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Haruno was…
Where was Haruno?
He suddenly felt so cold, his clothes seemed to droop on his tiny body. He tried to open his eyes, but it was so bright, blinding him and making him force his eyes shut even harder.
But after a few seconds, the light faded, replaced by five unfamiliar men and one unfamiliar girl. Was he being kidnapped? Mama never warned him about it, but he had heard about it on the TV. Little boys and girls get taken away all the time. But being kidnapped didn’t really sound much different than home to Haruno.
“What happened to Giorno? Why is he so tiny?” One of the men, a bit shorter than the others with dark, messy hair spoke. He looked like a big kid to Haruno, maybe even thirteen years old!
“I don’t think that’s Giorno, Narancia. Look, this kid has totally black hair, that’s the opposite of GioGio!” Another one of the men said. He was wearing a funny red hat. Haruno thought it looked like something a cartoon character would wear. He wanted to giggle, but that would be rude.
Haruno was sure to take note- the shorter big kid was Mr. Narancia.
“What’s your name?”
Another one of the men spoke, but he was talking to Haruno this time. He bent down to the younger boy's size, looking at him face to face. His suit was white with zippers all over, and his hair was a dark black. Haruno felt like all the men were wearing silly clothes, but they looked a little bit like the stuff in mama’s fashion magazines. Haruno just didn’t understand what was good clothing, that was it.
“Haruno.” The tiny boy was embarrassed at how shaky his voice was. They were surely going to be angry. He was scared, his Italian was still lacking. What if he answered wrong? What if they get angry?
“Ok, Haruno. Are you Japanese? Do you live in Japan?” The man in the zipper suit asked. He seemed very nice. Haruno thought he had very kind eyes.
“Yes, I am Japanese… live in… Italy..” Haruno struggled to put the words together. He was so competent in Japanese speaking, but switching to Italian was hard. At least he could understand the men well. His Japanese accent was still thick, making it clear he was a foreigner.
The men all looked at eachother, seeming equally as confused as Haruno himself. Was he supposed to be.. Giorno? Did they want him to be Giorno? That’s who they thought he was before. He was getting in the way again, wasn’t he? How useless of him. Useless. Muda.
“Well, what do we do, Bucciarati? We can’t just leave him here.” The girl looked down at Haruno, almost the same way Mama looked at him. She had more pity in her eyes than mama ever did. Haruno wanted to say he missed Mama, but these people seemed nicer. At least they were paying attention to him. “Plus, he’s in Giorno’s clothes.”
The tallest out of the group (and the meanest looking, Haruno thought) began to laugh hysterically. He clutched his chest with one hand and held on to the nice zipper man with his other. Between wheezes, he laughed out “That means- Giorno is out, somewhere in Italy, in toddlers clothes ! Oh god, I wish I was there so I could never let him forget!” Mr. Narancia and the funny hat man were laughing too, but not as hard. Haruno was a little scared of the man.
The lady looked at Haruno and smiled so sweetly. She looked like what Haruno imagined the embodiment of a hug to look like. “My name is Trish.” She said. “The tall guy is Abbacchio, the guy with the hat is Mista, and the blonde guy is Fugo,” Miss Trish pointed at the nice man. “That’s Bucciarati, and the last guy is Narancia. We’ll help you get back home, ok?”
Haruno nodded. He tried his best to memorize their names. Haruno liked Miss Trish a lot, she was so nice.
“We need to get him some clothes, first of all. There’s a thrift store down the block, we can grab him some clothes there.” The nice man- Mr. Bucciarati said to his friends. “Narancia, Mista, Abbacchio, could you three hours and get some clothes?”
The three men nodded and ran off to a street not too far away. Mr. Bucciarati turned to his other friends, Mr. Fugo and Miss Trish. “We’ll take him to the car, I suppose. Are you old enough to dress yourself, Haruno?”
Haruno nodded. “Dress self… every day. No help.” The little boy knew he was missing words somewhere, but he supposed as long as he got his point across it would be ok. They didn’t seem mad at his awful Italian.
Miss Trish scooped him up and the four of them moved towards a van. Miss Trish’s skin was soft and warm. Haruno wondered if Mama’s skin was the same, or maybe if Miss Trish was some kind of angel.
After a few minutes of trying not to eavesdrop on Mr. Bucciarati and his friends, the others returned. Mr. Abbacchio had a car seat under his arm, and Mr. Mista was holding a shopping bag in his hand, which he passed to Haruno.
“You can change yourself, right? Just come out of the van when you’re done.” He said. Haruno nodded.
Once the doors were shut, Haruno dumped out the contents of the bag.
A hat, just about his size, with “ladies man” plastered on the front. There was the figure of a very curvy and busty woman sitting above the words.
A T-Shirt, with only the words “I’m cute. Mom’s Hot. Dad’s drunk.” Haruno was a little uncomfortable with how accurate it was.
A bright red pair of pants with fabric spikes lining the sides and a silly face smiling on one of the thighs.
Lastly, a pair of crocs seemingly designed to look like frogs. Haruno liked frogs.
The boy let the baggy clothes fall off him and pulled the new clothes on. The shirt was a tad bit big, but everything fit ok. After changing, he pulled open the van doors to meet the others outside.
The moment he stepped out, Mr. Bucciarati visibly cringed. “Did you need to pick such… strange clothing?”
“It was all the kid stuff they had! There was another shirt, but it was way worse!” Mr. Narancia said. “ I’m why daddy drinks!”
“It’ll have to do, I suppose. We don’t know where Giorno is or if he’s alright.” Mr. Bucciarati said. “We need to get moving.”
Miss Trish scooped him up once again. Haruno was so tired, he wanted to fall asleep right in her arms.
Mr. Abbacchio set down a little car seat and Miss Trish plopped down on it. She sat down beside him, and Mr. Narancia went on the other. Haruno tried to keep his eyes open to see where the others were sitting, but sleep overtook him. He drifted off into a distant dream.
***
It was a strange dream. Not at all like dreams of a golden man Haruno had been having for the past few weeks. He had a dream that he was Giorno . He had pretty blonde hair, and he was friends with Mr. Bucciarati. He was a gangster. He dreamt that he guarded Miss Trish and betrayed the big boss of the Mafia, and he dreamt that he fought an amazing battle.
But Haruno was not Giorno.
Haruno was just a useless child.
It was nice in the moment, though. To feel like he was worth something.
***
Haruno awoke to the sound of the radio playing quietly. It seemed like everyone had fallen asleep, even Mr. Abbacchio. Well, everyone except Mr. Bucciarati. He was driving the car, so Haruno knew he couldn’t sleep.
The song playing was unfamiliar, but Haruno didn’t listen to much music. Or maybe the tune was a bit familiar- it invoked a sense of nostalgia in him, even though he was still young. Maybe he had heard it on the television at some point.
After taking a minute to break down the Italian rolling across the radio’s screen, Haruno deciphered that the song was called innocente . He thought it was a beautiful song, Mr. Bucciarati had good taste. There were so many pretty instruments, Haruno couldn’t name them all.
“Are you awake, Haruno?”
Mr. Bucciarati’s voice was hushed, but loud enough for Haruno to hear.
“Yes, awake.”
“We’re almost at a rest stop. You can grab a snack, if you’d like.”
Haruno felt conflicted- it would be rude to decline, and he was hungry, but it felt bad spending someone else’s money… He quietly decided he would cross that bridge when he reached it. The music that filled his ears caused him to relax a little.
“..what song?” Haruno whispered. “..playing?”
Mr. Bucciarati smiled. “It’s from a movie. I wouldn’t think you’ve seen it, it’s from the 80s. I watched it when I was about your age. I’ve got an entire CD full of songs from these films, the music is all so wonderful.”
“What movie?”
“It’s called castle in the sky . It’s a very beautiful film.”
Haruno let himself smile. “Pretty music.”
Mr. Bucciarati nodded. “I like it quite a bit. I’m glad you do too.”
The car was silent for a few minutes. Haruno knew he wasn’t much for conversation.
“Do you happen to know your address? I should have asked earlier, but I think we were all a little stressed.”
Haruno shook his head. “Move to Italy.. few days ago. Not remember house well.”
“Do you know the town?”
“Yes... live in Naples...”
“Ah, we live there too. This should be quick.. mm, it’s getting a bit late though. I’m sure we’ll have you back home by the morning.”
Haruno’s stomach churned. He didn’t want to go home. He liked Mr. Bucciarati and his friends. But Haruno would just be a burden if he stayed.
So Haruno said nothing.
Mr. Bucciarati parked the van by a small shop. Glowing signs advertising “OPEN 24/7” were spread across the windows.
He nudged Mr. Abbacchio, who has fallen asleep in the seat beside him.
“Leone, it’s starting to get late. We should grab something to hold us off for the night and grab a hotel.”
Mr. Bucciarati was right, the sun had already set. Haruno must have been sleeping for a long time, at least a few hours.
Mr. Abbacchio nodded. “You go grab something. I’ll get some gas.”
Mr. Bucciarati turned back to Haruno. “Would you like to come in? You can grab something you like.”
The little boy rubbed his eyes and nodded. “Thank you.. Mr. Bucciarati..”
“It’s no problem.”
The pair walked inside the store, and Mr. Bucciarati made a beeline to the snack shelf. Haruno wondered if he was allowed to get a snack too, even though he doubted it. The child quickly walked after the older man.
“Do you want anything? I’m not sure if lots of sugar is good for someone your age, but you can grab something.” Mr. Bucciarati was so nice, Haruno was almost sure he was still asleep. He didn’t do anything to deserve this.
“Yes.. thank you!” Haruno reached down and grabbed a small package of gummy frogs. “This all!”
Mr. Bucciarati smiled. “Alright. Could you grab a mineral water while I get snacks for everyone else? Trish likes them.”
Haruno nodded. “Yes! Mineral drink for miss Trish!” Actually talking in Italian casually was already improving his speech. He felt a lot more confident now.
Or maybe Mr. Bucciarati was just the kind of person that made you feel that way.
The child walked across the small store and pulled open a drink fridge. He scanned the labels, looking for a mineral drink.
Despite being a beginner in speaking, Haruno was a great listener and a wonderful reader. He was glad about that, communication with the nice men would be a lot harder if he was as bad at listening to Italian as he was at speaking it.
Haruno quickly found a bottle of mineral water and pulled it out of the fridge. He ran back to Mr. Bucciarati, bottle in hand. “Mineral drink!”
The older man took the drink from Haruno’s hands and slid it under his arm. He was carrying a few more things now, a bag of chips, a box of gummies, a bag of tiny marshmallows, and a bag of trail mix.
“I think that’s it. I’ll grab a Coffee for Abbacchio on the way out.”
The two walked to the register and Mr. Bucciarati dumped everything he was carrying. “And a medium black coffee, please.”
Mr. Bucciarati finished paying and dropped everything into a small cloth bag, excluding the coffee and frog gummies. He handed the gummies to Haruno and the pair walked back to the van.
“Here, Leone. I got you a coffee.”
The taller man chuckled. “It’s 2 in the morning, do I really need this?”
“Well, you’re driving. I’m exhausted.” Mr. Bucciarati sighed. “It would have been a lot easier if we hadn’t needed to go so far away for this mission. I guess there’s no changing it now, though.”
Mr. Bucciarati plopped Haruno back in his little car seat and sat in the passenger seat. Mr. Abbacchio took the driver's place, coffee in one hand and wheel in the other.
Haruno held his frog gummies close. He really liked it here. He felt happy. Really, really happy.
Hugging the gummies, he drifted back into slumber.
***
Haruno felt warm. He felt surrounded by feelings of Softness and warmth and overwhelming comfort. As his mind started to wake, he realized where he was- curled up in the fluffy blankets of a hotel bed.
Haruno sat up. The bed was enormous, his small body barely covered a fraction of it. Even so, he was alone inside. There were two other beds, one which held Mr. Bucciarati and Mr. Abbacchio, and the other the rest of his team. They were piled on top of eachother, spread around the bed in all different directions. Haruno wondered why they’d let him sleep by himself with so much room while the others had no space.
It seemed like the others were asleep. Haruno glanced at the clock- 7:14 AM. It was a little early, but too late to fall asleep again. He shrugged to himself and crawled out of bed.
The child was hungry, but he was used to that. He didn’t want to wake anyone up, so he tried to find some way to pass the time. He tiptoed over to the window and peeked out. In the distance, he recognized the city. They were almost back home.
Haruno didn’t think he wanted to go home. Mr. Bucciarati was so much nicer than his papa, and they all paid more attention to him than mama ever did.
Cars zoomed past on the roads below. So many different cars, and different colors, and different people.
For a while, Haruno sat by the window, watching cars and people. It wasn’t the most fun way to pass the time, but it was quiet. It kept Haruno out of anyone’s way.
Soon enough, Mr. Bucciarati awoke. Haruno turned to look at him.
“ Bon Giorno !” the young boy whispered.
“Hm… ah, yes, bon giorno. Apologies, I’m just concerned about Giorno.” Mr. Bucciarati sighed. “How long have you been awake? It’s still a bit early.”
“Little bit… wake up a while ago!”
The older man hummed as he quietly stepped to Mr. Abbachio’s side. “Well, you don’t seem as tired. That’s good.”
He tapped the sleeping man on the shoulder. “Leone, we’ll need to get going soon. Wake up.”
Mr. Abbacchio groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes and pushing his long hair out of his face. “Alright.” The man sighed. “I’ll wake everyone else then.” He stood up and walked a few feet over to the others.
“Wake up.”
Of course, no one did.
Mr. Abbacchio looked irritated. “Hey.” He said more harshly. “Wake. Up.”
Still, the group remained still.
He sighed angrily, and then shoved Mista off the bed, toppling the whole pile.
“Owwwww…” Mr. Narancia whined, opening his eyes. “Why did you have to do that?”
Mr. Abbacchio only chuckled. “You weren’t waking up.”
Groaning, the rest of the group stood up. “We’re leaving in 15 minutes.” Mr. Bucciarati said. “Be ready to go by then.”
They got over the shove quickly- it didn’t look to be bad. It was… affectionate, Haruno thought.
Quickly, everyone began getting themselves ready. Haruno didn’t need to- he had everything. Just his frog gummies. Well, also the clothes they had bought him. Haruno did adore the shoes.
After a few minutes, everyone was ready. Mr. Narancia lifted Haruno up as the group stepped out of the door.
“You know he can walk, right?” Mr. Fugo said.
“Yeah, but… it’s just adorable to carry him.” Mr. Narancia answered. You’re fine with it, right Haruno?”
The small child nodded vigorously. “Yes! Like carry!”
Mr. Narancia giggled. “He’s so adorable! We should just keep him!”
“I know you’re joking, but we really can’t.” Mr. Bucciarati said. “We need to find Giorno and return Haruno home. I’m sure his parents are worried sick.”
“...no. Mama probably not even notice I gone.” Haruno said quietly. “She go out all day. Not even notice me when I there. She not worried.”
The group was silent. They didn’t know what to say.
“I-I’m sorry.” Haruno blurted out. “I say something wrong.”
“No, you didn’t say anything wrong.” Miss Trish said. “Does your mama go out to work? Is that where she is all day?”
“I don’t know.” Haruno whispered. “We don’t need to talk about it anymore.”
With remaining worry, the group continued.
Haruno felt so embarrassed. He should have stayed quiet.
The child turned his head and looked at Mr. Mista. Tiny yellow creatures were floating around his head. They had numbers plastered on them, and they were all screaming. “ MISTA ! MIIIIISTA! WE’RE HUNGRY!”
Haruno’s eyes widened. “What’s that?!” He pointed at the tiny men.
Mr. Mista blinked. “You can see them?”
“Yes! Look so cool!” Haruno smiled so wide, he forgot about the events a few minutes ago.
Mr. Narancia dropped Haruno in front of the van. “You can really see them?”
“Do you think he has a stand?” Mr. Fugo turned to his friends. “Or maybe it hasn’t fully developed yet?”
Suddenly, another creature appeared, this time by Mr. Abbacchio.
“Can you see this, kid?” He asked.
“Yes! I have one too?!” Haruno turned to Mr. Fugo, eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Er, maybe? Usually they don’t develop so young, so you probably can’t use it yet…”
The tiny creatures flew over to Haruno, who was shaking with excitement.
“They’re called the sex pistols.” Mr. Mista said. “They’re my stand.”
The ‘sex pistols’ followed Haruno as he was plopped in his car seat.
“You wanna feed em?” Mr. Mista leaned forward from the back of the van. “They love to eat.” Haruno nodded, and Mr. Mista promptly passed him a bag of Salami.
Haruno opened the bag and held out a slice. The sex pistols devoured it in seconds. The little boy giggled.
He continued pulling out one slice at a time and watching the pistols eat. “ Thank youuuuu Haruno! ” One of them called out- the number 5 was plastered on its forehead. “ Yeah! ” Number 3 called out.
“This is so adorable…” miss Trish smiled.
“I know!” Mr. Narancia said. “Haruno is the most adorable kid in the world.”
“Haruno, I know you don’t know your address, but could you recognize the house if we drove past it?” Mr. Bucciarati asked.
“Mhm! It near a ice store!” Haruno answered.
Mr. Bucciarati drove as Haruno continued feeding the sex pistols. Occasionally he’d point to an ice cream store, asking if it was the one, but Haruno would shake his head.
“What about this one, Haruno? Do you recognize it?”
“Mmm.. yes! This it! Home is close!”
Mr. Narancia frowned. “Can we get some ice cream before we drop off Haruno?”
“Yeah!” Mr. Mista yelled. “ Please , Bucciarati?”
“Alright, fine.” Mr. Bucciarati smiled. He parked the van and everyone stepped out. “What would you like, Haruno?”
“chocolate and pistachio!”
“I want orange sorbet!” Mr. Narancia said. “And mista wants a milkshake!”
“Could I get the raspberry sorbet?” Miss Trish asked.
“And I’d just like some chocolate ice cream, please.” Mr. Fugo said.
“Ok, everyone.” Mr. Bucciarati said. “What about you, Leone?”
“Just a coffee. I’m exhausted.”
Mr. Bucciarati ordered everything and handed everyone their ice cream. Haruno was so, so happy. Everyone here was so nice to him. He wished he could stay with them.
Everyone brought their treats into the car and Mr. Bucciarati drove down the road. “Point to your house when you see it, ok?”
Haruno nodded.
They passed by a few houses before finally reaching Haruno’s home. He gulped.
“That’s home.”
The van pulled into the driveway.
“We’ll go see if anyone’s home before we bring you out, alright?” Mr. Bucciarati said. “Wait here.”
And so, everyone left the car except Haruno.
He had strange feeling in his stomach.
Something felt wrong.
***
There was no one home. Either that, or no one cared enough to answer the door. The group waited for a few minutes and knocked again to no avail.
“Do you think… they even care about him?” Mista mumbled. “The way he said his mother is never home has me worried. And he has a stand too- is anyone with a stand emotionally stable?”
“I just don’t know what we can do. Can we really call CPS over one conversation?” Bucciarati asked. “Still, I feel like we need to do something. Maybe we can talk to him once we return to the car.”
The group nodded, and turned back to their van.
Narancia ran ahead and peeked inside, but there was no Haruno to be found.
Just Giorno Giovanna, trapped in a child’s car seat in the clothes they had given Haruno. He was trying to pry the buckle off, but the tight shirt didn’t give him much room to move.
Narancia burst out laughing. “Oh my god! G-giorno!”
The others ran over, and immediately began laughing themselves.
Giorno’s face took on a serious expression. “Give me my clothes and let me out or I’ll make you do all the paperwork for the next month .”
Mista quickly unbuckled the seat as Fugo tossed giorno his clothes.
The joestar awkwardly walked behind a tree, and emerged moments later with the children’s clothes in hand.
“I can’t believe you made me wear those ridiculous clothes.” He sighed.
“Nuh uh! We got them for Haruno!” Narancia said.
“...speaking of Haruno, where would he have shown up? Where were you? ” Fugo asked.
“It wasn’t a placement switch. The stand made me younger.” Giorno shrugged. “I was right there the whole time.”
The team was silent.
“You’re Japanese?!” Narancia blurted.
“When did you get blonde hair?!” Trish yelled out. “Do you dye?!”
“Yes, I’m Japanese. And my hair just… became blonde one day. It was the same day I got gold.” Giorno answered. “I’m exhausted. Why don’t we just talk about this later?”
He didn’t bother waiting for an answer before dropping down to the car closing his eyes.
The rest of the team climbed in.
Giorno hated the fact that all of them now knew what he used to be- who he used to be. Haruno felt like so long ago, a name Giorno hadn’t heard in ages. He felt almost sick just thinking about showing them who he was, on his most vulnerable level. He just couldn’t, not yet. He couldn’t show them the little Haruno deep in his soul.
Of course, he wasn’t Haruno anymore. Haruno had died the day Giorno became Giorno . It would be hard to explain truthfully- he could just tell them he changed his name when moving to Italy, but hiding his pain felt wrong. They all cared- even Abbacchio, no matter how much he hid it. They loved him. They loved Giorno , but how could they ever love Haruno too? Haruno was everything Giorno hated about himself.
It was terrifying, the thought of letting himself be Haruno again. Not when it was the work of a stand, but simply showing genuine vulnerability. That was Haruno, wasn’t it? Vulnerability. Fear.
The small dread building from knowing he would eventually need to explain the name change ( and along with that, his mother and step-father) slowly faded. His mind went radio silent. No thoughts wandered to his head, simply emptiness. The van was loud, but something about his silent mind took more attention than the buzzing voices around him.
Giorno held the unopened frog gummies in his hand. He had quite a sweet tooth, and the sugary treats were tempting. Something made him want to hold on to them forever, though. He almost felt like these tiny gummies were the most important thing in the world, and eating them would simply be a waste. They felt so sacred. Perhaps it was the Haruno deep inside him, the Haruno that still got giddy over ice cream and still rationed every little gift and treat he was given on rare occasions. The Haruno that never smiled.
It was the tiniest things that made Giorno Giovanna smile. He smiled when he ordered Chocolate and Pistachio ice cream cones, he smiled when Naranica made stupid jokes, he smiled when he saw happy people living their own lives, free from the burdens that Giorno had carried all his life. He smiled when he ate a good meal, he smiled when he saw a particularly cute frog. He smiled in moments where no one would notice, when he felt truly at home and happy.
In that moment, sitting with his team- his family , Giorno Giovanna smiled.
And looking down at the frog gummies, so did Haruno Shiobana.