A/N: First actual post after making the account. :D Please go easy on me. *bow*

Title: Shatter

By: Reito-kun

Genre: Angst

Pairing: YamaGoku/8059

Rating: M

"It was almost ironic that it was raining..."

It was almost ironic (or perhaps not, depending on how one would look at it) that it was raining when the group arrived. A number of Vongola subordinates came out to meet them, opening the gate for the guardian that led the group. Those who received the arriving party could still see on him the remnants of the difficult battle that they had to go through: the guardian's white shirt was torn in various places, and so were his pants; there was a large cut on his chin that was still bleeding; and the sword he carried over his shoulders was still soaked with the fresh blood of his victims.

The men crowded around him and his group, and amidst the commotion of questions and greetings, the Rain guardian managed to keep himself calm and give out orders properly. He quickly directed attention to his wounded subordinates, who were being assisted by their comrades, and they were immediately attended to by the medical personnel. The rest of the Rain guardian's men were also given medical attention, but when the nurses approached the guardian himself, he simply smiled at them and said, "There is someone I need to see first." The people nodded in understanding and let him make his way into Vongola castle.

Men and women stopped in their tracks to pay the tall young man their respect as he passed them by. He acknowledged them with a nod of his head and a wave of his hand. His casual manner of greeting confused some of the newer members of the Vongola, who were expecting a high level of formality from him due to his position. The older members, on the other hand, seemed to be used to the guardians friendly nature, and some of them even returned his greetings with a smile.

The guardian took an elevator up to one of the higher floors of the castle, seemingly ignoring how disheveled he looked. The elevator gave a short high-pitched sound indicating that he had reached his desired floor. The steel doors slid open and he stepped out of the elevator and into a long, carpeted hallway. His muddy shoes left dark prints on the lush red carpet as he made his way toward the large doors at the end.

He stopped in front of the doors and knocked three times. He waited for only a few moments before the doors opened by themselves, revealing a large, well-furnished room with large windows occupying almost the whole wall parallel to the door. A desk was placed in front of the windows facing the door. The famous Vongola Decimo sat at the desk, his unruly brown hair sticking out in a number of spikes. The head of the entire Vongola family put down the documents he was reading and made turned to his visitor. "Welcome back, Yamamoto."

"I came for my report, Boss." Yamamoto walked into the Tenth's office and the large doors automatically closed behind him. He lowered his sword and gave a customary bow to the other male. "I hope you don't mind how I look like. I figured the sooner I gave my report, the better."

"Of course," Tsuna replied with a boyish smile. "Though, really, you should let the medical personnel take a look at you whenever you return from your missions. It's not nice for an athlete like you to leave your wounds unattended."

Yamamoto simply laughed at the reminder, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, yeah, but it's not like any of them will kill me. Besides, the season just ended, so I wouldn't have to worry about injuries affecting any games as of now."

"Well, if you say so. But still, I insist on you going with the medical personnel after every mission." Tsuna paused and gave his guardian a stern look. "That's an order."

"As you wish, Boss."

"Good. You can go on with your report now."

"Yes. My group managed to intercept the reported criminals and also managed to subdue all of them. Upon confirmation that they were no longer able to fight back, they were all taken into custody and were retrieved by the Vendicare. I believe they will be sending their own report within the day. My men and I will also file our formal report by this afternoon, or, if time does not permit, by tomorrow morning."

Tsuna smiled and leaned back against his chair. "As expected of Yamamoto. You did great. As for the formal report, I grant you four days to do it. There's no need to rush. As long as those people were stopped."

"Well, yeah, but it's unusual that you don't seem concerned about them being retrieved by Vendicare."

The brown-haired Decimo smiled, a bit sheepishly. "I already made arrangements with Vendicare. I made sure they would not be given any unnecessarily harsh or inhuman treatment. Fortunately, Vendicare agreed to my request, so I don't have to worry about them."

"You're really too soft, Tsunayoshi-kun." The doors opened again, and another guardian entered the room: Tsuna's mysterious Mist guardian.

"M-Mukuro!" A blush crept up the Tenth's cheeks as the long-haired male walked (or rather, glided) over to his desk, with the ever present smirk on his lips. "W-what are you…"

"Heh, maybe I should go. It seems like you two are gonna need some alone time." Yamamoto's words made his boss blush even deeper. It was no secret among the members of the family that their leader and his Mist guardian (the male half, that is) had a relationship that exceeded that of a boss and his subordinate, but Yamamoto never bothered to pry into Tsuna's private life, though he must admit that he was against the idea of the two being together at first. All of the guardians knew about Mukuro's previous intentions.

"Don't taunt my poor Tsunayoshi too much, Yamamoto. And you don't have to leave either. I came to turn in a report." Mukuro placed a white folder on the desk and pushed it towards Tsuna, his fingers lingering on the file for a few moments before he pulled back. Yamamoto watched as the other guardian exchanged looks with the Tenth. There was something there, and Yamamoto was not referring to love or affection.

There was something they were not telling him.

"A report?" he finally managed to get himself to say. "Why? Did you go on a mission too, Mukuro?" He could feel the uneasiness growing inside him and he could not explain why. "Did Tsuna send you our while I was gone?"

Mukuro simply closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, his favorite weapon in his right hand. "No," he replied. "I turned in the report for someone else."

Yamamoto glanced at Tsuna. He was gripping the arms of his chair tightly, looking at the Mist guardian as if asking—imploring him to be quiet. "Oh? So who did the boss send out then? Hibari? Sasagawa-senpai?"

The illusionist opened one eye—his right eye. "Oya?" he began, prolonging his pronunciation of the word as if he was taunting him. "You really don't know? And I thought you were simply in denial."

"Mukuro!" Tsuna jumped onto his feet, slamming his hands on the desk. "Stop it!" He looked quite agitated unlike when Yamamoto entered the room. His lips were quivering and his eyes were ablaze (figuratively speaking, otherwise, Yamamoto thought, Mukuro would be surrounded by dying will flames, lover or not).

"Mukuro," Tsuna repeated, albeit in a gentler tone. "Leave this to me, please."

The Mist guardian's eyes widened by a fraction of an inch. Hardly noticeable, but enough for Yamamoto to think that he had not anticipated what Tsuna said or how he said it. "Very well. I've done my work anyway. I should be going now." He bowed his head and exited the room without uttering another word to Yamamoto or Tsuna.

"Did you two have some sort of fight while I was gone? You don't seem to be in good terms," Yamamoto finally managed to point out after a long silence.

Tsuna let out a sigh and sank down onto his chair. "We didn't fight. It's just that…"

"Ah, you don't have to answer that, boss. I know it's a matter between you and Mukuro and that I shouldn't be…"

"Yamamoto."

The Rain guardian felt a chill run down his spine. There was an unusual tone in Tsuna's voice and it was giving him a sense of foreboding.

"Tsuna…what's going on?"

The Vongola Tenth sighed and buried his face in his palms. The file Mukuro had brought was pinned underneath his elbows. "Yamamoto…the one I sent out while you were gone…the one Mukuro was referring to…that person is Gokudera-kun."

The Rain guardian blinked. A feeling of numbness was creeping up his fingers and toes, but he could not seem to bring himself to shake it off. "Hayato?" He was trying to still sound cheerful. After all, it was just Gokudera being sent on a mission. Surely nothing…"On what mission? I never received any information about that."

"I know. Gokudera-kun was the one who insisted that we should no longer send word to you about his mission. He argued that it would interfere with yours."

"Interfere with…What are you talking about? How can it interfere with my mission? Or rather, how could it have interfered?"

"Gokudera-kun thought you would abandon your mission…once you found out about his mission."

"And what was that mission?" Yamamoto did not intend to sound rude, but the loud beating of his heart was messing with his head. "And where is Hayato?"

"Yamamoto…please calm down." Tsuna pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll…tell you about it, but promise me that you'll listen to me and wait for me to finish."

The Rain guardian nodded. His heart beat louder and faster.

"A couple of days after I sent you out to intercept those criminals, we acquired a message from some of our allied families that there was information circulating that a certain family was plotting one of the satellite groups of the Vongola. I was told that the family planning the assault was a fairly formidable opponent, so I wanted to send a guardian who already has experience in dealing with such things; however, you and Hibari-san were not available. Onii-san (Tsuna still referred to Kyoko's brother this way, even though he had already lost his romantic interest in her) was with Lussuria training in America. At that time, Mukuro and Chrome were still on a plane from Japan. That left me with Lambo and Gokudera-kun." Tsuna looked up at him almost as if he was apologizing for performing a great sin. "I wanted to wait for either you or Hibari-san—or anyone else—to return, but then we received news that the enemy had started its attack on the satellite group, so I had no choice. I couldn't possibly send Lambo because of his lack of experience and his age, so I had no choice but to send Gokudera-kun instead."

Yamamoto's sense of foreboding was growing with each uttered word. Nevertheless, he nodded, indicating that he understood and that Tsuna could go on.

"I…I had no choice. If I didn't send anyone, the Di Vito family would have defeated our satellite group…and Gokudera-kun also insisted that he could do it…"

"Di Vito? They're a fairly small family, aren't they?"

"Small, but still very capable when it comes to combat."

"Nevertheless, it should have been easy for Hayato to subdue them. He's been on harder missions."

"Yes, but…" Tsuna lowered his gaze to the file Mukuro brought. "We had not anticipated one thing: the Di Vito apparently made alliances with someone who is classified as a Mafia criminal. I can't tell you who he is since I made an agreement with Vendicare, but he is someone strong enough for Vendicare to pay attention to him."

A Vendicare-level bandit. That was the only thing that registered in the guardian's mind.

"Gokudera-kun's group eventually crossed paths with him, and from the preliminary report, I found out that Gokudera-kun was the one who defeated him."

Yamamoto took a deep breath. "You scared me, Tsuna. So Hayato managed to subdue that guy anyway. As expected of someone like Hayato…"

"The man was found dead." The Vongola's words were strained, forced. "When Vendicare came to retrieve him, he was found lifeless. Gokudera-kun had killed him."

Killed.

"At first, I didn't want to believe it. I waited until Gokudera-kun and his men returned to verify it, hoping that the news was not true, but…"

Killed.

"How is he?" The grip around the sword's hilt tightened. "How is Hayato?"

A shadow fell over the Decimo's face, and Yamamoto felt his heart drop.

"Gokudera-kun has never killed anyone before."

OWARI

11.27.08