Chapter Ten
Poison Whip
It had taken a while for everyone to get used to Hans tagging along everywhere they went, but that did not mean that everyone ended up happy over the circumstances. Masaru had fallen into the habit of arguing with Hans at least twice every day. Kiyohiko was less than thrilled about having a small child tag around at all times and after one swift punch to the groin area, Damiano ended up becoming quite wary of the kid. The only one who seemed actually happy about everything was Haruhi, who, true to her word, treated Hans like the younger brother she always wanted. Hans was not pleased with the situation, as she would constantly baby him, but at least waited until either lunchtime on the roof or after school to try exploding the girl to bits.
Finally, a quiet Saturday came. Kiyohiko and Damiano had decided to walk down to the corner to get some sodas and snack foods from the vending machines outside of the corner store. It was nearing lunch time and nothing of much importance had occurred in nearly an entire day.
“I wonder if it was wise to leave them alone like that,” Damiano mused as they walked along. He placed his hands behind his head and frowned.
“Reborn’s there, so I don’t think there should be much of a problem,” Kiyohiko sighed. “Besides, if there’s a lick of trouble, Hana-san would kick them out in a heartbeat.”
“Oh, yeah,” Damiano mused. “It’s pretty safe having her in the house.”
“Pretty safe having who in the house?” asked someone from behind the boys. They both jumped, taken completely by surprise. Turned out it was only Saki, looking happily worn out after what must have been an extensive jog around the town.
“Please don’t scare me like that,” Kiyohiko sighed. Saki giggled guiltily and allowed him to continue. “We were just going to get some snacks to have before lunch. Haruhi-san and Hans-kun are over at my house with Masaru-nii studying.”
“Isn’t that kind of dangerous letting those three be alone like that?” Saki asked. “Gokudera-kun doesn’t seem to get along with Yama-chan and Sasagawa-kun very well.” It took a couple seconds for Kiyohiko to register the name Hans went by in school—Gokudera Ryuunosuke—for the ease of the other students.
“That’s why my cousin’s stepmom is in the house,” Kiyohiko said. They had reached the storefront and Kiyohiko began digging through his pockets for the money he had collected from those still in the house.
“Oh, I remember her…” Saki recalled as the boys fetched their snacks and drinks. “What was her name again…? Kanna-san…?”
“Hana-san,” Kiyohiko corrected.
“Right; Hana-san. I only met her once a few years ago, so I’m not that familiar with her, I’m afraid. It was before you came to Japan, Sawada-kun.”
“Well, Signora Hana is not exactly the best with children,” Damiano said. “I would be surprised if you’ve met her more than once or twice.”
“Then why does that baby follow you around?” Saki asked, searching the contents of her own pocket. She procured a bottle of pop from one of the machines and chugged nearly half of it at once. “I remember him from when we met in the shopping district; he wore a little suit and had black hair like Hana-san does. Is he Sasagawa-kun’s little brother?”
“No, nothing like that,” Kiyohiko grumbled. He quickly decided to change the subject to avoid further Mafia-related questions for the time being. “Would you like to come back with us, Saki-san? We’ve got a solid study group going and I think we’ve got a few extra supplies to share.”
“As long as you haven’t hit History yet!” Saki grinned.
As the three began to walk back towards the house, Kiyohiko could feel that something was amiss. It felt as if someone was tailing them. The young Vongola kept on glancing over his shoulder, trying to catch whoever it was in the act.
“What’s the matter, Don Yohi?” Damiano asked. “Is everything alright?”
“You know that feeling you get when your sister is following you simply to make you freak out and think there’s someone coming to kill you?” Kiyohiko whispered, careful not to let Saki hear.
“Yeah… but she usually does try to kill me…”
“Well, I’m totally getting those vibes right now.” Damiano looked behind them and shrugged at the normality of the street. It did not take much longer for the trio to reach the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada residence, at which point the eerie vibe Kiyohiko was feeling ceased.
“Well, that was anti-climactic…” he said as he put his key in the door. He opened the door and they walked in, only to have the lights not work. While Kiyohiko was attempting to jiggle the switch in order for the light to work in the otherwise dark staircase (as it was one of the casual quirks of the house), the sound of a bullwhip cracked through the air and made everyone freeze in their places.
“Do not move!” shouted a voice. There was a shadowy figure looming at the top of the staircase, giving off an almost-evil aura. “State your names or you shall find your lives forfeit.”
Wait a second… Kiyohiko thought. I know that voice!
“Rosario-nee! Please come down from there! It’s just Damiano-san and me.”
The figure slid down the railing to the landing, revealing her identity. With her long lavender-pink hair, grey eyes and confident grin, Damiano and Kiyohiko had no problem recognizing Rosario Chiavorone. The twenty-year-old woman was all decked out in an outfit that looked like it was pulled from a 1930’s action movie serial: tan slacks, a white button-up shirt, suspenders, brown jacket and a matching fedora.
“It’s way too dark in here for me to see properly,” Rosario said, coiling up her whip. “I was just going up to get you so that you could fix the light.”
“What are you doing here Rosario-nee?” Kiyohiko asked. “Did you get kicked out of the Varia for not being insane enough?”
“Oh, no, not at all. Then who would go on the missions that involved actually functioning like a human being?” Rosario smiled. She looked over at Saki and cocked her head to the side. “Who’s this?”
“Takizawa Saki,” Saki replied with a little bow. She did not take her eyes off of Rosario, however, curious about the foreigner’s appearance.
“Pleased to meet you! I’m Rosario Chiavorone! Yohi here and I are cousins!”
“Cousins…?”
“What she means to say is that Don Yohi’s father and her father are as close as brothers!” Damiano cut in, stepping between Rosario and Saki. “It’s nothing, really!”
“Rosario-nee, where’s Hana-san?” Kiyohiko asked.
“Oh, she stepped out of the house a while back,” the Italian woman replied, now going up the stairs in a relaxed manner. “I must have just missed you going out, or I would have just tailed you instead. There’s someone after you, apparently.”
“Someone’s after Sawada-kun?” Saki asked as they headed up the stairs. “Kind of like when I-Pin-san was here?”
“Yeah,” Rosario nodded. “I’m part of an elite team of people that get to make sure nothing like that happens to Yohi, amongst other things. I’m the normal one.”
“That’s saying something,” Kiyohiko muttered to himself as he walked into his room. He was greeted with the sight of Haruhi curled up on his bed sleeping, Masaru and Hans were wrestling to the extreme death and Reborn sitting on the table calmly, adorned with a long-haired wig and a dress.
“Ah, I see the Poison Whip is here,” Reborn said. Rosario’s eyes lit up upon seeing the infant hitman.
“Zio Reborn! It’s so good to see you again! I haven’t seen you since you finished training Andrea!” Kiyohiko opened his mouth to contest why Rosario was calling an infant “uncle”, yet wisely decided against it and simply envied Haruhi for being able to sleep through all the commotion.
“You look well, Rosario. Have you met your cousin Hans?”
Rosario blinked.
“Hans…?” She looked over at the scuffle and saw the German boy pinned in a full nelson hold by Masaru. Tilting her head so that she could see his upside-down face slightly clearer, Rosario chuckled lightly. “So Zio Hayato finally convinced his mother to let him go, hm? I haven’t seen the kid in ages.”
“Wait a second—I thought that Signore Gokudera kept the Mafia from coming around his son until he showed up here,” Damiano mentioned. “How did you get to see him?”
“I spent a few months in Bavaria for school and Zia Daria let me stay with her and Hans. I doubt he was more than two at the time. That was probably around the same time your mom and those psychos she hangs around—no offense—went to stay in Quebec for a spell.”
“None taken; why do you think I’m here?”
“Er… Sawada-kun…?” Saki said nervously, glancing over one of the open textbooks spread across the table. “These lessons won’t be in class for another two weeks.”
“It never hurts to be ahead,” Reborn said. “You should probably join us for these sessions more often.”
“No thank you,” Saki said politely. “My homework routine is fairly regular and I get excellent grades, so I don’t think it would be wise to change anything.”
“Are you sure?” Reborn asked, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the dark-haired girl.
“I’m sure,” Saki said a little shakily.
“Reborn! Leave her alone!” Kiyohiko yelped, his voice cracking. While he leapt over to wedge himself between Reborn and Saki, Rosario sped past Damiano and wrenched Hans from Masaru’s grasp in order to squeeze her cousin tightly.
“Gah! What the…!?” the boy sputtered. “Who in the hell are you!?”
“Don’t you recognize even your own cousin…?” Rosario pouted, swinging the boy back and forth. “I know I look more like Zio Dino instead of Zia Bianchi, but that doesn’t mean you should just forget I even exist! Where’s the love in that?” Hans’s legs dangled in the air as Bianchi twirled around.
“…and she’s the normal one?” Saki whispered to Kiyohiko and Damiano. Not even a second passed before Saki was then tackled from behind; Haruhi had woken up and was ready to get in on the roughhousing. Saki easily threw her friend off and stood up only to have Masaru right in her face.
“Wanna go spar?” he asked. “I heard that you’re studying some extreme martial arts.”
“Eh, why not?” Saki shrugged. “You ready for a world of pain?”
“I’m not done with you, dunderhead!” Hans shouted as Masaru and Saki went for the hallway. He wriggled out of Rosario’s grip and bolted after them. Haruhi ended up running off not too far behind, shouting for Hans to behave, which triggered Damiano headed after Haruhi so that she would behave in turn. Before Kiyohiko knew it, it was just him, Reborn and Rosario left.
“I take it you have some news for us, Poison Whip Rosario,” Reborn said. “You would not have come unless it was so.”
“It’s dire, Zio Reborn,” Rosario said, kneeling down so that she was level with Reborn. “Yohi and his friends are in danger.”
“What kind of danger?” Kiyohiko asked, sitting down at the low table. “Should they be going outside?”
“No, not that kind of danger,” Rosario said. “I’m not allowed to tell you details, but it will end up putting me in a very awkward position if things go the way I’m thinking they will.”
“What are you talking about Rosario-nee?” Kiyohiko asked. “Is something wrong back home?”
“Not exactly; Vongola family tradition is starting up again, is all. I need you to watch your back, Yohi. Fausto is going to have me do terrible things in the name of the Varia and I’m not sure if I will be able to carry out his orders. The least I can do is to warn you: do not be caught off-guard. The coming danger has the potential to kill you.”
“Fausto doesn’t know that you’re here, does he?” Kiyohiko asked. He thought about the Varia’s up-and-coming young commander—Fausto Esposito—and the wrath that might ensue should he find out Rosario Chiavorone did anything against his wishes. They had been together since they were small; he was the brazen boy aiming for his father Xanxus’s seat at the top of the Varia while she was the devoted right-hand that supported him every step of the way.
“This is treason,” Reborn said. Rosario panicked.
“Oh no, no, no!” she said, waving about her hands in defense. “The direct purpose of the Varia is to be elite hitmen and warriors sworn to the Vongola! If this is treason, then I would hate to hear what you would call what is going to happen!”
“What’s going to happen, Rosario-nee?!” Kiyohiko asked forcefully. He slammed his hands on the table and looked her directly in the eyes. “Since I seem to have no choice to become the Vongola Undicesimo, then you might as well treat me like it; tell me what is going to happen and that’s an order.”
“You seem to be growing into your role well,” Reborn noted with a grin. “Two months ago and you would not have even thought those words.”
“Right now, there are five of my friends and classmates out on the lawn doing who knows what. They are my friends and I want nothing bad to happen to them—ever. If I’m going to face this Mafia thing head-on, I want to at least be able to protect them.”
“You’re a good kid,” Rosario smiled. “You’re going to make a great Vongola boss someday. I would tell you what is going on, I really would, but I have been sworn to secrecy by forces higher than us. Please keep on the lookout.”
“I will then,” Kiyohiko said. It was just then when the occupants of the room heard a loud slam of the door and a set of angry feet stomp up the stairs.
“What in the hell is going on out there?!” Hana growled as she burst into the room. “Masaru, Haruhi and Hans are fighting to the death and some girl is trying to get Damiano to stop crying. There’s so much commotion going on that I couldn’t get a word in edgewise! Oh, hi Rosario; how’s Bianchi?”
“Doing fine, Hana!”
“Kiyohiko, what is going on?”
“The girl with Damiano is Saki; she’s a classmate of ours. She and Masaru were going to spar, but I guess things just fell into their normal routine again,” the teen sighed. “It’s no big deal.”
“Alright… just as long as I don’t get some angry parent knocking on the door giving me crap.”
“Yes, ma’am.” With that, Hana left the room grumbling.
“Yohi, do you think it would be alright if I stayed for dinner?” Rosario asked. “Hana looks kind of angry right now…”
“You can stay,” Kiyohiko said with a smiling sigh.
“Good, ‘cause I’m low on money and I can’t cook to save my life!”
“The daughter of the Poison Scorpion is unable to cook?” Reborn pondered. Kiyohiko was taken aback, as the infant sounded genuinely confused.
“Usually my brother or one of the other Varia members cooks; I’m no good.” Rosario mimed an explosion for effect.
“Then by all means stay as long as you need to,” Reborn said. An actual explosion from out in the yard made Rosario and Kiyohiko both jump, but not as much as the angered yawp that came from Hana’s mouth a few moments later.
It was agreed upon that the woman could have been heard in Italy.
