The Long Sidewalk

[radowan]

Title: The Long Sidewalk
Author: Pain au Chocolat
Language: English. A bit of wannabe French and Italian.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fiction. Everything belongs to Akira Amano… TT_TT
Rating & Warnings: NC-17. AU, OOC, gayness, FRENCH, inaccurate history, lime, lemon, grammar and spelling abuse, no sense whatsoever…
Summary: 1795, France, and the guillotine that has so far killed over 40 000 people is still in active use. Tsuna is dragged by his teacher to go and witness an execution… only that it doesn’t go as planned, and suddenly the young brunet ends up hiding a wanted man in his house. This and that happens and nothing is how it was before.
Pairing: Colonello x Tsuna, a bit of MukuTsuna, HaruTsuna, and MukuHaru in my head



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To themegaloo, for making the lovely layout for our new community, rainbowtuna.

I’m so sorry for the lateness TT_TT
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“I don’t know why you brought me here,” Tsuna, maître Reborn’s only pupil, groaned. “I don’t want to see anyone dead, alright? I have never seen and I don’t want to see. Besides, why do you want to witness something like this? You have never before and-“

“Shut up, bête Tsuna,” maître Reborn murmured absently, eyes already fixed on the guillotine. “It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you,” the pupil gasped, throwing his hands up with frustration. “You haven’t even heard a word of what I said, have you?”

“I have decided to ignore your senseless chatter unless you say something interesting,” Reborn stated. “I told you to read Verde’s research on this thing, did I not?”

“Whose?”

“Verde’s,” the older man repeated with clear impatience. “We do not speak his real name aloud, you silly boy. Did you, or did you not read the papers I gave you?” Ignoring the insulting tone, Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember. Then it clicked - by Verde, maître had meant Dr. Jacques Beaurieux, one of the most famous scientists who were against the usage of guillotine. Naturally he went into hiding due to the fact that such declarations were followed by a sentence to death in France.

“Yes, well,” Tsuna muttered, giving his teacher a slight glare. “If you mean by his research that absolutely horrifying claim about the heads staying alive for 30 seconds after the execution… then yes, I did read it. Unfortunately.” Oh, that must have been one of the scariest things Tsuna had ever read. Verde had been witnessing an execution of a murderer known as Henri Languille, and he had paid quite a lot of money to get the head as soon as it fell.

”The man’s mouth and eyelids were moving in an erratic and spasmodic pattern for
five or six seconds. Then I waited for two seconds before shouting loudly ‘Languille!’
And I swear to God, what I’m about to say is as true as the paper you’re now holding
in your hands - I saw how the eyelids opened slowly, eyes focusing on me, and I knew
that those there were the eyes of someone still alive.”

“Terrible,” the young boy murmured, eyeing the guillotine with disgust. “What do you find so fascinating about that killing machine?”

“It has killed people of all statuses and professions, of all ages, of both genders and of many nationalities,” Reborn spoke quietly. “The revolution that started six years ago turned it into an object of non-selective murders.”

“Thanks to de Robespierre, right?” Tsuna, who had been eleven years of age back then, confirmed.

“Well, he certainly wasn’t doing it alone,” the teacher said, obsidian eyes suddenly full of cruel mirth. “Yet his inability to control his will to kill was noted and as you know, he was executed last year.”

“Yes…”

“Originally the doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin introduced this manner of killing to the masses, hoping it would provide a more merciful and humane way to kill the prisoners sentenced to death. Certainly, it was better than hanging and wasn’t a waste of bullets.”

“I still don’t understand why you admire that thing so much.”

“Don’t hate the game, hate the player,” Reborn stated. “The guillotine in itself is the epitome of mercy and consideration. Every aspect was clearly calculated - the speed of the razor, the weight of the wood that brings the razor down, the shape of the razor… It used to be round, you know. Till they found out that a bevelled edge cuts better through the neck vertebras. Even the red colour they paint the guillotine’s wood with has been chosen to hide the bloody stains as well as possible.”

“I’ll never understand your logic,” Tsuna sighed, shaking his head. “There’s nothing admirable in something that has resulted into ending the lives of-“

“Those people would have died anyway,” Reborn interrupted. “Hanging would have been more painful.”

“But,” Tsuna insisted. “That thing certainly made it easier to kill them!”

“Since when did you start talking back so much?”

“Since you started dragging me to watch people die as a form of entertainment.” The young student had barely finished his sentence when the teacher gripped his arm so tightly that it hurt.

“Entertainment?” Reborn whispered, slightly amused. “I do not indulge myself in entertainment, bête Tsuna, you ought to know that.” Oh yes, Tsuna knew. He knew what many of the other maîtres did to their students as ‘entertainment’, and Reborn had never, ever touched his student in such sinful way. A fact, which Tsuna was immensely glad for.

“What are we here for, then?” the young brunet then asked, and swallowed as he finally saw the executioner, his helper and few dozen soldiers leading several men and women with covered eyes towards the guillotine.

“You see the tall, fair-haired man?” Reborn asked, and the younger of the two nodded. Who didn’t? The man was tallest of the bunch and had a hair with shades of gold that Tsuna had never seen before. Unlike the other, slouching figures this man walked without hesitation, without dragging his feet. His head was held high, his mouth in thin line and it was clear to everyone present that this man wasn’t afraid of death.

“It’s rather convenient how the crowd gathers to this side of the platform,” Reborn said nonchalantly. “It leaves the area behind the platform empty… so if a prisoner’s ropes were to get cut right when he’d be escorted up the platform… oh dear.”

“What?” Tsuna asked, clearly suspicious. Sure, his teacher’s words were proper to the observation, but that tone…

“The criminal might be able to escape since the roads are like mazes here.”

“Oh, like that could happen,” Tsuna snorted. “Just what would cut the ro-“ Had he not witnessed Reborn’s trigger-happy ways before, he would have missed the move. Silently - Verde had equipped all of Reborn’s guns with something called silencer - and subtly the maître fired. And so accurate were his shots that no other but the Devil in his viciousness could have lead them straight to cut through the ropes, not even grazing the skin of the fair-haired prisoner.

“Demon,” Tsuna gasped, and Reborn touched the rim of his hat, taking his student’s word as a compliment. Chaos overtook the place as the blond man took off into the mazes of the city. In the confusion no one knew whether they should keep watch on the remaining prisoners or chase the escapee, and that led into stumbling, disorganization and utter bewilderment at the unexpected turn of events.

“We’re done here,” Reborn said. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Tsuna hissed, following his teacher through the crowd. “You mean to tell me that this is all we came here for?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in the bloodshed.”

“I’m not, but you just helped a sentenced criminal to escape! What if we get discovered? We’ll be-“

“Well are you going to go and babble? Because I assure you that neither Colonello nor I will.”

“Colonello?”

“The man that just escaped, dimwit.”

“You know him!”

“Bête Tsuna, of course I know him, what did you think? That I’m helping strangers now?” Reborn shook his head, taking a slightly different detour to their home than usually. He didn’t know whether he should be annoyed or amused by his pupil’s idiocy. Occasionally it was charming, but mostly plain annoying. Then again Reborn wasn’t one to take losers under his wing - he didn’t even take average boys, or exceedingly good boys. He took ones with that potential that only the best of maîtres can see. The potential that lurked like a bright flame beneath the surface.

Well, so far he had met only one, Tsuna, when he had years ago managed to go to Japan for some unfinished business. The trip had been rather dangerous, the times had been bad even then, but Reborn had managed to go and return with a street urchin who possessed the strongest, brightest flame the infamous maître had ever seen.

So he had taken the boy in - though at the sight of the wide, innocent eyes Reborn had almost thrown him out again with a ‘he wouldn’t survive’ as an explanation - but nothing short of faith and confidence in his own skills of observation made him keep the Japanese brat. That turned out to be the right thing to do. Sure, Tsuna was sometimes really slow, he was also physically speaking very fragile for a seventeen-year-old boy and it had taken Reborn forever to teach the idiot how to read and write French and Japanese, and even a bit of Italian, English and German-

(They were scholars, after all. At least if anyone asked.)

- but Tsuna did have highly unusual intuition. Sometimes it felt like the boy was a seer or an oracle of some sort… And Reborn knew that were the other people to know of that quality, they would burn is pupil on the stake. There were occasions during which he too wondered whether or not it was the Devil that whispered his secrets into Tsuna’s ear… but thinking like that was pretty foolish.

‘As if that kid would ever associate with the devil without turning him into an innocent, fluffy being,’ the maître thought, opening the front door and entering his home with Tsuna right behind him. Predictably, his pupil shrieked with shock when he saw the escapee lounging on one of the chairs.

“H-how did he get in here!?” Tsuna gasped.

“I gave him the key, of course,” Reborn snorted. “Ten days ago.”

“What? How come the soldiers didn’t take it from him?”

“I swallowed it,” the man - Colonello - grinned. “It was a pain to shit out, hey.”

“Ugh,” Tsuna shuddered with disgust and turned away, making the stranger laugh loudly. Reborn shook his head and took off his coat and shoes before shooting a glare at the taller man.

“You should move into one of the other rooms. Staying this close to the outdoor and the windows is dangerous.”

“I spent the remains of my energy on escaping,” Colonello told him. “And I think my leg is infected, hey. I can hardly move it anymore. Running and jumping certainly didn’t help, hey.”

“Too bad,” Reborn muttered uncaringly. “Tsuna, help him to your room.”

“My room, maître?” the student exclaimed, and the teacher scoffed.

“Well, did you think that I’d give up my room for that there? No. You two share. Freeloaders have no rights to complain.”

“That’s so like you,” Tsuna muttered bitterly. “I’m not even involved in this matter!”

“You are,” Reborn told him.

“What? Why!?”

“Because I said so.”

“Reborn!”

“That would be maître Reborn to you, bête Tsuna,” Reborn said and watched with clear amusement how his student stomped off to prepare his room to be shared with the guest. When the young brunet was out of sight, the teacher turned to his old friend, whose blue eyes were still fixed on the doorway through which Tsuna had left.

“I can understand why you’re keeping him around, hey,” Colonello noted. “He’s rather cu-”

“He’s an idiot,” Reborn scoffed, but the statement held no real bite in it. “Not to mention naïve, way more innocent than he should be considering his past and a total klutz.”

“Why did you take him in then, hey? If he’s so useless.”

“You’re asking too many questions. Just go die already.”

“I barely escaped from that, hey. I wouldn’t mind a bath, though.”

“So demanding. When Tsuna is finished with preparing his room, he’ll also prepare the bath for you. Be happy we even have one.”

“Rich son of a...” Colonello started with a grin. “How can you afford all this?”

“Stop being a bother by asking questions and be grateful that I decided to save you this time.”

“For old times’ sake and all? Then finish the favour and help me with the rest.”

“The rest?”

“Yeah. You see-“

____________________________________________________________________

“Stupid Reborn and his guest,” Tsuna muttered while preparing his mattress for the unexpected guest. ’Honestly, knowing Reborn he’s going to make me work all night long so I wouldn’t even need a place where to sleep in, the young brunet thought bitterly.

Then again, wasn’t maître Reborn always like that? So impulsive and sometimes Tsuna thought that the man was downright crazy, what with all the things he did.

’I feel that it’s a long day ahead of me, the young man sighed tiredly. ’Cleaning, cooking… and then I have to go down to the Court House Hall as usual. Oh, I hope that Mukuro is not there.’ Being one of the few who had time and the skill to read, one of Tsuna’s duties was to go every day to the Court House Hall and read the newspaper to the people who’d be waiting there. More often than not, amongst the people gathered there was a certain Rokudo Mukuro, who definitely knew how to read and certainly shouldn’t have had the time to loiter around - what with him being an active revolutionist and one of the generals in Paris.

But, unfortunately for Tsuna, the man with mismatched eyes of angelic blue and satanic red seemed to specifically make time whenever it was the brunet’s Reading Time. Just what was the man’s stupid, creepy, immoral and perverse fascination with Tsuna based on anyway? Whenever the boy asked about it, maître Reborn would smirk and advise his pupil to stay away from Mukuro. No real answer was ever given.

“Bête Tsuna,” Reborn’s voice reached the boy, who cursed under his breath before turning towards the doorway.

“Yes, maître?” he yelled in response.

“If you’re finished, then prepare a bath for our guest. And then start preparing for lunch.”

’Demon!’ “Yes, Reborn,” Tsuna said weakly, scrambling up. He had prepared his bed to be used by the guest already, and the room itself wasn’t messy. Well, except the desk that was practically buried beneath all the scattered papers, but cleaning up that would take ages.

“Hurry up!”

“Coming, already!” Most people didn’t much care for washing, and very few had their own private baths. Tsuna personally thought that it was too much trouble, but keeping clean was something his maître pretty much obsessed about. So every day Tsuna would have to heat buckets of water, enough to fill the huge basin made of stone that Reborn called a ‘bath’. And then when everyone was clean, Tsuna would have to grab the buckets again and empty the bath by chucking the dirty water out to be absorbed into the ground.

Oh yes, he hated preparing baths.

The toilet itself, however, was much better than what other houses had, considering that Reborn had ordered one of Brahma’s flushing lavatories to be installed. With a sigh, Tsuna refocused on filling the bath with hot water. The process itself was agonizingly slow and boring - filling the buckets with the water from the well, and then bringing the water to a boil before pouring it into the bath.

’I hope that he doesn’t intend on making me help that guest bathe,’ Tsuna thought with a frown. ’Ah, no, I doubt it since I have to prepare something to eat. But what to make? And damn it, I suppose I have to prepare things ready for dinner too, since I won’t have much time to start anything from scratch after I come from the Court House Hall.’

A bit less than an hour later Tsuna made his way towards the kitchen, where he found Reborn and the guest.

“The hot bath is ready,” he said.

“Very well. We’ll let the water cool for a while before throwing that filthy thing in.”

“Hey!” the blond exclaimed. “Filthy thing? Watch it, Curly, I’m pretty damn delicate right now.”

“Do I prepare the lunch now?” Tsuna cut in, not wishing to hear an argument between the two older men. Reborn glanced at the clock and nodded.

“Yes, get started with it. Then eat your share quickly and leave for the reading session. I suppose your dear friend Mukuro will be waiting there.”

“He’s not my friend!” the brunet shrieked. “He’s a creepy stalker who should be transferred to work in… in… a faraway city or something!”

“But the world is Paris, right now,” Colonello said, looking directly at the boy, blue eyes admiring the sight. How Reborn hadn’t taken advantage of the prettiness presented went beyond his understanding - this boy, what was his name again? Oh yeah, Tsuna. Tsuna was pretty damn adorable, sort of like those little herbivores some silly women kept as pets back at home, in Italy.

Ah, what he wouldn’t do to get back to Rome, or even better - Sicily. The blood that flowed there was different from the blood that flowed here, and Colonello hated, hated, hated France, French, their silly accents, stupid fashion and even their questionably shaped bread. Half of the Frenchmen hated France, and that was the true reason for the revolution. Maybe the New France would be a bit better, although someone should get off their asses and stop the militaristic Carrot Top before he’d destroy Italy in the same way he destroyed France.

“Well that’s a nasty glare,” Reborn noted. “What are you thinking about?”

“Your sidekick Leon, and how he betrayed us all,” Colonello grunted. “What was his full name anyway, hey? Nap-leon?”

“Napoléon Bonaparte. He’s high up there, you see. Right at the top, as you know.”

“Good for him. Now let’s pray for him to get shot, hey.”

“You better not say that outside or they will lynch you.”

“The Frenchmen would lynch me at sight anyway, Reborn. That’s why I want back to Italy. I will be safe there.”

“Quite true. Now go to and have your stupid bath and try to not drown in there. I don’t need anymore corpses to get rid of.”

Tsuna, who was preparing the lunch, heard everything but couldn’t bring himself to believe it. Maître Reborn was awesome and one of a kind, yes… but for him to know Bonaparte personally? Surely it couldn’t be! So instead he refocused on cutting the meat into evenly sized squares and proceeding with the recipe. It got easier to focus on his task when the guest - Colonello - finally scrambled towards the bathroom and left Reborn and Tsuna for a moment of silence.

“Maître,” Tsuna finally dared to speak. “C-can you tell me what’s going on? I mean, I understand that we have a guest, but he’s wanted, and… and…”

“Colonello used to be a highly ranked official in Italy in… certain opposing circles,” Reborn said monotonously, not looking at his pupil. “But with the revolution came the new winds that reached that country, and when Leon obtained the crown there too he changed many things. Officials with beliefs like Colonello came to play a big part in the opposition and are therefore wanted for the execution.”

“So… what will he be doing now?”

“He’ll head back to Italy as soon as his wounds have healed and we have secured a route.”

“But,” Tsuna frowned. “Won’t he be just caught again?”

“During this past year a strong family known as the Vongola has established its roots into the leading force,” Reborn explained. “The Vongola have allies and they play dirty, and Leon knows that if he wanted, Vongola Primo is fully capable of assassinating him. And that’s why if Colonello manages to reach the Vongola and become officially one of their men, he’ll be under their protection and won’t be executed.”

“Oh,” Tsuna said, not understanding all of what his teacher just told him. “Are you working for the Vongola, then?” He asked the question on a whim, not even knowing how the thought occurred to him. He turned to see Reborn’s obsidian eyes fixed on him, with an oddly satisfied smile playing on the man’s lips.

“Hurry up and finish,” Reborn then stated, not giving an answer. “Then leave to the Court House Hall. One should never be late from volunteer work.”

____________________________________________________________________

When Tsuna exited the house, he knew that the insanely bizarre day wasn’t going to get any better.

“Hahi!? What an unexpected, but lovely coincidence, Tsuna~” exclaimed a brown-haired girl with a wide smile. The local baker’s daughter, Haru, was the only lady admirer Tsuna had… and to be honest, the boy thought he could have survived without having her stalking him, waiting outside his door whenever his Reading Time came.

’Unexpected coincidence? She was having a picnic here!’ the boy thought with a sigh. “Hello, Haru. I’m sorry but I’m in a hurry so I can’t stop and talk.”

“But Tsuna~,” the girl whined, following the brunet till they reached the main road. “We haven’t talked in a long time!”

“I’m busy, Haru.”

“The reading again? Oh, I wish I could come and listen, but Papa says that girls like me shouldn’t mingle in crowded places like that.”

“And he’s right,” Tsuna said patiently. “So go back now, it’s dangerous for a young pretty lady to be walking without properly assigned company.”

“Hahi? Tsuna is worried about me?” Haru gasped with evident delight. “I will go back immediately, so Tsuna can stop worrying, alright?”

“Um… great. Thank you, Haru.”

“No problem, dear,” the girl giggled and all but floated away.

“A nice way to handle the ladies,” another familiar voice leered, making Tsuna turn and curse inwardly. The day was getting only worse.

“Doctor Shamal,” the brunet said politely. “It’s nice to see you. How do you do?” As usual, the Italian-born ladies man was only somewhat sober and once again Tsuna wondered just from where did Reborn find associates like this?

“Quite well, quite well,” the man replied. “Enjoying a walk with a student from the university. You’re still working with Reborn?”

“Ah, yes,” Tsuna replied, turning to glance at the person accompanying Shamal. It was a silver-haired man with green eyes and a bored expression, and seemed to have more interest in the pavement than I the conversation going on. “I’m on my way to the Court House Hall to-“

“Read the news as always?” Shamal finished for him. “Yes, admirable volunteer work. Are there many pretty girls watching?”

“Uh… No. The audience consist of mainly elderly. And Mukuro.” Tsuna shuddered at that, but the doctor suddenly grinned.

“Oh yeeeees, Rokudo Mukuro, one of the strongest generals. He’s… interested in you, yes?”

“No.”

“But he cares for you more than he-“

“He doesn’t, doctor Shamal. I assure you that he doesn’t, no matter how you and Reborn seem to think otherwise.”

“What? Reborn thinks so too? Then it must be true!”

“I’m leaving,” Tsuna sighed, feeling irritated. There was no use to talk with someone like that man there.

“Drop by my office sometimes, Tsunayoshi,” Shamal yelled after him. “I can give you heaps of advice!”

’Not likely,’ Tsuna thought bitterly, hurrying towards the Court House Hall. It was, in fact, more of a square for the markets than anything else. It wasn’t a hall and it had nothing to do with the Court House, but sometimes people felt the need to give fancy names to ordinary places. It was already crowded with people, some selling, some buying, and some just wandering around. Tsuna hurried towards the place where he usually sat and saw that there were few of the elderly already waiting.

“Good evening, Mr. Sawada,” one of the old women - Mrs. Clotaire, her name was - said with a smile. “Which news are you going to start with?”

“Local, I suppose,” the boy replied, picking the News of Paris. “Then the country-wide, and then what’s happening outside of France.”

“The war news?” asked Duboun, a former sailor. “I cannot imagine what else is interesting out there. Which reminds me, Tsunayoshi, why aren’t you in the army yet?”

“He’s still too young,” Mrs Clotaire crowed. “And we need him here anyway. The army will manage just fine without our Mr. Sawada.”

“I quite agree,” a familiar voice joined, and Tsuna wished that he could drop the papers and run for his life. He didn’t turn when he heard a horse stop behind him, or when he sensed someone getting off the horse and walking to stand too close to him. A gloved hand was suddenly on Tsuna’s shoulder, turning the dismayed brunet to look up at the creepiest pair of blue and red eyes.

“Hello, Tsuna,” the man greeted with a slight smile. “How do you do?”

“General Rokudo,” the brunet muttered, trying to find an escape route. “I’m fine.” ’Till you appeared.’

“And how is your… ah… maître? That distasteful man, Reborn?”

“Master is doing just fine,” Tsuna replied, deciding to ignore the blatant insult.

“Are you sure?” Mukuro asked. “He makes you work awfully lot. Say, Tsuna, if you would like I could take you in. I’m sure I can… take care of you properly.”

“No thank you, sir,” Tsuna told him, starting to feel a bit panicked. Just what was it with this stupid general anyway, addressing him so familiarly? Besides, the brunet knew he’d rather die than let Mukuro be his master. Definitely.

“Don’t you have work to do, Lord Rokudo?” Duboun asked warily. He wanted news, damn it, and as long as that demonic General lurked around, Tsunayoshi would be too paranoid to focus on reading. Not that he could blame the boy - the man with mismatched eyes was generally thought of as someone who had a pact with the devil, and only his power and intelligence saved him from being executed one way or another.

“My work is with my people,” Mukuro responded with honest dishonesty. “I’m sure you will find someone else to read for you.”

“But it’s my job,” Tsuna said, gathering his courage and looking at the taller man with a serious expression. “I do not intend on neglecting my duties.” ’Because Reborn will murder me if I do.’

“So admirable, Tsu-“

“Lord Rokudo,” a man Tsuna recognized to be one of the general’s lackeys. “You’re needed at the Court House to discuss the event that took place this morning.”

“The escaped convict?” Mrs Clotaire gasped, and Tsuna felt his heart skip a beat, fearing that someone would soon say that they saw the blond at Reborn’s house.

“How unfortunate,” Mukuro sighed, holding Tsuna’s hands tightly. “But it seems that duty is calling me too. Take care, Tsuna, and I will find you soon again.” Mumbling something vaguely polite, Tsuna took a step away from the general who gave him yet another one of his questionable smirks before leaving.

’Seriously,’ the brunet thought miserably. ’He needs a new hobby.’

“To be completely honest with you,” Mrs. Clotaire huffed. “That man needs a nice young lady to settle down with!”

____________________________________________________________________

Colonello was feeling very content. He was clean, he had just eaten a delicious meal, he had gotten new clothes and now he was resting on a chair in front of the fireplace. Truly a heaven after being imprisoned and almost executed. To think that it had been less than a day!

“You dressed your wounds?” Reborn asked, not looking up from the booklet he was reading.

“Yeah.”

“How long do you think it will take for you to heal?”

“What, you that eager to throw me out, hey?”

“The fact is,” Reborn said, finally putting the book down. “That the longer you stay put, the higher goes the risk of getting caught. You need to plan everything carefully, or you’ll be caught again before you can reach the Vongola.”

“Well, from here to Rome it’s a trip of over six hundred miles, hey. I need to heal properly before starting that sort of journey,” Colonello told him. “But yeah, I do agree that we need a plan.”

“I doubt that they’re going to make wanted posters of you,” the dark-haired man stated. “So it’s not like you need a superb disguise. My guess is that they will put one of the generals to track you down and depending on which one it is we can make your escape plan. If it’s someone like General Longchamp, you might as well just saunter towards Rome without bothering to hide anything. But if it’s one of the maniacs in the ranks…”

“Maniacs, hey? Such as who?”

“Well, the worst, I suppose, is General Hibari. I’m sure you have heard of his reputation. If it’s him then consider yourself hunted by a demon of some sort,” Reborn smirked. “General Mirch takes her job extremely seriously too - there’s a reason why she’s a general regardless of her being a woman. The third one you should hope that it isn’t is General Rokudo. He’s rather unpredictable, but if he decides to catch you he will most probably succeed.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, hey.”

“If he does catch up to you, then… hm. Maybe I should just send Tsuna with you,” Reborn sighed.

“Ha? Why?” Colonello asked, clearly confused. “How would a lady-like brat save me from a general?”

“You’d be surprised but that lady-like brat needs only to bat his eyelashes at General Rokudo to get what he wants.”

“Heh, so he isn’t as innocent as he looks, hey?”

“On the contrary,” Reborn replied. “He’s every bit as idiotic, naïve and virginal as he looks. The boy is seventeen and yet to give his first kiss to anyone! The baker’s daughter is so smitten with him that it stopped being funny years ago-“

“Sounds like Bianchi, that girl.”

“Shut up. I’m here to hide from that witch.”

“She still wants to marry you.”

“People don’t always get what they want.”

“Indeed,” Colonello grinned, when the front door opened and a tired Tsuna scrambled in. Blue eyes took in the sight of flushed cheeks, tousled hair and delicate built, before he had to turn and look elsewhere. The boy was just too damn adorable!

“Someone is early,” Reborn drawled.

“It has been a hellish day,” Tsuna groaned. “When I left, Haru ambushed me outside. Then I met Doctor Shamal who thinks that you’re right about Mukuro. And as they say - speak of the devil and he shall appear! I hadn’t even started reading the news when he came and spoke some utter nonsense while holding my hand, for heaven’s sake! But thankfully he had to leave because he was needed at the Court House itself to discuss the failed execution of this morning.”

“Oh?” his teacher’s obsidian eyes clearly showed the amusement the man felt at his student’s mostly useless chatter. “So General Rokudo is going to be the one assigned to capture that idiot there, hm?”

“So we know our enemy now, hey?” Colonello grinned.

“Enemy?” Tsuna repeated with evident confusion. Sure, he didn’t consider Mukuro a friend… but he never thought of him as an enemy either.

“Don’t think about it now,” his master ordered. “Go and prepare the dinner. We have all had a long day so we all ought to retire early. Postponing the dinner isn’t going to help that. Work, bête Tsuna!”

“He sure works a lot,” Colonello remarked. “I didn’t see him rest at all today. Cleaning the room, preparing the bath, then the lunch, after which he went to read and worked there for several hours and now he’s again working to prepare the dinner-“

“What? Do you want to go and help him?”

“I didn’t say that, hey!”

“That’s what I thought too,” Reborn deadpanned, and returned to reading the booklet. After several minutes of restless silence, Colonello moved towards the kitchen. Sure, he wouldn’t be able to help the kid in any way, but at least he could keep him some company, right? Right. And that small, warm smile Tsuna gave him totally didn’t make his mood giddy. It didn’t. Did not.

“Maître Reborn prefers light food for dinner,” the boy said conversationally. “So we’re having vegetable soup with bread and potatoes, if it’s alright with you?”

“Sure,” Colonello replied. “I don’t mind vegetables, and I suppose you’re a good cook if Reborn still lets you make his meals, hey.”

“Has he always been picky?” Tsuna asked. “I mean… I suppose you have known him for longer than I have, after all.”

“Yeah, he sometimes made the chefs remake his meal again and again if he wasn’t satisfied with it. Did he ever do that to you?”

“In the beginning, several times. But I quickly learned how to season the food to his tastes. So you had chefs back then? Did you live in Paris?”

“We lived… around,” Colonello said, blue eyes suddenly sparkling. “But settled for a short while with the Vongola who’re rich beyond meaning. Reborn was one of them, before he ditched the lot and came here. I thought he’d keep on living alone so you were sort of a surprise.”

“Why did he leave?” Tsuna asked, not even bothering to try and hide his curiosity.

“Well,” Colonello drawled. “There was this woman… Bianchi was her name. Beautiful, smart, rich, noble and stubborn. She fell in love with Reborn, but hey, that guy isn’t exactly your ideal Romeo. So he fools around with her, gets bored and then leaves… and stays here.”

“What about the poor lady?” Tsuna asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“Still angry. She’s good at holding grudges. It has been over five years… six or seven, I suppose. For how long have you been with Reborn?”

“About six years now,” Tsuna sighed with a fond smile. “He took me in when I was eleven, gave me a home I had never had before and brought me here. He taught me how to read and write and - don’t tell this to him, okay? - I consider him to be my only family.”

“Odd,” Colonello said after a moment of silence. “People tend to admire and fear that bastard from afar, and ever his friends keep their distance. I doubt anyone has ever considered him family before, hey.”

“But he is, to me,” Tsuna smiled gently, brown eyes sparkling with warmth and happiness that made Colonello’s heart suddenly ache. How come the devil’s advocate found someone like Tsuna? Shouldn’t everyone have the right to have someone like that boy with them?

Few hours later when Colonello finally got ordered to go to sleep, he couldn’t help but think of the boy he had met only on that very same day, yet felt as if he had known him for years.

____________________________________________________________________

Tsuna woke up with a start. He had slept on the couch in the main room since Colonello got his bed, which meant that whatever had woken him up could be potentially dangerous. The times were restless after all and thieves breaking into houses weren’t an uncommon occurrence.

’Scary,’ Tsuna thought, sitting up. It was rather dark and eerily silent now, but his trusted intuition was telling him that someone else was awake too. He stood up with determination, and moved silently towards the windows to take a look.

“What are you doing?” Reborn’s quiet voice from right behind him made Tsuna gasp and flail with shock. He hadn’t even heard his master moving! Or seen him! Just how quick and silent was that demon capable of being!?

“I suddenly woke up when-“ Tsuna’s voice faded into nothingness when he realized that his teacher was dressed up and seemed to be ready to go out. “Where are you going?”

“There’s a meeting in Lyon - I got an urgent message yesterday when you were at the Court House Hall. Verde will be there, so keep my absence a secret. If anyone asks I am feverish and will be available in two days’ time again. You’re excused from your scholar duties, but stick with the reading - skipping it would arouse suspicions.”

“Maître…”

“What is it?”

“What’s going on?” the brunet asked with a concerned expression. “Suddenly we’re all here sneaking around and scheming, keeping secrets and feeling threatened. What’s going on, Reborn?” The teacher sighed, and touched his pupil’s cheek in an uncharacteristic sign of fondness.

“What’s keeping Napoleon from merging Italy and France into one country is the Vongola Famiglia - I’ll tell you about it more at some other time. I once used to belong to it, and Colonello was an associate whose actual joining was never made official. If he makes it to them, the Vongola Primo will accept him into the ranks and Colonello will not be an outlaw anymore.”

“Huh…”

“Trust me, bête Tsuna,” Reborn whispered. “I’d never put you in danger. You’re too stupid and weak to survive.”

“Can’t you manage even a nice goodbye for a change?” the younger brunet hissed, but didn’t actually feel insulted at all. “Fine. There’s the exit - don’t miss it. Just… just take care, alright?”

“I’m always careful, idiot.”

“And be back quickly. I have a bad feeling.” Reborn knew from experience that when Tsuna had a bad feeling, it was usually for a reason. His intuition was always right, one way or another. Which meant that it could be an ambush and there was a higher risk to this trip than expected.

“Then listen,” the man sighed. “If I’m not back in two days, then pack the essentials of survival into bags and be prepared. Under my bed there’s a box - inside it I have some money. If I’m not back even after the third day then something went wrong and you must leave immediately with Colonello. Go to Italy and to the Vongola - if possible, I’ll meet you again there.”

“Reborn…”

“But that’s only if something goes wrong, bête Tsuna, so don’t worry yet. Keep up with your studies and don’t neglect your duties,” the man said, grabbing a bag Tsuna hadn’t noticed before. The young brunet followed his teacher to the doorway, where he suddenly threw his arms around him.

“I’ll miss you,” Tsuna whispered. With a sigh and a small smirk Reborn returned the embrace, before letting go and stepping away.

“Be careful,” he advised. “Especially around General Rokudo.”

“Yes. Um… see you soon again.”

“Hopefully.” Reborn readjusted his hat, and turned to walk down the street to where a carriage would most probably be waiting. Tsuna stood at the doorway, watching till he couldn’t see anymore, after which the young brunet returned back in and closed the door carefully. He was worried. He couldn’t deny that fact.

“So he left, hey?” Colonello’s voice startled Tsuna out of his depressed thoughts.

“Ye-yes. You shouldn’t be awake, much less moving around, Mr. Colonello.”

“Just Colonello, didn’t I tell you that already?” the blond man said with a grin. “How are you feeling, hey?”

“That would be my question,” Tsuna sighed.

“It’s not me whose only family just walked out to the unknown tomorrow.”

“True. I… I’m worried.”

“Not surprising,” Colonello told him. “But it’s Reborn, and he gave you good instructions. This just means that if he isn’t here two or three days from now, you’ll be coming with me, hey.”

“But your health,” Tsuna said. “You were kept in prison for a few days at least, I heard. And you have rested less than a day. Actually you have barely rested at all! You’re injured and-”

“And I had allies in the guard squad that was assigned to watch me,” the man interrupted gently. “I did receive few injuries but overall I was well taken care of. The escape was actually made possible because of their cooperation, you know. I’m not as injured as I looked like. In three days I will get all of my energy back… but if Reborn returns in two days as scheduled, then all this worrying would have been in vain.”

“I… I suppose…”

“Yeah, so now just go back to sleep,” Colonello said. “Tomorrow you’ll realize that nothing is as bad as you think it is now.”

“…”

“Have little faith in Reborn, hey!”

’He’s right,’ Tsuna thought. ’Maybe I have no reason to be this worried. Maître knows how to take care of himself.’

But regardless of the reassuring words, his intuition told him otherwise.

____________________________________________________________________

The following morning was bleak, cloudy and windy - as if agreeing with Tsuna’s depressed mood. He made a breakfast for two as usual, only this time the company wasn’t the same and he wasn’t in a hurry to go and finish some assignment. Eating with Colonello was different from eating with Reborn - while his maître pestered him with questions about his assignments to test whether he had remembered anything, Colonello told him animatedly of his colourful past as an associate, in the army and in the prison.

“-and then they attacked with knives and arrows and all that shit. I didn’t know what their problem was, I hadn’t even threatened them! So our team of course shot back and they were killing us and we were killing them back and-“

In all honesty, Tsuna enjoyed his time with Colonello. The man was easy to get along with, and his wide grin never failed to make the brunet feel a bit better. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to completely relax. Besides, it felt odd to not be in a hurry - having so much free time made him feel restless and think too much.

“I wonder if he has reached Lyon yet,” the boy muttered.

“I doubt it,” Colonello replied. “But he will probably reach it soon enough, maybe in a few hours. Stop worrying, hey. Do something to occupy your mind with. How about you tell me about your life here, hey?”

“My life here?” Tsuna repeated hesitantly. “It… it’s not really interesting. I read a lot, study many languages and do my best to finish the tasks maître assigns to me. I don’t have many friends because Haru isn’t exactly someone I’d consider a friend… she’s more like an acquaintance anyway.”

“The baker’s daughter? I think either you or Reborn mentioned her yesterday.”

“Uh, yes… she’s… um, a bit weird. Well, at least she’s less weird than Mukuro who’s probably not human anyway.”

“General Rokudo? What does he want from you anyway?”

“Oh, I don’t know!” Tsuna exclaimed, throwing his hands up in a sign of frustration. “Almost every day if he’s in Paris, I end up meeting him one way or another - usually during my reading time, though. He just comes and says something that I do not understand but suspect that it’s not exactly proper. Sometimes he holds my hands and doesn’t let go. Sometimes he touches my hair or asks if I’m involved with anyone yet - as if that’s his business anyway!”

“Huh… he does sound suspicious, hey.”

“He is! Once I asked him about his pride as a Frenchman and his courage to be ready to die for our country. Guess what he said? ’The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his.’ Is that something a highly ranked general should say!?”

“He doesn’t seem to have commonly shared views, hey…”

“Indeed! I once tried to make him wake up and see the world we live in - the people who have no shelter or food, the children who barely have rags to wear, the elderly to whom cleanness is foreign. And did he become better? He said… he said… ‘Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he can only do little.’ Then he gave a coin to an old woman. A coin. One coin! He has thousands, he could have afforded giving two, that stingy demon.”

“But, hey,” Colonello started. “You do not appear to think of him as an enemy at any case, Tsuna.”

“Well,” the brunet said hesitantly. “He does have his good sides too, I suppose. Like when he helped me find my way when I got lost once… or when I was almost attacked by some guys and he came and beat them up. Or once I really wanted to taste the new sort of cake Mrs. Bambini had made and he bought a piece for me.”

“Doesn’t seem to be completely evil, then,” Colonello grinned, feeling something bitter inside him. He didn’t much care for this General Rokudo who would most probably be assigned to track him down. Well, hopefully Tsuna wouldn’t hate him if he ended up killing the man. “Any other people you hang out with?”

“None, really. I don’t have much free time. Oh, look, it has started raining.” Tsuna scrambled up from the chair and moved to press his face against the window. Somehow the empty street, grey sky and steady rain made everything appear melancholic.

“Do you have to go to read even if it’s raining, hey?” the blond man asked, and the brunet shook his head.

“No. If it’s still raining when it’s the usual time to go, I will stay here. But if the rain stops then I will have to go, of course. I wish that it would be sunny… the weather affects my moods greatly.”

“Reborn compared you once to the sky,” Colonello revealed. “I suppose he was right, hey.”

“To the sky?” Tsuna repeated quietly, looking up. “What is your favourite weather, Colonello?”

“I like them all,” the man replied, walking closer towards the brunet. He leaned against the wall next to the window, hidden from the view just in case, and reached to hold one of Tsuna’s hands gently. “The rain washes everything away, cleans the dirt and takes the heat away. The storms seem to clear the air itself while thunder makes me realize time and time again how insignificant my worries are against the forces of nature. When it’s sunny and warm I can do little but enjoy it, seeing how beautiful the world can be. And when it’s cloudy and everything is under a shade I feel calm and my mind clears.”

“Hmm,” Tsuna closed his eyes tiredly and leaned against Colonello’s shoulder, brown spikes brushing the older man’s cheek. “That sounds lovely. Is Italy prettier than France?”

“Yes” was the immediate answer. “Italy is superior in every way. If France is stone pavements, bread, revolutions and romance, then Italy is natural roads, variety of tastes, carnivals and passion. You should really see it - the carnivals and festivals there are unlike anywhere else in the world. There are dances, hundreds types of food, new trinkets on sale, competitions… It’s amazing.”

“You really make me want to see it.”

“And maybe you will.”

“I wish I could see it after the war.”

“If it will ever end. Wars tend to just… continue.”

“True. I hate it. I can hardly remember the last time I could honestly say that there’s peace in France. No mass murders, no Frenchmen killing Frenchmen. No familiar faces joining the army to either die or go missing. No scheming, no seeing more and more people crying over their destroyed homes...” Tsuna closed his eyes, a sob escaping him, and Colonello pulled him into a tight hug.

“It will be alright,” the blond whispered, one hand pressing against Tsuna’s back and the other gently brushing through the brown locks. “One day it will be alright.”

“I hope so too,” Tsuna replied quietly, and Colonello realized that more than seeing Italy’s flag replaced by France’s, he hated seeing Tsunayoshi’s tears.

____________________________________________________________________

Two days passed, and there was no sign of Reborn. The only thing that Tsuna could think of was the continuous I knew it and the ominous something went wrong.

“I should start packing,” the brunet said, and Colonello nodded reluctantly.

“Yeah. It seems that he’ll either be coming tomorrow or he’s heading directly to the Vongola, hey.”

“How are you feeling?”

“As good as new, kid,” the blond man grinned. “You’ll get to see the carnivals sooner than you thought, hm? At least something positive, hey.”

“I..,” Tsuna sighed, looking down at his feet. He was scared, he couldn’t deny that. “I should go and check the safe.”

“The safe?”

“It’s where maître keeps his money. I hope it’s the right currency, considering all the mess-ups nowadays.”

“It’s Reborn, hey. He’s always on top of things,” Colonello said trying calm the brunet down. It didn't work well and the teary-eyed boy hurried to first check the safe and then to gather the essentials to be packed.

"If he's not here by the evening, we'll have to leave to Italy," Tsuna muttered with evident dismay. "I don't even know the way! Which direction? How do I deal with people and questions? What if someone recognizes you and we will be captured and what happened to Reborn?" His starting rant was cut off short when Colonello pulled him to sit down, and wrapped his arms around the boy again.

"Panicking won't help you at all," the blond told him. "You need to be calm and cool-headed. Reborn has taught you many things and simply by using the right languages we have already an advantage. I know the direction and you would be surprised how much of a difference the bath and the rest have made in me. Normal citizens won't recognize me for who I really am, the only real risk is General Rokudo who is most probably the one assigned to catching me."

"Then what about the one who chased Reborn?" Tsuna asked. "I mean, he's late because he faced some problems at the secret meeting - problems usually mean the enemy. And the enemy tends to mean someone. So we do not only have to avoid an unknown party, but when the connection between you, Reborn and I is uncovered, we'll have that unknown party cooperating with Mukuro."

"By George," Colonello grinned. "You're smarter than you look. However Reborn could be simply running late since the transportation is so unreliable. Regardless, we can pack and be prepared to leave, and if he isn't here before the sunset, then we lock the door behind us and head to Italy."

"I wish he would be here soon," Tsuna sighed, feeling a bit sick. "I am not fond of travelling."

"Really? I love it, hey!"

"I guess this is just an after-effect from Reborn - he hates travelling too. That's why he tends to avoid it. So this meeting really must have been an important one to make him go."

"It was. Verde finally got some solid evidence not only against the Guillotine, but against Napoleon too - it's true that winner writes history, but war crimes are still crimes. That's what was mentioned in the message Reborn got."

"It's lunchtime soon," Tsuna suddenly said. "What do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine, really. Anything is just fine," Colonello replied, and the brunet nodded.

"I will make something that can also be packed and taken with us - I don't know if we will have the time to stop by any place and order something to eat, so maybe it's good to have something with us."

"You're right, hey. Is there anything you want me to do?"

"Eh? No, no of course not! You're a guest and--"

"Tsuna, hey. Don't treat me like an outsider please. Had I been Reborn you would have asked for me to do something, right? So don't hesitate."

"Well...," Tsuna shrugged, wondering if he came across as a horrible guest by asking the man to do some work. But he really needed help so he decided to just comply with the blond's request. "Can you make a list of what exactly are the essential things for travelling? And if possible, could you please also take the safe from under Reborn's bed and count the money in it?"

"Sure thing, hey."

"I will let the meat boil and go to ask Haru for some bread," Tsuna then muttered, more to himself than to his friend. The brunet cut the meat into even slices and dropped them into a pot, poured water over it and left it to boil while grabbing some coins and exiting the house. He headed towards the bakery at the end of the street, feeling more than just slightly paranoid.

"Oya, if it isn't my dear Tsunayoshi," an annoyingly familiar voice said, and not a moment later Mukuro was standing next to the boy.

"What are you doing here?" Tsuna asked, heart beating rapidly in fear.

"I'm merely enjoying a walk. What a coincidence to see you here. Where are you going?"

"To the bakery," the brunet answered. "Reborn is sick and I have too many tasks to finish so I don't have the time to make the bread myself."

"Oh, how sweet," Mukuro gushed. "If I'm sick, will you come and take care of me too?"

“EH!?!?”

“Kufufufu… I was merely joking.” Tsuna glanced at the smiling general with a clearly suspicious expression, but he didn’t say anything. They reached the bakery where Haru welcomed Tsuna warmly with squeals of delight, and gave him a shameless discount.

“Would you like this bun too? It’s something new my mama came up with yesterday and let me tell you that it’s sooo tasty!”

“Uh, thank you Haru, but please let me pay the full price.”

“What? Non, non, non,, darling! I couldn’t possibly let you do tha-“

“Miss Miura,” Mukuro interrupted. “I see that you have other customers waiting. Besides, my Tsuna and I have to leave now.”

“Excusez moi? Your Tsuna?” Haru’s voice was many degrees colder when she turned to look at Mukuro. It didn’t deter her that the man she was facing one of the most feared generals - for him to claim that her Tsuna was his… It was unforgivable!

“I think you heard me, mademoiselle,” Mukuro sneered. “Here is the payment, and now we shall leave. Au revoir.” He then proceeded to drag Tsuna outside, and was surprised to find the brunet shaking with silent laughter.

“Oh, that was a sight to see,” the boy giggled with flushed cheeks and wide, warm smile. Had his eyes sparkled like that before? No matter, Mukuro’s heart ached at the beauty and purity of the sight, and he knew that Tsuna wasn’t a person who needed the rays of sun to shine.

“I don’t want you to lose that smile,” he exclaimed suddenly, in a rare bout of honesty. His words made Tsuna blink with confusion and tilt his head in a rather adorable manner.

“Huh?”

“General Lal Mirch was dispatched to arrest Reborn after she found some documents drawing a connection between your teacher and the escapee,” Mukuro said quietly. “Reborn was seen in Lyon with few outlaws and is wanted by the authorities now. Half an hour ago I received an arrest warrant for you and for anyone hiding in the house.” At these words Tsuna thought that his heart would stop. He was pale, any traces of a smile gone. His intuition had been right and the generals were faster than them.

“A-are you going to arrest me?” the brunet asked quietly, wondering about the bizarre situation. He stopped right outside the house, wondering what he should do. Mukuro stood in front of him, looking down at him with his mismatched eyes.

“If the house is empty in an hour,” the general said. “Then what will I arrest? Air?” The implications of his words made Tsuna gape and hope stir inside him again.

“W-why would you do this for my sake?” the brunet asked. Mukuro chuckled and turned away.

“Why indeed?” he muttered. “Do not think about it too much, my Tsunayoshi. If you’re still here in an hour, I will be obliged to arrest you.”

“Bu-“

“And as much as it pains me to say,” Mukuro continued softly, reaching to hold one of Tsuna’s hands before bowing to kiss it. “From today onwards I will be forced to consider you an enemy.”

With that, General Rokudo Mukuro turned to leave, and all Tsuna could think of while watching his back were the words Reborn had told him a long time ago…

”Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon...everything's different. When that day comes, resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of it.”

Just when had they become friends, for Tsuna to feel betrayed now?

____________________________________________________________________
A/N: I’m truly sorry for the long wait - I have been really busy. I hope this is to your liking anyway.

Part 2