So i decided to write another Katekyo Hitman Reborn story. Unlike my other one, this will not be a oneshot. This is my attempt at a mystery story for KHR. I can't reveal too much; you'll have to read to find out what happens. I will tell you this: it involves a game, a madman, seven Vongola, and a whole lot of mayhem. So, please read and enjoy. Review also.
Disclaimer: i don't own KHR or anything to do with KHR
"V"
It was a cool October afternoon. The midday sun steamed in through the Vongola castle's high windows, illuminating the long, red carpeted hallways. Soft footfalls fell on the soft carpet as the young mafia boss strolled through the hallways, going in no particular direction. Dressed in the black suit, which had now become a permanent fixture of his attire, the young man looked dashing and professional as he wandered his home.
Tsuna let out a sigh and shoved his hands in pockets, letting the warm sunlight warm his skin. It was nice to take a short break from the mountain of paper work that was waiting for him back in his office. He shuddered as he remembered the first time her had gotten a severe hand cramp from signing and filing so many papers. Now it was a regular thing when he wasn't dealing with business.
"How long has it been since I had a break?" He muttered and glanced out at the estate. Tsuna paused to look out into the courtyard. Below, Ryohei was practicing with Kangaryuu, his trusted box weapon animal. The boss watched as they exchanged blows, the Sun dying will flames flickering with each movement. Through the window, he could hear the Sun Guardian's shouts as he delivered as swift uppercut to the kangaroo.
"That's Ryohei; always energetic and pumped up." Tsuna commented and pulled himself away from the window. A sudden kitten-like growl that was so familiar made him turn and stop to see Natsu bound towards him, the sky lion's amber eyes alight with a playful intent. "Hey, Natsu, it's been awhile." He greeted, his eyes softening, as he crouched down the stroke the lion. Natsu purred under his master's hand, winding his body around Tsuna's leg. "I'm sorry that I haven't had a lot of time to play with you; I've been busy with paperwork. I'll play with you when I finish." Tsuna stood back up and continued in the direction of his office. Natsu's eyes followed him for a second before he scampered off in the opposite direction.
Tsuna's paced slowed as his body moved reluctantly towards the door at the end of the hall: His office. He wished that he could turn around and go outside in the sunshine, but if he didn't finish the paperwork by tomorrow, Gokudera would drill him with a long lecture about the importance of paperwork. The last lecture had been timed at thirty minutes of the Storm Guardian's relentless talking. He had gotten so passionate that Tsuna had gotten up and made himself a cup of coffee, Italian roast with a shot of cream and two sugar cubes (a mafia boss who liked sweet things), and returned without Gokudera even noticing that the boss had up and left.
"I don't see why I need to do all this paperwork anyway…" The boss grumbled, seeming more like his child self than his current position as the tenth boss of the Vongola family. "I've never been good with papers and stuff…I guess that's why I got the nickname No-Good Tsuna." He chuckled a bit at the memories of his middle school days. "Some days I still feel like that…" He said aloud, his voice ringing through the empty hall as he stopped at the large doors with the Vongola crest engraved in the wood. "Well, I guess it's back to work…"
With the straightening of his tie, Tsuna pushed open the doors and stepped in the room where he knew he'd be spending the next several hours in. he flipped on the chandelier hanging from the high arched ceiling, greeted by the familiar desk that resembled an impending figure with towers of white resting on it. "It seems as though the mound has grown in the time that I took a break," Tsuna sighed as he slumped into the black leather chair, rolling the heavy gold pen that sat on the desk between his fingers. The sunlight shining through the window behind him made him turn around and just gaze out at the tall trees that basked in the Italian sun.
No matter how much he wanted to go out and take a break, he knew that it was his duty to do what was required of him, even if it meant filling out paperwork. Carefully, he pulled out the battered blue charm with a whale on it and a picture of the person who had made it for him. Memories of when he had been given the charm flooded back, making his heart ache a bit. Those times had been tough and it was with the help of his friends and the charm that had helped him through it all.
"Kyoko," Tsuna sighed, a smile forming as he said his fiancé's name. It had only been seven months since he had proposed to her. Naturally Ryohei threw a bit of a fit when he heard that his only beloved sister was getting married, but calmed down once he realized that if the boss was the one marrying her then he'd have little to worry about. The wedding was scheduled for June of next year and it made Tsuna's heart flutter every time he thought about it.
He missed her terribly; they hadn't seen each other in months due to his work. It pained him to be away from her for so long. Kyoko seemed understanding whenever Tsuna called her to tell her about he was swapped with work. She had always been an understanding person, and that was one of the things about her that he loved about the girl who had once been his middle school crush.
Tsuna closed his eyes, letting himself be pulled into the warmth of memories of the past. The warm sunlight made him feel sleepy. That and the combination of comforting memories slowly pulled him into sleep.
"Tenth! Boss! Wake up! We have an emergency!" Through the black hazy of sleep, Tsuna could hear a desperate voice shouting at him. Slowly he slipped into consciousness, his eyes flying open.
"What the-?" He exclaimed, standing up quickly as the sound of alarms and hurried footsteps met his ears. The sudden movement sent his chair backwards, causing it to knock into the desk and scattering the papers everywhere. They fluttered to the ground in a whirlwind of white. "What's going on?" the boss demanded, putting on a composed face as he turned to face Gokudera who was standing beside him.
"Someone's hacking into the main computer frame!" He replied hurriedly as the alarms around the castle went off. Their shrill shrieks rang out loudly, adding to the confusion.
"Are Giannini and Shouichi handling it?" The boss asked as he walked around his desk to start picking up the fallen papers.
"They said that this hacker was unlike anything that they had encountered before. They're breaking past all of the firewalls and almost has full access to the main computer system." Gokudera confirmed, his face full of worry.
Tsuna stopped, an unsigned document clasped in his hand. Someone who can break through Giannini's firewalls? Is that even possible? This is bad. We have to find a way to stop whoever this is before they completely break in. Tsuna stacked the papers back on his desk and headed for the door.
"Boss, where are you going?" Gokudera called after him, following closely behind as they stepped out into the chaotic hallways where other men in suits rushed about.
"To the control room. I have to know all that's going on. If we're under attack then it's my job as boss to find out what it is and stop it." With a quickened and determined pace, Tsuna marched through the chaos, wearing a cool face. That was how a boss should be, cool and collected in times of chaos. His old self would have panicked and be running around not knowing what to be. Truthfully, he was a bit frightened inside. He didn't know who or what the enemy was. Just what was going on? Natsu came running down the hallway and leapt onto his master's should, cowering in fear. When Natsu wasn't in battle, he was a bit of a scaredy cat. "It's ok, Natsu." Tsuna told him quietly.
"Do you want me to assemble to guardians, tenth?" Gokudera asked, falling a step behind his beloved boss.
"Yes. Tell them to meet up in the control room." He replied and went on.
"Understood, boss." Gokudera touched the black Bluetooth that was attached to his ear. "Guardians, this is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. All guardians must report to the control room immediately. That's an order from the boss." He commanded, his ring glowing to summon them. "Boss, Chrome and Mukuro are on their honeymoon in Tahiti, so I doubt they will be able to show up. What do you want to do?"
"It's fine; leave them be. Just so long as we have most of the guardians we should be fine. It might turn out to be nothing…" Tsuna hoped that his words were true. He had a bad feeling in his gut that refused to leave.
"Ryohei and Yamamoto should be here already in the castle. Hibari is finishing up a job in Venice. Lambo is returning from a visit with the Bovino family." The Storm Guardian informed the tenth as they reached the control room.
"I see." The door slid open to reveal the room that could only be described as disordered. The once neat, NASA sized control room was bathed in red light from the alarms going off all around. Several of the techies, were rushing around, seeing to the complex machines and computers. Sitting in front of a huge monitor, was Giannini and Shouichi who were typing furiously.
Maneuvering through the rushing bodies, Tsuna made is way over to where they were frantically trying to get rid of the warning boxes popping up all across the screen. Shouichi's brow was furrowed as he pushed his glasses further up onto his nose.
"What's going on?" Tsuna asked them, startling them.
"T-Tenth!" Giannini stammered, jumping to his feet. "Someone's trying to hack into the system. We haven't been able to trace the person and our firewalls won't last much longer…" His face fell as he glanced back nervously at the flashing monitor.
"Whoever this guy is, he's good. Not just good, but a pro." Shouichi muttered without tearing his eyes from his work. "How's it coming on your end, Spanner?" He shouted across the room to the blonde haired mechanic. Spanner pulled out another one of his strawberry suckers and put it in his mouth, turning to his friend.
"Still no luck." He replied, his eyes shifting back to the laptop in his lap.
"Dang it!" Shouichi hissed, slamming his fist on his knee. "Who could be doing this? This is impossible! Our security is one of the most secure-Ow! My stomach…" He moaned and held his stomach. His stomach had a habit of hurting whenever he grew really anxious. That only made the pit in Tsuna's tighten.
"Calm down, Shouichi." He told them.
"Sorry, Tsuna." He apologized and straightened himself.
"Is there anything we can do at this point?" Gokudera asked them.
"Not that I know of. Until we figure out who's doing this-" The lights suddenly ceased their flashing and the alarms died down.
"It stopped." Giannini commented and everything fell into silence.
"What did you do? Did you fix it?" Tsuna questioned, relaxing a bit.
"I don't know…I don't think we did anything…" Shouichi stared perplexed at the monitor as the warning boxes began to fade.
"It looks like you didn't need us to come." A familiar voice said. Tsuna turned around to see his old friend, Yamamoto leaning against the wall. Over his shoulder was his trusted sword.
"Yamamoto," Tsuna said. "It's been awhile."
"Yeah. The moment I leave something weird happens." He smiled, a bit of his light heartedness showing through his mafia exterior.
"That was some extreme chaos. Don't you think so, Hibari?" Ryohei appeared in the room, followed by the unhappy looking Cloud Guardian. Hibird was perched on his shoulder, singing the anthem for Namimori Middle School, Hibari's favorite.
"Don't get so close to me or I'll bite you to death." Hibari threatened icily, glaring with his cold eyes as he moved away from Ryohei. "It looks like this was a waste of my time to come here."
"Aw, don't be like that, Hibari." Yamamoto told him, patting his shoulder.
"Are you asking for me to hurt you?" Hibari glared harder at him. Yamamoto just smiled, seemingly unfazed by the former disciplinary committee president's antisocial nature.
"Same as always, Hibari." The Rain Guardian let his hand drop and crossed his arms across his chest.
"It's great to see you all." Tsuna told them. "I'm sorry that this turned out to be a false alarm."
"No worries. It was a nice change of pace." Yamamoto turned to the boss, still smiling. "So, what now?"
"Hey, octopus head," Ryohei said to Gokudera, "what with all that extreme alarm mess?" Even as a grownup, the Sun Guardian still hadn't gotten out of the habit of using the word "extreme" in practically every sentence.
"Octopus head?" Gokudera seethed, fuming over the nickname that he had been given in middle school. "Listen, turf head, why don't you use that thick head of yours to figure it out! We were almost hacked!" With that, his cool composure was shattered.
"Hacked? But I thought that we had the most extreme security system." Ryohei pondered.
"That's why it was such a big deal!" Ryohei and Gokudera began arguing. The scene reminded Tsuna of the past, making him smile a bit.
"I guess it was nothing. Sorry to bother you all-" he had begun to say, but something jumped onto the monitor.
"S-Something's downloading!" Giannini scrambled to stop the unknown file being downloaded, but it was no use. A video link suddenly opened and they all turned to watch.
"Hello, young Vongola tenth," a voice said as a figure in a black hooded cloak appeared. The hood shadowed his face, revealing only the figure's smiling mouth. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Who are you?" Tsuna demanded, facing the figure with calculating eyes. "Why did you hack into our security system?" Natsu growled at the person in video menacingly, his ears plastered against his head.
"Why? Because it was the only way to grab your attention." The mysterious person replied.
"Are you an enemy?"
"Only if you don't do as I say." A Cheshire cat smile spread across his face.
"Who are you?" Tsuna shot. The bad feeling was growing and his super intuition telling him that something unpleasant was about to happen.
"Me. You may call me V."
"V?"
"Yes."
"And what is it that you want, V?"
"I want," V paused, "to play a game."
"A game? What do you mean?" None of this was making sense. Just who was this person named V? What did he mean by "game"?
"It's it obvious? I. Want. To. Play. A. Game. With. You." V spoke slowly, as if he were speaking to a child.
"What kind of game?"
"A trial game of sorts. Basically, you and you're guardians will follow the clues I have laid out for you. The clues will lead you to a place of my choosing and there you will encounter a trial. Once you complete the trail, you move on to the next clue. If you win the game, you get a prize." V explained.
"What is the whole point of this game?" Gokudera questioned. Tsuna could tell that his temper was flaring up.
"To win and keep me entertained. I've always wanted to play a game with you, Vongola." V giggled, his body shaking with laughter. "I simply like winning and watching people play my games."
"And what if we refuse?" Tsuna asked, his eyes narrowing. V's smile widened, almost as if he'd been expecting him to answer that way.
"Well, I don't think that you have much of a choice. You see, I knew you were going to be against playing with me, so I took the liberty of picking out a prize that will make it so that you have no choice, but to play!"
"Cut the crap out, V, and tell us already!" Gokudera shouted angrily, slamming his hand against the monitors control panel, hoping to remove the cackling V.
"Oh, but I have. You see, I have something very important to you, Vongola." V ignored Gokudera and smiled at Tsuna.
"What do you mean?"
"I think you know what I mean." With a wave of his finger, V brought up another video window at the bottom of the screen. "You see, Vongola, if you don't play my game, I'll just have to send your little princess to the depths of hell."
Tsuna's eyes widened as he studied the scene in the video. His heart dropped into his stomach as everything began to sink in, the shock paralyzing his body. His mouth grew parched as he fumbled for words. "Kyo…Kyoko…?" Tsuna stammered.
What will Tsuna do now? His fiance's been kidnapped and the only way to get her back is by playing V's game. What lies in store for the Vongola gang? Only the future reveals the answers (whenever that may be)