The Mighty Ship

Tsunayoshi Sawada was one of those fortunate—or unfortunate (in his mind and heart)—people to board on the mighty ship, Titanic, on its maiden voyage. He was not rich, but his older brother, Giotto, was a part of the crew. And that left Tsuna no choice but to board the famous ship, even if he didn't want to.

Giotto, the older of the Sawada brothers, forced the younger one because he didn't want to leave his only brother—and family—behind in their humble home in the tiny village they had grown up in. He was too afraid of losing the grumpy brunet. he had too much to worry about, and he didn't want Tsuna to be one of them.

They were as different as brothers could go. Tsuna was a 16-year-old boy with brown hair while his brother was a 25-year-old man with blond hair. Giotto was huge in built—tall and muscular—while Tsuna was short and slim. Giotto was tan while Tsuna was pale compared to his brother. The older Sawada was optimistic while the younger one was pessimistic. If there was anything they shared, it was their eyes. They shared the same eye color, caramel.

Ever since their parents died, Giotto had been the one to care for Tsuna. People in their village had told him he indulged Tsuna too much, but he hadn't cared. He didn't care what people said as long as Tsuna was safe and healthy.

Giotto used his size to go through the masses of bodies in the hallway while still holding Tsuna's hand with his right hand and their baggage in his other hand. People of different ethnicities who were still busy looking for their cabins or ogling at the beautiful and brand new fixtures filled the lower deck. Excitement was pumping through their bodies, filling the halls with adrenaline. Knowing that they'd have a story to tell their offspring, these people couldn't hide their joy. Who could? The biggest ship in the world was having its maiden voyage, and they were a part of it! It didn't matter that they had to work instead of enjoy the beautiful scenes of the Atlantic, like those fancy people above them, as long as they had memories to share to their families.

"Hey, Gio, why do I even need to come with you, anyway?" Tsuna asked as they pushed against bodies, grimacing when an elbow hit him on the cheek. There was an off-minded apology that went unnoticed as he was being pulled by his brother. "I could have just stayed behind and worked in the bakery while waiting for you." His eyebrows met in annoyance for their situation. He never wanted to be here. He hated the fact that this ship got the world's attention just because of its mere vastness. What's so great about being BIG, anyway? He thought to himself.

"Don't you want to board this mighty ship?" Giotto asked back in his usual cheerful tone. "Only a few people like us can board this!" He waved his hand over his head, apologizing when their baggage hit someone. He gasped when he saw their cabin and pulled Tsuna into the tiny room with two bunk beds across from each other.

There were already two youths on one bunk bed, so they took the other.

"Who would want to board on this big of a ship? It's scary. It might hit an iceberg in the middle of the night and then sink two or three hours later in the middle of Atlantic or something. And besides, almost everyone in this ship is like us, Gio! Like every crew here is poor, just like us!" the smaller teen pointed out as he lifted his baggage over the top of the double-decked bed, giving it the slightest effort he could muster. "And if this ship ever sinks—I pray to all gods that it won't—our blood line won't have any offspring anymore! Can you imagine the world without a single Sawada roaming around? It would be boring."

Giotto blinked and then laughed. "Your imagination is way over the mind can take," he chuckled as he ruffled the brown hair of his younger brother, his eyes almost closing as he smiled. "You don't have to worry. They designed this ship to be unsinkable!"

Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "You told me to be imaginative, Gio. Besides, I was just stating a possibility," he mumbled as he pushed Giotto's hand off of his head. "And this ship IS sinkable. Every ship is!"

"Yes, I told you to be imaginative because I could never buy you a book to read or something, but I never thought your imagination will be that wonderful AND scary." Giotto felt himself shiver as he imagined what his brother just told a minute ago. He made a sign of a cross, pressed his palms together, and silently prayed to his God, asking for guidance and safe passage.

Tsuna just shrugged it off. He was not one to believe in gods. Even as a child, he was the disappointment of the priests in their village for he only shook his head whenever they tried to call him to listen for sermons. He didn't need to believe in any god. It was humans who make their own fates. No god can save them from their actions, is there?

He climbed up to the top of the bed and lay down. Folding his arms under his head to make them his pillow, he prepared himself to sleep. He was about to close his eyes when his brother spoke again.

"Hey, Tsuna." Giotto called.

"Hmm…?" Tsuna opened his eyes and looked at his brother. His caramel orbs were emotionless and bored. His hair was messy, too.

"Remember that whatever happens, I'll always be here for you, okay?" he reminded with his usual grin, letting out the charm that made girls and women swoon for him. He picked up a towel from his bag and put it in his pocket.

Tsuna smiled for the first time that day. "I know that, Gio. Thank you."

"You're very much welcome," he replied as he started for the door.

"Gio…" Tsuna called before the other could reach the door for real.

"Yes?"

"Promise me that after this trip you'll just work in the bakery like we always did and you'll find a wife who'll bear with you for the rest of your life. Then have children so I'll have nieces and nephews to throw around when I get pissed," he said with a slight hint of a joke.

"Why?" Giotto looked at his brother, brows furrowed and eyes confused.

"I really have a bad feeling about you working in this kind of ship and besides, you're already old. You need a wife and an actual family, you know."

Giotto smiled as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I promise. But for now, you ARE my family." he said finally, then left, leaving his brother in their cabin with the two strangers.

"Tsk. Over dramatic." one of their roommates said.

Tsuna looked at the two men with a raised eyebrow. One was Asian, and the other was most probably Italian.

"Hello!" the black-haired boy waved at him, eyes and hair as dark as midnight and his smile was brighter than the sun. He was muscular with the hint of dangerous. "I'm Takeshi Yamamoto and this is my friend, Squallo."

"Hi!" Tsuna beamed at the black-haired boy, already feeling at ease with another Asian such as himself. "I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada and the guy I am with is my brother, Giotto Sawada. He's a crew here. Are you a part of the crew too?"

"It's very nice to meet you, Tsunayoshi, and yes, we're a part of the crew," Takeshi replied.

"Tsuna. Just call me Tsuna." Tsuna said as he sat up, running his fingers through his hair to tame the brown locks to no avail. "It's nice to meet you too, Takeshi, Squallo. I'm not part of the crew though."

"Tsk." Squallo snapped as he lay down on his own bed. He was older than Tsuna and Takeshi. He also had a long, silver hair that made him look like a woman. His body was slender and long too.

Takeshi just laughed it off. "Sorry for that, Tsuna."

"It's alright. You don't have to apologize." Tsuna just shrugged it off as he lay down on his bed and let the movement of the ship lull him to sleep. He didn't need to worry about some bad ass who didn't like him as a person. That was not the reason why he was here anyway.

But Takeshi does not seem so bad. Maybe his ancestors were from Japan too, like the Sawada bloodline.