[KHR] The Vongola Falcon Messenger Service - Part II.V
Err... the original part 2 was too long so I had to split it in half again... OTL;;
Disclaimer: I still own my OCs. KHR still belongs to its mangaka, Amano Akira. (Who I suspect is hinting at something what with all those tentacle-related encounters in the canon... Or I'm just delusional…)
Warning: Same warnings as the previous one: swearing, OOC-ness, OCs and additional warnings for misuse of animal box weapons, implied full nudity (-coughactuallyimpliedlemoncough-), mature themes as well as potential spoilers for coming one- shots in the future. =P And as always: BEWARE THE CUTE.
The Vongola Falcon
Messenger Service
Part 2.5
Written: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 03:43:34 PM
Edited: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 08:05:45 PM
Edited: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 08:05:45 PM
STANDBY FOR RETRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012
Time: 06:15:27 PM
Location: Coordinates Blocked.
Note: Surveillance subject # 5988J to be further assessed for potential as Vongola Guardian and or mafia courier.
Archive Summary: Record of alternative timeline for the Vongola Tenth Generation Guardians.
Archive File Status: Downloading 59.96463235 percent complete...
BEGIN RETRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012
Following Reborn- san's instructions once more, the Tenth had his subordinates string up a long piece of red yarn from the nursery leading to the Boss' office (arguably the safest office in the entire base).
Reborn- san then taught the toddler himself to follow the yarn if he wanted to find Hayato for any reason. (HOW he taught the child, Hayato wasn't allowed to see. He even had Anton put all the surveillance files regarding this particular matter under an incredibly heavy encryption system even Hayato couldn't break without simultaneously cracking codes and password locks for five years straight and told him he needed his Boss' permission and the Ninth's… and Don Uragano and Doctor Satomi's to access all of them. Hayato decided not to press the issue after hearing the last two names (HOW the fuck was he going to convince that stubborn old man? He was running out of metaphorical bargaining chips… And there was no way in Hell he was personally going to Doctor Satomi's workplace to ask her; too much unwanted attention from certain psychos in there,) and instead trust that Reborn- san and the Tenth knew what they were doing.)
Much to Hayato's surprise, he not only got back a toddler who could make his way to the Tenth's office from their room (with the help of the red yarn, but that was beside the point), he got a potty- trained child back as well. (That part, he really needed to know more about; he had a baby diary- photo album to accomplish after all.)
This somewhat lessened the time Hayato's subordinates wasted searching all over the base for the child. ("But he still moves quite fast and he's really quite good at hiding," an exhausted Isamu (on crutches) reported to him, his dogs in a panting heap on the floor before Hayato's desk (and the toddler playing with Gorou the Saint Bernard's large, floppy ears). "I swear I don't know how he does it, that disappearing act… One minute he's there and the next thing we know, he's someplace else. The dogs can't seem to consistently track his scent in particular; they don't have problems tracking anyone else in the Family. But I think you should consider tagging him just in case. He doesn't carry around that octopus toy of his all that much anymore, right?"
Later that day, Kyousuke got commissioned to develop a special baby soap that was hypoallergenic and smelled normal to human noses but was strong enough for the dogs to pick up.)
And yet somehow he could always get out of his playpen in the nursery and someone else would often later find him wandering in some part of the base, looking for Hayato.
To solve this problem, Anton had proposed the revival of "Project Weather Tracker" just for the remainder of the week so tiniest bits of leftover of Kyousuke's infamous GPS cavity filler were then stuck onto the toddler's back molar.
"He's going to lose them soon anyway so it's not permanent." Kyousuke had told him while Mariano amused the toddler in Hayato's lap with the flames on his rings. (Hayato wondered what he was showing him; the child seemed really mesmerized with the flame for some reason.)
"He's not fussing over the taste?" Hayato asked him, rather puzzled. Usually, to his knowledge, those kinds of stuff tasted awful.
"Oh, I made sure that it tasted like candy." Kyousuke grinned as he replaced the cover of the tube and set aside the dental instrument. "I mean, c'mon, Chief, I was eleven when I made this stuff."
Mariano then extinguished the flames on his ring after he noticed that they were finished. The toddler made a tiny noise of disappointment while the sggarista put his ring away.
Hayato wondered what it was in the sggarista's flame that the child saw that was so interesting… He thought that maybe he could try asking the child later, but then again, he probably wouldn't be able to understand more than half of his baby- babbling.
Kyousuke grinned once more and rumpled the child's hair playfully: "Hey, you did great there, tough guy! Give me a high- five!"
The toddler grinned back and tapped Kyousuke's open palm with his own little hand.
"I think I can see why Signor Reborn is concerned. He really is quite friendly with most people," Mariano commented offhandedly. It was merely a factual observation but it really gave Hayato something to think about.
"HEY! Are you implying I'm not trustworthy, rookie?!" Kyousuke exclaimed indignantly. Mariano wisely chose to ignore him.
'I wouldn't trust my breakfast with you!' Toph hurriedly scribbled on a piece of cardboard and held it up for his room mate to see.
Kyousuke then scowled. "What was that, Loreley- chan?" Toph then made a move as if to goad him into another fight.
'Oh, for the love of… Not again…' Hayato felt a headache coming on. He handed the toddler off to Mariano and motioned for him to take him out of the room.
"Quit it already, you two! Geeze, my kid acts more mature than the two of you combined!" He snapped irritably at the two remaining sggaristas (after he was sure that Mariano had the toddler well out of ear- shot). It wouldn't be the first time that Hayato wondered how and why the Vongola's 'cream of the crop' Mafiosi sometimes acted like they were still in kindergarten.
The following day: "The female members of the Famiglia think it's adorable," Anton reported to him, (stressing 'adorable' as if he intended to annoy Hayato with the word,) after he finished laughing at some of the footage taken from the surveillance camera positioned in the area between Hayato's office and the Boss'. Hayato had entered the surveillance system control room while he was in the middle of rewinding a clip of an uncharacteristically livid Yamamoto chasing after Hayato while brandishing a glittering, metallic pink sword back in their college days…
"And that is relevant information to me because…?" Hayato glowered. Then: "And I thought I told you to delete that video of me and Yamamoto?"
"G, apart from the fact that it means your kid is considered good- looking, he is as far as I can see, normal. I should congratulate you for making a lovely little baby; I didn't get the chance to back then; although now I'm kind of worried. He just suddenly randomly disappears from the radar. I really don't know what's going on." Anton then shook his head. ('Everyone's been saying that a lot recently,' Hayato thought.) "And, off topic: Toph had the file backed up in Kyousuke's cell phone. Be glad I found it before Ryuunosuke did and sent it to Doctor Satomi. She's not going to be happy if she ever finds out you had Toph try out his special skill on someone in the Famiglia." He added, grinning conspiratorially.
Hayato scowled. "That was just one time! And Yamamoto already forgave me," He snapped in his defense. 'Seriously!'
"That's why the keyword there is 'if'. And anyway, I don't think it's a good idea not to keep a copy." The hacker swiveled his chair to face the monitor and clicked "Burn to CD". "Besides," He turned to smirk at his capo. "This is excellent blackmail material on you if we ever need anything on you that Y- san's old man might like to know, G- san,"
"… An… to… ni… o…!" Hayato slowly stalked forward and reached out to throttle him.
But at the very least the H59 hacker's report had done was that it had alleviated Hayato's worries that his son had an abnormal allergy: Every now and then, the child would come back to Hayato's office with his cheeks looking somewhat pink and a little cranky… (If he was cranky, then it meant that Hayato couldn't send him out to deliver notes again and Hayato would have to stop working for a while just so he could try to put his son to sleep.) As it turned out, his cheeks were only pink from Aneki pinching them every time she saw him outside of Hayato's office on his way to give the Tenth a Post- It note from Yamamoto. (However he was starting to have some suspicions about his son's disappearing GPS signal… Could he perhaps be that flame type…?)
Anton ducked. "Hell, G… These videos from our college days shouldn't be called security camera footage; we should rename these as the Vongola's Funniest Home Videos!" He laughed. "I mean look at how well you and Y- san do the mannzai! You yourself make a really great tsukkomi!"
"I am not a comedian and if I was, I wouldn't pair up with that idiot so shut the fuck up, Antonio, and stay still so I can strangle you properly!" He said through clenched teeth and moved in to try and squeeze the life out of him again.
"Octopus- head, you really shouldn't use that kind language; what if your little tough guy picks that up?" Turf- head mock- scolded as he poked his head inside the doorway with Hayato's toddler sitting on his shoulders.
Hayato scowled at him and decided to leave murdering the Hurricane 59 hacker for another day. Then he went over to get his son off the older Guardian's shoulders: The little boy had another note addressed to him tucked in his jumper's front pocket.
When he opened the note, he saw Yamamoto's handwriting: 'Message from Tsuna: Please lay off on Yamomoto's subordinates. You're scaring some of them and Doctor Satomi is not amused with the additional work.
Message from me: I say you need to chill. Or you probably need to get laid. She's coming home this weekend and she's confirmed her flight schedule with Tsuna. When she gets home, you two can think about giving your kid a little sister to play with. Hahaha! ;-P'
Hayato crumpled then note in annoyance while the toddler blinked in puzzlement at the strained expression on his face. 'It's just stress, Hayato,' He tried to convince himself. 'It's really only just stress…'
But he still felt like blowing up an extra large stick of dynamite up a certain Baseball- Idiot's ass…
The trip was fine. No delay in the schedule and it was a rather smooth flight… Oh, and Don Uragano sent him his greetings and something in his e-mail. (He made a mental note to himself to have Anton take a look at it first before opening it on his personal computer; oh, no, this was simply for the security of the entire database and his personal computer; he wasn't planning on paying Anton back from the other day…) So how was the little boy? Did he look for her while she was gone? She heard from Yamamoto that he had cried quite a bit when he couldn't find her after she left… And she missed him everyday…
"He's doing just fine." He told her. "He's been playing little messenger boy all week."
He then stood from his seat to meet her in the middle of the room: "You know… I gave you a cell phone so you could call me anytime, but you never once did in the entire time you were abroad- But I assume that it's because there's no problem or you're just busy with work- I hope it's not because you're busy talking to a certain… other man," He frowned disapprovingly as he tilted her face upward to meet his.
" Signor Gokudera, are you perhaps… jealous?" She smiled faintly, taking his invitation to flirt.
"Read my lips," He smirked. "And you tell me what you think, Signora," He leaned down, intending to kiss her. (But he still planned to kill Yamamoto later for suggesting for him to say and do such a corny line and a cheesy thing respectively…)
Before their lips could touch, a little "Mamma!"- shrieking gray blur suddenly crashed into her legs and almost made her loose her balance.
She smiled apologetically at him before bending to pick the little boy up to kiss him and receive a tight affectionate hug from him.
Hayato caught sight of Lambo ducking out of the doorway and walking off in a hurry. He probably came to drop the toddler off. But he couldn't help but scowl; he was going to have to have a talk with him about common courtesy by knocking on his door, even when it was wide open already anyway.
"He smells nice," she said after the first kiss. He smelled like cinnamon and apples (the soap he had Kyousuke make to make it easier for Isamu's dogs to track him), she decided after a second kiss on the top of the child's soft hair…
"I gave him and Uri a bath." Hayato then admitted, thinking of a little incident earlier that afternoon involving a frisky feline box weapon, several real, live dogs, a curious two- year old, his Boss' inkjet printer and the base's fire alarm and sprinkler system… and the mess that the entire combination made…
However, his own plans for the evening were foiled with the arrival of a note from the Tenth inviting them to dinner at the Yamamoto's family restaurant tucked in the toddler's front pocket.
But how could he refuse? It wasn't often that all the families within the Family could get together like this. And it would be good for their toddler to be friends with the other children.
… After all, he and the candidates for Eleventh seemed like they were going to grow up into good friends…
At the same time, the child babbled rapidly (in Italian and Japanese probably) to his mother, most likely telling her how his day went. Hayato could only make out from the jumbled speech a few coherent words like "Whamo- nii", "Ouchie", "Pappa", "See- yo Tuh- na", "Ciao- ciao" and "BOOM!" Then he wondered when he had learned to say "yakyuu". He didn't need to wonder from whom, however.
His family would have to return to the base and spend the night there since Hayato still had some work to do that needed immediate attention in the morning. She had her own report to give to the Boss later that evening so it was pretty much an acceptable arrangement… However Hayato still made sure an overnight bag for the toddler was packed and Mariano's schedule for the night was freed up; just in case the Tenth's wife wanted the little boy sleep over at their house so Tenth's heirs could have one of their favorite playmates to play with in the morning.
He coughed once and tried to clear the smoke from his sight. He felt somewhat cramped in wherever he was sitting for some reason…
He sat up straighter and saw that he was inside a crib.
'No wonder it's so small,' he thought before stood up and looked around: A soft blue nightlight provided some light for him and he recognized the dim surroundings as a room in the underground base.
And he also saw that it was still decorated like a nursery. 'I don't remember having this stuffed octopus…' He thought to himself as he picked up one of the toys sitting innocently beside him. Then the toy all of a sudden twitched. "Voice identification, please?" The gray stuffed octopus 'asked' pointing one stubby tentacle at him.
He stared dumbfounded at it.
"Huh? Voice identification?" He repeated, blinking in puzzlement. What on Earth were the adults thinking- giving him this kind of toy? He looked over to the door connecting the room to the next one: it was slightly ajar and a glow of dim yellow shone from behind it.
Forgetting that he was still holding the stuffed toy octopus, he climbed out of the crib and tip- toed to peer inside the adjoining room… Then his eyes widened in shock and he backed away from it quickly, thinking: 'EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW…!!!'
Unfortunately, he tripped over the stuffed toy octopus (which he dropped on the floor when he startled). "Time limit for voice identification not met. Switch over to alert- mode-!"
'Wait, what…? What…?!' He thought, confounded as he hurriedly scrambled to his feet. Then the monotonous robotic voice settings switched into a squeaky, more childish- toned and higher- pitched one: "ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-! ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-! ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-!" [4]
'CRAP!' He had to make it stop…! He spotted a bureau nearby and hurriedly stuffed the toy inside.
Clack! He snapped it shut then looked over his shoulder, hoping that the two adults in the next room wouldn't come out to see what caused the noise. But he could hear movement… One of them must have gotten up from the bed… Still not good; he checked his watch: thirty seconds had been wasted already! He shouldn't be hanging around like this!
Quickly and quietly, he then snuck out of the room: while his navigational skills were not really on the level of exceptional, he hoped that he could at least do this one task right. That red yarn had been strung up to help him find his way to Zio Tsuna's office. (He wondered fleetingly if this is what Zio Dino had felt all the time…) A glance at his watch told him that he had four minutes and twenty- five seconds left… He had to be faster than he was used to in order to make up for the lost time.
"… Did… Did you hear- so- something…?" She asked him.
"Mmnnhh… No," He mumbled distractedly.
She turned her head a little and looked in the direction of the door connecting their room to the nursery. "Do… you think- the baby's a… awake?"
He frowned a bit and continued to kiss her neck. "He's fine; I don't… hear any… thing," He then replied... He had had a long week already: idiots, work, baby, chaos, idiots at work causing chaos, chaos being work and baby being a baby or baby being the cause of chaos… That repeated high- pitched, squeaky noise was getting to be quite annoying- Where was it coming from anyway? It sounded too close to their bedroom door-
She suddenly pushed him off her and sat up. She also pulled the blanket up to cover herself and gave him a worried look.
"Suona come Tako," [2]
Now that she said it, it did sound a lot like that annoying robotic toy octopus… But he was quite sure he put it inside the crib, next to the little boy; wouldn't it make sense if were him who were calling for either of them at this hour rather than the stupid octopus toy?
"Pensate così?" He frowned. [2]
"Per favore…?" [1] She asked, looking entreatingly at him. "Vada e vedi?" [1]
'Oh, Dio mio…' He loved it when she said 'per favore' to him breathlessly like that. But he caved in to her request and groped for his boxers and pajama bottoms on the floor at the foot of the bed.
Tsuna propped his head on his hand and frowned as he listened. He should have been home and in bed by now but instead he was here in his office (in the Vongola's underground base) to pull an all- nighter and finish all of the paperwork that he had skipped out on over the week.
Yet somehow, maybe it was a good thing… Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten this terribly important message.
Then he wondered if he had planned this beforehand; distracting Tsuna at age two then show up this way when he was most likely stuck in his office just minutes before midnight… No, that sounded ridiculous; a normal two- year old, (as in NOT an Arcobaleno) planning something as elaborate as this? That's completely absurd (or as absurd as their mafia world could get anyway…). But as he was told, there were more knowledgeable hands pulling the strings here.
'But still, it's disturbing…' He thought and wondered if there was such a thing as an 'inevitable' future. His Hyper Intuition was telling him there were several other things the boy wasn't telling him… He discreetly looked at the fingers of his right hand, searching for rings, and perhaps bulges in his clothes indicating the presence of box weapons on him. But he was somehow relieved to see that there wasn't a Vongola ring on the boy's right hand; it was far too early at this age… Well, OK, maybe Lambo had been the first exception to the rule, but twelve years old was already in the age of discernment…
He suddenly stopped in the middle of translating the letter to Japanese: "Zio Tsuna?"
"Huh?" Tsuna blinked. "Oh, sorry; please continue." The boy smiled at him and resumed his task of translating the message from Italian.
'He really looks so much like him,' Tsuna thought, noting his hair was a little less spiky and his eyes seemed more gentle- he really did inherit his mother's eyes- although their shape still somewhat resembled Gokudera- kun's. There was no doubt that he was going to grow up looking more and more like Gokudera- kun in the following years…
When he finished, he looked at Tsuna's desk, at his office stationary. "May I, Zio?" He asked Tsuna, pointing. Tsuna blinked once in surprise then nodded for him to go ahead. A happy smile spread across his godson's face and he eagerly tore off a sheet before beginning to write on one corner of Tsuna's desk.
'He's left- handed,' Tsuna noted as he watched him write a message. While he waited, Tsuna wondered what kind of a world his godson lived in ten years from their time: He looked physically fine but he could smell a faint scent of blood coming from the boy's clothes. And up close, despite the smiles and grins he'd seen him make, there was unmistakable sadness in those dark indigo eyes.
'Good God and Buddha, what exactly is happening in that future?' He thought as he watched the boy's shoulders twitch a little: He was suppressing what looked to be a painful cough…
He handed the note to Tsuna after he straightened up. "Zio, could you please give this back to me after I leave?" He asked hopefully.
Tsuna looked at the note then at the wall clock in his office: it was only a few seconds before midnight… 'Before…'
He then smiled as well, understanding immediately what was so important.
"I will," he promised, ruffling the boy's hair fondly. "See you later, little wiseguy."
"It's really nice to hear somebody call me that again," The boy grinned, suddenly looking even more like the Gokudera- kun Tsuna had first met in middle school. "I kind of missed it… I'll see you later then too, Zio." The grin shrank into a soft, tranquil smile and he held out his right hand for Tsuna to shake.
'… His hand…' Tsuna looked at the appendage he was gripping. 'It's hard… and cold,' then he noticed a chain with a pair of rings hanging around the boy's neck. But before he could inquire about them or even get a better look, the pink smoke took the boy back, replacing him with a yawning, blearily- blinking toddler sitting on his office floor with another official- looking letter pinned on his clothes. Tsuna picked him up then seated him on his lap so he could properly exchange the note the child's future self left behind with the letter from his future self. He frowned a bit in worry when his hand brushed against the child's skin and heard him make very a tiny cough.
'… Why is he so cold…?' He frowned worriedly, feeling the child's cheeks while his little godson leaned into him, shivering and trying to find warmth for his fragile body.
Gokudera- kun burst into his office some time later, gripping Tako the toy octopus on the top of its large head and looking incredibly pale.
"BOSS! TENTH-! WE HAVE A PROBLEM- I CAN'T FIND HIM! HE'S MISSING! MY-!" Then he halted in his panicked rambling when he saw the little boy sitting in Tsuna's lap, close to nodding off. "Ah-! You had him all this time?"
"I was passing by your rooms and I heard he was awake." Tsuna quickly lied. By now, the little boy was much warmer than when he first returned almost half an hour ago. "He didn't want to go back to sleep when he saw me so I thought you wouldn't mind if I took him with me to keep me company. And I gave him a bottle of milk already so he's a little sleepy now."
Then he paused for a moment and saw that he was wearing pajama bottoms and his black t- shirt looked like it was on backwards. (Then he noticed the laundry instructions tag sticking out from the shirt collar, confirming Tsuna's assumption: it was on backwards.) 'He must have gotten dressed in a hurry…' Tsuna then decided he didn't want to know what reasons his friend would have to be throwing his clothes on in a hurry at this hour.
"… Is… something wrong?"
"No! It's alright; I- I…" He stopped to breathe a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair while looking at the floor. It seemed that he had been in much stress. "I mean, thank you, Boss! I've been looking for him all over, but I didn't immediately think he'd be here…"
He seemed to have turned up quite a panic in the base; Tsuna could hear sounds of Gokudera- kun's subordinates' voices calling the little toddler's name and arguing over who was going to explain to their capo that they couldn't find him… As well as what sounded like a heated debate on who among them was the shortest so he could crawl inside the air vents and look for the child there.
"This all because Signor Pappa and Signora Mamma wer-" Tako's AI program had apparently calculated that that moment was a good time to 'speak'.
"Go to 'sleep', Tako," Gokudera- kun suddenly told the toy irritably. (Tsuna presumed that he didn't like the toy as much as his son did.) Almost immediately the stuffed octopus went limp; it had gone into its 'sleep' mode. Perhaps that was what had alerted Gokudera- kun; Tako didn't actually have a voice recording of commands from its actual owner since he was only still learning to talk in this time period. Maybe that's why the twelve- year old version of his godson was in a bit of a panic when he fell into Tsuna's office earlier from the air vent.
Meanwhile, the little boy yawned and fought to keep awake. Wherever he was in the future, he must have spent the time sleeping… His future self must have had him stay in a safe area before switching them through the Bazooka. (He just assumed they used the Bazooka; but who knew what technology they could achieve ten years in the future?) But he wondered: had the climate in the future changed drastically or something? He still couldn't figure out why his little godson had returned to their time so cold.
"He hasn't been causing you trouble, Boss?" Gokudera- kun then asked him as he approached them so he could take the little boy off his hands.
"No, no problems from him. He's very well- behaved in fact; you raised him quite well, Gokudera- kun."
Gokudera- kun's cheeks colored in embarrassment. "Ah, no… that's… I mean, the Boss and the Family helped too,"
"Ah, well, I suppose then that there is truth in the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child'." Tsuna replied smiling.
"Reborn- san told you that too, huh?" Gokudera- kun smiled as well, recalling what the hit man tutor had told him a few hours after his son was born. Tsuna nodded and let him take his son back. Gokudera- kun carefully placed Tako in the child's arms and he snuggled into Gokudera- kun's chest when he got him into a more comfortable carrying position. "Thank you for keeping him safe, Tenth and I'm really sorry for all the trouble." He apologized once more.
"It's no problem really!" Tsuna told him. "Actually, I should be the one thanking the two of you," He added without thinking.
"Eh?"
'Oh, crap,' "I- I mean, if he didn't keep me awake, I might have fallen asleep while in the middle of paperwork!" He laughed awkwardly. It was such a lame cover- up; it was so obvious he was lying.
"Ah, I see!" Gokudera- kun suddenly replied enthusiastically. Tsuna tried not to gape at him. Did he really not think anything was suspicious? "Do you want me to come back and help you with that after I put him back to bed, Boss?"
"T- That's really not necessary." Tsuna's smile was strained; 'I need to some time to think about certain things, and you being in the room is certainly not going to help me...'
He then had a brilliant idea of how to get Gokudera- kun out of his hair for the rest of the night: "By the way… Gokudera- kun- Your shirt's on backwards."
Gokudera- kun startled. "A- Ah- Thi- this is… Er- I- I mean," He stammered awkwardly… Tsuna tried not to laugh.
"Never mind. That's none of my business- I'll see you in the morning, Gokudera- kun," He then put on a serious face. "Oh, and: Don't sleep in late like last time. I expect both of you to be able to report for work on time tomorrow."
The look on Gokudera- kun's face was priceless: "Y- Ye- Yes, Boss! Of course!" (Suddenly Tsuna felt almost appalled with himself for finding making Gokudera- kun uncomfortable almost amusing; good God and Buddha- Reborn must be rubbing off on him…)
After the two Gokuderas left, Tsuna leaned back in his office chair, frowning contemplatively with his hands folded together under his chin and thought about the messages he received about the future through "Vongola Falcon Messenger" all throughout the week...
After informing his subordinates that they could cease searching and go back to bed, Hayato returned to their room, carrying the sleepy toddler.
She was there to meet them at the door, wearing a short white night slip, and she smiled when she stretched out her arms to take him from Hayato. "Where have you been all this time?" She asked the child gently, kissing the top of his head as she smoothed down and brushed the soft stray, gray locks out of his eyes. The little boy just leaned his head sleepily on her shoulder, still clutching his toy octopus. "Where did you find him?" She then asked Hayato.
"The Tenth had him." Eyebrows rose in surprise, questioning. "Well, he didn't give him any trouble at the very least. Boss told me he had a bottle of milk."
"I see… That's a relief," She was about to put him to bed when she suddenly stopped. "Hm? There's something in his clothes," She turned a bit so he could see the paper sticking out of their son's pajamas. Hayato curiously reached out to get it.
When he unfolded it, he found it was addressed to him: He thought at first that it was the Boss who had written it but he saw that the handwriting was obviously different and unfamiliar… Judging from the strokes, a left- handed person had written it; he knew for a fact that the Tenth was right- handed.
Then he entertained another possibility: What if…? No, no way, he couldn't; and besides, he was only two… and he didn't know how to write (let alone draw decipherable images) yet. But he looked over at the sleepy toddler: he'd seen him holding his crayons left- handedly every now and then… Hayato looked at the message again, at the name signed at the bottom and found it difficult to believe that the hand that signed it belonged to the sleepy child… But it was his name written clearly on the paper.
"Felice giorno del padre, Pappa." [5] She read aloud over his shoulder. "Ah, that's right; it's Father's Day already," Hayato's eyes widened and he gave the child a bewildered stare. He entertained another possibility: Did he somehow get hit by the Ten- Year Bazooka in the time that Hayato didn't have him in his sight? But how could there be a Ten- Year Bazooka in the nursery in the first place anyway?
However, completely oblivious to his father's puzzling, the gray- haired child yawned widely again. He hugged his favorite toy even closer to himself, closed his eyes and then snuggled once more in his mother's arms to sleep.
TRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012 DISCONNECTED
A/N: I feel kind of bad for giving Goku's little boy a phobia of squirrel- like masks (combination of Scuirophobia and Maskaphobia) but it justifies the "squirrels will come and kiss your nose" 'threat' from the last one-shot… ^^; The so- called lemon scene had me in stitches; you just don't get your way this week, do you, 'dera? And T+YL Tsuna, you are an evil bastard. (Reborn has taught you well.) XDDD
Things that make Gokudera Junior cry: His dad being stupid and or yelling at him (or over him) unintentionally or otherwise and squirrel heads on bodies which they obviously don't belong to. But he's not afraid of homicidal princes and mortally fatal illness… It must be hereditary… D8
[1] "Fwai Uwee": Reference to "Note Musicali's" drabble # 14: " You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You can Fly!" XDDD
[2] "Suona come Tako"; Per favore?"; "Vada e vedi": [Italian] "It sounds like Tako"; "Please?"; "Go and see."
[3] "Pensate così?": [Italian] Do you think so? (I'm not sure if it's correct; I just used Babelfish.)
[4] "ESTRANEO PERSONA": [Italian] Translated literally, means 'stranger person'.
[5] "Felice giorno del padre, Pappa": [Italian] Happy fathers' day, Pappa.
OMAKE: (Because I've still got half a blank page in this Word document… XD)
"That is a very risky thing you're doing," Lambo- nii scolded him after the cloud of pink smoke cleared. "Don't you understand that frequently exposing your younger self to the poisonous air in this era is what created that strange illness no one could figure out you had while you were growing up?"
Of course he understood: His body ached; he felt cold and the prosthetic arm never felt so unfeeling and alien on his body… He bit back another painful cough. "If I got sick way before anyone else did, then the adults would have been pressured into trying to understand my illness and try to find a cure," He replied, walking over to the window to see the skyline made of broken buildings, stretching all over the devastated Namimori. He knew that down below them, hiding in the ruins and out on the streets, many sick and suffering people languished. The toxic air in this era was creating new, mutated illnesses that even their current time period's scientists and medical experts couldn't keep up in developing counter medications against.
"You know why he thought it would be better if I was the one who delivered all this information to the past?" He asked Lambo- nii, recalling the day a man calling himself a friend of their fallen Family approached them and gave him the task of delivering a series of letters and bits of information he could gather. He had asked to talk to him privately and explained some details of a plan to defeat the current era's dictator. "I was two back then; no one expected me to be able to do anything except play and sleep. Nobody expected me to be able to explain suddenly disappearing because they wouldn't be able to understand me." He touched the two gold wedding bands around his neck; they had belonged to his parents. 'Not even them.'
"You, Lambo- nii, on the other hand were already a Guardian. Everyone watched your every move and expected explanations that made sense from you. I hope you see why I have to be the one to do this."
Lambo was silent, contemplating what the young boy told him. After he had spoken to him, the man, Irie Shouichi, also spoke to Lambo in private: He told him that the young Gokudera would lose the use of his legs in a few months' time. Then from there, whatever was left inside his body would start failing and breaking down… He would have a slow, painful death before he could turn fourteen. It was all too obvious that he could never become a Guardian with such a body…
But even if he could- for whom…?
The Vongola family no longer existed in this era and its bloodline's heirs, his childhood friends, were all dead now…
Disclaimer: I still own my OCs. KHR still belongs to its mangaka, Amano Akira. (Who I suspect is hinting at something what with all those tentacle-related encounters in the canon... Or I'm just delusional…)
Warning: Same warnings as the previous one: swearing, OOC-ness, OCs and additional warnings for misuse of animal box weapons, implied full nudity (-coughactuallyimpliedlemoncough-), mature themes as well as potential spoilers for coming one- shots in the future. =P And as always: BEWARE THE CUTE.
The Vongola Falcon
Messenger Service
Part 2.5
Written: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 03:43:34 PM
Edited: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 08:05:45 PM
Edited: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 08:05:45 PM
STANDBY FOR RETRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012
Time: 06:15:27 PM
Location: Coordinates Blocked.
Note: Surveillance subject # 5988J to be further assessed for potential as Vongola Guardian and or mafia courier.
Archive Summary: Record of alternative timeline for the Vongola Tenth Generation Guardians.
Archive File Status: Downloading 59.96463235 percent complete...
BEGIN RETRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012
Following Reborn- san's instructions once more, the Tenth had his subordinates string up a long piece of red yarn from the nursery leading to the Boss' office (arguably the safest office in the entire base).
Reborn- san then taught the toddler himself to follow the yarn if he wanted to find Hayato for any reason. (HOW he taught the child, Hayato wasn't allowed to see. He even had Anton put all the surveillance files regarding this particular matter under an incredibly heavy encryption system even Hayato couldn't break without simultaneously cracking codes and password locks for five years straight and told him he needed his Boss' permission and the Ninth's… and Don Uragano and Doctor Satomi's to access all of them. Hayato decided not to press the issue after hearing the last two names (HOW the fuck was he going to convince that stubborn old man? He was running out of metaphorical bargaining chips… And there was no way in Hell he was personally going to Doctor Satomi's workplace to ask her; too much unwanted attention from certain psychos in there,) and instead trust that Reborn- san and the Tenth knew what they were doing.)
Much to Hayato's surprise, he not only got back a toddler who could make his way to the Tenth's office from their room (with the help of the red yarn, but that was beside the point), he got a potty- trained child back as well. (That part, he really needed to know more about; he had a baby diary- photo album to accomplish after all.)
This somewhat lessened the time Hayato's subordinates wasted searching all over the base for the child. ("But he still moves quite fast and he's really quite good at hiding," an exhausted Isamu (on crutches) reported to him, his dogs in a panting heap on the floor before Hayato's desk (and the toddler playing with Gorou the Saint Bernard's large, floppy ears). "I swear I don't know how he does it, that disappearing act… One minute he's there and the next thing we know, he's someplace else. The dogs can't seem to consistently track his scent in particular; they don't have problems tracking anyone else in the Family. But I think you should consider tagging him just in case. He doesn't carry around that octopus toy of his all that much anymore, right?"
Later that day, Kyousuke got commissioned to develop a special baby soap that was hypoallergenic and smelled normal to human noses but was strong enough for the dogs to pick up.)
And yet somehow he could always get out of his playpen in the nursery and someone else would often later find him wandering in some part of the base, looking for Hayato.
To solve this problem, Anton had proposed the revival of "Project Weather Tracker" just for the remainder of the week so tiniest bits of leftover of Kyousuke's infamous GPS cavity filler were then stuck onto the toddler's back molar.
"He's going to lose them soon anyway so it's not permanent." Kyousuke had told him while Mariano amused the toddler in Hayato's lap with the flames on his rings. (Hayato wondered what he was showing him; the child seemed really mesmerized with the flame for some reason.)
"He's not fussing over the taste?" Hayato asked him, rather puzzled. Usually, to his knowledge, those kinds of stuff tasted awful.
"Oh, I made sure that it tasted like candy." Kyousuke grinned as he replaced the cover of the tube and set aside the dental instrument. "I mean, c'mon, Chief, I was eleven when I made this stuff."
Mariano then extinguished the flames on his ring after he noticed that they were finished. The toddler made a tiny noise of disappointment while the sggarista put his ring away.
Hayato wondered what it was in the sggarista's flame that the child saw that was so interesting… He thought that maybe he could try asking the child later, but then again, he probably wouldn't be able to understand more than half of his baby- babbling.
Kyousuke grinned once more and rumpled the child's hair playfully: "Hey, you did great there, tough guy! Give me a high- five!"
The toddler grinned back and tapped Kyousuke's open palm with his own little hand.
"I think I can see why Signor Reborn is concerned. He really is quite friendly with most people," Mariano commented offhandedly. It was merely a factual observation but it really gave Hayato something to think about.
"HEY! Are you implying I'm not trustworthy, rookie?!" Kyousuke exclaimed indignantly. Mariano wisely chose to ignore him.
'I wouldn't trust my breakfast with you!' Toph hurriedly scribbled on a piece of cardboard and held it up for his room mate to see.
Kyousuke then scowled. "What was that, Loreley- chan?" Toph then made a move as if to goad him into another fight.
'Oh, for the love of… Not again…' Hayato felt a headache coming on. He handed the toddler off to Mariano and motioned for him to take him out of the room.
"Quit it already, you two! Geeze, my kid acts more mature than the two of you combined!" He snapped irritably at the two remaining sggaristas (after he was sure that Mariano had the toddler well out of ear- shot). It wouldn't be the first time that Hayato wondered how and why the Vongola's 'cream of the crop' Mafiosi sometimes acted like they were still in kindergarten.
The following day: "The female members of the Famiglia think it's adorable," Anton reported to him, (stressing 'adorable' as if he intended to annoy Hayato with the word,) after he finished laughing at some of the footage taken from the surveillance camera positioned in the area between Hayato's office and the Boss'. Hayato had entered the surveillance system control room while he was in the middle of rewinding a clip of an uncharacteristically livid Yamamoto chasing after Hayato while brandishing a glittering, metallic pink sword back in their college days…
"And that is relevant information to me because…?" Hayato glowered. Then: "And I thought I told you to delete that video of me and Yamamoto?"
"G, apart from the fact that it means your kid is considered good- looking, he is as far as I can see, normal. I should congratulate you for making a lovely little baby; I didn't get the chance to back then; although now I'm kind of worried. He just suddenly randomly disappears from the radar. I really don't know what's going on." Anton then shook his head. ('Everyone's been saying that a lot recently,' Hayato thought.) "And, off topic: Toph had the file backed up in Kyousuke's cell phone. Be glad I found it before Ryuunosuke did and sent it to Doctor Satomi. She's not going to be happy if she ever finds out you had Toph try out his special skill on someone in the Famiglia." He added, grinning conspiratorially.
Hayato scowled. "That was just one time! And Yamamoto already forgave me," He snapped in his defense. 'Seriously!'
"That's why the keyword there is 'if'. And anyway, I don't think it's a good idea not to keep a copy." The hacker swiveled his chair to face the monitor and clicked "Burn to CD". "Besides," He turned to smirk at his capo. "This is excellent blackmail material on you if we ever need anything on you that Y- san's old man might like to know, G- san,"
"… An… to… ni… o…!" Hayato slowly stalked forward and reached out to throttle him.
But at the very least the H59 hacker's report had done was that it had alleviated Hayato's worries that his son had an abnormal allergy: Every now and then, the child would come back to Hayato's office with his cheeks looking somewhat pink and a little cranky… (If he was cranky, then it meant that Hayato couldn't send him out to deliver notes again and Hayato would have to stop working for a while just so he could try to put his son to sleep.) As it turned out, his cheeks were only pink from Aneki pinching them every time she saw him outside of Hayato's office on his way to give the Tenth a Post- It note from Yamamoto. (However he was starting to have some suspicions about his son's disappearing GPS signal… Could he perhaps be that flame type…?)
Anton ducked. "Hell, G… These videos from our college days shouldn't be called security camera footage; we should rename these as the Vongola's Funniest Home Videos!" He laughed. "I mean look at how well you and Y- san do the mannzai! You yourself make a really great tsukkomi!"
"I am not a comedian and if I was, I wouldn't pair up with that idiot so shut the fuck up, Antonio, and stay still so I can strangle you properly!" He said through clenched teeth and moved in to try and squeeze the life out of him again.
"Octopus- head, you really shouldn't use that kind language; what if your little tough guy picks that up?" Turf- head mock- scolded as he poked his head inside the doorway with Hayato's toddler sitting on his shoulders.
Hayato scowled at him and decided to leave murdering the Hurricane 59 hacker for another day. Then he went over to get his son off the older Guardian's shoulders: The little boy had another note addressed to him tucked in his jumper's front pocket.
When he opened the note, he saw Yamamoto's handwriting: 'Message from Tsuna: Please lay off on Yamomoto's subordinates. You're scaring some of them and Doctor Satomi is not amused with the additional work.
Message from me: I say you need to chill. Or you probably need to get laid. She's coming home this weekend and she's confirmed her flight schedule with Tsuna. When she gets home, you two can think about giving your kid a little sister to play with. Hahaha! ;-P'
Hayato crumpled then note in annoyance while the toddler blinked in puzzlement at the strained expression on his face. 'It's just stress, Hayato,' He tried to convince himself. 'It's really only just stress…'
But he still felt like blowing up an extra large stick of dynamite up a certain Baseball- Idiot's ass…
The trip was fine. No delay in the schedule and it was a rather smooth flight… Oh, and Don Uragano sent him his greetings and something in his e-mail. (He made a mental note to himself to have Anton take a look at it first before opening it on his personal computer; oh, no, this was simply for the security of the entire database and his personal computer; he wasn't planning on paying Anton back from the other day…) So how was the little boy? Did he look for her while she was gone? She heard from Yamamoto that he had cried quite a bit when he couldn't find her after she left… And she missed him everyday…
"He's doing just fine." He told her. "He's been playing little messenger boy all week."
He then stood from his seat to meet her in the middle of the room: "You know… I gave you a cell phone so you could call me anytime, but you never once did in the entire time you were abroad- But I assume that it's because there's no problem or you're just busy with work- I hope it's not because you're busy talking to a certain… other man," He frowned disapprovingly as he tilted her face upward to meet his.
" Signor Gokudera, are you perhaps… jealous?" She smiled faintly, taking his invitation to flirt.
"Read my lips," He smirked. "And you tell me what you think, Signora," He leaned down, intending to kiss her. (But he still planned to kill Yamamoto later for suggesting for him to say and do such a corny line and a cheesy thing respectively…)
Before their lips could touch, a little "Mamma!"- shrieking gray blur suddenly crashed into her legs and almost made her loose her balance.
She smiled apologetically at him before bending to pick the little boy up to kiss him and receive a tight affectionate hug from him.
Hayato caught sight of Lambo ducking out of the doorway and walking off in a hurry. He probably came to drop the toddler off. But he couldn't help but scowl; he was going to have to have a talk with him about common courtesy by knocking on his door, even when it was wide open already anyway.
"He smells nice," she said after the first kiss. He smelled like cinnamon and apples (the soap he had Kyousuke make to make it easier for Isamu's dogs to track him), she decided after a second kiss on the top of the child's soft hair…
"I gave him and Uri a bath." Hayato then admitted, thinking of a little incident earlier that afternoon involving a frisky feline box weapon, several real, live dogs, a curious two- year old, his Boss' inkjet printer and the base's fire alarm and sprinkler system… and the mess that the entire combination made…
However, his own plans for the evening were foiled with the arrival of a note from the Tenth inviting them to dinner at the Yamamoto's family restaurant tucked in the toddler's front pocket.
But how could he refuse? It wasn't often that all the families within the Family could get together like this. And it would be good for their toddler to be friends with the other children.
… After all, he and the candidates for Eleventh seemed like they were going to grow up into good friends…
At the same time, the child babbled rapidly (in Italian and Japanese probably) to his mother, most likely telling her how his day went. Hayato could only make out from the jumbled speech a few coherent words like "Whamo- nii", "Ouchie", "Pappa", "See- yo Tuh- na", "Ciao- ciao" and "BOOM!" Then he wondered when he had learned to say "yakyuu". He didn't need to wonder from whom, however.
His family would have to return to the base and spend the night there since Hayato still had some work to do that needed immediate attention in the morning. She had her own report to give to the Boss later that evening so it was pretty much an acceptable arrangement… However Hayato still made sure an overnight bag for the toddler was packed and Mariano's schedule for the night was freed up; just in case the Tenth's wife wanted the little boy sleep over at their house so Tenth's heirs could have one of their favorite playmates to play with in the morning.
He coughed once and tried to clear the smoke from his sight. He felt somewhat cramped in wherever he was sitting for some reason…
He sat up straighter and saw that he was inside a crib.
'No wonder it's so small,' he thought before stood up and looked around: A soft blue nightlight provided some light for him and he recognized the dim surroundings as a room in the underground base.
And he also saw that it was still decorated like a nursery. 'I don't remember having this stuffed octopus…' He thought to himself as he picked up one of the toys sitting innocently beside him. Then the toy all of a sudden twitched. "Voice identification, please?" The gray stuffed octopus 'asked' pointing one stubby tentacle at him.
He stared dumbfounded at it.
"Huh? Voice identification?" He repeated, blinking in puzzlement. What on Earth were the adults thinking- giving him this kind of toy? He looked over to the door connecting the room to the next one: it was slightly ajar and a glow of dim yellow shone from behind it.
Forgetting that he was still holding the stuffed toy octopus, he climbed out of the crib and tip- toed to peer inside the adjoining room… Then his eyes widened in shock and he backed away from it quickly, thinking: 'EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW…!!!'
Unfortunately, he tripped over the stuffed toy octopus (which he dropped on the floor when he startled). "Time limit for voice identification not met. Switch over to alert- mode-!"
'Wait, what…? What…?!' He thought, confounded as he hurriedly scrambled to his feet. Then the monotonous robotic voice settings switched into a squeaky, more childish- toned and higher- pitched one: "ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-! ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-! ESTRANEO PERSONA-! SIGNOR PAPPA-! SIGNORA MAMMA-!" [4]
'CRAP!' He had to make it stop…! He spotted a bureau nearby and hurriedly stuffed the toy inside.
Clack! He snapped it shut then looked over his shoulder, hoping that the two adults in the next room wouldn't come out to see what caused the noise. But he could hear movement… One of them must have gotten up from the bed… Still not good; he checked his watch: thirty seconds had been wasted already! He shouldn't be hanging around like this!
Quickly and quietly, he then snuck out of the room: while his navigational skills were not really on the level of exceptional, he hoped that he could at least do this one task right. That red yarn had been strung up to help him find his way to Zio Tsuna's office. (He wondered fleetingly if this is what Zio Dino had felt all the time…) A glance at his watch told him that he had four minutes and twenty- five seconds left… He had to be faster than he was used to in order to make up for the lost time.
"… Did… Did you hear- so- something…?" She asked him.
"Mmnnhh… No," He mumbled distractedly.
She turned her head a little and looked in the direction of the door connecting their room to the nursery. "Do… you think- the baby's a… awake?"
He frowned a bit and continued to kiss her neck. "He's fine; I don't… hear any… thing," He then replied... He had had a long week already: idiots, work, baby, chaos, idiots at work causing chaos, chaos being work and baby being a baby or baby being the cause of chaos… That repeated high- pitched, squeaky noise was getting to be quite annoying- Where was it coming from anyway? It sounded too close to their bedroom door-
She suddenly pushed him off her and sat up. She also pulled the blanket up to cover herself and gave him a worried look.
"Suona come Tako," [2]
Now that she said it, it did sound a lot like that annoying robotic toy octopus… But he was quite sure he put it inside the crib, next to the little boy; wouldn't it make sense if were him who were calling for either of them at this hour rather than the stupid octopus toy?
"Pensate così?" He frowned. [2]
"Per favore…?" [1] She asked, looking entreatingly at him. "Vada e vedi?" [1]
'Oh, Dio mio…' He loved it when she said 'per favore' to him breathlessly like that. But he caved in to her request and groped for his boxers and pajama bottoms on the floor at the foot of the bed.
Tsuna propped his head on his hand and frowned as he listened. He should have been home and in bed by now but instead he was here in his office (in the Vongola's underground base) to pull an all- nighter and finish all of the paperwork that he had skipped out on over the week.
Yet somehow, maybe it was a good thing… Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten this terribly important message.
Then he wondered if he had planned this beforehand; distracting Tsuna at age two then show up this way when he was most likely stuck in his office just minutes before midnight… No, that sounded ridiculous; a normal two- year old, (as in NOT an Arcobaleno) planning something as elaborate as this? That's completely absurd (or as absurd as their mafia world could get anyway…). But as he was told, there were more knowledgeable hands pulling the strings here.
'But still, it's disturbing…' He thought and wondered if there was such a thing as an 'inevitable' future. His Hyper Intuition was telling him there were several other things the boy wasn't telling him… He discreetly looked at the fingers of his right hand, searching for rings, and perhaps bulges in his clothes indicating the presence of box weapons on him. But he was somehow relieved to see that there wasn't a Vongola ring on the boy's right hand; it was far too early at this age… Well, OK, maybe Lambo had been the first exception to the rule, but twelve years old was already in the age of discernment…
He suddenly stopped in the middle of translating the letter to Japanese: "Zio Tsuna?"
"Huh?" Tsuna blinked. "Oh, sorry; please continue." The boy smiled at him and resumed his task of translating the message from Italian.
'He really looks so much like him,' Tsuna thought, noting his hair was a little less spiky and his eyes seemed more gentle- he really did inherit his mother's eyes- although their shape still somewhat resembled Gokudera- kun's. There was no doubt that he was going to grow up looking more and more like Gokudera- kun in the following years…
When he finished, he looked at Tsuna's desk, at his office stationary. "May I, Zio?" He asked Tsuna, pointing. Tsuna blinked once in surprise then nodded for him to go ahead. A happy smile spread across his godson's face and he eagerly tore off a sheet before beginning to write on one corner of Tsuna's desk.
'He's left- handed,' Tsuna noted as he watched him write a message. While he waited, Tsuna wondered what kind of a world his godson lived in ten years from their time: He looked physically fine but he could smell a faint scent of blood coming from the boy's clothes. And up close, despite the smiles and grins he'd seen him make, there was unmistakable sadness in those dark indigo eyes.
'Good God and Buddha, what exactly is happening in that future?' He thought as he watched the boy's shoulders twitch a little: He was suppressing what looked to be a painful cough…
He handed the note to Tsuna after he straightened up. "Zio, could you please give this back to me after I leave?" He asked hopefully.
Tsuna looked at the note then at the wall clock in his office: it was only a few seconds before midnight… 'Before…'
He then smiled as well, understanding immediately what was so important.
"I will," he promised, ruffling the boy's hair fondly. "See you later, little wiseguy."
"It's really nice to hear somebody call me that again," The boy grinned, suddenly looking even more like the Gokudera- kun Tsuna had first met in middle school. "I kind of missed it… I'll see you later then too, Zio." The grin shrank into a soft, tranquil smile and he held out his right hand for Tsuna to shake.
'… His hand…' Tsuna looked at the appendage he was gripping. 'It's hard… and cold,' then he noticed a chain with a pair of rings hanging around the boy's neck. But before he could inquire about them or even get a better look, the pink smoke took the boy back, replacing him with a yawning, blearily- blinking toddler sitting on his office floor with another official- looking letter pinned on his clothes. Tsuna picked him up then seated him on his lap so he could properly exchange the note the child's future self left behind with the letter from his future self. He frowned a bit in worry when his hand brushed against the child's skin and heard him make very a tiny cough.
'… Why is he so cold…?' He frowned worriedly, feeling the child's cheeks while his little godson leaned into him, shivering and trying to find warmth for his fragile body.
Gokudera- kun burst into his office some time later, gripping Tako the toy octopus on the top of its large head and looking incredibly pale.
"BOSS! TENTH-! WE HAVE A PROBLEM- I CAN'T FIND HIM! HE'S MISSING! MY-!" Then he halted in his panicked rambling when he saw the little boy sitting in Tsuna's lap, close to nodding off. "Ah-! You had him all this time?"
"I was passing by your rooms and I heard he was awake." Tsuna quickly lied. By now, the little boy was much warmer than when he first returned almost half an hour ago. "He didn't want to go back to sleep when he saw me so I thought you wouldn't mind if I took him with me to keep me company. And I gave him a bottle of milk already so he's a little sleepy now."
Then he paused for a moment and saw that he was wearing pajama bottoms and his black t- shirt looked like it was on backwards. (Then he noticed the laundry instructions tag sticking out from the shirt collar, confirming Tsuna's assumption: it was on backwards.) 'He must have gotten dressed in a hurry…' Tsuna then decided he didn't want to know what reasons his friend would have to be throwing his clothes on in a hurry at this hour.
"… Is… something wrong?"
"No! It's alright; I- I…" He stopped to breathe a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair while looking at the floor. It seemed that he had been in much stress. "I mean, thank you, Boss! I've been looking for him all over, but I didn't immediately think he'd be here…"
He seemed to have turned up quite a panic in the base; Tsuna could hear sounds of Gokudera- kun's subordinates' voices calling the little toddler's name and arguing over who was going to explain to their capo that they couldn't find him… As well as what sounded like a heated debate on who among them was the shortest so he could crawl inside the air vents and look for the child there.
"This all because Signor Pappa and Signora Mamma wer-" Tako's AI program had apparently calculated that that moment was a good time to 'speak'.
"Go to 'sleep', Tako," Gokudera- kun suddenly told the toy irritably. (Tsuna presumed that he didn't like the toy as much as his son did.) Almost immediately the stuffed octopus went limp; it had gone into its 'sleep' mode. Perhaps that was what had alerted Gokudera- kun; Tako didn't actually have a voice recording of commands from its actual owner since he was only still learning to talk in this time period. Maybe that's why the twelve- year old version of his godson was in a bit of a panic when he fell into Tsuna's office earlier from the air vent.
Meanwhile, the little boy yawned and fought to keep awake. Wherever he was in the future, he must have spent the time sleeping… His future self must have had him stay in a safe area before switching them through the Bazooka. (He just assumed they used the Bazooka; but who knew what technology they could achieve ten years in the future?) But he wondered: had the climate in the future changed drastically or something? He still couldn't figure out why his little godson had returned to their time so cold.
"He hasn't been causing you trouble, Boss?" Gokudera- kun then asked him as he approached them so he could take the little boy off his hands.
"No, no problems from him. He's very well- behaved in fact; you raised him quite well, Gokudera- kun."
Gokudera- kun's cheeks colored in embarrassment. "Ah, no… that's… I mean, the Boss and the Family helped too,"
"Ah, well, I suppose then that there is truth in the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child'." Tsuna replied smiling.
"Reborn- san told you that too, huh?" Gokudera- kun smiled as well, recalling what the hit man tutor had told him a few hours after his son was born. Tsuna nodded and let him take his son back. Gokudera- kun carefully placed Tako in the child's arms and he snuggled into Gokudera- kun's chest when he got him into a more comfortable carrying position. "Thank you for keeping him safe, Tenth and I'm really sorry for all the trouble." He apologized once more.
"It's no problem really!" Tsuna told him. "Actually, I should be the one thanking the two of you," He added without thinking.
"Eh?"
'Oh, crap,' "I- I mean, if he didn't keep me awake, I might have fallen asleep while in the middle of paperwork!" He laughed awkwardly. It was such a lame cover- up; it was so obvious he was lying.
"Ah, I see!" Gokudera- kun suddenly replied enthusiastically. Tsuna tried not to gape at him. Did he really not think anything was suspicious? "Do you want me to come back and help you with that after I put him back to bed, Boss?"
"T- That's really not necessary." Tsuna's smile was strained; 'I need to some time to think about certain things, and you being in the room is certainly not going to help me...'
He then had a brilliant idea of how to get Gokudera- kun out of his hair for the rest of the night: "By the way… Gokudera- kun- Your shirt's on backwards."
Gokudera- kun startled. "A- Ah- Thi- this is… Er- I- I mean," He stammered awkwardly… Tsuna tried not to laugh.
"Never mind. That's none of my business- I'll see you in the morning, Gokudera- kun," He then put on a serious face. "Oh, and: Don't sleep in late like last time. I expect both of you to be able to report for work on time tomorrow."
The look on Gokudera- kun's face was priceless: "Y- Ye- Yes, Boss! Of course!" (Suddenly Tsuna felt almost appalled with himself for finding making Gokudera- kun uncomfortable almost amusing; good God and Buddha- Reborn must be rubbing off on him…)
After the two Gokuderas left, Tsuna leaned back in his office chair, frowning contemplatively with his hands folded together under his chin and thought about the messages he received about the future through "Vongola Falcon Messenger" all throughout the week...
After informing his subordinates that they could cease searching and go back to bed, Hayato returned to their room, carrying the sleepy toddler.
She was there to meet them at the door, wearing a short white night slip, and she smiled when she stretched out her arms to take him from Hayato. "Where have you been all this time?" She asked the child gently, kissing the top of his head as she smoothed down and brushed the soft stray, gray locks out of his eyes. The little boy just leaned his head sleepily on her shoulder, still clutching his toy octopus. "Where did you find him?" She then asked Hayato.
"The Tenth had him." Eyebrows rose in surprise, questioning. "Well, he didn't give him any trouble at the very least. Boss told me he had a bottle of milk."
"I see… That's a relief," She was about to put him to bed when she suddenly stopped. "Hm? There's something in his clothes," She turned a bit so he could see the paper sticking out of their son's pajamas. Hayato curiously reached out to get it.
When he unfolded it, he found it was addressed to him: He thought at first that it was the Boss who had written it but he saw that the handwriting was obviously different and unfamiliar… Judging from the strokes, a left- handed person had written it; he knew for a fact that the Tenth was right- handed.
Then he entertained another possibility: What if…? No, no way, he couldn't; and besides, he was only two… and he didn't know how to write (let alone draw decipherable images) yet. But he looked over at the sleepy toddler: he'd seen him holding his crayons left- handedly every now and then… Hayato looked at the message again, at the name signed at the bottom and found it difficult to believe that the hand that signed it belonged to the sleepy child… But it was his name written clearly on the paper.
"Felice giorno del padre, Pappa." [5] She read aloud over his shoulder. "Ah, that's right; it's Father's Day already," Hayato's eyes widened and he gave the child a bewildered stare. He entertained another possibility: Did he somehow get hit by the Ten- Year Bazooka in the time that Hayato didn't have him in his sight? But how could there be a Ten- Year Bazooka in the nursery in the first place anyway?
However, completely oblivious to his father's puzzling, the gray- haired child yawned widely again. He hugged his favorite toy even closer to himself, closed his eyes and then snuggled once more in his mother's arms to sleep.
TRANSMISSION OF DECLASSIFIED ARCHIVE FILE 012 DISCONNECTED
A/N: I feel kind of bad for giving Goku's little boy a phobia of squirrel- like masks (combination of Scuirophobia and Maskaphobia) but it justifies the "squirrels will come and kiss your nose" 'threat' from the last one-shot… ^^; The so- called lemon scene had me in stitches; you just don't get your way this week, do you, 'dera? And T+YL Tsuna, you are an evil bastard. (Reborn has taught you well.) XDDD
Things that make Gokudera Junior cry: His dad being stupid and or yelling at him (or over him) unintentionally or otherwise and squirrel heads on bodies which they obviously don't belong to. But he's not afraid of homicidal princes and mortally fatal illness… It must be hereditary… D8
[1] "Fwai Uwee": Reference to "Note Musicali's" drabble # 14: " You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You can Fly!" XDDD
[2] "Suona come Tako"; Per favore?"; "Vada e vedi": [Italian] "It sounds like Tako"; "Please?"; "Go and see."
[3] "Pensate così?": [Italian] Do you think so? (I'm not sure if it's correct; I just used Babelfish.)
[4] "ESTRANEO PERSONA": [Italian] Translated literally, means 'stranger person'.
[5] "Felice giorno del padre, Pappa": [Italian] Happy fathers' day, Pappa.
OMAKE: (Because I've still got half a blank page in this Word document… XD)
"That is a very risky thing you're doing," Lambo- nii scolded him after the cloud of pink smoke cleared. "Don't you understand that frequently exposing your younger self to the poisonous air in this era is what created that strange illness no one could figure out you had while you were growing up?"
Of course he understood: His body ached; he felt cold and the prosthetic arm never felt so unfeeling and alien on his body… He bit back another painful cough. "If I got sick way before anyone else did, then the adults would have been pressured into trying to understand my illness and try to find a cure," He replied, walking over to the window to see the skyline made of broken buildings, stretching all over the devastated Namimori. He knew that down below them, hiding in the ruins and out on the streets, many sick and suffering people languished. The toxic air in this era was creating new, mutated illnesses that even their current time period's scientists and medical experts couldn't keep up in developing counter medications against.
"You know why he thought it would be better if I was the one who delivered all this information to the past?" He asked Lambo- nii, recalling the day a man calling himself a friend of their fallen Family approached them and gave him the task of delivering a series of letters and bits of information he could gather. He had asked to talk to him privately and explained some details of a plan to defeat the current era's dictator. "I was two back then; no one expected me to be able to do anything except play and sleep. Nobody expected me to be able to explain suddenly disappearing because they wouldn't be able to understand me." He touched the two gold wedding bands around his neck; they had belonged to his parents. 'Not even them.'
"You, Lambo- nii, on the other hand were already a Guardian. Everyone watched your every move and expected explanations that made sense from you. I hope you see why I have to be the one to do this."
Lambo was silent, contemplating what the young boy told him. After he had spoken to him, the man, Irie Shouichi, also spoke to Lambo in private: He told him that the young Gokudera would lose the use of his legs in a few months' time. Then from there, whatever was left inside his body would start failing and breaking down… He would have a slow, painful death before he could turn fourteen. It was all too obvious that he could never become a Guardian with such a body…
But even if he could- for whom…?
The Vongola family no longer existed in this era and its bloodline's heirs, his childhood friends, were all dead now…