...Part One : Ten Years...

It had been ten years. Ten long, grueling years, with many hard fought battles, some near losses, some landslide wins. But the Vongola was now in the top mafia families in the world, no longer just Italy. Xanxus and Tsuna got along to a strange degree, with Xanxus only swearing as he accepted missions from the Decimo, instead of threatening to kill him any chance he got. Squalo, Yamamoto, Lussura, and Ryohei trained together at any chance they got, and everyone else, including Dino, had dinner with the others every other Tuesday. It was on one of these nights that life once again went to hell.

Walking in with a limp, Gokudera refused to meet anyone's gaze; even Tsuna's. The Decimo rose a brow at his right hand when he caught a side-eye, but Gokudera was quick to look away. Worryingly so.

Dinner went by with few shouts, probably because of the Storm guardian's lack of speaking. It was only when said guardian stood before dessert that anyone said anything directly to him. And it just had to be Xanxus. "And where are you going?" he questioned in a growl.

With a visible flinch, Gokudera turned back to the table, with every pair of eyes in the room on him. "Just... To my office. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

Squalo narrowed his eyes, and his normal shout was absent from his tone. "You had a meeting with that stupid Russian family today, didn't you? What happened?"

And cue another flinch, which caused everyone to tense. This meeting had been with a family who held some animosity towards theirs, so the flinches and apparent lack of want to speak about it was insanely worrying. Sliding out of his seat in one fluid motion, Squalo neared the Storm guardian, who was already backed into a wall. With a visible gulp, he began to speak again. "The boss recently died, and his replacement refused to speak to me."

Another growl leaves Xanxus, and he also stands to approach Gokudera. "That all, you idiot?!"

Gokudera shakes his head, inching for the door carefully, but Mukuro leaned against it before he could exit, an amused smirk in place. Tsuna was now the only one seated, a disappointed expression in place, his dessert forgotten. "So, what else happened?" drawled Mukuro, inspecting his nails with that smirk still in place.

"I-I-I tried to get back inside after they threw me out, but they threatened to shoot me, s-so I left! That's all, I swear!"

But everyone could tell he wasn't telling the complete truth. With mutters and more disappointed stares, the majority of them left the dining hall, but Tsuna, Xanxus, Squalo, and Dino remained with Gokudera as he slid down the wall. Dino in particular looked the least annoyed, and just turned to Squalo with his hands on his hips, "Any ideas on how to deal with them?"

Still scowling, the man is question shook his head, then stopped just as quickly. "Wait, we can't go about this our usual way... We'll have all of Russia on our backs."

Xanxus rolled his eyes and turned back to Gokudera, still on the floor and looking guilty as all hell. "Stop sulking," he snapped, causing the silverette to stand in a hurry.

Tsuna finally stood from his chair at the head of the table, and began to speak. "So, if we can't do this the usual ways, what do we do? Wait it out?" This was punctuated with a soft huff. "Because that won't work either."

Dino groaned and pinched his nose, then turned to Squalo, his expession serious as could be. "You sure you have no ideas?"

The one being spoken to tensed, and snapped back, "Not that I'm willing to use."

He now had everyone's attention, and Xanxus' eyes narrowed. "You better have a fucking good reason for saying that."

Glaring to his leader, Squalo then fished his phone out of his pocket, and after a tense moment, called an unfamiliar number. When whoever it was picked up, he spoke to them in Portuguese, and the voice on the other end sounded shocked to hear his. The others shared a few glances, but said nothing until he hung up. Xanxus was the first to speak, "And just who was that?"

"Our help," answered Squalo, a grimace in place.

"And when will he be here?" asked Tsuna.

"She will be here in two days," was what Squalo said as he swung the doors open, stomping off.