Vongola Decimo was having a exceptionally bad day. It started with a pile of paperwork brought by his ever faithful storm guardian , Gokudera Hayato.
He sat on his desk chair for hours, just signing bills for the various damages his guardians had caused on their many missions. It then continued when Lambo burst into his office, practically crying, with an enraged mist guardian in his wake.
The cause of this was Lambo summoning Lampo, and Lampo being as lazy as usual and falling asleep on Mukuro's bed. The only good thing that came of the destruction that followed was that his paperwork was destroyed along with his study.
But the day really went from bad to worse when Yamamoto let himself in, holding a seemingly innocent letter. He sat down to read the letter, never expecting it would be such a source of chaos. Pun intended because, speak of the devil, an amused "Chaossu" came from the window, a smirk following soon after.
Tsuna had dreaded this moment ever since he finished reading that damned piece of paper called a letter because Reborn always had the habit of knowing when things were up. Reborn propped himself up on Tsuna's desk and took the letter, reading it aloud:
"the graduates of class A2, of year 20XX, are hereby invited to celebrate their tenth graduation anniversary with their fellow past classmates.
Warm regards,
Namimori High staff."
Reborn finished reading the letter and turned to Tsuna with a downright sadistic gleam in his eye. "You're going." He decided. And that was that. Not even the Vongola Decimo, strongest mafia boss since the legendary Vongola Primo, could defy Reborn when he had that sort of look on his face.
And so, our dear mafia boss found himself on his private jet, on the way to a reunion full of all his old bullies accompanied by all seven of his guardians that over the years had become his closest friends.
Yamamoto and Gokudera had also received a letter being in his class, no one dared ask Hibari why he came but Tsuna deduced that he wanted to check up on Namimori High, Mukuro was going because Chrome was, Chrome was going because she was also in their class once, Ryohei was going to see Kyoko, who was also attending, and Lambo was going to see his long distance girlfriend, I-pin.
Needless to say, as a inevitable cause of all the guardians being together in the same plane, Hibari and Mukuro were fighting, Ryohei was "EXTREMELY EXTREME", Lambo wanted grape candy, Yamamoto was calming them down, Gokudera was threatening death to anyone who hurt a hair on his beloved Juudaime's head, Chrome was peacefully sleeping and Tsuna was taking an aspirin pill.
He had promised his mother he would visit her when he came to Namimori, and so, when he landed in the airport he and Lambo hurried to his mother and his father in their home. The first thing he had done when he had ascended to the title of Vongola Decimo was to forcefully make his father resign from his job as Cedef's leader and then gently (death threats) take him to the airport and only then he got the message.
Needless to say, his mother was overjoyed.
Anyway, the guardians had arrived a day early to take care of the safety issues of Namimori. Namely, warning surrounding mafia families and the yakuza.
So while Hibari was biting various disturbers of Namimori's peace to death, Tsuna, Lambo, Reborn and I-pin were having a day out. It would be the most fun Namimori had had in years.
As Tsuna had mentioned in the morning, he was having a very bad day. If so, how could he expect it to get better in the afternoon? Nothing involving Reborn and Lambo ever went well. He had called hi mother, " Ara, Tsu-kun, I didn't know that you were in town. Of course I'm coming for a day out, I'll be right there!"
She kept to her word, and was there within fifteen minutes. It might seem short to you, but in that span of time, Reborn neutralized (read: knocked unconscious) Lambo and two shopkeepers. He didn't say why. Nobody asked him either. Lambo, proving that he hadn't grown out of his foolishness, had stolen I-pins candy. Not that he had time to eat it, as he was knocked unconscious shortly afterwards.
Nana was bewildered by the scene for all of half a second until Lambo, who had perked up as soon as he had seen her, glomped her shouting "MAMAN", I-pin following shortly after. Tsuna opted for a more dignified approach but still hugged her warmly. Reborn tipped his hat to her, a sign of respect, the fedora covering his eyes.
Nana had returned the hug enthusiastically and said" I have to go shopping for chicken breast to make as dinner for all of you, do you want to come? The four agreed readily, and soon enough they were on their way. Alas, the relative peace (Lambo and I-pin were still arguing about the candy Lambo stole) was not to last for long.
"We are the fearsome Pesca famiglia! We have come to conquer the Vongola Decimo!" Shouted a group of men in suspicious black suits and hats. At this point Reborn had read the situation perfectly and had evacuated Lambo, I-pin and Nana from the vicinity of the soon-to-be crime scene, for, as he was prone to say: "I have trained Tsuna to perfection. Whenever there is a threat to civilians and he is around, the criminals don't stand a chance." He was also quite right.
For within five minutes the criminals were begging for their mothers. Though one criminal retained enough reason for him to run away and shout after Tsuna "I'll call our boss and he'll take revenge on you! Just you wait, Vongola Decimo!" 'Although, doesn't this seem too perfect?' Tsuna wondered, omnivore, you stole my prey, Hibari almost growled, appearing out of thin air.
'Honestly, you should know better than to jinx yourself' Tsuna berated himself. "I want to fight you as compensation for stealing my prey".
Suddenly, the reprieve Tsuna had been waiting for appeared, though it came in an unexpected form. Gyuudon, Lambo's box weapon had emerged. He barreled into Hibari, carrying him into the sunset, Hibari's shocked gaze lingering in Tsuna's memory and in his cell's memory card for the purpose of future blackmail.
In Gyuudon's place stood Tsuna's real savior. Standing proudly with his afro standing proud and taller than the rest of him, was five year old Lambo... crying.
Once he had offered him some grape candy, and Lambo was quiet, Tsuna asked him what had happened; upon which Lambo had erupted in a stream of words: "BakaderawasmeanandhepulledLambo'shairandthebazookaslippedout!"
(Translation: "Bakadera was mean and he pulled Lambo's hair and the bazooka slipped out!").
Until Tsuna had deciphered Lambo's sentence the five year old cow disappeared and a fifteen year old one replaced him. By now all Tsuna wanted to do was sleep it all off, and so, he found himself in his old bed in his old room, staring up at the ceiling with Reborn sleeping and blowing bubbles beside him, and thinking of the coming reunion.
Dread. That was all he felt when he woke up and contemplated the day to come. Then, he looked at the clock. "Shit! I'm late!" He shouted, earning a chuckle from Reborn, who was standing next to the bed, a ten ton hammer in hand.
"Seems old habits die hard" He said. In high school Tsuna had developed an instinct for when Reborn was going to bash him and had always woken up a couple of seconds before the aforementioned beating. It seemed he had regained the habit.
But enough of that and back to the present. Tsuna was running around the room like mad, pulling on a shirt and "Where's my other sock" and "Ahh! I buttoned my shirt wrong" and "I see Hayato outside and I'm still not ready!" It took him about five to get himself together, meeting Reborn's standards, which, as you might have guessed, are very high ("The greatest hitman must look flawless"). He rushed outside to meet Hayato and Takeshi who were, as usual, arguing.
"Maa maa Gokudera, I wasn't that late"
"Like hell you weren't!"
"Anyway Tsuna was later than me, weren't you?"
"Juudaime is never late or early, he arrives exactly when he means to"
"We aren't even that late! "Tsuna protested."Whatever Juudaime says!" Gokudera exclaimed, sprouting puppy ears and a tail, sparkles shining in the air around him. He only snapped back to himself when he realized that Tsuna and Takeshi had left him behind.
He hurried after them shouting out to his beloved boss. With all the playful arguments, Tsuna felt like was transported in time to his school days and even some of his university experiences were centered on his precious friends. The other part was "Hiiee! Reborn! Please don't kill me!" They arrived a lot sooner than he would have liked, and he found himself standing in front of the gates of his old middle school. He prepared himself for the long torture he was sure he would experience.
In hindsight, he was sure it would be a lot worse than he expected. His intuition was telling him that and his intuition was never wrong. That's why he survived the mafia so long. With that thought ringing through his head, he stepped beyond the threshold. "You're late, Omnivore, I'll bite you to death". Some things never change.
The teacher of class 1-A, Nezu-Sensei, was waiting impatiently on his chair next to his desk for the last stragglers to assemble and the chatter to die down. "Catching up with each other is the point of a reunion" the principal practically squealed, "So don't be too hard on them".
He did not believe the silly principal the slightest bit. Class reunions were for the teachers and the teachers only. In them the class teacher could see who had failed in life and who had succeeded. The students could wake inside them a healthy sense of competition with each other.
After all who wants to reawaken old bonds and grudges with people you haven't seen in a decade? But despite all that it seemed as though the students were having the time of their lives. Meaningless chit-chatter such as: "How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!" And "Really? A businesswoman? What a surprise! I seem to recall you wanted to be a world renowned tennis payer!"
As you might have gathered from the tirade before you, Nezu-sensei was bitter and prided himself on his unforgiving nature and his penchant for "giving students a taste of real life" as he arrogantly stated, so when he came upon three absent students in his class list he was understandably pissed off.
"Yamamoto Takeshi? Chrome Dokuro? Sawada Tsunayoshi?" he called again as if expecting a different answer. Understandably, the class was intrigued. "Oh! I remember Chrome! She was the hot shy girl with an eye patch!" The women's' dreamy sighs and squeals showed beyond doubt that they indeed remembered the former baseball player Yamamoto Takeshi quite well. But when Nezu-Sensei called out Tsuna's name only confuses whispers filled the classroom/ "what? Come on you monkeys seriously don't remember the poor kid you used to bully all the time?" a lone voice rang out. Still, the confused silence was deafening.
It was Nezu-Sensei who came to Hana's rescue by uttering the demeaning nickname that poor Tsuna had been given: "Dame-Tsuna". Suddenly, a chorus of oh's filled the classroom. The students suddenly remembered all the embarrassing acts Tsuna had committed. "The pervert was always in his boxers" "He couldn't even answer a simple question in algebra" "He never got above a 53 in any of his tests". Now, while it is true that Tsuna had improved his score average to Reborn's standard in High school, which meant Honor roll and valedictorian three years running, one must remember that he was Dame throughout Middle school and these particular students had no chance of knowing of these formidable accomplishments, for Tsuna was shipped off to Italy to undergo training and to learn at a prestigious school there.
Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps interrupted their gossiping. The students were waiting with bated breath for them to pass the classroom, but alas, they stopped in front of the door and it opened. In the doorway stood a man, crouched over and holding a stitch in his side. Silence reigned in the room. The students went over the man from head to toe once more and found little details that they hadn't in the first rush to react.
The man had a slim figure, brown spiky hair, and was apparently very rich for he was wearing a Gucci suit. Then, he stopped panting and straightened up. Both men and women gasped. The stranger was stunning. He had almond shaped chocolate brown eyes, which seemed to hold a deep aching sadness in their depths. They were set almost perfectly in his face, along with full pouty lips and high cheekbones, which somehow managed to remain masculine. In short, he was nothing short of godlike.
"Sorry I'm- huff huff- late" he began "Kyoya stopped me at the gates". The students of class 1-A only knew one Kyoya who could possibly inhabit the gates. But it was impossible, wasn't it? There was just no way that the handsome stranger could escape, much less fight his out of the clutches of the famed "Demon of Namimori" was there? But, as if the world was out to prove them wrong, the door slammed open once again. This time, there was no prince straight out of their dreams, but a Tonfa, behind it stood a well remembered former prefect.
"I'll bite you to death, Omnivore" came the deadpanned statement from said former prefect. Those lone six words brought yet another uproar from the class, or at least as much of an uproar possible from any sort of crowd desperately wishing that Hibari would not notice them or at least not pay them any sort of attention. "I'm sorry for being late Hibari, and I'll fight you full strength later, but could you let me off the hook for now, as you might damage school property?" the class could all tell whoever's reading this that what the stranger did was very foolhardy for Hibari never listens to reason so imagine their surprise when the feared Demon actually acquiesced to the strangers plea. "Fine, I'll be patrolling the grounds for any foolish herbivores".
Now all of this was EXTREMELY EXTRAORDINARY as a certain someone might put it, but it seemed like their troubles were not over, for, Yet again a pair of footsteps came pounding up to the door. Thankfully, they could recognize the strangers outside the door, as the women and the men proved quickly. Various squeals and whoops filled the air as they welcomed two class idols and a highly admired girl into their midst. Now, somewhere between the stranger and Hibari showing up suddenly, Nezu-Sensei had decided that enough was definitely enough and now was the perfect chance to voice his opinions.
"ORDER! I will have order!" he practically screeched "everyone sit down!" everyone reluctantly dispersed to their seats. "Now" he said smugly, pleased that he had controlled the situation successfully "New arrivals introduce yourselves". "Yamamoto Takeshi" a tan lean man with a scar on his chin said, accompanied by the squealing of various fan women around the room. "Gokudera Hayato" the other male late comer said, a signature cigar hanging off his lips. These profound words of wisdom also elicited many squeals from the female population. The only female of the group gave her name as "Chrome Dokuro" with a couple of "as cute as I remembered" and "that's our Chrome" following her words. As the men quieted down the last visitor drew a breath, opened his mouth, and said in a sweet voice "Sawada Tsunayoshi, it's nice to see you all after so many years". The class was deathly silent. A few awkward moments passed until Nezu-Sensei finally broke the silence with a loud "WHAAAT?!"
As soon as Tsuna had heard Nezu-Sensei's exclamation he knew he was screwed. You see, there are several stages of shock a person is able to go through. The first one is denial. Cue: "There's no way that guy is Dame-Tsuna." Then, when they finally believe, there's shock.
Cue the deathly silence. And then, there's the shock breaker, which is usually a loud noise destined by the Fates to be followed by a lot of surprised and sometimes indignant exclamations. Being a mafia boss, Tsuna had naturally adopted a flair for the dramatic. Hayato, as Tsuna's self appointed right hand man, suffering from his own obsession with the scientific, had catalogued all the different types of reactions and compiled them into one general file, and some other significantly larger files containing the chemical reaction of various people to shock and other scientific jargon. Tsuna had neglected listening to the larger files in a way most unbefitting a Boss. Any ways back to Tsuna being screwed.
The storm and the rain took up protective positions around him in preparation of what was to come. But while they could protect him from any physical attack, they could not shelter him from the sheer deluge of words that came. Because the writer of this story is so benevolent and generous she will spare you most of the squeals but even her considerable bullshit filters can't withstand so much abuse. So, this is a filtered version of what Tsuna heard. "There's no way that you're Dame-Tsuna. I won't accept it. There's just no way Dame-Tsuna's that hot."
But, among the general disbelief of the Decimo's classmates there were a few voices of agreement. And of course beside those numbered voices, the faithful right hand man was always ready to protect his boss. And who in their right mind wouldn't believe a former class idol? No one except apparently the person standing just outside the doorway of the classroom voicing his opinions very loudly and vocally. And this is what he said: "Come on! He's obviously tricking you! Even you lot can't be so stupid as to assume that he is Dame-Tsuna."
"Mochida! What are you doing here?" Tsuna cried out. Indeed the trio remembered him quite well as the main bully of the formerly useless mafia boss. Of course, Chrome, not being present for most of Tsuna's school day did not have an inkling of who the man standing before them was. But, despite not knowing for sure, she could guess by the dirty looks her fellow guardians were relentlessly sending Mochida. Mochida was cowering a bit under them for he was unused to receiving such intimidating glares and an even scarier smile from the Tsuna impostor. That only solidified Mochida's opinion that the person before him really was, and could not ever be, Tsuna.
Sadly, Mochida's solidifying opinion did not harden his shaking knees. He tried to hide them and succeeded partly, enough for the untrained eye, but unluckily for him, there were a considerable amount of fully trained eyes in the room, whether he liked it or not. Hoping to cover it further, he blustered: "If he's really Dame-Tsuna, he won't mind proving it to us, will he?" "With pleasure", the brunette said almost mockingly.
He had then procured an official looking drivers' license along with his name, picture, date of birth and date of his driving test printed on it, and promptly handed it to Mochida. Mochida checked all the fields disbelievingly, eyeing the portrait which was identical to the man standing before him, and had no choice but to concede reluctantly, looking baffled. Meanwhile, Gokudera was thinking some right hand man unworthy thoughts: 'How dare the bastard doubt anything Juudaime says! Why, I ought to rip him to pieces with the insolence he's showing.
I wonder though why he looked confused while handing the license back... oh no. It certainly had all the required fields of a driving license, but it was Italian that would certainly be enough to befuddle him, but what it also had, emblazoned clearly in gold on the back of it, is the Vongola emblem! But it should mean nothing to an ordinary civilian! He would have to corner him after the reunion or track him down to find out what he could possibly know about Vongola. And even if he didn't cooperate, Gokudera had his ways and he would take pleasure in... convincing the man to keep his silence, after all he deserved whatever was coming to him for treating Juudaime in that disrespecting way'.
Gokudera had decided that and would not be deterred. There was no wonder that he was happy when Nezu invited him to stay, Mochida being one of the old teachers' favorite students in his time. The reunion passed in a blur after that with Gokudera getting a few concerned glances from his fellow guardians, his boss. They had all noticed him being absent minded and thought he was pondering some deep existential question, and so, when it was time to leave, they didn't ask unnecessary questions. Gokudera was grateful.
That meant he could act swiftly without his boss questioning his methods. Nearer to the exit, a shiver went down Mochida's spine. Mochida never got shivers without meaning and so he waited patiently for the reason to show up. After all he was never known to be the brightest of the lot. Gokudera, who was coincidentally the reason of the shiver, did come, and he did so quickly. In no time at all Mochida found himself pinned to the wall and being asked rapid-fire questions by a certain silver headed bomber. "Who are you really? What's your purpose here? Have you come to assassinate Juudaime? Are you Mafia? Which famiglia are you from?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Mochida finally cut him off.
"What the hell is Vongola?" Gokudera looked at him and slowly said:
"So you don't know anything about Vongola?"
"Nothing!"
"...Oh." the oh was very small, as if Gokudera was embarrassed or ashamed and Mochida wanted to know more. He was unbearably curious about this Vongola, why it was so protected and what was Gokudera's, and by extension Tsuna's connection to it. And so, you could imagine his joy when he overheard Gokudera's call to his 'Juudaime' and heard them talking about a party next week, and planning the place and time for the 'Annual Gathering', as they called it.
His mind was made up. He would attend' and he would come ready for whatever they had to throw at him there. That meant taking up his old Kendo lessons. Well, at least now he knew where he was headed.
Vongola Mansion was in a frenzy of activity. They were preparing for the Annual gathering of that year. The butlers were gliding, for good butlers never walk, they glide. The maids were frantically tidying everything up. Everything had to be perfect for the most esteemed Mafia families of all time. The gathering was circulated between those families' mansions. Last year the gathering was at Cavallone Mansion and it was pleasant except for that escapade with Dino falling down the stairs by accident. As much as the maids and butlers were busy gliding and tidying, they didn't dare venture into their boss's room. They expected it to be an even bigger mess than the exterior. And, as the maids frequently were, they were right. The subject of their gossip, who just happened to be their one and only boss, was currently tearing out his hair by the fistfuls, while he sat at his desk. Reborn had taken no mercy and had saddled him with all the usual paperwork with the additional load of writing out invitations. The whole torturous activity was under the guise of 'training' because, as Reborn put it "Good bosses should be able to put up with a little paperwork, or perhaps you want me to double your usual paperwork?" Tsuna had no additional complaints after that.
And if Tsuna hadn't had enough bothers in his short life to last for a couple hundred lives, Gokudera burst into his room. Now, as past experience dictates, the storm guardian mostly knocked respectfully on the door to his boss's study. He had only burst in twice in since Tsuna had officially inherited the title of Vongola Decimo; and both of those times had ended in disaster. But that story is one for another time.
"Juudaime" he almost screeched "I may have accidentally told Mochida about the party! I shall now commit suicide to atone for my sins!" Tsuna had found that in these sorts of situations it was best to keep a level head. And so he asked: "Even if you did, which I don't believe you did what makes you think he'll come?" Gokudera pulled his hair into ponytail and cleared his throat which was a combination Tsuna dreaded, for he called it the lecture mode, also called nap time by a certain lightning guardian.
In the meantime, Gokudera had started talking again. Something about how Namimori's dojo had a retired agent who had ties to Hibari and told him that Mochida had taken up kendo again.
"He may be preparing to fight us". The sentence rung in Tsuna's ears. Although the past ten years had strengthened him and he had no doubt that he could defeat the amateur who he had defeated when he was still in middle school, he still fervently disliked conflict. He didn't want to fight a former schoolmate even if he had bullied Tsuna in the past. But, he had resolved to wait for events to unfold and that was exactly what he would do.
For the time being, there was enough paperwork to last him a lifetime. And so, while Tsuna was painstakingly signing every single pile of documents lying on his desk, the sun set and rose again. Sometime in the middle of the night, Reborn took mercy on our poor mafia boss and sent him off to bed with an excuse of having to look good in preparation for the party, because Reborn would never admit that he was the tiniest bit worried for his student and all the pressure that was resting on his shoulders.
The hysterical lightning guardian by his bed was what woke him. The sun was already high up in the sky when Lambo had decided that it was a good idea to sneak into Mukuro's room to see if the Mist guardian snored. Needless to say, Mukuro was not happy. Additionally, Mukuro was not a morning person.
After bribing Mukuro with a fight with Byakuran, Tsuna headed down to the kitchen to eat. The noise that ten cooks and twenty helpers were able to make while preparing a feast for a couple hundred Mafioso was impressive. Especially considering that the cooks were trained to be silent as a consequence of them being former Mafioso themselves. As they had no time for him, being too busy making dinner for tonight. He started to make himself an omelet only to fail miserably. Finally he was so miserable he had to call Yamamoto to help him. They ended up eating together and it was a thoroughly enjoyable meal.
While Tsuna was resting, Mochida was hard at work. He slashed another dummy, straw stuffing flying every which way. He ducked under an enemy's imaginary attack and stabbed a corresponding dummy. He stopped for a few minutes, regaining his breath, before diving back into his stressfull regimen. Unknown to him two shadows were creeping up against the wall behind him. Then, suddenly, Mochida realised that the attack he had dodged wasn't imaginary. He stumbled, but regained his footing and whirled around in surprise, just in time to stop another blow directed at him. The person he was fighting against was a giant of a man. He knew that due to him not practicing for more than five years, he wouldn't be able to win this fight, but heck if he wasn't going to try. The delinquents he often bumped into were so much weaker than this man fighting him and for the first time since he had returned to train he appreciated how out of practice he was. He had no more time for additional thoughts for the giant lunged at him. This time his opponent overbalanced and Mochoda shifted his center of gravity lower and lashed out in a roundhouse kick. At that moment he saw a shadowy figure previously hidden behind the giant. His opponent took advantage of his moment of inattention and packed all of his considerable strength into one roundhouse punch to the side of Mochida's head. As the sides of Mochida's went black,he only had time to think; "How humiliating".
The guests were beginning to to show up and Tsuna was nervous. It was the first gathering at Vongola mansion because the gathering circulated between the Mafia Famiglias attending. Everything had to be perfect, and with his dysfunctional family, perfect was a long way away. He'd already bribed Lambo with grape candy and Hibari with a fight. He had begged both Gokudera and Yamamoto to stop fighting with each other just for one night, and to be on their best behavior. He had also begged Ryohei to be just a bit quieter and promised him that Kyoko would not be attending. He fervently hoped no one would anger Mukuro, seeing as he had no idea what the peculiar illusionist wanted apart from his body (preferably not in the perverted way) and even had no blackmail material. Imagine that. Thankfully, Chrome required no persuasion. But frankly, it wasn't the powerful Mafioso in his house, or his intimidating family that scared him, it was Mochida. It's a trivial thing to worry about but he can't help it. Hibari discreetly approaches him and Tsuna gulps. Who knows what an angry cloud guardian could do to him? He hopes Hibari forgot the blackmail picture Tsuna took of him. Thankfully he only leans over and whispers in Tsuna's ear;
"My source has just informed me Mochida has gone missing."
"What?!" Tsuna whisper-shouted at Hibari.
"You heard me perfectly fine, Herbivore"
"Where did you last see him?!"
"In the Namimori local Dojo"
Hibird alighted on Hibari's shoulder. He chirped in Hibari's ear for a moment and Hibari cocked his head as if listening to him. Hibird poked his leg out from behind the fluff and Tsuna saw that there was a letter attached to it. Hibari turned back to Tsuna and informed him that apparently, his source had delivered a letter from the Pesca Famiglia. In another situation Tsuna might have laughed. A situation that perhaps was not that grave and preferably without Hibari looming over him and glaring. Hibird as Hibari's source? Actually, he should have expected it. No source would survive more than a few days with Hibari without being bitten to death. Besides, he wouldn't be surprised if Hibari himself had superpowers. Honestly the amount of fear the little bird could instill in you was not proportionate to its cuteness factor. But back to the matter at hand. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Hibari.
"What does the paper say?" He asked.
"We're coming. If you ever want your friend back, we suggest you wait right where you are. Don't evacuate anybody because we will know.
Regards,
The Pesca Famiglia"
Hibari read out loud and Tsuna released a long breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Our men have already spotted three snipers and two machine guns around the perimeter."
It seemed as though the enemy had already surrounded Vongola and planned this attack out well.
"Tell them to inform me if anything else happens but to hold their positions and not attack, I repeat, do not attack."
Hibari looked strongly displeased by Tsuna's words.
"For now." Tsuna continued his words"
His expression brightened. Considerably. We're not talking about a full blown smile here, let's not have unrealistic expectation, but it wouldn't be wrong to call it a predatory smirk. A smirk of anticipation. Contrary to Hibari Tsuna was not anticipating the inevitable fight. He tried never fighting when he didn't have to. He wasn't nervous. The Pesca Famiglia might have planned this operation well but they had underestimated Vongola, because three snipers and two machine guns weren't nearly enough to keep Lambo contained, let alone some of the stronger guardians or Hibari. In fact the only thing keeping Tsuna from attacking the armed force outside was the hostage situation they found themselves in. It was tricky, but they hadn't withstood a marshmallow-loving freak, as Gokudera eloquently called him, to fail in a mere hostage situation. A knock was heard on the gilded double doors. It was the only warning Tsuna got before the doors burst open. In the open doorway stood about ten men armed with pistols. The Gathering did not permit bringing weapons into the house hosting it so the various Mafioso inside were weaponless, defenseless and unprepared. They scattered of course, and Tsuna expected at least thirteen letters of complaint from the Famiglias attending, suspecting the men of the Pesca Famiglia to be his own, for there was no shortage of subterfuge in the Mafia, and while it was not unheard of to attack a Famiglia during the gathering it was highly disapproved of, and the Famiglia responsible for the attack couldn't participate in any further gatherings until the boss that initiated the attack was dead and buried. Tsuna had a rude awakening from his thoughts when one of the men shot a warning round of bullets upwards to get the Mafioso's attention and proceeded to say: "This ballroom is now under our jurisdiction. No one may enter or leave until we get what we want. Hand over Vongola Decimo and nobody gets hurt. We must have him so we can exact our revenge on him and repay him for past humiliation. We have leverage. We have a hostage. He is not present but if you act against our instructions, we just have to send a message," he pauses and holds up a sleek black walkie-talkie "And the hostage is as good as dead." A security camera swivels, grey lenses focusing on the enemy's leader's hand. On the other side, facing a glowing monitor, a fair haired engineer is hard at work, lollipop forgotten between his teeth. One minute passes. Two. He was working against a clock here. He only had limited time until the boss snaps and shoots someone. At last, a breakthrough. He spoke into the earpieces in the guardians ears, put there for emergencies just like these. The earpieces transmit, and they serve as a welcome distraction for the guardians dwindling patience, for they never knew an enemy, or anyone for that matter, could talk so much in such a small space of time. It felt like he was boring a hole in their head. (A/n: Double meaning! Sorry couldn't resist). Spanner had notified them in the nick of time because just then Hibari's restraint broke with an almost audible snap. He launched himself towards the henchmen and knocked them out with the Tonfas that had appeared magically in his hands. In a few seconds he had them at the Pesca Famiglia's boss's throat. His eyes widened' he whipped his walkie-talkie out of his pocket and shouted into it "K-kill the hostage" the static coming out of the machine was the only sound in the room. He tried again "D-didn't you hear me? I-I said kill him! Kill Mochida!" A deathly silence rung in the hall. Even Hibari was quiet as he watched the man before them deteriorate. Tsuna explained "Our mechanics have jammed your walkie-talkie system. You have no way to contact your lackeys." With that final sentence, Hibari knocked him out. Tsuna was forced to disperse the gathering; after all it was standard protocol to evacuate when attacked. After a short speech in which Tsuna verified that all the attendees knew that the men that had attacked them were not Tsuna's own, one could never be too careful, each of the guests headed back to their own respective famiglias. Bur Vongola's day wasn't over. It was just beggining. They all gathered in the engineering room, finding Spanner already patiently waiting for them. He looked up from his computers at the gaurduans piling in and began the briefing. "As you are all aware, I have jammed the radio signal. I have also tracked it and narrowed down the signal to roughly the range of half a mile northeast of the mansion." The gaurdians took two minutes to come up with a plan. In all honesty, only Gokudera was thinking of a plan while the others were waiting for him to come out with one. It was somewhat of a tradition with them of which only Gokudera was unaware of. In other words, Gokudera thought they were all thinking of strategies while actually it was only him. As expected Gokudera didn't dissapoint, and went into lecture mode. He cleared his throat, put on his glasses and collected his hair into a ponytail. A board magically appeared in front of them, and Gokudera began to draw on it. He drew a rectangle which was supposed to be Vongola mansion and a point roughly northeast of it.
"This is Vongola mansion, and the dot is where Mochida's being held. We split up and scout out in a direction that's roughly northeast, when one one of the groups find him, they signal the others. From that point on we split up into two main groups and attack from two different directions."
The gaurdians all thought this was a very good plan but Mukuro fond a flaw.
"How will the groups signal each other once they've found him?"
Spanner came to the rescue quickly.
"I've got just the thing for you. I have tracking devices in the form of watches. The red dot that symbols you is pulsing all the time. You have to press the red button in the middle to signal the others. Once somebody signals you their dot will start pulsing too. Got it?"
The gaurdians nodded.
"Then lets go."
The Vongola were ready to go. There was a hostage situation to remedy.
It was cold. And wet. And Tsuna was miserable. No matter how many times Tsuna had staked out on a mission, he still couldn't get used to the cold slowly seeping into his bones, leeching all the warmth from his body. He still couldn't get used to the feeling that he would never be warm again.
The last time he had staked out he swore he would never do it again. When he found Mochida's captor's they would pay dearly for what they had made them go through. He sniffed. Then he sneezed. He barely cut an intimidating figure at the moment, and he was pretty sure he had caught a cold. He hoped that they would find Mochida quickly, because as cold as he was, apparently Lambo was colder still, as he made perfectly clear by his incessant whining. Not a good combination.
What he didn't know was that less than half a mile away, a certain Mochida Kensuke was just as miserable as Tsuna was. His thoughts were wandering down violent tracks. 'Those damn Mafioso, lazing around in their tent. If only I wasn't tied to a tree, I'd show them a thing or two'. He started to struggle against his bonds again for what felt like the millionth time that day. Suddenly he stopped trying to get free of his bonds and sat very still. He cocked his head, as though listening to something, for he could hear the bushes rustling. He continued to sit motionless, barely breathing, and was rewarded by broken parts whispers reaching his ears:
"But Hibari, shouldn't we signal Tsuna like we said we would?"
"Shut up Herbivore. I don't want to share my prey. If you don't shut up I'll bite you to death along with the idiots in the tent."
Mochida was now sure they were here for the men in the tent, but what were their intentions for him? Were his enemies' enemies his friends? Or would they just kill him regardless? Plus, he only knew one Hibari, and if this one was the one he knew, he had absolutely no chance of survival. The bushes rustled a bit more and Mochida was confused. Were they signaling someone like they said they would? Or were they perhaps preparing to attack? They couldn't possibly be serious about this; they were badly outnumbered after all. Then again, if the Hibari in the bushes was the same Hibari he knew in middle and high school, they might actually stand a chance. He just hoped they would leave him alive.
Hibari was pissed off. Despite what everybody else seemed to think, he wasn't superhuman. He could get cold, and tired, and at the moment he was both. He blamed Mochida for the whole escapade. As a consequence, the men now unconscious in front of the tent were slightly more bruised than his usual victims. Of course, Mochida didn't escape the situation unharmed either.
Hibari had decided to knock Mochida out, just out of spite. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of how Mochida got knocked out twine in two days. His vision blurred and slowly faded out. He saw only black. When his eyes opened, the first thing he noticed was the light. It was blinding. He squeezed his eyes shut again. The next thing he noticed was his pounding headache. Also he was tied to a terribly uncomfortable chair. Great. Just fantastic. Still, it was a big improvement over the tree and he was thankful for at least that. He cracked one eye open but quickly closed it again. There was a person sitting in the chair before him. "I know you're awake" a familiar voice said. Mochida opened his eyes hesitantly. "At least you didn't lie. I always know when people are lying to me." He said it in a calm voice, but it was the kind of calm that could turn on you in a moment. Mochida felt like he was a gazelle in a grassy field, being slowly closed in on by a lion. And still Mochida couldn't help himself, and fired back "That's preposterous. Nobody can tell when somebody else is lying." Instead of sounding angry, like he expected, it sounded amused, like he had explained this many times before "I've been given an overactive intuition. It has been both a blessing and a curse, but I've come to learn to trust it."
Mochida looked utterly confused "Are you Tsuna?' He inquired.
"Don't you already know?" Tsuna countered with a smile. "Of course I am."
"I suspected as much. After a Mafia kidnapping and Hibari actually saving someone, it isn't much of a stretch to believe that you're Tsuna."
"I guess so" Tsuna replied with a smirk. Tsuna's face suddenly became serious as if he was thinking about something he'd rather not be thinking of.
"Listen, I'm truly sorry about this, and I thought that I could find a better time to bring this up, but there is no good time for this, so we might as well get over with this now. There's been a complication."
"A complication? Of what sort?"
'Are you familiar with the saying 'You never really get out of the Mafia'? Well it's something of the sort. You've shown that it's quite easy to kidnap you and I've shown that I'm willing to come and save you personally. Frankly, I would do it again if I had to. Those two facts will encourage Mafia leaders to try again."
"But wouldn't it be better to kidnap someone vulnerable like your mother or Kyoko-chan?"
"Normally it would be better to kidnap one of those, but because both my mother and Kyoko-chan are accomplished hit women, they would probably get their asses kicked. Not that there haven't been attempts, of course."
"Even them?! Who else was part of the Mafia this whole time?"
"Well, for starters, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Chrome, Kyoko's older brother, Ryohei and of course you've already met Hibari."
"Oh." Mochida felt a bit faint. How could all this have been going on under his nose all this time and how could he have not noticed. This was huge!
"Anyways, let's get this conversation back on track. You have two options. We can let you go back home, with more or less a hundred percent of getting kidnapped again. Of when this happens we will do our utmost to rescue you but there is no guarantee that it will go as smoothly as it did today." Mochida didn't like that option very much. Getting kidnapped once was enough for him, thank you very much.
"Your second," Tsuna continued "and I believe, only reasonable option is, for lack of better way to phrase it, to join the mafia. More specifically, join Vongola."
Mochida was shocked. He wasn't built for the Mafia! Sure he had some violent days back in middle school, but he liked to believe he had changed over the years. He told Tsuna exactly that. Tsuna didn't look disappointed; on the contrary, he looked happily surprised. He spoke up: "I'm delighted to hear that you don't want to fight, but that sort of job isn't the only sort available in our family. If you are adamant about your refusal to fight, I am honored to offer you the job of a diplomat."
"A ... a diplomat?" Mochida questioned.
"Yes, one always has enough foot soldiers in the Mafia, but never enough peace makers. Do you accept the job I've offered you?"
"Uh ... this is all a bit overwhelming, and it'll take me a bit of time to get used to this, but if you'll have me I'll gladly take the job."
"Great!" Tsuna positively beamed at him.
"You'll have to start as an intern, but we can send you as a companion in about a weeks' time. Until then you're welcome to one of our guest rooms. I'll have someone take you to it." He pressed a button on his desk and said: "Natalie, would you please bring our guest to one of the empty rooms? He'll be staying with us for a bit."
A maid came up the stairs and led Mochida away.
Tsuna let out a huge sigh. As interesting as all this was, he was happy to be warm and cozy in his study. He wondered if he could sneak in a short nap before dinner. He decided to try, sunk down in his desk chair, and fell asleep
It felt as he slept no time at all before he was woken, but the orange light breaking out of the window told another story. He saw Gokudera above him, looking down at him worriedly. "Are you all right, Tsuna? Do you need another hour or two?"
"No, I'm fine" Tsuna yawned. They headed down to dinner. Tsuna was bracing himself for a regular dinner, full of shouts and brawling, but for once it seemed like the mission had made everyone sleepy enough for them to be peaceful. His guardians smiled at him as he entered the dining room. There was a sort of companionable silence throughout the meal. It was almost a homely scene, what with how the light shone in from the windows, and the sound of faint laughter rung in Tsuna's ears.
He went up to bed feeling stuffed, but in a good way. He couldn't stop the soft smile lighting up his face, nor did he want to. He changed into his nightclothes, got into bed, and turned the lights off. 'Even though things seemed to be unsolvable, this turned out pretty well in the end, didn't it?"