(no subject)
Title: Ten O’ Ten, PART ONE
Author: Pain au Chocolat
Language: English, a sprinkle of Italian and Japanese.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fiction. Everything belongs to Akira Amano.
Rating & Warnings: Varies from K to M. AU, OOC, genderbending, cursing... and lotsa other stuff.
Summary: The first batch of the 10 x 10 fem!Tsuna drabbles :D
Pairing: Squalo x fem!Tsuna (Tsune)
_____________________________________________________________________
TEN O’ TEN
_____________________________________________________________________
I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
- Abraham Lincoln.
For the longest time, Squalo didn’t know about Tsune’s existence. He was what, 23 when the Ring Conflict happened? Sawada was then 15 and thin, weak and stupid. Not to mention way too kind, way too soft and had problems with controlling her Guardians. Then that sorry excuse of a Vongola heir went and defeated Xanxus, and Squalo couldn’t believe it.
After a whole sea of denial and trials, the swordsman finally admitted that yeah, the Sawada brat was strong. But that’s all there was to it. She was still a runt, still a coward, still spineless.
Then happened the whole Future Wars - as the odd incident with the Bovino 10 Year Bazooka was dubbed - and the runt seemed to have gained more than just new weapons from there. She held her head higher, spoke with a bit more confidence and even though her saint-like kindness and patience were still there, there was an underlying spark of steel now. Something that indicated that she was capable of hurting her enemies now, and even if she didn’t like it, she would do it if it came down to that.
So maybe Squalo began to respect her too.
Respect. Not like. He’d never like that little idiot.
After Sawada graduated from whatever school she had been studying in, she moved to Italy, and suddenly Squalo didn’t live a day without seeing her somewhere. It pissed him off greatly, since the runt had yet again changed - she had become taller, a bit more feminine and her hair was rather long now. And she wore high heels and skirts and in Squalo’s opinion she looked ridiculous because girls like Sawada were supposed to stay like they had always been, as in they weren’t supposed to become cute or sexy, let alone be a cause for non-platonic emotions.
So yeah, Squalo was pretty successful in making himself believe that Sawada was still that little brat with a flat chest and no grace or elegance. Tsune was a kid, not a woman. Truly.
That is, until he walked in on that Yamamoto guy kissing her. They didn’t see him as he froze and gaped at the two in silence. Their bodies were pressed against each other, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and his were at the small of her back and hips. Their eyes were closed, and Squalo took several steps back and out of the room before they could see him.
“Thank you,” he heard Yamamoto saying. “I know you don’t love me, so thank you for this, Tsune.”
“I’m sorry,” Tsune replied. “You’re a fantastic guy, Takeshi, and I - ”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” the dark-haired swordsman interrupted. “I know you are in love with someone else already.” And for some reason, the words are like poison to Squalo. At the sight of Tsune being kissed by someone, all his smothered and buried thoughts regarding her were running around his head, and he really wanted to kill that stupid Yamamoto, as well as that other guy Tsune apparently loved.
He heard footsteps approaching the door, and soon Yamamoto emerged. The dark-haired man glanced at him first surprised, then with an oddly remorseful expression.
“Could you go and comfort her?” the Rain Guardian asked. “She’s too kind, and the fact that she had to hurt me hurts her as well.”
“Why don’t you ask the bastard she loves?” Squalo retorted with bitterness and clear jealousy Yamamoto chuckled, and the sound was more like a defeated sob than anything else.
“I’m asking that bastard right now,” the younger of the two stated. “So it’s all up to that bastard now.” The words make Squalo’s eyes widen.
“VOOOI! WHAT THE FU - ”
“Squalo-san?” Tsune’s surprised voice cuts through his haze of jealousy and embarrassment, and when he turns to the young woman, he can see the dried tears. Whatever he had wanted to say to Yamamoro was forgotten - actually Squalo just about forgot the other man’s existence when he saw Tsune. He took a few steps towards her till he was standing in front her, and touched her cheek gently.
Yamamoto smiled sadly at the sight, and turned away knowing that the two would finally admit their feelings towards each other. He couldn’t bring himself to care much for Squalo, but he wished for Tsune the happiness she deserved.
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve.
- Charles de Gaulle
“Fetch the Rings,” Boss had said, and Squalo could only nod and obey. It hadn’t been that difficult to track down the brat Sawada Iemitsu had sent to take the Rings to Japan. So he did so, tried to even attack the kid a few times but somehow he seemed to always manage to escape… till Squalo decided to let him reach his destination before taking the Rings back.
It took some time. The guy was pretty paranoid for someone that young, and while Squalo isn’t exactly the most patient person around, he just has to wait, till he finally sees the kid entering a house that is no doubt his destination. The only drawback is the presence of so many skilled assassins in there. Two of the Arcobaleno - one of them being the infamous Reborn - then the Bucking Horse kept visiting, Poison Scorpion, and the wannabe Guardians were there pretty often too.
Not that Squalo thinks of them as anything worthy, mind you. Trash is trash and that’s it. But he’d rather wait till most of the assassins are out, because Squalo isn’t a fool who’d attack all of them at once. So he waits, and in a few days comes the opportunity. The house should have been empty, as the Italian swordsman breaks in and enters like the criminal he is.
Only to somehow end up in a room, staring at a young, rather pretty girl who is in a notable state of undress. It’s hard to tell which one of the two is more shocked, and the man can’t help but think that whoever this girl is, someone should tell her that the black underwear looks sexy against her pale skin, how about something golden next?
“What!?” the girl shrieks and looks like she’s having a heart attack, and the Varia’s assigned Rain Guardian-to-be realizes rather belatedly that he just spoke his thoughts aloud.
“Er…”
Squalo thinks that he has never blushed so much before.
And he turns and flees, forgetting about the Rings, opting instead to just tell his boss to go ahead with the Ring Battles, without going into detail with his explanation regarding his ‘defeat’.
Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse.
- Peter de Vires
Her hands were clutching the fort of his shirt as he pressed her against the wall and his body. For a whole month he had tried to hold back to just be content with staring and harmless flirting, but seeing her wearing such a short skirt… His libido would have to be dead for him to ignore the sight.
So he didn’t.
“What do you want?” she asked with a slight blush gracing her cheeks.
“You,” Squalo replied with a smirk, and the short skirt rose higher as he pushed his leg between her thin thighs to support her weight better. One of the delicate hands let go of Squalo’s shirt and went quickly to keep the skirt from going up too much… Even thought in the office there were no one but Tsune and Squalo, she didn’t fancy having her panties showing.
“You were driving me insane,” the man whispered against her ear, and she shivered in response. “You can’t imagine how much I wanted to fuck you when you looked so serious while explaining the mission to Reborn.”
“So what happened to the three month celibacy bet?” Tsune grinned.
“Fuck that,” the man hissed, pressing his lips against hers. It was a matter of seconds before Tsune let go of her skirt and Squalo’s shirt, and lifted her arms to rest on his shoulders instead, fingers playing with the silver hair. Squalo pressed closer against her body, and she felt his obvious erection rubbing against her through their clothes, making her moan into the kiss.
“I’m never…,” the swordsman whispered against the woman’s ear. “…attempting celibacy again with you in the same country.”
“Likewise,” Tsune grinned in response.
Gossip needs no carriage.
- A Russian Proverb
“Did you hear?”
“What?”
“Squalo-san and Tsune-san were seen yesterday buying some weapons!”
“Eh? Really? I didn’t even know that those two hang out together!”
_____
“Hey, did someone tell you already?”
“Tell me what?”
“Tsune and that long-haired swordsman were shopping together!”
“Whaaat? You mean Squalo of the Varia!? I had no clue that those two were friends!”
______
“Hey, guess what?”
“What?”
“Tsune-san and Squalo-san were out together yesterday!”
“You kidding me!?”
______
“Man, you won’t believe this!”
“Do tell.”
“Boss and Superbi Squalo were on a date yesterday!”
“You serious!? I never could have guessed that they liked each other!!”
______
“Girls, you’ve got to hear this!”
“Hear what?”
“Tsune-san and Squalo of the Varia are dating!!”
“Say what!?”
______
“Oh my… check this e-mail I just got.”
“Too tired. Read aloud, man.”
“Apparently Squalo of the Varia took Tsune out for a romantic dinner.”
“What the fuck!?”
“It seems that they’re in a serious relationship!”
“Oh my indeed! Gimme that phone!”
______
“Dude, you’ve got to hear this!”
“Shoot.”
“Vongola Decimo and Varia’s Squalo are engaged!”
“What!?!?”
“Yeah! Can you believe it?”
______
“Hey, hey, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Squalo and Tsune are getting married soon!”
“YOU SERIOUS!?!?”
______
“Guess what I just heard!”
“From your voice I can heard that it’s something big. Do tell.”
“Tsune is married!”
“WHAT!?!?”
“To Squalo of the Varia!”
“WHAT!?!
______
“You’ll never believe what I just heard!”
“What? Do tell!”
“Tsune is married to Squalo and ispregnant!”
“YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!?!?”
“And they’re going to make Xanxus the godfather!”
______
“VOOOI! Brat!”
“Yes, Squalo?”
“Here’s your money back.”
“What, you’re not going to thank me for showing you’re the way to the store yesterday?”
“I know that you did that because you needed to fetch something for that Arcobaleno of yours, so shut the fuck up. I could have found the place on my own.”
“Yeah right… with your sense of direction you’d be still looking for it. Be thankful, I left my work to show you the way, after all.”
“Fuck you, you were skipping and using me as an excuse! Fucking… Sometimes I can’t stand you.”
The cat which isn't let out of the bag often becomes a skeleton in the cupboard.
- Geoffrey Madan
Squalo was a handsome man - no one could deny that. He was also feared for his status in the Varia, respected by many for his talents and adored by many women for his charm and high pay check. He was violent, proud, loud, knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it, not merciful in the least and scoffed at anything that showed a sign of kindness.
Then there was Tsune. Cute, not as beautiful as Bianchi or as unique as Chrome, but she had the comfortable sort of beauty that didn’t make people feel inferior. She was sweet and had a kind and loving personality that made even Hibari and Mukuro think of her as someone precious. She was strong, had the status and the fortune but didn’t care much about flaunting it.
Two people, so different, yet there seemed to be some sort of invisible power that made them notice each other in a way they hadn’t ever expected.
Tsune could feel the heated gaze of the older man on her whenever she’d enter a room where he was. The words he said were always subtle enough for no one else to notice, but for some reason Tsune could semi-clearly see them for what they were - expertly disguised empty nothings. Or that’s what she thought.
He talked to her a lot, and before either of them had realized, his one-sided flirting had turned into a mutual conversation regarding issues that intrigued them both. And Tsune found out that if one looked past the lady-killer persona, Squalo was pretty dependable.
From his part, the swordsman found himself in trouble. What had started as fooling ended up as something else altogether. But he knew that for him to have an affair with the precious Vongola Decimo would be impossible, so he decided to try slowly but surely get rid of the unnecessary feelings.
However, when he saw Dino and Tsune talking - they were standing very close and the Bucking Horse had his arms wrapped around the young woman - Squalo felt as if he had been punched. It didn’t take long for him to recognize and curse the jealousy he was feeling. And later when he finally found Tsune alone, he slammed her against the closest wall and kissed her as if his life depended on it.
“I don’t want you to go and fall in love with the Bucking Horse,” he hissed, and the woman gasped.
“What?”
“Don’t go to him. Stay with me.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I am.”
“The others - ”
“Don’t need to know.”
“But you…”
“Love you,” Squalo finished for her, and kissed her again. He knew that she’d need much more than physical gestures to really understand that no, he wasn’t kidding. But Squalo was ready to do anything for her to understand.
Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.
- James Baldwin
Sometimes Squalo wondered what would have happened, had Tsune been a guy. The idea seemed ridiculous, really. He just couldn’t imagine her as a guy since, after all, would a man have the sort of personality Tsune now had? To be so sweet and kind and loving and forgiving?
Nope, impossible for a guy. Unless he was gay maybe.
Then again, if Tsune had been born a guy, who was gay, how would have Squalo fit into that life? The swordsman wasn’t gay. Though before Tsune came into his life, he hadn’t cared about girls either… So what did that make him? Asexual? Bisexual?
…
Tsusexual?
The silver-haired swordsman shrugged, and shook his head as if to rid himself of the confusion plaguing his mind. He glanced at the sleeping woman by his side, and smiled. What did it matter, really? Woman or a man… as long as Tsune was Tsune, Squalo would love her no matter the gender.
My body just felt it, I knew, tonight is the start of something new.
- Darin Zaynar
The first time Squalo saw Tsune dancing, he almost died of shock. For the second time in one day.
The first shock had come when he learned that the damned Arcobaleno called Reborn had sent Tsune to a nightclub. On her own. To… ah, how he had put it? Oh yeah, to learn about life. Squalo really didn’t know what that freak of a baby had in its mind. Anyone would know that someone such as Tsune just wasn’t the nightclub type. She was far too pure to go drinking, dancing dirty and having one night stands.
When Squalo had asked Reborn whether he wanted the future boss of the Vongola to be raped in a drunken haze, the Arcobaleno had shrugged and said “go to keep her safe, then”. And because there was no way that Squalo would let one of those incompetent Ring Guardians who would no doubt only make the situation worse go to Tsune, he went alone.
He didn’t know which nightclub it was, but instinctively, as if pulled by invisible strings, he found his way to one he had never visited before. When he entered, loud music, brightly flashing colours and the smell of drinks and sweat made him cringe. He didn’t see her at first, and when he saw her he didn’t know how he could have missed her.
He could se her clearly, as if she was the only one in the room. Her brown hair was in a messy bun, with a few strands escaping the pins. Her face was flushed, eyes bright and her body was moving like a… well, Squalo didn’t know to what he could compare it. Her body was moving smoothly, covered with a thin layer of sweat and the swordsman wondered if she’d look like that during sex. Then he promptly pushed that thought to the back of his mind, and began making his way toward the young woman.
When he finally reached her, she saw him but didn’t stop dancing. Instead she pulled him to dance with her, and it felt like they had been dancing together forever. When had he become familiar enough with her, to hold her like that? The way they moved, from side to side so smoothly, with every step making their dance better and better. Her body against his, his lips pressed to hers. It felt like something they should have done ages ago.
To them, that night was a start of something new.
I find the answers aren't so clear.
- Linkin Park
Their mockery of a relationship wasn’t going well at all, Tsune knew that. She knew it painfully well, actually. So well that she couldn’t take it anymore.
Every word he said was some sort of jab, a veiled critic, and she felt that no matter she’d do, he’d always find a fault in her. And when they fought… well, it was more like a one-sided fight where he just talked and talked, saying everything he had said before, and Tsune felt more and more at edge. She wanted to cry but she couldn’t. She wanted a way to solve this problem, but suddenly there were no clear answers. She was lost.
She finally broke when he didn’t come to home at night. At five in the morning she was tired of waiting, and knowing that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, she decided to go to work early. There she had met Squalo who took in her tired appearance, and in an uncharacteristic display of caring took her to her office, gave her some coffee and ordered her to talk. Resistance crumbled and the whole story of her unhappy relationship with the man she had thought to be perfect unfolded, and Squalo had been anything but happy.
He asked if she wanted him killed. Tsune told him to not bother. Squalo nodded and said that he wasn’t going to let Tsune return to that man, and the brunette had cried and whispered a miserable thank you. The silver-haired swordsman took her key and left to pack her things from the apartment she had shared with her lover. As he was leaving with her luggage, Squalo came face to face with the bastard who had broken Tsune’s heart.
Well, she had said not to kill him. Nothing about beating him up. And maybe stabbing him a little. He felt very pleased at the sight of the bastard’s face bloodied, teeth broken and nose crushed.
“If you fucking come near Tsune again,” Squalo hissed. “Or if you dare to do anything about this, then I’ll fucking hunt you down and kill you.” Fear for his life was clear in the other man’s eyes, and Varia’s swordsman turned to leave. He grabbed Tsune’s bags and left the house, fully intending on being the one to heal the woman’s heart and give her his own.
The value of a sentiment is the amount of sacrifice you’re prepared to make for it.
- Johan Galsworthy
“What is this?” Squalo asked, glaring at the plate of food Tsune had set in front of him.
“Shark fin soup,” the woman said with a smile. “Why, don’t you like it?”
“It’s…” Squalo hesitated, in a rare moment of consideration towards the brunette, glancing at her hopeful eyes and flushed cheeks and messy apron. “It’s fine.”
“Oh, I’m glad to hear that you approve,” Tsune beamed, and leaned to plant a quick kiss on her boyfriend’s cheek, before turning to get something to drink, completely missing the slight blush and a resigned glare towards the shark fin soup. Squalo grabbed the spoon and sighed bitterly.
”Shishishi… doesn’t eating shark fin soup make you a cannibal?” a voice that sounded awfully lot like a certain prince’s said in the back of his mind. The silver-haired swordsman scowled and shrugged it off. He wasn’t a fucking shark… even if he got called that a lot.
Seriously.
He just… didn’t like eating seafood in general. But Tsune had gone through lots of trouble to make this soup, Squalo could easily guess that. So he didn’t complain.
The things he did to keep that woman smiling…
It’s always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.
- Eric Hoffer
Squalo never thought about getting a girlfriend. In fact, when other boys at school dated and asked new girls out every day, he was more focused on getting stronger, beating Tor and showing off how much better he was than anyone and everyone else. Call him a late bloomer, but he didn’t think of girls as anything but a dead weight. They were stupid, weak and pathetic. Even the Cervello - what kind of idiot didn’t dodge a bullet, opting to fucking die instead!? A Cervello bitch, that’s who. They were like bees - one mind shared by them all. Or so it seemed.
The only female Squalo ever grew to respect was Sawada Tsune, and even that was because she fucking beat Boss in a battle. It was a fact that needed lots of time for everyone to digest and accept, but luckily the Varia could do it in Italy, because Squalo was quite sure that it would have been much more difficult, had they been forced to see the future Vongola Decimo - how unbelievable it was to call someone else but Xanxus that - every day.
Not that she’d mock them, no. If something, Tsune would have probably apologized. And that would have pissed off Xanxus to no end. The girl was ridiculously nice to everyone, which seemed to make all kind of people gravitate naturally towards her.
Two days ago they had been informed by an insufferably happy Iemitsu that his daughter without her pals was coming for a visit. the Ninth had wanted for Xanxus to get her from the airport, but the bastard had ordered Squalo to do it instead. The swordsman couldn’t even argue, and he wasn’t by any stretch of imagination happy for the new development. Sure, it had been several years since he last saw the runt, and according to what he had heard she had gotten stronger and stronger, but he wasn’t quite sure of how to be around her. Which was odd. He even felt nervous even though he knew there was no reason for him to feel like that.
When he finally saw her, he could do little but gape. She was still of medium height, slim and her brown hair was even longer than before. She was dressed in a white dress that looked too fucking good on her for Squalo to not notice. For a moment he wondered whether her smile had been that lovely previously, before pushing that thought aside. The slight blush she sported when she greeted him made the Italian man smirk - he knew how good he looked, especially when wearing a black suit.
“Your father, the Ninth and the others are waiting in the main house,” he said and started the car.
“I thought that dad would be the one welcoming me,” Tsune sighed, but smiled then. “Not that I mind seeing Squalo-san. How have you been?”
“Well enough,” he grunted in response. “No one trusted your father to drive - he’d have rushed to the airport and gotten caught by the police, no doubt about that.”
“Gee, he sure can be enthusiastic sometimes. Say, how’s the track-up of the Gesso and Giglio Nero going?”
“They won’t be a threat,” Squalo said, and stopped at the red lights, taking the chance to glance at Tsune. “Though I heard that you and that guy Byakuran have become… friends?”
“More like acquaintances,” Tsune smiled. “He’d be a dangerous enemy, given the chance. So I’d rather keep him as an ally.”
“You’re not involved with him?”
“Heavens, no!”
“Got any other special affairs then?” Squalo asked curiously, not quite willing to admit the motive behind the questions.
“Not at the moment. I did go on a few dates with some other guys, but… it never worked out. None of them was in the mafia, and I think I better stick to the people in this business,” Tsune muttered, remembering the advice Bianchi had given her about picking future boyfriends.
“None of your Guardians?”
“It’d affect the team dynamics rather badly, I think.”
’Of course,’ Squalo thought. ’She does seem like the type to worry about something like that.’ “You know that you’ll be expected to settle down with someone and get heirs.” That didn’t sound pleasant at all to Squalo. Thinking of Tsune with some bastard who couldn’t appreciate her…
“I know. I just wonder from where I can find someone who’d love me for myself,” Tsune said, and smiled bitterly as Squalo finally parked the car in front of a huge mansion. He didn’t leave the car immediately, and instead turned towards the woman. Tsune blushed and was about to apologize when she felt gloved fingers touching her cheek. He stared deeply into her eyes for a few moments, with utter seriousness, before letting go and opening the car’s door.
“From closer than you think,” he simply said, and Tsune felt her blush coming back with vengeance, when she understood the implications.
__________________________
A/N: Can you guess the pairing of the next batch? :D And yeah, sorry for the typos. I'll fix them before Easter, k?
Author: Pain au Chocolat
Language: English, a sprinkle of Italian and Japanese.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fiction. Everything belongs to Akira Amano.
Rating & Warnings: Varies from K to M. AU, OOC, genderbending, cursing... and lotsa other stuff.
Summary: The first batch of the 10 x 10 fem!Tsuna drabbles :D
Pairing: Squalo x fem!Tsuna (Tsune)
_____________________________________________________________________
TEN O’ TEN
_____________________________________________________________________
I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
- Abraham Lincoln.
For the longest time, Squalo didn’t know about Tsune’s existence. He was what, 23 when the Ring Conflict happened? Sawada was then 15 and thin, weak and stupid. Not to mention way too kind, way too soft and had problems with controlling her Guardians. Then that sorry excuse of a Vongola heir went and defeated Xanxus, and Squalo couldn’t believe it.
After a whole sea of denial and trials, the swordsman finally admitted that yeah, the Sawada brat was strong. But that’s all there was to it. She was still a runt, still a coward, still spineless.
Then happened the whole Future Wars - as the odd incident with the Bovino 10 Year Bazooka was dubbed - and the runt seemed to have gained more than just new weapons from there. She held her head higher, spoke with a bit more confidence and even though her saint-like kindness and patience were still there, there was an underlying spark of steel now. Something that indicated that she was capable of hurting her enemies now, and even if she didn’t like it, she would do it if it came down to that.
So maybe Squalo began to respect her too.
Respect. Not like. He’d never like that little idiot.
After Sawada graduated from whatever school she had been studying in, she moved to Italy, and suddenly Squalo didn’t live a day without seeing her somewhere. It pissed him off greatly, since the runt had yet again changed - she had become taller, a bit more feminine and her hair was rather long now. And she wore high heels and skirts and in Squalo’s opinion she looked ridiculous because girls like Sawada were supposed to stay like they had always been, as in they weren’t supposed to become cute or sexy, let alone be a cause for non-platonic emotions.
So yeah, Squalo was pretty successful in making himself believe that Sawada was still that little brat with a flat chest and no grace or elegance. Tsune was a kid, not a woman. Truly.
That is, until he walked in on that Yamamoto guy kissing her. They didn’t see him as he froze and gaped at the two in silence. Their bodies were pressed against each other, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and his were at the small of her back and hips. Their eyes were closed, and Squalo took several steps back and out of the room before they could see him.
“Thank you,” he heard Yamamoto saying. “I know you don’t love me, so thank you for this, Tsune.”
“I’m sorry,” Tsune replied. “You’re a fantastic guy, Takeshi, and I - ”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” the dark-haired swordsman interrupted. “I know you are in love with someone else already.” And for some reason, the words are like poison to Squalo. At the sight of Tsune being kissed by someone, all his smothered and buried thoughts regarding her were running around his head, and he really wanted to kill that stupid Yamamoto, as well as that other guy Tsune apparently loved.
He heard footsteps approaching the door, and soon Yamamoto emerged. The dark-haired man glanced at him first surprised, then with an oddly remorseful expression.
“Could you go and comfort her?” the Rain Guardian asked. “She’s too kind, and the fact that she had to hurt me hurts her as well.”
“Why don’t you ask the bastard she loves?” Squalo retorted with bitterness and clear jealousy Yamamoto chuckled, and the sound was more like a defeated sob than anything else.
“I’m asking that bastard right now,” the younger of the two stated. “So it’s all up to that bastard now.” The words make Squalo’s eyes widen.
“VOOOI! WHAT THE FU - ”
“Squalo-san?” Tsune’s surprised voice cuts through his haze of jealousy and embarrassment, and when he turns to the young woman, he can see the dried tears. Whatever he had wanted to say to Yamamoro was forgotten - actually Squalo just about forgot the other man’s existence when he saw Tsune. He took a few steps towards her till he was standing in front her, and touched her cheek gently.
Yamamoto smiled sadly at the sight, and turned away knowing that the two would finally admit their feelings towards each other. He couldn’t bring himself to care much for Squalo, but he wished for Tsune the happiness she deserved.
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve.
- Charles de Gaulle
“Fetch the Rings,” Boss had said, and Squalo could only nod and obey. It hadn’t been that difficult to track down the brat Sawada Iemitsu had sent to take the Rings to Japan. So he did so, tried to even attack the kid a few times but somehow he seemed to always manage to escape… till Squalo decided to let him reach his destination before taking the Rings back.
It took some time. The guy was pretty paranoid for someone that young, and while Squalo isn’t exactly the most patient person around, he just has to wait, till he finally sees the kid entering a house that is no doubt his destination. The only drawback is the presence of so many skilled assassins in there. Two of the Arcobaleno - one of them being the infamous Reborn - then the Bucking Horse kept visiting, Poison Scorpion, and the wannabe Guardians were there pretty often too.
Not that Squalo thinks of them as anything worthy, mind you. Trash is trash and that’s it. But he’d rather wait till most of the assassins are out, because Squalo isn’t a fool who’d attack all of them at once. So he waits, and in a few days comes the opportunity. The house should have been empty, as the Italian swordsman breaks in and enters like the criminal he is.
Only to somehow end up in a room, staring at a young, rather pretty girl who is in a notable state of undress. It’s hard to tell which one of the two is more shocked, and the man can’t help but think that whoever this girl is, someone should tell her that the black underwear looks sexy against her pale skin, how about something golden next?
“What!?” the girl shrieks and looks like she’s having a heart attack, and the Varia’s assigned Rain Guardian-to-be realizes rather belatedly that he just spoke his thoughts aloud.
“Er…”
Squalo thinks that he has never blushed so much before.
And he turns and flees, forgetting about the Rings, opting instead to just tell his boss to go ahead with the Ring Battles, without going into detail with his explanation regarding his ‘defeat’.
Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse.
- Peter de Vires
Her hands were clutching the fort of his shirt as he pressed her against the wall and his body. For a whole month he had tried to hold back to just be content with staring and harmless flirting, but seeing her wearing such a short skirt… His libido would have to be dead for him to ignore the sight.
So he didn’t.
“What do you want?” she asked with a slight blush gracing her cheeks.
“You,” Squalo replied with a smirk, and the short skirt rose higher as he pushed his leg between her thin thighs to support her weight better. One of the delicate hands let go of Squalo’s shirt and went quickly to keep the skirt from going up too much… Even thought in the office there were no one but Tsune and Squalo, she didn’t fancy having her panties showing.
“You were driving me insane,” the man whispered against her ear, and she shivered in response. “You can’t imagine how much I wanted to fuck you when you looked so serious while explaining the mission to Reborn.”
“So what happened to the three month celibacy bet?” Tsune grinned.
“Fuck that,” the man hissed, pressing his lips against hers. It was a matter of seconds before Tsune let go of her skirt and Squalo’s shirt, and lifted her arms to rest on his shoulders instead, fingers playing with the silver hair. Squalo pressed closer against her body, and she felt his obvious erection rubbing against her through their clothes, making her moan into the kiss.
“I’m never…,” the swordsman whispered against the woman’s ear. “…attempting celibacy again with you in the same country.”
“Likewise,” Tsune grinned in response.
Gossip needs no carriage.
- A Russian Proverb
“Did you hear?”
“What?”
“Squalo-san and Tsune-san were seen yesterday buying some weapons!”
“Eh? Really? I didn’t even know that those two hang out together!”
_____
“Hey, did someone tell you already?”
“Tell me what?”
“Tsune and that long-haired swordsman were shopping together!”
“Whaaat? You mean Squalo of the Varia!? I had no clue that those two were friends!”
______
“Hey, guess what?”
“What?”
“Tsune-san and Squalo-san were out together yesterday!”
“You kidding me!?”
______
“Man, you won’t believe this!”
“Do tell.”
“Boss and Superbi Squalo were on a date yesterday!”
“You serious!? I never could have guessed that they liked each other!!”
______
“Girls, you’ve got to hear this!”
“Hear what?”
“Tsune-san and Squalo of the Varia are dating!!”
“Say what!?”
______
“Oh my… check this e-mail I just got.”
“Too tired. Read aloud, man.”
“Apparently Squalo of the Varia took Tsune out for a romantic dinner.”
“What the fuck!?”
“It seems that they’re in a serious relationship!”
“Oh my indeed! Gimme that phone!”
______
“Dude, you’ve got to hear this!”
“Shoot.”
“Vongola Decimo and Varia’s Squalo are engaged!”
“What!?!?”
“Yeah! Can you believe it?”
______
“Hey, hey, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Squalo and Tsune are getting married soon!”
“YOU SERIOUS!?!?”
______
“Guess what I just heard!”
“From your voice I can heard that it’s something big. Do tell.”
“Tsune is married!”
“WHAT!?!?”
“To Squalo of the Varia!”
“WHAT!?!
______
“You’ll never believe what I just heard!”
“What? Do tell!”
“Tsune is married to Squalo and ispregnant!”
“YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!?!?”
“And they’re going to make Xanxus the godfather!”
______
“VOOOI! Brat!”
“Yes, Squalo?”
“Here’s your money back.”
“What, you’re not going to thank me for showing you’re the way to the store yesterday?”
“I know that you did that because you needed to fetch something for that Arcobaleno of yours, so shut the fuck up. I could have found the place on my own.”
“Yeah right… with your sense of direction you’d be still looking for it. Be thankful, I left my work to show you the way, after all.”
“Fuck you, you were skipping and using me as an excuse! Fucking… Sometimes I can’t stand you.”
The cat which isn't let out of the bag often becomes a skeleton in the cupboard.
- Geoffrey Madan
Squalo was a handsome man - no one could deny that. He was also feared for his status in the Varia, respected by many for his talents and adored by many women for his charm and high pay check. He was violent, proud, loud, knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it, not merciful in the least and scoffed at anything that showed a sign of kindness.
Then there was Tsune. Cute, not as beautiful as Bianchi or as unique as Chrome, but she had the comfortable sort of beauty that didn’t make people feel inferior. She was sweet and had a kind and loving personality that made even Hibari and Mukuro think of her as someone precious. She was strong, had the status and the fortune but didn’t care much about flaunting it.
Two people, so different, yet there seemed to be some sort of invisible power that made them notice each other in a way they hadn’t ever expected.
Tsune could feel the heated gaze of the older man on her whenever she’d enter a room where he was. The words he said were always subtle enough for no one else to notice, but for some reason Tsune could semi-clearly see them for what they were - expertly disguised empty nothings. Or that’s what she thought.
He talked to her a lot, and before either of them had realized, his one-sided flirting had turned into a mutual conversation regarding issues that intrigued them both. And Tsune found out that if one looked past the lady-killer persona, Squalo was pretty dependable.
From his part, the swordsman found himself in trouble. What had started as fooling ended up as something else altogether. But he knew that for him to have an affair with the precious Vongola Decimo would be impossible, so he decided to try slowly but surely get rid of the unnecessary feelings.
However, when he saw Dino and Tsune talking - they were standing very close and the Bucking Horse had his arms wrapped around the young woman - Squalo felt as if he had been punched. It didn’t take long for him to recognize and curse the jealousy he was feeling. And later when he finally found Tsune alone, he slammed her against the closest wall and kissed her as if his life depended on it.
“I don’t want you to go and fall in love with the Bucking Horse,” he hissed, and the woman gasped.
“What?”
“Don’t go to him. Stay with me.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I am.”
“The others - ”
“Don’t need to know.”
“But you…”
“Love you,” Squalo finished for her, and kissed her again. He knew that she’d need much more than physical gestures to really understand that no, he wasn’t kidding. But Squalo was ready to do anything for her to understand.
Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.
- James Baldwin
Sometimes Squalo wondered what would have happened, had Tsune been a guy. The idea seemed ridiculous, really. He just couldn’t imagine her as a guy since, after all, would a man have the sort of personality Tsune now had? To be so sweet and kind and loving and forgiving?
Nope, impossible for a guy. Unless he was gay maybe.
Then again, if Tsune had been born a guy, who was gay, how would have Squalo fit into that life? The swordsman wasn’t gay. Though before Tsune came into his life, he hadn’t cared about girls either… So what did that make him? Asexual? Bisexual?
…
Tsusexual?
The silver-haired swordsman shrugged, and shook his head as if to rid himself of the confusion plaguing his mind. He glanced at the sleeping woman by his side, and smiled. What did it matter, really? Woman or a man… as long as Tsune was Tsune, Squalo would love her no matter the gender.
My body just felt it, I knew, tonight is the start of something new.
- Darin Zaynar
The first time Squalo saw Tsune dancing, he almost died of shock. For the second time in one day.
The first shock had come when he learned that the damned Arcobaleno called Reborn had sent Tsune to a nightclub. On her own. To… ah, how he had put it? Oh yeah, to learn about life. Squalo really didn’t know what that freak of a baby had in its mind. Anyone would know that someone such as Tsune just wasn’t the nightclub type. She was far too pure to go drinking, dancing dirty and having one night stands.
When Squalo had asked Reborn whether he wanted the future boss of the Vongola to be raped in a drunken haze, the Arcobaleno had shrugged and said “go to keep her safe, then”. And because there was no way that Squalo would let one of those incompetent Ring Guardians who would no doubt only make the situation worse go to Tsune, he went alone.
He didn’t know which nightclub it was, but instinctively, as if pulled by invisible strings, he found his way to one he had never visited before. When he entered, loud music, brightly flashing colours and the smell of drinks and sweat made him cringe. He didn’t see her at first, and when he saw her he didn’t know how he could have missed her.
He could se her clearly, as if she was the only one in the room. Her brown hair was in a messy bun, with a few strands escaping the pins. Her face was flushed, eyes bright and her body was moving like a… well, Squalo didn’t know to what he could compare it. Her body was moving smoothly, covered with a thin layer of sweat and the swordsman wondered if she’d look like that during sex. Then he promptly pushed that thought to the back of his mind, and began making his way toward the young woman.
When he finally reached her, she saw him but didn’t stop dancing. Instead she pulled him to dance with her, and it felt like they had been dancing together forever. When had he become familiar enough with her, to hold her like that? The way they moved, from side to side so smoothly, with every step making their dance better and better. Her body against his, his lips pressed to hers. It felt like something they should have done ages ago.
To them, that night was a start of something new.
I find the answers aren't so clear.
- Linkin Park
Their mockery of a relationship wasn’t going well at all, Tsune knew that. She knew it painfully well, actually. So well that she couldn’t take it anymore.
Every word he said was some sort of jab, a veiled critic, and she felt that no matter she’d do, he’d always find a fault in her. And when they fought… well, it was more like a one-sided fight where he just talked and talked, saying everything he had said before, and Tsune felt more and more at edge. She wanted to cry but she couldn’t. She wanted a way to solve this problem, but suddenly there were no clear answers. She was lost.
She finally broke when he didn’t come to home at night. At five in the morning she was tired of waiting, and knowing that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, she decided to go to work early. There she had met Squalo who took in her tired appearance, and in an uncharacteristic display of caring took her to her office, gave her some coffee and ordered her to talk. Resistance crumbled and the whole story of her unhappy relationship with the man she had thought to be perfect unfolded, and Squalo had been anything but happy.
He asked if she wanted him killed. Tsune told him to not bother. Squalo nodded and said that he wasn’t going to let Tsune return to that man, and the brunette had cried and whispered a miserable thank you. The silver-haired swordsman took her key and left to pack her things from the apartment she had shared with her lover. As he was leaving with her luggage, Squalo came face to face with the bastard who had broken Tsune’s heart.
Well, she had said not to kill him. Nothing about beating him up. And maybe stabbing him a little. He felt very pleased at the sight of the bastard’s face bloodied, teeth broken and nose crushed.
“If you fucking come near Tsune again,” Squalo hissed. “Or if you dare to do anything about this, then I’ll fucking hunt you down and kill you.” Fear for his life was clear in the other man’s eyes, and Varia’s swordsman turned to leave. He grabbed Tsune’s bags and left the house, fully intending on being the one to heal the woman’s heart and give her his own.
The value of a sentiment is the amount of sacrifice you’re prepared to make for it.
- Johan Galsworthy
“What is this?” Squalo asked, glaring at the plate of food Tsune had set in front of him.
“Shark fin soup,” the woman said with a smile. “Why, don’t you like it?”
“It’s…” Squalo hesitated, in a rare moment of consideration towards the brunette, glancing at her hopeful eyes and flushed cheeks and messy apron. “It’s fine.”
“Oh, I’m glad to hear that you approve,” Tsune beamed, and leaned to plant a quick kiss on her boyfriend’s cheek, before turning to get something to drink, completely missing the slight blush and a resigned glare towards the shark fin soup. Squalo grabbed the spoon and sighed bitterly.
”Shishishi… doesn’t eating shark fin soup make you a cannibal?” a voice that sounded awfully lot like a certain prince’s said in the back of his mind. The silver-haired swordsman scowled and shrugged it off. He wasn’t a fucking shark… even if he got called that a lot.
Seriously.
He just… didn’t like eating seafood in general. But Tsune had gone through lots of trouble to make this soup, Squalo could easily guess that. So he didn’t complain.
The things he did to keep that woman smiling…
It’s always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.
- Eric Hoffer
Squalo never thought about getting a girlfriend. In fact, when other boys at school dated and asked new girls out every day, he was more focused on getting stronger, beating Tor and showing off how much better he was than anyone and everyone else. Call him a late bloomer, but he didn’t think of girls as anything but a dead weight. They were stupid, weak and pathetic. Even the Cervello - what kind of idiot didn’t dodge a bullet, opting to fucking die instead!? A Cervello bitch, that’s who. They were like bees - one mind shared by them all. Or so it seemed.
The only female Squalo ever grew to respect was Sawada Tsune, and even that was because she fucking beat Boss in a battle. It was a fact that needed lots of time for everyone to digest and accept, but luckily the Varia could do it in Italy, because Squalo was quite sure that it would have been much more difficult, had they been forced to see the future Vongola Decimo - how unbelievable it was to call someone else but Xanxus that - every day.
Not that she’d mock them, no. If something, Tsune would have probably apologized. And that would have pissed off Xanxus to no end. The girl was ridiculously nice to everyone, which seemed to make all kind of people gravitate naturally towards her.
Two days ago they had been informed by an insufferably happy Iemitsu that his daughter without her pals was coming for a visit. the Ninth had wanted for Xanxus to get her from the airport, but the bastard had ordered Squalo to do it instead. The swordsman couldn’t even argue, and he wasn’t by any stretch of imagination happy for the new development. Sure, it had been several years since he last saw the runt, and according to what he had heard she had gotten stronger and stronger, but he wasn’t quite sure of how to be around her. Which was odd. He even felt nervous even though he knew there was no reason for him to feel like that.
When he finally saw her, he could do little but gape. She was still of medium height, slim and her brown hair was even longer than before. She was dressed in a white dress that looked too fucking good on her for Squalo to not notice. For a moment he wondered whether her smile had been that lovely previously, before pushing that thought aside. The slight blush she sported when she greeted him made the Italian man smirk - he knew how good he looked, especially when wearing a black suit.
“Your father, the Ninth and the others are waiting in the main house,” he said and started the car.
“I thought that dad would be the one welcoming me,” Tsune sighed, but smiled then. “Not that I mind seeing Squalo-san. How have you been?”
“Well enough,” he grunted in response. “No one trusted your father to drive - he’d have rushed to the airport and gotten caught by the police, no doubt about that.”
“Gee, he sure can be enthusiastic sometimes. Say, how’s the track-up of the Gesso and Giglio Nero going?”
“They won’t be a threat,” Squalo said, and stopped at the red lights, taking the chance to glance at Tsune. “Though I heard that you and that guy Byakuran have become… friends?”
“More like acquaintances,” Tsune smiled. “He’d be a dangerous enemy, given the chance. So I’d rather keep him as an ally.”
“You’re not involved with him?”
“Heavens, no!”
“Got any other special affairs then?” Squalo asked curiously, not quite willing to admit the motive behind the questions.
“Not at the moment. I did go on a few dates with some other guys, but… it never worked out. None of them was in the mafia, and I think I better stick to the people in this business,” Tsune muttered, remembering the advice Bianchi had given her about picking future boyfriends.
“None of your Guardians?”
“It’d affect the team dynamics rather badly, I think.”
’Of course,’ Squalo thought. ’She does seem like the type to worry about something like that.’ “You know that you’ll be expected to settle down with someone and get heirs.” That didn’t sound pleasant at all to Squalo. Thinking of Tsune with some bastard who couldn’t appreciate her…
“I know. I just wonder from where I can find someone who’d love me for myself,” Tsune said, and smiled bitterly as Squalo finally parked the car in front of a huge mansion. He didn’t leave the car immediately, and instead turned towards the woman. Tsune blushed and was about to apologize when she felt gloved fingers touching her cheek. He stared deeply into her eyes for a few moments, with utter seriousness, before letting go and opening the car’s door.
“From closer than you think,” he simply said, and Tsune felt her blush coming back with vengeance, when she understood the implications.
__________________________
A/N: Can you guess the pairing of the next batch? :D And yeah, sorry for the typos. I'll fix them before Easter, k?