Chapter 99
In A Safe Environment
For those of you who were wondering, Piyo-chan is from Uta No Prince-Sama. There were a few other hints, such as being '1000% percent' sure, and going to HAYATO's concert (not a reference to my darling Gokudera). You can find Piyo-chan's song on Youtube, although I ended up humming it all the next day.
In case I haven't explained/ you haven't noticed, there is a random amount of time between each of these school chapters. Unless stated otherwise, they are not usually the next day- the first few chapters were, but these more random ones are spaced out.
Rather strangely, all of the Arcobaleno seemed to be busy today. Colonello and Lal were off doing a special training session with her trainees, Reborn was off being sneaky sneaky, Viper was getting even more money somehow, Skull was at a gig in Australia, Bermuda was being a boss, Fon had gone to visit the Triads at China and Luce had dragged Verde to some science conference thing he was supposed to talk at.
Which meant that none of them were around to pick Tsunayoshi and the others up.
Tsunayoshi supposed it wasn't actually that strange, all the Arcobaleno were very busy and sort-after people after all, but it hadn't happened in a while. However there was something even stranger than the Arcobaleno's absences.
The people who came to pick them up…
"Ciao bella, how about we go on a date later~?"
"Those need to be delivered by 5PM… Of course I'm not going to be there idiota. The Lightning Capo will… I don't care whether you like that or not. Vongola can always find a new dealer for our guns…. Heh, that's what I thought."
"Oooh~ that shop had some cool stuff. Do you think the Old Man would buy it for me?"
The three Vongola Heirs- Massimo, Fredrico and Enrico.
Tsunayoshi would have understood if Nono had come pick him up because the man had a soft spot for him for some reason. But his sons…?
"Hey, brats, all of you in here now." Said Fredrico, holding open the door to a café.
The group of children cheered and rushed inside, immediately taking over the area with soft cushy couches. However, the three adults hadn't been very nice to them so far, ordering them around, ignoring them, telling them off. So all the children had decided to make things as difficult for the three as possible. After all, none of them held allegiance to Vongola and therefore had no reason to be on their best behaviour. Plus, those three were a lot of fun to mess with. Massimo turned lots of funny shades when he got angry.
So the children were as loud as possible, running all over the place.
"I want a cola!"
"You know, Luce would have brought us cake too."
"Maa maa, would you mind grabbing that for me, I can't quite reach up there."
"Hello pretty lady. Can I have a milkshake please?"
Finally, after a good ten minutes, everyone was settled with drinks and snacks, laughing and giggling at the three adults.
"They're not much like Nono are they? You wouldn't think they are his sons." Takeshi commented, sipping on his Namimori Milk.
"Che, wouldn't want Vongola to be under any of their care. Well maybe Fredrico, but certainly not the other two. Stupid Mafioso." Scoffed Hayato, glaring at the trio. None of them were good enough to look after Tsunayoshi-sama. Not at all.
"Kufufufu~ considering who our guardians are, I would have thought they'd take better care of us. Maybe a spider in their coffee would scare some sense into them?" Mukuro chuckled, smiling creepily.
"Mukuro! No!" Tsunayoshi squealed, recoiling in fear at the thought. That was scary to even think about! Ken was laughing his head off instead, amusement glinting in Chikusa's eyes. They had, after all, eaten worse things than spiders in the Estraneo.
"Oi, brat."
The gruff voice silenced the lively conversation about spiders and coffee- thankfully conversation had spilt into two different directions, leaving the spider out of the coffee cup- and the whole group turned to face the voice of Massimo. They had been addressed as little other than brat, whether collectively or individually, so no one actually knew who was being spoken to.
"Tsunayoshi, if you will," Fredrico said, waving a hand in the direction on the empty chair at their table. Tsunayoshi smiled and extracted himself from Mukuro and Haru's arms before walking over and clambering on the chair. Fredrico was the nicest of the three, everyone agreed.
"Aaah, I both believe it and can't at the same time." Enrico growled, rubbing his hands through his hair, looking Tsunayoshi up and down.
"Indeed, the familial resemblance isn't very much." Fredrico agreed, looking up from his notebook. The eye colour, hair colour, all of it was wrong.
"But the resemblance to him is uncanny." Pointed out Massimo, the other two nodding in agreement.
Tsunayoshi had no clue what this conversation was about, or how he related to it, despite it seeming to be about him.
"From what data I've gathered from stories and recounts, Tsunayoshi seems to have the bloodline traits too." Fredrico added, flicking through the many pages of his note book outlining all these examples. "It seems very strong in him, stronger than usual; it might even be stronger than Father's when he grows up." The two other brothers look at Fredrico unbelievingly, before remembering the few stories they had heard.
"You can't forget either that everyone on the island seems to love him, or at least bears him. The boy seems to have friends from everywhere." Massimo commented. From the Arcobaleno and Vindice right down to the servants in the houses and Mafia Row Central. "No one's been this liked and accepting in the Mafia since…"
"Him." Finished Enrico.
"And He seems to like Tsunayoshi very much. It wouldn't surprise me if He knows something we don't." Fredrico said, his voice more dark than heard previously by Tsunayoshi. The little boy was starting to get the feeling that these people didn't like him very much. Although why, he wasn't sure, it wasn't like he saw them too often since they were always out and about Italy trying to run Vongola for Nono.
"You don't think… that maybe He would… give it to the brat, do you?" Massimo asked, looking angry, offended and maybe slightly scared.
Enrico scoffed, picking up his drink once more. "Of course not. After all, I'm the current favourite." And he'd be damned if anyone was going to take it from him. He hadn't bribed and killed all those people for nothing.
Fredrico didn't say anything, just pushing his glasses up his nose. He wasn't going to tell his stupid egotistical brothers that he was their Father's favourite to gain the coveted prize, not them.
… And then there was always Xanxus to consider…
"Well, I'll just prove to Him that I'm the best choice, not you or that little brat." Massimo preened, a self-assured smirk on his face.
"Umm…"
The three men turned from their usual brotherly squabbles to the little child who had just interrupted them.
"Can I ask who 'He' is?" Tsunayoshi said in a small voice. It was hard to follow this conversation when he didn't know who was being talked about, and he really wanted to know since his name kept on coming up. Plus it was kind of rude to invite him here and then not include him in the conversation.
"Primo-sama, of course."
They were talking about Giotto?
"Why are you comparing me to Giotto?" Tsunayoshi asked, tilting his head in question.
"That's Giotto-sama to you, brat." Massimo hissed, looking like he was going to hit Tsunayoshi if the boy said it wrong again.
"You should show more respect to Vongola's ****ing founder, brat." Growled Enrico, looking angry too. Primo-sama deserved the upmost respect, even from a brat like Tsunayoshi.
Unlike usual, Tsunayoshi didn't feel comfortable telling these people off for their naughty language, he was a little scared of them. These were some of the few- really really few- people he never got those 'feelings' about in his head. No inkling at all other than the fact they were Nono's sons and Vongola Heirs. So he had no clue how to handle them, how explosive they were, whether they were likely to hit him or not. So he did his best to not annoy them.
Luckily, Fredrico acted for him.
"Mind your language idiot." He said, smacking his brother over the head with his notebook none too lightly. "You know what Lady Luce's like with swearing around the boy. You saw what she did to the Varia to make them stop." All three shivered. That had not been a pretty sight. Not at all. The worst thing was it had worked too- maybe the Varia wanted the boy to be theirs that badly.
Massimo ignored the squabble going on between his other two brothers and instead turned to Tsunayoshi, a fierce look on his face.
"Know that we're watching you, boy. We know exactly who you are and we've seen straight through the 'Advisor's' plan. Find a stupid, gullible woman who wouldn't ask questions about his job or long absences, knock her up and produce a kid and win the Prize. He's probably annoyed that he wasn't born with the right Flame to claim it himself. As if we'd let him. So don't go thinking you're a dark horse or somethin', because I'd kill you before you could even get your grubby mitts on it. Just because you're the Arcobaleno's kid doesn't mean I won't find a way."
Because in the Mafia, it was perfectly natural to kill to get what you wanted.
Oooh, these people were scary! What did he do to them to warrant this? He wanted to go back to the others and away from them! Actually…
Remembering what both Reborn and Fon had told him, Tsunayoshi looked up at the three people that seemed to hate him and…
Smiled.
"If you're ever in a situation where someone is threatening you, then just smile at them. Since they won't be expecting it, they'll freeze confused for a second, which should be enough for you to start your escape."
"You're not doing a very good job at watching. Isn't it a little too quiet in here?"
The three adults frowned. It was indeed very quiet in here. So they turned to where the brat's entourage should be and found… no one.
Annoyed, they turned back to the brat before them, only to find him gone too and the chime of the bell above the door ringing in their ears.
The waitress was suddenly privy to a range of expletives that she wasn't sure she'd ever heard before or were even anatomically possible.
"Tsunayoshi, are you okay?" Kyoko asked as Tsunayoshi reached where the others had run off to. "It didn't look like a very nice talk."
"Haru should have gone over there and shouted at them! Mamma is really good at shouting so Haru is too desu~" The brunette chirped, rolling up her sleeves with a determined pout on her face. Takeshi laughed and quickly placed a hand on her head to stop her going back to the café.
Tsunayoshi smiled at everyone around, finally relaxing, glad to be safe and around people he loved rather than those three meanies.
"Don't worry, I'm fine now that I'm with you guys." Replied Tsunayoshi, giving out an especially sunny gracious smile. "If they're really mean then I can always get their Daddy to shout at them." Tsunayoshi just knew somehow that Nono could be scary when giving tellings-off- he'd never experienced it himself, but it was another one of those feelings.
"Hey, how about we go to the park byon!"Ken said, bouncing up and down slightly. "Then we can forget about those people and have some fun!"
Chikusa sighed as everyone turned to look at Ken. "How troublesome."
"Is not!" Ken shouted back, offended. "I'd rather wait forever at the park for the Arcobaleno to pick us up than spend another second with those rubbish adults."
Chikusa, Mukuro and Tsunayoshi shared looks, Tsunayoshi hiding a smile. They all knew why Ken wanted to go to the park, and it wasn't because of the Vongola trio's unbearableness. After being locked up for so long Ken would rather be outside at all times and used every opportunity he could to go somewhere outside with grass or trees. It was an understandable desire considering the effects of Ken's animal genes on his tastes and actions. Being trapped inside had been almost torture.
Plus they hadn't been to the park in a while.
"Sounds good. We could play catch!" Takeshi grins, knowing he had a baseball in his bag with him.
"Or we could play Mafia and Vindice!" Haru giggled. Mafia and Vindice was their version of cops and robbers and was basically a team based game of chase. "I get to be on Tsunayoshi's team!"
"Shut up girl. Tsunayoshi-sama doesn't want to be slowed down by you." Hayato growled, frowning at Haru with crossed arms.
"Hahi! Haru can run faster than you~!"
"Heh. Bring it!"
"Kufufu, she might be right you know, Hayato." Mukuro entered with an amused grin, always taking the opportunity to rile up the volatile silveret.
Hayato turned and growled at Mukuro. "I can catch you easily Mukuro."
"Oya, you think you can catch a trained assassin like me? I'd like to see you try, boy."
So… it seemed like they were off to the park then- with or without his say. Tsunayoshi really didn't mind going, as long as it made everyone happy.
The arguments and planning of games continued as the children walked towards the park closest to the school, not too far from where they were currently.
"And that's when I scored my EXTREME third goal! It was like the other team weren't even trying!" Ryohei shouted excitedly, telling a story from his class' PE session earlier.
"Che, running away from either you two idiots when you have projectiles is common sense. You'll kill someone with a football one day." Hayato grumbled- having learned the hard way not to play baseball with the baseball idiot. Those two clearly didn't know their own strength and flung whatever sports balls they were using with dangerous speeds. Running away from the ball was safer than trying to block it.
Tsunayoshi was only half listening to the conversations around him, especially since there were so many going on. Instead he was looking around at the scenery. Being in a 'normal' city for so long had been a learning curve since it was very different from Mafia Row. The houses were a lot smaller, and some didn't even have gardens. The common sounds were cars and adverts rather than gunshots or the sound of the sea. The designs of Japanese buildings was different from the Italian mansions.
But even here in the city there was variation.
Tsunayoshi stopped to look at a house that was different from the rest. It was clearly older than all the other houses around, although well kept. Instead of normal doors, these ones were the sliding kind that he had seen in Tsuyoshi's sushi shop. None of the other shops and houses around had those. However despite its differences, the house- actually, it might be a shop, Tsunayoshi wasn't sure- seemed rather normal. He wasn't sure why he had stopped to stare at it. It wasn't particularly pretty or awe-inspiring, just different.
Oh dear, he'd spent so much time looking at this house that the others had gone on without him! How could they forget him? With a sigh, Tsunayoshi ran in the direction they were heading. The route was simple anyway, take a left here, straight across here and then a right aaaannd…
Huh?
He should have been at the park by now. Hmm, maybe he had taken a wrong turning? He had a habit of getting his right and left mixed up sometimes. So he turned back around and took the other turning, hoping this would lead him back to where he wanted to be.
But instead he ended up back at that house.
So he had gone in a circle then? Hmm, that was strange. His sense of direction was usually pretty good, especially considering the amount of time he spent navigating a forest with Lal, Colonello and the COMSUBIN. Let's try again.
But no.
"Oh dear little one. You look more lost than a mouse in a labyrinth."
Tsunayoshi turned to find the sliding doors of that house open and an old man leaning against them. The man was smiling sweetly at him and Tsunayoshi couldn't help but smile sheepishly in return.
"Yeah, I was on my way to the park with my friends but I seem to have gotten lost." He admitted.
"Ah, easily done," The man agreed before laughing softly. "Although I find there is fun to be had in getting lost. Most adventures and discoveries start by getting lost."
"But getting lost alone isn't much fun." Tsunayoshi pouted. He'd feel better if everyone else was with him.
"But you're the kind of person who will never be alone. People with your special quality are never alone for long." The man stated plainly, as if it was a fact.
Tsunayoshi hummed, thinking. It was rather true; he was never alone for very long. He was friends with all the children on Mafia Row, and nearly all the adults liked him. The Arcobaleno were always around too, sometimes following him sneakily sneakily, and after the time at the amusement park, he knew Verde could see through security cameras too- he had seen the feed on Verde's computers after he had gotten back, Verde had forgotten to turn them off, too engrossed in his other project.
"Most people envy your special quality- even if they don't know what it is- and see it as a virtue. But for someone like you, I know it'll be a curse." However instead of looking sad as the statement would imply, the man chuckled to himself.
Tsunayoshi looked confused, not understanding what the old man was going on about. "Umm…"
The man looked up and smiled once again. "No worries. I thought you might have understood already considering certain troublesome members of your friends, but I guess not. You'll understand better in the future. Time clears most problems."
The man stood, his kimono swaying, and walked over to Tsunayoshi. "Let's get you to the park. Your guardians wouldn't be happy if you were lost for long, and I'd rather stay on their good side."
Tsunayoshi nodded and followed the man through the shops and houses until they finally stopped. Tsunayoshi could hear the sound of his friends nearby.
"I will leave you here. I look forwards to our next meeting little one." The man said, smiling once again.
"Yeah. See you soon~" Chirped Tsunayoshi, waving a goodbye as he ran off in the direction of his friends.
"TSUNAAAYOSHIII-SAMAAAA!" Tsunayoshi gasped as Hayato hurtled into him, hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you're back!"
"Kufufu~ you're not allowed to get lost without my permission, Tsunayoshi. There aren't enough hungry ghosts here for me to track you with."
"You had Haru worried to death, desu~!"
Tsunayoshi tried to smile and reassure them, but the looks on their faces were rather scary.
This was about to be an extremely one sided game of Mafia and Vindice.
Aaah, the foreshadowing~ I love it. So much of this chapter is connected to future events both near and far, so keep an eye on it.
Next chapter is chapter 100- wow~. I'll be running a competition for that chapter so make sure to get your friends to read it too!
See all you lovely people next time- and if anyone happens to find my motivation, please chain it up and send it back. Thanks XD
Phantom Hitman 1412
First published 21 August 2014
PS. Anyone here play League of Legends? Isn't Gnar soo frickin' cute! I could cuddle him to death- or until he transforms on me XP I love his voice track, Demagliooo~!