"Yamamoto! We got an update from the Varia!"
A tiny tendril of smoke wispered through the silence, flickering and flowing as the zippo snapped closed, the tiny breeze from the movement enough to cause the glowing point of the cigarette to flare brighter briefly.
"Huh? That's great. How are they?"
The hand carefully holding the smoke between its index and middle finger dropped from the dry lips of the assassin, his face shadowed and hidden, much like those of the rest of his companions seated around the long table. In an almost invisible movement, his thumb twitched, knocking the butt of the cigarette, sending small ashes from the smoldering tip, left to float silently to the red carpeted floor.
"Ushishishi," The unmistakable laughter of the sadistic prince flew through the silence like knives, aimed at the smoker who had, only ten years ago, been his greatest opponent. "So you sent in the report?"
"Sharkface did it," came the casual reply as the hand lifted the smoke to his lips again, a small sliver of light peeking through the blinds reflecting off the many rings adorning his fingers, the most noticeable sitting on his middle finger, a finger recognized by anyone who pissed him off, bearing the symbol of the Storm Vongola guardian. "I have better things to do."
A cloud of thin smoke billowed from his mouth, a glare shooting its way towards the murderer who had, in the past ten years, already tried to kill him at least fifteen times.
"Like what?"
A light bang sounded as the door of the dojo was closed, and soft footsteps echoed down the otherwise empty hallway, the two friends walking into the lift in silence and heading back upstairs to the meeting room. As soon as they left the metal doors, they were assaulted with the sound of the younger inhabitants of the base, as well as one of the oldest.
Yamamoto couldn't help but laugh as he watched Lambo and Ryohei, their two livliest guardians, race each other up and down the hallways, while I-Pin sat at the decided finish line with a stopwatch in her hand and three bowls of noodles sitting on the table just behind her.
"You guys," Tsuna began with a laugh, watching as the loud Sun guardian skidded to a halt only seconds in front of the ex-Bovino familigia member and the pair began to slurp down as many noodles as possible with each mouthful before running off down another hallway, out of sight but definitely not out of earshot. The Rain guardian laughed again and patted the Tenth's shoulder lightly, a silent reminder that they were meant to be heading somewhere.
"...A meeting."
The simple statement was meet with a cooing laugh, which was answered with a glare, though the flamboyant kickboxer either didn't notice or didn't care as he leaped from his seat, literally skipped down the table and invited himself into the bomber's lap, stroking a gloved finger down the side of the younger man's cheek.
"Oooh. Was Hayato-kun meeting up with his boyfriend?" Lussuria's velvety voice rolled off his tongue in his Italian accent, a laugh erupting from the back of his throat as a warning growl rumbled at the back of the throat of the Varia whose lap he had almost crushed.
As the annoying Varia seemed to purr whilst stroking his cheek again, he swiftly lifted his free hand, grabbed the offending limb and shoved the other assassin from his lap. "Get. Off." The growl came a little late, but that didn't soften the glare he had locked onto the green mohawk of the older Varia, who just laughed and, after blowing the bomber a kiss, made his way joyfully back to his seat. "And stop calling me that. It's annoying."
As another laugh sounded from the other end of the table, he slipped a stick of dynamite from his sleeve and lobbed it at the mostly-shaved head of Lussuria, unlit, of course, the projectile bouncing off the brightly colored feather boa on the collar of the kickboxers jacket, before hitting him in the face and falling to the floor, the attacker giving a satisfied 'hmph' as he smirked and sat back in his chair.
Out of habit, Yamamoto moved to stand in front of the fireplace of the large living room as soon as he and his friend entered, Tsuna closing the door behind them. While the swordsman, once again, out of habit, picked up a photo frame bearing a photo of them from back when they were still at Namimori Middle, he could hear the occasional click and whir of one of the many computers located in the hideout as the Tenth Vongola switched it on before collapsing into the couch.
"How long has it been, Jyuudaime?"
The Rain guardian didn't need to look behind him to know the sort of look he was receiving. He knew that Tsuna would looked worried, because he knew better than anyone else that the ex-baseball captain would only use such a formal title when something was bugging him, and, when Tsuna got worried, he always made contact with his right-hand man. Though it only confirmed his suspiscions of his friend being worried, Yamamoto was glad to feel a pair of arms snake around his waist, squeezing slightly.
"Three years," Tsuna's voice was small, his chest rising and falling slightly, though stiffening as a sudden laugh came from the larger man, who turned around and returned the embrace.
"And I haven't even come close to being the right-hand man he was," He spoke with a smile which he had rarely worn since they had left high school and the mafioso had taken over their lives; a smile which he only wore in private, when he was in the company of his closest friends, even if he could only hold one of them now. "I wonder how he is..."
"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIII!"
Though the scream was loud and shattered the comfortable silence that had fallen over the gathered assassins, not a single one of them flinched, nor even looked towards the now wide open doors of the meeting hall where the rather disgruntled swordsman stood, his glare focused fully on the still-smoking silver-haired man who could probably beat them all.
"What were you doing that was so important that you couldn't write the report yourself?" Squalo's tone was, as normal, loud and annoying and not in the least bit threatening to any of the members, whom had been around the Boss long enough to be able to block his voice out when it wasn't needed. "Did you leave base without signing out again?"
"I already said," The man, who was steadily getting annoyed with all these people, managed to keep the growl from his tone as he snuffed his cigarette out on the table at which they all sat, smirking satisfactorily as it left a deep burn mark in the polished wood. "I had a meeting to see to."
"A meeting?!" Squalo's voice just seemed to get louder and louder as he leaped onto the table and stood menacingly in front of the bomber, his sword tip pressed lightly into the steady Adam's apple of the groups youngest member, not including Marmon. "With who?"
"Do... Do you want to find out?"
Gokudera growled low, and casually pushed the blade away, using his rings as shields for his fingers to prevent them being injured by the weapon which acted as his Boss's left hand. "A friend I haven't seen for three years," He said casually, diverting his gaze from the blade and the man in front of him, to something behind the empty chair at the head of table.
"Hm?" Yamamoto looked down at the man, who had still managed to hold onto his boy-like innocence and appearance, who was in his arms, looking up at him with a still worried expressions. "What do you mean?"
"So it was your boyfriend, Hayato-kun," Lussuria spoke up almost instantly, his fingers intertwined and by his cheek as though he were some high school girl whose crush had just smiled at them, and his tone was almost as sing-songy. "How cute~"
"You'll see," Tsuna spoke with a smile, all traces of him being worried falling from his face as though they had never been there. "Just wait here."
Yamamoto couldn't do anything except stand there in confused silence as his friend left the room, closing the door silently behind him. Shaking his head slightly, a small smile on his face, he turned back to inspecting the photos on the mantlepiece, still trying to figure out what Tsuna was talking about.
A growl rumbled in the back of the bomber's throat as he glared icily at the flamboyant man, and was about to stand up and start a fight when he felt cold steel pressed against his neck again. With another growl, and a pair of dynamite halfway out of his sleeves and into his hands, he glared up at the Varia Boss, who just looked down at him coldly from where he still stood on the table until the younger man backed down, slipping the dynamite away.
"VOOOII! Let's get this meeting started! But first," Squalo's voice was back to it's normal volume, even if it was still loud, and he planted himself into his large, ornate chair at the head of the table, his gaze scanning over his men before stopping on Gokudera. "Bomb brat. You will be our next liaison with the Vongola family based in Namimori, Japan. With that out of the way, we have received the latest information on the Gesso family..."
Gokudera didn't need to listen to the rest because, after three long years, he was finally heading home.
A click and a whir, followed by a happy beeping made Yamamoto spin so fast, he could almost feel his brain spinning detachedly inside his head. His grip on the photo of himself, Tsuna and the old Storm guardian tightened as his eyes fell, slightly scared, to the computer which he had all but forgotten about, remembering at that moment that Tsuna had left it on.
"Hey... Baseball idiot."