Expect the Unexpected - Unexpectation 2
Unexpectation 2 -The Deal
“Welcome to my humble home, my friends.” Mokuba cheerfully stated as the Limo sliding soundlessly through the chiseled automatic gates.
Humble. If ever the definition of that word could also apply for ‘huge’, or ‘gorgeous’, or ‘majestic’, then the mansion was in its own right ‘humble’.
It was at least a tree-story mansion in an interesting designed structure - a harmonious combination of Neo Gothic and Postmodern architectures - stretching its wings into a wide and slightly curved arc, and reaching the old giant trees in height. Fine marble statues with various (monster) shapes yet identical size posed gloriously along the main pathway and split up when touching the center to scatter around the courtyard; and in the intersection of the many stoned ways stood regally a beautiful fountain, portraying three dragons facing each other spattering spray-like water in the air.
“Must be a very powerful family…” Tsuna mused to himself observing the scenery opening before his eyes, and made a mental note to (ask Kyoya) do some research about this mysterious young man.
“So, what brought you to the police, if it’s not too rude to ask?” Brought back by the sudden question, the young mafioso stared at the young businessman for a few seconds, then he dead-panned, “We were, uhm, kind of lost. And my friends here are all hot-headed…so.”
Mokuba cocked an inquiring brow but left it as it was, “Then shall we go inside?” he said with a little trace of a smile.
Tsuna smiled back politely. “Yes, please.”
No sooner had they taken a few steps however, than a butler (in a seriously dark aura) appeared out of the blue, hurriedly whispered some-shocking-thing (Mokuba’s eyes had remarkably widened a fracture in a fleeting second - Tsuna noted) into his master’s ears, all the while glancing suspiciously at them strangers.
“Sneaky people too.” The young boss lightly narrowed his eyes, sharing a meaningful glance of his own with his companions. They all briefly nodded.
After some quick exchanges, Mokuba started, “My sincere apology, but I’m afraid I cannot escort you further as a pressing business is calling for my attention. Now, my butler here-” he beckoned in some random direction and a butler again questionably came to the light out of nowhere, “-will dutifully take you. I’ll shortly see you in some minutes. And please, make yourself at home.” He smiled bowing good-mannered, and turned his heels to follow his servant, heading to god-knows-what awaiting urgency of his.
~X~
In a white, empty, spacious room somewhere faraway, a red-headed man was pacing restlessly. A frenzy of thought, possibility, plan, information…was simultaneously running loose in his super brain.
It was pure luck for him to be present here at the time, as he was in a yearly trip to Japan (No, not a vacation trip as you would imagine, since that word scarcely existed in Vongola vocabulary) to deliver Italian gifts and greetings to Sawada-san, and more importantly, to check up on their prideful base. Everything had been pretty much normal. Until, without warning, the doom had once again decided to pour down onto his shoulders.
He’s only received the call just now, from Reborn-san no less, telling him the biggest shocking-news of century. What on earth was happening, he had a very vague idea. A space-time traveling joke again, obviously. But, the problem was, what kind of power could cause damage to such extent…and to which purpose? If he remembered correctly, he was the one pulling the strings last time, along with Byakuran-san, to mess with the logic of tri-ni-sette. Still, it was after all with the ‘help’ of the ten-year bazooka. This time, they had all vanished, if what Reborn-san had revealed to him was true, at the same time, in the same manner, and hopefully, to the same place (the possibility was there, highly even).
And there were the guests.
Their strangers, after the hitman’s words, were interesting. But he knew all too well that, by ‘interesting’, the baby had meant ‘seriously dangerous’. What’s more, Reborn-san had also mentioned something about ‘mysterious auras’, ‘moving shadows’, ‘strange items’ and ‘smell of something extremely dark and ancient’. It wasn’t a good sign. No, not at all. Goodness, what had Reborn-san been thinking bringing a bunch of dangerous and overly weird strangers to their secret hideout? What if they were from another Famiglia?
No, unlikely. He shook his head, for the first time stilled his moving, hugging his stomach a bit too tightly.
They had said they were from a different dimension…and they had appeared almost the same time his friends had gone.
And the wish...It couldn’t be a pure coincidence. For a mere wish of anybody to take effect right away and bring them all here. Unless…
Oh god! What if…
He caught his breath, eyes widening, and stumbled over to the cold tiled floor. Ouch. He was so nervous that his stomachache was killing him.
This was no joke, alright. He must do some real talking with Reborn-san, and the Ninth, and Spanner, and whoever had a voice in this -
“I’ve brought the girls with me here, Shoichi.”
…uh.
Silently stepping into the room, Spanner’s monotonous voice abruptly informed. He treaded toward the unmoving man (who was still lying on the floor hugging his tummy), before coming to a stop, “They are currently taking care of the preparations as requested. And Reborn-san will get here in a few.” Then looking down at his partner a little too emotionlessly, he asked concerned, “You sure you are alright?”
“…Yeah, I think.” Pulling himself off the ground reluctantly, Shoichi muttered some-‘way to cut in one’s thoughts’-thing, before returning his focus on the blonde, “Hey help me opening the doors, the third ones. They are closest to their location.”
“M’kay.” was the mechanician’s only reply, whilst arching an eyebrow a little too close to the hairline.
With a small click, a large screen slid down (from the ceiling) and settled in front of their faces, showing for the two scientists a group of men approaching from several hundred meters afar. After some quick manipulation, an entrance too slowly materialized on the screen, waiting for the command to be opened.
“Come Spanner.” Shoichi said, expression hardened, his professional mode on, “Let’s welcome the guests to our Famiglia, warmly.”
~X~
Back to the Decimo Famiglia. After the butler had guided them here in the living room (exactly as ‘humble’ as the whole mansion itself with all the sophisticated decorations, the rich ornaments and the expensive furniture), he had politely excused himself to attend to his work; leaving them to plunge themselves into a heated conversation.
Well, maybe not so heated.
Silence. Similar to what happened to the Yu-gi-oh gang in the same situation. The tension hovering over in the air was so intense that it could almost be cut with a butter knight. Blankly, the guardians just stared at their boss.
“So, Tsuna?” Tsunayoshi asked exploringly, for all he cared wanting to break the discomforting atmosphere as soon as possible, “You’re trying to tell us that, everything began with your last night wish?” He looked into the other’s eyes searching for any hint of jokes but found none. He sighed.
“Alright, but are you sure that was not a dream? I mean, maybe you’re too tired or -”
“No Tsunayoshi, koi. I’m absolutely certain. There’s no other way for us to be all gathering right here and now otherwise.”
“But Juudaime, wishes are just words.” Hayato protested stubbornly, “They can’t possibly come true, right?” He looked around, hopeful to find any confirmation.
“Haha Tsuna,” as expected Takeshi was the first to come for his help, “I really don’t think magic do exist. Maybe -”
Yet the sentence was inconsiderably cut short by a hyper-exclamation, “Gyaaahhh! This is EXTREMELY confusing! I can never believ-”
“I believe in the herbivore.”
At that, everyone instantly stopped what they might be doing, and stared wide eyes at the cloud guardian, amazed that he could even agree with something, for once.
Smiling at his trusted guardian thankfully, Tsuna carefully began his explanation, “Yeah, think, Hayato-kun, everyone. It’s not only the wish. There’s no way a mere wish could have complicated things that much. That’s why, don’t you think there’s something - someone else? Then it’s big deal. And if they had prepared some plan only for us to be here…” He mumbled something more to himself, then, “Heh, what I truly mean is, there has to be some force strong enough to drag us all here-” Realization finally struck through his brain - as brilliant as it was, “Where are we exactly? Don’t tell me…” He promptly stood up, accidentally knocking the teen guardian (whose head had been resting on his shoulder and sleeping without a care all the time) off in the process, causing him to fall face first on to the coffee table with a loud bang and an additional high-pitch yell of pain, followed by a string of curses.
“Hiiiee Lambo-kun!! Are you alright? I’m really sorry!” Tsuna squeaked very unmanly, panickedly helping the poor boy up himself. (The others grimaced but refrained from making any move; and Kyoya stayed unfazed nevertheless.)
Mukuro, however, smirked, “Oow, that is the most important question you’ve all neglected kufufufu.” ignoring the whole ordeal like nothing has ever happened, he commented with something akin to mockery in his tone, looking at the boss mischievously.
“Yeah, bossu,” timidly the girl guardian nodded, again found herself in serious mode, “there’s a chance we are in a parallel universe.”
That statement alone was enough to render every single soul in the room speechless. All eyes were now concentrated upon the shy girl (even poor Lambo), demanding for further elaboration.
“I can detect no link between me and my dear men since I landed the first step to this world,” It was Mukuro who decided to save his poor little pet “then what explanation could be more appropriate than, indeed, we have moved into a different dimension, unintentionally, and probably by someone’s prank?” He simply stated, gazing challengingly at everyone to emphasize his words. “Because,” after some quick contemplating he solemnly added, “by no mean the link wouldn’t work if we were still in a same time-space frame, except that one of the communicators is dead, but it’s out of the point. And from what we’ve seen, this place has nothing in common with the picture of the past or the future of where we come from.”
“I see that explains it all.”
Immediately the Mafioso tensed up at the intrusion of a new voice. What had they been doing, carelessly letting some common guy get so close unnoticed like that? It was foolish. It was suicidal. And it was more than an insult to their Vongola pride. Without any soundly agreement, they all set their stances in no longer than a moment later, intended to get rid of this daring spy for good.
“Please calm down friends; it’s only me, Mokuba.” Their generous host said barely in time, hands held high cautiously in a surrendering manner.
Tsunayoshi narrowed his (already narrowed) blazing eyes menacingly, sky flame flaring over his forehead. Curtly his deep voice demanded, “Since when?”
“Something along the line “are you sure that was not a dream?” I assumed.” Scratching his head, Mokuba answered sheepishly. “But,” he hastily added, less some hot-headed guy here decided all too soon to cut his throat clean, “I too have some information that you may want to know in exchange for what I’ve overheard just now. And you have my assurance that, it’s more than priceless.”
~X~
In the shadows, an old man in a formal gray suit walked comfortably along the long, deserted hallway. Contrary to what he’d imagined to see coming here, it was abnormally quiet. A deadly silence you may say. Workers were not running about helter-skelter, the heads of the Ten Squads not spatting orders furiously, and not even one silhouette of the usual bitchy-naggy advisors had been spotted in sight.
Hm, another wonder of that Reborn, no doubt. For generations, the hitman had willingly served the Famiglia and they had never once been disappointed by his abilities. Sharp, accurate, efficient, yet ruthless and manipulative; his leader-instinct was in fact more excellent than the elder could ever give credit for. And this time round was not an exception. With only a brief phone call and some effective instructions, the arcobaleno had been able to dissolve the predictable storm even before it’d started, to gain some precious time for him to arrive and ‘toss them some pleasant answers’.
But in truth, it was rather unnecessary.
Two minutes and thirty seconds. That was all it required to get here, their Head Quarter in Sicilia. Ten years ahead of knowledge had allowed them to do that much, making good use of Byakuran’s HFRTS (Hyper-Flame Ring Transfer System) technology and developed it into their own, Vongola style - the ‘Miraculous Elevator’ as Lambo had put it, all thanks to their talented inventors.
Speaking of inventors…Did Reborn tell them about that ingenious plan beforehand?
Shaking his head, the Ninth decided that it’s not very important anyway. Trust Reborn to do things as he pleased, he himself had his own game to play. Now, to the conference room. If he guessed right, everyone must be all gathering there expecting him, impatiently.
~X~
The door slid open, unveiling for the two men the view of the outside world. Yet the first thing that greeted them was none other than a pair of big, reptile, yellow-ish eyes.
“Ciaossu.”
“Hello, eh, Reborn-san?” The redhead said, surprise lacing his voice, “Why am I having a feeling that you seem…grown up today haha” he laughed weakly.
“Idiot. Look downward.” Tapping the other’s nose playfully, Spanner said, amused.
Traveling his gaze down, the four-eyed redhead noticed that, indeed, the baby was sitting neatly in a net made of gravity-defiant black hair styled in a peculiar star shape, with the tips dyed in violet and lightning blond bang framing a soft face. And,
Subtle amethysts stared right back at him.
Uh-oh…
Shoichi blinked. Never in his wildest dream had he thought such a pure, innocent-looking boy could be dubbed as ‘extremely dangerous’. Then again, their boss, despite popular belief, had been quite ‘homicidal’ since a rather young age…But, come to think of it, - he carefully measured the boy up and down, eyebrows slightly furrowed - weren’t they so much alike? Not the outside appearance of course. It’s all about the aura thing, as they seemed both surrounded by that tender light…
“H-hi.” Shuffling his two feet, the boy softly said, smiling a bit awkwardly, “Sorry for bothering you…I’m Mutou Yuugi. And they’re my companions.”
Snapping out of his trance, Shoichi looked around, aware for the first time of the other presences.
Dear gods…another tri-colored hair…a very smug-looking one at that; and a gentle-looking albino with his evil-looking double; and a couple of insane-looking Egyptians; and…an irritated brunet next to an equally pissed-off blonde! All were glaring at him with something…threateningly indistinguishable. He swallowed thickly, his stomach screaming pitifully from unbearable stress, “H-hello there.” He stuttered, “Sorry I-I was a little distracted…Oh, welcome to the Von - to our b-base. Please come in and rest, your rooms are all readied. Then l-later we will -”
“No, Shoichi.” Reborn cut him off sternly, “We will head to the conference room, now. The sooner we finish it up, the better. There’s no time to waste whatsoever.” Then eyeing the guests slyly, his trademark smirk came back full force, “And moreover, this is an all-about-trust issue, don’t you think?”
~X~
“Well…”
Tapping his fingers against the coffee table, Tsuna repeated, eyebrow arching, “Well?”
A sigh. “Well, to be honest, I don’t know where to begin…” He hesitated, “Let’s just say that you are not the only ones who were kidnapped from your world…My brother too suddenly disappeared last night. And from the many phone calls just now, the items holders were all gone without a trace. The only conclusion I can think of is that, like what happened to you, they must have been moved to another dimension…”
“Items holders?” Reading between the lines, Tsuna inquired, all the while looking at the host incredulously.
“Yes, it’s history I’ll have to tell to fully explain it.” He paused, taking several long, deep breaths, “This is a world of legends and myths you’ve just landed on to, you know. There’s a long-forgotten story which relates the creation of that term…
“About five thousand years back in Egypt, to protect the Two Lands from the invasion of their enemies, the great pharaoh Akhenamkhanen resorted to ancient magic found in the Millennium Spellbook and had his most powerful magicians forge seven magical Millennium Items based on one of its strongest spells. When put together the Items will offer you an enormous power, to even rewrite the past or change the future. However, too much blood was needed in the ritual to create them, and death eventually led to revenge…
“Years after that, the sole survival of the slaughtered village sought for vengeance, summoning the evil god Zorc to decimate the whole planet. The seven Millennium Items were once again called upon to save the earth. By using the magic of the Shadow game within them along with his own name, pharaoh Atem, son of Akhenamkhanen, performed another ritual to seal away Zorc for good. Then he also sealed his soul in one of the Items - the puzzle, and wiped his own memories so that he could not recall it, so that the binding might never be undone...”
“That explains the Items. What does it has to do with anything?” arms crossing over his chest, Kyoya demanded coldly.
“Everything, I daresay. The Items holders that I mentioned are those who have in their possession the Millennium Items in the present time, in other words, my brother and his nakama. And one thing particular about the Millennium Items is, they have to exist in a same time-space frame. That’s why, if one holder moved to another dimension, the others would also be pulled along, willing or not. Which means, they might have gone to some random world by now…”
“Hey, so there’s a chance they’re in our world, right?” Grinning, Takeshi commented off-handedly.
“Nonsense, don’t you have anything more proper to…say…” Hayato chided, but any other thing he had to say, he caught it in his throat. Staying frozen in his spot, all the gathered information flashed before his widening eyes, echoed through his ears, and accelerated his brain in ‘processing data’ with lightning speed. Then deliberately he looked around at his friends, just to realize that they were all sharing a same thought in mind.
“Mister Kaiba. Shall we make a deal?” Grinning triumphantly, Tsuna stood up, and determinedly held out his hand for Mokuba for the second time that morning.
“Call me Mokuba, Sawada-san. ‘Kaiba’ is for my brother. And sure, I’d love to.” The young man eagerly shook the offered hand, an equally bright smile lighting up his face.
~X~
“You want us to WHAT!?” Jumping out of his seat, a shocked-out-of-his-wits Mutou Yuugi screamed aloud, looking at the crazy hitman as if the other had grown another head.
The infant’s grin, however, seemed almost creepier, “I want you-” he jabbed a tiny finger toward the poor man, “to replace our unavailable boss, and you-” then he targeted the rest of the gang, “his guardians, from this moment onward, until we can find a way to put things back to ordinary.”
“But how can we even do that!” He insisted desperately, “I mean, we don’t look alike. We don’t act alike. We don’t have a single concept about this world. Damn we don’t even know where the hell this place is!” He panted heavily, “And what? Mafia? Are you kidding? By Ra please don’t drag us into your own mess of all things!”
“But Reborn-san!” Shoichi feverously agreed with him, “That’s just impossible! You can’t be serious about entrusting the whole Famiglia’s fate in the hand of barely known strangers! What would the others say? Did you even have the Ninth’s approval?”
The arcobaleno silently scrutinized the redhead for a second, before he smirked again.
“Who do you think I am, dummy. Of course…no one should know about the deal other than us in this room, and a few chosen others. Don’t worry about the Ninth either. He already gave the green light to me. And no, dame-Yuugi, you’re wrong.” Again he directed his attention toward the tri-colored hair standing across the room, “This is not only our mess, but yours also. How else do you think you could return to your world unscratched? Oh trust me when I tell you this is not your peaceful world you would happily presume it to be. Even if you do possess some truly interesting abilities, unfamiliar environment and unpredicted moves can always lead to severely grave damages, especially since we don’t have a clue about what kind of enemies are up against us this time. Not to mention, you don’t have anywhere else to go.”
He paused, peering straight into the other’s eyes daringly, “So why not collaborate then? We’ll still have to find a way to travel between dimensions to ‘retrieve’ our lost Decimo anyway. With our inventors here-” he glanced at the gaping redhead and the highly amused blonde, “-and all the overly modern technologies we had in store-” there he eyed the cold brunet knowingly, smirking at the other’s caught-in-the-headlight expression “-that should be a piece of cake. Who knows perhaps our Famiglia may also willingly provide you with a ticket back home…However, in return the favor, you will play our temporarily absent bosses and their six guardians to fool the enemies and assure the members as well.” He cocked his weird green gun (which had miraculously appeared out of thin air) against his fedora coolly in finish of his speech.
Lilac eyes narrowed thoughtfully, Malik slowly worded his query, “If you already knew about ourselves so well, how could you be so sure that we wouldn’t find a way back on our own?” His yami then followed suite, “And -” Mariku glared at the arcobaleno fiercely, piercing through his endless onyx abyss, “We would also love to know, how in the Tuat did you find out about our abilities?”
“Heh, sharp, are we?” The baby smirked deceitfully, “How did I find out? I have my sources, of course. Still, I suppose your friend Bakura there will gladly answer that question for me though. How can I be so sure? Simple. I have a better common sense than all of you combine together. And that common sense just told me that you would not be able to fly away home on your own. Why? Because, if you really could afford to, you wouldn’t be talking to me right here and now.”
That finally succeeded in drawing out from the brats a positive reaction (meaning, shut up and comply - in Reborn’s dictionary) after a long, stressful second.
“Ok, we got the picture.” Crossing his arms, Yami calmly said, “No Aibou, I know what I’m doing.” As though reading his mind (which in truth, he did), he stated before the other had even started, smiling reassuringly at his partner. “It’s true that we are practically stuck here since the Shadow portals are too risky.” Catching a glimpse of Jou’s dumbfounded expression, he sighed, “The Shadow portals will only be opened by a yami, in other words, who can naturally summon a Shadow game; and will assure only the safety of them and their hikari’s.” He shook his head at the other’s blank look defeatedly, then returned his full attention back on the listening hitman “But, as Aibou said, how can we disguise ourselves as your…Decimo in the first place? Magic?” He curiously asked, arching a regal brow.
“Illusion.” That was, surprisingly enough, Spanner who voiced his opinion this time. “Don’t look at me like that. The baby will explain it for you more clearly later.” He said nonchalantly.
“But that way, we’ll have to wait for quite a while to find a capable and trustworthy illusionist…” Shoichi pointed out matter-of-factly.
Bakura suddenly cackled, eyes glimmering darkly, “Then why don’t you ask our high and mighty High priest here for a favor? How fortunate of you, he just happened to be our best magician ever.” He looked at Mariku meaningfully, “Have something to say, Tomb keeper?”
“Why yes. Isn’t it a brilliant idea you have there, dear Tomb robber.” He replied grinning, and then joined his look-alike in laughing madly.
“You!” Said High priest bellowed angrily, face burning from embarrassment.
“Oh c’mon Seto. That aint no big deal an’way.” Jou too, snickered at the priceless expression the other was sporting.
“Moreover, you will technically have all the right to access all of their invaluable stock of technological knowledge, isn’t that right, baby?” Hardly been one to decline the fun, Yami cleverly suggested, sending the baby a playful wink. Reborn smirked.
“Fine!” Seto finally snapped, face still as red as a tomato. “I’ll do the spell. Just shut up, all of you!”
They all cheered. Little Yuugi and Ryou were looking at each other, shaking their heads dejectedly. The redhead’s face-palming, barely containing himself from banging his head against the table. And Spanner, he merely sat there, amusedly watching the scene.
That was only until,
BANG!!!
A gunshot was heard, effectively silenced the annoyingly noisy room, and reclaimed its rightful attention. In a low, warning voice, the spartan infant reminded, “Not yet, my dame-guests. We still have lots of things to discuss about.”
A beast - a terrifying monster with his words alone managed to kill off armies. That’s Reborn for you.
With that, they not-so-enthusiastically joined in the conversation about their not-so-promising future.
Note that, the morning was not yet over.
To be continued…