Moment In Time

Chapter 58

Chapter 58:Habits

They all had them. Something they did without thought or planning.

Reborn had a white mug with little green Leon imprints along the bottom and the rim that Tsuna had given him. Reborn used it without thought or fail in the mornings when he needed that first dose of coffee. It was his favorite mug and woe unto those who touched it without his permission. (Reborn didn't really have many people he cared about, so the gifts he received from them were treasured and guarded viciously even if he never said he cherished them so much.)

Tsuna still had that original Good Luck Charm from Kyoko and when he was nervous or upset he would pull it out from its little hidey hole and run his hands over it as if it had the answers to life's problems. Sometimes he wondered if it was because the Charm had seen him through so many different things in his life that he wanted to have it when he didn't quite know what to do with himself. (All of his friends and family knew something was very wrong and bothering Tsuna if they caught sight of the worn but cherished Charm)

Lambo always kept a stash of his favorite grape-flavored candies on his person no matter where he went for missions. He rarely touched them since they were hard to get outside Japan. He only pulled them out when something was very wrong or when he wanted to show very sincere gratitude. (Tsuna-nii had introduced the candy to him back when he was younger. It was the first moment that Lambo realized Tsuna and Mama really honestly cared for his wellbeing and he was loved and wanted and welcomed. The candy became a physical representation of love and acceptance to him and was therefore a comfort to him and a physical show of care and gratitude when he shared it with someone.)

Gokudera never ever smoked in the house or any of the cars Tsuna and the others inhabited. He refused to. He knew exactly what it did to his body, and what it could do to his family even just as second hand smoke. Gokudera had his vice, but he refused to damage the people who took him in and cared for him by smoking inside the places they spent the most time. (That's not to say he didn't carry an unlit cigarette when he walked the hallways or rode from one place to another just in case of battle, but unless someone was blowing up the walls or trying to kill somebody Gokudera never lit one inside the halls of his home or in a confined car.)

Yamamoto threw anything that came his way unexpectedly back with ten times the force. He couldn't help it. It was an honest reflex, and he did it without thought. This was something that was usually a benefit to the family seeing as any unexpected projectile that came within arm's reach of Yamamoto was flung back into unsuspecting enemy ranks. (Of course the family had to learn about this reflex first. Tsuna will never forget the first and last time Gokudera threw a dynamite stick at Yamamoto from the side in annoyance and Yamamoto snagged it out of the air and flung it back so hard it actually stuck two-thirds of the way into the wall behind Gokudera.)

Ryohei was an exercise nut. It went without saying that he exercised in the morning at ungodly hours when compared to everyone else. The day Ryohei got his own squad of Sun Flame users was the day Tsunayoshi learned a large assortment of new curses and threats. (Tsuna had been woken up by a worried maid who had spotted Ryohei outside the manor doors with all 20 of his men sprawled all over the ground around him hissing curses and insults as they tried to breathe through the fatigue.)

Hibari tended to collect small animals. He never forced them to come with him, it always just sort of...happened. They'd show up and Hibari would unfailingly charm them somehow into following him home. He had to be careful about sleeping in his own home or he was liable to wake up with quite a few sleeping companions that he didn't start out with. (People wondered sometimes how Hibari seemed to know everything. It's really very amazing what you can teach animals to do, especially when they were small and often overlooked.)

Chrome loved Disney movies and collected any new ones she didn't own automatically. It happened while she was on a mission in America and the only thing playing at the time was a Disney Movie marathon. Chrome turned it on just in time to start with The Little Mermaid and it sort of...spiraled from there. After the mission and before she came back to the Mansion Chrome made a stop at a movie store and bought quite a few of them. (She may have hooked the younger children on them, but Chrome's crowing joy was the day she caught Mukuro digging through her collection and watching Mulan while absently humming along to 'I'll Make a Man Out of You'.)

Mukuro tended to puppy-pile when he slept. He was always aware of everything around him. He couldn't help it. It started with running from the Vindice and needing to be aware and then after the long stay in the Water Tanks where he couldn't feel anything when Mukuro got out he was very, very sensitive to everything. He never truly relaxed because of this...with one exception. (Mukuro only truly relaxed and allowed himself to become less than perfectly aware when he was puppy-piling with Tsunayoshi and Chrome. He...he felt safe there and this feeling meant he could relax.)

I-Pin may have stopped being a full-time assassin thanks to Tsuna-nii but an assassin didn't really have an 'off-switch'. She could stop taking the jobs, enjoyed having the choice even, but her training was always there. She couldn't walk into a room without categorizing the very numerous ways she could kill someone. (Seriously. Everything from the pen on the table to the napkin on someone's lap. It never stopped and she never wanted it to stop, not when she could use the skills to protect the people who took her in.)

Fuuta ranked simple things almost compulsively. This came from his years before Tsunayoshi when he had to run from place to place without fail or end up with the Families that were chasing him for his abilities. (After spending time with different Families that forced him to rank things like 'Best Killing Methods' or 'Best Ways to Torture Enemies' Fuuta loved that he never had to rank anything unless he wanted to rank it and relished in this by ranking things like 'Best Places to Visit with Tsuna-nii' or 'Mama's Best Made Dish'.)