Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a noisy arcade, as expected of its location at a popular mall. Students milled around with their friends for some downtime after classes. Weeks ago, his wimpy student wouldn't be found within the area, but now Reborn noted with approval as Tsuna smiled and casually interacted with Gokudera and Yamamoto. It was a huge improvement from the previous Dame-Tsuna.

Well, Reborn thought as he watched Tsuna accidentally bump into one of the machines, causing it to beep loudly. Tsuna jumped, startled, and a slip of a foot caused him to fall on his backside, staring wide-eyed at the flashing-red machine. People gathered at the commotion and his student flushed, hands waving in front of him in denial that no, he didn't purposely bump the machine in attempt to make the prizes fall down. Gokudera scowled at the accusation and Reborn knew he was thinking somewhere along the line of 'how dare they accuse Juudaime of such thing?!' Meanwhile, Yamamoto smiled bemusedly, trying to defuse the situation. Reborn turned away with the slight shake of his head. They still have a long way to go.

Reborn perched in his place, disguised as a stuff toy in an area where people could try to throw balls into a container to win prizes. His eyes scanned through the rest of the arcade, leaving the three teenagers to handle their own mess. They didn't need his intervention for such little things, and if they did, they deserved whatever was going to happen to them. Maybe that would teach them an unforgettable lesson of not getting into messes that they couldn't handle.

Deciding nothing was worthy of notice, Reborn was about to bring his attention back to his student when he felt a gaze staring directly at him. Reborn made a move to trace it to its source, but the feeling was gone as quick as it came. Reborn subtly checked the arcade again but failed to find anything out of place. He knew he didn't imagine that feeling of being watched, however.

Reborn jumped from his place, shedding his disguise as he did, and landed on the counter of the stall. Another jump brought him to his student's shoulder, and the relief that flashed across Tsuna's face as he registered Reborn's presence was unmistakable. "Reb-" he started, probably hoping he would sort out the mess, but Reborn hopped off his shoulder and weaved into the crowd.

He ambled through the arcade, gaining strange looks from guys and coos from some girls. A few of the more responsible-looking adults asked if he was lost, but he waved off their concerns.

Reborn felt it as he passed the shooting section of the arcade. It was a light, almost unrecognizable dab of warmth, but when he looked down, his pacifier was shining. Reborn tipped his fedora back slightly, not yet alarmed but undoubtedly more wary now, and looked at the person he had just passed by.

It was a man with slicked black hair, age around twenty-one. There was an air around him that screamed rebellious, especially with the half-smirk lingering around the corner of his mouth. He was holding a toy gun, shooting at zombies that were going after him on the gaming screen. His eyes flicked to Reborn when he stopped, before turning his attention back to the game.

"What do you want, kid? This game's not for you."

At those words, a smirk dawned on Reborn's face. At the same time, however, he wanted to frown. Was this not the person his pacifier was reacting to? "I don't play games," Reborn said. "Not with toy guns, at least."

There was no hesitation as the man shot another zombie in the head. He had accuracy, Reborn noted with slight approval, and precision. Most people would just randomly shoot and hope to hit something. In practice, however, that was just a waste of ammunition.

"Yeah?" the man said in response, like he was humoring him.

Reborn noticed with annoyance that he still wasn't giving him his full attention. Deciding a little lesson was in order, because no one ignored the world's strongest hitman when he decided to talk to them, Reborn let out a pulse of killer intent towards him.

The reaction was instantaneous. The man whirled around with practiced speed, immediately locating the source of the killer intent and focusing on it. Reborn wasn't paying any mind to that, however, but rather to the fact that the man dropped his toy gun as he turned. It wasn't the awkward fumbling that happened accidentally when someone moved too fast. No, the dropping was deliberate and as the man made a full turn, Reborn found himself facing a L-shaped gun made from his pointer finger and thumb.

Reborn wondered absentmindedly about the man's choice as they stared down at each other. After a moment, the man straightened and dropped his hand. "Don't do shit like that without a warming," he said with a scowl as he turned back to his game - only to find that during that lapse of concentration, he had already been eaten by the zombies. 'Game over' flashed across his screen. "Fuck," the man cursed as he kicked the machine. The screen shifted to the highest score list. "I only needed one more win," he bemoaned.

At those words, Reborn shifted his gaze to the screen and found that nearly all top scores were occupied by the initial U.Y. The man's eyes followed Reborn's to the screen and the depressed look on his face melted away. "Impressive, eh?" he said with a self-satisfied smirk, confirming Reborn's suspicion that he was U.Y.

"Hm. Not bad," he replied with a mirroring smirk. The man's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and Reborn didn't bother hiding his widening smirk. He jumped up to the surface of the machine and turned towards the man. "How about a game?" he said.

A glimmer of interest appeared in the man's eyes. "Oh?" he said, glancing at Reborn with a considering look. A slight thrill went down Reborn's spine at the predatory look in the man's eyes. It was the look of someone who believed he could match the world's strongest hitman and may actually have the skills to back it up. Then, the man blinked and the look faded. Reborn held back the disappointment from his face. "Too bad you can't use these," he said, picking up the dropped toy gun that was hanging by its wire. It was larger than Reborn's cursed body.

Reborn gave the toy gun a look, before unplugging the adjacent toy gun from the machine with a precise kick. Tipping his fedora slightly to alert Leon, he had Leon transform into his usual gun with the addition of a wire connecting to the machine. Reborn looked at the man. "You were saying?" he said with a smirk.

The man looked like he didn't know whether to be impressed with Leon or annoyed at Reborn. Finally, he let out a laugh. "Nice," he said, looking pointedly at the Leon-gun. "How the hell does he do that?"

Reborn saw the opportunity, and took it. "If you win this round, I'll tell you," he bargained.

Interest flashed across the man's face, before realization dawned. "And if you win?" he asked, an amused smile on his face.

"Tell me who you are," Reborn replied promptly. The man smirked like he had known all along.

"Deal."

No other words were spoken as the man slipped one hundred yen into the slot and selected two players. A red ready? splattered onto the screen, followed by a count down from three to one. Immediately after the countdown, the two went into motion.

Four zombies appeared onto the screen, crawling towards them in their undead manner. Reborn swiftly shot all four of them but found two of them shot before he had gotten to them. Reborn's eyes turned to meet the man's as the kill count went up to two for both of them. A smirk simultaneously curved both their faces, before they turned towards the screen again.

The man was better than Reborn had previously thought, but Reborn wasn't the world's strongest hitman for nothing. By the time a crowd had gathered around them because of the kills they were racking up, their screen was mobbed by zombies running towards them at a speed that ought to be illegal because it was obvious that by then, the level of difficulty was impossible and the sole point of it was to make the players lose.

By the time the game finally ended, Reborn had 324 kills while the other man had 285, and the man had that much only because he decided to ditch accuracy and randomly shot because at that point, every bullet would have gotten something.

The man let out a sigh as he dropped the gun and the screen flashed 'game over'. The crowd surrounding them let out whoops and shouts, yelling out compliments for both players and Reborn watched as the man quirked a small grin and bowed. The crowd went wild, and after a few words and laughter, the crowd dispersed.

Reborn leveled his gaze at him when the man finally turned to face him. "So," he said, shoving his hands into his pocket. "Nice game," he said with a grin that made him looked three years younger.

It was impossible for him not to smile back as he tilted his fedora down to hid his eye. "Hmm," Reborn said. He looked up after a moment. "Your answer?"

The man shrugged, not bothering to play dumb. "A deal's a deal." He took out his hand and extended it towards Reborn. "Urameshi Yusuke," he introduced with a smile. "Nice to meetcha."

Reborn was startled to find the name oddly familiar. He had heard it before and granted, it must not have been important if Reborn can't recall clearly, but it made him wary nonetheless. There was no reason why the world's strongest hitman, who was deep in mafia business, would have heard of an ordinary man's name. Even if he was uncannily skill with a gun and evoked a response from Reborn's pacifier and... the image of the man, Urameshi, pointing his finger-formed gun at him came into his mind.

"Reborn," Reborn introduced himself, letting his hand meet the man's in a handshake. In the corner of his mind, Reborn noted how Urameshi didn't simply dismiss him because he was in a child's form. Why? Reborn watched the man for any particular reaction to his name. There was none. "Do you want to join the mafia?" he asked, half-genuinely recruiting and half-curious to see a reaction.

A half-smirk curled Urameshi's lips. "I find it surprising that you don't know I'm technically already in, Arcobaleno."

In an blink of an eye, Reborn had his Leon-gun pointed at Urameshi. Then, Tsuna and his Guardians' voices drifted to his ears, and Reborn's gaze flashed towards them for a second, checking their safety. By the time Reborn recalled Urameshi and looked back, Urameshi disappeared as though he was never there.

Chapter Text

Nana smiled brightly as she exited the supermarket, both arms full of groceries. "What a great sales today!" she exclaimed, ambling along the sidewalk. "Tsu-kun and Reborn-chan are going to be so happy."

It was an odd sweltering day and that drove most people indoor. As Nana hurried home, also not keen to stay outside too long, her hand accidentally slipped and a bag of grocery fell out of her hand. Apples tumbled out of the bag.

"Oh, how clumsy!" Nana remarked as she quickly picked up the fallen apples. "Five, six, seven..."

Nana looked side to side, trying to spot the other three apples that she had bought. So intent in her search, she didn't notice someone else's presence by her side until he spoke.

"Ma'am," a voice called. Nana glanced up and found herself facing a stranger with warm, brown eyes. In his hand were three apples. "Are these yours?" he asked.

"Oh, thank you," Nana said, making a move to stand. A free hand was extended to her. Nana looked at it for a moment, before accepting it with a light flush upon her face. "What a gentlemen!"

At those words, the young man smiled sheepishly, before helping her up. He picked up the bags that she left on the ground as well, casually dropping the three apples he had in his hand in the appropriate bag. "These are a lot of grocery, ma'am," he said. "Do you need some help?"

"Oh, but I wouldn't want to bother you. A young man like you must be busy," Nana replied, even as she was admittedly charmed by the young man before her. Would Tsu-chan grow to be like him, so well-mannered and handsome?

The sheepish smile made its way across the young man's face again. "Eh. I'm just a wandering guy, ma'am. In fact, you'll be doing me a favor if you let me help you bring these back for you." At Nana's inquiring look, he explained, "Gives me a chance to get off my lazy bum, ya know?"

Nana giggled at those words. "Well, if you don't mind..."

The young man, with both hands full of her groceries, bent his waist slightly while gesturing with the sweep of his arm to the street, playing the part of a butler. He glanced up, eyes glimmering playfully. "If milady would please lead the way..."

Nana giggled some more. "I'm no classy lady. Just call me Mama."

The young man blinked, slowly standing up straight now. "Ma...ma?"

Nana nodded enthusiastically. "My kids call me that." Here she thought of Reborn and Lambo.

He glanced at her for a second, but it wasn't her that he saw. Once upon a time, he called someone Ma. For him, only she was Ma. "How about Maman?" he finally suggested, an easy-going smile stretching thin across his face. "A nickname just for you."

"Maman?" Nana said, tasting the words on her lips. She smiled. "I like it."

The young man's smile reached his eyes. "Maman it is then. Now, would Lady Maman please lead the way?"

Stifling another giggle, Nana began to walk back home with the young man easily ambling by her side. "What should I call you, butler-kun?"

"Butler, huh?" he murmured with a small laugh. He grinned at her. "Just call me Yusuke, Maman."

xxx

"Please just set the groceries at the counter," Nana said, moving through the house to turn on the light as Yusuke followed behind. "Would you like anything to drink, Yusuke-kun?"

"I'm fine, Maman," Yusuke said, shoving his emptied hands into his pockets. "Don't worry about me."

"Anything to eat then?" Nana asked. "I haven't cooked yet, but there should be some snacks in the house..." An idea suddenly came in mind. Nana turned around and clapped her hands together. "I know," she said brightly, "why don't you stay for lunch? My son will come back soon and then you can eat with us."

Yusuke stared at her for a moment, before shaking his head reluctantly. "Nah, I shouldn't bother you," Yusuke answered. Before he forgot, he added almost disapprovingly, "Maman, you're too trusting."

Maman looked at Yusuke bemusedly, before understanding dawned. "But Yusuke-kun's trustworthy," she said.

"You don't know that," Yusuke pointed out, wondering when Japanese people turned so naïve. Back in the days...

Something about Maman shifted as a soft smile appeared on her face. "I just know," she said and it was the way of how plainly she said it, like her statement was the only thing she needed for her argument to be true that stunned Yusuke. Caramel eyes glanced up at him, warm yet firm with some sort of wisdom.

For a second, a boy with golden yellow hair and orange shade of eyes came into his mind.

Yusuke shrugged, dispelling the gaze on him and the image in his head. "I'll graciously accept the invitation and stay then," he said, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "Do you need help with lunch?"

Maman beamed. "You want to help me cook, Yusuke-kun?"

Yusuke grinned back. "Sure, why no?"

And so they cooked.

Later when Maman's kid returned with another younger brat, he took one look at his mother before his eyes, brown like his mother's but glimmered to a shade of orange in a certain lighting, fell onto Yusuke. Yusuke glanced back just as openly and noted that the resemblance between him and the golden brat was uncanny. Just what was the chances of meeting Giotto's descendant in Japan when the last time Yusuke had seen Giotto was in Italy?

"Who are you?" the kid asked, almost subconsciously. His voice was soft against the brat's laughter in the background, yet it carried across all the same. With the lighting, his eyes shone bright orange.

"Yusuke," Yusuke answered simply, watching as a flicker of something, not quite recognition but more like déjà vu on a very subconscious level, appeared in the kid's eyes.

The kid blinked and when he opened his eyes again, there was no traces of the orange that was previously there. "Hiie!" he exclaimed, as if he just noticed a stranger was in his house. He jumped back and then proceed to trip on his own two feet.

Yusuke reached out and instinctively grabbed the kid's flailing arms before he fell. Wide, brown eyes looked up at him for a second as Yusuke steadied him, before they flickered down nervously.

"Tsu-kun," Maman exclaimed happily, approaching her child. The cow-print wearing brat followed behind her like a little duckling. Yusuke nearly raised an eyebrow. A young Bovino so far from Italy? "Yusuke-kun and I made lunch. Come and eat."

At the mention of Yusuke-kun, Tsu-kun (pretty sure that was a nickname) looked at Yusuke for the briefest second. Then his eyes darted away again, although not fast enough for Yusuke to not catch it, and he moved to follow his mother to the kitchen table.

Before he took a step, however, he paused and turned around, albeit with great effort. "Thank you for helping me before," he said with a small bow, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"No need to be so formal, Tsu-kun," Yusuke said, a smile playing at his lips at the nickname.

Tsu-kun's head zipped up, revealing a hue of red on either side of his cheek. "Don't call me that!" he exclaimed with embarrassment. Only my mother can call me that. Upon realizing he just shouted at his mother's friend, he quickly ducked his head again. "Call me Tsuna," he mumbled, almost too softly to be heard.

"Tsuna," Yusuke called and Tsuna raised his head automatically at the sound of his name.

At the sight of the friendly smile on Yusuke's face, Tsuna hesitantly smiled back.

Chapter Text

"Smoking?" Reborn called out, emerging from the shadow. He had purposely concealed his presence with the intention of taking Urameshi by surprise, yet he hardly reacted as Reborn made himself known.

"Hmm," Urameshi replied noncommittally. His eyes flicked to Reborn after a brief moment, eyeing him. "Here to get your answer?" he asked.

"Urameshi Yusuke. Age unknown. Apparent Japanese, yet your name is not in any nation's database. You could have given me a fake name, but I don't think so." Reborn's eyes darkened. "What's the meaning of this?"

Urameshi's lips curled to a wry smile and instead of answering, turned to gaze at the town of Namimori. "Did you know Namimori had another name?"

The abrupt change of topic threw Reborn off balance long enough for his threatening air to dispel. Reborn decided to humor him for a moment and searched through his memory for the information. He did have a habit of thoroughly researching anything relating to his target, after all, including his idiotic student's hometown. He frowned as nothing came into mind. Reborn didn't doubt his own intel network, so did Urameshi just give him a trick question? "There is no other name," Reborn answered after a beat.

"Bu-bu," Yusuke said. "You got it wrong, Arcobaleno. Care to try again?"

Reborn leveled the Leon-gun in his hand at Urameshi.

Reborn normally could be very patient, especially since he tutored helpless cases like Dino and Tsuna. His patience was running out for one Urameshi Yusuke ever since he met him a week ago and found out that he essentially didn't exist, however. Imagine his surprise when he returned to the Sawada household and found the occupants talking about a Yusuke they'd met. Hitmen like Reborn with world-class intelligence network didn't like surprises. 

"Care to try again?" Reborn replied coolly.

Reborn was beginning to detest the way Urameshi didn't react to anything he did.

"Sarayashiki," Urameshi answered softly, still only focused on the tiny town splayed out beneath him. He gazed at it unseeingly, like he was picturing something else in his mind.

Reborn frowned and turned the name over in his head. Sarayashiki. He didn't recognize it. Either it was a place too small to be worthy of his notice or it was another piece of Urameshi's unknown past. Reborn was willing to bet on the latter. "What is it to you?"

Urameshi lifted his free hand and Reborn unknowingly tensed for a second, until he reached out to the empty air before him. His hand hovered over the view of the town, like he was trying to touch it. "It’s supposed to be here," he said.

Supposed to, he said. Reborn tried to connect the pieces, but there were too many holes for him to get a clear picture. "You're speaking in riddles here," Reborn stated, an undertone of warning in his voice. Stop speaking in riddles.

Finally, finally, Urameshi turned to face Reborn.

Reborn's hand on his gun faltered for a second, having caught the tail of unspeakable pain in the other man's eyes.

Twenty-one? Reborn thought, recalling his previous estimate of Urameshi's age at the arcade. Tsuna and his guardians can live three lifetimes and still not have the sheer age in his eyes combined.

Urameshi let out a breath and jumped off from where he perched, letting his cigarette drop from his fingers. He shoved his hands into his pocket and casted Reborn a glance. "Urameshi Yusuke is my real name," he stated tiredly. "The names on my passports are not."

Reborn mulled over the information. Urameshi hadn't shown any usual signs of a liar. Either he told the truth or he was the best liar in the world to even get past the world's strongest hitman's eyes. Reborn couldn't even guess at which one it was. The mysteries of Urameshi just seemed to be never ending, but instinct and observation told him Urameshi was straightforward. He also didn't appear to have the need to hide, staying in place despite knowing Reborn was going to track him down.

"Passports," Reborn stated slowly, tackling the part that was digestible. Plural. Urameshi Yusuke, he decided, is a paradox. "Who are you hiding from?"

The corners of Urameshi's mouth twisted sardonically at his question. "No one," he said. "There's no one." His gaze held another far away look in them with an undercurrent of grief. His eyes cleared before Reborn called him back, although Reborn wasn't sure if he would have. To interrupt such a vulnerable moment was a line he didn't think he was willing to cross for just a few non-urgent questions. "I have no intention of harming them, if that's what you're worried about," Urameshi said rather knowingly.

Reborn didn't flatter himself into thinking it was because Urameshi feared him. Reborn didn't make a habit of lying to himself. "Yet you approached them."

"I approached Maman," Urameshi corrected. "She dropped her stuff. I wouldn't call myself a man if I didn't help her." He huffed in annoyance, taking a hand out of his pocket to run his fingers through his hair. "Why the hell am I bothering to explain to ya anyway?"

"You didn't know 'Maman'-" Reborn paused, realizing he made a fatal mistake in assuming Urameshi knew everything just because he admitted to be 'technically in.' He almost revealed Tsuna was the heir to Vongola. As if his dame-student didn't have enough people after his head already.

"He's Vongola's heir, I know," Urameshi said. Reborn admittedly stared at the man. Why did Urameshi know so much? "His eyes changed to the color of orange flames when he talked to me," he explained with the roll of his eyes. "Don't look at me like you want to kill me."

"I should," Reborn said, his grip on his Leon-gun not relaxing. Urameshi somehow evoked a Flame-response in Tsuna, much like how he evoked a response from Reborn's pacifer. Why? How? Reborn didn't know any of the answers, but it would only take one press of the trigger for the answers to no longer matter and for this unpredictable man to no longer be a problem. Yet he, the world's strongest hitman, doubted it would be that easy.

"You won't be able to kill me," Urameshi echoed his thought. It wasn't confidence or arrogance. Urameshi stated it as a fact. He smiled, and how strange was it that he could state what sounded like a challenge yet smile like he meant it. "You won't have a reason to either."

Reassurance.

Reborn scoffed but lowered his gun all the same. He knew sincerity when he heard it. Leon transformed back to his original form and ran up the rim of his fedora. "Tell me," he said, tipping his fedora up to look the other man in his eyes. "Why are you here?"

He almost slipped back into his dreamlike state again, full of nostalgia and sorrow. Whatever reason it was, it was deeply personal. "I told you, Namimori is Sarayashiki. I grew up here." Letting out a sigh, Urameshi began walking towards him. His hand reached down and Reborn would have reacted sharply, except he felt no ill intention. Urameshi's hand dropped to his fedora and Reborn could feel the slight pressure as he petted Leon.

He couldn't say he was truly surprise when Leon didn't react badly to Urameshi.

"Later, little guy," Uramesh said and Reborn could tell it was directed at him. Reborn didn't reply, only silently pivoted to watch Urameshi's retreating back as he descended down the stairs. It was the perfect opportunity, Reborn knew. No matter how good of an instinct people have, they always react a split-second late when an attack came from the back and they were caught unprepared.

Reborn could kill Urameshi now and not worry about his identity or intention. All he needed to do was draw his gun and squeeze the trigger, like he had done many times before.

Yet, Reborn found himself with not a single muscle twitching as Urameshi retreated farther away from him, until he was out of shooting range and out of sight.

Reborn let out a soft sigh as the last trace of Urameshi disappeared, along with the chance to eliminate him. He tipped his fedora down, allowing Leon to climb onto his fingers.

Reborn carefully brought his partner down to eye level, watching as Leon's tongue flicked out.

"You like him," Reborn said in bemusement. "Why?"

"'Because he has the same aura as you,'" Reborn translated. "What is that supposed mean?"

Leon's tongue flicked out again and refused to elaborate.

Chapter Text

"Hello, I'm" - the line he said for the umpteenth time that month faltered when Yusuke found himself facing a bunch of people he knew - "your waiter for today," he finished lamely. "I would introduce myself, but I hope you guys know my name by now."

"Yusuke-kun," Maman exclaimed happily. At her obvious enthusiasm at seeing him, Yusuke had to smile.

"Hello Maman," he greeted. His eyes fell down to Tsuna, who gave him a small, fake smile. Yusuke made a note to ask him what was wrong later. Lastly, his eyes went up to Tsuna's shoulder, where Reborn was narrowing his eyes at him. Yusuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing Reborn was probably calculating the probability of this meeting being a coincidence. Damn. It wasn't like Yusuke was stalking them. He had been working here for a little more than a month and how would he know they would come here?

"Hey," he said, casually greeting both Tsuna and Reborn.

The Acrobaleno looked like he had something to say, but Yusuke didn't have time for his questions now. He had a job to do.

"So, what's the occasion?" Yusuke asked, making small talks as he put down the menus he had in his hands.

"It's Mama's birthday," the Acrobaleno replied in that baby pitch of his.

Yusuke glanced over at Maman in surprise. "Happy Birthday, Maman," he congratulated.

Maman smiled at him. "Thank you, Yusuke-kun."

Yusuke hummed. "So Tsuna, you decided to take Maman out to eat so she wouldn't have to cook today?"

Tsuna's head shot up in surprise, obviously didn't think he would be addressed to. He looked like a student caught not paying attention in class by a teacher once again. Reborn looked like he wanted to kick Tsuna in the head for not being in tune with his surrounding. Yusuke wondered if he made a mistake in addressing Tsuna.

"Something like that," Tsuna murmured. Maman's smile faltered at the unenthusiastic response. Reborn and Yusuke's mouth both lowered a notch to a not-yet there frown.

"Well," Yusuke said, trying to dispel the gloominess hanging around the table. Not only was that not the way to celebrate a birthday, it also reflected badly on Yusuke as a waiter, not to mention the mood can affect other customers as well. He casted a quick look to other tables, nodding inwardly in satisfaction to see the tables he served was still in a jovial mood. "Maman, order as much as you want. This meal is on your son."

Maman giggled on cue, but it sounded a little forced.

Yusuke reined back his sigh, knowing that wouldn't help the mood at all. Yusuke's gaze flicked to the clock briefly, knowing he stayed for over seven minutes at this single table by now. He should get moving. "You guys wanna look at the menu first, right? Tell me what drinks should I bring you guys first, and I'll come back for the order later."

"What drinks do you have?" the Acrobaleno asked innocuously. It would have been an innocent question, if not for the tinge of challenge his voice held.

"Cold water, hot water, cold tea, hot tea, soda and milkshake," Yusuke listed monotonously.

"What type of soda and milkshake?" Reborn shot back just as soon as Yusuke was done. "Tap water, filtered water, or boiled water? What kind of tea do you serve?"

"Coke, Sprite, Pepsi and Fanta," Yusuke replied, struggling to keep his voice leveled. He refused to let go of his professionalism as a waiter. Behind Reborn, Tsuna finally lifted up his head to watch the battle unfolding before him with a bemused look. Maman looked on, appearing for all intents and purposes, oblivious to the tension. "Milkshake include vanilla milkshake, chocolate or a mix of both. Tap water. And I'm sorry I don't know what kind of tea we serve but I'll be sure to ask if that's what this customer wants."

Yusuke held Reborn's gaze after he was done, daring him to ask about something else. Finally, Reborn nodded. "No, that's fine. I'll get coffee."

Yusuke swore he saw Reborn's lips twitched with satisfaction when Yusuke realized he forgot to list coffee as one of the choices and Reborn made Yusuke name all the subcategories for all the drinks he listed. Bastard.

Yusuke turned to Maman and Tsuna instead. "What would you have, Maman, Tsuna?"

"Sprite," Tsuna replied, putting his head down again. Maman's gaze landed on Tsuna worriedly.

"Maman?" Yusuke called, pulling her attention away from Tsuna.

"Oh, sorry," she said, giving Yusuke an apologetic look for holding him up. Yusuke smiled back to show he didn't mind. "Umm... hot tea, please, Yusuke," Maman ordered, as her gaze once again fell onto Tsuna.

"Do you want to know what kind of tea is that?" Yusuke asked teasingly.

Maman started for a second, brought out of her mood. Then, as she registered his question, a genuine smile slowly spread across her face. She giggled softly. "No, that's fine," she replied.

Yusuke nodded, glad to see her in a better mood. He ignored the contemplating look that Reborn gave him. "One coffee, one Sprite and one hot tea coming right up," Yusuke said, before leaving.

xxx

"I'm going to the toilet," Tsuna murmured, listlessly scooting out of his seat. Reborn watched him go and inwardly cursed Iemitsu. Expect a phone call from me after today, Iemitsu. You shouldn't make promises you can't keep.

Reborn turned to tell Mama that he also needed to use the restroom, but then a loud shattering noise reached his ears. Reborn whipped around to assess the situation, already knowing that the cause of the commotion could not be anyone other than his no-good student. Of course Dame-Tsuna would get into trouble the second Reborn stopped watching him.

Reborn knew in the back of his mind that due to his bad mood, he was being unnecessarily harsh, but he couldn't find it in him to care at the moment. He needed to do damage control.

An angry teenage waiter towering over Tsuna, who had fallen; a shattered cup laying beside him with orange liquid leaking out. By then, everyone in the restaurant stopped moving to watch the commotion.

"Goddamnit, it's you, Dame-Tsuna. Could you, for once, not get in people's way!?"

A fellow student of Namimori Middle School. Can he use that? Reborn considered his options even as he ambled towards the pair.

Someone else got there faster.

"Ayame," Urameshi called, edging his way through the crowd to the waitress. He grasped her wrist and tugged her towards his direction. "C'mon. Go take a break. I'll clean this up."

"But, Yusuke," she exclaimed hotly, pointing at Tsuna who was so stunned he didn't know what to do. Reborn resolved to increase his surprise attacks on Tsuna. It would do no good for Vongola's heir to freeze whenever something unexpected happened. "He-"

Urameshi brought his hand up and flicked Ayame's forehead.

"Ouch," she cried, whirling to direct her glare at Urameshi. "What was that for?!"

"He's a customer, Ayame. I'm sure this is not how your dad taught you to handle customers." It was stated matter-of-factly, but was a rebuke in itself.

Ayame's eyes widened at that and she dropped her head. Reborn wondered about the story behind it, although it had more to do with an interest in Urameshi's involvement rather than the girl's background. "Sorry," she said.

Urameshi bonked Ayame's head, causing her to looking up wide-eyed. Urameshi gave her a crooked smiled and ruffled her head. "Go take your break, brat."

Ayame nodded and went, obviously still upset, but the slump at her shoulders were no longer there.

Urameshi sighed and began to clean up the shards of broken glass. "Are you alright?" he asked Tsuna.

That stunned Tsuna out of his stupor. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. "I didn't mean to bump into Ayame."

Urameshi waved it off. "It's fine, it's fine. Stuff like this happens once in a while."

"But still..." Tsuna's eyes widened when he finally noticed Urameshi was picking up the shards with his bare hands. Reborn added observing his surrounding to the extensive list of things he needed to teach Tsuna. "Get a broom!" Tsuna exclaimed, hands hovering over Urameshi's like he wanted to pull his hand off away, but he wasn't confident that he could do that without accidentally cutting Urameshi's hands on the shards. "You can get hurt."

Urameshi laughed like he found the idea that some broken glass could hurt him funny. "I have tough skin," Urameshi said after a moment. "I'll be fine."

"But-"

Urameshi stood and Tsuna scrambled up with him. "C'mon," Urameshi said. "Let's get that orange stain off."

"Are you sure it's alright?" Tsuna asked quietly as he followed behind Urameshi, eyes remaining on Urameshi's hand the whole time.

"Don't worry about it," Urameshi said confidently. Tsuna looked at Urameshi and nodded after a moment.

Reborn followed silently, employing his skills as a hitman.

"Just let me throw this away first," Urameshi said, heading into the kitchen. Tsuna didn't follow, opting to stand by the door instead.

"Oi, Tao, do you mind taking over for a bit? Five minutes, and then you can get back to your break," Reborn heard Urameshi shout.

The next voice was considerably lower in volume, probably because of the distance. "Why the fuck... didn't even warm...seat..." Reborn heard pieces of what was being said.

"Watch your language, brat. You'll get back that five minutes later. No need to throw a hissy-fit."

There was a choking noise and a general sound of laughter from the kitchen, followed by heavy stamping noise.

"Hissy-fit?!" a boy of eighteen burst out of the kitchen. His face was contorted to a murderous look.

Urameshi looked on, amused. "If you cater our customers with that look, all of them would run away, ya know?"

"Fuck if I care," Tao muttered, rolling down his sleeves to cover the tattoo on his arm and fixing his white button-down. A uniform of the restaurant, Reborn deduced, judging from the fact that the girl Ayame and Urameshi also wore the same clothes. "I'm a fucking delinquent anyway."

Tsuna let out a low "Hiie!" at the words Tao spoke.

Tao glanced over at him. "Who's this?" Tao asked, taking a step towards him. Tsuna took a step back and miraculously didn't trip over anything. Tao huffed at the reaction but didn't appear to be surprised. "Don't tell me you picked up another one," Tao said, turning to face Urameshi.

Urameshi rolled his eyes. "No, he's a customer and you're a handful already. Now get to work."

"Five minutes," Tao reminded warningly but went all the same.

"C'mon," Urameshi said to Tsuna, already turning away. "Next stop, restroom."

xxx

Reborn got there before Urameshi, partially because the other man was ambling slowly and mostly because even as Urameshi declared himself off duty at the moment, customers still called for him to write down orders. Urameshi stopped by three tables as he made his way towards the restroom, taking down an order at each before folding the paper into an airplane and sending it in Tao's way.

His aim was impeccable. It always hit Tao's head.

Tsuna's bad mood was mostly erased by the time they reached the restroom, sharing a small grin with Urameshi at the recollection of Tao's enraged look.

Reborn blended into the background using Leon's ability of camouflage and watched as the two men entered the restroom.

"Just rub your shirt with water," Urameshi advised as he went to one of the sink. "Orange juice stain isn't too hard to get out."

Tsuna nodded headed towards the other sink, doing as Urameshi told. "It's off!" Tsuna said, turning towards Urameshi with a smile.

Urameshi turned off the water after washing any small remains of the glass off his hand and nodded. "That's good," he said, taking some paper towels.

He handed Tsuna one, which Tsuna accept with a thank.

"So," Urameshi started, eyeing Tsuna. "What's up with you today?"

"Hiie!" Tsuna exclaimed, obviously shocked that Urameshi noticed something was off. Reborn was somewhat surprised too. He didn't think Urameshi paid much attention to Tsuna. "Erm," Tsuna said, calming down a little. He avoided Urameshi's eyes and shook his head. "Nothing."

Urameshi raised an eyebrow, undoubtedly knowing it was a lie. It wasn't hard to tell. Reborn would have to teach Tsuna at the very least not to avoid someone's eyes the next time he told a lie. "I don't think so," Urameshi said.

"Just leave me alone!" Tsuna exclaimed, turning to run as usual when cornered.

Urameshi casually leaned to his right, blocking Tsuna's path. "Maman's worried, ya know?"

Tsuna's eyes widened with shock. "I-"

Urameshi's eyes softened but didn't relent. "Today's Maman's big day. There's no reason to ruin this day for her. Tell me what's wrong and maybe I can help."

"I'm not the one ruining it her!" he shouted. Tsuna's hand clenched into a fist.

"Yes, you are," Urameshi refuted calmly and without much sympathy.

"Shut up!" Tsuna yelled. "You don't know anything!"

Tsuna froze when Urameshi straightened up, standing to his full height. "Then tell me, Tsuna," Urameshi said, taking a step forward. "Tell me so I can understand."

Reborn's eyes shifted from Urameshi to Tsuna, wondering if his student would break. On an unconscious level, Tsuna knew Urameshi was a powerful man. At his current level, he had no way to beat him. Tsuna had every right to fear Urameshi and given his timid character, Tsuna would undoubtedly run. Yet somehow Urameshi managed to goad his cowardly student into shouting at him without any Dying Will Bullet.

Reborn had no idea whether he should be impressed by Urameshi's ability to get under anyone's skin.

At Urameshi's abrupt change, from an apparent bully to a caring friend, Tsuna's defense shattered. His hand clenched into a fist once again, so hard that his hand was shaking. "My father promised that he'll come back to celebrate my mom's birthday," Tsuna revealed through gritted teeth, spitting out the word 'father' like it was a curse.

Understanding dawned on Urameshi as he thought back to before. A table for three: Mama, Tsuna, and Reborn. "He didn't fulfill it," Urameshi surmised.

Tsuna shook his head violently, his mob of brown hair moving back and fro. At the sight of his student suffering so much, Reborn resolved to add in an extra kick to the head for Iemitsu the next time he saw him in person.

Reborn knew his student. No matter how much bullying Tsuna had suffered, Tsuna never once sought retaliation. Reborn's eyes fell to his student's closed fist once again. Against his father, it just might be the first time Tsuna would ever start a fight.

Reborn found the idea, for the lack of other words, messed up, but if anything could prompt Tsuna into action, it was anything or anyone against his own Family. And Mama was not just Family, but also family.

Reborn decided he wouldn't be informing Iemitsu that the next time he come home, he just might be greeted with a black eye. Let the man brag about his cute son then. Meanwhile, Reborn would continue being an exceptional tutor.

Tsuna nodded his head in answer to Urameshi's statement, signifying Urameshi guessed correctly.

Reborn assumed Urameshi would start the coddling next, but he didn't.

"So what?" Urameshi asked, leaning against the wall once more.

Tsuna's head shot up. "He broke his promise to okaa-san!" he exclaimed. Orange flickered into existence on Tsuna's head and Reborn's eyes widened imperceptibly in surprise. Although Dying Will Flames resonates with one's emotions, Reborn didn't think Tsuna would be able to summon his flame on his own at this stage, however unknowingly. Just what was it about Urameshi that made the flame in Tsuna respond not just once but twice? "He haven't came back to visit even once in the past few years and the one time he promised to come back, he breaks it. I hate him!"

As his last statement registered , Tsuna froze, unable to believe he really said he hated his father. Tsuna's flame, no longer fueled by any intense emotion, faded away and Tsuna collapsed.

Reborn jumped down from where he was watching, alarmed as Urameshi caught his student and slowly lowered him down with Tsuna's head against his legs. Leon returned to his original form at his fedora, canceling the camouflage.

"Move," Reborn hissed as he went to his student's side, checking Tsuna's pulse and his pupil dilation. It was only when Reborn concluded that Tsuna was only unconscious and that there was no other damage to him that some tension left him.

"So you were watching," Urameshi finally said.

Reborn whirled in his direction, outwardly remaining cool while inwardly feeling every ounce of the anger that simmered inside him. Reborn found Leon-gun in his hand, pointing towards Urameshi as it had many times before. "Did you purposely provoke him for this reaction?"

"No. I didn't know this would have happened. I only wanted to know what was wrong since he looked depressed when I saw him."

Truth, Reborn's senses told him, yet he didn't lower his gun. In fact, he moved it higher, so it was pointing right at Urameshi's heart. "Stay away from him," Reborn warned. "Comply or I'll shoot right now."

"You'll only be spilling blood for no reason," Urameshi said. "I told you, I have no intention of harming him or Maman."

"Yet this happened," and it wasn't hard to see what was the 'this' that Reborn was referring to.

Guilt seemed to flash across Urameshi's eyes but instead of assuaging Reborn's anger, it intensified it. How dare Urameshi feel bad when it was him who brought his student to this state. Later when Reborn had cooled down a little, he would also admit a partial reason for his extreme reaction was because of the guilt Reborn himself had bore.

Reborn knew Urameshi was a dangerous man and yet he allowed Tsuna to go with him. All that to see Urameshi's intention or in other words, for the sake of Reborn's blasted curiosity. And now it was his student who paid for the price.

"I didn't intend for this to happen," Urameshi said lowly, meeting Reborn's eyes. There was a tense silence between them, until it was broke by a groan.

Tsuna's eyes fluttered opened. "R-reborn?!"

Tsuna shot up to a stand and Leon immediately changed back into his chameleon form.

"Baka-Tsuna," Reborn said, giving his student a kick. Tsuna yelped. "How could you fall asleep in a place like this?"

"I fell... asleep? In the restroom?!"

Urameshi gave Reborn an amused look before standing. "You must be really hungry or something to faint like this," Urameshi said, offering up an excuse.

Tsuna blinked before sheepishly scratching his head. "I must be, then," Tsuna agreed, giving him an embarrassed smile.

"Well, I won't hold you from getting dinner then. Just one thing." Urameshi looked at Tsuna. "I'm going to assume you grew up without your dad being around."

Tsuna's shoulders slumped and Reborn wonder what Urameshi was trying to drive at. "Yeah," Tsuna said, eyes on the ground.

Urameshi sighed and carded his hand through his hair. "Before, when I made light of your father not coming back to celebrate Maman's birthday, I was being an ass. I'm sorry." Tsuna's head shot up to stare at Urameshi, undeniably surprised. Urameshi gave him a rueful smile. "Don't look at me like that," Urameshi said, ruffling Tsuna's hair. Reborn tensed and Urameshi looked towards him with rue in his eyes for a second.

Reborn found the tension unconsciously leaving him, because the regret Urameshi displayed was undoubtedly sincere.

"I still meant it though," Urameshi continued, turning back to Tsuna. This time, it was Reborn's student who tensed up. "When I said you're ruining Maman's birthday."

Surprisingly, there was no loud denial this time. Instead, Tsuna bowed his head in acknowledgement. Reborn saw a fleck of orange in his student's eyes just before his brown hair covered it.

"I know," Tsuna said, unexpectedly mature. "I- I was thinking about what you said, Yusuke-san." Tsuna looked up then and the orange sheen in his eyes was undeniably there. "I should try to make up for my father's absence instead of wallowing in self-pity, right?"

Urameshi's hand slowly fell from Tsuna's hair. "Bingo," Urameshi said. "You got it. Instead of making your Ma remember that today is the day her husband broke a promise to her, let her remember today as the most wonderful birthday she celebrated with her son and" -Urameshi glanced briefly towards Reborn- "his tutor."

Tsuna slowly nodded. "I understand, Yusuke-san." The flecks of orange faded from Tsuna's eyes. "Thank you for telling me this."

Urameshi smile. "Good to hear that," he said, moving to leave. He paused when Tsuna didn't follow and twisted his head back. "Is there another problem?" Urameshi asked.

Tsuna flushed and squirmed in his place uncomfortably. "Um, you can go back first, Yusuke-san. I still need to use the toilet."

An amused smile appeared on Urameshi's face, although he unsuccessfully tried to hide it. "I'll see you later then," Urameshi said.

"Don't take too long, Tsuna," Reborn ordered, before jumping onto Urameshi's shoulder.

Urameshi gave him a look of surprise but didn't comment as he exit the restroom.

"You did a pretty good job taking care of that," Reborn started without any preamble. "I believe you when you said you only wanted to fix Tsuna's problem." You may also just have a positive effect on him, was something Reborn left unsaid.

Urameshi turned towards him with a grin, but Reborn wasn't finished. "You should have just minded your own business, however."

Best to get this through Urameshi first, before he get anymore ideas of recklessly interfering. Grooming an heir, especially for a syndicate like Vongola, was a delicate process, and Reborn would not have anyone -especially not Urameshi- undo any of his hard work, intentionally or not.

Urameshi stopped to looked at him. "What's wrong with worrying about a kid?"

Reborn didn't bother turning to face Urameshi. "The situation back there could have easily turned for the worse because you went into the situation without knowing all the details." Reborn turned to face Urameshi, efficiently silencing him. "Did you know for Tsuna's entire life until recently, Tsuna thought his father disappeared because his father told Mama to tell him that he 'became a star', believing it would be 'romantic'?" Urameshi's eyes widened. "Or maybe that Mama was in a jovial mood, making a feast this morning once she heard he was coming back, only to become sad when he called last minute to say he couldn't make it? How did you think Tsuna felt when he saw Mama trying to remain upbeat despite feeling disappointed? How did you think he himself felt when he found out his father was alive but didn't visit them even once for the past decade?"

Reborn scoffed and jumped off Urameshi's shoulder. "Always keep your student's best interest in mind," Reborn said, the words echoing to himself as an reminder aloud as he walked back to his table. "That's what it means to be a tutor."

xxx

Tsuna was smiling when he came back to their table and initiated conversation with Mama. Mama glanced at Tsuna in surprise but beamed in happiness and went along with the mood. By the time Urameshi returned to their table to with their drinks, the atmosphere around the table was cheery.

Urameshi professionally took their orders and smiled at them but left without making any small talks. Satisfaction coursed through Reborn upon noticing that Urameshi seemed to be in a pensive mood.

When Urameshi returned with their orders, there was a change that Reborn couldn't really pinpoint.

"Hello again," Urameshi said with a smile, putting down the three dishes that they ordered. There was still one more in Urameshi's hand. He put that one on their table as well.

Mama blinked. "We didn't order this, Yusuke-kun," she said, glancing up at him.

Urameshi nudged the dish closer to her and smiled. "Happy Birthday, Maman. This is on me."

"Oh, you don't have to," Mama said, surprise and happiness evident on her countenance.

Urameshi shrugged casually. "I wanted to. Now, more tea?"

xxx

The female waiter from before - Ayame- came by later on with another can of Sprite and slid it in front of Tsuna.

"Sorry about before," she said, not quite meeting Tsuna's eyes.

"Oh?" Maman voiced, looking from the girl to Tsuna. "A friend, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna spluttered and flushed. Reborn kicked him in the head to get him to stop.

"I'm a student at Namimori Middle School," the girl answered. She smiled, pride evident in her voice. "My father opened this restaurant."

There was also a hint of brittleness in her voice. Reborn wondered.

"Helping out this late at night? Such a diligent girl. Tsu-kun has much to learn from you," Mama said, ignoring Tsuna's scandalized "Okaa-san!"

The girl blinked at the exchange between mother and son, before giggling a little. "Today's Maman birthday, right? Would you like anything else?"

"Maman?" Mama asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Should I not call you that? Yusuke calls you Maman so..."

Mama smiled. "It's fine. Call me Maman if you like. What's your name?"

"Ayame," the girl answered.

"Ayame-chan," Mama said. "We're full now, but thank you for your offer. Can you give me the check?"

"Actually," Reborn said, stopping the girl from leaving just yet. "Give it to Tsuna. It's Mama's birthday after all."

His student looked like he wanted to shout "EH?!" on top of his lung, but settled down when he recalled he wanted to make his mother happy. Reborn nodded in satisfaction that he wouldn't have to kick his student, after all.

In the recess of his mind, he also finally acknowledged that Urameshi handled Tsuna pretty well.

"But Reborn," Tsuna whispered, leaning close to him after Ayame left to fetch the check. "I don't have any money! How am I suppose to pay?!"

Reborn flashed out some cash. "You'll just have to be a slave and pay me back."

"No way!" Tsuna exclaimed, cartoon tears streaming down his eyes.

xxx

"Bye, Maman," Ayame called as they left. "Tsuna and aka-chan."

Tsuna turned back and gave a sheepish smile, while inwardly lamenting.

Yusuke-san waved in the background, before swirling away to take orders.

"Thank you, Tsu-kun, Reborn-kun," Okaa-san said, turning around to face them halfway through their walk home. She beamed happily. "I had a lot of fun today."

At the face of his mother's smile, Tsuna had no choice but to smile back. If money was the price to keep his mother happy, he would gladly pay it.

...Even if he was now in debt to his sadistic tutor.

xxx

In his spot on Tsuna's shoulder, Reborn tilted his fedora and smiled.

Chapter Text

A small figure sat on the chair behind the desk, thumbing the phone cord absentmindedly. His eyes drifted to where his mini-laptop sat. On the top left side of the screen was the profile of a girl, age around fourteen. Her grades for Namimori Middle School from the beginning of the school year to the present were displayed. He eyed at the graph that was pretty leveled in the beginning but took a sharp turn downwards starting two months ago. In the recent month, however, it began to pick up again.

Reborn tilted his head slightly to view the top right side, where personal information of the girl was shown. At the top was an overview of the girl, followed by her medical files. Anything that was worth noting was also mentioned, from when she was born to her current age. A scroll downwards would display the information that was then on the top right side of the screen. Her family information, or in her case, just her father's. It contained information about the father's bank account and his finance.

Below that was the information that was gathered on their restaurant. That file contains stuff that ranged from their utility bill to the amount of money they spend and earn each year to their employees. It was all meticulously complied.

Beside it, on the bottom left corner of the screen, was the medical file of the girl's father. Reborn's eyes remained on the section that stated the date the man had a minor surgery, despite the fact that he had long memorized it. It was about eight weeks ago.

The utility bill for eight weeks prior indicated nothing in the restaurant was used for two weeks. For the same two weeks, money was continuously withdrawn from the father's bank account until only a meager portion of the saving was left. The third week was when the water, gas and electricity usage was starting up again in the restaurant.

A small window on the bottom left corner was opened to a restaurant rating website, to where a patron had commented on the girl's restaurant's page that ...although I really love this restaurant's food, the service there is really slow... Reborn had scrolled down the page and saw that most comments dated a little more than a month ago said similar things.

During this time, although the restaurant started earning money again, it never did earn as much as before the father's surgery. The constant withdrawal of money from the bank did stop, however.

There was a change at the beginning of this month. The comments stopped speaking of the bad service, eventually returning the restaurant's rating to what it was before. There were reviews that spoke of how a waiter was really friendly and the service speed was average.

A little research on his part showed that a Sasaki Aoi had entered Japan and Namimori around the same time. Sasaki Aoi was a male, age around twenty-one with slicked black hair and brown eyes. The passport photo showed Sasaki Aoi to look exactly like a certain Urameshi Yusuke.

So Urameshi Yusuke arrived just at the nick of time to save the girl's restaurant from falling into shambles. Coincident? He thought not. He recalled the number figure that indicated the check Sasaki Aoi deposited two weeks ago. It was considerably lower than most minimum wages. Just what was Urameshi's intention, to work at the restaurant for such low wages?

Reborn eyes dropped to the phone sitting on the table again, contemplating, before slowly moving to pick it up as a plan formed in his mind. Regardless of Urameshi's intention, there was a debt that had to be settled first.

xxx

"Hey, Matsumura, where cha going?" Yusuke asked, looking at the apparent older man by the restaurant door. "Ayame gave me strict orders not to let you go outside, ya know?"

Matsumura shook his head, although soft amusement was evident in his eyes. "Honestly, that daughter of mine. I'm fine now. The doctor said I'm on my way of making a full recovery. A little delivery won't hurt."

Yusuke made a loud disapproving cluck noise with his tongue and shook his head. "'On your way,'" he said, quoting Matsumura's words, "means you're not fully recovered yet. I'm not going to let anything impede that recovery and give your daughter ammunition to chew me out." His hand reached out and took the take-out from Matsumura's hand. "Where are you delivering it to?"

Matsumura looked at him for a moment, before a wry smile finally slipped on his face. "I'm not going to win against you, am I?"

"Nope," Yusuke confirmed, voice brooked no room for argument. "So why don't you just give up the address nicely?" he joked.

Matsumura chuckled a little. "Alright. I guess I'll just have to rely on you then, Yusuke," he said. His eyes spoke of his gratefulness for Yusuke's help. "Please help me deliver it to Namimori Middle School."

xxx

Yusuke stood outside of Namimori Middle School for a moment, waiting for a rush of nostalgia to hit him, like it had when he first step foot into Namimori (Sarayashiki, his mind stubbornly insisted to him), but nothing came forth. Yusuke let out a small laugh. It seemed like he never stayed long enough in school for him to develop any sort of attachment to it, except for...

A girl with blank features and brown hair, and a boy with a crazy long orange pompadour and an obnoxious voice that once shouted "Urameshi!" like some kind of war cry as a greeting came into his mind. This time, there was a little throb at his heart, so faint and so used to it Yusuke was that he almost didn't notice. He let out another small laugh to himself when he noticed, this time tinged with some sort of bitterness.

Keiko and Kuwabara, he remembered their names were and although the smallest amount of warmth still bloomed in his chest at the thought of them, he could no longer recall their features. Over the many, many years, his memory of their appearance softened around the edge, little by little, until all that remained of them were blurred figures of color.

Immortality or not, memory was always a faulty thing that fades over time, despite how tightly Yusuke struggled to grasp and keep it with him.

Yusuke closed his eyes and exhaled, struggling to push those thought back. He had stood in place for about a minute by then. Time to move on.

At the thought, a smile (self-deprecating to the core) unwittingly crossed Yusuke's lips, even as he physically crossed the school gate. Right, he thought to himself, eyes darkening with wistfulness. If only I can.

xxx

In front of the school yard where Yusuke was heading towards, a loud boom went off.

Yusuke blinked owlishly in the aftermath.

"Firework?" Yusuke guessed, recalling Maman's story about some loud fireworks that were on sale some time ago. There was no reply, not that he expected anyway.

His eyes went up, tracing the path of where he had seen the mini-bomb had fallen from. His gaze landed on the second floor window just in time to see a flash of silver leaving the window in a hurry. Interesting.

"They allow kids to have some serious firepower nowadays, don't they?" Yusuke said to himself, even as he propelled himself to the school's direction. A smirk decorated his face as he thought about the window whoever threw the mini-bomb left open. Perfect for his entry.

Yusuke readied himself for the jump to the second floor, halting just before the small crater formed from the mini-bomb to quickly bend his knees and make use of the momentum he built up from running.

Footsteps and a whooshing sound came flying towards him.

Yusuke cursed as, in the corner of his eyes, he saw a metallic thing moved towards him with all intention of making the contact hurt. Yusuke jumped, but instead of jumping towards the school since that would allow the gleaming metal to hit his back, he jumped right up into the air, tucking his legs close to his own body so the metal would narrowly miss him.

Before the metal could finish swiping through the space where Yusuke previously was, he purposely extended his legs, resulting Yusuke's toes balancing on that thin metal -tonfa, Yusuke identified- and forcing whoever the tonfa's owner was to hold all of his weight.

Sharp, grey eyes glared at him, but Yusuke merely smirked back. He jumped off the shaking tonfa, inwardly a little impressed that the kid didn't let go of his weapon even with Yusuke's weight on it. The boy angled a swipe towards him at the first opportunity, but Yusuke was out of range.

"Who are you?" the black-haired boy demanded. He didn't wait for an answer as he shifted to a fighting stance. Yusuke noted that his right hand, the hand that held the tonfa Yusuke stood on, was shaking slightly. "Well, no matter. For destroying Namimori property, I'll bite you to death."

Yusuke opened his mouth to tell him it wasn't him who made that crater, but then the boy hurled himself in Yusuke's direction.

Yusuke narrowly dodged the attack and continued dodging when the boy showed no signs of stopping his assault. Yusuke tsked as he tried to be mindful of the take-out in his hand. He really should deliver it before it got cold and the taste diminished.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed a particular gleam in the school's direction as sunlight reflect off of it. His eyes darted in the direction, noting small green binoculars and the suit of black of whoever was holding it. As though the owner knew of Yusuke's attention, the binoculars were lowered slightly, enabling him to see the other's face. Arco-

Yusuke ducked under an incoming tonfa, breaking his gaze from the fourth window on the second floor. Yusuke glanced back to his opponent, who looked like he wanted to kill him. Yusuke smiled. In ten years or so, Yusuke thought, he would be more of a challenge. Right now though... "You're outclassed," Yusuke said.

The boy didn't even have time to react to the comment before Yusuke moved, and his smile widened as he felt the gaze on the back of his head intensified. One second he was there, the next he was behind the tonfa-wielding-boy and slamming a controlled fist down on top of his head.

The boy didn't know what hit him. He froze for a split-second in shock, before his body became nerveless and crumpled. Yusuke caught the boy before he fell. An amused smile tugged at him when he realized that even unconscious, the boy's grip on his tonfa was still as tight as ever.

"Always ready for fight, I see," Yusuke murmured. "Makes me wonder if you have any demon blood." He thought back to the blood-lust he felt from the boy; not as prominent as some that he had experienced, but pretty heavy for a kid still in middle school. "Actually, I take it back." Yusuke looked down at the boy in his arm. "Bet you do have demon blood."

There was no response.

After a moment, Yusuke huffed. "Now," he said, looking at the armful of kid he had in hand plus the take-out that he still hadn't delivered. "What am I suppose to do?"

xxx

Yusuke glanced back at the school window on the second floor, but of course the figure with the binoculars was no longer by the window. He tsked in annoyance, before glancing down at the boy in his arm. He supposed he could just leave him leaning against some random tree, but Yusuke's annoying conscience nagged at him. With the roll of his eyes, he hoisted the boy up to his right shoulder and kept him in place with a hand against the boy's back. Now he just needed to find a place to leave him. Maybe the infirmary?

Mind made, Yusuke began heading towards the school, only to pause when he heard a familiar noise near the school's baseball field. This sound... a fight? Curiosity peaked, Yusuke headed towards that instead and found himself guided to a smaller building near the baseball field.

The door was open and as he stuck his head in to take a look, he was greeted with the sight of a silver-boy practicing boxing. The familiar sound he heard was the sound of fist meeting punching bag.

He watched the boxing kid move for a while, noting that he was pretty good as well for a middle-schooler. Damn if Namimori/Sarayashiki didn't breed good fighters.

A slight stir from his right shoulder reminded Yusuke of the blood-thirsty kid. That's right. He needed to drop him off somewhere. Yusuke looked around and finally placed the kid down on a bench in the club room.

Yusuke turned back to the boxing ring in the middle of the room, thinking that maybe he should at least tell the boxing kid he was leaving the boy here. "Hey, kid!" he called. When there was no indication the kid heard him, he shouted louder. "Hey!"

The boxing kid's head snapped towards him, concentration finally broken, although his legs continued to bounce rhythmically. "Hey, you! Here to join the boxing club!?"

Yusuke winced at the unexpectedly loud voice of the boxing kid, before recalling the boy's question and shook his head. "No, just telling you that-"

"You're joining?!" he shouted, completely ignoring what Yusuke was saying.

Yusuke's eyebrow ticked. "Damn it! Listen, would you?!"

The boy stopped to stare at Yusuke. Something, like a little spark, was beginning to grow in his eyes.

"Erm," Yusuke said. His eyes landed on the raven-haired boy. Right... He had to tell the boxing guy about him. He was good at fighting, wasn't he? "He's joining," Yusuke said, pointing towards the unconscious boy and diverting the silver-haired boy's attention away from himself. He had a feeling it would be very troublesome if he didn't.

The boy's eyes light up. Yusuke sworn he could see more than a hint of flame in them, before the boxing guy turned to face the raven-haired kid.

"Hibari! You should have told me to the EXTREME if you wanted to join!" Yusuke heard the other boy exclaim as Yusuke slipped out of the club room. Now he was free of the boy.

Next stop, deliver the take-out. And he had a good feeling about who ordered it.

He headed towards the fourth room of the second floor as tendrils of anticipation ran through him.

xxx

He didn't bother knocking when he arrived, well aware that the other man already knew he was there the moment he stepped within the vicinity of the room. Instead he slid the door right open, revealing Reborn sitting behind a desk.

A small self-satisfied smile slid across his face as Yusuke approached him.

"Your take-out," Yusuke said, dumping said take-out on the desk.

Reborn merely hmmed, not even bother giving the food a cursory glance before fixing his gaze on Yusuke. Confident, patient, and absolutely self-assured. Reborn turned the laptop on the desk around so the screen was facing Yusuke. Yusuke gave Reborn a look, before dropping his gaze to the laptop screen, eyes quickly scanning over the multiple opened windows.

Furious eyes, albeit more controlled than Reborn would have thought of, met Reborn's as the apparent teenager finished computing the info.

"What is this?" Urameshi asked lowly, deceptively calmly in regards to the thorough report of Matsumura Ayame sitting in Reborn's laptop. "A threat?"

The look in Urameshi's eyes told Reborn all about why that would be a very, very bad idea.

Reborn smiled, adrenaline drumming pleasantly through his veins at the dangerous aura Urameshi emitted, and clasped his hands together. "A proposition," Reborn simply replied. "For her and her father's sake."

Bemusement drifted into Urameshi's brown eyes, drowning out most of the anger. It left behind a simple looking, everyday bemused teenager. "What-?" Urameshi caught himself and through gazing at Reborn, he found that Reborn meant every word that he said. "What do you mean?" Urameshi finally asked.

Reborn smiled and explained, and as he did, a similar smile appeared on Urameshi's face.

xxx

"Welcome!" a bunch of voices chorused as the door opened.

Matsumura Ayame stood shell-shocked by the door, wondering if she had accidentally entered the wrong restaurant. There was simply no way this was her family's. The restaurant was literally teeming with people and while their food certainly warrant all these customers, Ayame knew as well as her father that they had no way of hiring enough staff to carter all the patrons.

So what were all these staffs doing here...?

Ayame squinted and just why did so many teenage kids that were wearing their restaurant's staff uniform look so familiar? Come to think of it, many of the customers were teenagers too... And - Ayame blushed - was that Tokuchi Toua from Class 1-A?!

As though noticing her stare, Tokuchi languidly turned his head towards the door's direction. He gave her a cursory glance. "Hey," he said, and before Ayame could reply, a fellow classmate sitting at the same table piped up.

"Hey, Ayame, welcome back," he chirped. "You have a nice restaurant here."

"Ummm... thanks," Ayame said, trying to not feel disappointed as Tokuchi turned away. She tore her eyes from her crush to the other instead. "No offense, but what are you doing here?"

The other boy, Kenchi(?), gave her a surprise look, eyebrows shooting up. "You don't know?" he asked.

Ayame hufffed as Tokuchi scoffed. "She wouldn't ask if she knew," he commented. His eyes drifted lazily drifted to Ayame's and she fought back the heat rising to her cheeks. "The principal announced that whoever volunteers to work or eat here gets extra credit for their class," he told her.

"Wha-? But how-?"

Tokuchi gave her a nonchalant shrug. "Who knows," he said.

There was a moment of silence in their conversation and before it could turn awkward, Ayame vaguely waved her hand around. "I'll just... take a look around, then. See you later?" Ayame tried not to look at Tokuchi too hopefully.

Tokuchi gave her a brief look, before shrugging once again. "Sure," he said.

Ayame struggled to keep the silly grin off her face as she went through the restaurant in search of her father. She paused as she spotted a mob of brown in the corner of her eyes. She turned in that direction. "Dame-Tsuna?" she asked and sure enough, there was the clumsy Namimori student in their restaurant's staff wear. He was in the process of delivering a plate of food.

He better not break any dishes, Ayame thought furiously to herself and as though jinxed, Dame-Tsuna let out a small cry as he slipped on a piece of napkin lying on the ground. Ayame gasped and hurried forward, despite knowing she wouldn't make it in time. But we can't afford to replace the dishes!

"Juudaime!" a voice called and out of nowhere, the fairly new transfer student that half of the female population was sighing about (Gokudera, she recalled) was there, helping Dame-Tsuna regain his balance. But the dish he was holding slipped out of his hand and Ayame thought furiously for a second, why didn't Gokudera go for the dish?before a hand easily slipped under the airborne plate and caught it like it was all planned.

Her eyes followed the hand up to the face and ah, Yamamoto, the baseball star.

"Nice throw," Yamamoto said with a laugh, not a hair ruffled from the near miss.

"Shut up, baseball freak," Gokudera muttered, before anxiously turning to Dame-Tsuna. "Juudaime, are you alright?"

Dame-Tsuna gave Gokudera a shaky smile. "I'm fine. Thank you, Gokudera, Yamamoto."

"No problem," Yamamoto said, giving Dame-Tsuna thumbs up.

Gokudera smiled warmly at the gratitude Dame-Tsuna showed and Ayame couldn't understand why Gokudera seemed so devoted. "I'm glad I can be a help, Juudaime."

A black blur flew at Dame-Tsuna and knocked him down. "Get to work, Dame-Tsuna," a squeaky voice said. Ayame looked all around for the source of the voice, before finally thought of looking down. There, next to Dame-Tsuna, was the child Dame-Tsuna brought to their restaurant last time.

"Reborn!" Dame-Tsuna shouted and Ayame wanted to laugh at the fear she heard in his voice. How typical of Dame-Tsuna to be afraid of even a harmless baby.

She watched as Dame-Tsuna got off the floor and the teenage trio hurried off to work, before sensing a gaze on her. She looked around, before her gaze landed on the child Reborn.

"Hello," Ayame said cautiously, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive at having the child's dark gaze on her.

She felt like he was evaluating her as he silently stared at her for a second. Then, the moment passed as he let out a hm. "Your father's in the kitchen," he said, before wandering off.

Ayame was left staring after him, speechless and wondering how he knew she was looking for her father.

xxx

"Hey, Ayame, you're back," Yusuke greeted as he spotted Ayame wander pass. "You got the onions?"

Ayame's eyes snapped to Yusuke, who looked completely at ease and not one bit surprised at the help that they were receiving, and some kind of epiphany seemed to dawn. "You knew," she said softly, staring at Yusuke wide-eyed. "Did you arrange this?" she asked, referring to this extra-curricular extra credit.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow as he took the bag of onion from Ayame's hands. "You think I have that kind of connection, Ayame?"

"I don't know," Ayame admitted. "But Dad said you helped deliver the take-out to Namimori and then when you came back, you had this proposal for him."

"I wasn't the one who came up with the idea, Ayame," Yusuke said. He grinned, making him appear more boyish and less capable of accomplishments. "I'm just the messenger. Someone noticed your grades went down when your restaurant was having problems, so he suggested this to the principal. The principal thought it was a good way to help a fellow student and to motivate students to volunteer their free time, so he let us go right on with it."

Ayame's eyes drifted to the interior of the restaurant, which was brimming with staff and customers alike. "I... I haven't seen the restaurant be this busy for a long time," she finally said.

"You guys always had the capability for this," Yusuke said. "You just needed a little push."

Ayame glanced up at him. "You provided that push for us," she said, not as a question but as a statement. Before Yusuke could formulate a response, Ayame stepped up and brought her arms around him. Yusuke froze. "Thank you, Yusuke," Ayame whispered gratefully. "Thank you."

After a long moment, Yusuke leaned forward, bringing his head down to Ayame's level. "Your boyfriend's getting jealous," he said.

Ayame jumped away from Yusuke at those words, not realizing she had so promptly done so until a moment later, and blushed. She glanced in the direction of Toukichi's table and sure enough, his piercing eyes were narrowed in their direction. Ayame felt like her face was on fire.

Yusuke chuckled and flicked her forehead. "Get to work," he said, before saying in a lower voice, "he and his friends ordered that dish there. Bring it to him."

"Yusuke," Ayame called, wanting to seriously thank him again, but he was turning away.

"Hey, Tsuna," he called and Ayame just noticed that Dame-Tsuna was in the vicinity. He looked tired. "Leave that dish. Ayame will bring it."

"Yusuke-san, Ayame!" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise, as though he just noticed them.

Guilt suddenly flooded into Ayame at the memory of her previous thoughts. Tsuna was helping them out and she thought badly of him even so for nearly dropping the dish he was delivering. It wasn't like he wanted to be so clumsy. "Tsuna," Ayame said, bringing Tsuna's attention to herself. His eyes landed on her questioningly. "Thank you for helping us out."

Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's nothing, Ayame," Tsuna said, frantically waving his hand in front of him. "The work's not that hard and Reborn would have made me come anyway. I even get extra credit for helping out here and you know I need those extra points."

Ayame smiled. "Still, thank you."

Tsuna hesitantly smiled back, sheepish. "You don't need to thank me." His eyes flicked to the restaurant interior. "I should deliver this," he said.

Ayame nodded and watched Tsuna go, before heaving a sigh. "I better get to work too then."

xxx

"What do you think?" a voice asked from behind him.

Reborn didn't bother turning and instead, continued to scan the interior of the restaurant. "It worked just fine, as expected."

"Such arrogance," Urameshi remarked with a laugh, moving to stand on Reborn's right. "Just like…" Urameshi paused minutely and Reborn turned to observe him. Urameshi had the most curious expression on his countenance, a cross between reminiscence with a hint melancholy and fondness with light amusement. "This other friend of mine," Urameshi finished with a note of finality. Reborn wondered if this 'friend' of Urameshi's died.

"Hm," Reborn voiced, deciding not to press the issue.

A chuckle. Reborn glanced at Urameshi. "What?"

"Nothing," Urameshi replied, a small smile lingering on his face. "Like I said, similarity."

A lull not exactly uncomfortable settled between them.

"Hey, that reminds me," Urameshi said suddenly. "You planned that, didn't you? The bomb that silver-haired kid threw and framing me so that Hibari-kid would attack me."

"The bomb is to attract Hibari attention to the front gate," Reborn corrected, not trying to pretend the meeting between Hibari and Urameshi was a coincident. "He would have fought you regardless of whether you made the crater if he saw you on Namimori Middle school ground without permission."

"Damn," Urameshi laughed. "You planned everything, didn't you? Getting me in the school so you can see me fight and when I get to you, you can get this extra credit thing going on."

"Yes," Reborn admitted, wanting to see how Urameshi would react at being told he had just been manipulated.

Urameshi appeared oblivious to the fact or he simply didn't care, since he didn't bother to respond to the revelation. "So?" Urameshi prompted.

Reborn blinked. "What?"

"Did I pass your little assessment?" Urameshi's tone stayed light-hearted, but his eyes sharpened. "Although if you had wanted a better show, you shouldn't have chosen Hibari. Lots of potential, that one, but he has a long way to go."

"If I wanted to see your true ability, I would have gone against you myself," Reborn said. He wouldn't insult Urameshi by downplaying his abilities.

A glimmer of interest appeared in Urameshi's eyes. "Yeah?" he said, his voice a tad deeper and his gaze darker at the prospect of a fight.

There's a prowling beast, Reborn thought, hidden behind his casual façade.

"I said if," Reborn spoke, emphasizing on the last word. "I have no reason to." And although that was Reborn's own words and logic, the blood-thirsty beast within Reborn yearned to be free and test himself against Urameshi. As the strongest hitman in the world, how often did he get to have an interesting battle where he wasn't certain of the results?

Reborn longed to see if Urameshi was as great of an opponent as his instincts was telling him he was.

At Reborn's words, the predatory aura was reigned in slightly, although not without some effort. "Pity," Urameshi said, looking away. He glanced back at Reborn after a second. "It would be interesting."

"The collateral damage wouldn't be worth it," Reborn said, although he inwardly agreed with Urameshi.

Urameshi blinked at Reborn's words, before his eyes were darkened by the same pain that Reborn caught a glimpse of last time. "Yeah," Urameshi agreed, a grimace twisting his mouth. His eyes held a far away look, tinted with longing. "I guess that's true."

xxx

I transferred the rest of the payment to your account. There's another person I want you to gather information on. - R

Alright. You know the rules. Half of the usual payment up front and then any additional payment depending on the difficulty of the task. - V

I see you already sent me the first half of the payment. Who's information are you interested in? - V

Urameshi Yusuke. Give me all the information that you can find on him. - R

There was a long pause between the next text. Reborn wasn't too bothered. While Viper normally respond promptly at the prospect of earning more money, he could simply be searching for Urameshi's information. Reborn doubted it would be so easy for Viper, however, when Reborn had also tried and only found the barest information after long research. It was as though Urameshi Yusuke didn't exist.

A noise came from Reborn's phone and his eyes narrowed. That was the sound indicating a change had occurred to Reborn's personal bank account. Few people should know of it, however, since it was under an alias.

Reborn turned on his phone to take a look and blinked when he saw the number figure increased. His phone vibrated then, indicating he received a text.

I'm afraid I can't accept this job. Here's the money that you've sent me. - V

Viper, a man so keen on money, refusing a job? Especially when he knew Reborn always paid well?

Don't ask why. I won't tell. - V

What was inspiring Viper to refuse the job? Loyalty? Reborn doubted Viper was loyal to anyone, except to a minor degree, maybe Xanxus. But the possible Vongola candidate was entrapped in the Ninth's Zero Point Breakthrough. Fear, perhaps? If so, Urameshi may be a more dangerous man than Reborn had initially thought, despite his mostly innocuous appearance.

Either way, this left a lot for Reborn to think about.

Chapter Text

Hayato quietly wiped the glass with a thin towel, thankful tonight was a slow night. Not many customers and not much to do, unlike some days which would leave him so exhausted that he would sleep in class. Juudaime always looked nervous for Hayato's sake whenever that happened.

The bar's door opened with a soft click, breaking Hayato's train of thought. A vaguely familiar man stepped in.

Surprise swept across his countenance when his eyes landed on Hayato behind the counter. Hayato bristled defensively, even though the patron's reaction was completely understandable. Not only did Hayato look underage, he was young. The man couldn't have known that Hayato had experience with bartending.

The other man ambled towards Hayato's direction, taking a seat directly across him. Up close, Hayato could see why the man looked familiar. This was the man Reborn-san told him to throw a bomb near when he saw him by the school entrance. He also worked at the restaurant that Juudaime was volunteering at for extra credit, along with the baseball freak and Hayato himself.

"Aren't you too young to be working here?" the man said as soon as he was seated. He raised an eyebrow at him and Hayato scowled.

"Mind your own business," Hayto sneered. "What I do is none of your business."

"Wow, look who got off the wrong side of the bed," the man commented. As though recognizing Hayato was on the verge of bursting (and here he thought he would have a peaceful evening), the man quickly changed the topic, although an amused look was still on his face. Hayato longed to punch that look off; the man was rubbing him wrong in every way, and they've only interacted for a few minutes. "Make me something."

"What?" Hayato snapped, his patience running thin. Vague bastard.

"Anything," the man said, spreading his arms. "Anything."

Hayato stalked away, feeling inexplicably annoyed. For a moment, he considered making him the strongest drink they have so he would get plastered, but then the logical side of him kicked in. Hayato didn't want to cause any trouble for the owner of the bar, not after he allowed Hayato to work here despite being underage.

In the end, he made a semi-expensive drink for the man instead. The man would certainly have enough on him to pay for it, but he wouldn't be happy to pay so much for such a small drink.

Hayato scoffed as he watched the man drink. He pitied those who always looked at the quantity to see if it was worth the cost. To Hayato, it was always quality over quantity. After all, someone could have a houseful of shit and it wouldn't be anything compared to a handful of gold.

"Hey," the man called, drawing Hayato's attention to himself.

"What?" Hayato snapped.

"This is pretty good," he commented. Hayato stared, because he couldn't remember the last time someone complimented him. "Give me another one, kid."

Hayato snapped out of his stupor. "I'm not a kid," he hissed. "And of course it's good. I made it and it's expensive. Can you even afford another one?"

He asked about the price and Hayato told him. If Hayato wanted to see the man's eyes bulge out and stare at the drink he had drank, unable to believe how expensive it was, Hayato would have been disappointed. The man raised his eyebrows once again, before waving off the price.

"It's fine," he said. "Get me another one. I haven't splurged for a while."

"You better have enough to pay later," Hayato warned, before going to prepare another one.

The man smirked. "Don't underestimate me, kid."

"It's Gokudera," Hayato snapped. "Stop 'kid'ing me."

"Sure, Gokudera," he said, and all of a sudden, Hayato regretted giving the man his name. He flashed a smile at him. "Name's Yusuke."

Xxx

"Stop following me," Hayato hissed minutes after his shift ended and he was heading home. "Don't you have anywhere else to be?"

"Nope," Yusuke answered, both hands folded casually behind his neck. "You, on the other hand, do."

"Piss off," Hayato snarled. "What I do is none of your business."

"Look, I'm not really getting all in-your-face, am I?" Yusuke said reasonably. "You're the only one who is so bothered. I'm not giving you shit about your job or even asking why you need one in the first place, like a responsible adult should be doing. I just wanna make sure you get home safely."

Hayato looked at Yusuke, recognizing the sincerity in his voice. "This isn't the first time I walked home at 11," he said, calming down a little but still not willing to back down. "And I'm not someone whose virtue needs protecting. You following me are completely unnecessary."

"You're still a kid," Yusuke pointed out and annoyance within Hayato flared up again. "Just let me walk you home for the sake of my peace of mind, alright?"

"Do whatever you want," Hayato hissed, tired of fruitlessly trying to change a stubborn bastard's mind. A thought occurred to him and he whirled around. "You better not speak of this to anyone."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"My working at a bar," Hayato said. "I don't want Juudaime to worry and I certainly don't want anyone's pity."

Yusuke shrugged. "Sure," he said. "Wasn't gonna tell anyone anyway."

Hayato leveled a gaze at him for a moment, before nodding curtly.

They ambled silently along for a few minutes, before a loud scream rang out. Hayato started, a testament of how much he let his guard down after Yusuke declared he only wanted to make sure he got home safely. Hayato inwardly sneered at his own weakness, jaded mind knowing better than to trust anyone other than himself, before moving towards the scream.

He wasn't anyone's hero, but that didn't mean he wouldn't help someone in need.

Hayato sensed a presence following closely to him and a glance to the right revealed it to be Yusuke. "Leave, you'll just get in the way," Hayato told him, but before Yusuke could reply, he spotted two figures in the alleyway.

Two figures on the ground, one on top of another and the one against the ground was struggling. It wasn't hard to see what was up.

"The fuck are you doing?" Hayato shouted anyway, rushing towards the two.

The figure on the top flinched and looked up. At the sight of Hayato approaching, he scrambled up, the object in his hand glistening in the dark. It was a knife.

The man took one look at Hayato's enrage face and hightailed towards the other opening of the alley.

"Oh no, you don't," Hayato said, quickly whipping out his dynamites. He sent four after the man and booms soon followed. Hayato rushed forward, diverting his eyes and passing the woman on the ground in favor of securing the rapist. Hayato didn't want to think about how he would deal with her later.

"You sick bastard," Hayato growled, pressing a knee against the battered up man and twisting his arm back painfully. The man cried.

"Let me go!" the man shouted. Hayato grabbed the man by his hair and viciously slammed his head against the ground.

"Shut the fuck up," Hayato hissed. In the background, he could hear soft sobs, followed by a low reassuring voice. Yusuke.

Hayato turned and saw Yusuke by the woman's side, looking uncomfortable with the situation and trying to calm the woman down. He was holding out his outerwear to the woman.

When the woman made no move to take it, Yusuke reached out and the woman flinched. Her whole body began shaking and sobs could be heard from her. Yusuke carefully draped the outerwear on top of her, his hand never once making contact.

Yusuke glanced down the alleyway and his eyes met Hayato's. Leaving the woman to herself, Yusuke moved towards Hayato. He bent down to Hayato's level as soon as they were in speaking range, his eyes flicking briefly to the rapist.

"You should go, Gokudera," Yusuke spoke lowly, probably so the rapist wouldn't hear.

"What-!"

Yusuke silenced him with a sharp look and Hayato instantly quiet down without really meaning to. "You're underage," Yusuke said. "It'll be fishy for you to be found around here."

'What does that have to do with anything?' Hayato wanted to asked, except between putting more weight on the rapist to stop him from attempting to buckle Hayato off and talking to Yusuke, Hayato's brain finally worked it out.

Hayato was underage. It was late right now. He had no reason to be out here and had no reason to have come across the scene, except he did have a reason. He was working. Underage. At a bar.

There was no way the police wasn't going to ask about that.

Hayato glanced back at the sobbing woman. "What about her?" he asked.

"I think you came in time," Yusuke said solemnly. "Besides some bruises and scratches, she doesn't seem to be hurt." He paused. "Well, that and she was almost raped, so there is some shock involved."

Hayato nodded, thinking over his options. He really should go. There was nothing else he could do here. Except…

"I'll take care of the rest," Yusuke said. "Go home and get some sleep. You have school tomorrow, don't you?"

Hayato nodded affirmative. "But can you handle this?" Hayato asked, sharp eyes looking over Yusuke. "I didn't capture this guy just to let you accidentally let him go."

Yusuke huffed. "Have more faith. I'm stronger than you think. I can keep him in place for a few minutes to wait for the police to arrive."

But despite hearing the confidence in Uramehsi's voice, Hayato still hesitated. His gaze went back to the woman, feeling as though he should be able to do something for her. Yusuke's gaze followed his.

"You can't do anything to help her now," Yusuke said lowly. Hayato knew that was true. He wasn't a doctor, nor was he a psychologist. There was nothing else he could do there.

Mind made, Hayato gestured for Yusuke to take his place and Yusuke did. "I'll call the police with the nearest payphone," Hayato said, eyes darkening with anger as he gaze landed on the attempt-rapist. "They shouldn't take long, so make sure he doesn't escape until they arrive."

Yusuke rolled his eyes, which was entirely inappropriate for the situation. "Yes, mom. Now go."

Hayato nodded stiffly and went.

Yusuke watched him go, before bringing his attention to the attempt-rapist. He yanked his head up, watching impassively as the man choked. "I'm going to let you up, you hear me?" Yusuke asked lowly. The man nodded quickly, jerkily. "Don't think about running. I promise you you won't get far."

Yusuke didn't wait for the man's reply before tugging the man up. Then, he let go of the man and jumped two steps back. Predictably, the rapist tried to run.

Yusuke sighed mockingly, almost mournfully. "Don't you know not to run in face of a hound?" Yusuke said softly, shaking his head mockingly. His eyes flashed dangerously and in a second, he was in front of the running man. The rapist let out a cry, eyes widening to the point of bulging. "It makes them want to give a chase."

Yusuke's hand slammed into the other man's stomach and he was sent flying down the alleyway. Yusuke followed, slowly and lazily, prowling his way to the other man.

The rapist let out a whimper as Yusuke's shadow fell on him. "Please," the man begged, practically choking his words out through his cloud of pain.

"That's not for me to decide, I'm 'fraid," Yusuke drawled and the rapist let out another whimper when he heard not a hint of mercy in his voice. "Get up," Yusuke ordered.

The man sobbed and curled up on the floor. In the back of his mind, Yusuke noted there was only one sound of sobbing now. Yusuke looked down at the man. "Not gonna move?" Yusuke asked.

The man resolutely attempted to ignore Yusuke now that he knew begging clearly wasn't going to work.

Yusuke gave the man another second, but when he didn't respond, Yusuke brought his feet up and stomped down.

"Arg!" the man cried and Yusuke slowly lowered himself down to the man' level.

"How about now?" he asked, putting more pressure on his feet. The man let out a strangled cry. "Either you move or I'll move you and trust me," Yusuke said lowly, "you wouldn't want the second option."

"I'll…" the man out got.

"You'll move?" Yusuke asked. A smile so at odds with the current situation spread across his face. "Brilliant."

He stood, deliberately stepping on the man a moment longer than necessary, before getting off. The man immediately staggered up, although with great difficulty. Yusuke jerked his head to the woman's direction. "Walk."

The man walked, fearfully and slowly as though to his own execution. Yusuke could see the woman finally stopped crying and was then watching them wide-eyed. She shook as they approached, her eyes darting between Yusuke and the rapist. Like she didn't know who was the bad guy anymore. Her eyes lingered on the rapist, eyes wide like she couldn't believe minutes ago that was the same man who had so much power over her. Now he was just a sniveling man.

"On your knee and apologize," Yusuke hissed. The man dropped on his knees and did as he was told. The woman continued to stare at the man for a long while, before slowly moving her gaze to Yusuke. Yusuke bent down to her level and the woman drew back. Yusuke didn't let it bother him and softened his voice. "What do you want to be done with him?" he asked.

The woman stared at him, like she couldn't believe he was giving her a choice. The man's head shot up, staring between Yusuke and the woman. "I…" she said, her voice cracking.

"I can kill him right now," Yusuke said softly. "Just say the words and this man who had attempted to hurt you would be dead," he said, his voice hypnotic. "Would you like that?"

The rapist let out a choke at those words, able to tell from Yusuke's expression that he was deadly serious, and turned to face the woman. "I'm sorry!" the man cried, slamming his forehead against the ground. "I promise I won't have force myself on anyone ever again. Please, don't kill me," he begged, tears streaming down his face. "I don't want to die."

"You want him dead, don't you?" Yusuke continued. "For daring to cause you so much harm and fear. For making you feel powerless. You want him to feel the same."

The woman's eyes widened with every word Yusuke said, as though drawn by his words. Her breaths started to come shorter.

"Please!" the man begged and the woman started, eyes dropping to the man who was in front of her and on his knees. Broken and begging.

The woman bit her lips.

"I can do that for you," Yusuke continued and the woman's eyes naturally drew to him. "Would you want that?" he asked. "If you say yes, you might feel better." Yusuke waited for that to compute, before continuing. "And that would irrevocably change you forever."

Both of them, rapist and his almost victim, was staring at him then.

"His blood would be on my hand," Yusuke said, "but the stain of it would be on your soul. Remember, you're the one with the choice. Whatever you choose, it'll be on your conscious. So I ask again, what do you want to happen to him?"

The woman's eyes flicked to the man in front of her, someone who almost raped her. She didn't know how she found the strength to stare at him without flinching, but she did. With the man who saved her beside her and promising to execute whatever choice she chose, she felt empowered.

Her eyes flicked away to the man who saved her. But his voice echoed in her mind and she knew she couldn't do it. "Please… call the police," she finally said. "Let the law decide what to do with him."

"Are you sure?" Yusuke asked, even as his enhanced ears prickled. Softly wailing in the distance but quickly approaching their spot was the police siren. Gokudera and the police force of Namimori was fast. He brought his attention back to the woman, just in time to see her nod with her head ducked down.

"Look at me, girl," he said, and despite the fact that 'woman' would probably be a better description, she looked up. "Realize that you chose this, okay? Whatever the law decide for him, it'll also be what you decided because you chose the law. You'll remember this day, sometime later, and remember what happened. When that happens, also remember that here, at this moment, you are the one with the power. Don't wallow in self-pity; don't say you didn't have a choice in the matter. Do that for me, would you?"

The woman nodded, her gesture more firm. "Okay."

Yusuke turned to the other man and he flinched.  "I'm not even going to say how messed up raping someone is," Yusuke said. "I really hope you know that. Maybe it's the rush of power, maybe it's something else, I don't give a damn. Remember my punch, remember your powerlessness and the moment when you thought I was going to kill you. Remember that and fix yourself up. In the moments that you thought were your last, what were you thinking about?"

The man opened his mouth to speak, but Yusuke shook his head. "No, don't tell me something that personal. Just know for yourself. This is a lesson learned but you need to pay for your crime." The sound of the police siren could be heard then, even by normal human ears. "The police is here now. What will you do?"

The man swallowed and turned to the woman. "I… I am really sorry," he told her. The man turned to Yusuke. "I'll go."

Yusuke nodded in acknowledgement and together, all three of them stepped out of the alley way and into the light. The police spotted them a few moments later and they were all brought to the station.

Xxx

Saitou Hisano gazed through the one-way mirror with her arms crossed, considering. A strange case had come in, more intriguing than the ones that normally come across her desk. Actually, little to no cases came across her desk anymore, ever since the upstart Hibari Kyoya began taking justice into his own hands.

While she didn't approve beating up all common criminals, she had to admit his ways were rather effective. Most criminals were too cowed by the middle schooler to dare do anything in Namimori, since Hibari Kyoya had long declared it his territory.

Hence her surprise when she received a call about a near victim of rape. She was all ready to go out in search of the rapist, woman naturally on woman's side, only to find out the rapist also was brought in. Both victim and rapist were unusually calm, as though they had somehow attained nirvana. More curious was the man who had apparently saved the victim and subdued the rapist.

Twenty-one years old Sasaki Aoi [1]. He didn't look like much, yet the way both the victim and the rapist looked at him declared he was some kind of leader. Which led to the question of whether this 'crime' was actually a very elaborated prank.

Except specialist told her that when the victim and the rapist gave their story, both were truthful. The victim showed signs of the usual jitteriness that came from being a victim of some kind of crime, and the rapist admitted to have attempted to commit the crime and showed signs of remorse.

Very, very strange. In addition, both of them hesitated when it came to talking about how Sasaki Aoi entered the picture. Both became extremely vague and their eyes began to dart away. They were hiding something for Sasaki's sake and for heaven's sake, Hisano couldn't figure out what or why.

Oh, she knew it probably had something to do with the incredible amount of injures the rapist sustained, but when asked about it, the rapist seemed reluctant to admit it came from Sasaki. More strange was his refusal to press charges. How curious.

"I'm going in," Hisano announced. "It's about time we ask for his side of the story."

"Actually, if you would please wait," a voice called out.

Hisano turned and found herself facing a small figure. He was dressed impeccably and smartly, and in his hand was a lawyer case. Her eyes, however, was drawn to the mustache between his nose and his upper lip. That mustache! Her eyes darted to the side of his face, and omg, yes! Sideburns!

"You're Berorn!" she exclaimed, nearly squealing. Berorn turned to face her and nodded. "Oh my god, I'm a fan of yours, Lawyer Berorn. The way you fight cases so analytically, and present points that no one ever thinks of, in addition to brilliantly piecing together and unearthing the truth… You prove those who we thought are innocent guilty and vice versa. It's such an honor to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Officer Saitou," Berorn said, his voice smooth and suave.

Hisano nearly swooned, but quickly collected herself with a cough. "What are you doing here, Berorn? Surely no case in this area is worthy of your interest."

"Actually," Berorn said, "I'm here for Sasaki Aoi."

At the sound of their mysterious witness's name, Hisano paused in her fan-girling. "Sasaki Aoi you say?" she said slowly.

"Yes," Berorn drawled. "Your superior has already given a go-ahead for his release, so if you would please."

"But," she said, eyes darting to her superior whom she had embarrassingly overlooked in face of Berorn. "This isn't the usual procedure…"

"Miss Hisano," Berorn said slowly, "the victim is here and the perpetrator has been captured. He had already admitted to his crime, so why keep a helpful man in an interrogating cell overnight? Is this what a civilian who has kindly and bravely stopped a crime deserve?"

When put that way, Hisano could scarcely remember why she wanted to keep Sasaki in the cell. Except… "Something's not right here," she started.

Her superior cut her off. "Officer Hisano, release the witness." His eyes met hers, smoldering her protest. "This is an order."

Hisano snapped her mouth close. Her eyes darted from Berorn to her superior, lips pressed tight together for a moment, holding back what wanted to burst out. Finally, she managed to force out what they wanted to hear. "Understood."

Xxx

"Finally," Yusuke said, turning to face the door as it opened. "I was beginning to think you guys forgot about me."

Yusuke's eyes flicked to the person who stepped in and whistled. A woman as a cop. How rare. "So?" he demanded, leaning back against his chair with his legs swung up onto the table. "What do you wanna know?"

The cop narrowed her eyes at him, before taking a deep breath and said, "You may go now, Sasaki-san. Thank you for your corporation."

Yusuke blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I've already taken care of the paperwork, Mr. Sasaki. We can go now," a voice said, stepping into the room. Yusuke's eyes automatically drifted down and his eyebrow shot up.

The Sun Arcobaleno, playing cosplay with a fake mustache.

"Arcobaleno, what are you doing here?" Yusuke asked.

Reborn blinked innocently at him.

"Arcobaleno?" the cop spoke up. She looked around. "Who's that? We only have Lawyer Berorn, you and myself here."

Yusuke could feel his eye twitched as he looked at Reborn. "Lawyer Berorn… is it?"

"Mr. Sasaki, let's talk outside, shall we?" 'Berorn' commented. His eyes glistened. "I doubt you would like to stay here all night."

Yusuke felt his lips twitch. Was that a threat to leave Yusuke here?

"Fine," Yusuke said, pushing himself off his chair. He stood. "Let's go then, should we?"

Xxx

The walk to Yusuke's place was quiet, with neither men speaking. It was only when Yusuke was taking his keys out of his pocket, the keys jingling loudly against each other, that Reborn bothered to say anything.

"You live here," Reborn stated. Yusuke nearly snorted. Of course the Arcobaleno would make a question seem like a statement.

"Yeah," Yusuke said, twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open. "Where do you think I live? Besides," Yusuke continued, not waiting for Reborn's reply, "Sasaki Aoi. I'm pretty sure you searched me up by now, right?"

Reborn didn't bother replying and instead, stepped into the room ahead of Yusuke. Yusuke rolled his eyes and followed, reaching out to flick the lights on. "Yes, yes, go right on ahead and make yourself home," Yusuke sarcastically said.

Reborn felt his lips twitch, since he had already invited himself into the apartment. As Urameshi went off to the side to fix them some tea ("since I'm a good host," Urameshi said, combined with a pointed look at Reborn that implied 'and you're not a good guest since you invited yourself in'), Reborn took the opportunity to look around the apartment. He was curious about what kind of place Urameshi lived in.

Initially, he had found that Urameshi lived at this address, but the atmosphere around the area was so at odds with Urameshi himself that Reborn dismissed the address as a random one that Urameshi wrote down on record.

Apparently not, Reborn thought, glancing around the apartment. He should really be calling it a room instead, because that was what it essentially was. He could see practically everything with one glance.

The apartment was really just one huge span of area with all the usual rooms combined into one. The bed could be seen pushed back against the wall once they step in through the door and to the left was the stove. There was a refrigerator to the right of the stove and on the left was the sink. Under the sink was a small pull-out section for holding utensils. Windows were built along the top section of the wall, and in the middle of the apartment was a low table meant to be used when sitting on the ground. There was a line of hangers stuck in the wall on the right of the room, but otherwise, it was empty. All in all, it looked desolated and impersonal.

"These furnitures came with the room, didn't they?" Reborn said as he settled himself in front of the mini-table.

Urameshi blinked as he walked towards him with two steaming cups in hand. He handed Reborn one as he took a seat across from Reborn.

Reborn inhaled, and he could already tell from the aroma that the tea leaves were of high quality.

"What gave it away?" he asked, casually crossing his legs.

Reborn's eyes flicked up to him. "Your furnitures all match the apartment," Reborn commented, "and there's nothing more than the bare necessity in the room. You're not planning on staying here."

Urameshi shrugged and took a sip of his tea. "Not sure," he replied. "I haven't really decided yet."

Reborn studied Urameshi, trying to pick him apart. Urameshi looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"What's your motive here, Urameshi?" Reborn questioned, almost to himself.

Urameshi started, spilling some steaming tea on his own hand, and Reborn blinked at the reaction. "Fuck," Urameshi hissed, quickly putting down the cup on the desk. He pressed the burnt part of his skin against his mouth.

Meanwhile, Reborn was trying to decipher what prompted Urameshi's startled reaction. It couldn't have been Reborn's question. He had more or less been questioning Urameshi about his motive and identity ever since they've met. So just had alarmed Urameshi?

Reborn's mind quickly shuffled through their conversations, before finally coming to one difference in this conversation that had never really came up in their other interactions. "Urameshi," Reborn said experimentally, and Urameshi's head shot up.

Interesting. So it was his surname that Urameshi was responding to.

Urameshi dropped his hand from his mouth. "Don't call me that," Urameshi said with a scowl, as soon as he realized he reacted so promptly to his surname.

"The reason being…?" Reborn questioned, dark eyes gazing unerringly at Urameshi for a response. "You gave me that name yourself, at the arcade."

Urameshi's mouth tightened for a moment, before he finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You know what, never mind," Urameshi said dismissively. "Just call me Yusuke and be done with it."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Do you not mind me calling you by your first name?" Reborn asked, despite knowing he was being repetitive. But he wanted to be certain. He knew in Japanese culture, calling someone by their first name indicate closeness, and he was almost certain that Urameshi Yusuke was Japanese. Reborn and Urameshi himself also weren't exactly what people would consider close.

Urameshi rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be telling you to call me Yusuke if I mind, would I?" he said. "Besides," he added, picking up his cup of tea again, "practically everyone call me by my first name."

Reborn thought back to Urameshi's interactions with others and yes, most people who interacted with him did call Urameshi by his first name. Reborn wondered how he didn't notice, although in his defense, Italians didn't put as much emphasis on the implication behind the first name basis as Japaneses.

"Why would I change how I call you?" Reborn said carefully, "especially when it hardly matters to me what I call you by."

There was a pause, before Urameshi sighed. "Fine, fine," Urameshi said and for a second, Reborn thought he was just going to let the subject go. "One question," he negotiated.

Reborn inwardly smirked, while outwardly grasping at the opportunity presented to him. There was a glaring question that had been bothering him ever since he arranged the extra-credit assignment at the girl's restaurant. "What does the name Mammon mean to you?" he asked, referring Viper by his widely known assassin name.

Reborn observed Urameshi, watching him as his eyebrows scrunched up. "Mammon?" he asked, sounding somewhat bemused. "The assassin/informant?"

A hint of excitement went through Reborn at Yusuke's reply. So he did know Mammon.

"What is your connection?" Reborn prompted.

Urameshi raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. "Connection? Not much, really," he replied. "I've heard of him before, of course, but it's not like I've ever met him."

Truth, Reborn decided, noting Urameshi showed no signs of lying.

Reborn inwardly let out a sigh, feeling slightly disappointed. If Urameshi didn't know Viper/Mammon, then just was their relationship? Why had Viper refused to give Reborn information about him, and even refused to say the reason behind his decision? He briefly wondered if he should have asked another question, such as one about Urameshi's identity or past, but discarded the ideas as soon as they came. That would take away most of the fun of the game.

"A deal's a deal," Urameshi said, as though able to read his thought. Reborn's mouth quirked at the thought. The idea of that was vaguely amusing, considering the fact that Tsuna always accused him of a mind reader.

"Yusuke," Reborn said aloud, just to make a point. He watched as Urameshi's lips quirked up.

"Berorn," Urameshi quipped back. "Mmm, I wonder who's that," he said, looking pointedly at Reborn.

Reborn's lips twitched. "Surely I can be more than just a hitman."

Urameshi rolled his eyes. "Lawyer," Urameshi stated. "Fine. Get your mafioso friend outta jail in case they slip up or anything. I get it. What I don't get is how the cop didn't find you fishy."

Reborn's eyebrow deliberately went up a notch, although he had an idea of where Urameshi was heading with the line of questioning. "Elaborate," Reborn ordered.

"You're a goddamn kid," Urameshi stressed. "How the fuck do you convince them that you were Berorn?"

Reborn struggled not to laugh. There was something amusing about how Urameshi appeared to be so fixed on that. "Simple," he said, outwardly remaining calm. "Aura and composure. People rarely see more than what we project."

"Your whole body is literally around the size of someone's head," Urameshi deadpanned. "Don't people find it fishy when they realize the Great Berorn Lawyer is beheaded?"

Despite Reborn's intention, he laughed at Urameshi's description. "Beheaded?" he commented. He didn't wait for Urameshi's response before continuing on. "But no," he said, "it's what I mentioned before and I have great cosplay skills. I've long been introduced as Berorn the successful lawyer with that set of costume, so when I wear it…"

"People automatically see Berorn the Lawyer," Urameshi finished.

Reborn nodded approvingly. "Exactly."

"Damn," Urameshi said. He laughed. "Should I say cool or should I say creepy?" He paused. "Actually, let's call it cool. It did get me away from the police, after all."

Reborn quirked an eyebrow. "You were the one who told Gokudera to call them," he pointed out.

Urameshi shrugged. "Doesn't mean I wanna be there," he said. "How did you know anyway?"

"What do you think?" Reborn asked. He wanted to see how much Urameshi knew.

Urameshi hmmed. "You were watching Gokudera and were alerted when he came across the rapist. You came to get me when you saw I got him away but got stuck with the police myself."

Exactly, Reborn thought.

"What makes you think so?" Reborn asked aloud. Did Urameshi have a network?

Urameshi shrugged. "I dunno. You just seem like the kind of person who keeps track of everything. Since Gokudera is part of Tsuna's family and Tsuna is your charge…" Urameshi shrugged again. "Makes sense that you keep an eye on Gokudera. Since you and I both know that Gokudera would have been in trouble if he was found with the police, you technically owe me for telling him to go home first. To even out the debt, you came to get me from the police."

"You knew I was going to come get you," Reborn stated.

Urameshi looked at Reborn. "Honestly, no. I would of gotten away either way if you didn't come get me, since they got nothing on me, so I wasn't exactly waiting for you. All of that stuff I just told you" – Urameshi grinned boyishly – "a hunch after the deeds are done."

"A hunch," Reborn repeated. "You deduced all of that based on a hunch?"

Urameshi shrugged nonchalantly again. "Sure, why not? Saved me dozens of times, ya know."

And somehow Reborn knew that although anyone may claim their instincts have helped them in their lifetime, perhaps only Urameshi Yusuke could ever say to have received that much info from just instincts alone.

Chapter Text

"Prince-ling, I'm here. What do you want, calling me after hundreds years of silence?" Yusuke called, stepping into Reikai. Despite his words, rare warmth was heard in Yusuke's words.

There was no answer.

"Hello, anyone home?" Yusuke shouted, eyes darting around. But there was no one in sight. Yusuke scratched his head, a little bemused. "What's with this hide-and-seek, Pacifier Breath?"

Yusuke waited for someone to pop up, but still there was only silence. Finally, Yusuke sighed and extended his Spirit Energy, seeking for the aura of the Reikai prince. It had been a while since he had last felt it, but Yusuke was pretty sure that he would still recognize it.

Yusuke frowned when he sensed a strange energy deeper down the hall but nothing else. "What's going on?" Yusuke wondered aloud, before heading down the hall to investigate.

As Yusuke closed the distance and stepped into the open space beyond the hallway, the floor glowed, emitting red light. Yusuke's eyes widened as he looked down and upon seeing the arrays of seals inscribed on the ground, he attempted to step away, only to find himself stuck.

"What the…?"

At that moment, the strangest feeling overcame him. It was a light nudge from all sides at first, until the nudge became a push and the push became a shove. And then the shoves were coming from all directions, trying to squish Yusuke into something much tinier than he was. Yusuke gasped, feeling his massive spirit and demon energy slowly conforming to a ball at the shoves.

"Fuck," Yusuke gasped, wounding an arm around himself as he was forced down to one knee from the pain. Yusuke clenched his teeth to keep himself from crying out and instead urged his energies to push back. It worked for a second, until the arrays glowed brighter and began to lift off the ground, wrapping firmly around Yusuke and pushing and suddenly, the shoving redoubled its force.

"What-?"

"Demon, you might as well give up," a voice called out. Yusuke looked up through sheer will and saw someone he'd never thought he would see again.

"Koenma's dad," Yusuke identified through his haze of pain.

Anger crossed the god's face. "It's King Emma, boy," he stated. "You'll do well to remember that." A smirk crossed his face as he calmed down. "Not that it'll matter in the future, I suppose. After all, soon, you will cease to exist."

Yusuke couldn't hear any of that, could scarcely care. There was only one thing he wanted to know. "Koenma told you to do this?" Yusuke asked, sharp eyes staying on Emma's face. He didn't let any inflection enter his voice.

"Koenma, my foolish son?" Emma said. "No. Even after becoming the Ruler of Reikai, he is still as foolish as ever. He begged me to not go through with this plan, saying you have no malicious intention towards anyone. Granted he had done a pretty good job governing the worlds, but heavens, he is still so naïve. How could he trust a demon's intention, much less than one with the abilities to destroy the world with a little more than the flick of his finger? You were fortunate this hadn't been done before, protected by my son as you were, but the second I was released from my imprisonment," he spat, "I suggested eliminating you. So many of the council members agreed and my poor son, who had always somehow managed to hold them back, was outvoted this once. My status among the council's eyes would greatly elevate after this." Emma's gaze flicked to him. "Don't curse or hold a grudge against me, demon. Be grateful that my son allowed you to live this long."

Yusuke forced himself to yawn through his discomfort, satisfaction coursing through him at the flash of anger in Emma's eyes. "How boring," Yusuke commented. "Why do all villains have to spend time explaining their dastardly plan?"

"Villain!" Emma exploded, face turning red. "You-!"

"Me," Yusuke nodded, slowly forcing himself up. Emma drew back despite himself, shock flashing across his face. A moment later, he recovered his calm.

"Try harming me, demon," Emma said smugly. "I promise you you won't be able to. I've had my people spend centuries preparing this seal before I presented my plan. It's flawless."

Yusuke howled and brought his hand up to his standard Spirit Gun pose. He shot two burst of energy towards Emma, knowing before they even left him that they were much, much weaker than he was capable of. The fucking arrayed seal…

The energy shot towards Emma, homing closer and closer to him before they shot right into an invisible wall. Yusuke hadn't felt the urge to kill someone in years until Emma's ugly smug face.

"Goodbye, demon," Emma said, before he lifted a hand, "and eliminate your presence from this world."

Yusuke watched in horror as his body slowly… disappeared. Like a bad software with glitch, tiny squares just started parting from his body and disappearing, leaving a chunk of his arm missing and still counting. Worse part was that Yusuke couldn't feel any pain. It was like a fucking dream.

"Father!" a voice called out, startling Yusuke out of his shock. He glanced over to the right to see Koenma hurrying towards them, in his teenage form and sweat dripping down his skin. His eyes widened when he saw Yusuke disappearing. "No…" Koenma said in disbelief. "Yusuke!"

Koenma lifted his hand and the air froze for a moment. Then, particles that disappeared slowly came back, attaching themselves to Yusuke again.

"Koenma, stop this foolishness right this instant," Emma growled. "I have yet to talk to you about letting this demon roam free on Earth all these years yet. Step back and let me eliminate him."

"No," Koenma replied, his voice hard. "I'm the Ruler of Reikai now. Step back, Lord Emma."

Emma froze in disbelief for a second, enabling Koenma to take that time and rebuild Yusuke's forearm. Just as Yusuke's hand was about to come back to him, it was stopped once more. Yusuke was beginning to feel like some kind of being made from Lego pieces.

"My own son pulling rank on me," Emma hissed. Koenma flinched and Yusuke lost a section of his wrist.

"Father," Koenma called, faltering.

"Don't call me father," Emma shouted. "I don't have a son the moment you went against me and imprisoned me for some demons."

"You were brainwashing them!" Koenma exclaimed.

"Reikai is justice and demons are evil," Emma said. "It has always been that way."

"Humans and demons are coexisting now," Koenma exclaimed. "They have been for centuries!"

"I acknowledge your rule is effective but keeping this demon alive is a mistake. Eventually, he would destroy the world." Yusuke lost half of his forearm.

"You don't know that," Koenma replied, frustration in his voice. "Why won't you give him a chance?"

"Yeah, why won't you give me a chance?" Yusuke asked, no longer frightened by him disappearing but rather a little bored by the father-and-son-dispute.

"SILENCE!" Emma exclaimed and Yusuke lost his whole right arm in one go. "Give him a chance? To do what?!" he said, apparently ignoring Yusuke in favor of addressing his son. "To destroy the worlds?!"

"If I wanted to destroy the world," Yusuke droned, "wouldn't I have done it by now?"

Emma's face turned red. "I said SILENCE!" he exclaimed. "I'll end this for once and for all and there'll be no more taking chances with the worlds."

And with those words, Yusuke lost a chunk of his right shoulder as well. Yusuke looked at the empty spot where his shoulder once was for a long moment, before sighing exaggeratedly. Finally, he turned to face Koenma.

"Koenma," Yusuke said, addressing the Ruler of Reikai for the first time in hundreds of years. Koenma's eyes went to Yusuke. "Let go."

Koenma looked blankly at Yusuke, uncomprehending for several of moments. By then, Yusuke began to lose some of his leg as well. Yusuke looked at the blank spot where his leg was and jumped experimentally.

"Funny how I don't actually feel like I've lost a leg or anything," Yusuke commented. "I mean, it's not like my balance sudden becomes off or anything…"

"Yusuke," Koenma said shaking-ly. Despite the genuine fear (for Yusuke) in Koenma's voice, there was incredulous, fond exasperation as well. Koemna sounded like he was struggling not to do the cross-between-laughing-and-crying routine. "This is no joking matter."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and gave Koenma a look. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No," Koenma exclaimed, sudden and heatedly, "and that's what frightens me. Where is the Yusuke that would fight the journey to death with tooth and nails? Where has that Yusuke have gone?!"

At those words, age slowly settled into Yusuke's eyes and a small smile crossed Yusuke's face. Koenma stared in shock and horror. "That Yusuke is long dead, Koenma," Yusuke said slowly. "I'm no longer the person I once was."

"No," Koenma said, shaking his head as a side of Yusuke's head slowly faded. Koenma's eyes widened at that and he pushed his power outwards, slowing the process of the fading. "You're still the same Yusuke."

"Am I?" Yusuke asked and there was the tired tone in Yusuke's voice that Koenma had never heard from Yusuke before. Not the Yusuke that Koenma knew. "Centuries is a long time, Koenma. Enough time for someone to change, enough time to make someone sick of living."

Koenma's eyes widened at those words. "Yusuke, you don't mean that. You always lived life fuller than anyone else I knew."

"Lived," Yusuke emphasized. "There's so little things to live for after so much time had passed." Sorrow drifted into Yusuke's voice. "Genkai is long gone, Kuwabara and Keiko long dead and reincarnated several dozen times by now. What am I living for?"

Koenma was slowly shaking his head without him noticing. "What about Hiei and Kurama?" he asked, "Chu and all your other friends."

A resigned look crossed Yusuke's face and he closed his eyes. "They're demons to begin with," Yusuke started. "Kurama understands a little, but he's not me. They can never understand how it feels to live forever without a purpose in life, without a goal or an end. I have experienced practically everything in life. The only thing that could ever stimulate me anymore is a good fight, but even that can't keep my interest anymore." Yusuke looked at Koenma. "I'm already too strong, Koenma. No one can rival me now or even pose a little challenge. Hell, I can end the world if I wanted to."

"You won't," Koenma said, ever quick to defend his friend.

"No, I won't," Yusuke agreed and somehow, his agreement made everything seem much worse, because it made him sound so much more tired. Resigned.

"Yusuke, don't give up on me," Koenma said, nearly begging. By then, half of Yusuke's chest disappeared.

Yusuke quirked a half-smile for Koenma, and Koenma wanted to cry. "It's not a bad ending, Koenma," Yusuke said. "I was a dad, a grandpa, a great-grandpa, a great-great-great grandpa and so forth. I've witnessed my son born and I've seen my great-grandkids die. Enough is enough. I don't have any regrets." Yusuke's smile widened a little and his eyes brightened slightly. "Hell, I even got to see you before the end. Damn you for not visiting me all these hundreds years or so."

"I'll visit you," Koenma exclaimed. "I'll goddamn visit you, Yusuke. Just. Don't. Go."

"Too late," Yusuke answered with a quick smile and Koenma watched as half of Yusuke's nose disappeared. "Seeing you before I disappear is enough."

"No," Koenma said, shaking his head in denial. "No." A steely, determined look appeared in his eyes. "I won't let you disappear like this, Yusuke."

"Koenma," Yusuke called, alarm flashing across his face. The last time Koenma had that look… it was when he defied Emma's special force for Yusuke's sake and got exiled. "Koenma, whatever crazy plan you're thinking of, drop it!"

A reckless smile tinted with sadness and nostalgia flashed across Koenma's face. "You're not the only one on the team who gets to do crazy stuff, Yusuke," and with those words, Koenma took one last look at Yusuke and ran.

The disappearing process that was slowed by Koenma sped up again. Yusuke watched as his body disappeared at a much more rapid pace and looked back anxiously at where Koenma had disappeared into.

"Whatever your son is planning, stop him alright!" Yusuke called out to Emma, who was silent until then.

Emma scoffed. "My foolish son doesn't have any way to stop this, short of injuring me," he said, "and he would never do that even if he had the audacity to imprison me."

"You don't know your son if you think he is completely powerless," Yusuke replied, glancing back at Emma.

Emma snorted disbelievingly and Yusuke glanced down at his own body. By then, only one-third of his body remained. "C'mon," Yusuke said, "can't you speed this up any more?" Yusuke glanced back at where Koenma had disappeared to, willing him not to come back until Yusuke completely faded.

Emma looked at Yusuke incredulously. Yusuke stared right back. "C'mon," Yusuke urged. "Didn't you want me gone? Now is your chance!"

Emma recovered his composure. "Don't tell me what to do, demon," Emma growled, but Yusuke noticed with satisfaction that Yusuke was fading much faster now.

If Yusuke was a program and the world was a computer, Yusuke would say he was about 20% away from being deleted completely.

19%

18%

17%

16%

Koenma burst into the room, shouting into the item in his hand. "Mirror, show me Yuuko Ichihara."

15%

14%

Yusuke could hardly understand who this woman Yuuko Ichihara or why Koenma desperately wanted to see her at this critical moment. Judging from Emma's wide eyes and gapping mouth, however, Yusuke concluded there was some kind of significance to that.

13%

There was a moment frozen in time, before a hologram appeared above the mirror.

12%

"Yuuko, stop Urameshi Yusuke's presence from being erased," Koenma said desperately.

11%

10%

9%

Yuuko blinked, before glancing towards Yusuke, who really only had tiny pieces of himself left. "Oh, Koenma, he is almost gone," she started.

8%

7%

"The price for that-"

6%

"I don't care!" Koenma exclaimed.

5%

"Take anything you need," he said.

4%

Koenma glanced at Yusuke, meeting Yusuke's single eyeball for a second.

3%

"Please Yuuko," Koenma begged.

2%

Yuuko nodded in the hologram and symbols began to appear in the air. "Don't regret it, Koenma."

"I won't," Koenma said.

1%

0%

Yusuke no longer exist.

Chapter Text

Yusuke woke up to a very loud noise and a surprise attack.

"Lord Yusuke!" the guard that Yusuke said he didn't need but was forced upon him anyway exclaimed.

Yusuke quirked an eyelid up to squint at the demon that was right upon him, ready to deliver the killing blow. Small, speedy and tiny energy. Small fry. Even his guard could take care of her, if she didn't use her built and small reserve to her advantage and planned for a sneak attack.

Yusuke yawned as he closed his eye again, simultaneously bringing up a finger. Damn, if they were going to force a guard on him, the least they could do was make sure his nap wouldn't be disturbed. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.

Yusuke flicked his finger, sending the smallest amount of demon energy towards the demon and a loud boom soon followed across the rather empty room.

"Just kick her out, would you?" Yusuke said, settling back down and willing blissful sleep to come to him once more.

A long shocked pause followed, soon punctured by the sound of the demon coughing.

"Umm, my lord," the guard-whose-name-Yusuke-never-got started hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

Yusuke was pretty sure the question was asked for the sake of being asked than for the answer itself.

"Peachy," Yusuke replied after a moment, listening to the rather noisy ruckus the demon that attempted to attack Yusuke made as she struggled to peel herself off the room's wall. A thud signaled her success and Yusuke held back a sigh. If she specialized in stealth/speed, why couldn't she be just a tad quieter?

Now Yusuke was completely awoken.

Guess I should stop being a lazy bum, Yusuke thought as he cracked his eyes opened. He swung his feet towards the floor a moment later, relishing in the cool feeling the stone floor emitted against his bare feet.

Yusuke let out another yawn as he stood and stretched. The silence in the room stretched with him and when he was finally done, he looked up to find the two other demons in the room staring at him.

"Good morning to you too," Yusuke said dryly as he approached them. The female jumped to a stand, before wincing and wrapped an arm around her ribs. She glared at him. "Mind telling me what I did to warrant an assassin?" he asked, tilting his head to look at the female. "I've only been back for so long, ya know."

"Fool," the female hissed and Yusuke's eyebrows rose unbidden. Tough cookie. "I'm not an assassin."

Yusuke raised a hand to stall his guard from reacting in offense on Yusuke's behalf. "What are you then?"

"Just kill me," the female said, lifting her head proudly to gaze up at Yusuke.

Yusuke stared at her steady gaze for a moment, before snorting. He dropped the hand that prevented his guard from doing anything. "You know what," he said, turning away. "I don't care anymore. Mr. Guard, do your job and toss her out, would cha?"

Xxx

"Hey Raizen," Yusuke greeted, giving the other demon a jaunty wave. "What's up?"

"Touo's told me you let the assassin go," Raizen said bluntly and without any preamble.

"Not an assassin, she said," Yusuke corrected, not even surprised that his guard –Touo, apparently – told Raizen about the incident. Touo was Raizen's after all, and his little band was as loyal as heck.

"A thief," Raizen informed. "Gathering information on you was apparently the initiation Youko Kurama set up for ones eager to join the rank of his band of thieves."

Yusuke started a little at Kurama's name. He knew a long time ago and had so much more time to adjust, but how could he not react to the name of his once-friend and presently-not-friend?

"Gather information?" Yusuke said dryly after a moment, recovering. Raizen gave Yusuke a look that said the pause did not go unnoticed and of course Raizen was surprisingly observant. Yusuke got that from his ancestor, after all. "That lady demon tried to kill me, ya know?"

"She's just a wannabe upstart who is out of her depth," Raizen said. He raised his gaze to meet Yusuke's squarely, steady and rather matter-of-fact. "I've killed demons for less."

Yusuke paused for a moment, knowing Raizen was questioning him, before shrugging. "Upstarts like her are what make life interesting, don't cha think? Nipping buds before they could bloom like a paranoid old man is tedious."

Raizen's vein twitched. "Did you just call me old?"

Yusuke merely smirked in reply.

Raizen shook his head, slivery mane swinging behind him. "It's a wonder the other me didn't kill you in your universe."

"Oh, he tried, but other you also appreciates young upstarts like me," Yusuke said, standing. Razien snorted. "I'm heading out. Take this time to upgrade your fort's security, would cha?"

"Not going to bother," Razien said. "My subordinates can take care of themselves."

Yusuke tsked disapprovingly, in a way an elderly would with a young child. "That arrogance," Yusuke said in mock disappointment with the shake of his head. He grinned cheekily at Raizen and ducked out of the room before his technically speaking ancestor could throw something at him.

Xxx

Yusuke crouched in the tallest tree closest to the location and tucked his wayward energy tight against him. For a moment, he considered activating the seal so his signature energy wouldn't give away his presence, but he quickly discarded the idea. He valued the feeling of freedom that came from being in his demon form too much to willingly seal it away.

Except when you enter the Human World, a part of Yusuke whispered to him, but he brushed it aside. Instead, he focused on staying concealed. While it wasn't exactly that he wasn't supposed to be here, per say, Yusuke had no real desire to be caught spying on a group of demons partying.

Yusuke's eyes darted about the clearing, searching for two specific demons, before finally catching a glimpse of black at the edge of the crowd. A soft amused smile flitted across Yusuke's expression. No matter the universe, Hiei would always remain anti-social.

His smile lowered a notch as he recalled that Hiei had eventually became less reserve in the time Yusuke had known him and hung out with the detective group more in his original universe. He thought it was a pity that Hiei wouldn't learn to relax more in this universe, although if rumors were anything to go by, Kurama would do that for Hiei since they were getting chummy. Now whether that was all physical or if it included emotionally, Yusuke didn't know. He did find it interesting that the attraction between Hiei and Kurama was pretty much universal though.

Yusuke's sense pricked, alerting him of someone stealthily approaching him. Yusuke was impressed. It wasn't easier to get a drop on him, but then again, it was the renowned thief Youko Kurama that he was talking about.

Yusuke casually took a step back from the branch he was standing on, foot meeting air and hanging precariously in the air for a moment. He inhaled, head tilted up towards heavens with his eyes closed as he soaked in the air of Demon World. Then, with a faint smile, he stepped off completely.

The air whooshed passed him, fresh and wonderful without any pollution. His long hair whipped up in an act of defiance against gravity, slapping against Yusuke's face and sending a tendril of thrill through him as he continued to fall. All too soon, his body moved with deliberate muscle memory, safely landing him on the ground.

When Yusuke opened his eyes to face the world again, Youko Kurama was before him.

Yusuke maintained the faint smile that he had on his face. "Hey, Kurama," Yusuke said, the corners of his mouth easing a little at the sight of Kurama's startlement.

Kurama recovered quickly. "Ah, if it isn't our mysterious resident Yusuke," he said, a teasing smile curling on his lips. His eyes, however, were sharp and assessing. "Mind telling me why you are observing us?"

Yusuke outwardly shrugged casually, ignoring the little stab of pain in his heart at being reminded once again that this is not the Kurama that you know. "Can't a guy sleep in a tree without someone questioning him?" he asked, knowing it would make Kurama think of Hiei.

Kurama paused for a second, before smiling disarmingly. "Of course," he said amiably, "if that was what you were doing, that is." Yusuke made a move to talk, but Kurama continued. "It doesn't matter either way. Would you like to join us?"

Yusuke jerked his head up, staring at him with obvious surprise. Kurama simply continued smiling, silver fox tail swishing behind him. "'Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer?'" Yusuke quoted questioningly.

Surprise flitted across Kurama's face, before he let out a chuckle. A gleam shone in Kurama's golden eyes as he said mildly, "That applies both ways, Yusuke. No need to worry."

Yusuke quirked an eyebrow up at Kurama's phrasing, knowing Kurama got to him even as he said, "If you're fine with me entering your territory, sure."

"Oh, please don't be concerned about me." His grin took on an edge of wickedness, more devious. He looked like a fox satisfied with a game well-played. "After all," he continued, turning his back towards Yusuke and starting to head back towards his band of thieves, "I am a plant-master."

A tree branch hanging in front of Yusuke moved out of his way.

Kurama pivoted back to look at Yusuke with the same mild expression. "Please," Kurama said, gesturing ahead of him with a faint smile. Ahead of him was a clear path leading towards the glade where Kurama's people were. They were in a forest, yet there was no plant-life on the path.

As Yusuke walked ahead, following Kurama's lead, the path that he previously stepped on slowly closed.

Xxx

Laughter and smiles that were palpable in the air slowly faded as Yusuke stepped into the clearing, replaced by a tense kind of suspicious silence. Then all demons' gaze drifted to the fox that led him to them and the air shifted, lifting ever slightly.

Kurama, clever and sly, let his minions attempt to stare down at Yusuke for a long moment, seeking to intimidate him perhaps, before finally speaking up when he saw it was his own minions that were imperceptibly shifting back away from Yusuke.

Kurama gave his subordinate thieves an ingenuous smile and a guileless look like there was nothing preternatural about the situation. "He's my guest," said Kurama by way of explanation. "I expect you all to treat him like one."

"But -" someone started, eyes flashing towards Yusuke with evident unease.

Kurama obligingly turned - his movement all grace and danger- to face the demon who spoke up. "Yes?" Kurama said inquiringly, softly, sounding and looking so genuine with his head tilted minutely to the side as though puzzled.

The demon froze as Kurama's golden gaze landed on him.

"Well?" Kurama prompted.

"It's nothing, Youko," a demon beside the one Kurama was addressing to spoke up. The demon licked her lips, a little nervous as Kurama's attention went to her, and smiled, nudging her friend playfully. "He just wanna get back to the partying."

The tense atmosphere didn't dissipate. Kurama didn't allow it to until he finally parted his mouth and said, "Ah, is that so?" and smiled gently at his subordinates, graciously forgiving. The band of thieves let out a collective silent breath as though a great crisis had been averted.

"Go back to partying," a new voice ordered, a familiar voice deeper than Yusuke had ever remembered. He was startled to find himself unsurprised as Hiei stepped in and ambled towards Kurama. The demons that were previously all around Kurama parting before Hiei like the Red Sea, as though that was only natural.

"Yes," another voice said and it took another moment for Yusuke to place that voice. The other side of the circle around Kurama parted, revealing Yomi in all his glory and youth. This Yomi had four ears, two on the either side of his head and a scar biting deep into his left eye. Yomi walked with all the confidence of a demon whole, self-assured like a child knowing he was favored by something –or someone- much greater than man itself. "Resume with your activity."

And when Kurama nodded his head and all the demons around them scattered, leaving only Kurama, Hiei, Yomi and Yusuke himself still standing motionless, it was unquestionable about who was really the boss there.

"Kurama," Yomi said, the first to break the silence. He stepped forward towards the renowned thief without any hesitation, his steps eager but even. Unadulterated happiness shown in his single visible eye as he clasped his hands around Kurama's and leaned up to peck Kurama's lips.

Kurama let him, not surprised by Yomi's first course of action, and leaned down to meet Yomi half-way. He radiated contentment as he straightened, a small smile lingering on his face.

Yusuke brought his gaze away from the pair of thieves when he realized Hiei, previously at Kurama's other side, was walking away. Yusuke glanced at Yomi and Kurama for a moment, before he curiously followed Hiei.

The only acknowledgement Hiei made of that was the brief flicker of his eyes, before he grunted and basically ignored him. Yusuke wondered briefly if Hiei was jealous but discarded the idea almost as soon as it came. It wasn't jealousy that shrouded Hiei; it was disinterest.

Hiei plopped himself down on a wooden coach, which was long enough for about three people to sit on comfortably. Yusuke took a second to study it, finding something about it to be inexplicably strange, before it abruptly hit him. The 'couch' was still connected to its origin, which was a tree that was preternaturally urged to grow outward and then expand lengthwise to accommodate to a certain plant-master's wish.

Yusuke wondered inwardly if that was just for convenience sake – so Kurama wouldn't have to bother with the furnishing of the clearing – or was there some kind of deep meaning behind his choice.

Hiei's gaze was on him, deep and steady, and Yusuke realized Hiei was waiting to see what he would do. Yusuke's eyes flicked briefly to the bench that Kurama personally made, the fact that it was enough to fit exactly three people standing out in his mind, before he finally sighed and dragged out a wooden chair from a nearby table.

Without any preamble, Yusuke swung his legs over the chair so he was straddling the back of it and he was facing Hiei. He sat. "I see life is treating you fine."

Hiei narrowed his eyes, mind assessing any double meaning behind Yusuke's words. Finally, he drawled, "I never repaid you for that, did I?"

Hiei stood, his body stiff and menacing.

Yusuke remained sitting. "Chillax," Yusuke said, holding his hand placating-ly in front of him. "Everything turned out just fine, didn't they?"

Hiei cross his arms and snorted. "Like you cared about that when you guided me to Kurama's band of thieves and left me there."

Yusuke coughed rather awkwardly. "Well…" Yusuke started, but Hiei cut in before he could get in another word.

"I don't care about that now," Hiei said. His gaze cut to Yusuke and bore holes into him. "What I want to know is if you planned that."

"Me?!" Yusuke said, reeling back. The surprise wasn't hard to display, since he was surprised Hiei managed to figure it out. "No way," Yusuke lied with a laugh, waving it off.

Hiei arched an eyebrow, waiting, and Yusuke inwardly wondered if he learned that from Kurama.

"I was just…" Yusuke started, fishing around his mind for some sort of idea. He never planned for this scenario where he had to explain his actions. How could Yusuke tell him he wanted Kurama and Hiei to meet because he couldn't stand them not ever knowing each other in this universe? "Trying to kill you," Yusuke finally finished.

Hiei gave him a look that said he was not impressed.

"You see," Yusuke said, mind whirling. "I always wanted an Ice Maiden's tear gem. Kinda like the one you wore back then."

Hiei's hand didn't move, but it was clear to him that Yusuke was referring to the tear gem Hiei was wearing around his neck under his shirt.

"You always wore that damn thing out in the public," Yusuke continued, trying to recall what Kurama and Hiei of his universe told him of Hiei's past. "When I heard about it, I just knew I needed to get my hands on that gem, since I er… you know, have a thing for marble collections." Well, Raizen did at least. His national treasures were goddamn marbles, for heaven's sake.

"So I went after you and we fought. You know the story, you were there. I blasted you off the mountain where we were fighting and you coincidently landed right smack in the middle of Kurama's traveling thieves. I was like, damn, that's a shit load of people to get through for a little gem, I thought it was only a shorty " – Hiei growled at the description and Yusuke inwardly grinned – " that I needed to go through. It was either my skin or that tiny gem stone and you know, collecting marbles is really only a passing hobby of mine, so I left."

Yusuke shrugged at the end of his story, movement making him seem more relaxed and his story more likely to be true.

Hiei gazed at Yusuke, knowing some part of his story was undoubtedly off but unable to put a finger on it. Finally, he got it. "That was merely a century ago," Hiei said, "but you were acknowledged" –however grudgingly Hiei would admit this – "as the strongest demon of Demon World even before that. Why would you fear fighting a bunch of thieves?"

Yusuke's eyebrow twitched.

Of course he hadn't covered up all the basis. Of course Hiei was being the typical bastard to catch that plot hole in his story, because damn, of all times why now. A part of Yusuke that he wouldn't admit exist – the same part that refused to let go of the past – was glad Hiei didn't take his cover story at face value.

"Too troublesome," Yusuke answered semi-casually, shrugging yet again. "Like I said, not worth the trouble."

Now it was Hiei's eyebrow to twitch at what he perceive as an insult to his precious gem. Finally, his hand drifted to his side, and Yusuke didn't need to look to confirm that Hiei's hand was on the handle of his sword. "Then you don't mind contending for the gem, now, do you?" Hiei said, sliding his blade out of the sheath in one razor sharp move. Hiei brought the blade out in front of him. "Now it's only you and me."

Yusuke brought out a calm smile while a powerful rush of adrenaline stormed through him. He already shot out most of his extra energy when he sparred with Raizen the moment he came back, but Hiei always got to him the same way Kuwabara had. For old time's sake. That and memories, imagination and his goddamn demon blood wouldn't settle down, wouldn't let him not rise up to an undeniably interesting challenge because while they were both Hiei, this Hiei fought differently. Not as compacted or as controlled but equally brimming with so much potential that Yusuke wanted to see and experience how their battle would end.

And Hiei undoubtedly would have gotten stronger since the last time Yusuke had a mock battle with him and that was something equally hard to resist.

Yusuke's skin pricked as two sets of energy approached. Yusuke pasted a smile on his face as he turned his head, resisting the urge to bare his teeth in annoyance at the interruption even though his logical mind knew it was for the best. "Hey, Kurama, Yomi."

Yomi bristled at Yusuke's casual address to Kurama, and Yusuke mused at the difference between this Yomi and the Yomi Yusuke knew.

"I hope you're not going to fight Yusuke, Hiei," Kurama said to Hiei, even as he placed a placating hand on top of Yomi's. Yomi relaxed after a beat.

Damn, Yusuke thought as he watched Hiei huffed and put away his sword after throwing Yusuke a look that said 'it's not over yet.' Kurama has them whipped, doesn't he?

Kurama's amused eyes met Yusuke's, as though knowing what Yusuke was thinking. Yusuke's lips quirked in response, before he finally swung his leg over the chair.

"I'm going to get go," Yusuke said, eyes flicking among the three demons. His upturned lips lifted another degree with amusement as he said, "Wouldn't want to be in the way, after all."

"Or you can always join in," Kurama said, never missing a beat. Yomi and Hiei stared at Kurama, puzzled and questioning, but Kurama only had his eyes for Yusuke. Searching.

What are you planning, Fox?  Yusuke wondered, even as he let out a short laugh.

"Flattering, but I'll have to pass," Yusuke answered. "You guys are so young it makes me feel old," he said, and here his eyes drifted to Yomi again.

Yomi lifted his head higher as Yusuke's gaze dropped to him, his eyes defiant and challenging. Yusuke's lips curved.

"Pity," Kurama said, although not a trace of regret was in his voice. "How long would you stay, Yusuke? Perhaps we could schedule another meeting."

A few more days or so, Yusuke almost answered, except 'stay'?

Yusuke inwardly held his breath as he brought his gaze to Kurama, whose eyes were glinting with razor sharp intelligence. Was Kurama beginning to suspect that Yusuke had the ability to enter Human World?

Yusuke pasted on a smile. "Anytime would be fine," Yusuke answered casually, not flinching away from Kurama's piercing golden eyes. "I'm 'round most of the time anyway, though probably not recently."

Good old Kurama, intelligent like hell yet too curious for his own good. He took the dangling bait. "Oh?" Kurama said, prompting Yusuke for more info.

"Well, someone just entered Raizen's fortress and tried to kill me," Yusuke started, watching as Kurama rapidly made the connection that the 'someone' must have been one of his prospective thief. "Obviously they didn't succeed or I wouldn't be here, but I'm gonna spend some time trying to update his fortress defense."

"We're always willing to lend a hand if you need," Kurama said, lips curving. "Different perspective and all."

Yusuke chuckled. "Undoubtedly. It's fine though. That's just a pet project that I wanna work on. Don't worry if you don't see me often."

"Oh, I think I'll see you very soon," Kurama said, eyes glittering with some kind of hidden knowledge. His tail swished once behind him, calm and steady with an underlying element of excitement.

Yusuke grinned even as he inwardly wondered what Kurama was planning to do. "Looking forward to it then."

Xxx

"Hey Raizen, if anyone asks, I'm off at some kind of secret place training to upgrade your fortress' defense," Yusuke called out, grabbing a hair tie off the table as he crossed the room.

Raizen leaned against the door way, watching. "Leaving already, descendant of mine?" Raizen asked, a smirk lingering on his face. "Why so fast?"

"Kurama is as sharp as ever," Yusuke declared, pausing for a second as he recalled. "I don't know how long can I hold up under his scrutiny. Might as well leave now."

Raizen's gaze drifted to Yusuke, pensively. "You told me about your past. Why him?"

"If you're fishing for compliments," Yusuke started, gathering a handful of his hair. Raizen's lips quirked at the sight. "Don't bother. I'm not going to tell you you hold a high position in my heart and all."

Raizen snorted. "I rather not hear that from you at all. Demons don't care much about genders, unlike what I recall of humans, but I… what is that phrase you used again? 'Don't swing that way'?"

"I don't care which way you swing," Yusuke said, wrestling his thick mane into a low ponytail. This was one of the rare reasons why he didn't like transforming into his demon form. "Just don't swing my way because that would be pain weird."

Raizen gave Yusuke a critical look over, his biological descendant but age-wise ancestor with his hair finally under control. "You're not much to look at, Yusuke." Yusuke huffed at that, as Raizen smirked. "So you're going back."

"Yups," Yusuke answered. "Might as well… Besides, there's something interesting going on in Human World right now."

"Really now?" Raizen rumbled, interest piqued. Raizen settled down and crossed his legs. "What?"

A grin spread across Yusuke's face, wide and dangerous. "The Mafia."

Chapter Text

Reborn smirked in amusement as his student wailed in embarrassment at having all his close kept secrets being announced to public by the two skulls on his palm.

"You have skullitis," Reborn announced ominously as Tsuna passed him. Tsuna's eyes widened when he saw Reborn in his death reaper costume. "I see that you are going to die."

"Wha-?! Stop screwing around, Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed, throwing out an arm.

Reborn shook his head with a tsk. "If only I am, young man," Reborn said forlornly. "What a pity, dying so young." Just as Tsuna was about to speak, Reborn looked up at him, eyes flashing in the sun. "But," Reborn paused dramatically. "Not all is lost. There is one who can save your life."

"I don't have time to play with you, Reborn," Tsuna huffed, not buying Reborn's act. He turned to walk away.

"Oh, I'm so embarrassed," the skull said, choosing exactly this moment to speak. Tsuna flailed in surprise. "I get sick on the swing-set."

Reborn smiled as Tsuna traced the voice back to a skull on his stomach, where there evidently wasn't one before. "Skullitis is a disease where skulls appear all over your body, announcing all your deep secrets until you die of shame," Reborn said casually, watching as Tsuna still struggled between denial and belief.

As the skulls blurted out yet another embarrassing secret of Tsuna, Reborn saw that Tsuna finally believed him.

"Wahh!" Tsuna cried, clutching his head. "What should I do?!"

Reborn's lips curled upward, finding great amusement in his student's dilemma. Just as he was about to tease his student some more, a bee flew across Reborn's line of vision, buzzing with a message.

Zzz-zz-gone-zzzz—zzz-he's-zzz-gone-zzz

"Find a man named Shamal," Reborn answered rather automatically, tone no longer teasing or amused as he held out his finger for the bee. "He's in Namimori."

"How am I supposed to find him!?" Tsuna exclaimed, not yet noticing how rapid Reborn's mood changed.

"Figure it out on your own," Reborn said, eyes intent on the bee. He lifted his eyes for a brief moment and smirked his customary smirk at his student. "A future mafia boss should be able to do at least that."

"For the last time, I'm not going to be a mafia boss!" Tsuna shouted, but by the time he looked back at the spot where Reborn was, he was already gone.

Xxx

Reborn had asked the insects and animals in Namimori to keep an eye on Urameshi.

Zzz-zz-gone-zzzz—zzz-he's-zzz-gone-zzz

Where have you last seen him? Reborn inquired.

The bee paused for a moment on his finger, before its wings began to beat and the bee lifted itself into the air. Reborn quietly followed to the woods near the Namimori Shrine.

Zzz-zz-here-zzz-last-zzz-zz-here-zzz

Reborn's eyes flicked around, briefly scanning over everything in his surroundings. The bee buzzed, more restlessly than before just as Reborn was about to observe everything in greater detail.

Reborn look down at the black and yellow insect, having enough experience as a world-renown insect and animal interpreter to realize the reason behind the action. Reborn lifted his finger a little, gesturing the bee to go.

"Thank you," Reborn murmured lowly, watching as the bee fluttered away to obey its nature of returning to the bee hive to serve its queen.

That was the main difference between Shamal's ability to control his trident mosquitoes and Reborn's ability to communicate with insects. While both can manipulate insects to an extent, Shamal can actually fully control his mosquitoes. Reborn, on the other hand, asked favors from those who he can communicate with. While the insects and animals usually oblige Reborn, the favors Reborn ask of the insects and/or animals could be overridden by their natural instincts, which was why Reborn preferred doing some of the more basic legwork himself. [1]

Reborn stepped into the woods, following the faint but distinct residue energy of Urameshi, which was a strange mix of nature and power. He came to a halt as the residue concentration increased exponentially, then – nothing.

Reborn looked around once more, extending his senses out to catch any wisps of Urameshi's energy in case he used some kind of technique to hide his energy. But there wasn't even a trace of his energy. Nothing in the surrounding indicated Urameshi had outside help in concealing his energy either. It was as the bee had said – Urameshi had somehow managed to literally disappear.

What did he do? Reborn wondered, stepping forward so he was right in front of the massive concentration of energy Urameshi last left behind. Whatever it was that he did, it required a lot of energy.

Why now? Why did Urameshi choose to leave now? Was it because Reborn confronted Urameshi regarding his stay at their last meeting? But no, Urameshi gave no indication that he was bothered.

This disappearance was unplanned then. Some sort of emergency? There was no need for Urameshi to come out into the woods here though. He could have always used a car or a plane if he needed to travel.

So it was either because Urameshi needed somewhere that could conceal him from doing whatever he did that enabled him to disappear, or it was because Urameshi could only 'disappear' in the surrounding of the Namimori Shrine.

While it wasn't unheard of that shrines hold some kind of power, Reborn could scarcely imagine Urameshi's power stemmed from any energy that was considered holy. Not only was Urameshi anything but holy, but there was something rawer, more untamed in Urameshi energy that contrasts the common belief that shrine energy was serene and smooth.

No, being around a shrine probably wasn't the requirement. Urameshi was concealing his abilities then. That actually made sense in his mind. Reborn would have wondered why, but there wasn't enough information for him to arrive at a conclusive statement.

As Reborn left the surrounding of the Namimori Shrine, a third option suddenly occurred to him. It was a chilling thought. What if Urameshi didn't choose to leave but was forced to, and whoever it was compelled Urameshi to meet he/she at the Namimori Shrine?

It was paradoxical of how the theory was believable and not at the same time. On one hand, it fitted all the information and answered all the questions Reborn had thus far. On the other hand, however, the theory put into question everything Reborn did know about Urameshi.

Urameshi was as strong (if not stronger, although this would be something Reborn wouldn't be admitting any time sooner) as Reborn, the greatest hitman in the world. If someone was strong enough to threaten a man like Urameshi into silence, then just how powerful would such man/woman be?

Reborn didn't know the answer to that, but one thing was certain. He would have to get to the bottom of this issue.

Xxx

The first place Reborn went to after he left the Namimori Shrine was the restaurant that Urameshi was previously working at. While Reborn had considered going to check Urameshi's apartment first, from what he had seen last time, Urameshi didn't personalize the apartment at all. Reborn doubted Urameshi would suddenly decide to leave a trail of hints for Reborn to follow.

"Yusuke?" Matsumura asked, blinking in surprise. He smiled at a customer who was leaving, uttering the customary, "Thank you for coming, hope to see you soon" before turning back to Reborn. "He resigned a few days ago."

Reborn blinked in surprise, not expecting this answer at all. "Oh, I see," Reborn said, mind racing. "Do you have his contact information? I went by his home, but no one was there and I have an emergency I need to contact him about."

Matsumura looked at Reborn sympathetically, which was not the reaction Reborn was hoping for. "Yusuke does that sometimes," Matsumura said. "He explained it off as wander lust after missing work within the first three weeks of working here. Now thinking about it," Matsumura mused to himself, "I'm kinda surprised Yusuke bothered telling me he was going to quit at all."

"Do you see him as irresponsible?" Reborn asked, curious. He wondered how Urameshi act around other people.

"Not at all," Matsumura answer promptly. "My daughter and I are thankful to him. Without his help, our restaurant wouldn't have lasted last month. It's simply that, how should I phrase it, Yusuke seems too big to be limited to a small restaurant like this, don't you think?"

"Yes," Reborn said and in a way, Reborn did understand what Matsumura was talking about. It wasn't like Urameshi stuck out like a sore thumb or anything; he didn't. When he worked at the restaurant, he appeared to fit in just like any other waiter. Yet it was also undeniable that there was a subtle difference within Urameshi that prevented people from grouping him with others. Whether it was the power that was hidden within Urameshi's lean stature or was it due to something else, Reborn wasn't sure.

"He didn't say when he'll return," Reborn stated, turning his attention back to Matsumura.

Matsumura shook his head. "He didn't. If you're trying to find him, my only advice to you is to wait. There's no way to contact him. He doesn't even have a cell phone, after all."

"…"

What? Reborn thought.

Xxx

Reborn returned to Tsuna an hour and a half after his dame-student contracted skullitis. Two hours was the time limit Tsuna could go untreated before he died of skullitis, after all. While Reborn did want Tsuna to find Shamal himself, it would be rather stupid to risk the heir of Vongola dying of a disease that was rather easy to cure especially with the help of Shamal.

Reborn returned to Tsuna just in time to see Tsuna's famiglia running around trying to catch Shamal. Reborn tilted his fedora down to hide his smile. A good boss always had a famiglia willing to go out of their way to help their boss. It seemed like Tsuna fulfilled that part of the requirement at least, despite still being rather 'dame.'

Reborn watched as Tsuna attempted to go into Deathperation Mode without the bullet. He had seen Tsuna activate it at the restaurant before, when Urameshi had ruffled him enough for the flames to break through. Would it happen again?

Tsuna's clothes tore as he gone through the initial stage of the Deathperation Mode. His eyes turned wider and deeper, overall making Tsuna seem more wild. Just when it seemed like he would succeed, a stray comment made by the skull on his hand broke through his mind, reverting Dame-Tsuna back.

Hm, it seems like entering the Deathperation Mode without the bullet is too much to expect from Dame-Tsuna for now, Reborn thought, keeping his observation in mind.

Tsuna squatted down, arms around his bent legs as depression set in. Tears leaked from his eyes. "I'm going to die as Dame-Tsuna!" his dame student exclaimed remorsefully. All in all, it made a very pathetic picture, especially for the future boss of the Vongola family.

Oh, well. That's what Reborn was there to fix, after all. And Reborn would fix it all, in due time.

Reborn glanced up at Shamal standing beside him. Teasing time was over. "Shamal, you do recall that you owe me several of favors, don't you?"

Shamal sighed and scratched the back of his head. His student didn't notice, still bemoaning about his fate. "How did I know this was coming?" he said. He glanced down at Reborn. "Just saying, I still don't like treating men."

"Of course," Reborn said, smirking. "Or this wouldn't have been a favor at all."

Shamal simply sighed again, before raising his voice so Reborn's dame-student could hear him. "Fine, fine," Shamal said, attracting Tsuna's attention. "I'll heal you."

Tsuna blinked, his water work not yet stopping completely. He sniffed. "R-really?"

"Yes," Shamal said, bringing out his mosquito. "Go, Angel Mosquito!"

As Reborn watched the overly dramatic aftermath of Tsuna's recovery from the Skullitis Disease, the Bovino child popped up from the side.

"Die, Reborn!" Lambo cried, rummaging through his hair.

Reborn had no doubt Lambo was trying to find his inferior grenade again, so Reborn didn't even bother looking as he made a move to coolly bat away the weapon that was coming his way. It was only when its shadow fell upon him – too big to be just a regular grenade – that Reborn finally noticed something was off.

Reborn looked up just in time to see the Ten Year Bazooka heading towards him.

Reborn's eyebrow twitched minutely, at both himself and Lambo. It was too late to dodge the bazooka now. He would just have to wait for the five minutes to be up.

Inwardly, Reborn berated himself for letting down his guard. While Lambo truly didn't exude any killer intent and he was relatively harmless, Reborn should have realized it was the Ten Year Bazooka that was heading towards him.

Although judging by the stupid cow's budging eyes, it seemed like the child didn't intend to throw the bazooka at him either. The stupid cow probably hid too much things in his hair and in his hurry, he threw the first thing that came into his hand, which happened to be the Ten Year Bazooka.

I'll definitely teach him a lesson when five minutes is up, is the last thought Reborn had before he disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Xxx

Reborn concentrated on the senses he could use, starting with his hearing, since the pink smoke was still in the way of his vision. There was the sound of water running. Reborn was inside then. Either Reborn was performing a hit, he was in one of his safe house or he was at someone's – most likely Vongola's – headquarter.

Leon on Reborn's fedora twitched.

Someone was in the vicinity, and he or she was approaching Reborn.

The smoke cleared just in time for Reborn to see who it was. He couldn't stop the minimal amount of surprise from flashing across his face.

"Urameshi Yusuke," Reborn said, as the man came out of the bathroom. Now that the smoke had cleared, Reborn recognized where he was. He was in one of his safe houses in Sicily. Question was why was the man that Reborn was searching for the whole time was here.

Surprise flashed across Urameshi's unguarded face as well at the sight of Reborn. Strange. Urameshi was in Reborn's safe house, but he didn't except Reborn to be here?

"Reborn," Urameshi greeted as he got over his shock, amusement evident in his voice. There was something else there that Reborn couldn't name as well. Something familiar. "I see the Ten Year Bazooka got you."

Reborn was about to quip back with a clever remark when he froze. That was right. He was hit by the Ten Year Bazooka. So, "Why are you exactly the same ten years in the future?" Reborn demanded, warning bells ringing loudly in his ears as he gazed at Urameshi Yusuke.

Urameshi, who looked exactly the same ten years previous and ten years later.

Urameshi raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. "Eh, that's something I can't tell you," Urameshi said, and Reborn instantly had his Leon-gun in hand.

"Whoah, chill, Reborn," Urameshi said, raising his arms in the universal sign of surrender. "I can't believe I forgot how trigger happy you were some years ago." Urameshi paused. "Actually, you're kinda trigger happy now as well. Just not around me as much."

"Explain," Reborn threatened.

"Hell no!" Urameshi exclaimed and instantly, two shots rang within the house. Urameshi sighed, not looking even the least frightened at the two holes that appeared in the wall, centimeters away from his head. "I'm so going to blame you when you get back from the past and demand about what happened to your wall."

"If I know myself well, the future me would understand the necessity of taking care of a threat," Reborn said, not letting his guard down in the least.

Urameshi huffed and crossed his arms. "So now I'm a threat?"

"Ten years may have passed, but I find it hard to believe I would suddenly believe you are an ally."

"It's not sudden," Urameshi argued. "Like you said, ten years did pass, ya know."

"Yes," Reborn agreed, watching as Urameshi raised an eyebrow like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like he knew Reborn well enough that if Reborn was agreeing so easily, a 'but' of some sort must follow. It ticked Reborn off for some inexplicable reason. "Which is why it is entirely suspicious that you look like you haven't aged at all."

"That question again?" Urameshi said, sounding exasperated. "Aren't you bored of that question?"

"I'll stop asking when you give me a straight, satisfactory answer," Reborn said.

"I did," Urameshi answered. A smirk crossed his face. "Sometime within the next ten years."

Reborn fired again and this time, Urameshi finally did something Reborn expect. He glared. "Stop putting holes in the wall, would you?"

Another shot rang out. "This safe house is mine. I'm sure the future me would understand."

At those words, an amused look crossed Urameshi's face. "Are you sure you know yourself as well as you think?" he asked.

"In the end, he is still me. Of course I do," Reborn replied confidently. Yet he couldn't help the thread of unease that made its way through Reborn's mind at Urameshi's question. After all...

Urameshi smirk widened. If Reborn didn't know better, he would have described it as teasing. "You're wondering why I'm here in your safe house, aren't you?"

Reborn scowled. He was used to being the mind-reader of the group. The only one who knew him well enough to guess Reborn's thought pattern was Timoteo, the Vongola Nono. "You're trying to change the subject," Reborn stated.

A smile crossed Urameshi's face, and the same emotion that Reborn couldn't identify before appeared again. "I'm not going to answer that question, since you're going to find that answer in your own time. So how about I give you some fortune telling instead?"

Reborn could tell Urameshi meant every word he said. He really wasn't going to answer his previous question regarding Urameshi's unchanged appearance, no matter how Reborn threatened. Reborn's time in the future was almost over, and Reborn gained more questions than answers.

Which was exactly one of the reasons why Reborn hated going into the future. Everyone was as cryptic as hell for the sake of not ruining the future and refused to reveal anything, even when Reborn threatened them.

Reborn glanced at Urameshi and held back the urge to question him some more. Instead, he pointed the Leon-gun at Urameshi and said, "Answer."

The smile on Urameshi's face widened. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Reborn swirled around, trying to sense where Urameshi had disappeared to, when he sensed a presence right above him. Urameshi knelt down with speed he had never display in the past and lifted Reborn up.

Reborn made a move to press the trigger, but that was the exact moment when Leon transformed back into a chameleon. Reborn only had a split-second to glance at Leon in shock, before Urameshi leaned in and whispered, "This is why," and pressed a chaste kiss against Reborn's cherubic cheek.

The last thing Reborn saw was Urameshi's smile – a mixture of amusement, fondness and affection, Reborn thought, finally placing the emotion he saw flash across Urameshi's countenance multiple of times – before pink smoke engulfed him.

Xxx

Reborn returned back to the past to shocked looks.

He concentrated on them, instead of what happened in the future.

"Where is the stupid cow?" Reborn demanded darkly. Leon transformed into his gun as Reborn had asked, and Reborn soon had a Leon-gun pointed threateningly at his student. Reborn refused to think about why Leon had undone the transformation in the future, and instead, he focused on the missing Bovino. It was all his fault.

"Hiiee! Reborn, don't shoot!" Tsuna exclaimed, waving his arms around.

Reborn fired a warning shot, his dark mood not alleviating in the least. His dame-student flailed. "Answer me."

"A-a man told Lambo to run," Tsuna answered shakily, clearly frightened. "A-a-and to not go near you for the n-next few days."

Reborn fired again. "Who?" he demanded, even more alert than before. Why did a mysterious stranger tell the stupid cow to run?

"H-he," Tsuna said.

Reborn's patient grew short. "Who?"

"He said he's YOU!" Tsuna shouted very loudly, panting in the end with fear.

In contrast, Reborn had gone entirely still. Tsuna had said 'a man.'

"Shamal, explain," Reborn demanded of the silent doctor.

A smirk was on his face and Reborn would have liked to wipe it off, only that if the future was really as he had inferred, then Reborn didn't think he would able to attack him after he delivered the news.

"It's as your student had said, Reborn," Shamal said, and Reborn didn't need to be completely sound in mind to know the emphasis was on the alias Reborn had decided to use after turning into an Acrobaleno. "I guess congratulation is in order."

Reborn didn't want Shamal's congratulations. He just wanted the freelance assassin to finish answering his question, so Reborn could confirm his theory. Before Reborn could bring bodily harm to Shamal, the man smirked particularly widely and finished his answer.

"Ten years in the future, your curse would have been removed."

Reborn didn't think he would have been able to move even if an assassin came after his head. In Reborn's state, even Lambo would have been able to take Reborn out with a well-aimed grenade.

Even with that knowledge, Reborn didn't move. He couldn't.

After all, it wasn't often that Reborn was told within the next ten years, he would cease being an Acrobaleno.

Chapter Text

Yusuke grinned as he stepped back into Human World, inhaling the fresh air of the atmosphere. Not to sound tree hugging or anything because Yusuke wasn't, but there was always something about Human World's air that was calming.

While Demon World's air was heavy, not oppressive but simply felt saturated, Human World's air was always light and refreshing. One side of Yusuke – either demon or human – would always start acting up whenever he stayed in one world too long, which was why he often traveled between the two worlds.

Yusuke tilted his neck back and craned his neck, feeling a few bones pop. His ponytail, a souvenir from when he transformed into his demon form, swung cheerily behind him.

Yusuke reached a hand up to touch it and wondered if he should cut it. While he didn't mind it long, it might get into the way of other stuff.

Like what? Yusuke asked himself as he ambled out of the woods surrounding the Namimori shrine. A week previous, he would have said working in the Matsumura's restaurant, but he had already quit since they didn't need his help anymore. Now Yusuke was as boundless as the wind.

Where to go, Yusuke wondered to himself, and that was the exact moment his shirt got caught on a stray branch. A tearing sound soon followed.

Yusuke stared at the hole in his shirt. "Damn. Kurama's influence over plants doesn't extend to here, right?"

There was no answer.

"Right… clothes," Yusuke said, changing directions. He headed towards the shopping district. "Let's going shopping."

He paid no mind to the bee that he passed by.

Xxx

Yusuke knew for a fact that it was definitely school hours right now, so, "Why the fuck are you trying to kill me?" Yusuke demanded as he dodged a rather lethal kick from Reborn. "Don't you have Tsuna to watch over?"

The concrete floor dented under the Acrobaleno's foot, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at the unusual display of strength. Reborn normally played it down, didn't he?

"Hey, I'm not easy to kill off, but someone, probably some innocent civilian, is going to die soon if we don't move to another location," Yusuke tried again.

"Then move," Reborn demanded, bringing up his hand up to his fedora to tell his chameleon to transform even as he spoke.

Yusuke quickly moved into another forest around the mall and as he left, he couldn't help but wonder if everyone in Namimori was crazy as they talked about the unannounced filming at the mall.

Can't they see this is as real as shit, Yusuke wondered as a bullet whizzed past his ear and smacked into the poor tree next to the half-demon. The tree exploded, sending barks flying everywhere.

"That is so not my fault if anyone asks," Yusuke shouted towards the Acrobaleno behind him. "I'm not responsible for any collateral damage!"

If the Acrobaleno's mood was bad before, it was absolutely thunderous now. The frequency in which bullets flew towards Yusuke's person doubled.

"What the fuck!" Yusuke cried as he hid behind a tree. Normally, Yusuke would have gone out grinning and meet Reborn for the fight, but staying in Demon World for the week had the consequence of fighting the second strongest demon (namely Raizen, with Yusuke being the first, of course) continuously to his biological ancestor's content.

Yusuke was pretty tired now, actually.

The half-demon banged his head back against the tree trunk, not even wincing at the slight pain. He had a rather strong head, after all.

Why the fuck was this happening to him? Yusuke swear whatever Reborn think Yusuke did, Yusuke was totally innocent of it. Hell, he wasn't even in Namimori for the past few days for him to offend Reborn!

Yusuke paused, nearly getting an extra hole in his person for that little moment of stillness. As Yusuke rolled out of the way, he wondered if that was what Reborn was pissed about.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Yusuke poked his head out from behind Tree # 33. "Hey, are you PMS-ing because I left Namimori without telling you?"

The next bullet actually got the tip of Yusuke's ear. Yusuke hissed at the burn and quickly moved behind the tree again.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Yusuke shouted.

Silence.

Yusuke blinked, tugging at his ear. Reborn didn't get any other part of his ear, did he? Because Yusuke could swear he was suddenly hearing silence in place of the previous explosions.

"Lalala," Yusuke said randomly to himself and nope, he could still hear himself just fine.

So what was with the ominous, suspicious silence?

"This better not be a trap," Yusuke muttered to himself as he stepped out to take a look at the situation. A lot of damaged trees. Tree huggers would wage a war at this tree abuse, but otherwise, nothing. No one. "What?"

Yusuke extended out his senses, spreading his energy thin throughout the forest while leaving some around his person for defense in case of a secret attack. Call him paranoid, but Yusuke rather not take the chance especially with the Arcobalneo's volatile mood.

Some distance away, Yusuke caught the unique energy of Reborn. It was heading away from the forest at a rapid speed.

Yusuke scratched his head, bemused. "First he attacks me and then he runs away?"

Yusuke slumped down to a sit and glanced around the damage forest. He sighed. "I feel like I just lost my touch with humanity. What's with everyone's strange behavior nowadays?"

As expected, there was no answer.

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

Xxx

Tsuna blinked as he trudged out of Namimori Middle and saw Yusuke-san waiting by the front gate. "Yusuke-san!" he exclaimed, heading towards the older male. Gokudera and Yamamoto followed.

"Hey, Tsuna," Yusuke-san greeted, smiling lightly. He looked over at Gokudera and Yamamoto, and exchanged a brief look with Gokudera. "Yo."

Tsuna had a strange feeling that there was more behind Gokudera and Yusuke-san's exchange but didn't question them since he didn't get the feeling that it was anything bad.

"Yusuke-san, where have you been?!" Tsuna exclaimed as he stopped in front of the other male.

Yusuke-san grinned. "Away," he answered cryptically.

"Answer Juudaime properly!" Gokudera demanded, ever fast to step into any situation he deemed necessary. Tsuna was a little surprise Gokudera didn't pull out his dynamites yet.

"Maa, maa, calm down," Yamamoto said, as easy going as ever. "Yusuke-san answered Tsuna's question, didn't he?"

"That vague bastard –!" Gokudera said, snapping his mouth shut a moment later with a scowl. "What do you want from Juudaime?"

"Just wondering what is going on with Reborn," Yusuke-san said and the instant he said Reborn's name, Tsuna shuddered. Beside him, Gokudera and Yamamoto did the same. "That bad?" Yusuke-san asked, and Tsuna didn't need any more prompting than that.

"Reborn is brutal recently!" Tsuna exclaimed, his voice unusually high to nearly a wail. "And here I thought he was scary before. He wakes me up at the crack of dawn and makes me run around until very late. I have to run back home and prepare for school after the run each day and is late almost every day recently! Hibari-san is biting me to death because of my lateness!"

Fury crossed Gokudera's face at the mention of Tsuna being bitten to death, while Yamamoto winced sympathetically with a smile.

"Hahaha," Yamamoto laughed. "No wonder Hibari seems to be in a better mood recently."

"Yamamoto," Tsuna said. Comical tears slid down Tsuna's face. "Please don't joke about that."

"Heard that, baseball freak," Gokudera said. "Stop annoying Juudaime!"

Yusuke scratched his head at the chaos that resulted from his question. "You have it bad, don't you," Yusuke asked, watching as Tsuna sighed. Beside him, Yamamoto and Gokudera continued to argue. "Mind me asking one more question?"

Tsuna looked at Yusuke for a moment, before gesturing him to ask away. "What is it, Yusuke-san?"

"When did this brutal training start?" Yusuke asked, his eyes unusually intent.

Tsuna didn't notice as he attempted to trace back the change to when it first started. "I think it was when I got that Skullitis," Tsuna said. His eyebrows scrunched up. "When was that…?"

Yusuke wondered what crazy stuff happened in Tsuna's daily life for him to forget a memorable day like when he contracted a rare, life-threatening disease.

"Juudaime," Gokudera called out. "That was about a week ago."

Tsuna's face lit up. "Oh, that's right. Gokudera, you have such good memory!"

"It's nothing, Juudaime! If I want to be Juudaime's right hand man, I'll have to do even better than that," Gokudera declared.

"Oh, are you guys talking about that Mafia Game?" Yamamoto spoke up, interest on his face.

The smile on Tsuna's twitched. "It's not a game, Yamamoto…" he protested weakly, but no one seemed to have noticed.

Yusuke decided that he really didn't want to know the story behind that. Maybe next time, after he got the issue with Reborn resolved. "Right…" Yusuke said. All three teens looked at him. "Thanks. I wasted enough of your time already. Why don't you guys go home and rest?"

"Don't tell Juudaime what to do!" Gokudera exclaimed, at the same time Yamamoto said, "That's a great idea."

Tsuna yawned and nodded. "I'll get going then, Yusuke-san."

Yusuke nodded and smiled, watching how Gokudera and Yamamoto unquestioningly followed as Tsuna headed towards home.

Yusuke ambled off to the side of the school and stopped to lean against a tree. He waited.

A few seconds later, the sound of a mechanical door opening was heard from the tree Yusuke was leaning against. Yusuke remained in the same place, waiting for Reborn to speak.

"Ciaossu," Reborn finally said. Yusuke let out a breath. Reborn sounded more like the in-control Arcobaleno now, although he had a feeling the greeting was only to make their meeting sound more natural. Reborn usually went straight into business with Yusuke, after all.

"Hey," Yusuke greeted casually. He didn't bother looking up to Reborn's manmade secret passageway within the tree and instead continued to gaze out at Namimori. "What's up?"

"You knew I was here," Reborn accused and ah, here was the straightforward, no-time-for-pleasantries Reborn that Yusuke was used to.

"Guessed," Yusuke corrected automatically. "I doubt you would leave Tsuna unguarded."

"Instincts again," Reborn stated, and Yusuke nodded like it was a question that required an answer. "You dodged Tsuna's question."

Yusuke knew exactly which one Reborn was referring to. "Don't worry," Yusuke said, even though worry wouldn't have been the word Yusuke would have used to describe Reborn's tone. More like… mildly puzzled. "I didn't go off to plot the end of the world or something."

"I know," Reborn said, and there was this almost tired quality to Reborn's words that made Yusuke think Reborn might have learned something he didn't want to know. Which immediately sent Yusuke's guard up, although he made an effort to relax.

Either Reborn had come to some conclusion on his own through some information Yusuke had no privy to, or Reborn really did know that Yusuke went back to Demon World.

Yusuke hissed lowly. He was getting a headache from all of this.

He tried to move things back to his pace. "What's with that greeting you gave me this morning?" Yusuke asked, and both of them knew he was talking about Reborn attacking Yusuke without any warning.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Reborn answered promptly.

Yusuke hmmed, dropping the issue for now. He was inquisitive but not nosy enough to try to dig for information at the risk of his health. "You heard what Tsuna said, right? About your recent trainings."

Reborn remained silent. Yusuke sighed, feeling like he was trying to move a mountain. Actually, that would probably be easier than trying to get Reborn to talk when he didn't want to.

"Look, I've never been a tutor, so I don't know how these things work. I'm not trying to criticize your tutoring ability or anything, but," Yusuke struggled to get his words across. It had been a while since Yusuke felt the need to watch his words. "Tsuna sounds really tired. It can't be good for him to stay like that."

Silence.

Yusuke tsked and pushed himself off of the tree trunk. He turned around. "Reborn-"

A green thing came flying at him and stuck on his face.

Yusuke held back the urge to bat it away, since he recognized what it was. "Leon," Yusuke murmured, ignoring the snicker coming from the tree. Yusuke carefully peeled the chameleon off his face. "Hey, buddy."

Leon's tongue flicked out and licked Yusuke's finger.

Yusuke laughed lightly, a smile blooming on his face.

"Leon," Reborn's voice called out and after another flick, the chameleon jumped back to its owner.

Yusuke glanced up at Reborn, taking in Reborn's appearance. His suit was still neatly pressed and he still looked very composed, yet there was something about the man that was a little off.

Reborn looked at him. "Urameshi," Reborn started.

"Yusuke," Yusuke automatically correct.

An indescribable look flashed across Reborn's face.

He nodded after a moment. "Yusuke," Reborn said. He glanced at Yusuke. "I'll consider what you said."

Before Yusuke could formulate a reply, the door on the tree trunk slid close, making the tree appear like any other tree in the area

The Acrobaleno was gone.

Yusuke stared for another moment, before smiling with the shake of his head.

If you want to hide a tree, put it in the forest.

Xxx

Reborn didn't wait to see how Urameshi would react. He simply closed the door to the secret pathway.

A hand absentmindedly patted Leon's head as Reborn manipulated the lift with the other. There was another forest he had to go.

Leon's rubbed his head against Reborn's hand, tongue flicking out affectionately. Reborn gazed down at his partner, still unable to decide how he should react to Leon siding with Urameshi in the visit to the future.

"You like him," Reborn finally said, breaking the silence. Leon's tongue flicked out. "You didn't want to shoot him, and he didn't mean any harm."

Leon crawled out from under Reborn's hand to sit on it. Reborn lifted his hand close to his face.

Leon licked Reborn's face, and Reborn recalled the chameleon only did that with people he liked. The list was short, only including Reborn, the Ninth, Luce, Reborn's students (Dino and Tsuna) and now – Urameshi.

"If you think that was for the best, I won't press," Reborn said, knowing the chameleon's judge of character was excellent. "Can I trust you to not do that again? It's awfully hard to maintain my reputation if my gun suddenly transforms into a chameleon in the middle of a hit."

Leon's tongue flicked out again, before he leapt up to the brim of Reborn's fedora. Reborn took that as a yes.

Reborn stopped the lift, having arrived at the forest of his choice. He stepped out to the sight of the forest he damaged that morning and activated his Sun flame. Might as well start repairing the damage.

As he did, Reborn finally decided he wouldn't think about his visit to the future any longer. He wasn't thinking that morning when he attacked Urameshi. Just because Urameshi of the present had the same appearance of the future Urameshi, it didn't mean that they were the same person. Whatever Urameshi of the future did, the present Urameshi didn't know. If Reborn continued to act strangely, Urameshi would only dig to find out why.

No, it was better to let the issue of his visit to the future drop. Not only was it a waste of time to dwell on something he had so little information on, Reborn would like to think his future self knew what he was doing when he chose to have a dalliance with Urameshi.

Besides, whatever Reborn of the future chose to do, it didn't change what Reborn would do now. His knowledge of the future changed nothing. He would still tutor Tsuna, help the Ninth with Vongola and keep a close eye on Urameshi.

So whatever would results from his actions, Reborn would accept them.

Chapter Text

"Whoah," Yusuke said as the basketball veered completely off course. He jogged forward to get it. It seemed like the pass specialist was getting tired, since, from what Yusuke had seen thus far, his aim was usually unerringly accurate.

Still, Yusuke wasn't exactly surprised. People always said don't judge a book by its cover, but Yusuke doubted he was far off from his estimate about the skinny teenager, and it seemed like he was right.

Yusuke's eyes followed the orange striped ball that was rolling away, knowing he could use a little extra burst of speed to get it, but not wanting to appear too extraordinary. Although he doubted he could stand out much, with that bunch's rainbow hair.

Then again, amongst a bunch of teenagers with unnatural hair color, having normal colored hair would actually stand out more, wouldn't it?

Yusuke shook his head at the irony, before bringing his attention to the escaping basketball again. He had no intention of letting it roll out onto the road and meet its ultimate demise. Their game wasn't finished, after all.

The ball rolled to a stop with a light bump against someone's leg.

"Hey, can you pass me that?" Yusuke called out, and even before he finished his sentence, he could already tell from the familiar energy signatures that it was someone he knew. A several of someone, actually.

Yusuke raised his eyes from the basketball and as the other teenager bent down to pick it up, Yusuke found himself making eye contact with a familiar pair of dark eyes. Those eyes narrowed, not appearing happy at all to see him.

Yusuke scratched his head absentmindedly.

"Hey," Yusuke said to the hitman, who was sitting on the Vongola heir's shoulder. Yusuke's gaze went to the teenager as he passed the basketball to him. "Thanks, Tsuna."

Tsuna smiled at him. Yamamoto followed Tsuna's lead, and Gokudera copied Reborn.

Yusuke didn't know whether to sigh or laugh at their distinct reaction upon seeing him. He chose to laugh as he wiped droplets of sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand, and slipped the basketball under his arm, between his side and elbow.

Reborn's eye flickered to him, not doubt trying to deduce what Yusuke had been up to. There was nothing to deduce, however. The answer was in the ball Yusuke was holding under his arm.

"You play basketball, Yusuke-san?" Tsuna asked, interest flickering in his eyes.

Yusuke turned his attention to him and in his peripheral vision, Yusuke noted Yamamoto seemed to perk up at the mention of a sport.

Yusuke shrugged. "Just occasionally," Yusuke answered, which may have been a little bit of an exaggeration. More like 'I've never played until today, but I heard about it and have seen it on TV.'

It wasn't like Yusuke was a recluse who lived on the mountains for years in insolation and therefore, didn't know a thing about the popular sport or anything, although Yusuke had lived on the mountain before. It was merely that he had never participated in school sports in the past, and after he became Spirit Detective, well… who had time to play basketball when there was a world to save?

Then after saving the world and Yusuke did have time, it just seemed awfully stupid to run around trying to throw a ball into a hoop after all those world saving excitement he had experienced.

Yusuke didn't think about the fact that there was also no one who would play with him anyway. He didn't want to go there at all.

"Oh," Tsuna said, in reply to Yusuke's answer.

There was a lull in their conversation. Before the silence could grow uncomfortable, Yamamoto spoke.

"Are you any good?" Yamamoto asked, and Tsuna let out a silent sigh of relief. Trust Yamamoto to break up any moments that were heading towards awkward.

Tsuna let his gaze drift towards Yusuke-san again, feeling worry well within him. He didn't know what happened or what Yusuke-san was thinking, only that one moment he was answering his question and the next… Yusuke-san didn't seem different at all, but it seemed to Tsuna that Yusuke-san grew plaintive and distinct.

Tsuna's hand twitched at his side. He wanted to do something to make Yusuke-san feel better, but he had no idea what.

"Figure it out with your Dying Will," Reborn ordered. His Leon-gun was already in hand.

Tsuna didn't even have the time to shout "Stop reading my mind, Reborn!" or even the more important "Don't shoot me!" before the bullet hit the center of his forehead.

I'm dying, Tsuna thought detachedly as he fell backwards. Gokudera and Yamamoto cried out his name in an identical worried tone, and Yusuke's gaze dropped to Tsuna in surprise. Yusuke-san… If I had known I would die today, I would have tried everything in my power to improve your mood.

Familiar warmth, something like fire, burst within Tsuna.

No! Tsuna thought fiercely. Tsuna's body shot up, and all his clothes except his boxer ripped from his person with that one movement. Tsuna could scarcely care. All he could concentrate on was that sudden tunnel vision of his. It made his choice so much easier. I will improve his mood!

"I will make Yusuke-san feel happier again with my Dying Will!" Tsuna shouted loudly.

Surprise flashed across everyone's face, not expecting Tsuna to go into Dying Will Mode for such a reason. Everyone except Reborn.

The surprise on Yusuke-san's face, stemmed from not expecting at all that someone would do something like that for him, only fuelled the fire within Tsuna's chest and forehead. His flame glowed.

"Do you want a massage?" Tsuna asked, jumping towards Yusuke-san to give him exactly that. Yusuke-san unconsciously shifted away from him. "Maybe wipe your sweat?"

"Hey-"

"Some water?" Tsuna rapid fired off.

"Tsuna," Yusuke called, but then Reborn spoke.

"Let him do it," Reborn said, eyes hidden by his tipped-down fedora. Tsuna continued to fuss over Yusuke. "That's his Dying Will."

"What-?" Yusuke said, but that was the exact moment Tsuna's exaggeratedly large, half-crazed eyes dropped to the basketball under Yusuke's arm.

"Win your game?" Tsuna asked.

Yusuke, for the first time in a very long time, was stunned to silence.

Tsuna in his Dying Will Mode took that as an agreement.

He snatched the basketball from Yusuke without waiting for a reply. "I'll win the basketball game for Yusuke-san with my Dying Will!"

Then he proceeded to rush towards the basketball courts. Gokudera followed after a glare towards Yusuke and a "Wait for me, Juudaime!" Yamamoto followed with a laugh and a "Tsuna is sure excited about this basketball game."

Yusuke sweat-dropped at the dust that was left to settle in the wake of their passing.

"Are they always like this?" Yusuke asked, turning towards Reborn.

Reborn hmmed. "You better go see the game before it ends," Reborn said, already ambling away. "It wouldn't last long."

Yusuke let out a laugh and speed walked until he was in front of Reborn.

"That's ridiculously childish," Reborn said, tipping his fedora back to glare at Urameshi. He did not appreciate the other man trying to overtake Reborn with his longer, adult strides.

Urameshi dropped down in front of Reborn, quelling his glare. "Get on," Urameshi said, gesturing to his shoulder. A faint smile lingered at the corner of Urameshi's lips. "It'll be too late otherwise."

Reborn instinctively sent a kick towards Urameshi's head for the insinuation that Reborn was slow and was surprised when Urameshi actually let it land. Urameshi let out a laugh. "Ouch."

Reborn settled on Urameshi's shoulder. "Go," Reborn commanded, hiding his surprise like the ride was completely within his plan.

Amusement filled Urameshi's voice. "Yes, yes, Your Majesty Berorn."

Reborn's lips twitched.

Xxx (A/N: If you don't know what is Kuroko no Basket, here is the time to scroll down to read a short summary) xxx

"Oi, what the fuck!" Aomine shouted when someone just whizzed past him. He hadn't even seen the guy coming!

Two other guys followed, one smiling cheerfully, the other with an annoyed glare.

"Hello," the cheerful guy greeted as he passed, while his companion said nothing.

"Wow," Kise breathed, turning back to look in the direction the three other teens had gone. "I don't think I could copy the first guy's speed. It's inhuman!"

Aomine let out a che. "You can't copy a lot of stuff, like me or Tetsu's invisibility."

Kise blinked, his eye suddenly brimmed with crocodile tears. "Wah! Aominecchi is so mean! Wait until I tell Kurokocchi!"

"Wha-What?!" Aomine spluttered. He hissed in annoyance. "Where the fuck is that Yusuke-guy anyway?! He took five minutes to fetch a goddamn ball?!"

"Aominecchi is cursing so much! Wah, my poor innocent ear!" Kise wailed, covering his ears to match his words.

Aomine snorted. "Innocent my ass."

Kise tugged on Aomine's arm.

"What?!" Aomine snapped, turning around to glare at Kise.

"Those guys from before! They're on our court!" Kise cried.

"Who fucking cares? Akashi is there. Let him deal with them," Aomine said, eyes scanning the other side of the park for the Yusuke-guy. "Ah, I see him."

"B-But Aominecchi!" Kise wailed, and Aomine rolled his eyes at Kise's theatrics. He always made a big deal out of nothing, so Aomine proceeded to ignore his teammate in favor of heading towards the Yusuke-guy.

The logic was simple.

The Yusuke-guy had the basketball. Without the basketball, Aomine cannot play the sport. Basketball was life. Hence, go to the Yusuke-guy with the basketball.

Kise's tug on Aomine's arm became insistent. "They just scored a point against us!"

Aomine ripped his arm out of Kise's grip with the force he spun around. "What?! What the fuck was fucking Midorima or Murasakibara doing?!"

Even out of hearing range, it seemed Aomine would not dare verbally criticize Akashi.

"They were all just sitting there resting!" Kise cried, shaking Aomine's arm. "And then the first guy that passed us suddenly slammed the basketball through our hoop!"

"We're going back," Aomine declared. He turned and ran towards the court in full speed without looking back.

The guy just scored a point against them. That would require an actual basketball. The presence of a basketball equaled a good game.

The game was so on!

"Wah! Wait for me, Aominecchi!"

Xxx

Akashi heard their approach before he had actually seen them. Actually, it was pretty hard not to hear them coming.

"I'll win the basketball game with my Dying Will!" someone shouted, and in the time it took Akashi to look up, a basketball was slammed through a hoop.

Their hoop.

Akashi's eyebrow twitched.

Someone just scored a point against them. Granted, whoever it was took them by surprise, but it was:

Completely. Unacceptable.

"Murasakibara, Midorima," Akashi called, standing up. He watched as another two teen appeared on the court, both praising the first for the good shot. Akashi's mood worsened. "Kuroko."

"Eh, even Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara asked, slowly standing up. He was still eating his snack.

Kuroko looked up weakly from where he sprawled on the bench. "Akashi-kun?" he asked.

Akashi made a split-second decision. "I expect you to join us as soon as you can," he said, already sauntering forward with Murasakibara and Midorima close behind.

"Understood," Kuroko intoned, sounding tired but not willing to defy.

The teens on the court looked towards them as they approached.

"Would you like a game?" Akashi asked, even as he bade his two teammates to go into position.

The leader – clad in only a boxer with a flame on his head – glanced towards Akashi for a second, before he moved.

Akashi, anticipating this, stepped forward and stamped. "Emperor Eye."

Xxx

"Holy fuck," Aomine uttered as he skidded to a stop.

Kise, who was right behind him, was unable to stop in time and crashed right into Aomine.

Aomine didn't even budge or turn around to yell at Kise.

"Aominecchi?" Kise said curiously, trying to peek over Aomine's shoulder. When that didn't work since Aomine was taller than Kise, Kise let out a huff and looked around Aomine. "What's…" wrong, Kise wanted to finish asking, except his voice just fled him as his eyes landed on the court.

It had taken approximately one and a half minute to return to the court. Kise expected Akashi to have pulverized their challengers by then, since Akashi wasn't known to be nice to those who challenge him in such an aggressive, overbearing manner.

Yet…

"Holy," Kise breathed, since that was the only way for him to verbalize his feelings. Was Akashi just having a one-on-one with a brown-haired kid who was shorter than him?

Even more surprising was Akashi didn't get pass the other guy's defense yet.

And that was the truth. Every time Akashi made a small movement, the other kid would react and vice versa. If Kise didn't know better, he would say the other shorty was reading Akashi's move.

But it's not possible! Kise shouted in his head. Akashi was superhuman enough with his uncanny ability to predict people's movement and now it appeared that someone else can also do that? Someone who can read Akashi Seijuro?!

Kise felt like he went into an alternative universe while he wasn't paying attention.

As it was, he also didn't notice the other two that joined them.

Xxx

Reborn narrowed his eyes at the scene before him. This was an unusual turn of event.

Normally when in Dying Will Mode, Tsuna would move in a frenzied manner, partly because of his time limit of five minutes and partly because he just had so much energy from his removed physical limitations that he just had to move.

But right now, despite Reborn knew the five minutes weren't up yet – although it was quickly approaching – Tsuna wasn't moving.

Or rather, Reborn thought, his gaze landing on Tsuna's opponent, he is prevented from moving.

Spikey red hair and heterochromatic, calculating eyes.

Reborn's mind instantly latched on those eyes. He knew there was a famiglia that prided themselves for those eyes. They came with an ability similar to Vongola's Hyper Intuition. The ability enabled people who possessed those eyes to read others with uncanny accuracy. They were called…

"Emperor Eyes," Reborn muttered. "The Akashi Family."

The blond-haired kid beside Urameshi glanced over at Reborn in surprise. "Eh, you know Akashi?"

Reborn quickly glanced over the teen. Pretty face, athletic, probably middle schooler, model. Reborn recognized his face from some of the magazines Tsuna's female classmates sighed over.

Most likely one of Akashi's Family member, as well as the dark-blue haired kid beside him.

Reborn gave a noncommittal hm.

The blond-haired kid and Urameshi gave Reborn a curious look, but he ignored them.

The model turned back towards the game after a moment. "That kid's pretty good," he said. "Normally Akashicchi would have breeze right pass him by now."

"His name is Tsuna," Urameshi said. "He's… special, you could say."

Reborn could see the corner of Urameshi's lips twitching.

"Eh, you know him, Yusuke-san," the model said in surprise. "No wonder he's so good!"

Urameshi laughed. "I didn't train him, you know?"

The teen gave Urameshi a skeptical, teasing look. "You said you didn't really know how to play either," he pointed out, "but you kept up with us when Aominecchi, Kurokocchi and I went against you."

Reborn's eyes flicked over to Urameshi briefly. From the way the model had said it, it seemed like that was a pretty big accomplishment. Reborn flipped through his internal database briefly to find out why.

Ah, the Akashi Family's heir went to a school named Teiko, which was known for its basketball prowess. Reborn, as well as the Akashi themselves, wouldn't expect anything less than captaincy for their heir, meaning the teenagers present were Teiko's first string.

Of course. Now Reborn recalled he had heard something of this. This bunch of middle schoolers was known to be so skilled in basketball that they were named Generations of Miracles in the basketball circle. They had led Teiko to two years of championships already, and it was anticipated that this year would be the third.

"Barely," Urameshi said with a laugh in reply. "I barely kept up with you guys."

Reborn absentmindedly wondered if that was modesty or the truth.

In his peripheral vision, Reborn saw that Tsuna finally made a move. No doubt it was because he sensed time was running out.

It was a mistake, however, because Akashi saw it coming. Akashi moved forward to intercept Tsuna, and Tsuna was stopped.

The basketball, however, was not in his hand.

"Midorima," Akashi called out, knowing it was too late for him to act now, and a green-haired boy moved, almost stealing the ball from Gokudera's hand.

"Baseball freak!" Gokudera shouted, passing the ball to Yamamoto. "You better not miss!"

Yamamoto grinned as he caught the basketball, and a familiar look that only appeared when he held a baseball in his hand slipped on his face. His eyes narrowed, and he dribbled forward.

The green-haired kid, Midorima, was trying to grab the ball back, but Gokudera was blocking the way. "You won't get pass me," Gokudera declared, eyes filled with determination.

Likewise, the perception that the Vongola Family and the Akashi Family passed down to their heirs was now enabling one to prevent the other from moving forward once again. They were stuck in a stagnant.

Yamamoto stopped and bent his knees. The purple-haired boy in front of the hoop narrowed his eyes.

The flame on Tsuna's head went out.

Yamamoto made the motion to shoot. The purple-haired kid readied himself to jump. Akashi turned around.

"Murasakibara, don't," Akashi called, instantly seeing through Yamamoto's fake. The purple-haired kid, Murasakibara, immediately stopped.

Yamamoto paused.

The world held its breath.

The basketball slipped off Yamamoto's hand.

Reborn inwardly sighed.

"What the fuck, baseball freak!" Gokudera shouted, rage filling his face. There was no time limit to the impromptu game, but it was apparent who had just won.

"Hahaha," Yamamoto laughed, turning around. "My bad, my bad. I'm not used to holding a basketball. Man, I never realized a basketball is so much bigger a baseball."

"You can tell with one look!" Gokudera yelled, ignoring his previous opponent in favor of storming towards Yamamoto.

"Maa, maa," Yamamoto said. "It wasn't on purpose. I just forgot I was holding a basketball and tried to throw it like a baseball."

The people in the surrounding's jaw dropped. The vein on Gokudera's forehead throbbed.

"You fucking idiot!" Gokudera shouted. "How could you forget?"

Someone laughed.

Reborn jumped onto the ground as the person he was sitting on shook.

Everyone stared at Urameshi, and he grinned back at them. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized, not appearing apologetic at all. The grin on his face widened. "Go on. Don't mind me."

Then he took one look at the dumbfounded looks on the people around him, and he cracked up again.

"Holy fuck," Urameshi said as he continued to laugh, to the point where he was crouching down on the floor, clenching his stomach as his body shook with mirth.

"You've fucking gone insane, haven't you?" Gokudera asked with an incredulous laugh. Any anger he previously had evaporated.

Yamamoto grinned. "It was a good game, wasn't it, Tsuna?"

Tsuna nodded, gazing at Urameshi with a soft, tired smile. "It was."

"Sorry I made us lose," Yamamoto said. "My bad. It won't happen again, I promise."

Tsuna shook his head. "Like you said, it was a good game, Yamamoto."

Besides, Reborn could almost hear Tsuna thinking, Yusuke-san's smiling again.

Reborn shook his head slightly. Tsuna still wore everything on his face.

The dark-skinned boy next to model boy stepped up. "Hey," he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. Reborn recognized the look on the teen's face. It was the predatory look of someone ready for a fight. Or in this case, a game. "Play against me," he said directly to Tsuna and his family. "In fact, all of you. Come at me."

"No fair, Aominecchi!" the model cried, running up to the boy Reborn assumed was called Aomine. The '-cchi' part was most likely tagged on as a personalized way to call someone. A nickname of some sort, Reborn supposed. "I wanted to challenge them." He turned towards Tsuna.

"Hey," he said cheerily, beaming at them with his model smile. A hint of darkness lurked in his otherwise bright, yellow eyes and his smile, too, turned predatory. "Wanna get your revenge?"

"Why you-!" Gokudera exclaimed, marching forward. "Who the fuck are you?"

The model smiled prettily. "Kise Ryouta," he introduced professionally, sparkling in Gokudera's direction. Too bad Gokudera was not at all impressed. "I'm the teammate of the group that you lost to," he continued rather antagonistically, gesturing to the court with the same charming smile.

This one has rather much like a double persona, doesn't he, Reborn thought. Absentmindedly, he wondered which one was his true self, and how it came about. After all, while people within the Mafia may develop a double persona, everyday middle schooler usually had no reason to.

Just when it looked like Gokudera would resort to his fist or dynamite, Kise suddenly cried out.

"Wah!" Kise called, stumbling forward. It took Reborn a whole second to see why. "Kurokocchi!"

"Kise-kun, stop being rude," someone intoned softly from behind Kise. All of a sudden, a person seemed to materialize out of thin air. Reborn, Urameshi, Akashi and Tsuna didn't start in surprise, but the rest of the teenagers did.

"Kuroko!" Akashi's Family called out. It seemed like the phantom boy was a teammate of theirs.

Reborn looked critically over Kuroko, noting he seemed rather weak. He didn't show the signs of having any supernatural abilities as well. His lack of presence was inborn then.

Well, this is getting more interesting, Reborn thought. He wondered if he could recruit the boy.

The feeling of a glare brought Reborn out of his thoughts. He traced it back to a pair of heterochromatic eyes.

Reborn returned the look easily and was even more intrigued when the teen didn't flinch away. Interesting.

Their eye contact was suddenly broken by a body in their way.

"Yusuke," Reborn said as the other stood up. The grin was still on his face, although there was a knowing glint in his eyes as well as he looked from Akashi to Reborn.

Urameshi clucked his tongue. "Try not to kill each other, 'kay," Urameshi said. He didn't give Reborn or Akashi a chance to reply before he ambled towards the group gathered around Tsuna.

"Hey, Kuroko, you feeling better?" Yusuke called out.

The group unconsciously parted to let Yusuke through. Kuroko's blue eyes drifted to Yusuke, and he nodded.

"I'm feeling better, Yusuke-san," he replied. "Thank you for asking."

Yusuke hummed and carefully, he placed a hand on Kuroko's head and ruffled his hair. There was something amusing about how Kuroko's teammates instantly bristled.

Yusuke dropped his hand and just when the Generation of Miracles began to relax, Yusuke leaned forward so he was at Kuroko's height. "You have a good team," Yusuke whispered directly into Kuroko's ear, too low for anyone else to hear. He could feel Kuroko's eyes widen ever slightly in surprise and with hidden sorrow. "So don't worry too much and enjoy life, 'kay?"

"Yusuke-san…" Kuroko murmured, face still expressionless while his eyes were full of feelings and inner turmoil. Yusuke wondered how his teammates never saw any of that. "I-"

Someone roughly yanked Yusuke back, and another instantly pulled Kuroko away from Yusuke. Yusuke fought against the instinctive reflex to react. "Get away from him, you creep," Aomine shouted, glaring at him.

Murasakibara wrapped his protective arms around Kuroko, normally bored eyes now outright fierce. Kise fluttered between wanting to go to his Kurokocchi and probably giving this 'creep' a piece of his mind.

"Yusuke-san, Kurokocchi is cute, but you can't do something like that," Kise said, reproaching and somewhat joking. His eyes, however, were deadly serious.

Midorima was standing beside Kuroko with his arms crossed, a hand pushing his glasses up. "Please respect Kuroko's personal space, Yusuke-san," Midorima said. His glasses glinted the unspoken or else…

Akashi stood a little apart from them all, watching all that happen with analytic look.

It was Kuroko who ended the standoff.

"Murasakibara-kun," he said, voice rather deadpanned. "Please don't hover over me like this."

"But Kuro-chin is cute," the tall teenager said, slouching to rest his chin on top of Kuroko's head. "You're very comfy."

Kuroko sighed. "I don't understand why all of you must insist that I'm cute," Kuroko voiced. "Please don't, Kise-kun," he sighed when it looked like the model was about to protest. "Aomine-kun," Kuroko said, turning towards the dark-skinned boy. "Please let go of Yusuke-san."

"But he was whispering in your ear like a creep!" Aomine protested, despite loosening his grip on Yusuke's arm. "Can I at least get in a punch?"

"You won't be able to, lover boy," Yusuke said with a laugh, slipping his arm out of Aomine's hold. Aomine turned to glare at him.

"Aomine-kun, please," Kuroko said, and any defiance in Aomine slowly evaporated. "Yusuke-san didn't do anything," he continued, looking at Yusuke with an inscrutable look. His gaze flickered back to Aomine after another moment. "Aomine-kun."

"What?" Aomine snapped, looking much like a peevish child.

"Would you like a game?" Kuroko asked. Aomine noticeably perked up.

A subtle smile played at Kuroko's lips as he turned back to Tsuna. "Would you like to play another game against us?" Kuroko asked.

"But I'm not-" Tsuna started instinctually. He paused to look at Gokudera, who looked like he very much wanted revenge, and Yamamoto, who had a grin spread across his face in anticipation of a rematch. The refusal on the tip of his tongue deflated. "Um…" Tsuna said, turning back to Kuroko. "I'm not very good, but alright?"

"From what I've seen, you're more than good," Kuroko said, still emotionless yet somehow getting across his sincerity with his blunt statement.

Tsuna flushed in face of it. "I…"

Reborn suddenly came out of nowhere and kicked Tsuna in the head, knocking Tsuna down. Kuroko blinked politely, as though it was somehow daily occurrence.

"He accepts the game," Reborn said to Kuroko, stepping on Tsuna a few more times more than necessary. "But he has to rest a bit first. His friends will play against you for now."

Kuroko nodded. "I understand. I also lack the stamina to play for an extended period of time," Kuroko said, looking down at his pale arm. He sounded so melancholy but also resigned at the knowledge of the extent of his physical abilities.

"Kise, Aomine," Akashi said, finally stepping in. "Play against them."

Eagerness flashed across the two teenagers' face, with an underlying of something darker. A mix of happiness and pain flashed across Kuroko's eyes at the sight.

"We'll crush them," Aomine promised with a grin, bouncing on the balls on his feet.

"We'll crush you," Gokudera growled, glowering at Aomine.

"Maa, maa, let's have a good game," Yamamoto said with a smile and all the sportsmanship in the world. His eyes sharpened. "But like my friend said, we're not weak."

"Che," Gokudera said. "Who's your friend?"

"Maa, maa, don't be like that, Gokudera," Yamamoto said in an easygoing manner, not even bothered by Gokudera's denial of their friendship.

"Wait!" Kise called out dramatically. "I didn't get to say my line yet!"

Yamamoto and Gokudera paused for a total of two second, before they resumed to arguing between themselves.

Kise sobbed rather dramatically beside Aomine. Aomine observed the one-sided argument Gokudera was supporting all by himself with interest. "You're like Midorima, aren't cha?" Aomine said to him, pointing towards his green-haired teammate with a jab of his thumb.

"Whatcha talking about, Aominecchi?" Kise asked curiously, pausing in his fake sobs.

"They're both tsundere," Aomined pointed out rather bluntly.

Midorima and Gokudera both spluttered. "Aomine, I'm not a tsundere!" Midorima hissed.

"Yeah, yeah," Aomine said carelessly, digging his pinky in his ear.

"Aomine-!" Midorima said, but Akashi cut in.

"Aomine, Kise, go start the game," Akashi said. His gaze drifted to Yamamoto and Gokudera, and looked at them rather pointedly.

"What?" Gokudera said defiantly, meeting Akashi's eyes.

A hand tugged at Gokudera's shirt.

"Gokudera, I thought you wanted to play," Tsuna said, ending the conflict before it could start.

"Of course, Juu-"

Yusuke bumped right into Gokudera, arms out to drape one arm on Gokuder's shoulder and the other on Yamamoto's. "C'mon," he said, steering them towards the court. "I also want to play."

He paused to look back at Akashi.

Akashi remained silent before a few second, before he nodded. "Midorima," he said.

Midorima nodded and headed towards the court, fixing the bandages on his fingers as he went.

"Well, this will be fun," Yusuke said as Gokudera shrugged his arm off his shoulder.

Chapter Text

The people who weren't playing went off to the side benches to sit. Murasakibara wandered off to buy more snacks.

Akashi and Reborn, either by chance or choice, ended up sitting next to each other.

"What is the Akashi Family's heir doing here?" Reborn said, gazing out at the group that was playing on the basketball court. He watched as Yamamoto scored a three-pointer against Kise. "Your Family's base is in Toyko."

"I have no obligation to answer your questions," Akashi said, watching the court with sharp eyes as well. A smirk spread across his face as Kise copied Yamamoto's move. "But if you really want to know, we have a basketball training camp in the area."

"And it's only a coincident that you traveled all the way to Namimori," Reborn said, skepticism in his voice, "for this training camp."

"To believe or not to believe, that is your choice," Akashi said coolly. "Although I do wonder what the renowned Sun Acrobaleno is doing here."

"I was in the area," Reborn answered cryptically. It wouldn't do for other mafia families to realize the heir of the strongest famiglia was being trained in the peaceful surrounding of Namimori, especially since Tsuna was not ready at all to deal with any assassins that came after him. Not yet.

A laugh filled with dark amusement escaped Akashi. "And so was I," Akashi said, and from his tone, Reborn had no doubt he knew Tsuna was the Vongola heir.

"If you make a move against him—" Reborn started.

"You're surrounded, Arcobaleno," Akashi stated. The multiple guns Reborn identified earlier glinted off in the nearby woods as the men readjusted their aim on him.

Ah, Reborn thought. Akashi's Family.

"You are not fit to take over the Akashi Family," Reborn said, knowing a frown would slip across Akashi's face at those words. "If you underestimate me."

Did Akashi really think thirty men or so could move about in the forest without alerting him? A beetle had landed near Reborn earlier, telling him all about the men in its forest and the type of weapons they held. Reborn calculated that he could take all of them out in less than two minutes, since he can fire a bullet with accuracy within 0.05 seconds.

"I have no intention of doing that," Akashi said after a pause. He waved his hand and then a few rustles later, his men retreated back into the depths of the forest. "Or challenge you as of now. That was merely a show of power, you could say."

Reborn hmmed but didn't relax. "What is it?" he prompted.

Something like surprise crossed Akashi's features. "Ah, the renowned mind reading ability of the Sun Acrobaleno," Akashi said a beat later.

"Most people are simply too easy to read," Reborn said. "Your mask is good, but you're also young and not as experienced."

Akashi remained silent for several seconds, thinking, before he chuckled. "If I hadn't ordered my men to retreat before, what would you have done?"

Reborn's gaze flickered to Akashi, and Akashi once again met his gaze without flinching. "I would have shot your friend," he said, tilting his head briefly to gesture to Kuroko.

"Not me?" Akashi queried. His tone wasn't insulted, merely curious.

Kuroko and Tsuna continued talking on another bench nearby, oblivious to the dangerous waters Reborn and Akashi's conversation was treading in.

"Are you familiar with Vongola's guardians?" Reborn inquired. Vongola's guardian system wasn't exactly a secret. In fact, Vongola was rather well-known in the underground world for its system.

"Sky, Rain, Storm, Cloud, Sun, Mist, and Lightning," Akashi listed.

Reborn nodded. "Kuroko is the Rain," Reborn said, recalling how effortlessly Kuroko calmed everyone down before, "the one to become a blessed shower that settles conflict and washes everything away."

On the court, Aomine charged ahead into the midst of the other teams' defense. "The dark-skinned boy, Aomine, is the Storm. Continuously at the heart of the attack, the furious Storm that never rests."

Kise cheered Aomine on even as he blocked Urameshi from attempting to go after the ball. "The model, Kise, is the Sun that brightly shines upon an area. The one that destroys the misfortune that attacks the Family with his own body."

As Aomine found himself blocked by Yamamoto and Gokudera, he let out a che and passed the ball to Midorima.

Midorima, standing a distant apart from the rest of the group, caught the pass and shot. "The tsundere, Midorima, is the Cloud. To be the aloof, drifting Cloud that protects the Family from an independent standpoint, and whom nothing can ever bind."

"You are the Mist, the one with the ability to create something from nothing, and nothing from something; thus bewildering the enemy, to render the Family's true form intangible with deceit."

Akashi's lips curled lightly at his description. "So that leaves Murasakibara as the Lightning."

Reborn nodded as Murasakibara ambled back with a bunch of sweets in his hand, looking casual and uncaring of anything. He thought of the Murasakibara before, with his arms wrapped around Kuroko at the sight of a perceived threat, shielding Kuroko with his own body. "To draw damage to himself and away from the rest of the Famiglia, serving as a lightning rod. That is Lightning."

"That doesn't explain why you would take out Kuroko first," Akashi said, sharp eyes boring down at Reborn.

"'Rain, Storm, Cloud, Sun, Mist, and Lightning, he influences all of them. He understands and accepts all of them,'" Reborn recited, glancing at Akashi. "You understand, don't you?"

"You think that's Kuroko," Akashi stated. "The Sky."

Reborn shook his head briefly. "That's also you as well, Akashi. You undeniably hold an influence over your teammates. Whatever you say, they follow. Intellectually, you understand them. Kuroko understands them on a more emotional level and accepts them all, including you. If you are the Sky's mind, then Kuroko is the heart. A group can survive without a mind to guide them, but it cannot survive without a heart to care for them, for it is the heart that would heal the wounds of losing the mind. You target the heart," Reborn said, "and the rest of the Family's heart would break as well, because he influences all of them, including the mind."

"You think very thoroughly, don't you?" Akashi said after a long moment. He watched as Gokudera broke through the three Generation of Miracle's defense with the help of his team and scored two points. "As expected of the strongest hitman in the Mafia."

Akashi watched the game for another moment, observing how Aomine seemed to be struggling to match Urameshi's speed, before he stood. "Aomine, Kise," he called out. The two aforementioned Miracles looked up. "Switch with Kuroko and Murasakibara."

"What?" Aomine shouted. "But I can still play!"

"You've been playing against Yusuke the whole morning," Akashi said. "You too, Kise. Both of you, go rest."

"Akashi!" Aomine protested, adrenaline from the game urging him on to protest. "I'm—ack!"

Kuroko's hand smacked into Aomine's face, and Aomine fell back on wobbling legs. "Aomine-kun, you're exhausted. Listen to Akashi-kun."

Aomine grumbled as he and Kise got off the court.

"Tsuna," Reborn called. His student looked up. "Get in."

"Huh? But Reborn—" Tsuna protested, only to be sent flying in the direction of the basketball court courtesy of Reborn's kick.

As Gokudera and Yamamoto exclaimed how happy they were to see Tsuna, Urameshi ambled off the court.

"Whew!" Urameshi exclaimed, plopping in the spot between Reborn and Akashi. Sweat dripped off his head and arms. "I'm beat."

Somehow, Reborn doubted that. Urameshi was sweating a lot, but he also looked like he could play several of more rounds and still be fine.

"I'm surprised you two didn't kill each other yet," Urameshi voiced.

Akashi raised an eyebrow at Urameshi's blunt statement. "You have little confidence in our self-control," Akashi stated.

"I met you today, Akashi," Urameshi said, "I wouldn't know."

"So you're implying that I have little self-control," Reborn stated, because although Urameshi and Reborn weren't exactly close, their first meeting had been a month ago.

Urameshi scratched his head. "How come it feels like I just stepped into a landmine?" he asked.

Akashi chuckled and a moment later, he froze. That was not intended at all, then.

Urameshi smiled, not deviously but sincerely. "You can laugh, you know? Being the heir of the Akashi Family doesn't change that."

A wall seemed to have come down, blocking all emotions from Akashi's countenance. "How did you know that?" he asked darkly.

Reborn could hear the leaves rustles again. Akashi must have some kind of listening device on him, for his men to act so promptly at a perceived threat.

"That," Urameshi said, tilting his head to the general direction of where the rustlings were the loudest and therefore, the area where most of Akashi's men were. "I've been hearing that ever since you've arrived. Beside, traditions dictate mafioso to wear black suits, and they don't exactly blend in with the green scenery, ya know?"

Slowly, Akashi forced himself to relax. "I'll keep that in mind next time," Akashi said.

"Don't worry too much," Urameshi said, as though oblivious to Akashi's inner turmoil. Or maybe especially because of it. "I swear, you kids worry too much at such a young age."

Reborn could see Akashi fighting to not react to Urameshi's words. "'You kids,'" Akashi quoted, emphasizing on the plural.

"Kuroko," Urameshi confirmed, eyes drifting to said boy. Reborn found it interesting how Kuroko adapted his weak presence to playing basketball. "You can see he's struggling, can't you?"

Reborn wondered what Urameshi was talking about. Meanwhile, Akashi stilled as he let the words go through his mind.

"I find it hard to believe Kuroko would confide in a total stranger," Akashi said, a hint of a warning threading in his words.

"Chill," Urameshi said, still calm despite the men surrounding them tensing in response to Akashi's tone. "You saw the whole scene from before. There's no way Kuroko's bodyguards AKA Aomine and Kise would Kuroko out of their sight, let alone allow me close enough to threaten Kuroko." Urameshi tapped his own eyes tellingly and waited for the Akashi heir to connect the dots.

"You can't tell me you learned all that from staring at Kuroko's eyes," Akashi said, incredulity resounding in his voice when he understood Urameshi's implication. Reborn found it hard to believe as well, especially since the phantom basketball player seemed to be emotionless most of the time. But this was Urameshi they were talking about. If Urameshi could use gut instincts to infer Reborn bailed him out of jail a few weeks ago, was it really improbable for Urameshi to learn that much through someone's eyes?

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Urameshi said. "That and gut instinct. Don't you know the saying eyes are the windows to a person's soul? Cheesy as hell, but so true." Urameshi glanced over at Akashi to see his skeptical look. "Look into my eyes, and tell me that I'm lying."

Akashi didn't say anything.

"Instead of worrying too much about the Mafia world, which I assume you won't be stepping into for another few years, why don't you pay attention to the people around you?" Urameshi said.

A lethal smile slowly spread across Akashi's face at Urameshi's words. It was a smile that said he found a flaw in Urameshi's statement. "What a hypocrite, Yusuke," Akashi murmured dangerously, "especially when you just told me not to worry."

"It's perfectly normal to worry about your friends," Urameshi rebutted calmly. Akashi's face was wiped of all expressions once again. Reborn found it worrying and a little awe inspiring at how easily Urameshi handled the Akashi heir. "Don't let Kuroko suffer right in front of you without trying to help him."

"What do you want me to do, then?" Akashi asked, a hint of true emotion showing for the first time.

"Plot," Urameshi said promptly. Akashi and Reborn glanced at Urameshi in surprise. Urameshi looked straight at Akashi, and his lips curved. "Isn't that what manipulative kids like you do the best?"

Akashi remained still for several of moment, until at last, his lips too curved minutely. "I see," he said and with those words, unseen tension seemed to release from him. Light amusement reached his eyes. "It seems like Oha Asa was correct."

Urameshi and Reborn blinked in confusion. "Who?" Urameshi asked, sounding completely puzzled.

"'Sagittarius will be confronted with a revelation today,'" Akashi said, sounding much like he was quoting from something. "It seemed like Midorima's horoscope is not all nonsense."

Reborn's eyebrow quirked. "You believe in horoscopes," Reborn stated blankly. He felt like his opinion of Akashi just lowered.

Akashi's lips quirked again, as though he knew what Reborn was thinking.

A loud voice drew the three out of their conversation. "SAWADA!" someone shouted. "I see you are playing an EXTREME sport!"

Tsuna inwardly groaned. He knew that voice.

"Turf-top," Gokudera shouted back to the approaching boxer. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you're also here, octopus head!" Sasagawa Ryohei said, jogging up to the group.

"Senpai," Yamamoto greeted with a smile.

"Hm, their friend," Murasakibara murmured, sounding not at all interested. He somehow ended up munching on his snack again.

"Murasakibara-kun, please don't eat now," Kuroko said, taking the bag of chips away from Murasakibara. "You haven't even wash your hand yet."

"Exactly," Midorima said, pushing up his glasses. "It's unhygienic."

"Dame Tsuna!" someone shouted. Everyone looked up. "Lambo-san is here!"

"L-Lambo!" Tsuna said, reaching out to catch the air-borne child. "Be careful!"

"What is this?" Aomine said, ambling back onto the court upon seeing the commotion. "A daycare?"

"Hey, looks like there's five people on each team now," Kise said. "Wanna do a five-on-five?"

"Wait," Tsuna called out, arms full of Lambo. "He's just a kid!"

"Lambo-san is awesome!" Lambo shouted. "Lambo-san will play!"

Kise grinned happily. "See, he agrees."

"You just want to play, don't you, Kise-kun?" Kuroko deadpanned behind the model.

Kise jumped in surprise, before he swirled around to smile sheepishly at Kuroko. "Eh, can you blame me, Kurokocchi? It's so fun playing against them~"

Something flashed across Kuroko's eyes. "Fun," he murmured.

"Hey, why don't we play a six-on-six then?" Yusuke said, ambling towards them. "Akashi can join your team and I'll join Tsuna's."

"Traditionally, basketball is five-on-five," Midorima said.

"Who cares," Yusuke said, "it's just one extra."

"You can't ignore the rule like that – !" Midorima started.

"Actually, Midorima," Akashi said, cutting into the conversation. "This sounds pretty interesting, so why not?"

"Akashi-kun…" Kuroko trailed off, looking at Akashi with unidentified emotions in his eyes.

Akashi turned to Kuroko and smiled at him. "We never all played on the same side as a team, have we?"

The Generations of Miracles began whispering among themselves.

"Akashi smiled..." Kise stage-whispered.

"Who pissed him off?" Aomine asked.

"Aka-chin has a nice smile," Murasakibara commented, munching on his snack again.

"Murasakibara, stop eating," Akashi commanded. "Everyone, get into position."

Everyone complied without question.

"C'mon guys," Urameshi prompted Tsuna's Family. "You guys don't want to lose to them, right?"

"Bring it on!" Ryohei shouted.

"Idiot, do you even know how to play?" Gokudera demanded.

"This will be fun," Yamamoto commented with a grin.

"Lambo-san is the best!" Lambo declared.

"Everyone…" Tsuna said in face of the craziness from everything happening around him. He carefully set Lambo down to the floor. "Will this be alright?"

"It'll be fine, Tsuna," Urameshi said. "Let's just have fun, alright?"

In the face of Urameshi's reassurance, Tsuna's lips quirked weakly. He looked around at the friends surrounding him, and a feeling slowly built up within him. He nodded. "Yes," he said, resolution in his voice.

Urameshi grinned and ruffled Tsuna's hair. "Now that's the spirit."

"Who will be the referee?" Midorima – ever the pragmatist – asked after everyone settled into the court.

Reborn jumped in at the moment, wearing a referee shirt. "Send in a player from each team to start please," Reborn said, changing the pitch of his voice.

"Reborn!" Tsuna hissed.

"I'll go!" Ryohei said, not recognizing Reborn with his cosplay, while Murasakibara was sent.

Reborn threw the basketball in the air, and both players reached for it. Murasakibara got it and tipped it to his team.

Reborn stepped back to watch. The Generations of Miracles was good. Reborn could tell with one look. Not only did they have talent (with the exception of Kuroko, but even he was talented in his field as a pass specialist), they also had a lot of practice.

Tsuna's team, on the other hand, was a ragtag group that was randomly thrown together. Reborn doubted that all of their experience with basketball would add up to any one of the Generation of Miracle's time dedicated to the sport.

Yet not all hope was lost for Tsuna's team.

Gokudera, for all his impulsiveness, was a strategist at heart. It was he who was directing Tsuna's team as Tsuna's right-hand man. Reborn didn't approve Tsuna's lack of leadership in the play but approved how Gokudera covered up his boss's weakness as the right-hand man.

Tsuna was a versatile player, his Vongola Hyper Intuition giving him the edge over all other players. He could sense the others' intention before they actually act on it, making him probably the player most aware of his surrounding, perhaps with the exception of Akashi and Urameshi.

Previously, Tsuna lost this edge while he played a three-on-three game because he was not used to basketball. In addition, Tsuna was clumsy and not good at sports to begin with. Several of months of Reborn training him didn't change Tsuna much, with the exception of making him a little less prone to tripping over his own feet.

Tsuna was contributing now, however. The determination in his eyes was strong, and his Vongola Hyper Intuition was at its peak. Tsuna wanted to win, and it showed in his movements. He was letting his potential takeover, rather than thinking too much about his actions. It showed in his moves as he successfully shot a three-pointer.

The delight on Tsuna's face upon seeing that was heartwarming, although Reborn would never admit that aloud.

Yamamoto didn't know the rules too well, and he was too absentminded. He even forgot he held a basketball instead of a baseball in his hand for a second, and that made him lose a precious chance to score before. He learned from the mistake, however, and coupled with his instincts as a natural born hitman, Yamamoto moved to intercept the player he was guarding before he even consciously become aware of why.

Ryohei, as the only second year of the group, was also the only one with some experience in basketball, ironically. As a boxer who trained himself daily, Ryohei's physique was in top form. He could not only predict the Generations of Miracle's movements, but his toned body was able to match them step for step and move for move.

Urameshi was probably the best player of them all. He most likely didn't know how to play prior to this morning, when he had apparently first met the Generations of Miracles. After playing the whole morning against Aomine, Kise and Kuroko (from what Reborn had heard), however, he slowly began to adapt to the sport. His instincts were sharp and he didn't doubt them at all, resulting Urameshi to intercepting the players around him alongside of Yamamoto and Tsuna. Urameshi was also the fastest player on the court, beating even Aomine, the ace player of Generations of Miracles. He was well-rounded, leading him to shoot, guard, and pass as well.

The last player was Lambo. He was pathetic.

"Lambo-san will get this!" Lambo exclaimed, rushing towards the basketball. "Wah!"

The basketball slammed into the stupid cow.

"Gotta…stay…calm…" Lambo recited, even as snot dribbled out from his nose. The basketball rolled away.

"Lambo!" Tsuna called out, rushing towards the child.

Good, Reborn thought. Tsuna understood that Family always comes first, although Reborn wasn't exactly pleased with the stupid cow. Being five years old was no excuse.

"Aw, c'mon," Aomine voiced, annoyance laced in his voice. "The game was just getting good."

"Aomine-kun, that's not very nice," Kuroko reprimanded. "The child got hurt."

Aomine rolled his eyes. "He shouldn't have – "he began, but then he was interrupted.

"Waaahhh!" Lambo wailed loudly, and the next thing that happened came to Reborn as no surprise. Lambo brought out his Ten Year Bazooka and pink smoke suddenly filled the court, causing everyone in the vicinity to cough and cry out in surprise.

"What the–?"

"My, my," someone said, slowly revealing himself through the pink smoke. "What is this?"

"15-year-old Lambo!" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Who the hell are you?" Aomine demanded.

"How strange," Midorima commented. "You look very similar to the child from before."

"They – they're cousins," Tsuna declared, lying on the spot. For a lie, it wasn't bad, although Tsuna should really stop his voice from shaking.

15-year-old Lambo glanced at the ball by his feet. "My, my, this brings back memories. Basketball, is it?"

He swooped down to pick it up and deftly spun it on a finger. He looked at the Generations of Miracles. "Want to play a game?"

"I don't know who he is," Kise said, an anticipatory grin spreading on his face. "But this looks interesting."

"The game will resume," Reborn declared.

And so it did.

xxx

"Oi, it was near you, Turf-head!"

"W-what happened?"

"Haha, good job, Testu."

"Grab it!"

"So close."

"Stop copying us!"

"That three pointer…"

"Emperor Eye."

"Wah, this again…"

"Go, Tsuna!"

"Oh, look, Murasakibaracchi is charging ahead!"

"Dunk!"

"Wait, the cow kid just came back."

"Ha, beat that!"

"Not bad, octopus head."

"This is pretty fun."

By the time everyone stopped playing, the sun had already began its journey towards the horizon. The sky was painted gold, and when the sun shined down on them, it enveloped all of them in a warm glow.

At some point, everyone collapsed on their backs on the court, facing up to heavens.

"That… felt different," Kise said, breaking the silence.

Aomine grinned widely. "You can say that again."

"It was sweet," Murasakibara said. "Like candy."

"…I wouldn't mind playing like that sometime in the future," Midorima said.

"It was definitely an interesting experience," Akashi said. He glanced over at the one person who remained silent the whole time. "Kuroko?"

Kuroko stayed silent for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts. Please, please, he begged, let things remain the same forever.

Yet he wasn't naïve enough to think one game like this could change them, not when they started their downward spiral ever since the beginning of this year.

But this, this gave him hope. From this game and the smiles on his teammates' faces, the glow in their eyes, it gave him hope that they could ultimately change and revert back to loving basketball. Kuroko could see what he would be working for. He would forever try to keep their joy of playing basketball close to their hearts and remind them of it every time they forget.

Kuroko pressed his lips together for a moment, stabilizing his voice. There was no need to alarm his teammates.

Kuroko slowly stood up, his heart thumping against his chest not only from the adrenaline, but from the fear and hope as he gaze at every one of his teammates and see their future.

"… I'm very happy right now," Kuroko said, bringing his eyes to each one of his teammates personally. "Thank you," he said, executing an awkward bow. He could feel his muscles protesting.

Silence reigned among them for a total of two seconds, before Kuroko nearly fell as Aomine bowled into him.

"Damn, Testsu," Aomine said, ruffling Kuroko's hair with a grin. "Can't you say that with more feeling?"

"There's no need to be so formal with us, Kuroko," Midorima said, looking away to hide the red that dusted his cheeks.

"Kurokocchi," Kise cried, tackling Kuroko. "I'm very happy too. If you want, I stay with you forever – "

"Kuro-chin doesn't want to be with you forever, Kise-chin," Murasakibari said, lightly reaching out to pat Kuroko's head.

"Wha– " Kise froze at those words, graying out like a statue.

"Kuroko," Akashi voiced and instantly everyone fell silent, giving Akashi their full attention. "Don't worry."

Kuroko's eyes widened ever slightly. "Akashi."

"Don't you know? Things fall apart so they can fall back together, even more perfect than before."

Xxx

Yusuke grinned from where he sat as he watched Tsuna's friends bicker, then turned his head to watch Kuroko's friends two feet or so away from them.

"Looks like they're fine now," Yusuke said.

"You're too meddlesome, Yusuke," Reborn said next to him. "Don't you realize that you may inadvertently cause them more scars?"

"But you don't think so," Yusuke said, casting Reborn a speculative look.

"The Akashi heir is plotting and so is the phantom child," Reborn said. "Whether their plans would turn out to be fruitful, only time would tell."

They watched as a girl with pink hair approached Akashi and his Family.

Xxx

Momoi Satsuki ambled towards the Generation of Miracles, not looking entirely pleased with them.

"Momoi," Kise greeted, waving at the pink-haired girl.

Momoi plopped down besides the boys with a pout. "Where have you guys been the whole morning?" she complained. "Geez."

"I apologize, Momoi-san," Kuroko said. "This all happened because Kise, Aomine-kun and I got lost this morning."

Momoi instantly turned into mush and a smile appeared on her face. "Tetsu-kun, you have nothing to apologize for." She looked towards Aomine and immediately, the love in her eyes disappeared as her gaze turned into a glare. "I bet Dai-chan got distracted."

"Why me?" Aomine complained, even though he didn't refute his childhood friend's word.

"Sa-chan, why are you here?" Murasakibara asked. "Did Aka-chin call you?"

Akashi got up. "It's nothing," he said. He glanced down at his teammates. "We're heading back. We still didn't do any of our training regimen yet."

"Eh?" Kise said. "But I'm exhausted."

Akashi's eyes dropped to Kise, and the model immediately snapped his mouth shut. As the rest of the team stood up and began to walk ahead, Akashi fell back to walk alongside of Momoi.

"Did you gather the data?" he asked.

A sly smile slid across Momoi's face. "Of course."

Xxx

Reborn tipped down his fedora to hide his smile as Tsuna's friends headed home. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. While Yamamoto's initial plan of going to the arcade was discarded, it was a productive day nevertheless.

Tsuna bonded with his family over basketball, thereby strengthening their friendship with one another. From playing the sport, Reborn was able to see many of the future Guardian's potential. Reborn also got to see the Akashi heir's Family as well.

It seemed like the future was shaping up to be an interesting one.

Chapter Text

Tsuna popped another piece of sushi into his mouth, eyes drooping as he savored the taste. Expensive sushi really tasted completely different.

His gaze drifted to the three others that were with him: Bianchi, Reborn and Lambo. All of them were eating at a rapid pace, nonstop as though this was some kind of buffet.

A strange, foreboding feeling started to grow within him at the sight.

"R-Reborn," Tsuna said, turning to his baby tutor who was gorging himself. "Should we really be eating like this? How are you going to pay?"

Bianchi stopped eating on cue and quickly stood. Tsuna could only watch, stupefied, as she broke into a run.

"Thank you for the food," she said, speeding towards the door. She lifted her hand for a moment.

Tsuna wondered what she was doing, until a green rope-like thing wrapped around her wrist. At the end of the rope was Reborn.

Reborn was getting away via Bianchi.

"It was good," Reborn complimented casually, and Lambo jumped off his seat as well.

"Bye," the child shouted, and it didn't take more than thirty seconds before they all cleared out.

DID THEY JUST EAT AND RUN?! Tsuna thought.

"Oh no," Tsuna said, quickly standing. He had to run…

A laugh brought Tsuna's attention away from recent mess Reborn made for his student.

A man slowly stood up from the screened section of the TakeSushi, revealing himself to be…

"Yusuke-san!" Tsuna exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Yusuke's mouth curled upwards in amusement. "What do you do in a sushi restaurant?"

Tsuna flushed at the comment, and Yusuke laughed again. It should have reminded Tsuna of the bullies who always called him No-good Tsuna, except it didn't sound cruel at all. Merely extremely amused.

That's not too much better, Tsuna thought, shoulders slumped and comical tears streaming down his face. Then he recalled the challenge that he faced.

That's right. Reborn just ate and run, and Tsuna didn't have any money to pay.

"I need to go," Tsuna said, quickly turning away. "I'll talk to you later…"

A hand grabbed the scuff of his shirt.

"Where do you think you're going, kid?" the owner of the TakeSushi demanded, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Who's going to pay for all the sushi you and your companions ate?"

"Wahh! Please don't kill me! I'm sorry! I don't have any money!" Tsuna exclaimed, flailing. Tsuna's eyes darted to Yusuke. "Yusuke-san?" he said, his voice imploring.

The owner blinked and turned to the other man as well. "Yusuke, you know him?"

Yusuke-san grinned. "Yeah, he's a friend."

The owner dropped Tsuna back onto the ground, and Tsuna heaved a sigh. "Thank –" you, Tsuna wanted to say, but then Yusuke-san tacked the last part.

"I'm not paying for his bill though."

"Yusuke-san!" Tsuna wailed as the owner directed his glare at Tsuna again.

Yusuke-san took a sip from the sake cup in his hand. "Reborn's going to kill me if I interfere, you know?" he pointed out. "It's fine, it's fine," Yusuke-san assured Tsuna, casually waving his hand around as though that would dispel Tsuna's problem. "I know you can figure out a way to get through this."

Yusuke directed his gaze to the owner. "Tsuyoshi, can you give me my bill?"

"I hope you're not going to assist him in running away, Yusuke," he said, even as he began to walk away to get Yusuke the receipt. "Or I'm going to drop their tab on to you."

"Hell if I'm paying for that," Yusuke said, eyeing at the mess the Tsuna's group made. "They ate better things than I did," he grumbled.

Yusuke looked over at Tsuna.

"Tsuna, come sit next to me for a bit," Yusuke said, waving him over. Tsuna trudged over despondently. "Want some sake?"

"I'm not old enough to drink yet, Yusuke-san," Tsuna sighed.

Yusuke grinned mischievously. "A little is fine," Yusuke said, pushing the bottle towards him. Tsuna hesitated. "It tastes pretty good," Yusuke wheedled.

Tsuna tentatively wrapped his hand around the bottle and at Yusuke's encouraging look, he took a sip. Tsuna immediately started coughing as what tasted like warm fire slid down his throat.

Yusuke grinned behind the hand that he used to prop his head up and waited for Tsuna to settle. "How is it?" Yusuke asked.

"How was it?!" Tsuna asked, sounding so indignant. "It was-"

He paused and swallowed. The sake's bitter taste still lingered in his mouth, making Tsuna want to grimace, but the dull warmth in his throat…

Yusuke grinned. "Not bad, right?"

"It tastes like flames," Tsuna murmured, almost to himself. He recalled how he felt whenever Reborn shot him with the Dying Will Flame. A burst of fire at first, so hot that it seemed to burn even Tsuna himself, until Tsuna slowly got used to it. Then the flame became a constant, a presence there that Tsuna could rely on; a power dwelling within Tsuna, humming passively and just waiting for Tsuna to use.

Yes, Tsuna thought, concentrating on the slight burn he could feel in his throat. It tastes like flames.

"You want the rest?" Yusuke-san asked, gesturing to the sake.

Tsuna blinked. "Is it fine?" he asked. "I wouldn't get drunk or anything?"

Yusuke shook his head with a faint smile. "You'll be fine, unless you're a complete lightweight. There's only a little left anyway."

"Yusuke," the owner said, returning with the bill. "Don't teach minors to drink in my restaurant."

"Oops," Yusuke-san said, looking like a guilty child caught red-handed. He chuckled. "My bad," he said as he took the bill. Tsuna took a peek at the receipt and only saw two things listed. One was a platter of sushi and the other was the small bottle of sake.

Tsuna's eyes bulged out when he saw the price of the sake. "30,000 yen?! Isn't that too expensive?!"

Tsuna winced when he saw the owner's eye twitched. "I don't cheat my customers, kid, and especially not a friend."

Yusuke-san's laughter dispelled the tension between them. "Tsuyoshi is right. That," Yusuke said, gesturing to the bottle in Tsuna's hand, "is good stuff. Savor it, 'kay?"

"B-But," Tsuna protested, looking down at the bottle. "Maybe I shouldn't take it."

"Don't mind it," Yusuke said. "Like I said, there's only a little left anyway. Worry about your debt instead, Tsuna."

"Wahh!" Tsuna exclaimed, having completely forgotten about the 'eat and run incident'.

"Did you say Tsuna?"

Tsuna looked up cautiously. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi," he said carefully, weary of the owner's reaction. Tsuna certainly didn't expect the owner to start beaming at him.

"Tsuna!" the owner exclaimed, smiling in a familiar way. Something nagged at Tsuna. Where had he seen that smile before? "You're Takeshi's friend, aren't you?"

"Are you talking about Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked, slowly unwinding.

The owner and Yusuke-san both grinned at him. "I am Yamamoto," the owner said.

Tsuna's brown eyes slowly widened. "Then," Tsuna said, except he never got to finish his statement.

The door to TakeSushi slid opened and a familiar voice called out, "Dad, I'm home."

Tsuna rushed out of the screened area as the owner stepped out, and he was greeted with the sight of his friend standing by the door.

The younger Yamamoto's eyes widened with surprise that soon blended with delight. "Tsuna!"

Xxx

Reborn slipped into TakeSushi after the sun had gone down, and Tsuna had returned home.

Reborn turned as Yamamoto Tsuyoshi stepped into the room a moment later. "What is the hitman Reborn doing here in my humble adobe?" the elder Yamamoto said, glancing at Reborn.

"I want to talk to you," Reborn said, "about Yusuke."

While the elder Yamamoto could be described as distant before, now he was simply cool. "Yusuke is a friend," he said simply.

"And?" Reborn questioned.

"I think you know more about him than me, Acrobaleno," the elder Yamamoto said. "I don't probe into his business."

"Do you trust him?" Reborn asked, and something flashed across the elder Yamamoto's expression. Something like understanding at why Reborn seemed to be so desperate to find information regarding Urameshi.

"He's a strange man, isn't he?" the elder Yamamoto commented, gazing rather knowingly at Reborn.

"Just answer my question," Reborn prompted. He didn't need others to tell Reborn that Urameshi was a strange man. He knew and experienced it first-hand enough times already, present and future.

"I trust him with Takeshi's life," the elder Yamamoto answered obligingly after another beat of silence.

Reborn knew for a fact that the wielder of Shigure Soen Ryu stepped out of mafia life for his family. For him to say that he would trust his son's life with Urameshi… that was the ultimate sign of faith.

"Tsuna is your student, isn't he, and the future Vongola Decimo as well," the elder Yamamoto continued.

Reborn glanced at the elder Yamamoto sharply.

The other man chuckled a bit. "My son talks to me about his friends and the games he played, you know. The most recent game being the Mafia game."

The look in the elder Yamamoto's eyes turned into a serious one.

"I know you've been taking care of Takeshi," he said. "Can I trust you to continue doing that?"

"He's part of Tsuna's Family," Reborn said, careful with his wording. "Vongola always protects their own."

"But you're not Vongola," the wielder of Shigure Soen Ryu pointed out.

"It's not my style to interfere directly," Reborn said. "But I'll make sure my student will."

The elder Yamamoto nodded. "That's good enough for me. Tsuna is a good kid, if not a little overreacting at times." He gave Reborn a look. "I still haven't settled your debt at TakeSushi with you."

"My student took care of it," Reborn said dismissively.

The elder Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. "That's not setting a good example for him, is it? If Yusuke and Takeshi weren't there to wheedle him into washing dishes for me to settle the debt, what would have happened? Are you trying to settle him into the life of crime already?"

"Mama did a good job installing morals into him, and he should know better by now. If he did run and you called the police on him, it would have been his mess to settle."

"Harsh, isn't it, your methods," the elder Yamamoto pointed out.

"He needs to learn to take care of problems that may arise from everyday life. If he cannot do even that, how would he lead Vongola in the future?"

The elder Yamamoto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I see your point," he said. His mouth curved briefly in amusement. "Although I really do feel sorry for Tsuna to be submitted to your teaching methods."

Reborn tilted his head forward in acknowledgement.

Chapter Text

Late at night, after Reborn had left, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi went to his son's room to check up on him. There his son slept, peaceful and smiling even in his sleep.

As he gazed at Takeshi, Tsuyoshi knew he was absolutely truthful when he said he would trust Yusuke with Takeshi's life as well as his own.

What Tsuyoshi didn't tell Reborn, however, was that he had already done that fourteen years ago and came out with the better part of the deal.

Xxx

Twenty-eight years old Tsuyoshi stepped through the door to the bar, Shigure Kintoki in hand. He had just finished another hit and all he wanted to do now was have a drink.

The few patrons in the bar gapped at Tsuyoshi for a moment at his entrance, staring at his trusty katana by his side, but Tsuyoshi ignored it for most part. When their gaze drifted to the owner of the katana, all they could see was a calm man in his late twenties, appearing rather tired and wanting to relax with a drink.

Nothing like an axe murderer, although Tsuyoshi thought that wouldn't be far from the truth.

He settled himself in one of the empty stools by the bar counter, noting that two other people were there. From his spot, he could clearly see the door and was far from the windows.

"Hello," a young man with raven-hair greeted behind the counter. His eyes flicked to him, calm despite the sight of the katana. Something within Tsuyoshi relaxed. He didn't want to face any more people who would fear him. "What would you like?"

Tsuyoshi told him, and the bartender went to make it. Rhythmic soft clicks could be heard as the bartender prepared his drink, and Tsuyoshi closed his eyes for a moment despite knowing better, submitting to the calmness of the patterned noise.

He opened his eyes again as the bartender approached, setting down the drink before him. "Enjoy," he said with a small, professional smile.

Tsuyoshi nodded his thanks, and the bartender went to serve his other customers.

Tsuyoshi didn't know how long he sat there nursing his drink, just contemplating about his past, present and future. He started minutely when a voice pierced through his thoughts, causing Tsuyoshi's hand to automatically drop to Shigure Kintoki.

"You look troubled," the bartender intoned, glancing at Tsuyoshi.

"It's nothing," Tsuyoshi said, blanking his features. In his line of work, there was no one he could trust, especially since he was a freelance assassin.

The bartender's lips quirked slightly, in a manner that indicated he knew Tsuyoshi was lying.

The bartender leaned forward to rest his crossed arms against the counter, not quite close enough to intrude on Tsuyoshi's personal space but close enough to appear to be a friend.

"Do you know there are two jobs in the world where you are never allowed to betray your customer?" he asked. Tsuyoshi gazed at the bartender, not speaking. The bartender's smile remained.

"Doctor," Tsuyoshi said at last.

The bartender's smile widened. "Bingo, although that one is a little obvious," he said with a chuckle. At the warmth in his laughter, Tsuyoshi could feel himself relaxing and removed his hand from Shigure Kintoki. "Can you guess the second?"

Tsuyoshi shook his head.

The bartender pointed at himself. "Bartender," he said, "because both of these jobs offer things that could either be poisonous or medical."

Tsuyoshi's eyes shot open as he recalled the drink that the bartender made him, and his hand instinctively went to his katana. He didn't unsheathe it though, not yet, because despite the bartender's words, Tsuyoshi didn't sense any malicious intention from him and the drink didn't taste tainted.

"Then what did you offer me?" Tsuyoshi asked calmly, body ready to react in either way.

The bartender remained relaxed. "I'll offer you medicine, if you'll accept."

"How would you do that?" Tsuyoshi asked.

"As a bartender, my most important job is to listen to the customers speak," the bartender said. "So talk to me. There's more to being a bartender than just making drinks, ya know?"

"And how would I know if I could trust you?" Tsuyoshi questioned, gazing at the young bartender intently.

The bartender turned pensive. "Hmm, that's true, you don't," he said, looking up at the ceiling like it held an answer. With that motion, the bartender left his throat exposed. Tsuyoshi looked at him, but he still remained completely carefree.

The bartender was smiling when he glanced back to Tsuyoshi. "I know," he said, "why don't I share something with you first?" Tsuyoshi let his silence speak for him. "I'm part of the mafia, or at least I'm aware of it."

Tsuyoshi's gaze cut to the bartender's, holding it. Tsuyoshi didn't get the feeling that he was lying. "Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't have to be afraid of betraying the omerta," the bartender said. "I'm not with the police, nor am I a civilian."

"And telling me you're a part of the mafia is supposed to inspire me to talk to you," Tsuyoshi said with eyebrows raised.

"Well," the bartender drawled. "I'm only trying to be a helpful guy who would hear you out about the troubles of your life. Stop nitpicking at how I go about it."

Tsuyoshi couldn't help laughing. It felt good. "You're so straightforward," Tsuyoshi said with a chuckle. "Are you sure you are in the mafia?"

The bartender huffed. "I can't expect others to be straightforward with me if I can't do the same, can I?"

Tsuyoshi stopped laughing. "Can I trust that whatever I say now would never leave this room?"

"Yeah," the bartender said. "If it does, you're welcome to come back and to try chopping me into millions of pieces."

Tsuyoshi hmmed and sat there quietly for another moment. Finally, he spoke. "I'm planning to step out of the mafia world," Tsuyoshi settled with saying. It wasn't exactly news. He had been telling some of his clients that. Today's hit was going to be the last. "I have a wife to go back to. A wife and an unborn child."

"Congrats," the bartender said. Tsuyoshi's eyes drifted to him. Tsuyoshi found it surprisingly easy to speak to the bartender and to confide in him.

Tsuyoshi wondered why.

"You're not going to tell me it's foolish?" Tsuyoshi questioned, because that was what everyone was telling him. He was raised by his master, born in the mafia body, mind and soul. He became an assassin as soon as he had enough skills to kill, which was rather soon under his deceased master's tutelage. It was only through meeting his wife Saya Minatsuki, a fellow but reluctant assassin, that changed him.

She was finally able to retire and become a civilian three years ago. At the time, she prompted him to leave with her, but Tsuyoshi couldn't. Not only did he find the idea of abandoning the lifestyle that he had been living daunting, withdrawing from the mafia was also not an easy task. In addition, the withdrawal of two famous assassins would undoubtedly draw attention.

Tsuyoshi negotiated for her to leave first, stating that he would follow later on. Saya left, creating a home in Japan and Tsuyoshi would occasionally go visit her.

Three months ago, Saya informed him that she was pregnant with their child. It was then Tsuyoshi knew that it was time for him to part from the mafia world. The idea of being a father frankly frightened him, but the thought of raising his child with blood money didn't sit well with him either.

Tsuyoshi began to gradually take less hits with the intention of fading away from the mafia, but then some of the Families that he previously worked for somehow realized it. Many of them insisted on him doing one last hit for them and so three months later, he was finally wrapping up. Tonight was the last one.

"Nah," the bartender said. "Many other people tried to get outta the mafia, after all."

It was refreshing to not be judged.

"How did you end up in the mafia?" Tsuyoshi asked, curious despite himself.

The bartender turned pensive. "Erm," he said. "You can say it just happened, really." He grinned. "You see, I have this crazy ability to attract trouble. Stick with me long enough and you'll find out."

At the look of the bartender's mischievous grin, Tsuyoshi didn't doubt it.

"Okay," the bartender said, standing up straight. He stretched, his bones cracking rather soundly. It was not anything dangerous, however, because Tsuyoshi would know. He heard that often enough to be able to differentiate if the bone cracking was harmful or not. "You told me your background story." His lips quirked. "Well, kinda. You don't sound like you're suddenly unsure if you should leave the mafia or anything, though, so something else is nagging at you?"

Tsuyoshi wondered how a young man like him could be so perceptive. "You probably won't understand," Tsuyoshi said, half meaning it and half using that as an excuse. It was always automatic instincts of a hitman to not admit or show any weakness.

"Try me," the bartender challenged.

Tsuyoshi took another sip of his drink before speaking. "I've been a hitman for all my life," Tsuyoshi said. "Can I really change from someone who kills to someone who nurtures and take care of another life?"

The bartender raised an eyebrow. "That's what you're worrying about?" The bartender snorted. "Just let nature take its course."

Tsuyoshi looked at the bartender, not comprehending.

"Don't you know that having a kid would bring out all your parental instincts?" the bartender said.

Tsuyoshi wanted to slice the bartender up. He thought the bartender actually had something smart to say. "That only applies to mothers," Tsuyoshi grouched, uncharacteristically annoyed.

The bartender blinked. "Are you sure?" he said. "Because what's stopping you from being a good father?"

"I've just told you-!"

"You've been killing all your life, blah blah blah," the bartender said, and Tsuyoshi didn't know whether to be offended or not that the bartender dared to make light of the loss of life. After all, it was hypocritical when Tsuyoshi himself was a killer, wasn't he? "So what? You weren't born with the abilities to kill. You fucking learned it."

Tsuyoshi froze, all annoyance evaporating from him as he began to see where the bartender was heading towards.

"If you can put effort into learning to kill, you can damn well learn how to be a good nurturing papa," the bartender said. "Since you told me there ain't anything such as 'fatherly instincts,' you better get your ass into gear and start going to those how to be a dad classes and everything. Why are you spending so much time fucking worrying when there are much better things you can do with that time?"

A smile somehow found its way to Tsuyoshi's face by the end of the bartender's rant. "You-"

Tsuyoshi's phone rang at that moment, and his face instantly darkened. It was his work phone.

"Hey," the bartender said, quickly able to recognize Tsuyoshi's change of mood. "You don't have to answer it, you know?"

Tsuyoshi shook his head. "It'll only bring more trouble later on when I've finally settled into civilian life," he said, moving to a stand. His hand was calm as he picked up his katana, despite Tsuyoshi was inwardly brewing with rage. He did the hit, the last that he said he would do. So why must the mafia still haunt his every step? "I'd better settle it now."

Tsuyoshi dropped some bills at the counter, before heading towards the door, moving silently and efficiently. "Thank you for your advice," he said monotonously.

He didn't wait for the bartender's reply as he opened the door, taking advantage of the group entering the bar to quickly disappear from sight.

Xxx

The Giovanni Family.

"I quit being a hitman," Tsuyoshi said as soon as he flipped opened his phone.

"One more."

"No. You'll just continue with this routine if I give in."

"Today's your last day. The day is not over yet."

"No."

"Tsuyoshi, are you sure you want to go against me?"

"Many other Families said the same."

"I've always paid you well, don't I?"

"This conversation is over."

"You need money to start a new life."

"I've been working as a hitman all my life. What makes you think I need this one last hit?"

"You used all those money to ensure Saya left the mafia safely."

Tsuyoshi hesitated. The boss of the Giovanni went for the kill.

"Triple the usual price. I'll ensure you leave without any trouble as well."

"Why me, a retiring hitman? There are plenty more hitmen out there."

"You're the only one I would trust with this job."

Another pause, before Tsuyoshi finally sighed.

"Where?"

Xxx

Tsuyoshi sat in a café, Shigure Kintoki reverted to appear as a plain-looking bamboo sword. Only those who know of Tsuyoshi would realize the harmless looking bamboo sword could instantly turn to a real steel blade at the flick of Tsuyoshi's hand.

He sipped his cup of coffee as he gaze out onto the road, seeking for the slick black car that all mafioso were renowned for using.

Tsuyoshi didn't dwell on the name of his target, only that his target had blond hair. That was all Tsuyoshi needed to know to recognize the man he needed to strike.

Call him a coward, but Tsuyoshi didn't need any more guilt upon his conscious. His target was a hit, a job, and no more. Not a man with friends and families. Just a fellow killer who may deserve this kill.

A black car drove in, slowing down as it was near the curve. It stopped just outside of the Lion Hotel, like the boss of the Giovanni Family said the car of his target would.

Tsuyoshi casually stood to amble towards them, remaining in the shadows of the buildings all the while. His footsteps were inaudible, and his movement graceful. He blended in with the rest of the people on the street.

His target wouldn't know what hit him until he was already dead.

If possible, Tsuyoshi rather assassinate his target when he was in his hotel room, but the boss of Giovanni insisted on having witnesses. It was a show of power, he said, and a warning to all those who decided to be rats in his Family.

Tsuyoshi's hand drifted to Shigure Kintoki, hand fitting nicely around the handle of the sword. This would be the last time he did this. The very last.

Tsuyoshi drew his sword.

And the bartender from before suddenly appeared before him, blocking Tsuyoshi's view of his target – as well of their view on him. One of his hands was on the hilt of Shigure Kintoki, preventing Tsuyoshi from transforming it into a blade.

"Don't," the bartender said. "Are you crazy?!"

"Let go," Tsuyoshi hissed, trying to look around the bartender to spot his target. "I have to do this."

"You're going to get all of Vongola after your head if you assassinate their CEDEF Boss!"

Tsuyoshi froze and in the corner of his eyes, he noted that his target was entering the hotel. A few of his bodyguards were eyeing at Tsuyoshi and the bartender, who suddenly stopped walking in the middle of the street. One detached himself from the group to approach them.

Tsuyoshi forced himself to smile. "It's good to see you, John," he said loudly, letting go of the hilt of Shigure Kintoki to clasp the bartender's shoulder like an old friend. "Man, how many years have it been?"

The bartender's eyebrow twitched at the name Tsuyoshi chose for him. "I don't know, Bob," the bartender gritted out and suddenly Tsuyoshi had the oddest impulse to laugh. "Let's catch up on each other's life, should we?"

He began to steer Tsuyoshi away and Tsuyoshi let him, using the bartender's body to hide the form of Shigure Kintoki from Vongola's mafioso. Turning his back on a known danger was one of the hardest thing Tsuyoshi had to do, but the knowledge of what might happen if Vongola realized he almost tried to assassinate Vongola's CEDEF Boss was just as frightening.

The group of Vongola mafiaoso called the other one back last minute, and he went to regroup with them after a pause.

Tsuyoshi let out an imperceptible sigh of relief at that. "Thank you," Tsuyoshi murmured. "You saved my life."

"Don't thank me just yet," the bartender said. "Who the fuck is this last client of yours?"

"The Giovanni Family," Tsuyoshi answered. "How did you know they were Vongola?"

"A friend told me," the bartender said absentmindedly. "Back to you: are you stupid? The Giovanni Family and Vongola are on the verge of war after a smuggling operation gone wrong. The Giovanni Family is fucking using you hitmen to chip at Vongola's defenses and pretend they did nothing."

Tsuyoshi took a deep breath as he processed the information. "When did this happen?"

"A few weeks ago," the bartender said. He stopped walking to examine Tsuyoshi. "Holy shit. You really knew nothing about it. It's all over the Underground, you know?"

"I was trying to withdraw," Tsuyoshi said. "I didn't want to dip into any more of their business, so I stopped paying attention to them."

"If leaving the mafia is as easy as that, lots of people would have left safely without being cut down," the bartender said, starting to amble again. "Try to stay informed instead, so you'll know if trouble is going your way."

"Is that how you do it?" Tsuyoshi asked.

"Yup," the bartender said. "I'll introduce you to my informant. His price is mad steep, but all his info is accurate and detailed. He works fast too."

"Why are you doing all this to help me?" Tsuyoshi asked, not suspicious although he really should be, but merely curious. In a world that was so throat-cutting, why would a man suddenly go so out of his way to help another?

"Cuz," the bartender said. "I'm a bartender and helping a customer is part of the job description. Besides, I took the time to give you advice on your life. I expect you to live long enough to use it."

Tsuyoshi let out a short laugh. It sounded ridiculous, but perfectly reasonable when it came from the bartender.

"What's your name?" Tsuyoshi asked. "I want to know the name of the man who saved my life."

The bartender paused. "I'm supposed to give you the name I have on my current passport, but when you say it that way, I don't want some other random guy to take my credit." Tsuyoshi laughed again, somehow not surprised. "Yusuke," the bartender said with a grin. "Call me Yusuke."

Xxx

"Take this," Yusuke said later that day. In his hand was a piece of paper.

Tsuyoshi accepted it curiously, taking a glance at the small, rectangular paper. It was a blank check with a signature that Tsuyoshi didn't recognize at the bottom. "What's the meaning of this?"

"A check," Yusuke said. "That's one of my accounts, don't worry. I earned it through legal means."

"Why are you giving me this?"

Yusuke arched an eyebrow. "This question again?"

"Because you helped me before and you don't want your efforts to go to waste," Tsuyoshi recalled. "But what if you spend your whole fortune helping me? In the first place, why do you have so many accounts? You look twenty at most."

A look flashed across Yusuke's eyes. "Believe me," he said slowly, scratching the back of his head. He looked away. "I'm much older than I look."

Tsuyoshi decided not to press.

"You better only take the amount you need," Yusuke warningly joked after a moment of silence, swerving his head towards Tsuyoshi. "If you get greedy and try to take more than you need and my account doesn't have all that money in it, you won't be able to get a single cent."

Tsuyoshi's eyes flicked to him. "Sounds like a gamble."

Yusuke shrugged. "Will you take it?"

Tsuyoshi paused for a moment. "I'm starting to think you're not all that altruistic."

Yusuke grinned, mischief shining in his eyes. "Of course not," Yusuke scoffed. "Who do you think I am?"

"What are you trying to do?" Tsuyoshi asked, not judging but merely curious. After all, Tsuyoshi was benefitting from Yusuke, despite whatever intention Yusuke himself had. "Playing god since you have so much money?"

Yusuke paused. "Maybe," he said slowly. A faint smile with hidden shadows flicked across his face. "I guess I just want to see how I can influence others."

Tsuyoshi's gaze dropped down to the blank check in his hand. "For whatever reason, I guess I should thank you," he said as he slipped the check into his pocket. "I owe you one."

"Don't be so quick with owing me one," Yusuke said. "Build yourself a family and then we'll see."

A grin spread across Tsuyoshi's face. "Alright."

Xxx

Tsuyoshi filled out the check with enough money to open a restaurant and cashed it in. Using that money, he opened TakeSushi and became a sushi chief for living.

It was radically different, being a hitman and being a sushi chief. Some reflexes had to be toned down, but Tsuyoshi was thankful for his instincts as a hitman since those same instincts stopped Takeshi from falling off high places multiple of times. Takeshi was a curious child, and he loved exploring with a wide grin on his face.

Tsuyoshi loved the family he formed with Saya and when he earned enough money, Tsuyoshi took over a dojo named Asarigumi using the money he earned from TakeSushi. Tsuyoshi was a natural born hitman, and he knew he couldn't completely adapt to civilian life. He had to practice and stay sharp, especially since he had a feeling Takeshi might need to spend time in the dojo in the future.

Tsuyoshi decided to give himself a surname, choosing the surname Yamamoto since it was common in Japan. Come to think of it, Takeshi was also a common Japanese name, although Tsuyoshi had a feeling that Takeshi would grow up being anything but common.

Xxx

Fourteen years after Tsuyoshi had first met Yusuke, he appeared again. Yusuke looked different with his long mane of hair and with his even-more casual aura, but it was undeniably him. The surprise on his face when he stepped into TakeSushi told Tsuyoshi the reunion was not at all deliberate.

Yusuke was the first to recover from his surprise. "A table for one," he said.

Tsuyoshi came out of his shock, and a smile automatically slid across his countenance in face of an uncertain situation. "Of course," he said, gesturing Yusuke to follow him. He guided him to a seat secluded from the others. "Here."

"Thanks," Yusuke said as he settled.

Silence reigned between them for a few minutes. Finally, Yusuke sighed.

"Am I supposed to pretend I don't know you?" he asked, glancing at Tsuyoshi.

The smile on Tsuyoshi's face became a little more genuine and was tinted with amusement. "It's a little too late for that, don't you think?"

"True," Yusuke conceded.

"Yamamoto-san," a voice called.

Tsuyoshi turned around. "I'll be right there," Tsuyoshi shouted back. "Yusuke, I'll talk to you later."

Yusuke waved him off. "Sure," he said with a yawn. He leaned back against his seat and let out a content sigh. "Get to me later, since it seems like you're busy. I don't mind. Just remember to get me some sushi when you come back."

Tsuyoshi laughed. "You're one bossy customer," he said.

Yusuke stuck out his tongue at him, before proceeding to fall asleep.

Tsuyoshi went back to Yusuke an hour later when it was time for him to close TakeSushi. After he bid farewell to his customer, he went to make some sushi for Yusuke.

He placed them down in front of Yusuke after he was done making it and on a second thought, he went to get some sake. He had a feeling this would be a long talk, especially since Tsuyoshi did not understand how Yusuke looked the same after more than a decade.

Yusuke was awake and eating by the time Tsuyoshi returned with the sake. "This is pretty good, Tsuyoshi," Yusuke commented with his mouth full. "Didn't know you were good with this stuff."

"Of course it's good," Tsuyoshi said with pride. "This is a sushi restaurant."

Yusuke grinned. "True," he said, taking the small cup of sake that Tsuyoshi poured and drank everything in one go. He whistled. "More?"

"Get it yourself," Tsuyoshi said, pushing the bottle of sake towards Yusuke after pouring a cup for himself. "Don't chug it down. It's expensive stuff."

"Can tell, can tell," Yusuke said as he poured himself another cup. He picked up the last sushi on the plate. "I want more, Mr. Sushi Chief."

"How come I get the feeling you became more immature over the years?" Tsuyoshi said as he stood, taking the plate with him.

Yusuke stood as well, sake cup and bottle in hand. "Maybe," he said cryptically as he took a seat at the counter. "I want sashimi!"

Tsuyoshi shook his head at Yusuke but made it for Yusuke anyway, holding the knife in his preferred manner (like a sword) as he masterfully sliced the fish.

He smacked the hand that tried to filch one of the pieces. "I'm not done yet."

"Stingy," Yusuke grumbled. "How can you let a customer starve?"

"Are you even going to pay?" Tsuyoshi asked. He knew he owed Yusuke but if Yusuke think he could step into TakeSushi, take everything that was expensive and then leave without any repercussion, he had another thing coming. Just because Tsuyoshi owed him didn't mean he would let Yusuke step all over him like that.

"Nope," Yusuke answered casually, taking another sip of sake. Tsuyoshi's grip on his sushi knife tightened. "You owe me."

"Yusuke—" Tsuyoshi said gravely, a frown forming on his face.

"I'll pay you next time I come," Yusuke continued blasé-ly. He glanced up at Tsuyoshi, a teasing glint entering his eyes. "After you settle your debt with me."

"You're saying a meal would settle our debt," Tsuyoshi said slowly.

"Yup," Yusuke said. "You're half way there already, with this sake." He eyed at the sashimi that Tsuyoshi was preparing. "You done yet?"

"No," Tsuyoshi said as he continued to arrange the sliced pieces on the platter. His mind whirled. "I took a lot of money from your account," he said slowly.

Yusuke waved it off. "I told you I have money."

"I don't want to be a charity case," Tsuyoshi insisted.

"Which is why you better start feeding me those sashimi," Yusuke countered calmly, eyeing at the raw fish through the glass. "I'm starving."

Tsuyoshi made a move to speak, but Yusuke continued talking.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Yusuke asked curiously. "I wanted to meet them."

"Takeshi – my son – is over at a friend's home," Tsuyoshi answered. "Saya passed away."

Yusuke glanced at Tsuyoshi silently. Finally, he said, "Pity I never met Saya, though I do want to meet this son of yours some time."

"One day," Tsuyoshi said as he finally placed the platter of sashimi in front of Yusuke.

Yusuke attacked it like a starving man.

"Yum," Yusuke said as he finished the platter, licking the pad of his finger with a grin. "Thanks for the meal!"

Yusuke stood abruptly, glancing at Tsuyoshi for a moment, before he climbed onto the seat that he previously sat on.

"Yusuke," Tsuyoshi hissed, glaring daggers.

"Tsuyoshi," Yusuke said gravely, sounding very self-important. He even tilted his head up, pointing his nose towards the ceiling to look as regal as possible. A grin broke out of Yusuke's face. "I hereby absolve you from any debt you previously owed me. From now on, you are a free man. Feel free to make me more sushi. I'll pay for them from here on."

He climbed off the seat and sat back down. "I want a California roll, Mr. Sushi Chief."

"Yusuke," Tsuyoshi started, not knowing what to say.

"C'mon, I'm a paying customer," Yusuke stressed. "Don't make me wait."

Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "One California roll, right?"

"Yup, and fatty tuna," Yusuke added.

"You ate a lot already, dear customer," Tsuyoshi said. "Are you sure you want to order that much? I expect you to finish them."

Yusuke's eyebrow twitched. "Did you just call me fat?" Yusuke asked, his voice oh-so indignant.

Tsuyoshi's lips twitched. "Just drink your sake, Yusuke."

Yusuke grumbled. "You're so lucky your sushi is good."

Then he poured himself some more sake and drank.

"Eat with me," Yusuke demanded when Tsuyoshi finished making his order.

"I told you you wouldn't be able to finish it," Tsuyoshi began.

"It sucks eating by myself," Yusuke complained. He pushed the platter of sushi towards him and looked expectantly at Tsuyoshi.

Tsuyoshi sighed and ate. Yusuke grinned.

"I'm full," Yusuke declared after asking Tsuyoshi to make five more sushi rolls and then proceed to persuade Tsuyoshi to eat all of them with him. He let out a content sigh. "How much is that?"

Tsuyoshi gazed at Yusuke for a moment, before a faint smile full of self-deprecating amusement slowly crossed his face.

"Leave it," Tsuyoshi said. It had been a while since he interacted with anyone other than Takeshi and his customers. He almost forgot how pleasant it was. His smile widened. "It's on the house for today."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tsuyoshi said. "It has been a while since I've seen you, anyway."

Yusuke looked at Tsuyoshi for another moment, as though he was waiting for Tsuyoshi to change his mind. When he simply glance right back, Yusuke at last grinned. "Well, thanks then," he said, appearing strangely touched by Tsuyoshi's gesture. "I'll make sure to come back next time."

"I'm not always going to treat you," Tsuyoshi said sternly.

"Yes, yes," Yusuke said with a laugh, standing. "I'll see you around then."

Tsuyoshih walked Yusuke to the door and as he did, he was suddenly struck by the thought that he never did ask Yusuke how come his appearance didn't change from fourteen years ago. He considered asking, but when Tsuyoshi stopped by the door and looked at Yusuke and Yusuke just smiled back, his eyes bright with happiness, the question just died before it could even leave his mouth.

"You're welcome to come back, Yusuke," Tsuyoshi said, somehow getting the feeling Yusuke needed to hear that.

Yusuke started at those words, before a soft smile drifted on his face. "Yeah, sure," Yusuke said. He looked at TakeSushi's appearance as a whole, glanced at Tsuyoshi, before finally saying, "Yeah, I'll be back. Betcha I will be."

Then, he turned and disappeared into the night.

As promised, Yusuke returned a few more times after that. Imagine his surprise when Tsuyoshi found out Yusuke knew Tsuna, Takeshi's friend. Moreover, Yusuke met already Takeshi.

Fate, Saya would say.

Fortunate, Tsuyoshi would reply. He was fortunate to meet Yusuke and he had a feeling his opinion was shared.

Chapter Text

A tender hand slowly combed through his hair, gently parting the strands that stubbornly stuck together.

"You have nice hair, Yusuke-kun," a warm voice murmured.

Yusuke broke the serene atmosphere of his surroundings by snorting rather inelegantly. A soft breeze drifted by and ruffled Yusuke's hair, taking the sound of the snort with it.

"Right," Yusuke said rather dubiously.

There was no voiced response, but Yusuke could feel the smile that was directed at him. He relaxed, allowing the calm atmosphere to lull him back into lassitude.

And that was how Reborn found Yusuke five minutes later.

Xxx

Urameshi didn't react as Reborn stepped out onto the backyard of the Sawada household.

"Mama," Reborn greeted as he sauntered towards them.

Mama closed the scissor she held in hand with a final snip before turning to face Reborn. "Reborn-kun," Mama said with a smile on her face. "Welcome home. I can't believe how fast time passed. Tsu-kun is home from school already?"

"Yes," Reborn answered, coming to a stop beside Mama. He glanced at the pile of hair lying by Mama's feet. "Mama, what are you doing?"

"I'm cutting Yusuke-kun's hair," Mama answered. She turned back to Urameshi when he shifted. "Yusuke-kun," Mama said sternly, "Please don't move."

"Are you done yet, Maman?" Yusuke asked.

"Not yet," Mama said. "Your hair is wonderful, Yusuke-kun – "

"Not," Urameshi deadpanned under his breath.

Mama continued as though she was oblivious to Urameshi's sentiment regarding his hair. "But it's just so long and heavy," Mama said. Uncontrolled and wild like its owner would have been the words Reborn would have used. "I'm having some trouble cutting it."

"It's fine like this, Maman," Urameshi said, turning his head to look at Mama.

Mama used her free hand to guide Urameshi's head back to its original place. "No," she said sternly, determination entering her eyes. It reminded Reborn of Tsuna. "I'm not done, and it's not going to look good at this rate. Since I'm the one who suggested helping you cut your hair, I should at least finish it."

The steely look in Mama's expression faded the next moment as concern replaced it. "Oh no!" Mama intoned as she recalled. Both Reborn and Urameshi's attention snapped to Mama. "I forgot to cook lunch. Tsu-kun and Reborn-kun should be hungry by now."

As a matter of fact, Reborn was getting a little hungry.

"What should I do?" Mama said, glancing at sliding door leading into her house.

"Maman, don't worry about it," Urameshi said, slowly standing. He turned to face Mama, and with the plastic sheet that surrounded Urameshi like a cloak to prevent any cut hair from entering his clothes, Urameshi looked rather silly. Pieces of stray hair hung vainly onto it and Urameshi's head.

From the front, Reborn could see why Mama declared the haircutting unfinished. The length of Urameshi's current hair was an awkward length, as though he was struggling to decide whether to leave it long or to just cut it short. One side of it was uneven and moreover, the current hair style didn't seem to fit Urameshi at all. At a different angle, Reborn was sure that Urameshi's hair would look like a pasted-on wig.

"Are you sure…?" Mama asked hesitantly. It was obvious that Mama struggled between deciding whether to finish Urameshi's haircut or cook lunch to feed her child.

Reborn, never the one to let a chance of shooting his idiot student with the Dying Will Bullet go to waste, was about to tell Mama to not worry, Tsuna would cook lunch with his Dying Will, when it suddenly occurred to Reborn that there was another solution to Mama's dilemma.

"Mama," Reborn called out, drawing the attention of both Urameshi and Mama. A smirk slipped across Reborn's face. "Why don't you let me finish cutting Yusuke's hair?"

Reborn quickly donned his barber cosplay outfit.

Mama let out a small squeal at the outfit as Urameshi's eyes widened with surprise at his suggestion.

"Reborn-kun, thank you," Mama said, beaming at Reborn. She bent down to Reborn's level. "I'm so happy that you want to help. Here," she said, carefully taking her fingers out of the scissor hoops to hand the cutting implement to Reborn. "Use this to cut Yusuke-kun's hair. Be careful not to hurt yourself, all right?"

"Yes, Mama," Reborn said dutifully. A glint entered his eyes.

"Wait, Maman—" Urameshi called out, finally coming out of his shock.

"Don't worry, Yusuke-kun," Mama said, already heading towards the house. She slid the door open. "Reborn-kun will finish the haircut for you."

Mama entered the house and slid the door close.

Urameshi face-palmed. "You're kidding me," he muttered. He parted his fingers a moment later to glance down at Reborn. "A three year old is going to cut my hair."

"Five," Reborn corrected, and for the first time, he didn't feel irate at the reminder of his current age. In fact, all he felt was mirth. He dropped the scissor Mama gave him and slipped his tiny fingers through the loops of his Leon-scissor instead, rapidly moving the blades of the scissor. Snip, snip.

The smirk on Reborn's face widened and the intensity of the glint in Reborn's eyes increased. He was having fun with this. "Why don't you take a seat, Yusuke-kun?"

"Mad," Urameshi uttered with the shake of his head, disbelief tinting his voice. A half-incredulous, half-amused smile slid across his face as he sat down anyway. "No offense to Maman, but you guys are all dipshit mad."

Reborn hmmed as he jumped up to the top rail of the chair, situating himself there to give himself the extra height necessary to reach Urameshi's head. "That makes us both."

Reborn was rewarded with Urameshi's laughter at his words, his shoulders shaking lightly with mirth.

As Reborn felt his mouth unwittingly curling ever slightly in response, Reborn thought Urameshi had a contagious laugh.

Reborn cut off that thought as he lifted some of Urameshi's hair and snipped.

Xxx

Hair rose up on Yusuke's arm as Reborn's scissor inched closer to his neck. Yusuke held still, not sensing any ill-intention from Reborn and knowing attacking like that just wasn't Reborn's style. Reborn may cosplay and he may be the top dog of the Underground, but he was no doubt one of those gentlemen mafioso.

Besides, Leon was the scissor and he trusted the little chameleon. Animals didn't lie, not in the way humans and demons would.

Soft rustles reached his ears as a breeze went through. The sense of calm Yusuke previously felt slowly seeped into his bone again. Yusuke allowed himself to relax and closed his eyes, listening to the rhythmic snips of Reborn's Leon-scissor.

The next time Yusuke opened his eyes, it was because of the appearance of another presence.

Yusuke blinked slowly at the little kid by his feet, who gazed up at Yusuke in the way only kids can pull off: wide-eyed, innocent and bright with curiosity.

"Hey," Yusuke said, watching as the kid suddenly jumped at Yusuke's words. Yusuke became aware of the fact that the snipping of his hair stopped, most likely so Reborn could watch what Yusuke would do.

The kid quickly composed himself and jumped back, smoothly rearranging his arms and legs so he could fight at the moment of notice. His face scrunched up as he squinted fiercely at Yusuke.

"你是谁?" the little boy with the single braid demanded, not at all letting down his guard. Whoever taught him did a good job.

Xxx

Reborn jumped down from where he stood, expertly landing on the ground. He moved, choosing a place so he could observe both I-Pin and Yusuke's interaction, before settling down.

He watched as Urameshi unexpectedly brightened at the words I-Pin spoke.

"Hey, you speak Chinese," Urameshi said, a small grin spreading across his face. "Wait. Let's see…"

From the way Urameshi acted, it shouldn't have been surprising what happened next. Yet it was, simply because Urameshi once again exceeded Reborn's expectations.

"Hello, kid," Urameshi said in Chinese. His accent wasn't too noticeable, but from the way that Urameshi was carefully forming his syllables, it was apparent that he hadn't spoken in Chinese for a long time.

I-Pin blinked, the surprise at meeting someone who also spoke Chinese causing her to drop her fighting stance. "You speak Chinese," I-Pin exclaimed happily.

Like a child forgetting why she wasn't supposed to speak with strangers, I-Pin trotted up to Urameshi happily. "Who are you?" I-Pin asked again, only this time her tone contained no hostility. I-Pin gazed up at Urameshi with unadulterated interest. "Why are you here? How come you know Chinese?"

And that was why Reborn could at minimum tolerate children. They were inquisitive by nature and asked a lot of questions that others wouldn't or couldn't ask. Because of their young age, they were often forgiven for transgressing into topics that were not to be spoken. Moreover, children always received a response to those questions they so carelessly ask.

Now what would you do? Reborn wondered, dark orbs concentrated intently on Urameshi.

Urameshi chuckled and gestured I-Pin to go closer to him. I-Pin went. "You're a curious kid, aren't you? How did you get in here?"

"I-Pin jumped over the walls," I-pin explained.

Urameshi blinked. "Wow," he said. "You must be pretty strong then. Whoever taught you did a good job."

At that statement, I-Pin perked up considerably. "Master!" I-Pin answered, beaming up at Urameshi. "Master taught me."

A smile spread across Urameshi's face at I-Pin's obvious enthusiasm at the mention of her master. "That's good," Urameshi said, leaning down to pat I-Pin's head. The child preened under Urameshi's attention. "Who's your master?"

Reborn observed Urameshi carefully as I-Pin answered, "Fon-shishou."

Urameshi paused in patting I-Pin's head. "Fon," Urameshi said slowly, surprise causing him to switch to Japanese. "The Acrobaleno?"

I-Pin nodded, recognizing the word Acrobaleno. "Do you know Master?"

"Erm, no," Urameshi answered, switching back to Chinese. "Not really. I heard of him though."

I-Pin beamed at Urameshi with delight. "Master is famous!"

Urameshi chuckled at that. "Yeah, yeah," he said. Then he paused for a moment and gazed down at I-Pin with an inscrutable look. "Wait… I thought Fon had a female apprentice."

Red climbed up I-Pin's face at Urameshi's incredulous tone.

The Pinzu-Timed Super Explosion is activated, Reborn thought. He watched as I-Pin launched herself at Urameshi's leg.

"Wait, what?" Urameshi said, gazing down at the child stuck to his leg.

"You might want to pull her off," Reborn spoke up, glancing at I-Pin as the countdown reached eight. "I-Pin is known as the Human Bomb. She would explode when the countdown reaches 0."

"You're kidding me," Urameshi said, in the same tone Tsuna used whenever something crazy happened within his life. He reached down and tilted I-Pin's head back, staring intently at the countdown that was now at seven. "I-pin," Urameshi said in Chinese. "Stop the countdown."

I-Pin shook her head silently and clung tighter onto Urameshi's leg. "Can't."

"The countdown activates when I-Pin is shy, angry or embarrassed. Once it starts, it cannot be stopped," Reborn said. Urameshi glanced at him with a look, before gazing down at the five on I-Pin's forehead.

"Throw," I-Pin muttered, even as she held on even tighter. Four.

"I'm not going to throw you," Urameshi said, exasperated, putting his hand on I-Pin's forehead again. Three.

Urameshi closed his eyes, seeming to concentrate and showing no signs of planning to throw I-Pin. "Calm down, I-Pin," Urameshi said, his voice soothing. Two.

Reborn wondered what Urameshi was planning.

"You won't explode," Urameshi said confidently. By then, much of I-Pin's initial embarrassment at being mistaken for a boy once again was gone. One.

I-Pin held on tight as the countdown reached zero, and the whole world held its breath.

Nothing.

Reborn could hardly believe his eyes as I-Pin slowly let go of Urameshi's leg. The countdown on her forehead was gone, but I-Pin didn't explode at all. Reborn only knew one person in the world who could do that.

"You're like Fon-shisou!" I-Pin exclaimed. I-Pin dropped her head a moment later and shuffled her feet. "Sorry for almost exploding."

Urameshi grinned. "It's okay, I-Pin, I'm tough. You shouldn't accidentally activate the bomb so easily though."

I-pin twirled her fingers nervously, occasionally looking up at Urameshi before her eyes darted back down. "I know… Master is trying to teach me to control it, but I don't understand." I-pin glanced up at Urameshi. "How did you stop it?"

"I had a master too," Urameshi said quietly after a beat. "She taught me how to control qi and energy. If you practice Chinese martial arts, you should be able to do it too."

I-Pin shook her head sadly.

"Don't look so sad," Urameshi said after another moment. "You already mastered a lot of martial arts at your age, more than any other people five or six times your age. Qi is something that grows as your body does. I think since you are still growing, you have a hard time stabilizing your qi. You should be able to when you get older."

I-Pin perked up slightly. "Really?"

"Yup," Urameshi answered. "So stop looking like someone just killed your puppy."

I-Pin beamed up at Urameshi with a smile. "Thank you, Mister."

"Yusuke," Urameshi corrected. "Don't do the 'mister' stuff with me. It makes me feel old."

"Yusuke," I-Pin chirped.

Urameshi's lips quirked. "Alright. I guess you're looking for Tsuna?"

I-Pin nodded.

"Run along to him, would you? I still have a haircut I need to finish," Urameshi said.

"Actually," Reborn interrupted. "It's done."

Urameshi raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't just randomly snip my hair, did you?"

"Yusuke, I know how to kill a man in hundreds of different ways. Compared to that, cutting your hair is nothing."

"Actually," Urameshi said dubiously. "I'm pretty sure those two things require completely different set of skills."

Urameshi turned to I-Pin. "I-Pin, does my hair look alright?" Urameshi asked. Reborn had reverted Urameshi's hair back to the same style of when he first saw him. Urameshi only needed to use some gel, and then his hair would look exactly the same as before.

I-Pin nodded enthusiastically. "Yusuke handsome!" the girl declared in broken Japanese.

Urameshi blinked, astounded by I-Pin's words, before chuckling. "Alright," he said, bending to pick I-Pin up. I-Pin allowed him. "I trust you."

Urameshi turned to Reborn. "Do you know where I can get a broom?" he asked, tugging off the plastic sheet around him. "I need to sweep all this hair up."

"Ask Mama," Reborn replied.

Urameshi rolled his eyes. "Of course the Great Berorn wouldn't know where a broom is," he said exasperatingly, referring to one of Reborn's alias.

Reborn delivered a kick towards Urameshi, which he dodged. "Just get the broom, idiot," Reborn snapped instinctually.

Something like reminiscence flashed across Urameshi's eyes. "Yeah, yeah," Urameshi said flippantly, heading back into the house.

Reborn bent down slightly the moment Urameshi turned away, smoothly straightening up to his normal height by the time Urameshi turned back around. "You coming?" Urameshi asked, holding the door open for Reborn.

Reborn slipped through the door and headed up to his dame-student's room, completely ignoring Urameshi once he was in the house. In the pocket of his suit was some of Urameshi's hair.

Xxx

Half-lidded eyes quietly examined the envelope before him. From what he could see, the package was normal in every way, except that it was addressed to him. No one should know where his workstation was, much less than be able to send him anything, so just who was it?

His gaze paused upon the writing written on the parcel: Reborn.

Of course, Verde thought, a second before curiosity fit for his current age set in. After cautiously checking the package for any traps or the like, Verde opened the tiny package. Inside was a single paper, folded into two.

Verde could tell more words were written inside. He picked up the paper to examine it closer, and a small clear bag slipped out from between the folded pages.

Verde spared the content of the bag a quick glance – a single, almost invisible black, short, thin stalk. Most likely hair – before bringing his attention back to the paper before him. He could examine the bag at a later time.

He opened the paper.

Curious about the hair? Go ahead and experiment with it. – Reborn

Verde's genius mind whirled as his gaze dropped back to the piece of hair sitting innocently within the bag it came with. Whose hair was that? Where did Reborn obtain that?

Verde's tiny hand reached for the clear bag and lifted it up into the light. It looked like normal human hair, so just what about it was so special that Reborn fostered an interest in its subject, enough to ask Verde for help?

And oh, Verde knew Reborn was asking him for help. While they both were Acrobaleno, both of them had very limited contact with each other. They wouldn't cross paths if they didn't truly have to and for Reborn to initiate contact… Verde shifted the bag in his hand to examine it at another angle.

Curious. How curious.

A slow smile spread across Verde's face, and he dropped his hand. So that was what Reborn was playing at. All the mysteriousness and the scant information regarding the little parcel that Reborn sent him… Reborn wanted Verde to become curious. Reborn wanted Verde to experiment and study the hair, to learn everything down to the last strand of DNA within it for Reborn.

Fine. Verde will play this Reborn's way for now. After all, he was curious about the strand of hair.

As Verde ambled to his seat in his laboratory, pausing beside Keiman to pat his alligator's head, Verde smiled smugly. Reborn was very intelligent, playing on Verde's curious mind as a scientist so Verde would do his dirty work, but it seemed like even the world's greatest hitman can miscalculate.

Verde would study the hair, alright, and learn all of its secrets.

But there was absolutely no guarantee that Verde would share his findings with Reborn.

Chapter Text

It was a peaceful day, nice and lovely, when a loud boom went off. A series of squeaks and flutters of short little wings subsequently followed.

"Yeah, you little shits," Hayato hollered out the window after the flock of yellow birds flying away. "Fuck off and never come back!"

Glad to be finally rid of those birds, Hayato made a move to put away his remaining dynamites when he noticed some of the looks that he was getting from the people outside of the window. "What?" Hayato snapped at them, failing to rein in his temper. It was busy last night at the bar, and as a result, Hayato barely caught three hours of sleep before he was rudely awakened this morning. Gokudera Hayato was not a happy teen at all.

The pedestrians jumped at his murderous look and tone, and quickly scurried away. Looking at them, Hayato could almost emphasize with why Hibari called other people 'crowding herbivores.'

Just when Hayato thought he would finally have some peace and quiet, the sound of someone banging insistently at the door slammed into his ears.

Hayato's vein throbbed.

"Who the fuck–?!" Hayato growled, wrenching the door to his dingy apartment open with one violent move, dynamites already in hand. He would fucking scare whoever it was at his door to scram so he could get his precious sleep. How can Hayato protect the Tenth properly if he wasn't awake?

The second the door was opened an inch, the person behind the door pushed their way in.

"The hell–?" Hayato said, before his eyes met another pair of equally furious eyes. Oh fuck. Hayato quickly used all his strength to push the door close and the person out of his apartment, but by the time Hayato attempted to do so, the woman had already slipped into the apartment. The door slammed close with the woman still inside, trapping Hayato with her.

Hayato quickly yanked the door back open. The woman slammed it close with one arm and then went as far as lean against the door. Her eyes then dropped to the dynamites in Hayato's hand.

Double fuck.

"So it was you," Hayashida Saya said lowly. "How many times do I need to tell you not to light the dynamites in the apartment?!" By the end of her sentence, her voice went up to a screech. She whirled around and Hayato sighed inwardly, already knowing what she was going to point out.

"Look at that!" she said, pointing at the wall that Hayato accidentally scorched with his dynamite some weeks ago. "That, that and that also!" she shouted, indicting at several of marks left separately by Hayato's mishaps with his dynamites.

"Calm down, lady," Hayato said, trying to be courteous to his landlady. She was making it exceedingly hard with her exaggerations though. "Those were accidents. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Oh, don't start that with me, Gokudera Hayato!" Saya said. Hayato inwardly winced at her tone. "I told you to stop and you go 'yeah, yeah, yeah' and never do! Even my five-year-old kid listens better than you."

Hayato bristled at the insult. "Listen here, woman—" he started.

"Oh, and now you are going to threaten me, are you? Go on," she challenged, putting her hands on her hips.

"You're crazy," Hayato said, shaking his head. "Just get outta my apartment."

"If I recall correctly, this apartment is mine," Saya replied. "What right do you have to kick me out?"

Hayato hissed, a headache forming in his head. "One, I'm renting it now, so it's mine, lady. Two, isn't this apartment actually your husband's?"

"His stuff is my stuff," Saya waved off dismissively. "The rent goes towards our daily life expenses anyway, which reminds me: you didn't pay this month's rent."

Hayato blinked in surprise. "I didn't? But I swear…"

Oh hell, Hayato thought. He knew he was cursing way too much this morning, but only expletives could correctly describe his situation now.

He didn't have money for the rent, or more accurately, he used it all up.

Hayato received his pay a week ago, which was just enough to cover his rent and his daily needs with a little leftover to go to the arcade with the Tenth and the baseball freak. But then he passed by the internet café a few days ago and decided to listen to some music.

Then on the music website, he saw an advertisement for an online store. He accidentally clicked it when surfing for another song and just when he was about to close it, he saw it. High quality dynamites on sale ones with free shipping.

Before he knew it, Hayato had already ordered a bunch. They arrived yesterday.

Hayato shifted the new dynamites in his hand guiltily.

"Give me another few weeks," Hayato said as understanding dawned on Saya's face.

"And now you don't have your rent," Saya stated.

"Three weeks," Hayato negotiated, clouds of drowsiness lifting from his brain. He quickly did some calculations in his head. "Actually, two and a half would be fine."

"What did you do with your money?" Saya asked, a skeptical look on her face. Not a good sign. "Bought drugs?"

"I don't touch those shit," Hayato hissed automatically, before quickly softening his voice again. You do not hiss at the person you were trying to persuade. You just don't. "I just bought some stuff," he said vaguely in a calmer tone.

"Does that have anything to do with that box labeled 'highly flammable' that arrived at your doorstep yesterday?" Saya questioned.

Hayato froze like a deer caught in the headlight.

"Right…" Saya said. "Not only do you blow up my apartment daily, but now you tell me you cannot pay your rent because you bought even more stuff to blow up my apartment."

Hayato winced inwardly. When she said it like that, it did sound bad.

Hayato cleared his voice awkwardly. "Look, lady—" he started, mind forming an argument for his stay.

Saya held up a hand. "You asked for three weeks right?"

"Two and a half only," Hayato corrected quickly. "Maybe even two."

"Well, you can take as long as you want," Saya said. "After you move out, that is."

"You can't do that to me," Hayato said when his mind finally recovered from his shock. "You can't."

Saya smiled, not even smugly, but kindly, like she was doing him a favor. "Look, I'll even be nice and give you two whole days, today and tomorrow, to move."

"No," Hayato stated, but there was nothing more he could say. There was no way he could earn enough money to pay his rent in a day, and his pride rebelled against loaning from anyone.

Knock, knock.

Saya went to open the door, and a smile bloomed across her face when she saw who it was.

"Dale," Saya said happily, leaning up to kiss her husband's cheek. She was careful to not jostle the bundle in Dale's arms. "Hello, Daiki," Saya cooed at her four months old baby.

"Saya, is anything wrong?" Dale asked. "You were taking so long."

"Nope," Saya said, gesturing for Dale to transfer Daiki into her arms. "We're done talking. Gokudera-kun is going to be outta here by tomorrow night."

Xxx

Dale blinked and looked at Gokudera, who looked shell-shocked, before glancing down at Saya again. "That's a little abrupt, isn't it?" Dale said slowly, knowing Saya had the tendency to just do whatever she wanted.

"Nope," Saya said again, rocking Daiki a little. "Come on, Dale, let's go. I can't believe you left Jiro at home all alone."

Dale gave Gokudera a nod, before following his wife and closing the door to the apartment behind him. "I was worried about you," Dale said to Saya. "Besides, I tucked Jiro in bed and made sure he was asleep before coming across the hall."

"Well, aren't you sweet, dear husband of mine," Saya said, grinning a little. Dale smiled back and kissed her.

"Are you sure you want to kick Gokudera-kun out of the apartment?" Dale asked a moment later. He unlock the apartment door for his wife and himself, before closing the door behind him.

"He'll be fine," Saya said dismissively. She walked into Jiro and Daiki's room to put Daiki into his crib, before moving over to Jiro's bed fix the blankets that he kicked off.

"You can't say for sure, can you?" Dale asked, walking up to Saya. He encircled her waist with his arms, and she leaned back against him.

"I can," Saya said. "I saw him once, at the mall with his friends. He didn't see me but he looked so happy to be with those two kids. There was a short kid with brown hair and another kid with black. If you have seen how they looked at Gokudera, you'll get it. Those friends," Saya sighed, "are those rare, ridiculously loyal bunch. Once you associate with them, there's no backing out."

Dale chuckled warmly. "You make it sound like a bad thing."

"Nope. It's good for Gokudera," Saya said. "Besides, serves him right for waking up Jiro and Daiki with his loud dynamites noises."

"Now that's more like the Saya I know," Dale laughed.

Saya huffed before saying, "But honestly, Gokudera is tough. I know he can overcome this." Her gaze dropped to her two slumbering children and a soft look entered her eyes. "I hope our kids can grow up to be just like him."

"Not like me?" Dale asked jokingly.

"Dale!" Saya hissed in annoyance, twisting around. Her husband swooped down and claimed a kiss. "Cheater," she said, but a smile lingered on her face.

"Well," Dale said, leaning forward again, "I do learn from the best."

Xxx

Hayato's mind whirled. Stupid, stupid, stupid. If only Hayato had curbed his desire to buy those extra high quality dynamites.

He forlornly dropped his gaze to the dynamites he had in hand, before sighing. Well, there was no use crying over spilt milk. It would be more helpful if he started thinking instead.

He essentially lost his apartment, so where could he stay now?

His first thought was Juudaime's house, but the stupid cow and I-Pin were already staying there. It was overcrowded as it was without Hayato cramping it even more.

The baseball freak's house then? Hayato discarded the idea as soon as it came. There was no way he could ask the baseball freak for help, even if his home probably had enough space.

Turf-head's home was definitely out of question, since Ryohei lived with his sister. There was no way Hayato could share living quarters with the woman Juudaime liked.

Hayato tried to think of another person he could rely on, but no such person came into his mind. Damn. Did he really know only that many people?

Just then, a loud shrill pierced his ear.

Hayato jumped up, deftly slamming his alarm clock to quiet it, before beginning to prepare for the day. Personal problems could come later. Right now, he needed to get ready so he could go to Juudaime's house to escort him to school.

However, ten minutes later found Hayato hurrying down the street.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Hayato cursed as he ran. Despite his best intention, he had started thinking over his living problems again and once he did, he just lost track of time. In the end, he still hadn't come up with a suitable solution.

Five minutes for five blocks. A minute for each and some blocks are longer than normal. Could he make it to Juudaime's house on time?

He screeched to a halt when a person suddenly ambled out into his direct path. Had Hayato been paying close attention, Hayato would have noticed the person was sliding back away from him even before he turned around.

"Whoah, Gokudera," a familiar voice said. Hayato directed his gaze up. "In a hurry?"

Yusuke looked down at Hayato curiously, and a scowl automatically made its way across Hayato's face.

"No, I'm just sprinting down the streets to enjoy the scenery," Hayato sarcastically sneered. He rolled his eyes and quickly walking around Yusuke with the intention of hurrying on his way, only to pause when he recalled his dilemma. Hayato looked at Yusuke, considering, causing Yusuke to quirk his eyebrow at him.

"What?" Yusuke voiced out, but Hayato simply shook his head and turned around, rushing away without a word.

He arrived at Jyuudaime's door just as he began to walk out.

"Good morning, Juudaime!" Hayato greeted.

Juudaime jumped for a second, before he relaxed when he saw it was Hayato. "Good morning, Gokudera-kun."

Hayato looked around. "Juudaime, where's Reborn-san?"

"Oh, he said he had something to do today," his boss said, "so he's not going to follow me to school."

"Is there anything I can help with?" Hayato asked, eager to show his worth.

"Erm…" Juudaime said, "I'm not sure." Upon seeing Hayato's down casted look, he added, "I'm sure Reborn can handle it himself."

Hayato was quick to agree. "Of course," he said. "Reborn-san is strong, after all. Juudaime, should we head to school now?"

"Ah, yes," Juudaime said. He took a few steps forward and as Hayato began to walk with him, he stopped.

"Juudaime, is something wrong?" Hayato asked, turning around when he saw Juudaime wasn't moving. He jumped a little in surprise and bit his lips lightly, as though considering.

Finally, he said, "Gokudera-kun, is everything is alright?"

Hayato blinked, at first confused. Then he recalled the trouble that he came upon just this morning over his living arrangement.

Juudaime must have sensed it through his Vongola's Intuition, Hayato thought.

Hayato couldn't help but feel touched that the Tenth notice that he was distracted by his living arrangement problem. At the same time, however, Hayato was supposed to help the Tenth out as his right hand man. To think Hayato was creating more worries for the Tenth…that certainly won't do.

Hayato smiled widely instead of answering, letting the smile cover up all his worries. "Please don't worry, Juudaime," Hayato said sincerely, "it's nothing."

The relief that instantly appeared on the Tenth's face was palpable, and that only reinforce Hayato's decision to not tell the Tenth about his problems. "If Gokudera-kun says so, then I guess it's really fine," Juudaime said, sounding glad. His tone turned sheepish the next second. "I guess I worried over nothing."

"No, Juudaime," Hayato quickly said when he heard the Tenth doubting his instincts, especially when it was correct. That wasn't what Hayato meant to do.

Jyuudaime looked at Hayato with surprise at his exclamation, and turmoil whirled within Hayato when he realized he had just corrected Jyuudaime. "W-what I mean is," Hayato said, stammering a little and trying to fix his mistake. Hayato's face slowly turned red as his mind thought of the perfect truthful explanation for him. "I'm happy that you care."

Juudaime blinked in bemusement for a moment, before he slowly turned red as well. "Erm…" he said, sounding undeniably flustered but also happy. "I – I."

Juudaime paused and took a deep breath, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think of what to say. Finally, he said, "Gokudera-kun, we're friends, aren't we?"

"Of course!" Hayato exclaimed, before he paused because he didn't want to presume. He was Juudaime's right hand man. Can he be his friend as well?

Juudaime smiled at Hayato's quick answer, and Hayato watched in awe as all awkwardness seemed to leave the Tenth. "That's right. We're friends, so of course I care. I'm glad to know that there is nothing troubling you." His brows furrowed almost subconsciously again, as though his Vongola Intuition was trying to tell him the statement was not true. Hayato watched as the Tenth shook it off, still not used to the Intuition to trust it for what it was. "At the same time, if you do have a problem, I hope that you will tell me."

A sheepish look crossed Juudaime's face. "I know that I can't do much, Gokudera-kun. After all, I'm called Dame-Tsuna." Hayato growled lowly at the detested nickname. "E-even so, Gokudera-kun, you're my friend so if you have a problem, please tell me and I'll do my best to help you." A resolved looked entered his eyes, and the sincerity in his voice was unmistakable. "That's my promise to you."

A grin spread across Hayato's face as his chest bloomed with warmth. This…this was the man Hayato chose to follow. Sawada Tsunyoshi, the future Vongola Decimo.

Xxx

Hayato paused in his steps to his apartment when he saw who was about to enter her apartment as well.

Saya looked up from where she was fiddling with the lock. "Oh, hello, Gokudera. Back from school?"

"Yeah," Hayato said, taking out his keys.

I'm going to make some stew later," Saya said. "Come by for some later, alright?"

Hayato's stomach growled at the thought of Saya's scrumptious stew. A smirk spread across Saya's face, telling Hayato that she heard.

Hayato flushed a little. "Quit smirking, woman," Hayato growled to his door, quickly unlocking his door.

"How rude," Saya said. "I am treating you to stew, after all."

"And kicking me out of my apartment, yeah," Hayato growled, turning around to glare at her.

Saya shrugged casually. "Speaking of which, you found a place to stay yet?"

Hayato thought of the words he couldn't force out of his mouth, 'Can I stay at your place until I earn enough money to find a place to live on my own?' and turned towards his door again. He twisted the doorknob harshly. "Yeah," Hayato lied. "I just need to pack my stuff and then I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow."

"Good," Saya said, followed by the sound of her door opening. "Seven o'clock, alright? Be late and I'll see to it that you won't even get a grain of rice."

"Controlling woman," Hayato hissed, shaking his head as he entered his apartment. The moment his door closed behind him, his brusque façade dropped. What should he do?

Xxx

"Gokudera, did you find a place to stay yet?" Dale asked later that night. A sound to his right had him turning just in time to see Jiro sneaking some food for Daiki. "Jiro," Dale reprimanded, causing the older of his two boys to jump guiltily. "Daiki can't eat solid food yet."

Jiro shuffled his feet awkwardly. "But he looks hungry!"

"Jiro, your mother is warming the milk for Daiki as we speak," Dale said. "Come and sit down. Your mother cooked a lot of food today, so you better help us finish it."

His eldest son went with the attention span expected of a five-year-old and jumped into his seat, quickly digging into his food.

Dale shook his head in quiet amusement, before turning to Gokudera.

"Ah, sorry," Dale apologized. "Where were we at?"

"You asked me if I found a place to stay yet," Gokudera said politely. "Don't worry, Dale-san. I'm going to stay at a friend's place."

"Ah, that's good," Dale said. "I –"

"I told you he found a place," Saya exclaimed with a roll of her eyes, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle of warmed milk in one hand and a plate of barbequed ribs in the other. The barbequed ribs joined the four dishes that were already on the table. "But noo, you wouldn't believe me and had to ask Gokudera yourself."

"I just wanted to make sure," Dale said with a chuckle. "To be moving so abruptly… I was just worried Gokudera wouldn't find a place to stay."

"Eh?!" Jiro exclaimed, his mouthful of food spraying the area in front of him.

"Jiro!" both Dale and Saya exclaimed.

Jiro continued, heedless of his parent's admonishment. "Goku-nii is leaving?! Why?"

Saya put a hand to her hip. "Hayashida Jiro!" Saya said severely. Jiro cringed. "You better clean up that mess you made before you start eating again. We have a guest over! How can you tell the guest to eat after you sprayed saliva all over the food?"

"So now I'm a guest," Dale heard Gokudera murmur to himself. "Didn't she used to say I was an 'unwanted guest who kept on freeloading' off her meals?"

Dale struggled not to laugh. "Gokudera," Dale said as Saya continued to lecture Jiro. She was doing enough for both of them. "You know Saya loves it when you come over. You always so sincerely enjoy her dishes."

"Goku-nii," Jiro exclaimed, running back to the table with wet hands and a sponge. "Where are you going?"

"Staying at a friend's place," Gokudera said.

"Whyyy?" Jiro whined. "You can't help me with my homework now."

"That's all you care about, you brat?!" Gokudera demanded indignantly.

Jiro grinned sheepishly and the rest of the dinner was filled with light bickering and chatters.

Xxx

"Mom," Jiro said later that night. "Why is Goku-nii moving?"

"You asked that a dozen times, Jiro," Mom said.

"I know, but I don't get it," Jiro said. "I thought he likes living here!"

Mom hesitated for a moment, before finally bending down to Jiro's height. Jiro quiet down, knowing his mom was going to be serious. "Jiro, I'm not sure if he actually likes living here," Mom said. "He only lives at the apartment because he has to, but even if he likes it there, I don't think it's good for him."

"Why?" Jiro asked, not comprehending.

"Jiro baby," Mom said. A pout crossed Jiro's face. He was five now. Five! He wasn't a baby anymore. "How old do you think Goku-nii is?"

"A hundred!" Jiro exclaimed.

Mom hit Jiro on the head. "Fourteen, silly. He's only nine years older than you."

"That's sooo old," Jiro said.

Mom shook her head. "To you, maybe, but to me, he's still so young."

Jiro nodded like he understood, but he really didn't. "So?"

Mom shook her head again. "Jiro, can you imagine living by yourself in nine years?"

"Cool!" Jiro exclaimed.

Mom's eyes bored into him. "Are you sure?" Mom asked, her tone telling Jiro to think carefully. "If you live by yourself, you will have to cook your own food every day and do your own laundry. You'll also have to work to earn your rent. At fourteen, you're also still going to school, so you will have to do your homework on top of doing everything else that I mentioned. You are already complaining to me about how much homework you have. Can you imagine doing four or five times as much work?"

Jiro shivered at the thought. "Noooo!" He clambered up to his mom's lap and hugged her neck. "I want to live with you and Dad forever!"

A small smile crossed Mom's face at Jiro's words, even as she nodded severely. "All the stuff I told you before, Goku-nii is doing that all by himself now."

"No way!" Jiro exclaimed, leaning back to look at his mother with wide eyes.

"Yes way," Mom said.

"But that's soo hard!"

"Exactly," Mom said. "Living by yourself is not easy. I don't even know what his parents are thinking. I try to help him, baby, and invite him over, but there's only so much I can do. He's so prideful he wouldn't accept any help and I can't afford to go out of my way to help him, not when I still have to support my own family with Dale. If forcing him out of the apartment will make him live with a friend who he can share his burdens with, that's what I'll do. Jiro, do you understand?"

Jiro nodded, even though he really didn't.

Mom smiled, but it didn't look like a smile. It looked a little weird. People were supposed to smile when they were happy, so how come Mom's smile looked a little sad? Jiro didn't understand.

"It's okay," Mom said, hugging Jiro close to her chest. Jiro smiled at the warmth and hugged back. "One day you'll understand."

Chapter Text

Hayato hurried out of his apartment, jumping out of his window as always since the Hayashida family lived right across the hall. He didn't want them to find out about his job.

He was thinking about his living arrangement again. Tomorrow was the day he had to move and Hayato still haven't found a place yet. At last he considered rooming with someone, even though he was fond of his personal space and had a practiced habit of being wary of strangers. It couldn't be helped since he didn't have enough money.

Hayato skid to a halt when his eyes caught a paper stating something about a person looking for a roommate. At the bottom of the sheet was a bunch of slips with the contact info of the person. In Hayato's haste, since he was late already, he simply ripped the whole thing off the lamppost it was stuck on and stuffed it in his pocket before hurrying on his way again.

Hayato mentally cursed when he arrived at the bar and found the place packed with customers.

Fuck. The bar must not have enough staff, he thought.

"Excuse me," Hayato murmured, doing his best to be polite as he jostled his way towards the front of the bar.

He listened as people ordered drinks at a rapid pace and mentally started remembering the person who placed the order and the order itself. The other guy he was working with, Shinji, must be having a nervous breakdown by now.

"Hey, Gokudera," a familiar voice called out when he finally reached the front.

"Hey, Shinji," Hayato murmured, not really paying attention to his co-worker as he measured enough space for himself and then vaulted himself over the bar counter to the bartending area.

People let out 'whoa''s and whistles when they saw, but Hayato's attention was all work, work and more work by then.

"One Bay Breeze, two Bloody Marys, one Cuba Libre, one High Ball," Hayato murmured as he got to work.

"Wow," Shinji said as he began to prepare. "As reliable as always. But why don't you change first, Gokudera? You know Boss is picky about that kinda stuff."

"No time," Hayato said as he went to the sink to wash his hand. "There's –"

Hayato paused when he finally realized there was an extra person behind the bar counter.

"Yo," the guy said casually when he noticed Hayato's attention. Yusuke placed the drink he made down on a coaster, and then slid it across the bar counter to the customer. "Enjoy," he said professionally with a small smile.

The customer nodded her thank and then left. Another person took her place and as she ordered, Shinji explained, "He was going to drink here, but when he saw how busy it was, he offered to help."

"You let him come in here?!" Hayato asked, indignant.

"No!" Shinji quickly denied. "It just kinda… happened. Before you knew it, he was serving drinks. He's pretty skilled too! No one came back to complain and with his help, I didn't have to drive myself nuts trying to take care of everything."

Shinji rounded a glare on Hayato. "Besides, you can't blame me. Why were you fucking late?" he hissed lowly to Hayato. He poured the drink out of the shaker into a tall glass and then passed it to a customer, instantly changing his glare to a smile.

The second he turned back to Hayato, his eyes narrowed. "You know what? Never mind. Change first, work and then we'll talk. Kapish?"

Hayato held his breath and let it go. "Fine," Hayato snapped, heading to the backroom. "But for your information," Hayato said, turning around with a glare, "it's capisci."

Hayato slipped away before Shinji could respond.

Xxx

"That's some temper that bartender has," a random customer commented.

Yusuke shrugged noncommittally and slid the drink to him. "Here you go," Yusuke said.

"Thanks man," the guy said, handing him the money. "Oh, by the way," he said, rummaging through his jacket pocket. He pulled out a sheet of rumpled paper with a triumph look. "Your friend dropped this when he was vaulting over."

Yusuke casted the sheet of paper a quick glance, nodded and put it in his pocket. "Thanks."

The guy nodded and then he was on his way.

Yusuke looked over at the backroom to see Gokudera coming out but before Yusuke could call him, some customer gestured him to make them a drink.

Later then, Yusuke thought, as someone went up to the bar. He put up a professional smile. "Hello," he said.

Xxx

"Whew," Shinji said, crashing into the coach in the staff room. "What a day. Yusuke, right? You're pretty good with bartending, better than for it to be just a hobby."

Yusuke chuckled as he took a seat next to him. "I used to be a bartender, that's why," Yusuke said.

Shinji looked at Yusuke with interest. "Really, now? Ever thought of working here? Pay's not bad."

"Nah," Yusuke said. "I think I'll stick with drinking instead of making."

Shinji shrugged. "Oh well, then." He paused for a second. "Hey, were you thinking of getting paid when you helped us…?"

"I wouldn't mind getting paid for those hours but if you don't"–Yusuke shrugged – "no hard feelings."

"Easy going, I see," Shinji said, standing. "But the Boss is the equal kinda guy. You'll probably get Gokudera's pay for those hours."

"Hm," Yusuke said, following Shinji out. "I rather have a drink. How 'bout you guys make me a drink and we'll call that's that?"

"Pretty nice of you. Alright," Shinji said. "What do you want?"

Yusuke told him, and Shinji grinned.

"Gokudera, two more drinks for Mr. Yusuke here before we close," Shinji said, ambling towards Gokudera.

"Why should I?" Gokudera growled. "I'm almost done scrubbing all of these glasses."

"Because he covered for you," Shinji said. "C'mon, play nice."

Gokudera glared at Yusuke and Yusuke raised an eyebrow in return. In the end, Gokudera huffed as he made one drink and Shinji made the other.

Yusuke sat down to watch and as he did, he felt something in his back pocket. He pulled it out to see it was the sheet Gokudera dropped.

He's looking for a roommate? Yusuke wondered as he glanced at the ad in hand.

Xxx

"Are you tight on money?" Yusuke asked as he once again insisted on walking Hayato home.

Hayato choked on thin air, wondering how the hell did Yusuke knew. Yusuke shoved his hand in his pocket and when it surfaced again, it was holding onto a very familiar piece of paper.

Hayato immediately dug his hand in his pockets and found that the ad that he tore off the lamppost was indeed gone. "Give it back," Hayato hissed, snatching the paper away from the other man. "Why the fuck do you have it?"

"You dropped it when you vaulted over the bar counter," Yusuke explained. "A customer picked it up, but I didn't have the chance to give it back until now."

"It's none of your business," Hayato growled.

Yusuke quirked an eyebrow. "Even if I offer to be your roommate?"

Hayato could feel his jaws dropping, before he finally regained his wits after a few seconds. "What are you, a pedophile?!"

Hayato watched as Yusuke spluttered and choked. "What?!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"What?" Hayato threw back, crossing his arms. "You have to admit a sudden offer like that sounds fishy."

"I offer out of the goodness of my heart" –Hayato snorted, but Yusuke just continued as though he didn't hear – "and you suspect me?! See if I'll offer you help anymore after this."

"I—" don't need your goddamn help, Hayato wanted to say, except he did. He needed to find an apartment to move into literally between tonight and early morning, since he wouldn't have time to do anything else other than schoolwork and staying with Juudaime once tomorrow began. Juudaime must not know about Hayato's problem. So swallowing his pride, Hayato parted his jaws and said, "I'll be grateful if you let me stay at your place."

Yusuke froze mid-step, before walking backwards to stand side-by-side with Hayato. "What did you say?"

Hayato gritted his teeth. He was sure Yusuke was playing him and was just pretending to not have heard his words, but for the sake of not worrying Juudaime… "I said," Hayato said loudly, his words echoing in the empty street, "I'll be grateful if you let me stay at your place."

Silence reigned for a moment and just when Hayato began to regret ever asking Yusuke for help, a hand dropped on his head. Hayato glared at him and swiped his hand off. "Sure, Gokudera," Yusuke said with a chuckle. Then he began walking again.

"Where are you going?" Hayato hissed.

Yusuke turned his head to look at Hayato over his shoulder. "Don't you want to see the apartment you're gonna stay at?"

"This late?" Hayato said. "This is sounding more suspicious by the moment."

"Hey, it's not like I made you look for a roommate," Yusuke said. "C'mon. It's not that far. I'll even keep the door open so you can bolt whenever you want to once you're in the apartment."

"Fuck off," Hayato growled as he followed Yusuke.

Xxx

Hayato blinked when Yusuke opened the door to the apartment and beckoned Hayato in. Hayato stepped in, eyes taking in the sparely furnished room. The room felt very detached. Distant.

"Living room, kitchen and bedroom are all here. You can see everything with one look. Bathroom is there," Yusuke said, gesturing. He glanced at Hayato for his reaction. "So?"

"It's smaller than I thought," Hayato said slowly.

Yusuke quirked an eyebrow. "Where do you think I live? In a mansion?"

"No," Hayato said, walking deeper into the room. Hayato found it hard to explain that although the apartment looked pretty spacious, if Yusuke actually had any intention of settling in permanently, it would have been too small for two people. As it was, Hayato simply said, "It's fine."

His gaze dropped down. "There's only one bed."

Hayato turned around as Yusuke ambled up to him. A flare of annoyance entered Hayato's veins when he saw Yusuke really left the door open.

"What do you expect?" Yusuke said. "I didn't expect any guest and this is supposed to be a room for one person." He paused. "Just saying, I may be generous" – Hayato scoffed – "but I'm not giving you the bed."

While mentally Hayato expected that, the tone Yusuke used annoyed him. "Where do you want me to sleep then? I'm not sleeping on the floor."

"Lots of people do that with a futon. You have one, right?"

Hayato nodded. He wasn't really used to it, but the apartment he was staying at didn't have a bed, so Hayato got a futon instead. "Yeah. I guess you're saying I'm gonna sleep on a futon during my stay here."

"Yup. Any objections?" Yusuke asked.

Hayato mumbled something under his breath.

"What?" Yusuke said. "I can't hear you."

"I said," Hayato said, raising his voice, "what's the price of rent?"

"If I say free, you're going to leave right away, right?" Yusuke said with a knowing look.

"Damn right. I'm not going to owe anyone a favor and I'm certainly not going to live on pity," Hayato said.

Yusuke grinned. "Great," he said. "You're good with math and shit, aren't you? I got some stocks recently since I was bored. Just look over them for me, would cha? Sell them before they go down, hold them if they're going up and buy more if you want to, blah blah blah."

"Stocks?" Hayato said, looking so shocked. "What the fuck are you doing, playing with shit you don't know? You can lose your whole fortune if you're not careful."

Yusuke's smirk widened with smugness. "Which is exactly why I'm making you watch over them. I usually have someone to do that for me, but he just named some stocks I might wanna buy and then left me alone. Said something about preparing for something. Well? Have enough guts to give it a try?"

"What if I lose all the stocks for you and make you go into debt?" Hayato asked, wanting to see Yusuke's reaction. Did he truly have no fear or doubt about giving a virtual stranger control over his finance? Then again, Hayato couldn't speak since he decided to live with Yusuke when they couldn't even be considered as acquaintance. Granted, it was forced by circumstance but still, here they were anyway.

"Then," Yusuke said, amusement in his eyes, "you'll probably lose a place to stay."

"That's it?" Hayato asked, hardly believing. He thought over the terms they discussed and thought they were way too one-sided with the advantage on Hayato's side. Hayato had nothing to lose with these terms and while it was normally a good thing, the one-sided terms simply didn't sit well with his conscious. "I'm not a kid. Stop babying me."

Yusuke shook his head at Hayato's words. "Only idiots object to advantages handed to you on silver plates." Hayato scowled deeply, causing Yusuke to grin at Hayato. "But then again, honest idiots like you make life interesting. So how about this?

"Let's consider this business with a co-share of stocks. I'll get, let's say, 70% of the profit, since the stocks are mine. You'll get 30% of the profits for taking care of the stocks. We'll take the same percentage of loss if the stocks drop."

"You're kidding me," Hayato blurted out, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "Are you a fucking idiot?"

"Hey!" Yusuke exclaimed, but Hayato was no longer listening, his mind going miles per hour as he once again considered the terms Yusuke set out. They were too good to be true. A normal rate for someone looking after stocks would be 15% to 25%. For Yusuke to offer a whole 30% of his profit to Hayato… either Yusuke was an idiot or he was a disguised philanthropist.

His mind whirled as he tried to decide. Hayato didn't want to rely on Yusuk's help once again, but it was also undeniable that he needed money. What should he do?

"20%," Hayato eventually said, looking straight at Yusuke. "I'll agree if we lower my share to 20%."

Yusuke paused for a moment as he let those words digest, before letting out a small grin. "Gokudera-kun, if this is the ancient times," he began, "you'll be a knight."

"You'll still sustain 80% of the loss," Hayato reminded, firmly refusing to acknowledge Yusuke linking a knight's honesty to Hayato's reluctance to take more than he deserved. He paused when he saw the confident look in the other's eyes. They were eyes that told Hayato Yusuke believed it was silly for even considering Hayato would lose money for him. Just where did Yusuke get this confidence from?

"Anyway, I don't like feeling like I'm taking advantage of a kid either, so let's just call your pay for looking over my stocks your rent, okay?" Yusuke said.

"…That will mean I don't have to pay any rent," Hayato said slowly.

Yusuke shrugged. "Just watch those stocks for me, Gokudera." He looked at Hayato and smiled. "Do we have a deal?"

Hayato paused for a moment, before nodding. "Deal," he said.

"Great," Yusuke said, nodding to himself. He then ambled to the door, causing confusion to appear Hayato's face. Just what was he doing?

"Oh, by the way, Gokudera," Yusuke said, gaze on Hayato. "I don't usually come back here for the night, so if I'm not back by 11 or so, you can take the bed."

"What?"

"Here's the key to the place."

Hayato automatically caught the key that was thrown in his direction.

"You can stay here for the night and use anything here. I'll be back whenever."

Yusuke slammed the door shut, leaving Hayato in the other man's apartment by himself.

"The hell…" Hayato said.

Chapter Text

Reborn let out a soft sigh from his perch on the windowsill as the last of his insect minions left. He had been staying at the Sawada household the whole day yesterday to receive reports from his insect minions about Namimori and its surrounding. It looked like he would finish up today, if his count was anything to go by.

Reborn turned around to look at the clock over Tsuna's bed, and then dropped his gaze onto his student. An hour away from the usual time to wake up and as expected, Tsuna was still snoring away.

Hm, Reborn thought as a rather sadistic smirk slid across his face. Waking up a bit earlier would be good for him.

Reborn brought out defibrillators and promptly shocked Tsuna awake using the 'traditional Vongola awakening method.'

The surprised yowls his students emitted were like music to his ears.

Reborn's smirk widened as he slowly brought the defibrillators down. "Good morning to you too, Dame-Tsuna. Get downstairs within ten minutes."

Xxx

"Juudaime, Reborn-san," Gokudera greeted half hour later. "I'm not late, am I?"

"No, no," Tsuna said, waving his hands around. "You're not. We're just" – Tsuna casted an accusatory look at Reborn – "early." Tsuna paused, before looking at the clock. "You're early too, Gokudera-kun."

A sheepish look appeared on Gokudera's face. "Well, I wasn't sure what time to wake up this morning, so I woke up extra early in order not to be late."

Reborn and Tsuna blinked. "Why? What time do you normally wake up?" Tsuna asked.

Something shifted across Gokudera's features. Gokudera laughed extra loudly, as though to cover up for something. "I stayed over at a friend's house yesterday, since my apartment needed repairs. It should be done by today."

"Oh," Tsuna said, while Reborn's eyes flashed to Gokudera with interest. Gokudera was lying, at least partially, but why? Tsuna hesitated, before saying, "Is that the problem you were thinking about yesterday?"

Reborn's gaze flicked to Tsuna. Tsuna noticed? Was it the Vongola Intuition at work?

"Yes," Gokudera said slowly. "It was only for a night and I found a place to stay, so I didn't want to worry Juudaime."

"O-okay," Tsuna said. Reborn could see him trying to think of something to say, but unable to come up with anything. "Um, should we head to school now?"

Gokudera nodded enthusiastically, glad to be done with the topic, and followed Tsuna.

Reborn followed them with watchful eyes, thinking of course Tsuna and his guardians would cause trouble the one day he wasn't watching over them. He would have to look into Gokudera's situation.

Reborn hung back and let out a soft noise. Leon's head perked up, but seeing that Reborn wasn't calling for him, he resumed to resting on Reborn's fedora. A beetle made its way up to Reborn.

"That tall boy in front of me," Reborn said, indicating and waiting for the beetle to realize it was Gokudera he was talking about. "Tell the beetles that have seen him within two daylights to go to me. Can you do that by the hottest part of the day?"

The beetle appeared to be visibly distressed. Changes. Danger. Harm. Limited movement.

"Danger?" Reborn said curiously. As insects living one with nature, of course the beetles would be in danger. The beetle wouldn't have mention that unless a change had happened that elevated the danger. "What –?"

"Reborn," Tsuna's voice called, causing Reborn to instinctively turn around. He was a few feet away from Reborn, farther than Reborn had expected. Reborn didn't realize or intend for the simple instructions to take so long. "Are you coming to school with me today?"

"Go ahead," Reborn told his student but by the time Reborn had turned back to the beetle, it had scurried away to follow his order.

Later, Reborn thought as he moved quickly to catch up to Tsuna and Gokudera. I'll ask the other beetles about what it said later.

Xxx

The beetles came up to him throughout the day, trickle by trickle. All of them held different parts of the story, telling Reborn about different part of Gokudera's day that they have observed. As always, Reborn listened patiently as he deciphered what they were talking about and then went about carefully piecing everything together.

Everyone thought having insects as minions were easy, that they would just tell him everything and that was it. What they don't know was that the insect language was limited to what insects could see and observe.

Days. Just what was days? It had to be broken down to daylights, how many times the sun was up.

Hottest part of the day. Temperate and feeling, all observable to the insects. Noon.

The beetles and insects around Gokuder's apartment told Reborn of normalcy, everything being as usual. The morning previous there was a loud noise and lots of shaking. Birds fluttered away. Then more indescribable noises came from the tall boy (Gokudera) and a female (girlfriend? Landlady?). Then all the usual. When darkness came, the tall boy left through the open wall.

Another batch of insects around Gokudera's workplace told Reborn Gokudera was moving very quickly to the other place that smelled of yeast and age. He stopped and pulled a paper from the thing with the brightness which moths were attracted to, and then he went, stepping deep into the colony of humans. Sometime later, he came out of the movable wall with another person.

The insects which the two adolescents passed on the way said that the person with the tall boy was the same person Reborn told them to keep an eye on. That person was different. He looked deceptively normal, but felt and smelled strongly of power. They went to a place that other insects have seen that strange person go some nights. The strange person left before daylight, but the tall boy stayed until daylight was up. Then he went about what he normally did and went to Reborn's house.

It took Reborn the whole morning to piece the scattered reports into something understandable. By the time he managed, his mind was whirling.

Gokudera had a fight or an argument with a woman, most likely his landlady due to the excuse Gokudera gave Tsuna this morning. That brought about some kind of change which caused Gokudera to act strangely, so maybe the landlady threatened to raise the rent or make Gokudera move. Reborn knew money issue was a problem that raised Gokudera's hackles, since it wasn't a problem that could be solved with solely brunt force or a formula.

Gokudera went to work later that day and met Urameshi at the bar. Instincts told Reborn that it was most likely a coincident. Urameshi had gone there before and had most likely enjoyed the drinks, so he went back. What was troubling was that Urameshi and Gokudera left the bar together and according to the insects, Gokudera stayed over at Urameshi's for the night. If Reborn didn't know that Urameshi didn't also stay in the same apartment, it would have sounded awfully suggestive.

The question was why? Why did Gokudera follow Urameshi back to his apartment? Gokudera, while having gained grudging respect for Urameshi after the last incident of the near sexual assault, was still undeniably brusque regarding any interaction with anyone other than Tsuna. His wariness and distrust of others was an ingrained habit, so just what made Gokudera drop it?

Reborn could not think of any other reason other than Tsuna himself or maybe Bianachi.

He would have to pay a visit to the woman Gokudera argued with and to Urameshi.

"Show me to the female from last daylight," Reborn told the beetle. He dismissed the rest of the insects.

Xxx

"Young lady," Reborn called out in an elderly pitch, waving a feeble arm. He was donned in a grandmotherly outfit, and his back was crooked appropriately to match.

Hayashida Saya paused in her steps. "Obaa-chan, are you calling me?" Hayashida asked.

Reborn bobbed his head and gestured her over.

"Obaa-chan, are you alright?" Hayashida inquired as she crouched down to Reborn's level. In her arms was a sleeping baby.

"Yes, yes," Reborn said, waving his arm again. "Fine. But I want to ask, young lady, is it your apartment that's available for rent?"

Hayashida blinked in surprise. "Wow," Hayashida said, "news travel fast, don't they? The young man that lived there is going to move today."

Reborn's mind whirled. Gokudera was moving today?

"He moved there not long ago, though," Reborn said slowly, as though puzzled.

"He was making too much noise and kept waking up my kids, and then he dared to not have this month's rent, so I booted him out," Hayashida said, as though annoyed as she reflected back on Gokudera's behavior. The hard look in her eyes softened for a moment as she gazed down at Reborn. "But obaa-chan, between you and me, I think it's better if he moved out to live with a friend. Someone could look out for him then, don't you think?"

"Ah, yes, yes," Reborn said. So Hayashida thought she was acting in Gokudera's best interest. "My daughter moved out some years ago and even now, she still worries me even though she is all grown up now."

Hayashida chuckled. "That's just the thing about being a mother, obaa-chan. I never really understand my mother and her ways of fretting until I have children of my own." She paused. "But enough of me, obaa-chan. Why are you asking about it?"

"Oh, my daughter wanted me to move to a better apartment, so I'm looking around for one now."

"I see," Hayashida said. "But obaa-chan, normally I'll recommend my apartment, but I'll be honest with you. It's up on the third floor and there is no elevator. I don't think you should climb all those stairs."

"Is that so, is that so," Reborn said. "Young lady, you are an honest one, aren't you? Originally, I was wondering if something is wrong with the apartment since the young man is moving away so soon, but to hear you say all of this… I'm sure nothing is wrong with it."

"Thank you, obaa-chan," Hayashida said smiling. The child in her arms stirred. "Obaa-chan, I need to go now. My child is going to wake up soon. Will you be alright by yourself?"

"Yes, yes," Reborn said. "I'm heading home now. Go now and take care of the little one."

Hayashida nodded and went.

Reborn's eyes narrowed as he pulled off his cosplay. He was getting a picture of what was going on. Now he just needed to pay Urameshi a visit to complete his picture.

Xxx

Reborn found Urameshi lying horizontally on a bench in an outdoor park, sound asleep with his legs crossed at the ankle and with one arm hanging haphazardly off. He looked like he was at home in his own bed, so at peace and comfortable did he appear, instead of in an area where anyone could rob him.

Reborn jumped up and landed quietly on the backrest, peering down at Urameshi's slumbering face. Sound asleep with his eyes close and his body at ease, Urameshi didn't give off the feeling that he was powerful at all. To any other pair of eyes, he just looked like a common twenty-something youth.

Up close, Reborn could pinpoint the exact moment when Urameshi's breathing pattern changed, signaling he had awoken. Urameshi's eyes fluttered open and a crooked smile appeared on his face.

"Hey, if it isn't the renowned hitman Reborn," Urameshi uttered, his voice low from disuse during his sleep as he gazed up at Reborn from beneath him. He sat up like a zombie and then after a while, stood and began stretching. His bones cracked loudly as he stretched his arms and moved his head from side to side. After reaching for his toes once and shaking out his shoulders, he plopped back on the bench.

"I'm slept too long," Urameshi said, shaking his head as though to awaken himself. By the time he turned his gaze towards Reborn, his eyes were suddenly much more aware. "Let me guess. Gokudera."

"At least you're aware of your own actions," Reborn commented as he jumped from the backrest of the bench to the empty space on the bench seat that Urameshi freed by sitting up.

"Hm," Urameshi said. "I figured you're gonna have a talk with me, since you appeared to be so protective of them."

"I'm protective," Reborn deadpanned.

"Well, you do keep track of them like an overprotective mom, don't you think?" Urameshi said with a slight smirk.

Urameshi jumped when a loud shot suddenly rang out close to his ear.

"Say that again," Reborn said casually, Leon-gun in hand. He lifted his dark, twinkling gaze to Urameshi. "I dare you."

"Hahaha," Urameshi laughed nervously, flicking his gaze to the poor tree that had been shot. "I'm kidding, Reborn-kun.

Reborn held Urameshi's gaze for another second, but knew Urameshi was only playing along at being intimidated. He was almost like Yamamoto in that regards.

"You offered Gokudera to stay at your home," Reborn stated, watching Urameshi keenly for his reaction.

"Well, yeah," Urameshi said. "He said he needed a place to stay and it wasn't like I use that apartment often anyway, so…" Urameshi shrugged.

"You're going to tell me the apartment offer was a coincident," Reborn said.

"It was," Urameshi said. "I mean, I went to the bar he worked at knowing he might be there, but it wasn't like I purposely went there to see him. I only wanted a drink and that bar wasn't bad. I found out he needed a place to stay by chance – I saw that he had an ad for an apartment – so I offered. That's it." Urameshi paused, before suddenly saying, "And before you ask, know that Gokudera asked this question already. No, I'm not a pedophile."

A chuckle escaped Reborn before he could stop it. Reborn looked over the other man. Urameshi was many things, but a pedophile? For some reason, it sounded absurd.

"I didn't think you were," Reborn said curtly, before he continued with his interrogation. "What did Gokudera offer in return? He's not the type of person to easily accept someone's help."

"That, he's not," Urameshi agreed. "Gokudera is kinda working for me now." Reborn's eyes narrowed at Urameshi. "Hear me out, it's nothing fishy. I bought a few stocks when I was bored, but after a while, I don't feel like watching over it anymore. I was about to sell it, but then I was like, hey, why don't I let Gokudera handle the stocks since he's good with math and stuff."

"And how do you know he's good at math?" Reborn questioned.

Urameshi paused. "Shit… wait. I think Tsuna told me?"

Rebron raised an eyebrow at him.

"Aww, c'mon, I can't be expected to remember where I learn every little piece of info, can I?" Urameshi complained. Reborn paused for a moment, before mentally admitting that was true. Only Reborn was so meticulous with the information he gathered.

"What stocks did you buy?" Reborn inquired.

It was Urameshi's turn to raise his eyebrow at him. "Trying to dig up my stuff again?" Urameshi asked with a slight smirk, smug that he caught Reborn. Reborn rolled his eyes at Urameshi's childishness. "Ask Gokudera if you're so curious."

"I'm not going to confront him about your arrangement with him," Reborn said.

Urameshi blinked. "Seriously? I thought –"

"That I was 'protective'?" Reborn finished, casting Urameshi an annoyed look.

Urameshi gave Reborn a sheepish look. "Well, I couldn't help thinking that way when you hounded me like forever ever since I entered Namimori."

Reborn paused to think over Urameshi's words and his previous actions, and found that his words were true. Reborn let out a soft sigh. "You are an unknown entity with an equally unknown background. All methods I usually employ to find out about someone's background were ineffective against you. It's extremely disconcerting, especially since you have proven yourself to be a powerful man and told me that you were 'technically in' the mafia. How can a man like you be in the mafia and remain completely unknown? You openly admitted that you have multiple identities, yet I have found few people that match what I know of you." Reborn lifted his gaze to Urameshi and held it. "If doing a background check on you is like trying to find a ghost, then is it so surprising that I have to resort to 'hound you' in order to collect intel?"

"Wow," Urameshi said, appearing so surprised. "It's the first time I heard you say so many words."

A second gun shot rang out. People around them looked in their direction curiously, before continuing about their day, saying something about how the aka-chan was dressed up so nicely and wow, toy guns nowadays were so realistic, they even had sound effects.

The obliviousness of the Namimori people was really useful on occasions.

"Don't forget I hold a gun in hand," Reborn rumbled lowly.

Yusuke raised his hand to touch the pieces of his hair that were sliced short by Reborn's bullet.

"Right…did you really have to give me another haircut?" Urameshi asked, his tone almost a whine. He lifted his head to look at Reborn. "But really, I don't know what to say after everything you told me. Is that what it feels like to be confessed to?"

"Holy fuck," Urameshi shouted at the new hole in the bench, right in the empty space between Urameshi's legs. "Seriously?!"

"Next time it'll be a bullet in your person," Reborn said darkly.

"I honestly didn't know what to say!" Urameshi exclaimed. "Geez."

"Then don't say anything," Reborn growled, although…

"How come I have this feeling you would have shot me anyway if I said nothing?" Urameshi asked, which was right in line with what Reborn would have done. Reborn disliked passive people who waited for things to happen for them, which was why he was prompting Tsuna to be more initiative.

"Okay, how about this?" Urameshi said. He must have seen the skeptical look on Reborn's face, since he said, "Honest. I'm serious-ish, okay?"

Reborn's only answer was to wave his Leon-gun, gesturing Urameshi to go ahead.

"So," Urameshi started, looking at Reborn. "I'm not surprised you didn't find anything, because I worked hard to make it that way. If you found something, I would have been disappointed in the work of my people. So it's not that you're not good at collecting intel, it's just that I'm better at eliminating, that's all."

Bang.

"What the fuck?!" Yusuke exclaimed, staring at the spot where the third shot had pierced through. "I was being serious and honest too. Why?!"

"That answer pissed me off," Reborn said casually, whistling like the innocent baby his appearance suggested.

"I'm going to strangle you –"

"Wah!" Reborn called out, suddenly sounding truly like a child about to cry.

"Stop faking, I'm not gonna fall for it–"

"What is he doing?" someone murmured.

"Oh, that poor baby."

"Someone, call the police!"

"Oh hell," Yusukei uttered as he looked at the citizens of Namimori staring at him. How come their obliviousness wore off at the most inopportune time?

Reborn continued with his act while looking at Yusuke with a devilish look in his eyes. It was really starting to tick Yusuke off. He hadn't felt this flustered since… since when?

Yusuke's mind blanked out.

Slowly, Yusuke's panic was replaced by amusement. The Acrobaloneo's act was well-played, so why don't he…

"Aww, don't cry, Reborn-chan," Yusuke said, deftly reaching for the Acrobalono before he could react.

…join in?

"You can't throw a tantrum just because your toy is not working," Yusuke continued, taking advantage of Reborn's surprise to casually but quickly take a hold of the so-called toy gun and direct the barrel away from his person. He really had no intention of being shot at.

Quickly making up an explanation for Reborn's apparent tears, Yusuke glanced up at the citizens of Namimori and gave them a guileless, apologetic look. "Sorry about this," Yusuke said, indicating with his hands rather than his eyes what 'this' was, not daring to look down at Reborn and face the deadly glare he knew was directed towards him. Instead, he shrugged helplessly at the people with a corner of his mouth wryly quirked, turning up his boyish charm to play the loving older brother subjected to the little one's whims.

Someone in the crowd might have swooned.

"Kid brothers, you know," Yusuke said by the way of explanation.

"I-is that so?" the lady who first brought attention to Yusuke and Reborn said, a little red in the face. Her eyes drifted to Yusuke for a second, before just as quickly darted away. "Well, if there's nothing wrong…"

"Don't worry," Yusuke said, his hand tightening subtly around Reborn to prevent him from saying anything that will lead to the citizens thinking badly of him. He smiled at the lady. "Everything's okay."

The lady nodded and the crowd dispersed upon seeing nothing was wrong. The second they were gone, Yusuke dropped Reborn like a hot potato, all previous suaveness and excellent management skills gone.

He looked down to see Reborn glaring at him with murder in his eyes.

"C'mon, Reborn," Yusuke said quickly, eager not to be shot at. "You were playing a trick on me too!"

"I'm really tempted to shoot you, Urameshi Yusuke," Reborn said darkly.

"So why weren't you going to confront Gokudera about his arrangement with me again?" Yusuke rapidly shot out, changing the subject.

Reborn gave Yusuke a knowing look, but didn't pursue their previous topic.

"Why should I tell you?" Reborn asked with the slightest smirk.

Yusuke groaned. "C'mon, this again? Can't you tell me something without wanting something in return?"

"That wouldn't be interesting, now, would it?" Reborn replied as his smirk widened.

"Oh, fine," Yusuke relented. "Same as last time. One question."

"What is your relationship with Yamamoto Tsuyoshi?" Reborn inquired.

Yusuke's eyebrows shot up. "You're really digging into all my business with others, aren't you? First with Mammon and then with Tsuyoshi."

"You didn't even know Mammon," Reborn said. "I'm half tempted to not count that."

"Hey, hey, play by the rules now," Yusuke said. "Tsuyoshi, right? I helped him in the past. Now we're, I dunno, drinking buddies?"

"Tsuyoshi said he would trust you with his son's life, his only other living family," Reborn said. "He could have used any other example, but why that? Because you have helped him in the past, most likely indirectly with Yamamoto since Tsuyoshi hasn't come in contact with the mafia ever since he moved to Namimori. So you helped him while he was in the mafia then, or maybe" – Reborn's mind spun as he pieced everything together – "when he was about to leave it.

"Tsuyoshi mysteriously came into a huge sum of money just when he was about to leave the mafia. Rumors had it that he accepted Giovanni's offer to assassinate Vongola's CEDEF head, but Tsuyoshi backed out last second. Obviously Tsuyoshi initially didn't realize he was about to be used like a pawn for the war between the Giovanni Family and the Vongola Family, so just who told him? Since he didn't finish the job, Giovanni wouldn't have paid him, so where he get the money to return safely to his family then?"

Reborn looked at Urameshi. "Maybe from someone who so casually mentioned about buying stocks when he was bored and allowed a teenager who he is not too familiar with to watch over them?"

"Should I tell you that your mind runs too wild as a kid," Urameshi said, smiling when Reborn glared at him, "or should I tell you that you're too smart for your own good?"

"Tell me the truth," Reborn prompted. "My speculation was correct, wasn't it?"

"If I tell you yes, you can just check which account Tsuyoshi got his money from and from there, you can just track down my past," Urameshi said. His smile turned to a smirk as he looked at Reborn. "Why should I do something so detrimental?"

"Because you enjoy the feeling of a hunter closing in on you," Reborn said, meeting Urameshi's gaze.

"Like you don't enjoy the chase," Urameshi retorted. He chuckled, before finally saying, "Fine. Yeah, you're right, you-too-smart-for-your-own-good kid."

"You know very well I'm not a kid," Reborn said, narrowing his eyes at Urameshi. For some reason, although Reborn had no qualms about using his current appearance to his advantage, having Urameshi call Reborn a kid irked him.

"I know," Urameshi said easily, like it was an as-expected fact. Reborn's anger dissipated. "Now, I told you more than your question warrant, so answer mine: why weren't you going to talk over with Gokudera about staying at my place? I know you give a damn, so why?"

"Gokudera is used to living without other's interference. There's no way he would be happy to know that I'm keeping such a close eye on him. He would dislike it even more if I dictate his every move, even if he may still follow my orders out of respect. In addition, he is too prideful. If he refused to tell Tsuna about his financial problems, then he definitely wouldn't want to me to know. In his opinion, doing so would lower him in my eyes and make me think he is not suitable to be Tsuna's right-hand man if he can't even take care of his own financial issues," Reborn explained.

"Woah, all that analysis," Urameshi said, sounding half-impressed and half-suspended in disbelief. "You really think this through, don't you?"

"Of course," Reborn said. "There's more to being a tutor than just teaching Tsuna schoolwork. Tsuna need to learn to be a boss, and his friends need to learn to be a Family. All of them still have much to learn regarding that. I watch over their daily life to my extent because every day is a lesson for them, that is, if someone knows how to manipulate their daily events. Most of all, even as they learn to act as a group, they need to grow as individuals. If they are strong as individuals, when they combine their strength, they would be unbeatable.

"Gokudera need to learn to ask for help on his own," Reborn concluded at last, "and deal with the consequences of what happen when he doesn't."

"Hey, you make it seem as though living with me is a bad thing," Urameshi protested.

Reborn's lips twitched. "Only time could tell with that," he said, but even as he said that, he had a feeling Gokudera could learn much from Urameshi.

Xxx

"Don't tell me you burned down my apartment," Yusuke said as he entered the house and caught a whiff of the strong favor lingering in the air.

"I did not," Gokudera replied, turning his head in Yusuke's direction to glare at him.

Yusuke chuckled as he closed the door behind him. "I'm kidding. It smells nice."

"I didn't make you some," Gokudera said as he slid the spaghetti off the pan. "Make your own."

"C'mon, don't be stingy," Yusuke said, ambling forward. "I'm hungry."

"Not your cook," Gokudera insisted, walking off to sit at the tiny table at the center of the room with his plate of spaghetti, "or your housewife."

"Wait!" Yusuke said. "I didn't feel like cooking, so I bought some Chinese takeout. Why don't we share?"

"You have your own food, why do you want mine?" Gokudera said.

Glad to see Gokudera didn't attempt to start eating yet, Yusuke joined him at the small table. "I want some spaghetti now."

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "You're probably loaded," Gokudera said. "Just go outside and buy some."

"Too lazy," Yusuke said as he opened his takeout of fried rice. He used his chopsticks to take a glob of Gokudera's spaghetti – ignoring Gokudera's hiss at him – and brushed some of the fried rice into Gokudera's plate.

"It looks disgusting," Gokudera said, wrinkling his nose.

"Just eat, brat," Yusuke said. "Where's all your stuff anyway?" He looked around for it and all he saw was the stuff that was already in the apartment.

"There," Gokudera said, indicating to a camping bag in the corner. "I'll unpack later."

"That's it?" Yusuke said. "I thought kids like you will have more stuff."

"Shut up," Gokudera said. He looked like he was about to say more, but then his eyes passed the window at the far end of the room and his face contorted with anger. "Blasted thing!" he hissed.

Four dynamites were in his hands in a second. Gokudera sent them flying towards the open window.

"What the –?" Yusuke voiced. The rest of his words were drowned by a loud explosion that followed.

xxx

Reborn was back at the Sawada household teaching his dame-student a math problem when a beetle flew by the window. Probably the remainders of his network that didn't report in yesterday.

"Try doing this one," Reborn said, pointing to a similar math problem. "You have three minutes."

"But Reborn!" Tsuna called out.

"Two minutes and fifty-five seconds," Reborn called out, glancing down at the Leon-stopwatch with a smirk.

Tsuna yelped and quickly started working on the math problem with new fervor.

Reborn walked over to the window of Tsuna's bedroom and opened it. The beetle inched forward.

"You're from Kokuyo, aren't you?" Reborn said, placing his finger down. The beetle clamored up. "Your report?"

Kokuyo. Change. The beetle communicated. People. Strange aura. Illusion?

Some people entered Kokuyo and caused a change. Among those people was an illusionist.

A thread of alarm entered Reborn's brain as he recalled. Two weeks ago, a well-known illusionist called Mukuro Rokudo was scheduled for execution in the Vendicare Prison. On the eve of the execution date, he accomplished the impossible feat of escaping the prison known to be inescapable, bringing six others prisoners with him as well. To this date, his and his companions' whereabouts were still unknown, although rumors had it that they were seen heading towards Japan.

Was it a coincident that illusions began to appear around Kokuyo? Reborn highly doubted that. He never did believe in coincidence.

"Is that it?" Reborn asked, gazing at the beetle. It indicated yes. "Only you came? Where are the other insects?"

The beetle told him. Representative. Fear.

Birds.

Xxx

"Masao, it was only a kid playing. Don't worry about it," Yusuke said to the worried landowner.

"There was a loud boom, though," Masao said. "And how come it smells burned?"

"My nephew," Yusuke said, lie easily sliding off his tongue, "sucks at cooking. I told him not to, but he wanted to try and so this happened."

"You don't need me to call the fire department, do you?" Masao asked, still trying to poke his head in to see what was going on.

Yusuke blocked him. "No worries, no worries. We have a fire extinguisher, although there's actually no fire."

Masao still looked doubtful, but eventually nodded. "Be careful with the apartment, alright?" he said as he reluctantly left.

"Of course, of course," Yusuke said. He closed the door as soon as he could and turned around to glare at Gokudera. "Gokudera, what the fuck?! Don't you know not to play with dynamites in the house?"

Gokudera turned around from the window and in his hand was a charred bird. Yusuke couldn't tell what color did it used to be, but he did know it could have been considered cute once upon a time. Now it just looked like a tiny black fur ball.

"Don't tell me you were so hungry you had to go hunt down a bird with your dynamites," Yusuke said, exasperated.

"No!" Gokudera said, looking like he was about to glare at Yusuke. He directed the glare at the burned bird in his hand instead, as though saying it was all its fault. "These things have been stalking me for the past few days."

"What?" Yusuke said, blinking in surprise.

"These things are never around," Gokudera said. "I've been in Namimori for a few months now and I never see these canary birds. Recently, however, they're everywhere. I see them hang around us often, watching us with their stupid beady eyes. Instincts tell me something about them is off."

He paused to look at Yusuke. "You don't believe me, do you?" he said with a scowl. He turned away to the window and tossed the charred bird out.

Xxx

Reborn's mind whirled.

Representative. Fear. Birds.

The beetles and insects were frightened, so the single beetle came to Reborn acting as a representative to report to him the happenings of Kokuyo. They were frightened and confused probably because of the illusions, but also because of the birds.

Come to think of it, there were a lot of canary birds around recently.

A thought suddenly occur to him. Among the prisoners who Mukuro Rokudo helped escape, there was one called Birds.

xxx

"I believe you," Yusuke said just as Gokudera was about to walk to the sink, wash his hand, and then pretend nothing happened and continue eating. Gokudera froze in his steps and gazed at Yusuke with disbelieving eyes. A small grin spread across Yusuke's face at that. "I travel around a lot. A person with the ability to control and use birds to spy on people is one of the least surprising things I've heard of."

"Besides," Yusuke said, "now that you mentioned it, there are a lot more canary birds around recently. I guess I just didn't notice because I didn't care and they weren't watching me." Yusuke paused. "It's weird though. There was news that some prisoners broke out of Vendicare Prison some weeks ago."

"The Vendicare Prison?!" Gokudera exclaimed. Grown up and raised in the mafia, Gokudera knew exactly of the reputation of the Vendicare Prison's inescapability and of it housing mafia's most dangerous criminals. To think that someone was able to escape…

"Rumors had it that a kid named Mukuro Rokudo helped those prisoners escape." Yusuke paused. "Among them was a man named Birds."

Gokudera froze. "Doesn't it mean…"

Yusuke nodded. "Those escaped prisoners might be in Namimori."

Xxx

"Mukuro Rokudo and the escaped prisoners are in Kokuyo," Reborn concluded.

"And they're planning something."

Chapter Text

Reborn watched for the third time that day as Tsuna ran around with only his boxers and nothing else, chasing after something with a wild fervor.

Later that day, Tsuna would complain of his body muscles aches and Reborn would simply ignore him. Tsuna was ignorant of the threat but now that Reborn learned of Mukuro and his accomplices' presence in Kokuyo, which was only a town away from Namimori, he could not ignore it.

Reborn would have taken care of it himself, but… Reborn's jaw silently tightened. Tsuna and his guardians weren't ready to take Mukuro on yet – not even close, in fact – but Reborn received his orders.

"Reborn," the Ninth had said over the Leon-webcam. "You so rarely contact me through technology. Is something of the matter?"

"Mukuro and his accomplices are near Namimori," Reborn said grimly.

A look entered the Ninth's eyes. "So you've noticed," the Ninth murmured, almost to himself. The Ninth glanced at Reborn. "I've sent out a letter regarding this yesterday."

Reborn blinked, the only indication of his surprise. The Ninth knew but didn't inform Reborn immediately? A threat like Mukuro, powerful enough to even escape the Vendicare Prison, could surely bring harm to the Vongola heir if not properly taken care of. The Ninth was usually so protective of those he considered Family and Tsuna was undeniably both Family and family, so why…?

A letter.

A letter was slow. It would take too long to reach Namimori from Italy, so why choose a letter? Reborn rarely contact the Ninth and vice versa through means of technology because whatever conversed between them would undoubtedly be highly confidential and they didn't trust the line to be secure. Only through Leon could they speak without worries, but Leon was an organism despite his shape-shifting abilities. He can only act as a webcam for about five minutes.

Five minutes would be long enough for the Ninth to concisely give Reborn the information and his orders, so why a letter?

Because it's a formal indication of an order, Reborn thought. It would be an order from the Vongola Nono, completed and sealed with his Sky Flame. Only the Vongola Decimo's Sky Flame could open it then.

Something was brewing within the Family.

"What happened?" Reborn asked, instead of inquiring after the Ninth's orders. Reborn could see it for himself when it arrived, but this was something the letter wouldn't contain.

Something like surprise flickered across the Ninth's expression, before he smiled, pleased. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're as sharp as ever, Reborn," he said. His smile faded as he confided, "The Family is starting to doubt, Reborn. Somehow, a photograph of Tsunayoshi was leaked. It was quickly contained, of course, and his location and personal information is still largely unknown, but…"

The Ninth quirked a tired smile at him. "Our Tsunayoshi looks so unassuming, don't you think?"

Reborn couldn't help but snort at that. "He looks like an innocent baby rabbit that hides behind someone at the first sign of trouble."

The Ninth chuckled softly at Reborn's description. "But you're training him, aren't you, Reborn? I have faith that you would make Tsunayoshi into a great Boss, like you did with Dino."

Reborn's eyes unwitting softened at those words, despite his best intention. The Ninth had that effect on everyone. "He still has a long way to go," Reborn said. His voice turned serious when he gazed back at the Ninth. "He still needs time."

The Ninth shook his head ever softly, mournfully. "Time is a luxury we don't have, Reborn," the Ninth intoned, gently setting the news down by Reborn but giving him no room for any protest. The Ninth looked directly at Reborn. "They need proof."

Worry flickered across Reborn's expressions for a split-second. "It's too early for the Ring Battle."

"I know," the Ninth said gently. He waited, like a teacher waiting for a pupil to come upon an answer, and it didn't take Reborn long to.

Reborn's eyes widened at the conclusion he came upon to. "You want Tsuna to fight against Mukuro."

"That would pacify the dissenters for now and demonstrate Tsunayoshi's strength," the Ninth said."Vongola needs to appear strong, Reborn, so you cannot help him either."

Reborn's mind quickly scanned through the Ninth's logic and found it to be sound. It would be an enormous boost to Tsuna and Vongola if the to-be Vongola Decimo, at the tender age of fourteen, defeated someone skilled and notorious enough to escape from the Vendicare.

It could also be disastrous, however, if Tsuna couldn't defeat him. News will eventually spread, however contained and closely guarded it was, about how the Vongola Decimo was arrogant, someone who perpetually bit off more than he can chew. That wasn't a good image for the Decimo to have, especially considering his actual personality.

As Reborn gazed at the Ninth, Reborn found that the Ninth knew that already. There were the slightest doubt in his mind and worry in his eyes, but he made his choice as the Vongola Nono. His head wasn't flickering with his Sky Flame, but Reborn knew resolution when he saw it. What Reborn needed to do now wasn't to give the Nono advice; it was to support his decision.

"I understand, Vongola Nono," Reborn said.

Timoteo nodded at Reborn's reply and a burden seemed to be lifted from his shoulders right before Reborn's eyes.

"Thank you, Reborn," Timoteo said, trust and warmth in his voice that told Reborn he believed Reborn wouldn't fail him in regards to Tsuna's training. His image fuzzed on the screen for a second, and then it blacked out. Their five minutes were up.

Reborn silently stood and became aware of the burden that settled painfully onto his shoulders.

The letter the Ninth sent them had arrived later that day. Reborn didn't show it to Tsuna, since he never did cope well with fear. Letting him know that an escaped prisoner was in the area would equate to setting him free to panic and be skittish. It'll also tell the enemies that they know of their presence.

No, it was better for Tsuna to remain in the dark until Mukuro showed himself. Meanwhile, Reborn would accustom Tsuna's body to the Dying Will Mode so there would be an actual chance that Tsuna could enter the Hyper Dying Will Mode. Getting Tsuna to control his untamed flame would be a crucial part of the battle.

Besides, with all his running around while in Dying Will Mode, Tsuna could train his body as well, and Reborn would get a chance to torture him.

Reborn smirked, before his gaze drifted to the teenager running beside Tsuna – always on his right – and thought back to the conversation they had.

"Reborn-san, you must send Juudaime away," Gokudera shouted, hurrying up to the world's strongest hitman the moment he was alone.

Reborn simply looked at him and raised an eyebrow, a sign for Gokudera to elaborate.

"Rokuduo Mukuro escaped from the Vendicare a week or so ago and now he's here in Namimori!" Gokudera exclaimed.

Reborn hid it well, but he couldn't help but be slightly surprised. How did Gokudera know? "What makes you think so?" he asked.

So Gokudera started explaining that a few days ago, he became aware of the increasingly amount of canary birds around Namimori. He didn't think much of them at first, but they were always watching him wherever he went, so he became suspicious.

Reborn had to admit he was a bit impressed with Gokudera and a bit annoyed with himself. Impressed because of Gokudera's insightfulness, annoyed with himself because he hadn't even considered the possibility that someone else would use animals (canary birds, in this case) to spy.

After being at the top so long, was Reborn finally losing his sharp edge and dropping his guard?

No. It was more correct to say he neglected to pay attention to minor details because he was distracted by something more worthy of interest.

As Gokudera spoke of how he realized the increase of canary birds in the area related to Mukuro Rokudo , the object of Reborn's distraction was mentioned. Of course.

"Yusuke helped out at the bar and when I commented about the canary birds in the area, he mentioned that Mukuro Rokudo escaped from the Vendicare, along with others and a man named Birds," Gokudera said, manipulating the truth.

Gokudera: a prideful boy who didn't want anyone to find out about his financial issue, but accepted the help of Urameshi, whose hand was extended out to Gokudera before Reborn even know there was an issue, on the very day Reborn was busy with surveillance.

Reborn silently watched Gokudera sweat as he wondered if Reborn realized his lie. Reborn let the moment stretch a second too long – I know you lied – but spoke before Gokudera caved in.

"Don't do anything for now," Reborn said. Gokudera's financial problem was something Tsuna would have to take care of as a boss. It wouldn't do for Reborn to mollycoddle Tsuna or his guardians, after all.

Surprise surfaced on Gokudera's countenance. "What…?" he said, not comprehending . A second later, he froze when he realized he questioned Reborn and bowed deeply. "I apologize, Reborn-san! I'm not doubting you. It's just…"

Here, Gokdera finally raised his head and Reborn approved of the loyalty and concern Gokudera showed for Tsuna. The Vongola Decimo didn't need someone who would follow blindly; he needed someone who could honestly speak his mind, not afraid to ask questions – not to be defiant, but for understanding and clarification– when appropriate and remain loyal.

Tsuna couldn't have asked for a better right-hand man. Gokudera had all the characteristics and potential, although his reverence for Tsuna could go too far at times. He just needed polishing, although Reborn would never tell Gokudera that. That will just end with Gokudera floating on cloud-nine from the compliment and possibly getting himself killed from his distraction, or he would let the compliment get to his brain and no longer strive to improve. Reborn wanted neither of that to happen.

"You're asking Tsuna to run," Reborn said. "Is that the type of boss you wish to follow?"

Gokudera flinched and it was all too easy for Reborn to see his internal war: a conflict of his protectiveness of his boss and Gokudera's personality and beliefs regarding fights.

Gokudera was the storm. Protectiveness may cause him to send his boss away from danger, but Gokudera would always be the one to charge ahead into battle.

"I…" Gokudera said, struggling.

"You want to protect Tsuna," Reborn said. "But this is something he needs to face."

Gokudera's shoulders slumped at those words.

"But not alone," Reborn added. Gokudera's head shot up. "Mukuro Rokudo has accomplices. When the time comes, Tsuna will need help."

A small fire within Gokudera slowly grew to a bonfire. "I understand, Reborn-san! I'll start training immediately!" Gokudera exclaimed. He bowed in Reborn's direction – "Thank you very much!" – before hurrying off.

Reborn watched him go, before letting out a noise and extending a finger. The ladybug landed a moment later.

"Find out Urameshi's location for me," Reborn said.

xxx

"You decided to turn to burglary now?" Urameshi said as soon as he stepped through the door of his apartment.

Reborn scoffed at Urameshi's words, not even surprised that Urameshi wasn't surprised at seeing Reborn in his own apartment. "Hardly. It'll be a waste of my skills."

Urameshi laughed. "Of course it would be beneath the world's greatest hitman," he said, throwing down his keys.

"I'm not the first person to have picked your lock," Reborn commented, head gesturing to his door.

"Oh, that's 'cos I'm the first," Urameshi said. At Reborn's raised eyebrow, he added, "I gave my keys to Gokudera the first day. I don't keep spare keys lying around, so I had to pick my own lock to get in. It's kinda sad, really." Urameshi pointed to his keys lying on the table. "I just got that a few days ago, but that's not why you're here, right?"

Reborn hmmed.

"Gokudera told you," Urameshi prompted, referring to Mukuro's presence around Namimori.

"He did, but I already knew," Reborn replied.

"What are you going to do?"

"That's my question to you."

Urameshi's lips quirked. "More like you have a demand for me."

Reborn's mouth curled slightly at Urameshi's comment, before he turned back to business. "Don't interfere with Mukuro Rokudo ."

Urameshi's eyebrow shot all the way up to his hairline. "Reborn, you already know that we don't make claims like that. It's first come first serve. Besides," Urameshi said, his tone transitioning to what sounded like a petulant complaint , "it's so calm here. This is the first interesting thing in ages ."

"Calm," Reborn deadpanned. "Even with Tsuna and his guardians as its inhabitants, you call Namimori calm?"

Urameshi was startled into chuckling. "Okay, maybe not calm. Peaceful is more of the word. I mean –" Urameshi froze, before turning to glare at Reborn. "Hey, don't get me off topic!"

"Touché," Reborn said with a smirk, not bothering to pretend. Urameshi huffed.

"I'm not trying reserve Mukuro Rokudo for myself," Reborn said a moment later.

Urameshi gave Reborn a doubtful look. "Really," Urameshi said, the doubt in his voice conveying just how much he believed that.

"I want Tsuna to fight against him," Reborn revealed. There was no point of hiding it, especially if all things go well, the news of the to-be Vongola Decimo's victory against Mukuro Rokudo would be all over the Underground. "He'll need the experience."

"Tsuna against Mukuro Rokudo," Urameshi said blankly and that was unfortunately Reborn's exact thought. "No offense, and I'm not doubting Tsuna or anything, but really? That's like throwing a cute rabbit to the snakes. He'll need a miracle to pull that off."

"He'll defeat Mukuro Rokudo and come out much stronger," Reborn corrected, letting none of his uncertainties show.

Urameshi still looked largely doubtful. "And Tsuna agreed?"

Reborn couldn't help but snort at that idea.

"Oi, oi, you're forcing him into this?" Urameshi said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "What a waste. You might as well let me have a go at Mukuro instead."

"No," Reborn rejected bluntly. He didn't mention Vongola Nono's order, because that was like handing over a weakness to the enemy.

"Stubborn bastard," Urameshi uttered and Reborn raised an eyebrow at Urameshi's choice of word. Urameshi caught the look. "What?"

"You shouldn't be allowed near any kids," Reborn said, tone indicating 'any kids' meant Reborn himself.

Urameshi snorted. "Oh please," Urameshi said. "Like you haven't heard or said worse."

Reborn did, but that didn't mean he had to admit it.

"And stop trying to get me off topic," Urameshi added. "Didn't work the first time, not gonna work the second or third or whatever time."

Reborn hmmed. "Pity," Reborn said. "Would you like to fight me then , in exchange for letting Tsuna fight Mukuro first?"

Urameshi's eyes widened. "No way," Urameshi said. When Reborn made no move to retract the offer, Urameshi let out a short incredulous laugh. "Seriously? That's such an uneven deal."

"For whom?" Reborn prompted.

"For you! I –" Urameshi paused, thinking over Reborn's offer, before glancing back over at him. "You're really tricky, aren't you?"

Reborn raised an eyebrow, all ignorance and innocence.

"That's not gonna work on me," Urameshi said. He huffed, a little miffed. "And here I thought I was gonna benefit the most, since compared to Mukuro's strength, yours is on a whole other level."

Although Reborn long knew it was true, it was gratifying to hear Urameshi say that aloud.

"But that's not it, right?" Urameshi continued, narrowing his eyes at Reborn. "You just want to fight me."

Reborn evenly returned a look of his own. "And you don't?"

There was a long moment, before Urameshi suddenly grinned. "True. It's a deal, then. I'll leave Mukuro Rokudo and his cronies alone and you'll fight me afterward."

"Deal," Reborn said, extending a hand out. His body, mind, soul, blood tingled at the thought of finally fighting Urameshi, a worthy adversary.

"Deal," Urameshi said, reaching out for his hand. A bloodthirsty gleam was in his eyes and the energy that swirled around him suddenly so tangibly only made Reborn's blood sing.

Their hands met and it was electrifying as both of them gazed at one another, the same thought racing through both of their minds.

I'm going to take him down.

Chapter Text

Tsuna subconsciously paused for a moment as he was about to step through the Namimori Middle's front gates, unknowingly eyeing bemusedly at the students and teachers alike fluttering around the school yard. It took a second for Tsuna to process why the fact seemed special, before realizing that he had never, ever seen so many people hanging about in one place in Namimori Middle. After all, the Discipinary Committee usually scattered the groups before they could form, due to their leader's intense dislike of crowding.

Something within Tsuna burned intensely, at the feeling – the knowledge that something was wrong. Out of joint.

Namimori shouldn't be like that, and especially not Namimori Middle, where their peace-keeping tyrant attended.

I wonder where the Committee is, Tsuna inwardly wondered, resuming his walk when he saw Gokudera giving him a concerned look. Tsuna tried to banish the uneasiness at the pits of his stomach, but it only doubled as he ambled through the hallways to reach his classroom, catching snippets of hushed, nervous conversations as he did.

"Did you hear? They – "

"So scary – "

"….all of a sudden – "

"…disciplinary members –"

"Victims increasing – "

The last part of the conversation twisted his stomach, like he ate spoiled food or his carefree teenage world was suddenly faced with real life problems that Tsuna had no privy to. He felt out of loop and confused at the buzzing state of the school.

"Just what happened?" Tsuna murmured lowly, looking around as he bit his lower lip.

"Juudaime, do you want me to ask around for you?" Gokudera asked, close and attentive enough to have heard Tsuna's words despite his low volume words.

An image of Gokudera holding a student up by the collar and demanding what happened suddenly appeared in Tsuna's mind.

"No, no, no, it's fine," he said, waving his hand frantically. When he saw that Gokudera got the message, Tsuna let out a sigh of relief at the disaster averted. The Disciplinary Committee's presence didn't seem as tangible in the school today, but he still had reservations about fighting either way. Some of his uneasiness did melt away at Gokudera's familiar reaction, though. Tsuna didn't know why it seemed like Namimori was different, but his friend was still the same and to Tsuna, that was infinitely reassuring. Tsuna gave Gokudera a small smile, before opening the door to thier classroom.

"Hey, Tsuna, Gokudera," Yamamoto greeted upon noticing their entrance, his perpetual smile for once absent. "Did you guys hear?"

"Hear what?" Tsuna questioned.

"Well, you know Mochida-sempai from the Kendo club, right?" Yamamoto said. "The one Tsuna challenged to a fight?"

"Just get on with it," Gokudera snapped. "What about him?"

Yamamoto scratched his cheek. "Seems like he got beat up last night. From what my teammates said, Mochida-sempai saw the attacker. It's some kid from the Kokou Middle from next town."

"EH?! Beaten up?!" Tsuna exclaimed loudly as his previous anxiety returning, while Gokudera shouted, "It's Kokuyo, you idiot!"

"Ha? Oh yeah," Yamamoto said with a laugh. "Anyway, my coach told me to be careful from now on, since it seems like those Kokuyo students are targeting us."

"But it's only one attack, right?" Tsuna said nervously. "What does that have to do with us?"

"It's more than one," Yamamoto said. "On Saturday, two members of the Disciplinary Committee were attack and yesterday, Mochida-sempai and another sempai called Tao were attacked."

"No way!" Tsuna cried with dismay. "Does that mean anyone could be attacked?"

"Don't worry, Juudaime," Gokudera said. "I'll protect you from Mukuro Rokudo!"

"Mukuro Rokudo?" Tsuna voiced, looking towards Gokudera in confusion. "Who?"

"He's the ringleader of these attacks," a serious voice said out of nowhere. Tsuna jumped and when he looked down, he saw Reborn with a foreboding look on his face. "He's after you, Tsuna."

Tsuna froze as he tried to compute the information, before shouting, "WHAT?! ME?!"

Tsuna jumped as the classroom door suddenly slammed open A distinct feeling of I'm going to be killed! went through him when he realized who exactly it was at the door, yet at the same time, Tsuna could not deny the relief that he felt. A tyrant the other may be, he was reliable when it came to decimating his enemies to safeguard the peace of Namimori.

"Be quiet," Hibari ordered, and Tsuna watched with awe as everyone instantly silenced even though his voice was not raised in the least. Dark eyes scanned through the classroom for a tense second, before he nodded in satisfaction at the peace restored. He was just about to turn to leave when Namimori's school song suddenly rang out.

No one dared to talk or even breathe as Hibari brought out his phone and flipped it open, talking to whomever it was at the other end. His eyes flicked through the classroom in the middle of the phone call, landing on Tsuna and then remaining there for the rest of the time.

Tsuna's heart pounded against his chest and it took everything he had to not let out a "Hiie!" and interrupt Hibari's phone call, which would lead to him getting bitten to death. His classmates were already giving him pitying looks for whatever was going to happen to him. Tsuna inwardly cried, bemoaning his bad luck.

"Sawada," Hibari called, closing his phone with a decisive snap and Tsuna instantly straightened up. "Wasn't Sasagawa Ryohei an acquaintance of yours?"

"Onii-san?" Tsuna voiced.

Hibari took that as affirmative. "He's in the hospital," Hibari said. "He was beaten up."

"Huh?!"

"Inform his sister when she gets here and take her to the hospital with you," Hibari continued. "I'll excuse you for today. The rest of you" –his sharp gaze cut to the rest of the class –"get ready. Class will begin in ten minutes."

Then Hibari swept out of the classroom and the students broke out into chatters.

Xxx

"Onii-san, are you alright?" Kyoko fretted as she rushed to her brother's side.

"K-Kyoko?" Ryohei said. "Sawada, Octopus Head and Yamamoto are here too. And Reborn!"

"Onii-san, Tsuna told me you were beaten up," Kyoko said worriedly. Ryohei looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall when he saw her eyes began to water and her voice started to shake. "Look at all these bandages."

Ryohei and Tsuna both began to wave their hand around to forestall the tears. "K-kyoko-chan," Tsuna called out, while Ryohei said, "Oi, it's only a sprain, Kyoko. Don't cry."

Kyoko wiped the moisture at the corner of her eye with a hand. "Really?" Kyoko said. She turned to look at Tsuna. "Tsuna-kun?"

"Sawada!" Ryohei hissed rather loudly, quite obviously demanding Tsuna to go along with his statement, but Kyoko didn't react to that. Her eyes were solely on Tsuna, waiting for him to confirm Ryohei's claim.

Kyoko-chan is looking at me! Tsuna thought. He quickly nodded when he felt a heavily bandaged elbow jabbed into his ribs. "Y-yeah," Tsuna said with a wince.

"How dare you, Lawn head!" Gokudera exclaimed, having caught Ryohei jabbing Tsuna. "You and me. Outside. Now!"

"Maa, maa, Senpai is not ready for any game right now," Yamamoto said to Gokudera. His eyes sharpened as he said the next line, anger at the needless violence washing away his carefree tone. "But you said something about the boss of this game?"

"Eh? Octopus head, you know who's behind all of this?"

"Mukuro Rokudo," Tsuna recalled, unconsciously murmuring the name aloud. Just thinking about the name sent shiver running down his spine. That man was dangerous and undeniably related to the mafia.

"Tsuna-kun, you know the man responsible for this?" Kyoko asked, gazing at Tsuna with her amber eyes.

"Huh?" Tsuna said, caught off guard. "Um… not really. I only –"

Tsuna yelped as a foot planted itself against his head and push, causing him to flail forward and fall flat on his face against the ground.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

Ignoring the commotion behind him, Reborn turned to face Kyoko. "Tsuna was just saying that he would defeat Mukuro Rokudo," Reborn stated.

"Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed as he peeled himself off the floor. "I never –"

"Is that true, Tsuna-kun? You'll really defeat this man who has been attacking our students?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna opened his mouth to voice his denial, but then Kyoko continued speaking. "To be honest, I doubted you at first when I heard Reborn-kun say that."

Tsuna's head dropped at Kyoko's blunt statement, depressed. He didn't want to actually fight Mukuro Rokudo, but to hear Kyoko voice her doubts hurts.

"But when I really think about it, I believe you can do it, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said. Tsuna's head shot up, eyes widening with surprise. "After all, when you first challenged Mochida-sempai to a match, no one thought you could win either but you did. Now I feel that if it's you, Tsuna-kun, you can do it. I really think you can restore peace to this town."

A worried look crossed Kyoko's face the next moment. "But it might be dangerous," Kyoko said. "I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt like onii-chan…"

"Kyoko-chan…" Tsuna said slowly, looking at the kindhearted school idol.

She's worried about the students' safety, he thought, when I'm only thinking about protecting myself.

"He's after you, Tsuna," Reborn had said before. When Tsuna first heard it, he froze because he was afraid. He had never been in serious dangerous situations like this before. Tsuna was still scared just thinking about it now, but… Unconsciously, Tsuna's hand clenched into a fist.

Mukuro Rokudo was indiscriminately attacking Namimori Middle School students to flush Tsuna out. Mukuro was in the wrong here. But Tsuna was just hiding and as he did, the number of Mukuro's victims increased. Tsuna was equally responsible for what happened, including the fact that Ryohei was in the hospital.

"I-!" Tsuna said impulsively. Kyoko looked at Tsuna questioningly, while Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei's gaze landed on him, waiting for him to make his decision. Reborn's eyes watched Tsuna with an indescribable look in his eyes, slightly hidden by the shadow of his fedora.

"I," Tsuna said again, trying to summon his courage. He squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out with all his might, "I want to stop Mukuro's attacks!"

Silence followed.

Tsuna carefully opened his eyes after a moment and smiles greeted him.

"I'll follow you, Juudaime, as your right-hand man!"

"Sounds good to me, Tsuna," Yamamoto said, giving him a thumb-up.

"YOSH! Count me in, Sawada. I'm going to get my rematch!"

"Onii-san, you're injured!" Kyoko fussed.

"It's just a sprain, Kyoko."

"A really bad sprain!"

In the midst of the commotion, Tsuna watched the person who was silent so far. A smile slid across Reborn's face as he lifted his head, approval shown clearly in his eyes.

"It's decided then," Reborn said, jumping onto the hospital table. He lifted an envelope Tsuna hadn't noticed. "Good thing, too, or you would have been killed, Tsuna."

Tsuna paused to register Reborn's words, then, "EH?!"

"Open this," Reborn said, handing the envelope to him. Tsuna cautiously took it, eyes automatically looking over the envelope. It looked like any other envelope, except…

Tsuna rubbed his eyes, wondering if something was wrong with his eyes. But no, it was still there, so…

"Hiie!" Tsuna exclaimed, jumping. "Reborn, it's on fire!"

"What?" Gokudera said, rushing to Tsuna's side. By then, everyone's attention was drawn to Tsuna.

"That's the Ninth's Flame," Reborn said. "Only Vongola's Sky Flame can unseal it."

"What's the Ninth?" Kyoko asked curiously.

"Eh? Uh…" Tsuna said, panicking. He didn't want to draw Kyoko into this craziness. "Um…"

He was saved when Kyoko's phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" Kyoko said, answering the phone. "Hana-chan! Wah, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you my brother was attacked and sprained his ankle, so I came to see him in the hospital." A pause. "Eh? But that's really what happened…oh! The test! Thank you, Hana-chan! I'll go back now. See you later in class."

Kyoko closed her phone with a snap. "Onii-chan, I need to go. I forgot my class is having a test today. Please be careful and don't do anything silly."

"I'll be fine, Kyoko."

Kyoko nodded. "Bye Tsuna-kun, everyone. I'll see you in school."

"Bye, Kyoko-chan." Tsuna waved as he watched as Kyoko hurryied out the door.

"Snap out of it, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn's voice called out, followed by sudden pain in the middle of his back.

"Ow!" Tsuna complained, staggering under Reborn's sneak attack. "Reborn!"

"Business first, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said.

"B-But I can't open it," Tsuna said. As soon as those words left his mouth, a familiar glint entered Reborn's eyes. "Oh no."

"Then figure it out with your Dying Will," Reborn said and in the next moment, Reborn had the Leon-gun in his hand and fired.

Flames burst out of Tsuna's head a moment after the bullet hit him.

"REBORN!" Tsuna exclaimed, clad in only his boxer. "I'll open the letter with my Dying Will!"

Tsuna held the Ninth's letter to him with both hand, wide eyes stared intently at it. Then abruptly, Tsuna brought his head forward with all his might and head-butted the letter with the Flame on his head. The Ninth's Flame on the letter flared for a moment, then recognizing Tsuna's Flame, unsealed the letter and disappeared.

Reborn quickly snatched the letter out of Tsuna's hand when that was accomplished, safeguarding it until Tsuna came out of his Deathperation Mode.

"Read it, "Reborn ordered as Tsuna collapsed on the floor in a pile. "What does it say?"

"Uh…" Tsuna said, hands shaking as he struggled to take out the letter from the envelope.

Oh my god, the Boss of a mafia family sent me a letter! This is bad, this is bad. I already said I wouldn't be the Tenth, so how come this keeps on happening?! Reborn said if I don't do as the Boss said, I'll be DEAD! What should I do?! Tsuna inwardly panicked.

At last, Tsuna managed to clumsily pull out the letter. It was folded in two. Gulping, Tsuna looked at everyone that surrounded him; they gazed steadily back at him and the letter expectantly. With shaky hands, Tsuna unfolded the letter.

The first thing Tsuna noticed was the orange Flame at the top of the letter. It was the same shade as the one on the envelope and to Tsuna, just as warm. Upon seeing and sensing that, he unwittingly relaxed.

"Um," Tsuna said, eyes dropping to where the letter actually began. "Dear Vongola Decimo – but I'm not going to be the Tenth!"

A glint that said Reborn was tempted to kick him entered the hitman's eyes. "Just read it," Reborn said darkly, the or else heavily implied.

"Hiie!" Tsuna quickly turned back to the letter and nervously continued to read.

"Dear Vongola Decimo,

I have heard of your development from your home tutor. Well, you are a successor of the Boss, after all. Within the next three days, you are to capture Mukuro Rokudo and his gang of escaped convicts. You are also to rescue the hostage at the same time.

Best of Luck, Vongola Nono.

P.S. If you are successful, I will send you a prize worthy and beneficial of my successor. If you fail or refuse to undertake this mission… well, it's best for you to ask Reborn in person."

"What?!" Tsuna exclaimed. He turned the letter around to see if there was more writing, but that was it. "What will happen if I don't agree to this?!"

Tsuna turned to Reborn, panic in his eyes.

Reborn tilted his fedora down so it covered his eyes. "If you refuse your mission, you'll be branded as a traitor," Reborn said ominously. Dread climbed up Tsuna's chest to his throat. "There's only one path for traitor." Reborn slowly looked up, bringing his huge dark eyes to meet Tsuna's frightened ones. "Death."

"Uwaah!" Tsuna exclaimed, falling back. He quickly crab-crawled backward away from Reborn and the letter. "I didn't hear that! I didn't hear anything! This has nothing to do with –"

Reborn's words echoed in his mind. "He's after you, Tsuna."

The last word got stuck in his throat as Reborn gazed at him with his unerringly knowing eyes. Those eyes…

Tsuna hurriedly got off the floor, ready to flee from the hospital room, the letter, Reborn's eyes and moreover, the whole situation.

"Don't worry~" a voice said, piercing through Tsuna's cloud of panic.

Tsuna unwittingly ceased his attempt retreat to look up. "Yamamoto…"

His friend laughed. "I don't really get what's going on, but this is a team game, right?" Yamamoto said. "I always feel nervous before a baseball game, but when I see my team play and try their best, I always feel better. Don't think too much of defeating the other team. Think about playing with your team and doing your best. That's all your teammates ask. After all," he said with a grin, "that's what it means to be in a team, right?"

"Let me go with you, Juudaime," Gokudera said.

"I'm going too," Ryohei stated. "Like I thought, I want to challenge that guy again and get him to join the boxing club!"

"Onii-san… everyone," Tsuna said. "This is serious thought. You can get hurt –"

"They already know all of this, Tsuna," Reborn said, raising his eyes to meet Tsuna's. "And they're determined to go through this."

Tsuna looked at all the people gathered in the room, all who were determined and somehow, despite his dame reputation, believed in him. Under the blanket of their expectance and trust, Tsuna finally nodded. "Alright," he acquiesced. Soft, worried eyes darted to the injured person in the room. "But onii-san, you're still injured. Kyoko-chan…"

"Don't worry about it," Reborn said. "We have three days."

But three days aren't enough to heal all those injuries! Tsuna shouted inwardly.

"What are we going to do now, Juudaime?" Gokudera asked eagerly. "Storm their base?"

"No!" Tsuna exclaimed vehemently and was surprised when he heard another voice echoing his word at a calmer tone. "Reborn?"

"No, we don't storm their base," Reborn said. "That'll be showing our hand too quickly, including telling them where their target is."

"What do we do then?" Tsuna exclaimed.

A smirk curved Reborn's lips, sharp and dangerous. "We'll play this their way."

Chapter Text

"Hey, where are you going?" a voice said, stopping Birds in his steps. One of Bird's cute canary chirped, apparently at random and meaninglessly, but in reality telling him who it was that had just appeared.

The Inu, Birds thought silently, wondering what he wanted with him. They rarely interact since Birds didn't think much of him at all.

"Not that I give a damn," Ken continued, stalking forward so he was finally in Bird's peripheral, "but me and Kakipi are gonna take care of the ranked guys. If you take my preys" – a feral grin split Ken's face – "then I'll just haveta go after ya, byon."

Ah, of course, Birds thought as Ken revealed his intentions. Just like a fighting hound that could never get enough of fights.

"The Bloody Twins are getting restless," Birds explained as he turned around, calm and self-assured of his place. "Things aren't nearly as interesting as I thought they were, so I thought why not have some fun? Ah, how I miss the thrill of looking at frightened faces."Birds' face twisted perversely at the thought.

"Sicko," Ken said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

Birds chuckled as he walked away. "I won't take your prey, Inu" – Ken growled lowly at Birds calling him dog – "but if you lose, it's all fair game."

"I won't lose!" Ken shouted angrily.

"Hm." Birds slurped the drool that threatened to fall from the corner of his mouth. "My cute birds are already looking around for a suitable prey. Soon, I can have some fun." Birds turned to the Twins behind him. "Let's go, Bloody Twins."

"I can't stand that sicko, byon!" Ken exclaimed as Birds left with the Bloody Twins trailing behind him. "'least we're not going after random people."

"Leave him be," Chikusa said, stepping out from the side. "As long as he doesn't interfere with us and does his job, whatever he does in his free time doesn't concern us."

"We're gonna go after number 4 now?"

"Not yet," Chikusa said. "Later. We don't have to move so fast."

"Why not?" Ken asked. "It's the same anyway."

"Once we find the Vongola, Mukuro-sama will have to make a move. We weren't treated as harshly in the Vendicare, but Mukuro-sama was at their mercy for a long time. He overexerted himself when covering for us during our escape. Although we waited for two week before we began flushing out the Vongola, Mukuro-sama is still not fully recovered. Let's take this slowly."

"Okay," Ken said, simply accepting. Multiple chirping noises brought his attention upwards as a grin spread across his face. His hand dug into his pocket and when it surfaced, it had his Wolf Channel. He slipped the fangs into his mouth and as his body morphed to the semblance of a half-wolf, he bent his knees to ready himself for the jump. "I'll just amuse myself with his birds then!"

With those words, Ken leapt at the canary birds Birds left behind with a feral gleam in his eyes.

Chikusa merely shook his head.

Xxx

"Birds and the Bloody Twins have been seen leaving Kokuyo Land," Reborn announced, letting the ladybug flutter away from his finger. "From the path they're following, they're heading towards Namimori Park." Reborn glanced at the two teenagers before him. "Gokudera, Yamamoto, as planned, you two will go. Ryohei and Tsuna will take the next two."

"I'll take on the Bloody Twins," Gokudera claimed, quickly dropping his video consol at the chance to finally do what he was waiting for, and Reborn had no doubt that he wanted to take on an extra opponent to show his worth.

"Maa, maa, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, abandoning his game as well. "I want to fight them too."

"What?" Gokudera growled, giving him a look.

"Why, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked, speaking for the first time.

Yamamoto grinned. "I never fought against twins before. I want to try."

"That stupid reason—!" Gokudera said. "I'm gonna fight them."

"Eh? Can't you just let me fight them this once?"

"Only one person can fight against them!"

"G-guys!" Tsuna interjected, scared of interrupting but hated the thought of seeing his friends fight amongst themselves. Both Gokudera and Yamamoto stopped to look at him, and Tsuna paused momentarily at the undivided attention they immediately gave him. "How about you two just… er… rock-paper-scissors?"

At Tsuna's suggestion, a grin spread across Yamamoto's face. "Tsuna, you sure are smart."

"Of course the Tenth is," Gokudera said, calming down now that a solution was reached. "Now let's do this."

"Alright," Yamamoto laughed.

"Rock-paper-scissors!" both of them chanted, bringing out their chosen sign at the last moment.

Silenced reigned as the four occupants of the room looked at the two extended hands.

"Does this mean I won?" Yamamoto asked, looking at his open palm.

"Damn it!" Gokudera said as he fell to the ground, looking at his clenched fist in betrayal. A moment later, his head shot up with determination and fire in his eyes. "Again!"

"There's no time for this," Reborn interjected. "Gokudera, live with your choice."

The frown on Gokudera's face spoke of his displeasure but suitably chastised, he nodded in agreement instead of arguing.

"I'll get going then," he said, and hurried to the door. "Tenth, I'll make sure to defeat the stupid Birds."

"Ah, wait for me, Gokudera," Yamamoto said when he realized Gokudera was already rushing out of Tsuna's bedroom. "We're going to the same place anyway."

"Don't follow me, you baseball freak!"

"Maa, maa, don't be like that."

"Will they really be fine?" Tsuna asked, looking after where he last saw Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"Will you go with them, Tsuna?" Reborn said.

"No!" Tsuna immediately exclaimed.

"Then you have no right to worry," Reborn said. "Besides, do you really have time to worry about others? The next ones up are you and Ryohei."

"Please don't remind me of it," Tsuna whimpered.

Xxx

A few canary birds circled above Birds's head, chirping as he readied his monitor when Hayato arrived. Birds probably had to make sure the cameras he attached on the canaries were at the right angle, so he could clearly see his victim's face or something.

The observation only made Hayato, who was already angry at himself for losing his targeted prey – the Bloody Twins – to the baseball freak, more furious. The only thing Hayato could console himself with was the knowledge that if the baseball freak failed at taking care of the Bloody Twins, he would be happy to know he at least got rid of Birds.

"Oi, you're Birds, right?" Hayato exclaimed as he stepped in front of the other man. Birds looked up from where he was sitting, letting the tiny bird in his hand go. It fluttered into the air as Birds brought his attention to him.

"Oh? You know of me?" Birds said with surprise, standing up. "How interesting."

"Great," Hayato said, and before Birds could get another word out, he whipped out his dynamites. "I'm in a shitty mood right now. Just eat shit."

"Huh?" Birds said upon seeing Hayato's weapon. "Oh no. Wait –!"

"Double bomb!"

"Gah!" Birds screamed when the dynamites hit him. When the smoke cleared, Birds laid on the ground, twitching with second-degree burns.

Hayato stood at ready, waiting for Birds to get back up, because a prisoner who was imprisoned in the infamous Vendicare surely shouldn't be so weak, except Birds was. He didn't get back up.

Hayato stared. "Hey, you're kidding me, aren't you?" he said, stalking forward when he realized Birds was really beaten just like that. "I'm not nearly done with you."

"I – I don't fight," Birds said weakly. Above him, canary birds fluttered around.

"Hell no," Hayato said, ire boiling within him. "First I don't get to fight the Twins, and then this battle turns out to be damn anticlimactic? Now thinking about it, it was you who was sent those stupid birds to follow me, aren't you?!"

Birds whimpered.

"Get up," Hayato hissed, bringing his feet up and mercilessly kicked the other man. "Damn bastard. Get up and face me like a man. Give me a proper battle."

"M-mercy!" Birds shouted.

"Aw, fucking –" Hayato exclaimed, only to shortly notice a shadow approaching him. With his steadily worsened mood, he was willing to take on just about anyone.

"Who the fuck –?" he snapped, turning around.

Hayato froze when he found himself facing bandaged people dressed in black. "Vendice…"

Slivery chains shot out from one of them and wrapped around the whimpering Birds. "We'll take it from here," one of the two masked guards said.

Something let out a shrill noise and a few moments later, the other guard pulled out a round mirror-like device. The guard flipped it open, much like how one would do with a cell phone, and there were hushed, too low to be heard exchange for the next minute. After the guard flipped the device down again, he brought his attention to Hayato, staring at him silently.

Hayato unconsciously straightened up under the guard's eerie gaze and swallowed, inwardly wondering what the Vendice was doing here. Then he remembered the Kokuyo Gang, as they came to be known as, had previously escaped from the Vendicare before arriving at Japan.

"Y-" Hayato cleared his throat when he heard how weak it sounded. "You're here to collect Mukuro and his accomplice."

There was no reply for many tense moments, before the Vendice with the chain turned away. "Let's go," he indicated to the other.

In silent agreement, the two Vendice began to drag Birds away. Hayato wondered how the citizens of Namimori didn't find anything amiss, before realizing one of them was probably using some sort of illusion to mask their presence. After all, Hayato hadn't noticed the Vendice's presence until they didn't bother hiding it from him.

Just when Hayato was about to relax upon seeing the Vendice leaving, the Vendice with the round communication device turned back. Hayato froze, wondering at his reason.

The Vendice looked at him for a long moment, before saying, "You might want to check up on your friend, mafia."

Then, without waiting for a reply, the two Vendice left and disappeared from sight.

"The hell…?" Hayato voiced. Then recalling the Vendice's words, he hurried over to where he departed with Yamamoto.

Xxx

Practiced, nearly silent footsteps neared him, causing Chikusa's hand to automatically inch towards his yo-yos. It was only when the shadow of the person fell upon him – his hairstyle shaped like a pineapple – that Chikusa relaxed. "Mukuro-sama," Chikusa said as he brought his book down and looked up.

"Chikusa, where is Birds?" Murkuro questioned, heterochromatic eyes peering out at him.

"He went out about twenty minutes ago," Chikusa informed the illusionist. "He said he was bored and went outside with the Bloody Twins for some entertainment."

Chikusa couldn't quite help the slight disgust that entered his voice at the mention of Birds's sick interest. Although he had meant what he told Ken before that as long as Birds's intentions and actions aligned with theirs then Chikusa wouldn't care what he did, it didn't mean Chikusa approved Birds's interest of terrorizing the weak. It reminded him too much of when he was experimented on by the Estraneo Famiglia because he had no means to fight back at the time.

A soft chuckle reached Chikusa's ears.

"You don't approve of him, Chikusa?" Mukuro voiced. Of course Mukuro was sharp enough to detect the minute distaste in Chikusa's tone.

"He's not strong," Chikusa said honestly. "I don't understand why you chose to rescue him."

"Hm," Mukuro said as his smile widened. "You have a point, although your distaste has to do with his personality as well, no?"

Chikusa said nothing, both knowing that Mukuro was right.

"Regardless, there's no harm of having a few more pawns. Birds is not physically strong, but those birds of his provide us with a surveillance network," Mukuro said. "Then, there is the Bloody Twins."

"Because they only listen to him," Chikusa voiced.

"Exactly. The Bloody Twins are serial killers, strong enough to have caught the Vendice's attention as we had. Birds was there only because of the sheer enemies he made through blackmails, but he controls the Bloody Twins. It's a pity that the Bloody Twins don't possess enough minds to be controlled, or I would have controlled them directly."

"Their movements are unusual," Chikusa mentioned.

"They're double-jointed," Mukuro said, "which makes a variety of their movements unpredictable since few people have ever fought against such enemies."

Xxx

"You two are very strong, aren't you?" Takeshi said, even as he was forced to skid back due to the force Twin #1 exerted against his bat.

Takeshi let out a small curse when the other Twin immediately appeared on his right, sweeping his long arm at him.

"Ahahahaha, I might have bite off more than I can chew," he said to himself as he swung his bat at the first twin (or was it the second one, Yamamoto lost track already). As he moved his arm, pain shot up his biceps, reminding him of the hit one of the twins got in previously.

Uh oh, Takeshi thought. I hope that'll heal before my baseball game.

Takeshi's bat slammed into one of the Twin's arm and the two had a standoff for a few second, with both attempting to push the other back. Then the twin brought his other arm out and swiped at him from an odd angle and Takeshi was forced to retreat.

Meaning he stepped right into the other twin's path.

This is not going to work, Takeshi instinctively knew, wincing as he took the hit from the twin and danced out of the way. What he needed to do was focus on one twin at a time.

The twins soon met with each other, both of them staring at Yamamoto with blank eyes. It was only through this pause in battle that Takeshi finally noticed a figure standing on the lamppost, watching his battle.

"Hey!" Takeshi shouted upwards, attention momentarily distracted from the Bloody Twins. "Whatcha doing there?"

The figure donned in black and covered in bandages said nothing. He didn't even seem to acknowledge him until he tilted his head down minutely and a disembodied voice said, "You might want to pay attention."

Takeshi's instincts screamed at him in that moment, causing him to duck down and simultaneously bring his bat up to block the other pair of arms. Two pairs of hallow eyes stared down at him.

"Creepy," Takeshi said with a grin at odds with his words, before he quickly rose and using that momentum, pushed back the Twin back. "I guess I'll fight against you then!"

Without waiting for a reply, Takeshi hurried forward and let out a barrage of attacks onto the Twin. The twin, although pretty strong, was taken by surprise by Takeshi's sudden aggressive attacks and couldn't react accordingly.

Takeshi attacked as he dodged most of the other twin's attack, straining all his attentions to ensure the twins didn't switch place during the fight, since that would defeat his purpose of trying to focus on one of them at a time.

At last, Takeshi saw the twin he was actively fighting against falter in defending himself. Takeshi stopped, ignoring opening he left for the other twin, and brought his both of his hands on the handle of his bat. Takeshi shifted his stance like he had done it all his life and leaned back slightly to give himself momentum, and then shot forward with his bat in hand.

The twin could only let out a cry before he crumpled. Takeshi couldn't even let a proper grin spread across his face before he became aware of the shadow of the other twin falling upon him.

Takeshi attempted to twist around even though he instinctively knew he wouldn't make it in time. He readied himself for the pain a fifth way through his turn and guarded his arm, before a sudden explosion propelled him forward.

Takeshi blinked and turned, a grin spreading across his face when he saw who it was. "Gokudera!"

"Shuddup," Gokudera hissed as threw some more dynamites at the remaining twin. "I'm not doing this to help you, alright? This is the first mission Juudaime gave us. I'm not letting you fail it for us."

Takeshi couldn't help but laugh at Gokudera's words. "Thanks!"

"I just said –!" Gokudera hissed, directing his attention to Takeshi. The twin that remained took that moment to leap at him.

Takeshi shot forward and blocked it with his bat. "Let's win this together, Gokudera," Takeshi said.

Gokudera huffed as he pulled out more dynamites. "Just don't get in my way."

"Hai, hai," Takeshi acquiesced.

Xxx

It didn't take long until Gokduera and Takeshi brought Twin #2 down. The second they did, another presence came along.

Both Gokudera and Takeshi's eyes followed the figure in black's path as he jumped down from the lamppost and gracefully landed on his feet. Chains Takeshi didn't notice previously slithered from the figure to the two Twins on the ground, firmly constraining the two prisoners.

"My team leader wants me to pass on this message," the figure said. "Clean up the rest of Mukuro's people as soon as possible. The Vendice don't have much patience."

With those last words, the figure in black walked away with the Blood Twins trailing behind him.

"What's the Vendice?" Takeshi finally voiced when the figure was gone. His skin prickled as he said the name. "I have a bad feeling about them."

"They're guards of the prison Mukuro escaped from," Gokudera answered, eyes never leaving the spot where he last saw the figure.

Gokudera tore his eyes away at last. "Let's go," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We should go back and tell the Tenth and Reborn-san about this."

"Sure," Takeshi said. With one last look at where the figure was last seen, Takeshi looked away and followed.

Xxx

"Birds hasn't returned yet?" Mukuro said, sitting on a couch regally as his mismatched eyes peered at each minionwithin the room.

Chikusa silently shook his head in reply as M.M answered, "Nope. Have no idea where that old geezer went."

"Interesting," Mukuro said, a faint smile appearing on his face at the mystery. "What do you think, Chikusa?"

Chikusa pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose before he spoke. "There are two options. Both are equally likely," he started. "One, Birds purposely fled from us. Two, Vongola or another party defeated him."

M.M shook her head at the last suggestion. "By who? No one in this little town is strong enough to beat us. The old geezer is weak, but he had his cute Bloody Twins with him. Fat chance anything will happen to him," M.M said. "He probably just went senile and forgot to come back. It's not like we have a curfew anyway."

Mukuro let out a little thoughtful hm as his eyes shifted to the stairs. "Let's see what Ken has to say, should we?" he said, just before Ken came trampling up the stairs.

"Mukuro-sama," Ken beamed, grinning at him. He made his way to join Mukuro's other minions.

"What did you find, Ken?" Mukuro prompted. He had told Ken to track down Birds earlier with his Wolf Channel when Birds hadn't returned after a full day.

"He was at the park, byon," Ken said. "And fought someone with lot of , his scent just disappeared."

Mukuro raised a delicate eyebrow at Ken's word choice. "Disappeared, you say?"

"Yeah, his scent was erased. There was nothing to follow after the battle, byon."

"How intriguing," Mukuro voiced. "What of the Bloody Twins?"

"Same thing, byon. Defeated then just disappeared," Ken answered. "Around the town, there are lots of places that have these blank spots with no smell, like someone is going around erasing them."

"Can you follow these blank spots and track their movement?" Mukuro questioned, although he didn't hold out much hope.

Ken shook his head. Had he been in his Wolf Channel and he had ears and tail, both would have drooped. "All these stuff 'round are confusing my nose."

Mukuro nodded, mind whirling at the information Ken provided. "How…unexpected. It seems like there is an illusionist about, power and skilled enough to cloak even the sense of smell." He paused for a moment, before he said with a wry tone, "It appears the Vendice might have caught up with us faster than I've excepted."

M.M's head shot up, Ken voiced a loud 'Huh?!' and Chikusa's eyes widened ever slightly. Mukuro chuckled at their reaction.

"Kufufu, there's no need to worry, my dear minions," Mukuro said as he leaned forward. "I say this development is unexpected, but not yet troubling. Not nearly. After all, my illusions are strong. I fooled them once when we escaped the Vendicare and that was at my weakest. I can easily do that again."

"But Mukuro-sama!" M.M protested. "We are still going along with your plan, right? It means we'll still have to go outside for the remaining ranked fighters."

"Are you scared, M.M?" Mukuro asked, his single crimson eye gazing piercingly at her. Mukuro chuckled as M.M involuntarily shivered. She scowled and straightened up, lifting her head proudly.

"No," M.M stated, plain and simple.

"Good," Mukuro said approvingly and M.M preened at the approval heard in his voice.

"Ken," Chikusa said softly. Ken looked at him. "What's that in your hand?"

Ken started and glanced down in his closed hand. "Oh, this?" Ken said, unfurling his fist. "I forgot about this, byon."

"Ew!" M.M exclaimed upon seeing the little charred bird in his hand. "Why did you bring that?"

Ken stuck his tongue out at M.M's reaction.

"I found it at the park, byon," Ken said with a grin, gazing at the bird. "It looks cooked, so I'm gonna try eating it." Ken licked his lips at the thought. "Looks tasty, byon."

"Nasty," M.M declared.

Ken grinned at her. "Want some?" he said antagonistically. "I have more."

He dropped the bird he held in his hand and dug into his pockets, pulling out at least a dozen of the same little birds charred from being caught in the crossfire of dynamites. They all hit the ground with little thumps and clang.

Mukuro, who up until then was simply watching the spectacle in front of him with amusement, narrowed his eyes. "Ken," he voiced and instantly, he had everyone in the room's attention.

Although it was Ken's name that Mukuro called, it was Chikusa who silently stepped forward. He moved to the pile of birds on the ground and bent down, hand and eyes rapidly shuffling through them.

Mukuro smiled his approval at Chikusa's actions as M.M and Ken looked at each other in bemusement, not understanding. Chikusa didn't bother explaining, only occasionally pausing in whatever he was searching for to remove something from the pile. Finally, he stood.

"Mukuro-sama," Chikusa said, looking at him. He angled his hand so he could show the illusionist the items that were on his palm. "They're cameras."

"Birds had a habit of filming the reaction of the people he blackmails by using his canaries, didn't he?" Mukuro asked rhetorically. His lips quirked minutely. "Seems like our mystery might be solved. Chikusa, shuffle through them all and see which ones are salvageable."

Chikusa nodded his acknowledgement of the order and went. An hour later, the Kokuyo Gang gathered at the second floor of the dilapidated building that they called their base. That was the only layer with electricity.

Chikusa inserted a memory card into the computer slot and waited for it to load. "I moved all the viewable parts of the recordings here," he explained as a window popped up with a list of options for him to make. Chikusa clicked open folder and double-clicked on the single video in the folder.

A familiar figure came onto view, blown wide on the monitors Birds insisted on installing in the base. A creepy voice followed. "Keep still, little birds," Birds said in the video. He could be seen adjusting a camera on another bird that patiently held still. "Soon, we can start having fun."

From off screen, a voice called out, "Oi, you're Birds, right?"

The bird with the camera turned to the speaker, enabling the camera to capture the appearance of whoever called out and presumably defeated Birds. It was a young boy, no older than fifteen with silver hair and a scowl permanently stuck on his face.

They watched the following battle and when the silver-headed teen brought out dynamites and threw them towards Birds, and by extension, the surveillance canary birds, their screen blacked out.

"The audio could still be heard," Chikusa explained when he made no move to change the video. The rest of the gang listened.

"Aw, fucking… Who the fuck –?

"…Vendice…"

"Y-You're here to collect Mukuro and his accomplice."

"You might want to check up on your friend, mafia."

A little later, the visuals came back on, this time featuring the Bloody Twins. The Bloody Twins were following a girl around, who was oblivious to their presence. Undoubtedly, they were waiting for Birds to give them orders when a teenager with black hair and a bat strapped to his back suddenly appeared, cutting between them and the girl.

"Hey," the teenager said simply, an easy-going grin on his face. "It's not nice following someone like that, you know?"

The twins gave no reply, staring at the teenager blankly like they didn't know what to do since no order was given from Birds.

"Hello? Anyone home?" the teenager said, peering up at the twins when they didn't react. "You guys are the Bloody Twins, right?"

At the sound of their names, both of the twin's heads snapped to him like activated dolls. The teenage blinked in surprise at the reaction he so suddenly received, and that was all he managed to do before the Bloody Twins suddenly launched at him.

"Whoah, ouch!" the teenager exclaimed as he was pushed back, receiving a hit on his bicep even as his eyes narrowed dangerously and he brought his hand back to his bat. The next moment, the teenager had the bat in hand and was charging forward.

The teenager did pretty well against the Bloody Twins, considering his lack of fighting experience, as seen by his reaction every time he received a hit. He wasn't used to pain and hits that stemmed from a battle, but he was made for fighting.

As the battle progressed, although he was losing, a grin slowly made its way across his face.

"A natural born hitman, I would say," Mukuro murmured as crimson eyes carefully watched the screen.

Despite the teenager's inexperience, his movements smoothed as the time passed and his body got used to the pace. His awkward moves bled away from him as instincts took over, and at the moment where an opening was presented, he leapt like an experienced predator.

One of the twins was down, but the other one was upon him. The teenager wasn't going to make it on time to guard himself and what a pity. He would have been an interesting person to control.

But ah, then came the silver-haired teen and how interesting. Although the camera blacked out once again due to the silver-haired's dynamites, it appeared that the teenagers worked well enough to take down the remaining twin.

Mukuro's eyes sharpened when another voice was heard from the audio.

"My team leader wants me to pass on this message. Clean up the rest of Mukuro's people as soon as possible. The Vendice don't have much patience."

"What is the Vendice? I have a bad feeling about them."

"They're guards of the prison Mukuro escaped from. Let's go. We should go back and tell the Tenth and Reborn-san about this."

There was another beat of silence after the video was finished, before M.M spoke.

"So the Vendicare are after us," M.M said. She stole a glance at Mukuro, recalling how he asked her if she was scared of the Vendice, before saying, "Not that I'm afraid, but why are the Vendicare letting the Vongola fight against us? Wouldn't the Vendicare want to personally capture us as soon as possible instead?"

At that question, Mukuro's lips slowly curved. "It seems like Vongola made a deal with the Vendice regarding us," Mukuro said.

"Ehhh?" Ken said, tilting his head to the side like a bemused pup. "Why?"

"It doesn't matter," Mukuro said. "Regardless of their plans for us, we're going to do as we planned. Birds' capture actually gave us valuable information. We now identified two of Vongola's subordinates." Mukuro looked at Ken. "Can you track their sense down, Ken?"

"Yup," Ken said. "I get to fight them afterwards, right?"

"Kufufufu, yes," Mukuro said. "Both sides are now aware of each other's presence. They took something of ours, so you'll take something of theirs. After you defeat them, persuade them to tell us where the Vongola heir is. If they're stubborn, bring them back here."

"We'll persuade them, Mukuro-sama," Chikusa said, glasses glinting. "Soon we'll be able to take over the mafia and destroy it from inside out."

"Good," Mukuro said, his eyes glinting in anticipation.

Chapter Text

"Takeshi," a voice called out from downstairs. "Are you busy?"

Takeshi's hand automatically closed around the baseball as it fell towards him and didn't bother throwing it back into the air again. His eyes darted to the clock on his wall, noting that it was 4:30pm. Oyaji would be setting up TakeSushi around this time for people who wanted dinner, since TakeSushi reopen for the afternoon at 5 pm.

"Nope," Takeshi shouted back after a beat too long, rolling off his bed where he had been laying down for an hour or so ever since he had returned from Tsuna's. He had finished most of his homework there, with Gokudera's nagging and Tsuna's frantic attempt to work, fearful of Reborn should he not finish. It was great hanging out with them and normally that would be the end of Takeshi's thoughts, but the words Tsuna spoke as Gokudera and Takeshi were leaving stuck in his mind.

Takeshi knew Tsuna panicked easily, even before he became his friend. After all, the nickname Dame-Tsuna didn't arise from nowhere. Takeshi didn't mind Tsuna's panicking though, since his panicking showed that he cared and despite everything, the stuff Tsuna freaked out over was usually harmless and fun.

Takeshi's mind unwittingly recalled the look on Tsuna's face as they were leaving his house, still the same panicky look like that time when he realized there was a cool talking skull tattoo growing on him, only this time, much, much darker. There was a haunted and heavy quality in his eyes, weighing him down, and even Yamamoto at his most cheerful couldn't dispel it for long.

"On your way back," he blurted out, eyes darting nervously from Gokudera to Yamamoto – not because he was nervous of them, Takeshi knew, since that fell out of habit month ago, but for them. "Please," he said, the casual grip he had on his front gate tightening, "please be careful."

"Juudaime, don't worry. If Mukuro's people come after me, I'll fight them off," Gokudera said, a confident smirk sliding across his face.

Tsuna gave him an uncertain smile, not because he didn't think Gokudera was strong – he proved that already the other day – but because Tsuna worried incessantly like that. Still, he nodded at Gokudera's words, before turning towards Takeshi. "Yamamoto?"

Takeshi had grinned at the time, wide and carefree, and ruffled Tsuna's huge mob of mess he called his hair. It was as soft as it looked. "It's just like Gokudera said," Takeshi said casually, ignoring Gokudera's protest at himfor flippantly touching Tsuna's hair, "no worries. I intend to win this Mafia game."

Tsuna protested as he always did whenever he called whatever they were doing a game, bringing back the sense of normalcy between the three of them before Namimori students began murmuring the name Kokuyo in hushed, fearful whispers. At both of their reassurance, Tsuna did look little better.

Takeshi kept up his smile when he was with Tsuna, but the moment he began to walk home, the smile fell off his face. Takeshi didn't like the situation at all, not because there was danger involved – and Takeshi didn't consider for a second that not being bothered by the danger was unusual – but because it seemed to bother Tsuna so much. He never liked seeing his friend stressed, which was what prompted him to lie down on his bed and play catch with his baseball instead of finishing the rest of his work once he returned home. He always did find himself thinking better when playing baseball.

Takeshi thought about a lot of things within that hour. He thought about his life before Tsuna, but only briefly because that seemed like ages ago and Takeshi didn't remember the days when he wasn't at Tsuna and Gokudera's side, when he wasn't their friend anymore. He couldn't imagine not being at their side in the future either.

It was undeniable, though, that trouble seemed to follow them, particularly Tsuna. Maybe that was why he wasn't surprised when the little guy Reborn revealed that some Mukuro person was attacking Namimori students to lure out Tsuna. When Tsuna decided to fight back, Takeshi thought that he was incredibly brave and was proud to have him as his friend, which was why he didn't back out of the Mafia game when Tsuna asked them to.

Friendship, the dislike of the Kokuyo students' indiscriminate attacks and the promise of some fun were the things that made him decide to stay in the Mafia game. After his fight with the Bloody Twins, however, there was also something else.

He could still remember the exhilarating feeling of the fight, the satisfaction coursing through his body as he moved out of their range with his every sidesteps, the moments when he managed to retaliate with moves of his own. The taste of victory, as delightful as when he had won his first baseball game back in elementary, if not more, on his tongue, the moment of oh no, I'm not going to make it in time he felt when he realized the second twin was about to hit him - the same feeling he had whenever he was just far enough from the base to be tagged before he could reach it, the flash of surprise when Gokudera appeared out of nowhere and saved him despite not wanting to admit it, and the warm glow in his chest when he managed to return the favor and protected Gokudera with his bat.

It was fun, Takeshi realized, as fun as playing baseball.

Takeshi didn't know what to think of that revelation. Baseball was his favorite thing to do since he was a child, back when he saw a baseball game for the first time and immediately said he wanted to play like that. Oyaji supported him in his choice, so years later, Takeshi still played because he enjoyed it.

He liked the way his bat and baseball would always follow his command and even if they initially wouldn't, as long as he worked hard enough, they eventually will. He liked the feeling of uncertainty, the hitting the baseball and then the rush to just throw everything down and run, moving as fast as he can with all his might as flurries of motion whipped around him from both teams. He liked playing surrounded by his teammates and the knowledge that he could trust them to have his back, the shared pride swelling in each of their chest, unspoken but not unacknowledged that without you all, I would have never been able to come so far on my own. Victory never tasted as sweet with his team by his side, and defeat, although never welcomed, was always made less bitter and more bearable with his teammates and their tear-filled declarations of next time, we'll win!

On the other hand, fighting was a whole another thing. Like all kids, Takeshi had been in fights before, but that was years ago back when kids his age reacted with chubby fist whenever they couldn't find the words within their limited vocabulary to talk it out. Takeshi rarely found himself in fights after first grade, well-liked as he was with his easy smile and casual atmosphere. Takeshi had some classmates that he talked to, none whom he was really close to, but no enemies either. It was when he joined the baseball club that he suddenly became popular, and with fans came some enemies.

When his parents came to pick him up from school the first time he fought in elementary, none of them spoke on their way home. It was only when they reached home and his mother was digging through the cabinet to find their first-aid kit that Oyaji took a seat opposite of Takeshi and asked very seriously, "What happened?"

Takeshi sniffled to hold back his tears. Even though he was all grown up and only little kids fight over the smallest things, he was still fearful of getting in trouble. Reluctantly he recounted how a classmate took his notebook and when he asked for it back, he refused to return it and threw it out the window, laughing all the while. Takeshi impulsively punched him and the fight just escalated from there.

Takeshi had watched his father for his reaction then, waiting to see what his father would do. Just as he couldn't take the heavy silence anymore, Oyaji finally lifted his head and with his lips quirked minutely at the corners and eyes sparkling with mirth, he asked, "Did you win?"

"Tsuyoshi, don't encourage him," Kaa-san scolded when she returned with the first-aid kit in hand. Then she turned to Takeshi and said, "You won, right, Takeshi?"

Oyaji laughed aloud at Kaa-san's question then, before both of his parents turned to look at him questioningly, waiting for his answer. When Takeshi didn't speak, stunned as he was at the realization that his parents weren't angry at him from fighting, Kaa-san bent down to his level.

"Takeshi," Kaa-san said, gently turning him to face her. "You know that we're not angry about you fighting, right?"

"B-but Hikaru-sensei said fighting is bad," Takeshi said at the time, not understanding the looks his parents exchanged at his words.

"Takeshi, we don't ever want you to fight to harm," Kaa-san finally settled with saying, after doing the silent communication she sometimes did with Oyaji over his head. "But fighting to protect is something else. In this world, there are people who won't listen to words and sometimes, the only way to get through them is through some violence."

"We're not saying that fighting is ever a good thing," Oyaji said, taking over. "Avoid fighting if you don't have to fight, but don't shy away from violence either when something important to you is threatened."

That day, neither his father nor his mother scolded him for fighting. Instead they both taught him to that it was okay to fight, as long as he did not abuse the strength that they had borne him and use it for purposes they won't approve.

After that, on the rare occasions that he did return from a fight, his Oyaji would take one look at him, take out the first-aid kit and ask two questions. One was "What happened?" and the other was, without a fail, after Takeshi explained the circumstance, "Did you win?" accompanied with a grin that silently told him that he approved the choices that Takeshi made.

Takeshi didn't tell Oyaji about him agreeing to fight against the Kokuyo students with Tsuna, but he knew his father wouldn't disapprove. It was only that Takeshi had never considered himself prone or drawn to violence, not the way Hibari obviously was, so to suddenly realize that he considered fighting fun was a little surprising.

Takeshi silently wondered what that said about him, as he ran downstairs to TakeSushi. "Oyaji, what's up?" Takeshi asked, looking at his father.

"Takeshi, we're almost out of cucumber. Go to the market and buy some for me, alright?" Oyaji said.

"Sure," Takeshi replied cheerful, banishing his previous train of thought from his mind. "Just enough for this evening?"

"Yeah. The batch I ordered will arrive tomorrow."

"Okay," Takeshi said, slipping on his shoes. "I'll be right back then."

Xxx

It didn't take Takeshi long to reach the market, since they lived pretty close to it. As he ambled past the stalls to find cucumbers to buy at a relatively low price, he distantly became aware of someone's eyes on him.

Takeshi turned in that direction without thinking and found himself facing a girl that looked familiar. Upon noticing his gaze, the girl blushed slightly.

Ah, Takeshi thought, recalling why she looked so familiar. She's in the same class as me. I don't remember her name though.

"Hello," Takeshi greeted with his customary grin. "You're in my class, right?"

The girl's eyes widened with surprise when Takeshi spoke to her, before nodding after getting over her surprise. "Yeah, I am," the girl said. Her eyes darted to the way Yamamoto's body was partially facing the stall that he was in front of, which said that he was buying something from it and not just passing by. "Yamamoto-kun is here to buy your grocery?"

Takeshi found his hand drifting to the back of his head unconsciously and let out a laugh. "Eh, kinda? TakeSushi is running low on cucumber, so…"

"Oh, right, your family owns a sushi bar," the girl said. A few awkward beat passed. Takeshi thought he should probably say something, but talking to a girl had never been his forte. In school, his fan girls always go to him in groups, so one of them would always keep up the conversation. Without that, he suddenly found himself at loss at what to say. "Um… I probably shouldn't hold you then."

Takeshi gave the girl another of his natural smile. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then," Takeshi said.

His classmate blinked a beat later and nodded. "Right. See you tomorrow, Yamamoto-kun," she said. She made a move to leave, before pausing to turn back to him. "And Yamamoto-kun," she said haltingly. "If you want to buy cucumber, there are some on sales three stalls down."

Takeshi blinked in surprise, before nodding. At the exact moment, his brain finally seemed to had placed the girl's face with a name. "Thank you, Natsume-chan."

Takeshi turned in the direction Natsume indicted before he could see her reaction. He was running a little late. As he was walking, Takeshi wondered if he had imagined the little noise that escaped from her direction when he thanked her, but shrugged it off.

Takeshi didn't make it past the first stall before he felt a pairs of eyes on him again. "Natsume-chan?" Takeshi said as he turned, wondering if the girl needed something, only to freeze when he spotted the person who he felt the gaze originated from.

The person's lips curled back sharply upon seeing Takeshi's reaction. "You were the guy that defeated the Bloody Twins, weren't cha?" the guy said as he stepping forward and revealing his green Kokuyo uniform.

A strange calm settled into Takeshi as he took stock of the situation. Although he didn't choose to reveal himself yet, there was also another guy still in the shadows wearing the same Kokuyo uniform and a pair of glasses.

"Yeah," Takeshi replied with a carefree grin, as some kind of adrenaline bleed through his body. "What's up?"

"We would like you to tell us the location of your leader," the other guy said, revealing himself so silently that it was creepy.

They were talking about Tsuna, Takeshi eventually realized and tried his best to not react for fear of giving something away.

Instead, Takeshi pulled out his most guileless look and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about, but the Kokuyo students didn't look fooled in the least.

The wind drifted towards them then, bringing light-weighted leaves caught in the draft and a hint of the everyday conversations people in the open market were having, and abruptly, Takeshi became all too aware of the people around him.

"Hey, does it mean that I can fight him?" the first guy said, a bloodthirsty gleam sliding into his eyes like it was its proper place.

"Wait, Ken," the second guy said, not appearing surprised at Takeshi's reply or Ken's response. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and continued to address Takeshi. "I would rather we not make a scene here," he murmured, "especially since you wouldn't be able to win against both of us." He looked at Takeshi and in that moment, his glasses gleamed with some sort of unspoken threat. "It would be best if you don't resist."

Takeshi could tell both the Ken guy and the glasses guy were being serious. There was no way he could win against both of them, and even if he somehow made it possible, it was impossible to do so without getting some of the Namimori inhabitants involved.

In the corner of his eyes, Takeshi noticed Natsume in the background, looking between the Kokuyo guys and Takeshi with wide-eyes. Takeshi pulled his eyes away from her and forced his tense shoulders to shrug at the Kokuyo guys instead. "Alright," he said casually, inwardly hoping she wouldn't go after them.

The glasses guy nodded like he expected his answer, while Ken actually looked disappointed. "Aw," he said with a somewhat demented pout. "No fun."

The glasses guy ignored him and turned to Takeshi. "Let's go," he said monotonously. Ken started walking and Takeshi, knowing they wanted him to follow, reluctantly did that. The glasses guy started walking a beat after Takeshi, taking the back and successfully trapping Takeshi between them.

xxx

Takeshi made a move to break free the moment they stepped away from the busy market and into an empty park with plenty of trees to cover the happenings of the inside from the outside world, but it seemed like the two Kokuyo students read his mind.

"Wolf Channel," was all Takeshi heard before claws aimed to sink into his back. Takeshi instinctively moved backwards, but was a split second too late. While Takeshi had his inborn athletic and instincts on his side, Ken moved with finely tuned, animalistic reflexes backed by numerous past battles.

Takeshi let out a cry as pain unfelt before entrenched itself into his vulnerable back, and fell without meaning to. The claws weren't as deep as they would have been had they made direct contact, but the wound was still pretty painful.

Takeshi gritted his teeth and forced himself roll to the right, just as a yoyo courtesy of the glasses guy slammed into his previous spot. Takeshi didn't even have time to think something carefree like lucky, before the animal guy Ken was on him, heaving him up by the shirt. He leaned in close and peered at him, a predatory smile across his face.

"C'mon," he taunted, "no more fight in ya, byon?"

Takeshi breathed heavily through his nose, struggling to control his breath after their brief tussle. His muscles screamed at him, reminding him of the battle he fought just the day before against the Bloody Twins, and his back twinge with pain in reminder of the wound he just received. Takeshi tried to redistribute his weight so he wouldn't aggravate the open wound, but gave up soon enough because that little injury was the least of his problems now. "You guys were attacking our school's students, weren't you?"

"Hey, so you do know what we were talking about before," Ken said with a wide grin. A dark, heavy gleam entered his eyes. "I hate people who lie," he said dangerously.

"Ken," the glasses guy called, placing a hand on Ken's shoulder. Takeshi had a feeling that had it been anyone else, Ken wouldn't have hesitated ripping that arm off. "If you harm him too badly, he wouldn't be able to talk."

"And we don't want Mukuro-sama to use his power any more than necessary," Ken said, voice turning serious as he finished what the glasses guy left unsaid. A beat passed before the shadows in his eyes receded. He shrugged off the glasses guy's arm and got off Takeshi. "Okay, fine, fine, Kakipi."

Takeshi watched as Kakipi nodded his head briefly, before turning his gaze on him. There was something unnerving about his blank, yet intense eyes.

"Where's the Vongola heir?" he said, short and to the point.

Takeshi blinked at the question, tension leaving his body at once as bemusement took over. "Who?"

Takeshi didn't expect the fist that slammed into his stomach or the strength that accompanied the punch. He let out a gasp as air left his lungs in a whoosh.

Kakipi bent down to Takeshi's level and grabbed his hair, pulling Takeshi who was sprawled on the ground up to his level. Takeshi winced as pain assaulted his senses, yet even through all the pain, he was acutely aware of the blank eyes that bore into his person. "Just because I didn't let Ken beat you to a pulp," he said softly, yet no less dangerously, "it doesn't mean that I won't hurt you."

"Ya better listen to him," Ken piped up with what Takeshi considered as an inappropriately amused grin, considering Takeshi's currently situation. "He is a four-eyed kappa, but he can be damn scary when he wanna be, byon."

"Which is whenever you're being an idiot," Kakipi replied rather automatically.

They're close, Takeshi noted randomly from the Kokuyo students' interaction and ah, he could somewhat understand why Gokudera called him an empty-headed idiot now. He really should think of a way to get himself out of the situation instead.

"Hey!" Ken protested at Kakipi's words, only to suddenly look towards the entrance of the park. Kakipi mimicked his action a moment later.

By the time Takeshi wondered what had caught their attentions, Ken was already in front of the group that marched in. Takeshi's eyes widened when he spotted the multiple separate pompadour. It was a group of the disciplinary committee that usually patrolled around.

"Hey, this area is patrolled by Namimori's Disciplinary Committee," one of them said. "Get outta here now if you know what's good for you, and" – his eyes flickered to Takeshi for a moment – "let him go. That's our Namimori student."

In the back of his mind, Takeshi wondered how he knew when he wasn't wearing his Namimori uniform. It wasn't like the Disciplinary Committee recognized all its students, after all.

A cruel grin spread across Ken's face as he ignored what the Committee member said. "You're not important," Ken identified, and that was all the warning he gave before he struck out at the group.

"Hey!" Takeshi instinctively protested, trying to get up, but Kakipi suddenly slammed Takeshi's head by the hair he still gripped into the ground. Takeshi's head spun as pain spiked.

"Shut up," Kakipi said dispassionately. Takeshi's vision blurred as Kakipi raised his voice, presumably in Ken's direction and shouted, "I'm bringing him back first, Ken."

"Sure. See ya back at Kokyou Land," Ken's eerily happy voice replied, piercing deep into Takeshi's brain, and that was the last thing Takeshi heard before he blacked out.

Chapter Text

"… no more reports of Kokuyo students attacking Namimori students. Have the students resolved things among themselves or have Namimori's beloved Disciplinary Committee stepped in to save the day once again?" the reporter on the 4:30 pm news mused. She smiled at the camera. "For whatever the reason is, it seems like peace has been restored to our town. Moving on, tomorrow's weather…"

"They really stopped attacking," Tsuna said when he heard the news. "Does that mean everything's fine now?"

"It means they'll try to track you through known elements now, which happened to be Gokudera and Yamamoto," Reborn said, silently appearing behind Tsuna.

"Wahh! Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed, hand automatically clenching over his heart. "Don't scare me like that!"

"The future Vongola Boss shouldn't be startled so easily," Reborn lectured. "You still have much to learn."

Tsuna didn't notice the serious note Reborn ended with, busy as he was with his instinctive protest. "I said I'm not going to be a mafia boss –" Tsuna interrupted himself as he recalled Reborn's previous words. "Wait, does this mean Gokudera and Yamamoto are still in danger?"

Reborn nodded. "Of course, which is why we have to act promptly. You will not be able to avoid this tomorrow. Tomorrow after school, all of you would meet up at Ryohei's hospital to collect him and then we're going to Kokuyo Land for a frontal assault. With any luck, you guys will defeat Mukuro and his accomplice and then you can all go home safely hand-in-hand and not worry about them anymore."

"This is no joking matter, Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed with full blown-out worry now, not liking Reborn's flippant manner of treating the situation at all. "This is getting really dangerous."

The last of his syllables echoed within the room, the background tension escalating rapidly and openly now that what was previously unspoken was now said.

It popped like a flimsy balloon when Tsuna noticed a green tennis racket in the corner of his room.

"What?" Tsuna said, eyeing the racket with confusion as he reached to pick it up. "Since when did I have– "The tennis racket abruptly morphed into a mini-car. "Wah!" Tsuna immediately backpedaled away from the morphing object. "It… it changed! What…?" Tsuna paused in his panic when something niggled at him, prompting him to peer closely at the green car rolling around. Green. "Is that Leon?!"

"Leon's tail fell off a few minutes ago," Reborn explained conversationally, "so he can't control his forms right now, leading to that." He gestured to Leon as it morphed again, this time to a cute looking cactus. Reborn looked at his student seriously. "His tail falling off is a bad omen. If you had just gone to Kokuyo Land today like I suggested, you would have been rid of your worries by now."

Reborn pointed out that out in a tone that implied, 'Let's see if you would refuse to comply with me after this.'

Tsuna bit his lips, but didn't dare refute Reborn's words. "I know, Reborn," Tsuna said, deflating upon hearing Reborn's sound logic. "I know. It's just…will this really be fine? I don't want them to go after Gokudera and Yamamoto." Tsuna gazed at Reborn helplessly, lost and seeking for advice.

Reborn could have answered this in two ways. He could have been honest, be a realistic and say, 'That'll be up to you,' and put all the pressure on Tsuna. After all, pressure was what created fine diamonds by the end of the day. Or he could be optimistic and reassured Tsuna that everything would be fine, even when Reborn wasn't absolutely sure if they would be. That would ensure Tsuna remain somewhat confident when he confronted Mukuro.

The second option would never have been something Reborn consciously choose, yet when he looked at Tsuna's fear-filled eyes – not for himself, but for his friends – what ended up slipping out was a smirk and, "Of course. After all, I trained you."

In the end, Tsuna took after the Ninth too much. The encompassing Sky that accepted and embraced all, drawing even the most reclusive Sun into their circle of influence, until Reborn couldn't find it within him to escape and abandon the warmth that they emitted. And to think Reborn was the Sun and they the Sky.

Reborn glanced at Tsuna to see he looked more relived, to have someone reassure him things will somehow be okay and to have avoided carrying the burden of holding people's lives in his hand for just a little longer.

It was simply way too early for this step; his mind was simply still way too frail. Circumstances had pushed them into this, however, so they will just have to make the best of it and commit this life lesson in mind.

And in the end, Reborn was still a tutor. Too much pressure would cause him to break, but no matter what, Tsuna should still accustom himself to unexpected events of life.

"But Tsuna," Reborn added with a warning in his voice, catching the eyes of his reluctant student, "remember, the Ninth gave you three days. Today is Day Two."

Tomorrow is the last chance, was what was left unsaid. Even Reborn had that much mercy.

Reborn watched with no visible regret as dread settled in Tsuna's expression. That was reserved for when a beetle flew into the room with a message for Reborn and simultaneously the reporter abruptly shouted out, "Breaking news!" causing Tsuna to jump with a yelp. Reborn initially smirked at that, but it faded at what the reporter and his beetle said next.

"Latest news came in. It seemed like the conflict between the Kokuyo students and the Namimori students aren't so resolved, after all! Today at 5 PM, one of the patrols from the Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee has been found beaten up in a secluded park. One member was conscious enough to reliably inform us that it was the Kokuyo students who did it! Moreover, it seemed like the Kokuyo students have upped their mischief, from simply beating up students to kidnapping! Although it has not yet been confirmed—"the reporter paused to press her hand against her headphone.

"Never mind, disregard the last statement. This has been confirmed by another Namimori student who had witnessed the whole situation. At approximately 4:35 PM, Namimori Middle's baseball star Yamamoto Takeshi was seen at the market of Namimori being coerced by two Kokuyo students to follow them to a less crowded area. The Namimori student, who requested to remain anonymous, said she hurriedly went to inform the nearest Disciplinary patrol of the situation. She found one minutes later and then directed them towards the direction that she had last seen Yamamoto-kun gone. Although hoping for the best, it seems even the Disciplinary members has proven to be no match for the Kokuyo students. The police, who previously stayed out of the situation because they thought it was only a petty rivalry between the two schools, are now officially involved! Meanwhile, both the Disciplinary Committee and Yamamoto-san remained unavailable for interview. Let us all hope young Yamamoto-kun is alright! Stay tune for the next update at Namimori News."

"No—" The word tumbled from Tsuna's mouth before he even registered it, like an automatic denial of what he had just heard. "It's not real, right? I – I must have been an idiot and misheard it, right, Reborn?" Tsuna slowly turned to Reborn, a half-disbelieving smile curled shakily at the corner of his mouth. "There's no way –"

Reborn watched as Tsuna froze upon seeing his solemn expression, silently, in the kindest way he can, telling him that it was reality, that Yamamoto Takeshi, his best friend, had really been kidnapped. Although he can all too easily tell what Tsuna was thinking, for once, Reborn would have preferred to do without his systematic mind-reading.

Tsuna's thinking, 'It's all my fault.'

As he watched genuine fear and guilt lodged themselves onto Tsuna's expression, their weights too much to be held up by his student's thinning and shattering innocence, Reborn knew he should have been harsher with Tsuna. Tsuna might have been mentally prepared for a situation like this then.

Nothing would have made seeing Tsuna's disillusion easier for Reborn to bear, however.

Xxx

"Hibari-san!"Kusakabe Tetsuya exclaimed when he received the news, hurrying over to the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee leader.

Hibari turned his head slightly and, at the sight of Tetsuya running towards him, raised one eyebrow. That was all the warning Tetsuya received before a steel tonfa slammed into his guts, even stronger and harder than Hibari would for punishing those who broke the school rule. Or in this case, running inside the school.

Tetsuya's mouth parted involuntary for a silent, dry retch as air abruptly left his lungs. His hand curled protectively at his stomach, and one of his knees dropped to the ground.

"What is it?" Tetsuya heard Hibari say dispassionately, towering over him. Tetsuya waited a moment for the pain to recede a little, before forcing himself up to a stand, knowing it was his fault for breaking the school rule in a moment of carelessness when Hibari was already annoyed by the fact that the Committee hadn't been able to locate the Kokuyo students who dared attack Namimori students and the Disciplinary Committee members.

Until now.

Tetsuya bowed low in a sign of deference for Hibari, before finally saying, "One of ours woke up, Hibari-san. Kenshi said he heard them saying that they're going back to Kokuyo Land."

Hibari didn't show any outward reaction at first and merely stared at Tetsuya. Then, a smirk slowly curled on his face, lighting his whole expression in a gleam of bloodthirsty anticipation. Without a word, Hibari whirled around, causing the jacket on his shoulders to fan out majestically behind him and the Disciplinary Committee band on the sleeve to proudly displaying itself to the world.

Tetsuya didn't ask Hibari if he should gather the rest of the Committee or attempt to go with him. Tetsuya recognized that look in Hibari's eyes. Even without the Committee, Hibari would go on and single-handedly decimate the enemy's rank.

Xxx

Tsuna didn't know how long he sat in place, completely shocked due to the news. He didn't know how he came out of it either, because after all, one of his friends had just been kidnapped and it was all because of Tsuna.

When Tsuna felt a warm, but urgent throb from somewhere within him, he instinctive followed it without a second thought. From past experience, Tsuna knew it was usually correct, even if Tsuna sometimes didn't understand the cause of the feeling and what he was supposed to do about it. The same feeling that Tsuna vaguely recalled Reborn calling it as the Vongola Intuition was now probing him to focus on Reborn, so Tsuna did exactly that.

Then, Tsuna saw.

For the split-second that Tsuna caught Reborn with his guard down, Tsuna saw them: the hidden apprehension at the whole situation, anger towards himself for letting the whole Muruko business go out of hand, some regret at the knowledge of the innocence going to be lost, resolution to do better, and a cunning mind whirling as he assessed the situation from every angle for damage control and to turn the situation to their advantage.

Although Tsuna had long known his tutor to be dangerous and highly capable even with his appearance of a five year old, it was at this point that he was truly impressed by Reborn. After all, how many people could go through that range of negative emotions at such rapid speed and come out top with the resolution to try again despite any past mistakes?

Something within Tsuna glowed, warm, strong and supportive, as he subconsciously thought, I want to be like him. Tsuna gazed at Reborn as he wiped his face of all emotions like a professional, cool, impassive and impenetrable, giving any onlookers the impression that he was undeniably in control. Such was the air around Reborn, so strong that it even made Tsuna doubt for a second if he really did see Reborn with worry and regret if not for the Vongola Intuition backing Tsuna, reminding him to trust it because it was never wrong and it would never lead him astray. Tsuna looked at Reborn's strength to stand up against all odds and thought ambitiously– like someone else possessed him, except this was all Tsuna and his inner, unacknowledged-until-Reborn-happened-to-him desire to no longer to be Dame, to be someone who could accomplish – that, 'I want to be like Reborn. I want to lead with his strength, with him by my side.'

Reborn looked at Tsuna and his eyes widened minutely with startle because his eyes were glowing orange, Tsuna's Vongola Intuition whispered to him.

Tsuna wanted to be like Reborn so badly at the moment, because he was strong, physically, emotionally and in every single aspect, but he also understood – as he watched Reborn get rid of his only sign of emotion within the next second that he showed it despite no one other than Tsuna was present – that Reborn's strong point could also be a flaw.

'It's not a bad thing to show your emotion, you know,' Tsuna wanted to say, except he instinctively knew that Reborn wouldn't accept it. Reborn had seen and experience many things, much more shocking and worse than Tsuna could have ever dream of. At this point, Tsuna was only a student of Reborn and nothing more. Until Tsuna has proven himself to Reborn and gained his trust and respect, Reborn wouldn't truly take anything even vaguely like advice from Tsuna seriously, because Reborn thought and knew that he himself knows better.

So instead, Tsuna said without the fear that he himself hadn't even noticed he bypassed, "Let's go get back Yamamoto, Reborn."

Reborn looked at Tsuna with surprise, his Vongola Intuition supplied – before a dangerous sadistic smirk spread across his face. Tsuna unconsciously shuddered at the sight of it and inwardly cried, 'I take it back, I take it back. He's the devil!'

Said devil's smirk widened as though he heard his thought, before drawling, "Let's, shall we, Tsuna."

Chapter Text

"You can't go," Reborn said as he slipped into the Yamamoto dojo. He looked at the elder Tsuyoshi, who was facing away from Reborn with legs folded calmly beneath him and his sword Shigure Kintoki laying across his lap, just waiting to be drawn.

"Acrobaleno," the elder Yamamoto said without any inflection, and from his position behind Tsuyoshi's back, Reborn couldn't read the wielder of Shigure Kintoki's expression at all. It didn't take a genius, however, to see the tension in his shoulders. Tsuyoshi slowly shifted to a stand, movement as smooth as a swing of a sword master. "I don't think it is a good time for you to tell me what and what not to do."

"It's a risk," Reborn argued. "If you go, that'll attract the attention of the Mafia that you left behind. Your normal life in Namimori with Takeshi will be over –"

Reborn cut his sentence short as he moved minutely, minimally avoiding the sword that cut through the air Reborn's neck was a second before. Reborn found himself looking into the older man's eyes the next second, his normally calm gaze still steady, but rolling with a barely contained maelstrom beneath.

A protective father in all his might and fury, Reborn noted silently.

"You think I don't know all of that, Acrobaleno?" the wielder of Shigure Kintoki said, his voice sharp and intense as the blade he held in hand.

Reborn met the other man's eyes squarely, letting only a cool façade of someone who had everything under control show, and none of his own guilt. "I think you need that to be stated aloud," Reborn said, apparently unruffled despite the tension in the air and the blade at his neck.

"You could have prevented it," the elder Yamamoto stated. It was less of a question and more of an accusation.

"I may be on the side of the Vongola," Reborn said, while thinking that this was one of the rare times that his reputation preceded him, not that Reborn would ever admit that aloud. But did they truly think he could keep track ofeverything? Reborn thought with somewhat of a solemn attitude that in the end, even if others tend to think otherwise when it suited their purpose, that I'm only a human. "But I never claimed to be one of them."

I have no obligation to watch over your son, was what that really meant.

In a flash, the elder Yamamoto's façade of calm burned away as his expression darkened to pure rage. As far as mind reading went, as Tsuna claimed Reborn was capable of doing, this one was not hard to read at all.

I regret ever trusting you with my precious son and the pressing, all-consuming thought of revenge and kill.

"Yamamoto-san!" a voice called out, just as the blade was about to sever Reborn's head from his shoulders. Not that Reborn would ever let that happen, but it did serve to make Reborn look that much more powerful and in control when he didn't move despite the very immediate danger that the elder Yamamoto presented, and without having to even lift a single finger, the Tsuyoshi stopped despite his rage.

Reborn could definitely see how Tsuyoshi used to be a deadly assassin: he immediately seized his emotions under tightly wrapped control and deftly flipped Shigure Kintoki to revert back to looking like a harmless shinai to prevent Tsuna from witnessing any bloodshed. All done within a split-second.

Considering the sheer intensity of the killer intent Reborn felt from the wielder of Shigure Kintokia second ago, Reborn was definitely impressed with how fast and well he had it under control.

"Yamamoto-san," Tsuna called again as he slid the door to the dojo room open, a second after the elder Yamamoto took away Shigure Kintoki from his neck. He was about to step forward into the room but hesitated at the last moment, because even with most of the Tsuyoshi's killer intent under control, it was undeniable that some kind of tension hung between him and Reborn. There was no way Tsuna wouldn't have sensed that, especially considering his developing Vongola Intuition.

Choice made, Tsuna lingered around the threshold instead.

"Sawada, what's wrong?" Reborn could hear Ryohei ask loudly when he didn't move from the doorway. For someone who just left the hospital not even an hour ago, he sounded pretty lively and well. That was expected, though, considering it was Ryohei who they were talking about and it was Shamal that healed him of his most debilitating injuries.

"Juudaime?"Gokudera called with worry in his voice.

Tsuna and Reborn's attention were not on them, however. They were looking at the elder Yamamoto for his reaction.

Something within the elder Yamamoto seemed to shatter upon seeing kids of the younger Yamamoto's age.

If Takeshi was here, Reborn could almost see elder Yamamoto thinking, both Takeshi and him would have happily welcomed his son's it was, their presence only served to remind him once again that his son was not there because he had been captured.

No one spoke for a few beats, held back by something unseen yet felt by them all, until at last, someone let out a small breath. Everyone's eyes darted to, surprisingly, Tsuna.

"Yamamoto-san," Tsuna started, with only vague hints of his usual skittishness present. He bowed down to waist-level and managed not to fall flat on his face. "Sorry for the intrusion. We haven't really introduced ourselves, have we?"

The Tsuyoshi blinked, obviously surprised by Tsuna's formal tone coupled with the strange direction the conversation. After all, just a few seconds ago, he was ready to kill Tsuna's tutor. "You're Tsuna," the wielder of Shigure Kintoki said, falling back to what he knew in face of the unexpected. "Takeshi's friend."

Reborn could hear the slight hesitation, the pain in Tsuyoshi's voice when he said the younger Yamamoto's name.

He pretended not to have heard it.

"Yes," Tsuna answered, straightening up with a soft smile. He was becoming more confident. "I'm Yamamoto's friend and so is Gokudera-kun." Tsuna gestured to the silver-haired teen beside him. When he saw the attention was on him, he quickly mimicked his Boss and bowed.

"Nice to meet you, baseball freak's dad," Gokudera said in a respectful tone.

"Gokudera-kun," Tsuna hissed nervously in a hushed whisper, confident crumbling at the mistake that his friend made. Gokudera looked at Tsuna blankly for a second, before rewinding his words to see what was wrong. The second he realized that he was so used to calling Yamamoto baseball freak that he automatically replaced Yamamoto's name with the moniker in front of Yamamoto's father, he flushed.

"I'm so sorry!" Gokudera exclaimed in a rush, bowing even lower than before. "That was not intended to disrespect. I just got used to calling the baseball freak – "

Gokudera cut himself off when he came to the realization that he was digging himself a bigger hole.

There was a moment of awkward silence with Tsuna looking like he was about to face his death sentence, before a loud laugh rang out.

"Baseball freak, huh," Yamamoto's father said, amusement glimmering in his eyes, covering some of his worry. "It's true. There's no need to be embarrassed." Gokudera flushed even more and Tsuyoshi let out another laugh. "My son does love playing baseball a lot."

A little, shaky grin spread across Tsuna's face despite himself and Reborn watched as Tsuna nudged Gokudera a little to gesture him to stand from his bow.

"Juudaime," Gokudera whispered in a hush, ready to apologize profusely, but Tsuna merely gave him a firmer smile and shook his head.

"It's okay," Tsuna said softly, reassuringly, and Gokudera nodded.

Tsuna directed his attention back to elder Yamamoto, ready to do the next introduction. "Yamamoto-san, this is –"

"Hello, Yamamoto's dad!" Ryohei exclaimed, unable to stay silent any longer and popped up from behind Tsuna. He rushed into the dojo without any of the reservation that Tsuna showed and ran up to the elder Yamamoto. "It's very nice to meet you! I'm Sasagawa Ryohei, Yamamoto's sempai at Namimori! Yamamoto got his athletic from you, didn't he? I always wanted him to join the boxing club to the EXTREME, but he rejected the offer!"

Tsuyoshi stared at Ryohei for a few seconds, surprised by his enthusiasm, before finally falling to his default setting of smiling lightly. "Hello, Sasagawa-kun." He turned to Tsuna. "It's nice meeting my son's friends, but why –?"

Tsuna exchanged a look with Gokudera, before finally ambling into the dojo together as well. Tsuna gazed at elder Yamamoto with a nervous, but resolute look. "And this," he said, finishing off his introductions, and it wasn't hard to tell who else was left. The elder Yamamoto's face darkened as he was reminded of the hitman.

Reborn was marginally surprised Tsuna didn't let out a "Hiie!"

Instead, after taking in a deep breath, Tsuna firmed his gaze and with a gesture to Reborn, said, "This is Reborn, my tutor and the one who changed me. He is a sadistic, Spartan tutor, but despite everything, well-intentioned as well. He doesn't usually show it, but I know he does what he can to help me and my friends grow."

Both Reborn and Tsuyoshi started at those words, although Reborn would consider he hid it better. Tsuna's eyes also had an orange sheen layered on top of the usual brown.

"Yamamoto-san," Tsuna said, his voice shining with some of his hidden strength and potential. Despite the fact that he only called Yamamoto's father, everyone within hearing vicinity also found themselves drawn to Tsuna. "We're going to rescue Yamamoto." Tsuyoshi's eyes widened at Tsuna's words, the statement that he made with absolute certainty. "I promise we will bring him back, so please…please trust us."

"I know you've been taking care of Takeshi," Tsuyoshi said. "Can I trust you to continue doing that?"

"He's part of Tsuna's Family," Reborn said, careful with his wording. "Vongola always protect their family."

"But you're not Vongola," the wielder of Shigure Soen Ryu pointed out.

"It's not my style to interfere directly," Reborn said.

Tsuyoshi's death grip on his katana loosened as he remembered the other part of their conversation.

"But I'll make sure my student will."

Tsuyoshi looked at Takeshi's friends: Tsuna, Gokudera, and Ryohei, all with resolution shining brightly in their eyes. They were determined to rescue Takeshi, and he could see they had the strength to do so as well.

Tsuna was looking at him, still waiting for an answer.

Tsuyoshi parted his lips and nodded, words and action overlapping with what he did back then.

"That's good enough for me."

"I'll be counting on you then," he added, gaze meeting every single one of the teenagers. His gaze dropped to Reborn and after a tense moment, Tsuyoshi nodded.

Reborn nodded back and there was no spoken promise, but somehow, that was reassuring as well.

Xxx

Someone was approaching.

Yusuke cracked an eye open lazily just as Matsumura came up to him. "Yusuke," Matsumura said with astonishment when he saw who it was sleeping at the door of his restaurant. Yusuke cracked a smile at his bewildered expression. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," Yusuke said with a yawn, standing to stretch. "Damn, looks like someone slept in today. It's waaaaay passed your opening time, ya know? I wanted lunch, but now it looks like I'm gonna eat dinner instead."

"Sorry about that, Yusuke," Matsumura said, stepping forward to unlock his restaurant when Yusuke stepped aside. "It's just that I heard about what happened to Tao, so I went to see if he was alright." Matsumura slid the now unlocked door of his restaurant open, and beckoned at Yusuke. "Here, come in."

Yusuke blinked blearily as Matsumura went about turning on the lights, before finally registering what the restaurant owner said. "What happened to Tao?" Yusuke asked, half-curious. "Don't tell me he went back to skipping work again. I thought I got that out of him."

Matsumura paused mid-step to turn around and look at Yusuke with disbelief. "Yusuke, you didn't know?"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, now intrigued. "Know what?" he asked curiously.

"About the attacks that were occurring around Namimori," Matsumura said. "Surely you have heard of it by now. It's been the talk of the town!"

"Yeah, I heard of it, but –" what does that have to do with Tao? He wanted to ask, only to cut his spoken words short when his mind finally caught up with what was going on. Yusuke's blood ran cold, then promptly rose a few dangerous degrees at the conclusion that he came across. "You don't mean that," Yusuke started, even as Matsumura nodded slowly with thin-pressed lips that spoke of his dislike of the situation.

"Yes," Matsumura said. "Tao was one of the victims of the attacks. Apparently he was a senior at Namimori Middle School because he was held back a grade several times for skipping too many classes. If you want to visit him, I can tell you which hospital he was staying at."

"No, that's fine," Yusuke said, voice strangely calm and lacking inflection. There was a strange mixture of emotions on his face, partly amused, somewhat resigned and lastly thoughtful. "It seems like I can't stay away, after all."

Matsumura looked at Yusuke as though he was an unusual puzzle he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. "Yusuke, what are you talking about?"

Yusuke's eyes darted to him like he just remembered his presence, and flashed him a smile. Yusuke couldn't quite keep out that edge of anticipation out of it and from the slightly bewildered expression that flicked across Matsumura's face, he saw it too."Nothin'," Yusuke replied almost too casually. His gaze wandered to a faraway place as split-second of bloodlust streaked through him. "Just remembered I had something to take care of."

Xxx

Weak, Kyoya thought in his mind, slamming a perfectly well-aimed tonfa at yet another herbivore's stomach. He didn't wait to see if the herbivore would get back up from the blow and simply moved onto eliminating the next one. If he didn't get back up, it simply meant that he didn't deserve Kyoya's attention anyway; if he did, all Kyoya need to do was beat him back down again.

At the moment, Kyoya welcomed, no, dared anyone who would stand up after taking a blow from him. He was not furious, but then again, he never was. Kyoya was, however, extremely aggravated and annoyed after the first ten minutes of being in Kokuyo Land.

Pathetic, crowding herbivores, the whole lot of them, Kyoya snarled inwardly, already able to tell within the first few moments of exchanging blows with them that they were undeniable weak. After raising Kyoya's expectation so high with daring moves of ambushing Namimori students and then having to gall to make Kyoya wait before hunting them down, it turned out they were simply herbivores who didn't know their place.

As Kyoya slammed another herbivore away from him, as easily as a child poking a finger through the wet paper of ashoji door, Kyoya resolved to personally train his Disciplinary Committee. It seemed like he had been leaving them in Kusakabe's hands too long, their standards were going down, to be beaten by herbivores of this lower food chain.

The only one who even presented a remote challenge was the one who fought with sound using a flute, but her only strength lied in the fact that she was a ranged fighter and he a close one. Once Kyoya took advantage of the second she let up her sound attacks to inhale for breath to produce another attack and closed in on her, it was all over. She went down after two hits, admittedly better than some of the so-called opponents he faced who fell at his initial strike, but she was also the sole noteworthy adversary he came across in Kokuyo Land.

It was a wonder he didn't leave in a huff of disgust. The only reason Kyoya didn't was because he had some pay back to do on these herbivores that needed to know their place.

How dare they even think they can intrude on Namimori, Kyoya thought as he sensed an attack and moved out of the way, leaving the two of the herbivores to crash into each other. Kyoya slammed his tonfa in the third one, relishing in feeling the other's rib crack as he pulled away. Little by little, his irritationfell away as he continued to fight.

In the recess of his mind that was slowly being sated by the violence he was partaking, he thought that there must be more to the attacks on his beloved Namimori. While the Disciplinary Committee didn't consist only of carnivores per say, it definitely wouldn't have lost to these pathetic herbivores that he was must have a leader, Kyoya mentally concluded, so he would content himself with going through these weaklings if only to find the person behind all these attacks and maybe get a good fight out of it while he was at it.

Yes, Kyoya thought, pulling his tonfa away from the last of the herbivores. His gaze swept over the entire first floor of the depilating building to see if there was anyone else left, hiding in waiting or otherwise. Seeing there was none, he moved on to the staircase and took a step up, head angled to look at the second floor. I will make the herbivore behind these attacks pay.

xxx

"I see you're back, Chikusa," Mukuro said. At the sight of the body his subordinate was dragging behind him, the corner of Mukuro's lips twisted upwards. "And you've brought me back one of Vongola's underling."

Chikusa nodded as he reached Mukuro and dropped the hold he had on the other teen's shirt. Without anything holding the teen up, his body flopped lifelessly down against the dirty floor of the building. "He hasn't given up the location of the Vongola heir yet," Chikusa reported unemotionally, as he subtly rolled the shoulder of the arm he used to bring the teen back. Heterochromatic eyes caught the movement, but Chikusa pretended not to notice. "The Disciplinary Committee from Namimori interrupted, so Ken stayed back to take care of them while I returned with him."

"Them again, huh," Mukuro murmured, sounding vaguely amused. "Well, no matter. An organization like that is only as strong as its head and from the moment he had been stung, his lost is pretty much guaranteed."

Mukuro brought his gaze upon Chikusa and leaned forward to rest his elbows against his knees. His amusement was more visible now, Chikusa noticed with vague petulance. Chikusa stopped trying to imperceptibly roll his arm and met Mukuro's gaze head on.

"Tell me, Chikusa," Mukuro said with a full teasing smile, "how is that arm of yours?"

"Fine," Chikusa answered, a small frown slipping across his face. He had spoken too fast. To anyone else, Chikusa's response would have warrant no second thought, but Mukuro wasn't just anyone. Chikusa had no doubt that Mukuro realized he was annoyed.

A smirk slipped across Mukuro's face and if there was a time if Chikusa ever wished he hadn't sworn his loyalty to Mukuro, this was it.

"Really?"Mukuro drawled, canting his head slightly to the side like it was the most interesting he had heard since that one time Lancia tried to convince him that Santa Claus existed. "Because it seems to me that someone has been rolling his shoulder ever since he came back."

Chikusa felt his face warm even as he mumbled, "I'm not weak."

"Just not as physically strong as Ken," Mukuro acknowledged with a faint smile and a chuckle. Chikusa's frown deepened. "You know your strength and weaknesses, Chikusa."

"Ken wouldn't have agreed to leave the Disciplinary Committee to me and lug the boy back instead," Chikusa argued, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "He would have never listened."

"Hm. Our resident pup is too impulsive," Mukuro agreed, sounding caring and pensive when he was anything but. A wicked gleam entered his eyes as he gazed upon Chikusa. "Should I speak to him?"

"No," Chikusa said immediately. He ignored Mukuro's laugh at his response. "He would have complained endlessly to me then."

"Meaning?"Mukuro prompted at him.

Chikusa abandoned his blank look to glare at Mukuro, but he only smiled pleasantly and raised an eyebrow in response. "I'll rein him in next time and make sure we each do our jobs appropriate for us," Chikusa said –promised,really.

"Great," Mukuro said with a wide beaming smile that fooled no one, least of all Chikusa. "Why don't you go rest?"

Chikusa nodded and made a move to drag the teen with him.

"Leave him, Chikusa," Mukuro's voice rang out.

Chikusa looked up and exchanged looks with Muruko for a moment. "I'll interrogate him first, then," Chikusa said after a beat, bending down to shaking the Vongola underling awake.

"Chikusa, what did I say before?" Mukuro said, and the quality of his voice was different now. It was no longer teasing.

Chikusa didn't look up, thus avoiding Mukuro's eyes. "I can do this though."

There was a long moment of silence, before he heard the sound of rustling. Mukuro's shadow against the floor grew taller, indicting he stood up and began making its way towards Chikusa. A hand clasped onto Chikusa's shoulder and he shivered slightly as Mukuro leaned down to his level and whispered against his ear, "I'm not weak either, Chikusa."

Mukuro straightened before Chikusa could say anything and the hand on his shoulder lifted, brushing against Chikusa's white beanie like fingers ruffling through hair before saying, "I can handle the rest, Chikusa. Just – "

Muruko cut off his words as he sensed multiple presences entering his illusion surround Kokukyo Land that played on the feeling disinterest. The illusion would make anyone who pass by that thin layer consider Kokuyo Land as mediocre and ordinary, causing them to simply walk away without exploring the area any further. Not that anyone usually wandered around the dilapidating building; the illusion was simply a precaution. For people to enter the area, they would have to enter the building with a purpose in mind, strong enough that they wouldn't be deterred by his illusion's subtly nudge of suggestion to tell them to turn back.

"How touching." The mocking words spilled from Mukuro's lips unbidden and upon hearing his own sardonic words, a smirk twisted upon his face. "Here to rescue one of your own? Kufufufu."

"Muroko-sama?"Chikusa said questioning, raising his head to gaze at him. His voice was caught in his throat upon the sight of the illusionist with his pupils blown-wide, showcasing a half-crazed look in his glimmering red eye instead of the normally sly and clever one. Slender fingers gripped tightly at the left side of his face with a sense of barely able to hold himself back, while all the while reveling in that precarious situation, the sensation that came from tiptoeing along the thin line between sanity and madness with a sharp, jagged smile cutting through his features. The energy behind him was suffocating and even to Chikusa, who should have already been used to most of Mukuro's antics by now, frightening. It was like his deepest nightmare materialized through an illusion, an endless vacuum of darkness sucking in everything with merely a glance towards it.

Chikusa tried looking away with no avail and his whole body vibrated and trembled violently without his realization. Mukuro's laugh echoed in his mind, a sound of cruel amusement that followed him wherever he went.

"Chikusa," a voice called and his head jerked in the voice's direction like a puppet. Chikusa blinked rapidly, as though to make sure his eyes weren't playing a trick on him. The frightening energy around Mukuro had all but vanished, leaving absolutely no hints of its passing. Mukuro had dropped his hand from his left side of his face, revealing his other eye that was previous covered. "Go greet the Vongola for me, would you? Ken will join you soon."

Chikusa quickly stumbled up on shaking legs and turned away. "Of course," he said, and he had to put little to no effort at all in the act of hurrying away; his legs were all too willing to leave. His heart beat rapidly against his chest, like the flurries of dozens of panicked butterflies, and thought if only the split-second of dark-red slowly receding from Mukuro's clear blue eye would vanish from his mind as well.

Chapter Text

Ryohei stepped through the gates of Kokuyo Land along with Sawada, Gokudera and Reborn, tension running through his body like the finely tuned violin Kyoko played. While he looked calm on the outside, inwardly his blood was roaring for action. He was focused, his mind was clear and he knew what he had to do.

When Sawada swung by his hospital room a day or so after his last visit, he was pleasantly surprised since he was bored out of his mind in the room after his latest failed attempt at escaping from the hospital to do boxing training. Since he injured his own leg in the fight against those Kokuyo students, he unfortunately didn’t make it far before a nurse found and assisted him back to the room again.

Sawada blurted out his explanation for his visit as soon as he stepped into the room, stumbling over his words with a strange rush of nervousness and determination, but Ryohei honestly heard nothing of it. Instead, he was watching Sawada’s face. The first thing Ryohei noticed was the worry that etched into the lines of Sawada’s brow that seeped into his every word, which elicited a sense of protectiveness within him that was usually reserved for Kyoko.

Sawada worried easily and was jumpy all the time, but Ryohei figured this was something different. People always claimed Ryohei never listen and that was true, if only because he preferred seeing things for himself since people weren’t always truthful. Plus, he also did have a too short attention span to listen to people blabbing.

In Ryohei’s opinion, people need to go straight to the point. Life was never as complicated as some people make it out to be. For example, Ryohei liked boxing and so he was in the boxing club. It was as simple as that. For the same reason, he would continuingly recruit people to join his small club, even though most of the time people reject his invitations.

In this case, it was obvious that Sawada was troubled over something. The explanation wasn’t really necessary at that point. Since Sawada was in trouble, all Ryohei had to do was get rid of the problem.

As soon as Doctor Shamal gave him some kind of injection (something about a mosquito?), Ryohei’s injuries felt better. The doctor was still speaking, saying something about side-effects, but Ryohei didn’t hear it as pure energy and will burned through him. It prompted him to start doing something, so he simply turned to face Sawada, Gokudera and Reborn and told them to lead the way.

They stopped by Yamamoto’s house for a bit and met Yamamoto’s dad, and while Ryohei honestly didn’t understand the purpose of that, he still greeted Yamamoto’s dad enthusiastically. They promised Yamamoto’s dad that all of them would rescue Yamamoto and Ryohei couldn’t help thinking, Of course they would.

Although Ryohei didn’t know Yamamoto too well due to different class, age, and sports – Ryohei had a tendency to focus on boxing so much that he ignored everything outside of it and Yamamoto obviously wasn’t in the boxing club – he knew of Namimori Middle’s baseball star. Ryohei respect Yamamoto for his dedication to baseball, his sportsmanship and personality that was much like Ryohei and most of all, he was Sawada’s friend, which made Yamamoto his friend.

The thought that someone took Sawada’s friend to get to Sawada himself made Ryohei’s blood boil in a way since the time some dishonorable opponents took Kyoko to lure Ryohei into a trap after losing to him in a match. Thinking of that time, the scar above his left eyebrow that he received from that incident twinged, reminding him of his promise to his little sister not to fight anymore because Kyoko feared it would cause him more harm. Yet, Ryohei knew this wasn’t something he could back out from, not when a friend was in trouble.

The air in the abandonment of Kokuyo suddenly whistled, bringing Ryohei out of his thoughts. His head jerked up, trying to see what caused it and caught sight of the yo-yo that shot towards them.

“Juudaime, watch out!” Gokudera called out, even as Sawada let out a “Hiie!” and stumbled out of the yo-yo’s path. The yo-yo slammed into the ground with a loud crack, chipping the asphalt upon impact, before whirling back towards its owner again.

Ryohei’s eyes followed the path of the yo-yo to a teenager around the same age as them dressed in green. Something in the back of his mind niggled.

“Why you! How dare you attack Juudaime!” a voice shouted and Ryohei looked to the side to see Gokudera rushing forward, dynamites in hand and already lit.

“How extreme!” Ryohei laughed loudly, wholeheartedly approving Gokudera’s fighting spirit.

“Be careful, Gokudera!” Sawada called out. Gokudera turned around to give him a thumbs up, before throwing himself to the left just as a yo-yo slammed into where he was previously standing.

“Do you really have time to be distracted?” The yo-yo guy asked, sounding a little annoyed as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Ryohei squinted at him, his previous thought coming back to him: something was familiar about him, but what?

“Tsuna, stop the fidgeting,” the little guy suddenly spoke up. Ryohei pulled away from his thought to see Sawada was wringing his hands and looked like he wanted to both interfere into the fight and not. “You’re going to make Gokudera worry about you instead of concentrating on his battle.”

Sawada dropped his hands to his sides at Reborn’s words and bit his lips. “I know,” he said after a moment, “but I can’t help it.” He winced as an explosion went off in the background.

Ryohei turned his eyes to the fight between the yo-yo guy and Gokudera, before turning back to Sawada with a grin. “Don’t worry, Sawada!” Ryohei said, slapping the younger teenager on the back. Tsuna let out an ‘oof’ that Ryohei entirely ignored. “He is fighting his Extreme best right now! Just believe in him!”

At Ryohei’s words, Sawada’s eyes widened slightly, before at last giving him a small smile. “I guess onii-san is right. I should just believe him in.”

Ryohei nodded his head firmly, agreeing with Sawada’s words. That was the attitude a fighter should have!

They watched Gokudera fight for a few minutes, before Ryohei finally realized why Gokudera’s opponent seemed so familiar.

“Ah! It’s him!” Ryohei shouted. Besides him, Sawada jumped. “He was with the extreme wolf-guy that fought me and landed me in the hospital!”

“Eh?!” Sawada exclaimed. “Then -” Except Ryohei wasn’t listening anymore as he hurried forward.

“Onii-san!” Sawada dimly shouted after him, but Ryohei had a one-tracked mind. Normally he wouldn’t interrupt someone else’s fight, but...

“Oi! I want a rematch with the wolf-guy!” Ryohei shouted at the yo-yo guy as he headed towards the fight.

“Fuck off, lawn head!” Gokudera yelled as he threw two sticks of dynamite into the air. His shirt was scorched and bruises bloomed across his skin. “This is my fight. Ask him afterwards!”

“But I extremely need a rematch now!” Ryohei insisted, because why fight later when he can do it now? There was no point of delaying it, after all. The sooner the training or fight, the better!

“Argh! I don’t have time to deal with -” Gokudera threw himself to the left as a streak of blond and green almost slammed into him, and Ryohei quickly stepped forward and knocked away the yo-yo that headed towards where Gokudera just landed.

“What the hell?!” Gokudera declared, but a wide smile spread across Ryohei’s when he saw who it was.

“Miss me, Kakipi?” the wolf-guy said, on his face a sharp grin that revealed his fangs.

“Like a fungus,” Kakipi replied without missing a beat. “If only you were a split-second faster, we could have gotten him, Ken.”

“Eh, whatever,” Ken said, digging his pinky into his ears. “I’m here now, ain’t I, byon?”

“Hey, fight me!” Ryohei shouted with a grin, not caring that he was interrupting.

Ken looked over at him, before canting his head to the side in a dog-like manner and sniffing. “Hey, I fought you already, didn’t I? Beat you up pretty badly too, byon.”

He looked over to Kakipi for confirmation and received a nod in return.

“Yeah, but I’m stronger now!” Ryohei declared without a hint of shame. “So fight me again!”

“I’ll just beat you up again. It’s no fu -” Ken skidded back as he blocked a punch from Ryohei.

Ryohei’s grin widened when Ken’s eyes sharpened immediately afterwards. “Let’s have an extreme fight, alright!?”

“Heh,” Ken said, interest appearing in his face. His hand reached into his pocket and Ryohei perked up because he knew what was there. Ken withdrew a set of fangs. When he slipped them into his mouth, his nails and his fangs began to enlongate. “If you want to lose so badly!” he declared and rushed towards him, but Ryohei was ready this time. He knew he could win.

Ryohei casted one last look at Sawada, hoping he would remember his words - “He is fighting his Extreme best right now! Just believe in him!” - and received a nod in return, so Ryohei turned to his opponent and concentrated fully on him without a worry.

He won, even if half-way through, his leg started hurting him again, Ryohei managed to pull through. In the end, Ryohei and Gokudera were left the last ones standing.

Ryohei managed to grin, give his friends double thumbs up, and said, “That… was awesome, my friend!”  before his legs gave out on him and his world blackout.

Xxx

Mukuro glanced down at the typical-Japanese looking teen unconscious by his feet, looking for all intent and purposes like he was just sleeping if his brows weren’t scrunched up in discomfort and pain. He eyed at the thinly smeared blood trail formed on the dirty floor from Chikusa dragging the teen up, before nudging the teenager’s body over so the teen was lying on his stomach.

The back of the teen’s shirt had a huge splotch of blood, explaining the bloody smear left on the floor. While the bleeding stopped, the wound definitely wasn’t clean and was probably painful. Mukuro squatted down to examine it closer and his lips curled when he saw it was Ken’s work as he had previously thought.

His hand reached out and brushed against the wound, his smile widening when the prone body let out a series of minute shudders before stilling again. Mukuro tutted and repeated his action. The dirt and small pebbles in the wound fell away, revealing the wound was not nearly as bad as all the blood suggested.

It seems like the teen’s instincts saved him once again, Mukuro thought absentmindedly as he dragged a few fingers through the wound that was bleeding once again, and pressing a little deeper each time. He leaned forward so he was on the balls of his feet with his knees pressed against the side of the teen’s lower back, able to feel closely and intimately every time the body shuddered a little more.  Ken’s not the type to hold back during a fight and the wounds he inflicts are usually worse than this.

Mukuro was drawn out of his thoughts when the teen let out a groan. He looked down, eyes unseeing for a moment before focusing on the tip of his fingers that were inside the injury. He lifted his hand and stared at the blood-soaked fingers, before looking over at the visible side of the teen’s face, still lined with pain despite slackening. Mukuro lowered his bloody fingers back down again, resting lightly on the wound and felt the body shivered ever slightly. Huh.

He deliberately rubbed his fingers around the wound, circling it but never directly touching it, watching as the boy’s face twist as though it struggled to decide whether or not it was a threat. His lips curled for a moment, before he abruptly gouged deep into the wound.

The startled, pained scream that followed was as wonderful as he imagined.        

Mukuro wove an illusion directly into the teen’s mind. His arms were heavier than they actually were, legs stiff with fright and pain, back aching from the wound and who knows what, throat feeling like it had swallowed a boulder, and mind distorted with panic from waking in an unfamiliar place after being knocked unconscious. In his mind, the room was darker than it was, but he would have no trouble seeing a deceptively young adult leaning over him, face wide, open, innocuous and yet undeniably twisted and dangerous with one of his eyes gleaming red, the character six inscribed within it.

“Why, hello,” Mukuro greeted casually and the teen’s head whipped towards him, eyes blown out wide. Mukuro could almost hear the irregular beats of his heart, pumping and pumping, fast like if it did so it could keep him alive a moment longer, and Mukuro couldn’t help smiling as he stood. The teen’s gaze followed him as Mukuro went over to face him directly and didn’t leave him as he squatted down again. “I’m Mukuro Rokudo. You’re…?”

The teen’s head snapped up. “You’re the one who was attacking our students,” he breathed out in understanding. His brows furrowed a second later. “But the picture…”

“You didn’t really think I’ll allow myself to be photographed now, do you?” he asked. “You, on the other hand.” Skimming bloodied fingers along the other’s jawline until he reached his chin, Mukuro tilted the teen’s head up to face him. “You have a pretty face,” he said, “I would hate to ruin it, so why don’t you tell me what you know about Vongola’s heir and we’ll call it a day?” Mukuro smiled innocently, as if the teen’s blood wasn’t on his fingertips and he wasn’t holding the teen hostage.

The teen’s face went blank.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” the teen croaked out, but there was a undercurrent of doubt in his own voice, and wasn’t that interesting? Could the teen not know his companion was the Vongola heir and only now he was beginning to suspect?

“Are you sure? I believe he goes by the name… Tsunayoshi.” The teen jerked out of his hold, a telling sign even if Mukuro didn’t see the image that flashed across the teen’s mind at the name: a young boy with his baby fat, fluffy light brown hair and the most expressive of faces. “Ah, so you do know him.” Not what Mukuro imagined as the future Vongola at all, but that just meant controlling him would be much easier than he thought. Mukuro crossed his legs and sat down, resting an elbow on his knee and his chin on his curled palm. “Tell me about him.”

The teen glared up at him, abandoning the pretense of not knowing anything. “No.”

In the silence of their surroundings, the sound of the backhand Mukuro delivered to him was loud. The teen let out a gasp, as Mukuro subtly influenced his mind a little more. The sound of impact was louder than it actually was, the pain shaper, the hit harder, his body considerably weaker. Strength sapped out of him with that one hit and along with it, perhaps his will to fight. Mukuro leaned in and in the teen’s mind, shadow danced across Mukuro’s face and piercing through all the darkness, his red eye gleamed. “Care to try again?”

The teen lifted his head, despite the fatigue that Mukuro made sure weighed down his limbs and dragged down his eyelids and the empty pain that stabbed at his stomach. “No.”

“Well, you’re more resilient than most,” Mukuro commented, grabbing the teen’s neck with a hand. He let out a choked noise that Mukuro entirely ignored. “I can break you eventually and even control your mind, just like I did with the Ranking Prince, but that’s going to take too long.” Mukuro could feel the multiple illusions that he was holding up slowly draining away his energy. “Instead, why don’t we go with something more physical? Which body part should I break first, hm?”

Fear flashed across the teen’s eyes and along with it, a scene. Sweat trickling down his back, a sense of camaraderie, his muscles aching and smiles flashing everywhere as cheers rose.

“Ah,” Mukuro said, a smile splitting across his face. He released his hold on the teen’s neck, ignoring his coughs and splutters, and stood, walking until he was standing just behind and out of the teen’s view. Almost gently, he pried the teen’s hand off from where it was cradling his bruised neck and pulled it back.

And back.

And back.

The teen let out a noise that was like an injured animal when pressure slowly began to build from the angle his arm was in and understanding dawned what Mukuro’s next threat was. Mukuro almost regretted not being able to see the teen’s eyes as this happened, but there was thrill in stepping on the teen’s back wound to hold him in place so he could not interfere with what was about to happen as well.

“So,” Mukuro prompted, leaning towards the teen with his foot still pressed upon his bleeding wound. “Baseball or your friends?”

Xxx

“Is Onii-san fine?” Tsuna asked, and there was an odd quality in his voice that made Reborn look up at him. Tsuna was watching Gokudera carry Rhoyei’s unsconscious body to a nearby tree, eyes strangely intent as they darted about, cataloguing – Reborn followed the gaze of his eyes – the injuries on both his friends’ body. Seeing the visible ones and undoubtedly, accounting for the ones that were hidden beneath clothes.

“He’ll be fine,” Reborn replied neutrally. “The Trident mosquitoes’ side-effects aren’t devastating. His body just needs time to heal.” He watched Tsuna relax at those words, eyes clearing, and decided to take a calculated risk of giving Tsuna a metaphoric push. He added, “And Gokudera’s alright. He definitely experienced worse.”

At those words, Tsuna’s lips pressed to a thin line – a sign of defiant instead of breakage – and Reborn knew the risk paid off. Tsuna’s distaste at the thought of his friends hurting, his inability to condone what the Kokuyo Gang had forced his friends into, and the growing thought that something had to be done will be his driving force for change. It will make instead of break. His rose-tinted view of the world already cracked and this was Tsuna taking a look at the surface of what the Mafia World had to offer, in all its danger, threat and disruption to any possibility of a peaceful life, and coming to the conclusion that if he didn’t like it, then Tsuna himself would have to do something about the situation. The seed already budded, and now Reborn will just have to nurture it to full growth.

“They shouldn’t have to,” Tsuna said quietly, almost to himself. His eyes focused at the scene in front of him again as Gokudera – there was no other way to describe it – deposited Ryohei’s body near the base of a tree.

The pensive, intent air instantly around Tsuna vanished.

“Gokudera!” Tsuna wailed as he hurried forward, comically looking like Gokudera with Tsuna every time an incident occurred around them, hands and eyes frantically examining Ryohei to make sure he was fine. “Please be careful with him!”

“Yes, Juudaime,” Gokudera replied rather automatically, because the day Gokudera disobeyed Tsuna was the day hell froze over, before a smirk slipped across his face. “Lawn head’s skull is tough, though. He’ll be fine.”

“Still…” Tsuna replied, gazing down at Ryohei, and there was a look in his eyes again. He stepped forward and leaned down until he was at level with him. “We’ll be right back for you later, Onii-san,” Tsuna said told the boxer, before standing to face Reborn and Gokudera. “Where do we go next?”

“Seems like there’s only one path to follow, Juudamine,” Gokudera commented. “After all, no one will try to go that way, unless they’re idiots,” he continued, pointing at the obstacles that littered the rest of the possible roads.

Elsewhere, Hibari and Yusuke sneezed.

Chapter Text

"So," Mukuro said, tone so nonchalant despite pressing a foot against Takeshi's back and twisting his arm back until the pressure there became a silent, all-too-real threat. He had never been so terrified before in his life, with the shadows on the wall, the gleaming demon-red of his captor's eye, the weakness in his limbs that rendered him helpless. And now, this. "Baseball or your friends?"

A question that he never thought about and didn't think he would ever have to, because Takeshi successfully managed to balance his time between them well enough and because his friends would never ask him to choose.

"Silent?" Mukuro asked, and Takeshi gritted his teeth at the mocking tone in the other's voice. Anger grew in the pits of his stomach and stewed, and the illusionist only added more fire to it when he continued, "I'll give you the count of three."

"One." Takeshi struggled to wiggle free the best that he could, before the other gripped his wrist in warning. "Don't," Mukuro said, "no matter how amusing your attempt is."

"Two." Takeshi let out a panicked breath as Mukuro pulled his arm even more and he swore he could hear his joints creak. Preparing to break. Takeshi pressed his forehead against the ground and willed himself to think. Mukuro chuckled at what he perceived was a surrender, and in the moment, Takeshi made up his mind.

"Three." Takeshi twisted to the side with all his might, unbalancing Mukuro and wrenching his arm away from the madman. Although Takeshi knew what was coming, the sound of a loud crack seconds before pain shot up his arm still made his stomach drop. His arm was broken. Takeshi shoved that thought away for now and retaliated by taking advantage of Mukuro's surprise to sweep his legs, knocking Mukuro down. As he was scrambling for a weapon – a stray bat, he needed a stray bat, didn't movies always had those in convenient places? – the door to the room burst open.

Both Mukuro and Takeshi instinctively stopped to stare, even though that probably wasn't the smartest move in the middle of a fight. Hibari Kyoya stood at the door, not a hair out of place, and calmly took in the situation, eyes scanning over Mukuro who had fallen against the floor and Takeshi whose hand closed over a huge piece of rock lying around. He then smirked, approval shining in his eyes for a second before he turned away to address Mukuro.

"You dared touch what is mine," Hibari said, a palpable threat evident in his voice, tonfa's held out at ready. The approving smirk that he gave Takeshi before turned bloodthirsty and anticipatory at once, and Takeshi told himself that it was just surprise and adrenaline that made his heart beat so madly fast at the sight of it. "I'll bite you to death!"

And with those words, Hibari rushed forward, only sparing one last look at Takeshi that told him exactly what would happen if he interfered with his fight, and then Mukuro materialized a trident out of nowhere and met him head on.

He watched them fight for a moment, although the more correct term would be he couldn't look away, not from the vicious curl that slashed across Hibari's face – that was the only rare instant he had seen Hibari smile –, the mad, amused look Mukuro gave in return, or the sheer violence they were capable of dishing out and visibly reveling in. At the sight, his hands twitched and his fingers itched. Something was burning within him – more than just anger, although that was there as well – and it took a moment for Takeshi to place it. It was desire to jump in, to interfere even though Hibari warned him against it, and to take part in the fight. The desire to do so was so strong that it left him reeling, and a part of his mind recalled, natural born hitman.

Takeshi eyed at the rock that he was about to use as a weapon, looked at the furious clash of Hibari and Mukuro's weapons, and promptly decided to look for a better suited weapon. A bat, a crowbar, something that would give him a fighting chance because he would be the idiot that Gokudera kept on calling him if he jumped in without preparation.

Takeshi was wrenching a half-detached leg of a ruined chair – he thought he would have ripped the whole thing off already if he had use of both of his arms, but used that to flame the growing urge of violence in his heart instead – when he heard a laugh.

He unwitting turned back around and then there was the two of them, except now the covered item in corner of the room was revealed. His eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement as the sakura tree – maybe as tall as Takeshi – grew right before his very eyes, from a tree that simply occupied a corner of the room to slowly blooming across the entire ceiling, raining down drifting blossoms in a move that might have been considered romantic if not for the effect it seemed to have on Hibari.

In face of the sakura, Hibari's body stiffened, much to Takeshi and – judging by the expression on the prefect's face – Hibari's surprise, and Mukuro took that opportunity to promptly jab the butt of his trident at his stomach. Hibari shifted to avoid a direct blow but it glanced him nevertheless, sending him stumbling a few steps back even as he stubbornly raised his tonfas once more with obvious effort. Takeshi winced, because even with all his optimism, he could tell it wasn't good news. On the flip side, however, with the room lit in sakura petals, the room somehow no longer felt full of shadows and his limbs suddenly seemed lighter. More like normal.

Didn't the kid, Reborn, say something about illusions?

"What did you do?" Hibari hissed, swinging at Mukuro with his tonfas, his movement slow and stiff. Mukuro chuckled and danced backward, playful and relaxed even in face of an opponent like Hibari. So assured of his victory now.

"Nothing," Mukuro said, perfectly smug and looking down at the other teen. "Let's just say I took advantage of a situation." He took a step forward, leisurely and calmly, and continued to mock, "I wonder, what should I do with you?"

Mukuro reached out to touch the other teen and Takeshi let the chair he was holding fly across the room, narrowly missing Mukuro only because he jumped back the last second.

"Hibari-sempai is Namimori's prefect," Takeshi said as he stepped forward, cutting between Hibari and Mukuro. He bent down and picked up the chair leg that broke free when he threw the chair, before raising it to point at Mukuro. A pleasant smile slid across Takeshi's face, so natural just like the weight of a bat in his hand, the swing of a shinai prior to him dropping it in favor of devoting his time on baseball. The leg of a chair cannot hope to replace a shinai, but if Takeshi concentrated closely, he could almost remember: his mother's encouragement and compliments, and his father's advices to his stances. "Messing with him is just like messing with us, and messing with us is just like messing with him."

"I don't need your help, herbivore," Hibari hissed behind him as he struggled to a stand.

"I know you don't, senpai," Takeshi said matter-of-factly without ever letting his eyes off of Mukuro, who still had an infuriating amused look on his face. "But this is personal," he said, eyes growing cold as he recalled his helplessness from before as Mukuro threatened the two most important things in his life.

At those words, Hibari's eyes flickered to his left arm, which hung limply beside his body, and then to Takeshi's face. Finally, he said, "The baseball team's Autumn game is in a month, isn't it?" and surprise made Takeshi turn back to stare at the prefect. Takeshi didn't think Hibari was ignorant of school matters, of course, but he didn't think he would recognize that he was on the baseball team. Hibari ignored Takeshi's surprise in favors of readying his tonfas once more, clearly deciding time for chit-chat was over. "Don't get in my way, herbivore, and I'll bite you to death if you can't participate in the game later."

A brilliant, genuine grin spread across Takeshi's face as he registered that, despite Hibari's harsh words, he didn't say no.

"Of course, senpai," he said, unable to help the sing-song tone of his voice. Hibari casted him an annoyed look at him for that, and normally Takeshi would take that as a sign of retreat, but right now, all he could do was keep from grinning even more.

"What a touching relationship," Mukuro said, clapping sardonically. "Except your situation didn't change one bit."

"Shut up," Hibari ordered, and then promptly charged at Mukuro. Takeshi, after a split-second, hastily followed.

Xxx

The three of them walked along the only road unblocked for a few minutes, until they came across a man standing in the middle of it. In his hand was a chain connected to an iron ball with snake-shape ditches on its surface.

There was no doubt about it. That man was Mukuro Rokudo, the one that that they had seen in the mugshots of the escaped Vendice prisoners.

Both Tsuna and Gokudera paused at the sight of the other man, but interestingly enough, it was Tsuna who swallowed deeply, steeled himself and then walked on. Gokudera quickly followed.

"Where is he?" Tsuna said, and contrary to expectation, it wasn't a shout made of two-part fear and one-part a bumbling demand. His voice was soft, but it carried well and moreover there was expectation there. A command for the recipient of the question to answer. When Reborn turned to look at Tsuna, his eyes were already bleeding orange. Only sitting on Tsuna's shoulders could Reborn make out the minute tremor of his body.

Mukuro's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him, mouth parting to speak before he even became conscious of it. He caught himself just in time, and… something about Mukuro changed. His expressions flickered for a second, fast and indescribable, before it became brutal and cold once more. "Your friend is not here. If you wish to find him, you'll have to first defeat me."

Tsuna let out a breath at those words, and it sounded like resignation, determination and fear. Nevertheless, he nodded stiffly without a comment, before turning to Reborn. Reborn met his eyes as his student, for the first time, made a serious request of him. "Please shoot me. I – " Tsuna's hands clenched into a fist and for a second, the orange in his eyes wavered in the face of his overwhelming guilt, regret, and resolve. "I have to fight." I have to bring Yamamoto back.

Reborn nodded and jumped to the ground, taking out a spare gun since Leon was still in a cocoon and slipped the last Dying Will bullet into the compartment. He leveled the gun at his student and his student stood there, not ducking, not running away and just standing there. Accepting. Because it was his fault Yamamoto was captured and so he must get him back. Because Yamamoto was his friend.

Reborn waited a beat and then he fired. The last thing Tsuna did was smile at Gokudera, before he exploded in a range of motion, moving so fast that Mukuro barely had time to lift his hands up as Tsuna slammed his fist into the other man. Faster, harder, more brutal than Tsuna had ever previously fought.

Reborn didn't need to look to his left to know that Gokudera's eyes were gleaming with hero-worship at Tsuna's display of power and he didn't need to listen to know Gokudera was enthusiastically cheering his Boss on. Reborn approved of Tsuna's new-found strength as well – he was constantly breaking limits, but Reborn couldn't help but recall that the Dying Will was fueled by pressure and regret, so what did it mean when Tsuna became exponentially more powerful after being shot by it?

Dying Will was all about instincts, will and emotion, almost like a peek through a window into the surface of the soul and in the Dying Will Mode, Tsuna's eyes were wild, fevered and full of desperation. "I promised, I promised, I promised!" Tsuna yelled like a mantra in between his "ARGH!" battle cry. He screamed with every charge, got back up with every fall, and rushed back into the fight like a trapped bull that could see no alternatives. There was no grace to his fight, no change in strategy even after Mukuro tossed the iron ball aside to fight hand-to-hand, only raw determination fueled by desperation.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Tsuna shouted and delivered the final blows, slamming his flamed forehead against the other's, followed by a heavy kick. There was a crack that echoed in the ruins of the Kokuyo Land, a gush of air and gasp abruptly leaving the lungs, and then the collapse of Mukuro's body. He didn't move again.

Tsuna stood above him, head tilted down and eyes shadowed by his hair, his chest heaving and breaths coming in pained gasps. His flame was distinguishing, but Tsuna was reaching towards the unmoving Mukuro regardless, visibly trembling arms reaching out to grasp Mukuro by the shoulder.

Gokudera hurried forward to help, to fuss over Tsuna's injuries and congratulate him on his victory, but Reborn remained in place and watched, eye unblinking.

"Where is he?" Tsuna rasped out, shaking the other man by the shoulder as though he could awaken him from his beating by sheer will. "Where is he? I beat you. Now tell me ."

Miraculously, Mukuro's eyes fluttered open. He stared at Tsuna and there was something different in his gaze. Reborn abruptly recalled the battle, looking past all the observations he made of Tsuna, and realized that Mukuro, a renown illusionist, didn't use any illusions. "You freed me," he said, disbelief in his voice. "Three years in his control now, and – you saved me."

Tsuna's hold on Mukuro – no, who was that man? – loosened and the other man's body fell back against the asphalt with a thump. The fake Mukuro immediately winced, and his arm curled around his waist, where bruises were already beginning to show between the gaps of his tattered uniform.

"You're not the real Mukuro, are you?" Tsuna asked, even though he already knew the answer. He never looked more like a kicked puppy that kicked an even more miserable puppy. "D-during the fight… I had a feeling that you were reluctant, but I –" I just kept on fighting and ignored the niggling thought at the back of the mind because 'I promised, I promised, I promised!', 'GIVE HIM BACK!' . Tsuna looked horrified, and collapsed as all strength left him and only Gokudera's quick catch of Tsuna saved them rumors of the would-be Decimo laying in only his boxers with a random guy on the streets. "Then where is he ? Where's Yamamoto?"

The fake Mukuro pushed himself up to a sitting position with visible effort. "He's there," he said, pointing off to a building at a distant. At Tsuna's surprised face, the tiniest smile crossed the fake Mukuro's expression. "I owe you one. I thought I would be forced to be Mukuro's double for the rest of my life, but then you came along. Please defeat him and save your friend." The venom in his voice was palpable when referring to the real Mukuro, but also the sincerity in his gratitude and his wish for Tsuna to find Yamamoto. "I'll go with you, but…" The fake Mukuro could barely sit up straight without wincing.

Tsuna nodded briskly, easily accepting the words of a man he was fighting against not even ten minutes prior. One day, Reborn will have to teach him about being so trusting. "Thank you," he said, and pulled away from Gokudera's supporting hands with obvious effort. "Let's go. Yamamoto's waiting." Tsuna made a move to leave, before pausing and turning back to the other man sheepishly. "Umm… may I ask what's your name?"

Reborn will never stop being amazed at Tsuna's innate ability to hit upon every emotional weak spot of people he came across and always knowing what to say to unwittingly break and remake them. The fake Mukuro swallowed, and looked overwhelmed for a moment because if his words were to be trusted, he hadn't been his own person for years and a name would be a start.

"Lancia," the man breathed out, like someone shot him multiple times in the stomach and set him free. Lancia, titled the Strongest Man in Northern Italy, who one day went crazy, killed the Family that raised him and vanished from the map, only popping up occasionally for a notable crime he committed. To think Mukuro was controlling him the whole time…

"I'm sorry for injuring you, Lancia-san," Tsuna said, nervously biting his lips as he casted side-glances at Lancia's multiple bruises. "And thank you for helping us." Tsuna bowed at him as per Japanese tradition, and almost toppled over. This time, two pairs of hands reached out. Tsuna looked at Lancia in surprise.

"No," Lancia said, eyes glimmering, and clasped Tsuna's hands despite Gokudera's warning growl. "Thank you ."

Xxx

"It's a pity, really," Mukuro said, circling the two teenagers that have fallen before him, "that both of you have come to me in less than perfect shape. Who knows, maybe you would have actually been able to give me a challenge."

This prompted a weak growl from the prefect and a glare from his interrogatee, which would have prompted Mukuro to start laughing if his statement wasn't a blatant lie. Sure they didn't give him much of a challenge, but fighting them was draining and he still had the Vongola heir to tear down and possess. He didn't have more energy to waste on them.

"Sleep," he uttered lowly, using a little energy to nudge them towards unconsciousness. There was a bit of resistance from both of them, but their bodies were exhausted and needed to heal. Their bodies knew what their mind was too stubborn to acknowledge: sleep and rest were the best things to do right now. Of course, sleeping in the enemy's presence was hardly smart, but they were lucky that Mukuro had no more interest in them. Now all he wanted to do was rest a little before facing off the Vongola – who should be suitably weakened thanks to Chikusa, Ken and Lancia.

He headed upstairs to the room he claimed as his own, partaking in a quick snack of onigiri and a rest on the worn-in couch. His plan will work. Once he possessed the Vongola, he will use his authority to negotiate his freedom with the Vendice and later, their revenge upon the Mafia.

He woke up few minutes later when the minute illusion he set at the stairwell of his floor was triggered, dissipating and warning Mukuro at the same time. Mukuro rouse, an anticipatory smile curling on his face as he sat leaning forward with his elbows against his knees. His trident appeared propped beside him against the couch. Mukuro could see a shadow edging closer to his door, until at last its owner stood within the frame of it in plain view.

Mukuro startled as his right eye abruptly switched to the fourth path without his command, to the Realm of Demons. Images and emotions sliced through him: cockiness – a green orb in his hand with the thought of being all powerful, ruthlessness – the delicious feeling of ripping humans and demons alike apart, humiliation – a mere human defeating him with a blast of spirit energy, seething anger – paying the price of his crimes with his soul, and then – nothingness. Those were only remnant of strong feelings left behind on the soul that was fashioned to be one part of his eye.

The man looked at him with raised eyebrow at the sight of Mukuro's change. Mukuro looked back and finally said one word. "Yusuke."

Chapter Text

At the sound of his name coming from a stranger, Yusuke faltered in his steps for a second, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he gazed at the teenager – Mukuro –, before continuing into the room. “Okay, I’ll admit I didn’t expect that. Did my reputation precede me?” he asked, the quirk of his lips contrasting the serious glint in his eyes.

After all, joking aside, no one should have known his name; he didn’t have a reputation. If anyone looked his identity up, they would have found Sasaki Aoi – his fake name in official capacity during his stay in Japan – instead of Yusuke. The only way Mukuro could have known his name was  he found out through the people of Namimori, whom he did give his real name to, or he already knew it. Either was possible, but the look of surprise that crossed Mukuro’s face as he uttered his name threw him for a loop. Somehow, it seemed like there should be a third possibility, one that Yusuke had yet to consider.

Mukuro stood from his seat and picked up something propped to the side as Yusuke edged closer. He raised an eyebrow when he was finally close enough to see Mukuro’s choice of weapon: a trident.

A smile twisted on Mukuro’s face, dangerous as much as alluring, as the two of them instinctively fell into the pattern of languidly circling each other. Both weren’t attacking yet, but simply examining and measuring each other up. Yusuke knew Mukuro was physically weaker than him, but the confidence that he exuded said he had a something up his sleeve. That, or he was just very good at faking his confidence.

“Kufufu, I wonder,” Mukuro drawled in answer to his previous question, eyes fixed on him. “You’re not from here,” he stated, not a question but a prompt.

“Well, neither are you,” Yusuke countered calmly, before missing a beat in his step as he caught sight of Mukuro’s eyes - specifically the red one. Mukuro immediately took advantage of Yusuke’s lapse in attention, pushing off the ground to rush at him with trident in hand. Yusuke shifted the last second, watching the trident stab at the space he was merely a split second ago, before grasping the trident’s handle with a hand. The weapon jerked to stop at the force, bringing its owner to halt directly in front of him. Up close, Yusuke finally could see the kanji for four and the glow of a familiar energy within the red eye. He leaned in to peer closely at it, forgetting that he was in a middle of a fight. Half-disbelieving, he asked, “Is that demon energy ?”

Mukuro wretched his trident away instead of answering, forcing Yusuke to dodge or be stabbed.

“Should you really be distracted right now, Yu suke ?” Mukuro asked, and there was a way Mukuro said his name, threatening as much as suggestive, that made a smile curl unwittingly across Yusuke’s face. Even though Mukuro was undoubtedly weakened after escaping Vendicare, a fact that Mukuro himself should know well, he still managed to so relentlessly give off a presence of strength and superiority. Yusuke was impressed.

He grinned. “Why don’t you tell me?” he challenged, before running towards Mukuro. Mukuro ducked under his fist and swung his trident up, but Yusuke sidestepped it. “How about this?” he suggested, mind flashing to the deals between himself and Reborn even as he continued, “I win this fight and you tell me about that eye.”

“Kufufufu, why would I take such a deal,” Mukuro asked, barely managing to blocked his kick, “when I have what you want but you have nothing of value to me?”

Yusuke froze for a second, cursing the fact that he was always way too honest in his fighting style. This really was just like Reborn and his deals. For once, he would like to deal with someone who was perhaps a little less perceptive. “I won’t beat you too badly?” Yusuke offered, half-joking and half-serious as he resumed the fight.

“You can’t defeat me,” Mukuro said, just as Yusuke punched the smug smile that began to spread across his face.

Or would have punched, if Yusuke’s arm didn’t go through Mukuro’s image.

“What did I just say?” Mukuro said, his voice a few inches to the left of his illusionary self. Yusuke immediately pulled his arm back, but not before it was cut with the trident.

A few droplets of his blood hit the ground.

“I can’t believe I forgot that you are an illusionist,” Yusuke said, a small frown crossing his face. He eyed at the minor wound on his arm for a beat, before finally grinning. “That’s a good trick though,” he said as anticipation finally entered his eyes.

“Why, thank you,” Mukuro said, smug smile firmly on his face as he twirled his weapon with more flair than ever necessary. “Now you’re mine.”

Yusuke raised an eyebrow at his phrasing, but before he could reply, a wretched, blood-chilling shierk pierced into his ears. Who…? Yusuke looked towards Mukuro for any hints, only to pause at the sight of him. Mukuro’s regular eye was pitch black to the point where there was barely any difference between the pupil and the iris, and the red one have never been any closer to the color of running blood more than now. The aura around Mukuro had completely changed and Yusuke automatically looked towards the number on his eye without really knowing why, only to see it remain the same.

“So he found them,” the illusionist breathed out, a jagged smile sharp enough to cut on his face. He chuckled deeply and it rattled in Yusuke’s brain despite how many villainous laughs he had heard in his lifetime. “Shall I go greet them?” he mused quietly to himself, Yusuke all but forgotten. Yusuke would have felt peeved if only he didn’t get such a visceral feeling of wrongness from Mukuro’s abrupt change.

Mukuro dissipated his trident before moving out of the room and starting down the stairs, fight forgotten.Yusuke followed after a few seconds, curious despite himself. Who did the shriek belong to? It sounded mournful, chilling and vengeful all at once. What could elicit such a… Yusuke stopped on the step of the stair, and stared at the humming illusionist’s back as he finally remembered why he was there for. Mukuro was attacking the middle school students of the normally peaceful Namimori. Last he heard, Reborn intended for Tsuna to become involved and Reborn always got what he wanted. “What did you do to Tsuna?” He thought back to the shriek and the golden-haired brat’s protectiveness. “Or rather, his friends?”

“Broke one of his arm,” Mukuro answered without a pause in his steps, his tone almost inflectionless. Some humor entered his voice with his next words. “It will be a while before he can batter up again.”

“You didn’t,” Yusuke said, stated, commanded because Tsuyoshi’s boy was Tsuna’s friend, wasn’t he? Traded his shinai for a baseball bat , Tsuyoshi recounted to him, his tone wistful and proud.

Mukuro took the last step onto the second floor, before turning around to face Yusuke. “Of course I did,” he uttered, his eyes glazed with madness. “His arm cracked so nicely – “

Crack.

“There’s a lot of things I can forgive,” Yusuke enunciated slowly, eyes hard as he pressed Mukuro’s head against the wall. “But messing with one of the few friends I have or their family ain’t one of them.”

Mukuro began laughing.

Yusuke’s grip tightened.

“Yusuke,” a voice called out and there was Reborn. Pointing a gun at him. Yusuke’s heart thud, slow and steady, and time seemed to stretch out endlessly between them two. “Let go of him.”

“Why?” Yusuke questioned, inflectionless. He made no move to comply to Reborn’s command. “He crossed a line. It’s personal. ”

A silhouette behind Reborn stood, and Yusuke briefly noted the two bodies on the ground that it was previously crouching over, before the silhouette stepped into light. “Yusuke-san, please.”

The part of Yusuke that wasn’t snarling at Mukuro’s transgression whistled, reminded of the uncanny resemblance between Giotto and Tsuna. On Tsuna’s forehead was a flame flickering and leaping with desire to burn everything to ashes. His hands were already both lit, the burning energy amplified by familiar gloves with a X on the back.  What was most striking, however, was instead of a warm orange glow, Tsuna’s flame pulsed so intensely that it borderlined red. At this moment, Tsuna wasn’t using the Sky Flame. He didn’t want harmony. He wanted destruction.

He was using the Flame of Wrath.

“Please move,” Tsuna repeated, and Yusuke could hear the tightly coiled fury in his tone, barely restrained like a wild animal. “I need to do this.”

Yusuke flexed the hand that was on Mukuro’s head, considering. It had been a while since Yusuke was genuinely angry. He didn’t even think he could feel anything beyond vaguely amused or annoyed anymore, but somehow, Mukuro crossed a line that Yusuke was barely aware still existed. He harmed Takeshi and by doing so, affected Tsuyoshi as well. Before, Yusuke said his fight with Mukuro was personal and it was. By crossing Tsuyoshi and his son, Mukuro crossed Yusuke too.

But…

The same applied to Tsuna, didn’t it, and he was even more affected than Yusuke. Takeshi is his friend and to begin with, this whole conflict with Mukuro was all about Tsuna. Yusuke could only imagine how he felt right now, to the point that his normally gentle, if not a little uncontrolled, orange flame changed to the Flame of Wrath.

Yusuke pushed down the anger that flared at the thought of passing his right to retribution, and let go.

Mukuro slumped down against the wall, leaving a trail of smeared blood where the skin of his head split open. Collapsed against the base of the dirty wall, Mukuro looked uncomfortably akin to a victim. Or at least that was what Yusuke would have thought if he felt charitable.

He certainly didn’t feel any, however.

Yusuke stepped aside, away from Mukuro, and next to Reborn, who was finally lowering his gun. His finger remained on the trigger, however. Yusuke wondered who Reborn was prepared to shoot: at him or Mukuro.

Tsuna stepped forward at Yusuke’s clear signal of go ahead and stood before Mukuro, looking down as he waited for the illusionist to stand.

Mukuro did with a laugh, wiping his head wound against his sleeve before promptly summoning his trident. “Why, hello, Vongola,” Mukuro with a mocking bow. His eyes – red and black both – glittered, sharp with madness. “How do you like my presents?”

Wrong move, Yusuke thought as Tsuna shot forward and crashed against Mukuro’s trident, sending Mukuro flying back into a wall.

“ Shut up ,” Tsuna growled, appearing instantly at Mukuro’s location and punched. Yusuke noted that it was an illusion a split-second before it began dissipating around Tsuna’s arm. Without pausing a beat, Tsuna slammed his hand to the left and backhanded Mukuro, who was at an angle behind the illusion.

Mukuro crumpled, apparently defeated, and that was when a dozens of hissing snakes dropped from thin air and onto Tsuna. Mukuro turned and Yusuke took a step forward, rapt, when he caught sight of the number two in Mukuro’s red eye. The demon energy emitting from it vanished. How?

Yusuke was about to take a closer look when the sound of a gun cocking reached his ears. He paused.

“Don’t test my patience, Yusuke.”

Yusuke turned. Reborn was watching the fight between Tsuna and Mukuro, and to outsiders, completely ignoring Yusuke. Yusuke would need to be a fool to believe that Reborn’s attention wasn’t split between the two, however. His tense stance, his finger on the trigger, and his foot pointed slightly in Yusuke’s direction for the ease of a quick pivot all said otherwise.

Reborn was ready to follow through with his warning and as much as Yusuke was interested, he didn’t want to fight under such circumstances. Not when Reborn seemed furious, his attention split and distracted.

Yusuke turned back to the fight instead, resigning himself to watching Tsuna and Mukuro fight and to squint at Mukuro’s red eye from a distance.

“Why are you angry?” Yusuke asked after a moment.

He snuck a glance at Reborn for his reaction, only to see Reborn already outright glaring at him. Yusuke involuntarily started, surprised. He thought they were going to do that conversation thing where both of them will stand side-by-side, neither of them looking at each other as they made believe to be talking to thin air. But it seemed like Reborn was even more incensed than he thought.

“You know why, Yusuke. Urameshi, ” Reborn growled and Yusuke winced, because that was totally foul play, using his surname.

“Back to Urameshi again?” Yusuke joked weakly, only to immediately jump back when a bullet slammed into the cement where he was standing a mere second ago. The background battle still raged on without a pause, and that was when he realized that Reborn had thoughtfully used a silencer. Great. No one will ever hear that he got shot. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, alright? I broke my deal, our words, yada yada yada.” When Reborn looked like he was about to shoot at him again, Yusuke hurried on, “I didn’t know until today that Tao – er, an employee at the restaurant that I worked at– was a victim of Mukuro’s attack, so I came here to um, avenge him.”

“You mean, use that employee as an excuse to fight Mukuro,” Reborn corrected. “And to back down from our deal.” Yusuke winced at the matter-of-fact way Reborn said it; it was true in a way, but still. “Since you broke your end of the deal, I won’t uphold my part of it either.”

Reborn’s gun transformed back to Leon. Yusuke’s eyes bulged out, because what the fuck, wasn’t Reborn about to shoot him before, but Reborn already turned his attention back to the fight. Tsuna was winning, easily.

Without knowing what else to do, Yusuke mimicked Reborn and brought his attention back to the fight, except he couldn’t concentrate beyond noting the fact that Tsuna was winning. True nervousness was wiggling in his stomach, reminiscent of - nothing, Yusuke realized with a shock. Since when was the last time he was nervous about anything? - , as he waited for Reborn to do something. Surely, surely Reborn wouldn’t let this go so easily. Yusuke had a feeling that he was the vindictive type, so there was no way Reborn wouldn’t retribute in some way. So Yusuke waited. And waited. And waited, constantly on the edge for longer than he had ever remembered in recent memory, but Reborn did nothing. He was ignoring Yusuke completely like he wasn’t there, like he didn’t exist, and it pissed Yusuke off as much as it made him –

– finally realize that that was exactly what Reborn wanted.

Their deal was for them to fight if Yusuke didn’t involve himself with Mukuro. There was no point of Reborn threatening Yusuke with violence, was there, when that was actually the prize for complying? A prize that Yusuke was no longer eligible for, because he broke the terms.

Yusuke couldn’t stop the wail-like noise that escaped from him when it finally dawned on him, except even that embarrassing noise didn’t make Reborn turn towards him. Leon flicked his tongue out at him, almost sympathetically, but turned away when Yusuke sent him a pleading look for help.

On your own, buddy, Leon seemed to be saying. Or maybe Yusuke was just projecting his own subconscious feelings onto the chameleon. Even his own subconscious didn’t want to help Yusuke. He was so screwed.

Yusuke awkwardly cleared his throat.

Reborn ignored him.

“So, nice weather we’re having today?” Yusuke said, going for cheery.

Reborn didn’t even cast a glance in his direction.

Yusuke awkwardly scratched his head, quickly running out of ideas.

A shot rang out in Kokuyo Land.

Yusuke startled, limbs instinctively falling into a fighting stance, even as he was certain Reborn got sick of his attempts at reconciliation and shot him. He looked down at Reborn, only to find surprise – as surprised as the hitman will ever would be – on his face. Yusuke followed Reborn’s gaze to the sight of Tsuna’s flame abruptly going out, leaving the teenager to stare down, completely horrified at the body that laid crumpled at his feet.

Snapping out of his surprise, Reborn hurried forward and Yusuke made a move to follow, taking Reborn’s action as a sign that he should also be able to move closer to observe without … whatever torture Reborn might decide to inflict on him next.

‘Kufufufufufu.’

Yusuke’s head snapped up, eyes focusing at the ruined side of the building where Tsuna was currently hovering over Mukuro’s still body. He recognized that laugh.

Yusuke moved forward, cautious as he went towards Mukuro’s body to confirm his suspicion. His movement was as smooth as a machine, easily moving one foot after another. It didn’t require much thinking to move until he heading towards Tsuna from his blind spot, until he was close enough to hear Tsuna babbled frightenedly, “He was like, ‘So even rabbits have fangs, huh,’ and smiled. I – I don’t know what was going through my mind, not really, because I was just so angry. ” Closer, he could see that Tsuna was wringing his arm and ah, that won’t do. He needed that body. “I thought he would just admit defeat , but then he took out a gun and shot himself.”

Yusuke’s arm extended out, reminiscence of Mukuro’s pose to summon his trident, and –

‘Get the fuck out of my head,’ Yusuke snarled, and pushed his energy throughout his body. Discomfort rouse within him at the sudden displacement of his energy, but when it settled again, Mukuro’s influence was gone from his head.

Yusuke immediately consciously brought up energy to mentally block his mind from influence. He could sense Mukuro’s presence hanging around, frustrated when he tried to enter his mind but couldn’t.

“He hurt Yamamoto and everyone, but I didn’t want him dead! ” Tsuna exclaimed, completely freaking out. He turned to his tutor, near hysterical now. “Reborn, what should I do?!”

Yusuke briefly wondered if he should tell them that Mukuro just tried to possess him, but he didn’t think Reborn would appreciate that. Besides, even if that might reassure Tsuna that maybe Mukuro wasn’t all dead yet, out of his body wasn’t exactly alive either.

‘Go back to your damn body,’ Yusuke hissed at Mukuro when he continued to buzz around his head.

‘I need to possess at least one person after leaving my own body,’ Mukuro replied, daring to make the fakest sad sound he ever heard when Yusuke mentally batted at him for attempting to enter more than the surface of his mind that he allowed him for conversation. ‘If you would much oblige.’

‘ So you can’ – Yusuke swiped briefly back at Mukuro’s mind and it couldn’t be helped that he caught a bit of his thoughts since Mukuro’s whole soul was literally there – ‘ possess him?’ He paused for a moment, shuffling through the half-thoughts that he snagged, before continuing, ‘And fuck, of course it was the stupid wound you gave me with your trident. Of. Course.’

Mukuro sneered. ‘Well, you’re taking this all to stride.’

‘ Having a friend that specialize in the mind does that to you,’ Yusuke deadpanned, and then offered a piece of memory of Hiei, his Hiei, to justify his reaction.

‘… A third eye, mind control, sword that will turn any humans into demons,’ Mukuro noted with amusement. ‘Doesn’t that sound familiar?’

‘… I give you an inch and you take a fucking mile, don’t you?’ Yusuke replied, rubbing at his head. He should have known better than to share anything, really. If Yusuke can swipe from Mukuro, of course Mukuro could take more than Yusuke intended to show as well.

And he just happened to accidentally tell Mukuro that demons were real.

Mukuro was about to reply, when he abruptly hissed, ‘Stop him!’

Yusuke inwardly winced at the high volume Mukuro shouted in his head, before finally focusing on the scene in front of him. Tsuna had a flame lit on his forehead again, only this time his flame was back to a pure orange, glowing light and warmth. Reborn was watching Yusuke with a suspicious look, but turned away just when Yusuke was about to speak.

He wondered if Reborn knew.

“Please, please , come back,” Tsuna uttered sincerely, kneeling beside Mukuro’s still body. “Reborn said you shot yourself with a possession bullet. I’ll cleanse its effect with my flames, so please… just don’t be dead.”

‘Stop -!’

Tsuna pressed his forehead, along with the gentle flame, against Mukuro’s forehead, and Mukuro screamed. It took Yusuke everything to not clench onto his head and hold on for dear life, and he couldn’t help but wonder how that was supposed to bring Mukuro back.

For a long while, the only thing that Yusuke was aware of was the ringing of his ears from Mukuro’s screams as he was sucked back into his body, and the sight of the pulsing flame between Tsuna and Mukuro where they pressed forehead to forehead.

When Tsuna surfaced from what Yusuke thought as quite the intimate gesture, the flame on his forehead was extinguished and there were tears rimming his eyes. Yusuke wondered if Tsuna also saw some of Mukuro’s thoughts or memory, then wondered what did he see to elicit this type of reaction.

“Tsuna,” Reborn prompted, his voice surprisingly soft.

Tsuna blinked and the tears that were previous on the edge of his eyes fell down his cheeks. He didn’t seem to be able to look away from Mukuro, who didn’t seem to be waking. “He was experimented on by his own family, ” Tsuna said, making no move to wipe his tears as he finally, finally looked away and towards Reborn. “How can anyone do that ?!"  

For a moment, Yusuke thought Reborn wasn’t going to reply. Yusuke wouldn’t be able to answer either, not with Tsuna looking so lost and disheartened. At last, Reborn said, his voice still soft, “The Mafia is a cruel world, Tsuna.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be! ” Tsuna exclaimed, and he was young, so painfully young with his ideals of justice and his inability to accept how the world actually was against his belief of how it should be. “I – !”

Chains shot out from the darkness, and both Reborn and Yusuke fought to hold still as they wrapped around Mukuro and pulled. Tsuna let out a cry as Mukuro’s body was dragged away.

“Wait!” he exclaimed, quickly standing up only to collapse back down the second he put weight onto his legs.

Reborn and Yusuke caught him, and their eyes met very briefly as they slowly lowered him against the ground.

The chains pulling Mukuro away paused upon hearing Tsuna’s cry, before the chain started rattling in reverse, the end of the chain heading towards them instead of away. A figure draped in black appeared into the light. “Young Vongola, what it is that you want? Vendice have fulfilled its part of the bargain, and you, yours.”

Bargain? Tsuna looked like he wanted to ask, but chose to address the more pressing matters at hand instead. “What are you doing with Mukuro?” he asked as he struggled to sit upright, but failed. His face scrunched up with pain like every muscles in his body was aching. They probably were. Summoning the flame for usage took a toll on the body, and Yusuke knew Tsuna did it at least twice already.

“Return him to Vendicare for trial,” the Vendice answered clinically, his voice not inviting further conversation.

Tsuna didn’t notice as he argued, “But it’s not their fault! They were experimented and were pushed –“

“The Vendice is aware of that and has overlook their actions when they took out the Estraneo Famiglia. However, their subsequent action of destroying other mafia families unrelated to their experimentation cannot be excused or justified. They acted recklessly and exposed the Mafia to those who should have remained ignorant, thus disturbing the delicate balance the Vendice exist to preserve.” Upon its last sentence, some annoyance seemed to have entered the Vendice’s voice before it reverted back to being indifferent. “Mukuro Rokudo, along with his companions, have much to answer for.”

“But – “

Reborn jumped onto Tsuna’s shoulder, nearly unbalancing the teenager with the sudden weight. “That’s enough, Tsuna. Even the Mafia has laws that it must follow.”

Tsuna turned to look at his mentor, the look on his face nearly betrayed for Reborn siding against him, and the Vendice took the moment to slide away. It started to do so, but then turned back to Yusuke after a slight pause.

“You,” the Vendice said, its voice near inflectionless. Yusuke couldn’t help but think it sounded oddly familiar in a far-off away. “The Vendice don’t know why you are here, but tread carefully. We’re watching you. We know you don’t belong.”

Yusuke froze at those words. You don’t belong , it said. We know.

By the time Yusuke could think of a reply, the Vendice was gone and like that, the Kokuyo Incident that occurred in the peaceful town of Namimori officially came to a close.

Chapter Text

Gokudera sat at the hospital bedside of Juudaime, staring attentively at the apple held in his hand. With a look of intense concentration, he brought a knife against the apple and very carefully began to peel away its skin.

A few seconds later, Gokudera shouted in triumph, “Look, Juudaime, I have successfully cut away the apple skin in one go!” He held up a rope of twirling red skin that had been freshly unwounded from the apple.

A white pillow was promptly sent flying at him from the other side of the room.

Gokudera moved the apple out of the pillow’s path just a split-second before it hit him right in the face. It stuck there for a second before falling off, leaving behind a spluttering Gokudera.

“Why you -- fucking Hibari!” Gokudera hissed, glaring at the teenager in question. “What if it hit Juudaime’s apple?”

Hibari turned his back to Gokudera. “Herbivores should learn their place.”

Beside him, he could hear Juudaime whimper. How dare Hibari distress Juudaime?! Gokudera carefully put down both the apple and the peel on a plate, before reassuring, “It’s alright, Juudaime. I’ll take care of this.”

He whirled in Hibari’s direction and whipped out his dynamites. “Alright, that’s it! Prepare to die, Hibari!”

“Maa, maa, Gokudera,” Yamamoto interjected with a small smile, in the hospital bed adjacent to Hibari’s. “You don’t want to be kicked out of the hospital room again, right?”

“Hahaha, that was EXTREME!” Ryohei exclaimed in the bed beside Juudamine’s, causing Gokudera to wince for the sake of his eardrums.

“Shut up!” Gokudera hissed, but at a lower volume now. His eyes darted to the door of the hospital room, but thankfully, no one came in. “I refuse to part with Juudaime until he has recovered.”

“That’s very nice of you, Gokudera,” Juudaime spoke up. “But I only overexerted my muscles and is going to be discharged soon. The others, on the other hand…” Juudaime’s gaze fell to Ryohei and his fractured leg, Hibari and his cracked ribs, and Yamamoto, who was in Mukuro’s hands for hours and came out battered with bruises and a broken arm. And those were only surface wounds.

Gokudera wanted to say that injuries were common in the Mafia, that he himself had experienced worse back when he was a freelance, but even he had some tack. Instead, he plopped down into the visitor’s chair and said, “Juudaime, quick! Eat this apple before it turns brown!”

He shoved the skinned apple into Juudaime’s face.

Juudaime looked at the apple, then down at his hands which hung limply by his sides, and paled. “Umm… I can’t really hold it, Gokudera.”

“Weak,” Hibari muttered.

Gokudera’s head fell down until his hair casted shadows over his eyes. His hands trembled.

“G-Gokudra-kun,” Juudaime started, but then Gokudera’s head shot up, narrowly missing Juudaime’s.

“Juudaime, should I feed you it then?!” Gokudera’s eyes sparkled.

Juudaime blinked.

Xxx

They all got discharged within a month, a fact that Tsuna was endlessly grateful for it because he really didn’t think his friends remaining in close capacity for any long period of time was good for his sanity.

Upon returning home, he received a tight hug from his mother that sent his still-healing, torn and overexerted muscles into haywire and an admonishment of, “My silly boy. Be careful when you go camping, alright?”

Tsuna was not surprised that Reborn managed to make an excuse for his trip to the hospital, but that those words, said in her usual cheerful light manner, were belied by the minute trembling of her limbs around him. Guilt streaked through Tsuna in that moment when he realized, oblivious or not, of course his mother was going to worry when her son landed himself in the hospital.

Tsuna forced his arms up and hugged his mother back just as tightly, ignoring the pain that jolted through his muscles from that action. “I’m sorry, okaa-san. I’ll be more careful from now on, I promise.”

Tsuna withdrew from the embrace a moment later to see his mother smiling softly. “You must be hungry, Tsu-kun. Go upstairs and rest a little, while I prepare some lunch.”

Tsuna nodded, exhaustion weighing in his limbs once his mother mentioned it. He had been in the hospital for a while, but his unwilling and clashing roommates were not exactly the best people to stay around for a restful healing.

He trudged upstairs to his bedroom and opened it, noting with no surprise that Reborn was already there. Tsuna ignored his tutor for a moment and simply crashed face down onto his bed, relishing in finally being able to return to his own room. As he laid there, he thought about his friends.

Gokudera had already returned to the apartment since he luckily avoided any serious injuries during his part of the fight. Tsuna was glad that he told Gokudera to keep anyone from interrupting his and Mukuro’s fight instead of joining in the fray. At least one of his friends weren’t badly injured or hospitalized. Not a day passed without Gokudera visiting them (Juudaime only, he insisted, but always snuck in enough outside food to share) and arguing with everyone beside Tsuna in the room.

Yamamoto’s arm hasn’t completely healed, but he was going to be discharged in another two days. Ass long as he was careful not to aggravate his arm any further, it was going to heal on its own. He missed his own home so he insisted on returning, but Tsuna couldn’t help but wonder how Yamamoto was doing mentally. He seemed normal enough when Tsuna was roomed with him, but being captured was no light matter. Tsuna resolved to talk with him about it, thankful as he is that Yamamoto’s light-hearted manner kept Hibari from going homicidal on his hospital roommates.

Hibari wasn’t an easy person to be roomed with and not a day passed when he wasn’t visited by Kusakabe, his second-in-command of the Disciplinary Committee. On one hand, Tsuna was glad that Kusakabe visited because he brought news of how Namimori Middle’s peace seemed to have been restored, but on the other hand, he was frightening! Of all the people in the room, Hibari seemed to have the most extensive physical injuries, consisting of fractured ribs. It was only with Kusakabe’s efforts that Hibari relented on remaining in the hospital for three weeks, half of his recommended time to heal. He was the first one to insist on his discharge and actually got his way.

Ryohei’s broken leg, despite whatever Shamal did to enable him to participate in the fight in Kokuyo Land, was by no means healed. He had aggravated the injury in his fight and added additional bruises to his body on his persistence to be loud at every opportunity in the hospital even when Hibari bit him to death repeatedly for his transgression. Tsuna was amazed by Ryohei’s insistence not to learn and his mistaken view of Hibari training with him in the hospital room even when it was blatantly obvious to everyone else that Hibari was just frustrated and beating him up. Ryohei will be also discharged on the same day as Yamamoto, two days from now.

Now thinking about it, it’s surprising that all their injuries healed so well. All the doctors and nurses that tended them were exclaiming how remarkably lucky were all of them that their injuries wouldn’t have any long-term effects and that they were even healing at an unprecedented pace. The doctors and nurses chalked that up as them being teenagers, so they healed faster, but Tsuna couldn’t help but turn his head in Reborn’s direction as he recall his lesson that sun flames apparently healed. His eyes dropped to the yellow pacifier laying against Reborn’s chest.

Tsuna fell backward just as Reborn kick swept through the spot where he just vacated. Pride didn’t even have time to bloom – he dodged Reborn ’s attack – before Reborn landed, pivoted and struck out with his other foot.

Tsuna landed onto the floor in a heap of limbs, groaning in pain. Behind him, despite being child-sized, Reborn somehow managed to tower over him.

“Don’t be so happy just because you dodged one attack,” Reborn lectured. “Your opponent wouldn’t stop after just one strike and neither should you. If you have time to cheer, you should counterattack instead.”

Tsuna paled at the thought of counterattacking against Reborn. No way, just no way. “Impossible,” Tsuna unwittingly whimpered, and yelped at the feeling of an inflated Leon-hammer smacking into his back.

“There’s no such thing as impossible for the Vongola Boss,” Reborn said. “Even if there is, you would never admit it to anyone other than yourself. Never show any weakness or doubt.” Tsuna wondered if it was his imagination that Reborn’s voice softened as he finished, “After all, you did fine against Mukuro, didn’t you?”

At those unexpected words, pride bloomed in Tsuna chest and spread outwards tingling to his limbs. It seemed like forever since Reborn had become his tutor and in that time, Reborn had never praised him. Not when Tsuna finally began to pick up his grades in class, not when he finally – if not become an asset, then at least – stopped pulling his team down, and not even when Tsuna began gathering people by his side to become his guardians (whatever that meant). Reborn’s expectations were high and he always wanted more than Tsuna thought he could give, always pushing Tsuna to go beyond all his limits, and Reborn was never satisfied with anything but the best.

Reborn is the best and to receive such a compliment from him was beyond flattering. A part of Tsuna that he didn’t realize existed, but nevertheless always yearned for acknowledgement, preened and drank in the compliment while he can.

It wasn’t long before the smile that bloomed on his face faded at the reminder of Mukuro.

“Reborn,” Tsuna started haltingly, turning to face his tutor. “What… what happened to Mukuro?”

Reborn gave Tsuna an indescribable look, but answered after a pause all the same. “As of now, nothing yet. The date of their trial by the Vendicare is approaching, however. When that happens, they will be found guilty and then be punished for their crime.”

“Is there nothing that we can do?” Tsuna blurted out, sick at the thought of Mukuro and his group receiving punishment when they had already suffered so much under the hands of their Family who experimented on them.

Reborn’s eyes were on him. “Have you forgotten what he had planned to do to you, what he had done to your friends, to Yamamoto ? Are you going to forgive him for all that just because of his past?” The underlying, unspoken question was, ‘ Can your friends, can Yamamoto forgive him ? Can they forgive you for doing so?’ and contrary to Reborn’s biting words and implications, his tone was not angry or judging. Just… very matter-of-fact.

Tsuna swallowed at those words, because that had been what he had been struggling with for the past weeks. He and his friends spent weeks in the hospital. There was no permanent damage, but not all lasting wounds were physical. That was especially true for Yamamoto.

It was also especially true for Mukuro.

What his Family had done to him when he was young had warped him. Tsuna couldn’t help but try to imagine what would have happened if Mukuro grew up in a different environment. He refused to think that Mukuro would have turned out to be just as cruel, couldn’t , just like he couldn’t stop thinking about the flashes of abuse, of desperation, of pain that Tsuna sensed from Mukuro’s memory, whittling him down until all that was left was an empty shell with no will to live. That was, until a dark flash of hope, of vicious revenge revived him again.

Tsuna and Mukuro only shared their mind space for a few seconds, but Tsuna had seen, had felt way too much already to not care. Tsuna can’t unsee and he definitely can’t only consider one side of the situation when he had a glimpse of the other side. Tsuna realized that even before Reborn voiced the problem of forgiveness to Tsuna, even before Tsuna tried pleading the Vendice for Mukuro, he had already made his choice when he surfaced from Mukuro’s mind with more than just his own memory in his head. It had only taken him now to realize.

“I,” Tsuna said, the words at the tip of his tongue like a droplet at the end of a leaf, at the precipice of something monumental, “I forgive him.” The words tasted like betrayal as the image of Yamamoto’s broken form flashed through his mind, but it also tasted of redemption and of second chance.

“I forgave him,” Tsuna repeated again, because he was sure, certain now, “weeks ago back in Kokuyo Land.” Tsuna turned to Reborn. “I forgave him the moment I touched my forehead to his.”

Reborn nodded like he knew, like that was the answer he was expecting, and Tsuna couldn’t even feign being surprised. His tutor was extraordinary, through and through.

“What are you going to do about it then, Tsuna?”

Tsuna faltered for a second, before replying, “What can Vongola do?”

Reborn smiled.  

Xxx

Tsuyoshi looked up from where he was chatting with two other guest when the seashell chimes at the door of TakeSushi jingled, signalling someone had entered. His eyebrows rose when he saw who was there.

“Yusuke,” Tsuyoshi said in surprise, even as he excused himself from his two other patrons. “In the area again?”

Yusuke brought his gaze from Take Sushi’s crowd of patrons to Tsuyoshi’s face. “Um, yeah,” he said, and Tsuyoshi was surprised to hear a hint of awkwardness in his voice. “Wow, you have a lot of people here. Should I come back at a less busy time?”

“No, don’t worry about it, there’s a seat in the back,” Tsuyoshi said, already leading the way. He could hear Yusuke’s footsteps behind him as he followed. “I’ll bring you some sake and then you can tell me what you want?”

“Actually, just wait on that,” Yusuke said, even as he let out a short yawn, “I’m kinda sleepy.”

Tsuyoshi wanted to remind Yusuke that Take Sushi was a place for sushi, not for sleep , but before he could do so, they have arrived at the remaining empty seat of Take Sushi. Somewhere in the front, he could hear a patron calling his name. “Make yourself comfortable,” Tsuyoshi said succinctly, not wanting to waste any more time on his friend.

A smirk slid across Yusuke’s face and Tsuyoshi knew Yusuke would have made himself comfortable even if he didn’t invite him to do so. “Will do,” he said, before making the shooing motion at him. His eyes closed a moment later.

“I should charge him by time instead,” Tsuyoshi remarked to himself, even as he went back to work. Yusuke slipped from his mind and it wasn’t until Tsuyoshi had a break that he recalled Yusuke’s presence. Tsuyoshi flipped the sign on the door from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’, knowing that around this time, there will be little patrons. He could open TakeSushi again later.

With that in mind, Tsuyoshi went to withdraw a porcelain sake set, as well as some heated sake. He was placing them down on the table where Yusuke was seated when Yusuke’s eyes blinked opened.

“Finally awake?” Tsuyoshi grumbled without any heat, pouring some sake for the both of them.

“Yup,” Yusuke said, popping the last syllable. He reached forward for the cup of sake and cradled it between his palms. “Everyone already left?” he asked. A smile gradually spread across his face as he took a sip.

“Sounds like you wanted us to be alone,” Tsuyoshi commented upon his words and when Yusuke didn’t refute it, he took it to stride and said, “So what do you want to talk about?”

Yusuke took another sip from his cup, not yet replying, and that was fine. Tsuyoshi sat in the seat opposite of Yusuke and sipped his sake as well. A companionable silence descended upon them, until Yusuke finally broke it.

“How’s your kid’s arm?” he asked.

“Still broken,” Tsuyoshi answered shortly, without a second thought. At Yusuke’s surprised glance, he knew that he had spoken too harshly. He took a breath, trying to control the cocktail of emotions within him, and tried again. “Healing.”

“And you?” Yusuke said, eyes watching Tsuyoshi’s reaction intently.

Tsuyoshi resisted the urge to snarl. Instead, he said, “Alive. Still here.”

“Worried. Angry. Bitter,” Yusuke listed, hitting bullseyes with each emotion that Tsuyoshi didn’t want to acknowledge. His eyes flickered to Tsuyoshi’s clenched fist. Tsuyoshi tried to unclench it, knowing it was giving him away, but couldn’t. “Talk to me. Keeping everything inside doesn’t help, you know.”

“What do you want me to say?” Tsuyoshi ground out, because he was sick of how following Takeshi’s return, everyone treated him with a wide berth. The easy relationship he established with patrons and neighbors were no longer there, replaced by a tense sort of wariness as people interacted with him, as though he would snap if he were treated otherwise after almost losing his son to a madman. What was worse was the way people sometimes watched him from a distance, intensely and knowingly like waiting for a crack, a sign of breakage. There were consolations from them about Takeshi’s abduction, of course, but also pity that such misfortune befell on his son. These reactions grated at him and were such a bitter pill to swallow that Tsuyoshi could only imagine how Takeshi’s classmates and teachers reacted to his son himself. It was small mercy that recently, the effects of Namimori’s peaceful surrounding set in, and everyone went back to normal and pleasantly distant.

“Anything,” Yusuke said, bringing Tsuyoshi out of his thoughts. Yusuke spread his arms out as though he was about to embrace him, and repeated with clear eyes, “You can tell me anything you want.”

His arms were spread, like he was going to accept anything that Tsuyoshi said or any decision that he made. His eyes were clear, without any pity or expectation. There was only acceptance, and a pair of ears willing to hear him out.

Yusuke dropped his arms after a moment and shrugged. He took another sip of sake from his cup. “Or nothing at all,” he amended after a thought, “if you don’t feel like it, I mean. We can just sit here and get drunk.”

Despite all that had happened, Tsuyoshi still found it within him to let out a breath of laughter. “Takeshi’s going to come back from school soon,” he said.

Yusuke picked up the bottle of sake and wagged it at him. “Can’t even handle a little alcohol, old man,” he teased, pouring himself a generous amount. He waved it in Tsuyoshi’s direction again, questioning.

Tsuyoshi hesitated for a beat, before nodding. “Just a little more,” he said. He watched as the sake came pouring out of the bottle in a steady stream, before settling nicely on the bottom of his cup.

Tsuyoshi took it without another word, and the two of them drank in silence for a while.   

Finally, Tsuyoshi said, while looking down at his cup, “Worry, because my boy got hurt. Angry, because someone hurt him. Bitter, because I couldn’t do anything to help and had to rely on Takeshi’s friends.” He took another breath, before saying, “Worry, because soon my past will catch up to me. Angry, because my son unknowingly ran straight for it. Bitter, because even after all this time, all our efforts to get away, the Mafia still dogged our steps.”

“You don’t approve of Takeshi’s friendship with Tsuna?” Yusuke asked.

Tsuyoshi shook his head at the question. “It’s not up to me to approve or disapprove, Yusuke. It’s Takeshi’s choice to befriend whoever he likes. Tsuna is a good kid, though, I know. He saved Takeshi as promised, and it seems like he is struggling with his connection to the Mafia as much as I am.”

“Not Takeshi?” Yusuke asked, sounding a little surprised.

At that, a small smile spread across Tsuyoshi’s face, but it was tinged with self-deprecation. “Takeshi is attracted to danger, Yusuke. He relishes in it, this Mafia game. He knows there’s more to this ‘game’ than it appears, but he doesn’t care. It doesn’t bother him because he only wants to have fun.” Tsuyoshi shook his head and tossed the rest of the sake back. “‘Being with Tsuna is fun,’ he told me when he first befriended him.” His son’s wide grin shone so clearly in his mind as he finished, ‘ I don’t think I’ll ever be bored of it.’

Tsuyoshi sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I worry,” he said, “because of the path Takeshi is choosing to head down to, even after this incident. It’s like he doesn’t have any self-preservation.”

Yusuke let out a chuckle and chugged the rest of his sake. “Blame yourself for that. You raised him to stand by his friend’s side, didn’t you?”

Tsuyoshi couldn’t refute that. “I’m proud of him, have no doubt about that, but if he could be harmed once, then he would be harmed again in the future. What kind of parent would I be if I let that happen without a word of protest?”

Yusuke hummed thoughtfully. “Instead of a word of protest, why don’t you give him something to protect himself? For example, your swordsmanship.”

Tsuyoshi blinked at that suggestion, stunned, before dismissing it. “He has no interest in it. He dropped it in favor of baseball.”

“Was that before or after Mukuro?” Yusuke pointed out, and Tsuyoshi’s fist clenched. Yusuke’s eyes flicked to it for a moment, before meeting Tsuyoshi’s gaze and shrugging. “Something to think about,” was all he said. He pushed his seat back and stood. “I should get going. Put this on my tab?”

Tsuyoshi stood as well and forced his fist to unclench. “Again?” he said, collecting the sake set. “There’s quite a sum on that tab already. Can you even pay it off?” Despite his question, Tsuyoshi wasn’t worried. Yusuke wasn’t the type to run out on a tab, much less than a friend.

“Yeah, I just needa contact my accountant guy. He’s busy recently, apparently, and left me to fend for myself.” Yusuke sounded slightly miffed at that, and Tsuyoshi laughed.

“I didn’t know accountants take care of their patron’s day-to-day expense nowadays,” Tsuyoshi said, amused, as he walked Yusuke to the door.

Yusuke grinned. “Well, this one does.”

Xxx

“Thanks for the meal!” Takeshi said, grinning as he rubbed his stomach with a hand. Tsuyoshi’s eyes flicked to the one that was in a cast briefly, before looking away. “It’s delicious as always, oyaji.”

Tsuyoshi tried to grin as he always did as he cleaned up the plates. “Well, that’s great! I do have TakeSushi’s reputation to maintain, you know.”

Takeshi laughed, loud and warm. “Oyaji, are you going to the dojo after you’re done?”

Tsuyoshi stopped in the middle of washing the plates. He resumed after another moment, but neither of them had missed the sudden drop in atmosphere. “Yeah,” Tsuyoshi said, going for nonchalant. “You interested?”

His son laughed again, sheepishly this time. “A little. Can I go with you later?”

Tsuyoshi swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Just don’t get bored later.”

Takeshi hummed cheerfully and didn’t give a reply. When Tsuyoshi was done with the dishes, they both headed out to the dojo. It was bought along with TakeSushi shortly after Saya and he moved to Namimori permanently, because neither of them could quite abandon everything that the Mafia had shaped them into. They wanted to stay sharp, so they went there every night with Takeshi. After Saya passed away and Takeshi gained an interest in baseball, Tsuyoshi stopped going to the dojo so he could stay at home to watch over Takeshi. It was only when Takeshi entered middle school that Tsuyoshi began going to the dojo every night again.

“Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve came here,” Tsuyoshi heard Takeshi murmur as they entered the dojo. Tsuyoshi didn’t mention that the last time he was here, he was with his friends. Tsuyoshi had came to retrieve his sword Shigure Kintoki in preparation to rescue Takeshi from Mukuro when they came across him and persuaded him to let them bring his son back instead. They fulfilled the promise. There stood Takeshi in the dojo, admiring the wooden interior of the dojo, albeit with a broken arm.  

Tsuyoshi started with a little warm up, swinging Shigure Kintoki in its bamboo form until his arms were pleasantly aching. Takeshi didn’t say a word as he stood by the sidelines and watched. Tsuyoshi didn’t look towards him during the drill, but he knew that if he did, his son’s eyes would be gleaming, drinking every movement of Tsuyoshi from the angle of his arm to the length of the stride he took with every swing, like a blind man who had seen his first sight of light.   

Without a word, Tsuyoshi raised his arm again just like many times before, only to transform Shigure Kintoki into a sharp, gleaming blade when he swung down. A rush of water arched through the air where it cut.

Takeshi let out a sound of awe as Tsuyoshi turned to face him. “Oyaji is really amazing,” he said, dazzled but unsurprised at his skills. He paused, hesitating. “Oyaji, I…”

Tsuyoshi’s heart thud against his chest, heavy as the beats of a drum, even though he knew this moment would come the moment Takeshi asked to visit the dojo with him.

Takeshi bowed his head, low to waist level. “The Shigure Soen Ryu sword style is really the best. Can you please teach me it?”

Tsuyoshi wanted to laugh warmly, evasively, and forget about Takeshi’s request. He wanted to reject his request coldly, sternly, and dash Takeshi’s will to ever ask him of such thing ever again. Tsuyoshi wanted –

He wanted Takeshi to be safe, but it seemed so helpless, so hopeless, when Takeshi had already caught the Mafia’s attention simply by being a friend of Tsuna, the heir to the Vongola Empire. So long as Takeshi stayed with Tsuna, he would never be safe. He had been hurt once, already.

In that case, why couldn’t Tsuyoshi just keep his son weak, helpless, until it was no longer an option for Tsuna to keep an above-average but still civilian by his side? Tsuna and his friends will continue growing, until they… leave Takeshi behind.

The image of a flock of birds flying off to danger, leaving behind a single bird that flapped and flapped his wings but couldn’t go after them, flashed through his mind. The sound of the bird’s squawk, full of desperation and anguish, drummed against in his ears.

No! Tsuyoshi thought, with such vehemence that it surprised even him. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, do such a cruel thing to his son, not even to protect him. Tsuyoshi loved his son too much to cut his son’s wings off in the name of safety.

The only option left was to teach him Shigure Soen Ryu, then, except… Tsuyoshi thought about his restlessness, his fear, his worry, and anger as he paced back and forth in the dojo following Tsuna and his friend’s leave, unable to do anything but to pace and wait. To wait, wait, and only wait for the news of whether his only son lived. Tsuyoshi had worked himself up to such frenzy with the bad scenarios supplied by his restless brain that it was a relief when he was told that Takeshi was alive.

Perhaps it was because his relief was so strong that his anguished ended up double of that when he arrived at the hospital to the sight of Takeshi in the hospital bed, his pale skin nearly blending into the sterile sheets below him. His bruises and cuts stood out in strong contrast against them, and Tsuyoshi couldn’t breath when he found out that Takeshi’s arm was broken. In that moment, more than Takeshi’s well-being, all he could think was, he’s going to have a game in a month. He was so excited about that baseball game he was going to have in a month. He already made me promise to clear my schedule for that day. He’s going to have a game. He was going to have a game.

Tsuyoshi thought about teaching Shigure Soen Ryu to Takeshi, and it would be a mean of protection as much as a mean to head straight for danger. If Tsuyoshi taught Takeshi, he had no doubt that Takeshi could protect himself, to the degree that he wouldn’t hesitate for a second before heading straight for danger.

Tsuyoshi didn’t know how many times he could stand seeing Takeshi in the hospital before it broke him, but he didn’t want to find out.

He parted his mouth to give his answer, and Yusuke’s words echoed in his mind, “Blame yourself for that. You raised him to stand by his friend’s side, didn’t you?”

Tsuyoshi pressed his lips into a thin line and breathed. Tsuyoshi knew he would never forgive himself if he couldn’t help his friends when they needed him, and he knew that was the same for Takeshi as well. After all, he was his son.

Tsuyoshi let out a breath. It seemed like in the end, from the beginning, there had been only one answer.

Tsuyoshi smiled as Takeshi slowly raised his head for his answer. “Sure,” he said, committing himself to helping Takeshi protect himself and those around him, and if it meant sending him straight into danger also, well, at least he will have fun.

Takeshi grinned at him, warm and bright, and Tsuyoshi knew that it was all that he could ask for. Let him forever protect his son’s smile with his swordsmanship.

Chapter Text

Tsuna was doing homework at the kitchen table under the watchful eyes of a sleeping Reborn when his mother came back home. At the sight of all the groceries in her hand, Tsuna stood, about to help her when he recalled Reborn saying that he didn’t want him leaving the table until he was done with everything.

Tsuna snuck a look at Reborn, but although his eyes were freakly open like usual, his sleep bubble was still there, unpopped, by his mouth. Tsuna let out a sigh of relief and tiptoed to his mother’s side.

“Ah, Tsu-kun, thank you,” Nana said as she handed some of her bags to Tsuna, her voice low as her gaze dropped to Reborn sleeping. She let out a small giggle as she said, “How’s your homework coming along?”

“Pretty good,” Tsuna said, which once upon a time would have been a lie said to placid his mother. Now he could say that and mean it too, although whether ‘pretty good’ was up to Reborn’s standards was hard to say. Probably not, if Tsuna was being honest with himself.

He resigned himself to another stressful day of Reborn kicking him around for every question he got wrong.  

Nana giggled again, probably at Tsuna’s expression this time, before dropping a small book she had on the table. She began to put away the groceries and Tsuna would have helped her but she waved him away. After a second of hesitation, Tsuna obeyed.

“Oh, Tsu-kun, let me tell you something funny,” Nana said as she slipped fruits and vegetables into the fridge. “I went to the bank to get some money for groceries and I thought that since I was there, I might as well check your account’s balance as well. Who knows, I thought maybe Ietmitsu might have given you a little allowance.”

Tsuna subconscious let out a small growl at the name of his father. Reborn’s sleep bubble twitched. Nana continued her story, oblivious of the interruption. “There’s a lot of money there, Tsu-kun, at least eight digits.” Tsuna choked. “I was confused, so I asked the teller if he made some kind of mistake, but apparently it was right. I wonder who accidentally wired so much money into your account.”

Tsuna finally found the breath to speak. “E-eight digits?!” he exclaimed. He recalled the book that Nana dropped onto the table and grabbed at it, panic making his fingers clumsy. It wasn’t until his third try that he finally opened the bank book to the right page, and when he finally did, his eyes bulged out. “No way!”

“Right?” Nana said, her tone still mild and wondering, “Isn’t it so strange?”

Tsuna’s thoughts headed towards a dark turn as his mind supplied dozens of Mafia related reasons why his account had so much money, including an explanation of for his funeral service after they were done with him . “It’s not mine! We have to give it back! Ack - !”

Tsuna flopped on the ground in a heap, his head throbbing from the kick it received.

“Baka-Tsuna,” Reborn said, dusting himself off on the table as he turned to face him, “you don’t even remember the scholarship you applied for?”

“Scholarship?” both Tsuna and Nana asked, twin looks of confusion appearing on their faces. Tsuna rubbed his head with a frown as he stood.

While Nana continued with “Is that so? My Tsuna is so smart!,” already accepting Reborn’s explanation, Tsuna leaned in to Reborn’s space to hiss, “Since when did I apply for a scholarship?!”

“What kind of scholarship is it?” Nana asked, smile on her face.  

With a straight look, Reborn answered, “It’s a prestigious international scholarship awarded to students who have shown great leadership abilities.” Tsuna relaxed minutely. When described like that, it sound pretty legit and non-Mafia related. “The Vongola Scholarship not only award money” - Reborn slapped Tsuna on the back, hard, when he suddenly developed a fit of coughing. He fell straight back onto the ground. - “but also offers opportunities for international trips to places such as Italy for the summer. If Tsuna keeps up his good work, Vongola might even extend its offers to friends and family as well.

“What do you think, Maman?” Reborn asked, his voice sly. “Would you like a trip to Italy this summer?”

No, no, no, okaa-san, don’t believe him, Tsuna desperately plead inside his head as he tried to get up. Reborn casually hopped down from the table to Tsuna’s back, and Tsuna suddenly couldn’t move. He’s so strong!

Nana clapped her hands together. “That sounds so dreamy!” she squealed. “I haven’t been on a trip in years!”

At those last words, Tsuna froze. Of course, how could he forget that his mother hadn’t had time to enjoy herself because she had to take care of her No-Good son for the past years? Tsuna bowed his head until his bangs created a shadow over his eyes. Even now, Tsuna didn’t have anything to give back to her. What kind of son is he?

Reborn jumped off Tsuna’s back as Nana walked closer, tilting her head to the side questioningly as she said, “Tsu-kun? Are you okay?”

Tsuna stood without saying a word.

“Tsu-kun?”

“Okaa-san,” Tsuna said at last. He lifted his head with a smile on his face. “I’m going to work hard so we can go travel this summer, alright?”

Nana blinked, bemused for a second, before abruptly launching herself at Tsuna.

“Wahh!” Tsuna exclaimed as he was enveloped into a hug. His face warmed. “Okaa-san!”

“My Tsu-kun’s all grown up,” she giggled, hugging him closer to her chest. “So manly.” Tsuna stopped struggling and hugged her back. His mother was always so warm. “You remind me so much of your father, Tsu-kun.” Tsuna froze, although Nana didn’t notice. Instead, she sighed, giddy slipping out of her voice as she finished, almost wistfully, “It’ll be nice if he could come with us.”

Tsuna nearly pushed his mother away, outraged as the topic fell upon his forever absent father. Tsuna bitterly thought that he could barely even remember how he looked like, although Nana didn’t seem to have any trouble with that.

“Tsu-kun?” Nana asked, because even oblivious she would have had to notice Tsuna’s change in mood.

“I’m going upstairs, okaa-san,” Tsuna shouted, quickly grabbing his homework, pencil case, and the bank book before running up the stairs. He only tripped once before making it into his room. Once he did, he tossed his stuff to the side and flopped down onto the bed. His blood burned.

“I hate him!” Tsuna recalled himself shouting, back at the restaurant with Yusuke on his mother’s birthday. Tsuna didn’t have much feeling towards his father and was pretty much indifferent to him after he passed the age where he kept on asking for his father and learned that no matter how many times he asked, his father was never going to be home.

Tsuna guessed that his feeling towards his father stopped being indifference the moment he missed his mother’s birthday after promising that he would be home for that day. The disappointed look on his mother’s face, followed by her trying to put on a happy front, Tsuna would never be able to forget. Nor could he forgive that man for putting it there.

“Reborn,” Tsuna called out, somehow knowing that he was there despite the fact that he did not see or hear the hitman follow him up. He stared up at the ceiling instead of trying to spot Reborn. “Was what you said before true?”

Tsuna turned to the side as Reborn jumped on his bed. “I told you to be specific when asking questions, didn’t I? Asking general questions only results in - “

“General answer, and they’re no use to anyone,” Tsuna finished with a sigh. “I meant, with the trip to Italy. Will Vongola” - the name sounded strange on his tongue, when he had always so diligently avoided bringing up anything related to the Mafia - “really sponsor it?”

“Vongola will do more than that, if it’s their future Vongola Decimo who’s asking,” Reborn said quietly.

“And if I ask Vongola’s Outside Advisor to accompany us?”

Tsuna could feel Reborn’s gaze on him, heavy and contemplating, before he finally said, “Depends on if it’ll please its Vongola Decimo.”

Tsuna let out a breath. “It’ll please the Vongola Decimo’s mother,” he said, and that was an answer in itself, “and that will please the Decimo very much.” Tsuna swallowed. “That will have to be enough.”

“Tsuna,” Reborn said, feeling obligated to warn his student, “I know I told you that you can use some of Vongola’s power to see if you’re really not willing to be part of it at all, but -”

Tsuna sat up. “But the more I use it, the more it shows that I’m accepting it and the more deeply involved I will be with Vongola.”

Reborn didn’t rebuke Tsuna for his interruption and that was almost enough to make him smile if they weren’t on this topic. “Despite knowing that, you’ll use your influence over Vongola for something minor like this.”

It wasn’t a question, and Reborn knew as well as Tsuna that to him, his mother’s happiness wasn’t something minor at all. Reborn just wanted Tsuna to say it aloud.

Tsuna’s heart beat and trembled against his chest. It was just words, spoken words that would leave no trace or record after its sound waves dissipated, and yet Tsuna shook. It felt game changing, monumental, like an earthquake or tsunami that if it cannot leave a visible mark on the earth, it will at least change the composition of his very being.

“I,” Tsuna started, only for the words to stick inside his throat. Fearful. Afraid of change. He took a deep breath. He was afraid of many things, Tsuna knew and accepted, but he refused to be afraid of this. That was because, “I’ll do anything for the sake of my friends and family,” he said, voice clear, “and that includes considering to become the Vongola Decimo.”

Reborn smiled at him, and pride swelled through him, down to even Tsuna’s toes.

Imperceptibly, some of Reborn’s inner dread slipped away as well.

After all, the news of Tsuna’s defeating Mukuro had spread across the Mafia the second it occurred, as intended by Vongola. After this incident, no one will challenge Tsuna’s claim to the Vongola Decimo position for a long time to come. It would save Vongola and Timoteo tons of trouble.

It also made Tsuna backing out of becoming Vongola Decimo no longer an option, not when the Underground now recognized Tsuna as a worthy candidate. Or even, a threat.

How many people were now rallying behind his student, Reborn wondered, and how many were quietly plotting his demise? More importantly, how long would this peace continue to last, before enemies and allies alike found their way here to Namimori?

Reborn couldn’t accurately predict answers to those questions yet, but he did know this: Tsuna refusing to enter the Mafia world was no longer an option. Even if he shout on top of his lung in the midst of the entire Mafia that he didn’t intend to inherit Vongola, it would be ineffectual. After all, who would believe that there exist a person who would willingly abandon such prestigious position of power?

No, the only way that the Mafia would ever believe Tsuna was if he was dead and Reborn would never let that happen if he could help it. And as long as Tsuna was alive, he would be involved with the Mafia. If he wasn’t willing to enter the Mafia, the Mafia would just come to him in forms of ingratiating allies and malicious enemies.

It was good that Tsuna was beginning to willingly consider the Vongola Decimo position.

“But Reborn,” Tsuna called out, not yet finished, “I may choose to use Vongola for Mukuro and even okaa-san, but the money…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Reborn said, meaning every word he spoke. “Vongola Nono promised it to you and you deserve it.”

Tsuna’s eyebrows furrowed. “When did he…?”

“Remember the letter he sent you?”

“Ahh!” Tsuna cried as he recalled.

“Dear Vongola Decimo,

I have heard of your development from your home tutor. Well, you are a successor of the Boss, after all. Within the next three days, you are to capture Mukuro Rokudo and his gang of escaped convicts. You are also to rescue the hostage at the same time.

Best of Luck, Vongola Nono.

P.S. If you are successful, I will send you a prize worthy and beneficial of my successor. I f you fail or refuse to undertake this mission… well, it’s best for you to ask Reborn in person.”

“ That is the surprise he was talking about?!” Tsuna exclaimed. Reborn nodded, an amused smirk on his face. “But it’s still too much money! I can’t possibly accept it.”

“Timoteo is a caring man,” Reborn started, “but he never knew what to buy for those he want to dote on, both for his sons and the boy that he always regarded as his own grandson.”

“He… sees me as his grandson...?” Tsuna said, unable to reconcile his image of a Boss of a Mafia Family with this kind, doting elderly man that Reborn was describing. Reborn didn’t answer, and instead, gave him a look that clearly said he didn’t answer stupid questions. “Then why choose me as Vongola Decimo?! That position - “

“Possess incredible power that will draw danger to you and, at the same time, keep you safe and fulfil any want you might have in life.” Reborn looked at him. “You experienced both side of the spectrum by now, Tsuna.”

Tsuna thought back to all the injuries and suffering his friends had gone through, then he thought about Mukuro and okaa-san. “It’s not worth it,” he said, except his mind kept straying to Mukuro. What would have happened to Mukuro if Tsuna didn’t ask Vongola to interfere? Tsuna thought he was an idiot for thinking that way when he didn’t even know if Vongola successfully managed to bargain for Mukuro yet.

“You can do many things with power, Tsuna,” Reborn said, “including the incredible ability to change whatever you don’t like.”

“And if I don’t like the ways of Mafia itself?” Tsuna asked, no, challenged. He didn’t know where he found the guts to challenge Reborn’s words and even raise his gaze to meet his. The words just slipped out and the meeting of their gaze, automatic. Tsuna should feel anxious right now, but he didn’t. He felt right and he knew that those words had been waiting to be spoken since the first moment he had witnessed the brutality that the Mafia was capable of.   

Reborn met his eyes that Tsuna knew had to be orange, and smirked. “Then change it.”

Tsuna let out a breath and the strange feeling slipped away. “That was weird,” he said, blinking.

“It wasn’t bad,” Reborn said. “You said what you wanted to say, although in the future, it would be better for you not to rely on Hyper Will Mode so much to express yourself. Learn to assert yourself without its help in everyday life first.”

“It just slipped out!” Tsuna protested.

“Well, more training on controlling it then,” Reborn said, his tone conveying just how gleeful he was at the opportunity to torture his student even more, and Tsuna groaned.

“That doesn’t solve the issue about the money though!” Tsuna said.

Reborn turned away, clearly done with the conversation. “The Ninth won’t take a gift back. You can spend it on whatever you like, but if it bothers you so much, why don’t you spend it on somewhere that deserves and need it?”

“A charity?” Tsuna ventured, and Reborn arched an eyebrow at him.

“You’re going to donate to the charity when your friends and family need it?” Reborn asked. Tsuna’s eyebrows furrowed, not understanding. “Think about it.”

Tsuna didn’t have time to ask Reborn what he meant, before two wails screeched out. Tsuna instinctively turned in that direction, before sighing when he realized it came from the bedroom next door. He rubbed his forehead, wondering what argument I-Pin and Lambo got into now.

Even without Reborn’s pointed look, Tsuna would have said, “I’ll be right back,” and moved in that direction.

Tsuna slipped down the hallway until he was in the doorway of I-Pin and Lambo’s room. The door was opened, and their argument about how I-Pin kicked Lambo in her nap filtered out. I-Pin was protesting that she didn’t, but Tsuna wouldn’t be surprised if she accidentally did. The bed that they shared wasn’t that big, after all.

At the thought of the kids, his mind drifted to Fuuta, who would be released from Vendicare after he testified for Mukuro’s trial, and then interestingly, to Gokudera’s living conditions that he was strangely evasive about.

After breaking up the fight, Tsuna returned to his own room, oddly pensive. Reborn was there on the table, waiting for him.

“Well,” he prompted.

Tsuna told him what he was thinking, and received Reborn’s approving nod as a result. “It can be done. Talk to Mama, the kids, and Gokudera to make sure they’re willing, and I’ll show you how to take care of the rest.”

At the long list of people he had to talk to, followed by the all-compassing phrase ‘the rest,’ Tsuna wondered what exactly he had signed up for.

Nevertheless, Tsuna nodded and was about to end the conversation when it occurred to him that the convenience of the argument’s timing was strange. “Reborn…” Tsuna said slowly, haltingly, “did you cause that argument between I-Pin and Lambo?”

Reborn gave him an innocent ‘ why, me?’ look, completed with wide cherubic eyes, but Tsuna didn’t budge, even though it was a little strange to see how easily Reborn switched roles. After another moment, Reborn tugged his fedora down, but not before Tsuna caught a glimpse of his smirk. “It wasn’t me,” Reborn said, and something within Tsuna deflated, either from his tutor not being honest with him or because he overestimated how much Reborn did to guide him. Reborn looked up, and the hint of smirk that Tsuna caught before was in full bloom under the afternoon sunlight streaming in from the open window. “It was Leon.”

Tsuna stared for a moment, stunned, before he just couldn’t stop laughing.

Xxx

After Yamamoto went off to baseball practice, saying that even if one of his arm was broken, he could still train his other arm and run laps with his teammates, Juudaime and Hayato began heading towards Juudaime’s home as always.

That damn Yusuke, Hayato thought in annoyance, he been actually in the apartment recently. He left dirty laundry in the washing machine, and the dirty dishes in the sink. The ramen he made was pretty good, but it doesn’t excuse his nasty manners.

Hayato resolved to have a talk with his roommate soon, because that behavior was absolutely unacceptable. He didn’t clean up after others!

“Gokudera-kun?” Juudaime called. Hayato snapped his head in his direction. “We’re here.”

“Oh, sorry, Juudaime,” he said. “Let’s go then…” His voice trailed off when he looked up and saw that they weren’t standing in front of Juudaime’s house, although the house they were in front of did look very familiar. Hayato glanced at his surrounding, trying to decide why, when he spotted Juudaime’s house next door.

Of course it looks familiar, Hayato thought, we pass by it everyday.

Hayato was plotting how was he supposed to politely and tactfully point out to Juudaime that they were at the wrong house, when the chihuahua that was behind the fence linked to the house barked. Hayato instinctively whipped out his dynamites. Juudaime let out a “Hiie!” and fell to the ground.

“Juudaime!” Hayato exclaimed, helping him up with hands still full of dynamites. “Are you alright? That damn dog!”

“Gokudera-kun, you should put those dynamites away,” Juudaime said, eyes intently on the dynamites. Hayato wondered if Juudaime had an interest in them, because he would always be glad to tell him all about his weapon, but of course, he didn’t dare presume. “And the dog is alright. It just… er, startle me.”

“If Juudaime say so,” Hayato said, slipping his many dynamites away after one last glare at the chihuahua. He saw Juudaime staring “Juudaime?”

Juudaime jumped, before quickly shaking his head. “Let’s go inside, should we?” he said, walking up to the house’s door. As he passed him, Hayato thought he heard Juudaime murmur something about just how he managed to hide so many dynamites under his clothes.

The chihuahua barked again, louder, repeatedly, as they approached. It was probably the epitome of the idiom ‘all bark no bite,’ but it was nonetheless impressive that it dared bark at them so fiercely when both Juudaime and Hayato towered over it and were many times its size and weight.

“Juudaime, is something wrong?” Hayato asked. As they walk closer to the entrance of the house and consequently, closer to the dog house that the chihuahua was tied to in the front garden, Juudaime’s walking speed slowed until it almost halted completely. Hayato wondered if Juudaime finally realized that his house was actually down next door.

Juudaime’s lips parted, but nothing came out. He closed them and swallowed, then opened them again. “I,” he said, and Hayato followed Juudaime’s gaze to the still barking chihuahua. It had pulled its leash taut to the maximum length, trying to get to them.

“Is the mutt bothering you?” Hayato questioned. His eyes narrowed at the dog, as his voice deepened to a threat. “Should I eliminate it?” His dynamites were already sparked and in his hands, ready to be thrown.

“No!” Juudaime exclaimed, and quickly swat at the sparks with a mitten until all of them were unlit. Hayato eyed at the mitten in interest, recalling that Juudaime said that those mittens helped him fight against Mukuro when they transformed into gloves. They were the same weapons that Primo himself used decades ago, it was said. From what Hayato saw, it seemed like there were some truths in those words. After all, the mitten wasn’t even singed from coming in contact with the sparks.

“Just,” Juudaime said, after he prompting-ly pushed the dynamites away. Hayato obligingly slipped them back into the secret pockets along his clothes again. Juudaime stared at the chihuahua that was still barking on top of its lungs, before he finally shook his head. “Let’s go,” he said, squaring his shoulders and tearing his eyes away from the chihuahua to look straight ahead.

Somehow awed, Hayato followed. When Juudaime reached the house’s doorstep, he rang the bell. Almost an entire minute passed before the door finally opened, revealing an elderly woman. At the sight of Juudaime, she smiled.

“Tsuna, you’re here,” she said. She looked up and squinted at the sky through her glasses. “Oh my, it’s afternoon already. Time pass by so fast nowadays. Come in, oh, do come in.”

For the first time since their arrival, Hayato wondered if maybe Juudaime wasn’t mistaken when he stepped onto this plot of land.

He stepped into the house, closed the door behind him, and then was overcome with a feeling of just how empty the house was as he gazed around. It wasn’t like the house was bare of everything but the bare necessities like Yusuke’s apartment, and there wasn’t anything overtly wrong with it, but still, something felt off.

Hayato’s gaze dropped to the elderly woman and then at the elderly man that was ambling over with a walking stick, and he suddenly wondered if anyone else lived here. This was a house with two floor and probably at least four bedrooms. It was bigger than Juudaime’s house.

“This young man the one who’s going to be living here?” the elderly man asked, squinting up at him.

Hayato’s eyebrows furrowed. “What did you just say?”

He looked towards Juudaime in askance to see him rapidly waving his arms about. “Ojii-chan, I didn’t tell my friend about it yet,” Juudaime said, sounding a little panicked.

“What did you say?” the elderly man said in a loud voice, cupping a hand over his ear. “Speak louder, Tsuna.”

“He said,” the elderly woman pique in, leaning so close to the elderly man that she was speaking directly into his ear, “that he didn’t talk to his friend about it yet. Honestly, you ruined the surprise, Akio!”

Akio let out a decidedly childish hmph! “I didn’t know that. He should have said so. I told him I wanted to see the one who’s going to live here.”

“Alright, alright,” the elderly woman said, lightly tugging her husband by the arm. “Let’s just sit down and watch some TV, alright, and give them some time to look around.”

“Fine,” Akio said, and went to the couch with the elderly woman’s guidance. As he leaned the walking stick against the couch and slowly sat down, he asked, “What do you want to watch today, Sango?”

“Well,” Sango started. She looked in their direction, her eyes kind, and winked at them. One of her hand was waving them off, while the other was holding the remote and flipping through the channels. “How about this one?”

Juudaime tugged Hayato down the hallway and he went, although he had never been so confused in his life. Live here, Akio said. What did he mean?

“Juudaime, what that old man said before…” Hayato started.

Juudaime scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. “I meant to have you look around first before telling you,” he said. “Umm…I don’t really know how to explain this, so why don’t we look around?” Juudaime looked so hopeful that Hayato couldn’t find it within him to refuse.

They toured through the house, starting from the first floor and then moving up to the second. The first floor had a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and two bedrooms, while the upper level had three bedrooms. There was a front garden and a back garden to the house. Of the bedrooms downstairs, one were the elders’ and the other was empty. On the second floor, two of them were seemed to be teenager rooms that have long been abandoned, full of old posters, video games, and manga. The third room was converted into a storage room, stuffed with random mattresses, a shelf of books, and boxes of unknown items.

“What do you think?” Juudaime asked, when they finally finished touring the entire house.  

“It’s not bad,” Hayato ventured carefully, wondering what answer Juudaime wanted to hear. “Juudaime, this house… you intend for me to live here?” he asked as he recalled what Akio said before. Hayato didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, it was closer to Juudaime and the house itself was pretty nice. On the other, he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to cohabit with two elderlies downstairs. What if he scared them when he was leaving for or coming back from his work at the bar?

“Yeah, along with Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta and maybe Binachi if she wants to.”

Hayato paled at Binachi’s name and already, felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. His head jerked up as he registered fully what Juudaime really said. “Juudaime… you want to get the kids out of your hair?”

Understandable, Hayato thought, since the kids, especially that stupid cow, can be very annoying.

Juudaime flustered and quickly waved his hands in front of him. “No, no, no. It’s just… It’s just that Lambo and I-Pin are sharing a room already and occasionally they argue about not having enough space. Fuuta’s going to join us later, and I rarely see Binachi because she has to live in the next town down since Namimori is too small and out of the way to have a hotel.”

Juudaime looked at Hayato. “I wanted you guys to live comfortably, but at the same time, I… I’m selfish and want you all by my side, so I thought of this idea.” Juudaime gestured to the house around him. His face turned sheepish the next second. “Well, Reborn helped me think of this idea. Do you not like it?”

Hayato made a face at the thought of living with his sister and the kids. It sound exhausting.

Juudaime probably saw his expression, because he began to speak very quickly as though making a business pitch, “Okaa-san promise to come over to take care of the kids when you or Binachi is busy. She said she’ll miss them too much to not. I know it’s a lot of work, but…” Juudaime’s panicked voice lowered and calmed as he finished sincerely, “Know that we’re here to help. You’re living with them, but we’re not asking you to raise them by yourself. Everyone will be help, and it’ll means a lot to me if you guys can live a little closer.” Juudaime’s voice picked up again as something occurred to him. “Of course, if you really, really don’t want to live here, then don’t force yourself.”

How could Hayato refuse such a heartfelt speech, especially when it came from Juudaime himself? Despite his misgiving, Hayato found himself saying, “If Juudaime thinks I can do it, then I’ll give it a try.”

Juudaime’s face brightened. “I’m sure you can do it, Gokudera-kun, and if you ever need anything, tell us. We’ll be right next door.”

Hayato nodded. “Alright. How much is the rent?”

Hayato was already reevaluating his living expense when Juudaime’s eyebrows furrowed. “What rent?” he asked. “Reborn and I are planning to buy this house.”

Air refused to go into his lungs. “B-Buy!?” Hayato exclaimed.

Juudaime nodded, amazingly still calm. Hayato looked around the house in a new light and tried to estimate a cost of it, but found it impossible. The mind that he always relied on, for the first time, had failed him.

“The Ninth gave me some money for defeating Mukuro,” Juudaime started, the shy look he casted at Hayato said that the ‘some money’ that he mentioned was probably a small fortune, “and then I thought about you, Binachi, and the kids. I knew that Akio-san and Sango-san was thinking about selling their home after their children moved out some time ago, so I asked if if they were willing to sell the house to me. They said they trusted me to look after it, but said they wanted to meet the people who are actually going to live here, so I brought you over.”

“That…” Hayato said, “is a lot to take in. Juudaime, do you really want to spend the money that way? I don’t know how much this house costs, but it’s going to be a lot. You won’t have much of the Ninth’s money after you buy it.”

Juudaime smiled. “There’s no other way I want to spend it, Gokudera-kun,” he said, without even having to considered, and that warmed Hayato’s heart more than he was willing to admit. “Let’s go talk to Akio-san and Sango-san, alright? If you would like, you can also help me with the paperwork for buying the house. Reborn’s teaching me, but it’s very confusing.”

“Of course, Juudaime,” Hayato exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. “I’ll help.”

Juudaime let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” he said, before looking Hayato in the eyes. “And of course, thank you, Gokudera.”

No, Hayato thought as he watched Juudaime head back to where they last saw the two elderlies, thank you.

Akio and Sango agreed to sell the house for the sake of buying another one closer to where their youngest child was now living. They needed time to pack up their stuff and move, and the house need to be renovated and repainted according to the kids’ liking, but even with those delays, Hayato, Binachi and the kids would soon be able to move in within three weeks. Lambo and I-Pin cheered when they found out.

As he worked side by side with Juudaime and Reborn to buy the house, Hayato thought it was amazing what money could buy you and how fast it could speed things up.

Chapter Text

“Wow,” Takeshi said, eyes widening in delight and awe as Tsuna explained to him on their way to school about his plan to buy a house for Gokudera, Bianchi, Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta to live in. “You have the best ideas ever, Tsuna!”

At those words Tsuna ducked his head, a small flush appearing on his face. “It’s nothing. I just want everyone to live comfortably, and I wouldn’t be able to do it at all without Reborn and Gokudera-kun’s help.”

“It’s nothing, Juudaime,” Gokudera said, echoing Tsuna’s previous words, although he glowed with the compliment. “I’m glad to be a help!”

Takeshi threw the baseball in his palm up, feeling a little stiffness in his recently healed arm with the movement. “Too bad I’m not good at math, or I’ll help you guys too,” Takeshi said. He angled his head up as he followed the path of the baseball with his eyes. Its projectile wasn’t as straight when compared to how he used to throw it at full strength, but despite that, Takeshi knew he can win today’s game today. His arm still felt a little tender at times, but other than that, it was in good shape. Takeshi caught the baseball on its way down. He will win. He made a promise, after all.

At the thought of that, he smiled.

“Don’t even try to help,” Gokudera said as they walked. “You’ll only mess things up for us.”

Takeshi laughed. “Probably,” he admitted. “Although, wow, really, a house. That’s cool, like a secret base out in the open. You should invite me over when you guys move in.”

“Of course I’ll invite you when we move in,” Gokudera said readily, so much that both Takeshi and Tsuna looked at him in surprise. Gokudera continued blithely, “Who else is going to help move our stuff over?”

Both Tsuna and Takeshi laughed.

“I’ll help when the day comes,” Tsuna said, echoing Takeshi’s promise as they followed the river of students passing through the school gate. There was a noticeable empty area in the midst of the crowd at the front gate.

Takeshi automatically turned his head in that direction, a smile spreading across his face as he saw the person he was expecting. “Good morning, Hibari-senpai!” Takeshi greeted, waving his arm obnoxiously in the air.

Takeshi could tell the exact moment Hibari saw his waving hand and heard his greeting from the way he paused minutely in his scan through the crowd. His gaze was intent as it locked with Takeshi’s.

Takeshi’s grin widened.

“Yamamoto, what are you doing?!” Tsuna hissed as Hibari began to make his way towards them. The crowd parted before him automatically, and there was a quiet tension as everyone watched Hibari stop right in front of him. Tsuna snapped his mouth shut.

Takeshi’s heart drummed against his chest.

“Did your arm heal?” Hibari asked, staring straight at him.

Takeshi hummed and moved his arm around as though testing it out, before looking up. “As well as it could in a month,” Takeshi replied with a shrug, knowing his question had less to do with concern about his health and more with a promise.

Hibari stared at him for a long while, as though trying to assert the truth in his words. Finally, he turned away and said, “I’ll bite you to death if you lose the game today.”

Instead of saying, ‘I look forward to it’ because even Takeshi wasn’t suicidal enough to say that to a person who would take that quite literally, Takeshi called to Hibari’s back, “I’ll win.” The confidence in his voice gave Hibari a pause. He glanced back over his shoulder to Takeshi, and Takeshi smiled. “I’ll win, Hibari-senpai, have no doubt about it. So in turn, please watch me.”

Everyone waited for Takeshi to get bitten to death. For half-a-second, even Takeshi was sure of it. Then, Hibari looked away and said, “Arrogance is unsightly” and left.

Takeshi watched him leave and the grin on his face stayed even as Tsuna lectured him to be more careful. Hibari and Takeshi both knew it wasn’t arrogance that made him declare his victory. It was confidence, the same type that Hibari possesses when he declared he will bite someone to death and then proceed to do so.

It wasn’t a question. It was a matter of inevitability.

Takeshi won’t lose this baseball game, not as long as Hibari was watching.

Takeshi went to secure his victory during lunch.

Xxx

After quickly eating his lunch with Tsuna and Gokudera, Takeshi hurried off to look for Hibari.

“Jackpot,” Takeshi uttered lowly as he creaked open the door to the rooftop and saw a familiar figure laying there against the ground.

“Coming up to the rooftop while I’m here is against the rule,” Hibari said without looking in his direction. His eyes were still peacefully closed and his hand rhythmically ruffling through Hibird’s feather.

No matter how many times Takeshi thought about it, it was still ridiculously sweet to him how the canary just came out of nowhere one day and attached itself to Hibari while he was in the hospital.

There was a rare peace that settled in their hospital room that day. Gokudera and Tsuna were talking with each other, Takeshi was carefully stretching his broken arm out, Ryohei was at the physical therapy room again even though the doctor told him to take it easy, and Hibari was napping in his bed.

Takeshi didn’t remember what they were talking about. All he remembered was looking up when the conversation between Gokudera and Tsuna halted. Without their background noise, Takeshi suddenly registered the near imperceptible whisper of wings flapping through the air. He looked towards that direction, to the window, and the white curtains of the hospital room swayed in the breeze. In that moment, there was a gap between the curtain edges and Takeshi saw a flash of yellow.

Then a canary bird flew in and landed on the bed closest to the window. Namely, Hibari’s bed.

A hush silence descended on all of them as they watched the tiny bird. It hopped about the surface it was standing on and pecked at it like the little curious creature it was. Takeshi thought it looked very familiar.

“Shit, that’s Bird’s canary, isn’t it?” Gokudera hissed, and that jogged Takeshi’s memory. Bird, that guy that Gokudera fought. Of course. Canary wasn’t native to Namimori. “I thought I got rid of all of them.”

There was a hissing sound as Gokudera brought out his weapon.

Takeshi unwittingly tensed.

“No, Gokudera-kun!” Tsuna whispered, lowly but insistently. “You’ll wake Hibari-san up.” What was left unsaid was that the last time Hibari woke up from anything beside his own conscious will, everyone suffered. Who would have known that Hibari was not a morning person?

Takeshi’s mouth twitched as he recalled the image of Hibari’s bed head, only for it to freeze when the canary finally hopped up to Hibari’s collarbone, which was unprotected by a blanket unlike the rest of his body, and gave it a peck.

A hand whipped out lightning quick and the next second, the offending bird was trapped on its palm and bracketed by its curled fingers.

Tsuna let out a gasp and even Gokudera stiffened beside him at the thought of such an innocuous sight turning bloody.

Takeshi kept his eyes opened, and watched.

The canary bird was letting out pitiful, panicked chirps, and when it almost managed to wiggle free from the grip of Hibari’s strong but still sleepy hands, Takeshi managed to spot it pecking insistently at the insides of Hibari’s hands seconds before the grip tightened. The tiny bird was then blocked from view by long slender fingers until not a yellow feather could be seen, muffling even the sound of its chirping.

The closed hand moved and brought the caught bird to its owner’s face. It was only then one of Hibari’s eyes cracked open, revealing lucid eyes struggling for clarity. His hand parted then, and the bird froze when its prison opened, shedding light to the dark place that it was sure it would be trapped in forever.

Takeshi thought he could see some red lines on Hibari’s palm where the bird pecked at insistently for its release.

At the sight of the flustered bird with its feathers puffed up in disarray, making it a bigger and sadder sight than it actually was, Hibari’s other hand rose. Takeshi could sense both Tsuna and Gokudera flinch as it closed over the hand that held the canary, until the bird was hidden from sight again. There was a confused chirp as the hand above it rustled around and when it finally withdrew, the bird’s feathers were smoothed down to its side.

Hibari dropped the hand that fixed the bird’s feathers back to his side, as though it took too much energy to keep it up. Then, he gently moved the hand with the canary sitting on it to his stomach, and they watched as the canary chirped in confusion for a moment, before hopping down from his hand onto his blanketed stomach.

Once Hibari saw that the canary landed safely onto his blankets, his eyes shuttered close again. The bird and humans in the room alike waited from some other move from him, but Hibari did nothing else. His body merely moved up and down in a gentle rhythm as he slept.

The bird chirped at him, once, twice, but when Hibari neither awoke or did anything else, it flopped down onto Hibari’s bedding, as though all strength had left its legs. It then proceeded to curl up against Hibari’s stomach like a ball of fluff, and fell asleep.

The sight of both Hibari and the bird napping was so adorable that Takeshi would have taken a picture if he wasn’t afraid that he was going to be bitten to death, Hibari’s kindness towards small animals or not.

“That’s so weird,” Gokudera said after a long silence, and Tsuna was inclined to agree, although he added with a smile, “They look peaceful together.”

They grew used to the sight of the bird around Hibari after that. It didn’t always stick by Hibari’s side, although it always, always came back whenever it flew away. When Hibari returned to school after he discharged himself from the hospital, his small but loyal fanbase doubled at the sight of the tiny bird that Hibari brought with him. Takeshi didn’t know who started it, but by the end of Hibari’s first day back, the canary bird was nicknamed Hibird.

Takeshi thought it was a nice name.

At Hibari’s claim that it was against the rule to be on the rooftop when he was there, Takeshi laughed. “Senpai, can’t you let it go this once?” he asked as he ambled his way to where Hibari was laying down. Hibari’s eyebrow twitched as Takeshi stood above him, blocking his sunlight and casting a shadow over his face.

Takeshi absentmindedly wondered how Hibari managed to stay so pale when he always napped on the rooftop.

“Move out of the way,” Hibari ordered, and Takeshi obeyed, taking that opportunity to slide down beside Hibari instead, sitting down with the soles of his feet propped against the rooftop floor. Hibird shifted on Hibari’s stomach when Takeshi’s movement disrupted it, but a gentle fingers sliding down from the top of its beak down to its back settled it again.

Takeshi wondered if it was odd for a human to wish to become a bird. One bird, specifically.

“What are you doing here? Class begins in another ten minutes,” Hibari asked, finally deigning to crack open his eyes. Takeshi loved the way Hibari looked at him, like he was annoying, irritating, like a pest. Like it was a mystery why Takeshi stuck around him and kept coming back. Like it was a mystery why Hibari lets him.

Takeshi’s eyes dropped to Hibird, and thought about how it stayed after Hibari set it free. We aren’t so different, after all, he thought, as his gaze finally landed on Hibari. Their reason.

“You didn’t agree to come to my game before,” Takeshi said.

Hibari frowned at that explanation. “You’re irritating.”

Takeshi let out a laugh. “Some people call me that,” he acknowledged with a nod. Some people being only Gokudera and now, Hibari. “So will you come, Hibari-senpai? It’s a home game, so it's right here in Namimori Middle anyway.”

“I dislike crowds,” Hibari stated, like he didn’t make that clear with all the biting to deaths he did whenever there was a crowd. The only thing he probably disliked more than a crowd was the breaking of school rules.

“Well,” Takeshi said, because there was nothing he could say to refute that. “I’ll play better if you were watching.”

Hibari gave him a look and finally sat up. His hand casually curled around his stomach as he did, so Hibird neatly plopped from his stomach onto his palm. He must have done that often, since Hibird didn’t even look up from that.

“You boasted that you would win before,” Hibari stated, at a greater height to look down at Takeshi now that he sat up. His lips twisted to a faint sneer. “Where’s that arrogance now?”

“I counted your coming to watch the game as a factor to the victory,” Takeshi said, looking back at Hibari with an open expression with nothing to hide. Letting him read the truth in his words. “Come?”

“You wouldn’t dare lose and break your word with me,” Hibari said, a statement as much as a subtle threat.

Takeshi chuckled, and curled his arms loosely around his propped legs to pillow his head on them. Eyeing at Hibari from a side angle, Takeshi said, “No, I won’t break my words.” He closed his eyes, relishing in the warmth that the sun shone on him. No wonder Hibari liked napping here. It was peaceful. “I wouldn’t do that, especially not to you.”

Silence. A breeze passed by, rustling Takeshi’s hair. It felt good between his hair and against his skin. He let out a small sigh of contentment. He could feel Hibari’s gaze on him, but he didn’t look up. If only this could last forever.

Takeshi’s eyes fluttered opened when he heard a chirp near by. He opened his eyes to the sight of Hibird standing in the space between Hibari and Takeshi’s body, facing him.

“Hey, buddy,” Takeshi said, slowly reaching out with the back of his finger. Hibird hopped backwards away from him just as he was about to touch it. Takeshi blinked. It let out a chirp at him from its position, tossed a quick glance at Hibari, and then hopped back forward again.

Takeshi laughed, amused.

“What are you doing, Hibird?” he asked, only pausing for a second to wonder if Hibari even know of the name Namimori Middle’s student thought up for the bird.

Hibird chirped at him once more, before it opened its beak, and sang.

“Midori tanabiku namimori no

Dai naku shou naku nami ga ii

Itsumo kawaranu”

Takeshi sat up in amazement as he recognized the lyrics. That was Namimori’s Anthem song. He glanced over at Hibari questioningly, but Hibari kept his gaze on Hibird. After another moment, Takeshi followed his example and turned his attention back to the canary.  

“Sukoyaka kenage

Aah, tomo ni utaou

Namimori chuu~”

Takeshi clapped when Hibird finished. “Wow,” he laughed, a little breathless. “That was great, Hibird!” Takeshi swore he saw Hibird preen. “Did you teach it to sing?” Takeshi asked Hibari.

“He learned by himself after hearing it a few times,” Hibari answered indifferently, although Takeshi thought he detected a hint of pride in his words. Takeshi wondered how often did Hibari put on the Namimori Anthem song for Hibird to learn it himself. Hibari glanced over at him. “He’s still learning the rest.”

Takeshi smiled. “I want to hear it when he finally learns the rest,” he said, extending a finger out to Hibird in an offer this time around instead of trying to touch him. Hibird stared at it for a moment, pecked at it, before finally hopping onto his finger. Takeshi carefully lifted his finger up to his face, amazed when Hibird didn’t fly off and instead, seemed to be examining his ‘branch’ and its surrounding.

He gave his finger a few more pokes.

Takeshi’s eyebrow quirked at that, although the pokes didn’t hurt. The grip Hibird’s feet had around his finger was light, his weight barely there, but even so, Takeshi had never been so aware of his hand and the bird on it. It was somewhat awe-inspiring to think that those thin, skinny legs could support the fluff ball that was Hibird.

As though sensing his somewhat offending thought, Hibird spread his tiny wings and flew back to Hibari’s shoulder. Takeshi stared at Hibird, eyes wide. “Is he a psychic?”

“Animals know more than we give them credit for,” Hibari said, neither affirming or refuting. He ruffled Hibird’s feathers. Hibird let him and even seemed to snuggle back against it.

Before Takeshi could say anything else, the bell suddenly rang. “Oh shit,” he cursed, jumping up to a stand.

Even from his position on the floor, the look Hibari gave him had the distinct impression of disapproval and someone looking down on  his life choices. He also looked like he was half-contemplating biting him to death for cursing on school ground. Takeshi flushed and decided to flee before Hibari finished contemplating.

“Sorry,” Takeshi said quickly, jogging to the stairs leading downstairs, “I have to go now. Bye Hibari, bye Hibird!”

It was only when he was in his classroom that he realized that even by the end of his lunch, he failed to extract a promise from Hibari to watch his game.

Takeshi groaned and thud his head against his desk.

Xxx

It was after school and Takeshi couldn’t help the jittery feeling that stuck with him all throughout the day as he changed into his white jersey, as their coach prepped them for their position out on the field, and even as he began his warm up. Takeshi’s arm had healed just in time for the game, which meant it didn’t leave much time for him to get used to his arm. Today was the day he was going to go all out.

Takeshi scanned through the crowd at the bleachers and it didn’t take much looking to spot his father and his friends. Even among the crowd, they stood out with their eccentricity, the trouble they had already caused, if the wide breadth the crowd gave them indicated anything, and the looks they were attracting from the others. Takeshi thought he could see Tsuna covering his face with his hands, as though he couldn’t bear to witness the chaos around him.

Takeshi laughed, and that smile refused to falter even as he looked for another dash of emptiness among the crowd and failed.

Patience, Takeshi reminded himself, just because you wanted him to be here doesn’t mean he will be. Besides, he didn’t promise you anything. You’ll just have to work harder next time.

The game was beginning, and everyone was moving to his own position on the field. Takeshi swept all stray thoughts besides baseball out of his mind, and played.

Halfway through the game, there was a lull as all players went to the side for a drink of water, a rest, and a discussion of strategies. Takeshi, thankful for the break, let out a breath and took off his cap to wipe the sweat off his forehead. It was hot, with all the running, pitching, and batting they did, especially under the unrelenting sun.

Takeshi thanked his teammate for handing him a bottle of water and quickly tilted his head back to gulped it down. As he did, he became aware of a shadow standing on the school building in the corner of his eyes.

Takeshi turned towards that direction, and slowly blinked. The shadow was on the roof. It had a direct view of the baseball field.

Takeshi’s heart thud against his chest, like a breath, like a pulse of blood, like hope pressed tightly against his chest so it didn’t burst free. Takeshi stumbled towards the direction of the shadow on the roof, and then the sun shone on the figure as the cloud moved.

It was Hibari.

As though sensing his gaze, Hibari moved his head slightly until Takeshi’s gaze met his. Slowly, without letting their gaze break, Hibari tilted his head and gestured to the side.

Takeshi blinked, bemused, before he realized that all his teammates were already heading back to the field. He was the only one left.

Takeshi yelped, and quickly dropped his water bottle in favor of grabbing his cap and shoving it back onto his head. As he quickly returned back to his spot, he dared cast a quick look back to the roof, and Hibari was still there, leaning indolently against the banister and staring down at everyone in the field below.

A smile bloomed across Takeshi’s face, and his heart felt ready to burst. He wasn’t dreaming. Takeshi wanted to take another quick look at Hibari, but the game was starting, so instead, he played harder with every minute he could feel the heavy, intent stare drilling into the back of his head.

It left just before Takeshi hit the last home run, bringing Namimori Middle its victory, and the crowd roared.

Xxx

Takeshi spent the evening of his victory with his teammates at TakeSushi as always, along with Tsuna, Gokudera, and the kids. Tsuna’s mother was there too.

“Too bad we can’t drink alcohol, but nevertheless, to Yamamoto, our baseball star!” Takeshi’s captain declared, raising his cup of juice in the air. “He was on fire today, especially the second half!”

Everyone whooped, raised his own drinks, and then gulped it down.

“Serious, though,” Kouji said, “your play just got better and better in the second half.” He nudged Takeshi with a grin. “Tell me, what’s the secret behind ya success?”

Rin laughed. “You conducting an interview, Kouji?” he asked, before casting a speculating look at Takeshi. His gaze dropped to the lower half of his face, and then he smirked. “Why don’t you ask him who he had seen to be grinning so widely all throughout the second half and even now?”

Takeshi quickly dropped the wide grin that he had been sporting ever since he had spotted Hibari on the roof, but by then, it was too late. His teammates latched onto the topic like dogs to bones.

“Ooh, now I see,” Kouji said, sharing a conspiratory look with Rin. “I’ve been going about this wrong all my life. So a sweetheart, huh?” He looked towards the end of the table to Mori. “Too bad Mori’s play will never get better then. He’ll never get a sweetheart with his ugly mug - ow!”

The twitch on Mori’s head and the hand he had in his cup, ready to take another ice cube out and aim, told Kouji that he better lay off the topic of Mori’s nonexistent love life.

Kouji coughed awkwardly and readily complied. He turned back to Takeshi, much to his dismay. “So tell me, Takeshi, who is it? You dating her yet, or do you need some advice from senpai on how to woo someone?”

Takeshi choked on his drink as his face started to heat up. He didn’t know where to start with the wrongness of the statement, from trying to imagine Hibari as a girl all the way to trying to woo him like guys woo girls. Either will probably be enough to send Takeshi to the hospital if Hibari knew what he was thinking.

Then he wondered if Hibari actually date.

“T-there’s no one, senpai,” Takeshi said, trying to remain cool. He could feel his ears warming. “Oh, look, you guys need refills, I’ll get you some.”

Takeshi quickly stood and walked to where all the drinks were stored in the back before his teammates can say anything else. On the way, he passed by his father, who was heading for the baseball team’s table.

“Takeshi, going somewhere?” his oyaji asked, just as he heard Rin shout behind him, “He was looking up at the rooftop so intently that he almost missed the start of the second half. Weren’t you, Yamamoto?”

“I’ll get some drinks!” Takeshi answered, before quickly walking away. The last thing he heard was his teammate’s loud exclaim of “Sushi!” and “Thank you, Yamamoto-san!”, before he closed the storage room door behind him.  

Takeshi stuck with Tsuna and his friends for the rest of the night, although it was inevitable that the two groups would eventually mix when both were rambitious bunches that ended up drawing attention to themselves.

It is nice, Takeshi would admit to himself, to have his teammates and his friends be friends. After all, they were both important parts of his lives. His teammates also seemed pretty taken with the kids.

Kouji burped as he stuffed one more piece of sushi into his mouth. Rin slapped him on the head for being rude, as always. Kouji ignored it in favor of gossip. “Hey, you guys know anything about Yamamoto’s sweetheart?”

“S-sweetheart?!” Ryohei exclaimed. “That’s EXTREME!”

Gokudera scoffed. “You’re telling me that there’s someone out there who likes empty headed idiots?”

The kids weren’t listening, too busy playing in the background, while, upon hearing the question, Tsuna gazed consideringly at Yamamoto for a long moment.

“Hey, dame-Tsuna,” Kouji said lightly, waving a hand in Tsuna’s face. “I asked you a ques- woooah!”

“What did you call Juudaime?” Goudera asked menacingly, hands full of his dynamite sticks.

“Maa, maa, Gokudera,” Takeshi said, trying to calm him down, “Kouji didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Gokudera-kun, please put that out! What if it starts a fire in TakeSushi?!” Tsuna said. A dangerous aura appeared at their back at the mention of ‘a fire in TakeSushi’ and Takeshi had no doubt that it was his father.

Gokudera let out a huff and put out the dynamites. The dangerous aura disappeared as soon as it came. “Watch your words, kid!” he growled at Kouji, “I’m only letting you go because Juudaime is merciful.”

“What did I even do?!” Kouji exclaimed, indignant, before Rin elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “Ow, even you, Rin. I was only asking about -”

“Dame?” Rin said, a single word full of condemnation, and Kouji’s mouth snapped shut. Kouji looked towards Tsuna, but Tsuna merely waved his hands in front of him with a hesitant smile.

“It’s okay,” he started, only to be cut off by Kouji’s interruption.

“Shut up, kid,” Kouji said, running a hand through his hair after heaving a sigh. He took a breath. “Shit, that is my fault. Sorry, my bad.” After a pause, he added, “I don’t even know why you’re called dame, you’re not bad.”

At that, Tsuna’s smile became more sincere, although a little sheepish as well. “I am very clumsy, that’s why, though I got better at it.” Here, he casted a look at Reborn, who was enjoying his own plate of sashimi. “As for Yamamoto’s sweetheart, well” - he threw one last look at Takeshi, before turning back to Kouji - “I don’t know anything about it, but it’s not any of our business?” he said tentatively, before hurriedly adding, “I mean, if he does have one, Yamamoto will tell us when he’s ready. Won’t you, Yamamoto?”

Warmth bloomed in Takeshi’s chest at Tsuna’s answer. “Yeah,” he said with a grin, reaching out to ruffle Tsuna’s hair. The knot in his stomach slowly unraveled. “Of course.”

“Damn,” Takeshi heard Kouji whisper in awe. “I think Tsuna just one upped us, Rin.”

Rin chuckled. “I think so too, Kouji.”

Xxx

Even though Takeshi was exhausted after playing a game today and sleepy after eating, his father still insisted that they head to the dojo for training afterwards, saying how he should always be in a habit of practicing and besides, enemies won’t stop attacking him just because he was tired.

Who would have thought that however cool his father usually was, he would be such a harsh teacher? Nevertheless, since Takeshi knew that his father was only doing this for his own good, plus he was the one who asked his father for training, Takeshi dragged himself out of TakeSushi after cleaning up with his father and went to the dojo.

They did the usual drills with his father both mentoring and training right alongside of him, and then they went on to sparring. Takeshi usually love sparring, but today, his muscles were just too exhausted from the game to put up much of a fight.

Takeshi tried using First Form: Shajiku no Ame against his father, but ended up on the ground with his father’s shinai against his throat instead. Takeshi panted, but tried to grin up to his father nevertheless. “Oyaji is really the best,” he stated, plain and simple.

His father grinned back, before withdrawing his shinai. Instead of offering a hand to pull him up like always, he let out a sigh and slowly lowered himself to the ground beside Takeshi. Takeshi blinked in surprise, but listened as his father spoke.

“Your training is coming along well,” his father said. “You’re a natural. You’re getting stronger and stronger everyday.” Takeshi could hear the pride in his voice.

“But I still can’t beat you,” Takeshi said.

His father chuckled. “Of course not. I trained and fought for much longer than you.” He let out a breath, before continuing, “I’m beginning to think that you need someone else to spar against.”

Takeshi’s head whipped up to stare at his father. His father chuckled again.

“Don’t look so surprised. I’m still teaching you, Takeshi, like I promised,” his father said, and Takeshi relaxed slightly. “Recently, I’ve noticed that you are reacting very predictably, though, because you are used to only fighting against me for most of the time. I think it’ll be nice if you can fight against someone else for a change.”

Takeshi’s mind automatically jumped to Hibari, and his heart was already beating quickly in anticipation of the match, even though it would undoubtedly result in his loss most of the time.

“You have someone in mind, Takeshi?” His father’s words pierced through his mind. Takeshi looked up to see his father half-smirking and half-smiling. “Maybe… Hibari Kyoya?”

Air whooshed out of Takeshi’s lungs.  

“Takeshi? I didn’t say I disapprove,” his father said, sounding a little worried when he didn’t respond to his teasing words. “Takeshi, breathe.”

Takeshi forced himself to take a deep breath. “Oyaji…” Nothing else came out. Takeshi didn’t know what to say. His father must have guessed there was someone from all the teasing his teammates did, and as vague of a description as someone on the roof was, once he didn’t automatically rule out the one whom seemed impossible, the rest was painfully obvious.

A small sad smile spread across his father’s face. “Takeshi, do you really think your old man is such a close minded person to mind that his son is gay?”

Takeshi immediately shook his head. “Of course not, Oyaji! It’s just… Hibari-senpai.”

His father laughed at that. “You sure do know how to choose, Takeshi.” Red spread across Takeshi’s face and he was helpless to fight against it. “But at least I know I can leave you safe in his hands, I suppose, and Hibari deserves someone. He has been alone long enough.”

Takeshi blinked at those last words. “What do you mean?”

His father shook his head. “That’ll be a story for another day. You’re going to invite Hibari over sometime then, Takeshi?”

Takeshi casted a look at his father. “You really don’t mind?”

“No, as long as you guys only spar in here,” his father said, chuckling as Takeshi somehow, impossibly, turned even redder at the other implication. “Tell him he can have some sushi on the house too, if he stops by TakeSushi. You’re making it, of course.”

Takeshi grinned, feeling a bit more like himself now. “Alright,” he said, before his voice softened. “Thank you, Oyaji. Thank you.”

“Of course, Takeshi,” his father said, enveloping his arms around him. “You’re my son.”

Xxx

“Hibari-senpai?” Takeshi called out, opening the door to the rooftop. He paused at the door. Hibari wasn’t napping on the roof this time around. Instead, he was looking over what was visible of Namimori on top of the roof. The wind was blowing slightly, unfurling the black jacket Hibari always had around his shoulders like a cape. His hair rustle gently in the afternoon air, and he was beautiful against the backdrop of Namimori as he turned around to see who it was.

“Yamamoto Takeshi,” he said upon seeing him, and Takeshi moved forward as though summoned. Closer to the sides now, Takeshi can peer over the banister and see the baseball field of the school. It was on this rooftop that Hibari was watching him yesterday.

A smile curled on Takeshi’s face. “I won,” he said, and Hibari nodded, still watching him.

“You did,” he said, his tone not of amazement as much as puzzlement. Takeshi didn’t know when Hibari started watching the game, either when Takeshi noticed him or before, but Hibari had to had noticed the difference in his ability under Hibari’s watchful eyes, didn’t he? He had to.

“Hibari-senpai,” Takeshi said, reaching out for the other boy’s sleeve, and that was when he struck out. Takeshi yelped as he pulled his arm back as dictated by his instincts, narrowly escaping possibly a broken wrist.

Takeshi absentmindedly wondered if Hibari only refrained from biting him to death all those other times because of his baseball game, and now that it was over, he was catching up on all those times that he refrained.

Hibari’s eyes narrowed, before his tonfas were out and driving towards Takeshi’s unprotected side. Takeshi rolled away, then quickly came to a stand before Hibari could strike again.

“Maa, maa, Hibari-senpai,” Takeshi started, before instincts had him ducking. Takeshi should thank his father for his training when he returned home.

“Do you only know how to dodge, herbivore?” Hibari said, and Takeshi’s eyes sharpened. Jeers didn’t get to him, but to be called an herbivore by Hibari meant that he thought he was weak.

Hibari was not interested in weaklings.

So instead of making excuses, like how he didn’t have his sword or that he was still exhausted from yesterday’s game, Takeshi rushed forward, unarmed.

“Fool,” Hibari said and caught him in the ribs with the tonfa, but Takeshi also managed to slam his fist against Hibari’s face, although Hibari moved last second to avoid most of the force behind it.

They fought like that for a while, Takeshi slowly and steadily losing, but taking strength from the few times that he did manage to strike against Hibari. In the end, Takeshi fell because of pain and exhaustion, and Hibari followed, slamming him against the ground with the tonfa pressing across his throat.

Takeshi looked up at Hibari then and in that moment, with such a dangerous man so close with a weapon in his hand, ready to end their game, Takeshi didn’t feel fear. Maybe he was a fool, as Gokudera and Hibari called him. Instead, Takeshi grinned, wide and brilliant, and carefully raised a hand to Hibari’s face.

Takeshi was sprawled haphazardly against the ground, with Hibari’s body pressed against his. Their faces were so close, Takeshi could count the number of eyelashes Hibari had, can clearly see the bobbing of his Adam’s apple, and could feel Hibari’s breath stutter as his hand made contact with his face. Takeshi was breathing hard too, there was no way he wouldn’t be, in this situation and after a spar with Hibari, as he slowly leaned up and sealed their breathes together.

They breathed into each other, and it tasted like revival.

It was over too soon, and Takeshi wanted more. He arched up again, just like last time, only this time, Hibari finally seemed to recall the tonfa he had across Takeshi’s neck. He shoved him back with it and Takeshi choked, and then it was Hibari’s lips on his this time around.

Takeshi’s hand slid up, unbidden, to the back of Hibari’s head and Hibari’s tonfa pressed against his throat warningly. Takeshi didn’t heed it, carefully twining his fingers into Hibari’s hair. It was as soft as it looked, and as warm as he thought it would feel.

Takeshi didn’t know how long it was when they finally parted. His throat felt raw from the tonfa pressing up against it, and his lips were tingling pleasantly. He looked over at Hibari, at his tousled hair and crinkled uniform, and was pleased at the knowledge that he was the one to make the untouchable prefect look anything less than perfect.

A tonfa slammed into the ground right next to Takeshi and he jumped. He couldn’t have dodged. His body was still pressed to the ground by Hibari.

“You’re smirking,” Hibari accused, and then Takeshi became aware of the curl of his lips. It was probably there since the first moment his lips finally managed to meet Hibari’s.

“Smiling,” Takeshi corrected, and he didn’t know where he found the courage to meet Hibari’s eyes. He kissed Hibari, Hibari kissed back, and Takeshi was still alive. He felt like he had gone to heaven already. Takeshi’s smile widened, a feat he thought was not possible but was, since Hibari was by his side. Takeshi touched the hand closest to him, which just happened to be the one that held the tonfa across his throat. “I’m happy.”

Hibari stared at him for a moment, before getting up with a swirl. His black jacket almost smacked him in the face. “I’m leaving,” Hibari declared, heading for the door.

That was a first. Hibari was usually so unmovable that it was always Takeshi who approached him and Takeshi who was always made to leave first.

Takeshi sat up from where he was laying, wincing as the multiple bruises on his body made themselves known, and watched Hibari go. When Hibari was just at the door, Takeshi said, “Hibari-senpai, if you want to spar again, go visit my family’s dojo some time.” Hibari paused and turned back just enough so he can see Takeshi’s face. “I’ll even make you sushi afterwards.”

There was a long silence that followed those words, but Takeshi was content to just lean his head against his hand and wait.

Finally, Hibari said, “You’ll lose,” and swirled away.

Takeshi waited until he couldn’t hear Hibari’s retreating footsteps anymore, before shouting, “YES!” and pumped his fist in the air.

Takeshi winced and grinned sheepishly as it aggravated his bruised skin.

Xxx

His father raised an eyebrow at him when Takeshi hobbled back to their home that day, only to roar with laughter when Takeshi grinned and gave him a thumb up.

Chapter Text

The atmosphere in the room was dark, suffocating, as the cloaked figure uttered, "Bring Mukuro Rokudo out."

From the door across the room, Mukuro was dragged in, the chains on his legs and arms clanging loudly against the floor. Despite the restriction and the rough treatment of his guard, Mukuro was smirking arrogantly when he finally reached the center of the trial room.

"You're not going to wait another month to have my trial this time around?" Mukuro jeered. "How disappointing."

"Enough," the cloaked figure said. "Normally you wouldn't have your trial this soon, but someone wanted to make you a deal. After reviewing your case, we found that to be acceptable." Done with what he wanted to say, the cloaked figure stepped back and that was when Iemitsu stepped forward from the shadows.

Mukuro's eye zeroed in on him. Eye, because his other red one was sewn shut to prevent him from using it.

Iemitsu smiled lightly at Mukuro, and he made no attempt to hide the cold look in his eyes or the satisfaction he felt at seeing Mukuro down.

After all, he tried to harm his son.

"Vongola's Young Lion," Mukuro murmured after a beat too long. His single eye darted to the cloaked Vindice, and then back to Iemitsu again. "You Vongola are fond of deals, aren't you? Is the first one you had not enough?"

At those words, Iemitsu felt his smile turn a little thinner, a little colder. Mukuro Rokudo was dangerous, and it wasn't only because of his abilities. His mind was sharp and entirely too keen for someone who wished to bring the Mafia down onto its knees by taking over his son.

Iemitsu should destroy him.

In a flash, the cloaked Vendice was in front of him and Mukuro was frozen in place. Mukuro's visible eye was widened ever slightly.

"Vongola Consigliere," the Vendice before him said, a bandaged hand held out in front of Iemitsu's chest as though that could stop him if he really wanted to initiate a battle. As always, it was intriguing to see what individual Vendice had up his or her sleeve, however. The energy that this one emitted from his hand felt cold. "You are here to make a deal, no more, no less. Please refrain from displaying such killing intent again in Vendicare, or we will escort you from the premise."

Those words brought Iemitsu back to himself.

"My bad," he said, backing off. He took the effort to consciously rein in his will and flame, but the damage was done. Even with the cloak on, Iemitsu could sense the Vendice's tension. Iemitsu had stepped away already, but the Vendice still had his hand up, creating a physical barrier between himself and Iemitsu. "I slipped up. That won't happen again."

The Vendice kept his hand in place for a moment longer, before finally lowering it. "Make sure it doesn't," he warned, and Iemitsu admired his iron will to turn his back towards him to walk back to his original position like his hand hadn't had trembled when facing him.

"My bad," Iemitsu said again, turning towards Mukuro. The illusionist was a little better at hiding his wariness and shock. "Where were we again?"

Mukuro twisted his lips to a sneer. "At how you're trying so hard to get me where you want me to. Was that posturing part of the plan as well?"

Iemitsu laughed, boisterous yet sheepish. "You can't blame a father for being protective of his son," he said, eyes sharpening as he finished, "so if you'll excuse me."

"And yet you are here," Mukuro mused, even as Iemitsu could practically sense the wheels spinning behind his single eye.

"My Tsuna-fish so rarely asks for anything," Iemitsu said slowly. "How could I bear to not grant it when he actually does?"

"Oh?" Mukuro said, exaggerated curiosity in his voice. Yet Iemitsu was sure not all of it was feigned. "I've harmed his friends and tried to take over him. He defeated me, and now I'm in the company of these lovely prison guards. What more could he want from me?"

"He wants you to join his family," Iemitsu said, and he was treated to the sight of Mukuro shell-shocked and speechless. Iemitsu would have felt vindictive if his feelings towards this matter didn't align so closely to Mukuro's, albeit with the addition of fury on his part as well. "You don't deserve understanding or second chances, but my son wants to grant them to you anyway."

Mukuro was quick to recover. "Kufufufu, I hate the Mafia and now he's telling me to join it? I don't know if he is sadistic and wants to torture me, or is he stupid for letting pity guide him into thinking he's helping an enemy."

"And the thought of him genuinely wanting to help you despite knowing better never cross your mind?" Iemitsu said, his voice hard.

Mukuro stopped laughing abruptly as though he had been slapped across the face. He stared at Iemitsu for a long while, before saying, "I would have never ended up here if not for him."

"You ended up here because you went after him," Iemitsu corrected. "Vongola made a deal with Vendicare to lead the Vendice to you, on the condition that Tsuna and his friends fight you first. That means that the Vendice wouldn't have been able to act until Tsuna does, except Tsuna would have never approached you first." Not unless Reborn lead him into it without Tsuna knowing until it was too late, Iemitsu mentally amended. "Do you know what that means?"

Iemitsu met Mukuro's single back eye, and waited for Mukuro to comprehend the implication before he delivered the final blow. "Had you never approached Tsuna, never harmed his friends, never forced his hand, you would have been free. The Vendice couldn't have gone after you without Tsuna moving first, and Tsuna only took action after you did. Mukuro, you had brought your own downfall upon yourself."

"Shut up," Mukuro snarled even before Iemitsu finished, uncharacteristically impatient and emotional. Iemitsu had no doubt that with his hint, Mukuro could have came to the same conclusion even without him spelling it out. "All you told me was that once again, the Mafia had set me up. What makes you think that would convince me to join it?"

"I don't want you to join the Mafia and neither does my son," Iemitsu said, and forcibly continued before Mukuro could interrupt him. "I repeat, Tsuna wants you to join his family." Mukuro froze again at those words, but Iemitsu continued. "I don't agree with it. I think you are dangerous and the farther you stay away from my son, the better. But" - Iemitsu's words softened - "that's not what Tsuna wants, so I'll try to respect that."

Especially since I didn't even ask him before setting him onto the path of a Mafia Boss, Iemitsu didn't say.

It was scary how fast Mukuro recovered, and how easily he sensed weakness and latched onto it.

"Respect, you said," Mukuro drawled slowly, focusing his single eye on him as though he could see through all his secrets. For a second, his black eye looked red. "Yet, I wonder how is your relationship with him. Or, is there even a relationship?" He paused in mock thinking, before smirking at Iemitsu. Iemitsu itched to wipe that smirk off his face, preferably with a few punches re-enforced by Sky Flame. "After all, in my glimpse of his memory, I had never seen you there." It shouldn't have felt like a stab in the heart, and yet it did, especially coming from a blind spot.

Mukuro laughed at whatever he managed to read on Iemitsu's face. "Sorry, did I hit a sore spot?"

Iemitsu clenched his hands into a fist, nails digging into his palm, and forced himself to breath. He was abruptly aware of the Vendice around them, especially the one with the cold energy that seemed to want to kick him out the moment he slipped up instead of giving him a warning like he actually did.

It felt dirty using what Tsuna told him through Reborn in this way, especially since he had no doubt his son wanted to use it to persuade and not to threaten, but Iemitsu never said that he wasn't vindictive or that he played fair.

Iemitsu turned to the Vendice with the cold energy. "Hey, when is the trial for the two guys captured along with Mukuro again?"

The tension in the room rose.

"You're asking about those tools?" Mukuro asked, aiming for detached wondering and failing by a few marks, even as the Vendice answered, "In half-a-year. Their offense is minor in comparison to all the other offenders Vendicare is currently housing."

"Since Mukuro doesn't want to a deal with Vongola, why don't Vendicare complete a deal with me regarding those two instead?" Iemitsu asked casually with cold, cold eyes.

"Kufufufu, you're trying to threaten me with those two?" Mukuro asked with an incredulous laugh. He sounded like a desperate man grasping for straws. "It won't work. You're overestimating their worth to me."

Iemitsu met Mukuro's eye. "Am I?" he asked.

Mukuro gazed back steadily. "Yes," he said, and it was amazing how nothing else betrayed him but the minute twitching at his jaws before he spoke.

"If you say so then." Iemitsu shrugged as he turned back to the Vendice. "You heard him," Iemitsu said, and if glares could kill, he would be dead five times over even without Mukuro's red eye uncovered. The chains that cuffed Mukuro's hands rattled for a second before stilling completely. The silence that followed was deafening.

Iemitsu could suddenly see Nana, who always smiled no matter, frowning at him, chastising him to play nice, that her Iemitsu wasn't like that. He blinked and the image of his wife and her voice disappeared.

Iemitsu turned to Mukuro, who raised an eyebrow at him, waiting. From the smirk on Mukuro's face, Iemitsu didn't know if he should conclude that Mukuro had caused that brief scene in his mind, or Mukuro had merely sensed him faltering once again and wanted Iemitsu to considered him as the cause. He knew which one Mukuro wanted him to think, however.

Iemitsu whirled back to the Vendice with a tick in his jaw. "Vendice, here's my offer to Vendicare. Mukuro Rokudo will be Sawada Tsunayoshi's Guardian via proxy for life, in exchange for Mukuro's vow to Vendicare to not escape again. In return, Vendicare will" spare the lives of Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto, giving them life in prison instead, Iemitsu was tempted to say, except induced by Mukuro or not, the scene of Nana chastising him did affect him more than he was willing to admit. So instead, with an inner sigh, he finished with, "absolve Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto of their crime and set them free."

Both Mukuro and the Vendice were staring now. Iemitsu gazed back at them steadily, refusing to regret his choice or his words. "Well?" he prompted.

Mukuro was the first to respond. "Kufufufu, his Guardian?" he said. "You're just making it easier for me to possess him."

Iemitsu looked back at Mukuro. "He's my son," Iemitsu said, like that was a good enough endorsement of Tsuna's abilities and it was. "He won't make it easy and neither would his friends and families." Neither would I, was left unsaid, but loudly projected through the warning glint in Iemitsu's eyes.

Silence hung between them for a long moment, before a smirk finally curled on Mukuro's face. "You're a fool," Mukuro said, and Iemitsu knew an agreement when he heard one.

Iemitsu turned to the Vendice to see him staring in a compact mirror in his hand a few feet away from them, still close enough to watch them and interfere in a moment of notice. The bandages he had wrapped around his head made it hard for Iemitsu to read lips, but the vague movement around the area of the mouth could at least confirm that he was talking. The Vendice's body language, normally controlled to the point where one Vendice could switch with another with no one knowing better, was now mutely projecting a sense of disagreement.

"The Vendice doesn't like the idea," Mukuro murmured with amusement, gazing in the talking Vendice's direction.

Iemitsu casted a quick glance in Mukuro's direction, briefly wondering at this man that exchanged his life for his two companions, before a smirk spread across his face as he turned back to the Vendice. "But whoever he is talking to does."

The Vendice talked with the compact mirror looking device for another two minutes, before coming back with the bearing of a determined man, and nodded in agreement. Pride bloomed in Iemitsu's chest at the thought of having done something for his son, even as worry soon took hold as he wondered how wise would it be to have Mukuro as Tsuna's Guardian. Mukuro looked indifferent at best upon hearing the agreement, but there seemed to be a tension at his shoulders that was released.

The Vendice excused himself as soon as he gave them the news and slinked away to an adjoining audience room. "To write up an agreement," he claimed with the voice of someone who wanted to sabotage the very agreement he was writing up, and then he was gone.

Five minutes later, the door to the adjoining audience room opened. Iemitsu thought he saw a flash of black and white pattern before the door closed behind him. The Vendice came back with a document in hand and slumped shouldered. Iemitsu guessed someone convinced him that their agreement had to go through. After all, Vongola wasn't a family to cross with.

They signed the agreement after looking over it, and it was set upon. Vongola will get Mukuro as Tsuna's Guardian for life via proxy, Vendicare will get Mukuro not escaping again, and Mukuro will have Ken and Chikusa set free as innocents.

As Iemitsu headed back out of the Vendicare, he passed by someone in the hallway. The person looked utterly normal, with brown hair and brown eyes, and yet something about him made Iemitsu turn back around. The person was young, he saw, but possessed a regal aura around that commanded authority and respect.

The word Jr. was on his forehead.

Xxx

Yusuke groaned and rolled over to his side, but the noise continued bouncing around his head. "Arg, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Yusuke shouted, bolting up from his bed. "You're driving me crazy!"

From across the apartment in the kitchen, Gokudera sniped back, "You shut up. What bit you in the ass this morning?"

Even the smell of delicious in the apartment wasn't able to completely assuage Yusuke's annoyance. He threw his covers off his body and stalked up to Gokudera. He was making - Yusuke squinted at the time - brunch. It was 1 pm.

"Gokudera-san," Yusuke stressed, emphasizing on the honorific that he was using sarcastically. "Can you please, please, shut the fuck up? You've been making this weird noise ever since I started coming back to sleep here after the whole Kokuyo debacle. I've been tolerant long enough, don't you think? If you don't like me sleeping in my own apartment, you can just fucking say so. Don't mess with my sleep."

Gokudera was raring up for an argument even before Yusuke finished speaking. "The fuck do you mean?" Gokudera asked, bristling as he turned his attention away from the pan. "Do I look the passive aggressive type? If I have a problem with you, I would have been all in your face about it like you right now!"

A furrow appeared between Yusuke's eyebrows. "You mean it wasn't you making that noise?"

"What noise?" Gokudera asked, exasperated. "The only noise I hear right now is you screeching in my ears."

"Are you deaf?" Yusuke asked, annoyed now. "It's right -" Yusuke blinked and focused at his ears, but the noise was gone. "The hell?"

"You're definitely hallucinating," Gokudera declared, turning his attention back to his brunch. He scooped it out of the pan. "That, or you're picking up a fight."

"This is so weird; it was there like two second ago!" Yusuke insisted, but Gokudera merely shook his head.

"All that sleep is getting into your head," Gokudera said, pointing the spatula at him. Yusuke stared at him. "I haven't seen you do anything in the house besides sleep."

Yusuke looked away sheepishly with a cough. "There's nothing for me to do," he said, his words trailing off.

"What were you doing before?" Gokudera asked, for once sounding like he was trying to help. Yusuke mentally applauded Gokudera taking the first step to become a better person, so he tried to seriously think of an honest response.

The only thing that popped into his mind was the image of a baby with sideburns, an amused smirk, and calculating eyes with a fedora propped on top of his head.

"Reborn," Yusuke uttered aloud without thinking, and Gokudera casted him a weird look.

"What did you say?" Gokudera asked, and Yusuke coughed, before deciding to rephrase his answer.

"Reborn usually bothers me, but he's kinda ignoring me at the moment," Yusuke said, trying not to sound as peeved as he felt. "Not that it's not my fault, it is, so I decided to give him time to cool off, but now it seems like he has completely forgotten about me."

Gokudera was staring at him by the time he finished speaking.

"What?" Yusuke snapped, feeling strangely defensive after this unexpectedly honest and sincere revelation.

Gokudera shook his head after a moment. "Nothing," he said, his voice surprisingly devoid of the sniping or mockery that he was expecting. Gokudera rarely sounded soft, so Yusuke didn't expect any of that from him, but he did sound a little less prickly than usual when he said, "Reborn-san is working on a project, you can say, with Juudaime and me now. It's busy work."

Yusuke would deny to the end of his time that he perked up upon hearing those words. "Yeah?" he asked, perhaps a little too eagerly, then said, "What are you working on?"

At that question, Gokudera beamed. "I'm moving out of this apartment soon enough," he said, sounding so gleeful that Yusuke wondered if he should be offended.

"You don't have to sound that happy about it," Yusuke said with a sigh, realizing that the one person who he had semi-constant interaction in his stay at Namimori was now going to be gone.

Gokudera smirked at him, wide and proud. "Of course I have to be!" he exclaimed. Yusuke half-expected him to claps his hands in front of him and sigh dreamily. "Juudaime bought a house for me!" Before Yusuke could even think of a comment to that, his face darkened as he added, "Along with that stupid cow, I-Pin, Fuuta and" - his face abruptly blanched - "my sister."

Yusuke thought it was a waste that Gokudera wasn't an actor, his emotions changed so fast. Then he registered what Gokudera said.

"He bought a house?" Yusuke asked with a low whistle. "Damn, kid."

Gokudera nodded like his Juudaime deserved this praise and dozens of more. "Juudaime is amazing," he said, "that even Vongola Nono had to acknowledge him."

So the money came from Nono, Yusuke thought. That made sense, although he had to wonder at Tsuna and his relationship with the Mafia. Despite his reluctance to fight or even join the Mafia, it seemed like he was being dragged in anyway.

Yusuke wondered what Gokudera would do the day Tsuna honestly declared that he didn't want to be the Decimo. After all, Gokudera admire Tsuna's character and strength as much as he admired the influence and power of Vongola that Tsuna had at his backing.

Then again, he mused, that day may never come. After all, Tsuna seemed to be getting used to the idea of becoming the Decimo at least, if he was willing to accept and use the money Nono sent him.

Speaking of money… Yusuke casted a speculative look at Gokudera.

"What?!" Gokudera snapped at once upon noticing Yusuke's gaze.

"Before you move, help me with something?" Yusuke said. At the bemused furrow that appeared at Gokudera's forehead, he said, "You know those earning from the stocks? Help me cash in some."

Gokudera's eyebrow rose. "Did you gamble and lose all your money because Reborn-san is ignoring you?"

"No!" Yusuke exclaimed, "where did you even get that idea?"

Gokudera shrugged, like that was an answer in itself. Yusuke's forehead ticked, before he decided to let it go.

"I ran out of cash," he explained. "Normally I would get my accountant to help me with it, but he's busy at this moment."

"Accountants help you get money from the bank nowadays?" Gokudera asked, incredulous.

Yusuke shrugged. "This one does."

"Why do you need to cash in stock earnings?" Gokudera continued, sounding more bemused by the moment. "I'm sure you have some kind of bank account that you can withdraw from."

Yusuke looked away and mumbled. Gokudera raised an eyebrow at him. Yusuke sighed and decided to get this over with. "I said, I used up the money I had in my current account and I don't have any information about my other ones. You'll have to transfer money into my account so I can withdraw it, or directly withdraw the money for me."

Gokudera stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. For the first time in years, Yusuke could feel heat rising up to his cheeks.

"Shut up," Yusuke grumbled.

Gokudera couldn't stop. "You're a grown man," he said between chuckles. "It's like babysitting a spoiled rich kid. Even I feel sorry for your accountant."

Yusuke shrugged, willing his embarrassment away. "He gets paid, you know, and has a crazy high rate too."

Gokudera gave him a spectacle look, but finally dropped the topic. "I'll send you the money later if you give me the routing number. You have that at least, right?"

"Yeah, I do," he said, with a proud smile. "One last thing then: keep the stocks." Gokudera opened his mouth to argue. "Deal is the same, plus I need you to continue sending me money until my accountant responds to me."

Gokudera flicked Yusuke an annoyed look. "Of course."

"Hey, I'm paying you," Yusuke retorted, before asking curiously, "So when are you moving?"

Now it was Gokudera's turn to grin. "In three days."

Xxx

Nana didn't see the furniture trucks come in, but she knew that it did the moment Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin shrieked in delight and ran out the door.

"It's here, it's here!" Lambo shouted, jumping along with Fuuta and I-Pin. Happy as he was, he didn't pay attention to where he was going and tripped just when he was at the door. He slowly crawled up to a kneel. "Got…ta st...ay calm…" Nana knew he had to be telling himself. Nana was walking towards him from the kitchen when Fuuta and I-Pin finally noticed they were missing one person and came back.

"Come on, Lambo," Fuuta said, pulling Lambo back up to his feet.

"Broccoli head, you alright?" I-Pin queried.

"Idiot, I'm not broccoli head!" Lambo immediately shouted, pain and tears forgotten. "I'm going to reach the truck first. Hahahaha!" Lambo stuck his tongue out at Fuuta and I-Pin and promptly ran off.

"Lambo, no!" I-Pin shouted, running after him. "You can't do that!"

Fuuta watched them for a moment, giggled, and hurried after them. "Wait for me, Lambo, I-Pin!"

Nana smiled. She was happy to see Fuuta here and in a more cheerful mood. She was worried that Fuuta wouldn't make it in time for the moving date, only to received a call from a blocked number three days ago.

Beaming, Nana picked up the call. "Iemitsu!" she enthused, pleasantly surprised that he called when he already did so six weeks ago.

"Nana!" Iemitsu replied, just as happy as she was. "I miss you, my wonderful wife."

Nana giggled, her heart warming. "I do too," she said back softly. Unintentionally, the words slipped out. "I'm so happy that you called."

There was a pause after those words. To anyone else, those words would have the same meaning as 'I missed you,' the implication that you care and thought about the other. For Nana and Iemitsu, however, it implied something different. Nana was certainly happy that Iemitsu called, but the underlying unintended implication was because you rarely do so because of work.

Nana's heart ached for a second, in the special place of her heart that she reserved for her husband. She ached to be able to see him face to face, to hold his hand, to have his arms wrap around her protectively.

But most of all, her one wish was for Iemitsu to visit them sometimes, often enough that their son could recognize his face and voice. Often enough that their son would remember that he has a father. Often enough that the all three of them could be proper family

It was too much to ask for, she knew. So instead of hoping for something impossible, every time after Iemitsu called her, she just hoped that he would call again soon. Once a month was the goal she was aiming for. Just once a month. For him to call her at least once a month so they could chat a little about what's going on in each other's life. She knew Iemitsu couldn't say much, especially not about his work, but she honestly just wanted to hear his voice sometimes.

Nana never told Iemitsu of her wishes, never said them aloud, not wanting to guilt him in trying to fulfil them when she knew her wishes were impossible.

She suspected that Iemitsu heard them anyway. After all, they did always have an understanding of each other.

"Nana," Iemitsu whispered, his voice achingly soft. Full of longing. "You know I love you, right? I would do anything for you and Tsuna."

Nana nodded, her grip around the phone unrelenting. She forced herself to giggle, and smiled wide enough to hurt. It hurt.

She smiled. "Of course I know, Iemitsu. I know," she uttered back, the words ringing true in her voice and in her heart. "I love you too."

"Great," Iemitsu said, his tone sounding more distant now. "Nana-dear, I have to go soon." Her smile dropped. "I just called to tell you that the kid, Fuuta, is on a plane to Japan now. His plane will arrive at five o'clock and someone will bring him from the airport to our home."

Breath left her lungs. "F-fuuta-kun is coming back?" she asked, wanting to confirm and not yet letting herself hope. She remembered asking Tsuna and Reborn about when he will come back, and receiving headshakes in return.

"We don't know, okaa-san," Tsuna had said, exchanging looks with Reborn.

"He needs to testify for Mukuro's trial first, Maman," Reborn had said. "He will be back after it takes place. As for when that will be" - Reborn shook his head - "I'm afraid even I don't know."

"He must be so scared," Nana said, pressing her lips together in a thin line. "First he gets captured and now he must stay in custody until the trial ends? Can't we at least visit him?"

Reborn shook his head.

Iemitsu laughed warmly. "Yeah, Nana-dear. Last time you told me that you were worried about him, right? Now you don't have to worry anymore; I'm sending him back to your side. The trial ended early and favorably too. Tell Tsuna that for me, can you?"

"Tsuna's in the house today, dear," Nana said with a quick smile at the good news, and the rare opportunity for the father and son pair to talk. "I'll go get him -!"

"Don't bother, Nana," Iemitsu said, "I need to go now. Just tell him for me."

Nana's stomach dropped. "Iemitsu," she started. 'It'll be very quick,' she didn't have the time to finish.

"I really have to go now," Iemitsu said in a rush. "I love you both!"

"I love -" The line went dead. "you too," Nana finished in a whisper, but no one was there to hear.

Fuuta arrived at their house later in the evening, as promised by Iemitsu. By the time Nana finished checking up on Fuuta and turned back to his escort, he had already vanished without a trace.

During Fuuta's first day there, he was very reserved and quiet, even by his standards. He seemed scared, constantly looked around, and sometimes covered his ears as though afraid to hear something. Tsuna stayed with him for the night, and when they woke up the next morning, Fuuta seemed better. Unlike the day before, when Lambo and I-Pin asked him to play with them, he actually went. Gokudera stopped by to help them pack what the kids had in the house and move it next door, and when Lambo and I-Pin excitedly claimed they wanted to go also, Fuuta went with them.

At some point, they must have explained to Fuuta that not only was the huge house next door for Lambo and I-Pin but it was also for him. Once they came back, all of them clambered into Tsuna's room. Tsuna was learning Italian from Reborn, but postponed it with Reborn's permission when he found out that they wanted to look at furniture catalogues to order furnitures for Fuuta online. Lambo and I-Pin's were already ordered, after all.

Nana somehow got roped into it, and together, they selected what Fuuta would have in his room. They also ordered more decor for the house itself.

Fuuta seemed startled and guilty at the cost of everything when Tsuna went to check out the items, but Tsuna merely smiled and said that he wanted to spend money on him.

Nana had to bring Fuuta out to wash his face and then have some cookies when he began to sniffle at those words. She didn't know how necessary those cookies were since Fuuta began giggling after the kids blamed her spluttering son for making Fuuta cry, but it was fine as long as Fuuta was happy.

"Okaa-san, did the furniture arrived?" Tsuna asked, coming down the stairs with Reborn on his shoulder.

"Tsu-kun!" Nana said, smiling widely. "Yes, it's here now."

Tsuna smiled back. "Let's go help them move in then. Onii-chan and Yamamoto said they'll come by later, and" - her son face's flushed slightly - "Kyoko-chan might stop by as well."

Nana gazed at the house next door, where Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta, Gokudera and Binachi would be living now. Ryohei, Yamamoto, and Kyoko would also be visiting, and of course, Reborn and Tsuna would still be by her side.

Nana was still very aware of the missing piece in her life and in her home, and while the kids wouldn't be able to replace Iemitsu in her heart, they have a place there in other ways. With them there, she wouldn't be alone and she wouldn't let them be either.

Chapter Text

Moving

[Moving and packing is always fun. -Readera]

“No, no, no. I said centered, does that look center to you?!” Hayato growled in frustration. “Two inches to the left, no, no, too much. You empty-headed idiots! Don’t you know how to follow simple instructions?!”

Hayato rolled up his blueprint and marched over to the couch. “You guys can’t do shit,” he declared, shoving the blueprint into Yamamoto’s hands and then shoving him and Ryohei out of the way. Then, carefully, he pushed the couch precisely four inches to the right. Snatching the blueprint back, he took a few steps back as he unrolled it.

Hayato glanced between the couch and the blueprint of the house - which contained not only every room of the house, but also Hayato’s meticulous notes on the exact location of where all the furnitures in the house should be - and then finally grinned in satisfaction when he saw that it was exactly where he wanted it to be.

“Now that’s what you call centered,” Hayato said, turning back to Yamamoto. “Let’s go -” Hayato’s vein twitched. “Where did lawn-head go?”

Yamamoto’s lips twitched as he gestured to the door. The word “EXTREME” could be heard from the yard, right before Ryohei entered. Hayato felt his heart stop for a moment when Ryohei, lifting a bookshelf taller and wider than him by himself, bumped it against the doorway.

“You moronic lawn-head!” Hayato shouted, running over to Ryohei. “How dare you damage Juudaime’s bookshelf and house?!”

Hayato was prevented from further yelling when Juudaime, upon hearing his words, popped his head out from top of the second floor staircase. Hayato immediately straightened in attention, Ryohei forgotten. “Gokudera-kun, is everything alright? I heard shouting,” Juudaime said.

“Yes, of course!” Hayato replied. How can he be Juudaime’s right-hand man if he can’t even handle something so small like moving into another house?

Juudaime smiled. “That’s good,” he said, about to go back, when he paused. Hayato stood there attentively, waiting. “And, umm, Gokudera-kun, I know I bought this house and the furniture, but you know that everything is yours, right? After all, I bought them all for you guys.”

Hayato’s mind, heart, and body halted for a moment, Juudaime’s words echoing in his mind. Yours , he said. For you.

Hayato pressed his lips together. He was above bursting into tears over every scrap of kindness people give him. He wasn’t, however, above showing gestures of appreciation over Juudaime’s generosity. Hayato took in a deep breath and was about to bellow his undying loyalty and gratitude when Juudaime yelped and said, “Onii-san, be careful!” upon spotting Ryohei with the bookshelf.

See, Hayato thought to himself, even Juudaime is telling the lawn-head to be careful with the furnitures.

“What if you get hurt?” Juudaime continued, running down the stairs.

Ahh, Juudaime is so kind even to the undeserving. Hayato was about to mentally lavish more praises upon Juudaime when a thought registered with him.

Hayato did a double-take and yes, Juudaime was running down the stairs. “Juudaime!” Hayato shouted, remembering the bruises that Juudaime got the last time he did that. Hayato rushed forward and was at the bottom of the stairs just in time when Juudaime yelped, slipped, and fell, slamming right into Hayato.

“Juudaime!” “Gokudera!” both of them shouted, jolting up from the tangled heap they made at the bottom of the stairs. “Are you okay?!”

Both Juudaime and Gokudera stared at each other, concern and anxiety for the other written all over their faces, before they laughed.

“I’m okay, Gokudera-kun,” Juudaime finally said. “Thank you for catching me.”

Any time, Hayato was about to say, when he spotted Lambo at the top of the stairs.

“Ahh, Dame-Tsuna and Baka-dera is playing around instead of helping!” Lambo bellowed. A glint appeared in his eyes, before he began jogging a few steps back. Hayato had a bad feeling about it. “Dogpile!” he exclaimed and then he launched himself down the stairs and onto Juudaime and Hayato.

Hayato winced upon impact and heard Juudaime let out an oof . “You stupid cow!” Hayato shouted, about to swat Lambo away when I-Pin appeared on top of the stairs.

“I-Pin, it’s a game, jump down!” Lambo shouted and I-Pin’s eyes lit up with childish excitement.

“Okay!” she exclaimed, just loud enough to just cover both Juudaime and Hayato’s screams of “No!” and then she took a flying leap off the stairs.

Hayato put a protective arm around Juudaime, trying to shield as much of him as possible, and waited for an impact that never came.

Or rather it did, but not where he expected.

I-Pin landed with a light thud right beside Hayato on the floor, beamed at him, and then proceed to lightly toss herself onto the heap of people. “Dogpile!” she exclaimed happily, and Hayato heard Juudaime let out a sigh of relief and a small laugh.

“Hello, I-Pin, Lambo,” Juudaime said, patting them each on the head. “If you’re here, who’s helping okaa-san with decorating your rooms?”

Right on cue, there was a call of “Lambo? I-Pin?”

Fuuta appeared at the top of the stairs and at this point, Juudaime just sighed as Fuuta’s eyes lit up at the sight of the human pile. “Come,” he said with a soft smile, beckoning with his hand like an armful of two kids was not enough.

Fuuta’s face brightened and, unlike the two idiotic kids who leapt down the stairs, he thankfully decided to run down it instead. For a second, Hayato worried that Fuuta was going to fall off in the same way that Juudaime did before, but then he made it safely down the stairs in a record of time, and then Fuuta’s safety was the last thing he was worrying about as Fuuta belly flopped onto the heap with a giggle.

Damn, this pile’s getting heavy, Hayato thought. How did cushioning Juudaime end up cushioning everyone?

A pair of feet appeared in Hayato’s view. “Hahaha, this looks fun,” Yamamoto said, grinning down at them. “I want to join.”

“Yamamoto,” Juudaime said weakly, evidently about to deter him.

“I’ll kick your ass -” into next week if you sit on Juudaime, Hayato was about to threaten, but then Juudaime yelped about Hayato cursing in front of kids and so he shut up. Also, there was no point because Yamamoto already sat down.

“I’m going to kill you,” Hayato declared. “You better run now, because I’m going to kill you.”

“Maa, maa, don’t be like that,” Yamamoto said from his place on top of the pile, over the kids’ shrieks of mock fear and delight since he was sitting on them as well, though Hayato could tell Yamamoto was holding most of his own weight.

There was a thud . Ryohei had finally managed to move the bookshelf inside and spotted them. “Hey, oh, what is this? This looks extreme!”

“Yes, an extreme pain in the -” ass , Hayato was about to say, but then he remembered Juudaime’s chastise and awkwardly finished, “butt.”

He ignored the kids’ giggles at the word ‘butt.’

“Anyway, get us up, lawn-head!” Hayato demanded from beneath the pile.

“Onii-san, please help us up?” Juudaime asked.

Ryohei grinned. “Alright,” he said, and then proceed to part his arms, leaned down, and grabbed everyone in the pile.

“Holy -” Hayato belatedly remembered that he shouldn’t curse in front of the kids “ - cow. How did you just lift us all in one go like that?!”

Ryohei carefully dropped all of them onto their feet and then raised an arm, flexing his muscles. “You can be strong like me if you join the boxing club, octopus head!”

Hayato looked at him for a second, before turning away. “Yeah, no thanks,” Hayato said dryly. “Juudaime, are you alright?”

Juudaime smiled at him. “Yeah,” he said, just as the kids shrieked, “Maman!” as they ran up the stairs.

Hayato looked up to see Nana and Bianchi on top of the stairs. He didn’t know what made his stomach hurt more, the sight of his sister with her goggles temporarily pushed up to the top of her head or the camera in Nana’s hand. From Bianchi’s smirk, Hayato knew that he should be worrying about future blackmail materials.

Later Kyoko swung by with a cake and Nana and the kids (and Bianchi, but she was careful not to let Hayato see her) cooked some food for the housewarming. As everyone gathered around with a cup of soda in hand, Hayato looked around the house and thought, Home.

Cooking

[I hope to see how gokudera take it up to himself to do the cooking and everything and lambo and the others keep complaining..  - Aseel11]

Lambo’s lips pursed in an obnoxious pout. “Eh, why does Lambo-san has to cook? And baka-dera is cooking for two days?”

Hayato’s finger twitched on top of the cooking chart that he drew up. “I wouldn’t want to eat your cooking either, but fair’s fair. Monday is me, Tuesday is takeout, Wednesday is any two of you” - Hayato gestured to Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta - “Thursday is me,  Friday is takeout, Saturday is Bianchi and whoever didn’t cook this week, and Sunday is at Juudaime’s house. I didn’t hear you complaining when I cooked nearly all the meals for the first two weeks we moved.”

Fuuta piped up, “I like Gokudera-nii’s cooking. It taste like home, just like Bianchi-nee’s cooking” - his face turned a little purple - “but without the food poisoning afterward.”

Hayato blinked at those words. Did his cooking really taste like Bianchi’s, even after all these years? Hayato thought back to Bianchi when they were younger, with her love for cooking and her strange ability to turn anything she cooked poisonous, intentionally or not. Bianchi was good at cooking, Hayato knew, or else he wouldn’t have fallen for the same trap and ate her cooking all those years back when they lived together; at least, until Hayato’s body began to send distress signals at the sight of Bianchi because evidently he was too stupid to not learn his lesson after getting food poisoning the umpteenth time. Afterward, Hayato tried to reverse engineer her cooking and he supposed had some degree of success, especially since Bianchi sometimes tried to teach him.

Hayato exchanged a look with his sister, and only felt slightly queasy at the sight of her with goggles on. With any luck, they could move up to sunglasses within the next month and then just an eyepatch in another month, until he can finally face Bianchi again without anything covering her face and not faint. “Well, I did learn some of my cooking from her,” he finally said, looking away. “If you guys” - Hayato looked pointedly at Lambo - “learn well from her, you can take over all the meals.”

Lambo wrinkled his nose at the thought as I-Pin exclaimed, tugging on Bianchi's sleeve, “I learn!”

“I want to learn to bake, Bianchi-nee,” Fuuta added.

Lambo perked up. “Sweets?” he asked hopefully.

Bianchi laughed, her expression softer than Hayato had seen since she was in her home under her mother’s thumb. “Then I’ll gladly teach you.”

Bedrooms

Hayato thought it was a disaster waiting to happen the second Fuuta, I-Pin and Lambo each claimed a bedroom on the second floor, leaving the remaining two bedrooms on the ground floor for Gokudera and Bianchi.

“You mean you kids want me to leave a whole floor to you practically unsupervised?” Hayato asked with eyebrows raised. “Heck no.”

Lambo tackled Hayato with a cry of, “baka-dera, baka-dera, baka-dera!” while I-Pin looked up at Gokudera with questioning eyes.

“No?” she asked with the tilt of her head.

Hayato almost felt bad. Almost.

Hayato looked away and caught sight of Fuuta, who smiled with the soft understanding expression of someone who was careful not to have any expectation or hope to begin with so he could not be disappointed, and Hayato’s stomach plummeted.

“No, no, no, that’s the second time you used that one me,” Hayato stated, narrowing his eyes on Fuuta. It took the breath out of Hayato like a punch in the guts the first time he saw that look. “You asked the Ranking Planet to rank my weakness, didn’t you? I remember objects floating around me.”

Fuuta beamed at him, his smile wide and proud as he pulled out his Ranking Book and got onto his hands and knees to flip to pages that were two-thirds his size. “Gokudera-nii’s first weakness is disappointing others,” Fuuta read aloud. “His second is people who have no expectations at all.”

Bianchi clapped her hands together, drawing all of their attention to her, before Hayato could reply.

“Alright, kids,” she said, “how about we decide like this?”

Xxx

The kids ended up getting the second floor. It was unbearable for the initial two week and Gokudera was so close to switching their bedrooms, agreement or not, but thankfully by the third week, their excitement of having a whole floor to themselves eventually died down to a tolerable level.

(And no, Gokudera going up the second floor to wake the kids up and opening the door of Fuuta’s room to the sight of I-Pin and Lambo curled around Fuuta protectively in their sleep did not play a role in his unexpected patience at all.)

Mediation

[I'm curious what kind of roommate agreement or house rules they would come up with. Or would they just ask Tsuna to mediate everything. -Readera]

[a lot of fluffy stuff. - Aseel11]

“Juudaime, you can just leave your shoes - “ Gokudera didn’t get to finish his words before two shadows fell down from the ceiling, eliciting a loud “Hiie!!” from Tsuna and a “Would you guys fricken stop it?!” from Gokudera as he smacked one of the shadow into the ground and round-kicked the other into the far end of the house.

“Gotta. Hold. It. In,” Lambo whimpered, crumpled at their feet. Tsuna flailed when he spotted the tears that lined Lambo’s eyes.

“Don’t cry, Lambo!” Tsuna screeched, desperately racking his mind for a way to stop Lambo’s tears. “Here, have a piece of - “ Tsuna triumphantly pulled a piece of candy out of his bag, only to have it snatched out of his hand a mere second later.

“Hahahaha, baka-Tsuna,” Lambo exclaimed, tears gone and running away, “the candy’s mine!”

“Round two!” someone said determinedly, and then I-Pin slammed into Gokudera’s stomach like a bullet train.

“You fricken brat!” Gokudera huffed. Tsuna winced as he slammed into the wall, and thought he heard something like pride in Gokudera’s voice.

I-Pin evidently heard it too. She beamed widely at Gokudera like it was a compliment, before running off into the house after Lambo.

“Those kids are nuts, Juudaime,” Gokudera said as he picked himself up with the shake of his head. “Today’s Monday.” Gokudera raised his voice, gaze raised to the second floor. “Perfect time to deep-fry the stupid cow for dinner!”

Tsuna couldn’t help but let out an amused smile when, from the second floor banister, the words, “Bleh. Baka-dera!” came down.

“Dinner!” Gokudera shouted back, before abruptly turning to Tsuna and turning distinctively red. “Er, Juudaime,” he said awkwardly.

He’s embarrassed that he got into an argument with the kids in front of me, Tsuna knew.

Tsuna’s smile widened just a little, before he tilted his head to take a whiff of the air. “Something smells sweet,” he commented.

“Ahh,” Gokudera said as they finished taking off their shoes and actually went beyond the foyer of the house, gladly grabbing onto the change of topic. “Fuuta’s probably baking.”

Sure enough, Fuuta was in the kitchen working at some dough with a rolling pin. Flour, cookie cutters, and parchment paper scattered all around him as the oven glowed orange in the back. He was humming under his breath and had a small apron with little bears on.

“Gokudera-nii, Tsuna-nii!” Fuuta smiled when he saw them. “I’m making some cookies.”

“It smells nice,” Tsuna commented as Gokudera said, exasperated, “Again.”

“Bianchi-nee said you can never have too much food,” Fuuta recited back at them seriously, and Gokudera cracked a smile. “Besides, I baked brownies yesterday,” Fuuta pointed out, like the sweet that he chose to make was the issue here.

Gokudera frowned at the reminder. “Yeah, I’m locking up your cookies. What time did you guys sleep again after somehow finishing all four batches of the brownies you made yesterday?”

Fuuta’s smile turned sheepish. “Lambo and I-Pin said they tasted good. You said so too, Gokudera-nii!”

Gokudera let out a huff and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, but - “

The oven let out a ding , and Fuuta hurried to it. “It’s ready!” he said, just as two other pairs of voices above shouted, “It’s ready!!”, followed by a set of footsteps running down the stairs.

“Ahh, it’s not fair!” Tsuna heard Lambo exclaim, just as I-Pin landed lightly against the ground floor. Tsuna stared at I-Pin as she gracefully unfolded from her landing stance to skip over to the kitchen, and then glanced up to the banister on the second floor.

I’m going to get a heart attack if I actually live here, he thought dimly as I-Pin joined them at the table.

“Smells good!” I-Pin said, eyes gleaming as Fuuta placed the cookies onto the table.

“Wait for it to cool first, I-Pin,” Fuuta said with a gentle tone, and she nodded, feet swinging as she gazed at the cookies admiringly with her head rested on both hands.

“Surprise attack!” Lambo shouted, and then he bowled right into I-Pin’s back.

“Ahh!” Tsuna shouted, heart in his throat as I-Pin fell off the chair. He looked at Gokudera in panic, but Gokudera was busy trying to pull a cookie off the parchment paper without it breaking into many soft pieces.

“I-Pin, are you alright?” Tsuna asked, helping her up. He took step back when he saw I-Pin’s dangerously gleaming eyes.

“Stupid broccoli-head!” she shouted and the next thing Tsuna knew, Lambo was running with a cry as I-Pin chased after him.

Tsuna stared at the empty space where Lambo and I-Pin were two seconds ago. He turned at the sound of Fuuta’s giggle.

“Don’t worry, Tsuna-nii, they’re like that a lot,” Fuuta said as he imprinted cookie cutters into the flat dough. “You want to help?” he offered, gesturing to the cookie cutters he had on the side.

“Sure,” Tsuna said dimly, reaching for a cookie cutter.

“Ahh, Tsuna-nii, wash your hand first!” Fuuta astonished sternly. Tsuna looked at Fuuta, at his apron and at his hand crusted with flour, and wondered which of them was the older one.

“Right,” Tsuna said, going to the kitchen sink. “Where’s Bianchi?” he asked as water ran over his hand.

“She’s working,” Gokudera answered, straightening from where he leaned over trying to pry a cookie off the sheet with no avail. Tips of the star shaped cookie was gone, while a bit of its center remained stuck on the parchment paper. “Took a job and said she’ll be back in a week or so.”

“A job?” Tsuna asked, cocking his head to the side, wondering what kind of place only hired for a week.

“Yeah, assassination,” Gokudera answered and Tsuna choked. “Somewhere in Belgium. It should take more time to travel to and fro than to do the actual job.”

“Bianchi-nee said she’ll bring back some chocolate and get me a recipe book for baking!” Fuuta added excitedly.

Tsuna startled at Fuuta’s non-reaction to Bianchi’s occupation, before recalling that he had been in the Mafia longer than him, even if Fuuta had only been chased for his ability to rank and for the knowledge in the Ranking Book. In fact, Tsuna thought, looking at Fuuta, Gokudera, and then up at the second floor to Lambo and I-Pin, all of them have.

It was a strange thing to acknowledge, that to many of the people close to him, the Mafia was a way of life, not this strange scary place that was thrusted upon them. As he cut into the dough with the cookie cutters, Tsuna wondered if he had been born in the Mafia, would that life had been easier for him to live in?

“This is your last batch, got it?” Gokudera said, ignoring resulting Fuuta’s pout. “Save the rest for tomorrow. I have to cook dinner soon.”

“Alright,” Fuuta acquiesced, just as I-Pin and Lambo ran down the stairs again.

“Baka-dera, I want Oko - “ Lambo paused and looked at I-Pin.

“Okonomiyaki,” I-Pin supplied helpfully.

“Baka-dera, I want okonoyaki!” Lambo exclaimed.

“Yeah, no,” Gokudera rejected without a backward glance. “I was gonna make lasagna; I don’t have any ingredients to make okonomiyaki.”

“Go buy, baka-dera!” Lambo huffed.

“No way,” Gokudera said. “We’re eating lasagna today. We can order okonomiyaki tomorrow.”

“I want it now!” Lambo stomped his foot, looking increasingly frustrated. “Now!”

A look of annoyance entered Gokudera face. Tsuna had a bad feeling about it and suddenly wished Yamamoto was here. He was good at dispeling disputes before they got out of hand.

“How about I go buy the ingredients and we can make okonomiyaki today and lasagna tomorrow?” Tsuna offered, trying to compromise.

“No!” Lambo screeched, glaring at Gokudera, as Gokudera said, glaring down at Lambo just as hard, “Juudaime, with all due respect, we can’t spoil the stupid cow like this all the time.”

All of a sudden, Fuuta cut in, his voice strong and clear and just a tad mischievous, “First to the front door.”

Before Tsuna could ask what he meant, Gokudera, Lambo and I-Pin whooshed past him, all racing to the front door. Gokudera threw a flash bomb to clear the way and Tsuna closed his eye just in time to avoid the worst of it. He opened his eyes to the sight of I-Pin vaulting over Gokudera’s head and jumping off Lambo like a stepping stone to launch herself at the front door.

“I win,” I-Pin said, beaming from where her hand touched the door.

Gokudera sighed and Lambo whimpered as they picked themselves off the ground. “What do you want, I-Pin?” Gokudera asked.

“Okonomiyaki,” she said with a soft smile.

Gokudera exhaled. “Yeah, I figured,” he said, as Lambo cheered. “Okonoyaki! Okonoyaki!”  

“It’s okono mi yaki, you idiot.” Gokudera rolled his eyes. “C’mon, you two are coming with me for the groceries then,” he said, ushering them to change their shoes. “Fuuta?”

“I want to finish baking and cleaning up,” Fuuta said, and Gokudera nodded in acceptance before he caught sight of Tsuna.

“Ahh, Juudaime,” he said, looking between Lambo and I-Pin -his charges that he promised food to- and Tsuna, who he saw as his top priority. “Umm… I’m sorry that I’m such a bad host!!” he exclaimed, bowing waist level.

Tsuna watched Lambo try to kick Gokudera in the back and be pulled back by I-Pin with an astonished, “Lambo!”  

“Ahh, it’s okay,” Tsuna said with a smile, rubbing the back of his head. “I’ll stay with Fuuta, and umm…” His smile turned sheepish. “It’s been awhile since I ate okonomiyaki. Can okaa-san, Reborn and I eat here today, maybe?”

Gokudera’s body whipped up, his eyes wide. “Of course, Juudaime, you’re always welcome!”

Tsuna smiled, touched to hear those words.

After Gokudera, Lambo, and I-Pin left for the grocery store - each with two of Fuuta’s cooled cookies in hand - , Tsuna asked Fuuta if they usually settled their arguments with a race.

“Uh-huh,” Fuuta said, as he cleared the kitchen counter of the last of the baking equipments. “Bianchi-nee thought of it.”

“So someone not in the argument would choose a place and whoever’s in the argument would win if they reach there first?” Fuuta nodded. “Then what if all of you are in disagreement?”

“Including me?” Fuuta asked, looking up at Tsuna, eyes wide. Tsuna nodded. “Then I win.”

“Huh?” Tsuna asked. “Why?”

Fuuta smiled. “Because I usually don’t care and don’t get into arguments, so I usually win by default whenever I want something,” Fuuta explained matter-of-factly.

Tsuna sweatdropped. “Ahh, of course.”

Piano

The day Bianchi returned from Belgium, a large package arrived in front of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household.

“No,” Hayato said, even almost as soon as he saw it. He gazed at the people who brought it to their door, dressed in black suits and, to those who knew what to look for, carrying firearms. Hayato didn’t recognize any of the people, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know who they came on the orders of or what the large package they came bearing was. “Take that back and fuck off.”

“Hayato,” Bianchi called, coming out of the house, a pair of sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose.

“Miss!” the men of Bianchi’s father exclaimed, all bowing at the sight of her. Gokudera gritted his teeth.

“Thanks for bringing it here, Gotoh,” Bianchi said. “Tell Papa thank you for me when you get back, would you?”

“Of course,” one of the men in the front - Gotoh - said. “We’ll be going now then.”

“Take that with you!” Hayato growled. Gotoh paid him no mind as he gestured his people to leave, as though Hayato was beneath his notice.

“Hayato!” Bianchi said, her voice sharp, and Hayato’s fingers tightened around the dynamites he whipped out. One of the men casted a contemptuous look back, and before Hayato could throw the dynamites, a purple pie met the man’s face.

“Gotoh, train your men better,” Bianchi barked, as Gotoh’s men paled at the sight of their fallen comrade. Bianchi’s eyes narrowed. “Or I’ll do it for you.”

Gotoh bowed in their direction. “Of course, Miss,” he said. He jerked his head to the side and two people came forward and grabbed the poisoned man. “I’m sorry for this unsightly subordinate.”

“Hayato,” Bianchi said, after her father’s men were long gone and Hayato was just staring at the spot they vacated and the package they left behind.

Bianchi caught the hand that Hayato lashed out at her. “Why the fuck did you bring that here?!” he snarled, incensed and almost feral.

Bianchi stared at him for a long while, her grip on his wrist almost painful, until she at least voiced, “I missed you playing.”

Hayato let out a laugh and jerked his arm away. “Yeah, because I don’t play anymore,” he said, turning away to head back into the house. “Call your father’s men back and tell them to take it away.”

“No,” Bianchi said, a simple statement, and that stopped Hayato in his track. “The grand piano is yours. It stopped belonging to the mansion the moment you left it.”

“It’s not mine and I don’t want it. I don’t want anything of that despicable man’s!”

Bianchi stepped forward. “That man is your father and he bought it for you. No one else in the family plays it and I sure don’t have the talent, despite what Mama wants.”

Hayato whirled around to face her. “I’m not part of that family!”

“You are whether you want to admit it or not, regardless of what other people think!” Bianchi shouted back, her eyes blazing. “You are my brother and I’ll strike down anyone who say otherwise!”

Hayato stared at Bianchi, dumbfounded and eyes wide, before finally looking away. “That’s not the issue here,” he said gruffly, and after a beat, added, “Sis.”

“That’s one of the many issues here,” she corrected, some of the tension finally bleeding out of her. “But the piano doesn’t have to be one of them. Lavina” - Hayato was sure Bianchi noticed his flinch at his mother’s name, but she ploughed on anyway - “would have wanted you to continue playing.”

“She’s dead, Sis, she’s dead,” Hayato said, sinking onto his knees. “Don’t tell me what she would have wanted or not.”

Bianchi slowly enveloped Hayato in her arms, as though expecting to be pushed away, but Hayato was just so tired. “The time that she spent with you was unfortunately little,” Bianchi said, her voice soft, “but it was still time you spent together. And for that brief period of time, you were happy, weren’t you, learning and playing the piano?”

Hayato couldn’t stop the first trickle of tear nor the second. After awhile, he stopped trying.

Idiosyncrasies

All members of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household had roots in the Mafia, Bianchi recognized, so she supposed it was expected that all of them would have a certain idiosyncrasies as well.

I-Pin was the walking dichotomy between skill and age. She was so young, yet had such skills beyond her years. Bianchi knew that I-Pin’s frustratingly silent way of moving especially bothered Hayato, who prided himself in his awareness. I-Pin generally walked with a whisper, in the same exact manner of people knocking before entering a room, yet when she truly wanted to hide her presence, not even a whisper could be heard from the sole pupil of Arcobaleno Fon. The first time the young assassin used those skills on Hayato, Hayato had his dynamites and Bianchi her poison cooking out within seconds. Seconds that could have meant the difference between life and death. Yet I-Pin merely smile in that pleased manner of her and backed off, and so the next time I-Pin tackled him and caught him off guard again, Hayato merely took it as a challenge to one day sense her approach, which was fine by Bianchi.

Lambo, like all kids, was brash, loud, and obnoxious. He took those qualities and multiplied them by ten, and Bianchi sometimes looked at this small child with cow-prints clothes, a grating personality, and a complex a mile long, and wondered how negligent the Bovino Family was for Lambo to continually up his antics until they reached the level they were now, how desperate Lambo must have been for someone to pay attention at him. Bianchi thought of Lambo’s propensity to tear up at almost every little thing, but how he always tried to be tough and, despite tears brimming his eyes, tried so hard to not let them fall. Bianchi thought about Lambo’s little mantra “Gotta. Hold. It. In.” to himself and she wondered whether someone else told him that or Lambo learned to tell himself that since he was old enough to understand that he only had himself to rely on. Then she recalled Lambo surprisingly quick recovery when anyone showed concern or asked about him, and became thankful that he was with them now.

Fuuta, Bianchi found, was a source of endless calm, almost always the eye of the chaotic storm. She wondered if Fuuta ever realized his behavior was the textbook example of an information broker, an observer who stayed just close enough to witness the storm from a safe distance but not let it actually affect him. She wondered how much of Fuuta’s behavior and calm was innate and how much of it was learned survival instinct after being chased all his life by mafiosos who wanted to use his power for their own gain. Bianchi thought back to how often furnitures in the house leave the ground as Fuuta ranked miscellaneous things to a pass time - best grocery to buy in Namimori, number one cafe to visit, Hayato’s first and second weaknesses - and wondered if Fuuta knew how to live without always having some sort of information - negotiation power - at hand anymore.

Hayato was her brother and she knew him in a way few others do, having grown with him during their childhood. But others knew a part of Hayato that she was not privy to either, from Hayato’s devotion to Tsuna - and she wondered if Hayato knew already, that he was more devoted to Tsuna, the name that he didn’t think himself worthy of calling his boss, than the actual position Juudaime that he called him by - to Hayato’s surprising talent at herding kids. Bianchi thought back to Fuuta’s ranking that concluded Hayato was suited to be a nursery teacher, and wondered exactly how inaccurate it actually was, despite the rain affecting Fuuta’s communication with the Ranking Planet. If Tsuna chooses not to go down the Mafia path, will Hayato follow? she wondered. And would he be happier because of it?

Bianchi’s hand reached out without a thought, snagging onto the back of Lambo’s cow-print clothes. “Come on,” she said, depositing him back onto the stepping stool in front of the chopping board. “The chicken breast won’t cut itself.” A gleam entered her eyes. “Or would you rather I prepare it?”

Lambo, in a rare similarity to Hayato, quickly turned purple at the thought. She chuckled. It only took Lambo twenty times of eating Bianchi's poison cooking despite being warned not to to realize that no matter how good Bianchi’s food taste and smell, they did not get along with his stomach that he stopped putting everything edible in the house into his mouth. It would have been flattering if only his groans weren’t a pain to deal with, so maybe that would teach him some restraint.

“Come on, you’re the one who wanted fettuccine chicken alfredo,” she urged.

“Lambo-san is bored,” he whined.

“Better bored and knows how to cook than starving then dead,” she said, grinning when Lambo turned pale. “I know you know how to do this. Your ten year later self helped me cook after I confirmed he was not Romeo. Cut it like this.”

She took a piece of chicken breast and demonstrated how to cut it, watching as a sliver of purple dance over the cut before disappearing again. She would have to put this piece aside for herself now, since only she was immune to her own poison cooking.

As she taught Lambo to cook and remembered the past times she taught Gokudera, I-Pin and Fuuta, she thought that as horrible a curse as it was to have someone good at cooking unable to feed the food that she so lovingly prepared to others without poisoning them, teaching someone how to cook and having them pass on her cooking wasn’t too bad either.

Sick

[Gokudera get sick and they feel guilty and try to make it up for him - Aseel11]

Bianchi didn’t know how it happened, only that one minute I-Pin and Lambo were playing and the next they were fighting. That happened a lot, so Bianchi ignored them and continued watching television until a poof sounded. That, too, was not too unusual. Lambo used the Ten-Year Bazooka often, almost like a game, and it would have been concerning if it wasn’t so entertaining.

What was not normal was the scream that followed a second after the poof , followed by I-Pin running into the living room with panic in her eyes.

“Who’s hurt?” Bianchi asked, grabbing the first-aid kit in the kitchen before running after I-Pin. I-Pin was trained by the Arcobaleno Fon. Danger wouldn’t scare her, she would react by fighting, but harm to people around her would. In the back of her mind, she thanked heavens that I-Pin trusted them enough that her first reaction was to grab an adult in the house.

“Lambo!” I-Pin answered. “Ten year. Hurt!”

They screeched to a halt in the hallway of the second floor to the sight of Fuuta crying with frightened eyes above an older Lambo covered in bruises, blood and scrapped clothes.

“Where are you hurt?!” Hayato exclaimed, throwing off his shirt in preparation of wrapping it around the source of the bleeding. Hayato must have ran straight for the scream the moment he heard it.

“I’m dying,” older Lambo moaned. “I’m dying - ow!”

Hayato grabbed older Lambo by the front of his shirt and shook him. “Where are you hurt, you stupid cow?! Do you want to die?!”

Trust Hayato to make a concerned question sound like a threat. Bianchi glanced at older Lambo from a distance and came to a conclusion the same time awareness entered older Lambo’s face.

“Eh?!” older Lambo exclaimed, looking between the worry etched into Hayato’s features and Fuuta still clinging onto older Lambo and crying.

The adrenaline in Bianchi’s body slowly faded when she realized he was fine. Bianchi scooped up I-Pin into her arms, brought her trembling body to her chest, and walked forward.

“Look closely, Hayato, Fuuta, I-Pin,” Bianchi said, trying her best to exude calm through sheer force as she knelt beside older Lambo’s body alongside them. “Those are surface wounds. When you get a cut on your forehead, it bleeds a lot, trickles down, impedes your vision, and cover your entire face until you look like a ghoul, right? Look closer, there’s more blood than wounds on his body.”

Fuuta looked at Bianchi incomprehensively, which Bianchi expected since he didn’t have any combat background, but I-Pin was turning in Bianchi’s arms and taking a closer look at older Lambo, and Hayato’s breath caught in his throat for a moment before he peered closer too. When both I-Pin and Hayato sucked in a breath and nodded, Fuuta’s cry finally slowed to a hiccup.

“Lam - Lambo’s okay?” Fuuta asked, tears rolling unashamedly down his cheeks as he blinked. “Really?”

“Oh,” older Lambo breathed, taking in all the people surrounding him like he was at his deathbed, and Bianchi wanted to sock him one. “Well, well, so that’s what happened. No wonder - oww!”

Hayato punched older Lambo across the face. “Get up,” Hayato growled, standing himself and half-pulling older Lambo along with him. “I’m going to punch you again!”

“Gokudera, calm down, ahh! I’m not dying but I’m still hurt!” older Lambo exclaimed. “Mercy!!”

“How did you get those injuries?” Hayato shook older Lambo. “Where did our Lambo get sent to?!”

A trickle of cold rolled down Bianchi’s spine at those questions. She didn’t even think of it, but if even the older Lambo - assuming he had gotten stronger in ten years - was injured to this extent, what hope did his younger counterpart had at getting alive out of whatever situation older Lambo was in?

“We pissed off Tsuna and he sent us to train at Hibari’s!” older Lambo shouted. He yelped as Hayato dropped him back onto the ground again.

“So he’s fine,” Hayato heaved out, practically demanding older Lambo to say ‘yes’.

Older Lambo rubbed the back of his head. “Well, he might be getting some bruises from Hibari, since Hibari’s prey” - older Lambo pointed at himself with a wry grin - “me, escaped from him, so he might be frustrated, but other than that.” He shrugged. “Hibari scares me, but we all know that he wouldn’t let anyone touch the Family. Younger me is as safe as he could be.”

Hayato’s lips twisted to an ugly parody of older Lambo’s wry grin. “‘We all know’, huh?” he said, dropping onto the ground bonelessly beside Fuuta. Hayato placed a hand onto Fuuta’s head and gently pressed him against his chest. Fuuta buried himself against Hayato immediately with a sniffle. Bianchi watched older Lambo watch the gesture with a soft smile. “Are we talking about the same Hibari? What has the world come to?”

Older Lambo shrugged again. “Can’t speak about the future. Just… I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t know and well, no wonder you guys had such a bad reaction when I came back ten years ago.”

“Bad reaction is an understatement,” Bianchi said as I-Pin finally crawled out from her arms, her eyes red-rimmed. “You’re grounded for life.”

Older Lambo grimaced. “Alright, alright. Okay, but… I was a vulnerable little kid, okay? Be gentle with me,” and although older Lambo said it in a joking manner, there was indeed something vulnerable in his body language.

Bianchi let out a sigh and opened the first-aid kit that she brought with her. “What’s the worst of the injuries?” she asked. “I might as well dress your wounds for the remaining time.”

Older Lambo stared at Bianchi for a moment, before he at last closed his eyes with a giggle. “You guys are the same as ever, huh, ten years before and ten years after.” He looked at all of them surrounding him each in the face, and smiled. “Thank you.”

Then, the younger Lambo was back.

“Got. To. Hold. It. In,” Lambo said against the ground, his clothes ripped like he just barely managed to dodge a predator’s attack multiple of times. Or in his case, older Hibari’s attacks. Bianchi spared a moment to wonder how strong Hibari would be ten years in the future, and then Hayato grabbed Lambo and punched him across the face.

Bianchi closed her eyes briefly, as both I-Pin and Fuuta shouted in shock. In retrospect, Bianchi should have expected that response. Hayato was never good at handling loss.

Lambo was staring at Hayato, wide-eyed. He blinked, and the tears that were bimming his eyes spilled over and slid down his cheeks, gliding over the red cut on his face. Then, Lambo was sobbing and screaming earnestly, flailing in midair against Hayato’s hold and reaching for his afro.

Bianchi winced.

“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare, ” Hayato growled and Lambo froze all over again like a deer in headlight.

“Gokudera-nii,” both Fuuta and I-Pin called out, Fuuta reaching for Lambo and I-Pin for Hayato, and Bianchi spared a moment to wonder if the arrangement was at random or did they instinctively realized that Fuuta would be a better at calming Lambo while I-Pin had combat ability that could at least hold off Hayato for a bit. Bianchi placed a hand on both of their shoulders, catching their attention, before gently shaking her head.

Fuuta’s hands clenched at each other, while I-Pin’s teeth gnawed at her lips, but Fuuta and I-Pin both listened. Bianchi rubbed their backs comfortingly, but she wasn’t sure how much it helped.

“You’re never using the Ten-Year Bazooka again, do you understand?” Hayato continued. When Lambo didn’t reply and just stared blankly at him with tears streaming down his face, he barked, “Lambo!”

Lambo flinched.

Something broke in Hayato’s expression. Lambo took advantage of that like shark sensing blood.

“ Baka-dera! ” Lambo cried, kicking and screaming, and Hayato dropped Lambo in surprise. Lambo landed on his feet and quickly ran into his room.

“Lambo!” Fuuta and I-Pin shouted, sprinting after him, and the door slammed into their faces.

“Go away!” Lambo shouted back through the door.

“Lambo,” Fuuta called, evidently struggling for calm. “Please, Lambo. Please. Let us in.”

“Lambo?” I-Pin said, her voice wobbly, and knocked against the door in a pattern that had to be a secret door code that they agreed on beforehand. “Lambo?”

Bianchi watch Hayato grit his teeth, before tearing down the stairs. Bianchi hesitated for a moment, glancing between the kids at the door and Hayato’s retreating back, before running after Hayato.

She caught him just outside the gate. “Hayato,” she called, grabbing his wrist, and he flung her hand off. Any other day and she would have ploughed on without blinking an eye, but it was just too much today with the Ten-Year Bazooka Incident and now this.  

She flinched.

“Hayato,” she said, almost as soon as she realized her mistake, but it was too late.

He let out a laugh. “Sis, I fuck up everything, don’t I?”

“Hayato, please,” Bianchi said, pleaded, and she hated how brittle she felt. “They need you.”

“I can’t do this right now, I can’t!” Hayato exclaimed, growing more and more hysterical with every word. “Why did I ever think I could do this?”

Bianchi forced herself to breathe, to take a deep breath in and to exhale just as deeply. Then, she stepped forward and slapped Hayato across the face.

Hayato stared at her and this, too, stabbed into Bianchi’s heart. “Snap out of it, Hayato!” Bianchi barked, and something in Hayato shifted because even in despair, his brilliant brain could recognize the parallel between this scene and the one with Lambo. “You did what you thought you had to do. It wasn’t nice, it wasn’t pretty, but you thought it was necessary, didn’t you? So why are you doubting yourself now? Why are you running from your own mess?! If you want reassurance, I’m telling you right now, yes, I would have done the same exact thing as you if I thought that was the only way to get through Lambo. We don’t get to be the good cop all the time, Hayato. Sometimes parenting requires you to be the bad cop.” Bianchi blinked and her eyes felt wet. “But you just realized that now, didn’t you?”

Hayato took in a shuddering breath. “I shouldn’t have hit him.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Bianchi agreed, and some vicious part of her was vindictively pleased at his flinch, because fuck, everything was a mess and fuck Hayato for almost making her shoulder everything. “He came back from a sparring match from future Hibari. That must have been scarring on its own and the first thing you do after he came back to his time, what he thought was a safe place, to his home, and you hit him. Ever heard of words, little brother?”

“Shit,” Hayato said, running a hand through his hair. “ Shit . I fucked up big time.”

“Yeah, you did,” Bianchi said, softening her voice towards the end. “Now go fix it.”

Hayato took a step towards the house. “Yeah, I - “ He looked at her. “Hey, I’m sorry.”

Bianchi let out a laugh, and roughly wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand. “I said fix things up with Lambo, not with me, idiot,” she said. “We’re good.”

Hayato looked at her for another moment, and then carefully stepped forward and enveloped her in his arms. “Thank you,” he said, squeezing her tightly around the ribs. “Thank you.”

Then, they went back inside to fix their family.

Bianchi ushered I-Pin and Fuuta away from Lambo’s door, and Hayato knocked.

The last thing Bianchi heard was Hayato tentatively calling out “Lambo?” and Lambo immediately shouting back, “Go away! I hate you!” before they walked downstairs.

Bianchi made all of them wash their faces, before they piled in on the couch.

“You okay?” Bianchi asked, hugging I-Pin and Fuuta tight. She brushed a kiss onto each of their forehead as she felt them lean in.

“Gokudera-nii hit Lambo,” Fuuta said, and Bianchi’s chest clenched as Fuuta trembled against her. Bianchi hugged him closer, like that could stop the trembles and erase his fear.

“To teach?” I-Pin cut in, glancing at Bianchi and Fuuta with innocent, impressionable eyes. “Master hit me to teach,” she said, and Bianchi closed her eyes for a moment.

“Close, I-Pin, but that’s a little different,” Bianchi said, struggling on how to explain. “Fon teaches you martial arts. He has to teach your body on how to react. Hayato…” Bianchi took a deep breath. “He shouldn’t have hit Lambo. He should have tried talking to him, because we’re not teaching his body. We want him to understand that he shouldn’t use the Ten-Year Bazooka anymore and why. Does that make sense?”

Slowly, I-Pin nodded, while Fuuta remained silent. He already knew all of this, Bianchi knew, especially with his past of others chasing after him by force so he can do their bidding, whether he wanted to or not. “Hitting bad.”

“He shouldn’t have done that,” Bianchi agreed. “Hayato knows that now, he regrets it, and he’ll never do it again.”

“Gokudera-nii was worried,” Fuuta finally spoke, his voice so soft it nearly got swallowed against her sweater.

“And it made him do a very stupid thing,” Bianchi agreed, as some of her worries dissipated. Fuuta was scared, but he seemed more scared of the situation and of the past that it reminded him of, than of Hayato. He did seem a little frighten of the violence Hayato was capable of, but he didn’t see Hayato as the bad guy or as an enemy, and even understood why he did what he did, however stupid his action was. That was more than Bianchi could hope for. “And that’s why he needs to talk to Lambo now, because Lambo needs to know.”

Fuuta and I-Pin both nodded against her. Bianchi wanted to say more to reassure them, but she didn’t know what to say anymore, so in the end, she gently coaxed both of them to sleep. She drifted in and out of sleep herself, until she finally sensed a presence in the room.

It felt familiar.

“Reborn?” she uttered, and he placed a finger against his lips, looking down at I-Pin and Fuuta against her numb arms.

“I checked up on Gokudera and Lambo,” he said, and Bianchi unwittingly held her breath. “They’re fine,” he said, noticing her expression, and something in her chest loosened as she exhaled.

How did you know? Bianchi wanted to ask, and the question must have showed on his face, as he continued, “I saw you and Gokudera had an argument outside the house.” A smile slid across Bianchi’s face. Argument was an understatement.

“It’s fine, sleep now,” he said, so painfully gentle. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”

Bianchi obeyed, closing her eyes again and this time, she slept fitfully knowing that her family was fine and that Reborn was there.

Xxx

Hayato became practically Lambo’s slave for nearly a month afterward, but as Reborn promised, everything was fine between them again.

Lambo promised not to use the Ten-Year Bazooka anymore and for most parts, he didn’t break his promise. Although the household, especially I-Pin and Fuuta, were getting better at calming Lambo down before he could pull out the Ten-Year Bazooka, years of reflexive habit was hard to break and sometimes they couldn’t stop Lambo in time. When Lambo come back from the future looking so utterly contrite, Hayato took one look at him and didn’t have the heart to get angry when he saw that Lambo was alright.

They all still wanted Lambo to be careful though, since they didn’t want him to blast himself into a future situation that he couldn’t handle, and after the Ten-Year Bazooka Incident, all member of the Gokudera-Bianchi-Lambo-I-Pin-Fuuta household, against all odd, all grew closer.

[Gokudera Everyone gets worried sick and they Gokudera feels guilty and tries to make it up for Lambo him]

Victim

[I would like to see more about Takeshi and hibari together - K]

Suzumi Nano crept around one of the bigger two-story houses in Namimori, checking every door and window she passed. As expected, all the ground floor openings were locked.

She let out a huff as she headed back to the tall, sturdy-looking tree that she passed by in the backyard. She didn’t expect this family to make things easy for her, though it would be nice for a change.

Nano rolled her neck and stretched her limbs for a bit, then started her climb up the tree. The tree had long, thick branches that extended nicely to a second floor window, which - if one looked closely - was left just a bit ajar.

That was all the opening Nano needed.

Bingo, she thought, as she wedged her fingers through the gap and tugged. Nano jumped in with barely a sound once the gap was large enough for her to get through.

Now, she thought as she straightened, where should I - ?

She froze when she caught sight of the little girl standing in front of her, her single braid on top her head curving in a bow as she tilted her head to the side to consider Nano.

When did she get there?! Nano thought as cold sweat pricked her skin, making all the hair on her body stand up. She wasn’t there before, and I didn’t see or hear her coming!

The girl continued to stare at her. “Who?”

Nano’s mouth dropped a little, staring back at the girl like an idiot, before she inwardly face-palmed. C’mon, Nano, get ahold of yourself! It’s just a little girl. It’s not like you’ve never came across an unexpected situation before while burglarizing a targeted home. She didn’t even run off screaming like the Disaster of 2002. You can still salvage this.

“Hello, I’m a friend of your parents,” Nano said soothingly, lowering herself to a crouch in front of the girl. She distinctively remembered spotting an older woman and a rough-looking man entering and leaving the house while she was doing surveillance from a distance. “What’s your name?”

The girl blinked. “I-Pin,” she answered.

Nano couldn’t sense any nervousness or tension from the girl - I-Pin - at all. That’s good, she thought. She fell for the lie, and answered my question. I’ve gained her trust.

“Nice to meet you, I-Pin,” Nano said, brushing her hand against her covered face for just a second to remind her tittering heart that no matter how strange or unusual it was to be talking to a target while she was in the middle of the job, her identity was concealed and that she already calculated the risks to be relatively low. “I’m just here to get something your parents were holding onto for me,” Nano lied. “It’ll only take a second, so why don’t you just go back to sleep? I’ll be gone before you know it.”

I-Pin looked at Nano for a long moment, before finally shaking her head. Nano’s heart sunk. “Master said…” I-Pin paused for a moment, brows crinkled in thought, before starting again, “Master said tell him if anyone come in.”

“Master?” Nano asked, latching onto the first thing to ask. Inwardly, her mind whirled with scenarios of how to get I-Pin back to bed without her alerting anyone else of Nano’s presence. Or should I just cut my loss and come back another day?

I-Pin nodded. “Master’s not here.” Nano’s heart soared. “Tell Bianchi. Tell Gokudera.” I-Pin nodded to herself again and turned to go.

“Wait!” Nano cried, reaching out to grab I-Pin and the next thing Nano knew, she was lying prone on her front. What the hell…?

Nano glanced up to find I-Pin staring down at her, her expression never changing from the calm that Nano first saw her with.

“We go,” I-Pin said. She took Nano’s hand into her and walked forward, casually dragging Nano’s stunned body behind her.

The same icy cold feeling prickled Nano’s body again. This child is not normal, she thought desperately. And if even a child is like this, what are the adults like?

Nano had no intention of finding out. Nano snatched her hand out of the child’s hand, and flipped herself up to her feet.

I made a mistake, she thought, running towards the window. I should have never targeted Namimori just because it was a quiet town that seemed to have little to no self-awareness or self-preservation against crime. Three feets to the window. It’s not that they don’t have self-preservation, it’s that they don’t need to!  

One feet. She was all but ready to dive out, when, in the corner of her eyes, she spotted a spark of light. Her head turned unbidden, and the last thing she heard was a “Oh no, you’re not escaping,” as a dynamite stick exploded in front of her.

Xxx

Bianchi’s brows twitched. “Hayato, we just finished renovating the house not long ago,” she said, slowly turning to her little brother. “Ever heard of overkill?”

Hayato quickly put away the rest of the dynamites in his hand, and coughed. “Just trying to make sure she wasn’t getting away,” he said. He looked down at I-Pin. “You okay, I-Pin?”

I-Pin nodded and pointed at the unconscious woman crumpled near the smoked window and wall. “Intruder.”

“Yeah, we figured something was up when heard a thump upstairs,” Hayato said. He smiled down at her. “Good job.”

I-Pin ducked her head, her cheeks pink from the compliment.

“Gokudera-nii? Bianchi-nii?” Fuuta stood at his bedroom door, rubbing sleepily at his eyes. “I heard something. Is everything okay?” Fuuta straightened at the sight of I-Pin, sleep evaporating from his eyes. “I-Pin?”

“Everything’s fine,” Bianchi said, stepping in before things got messy. “I-Pin just found an intruder. Probably just a bulgar.”

Fuuta relaxed as I-Pin nodded in assent. “Where’s Lambo?”

Hayato snorted. “Probably still sleeping,” he said, and sure enough, Lambo was snoring away in his bed when they all poked their heads into his bedroom. Fuuta adjusted Lambo’s blankets before closing the door behind him.

“Go back to sleep,” Bianchi said to Fuuta and I-Pin. “Your Gokudera-nii will take care of the rest.”

“What?!” Hayato exclaimed, as Fuuta and I-Pin nodded their assent and trudged back to their rooms. Bianchi gave him a look. “Urg, fine!.”

Xxx

Saitou Hisano’s eyebrow twitched as three groaning bodies were dropped into a pile by the front desk of the Police Station.

“Arcade two blocks from here. Delinquency,” Hibari said, and Hisano spared a moment to pity the kids for having been caught red-handed by Hibari Kyouya himself. Kusakabe or any of Hibari’s subordinates might have shown some mercy for the minor infraction, but Hibari didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘mercy’ at all.

“Hibari-kun!” Rei-san - a woman in her late-fifties who was reporting the loss of her home key - called out just as Hisano was about to make a comment. Hibari turned. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Take pity on this old woman and stop by for some soba soon, would you?”

Hisano wondered if Rei-san had a death wish, to be so casual with the Hibari Kyouya. She steeled herself in case Hibari responded violently.

Hibari blinked. “I went by three months ago,” he said carefully.

Rei-san waved a hand. “That’s ages ago!” she insisted. “I have to thank you for helping Keigo knock some sense into his nephew too! He’s studying properly now.”

Hisano wondered what Keigo’s nephew had to do with Rei-san, and why Rei-san had to invite Hibari for soba to thank him for his efforts. It sounded like an excuse more.

“Which reminds me, Keigo said you’ve been going ‘round Take-Sushi more often,” Rei-san continued. “Tsuyoshi’s sushi is good, but you can’t forget about the other people that were there to watch you grow up either,” she insisted. Rei-san looked at Hibari and paused. “Hibari-kun, are you - ?”

Hisano wondered if her eyes had gone bad or was Hibari’s cheeks really lightly dusted pink.

“I’ll come by,” Hibari cut in before Rei-san can comment.

“Tomorrow,” Rei-san bargained with a wide smile. Hisano couldn’t believe she was going to see Rei-san’s infamous bargaining skills at hand. Many grocers in Namimori grumble good-naturedly about the goods that Rei-san swindle out of them with her whirlwind personality, quick wit and sharp mind.

Hibari startled. He opened his mouth, and Hisano already knew a refusal was at the tip of his tongue.

“Ah, ah, I can’t believe Tsuyoshi stole your affection from me,” Rei-san lamented, as loudly and dramatically as she could. The teenagers in the delinquent human pile perked up. “He wasn’t even there to change your diap - “

Hisano did not need the mental image of baby Hibari in diapers.

“Next week,” Hibari offered, as flustered as Hisano had ever seen him be, even as he glowered. It would have been cute if only it wasn’t like looking at a disgruntled wolf that would tear your throat out the moment you poked at it one time too many.

“Great!” Rei-san grinned, like that time frame was exactly what she wanted. It probably was. Rei-san’s demand that Hibari meet her tomorrow was too ridiculous, no matter how you looked at it, but once Rei-san threw out that deadline, Hibari would be forced to meet her time halfway there. “I’ll see you next week then!” she beamed.

Hibari huffed lowly under his breath, before turning to go. Maybe Rei-san’s reckless bravery was infectious; Hisano found herself calling, “Hibari-san” right before he swept out of the Police Station.

The look that Hibari gave her had none of the forbearance that he directed at Rei-san. “What?”

Hisano inhaled. “Please refrain from excess violence towards the people that you are restraining.” Hibari’s eyes narrowed. “The unconscious burglar that you left tied up in front of the Police Station had extensive bruises and” - Hisano trailed off, realizing, as she finished, “... burns…”

The Police Station had automatically assumed that Hibari was responsible for the burglar's capture, since it was typical of behavior of Hibari to leave beat up criminals at their doorstep, so the police didn’t look closely into it, but since when did tonfa cause burn injuries?

“I did not capture any burglar and Kusakabe didn’t report anything.”

Rei-san chuckled lowly as Hibari’s eyes sharpened.

“He did always hate not knowing all the ongoings of Namimori,” she whispered to Hisano, as Hibari demanded, “Where was this?”

Hisano told him. Despite the fact that it should be confidential, Hisano wasn’t really worried about being reprimanded, since Hibari was practically part of the police force of Namimori in everything but name. Hibari could ask any police officer anything and they would all divulge what they know, not only because he was frighteningly capable and his tonfa could cause hell of a bruise.

“The omnivore herd,” Hibari said afterwards in recognition, looking surprisingly thoughtful.

Hisano didn’t even want to ask. Anyone that could cause those injuries on the burglar and have Hibari call them omnivores , she was staying the hell away from.

[I would like to see more implied Takeshi and hibari]

Chapter Text

Gokudera slammed the door in his face when he saw who was behind it. Luckily, Yusuke had amazing reflexes and caught the door before it closed. Unfortunately, he also accidentally grabbed the door a little too hard in his zealousness and the side of the door caved around Yusuke’s hand.

There was silence for a moment, the kind of perfect silence that was usually best broken by a gunshot or an explosion. Gokudera didn't look like he was too picky about which one at the moment, so long as he could kill Yusuke dead.

“You did not,” he said, so softly it was more scary than if he had just exploded on Yusuke, “just damage the door to the house that Juudaime so kindly invested in for us.”

At the venom in Gokudera’s voice, Yusuke let out a slow, sheepish laugh, but Gokudera didn't look amused in the very least. It made Yusuke just a bit reluctant to remove his hand, just so he could delay the inevitable of Gokudera witnessing the full damage he had dealt to the door of his house.

“I’m really sorry about about the door, Gokudera. I’ll pay for that, if you would just let me in,” Yusuke said. Gokudera’s vein throbbed and he looked like he was about to say something along the line of, ‘You’re lucky I have yet to kill you,’ so Yusuke quickly went on offense before Gokudera could. “Speaking of which, what’s with that reaction? After I let you stay in my apartment when you were on the verge of becoming homeless? And you said I could visit you!”

Yusuke added a flamboyant gesture of hurt just so he could casually let go of the door, because the splinters were poking into his hand, damn it, and was glad that his inflated outrage was just enough to spur Gokudera’s on that he forgot about the door for a moment.

“The fu - freak!” Gokudera exclaimed, and Yusuke would have laughed at Gokudera’s self-censoring if only he didn’t continue to flame, spot on, “I would have let you in if you didn’t arrive on my doorstep unannounced looking like you have some kind of ulterior motive!”

Yusuke held back the abrupt cough at his throat and instead, made his brows furrow. Man, Gokudera’s too perceptive. That's good for Tsuna and the Vongola Family, but not-so good for me right now.

“Ulterior motive? Me?” Yusuke said and when Gokudera remained unconvinced by his innocent look, Yusuke tried, “I just wanted to visit my former roommate, who extended an invitation for me to visit .”

“That was not an open invitation,” Gokudera argued and he would have said more, but then there was an excited cry of “Yusuke!” and then someone shot through the empty space Gokudera and Yusuke jumped away from.

Yusuke let out a surprised laugh, recognizing who it was from the voice and the glimpse that he caught. “Hey, I-Pin,” Yusuke greeted and I-Pin bounced back up the steps to the house from where she landed.

She beamed at him and repeated, “Yusuke!”

Gokudera looked between them. “What? When did you two even meet?”

Yusuke, noticing a lifeline when presented to him, ignored Gokudera and crouched beside I-Pin. “Hey, I-Pin. Long time no see. How do you like your new home?”

I-Pin beamed again and grabbed Yusuke by the hand. “Me show Yusuke,” she said and dragged him into the house past a spluttering Gokudera.

“Hey, what the freak?! Don’t invite random strangers in the house, I-Pin!” Gokudera shouted after them.

“Yusuke no stranger,” I-Pin tossed back in her broken Japanese, sounding so certain of her statement that it gave Yusuke a pause.

Behind them, Yusuke could hear Gokudera sigh as he reached for the door.

Mission accomplish, Yusuke thought, allowing himself a grin as he walked into the house. The piercing gaze that he sensed from next door ever since he arrived at Gokudera’s doorstep followed him all the way until the door closed.

Xxx

Yusuke somehow ended up in the kitchen cooking ramen with Gokudera smirking smugly in the background, and the kids - and there were three kids in the total. Three freaking kids. Yusuke wondered how Gokudera and his sister didn’t go insane already when Yusuke and Keiko had trouble with just two, and then blanked out at the turn his thought took - watching on with swinging legs at the kitchen island.

Well, I suppose fair is fair, Yusuke thought as he separated the cooked ramen in different bowls, scooped soup over them and began to put the toppings on. I did ruin their semi-new door, so the least I can do is cook for them, especially since I came so timely at lunch hour.

Or at least that was what Gokudera argued as he bullied Yusuke into cooking. Yusuke caved, because he secretly thought Gokudera just missed Yusuke’s ramen after he moved out.

The doorbell rang just as they were about to dig in.

Just in time, Yusuke thought. Gokudera and Lambo didn’t even seem to notice the doorbell as they busied themselves with their bowls, and Fuuta got up to get the door just before I-Pin could leave her seat.  

“Tsuna-nii!” Yusuke heard Fuuta exclaim at the doorway, and Gokudera jerked up. “Reborn!” Fuuta continued and then the hair on Yusuke’s arm raised.

Play it cool, Yusuke reminded himself, and then Tsuna walked in with Reborn on his shoulder. Tsuna’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Yusuke in the house, but Reborn’s eyes held nothing but sharp alertness.

It had been weeks since Yusuke had seen Reborn, much less than have his hyper focus directed at him, and Yusuke found a smile spreading across his lips without his bidding as he raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey,” he said as Gokudera rushed over to greet Tsuna and Reborn’s eyes remained fixed on Yusuke. “You came just in time for lunch. Ramen?”

Reborn looked at him for another long moment, then his eyes dart back to the kitchen where there was extra soup in the pot, uncooked ramen ready to be made, and various of prepared topping still on the counter ready to be served. He hopped off Tsuna’s shoulder - kicking off with unnecessary strength, Yusuke thought. An average person would have been kicked back, but Tsuna’s body just moved with the recoil- and landed on the kitchen counter in front of Yusuke.

“You knew I was coming,” Reborn said. Accused really, and Yusuke bit the inside of his mouth to stop his smile from widening. It had been a while since they’d done this routine.

“And you knew I knew,” Yusuke replied steadily, meeting Reborn’s eyes, because of course Reborn knew, “and you still came anyway.”

Before Reborn could reply, a voice cut through, “Seconds!!”

A scowl crossed Reborn’s face, and Yusuke held back the bubble of laughter in the pits of his stomach. Reborn would appreciate that even less than his wide grin, Yusuke knew, though he could hardly help it. Deadly or not, the contrast of the severe expression on Reborn’s cherubic face was weirdly adorable.

“Lambo will eat it all if you don’t say yes,” Yusuke cajoled, just as Lambo’s eyes widen when he finally noticed who was there.

“Ahh, Reborn!” Lambo exclaimed, before rummaging in his hair. Yusuke’s eyebrow raised as he pulled out a grenade and tossed it in their direction. “Die!”

I-Pin’s admonishment was muffled as the grenade exploded in the middle of the kitchen. Reborn and Yusuke had both stepped just out of the range of the blast.

“Hahahahaha!” Lambo laughed like a crazy kid given free reign in the middle of a candy store, except worse because this was a kid given free reign with deadly weapons that made a nice ‘BOOM!’, and tossed more grenade in their direction.

“Lambo!” I-Pin and Gokudera shouted, and then both of them kicked the grenades up towards the empty space between the first and second floor. Fuuta giggled at the kitchen island at the spectacle, while Tsuna watched with mounting horror.

Lambo then pulled a bazooka out of his hair, only to immediately pale and quickly tried to stuff it back. A glint appeared in Reborn’s eyes and then next thing Yusuke knew, Reborn kicked Lambo and Lambo was flying towards Yusuke, bazooka and all.

The kitchen was behind Yusuke. It could get dangerous really quickly.

Yusuke held out a hand to catch Lambo and the bazooka instead of moving out of the way, but then a shot rang out.

The last thing Yusuke comprehended was, Reborn shot the bazooka with a rubber bullet, so it accelerated towards me.

And then, pink.

Xxx

Yusuke’s first thought was how uncharacteristic of him that he stumbled as he landed. His second thought was, wait, landed?

“Kufufufu,” a voice a lot closer than Yusuke was aware of sounded, and then Yusuke’s third thought ended up being, Why the fuck is he here?

Yusuke raised his head to face Mukuro Rokudo.

“Hello, Yusuke,” Mukuro greeted, and then it finally occurred Yusuke to be disoriented when he glanced around and realized he was in Demon World. “Surprise.”

Mukuro spread his arms out beside him like a magician unveiling a particularly neat party trick. The smirk on his face was annoying, especially given how it actually felt unnerving as Yusuke’s world tipped beneath him.

He was at Gokudera’s house a few seconds ago, wasn’t he?

“Whoah,” Mukuro said, stepping back as Yusuke’s spirit energy, for the first time in centuries , flared in distress. “I suppose I should have heeded your warning not to play with your younger self too much.” Then his smirk widened and he added, “Whoops” as Yusuke registered that Mukuro said ‘ younger self ’.

Yusuke grabbed Mukuro by the neck, and his illusion dissolved around his hand.

Calm down, Yusuke told himself. You woulda noticed that if you -

“Definitely should have,” Mukuro said behind him. Yusuke whirled around, and his infuriating smile only grew. “But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun, would it, Yusuke?”

Mukuro dodged the Spirit Gun Yusuke shot at him. “Careful,” he called. “That would have done a lot of damage if it hit, and then you wouldn’t be able to get the message your older self so kindly asked me to give to you.”

Older self. Younger self. Yusuke was at Gokudera’s house before. The last thing he remembered was….

Reborn and a bazooka.

Yusuke inhaled deeply as it finally clicked. Lambo was a Bovino. And all members of Bovino had the Ten Year Bazooka. Right, he thought, right.

“What are you doing here in the Demon World, Mukuro?” Yusuke said, forcing calm into his voice as he tried to regain stability. “Last I heard, you were in Vindicare.”

“Oh, you would have to ask yourself that, Yusuke,” Mukuro said. “Sure makes you want to rethink, don’t it, though that ended up all the more beneficial to me.”

Yusuke’s brows furrowed at his words. “I did not release you.”

“You didn’t,” Mukuro agreed, and Yusuke’s fist curled. He really wanted to punch the smirk off Mukuro’s face, especially as he said, “But you will.”

“Alright, fun and games are over,” Yusuke said. He had no more patience to deal with this crypticness, especially after everything that had transpired had shaken him up more than he was willing to admit. The air around Yusuke thickened as his Spirit Energy level rose, and his eyes narrowed. “Tell me now or I’ll make you.”

“Ooh, scary,” Mukuro laughed. “Are you sure you want to do this, Yusuke? Don’t you want to find out what your older self said?”

“I’ll find out soon enough,” Yusuke said, as energy gathered at the tip of his finger. “As soon as I beat the shit outta you. Spirit Gun!”

A beam of energy shot out from his finger, quick as lightning, and dust rose as it shot through the distance between them and made contact.

Yusuke cracked his neck to the side and stretched his arm. “Ready to talk yet?” he asked as the dust slowly settle, only for his eyes to widened.

“Better question is,” Mukuro’s voice came, sounding absolutely unharmed as Puu’s wings drop from where it shielded him, “are you ready to listen yet. Time is ticking, Yusuke. ”

Mukuro’s menacing effect was ruined as Puu stamped happily over to Yusuke the next moment, nearly running Mukuro over.

Yusuke raised a hand to Puu’s beak, ignoring Mukuro’s tsked , and Puu trilled in the back of his throat. It was him. There was no way Yusuke wouldn’t have recognized what was essentially part of his soul and there was no way to fool a part of his soul either, meaning…  

“I went senile in my old age, didn’t I, Puu?” Yusuke asked, unable to believe the conclusion he came to. “I trust him , Mukuro Rokudo, who tried to kill Tsuna and his friends, Tsuyoshi’s kid, and who knows whatever the hell he actually did in his past.”

“Oh, but you did, Yusuke,” Mukuro said, though Yusuke thought it wasn’t quite his imagination this time that Mukuro didn’t sound nearly as cheerful. “Just like how you did with Hiei and Kurama of your world.”

Of your world, Mukuro said. Jeez, just how much did Yusuke end up sharing with Mukuro ten years in the future? But he must have trusted him, if Yusuke of the future even told him about the other world and his people.

“Okay, okay,” Yusuke said, dodging Puu’s pecks for no doubt being a bully to his friend. “Alright, Puu, geez.” Yusuke looked up to see Mukuro trying to hide his smile behind a smirk. “Alright, I believe you. So what’s the message?”

Mukuro arched an eyebrow at him. “Oh, so now you believe me. Are you sure, Yusuke ? How would you know I’m not lying?”

Yusuke rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you the one who said time is ticking? But yeah. Who else can I trust, if I can’t even trust my future self and a part of my soul?” Yusuke reached up to pet Puu, and he leaned into it. “And if they decided to trust you, then I have no reason to not.”

Mukuro looked at him for a moment, before smiling. It was not a nice smile. “Fools die sooner, Yusuke.”

“Then tell me,” Yusuke said, and as he said the words, he swore Mukuro mouthed alongside him, “am I being a fool right now?”

Mukuro closed his eyes and let out a breath. Yusuke thought the sharp edges of his smile softened. “Time will tell, Yusuke. And now, seeing as you only have a few seconds left, I will tell you this. Your future self wants me to tell you” - he paused for a breath and Yusuke scowled as he unwittingly leaned in - “‘go easy on Reborn’, though feel free to disregard that.” He looked at Yusuke. “You already have a disgusting habit of going easy on everyone.”

Yusuke’s brows furrowed. “Go easy… wait, what?”

Pink exploded in Yusuke’s vision once more.

Xxx

Reborn did not plan to bring future Urameshi to the present, yet when presented with the opportunity, how could Reborn resist?

I won’t be caught off guard this time, Reborn thought, and couldn’t help but remember future Urameshi pressing his lips to Reborn’s cheek the last time he saw him.

Behind him, Reborn could hear Gokudera hiss, “ Lambo! ” because he knew they had been trying to limit Lambo’s use of the Ten Year Bazooka ever since the scare they had when future Lambo went to the present drenched in blood and injuries. Beside Gokudera, I-Pin and Fuuta checked Lambo over for injuries, Lambo muttered like a mantra, “Got. To. Stay. Calm” to himself, and Tsuna grabbed the fallen Ten Year Bazooka and stuffed back into Lambo’s afro before Gokudera could really explode.

Tsuna really needs a better way of dealing with an issue besides stuffing it back into the closest, Reborn thought, and then he was directing all his attention to the dissipating pink smoke as Urameshi Yusuke from ten years later rose from behind, not that he looked any different, of course.

“What the hell…?” Gokudera said when he finally noticed, stalled from the lecture he was about to give Lambo. “Stupid cow, did you miss?”

“But there was pink smoke,” Fuuta observed, head tilted to the side.

“Yusuke?” I-Pin asked, as Tsuna said, equally puzzled, “Yusuke-san?”

“Yo,” Urameshi said, and then it was clear that it was not the Urameshi that they know from the different set of clothes that he wore. He also carried a strange scent unlike anything Reborn had ever smelled. It lingered around him like he was drenched in it, a strange heavy earthy smell mingled with lightning. He looked at the people surrounding him, at the house he was in, at Reborn and then finally said with a half-laugh, “I think my past self is very confused at the moment.”

“I think you owe us an explanation,” Gokudera said. “The Ten Year Bazooka hit you.” Urameshi nodded. Gokudera’s eyebrow twitched in face of Urameshi’s calm. “So why the fuck do you look the f-freaking same?!” he censored himself too late.

Tsuna and Gokudera winced as Lambo laughed, repeating, “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” while I-Pin frowned at Lambo and Fuuta giggled.

Reborn watched a smile crossed Urameshi’s face at their antics.

“Oh, shut up, stupid cow, ” Gokudera growled. “You’re not saying that shit ever again.”

He marched over and Lambo shrieked as Gokudera brought him into a headlock and sealed his mouth shut with a hand. In a low voice, Gokudera hissed at him, “Not around Juudaime, you hear me?” Gokudera maneuvered both of their backs to face Tsuna and pressed two grape candies into Lambo’s hand.

Gokudera’s hand pulled away, and it didn’t take any training at all to decipher from Lambo’s bratty expression that he wanted more bribery. Gokudera promptly stuffed two more candy right into Lambo’s mouth, effectively muffling his compliant.

Urameshi laughed. “I forgot how hilarious they are when they’re younger,” Urameshi said, his lips curled fondly at the edges, so casually and evidently at ease that it took Reborn’s breath away for a second.

If Reborn had any doubt that he had come to the incorrect conclusion from his previous encounter with the future Urameshi, it was all erased in this one moment. Urameshi wasn’t at all nervous or tense around Reborn even from when they first met, but the level of comfort Urameshi displayed around him now spoke of a history between them, and Reborn had not been…

Reborn had not been encouraging Urameshi’s familiarity with him, but Reborn didn’t remember the last time he denied it prior to the Kyokyo incident either, before Reborn grew angry at Urameshi for breaking his word with him.

The thought unsettled Reborn more than he was willing to admit, even to himself. How had Reborn not notice how he reacted to Urameshi, how permissive he had been. While Reborn thought he only allowed Urameshi to take inches, he was slowly taking miles.

And Reborn let him, unnoticed until now.

“Uh-oh,” Urameshi said and Reborn’s eyes automatically scanned through the house, at Tsuna’s Family, before finally landing on Urameshi.

Reborn knew better than to display an easy a tell as gritting his teeth, but it frustrated him that his reaction was not to immediately do a threat check of Urameshi, even though Urameshi was easily the biggest threat to him in the house. The fact that he checked outside the house for external threats, then at Tsuna’s Family in case of internal dispute, and then at Urameshi spoke of trust that Reborn was not willing to give to a man that he didn’t know anything of, even if Reborn had subconsciously given it already.  

“You have that look on your face,” Urameshi murmured, voice low enough that only Reborn could hear. Lambo had tackled Gokudera, and I-Pin and Tsuna were trying to break it up, while Fuuta gleefully watched after tossing a curious sideways glance at Reborn. Reborn hated Urameshi’s consideration for him, hated how Urameshi apparently knew Reborn well enough to read ‘that look’ on Reborn’s face, hated how at disadvantage he felt when Urameshi seemed to know everything about Reborn and Reborn knew nothing substantial about him at all.

Urameshi Yusuke. Reborn didn’t even know if that was his real name or if it was a fake, had nothing to go by at all but Urameshi’s own words that what he said was the truth.

“It won’t do a damn thing if I tell you not to do anything too reckless, would it?” Urameshi asked, and Reborn had to unclench his jaw, visible tell or not, because he just couldn’t help it. For the first time in years, Reborn was losing control and he was entirely helpless to stop it.

“Hey,” Urameshi said softly, “hey, hey, hey. Reborn, look at me. Psst, psst, Leon, a little help here?” Leon only paused for a second before obligingly scurried to Urameshi, and then Urameshi was shoving his hand in Reborn’s face. Reborn blinked. Leon had transformed himself into a bouquet of flower.

“You only gave back what is mine, Urameshi,” Reborn said, as he took the Leon-flower from Urameshi, unimpressed, even though Reborn didn’t know how Urameshi knew -except of course he knew, it must have worked on him ten years ago in future Urameshi’s past- Reborn somehow found himself relaxing.

Maybe it was the non-sequitur that did the trick, maybe it was the sheer inanity of it or the way Urameshi presented it to him, but Reborn found himself untensing even though he was coiled so tightly only seconds ago like a rubber band ready to be unleashed, and he didn’t know what to do with the knowledge at all that Urameshi knew him this well down to the smallest of quirk, nor did he know what to do with the fact that maybe he did not completely hate it even if it was a lot to take in.

Reborn took a breath. “You manipulate me so well, Urameshi,” he said, and a sad look crossed Urameshi’s face before disappearing.

Reborn was gratified to note that that look had no affect on him, that he could still remain firm in and was not swayed from the decision that he had just made. Though of course Urameshi knew what course of action Reborn had just decided to undergo.

“I guess there’s no avoiding it then,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Urameshi looked at Reborn. “Just…” Reborn steeled himself against any arguments Urameshi would make. “Try to be a little nicer to him if you can, would you?” Urameshi smiled, crooked, sheepish and a bit sad. “Younger me is a little more fragile than you would think.”

Reborn looked steadily back at him, despite his faltering for a breath. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The corner of Urameshi’s lip quirked and Reborn didn’t know what to do with the fact that he noticed that even the quirk of his lips couldn’t quite erase the sadness lingering in Urameshi’s expression, before pink smoke claimed him again.

“Fuuta,” Reborn called and the ranking prince looked up.

Xxx

“Ranking Planet, Ranking Planet,” Yusuke heard as he arrived back in the present, even before the pink smoke had the chance to begin to dissipate, “please rank Urameshi Yusuke’s secrets,” and Yusuke’s blood ran cold.

Items around around Yusuke flew up, and in the midst of all the objects slicing through the smoke, Yusuke met Reborn’s eyes.

His eyes were so cold. It hardened Yusuke’s blood to ice.

Yusuke made a move to leave. Reborn stepped in front of him.

“Move,” Yusuke demanded, cool and controlled even as blood rushed against his ears, so loud that it was like a scream.

Reborn met his eyes. “No.”

Behind him, Yusuke could hear Fuuta saying, “Yusuke’s number one secret of three is…”

That was enough for Yusuke. He turned around to Fuuta and raised his hand. Behind him, Yusuke could sense Reborn rushing to reach Fuuta. He was prepared for Yusuke to fight him to keep him here for the ranking, but Reborn never thought Yusuke would turn his back on him and aim for Fuuta himself.

Just like how Yusuke didn’t expect Reborn to turn on him like this, resort to snatching secrets out of his hands like a petty thief.

“Spirit Gun,” Yusuke said inflectionlessly, and then there were screams.

When the dust settled, there was a hole in the wall right next to Fuuta and Yusuke was gone.

Chapter Text

After Mukuro was captured and Lancia alongside him by the Vendicare, Lancia didn’t know what to expect. All he knew was that ever since he was freed from Mukuro’s control, all Lancia felt was guilt. When Mukuro was in control of him, it was almost ridiculous how easy it was to cut someone down and not spare a thought about them. 

But now, in control of his own facilities, there wasn’t a moment he wasn’t flooded with the acts of horror he had committed with his own hands, the shocked “Lancia?” his Family member expressed when he stabbed them in the back, his betrayal not even fully registering before they died with their eyes wide open. Lancia couldn’t sit a moment in his own skin without recalling his body’s betrayal, his mind screaming at him to stop as he watched himself commit acts after acts of violence, until at last, even his mind slipped and then… nothing.

Lancia waited a month for his trial and when it came, all he felt was relief. Whatever final judgement Vendicare decided to hand down - death, toture, eternal punishment, it would at least be an end. Perhaps finally then he can have some closure, make peace with himself under the judge, jury and executioners of Vendicare.

Whatever ending they choose for him, Lancia will just accept. 

On the day of the trial, a Vendice wrapped their chain around him and walked him to Vendicare’s courtroom. There was a slight breeze around the Vendice as they moved, despite them being underground, and Lancia’s mind unwittingly dug up another instance when he experienced it, back when he was first brought to Vendicare from Kokuyo Land. 

“You…” Lancia says unwittingly, his throat parched after weeks of solitary confinement and not speaking. The Vendice looked back at him, before almost gently pushing him ahead through the door. 

The Vendice in the courtroom - them also vaguely familiar like a dream - glanced up when they arrived. When they walked by them, Lancia noted that the air around the second Vendice was cool compared to the ambient temperature, and recalled that Vendices moved in pairs. The second Vindice glanced at the Vendice behind Lancia, at Lancia himself, and then finally up ahead.

“It’s starting,” he says, his voice cold like ice but not harsh. The Vendice judge was at the desk. 

The trial started and Lancia was numb. They read aloud a list of his crimes and with every one came a flash of horrible memory, causing his mind to flinch back from it until by the end, Lancia barely comprehend anything anymore, his mind so detached from his body he was barely breathing.  

“Lancia Serpent,” the Vendice judge said, hitting the gavel. Lancia came back with a start. From the judge’s tone, he could tell it was time for the final judgement. “After going over your crimes and hearing the testimony from the Vendices, we have decided on your sentence.”

Lancia could feel every beat of his blood in his neck, at his wrist, against his leg. He reminded himself that however they decide his fate, at least it would be an end. 

“Although you have broken the law of omerta by your senseless slaughtering, Mukuro mind-controlled you for the majority of your crimes,” the judge said, his words far away like under water. “In light of that and your cooperation with Vendicare after you were released from Mukuro’s control, you’ll get a reduced choice of sentencing.” 

Lancia’s head snapped up. The judge continued, as though Lancia’s world hadn’t been flipped upside down, “Spend two years in prison at Vindicare… or work for Vindicare for two years and repair the damage that you have caused.”

Choice , he said, like pouring alcohol over a seeping wound and letting it burn. 

To repair the damages he had caused and to make amends weren’t something he ever considered possible; he didn’t think he would ever have choice or free-will again, and yet ironically it was Vendicare that gave it back to him in the end. It was a more generous offer than Lancia had expected for his crimes, especially given Vendicare’s ruthless reputation for enforcing the Mafia laws with an iron fist, and it was way more than he deserved. 

Reparation… Lancia wasn’t sure if it was possible, but he wanted to try. 

The Vendice judge drew up a contract for him, which stated Lancia would work for Vendicare for two years. Once the two years are up, Vendicare will wipe his memory to protect their anonymity and the people they work with, and then they’ll free him. If Lancia tried to run, harm Vendicare, or share any information Lancia learned during his work, he’ll get hunted down, mindwiped, and sentenced to another twenty years in prison. 

Lancia bit his thumb and pressed it onto the contract after looking over it, leaving behind a thumbprint inked in blood, and then the judge stamped the contract with a seal. The seal glowed briefly and then settled into the contract in red ink, and the deal was made.

“You’ll be working with these two Vendices during your time here,” the Vendice judge said, gesturing to the Vendices that were present during his hearing. “If you break the agreement, we will find you through the contract.” He let the words linger in the air for a moment, before finally saying, “Welcome to Vendicare. The Vendices will show you to your quarter.”

The Vendices showed him to his room, which was a studio with bare necessities. It wasn’t homey by any means, but it was more than he expected after being on the run as the fake Mukuro for so long.  

“You probably have a lot of questions,” the Vendice who felt like ice said. “We’ll tell you more tomorrow, but for now, just settle in.”

“We’re next door if you need us!” the Vendice with the breeze piped up. “You’ll have to dial for us, ‘cause your room needs to be unlocked from inside and out to open the door, since you’re still in probation ’til you pass the one year mark and prove you’re trustworthy and stuff. You let us know if you need anything though!”

At least it was like a prison in that way. It made Lancia feel just a little better, to have some sort of restrictions after years of not being in control of himself. He wouldn’t know what to do with his newfound freedom otherwise, wouldn’t even know where to start. 

He also wouldn’t be able to kill indiscriminately if Mukuro somehow controlled him again.

Lancia nodded numbly at the Vendices, suddenly feeling the exhaustion from the day’s turn of events. As they bid him goodnight, it didn’t even occur to Lancia to be surprised that the Vendices, the boogiemen of the Mafia, extended basic courtesies and had such a mundane conversation with him. 

He hit the sack and then he was gone.

xxx

The next morning there was a knock on the door, and it took Lancia a long time to recall he was in a studio and not in jail, and his decision to work with Vendicare for two years. It took even longer to finally roll out of bed and grope for the button that unlocked the door on his side, and then the door slid open, revealing a red-haired man bouncing lightly on his feet.

“Hey Lancia, good morning!” the red-haired man Lancia had never seen before in his life chirped. “You up, man? Let’s go get some breakfast and then we can run you through some stuff!”

The door next to his whip opened and a short man with sleep-mussed blue hair stepped out. The air around them dropped by a few degrees.

“ Jin ,” he said, like the name itself was a curse. He pulled the red-haired man back by his shoulder and the redhead looked back, confused but attentive. “What did I say about waiting until a more godly hour?”

“It’s “ - Jin nudged Lancia to the side to peer at the clock in his studio, and Lancia went, befuddled by this turn of event - “seven am already, Touya!” Jin triumphantly turned back to the blue-haired man named Touya. 

Touya let out an exasperated breath, before pulling Jin back behind him so he was in front of Lancia. “I’m Touya,” he said, extending a slender hand out. “That’s Jin,” he said, tilting his head in indication, and Jin - taller than Touya almost by a foot - waved behind him with a grin. 

“You’re...?” Lancia asked, because that introduction answered absolutely nothing, even as he took Touya’s offered hand. Toua’s hand was cold, nearly ice. Something sparked in Lancia and he glanced back at Jin and then Touya, and the image of the two Vendices from yesterday overlapped in front of him. They were the same height, and they were next door. “The Vendices?”

Touya blinked at Lancia and then groaned. “This is why we wait until a more godly hour to introduce ourselves,” he grouched, glaring at Jin through his drooping hair. 

Jin grinned sheepishly. “Maybe I was too excited.” He turned to Lancia, and answered, “Yup, we’ll be working together for the next two years. Nice to meet ya!”

Lancia stared at them, trying to reconcile the boogiemen of the Mafia with the two in front of him. When he didn’t say anything, Touya finally withdrew his hand from Lancia’s and said firmly, “We’ll come back at noon” and dragged Jin away, who waved cheerfully at Lancia until the door closed. 

Lancia went back to bed, convinced he dreamed up Jin and Touya.

He finally woke up naturally at eight o’clock, too jittery about his new assignment to continue sleeping, and with nothing else to do and not quite used to having his own free time yet, he got ready to start the day. He was just scrolling through the internet on the laptop in the room to calm his nerves and pass time - he had access to everything but email, social media, and anything that allowed him to communicate with the outside world - when there was a knock on his door.

Lancia glanced at his clock. It was exactly noon, on the dot.

Lancia took a breath to prepare himself, and then clicked the door button on his end. The door slid open. 

As it turned out, he did not dream up Jin and Touya. 

“Hello, Lancia,” Touya said, his voice smooth like opaque ice. His hair was no longer sleep-mussed and instead, it was slicked back, giving him a more austere look. “Sorry about this morning. Let me introduce ourselves again. I’m Touya and he’s Jin. We’re the Vindices that will be working with you for the next two years.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lancia said, and that was all he managed to get out before Jin exclaimed, “Let’s eat, I’m starving,” and then dragged them through the halls to the cafeteria. 

The cafeteria was overwhelming. It was lunchtime and there were so many people milling about, all of which were probably Vendices out of uniform. Jin and Touya walked around the cafeteria with him, telling him about the different stalls and what they offered as they passed, but Lancia heard none of it. With every additional word, food stalls, and choices , Lancia felt himself sink into himself a little more, like he was caught in a quicksand of choices that threatened to swallow him up if he didn't act. 

He wanted to choose, he really did. He just didn’t know how. 

Lancia locked up, not knowing what to do or how to handle this. 

Jin stopped in front of a food stall and sniffed the air. “Ooh, this smells good.” He turned to them. “I’ll grab us something, go sit, sit.” Jin shooed them towards the side of the cafeteria with the seats. “My treat,” he said with an impish grin, as though at some kind of inside joke, and Touya shook his head with a small laugh as he led them to an empty table. 

Lancia followed behind woodenly.

“The food here’s free,” Touya explained when they sat down and he mistakened Lancia’s silence as confusion. 

My treat , Lancia recalled Jin saying, and that surprised a snort of laughter out of him. 

“You’re different than I expected,” Lancia found himself confessing. His body slowly unlocked from its fight-or-flight nerves. “Both you and Jin. The entire Vendicare.”

Touya smiled, just the smallest quirk of his lips. “Vendicare has a reputation to maintain as the enforcer of Mafia laws. It makes our job easier when even just our reputation makes people think twice about acting out.” His eyes turned dark, like flint, and for a moment, Lancia could see exactly the Vendice in him. “However, you’ll find that we do live up to our reputation. Those who deliberately break our laws and cause chaos will see why, exactly, we are known for being ruthless.”

Lancia thought about Mukuro’s execution sentence, dealt upon him even at the age of eighteen, and banished the thought. He wasn’t ready to think about Mukuro and his madness, his betrayal, how he controlled Lancia to kill his Family with his own hands even though Lancia treated him like a little brother, and how a part of Lancia still wondered how Mukuro was doing even after everything.

Lancia nodded. “I can see that,” he stated. He hesitated for a second, and instead of asking about Mukuro - last he heard, Vongola struck some kind of deal for him, he asked, “How did you and Jin end up working at Vendicare? You’re not prisoners like me.”

“We - ” Touya started, but then Jin crashed against his back. 

“Hey hey, I’m back,” Jin said, stepping away from Touya with a grin when Touya turned a glare on him. “There were a lot of people, so I just grabbed us all the same thing. Hope you like pad thai,” he said as the plates settled in front of them. He blinked at Lancia. “Hello, earth to Lancia?”

“... That’s not Flames, is it?” Lancia asked, gesturing to the something that allowed Jin to float three plates of food down to each of them from mid air.  

Jin glanced to the side where Lancia gestured, befuddled, and then it was like a lightbulb went off above his head. “Oh, you’re talking about this,” he said, and a gust of wind warped around him, fluttering his hair and clothes. Lancia finally noticed the small horn on top of his head and the shape of his ears, which were previously hidden by his hair. The tip of Jin’s ears were pointy, like an elf’s. “Pretty cool, huh?” he said. “It’s demon energy though, not your Flames.”

 “... demon energy,” Lancia said flatly.

“... Oops?” Jin uttered, and Touya just dragged him down to sit. 

“Can you also use this demon energy?” Lancia asked Touya, checking the top of his head, his ears, and just anything that he might have missed before, but Touya looked normal, just like any other person out there.

“Yes,” Touya answered, and Jin poked him. 

“Show him, show him,” Jin said to Touya, poking him with every word. He turned to Lancia with a grin. “Touya’s power is really cool too!”

Jin and Lancia looked at Touya, and Touya looked back steadily before he finally sighed. He held up a hand, and before Lancia’s eyes, ice grew from it until it morphed into a solid glistening block of ice. 

“That’s why you always feel cold,” Lancia said, reaching out. He looked at Touya and at his nod, he touched his hand to the ice. It felt solid; if it was an illusion, it was a good one. Out of curiosity, he summoned his Storm Flame and it danced along the ice, a contrast of pale blue and red. The Storm Flame’s Disintegration characteristic didn’t cause the ice to break down at all. “You’re strong,” he said, withdrawing his hand from Touya’s, and he was treated to his smile. 

“We’re demons,” Touya said simply, and Lancia knew he wasn’t just talking about his strength. 

Lancia looked between Jin and Touya, before finally down at his food. His stomach growled. He wanted to eat. 

“What’s a demon?” he asked, finally picking up his fork. He took a bite of his pad thai, and then another, and before he knew it, he was ravenously shoveling pad thai into his mouth. It was sweet, it was savory. The salty, nutty taste danced on his tongue, leaving behind a mild heat in their wake. 

Jin grinned. “That good, huh?” he said, and wolfed down his food as well.

“Demons are people like you, but different,” Touya answered Lancia, following suit, albeit in a slower manner. “Biologically, humans and demons are pretty much the same, save a few subtle genes. Unless you know what you’re looking for, it’s hard to spot the difference at all.”

“And this difference,” Lancia said in between bites. It had been a while since he had decent food, and it was good , “lets you control wind and ice?”

Touya nodded. “The same way something in your DNA allows you to manifest Flames. Humans used spirit energy once, before Flames. Demon energy and spirit energy are like flip sides of a coin. The ability for demons to use demon energy and for humans to use spirit energy - or later on, Flames - always existed, but whether it’s activated and used is another matter.” 

“Though sometimes the differences are very apparent,” Jin piped up, pointing with a grin at his horn and pointy ears that Lancia still wasn’t sure how he missed the first time around. 

“So there’s demons everywhere living among us?” Lancia asked. He looked down at his empty plate mournfully. That was good and now he wanted a drink. It wasn’t everyday he found out that the world as he knew it was not the complete truth. It was not unlike discovering Flames when his Family took him in, he supposed, though he was younger and more impressionable back then.

“Kinda? There’s probably more demons in Vendicare than in other parts of this world now,” Jin mused, sending out a gust of wind with the wave of his hand. A bottle sitting on the counter of a food stall floated across the room to them. When the worker there noticed her escaping drink, she traced it back to Jin and gave him a look , which Jin replied by putting his index and thumb together to form a heart. The worker shook her head fondly and went back to work. 

Jin untwisted the cap to the bottle. “Soju?” he offered Lancia. 

Lancia accepted the bottle and took a swig. It tasted clean, slightly fruity, though not overly strong. Everything, it seemed, tasted good when he was free.  

Lancia handed it back to Jin, who passed it to Touya. 

“Thanks,” Touya said, tilting his head back to take a sip. When he brought it back down, the bottle had noticeable condensation on it, like it had been chilled. “Here,” he said, giving it to Jin, who grinned in thanks. 

“There’s not a lot of demons in this world now,” Touya said, turning back to Lancia. “Vendicare collects those who can’t fit in, either because they manifest different physical traits like Jin or because they somehow manage to activate and use their demon energy, thereby risk exposing us to the world.” His eyes turned softer. “Vendicare is like a haven for demons in this world.”

Lancia thought about his childhood, how his Family was his haven from the hunger and suffering he had endured on the streets. On the streets, it wasn’t easy to be young, different, and alone. He would have done anything for his Family for rescuing him, and when Mukuro came along, Lancia wanted to provide the same haven for him. 

He shook away that train of thought.

“So there is actually a demon world where demons live?” he asked, recalling Mukuro’s red eye and the different realms it can access. One of them was the Realm of Demons.

“There is,” Jin piped up, “though we’ve never been and have no interest in it. We grew up here, after all. If the demons who don’t fit into this world don’t want to join Vendicare, they get sent to Demon World instead. There’s a barrier in between the two worlds, which works pretty well in keeping Human World and Demon World apart, but a long time ago when the barrier first came down, there were still some demons in the Human World, so we’re like descendants who got stuck on the other side.”

Human World, Demon World, and now a barrier. It was like something out of a fantasy book. “And why is there a barrier between the worlds?”

“Uh.” Jin exchanged a look with Touya, and at Touya’s shrug, Jin scratched his head awkwardly. He took another long glup of Soju. “It ain’t us, but our demon ancestors were eating the humans back then.” Lancia stared at them. “It got kinda outta control, so they slammed a barrier between the two worlds so the human population won’t go extinct.” Jin hurriedly added, raising his empty plate of pad thai as evidence, “We don’t eat people though!”

“... I’m glad to hear,” Lancia said, absently wondering if he can take on Jin and Touya. He never fought them so there wasn’t an easy way to gauge, though they were Vendices and they carried themselves the way strong fighters do. Maybe if they came at him individually, he can take them on. “This is a lot to digest.”

At the joke, Touya smiled and Jin chortled, and Lancia thought, demon or not, they were going to get along just fine. 

“That’s also how humans came to have Flames,” Touya added. Lancia wondered if this was what Vendicare counted as bedtime stories, the story of how the world came to be as it was.“Have you heard of the story of Prometheus?”

The name sounded familiar. “The Greek god?” Lancia said, trying to recall. “He’s the god of fire, right? Stole fire for humanity.”

“Humanity always had fire,” Jin said, waving it aside. “He stole Flames .” Lancia didn’t know what kind of expression he had, but whatever it was, it caused Jin to grin. “Yeah, even after the barrier came down, humans were at risk because there were still some demons that were trapped in the human side of the barrier. People prayed and made wishes and then finally hatched a plan. Fourteen people raided the Spirit World for anything to protect themselves against demons. Seven made it back out, each carrying a different Flame, and that’s how humanity has seven Dying Will Flames today.”

“That…” Lancia said, “is very interesting, but a lot.” He was beginning to get a headache. “Is there anything else you want to add?”

It was terrifying to see Jin and Touya consider that very seriously for a moment. Lancia didn’t want to know what other bombs they wanted to drop on him. 

“No,” Touya finally said, “that’s about it for now.” At Lancia’s relieved expression, the corner of his lips quirked. “Sorry for the influx of information. We try to be up front about these things before they present more questions later.” 

“I’ll be sure to let you know if I have any more questions,” Lancia said dryly. It occurred to him then that despite his initial trepidation, he had survived lunch and his meeting with the Vendices just fine. More than fine, even.

He wondered if that was their plan, to keep him moving so he didn’t have time to panic. They even chose his food and drink so he didn’t have to struggle with all the possible choices. “Thanks,” he said, and he was referring to more than just the information. 

“Happy to help,” Jin chirped and Touya nodded. “Here, you can finish this.” 

Jin passed him the soju bottle, and Lancia downed the rest just because he could. 

It felt good. 

xxx

“I was the strongest man in Northern Italy,” Lancia said into his headpiece, and it wasn’t so much as a boast as it was a statement, because it was true and he would like to remind the Vendices and himself of that. 

Jin laughed over the comm. “Like we said, you’re not cleared to come on missions yet,” he said. They were traveling, Lancia could see that from the two moving dots on the computer that he was tracking them on, but Jin’s words were barely distorted. Vendicare truly invested in good technology. “Minimum, you need to know how to blend in with us in our uniform and use the Vendice chain.”

“My weapon is a Steel Serpent Ball that is controlled by a chain,” Lancia pointed out. “I don’t think it’ll take me long to learn how to use the Vendice chain.”

“That, and we need to spar with you to see how well you fight,” Touya said. Before Lancia could once again point out his epithet as the strongest man in Northern Italy, Touya continued, “Your weapon of choice is too unique. No one in Vendicare fights alike besides the fact that we use the Vendice chain to secure our prisoners, but the purpose of our bandaged uniform is defeated if you use something so identifying. We need to see how well you fight without your weapon.”

That made sense, but… “Why did you make me the handler?” Lancia asked. “I’m not even good with computers.”

Jin laughed. “That’s the only open spot on our team,” he said. 

“You mean neither of you like tracking down the target, coordinating plane tickets, hotels, and return routes,” Lancia corrected. 

“That too,” Touya admitted unabashedly. When there was only his voice to focus on, it was easier to hear the smile in his tone. “When we come back, we can spar and if you perform well, you can join us on the field on future missions, in addition to your handler role.”

It was more work, but the idea of stretching his muscles outside was too enticing of an idea. Lancia couldn’t remember the last time he let himself want , and it was within reach too. “Deal.”

Lancia sparred against Jin when they came back, Lancia with Flames but no Steel Serpent Ball and Jin with only five chances to use his wind. By the end, both of them were sweating and breathing hard, and Jin won by a narrow margin.

“You’re strong!” Jin exclaimed excitedly, collapsed against the floor. “We watched you fight before. You didn’t fight like this against the Vongola guy, Tsunayoshi.” 

At the mention of that fight, Lancia’s grin from their spar faded. “I was under control at the time,” Lancia explained softly, also resting on the floor. “I didn’t want to fight Tsunayoshi; I just wasn’t given the choice.”

“Ah,“ Jin said, because there really wasn’t much to say to that. “Well, you definitely could have won against Tsunayoshi if you fought like this!” he enthused. He put his finger against his chin. “Hmm, though I guess Tsunayoshi looked like he was full of surprises as well.”

“Perhaps,” Lancia said, the corner of his lips unwittingly twitching up. Jin really liked fighting, not as a necessity, but as a sport.

Touya walked over with two chilled bottles of water. He passed one to Jin and one to Lancia, and both of them accepted gratefully. “Rest a little,” Touya said, “and when you’re ready, we can do the Vendice chain test.”

Touya had Lancia capture inanimate targets at different distances with the Vendice chain, which he did easily enough. The difficult part came when he asked Lancia to immobilize Touya one time while he was in motion. Touya was nimble and fast, and however adequate Lancia was with the Vendice chain, Touya was better at reading and dodging it. 

After eight minutes, Lancia finally managed to corral Touya into a corner. Touya realized the trap almost immediately, but by then, Lancia had already swung the Vendice chain around him. 

“I finally got you,” Lancia huffed. 

Then, the Vendice chain iced over and shattered. Before Lancia could react, Touya darted forward and Lancia found himself on his back against the ground.

“I give,” Lancia said immediately, dropping the remainder of the chain that hadn’t shattered. What was he going to do with the chain when faced with Touya’s hand iced over into a sword and poised above his throat? Touya blinked at him and Lancia blinked back, before Touya finally realized he retaliated against Lancia for trying to immobilize him.

“Sorry, instincts took over. I didn’t mean to attack you,” Touya said. He got off of Lancia and helped him up. “You did well; you passed.”

Jin drifted over to them. One day, Lancia would get used to it. 

“Touya might not look like it, but he hates losing,” Jin mock-whispered to Lancia. He had a wide, amused grin on his face.

“Shut up,” Touya said, his face just slightly pink.  

Lancia didn’t know how he could be so fond of two people he met not even a week ago. “Does this mean I can go on missions with you guys now?”

“Yup,” Jin chirped, and so it was decided that Lancia would start going on missions with them, in addition to his handler role.

Not using his weapon and using the Vendice chain, wearing a black cloak and even the top hat, Lancia could handle. But the bandages… 

“I feel like a mummy on Halloween,” Lancia said, struggling to twist the bandages in place so they’d stay. From his seat on the bench, Touya made a valiant effort not to laugh, but Jin was just full out cackling near the ceiling, so much that he created a mini wind storm whirling in the middle of the locker room. “This wind storm is not helping,” Lancia said, grabbing for the flailing end of the bandage and missing. The wrapping he had already done around his arms was unwinding. “Why are bandages a thing?” he bemoaned.

“Our predecessors wore them,” Touya said. He stood and walked over to Lancia. When he held his hand out for the bandage, Lancia more than happy gave it to him, grateful that Touya took pity on him. “Unfortunately, the look stuck and now people associate Vendicare with it, so it became our uniform.”

“It does look intimidating,” Jin said, finally getting his laughter under control. He stopped the mini wind storm and came down from the ceiling, settling against the locker in front of Lancia. “When done right, of course,” he said with a wink, unable to resist poking fun at Lancia one last time. 

Lancia couldn’t even get annoyed, because Jin was right. Together, Jin and Touya got to work and wrapped the bandages around Lancia. They did it so deftly in a record of time that Lancia wondered why he even tried in the first place. 

xxx 

Over time, Lancia learned how to better bandage himself to prepare for missions. He also learned that despite Vendidcare’s fearful reputation, they usually only go after people beyond saving and who had caused a lot of harm. Their line of work was interesting and they fought a lot of people who were strong, something Lancia enjoyed, but it was also sometimes incredibly bleak.

On their third mission, they went to Southern Italy for the don of a small Family who was running a brothel of street kids with Flames. Don Roberto was a portly grandfather-type; he reminded Lancia of the don of his former Family. When Roberto saw them coming through the front door of his estate, he met them at the foyer. 

“So Vindicare finally came for me,” he said, like he had been waiting for them and their arrival was a relief. “I’ll go with you,” he said, and true to his word, he didn’t resist when Lancia wrapped his Vendice chain around him

As they led him out, a kid no more than twelve peeked out from the hallway. “Grandpa Roberto?” 

Lancia froze.

The kid looked at Jin, Touya, and Lancia - all three of them dressed in black coats and bandages -  and at the chains around the don she called grandpa. She walked up to them with the innocent confusion only children possess and tugged on Roberto’s sleeve. “Where are you going?” she asked. She glanced up at Lancia with big wide eyes and said with a child’s piercing perceptiveness, “Where are they taking you?”

Roberto knelt down beside the kid, the chains around him clanking.

“Don Roberto,” Touya said, a threat in his voice, because none of the Vendices forgot for what crime, exactly, was Roberto being taken in for. 

“Grandpa Roberto’s going away for a little while,” he said to the kid softly. “Be good, alright, Rosa?”

“When are you coming back?” she asked, and Roberto inhaled shakily. It took him a moment to speak.

“Grandpa Roberto made a mistake,” he said, instead of answering. “I have to go.” He stood. “I’m sorry. I love you, passerotta. ”

There were tears in Roberto’s eyes when they left. As they headed back on the plane, despite probably breaking protocol, Lancia couldn’t help but ask, “Is she - ?”

The girl Rosa looked about Mukuro’s age when he joined Lancia’s Family. 

Roberto cut him off. “She’s my granddaughter,” he said, as though unable to bear to hear the rest of the accusation. “You must think I’m a monster, but despite everything I’ve done, she’s my family. I’d never hurt her.” He closed his eyes. “She doesn’t know anything about what I did.”

“Then why?” Lancia asked. “All those kids…” The thought made Lancia sick. 

Roberto looked at him. “I’m the don of a small Family threatened to be swallowed up by a much bigger and well-connected one,” he said. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I’d do anything to protect my Family.” His eyes hardened, even as they became sad. “Even if it means becoming a monster.”

Roberto’s words followed Lancia days after. Lancia’s former Family in Northern Italy was by no means small or weak, but they were troubled financially. Their Don was a kind man who constantly took in orphans, just as he took in Lancia and later Mukuro, and the mouths they had to feed were constantly growing. Whenever Lancia asked about their finances, the upper echelon always told him not to worry and just to protect the Family, and they’ll take care of the rest. 

And now, however much it felt like betrayal to even consider, Lancia couldn’t help but wonder if in their attempt to handle their finances, his Family did something to Mukuro. Lancia never found out why exactly Mukuro annihilated Lancia’s Family - he was too busy processing his grief and guilt at their deaths by his own hand and later on, from being controlled - but he always assumed it was from Mukuro’s general hatred of Mafia after being experimented on in his youth. But what if Mukuro had a reason to hate Lancia’s Family specifically, and Lancia was just blinded to it because of his loyalty to his Family?

“You’re distracted,” Jin said, after he knocked Lancia down the third time in the sparring room. He cocked his head to the side. “Something bothering you?”

 Lancia pushed himself off the ground to a sitting position. “I…”

“I don’t expect you to understand, but I’d do anything to protect my Family.” Roberto’s eyes hardened, even as they became sad. “Even if it means becoming a monster.”

“I want to visit Mukuro,” Lancia blurted out. He needed, needed , to know. Did his Family hurt Mukuro in some way and that was why he attacked them?

“ No .” Touya, watching them on the side of the sparring room, stood. “Why?” he asked. “Why would you want to see him again after everything he’s done?”

“I just want to understand -”

“There is nothing to understand,” Touya said, stalking forward. Goosebumps raised on Lancia’s arm. “It wouldn’t change what he had done.”

Lancia looked at Jin. He’d never seen Touya so vehement before. 

“Hey,” Jin said softly, stepping in front of Lancia to intercept Touya. “Touya, look at me.”

Jin waved his hand at Lancia behind his back, gesturing to him to slip away. 

“He shouldn’t,” Touya said, his voice breaking. He sounded so distressed that Lancia felt guilty for ever bringing this up. He wanted to comfort Touya somehow, calm him, but Jin was waving his hand even more urgently now, so Lancia reluctantly slipped out of the sparring room instead. 

They were in the sparring room for an hour before Jin finally slipped out. He didn’t look surprised to see Lancia still waiting outside. 

Lancia stood from his seat on the floor. “Is he okay?” 

“Yeah, Touya’s fine now.” Jin scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Lancia said immediately. “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have -”

Jin shook his head. “No, it’s a reasonable request, given your history with Mukuro. It’s just…” His shoulder slumped. Lancia had never seen Jin look so tired. “Touya was a prodigy with his powers. He was different from everyone since he was young, and I” - Jin gestured to his horn and pointed ears - “stood out also. We didn’t have a pretty childhood, and Touya never really forgave the orphanage for how it treated us and how it let others treat us.” Jin smiled mirthlessly. “‘specially me, since my difference is more obvious.”

Jin leaned against the wall and stared into the distance. “Touya let loose his power very badly once, ‘cause these people were hurting me and he couldn’t get them to stop with words.” His eyes lowered. “So he stopped them permanently. It brought us to Vendicare’s attention and they took us in shortly after, and then we learned about demons and stuff. It's fine being different here, so we always considered it as some kind of haven for us.” 

Jin let out a breath and turned to Lancia. “You need a pass to see Mukuro, since he’s in the lowest level of Vendicare. I’ll ask for you.” He glanced at the sparring room, where Touya was in. “Touya meant well. He was just worried about you, since you’re different from the other prisoners in Vendicare. Working with you was his idea.”

“If he’ll be mad at you for helping me...” Lancia started. He didn’t know what he'd do. For his own peace of mind, Lancia wanted to know why from Mukuro, but Touya was right. Regardless of the reason, it didn’t change that fact that Mukuro used Lancia to murder his Family, and Lancia would never be able to forgive him for that. Lancia didn’t want to risk his friendship with Jin and Touya over something that could never be changed, and moreover, didn’t want to risk Jin’s friendship with Touya.   

Jin shook his head. “It’s fine, I talked to Touya,” he said. He was silent for a moment, before confessing, “I used to want to know why too. Was it something I did? If I changed the way I behaved, would things have been different? Or was it just the way they were and it had nothing to do with me, that if Touya and I weren’t there, they would have found other targets anyway?” Jin looked at Lancia. “I don’t know and I can’t ask anymore, but it doesn’t matter to me now.” He rapped his knuckles lightly against Lancia. “But it still matters to you.”

“Thank you,” Lancia said, and those two words couldn’t encapsulate everything Lancia felt - for trusting me with your past, for caring about me, for understanding, for letting me go through with this - but he tried. “I’m sorry about what happened in Touya and your past.”

The Touya and Jin he knew were so kind hearted and strong and caring; it broke his heart to imagine anyone was ever cruel to them. He thought about Touya’s usual composure cracking in the sparring room, about Jin’s current subdued behavior in contrast to his normal energetic self, and understood a little why Touya never forgave the people in their past. 

Lancia wasn’t sure he could either.  

“It’s okay,” Jin said. He was smiling, small, softly but present. “We’re fine now.” He stepped forward and enveloped Lancia into a hug. “And you will be too.”

xxx

As promised, Jin got a pass for Lancia to see Mukuro. 

“He’s held in the highest security of Vendicare,” Jin said, giving Lancia the pass. “This means he’ll be in a column of medicated water to keep him immobilized and unconscious, so he wouldn’t be awake for you to talk to him, though you can still see him from afar.” Jin fidgeted. “Also Touya and I will have to go with you, since you’re still on probation, so you can’t wander around yourself.”

Lancia looked at Touya, who although still treated Lancia cordially and interacted with him, felt a lot more distant ever since he raised his request to see Mukuro several days ago. 

“Is that okay?” Lancia asked Touya. “I don’t want to force you to go with me.”

Touya turned away, and Lancia tried to pretend that didn't hurt but failed. “Let’s go,” he said, arms crossed. Touya didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t necessarily look angry either. 

Jin tapped on his shoulder, and Lancia turned around. “Sorry, one more thing,” he said apologetically. He held up a black cloth that Lancia realized was a blindfold. “Just precaution. We’ll remove it once we get you downstairs.”

“It’s okay,” Lancia said, leaning his head down for Jin to tie it around his eyes. 

Lancia didn’t realize how ridiculous his request was until this moment. However friendly Jin and Touya were, they still worked for Vendicare, and Lancia - mind-controlled or not - was still a past accomplice of Mukuro. What was he thinking, asking them to let him see Mukuro? It was too easy to perceive that as an excuse to locate Mukuro for a prison break, so much that Lancia was surprised Vendicare even allowed this visit in the first place. Lancia couldn’t imagine the hoops Jin and Touya had to jump through to fulfil his request. 

“It goes over your eyes and ears,” Jin said, hovering above him with his feet off the ground. “You can’t hear anything after I put this on. Tap me three times if it’s not comfortable or if you need something.”

Lancia nodded, and then darkness descended over his eyes and the world fell silent. Lancia could still feel Jin - or at least, someone - next to him, but he could no longer see or hear, just as Jin warned. 

Lancia’s heart rate doubled in his chest. 

A hand settled over each of his own. They each felt different. Jin and Touya. 

Lancia squeezed their hands, grounding himself with their presence. It’s okay , he could almost hear them say. There was a moment of motionlessness, where they waited to see if he’d squeeze two more times to indicate discomfort, but he stood in place and held still, breathed and reminded himself that Jin and Touya were there with him, and that calmed him.

Someone tugged lightly on his arm. Lancia took a tentative step forward and then another. There was a breeze on his right and a cool chill on his left. He thought they might be flaring their powers on purpose for him, and it was working. Lancia followed the breeze and the chill, their hands in his own, confident they wouldn't lead him astray. 

“Thank you,” Lancia said at one point, or he thought he said, except he wasn’t sure since he didn’t hear it. There was an answering squeeze in each of his hands though, so he guessed Jin and Touya heard at least.  

Time seemed to stretch when two senses that Lancia relied on heavily were removed. It might have been fifteen minutes, it might have been shorter, before they finally came to a stop. The chill on his left caught him when he almost tripped from the extra step he took. 

They waited not long in place and then they stepped forward again. Lancia assumed they were in an elevator and it was confirmed when he felt the floor he was standing on descending. It still startled him that he squeezed Jin’s and Touya’s hand reflexively, and it was infinitely reassuring when they immediately squeezed back. 

The elevator came to a stop and then the breeze on his right moved to stand in front of Lancia. 

“... here,” Lancia caught Jin saying as he removed the blindfold, and then light and sound flooded his senses again. 

The elevator walls were an industrial reflective silver and there was a low humming noise coming from above. 

It took Lancia a moment to adjust. 

“You okay?” Jin asked, hovering in front of him. 

Lancia nodded. “Thank you,” he said, and realizing that he was still holding onto their hands, belatedly let go. “Thank you,” he looked at Touya and said again, recalling how he helped him despite the fact that they weren’t on the best of terms right now. 

Touya looked vaguely uncomfortable. He was crossing his arms again. “Jin and I need to tap our ids and you need to tap your pass to the elevator sensor for it to open,” he said. His expression darkened a little. “Mukuro is just beyond.”

Lancia nodded and took in a measured breath as Touya and Jin tapped their ids against the elevator sensor. They looked at him expectantly then, waiting for him, and abruptly, he was grateful for their presence. 

He wasn’t sure he could do this if he was alone. 

“Thank you for coming down with me,” he said, looking Jin and then Touya in the eye, willing them to understand the immense depth of his gratitude. “I know I said it a lot, but I really do mean it.”

Jin smiled at him encouragingly and Touya nodded, and that gave Lancia the strength he needed. He took a breath and tapped his pass against the elevator sensor, and the door slid open. 

The lowest level of Vendicare, containing many columns of water prisons and prisoners floating within them, was blue and sterile. They were actually on the second to last floor, since the controls for the water prisons were on the lowest level, and Lancia wasn't allowed there even with Jin and Touya escorting him. The second to last floor had glass walls that overlooked the lowest level. Even without Jin and Touya leading, Lancia found himself walking unerringly towards Mukuro’s water prison among all the other identical ones, like a compass homing north. 

Lancia let out breath when he finally spotted Mukuro. He was suspended in water, Vendice chains wrapped around his body, a thick metal collar around his neck, and a mask covering his face. There was a tube connected to the mask to help him breath underwater and to medicate him as necessary. His left eye was closed as though he was asleep, and his right eye - the one that allowed him to use Six Paths of Reincarnation - was sewn shut. 

Lancia didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Mukuro always seemed so indestructible that seeing him like this twisted Lancia on the inside until he didn’t know what he should feel. 

He just knew he didn’t want this for Mukuro, even after everything.

“Came here to gloat?”  a voice said directly into Lancia’s head, and he startled. 

“You okay?” Jin asked. He exchanged a look of concern with Touya on Lancia’s other side. 

“Lancia,” Touya started, a small frown on his face.

“Tell them and they’ll whisk you away,” Mukuro said, sounding half-threatening and half-amused at the idea. “ And then you’ll never find out whatever you came here for.”

“I’m fine,” Lancia said, and immediately felt guilty. He didn’t want to lie to Jin and Touya, who had only ever treated him well. “It’s just” - he gestured vaguely in Mukuro’s direction- “a lot.” He looked at them. “Can you two give me a moment here?”

Jin and Touya looked at each other. 

“Yeah,” Touya finally said. “We’ll be down the hall,” he said, gesturing to the end of the straight hallway a few feet away. It was far enough to give him some privacy but still close enough to keep an eye on him.

“I appreciate it,” Lancia said, and that was the truth. If Mukuro could still talk directly to him in his mind, he was still in his head in some ways. Lancia wanted answers, but he also didn’t want to be controlled again. Touya and Jin were strong. He knew they could stop him if anything. 

Touya nodded. As they walked by, Touya’s arm brushed against Lancia’s and Jin gave his shoulder a squeeze. He watched them settle down at the end of the hallway, before turning back to Mukuro.  

“How sweet of the Vendices,” Mukuro said, and Lancia stiffened at the reminder that Mukuro witnessed their exchange through Lancia. Mukuro had already taken his Family from him before. “Should I be jealous of your special treatment?”

“If you touch them, ” Lancia snarled, barely resisting the urge to punch the glass wall in front of him. He stared hard at Mukuro’s body floating in the water prison, trying to drive his point across, though it did not have the same effect as meeting his eyes. “Do not touch them. Do I make myself clear?”

“Or?” Mukuro asked, amused. 

Or I’ll make you regret it , Lancia wanted to say, but he thought back to the little boy he cared for, his wide smiling face, his love for chocolate and hate for spicy food, his tendency to always end up in Lancia’s vincindity even though he swore up and down that he wasn’t following Lancia around, and what came out was, “Or I’ll never forgive you.”

There was a long moment of silence. 

“You already don’t forgive me,” Mukuro said. Lancia thought he sounded peevish and just a little sad. “I manipulated you into killing your Family, remember? What is one more offense to that?” Mukuro laughed. “And why should I care about what you think?”

Why should he, indeed? Except something was nagging at Lancia.

“Mukuro,” Lancia said, watching him intently. “Did my Family do something to you?”

If Mukuro reacted at all in his water prison, Lancia couldn’t tell. 

“... Is that what you came to ask?” Mukuro said, mocking and disbelieving. “After I held you prisoner for five years, it finally occurred to you to ask?”

Lancia flushed, grappling to recover. “After you killed my Family and held me prisoner for five years,” he said, a hard edge to his tone, “the least you can do is answer my question.”

  There was another long moment of silence. 

“Why ask?” Mukuro finally said. “Does it really matter? It’s been so long.”

“It matters to me,” Lancia said. 

“Say I tell you,” Mukuro said, “what do I get in return?” Before Lancia could speak, he continued, “What will you get in return? It doesn’t change anything that happened. You’ll lose more than you gain no matter what, Lancia.”

 Mukuro’s tone was almost soft by the end, when it touched Lancia’s name. 

“Lancia, Lancia,” Mukuro used to call out, struggling to keep up with his longer strides. Lancia would always wait for him to catch up and then swing him onto his shoulder, Mukuro’s shrieks of delight ringing out.

How much of that was real? Did Mukuro ever suffer under Lancia’s supervision without him knowing? He thought of Roberto and felt sick. 

“Tell me,” Lancia said, and couldn’t help the break in his tone. 

He took a deep breath. 

“It’s not as bad as you fear,” Mukuro finally said. He chuckled, and Lancia knew he snagged some of his memory and thoughts. “Definitely nothing along the lines of Roberto, though I hope he rots in prison.” Mukuro was silent for a moment, before he finally said quietly, “Your Family was smuggling Possession Bullets.”

“What?” Lancia said, startled. “But Possession Bullets were outlawed -”

“Yes,” Mukuro said, his tone bleeding with anger. “The great mighty Mafia persecuted the Estraneo Family outwardly over the Possession Bullet and their many inventions from human experimentation, but how many other Families secretly coveted their power?! The Mafia, hypocritical to its core. It drove the Estraneo Family to deep ends, and then fought over its remaining inventions among itself!”

“I…” Lancia struggled to process the information. “My Family was situated at a trading hub and our community was close-knit, so we had a great front.” Lancia could see how it pieced together, even if he didn’t want to. “We were selling for the Estraneo Family, so when you annihilated them, the demand for their inventions went up. And we probably still had some inventions in stock that we didn’t sell yet.”

“Your Boss’ bleeding heart,” Mukuro crooned. “Oh, to save so many orphan kids like myself on the backs of many of the same tortured and murdered kids !”

“I -” didn’t know , Lancia wanted to say, but it was an excuse. It happened right in his Family, how could he have not known? He just didn’t want to know, and when the upper echelon told him not to worry about it, he took that as the excuse he needed to turn a blind eye to it. He knew the large amount of money they were coming in with couldn’t have been clean - they were Mafia, after all - but Lancia never expected this. 

“Lancia!” someone called, and he realized he had fallen to his knees. “Hey, you okay, man?” Jin asked, skidding to a stop and immediately kneeling in front of him.

“How does it feel, Lancia , to finally know the truth that you desire?” Mukuro asked, driving each word in. Lancia gasped mid-sob, feeling his world crumble around him, everything that he had ever known and thought to be true. Mukuro’s tone might have softened, but Lancia didn’t notice as Touya pressed him against his chest, holding him. “I told you you wouldn’t like the truth.”

“Lancia,” Touya said urgently. “Lancia, breathe.” And Lancia tried, but he couldn’t. 

Mukuro sighed. “Sleep,” he said, and darkness tucked him under. 

xxx

Lancia didn’t know how he got back, only that when he woke up, he was in his room with dried tear-tracks on his face. He sat up with a sniffle, and Jin and Touya stirred in their seats. 

Jin was the first to blink awake. “Lancia?” He shook Touya upon seeing Lancia up. “Touya, Lancia’s awake!”

Touya lifted his head, and Lancia could tell it took him great effort to open a single eye. He blinked sleepily and closed his eyes again, before finally scrubbing his face with both his hands, messing his hair in the process. Finally, he seemed to register Jin’s words and the sight of Lancia sitting up. “You’re awake,” he said, a little confused and awed, like a little kid, and Lancia smiled just a little. 

“I’m awake,” Lancia confirmed, swinging his feet off the bed. “How long was I out for?”

“Two hours,” Jin answered, standing, and Lancia winced. He wandered off to the kitchen area. “How you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Lancia said, and both Jin and Touya shot him with doubtful looks. “I feel better,” he amended, and they nodded their acceptance at that answer. 

“What happened?” Touya asked, straight to the point, and Lancia hesitated. Touya looked at him with piercing eyes, before finally saying, “He was in your head, wasn’t he?”

From the kitchen area, Jin hissed. In any other scenario, Lancia would have been amused that he sounded like an angry cat sprayed with water. Instead, Lancia let out a breath and nodded, eyes on the floor. 

Touya stood. “I’ll inform Vindicare’s lowest level guards,” he said. Lancia’s head shot up. “They’ll increase his medication and -”

“No!” Lancia exclaimed, and Touya stopped. “No, it was my fault. I just had a bad reaction because he told me something I didn’t want to hear. He didn’t mess with my head, he just talked to me, as I requested. He doesn’t deserve to be punished for that.”

“You can’t really know that, can you?” Jin said, walking back with a cup in hand, and Lancia shook his head. 

“He was in my head for five years. Trust me, I know.” Sleep , Lancia remembered Mukuro saying in his deepest moment of grief, and he knew even if he told them, they wouldn’t believe Mukuro tried to help him. “He told me my Family smuggled Possession Bullets, and I didn’t react well to that.”

Jin and Touya exchanged looks. 

“You knew?” Lancia asked, and then laughed. “Was I the only one who didn’t know?”

“It was in your Family’s file,” Jin said carefully. He passed him a cup of warm water, which Lancia took a sip of. 

“Violence is an intrinsic part of the Mafia,” Touya said. “Vendicare wouldn’t step in unless we think someone acted overboard and for that reason, we have files on pretty much all the Mafia families out there and their major players.” 

“I didn’t know,” Lancia said, staring at his cup. It was his reflection in the water, but did he really know him? 

“Hey,” Jin said softly, covering his hand. Lancia looked up. “You’ll be okay. This doesn’t change anything.”

“I should have known.” If he knew, would things have ended up differently?

“He never told you he was part of the former Estraneo Family until afterwards,” Touya said. “And just because he had a reason for annihilating your Family doesn’t make it right.” His voice softened. “Nor does it make what he did to you okay.”

“You’re not responsible for what he did, Lancia,” Jin added.

“I know you’re both right,” Lancia said. He lowered his head to his hands. “I know.”

It was just hard to accept, to believe.

Jin and Touya stood by him, as he shed tears one last time over the little brother that he once had.

xxx

Two weeks later, on Lancia’s way from his room to the cafeteria to meet up with Jin and Touya, a woman in a lab coat stepped into his path. She had tan skin, webbed ears, and a tail that matched the mint-green of her hair.

“Hello, you’re Lancia, aren’t you?” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Juri.”

Lancia took her hand, bemused. “Hello,” he said, “how can I help you?”

“I’m part of a team trying to gather information from Mukuro,” she said, and Lancia blinked. He did not expect that, but it did make sense. Mukuro had a lot of knowledge, some no doubt from people he possessed, some from his Six Paths of Reincarnation, and the rest by means only he knew. “Unfortunately, he’s not cooperating with us despite our many attempts, so we’re wondering if you’d like to help us.”

“What makes you think I can help you?” he asked. He had resolved to put his thoughts about Mukuro at rest. 

“I understand you spoke to Mukuro two weeks ago,” she said, tilting her head to the side. Her bangs fell just a little over her eye.

“Oh,” Lancia said blankly. His mind suddenly became really clear. “Can I ask how you know that?”

Touya and Jin promised him they wouldn’t tell anyone about Mukuro speaking to him. The rush of anger that rose in him nearly drowned out Juri’s answer.

“Visiting records isn't a secret,” she said, looking at him over her clipboard with shrewd eyes. “And every floor where we house prisoners have security cameras.”

“Oh,” Lancia said again, his anger leaving him in such a rush that it left him off-balanced for a moment. Of course Jin and Touya didn’t say anything. “Then you know I didn’t leave that day unscathed. I have no advantage over Mukuro.” Lancia took a step forward. “Excuse me.”

He didn’t want to keep Jin and Touya waiting.

As Lancia walked by her, Juri said, “He asked for you,” and he stopped. “Well, his brainwave showed interest when we mentioned you,” she amended. “It was more than what we could get out of him all week. He won’t talk to us, but maybe he’ll talk to you. He had already, once.”

Lancia turned back to her. “Mukuro can’t be controlled,” he said. “I won’t be able to get him to part with any information he’s not willing to part with, any more than you can.”

“Sure,” Juri agreed easily. “But it doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe Vendicare’s Mists can get through his defense while he talks to you.”

Lancia thought about Mukuro easily mind-controlling him for five years, and smiled mirthlessly. “I doubt it,” he said. Mukuro was the strongest Mist Lancia knew; he’d never seen anything of the like. 

Juri wrapped her arms around the clipboard and shrugged with a self-deprecating grin. “You’re probably right,” she said. “But like I said, it doesn’t hurt to try. You’re our last resort, so if even you can’t get anything out of him, we’ll just give up. We wouldn’t have bothered you unless we’re out of options; we knew Jin and Touya probably wouldn’t like it.”

“Jin and Touya?” Lancia said. He didn’t know if he should be annoyed or flattered that Juri and apparently her team took special consideration of Lancia because of them. 

Juri nodded. “Jin’s sweet and Touya’s a little scary, so no one really likes getting on their bad side. They’re also one of the earlier members of Vendicare, so they’re friendly with quite a lot of higher ups.”

One of the earlier members of Vendicare, she said, except Vendicare had existed as long as Lancia remembered and way longer than he was alive. “Just how old are they?” he murmured to himself. 

“Oh!” Juri covered her mouth guilty. “I thought they told you.”

“That they’re demons, yeah,” Lancia said, before it occurred to him maybe that was the crux of it. “How long are demon lifespans?”

Juri looked at him for a moment, before a smile slowly crossed her face. “I’ll tell you if you help me with Mukuro.”

Lancia looked back at her, before he also smiled. “I’ll ask Jin and Touya,” he said, walking away. 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Juri said, immediately jumping in front of him. “I was just kidding, jeez. Demon lifespans are definitely longer than humans’.” She tapped a finger against her chin, humming. “I think Touya and Jin just broke through triple digits a few years ago.”

Triple digit… They looked like they were in their twenties! It seemed like it was impossible to tell age with demons.

Lancia stared at Juri, who blinked back at him in bemusement. “How old are you?”

“Oh.” She covered her mouth with one hand and peered at him through her eyelashes demurely. “You can’t ask a lady that,” she said with a laugh, hitting his back a little harder than strictly necessary with every word. 

Lancia winced. “Sorry.” It did not occur to him at all that he shouldn’t have asked her. 

Juri grinned at him. “It’s okay,” she said, dancing backwards. Lancia recognized it was a retreat, but he didn’t realize why until she continued, “You owe me one. Remember to come down to the lowest level tomorrow at one!”

“Wait!” Lancia called out, but she chose the spot to ambush him well. She had a head start and quickly disappeared around the corner before he could do anything else.

Lancia sighed at the empty space where Juri used to be, and scratched his head. 

When he finally got to the cafeteria, he explained to Jin and Touya what happened.

After he finished speaking, Touya put down the fried chicken wing that he took a bite out of. “You don’t have to go if you’re not comfortable.”

Jin nodded his agreement behind his bowl of soup noodles. 

“I mean, it’s not like I’m not comfortable,” Lancia said, trying to sort out his feelings. “More like I don’t feel the need to go back?” He ripped a piece of naan and dipped it into his lamb stew. “I don’t think I can help as much as they think, either way.” 

“Juri won’t really get mad at you if you don’t,” Jin added, slurping up the last of his noodles. “That was probably her last ditch effort more than anything else.”

Lancia popped the piece of naan in his mouth and chewed, thinking. “It wouldn’t really hurt me to go,” he finally said. Or at least that was what he wanted to believe. The only way for him to actually prove it to himself was if he went. He looked at Jin, who upturned his bowl to drain his soup, and Touya, who was meticulously pulling every last bit of meat off his chicken wing. “If I go, will you both go with me?” 

Touya smiled and Jin grinned. “Of course.”

Lancia smiled back. “Alright,” he said, before another thought occurred to him. “Moreover, why did you tell me demons and humans are mostly the same?”

Jin looked confused. “They are...” 

 “Both of you are over a hundred years old,” Lancia stated, pointing at them with his naan. Fond exasperation welled in him when they still looked confused, before Touya abruptly brought his hand to his face. He narrowly missed transferring the grease from his fingers to his face. 

“Sorry, it slipped my mind,” Touya said, his face flushed. Lancia chuckled. “I assume Juri told you.”

“She approximated,” Lancia confirmed, taking another bite, “but she couldn’t tell me how old you guys really are.”

“We lost track of our birthdays when we were young, so we just chose one for ourselves and kept counting from there,” Touya said, wiping his hand on a wet towel. “We're both approximately 102.”

Lancia’s eyebrows raised. Just broke through triple digits a few years ago indeed. 

“How old are you, Lancia?” Jin asked, confused. It seemed like it really slipped Jin’s mind how fast humans age relative to demons. Lancia could already tell this was going to be fun.

“Twenty-five,” Lancia answered with an amused grin. 

Jin’s exclamation, like a startled cat fallen into a water fountain, shook the cafeteria. 

xxx

“Welcome!” Juri greeted them at the elevator when they arrived the next day. “I’m so glad you decided to come after all, Lancia.” She looked over next to him. “And hello Jin, Touya.” She didn't seem surprised to see them accompanying him.

Lancia nodded at her, trying to adjust to a world with images and sound again. He had worn the blindfold on his way down again and Touya had taken it off not long ago in the elevator. 

“Heya, Juri,” Jin said, as Touya said, “Juri.” 

“Come,” she said, gesturing at them and already walking down the hallway. They followed. “Since Mukuro was able to speak to Lancia from here last time, we figured we won’t fix what isn’t broken and just keep it the same again.”

She stopped them at the same spot Lancia stood two weeks ago, when he learned the truth behind Mukuro’s annihilation of his Family. “We have people down there” - she gestured to the lower level, where a group of scientists in white lab coats just like her and some Vendices dressed in their uniform stood. The Mists, Lancia surmised - “but don’t worry about them. They’re just there to monitor Mukuro’s condition.”

She showed Lancia her clipboard. “Here’s a list of questions we want you to ask Mukuro, if you get the chance.”

“Don’t bother,” Mukuro spoke into Lancia’s head. Despite anticipating it, Lancia still startled. “I won’t answer any of their questions.”

Juri glanced down to the lower level. “Oh, what’s happening?” she said, stepping closer to the glass wall to peer over. On the lower level, the group of scientists gathered around a monitor, excited. “Mukuro’s brainwave changed.”

“Do you take pleasure in startling me everytime?” Lancia asked, annoyed. 

Mukuro laughed. “Yes,” he said. His tone turned darker, more mocking. “Look at them, so excited over a little reaction. And the other Mists’ attempt to invade my mind - pathetic.”

“Is he speaking to you?” Touya asked Lancia. He nodded. “Let us know if you want to leave,” he said, squeezing Lancia’s hand. Lancia met Touya’s and Jin’s serious eyes and squeezed their hands back with a small smile. 

Then, he let go to face the glass wall and Mukuro’s body floating in his water prison. “Why react at all when Juri mentioned me then?” Lancia asked. In the reflection of the glass wall, he could see Juri trying to reach him, but Jin shook his head at her while Touya stood at his back like a physical barrier.

Lancia waited out the following silence, and he was rewarded when Mukuro said, “You weren’t going to come back.” It almost sounded accusing, if only he didn’t also sound resigned. He already knew the answer. 

Lancia confirmed it anyway. “No, I wasn’t.”

In front of Mukuro’s water prison, the scientists made another excited gesture over another monitor. Heart monitor?

“They’re annoying,” Mukuro said, grumbled, really. Lancia thought he was just annoyed because the heart monitor gave him away. “Shut up.”

There was more pressure in his head and then Lancia’s jaw snapped shut on their own accord, yet he wasn’t afraid. He knew Mukuro wouldn’t really do anything.

“Don’t have too much faith,” Mukuro said, a little darkly. “Don’t forget who I am, what I am.”

“If you could have really controlled me, you would have last time,” Lancia said. He could feel every slow beat of his heart. “The fact that we need to be this close for us to speak mentally also tells me the medication in the water severely limits your power.”

There was another moment of silence, before Mukuro chuckled. “You’ll be fine on your own,” he said. 

I’m not on my own, Lancia wanted to say, but then the southern wall of the lowest level collapsed. 

Lancia jumped back, grabbing Touya and Jin with him, as the glass wall in front of him cracked from the force of the collapse on the lower level. It thankfully didn’t shatter. The glass in Vendicare was reinforced, probably bulletproof.   

“Shit, are you okay?!” Jin exclaimed.

Before any of them could reply, water and glass burst out from Mukuro’s water prison. It knocked down and swept away the scientists and the Vendices who stood right in front of it. 

Lancia’s heart went to his throat as, through the spiderweb cracks of the glass wall, he watched Mukuro’s body fall from the sudden change in pressure. A pair of arms caught him before he hit the floor. Lancia followed the arm back to a man with short black hair, who ripped the tubes and chains off Mukuro like they were nothing, and then heaved Mukuro’s body onto his shoulder. 

Then, he stopped, and there was a moment of stiff, robotic stillness that Lancia would have recognized anywhere. 

“Mukuro!” Lancia shouted, running forward. He slammed his fist against the glass wall, just as the man raised his head and looked straight at them. The glass wall shattered and through the falling pieces of glass, Lancia could see the man’s brown eyes - one of which red was receding from - widened.

Behind him, Jin gasped in recognition, as Touya hissed, “ Yusuke! ”

“Goodbye, Lancia,” Mukuro said, and then the man - Yusuke - stepped through a slit that appeared in the air. When it closed again, they were both gone. 

Chapter Text

“Ranking Planet, Ranking Planet, please rank Ureameshi Yusuke’s secrets”. 

Yusuke put in an extra burst of speed like he could outrun those words, but they haunted him everywhere he went. The low-powered Spirit Gun he shot in Gokudera’s kitchen couldn’t drown out those words or the accompanying hurt, confusion, and betrayal , and now neither could running. They followed him like a shadow he couldn’t shake, dragging him firmly back into Gokudera’s nice shiny kitchen and Reborn pointing a gun at Yusuke demanding his secrets, even if it meant tearing Yusuke apart to get it.

Yusuke’s heart ached, deep and heavy in a way it hadn’t in centuries, in a way Yusuke didn’t even realize it still could , and his mind was an absolute mess. He didn’t know what to do, he just wanted everything to stop.   

Suddenly, a buzzing static pierced through his mind like a scream, temporarily drowning out all his turmoil and uncertainty. It was somehow familiar in its sporadic obnoxiousness - ever since the Kokuyo Incident, Yusuke would realize if he stopped to think - but it was such a welcomed relief amidst his mental and emotional anguish that he couldn’t care less about its source. It drowned out everything else, gave him blessed peace when his mind and emotional state were such a mess, so when the static shaped into a single word, he surrendered into it without a second thought. 

Come , it beckoned. 

Yusuke remembered heading to the nearest airport. He remembered going through security empty-handed without even a passport, and his right eye twitching like a switch flipping on, right before the security’s eyes glazed over and they waved him through. He remembered boarding a plane headed to Europe, and in the moments that he paused to wonder why, he would remember “Ranking Planet, Ranking Planet, please rank Ureameshi Yusuke’s secrets” and he’d stop thinking at all. He didn’t care what he was doing, as long as he didn’t have to think about that. 

Betrayal hurt most when blindsided by someone he trusted. 

Yusuke remembered getting off the plane. He remembered walking confidentally through the streets of Italy, a country he hadn’t stepped foot in since decades prior, and making an unerring beeline to the seaport. He remembered hitching a ride on a ship and when it was close enough (to where?), he took a lifeboat and paddled the rest of the way. 

There was an illusion around the island, designed to make anyone who came close to turn around and to sound the alarm if anyone unexpectedly did make it past. It was well-made, but still a child's play for Yusuke to bypass. He made a small tear in the illusion, and it was just enough for him to slip through and mend again once he was on the other side with no one wiser. 

This much closer, Mukuro had better access to his power through his host.

Something niggled in the back of Yusuke’s mind, the part that wasn’t so busy trying to not think of anything. It was immediately pushed aside by an image of Reborn smirking, just like usual except it was all wrong. Instead of mischievousness or amusement, his smirk held maliciousness, the kind that said he knew all of Yusuke’s weaknesses and intended to use them against him, and when Reborn opened his mouth, the blasted words came tumbling out. 

“Ranking Planet, Ranking Planet,” Reborn said, his heavy dark gaze pinning Yusuke in place when all he wanted to do was flee, “please rank Ureameshi Yusuke’s secrets.”

Under Reborn’s gaze, Yusuke’s mouth opened and all his secrets spilled out, like ripping open his chest and blood gushing out of a smashed-open dam.

Yusuke slammed down on those thoughts, even as his heart ached in his chest. 

That wasn’t what happened, Yusuke knew. What was happening to him ?

“Why react at all when Juri mentioned me then?” someone asked. 

The fog in Yusuke’s mind wavered. He blinked. 

That wasn’t his memory. 

That was Lancia, mentally speaking to Mukuro from somewhere indoors. He was standing one story above Mukuro, looking at him through glass walls. 

Mukuro’s chest ached, echoing Yusuke’s, and for a moment, they were one and the same. Yusuke was floating in a tube of medicated water, arms and legs bound by chains, a mask over his face, and his right eye sewn shut. After a long time, he said directly to Lancia’s mind, “You weren’t going to come back.”  

It was equal part accusing and resigned. He already knew the answer. This was the price Mukuro agreed to pay, back when he didn’t know what he was giving up. 

Lancia would never forgive him, because Mukuro sold their relationship before they even met. 

Lancia confirmed it anyway. “No, I wasn’t.”

It wasn’t a memory, Yusuke realized. It was happening now.

Yusuke came back to himself and he was in a building of some sort, heading underground. It had the same sterile blue, glass walls he caught from Mukuro through Lancia’s eyes. Yusuke had swiped a security pass from someone and used it to access the elevator Muroko remembered Lancia using to reach the underground prison. The badge he took didn’t have high enough clearance to reach the lowest level, however. The elevator stopped three floors above the lowest and refused to move. Pressing the open button or any other button in the elevator did nothing. 

He was trapped. 

Mukuro was distracted by his conversation with Lancia, and Yusuke seized the moment to clear the rest of the fog in his mind, and think. 

Mukuro controlled Yusuke and brought him here, he realized. Something like this happened last time during the Kokuyo Incident, after Mukuro shot himself with a Possession Bullet and turned his red eye to the Human Realm. Only this time, it took Yusuke far longer to realize what was happening. Mukuro caught Yusuke at an incredibly bad time with his guard down and his emotional and mental state flayed, and he took advantage of it like a shark smelling blood. Mukuro distracted Yusuke with thoughts of Reborn’s betrayal and then strengthened their residual connection from the Kokuyo Incident so Mukuro could easily manipulate him. 

Yusuke couldn’t even get too mad at Mukuro. He saw his chance and took it, simple as that, and Mukuro clearly had the power and ability to back it up. 

Only… Yusuke can’t let that blatant manipulation go unanswered, and mental connections do go both ways. 

Yusuke followed the mental connection back to the source, like walking through a dark cave blindly with only a rope weaving through the path as his guide. He could feel the moment when he stepped through and into Mukuro’s surface mental defense. 

The only reason Yusuke got through was because Mukuro funneled their mental connection through his defenses, since Mukuro needed it to control Yusuke. Mukuro was also currently distracted by Lancia, just like how Yusuke was previously distracted by thoughts of Reborn. 

Yusuke could sense other Mists mentally probing at Mukuro futilely, thinking they were making progress in breaking through Mukuro’s defense when in reality they were being led round and round a mental maze of Mukuro’s own creation. Mukuro was doing all this, in addition to mentally speaking with Lancia and controlling Yusuke. Geeze, he really was a talented Mist. 

The core of Mukuro’s mind wasn’t accessible to Yusuke from where he was; it was surrounded by a smaller and stronger bubble of defense, but Yusuke had no intention of digging deeper into Mukuro’s mind, especially not after Reborn tried earlier with Yusuke. Besides, Mukuro would definitely notice his intrusion if Yusuke tried. Here, he had access to Mukuro’s surface active thoughts, which should be enough to give Mukuro a taste of his own medicine and tell him what Mukuro was up to.

“If you could have really controlled me, you would have last time,” Lancia said to Mukuro, and a wave of bitter amusement suffused Mukuro’s mindscape. Mukuro may have used Lancia, pulled knowledge from his mind, and even manipulated him to kill his Family, but he never wanted to control him outside of that. Mukuro could make a mindless puppet out of anyone, but Lancia… 

An image of Lancia swinging Mukuro high in the air, the unfettered joyful laughter spilling from Mukuro not all feigned. Lancia cackling at Mukuro’s absolute horror and disgust the first time he tried spicy food, and Lancia bribing Mukuro with chocolate afterwards. Lancia bringing Mukuro little trinkets every time he goes out on a mission, and the warmth of Lancia’s hand on Mukuro’s head as he russelled his hair for doing well on his school work. 

Lancia, pointing a gun at himself when he came to and realized he had killed his Family with his own hands. Mukuro, barely seizing Lancia’s mind in time to stop him. 

Mukuro won’t let anything happen to Lancia, and if it meant controlling him for one year, two years, or even five years, then so be it. 

Even if Mukuro didn’t have a right to their relationship anymore. 

Yusuke wondered what that meant, and then another image appeared in Mukuro’s mindscape. Yusuke’s eyes widened and subconsciously, he took a step forward.

It was Yuuko Ichihara, the Wish Witch.

"Yuuko, stop Urameshi Yusuke's presence from being erased!" Koemna shouted, looking desperately at the mirror communicator that connected him to Yuuko. 

9%

The holographic Yuuko floating above the mirror blinked, before glancing towards Yusuke, who really only had tiny pieces of himself left. 7%. "Oh, Koenma, he is almost gone," she said. 6%. "The price for that-"

"I don't care!" Koenma exclaimed. 5%. "Take anything you need." Koenma glanced at Yusuke, who only had a single eyeball left before he was completely erased. 3%. "Please Yuuko," Koenma begged.

Yuuko nodded and symbols appeared in the air. 1%. "Don't regret it, Koenma." 

"I won't," Koenma said. 

0%.

Yusuke no longer existed…

And then he woke up in this world.

Yusuke wasn’t even aware of reaching out and tugging on Mukuro’s thread of memory linked to the image. All he knew was he needed to know more. The thread of memory unraveled from where it was coiled like a ball of yarn within Mukuro’s inner core of mind, and Mukuro’s memory washed over him. 

Yusuke caught a glimpse of thirteen years old Mukuro bounded and screaming in pain on a bloodied experimentation table, scientists - who were supposed to be his Family, his family - coolly discussing his failing compatibility to the Six Paths of Reincarnation eye and already making plans on who to test it on next, the pain pain pain , and finally, the intense hatred that consumed him like an inferno. 

He’ll take the Six Paths of Reincarnation eye, Mukuro vowed, and make the Estraneo Family and the entire Mafia pay. 

A woman appeared in front of him —

The memory was snatched away from Yusuke, so fast he didn’t have any time to react. The last thing he caught was “The cost of your wish is your relationship with someone you will love” and Mukuro’s resolute “Take it”, and then he was faced with a furious Mukuro with a burning red eye.

“Oh shit,” Yusuke said, right before he was hurled back into his own mind. “Fuck!”

Yusuke got up from where he fell, only to immediately smack his head against an invisible ceiling. He awkwardly crouched to not hit his head and immediately hit another invisible wall when he tried to take a step forward.

“You don’t have to trap me in a fucking box!” Yusuke exclaimed, punching the invisible wall in front of him. The impact reverberated in the box and then spread throughout his mind, and Yusuke winced as his mindscape shook like in the middle of an mini-earthquake. 

“Keep punching it,” Mukuro’s disembodied voice echoed throughout his mindscape. “I created it with your mind. You’re only hurting yourself.”

Yusuke gathered energy within him to push Mukuro out, just as Hiei had taught him a long time ago, only for the gathered energy to vanish before anything could happen. It happened twice before Yusuke realized the energy vanished in the same exact way a Spirit Gun would use up energy - “Took you long enough,” Mukuro sneered - , and then Yusuke immediately flooded his mind and body with energy to counteract Mukuro. 

Yusuke came back to his body with a pounding headache from forcibly crushing Mukuro’s hold on him with energy, which damaged his own mind in the process as well, and took stock of the situation. 

He was in the underground he saw from Mukuro’s eyes. The water prison in front of him was shattered, from most likely a mini-Spirit Gun that Mukuro used him to fire just now, and water puddled at its base. There were unconscious scientists in white coats and people in very familiar signature black cloaks all around him, knocked down from the resulting blast of the Spirit Gun.

Mukuro was hanging like a sack of potatoes on Yusuke’s shoulder, very much out of his water prison and chains.  

Shit. Mukuro was using Yusuke to prison break him out of the fucking Vendicare.

“Mukuro!” someone shouted from above, and Yusuke looked up as a familiar person - Lancia , Yusuke realized with a shock - punched the glass wall one story above and it shattered.

But Yusuke wasn’t paying attention to Lancia, but rather to the two demons behind him. 

“Yusuke!” Touya hissed, as Jin gasped behind him. 

They knew his name. 

Touya and Jin recognized Yusuke. 

Hope soared and leapt in his chest. They were Jin and Touya, his Jin and Touya . Yusuke laughed, delighted and excited, and made a move to shout out to them.

Then, he registered the harsh severe looks on their faces. That wasn’t the delight of unexpectedly reunited friends, but more like recognizing a notorious criminal. 

They were the Vendices that took Mukuro in Namimori, Yusuke realized, the last kindle of his hope snuffing out. That was why the Vendices felt so familiar back then. Their energy signature was similar but not exactly the same as the counterparts that Yusuke knew.

Mukuro seized upon Yusuke’s shock and grappled for control of his mind again, and Yusuke almost let him before he realized what was happening. It took Yusuke a moment, but he managed to toss Mukuro out after some struggle and pulled up his mental guard again, blocking him.

“Keep moving if you don’t want to get caught,” Mukuro hissed at him mentally. No doubt the alarms in Vendicare had sounded, not to mention any moment now, Jin, Touya, and Lancia would come out of their shock and come after them. 

Mukuro had no intention of facing off against Lancia, which Yusuke keenly related to. Yusuke had no intention of fighting Jin and Touya either, not when they looked at him like an enemy to eliminate. 

For a second, Yusuke had really let himself think that it was his Jin and Touya.

His heart ached.  

“Fuck,” Yusuke said, as he summonded a portal to Demon World. “Fucking hell, I should just leave you here, you fucking asshole.”

He could feel Mukuro go very still at the threat, and Yusuke remembered thirteen years old Mukuro screaming in pain on the bloodied experimentation table and hating the world so strongly he summoned Yuuko with his will. Yusuke held onto his anger for another moment, and then sighed, exhaling his anger out with it.

“Still can’t believe you made me an enemy of the fucking Vendicare,” Yusuke grumbled. He carefully didn’t look back as he stepped through the portal, Mukuro still on his shoulder. 

He could feel Jin and Touya’s gazes on his back long after the portal closed. 

xxx

Yusuke stood within Demon World’s forest long after the portal closed behind him, human form automatically sliding away for his demon form of long untamed hair and tribal marks. His mind and heart raced through the events that transpired within the past day in the Human World. So much happened so quickly that he was still catching up. 

There was Reborn with his dark cold eyes, coercing information out of him using Fuuta, even after Yusuke offered him an olive branch. 

There was Mukuro, mind-controlling Yusuke in his moment of weakness to infiltrate Vendicare and to break him out of prison. 

There were Jin and Touya, recognizing Yusuke, but not as friends. They saw him as an enemy, because they were Vendicare’s and not his Jin and Touya.

There was Yusuke, opening a portal to Demon World right in front of them in Vindicare and stealing away with their prisoner on his shoulder.

There was Mukuro, still on Yusuke’s shoulder in Demon World and knocked out cold. He was already physically weakened from prison and controlling Yusuke, and crossing over to Demon World most likely was the final straw. 

And now, there was another familiar-yet-not-quite energy watching him from afar. 

Yusuke almost didn’t want to handle this, he was so tired of everything, but nevertheless, he took stock of the area he landed in, careful to not make any unexpected move. It didn’t long before he spotted a vine of roses growing around a tree a few feet away. Each of the roses was a beautiful eye-catching red, the thorns of the vine lethally sharp, a work of art and a warning wrapped in one.

That was the marking of Youko Kurama and his crew. 

Hiei, his aching heart thud, finally placing the energy watching him. He had gotten stronger yet again. Normally Yusuke would have been excited for a fight, but today he was just… exhausted, emotionally and mentally. At the moment, he could not bear to go through their usual song and dance of a fight, and then look into Hiei's eyes and see the same lack of regard and recognition that were echoed in Jin’s and Touya’s eyes earlier.