn't even have time to knock on the gate before it was flung open and he was dragged inside.
Meet the Cervello outside of their house and you would never have met anyone as stone faced, rule centred and unattached as them. But get them inside the house and they changed totally, as if they all became 10 year old girls.
"Rose-sama! Looked who came to visit us!" One lady shouts, holding the boy up in the air.
"Tsunayoshi-sama!" The women all shout, giggling and laughing whilst they pet him and pinch his adorable cheeks.
"Ladies, ladies, calm down. You're scaring the poor boy." Rose admonishes walking through the crowd. She eventually gets to Tsunayoshi, who had been placed down on a table. "Good Afternoon Tsunayoshi." She greets regally, her tiara glinting in the light.
"Good Afternoon Rose, Cervello." He replies, nodding towards the mob.
"Good Afternoon Tsunayoshi." The Cervello chorus.
"To what do we own the pleasure of your visit? Is there a game you would like us to referee for you?" Rose enquires.
Tsunayoshi shakes his head before adjusting his grip on Natsu and his bag. "No, I came to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day." He rummages around in his bag to find the huge store of truffles he had made for them. "I made these for you all."
As one, almost like a military movement (Lal would have been proud) the Cervello bow. "Thank you Tsunayoshi-sama." They all say.
Rose rises from her bow gently taking the bag from the child's fingers. "We are greatly honoured that you went through the trouble of making such gifts for us."
Tsunayoshi smiles- the Cervello have to suppress a squeal over its cuteness- before saying, "Don't worry, I was happy to make them for you. Could you sign this for me please?" He hands the piece of paper over. Rose nods and signs the paper on behalf of the Cervello- there isn't room for each of them to sign it.
"Hey Flower Power, you in here somewhere? Nono told me he wants to see you for something."
Tsunayoshi immediately places a hand over his lips. "Shh, I'm not supposed to be here. Don't tell Lal. I need to leave without her seeing me."
The Cervello nod. "The game is set. Ladies." Rose whispers back. The closest Cervello nod in understanding. Rose moves carefully to the other side of the room, ducking down so her tiara isn't noticed.
"I am over here, Lal-sama. What a pleasure it is to see you again." Lal saw a lot of the Cervello, in part due to her relation to Vongola and her trustworthiness in Nono's eyes, but also because she used them as referees in a lot of games she held to train the COMSUBIN with.
Meanwhile, Tsunayoshi was stripped of his coat, had a few pink additions to his black clothing and given a black mask to finish off his disguise. He and Natsu were then shuffled through the mob of ladies and out of a side door before being escorted to the front gate. After checking that Colonnello wasn't waiting outside, Tsunayoshi leaves, bidding the helpful Cervello goodbye.
The next house, that of the Nuevo, went without a hitch. Frankie and his men were pleased to see the chocolate, used to the day being a commercial holiday back in America. Tsunayoshi leaves with one signed paper and orders to tell Skull that they wanted to book another private gig for him… paid handsomely of course.
The next house he visits is that of the Giegue, with Anastasia opening the gate for him.
"How nice to see you little cute one." She smiles.
Tsunayoshi smiles back before taking a running leap, diving head first for the floor, where he proceeds to slide down the ice floor. "Heeheehee, nice to see you too Anastasia." He shouts whilst laughing.
"Oh the little cute one is here," comments Viktor, poking his head out of one of the rooms.
Tsunayoshi keeps on giggling before throwing a sweet at Viktor on his way past. He then throws one at Anastasia too. Both Russians catch their sweets with ease. They watch as the boy expertly spins on his back before kicking off the wall and sliding back towards them. He had lots of time to practice that manoeuvre with.
Tsunayoshi catches a glimpse of movement in the ice before throwing the sweet in a different direction. It goes through one of the side doors. A moment later, Nikola walks in, stopping Tsunayoshi's skid with a foot.
"What are these for little cute one? You don't usually hand us chocolates."
Tsunayoshi pouts when the foot stops him sliding on the ice floor. "They are for Valentine's Day of course. Oh, can you sign this please, one of you?" He waves the paper in the air.
"Hmm, you've been a busy boy haven't you?" Viktor muses, reading the names on the list. "And that's a whole lot of chocolate."
Tsunayoshi grins, pleased. "Luce and I spent ages making them all." He nods as Viktor hands the list back, tucking it safely back into the bag. "Natsu helped too!"
"Hey kora, Lal's gone for the day. Any of you losers want a dodgeball game against me?"
"Um, do you mind keeping this a secret? I'm trying not to let the Arcobaleno find me." Tsunayoshi whispers meekly.
The Russians nod, before Anastasia kicks Nikola's foot off of Tsunayoshi and gives the boy a light tap. "Off we go then."
The pair of them skate down the corridors of the Giegue house, keeping out of sight of Colonnello. Tsunayoshi has to place Natsu over his face to stop him giggling with glee as he flies down the icy corridors. But the fun ends too quickly in Tsunayoshi's opinion (they needed a bigger house!) when they make it outside.
"We'll keep him distracted." She promises with a wink. Tsunayoshi pouts, so she adds in, "Not too badly hurt."
Tsunayoshi perks back up, getting off the floor. "Okay then. Bye bye~"
He waves to her, keeping an eye on the front door in case Colonnello came out.
He sighs as he exits, glad that his bag was lighter than when he first started.
"Nearly there Natsu. Nearly there."
And I'm stopping here, since every special deserves to be done in two parts. And this chapter is already long enough.
Don't worry, I will get around to the School arc, I just need longer to plan it since I've got far too much University work to do at the moment.
But anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the first part of Mafia Row's Birthday Special.
See you next time!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published: 03 March 2013.