Chapter 3

"Come on Gokudera! Hurry up! Lambo-san is waiting!"

Lambo couldn't hide the excitement in his voice as he awaited the story. Gokudera turned away from staring at the door Tsuna had just closed and looked at his young pupil instead. Lambo's eyes were wide with anticipation and Gokudera resisted the urge to laugh.

"Okay, okay. Here we go again.

In a magical land, where such magical creatures as dragons, griffins and harpies were as common as cats or dogs lived a wise and noble king called….

"Lambo-sama," Lambo interjected suddenly.

"What?"

"The King is Lambo-sama," Lambo said, using a tone as though he was explaining a tough concept to a small child.

"No. The king is not Lambo-sama. You cant just change the characters in the story Lambo. Now be quiet or I'll stop reading," Gokudera said, well aware that it was a story that he was simply making up as he went along.

But Lambo didn't know that.

"Tch fine. Lambo-sama doesn't want to be a stinky king anyway. Lambo-sama is more like a God," Lambo sulked with pouted lips.

"Quiet Lambo. Now where was I? Oh yes…

…a wise and noble king called Vongolus the tenth. He was young for a king, but made up for his youth with a strong sense of character and a just rule. His subjects all loved him dearly and he cared deeply for his people. The kingdom was peaceful under his reign and the people's lives were practically worry free.

But the peace would not last. One day, the king fell deathly ill and a grand council was called to discuss what steps should be taken to aid him. Among the councillors was a brave but rather obtuse young knight by the name of Sir Lam."

"Lambo. Sir Lambo!"

"Fine, fine. He can be called Sir Lambo."

Gokudera almost sniggered. Lambo had been so fixated on the idea of the brave knight that he had completely overlooked the fact that Gokudera had mentioned that he was stupid. He coughed to disguise a snigger, making it seem as though he did it to clear his throat so he could continue.

"Sir Lambo was the youngest knight in the garrison but he was strong despite his youth and arrogance. He had moved to the kingdom as a child and had eventually grown to be a close friend of the king. Thus he was highly dedicated to helping him get better. He explained to the other councillors of what the king had informed him on his sickbed. The King knew how he could be saved but knew that he was far too sick to do it himself.

'Good sirs and gentle ladies' Sir Lambo said to the councillors,' his majesty the King has bestowed upon me the mightiest of quests to restore him to fine health once more. He has implored me to find four of the strongest men from each neighbouring kingdom and one from his own and bring them to him as his guardians. He will draw on their combined strength and his health will be restored.'

This caused a great stir in the grand hall as people talked over each other in excitement.

'But Sir Lambo.' a voice cut over the rest 'surely you are the strongest in this our fair kingdom. There is no equal to your strength of arms.'

Sir Lambo shook his head.

'It is true that I am strong, perhaps indeed the strongest. But alas I was not born in this good kingdom. I hail from the neighbouring kingdom of Bovinia. I am indeed one of the king's guardians, but not from his own kingdom. Therefore I still seek the strongest man in this kingdom. While I travel to the neighbouring kingdoms a tournament will be held to find this man or woman. I leave that in your care.'

Sir Lambo bowed his head to the councillors and made to leave, until a voice stopped him in his tracks.

'If I may beg your pardon good Sir. May I offer the services of my son on your long journey. He is able and wise and will add another sword to your effort.'

Sir Lambo knew the man who spoke and knew of his son. He was a wise young man indeed, quick witted and also quick on his feet. He had seen him in the courtyard many a time, always running here and there, arms full of scriptures and tomes. His father was a nobleman with great power within the kingdom and Sir Lambo had no real authority to refuse his request so he accepted gratefully.

Once the meeting had concluded Sir Lambo readied his horse

"Reborn…"

"No! I'm not naming your horse after Reborn-san. The horse already has a name in this story, so deal with it.

"Boo. Boringggg," Lambo moaned dejectedly.

"Well, if it's so boring then we can just forget about the story and I'll give you some calculus problems to solve instead."

"No! Lambo-san has no problems with horse not being Reborn!"

Gokudera made a mental note that Lambo wasn't particularly fond of calculus so he could use it against him if he acted up again later.

"Good. Now stop interrupting me or we'll never get to the end of this story. Ugh where was I again? Oh, right. The horse."

'Sir Lambo readied his horse Lightning for the long journey ahead of them while the nobleman's son did the same to his own horse. He had arrived earlier and had not looked pleased at the prospect of taking a journey with Sir Lambo. The young knight seemed to get on his nerves for some reason. The conversation was minimal and to the point although the young nobleman would occasionally complain about his situation.

'My foolish father, he should know that the kingdom needs me here more so than ever now that the good King is in ailing health.'

Sir Lambo looked attentively at his new companion and noted how even as he complained he was gearing up his horse without pause.

'My friend. Our journey will first take us to the Kingdom of Ame in the South. The road will be wet and perilous and the highwaymen are said to be fierce and remorseless. Even a great knight such as myself will value your sword arm on this quest. May we make swift of this path and save our mighty king.'

Sir Lambo's companion looked at him with a fine eyebrow raised. He did not seem to have been impressed by the knight's passionate speech in the least. He turned away once more to finish the preparations on his horse and mounted swiftly.

'A foolish father, and now a foolish knight. Am I doomed to be surrounded by fools?' he said to himself quietly.

Sir Lambo mounted his own horse shortly after, and after looking back just once at the fine castle, made to follow his new travel companion. Their quest would be hard and they would face many dangers to save their beloved king from death."

An firm knock on the door interrupted Gokudera's story once more. He had been so immersed in telling the story and Lambo had been so absorbed in listening to it that they were jolted back to reality suddenly. Gokudera regained his composure quickly and cleared his throat before responding.

"Yes?"

The door opened slowly and revealed Yamamoto Takeshi's smiling face.

"What do you want now?" Gokudera asked with an annoyed tone.

Yamamoto simply laughed as usual, totally unfazed by his friend's hostile attitude.

"Gokudera I came to get you. You're almost fifteen minutes late to the meeting you know."

Gokudera jumped in alarm, causing the book in his hands to tumble to the ground. He looked quickly at his wristwatch and swore when he noticed that it was already nearly 4:15. He had quite clearly been so absorbed in the story that he had completely lost track of time.

"Shit! Lambo, that's it for today. Same time tomorrow okay."

"Yeah, Gokudera-sensei!"

Gokudera rose from his seat and frantically gathered his papers together. He unconsciously ruffled Lambo's hair in a brotherly manner before he left, gave the young boy a quick smile and bolted for the meeting room, some of his papers flying haphazardly from his hands as he ran. Yamamoto laughed cheerfully at the sight and then after giving Lambo a short wave he made after Gokudera, picking his friends papers off the ground as he went.

"Geez Gokudera, don't just assume I'll pick your papers up. Wait a minute…did Lambo call him sensei?"

Yamamoto laughed through the hallway at the thought and wondered to himself just what kind of magic that genius friend of his had pulled this time…

TO BE CONTINUED

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters from KHR