Oh my, I'm so happy that this story has received so much attention. Thanks for the reviews! Unfortunately, I don't have time to reply to all of them -and I don't want to give any spoilers- but do know I read all of them and I really appreciate them.

Oh, and I changed my PN. I don't even know why- I guess I just felt like it. Sorry if I caused some confusion.


"Hayato, I want to ask you a question but you can't freak out, okay?"

"I will answer any question you ask, Juudaime," Gokudera responded while pouring a cup of coffee for his boss.

"If I were to die, what would you do?"

Tsuna looked up from his paperwork when the sound of shattering porcelain reached his ears. "Umm, Hayato, the coffee-"

The storm guardian rushed over to his boss, slamming his hands on the paper-covered desk. "Juudaime! You're not going to do anything dangerous, are you?! As your right hand man I won't allow you to! In fact, there's no need to even think of such things because I would protect you even if it means sacrificing myse-"

"Hayato, what happened to not freaking out?" Tsuna interrupted Gokudera's rambling.

Noticing his slip in his calm demeanor that he had tried so hard to build over the years, Gokudera flushed in embarrassment and straightened his back. Clearing his throat, Gokudera said apologetically, "I'm sorry Juudaime- it's just the thought of you not here anymore..."

"It's okay, Hayato. It was an unexpected question and I guess it was foolish not to think you wouldn't react horribly to that. By the way, you still haven't answered the question." Tsuna looked over at his storm guardian who looked slightly troubled.

"Don't worry. It's just a hypothetical question," the brunet reassured in order to not plant ideas in his right hand man's mind. Gokudera sighed in relief before he scrunched up his eyebrows in thought.

"Well, Juudaime, I would definitely kill the bastard who dared lay a finger on you." Chuckling at the expected answer from his hot-headed friend, Tsuna stood up from his seat to stand next to Gokudera, leaning against his desk. Gokudera shifted his body to better face his Juudaime.

Gokudera watched as his Juudaime's face held a contemplative expression as if he was trying to carefully word what he was going to say next. The silver haired man watched as his boss faced him, brown, caramel eyes meeting his own grey ones.

"Hayato, I've been thinking... Hypothetically speaking, if I were to die, I want to leave the Vongola in your hands."

Mouth gaping and eyes wide in horror, Gokudera croaked out, "Wh-what are you saying, Juudaime?" Voice slowing rising, Gokudera yelled, "It's absolutely insane to leave something as precious and significant as the Vongola in my hands! You've spent years trying to revert the Vongola back to what it was originally created for. And there would be no need to; I can't imagine someone as strong and kind as Juudaime to-"

"Hayato, like I said- this is just hypothetical. But I guess hypothetical or not, I would still leave the Vongola to you if something were to happen to me. We are in the mafia after all; anything can happen."

"B-but, I don't think I have the ability to lead the Vongola and I hate to admit it but I have a lot of flaws- I get angry easily and act on my emotions. That baseball idiot can do that much better and I'm not strong like Hibari and-" Gokudera paused when he felt a light weight on his shoulder.

"Hayato, everyone has flaws. You get angry and act on your emotions, but that was in the past. You have improved more than you give credit for and other than the quarrels you have with the other guardians, you manage to control yourself in important situations. Yes, Takeshi may be better at self control but I'm afraid that he might hide behind that mask he has worked on for years. Also, you may not be as strong as Kyoya but strength is not everything when it comes to leading a famiglia. Plus,"

Tsuna smiled warmly, making the storm guardian's tense shoulders loosen, "I trust you, Hayato. We might not have started on good terms-" Tsuna grinned as Gokudera blushed in mortification. "-but you were my first friend. It meant a lot to know that no matter what happens you will be there for me. I do hope you will accept this selfish request. I believe that you will be able to take care of everyone if they were to stray off."

At the brunet's determined gaze Gokudera faltered in his refusal and silently accepted the proposal. The silver haired man kneeled down and said with resolve, "As Juudaime's right hand man, I accept your proposal and I promised to keep it even if it means death."

The storm guardian stood up as Tsuna sat in his seat behind the table. Comfortable silence followed as they knew they have reached an understanding and this moment would forever be etched into their being. Grey orbs watched as the brunet signed paper after paper before the silence was broken.

"Oh, and Hayato, I think the coffee will stain the carpet if it's not cleaned immediately. You know what a pain it is remove coffee stains."

Eyes stricken with panic, the taller of the two stormed out of the room with a shout and a quick, "I'm so sorry, I'll quickly call a maid to clean this up!"

Laughter filled the room as Tsuna watched with amusement when a dust trail was left, courtesy of his first friend.


"-yato! Hayato!"

Gokudera blinked out of his trance and took note of his surroundings.

Ah, yes- they were back at the Vongola mansion after delivering their mission report to the Millefiore boss.

"Maybe you should go back to your room and rest. You're pretty out of it, Hayato."

Glancing at the swordsman to his left, he snorted."Hmph, I was just thinking. Aren't you the one that's tired? You've got bags under your eyes." Sure enough, under the rain guardian's eyes were two prominent bags and if it was any darker he'll probably be mistaken as a panda. The silver haired man narrowed his eyes. When was the last time the baseball idiot has taken a proper rest?

"Haha, I guess. I think I've been taking on too many missions lately." Yamamoto sheepishly scratched his head.

"Tch, you go rest, baseball idiot. I still got work to do and papers to sign," he muttered with a gentle undertone.

"I guess I'll just take a few z's. See ya later, Hayato." Yamamoto grinned brightly and headed towards his room.

Too brightly.

Gokudera sighed. Juudaime was right; that idiot was trying a bit too hard to act normal. Honestly, with the time they've spent together for years, did he really think that he won't notice?

With a shake of his head, the storm guardian walked over to his own office with long strides, hurrying to finish his work in order to take long nap.

Sitting down in his chair, he looked over at the stacks of papers that littered his desk. He had kept his promise to Tsuna and that meant that most of the paperwork were given to him to sign. When Gokudera had taken a look at the workload and wondered why he accepted Tsuna's proposal in the first place, he had immediately went to commit seppuku and drown himself in bleach.

Well, he would have if it were not for Yamamoto knocking him out before he managed to disembowel himself.

He couldn't even believe he would think that- regretting his promise to his Juudaime. Sometimes he would doubt and wonder if he could really go on without his Juudaime to guide him in times of need, but when he remembered his Juudaime's belief in him, he suddenly feel determined. Even if it meant countless of sleepless nights he would take care of what his Juudaime left him. He would not disappoint Tsuna.

Gokudera stretched when he felt his arm going numb from scribbling countless lines of useless gibberish to other mafia famiglias.

Maybe it was time to take a coffee break. He was going to need some caffeine if he didn't want to drop down and drool on the papers he had worked so hard to write.

Getting up from his seat, he headed to the kitchen. However, before he could reach the kitchen he was stopped by a maid.

"Ah, Gokudera-sama! How can I help you?" The woman beamed at him with a professional smile gracing her features.

"I just want to get a cup of coffee to get to stay awake."

"Oh! No worries, Gokudera-sama! Please, stay in your room while I go get it for you!" Bowing, the maid hurried off to the direction of the kitchen.

Going back to his room, the storm guardian decided to just continue his work before his coffee came. He took his seat and reached his hand to his pen but stopped when he noticed a red glow from his ring.

Brows scrunched up in confusion and with a downturn of his lips, he brought his hand closer to his face to inspect the ring. Suddenly, a small beam of red shot out his Vongola storm ring. At the end of the light, a figure was projected in front of his desk. The figure had red hair similar to Gokudera's own that resembled an octopus. He had a large red tattoo on the right side of his face.

"G, what-"

"This is not the first time I've 'magically' appeared so get used to it." Gokudera frowned when he remembered the times G had appeared in front of him. It was usually when something bad has happened. The last time G had showed up from his ring was when Tsuna had died and the Sky ring was left without an owner.

"So what are you doing here, bastard?" The tenth generation storm guardian stared at his ancestor with a pointed look.

"Look, I'm not here to deal with this attitude of yours and," G's lips turned downwards and he knitted his eyebrows, "I can't get in contact with Giotto."

"So..." Gokudera trailed off at G's glare.

"So?! The rest of us can't connect with Giotto and we can usually at least feel each other no matter how far apart we are with the flames in the rings. Now I can't even feel his presence within the ring. It was like our line of communication just broke- disappeared. And that's not all."

G raised his hand and pointed a finger towards his head.

"I can't recall anything from the past. Do you know what that means?"

Gokudera racked his brain for reasons why this could mean. Surely G can't just forget memories from his past out of the blue, can he? That means...

"Someone is interfering with the flow of time."

"Correct," G affirmed. "It just so happened that these two occurrences happened at approximately the same time."

"A-are you saying that the connection between Giotto disappearing and your missing memories are related?" Gokudera asked, bewildered.

"It's just a theory but there is a possibility."

During Gokudera's musings, knocks interrupted his thoughts.

"Gokudera-sama, you're coffee is ready!" came from the other side of the door.

"I got to go now. Lampo is being annoying and I've delivered all I can. C'ya." Just as G disappeared into his ring, his door opened, showing the maid from earlier with a tray holding a cup of hot coffee and a few snacks.

"Gokudera-sama, here you go. You've been working so hard I thought I would make you a few snacks to help in case you get hungry." Without waiting for a word of thanks, the maid strode to the front of the room.

"Call me if you need anything." With a bow, the woman left.

The storm guardian merely looked at this cup of steaming coffee before he groaned.

Guess I won't be needing the coffee anymore.


G stared at the coffin laying on the table in the middle of the living room. After ten minutes of deep thoughts, he had decided to drag the coffin in the mansion with the help of two guards. They had given him a weird look but G had reprimanded them with a glare that clearly meant to not say anything.

The redhead scoffed. What were they thinking he was doing with a coffin anyways? It was not like he was a lowlife who would desecrate someone's dead body.

G pinched his temple. What the hell was he supposed to do with the coffin? It obviously wasn't just a normal coffin since it had the Vongola insignia on it. He had tried to open it earlier but it remained shut. On closer inspection, there was a lock on the side, keeping the coffin firmly shut. The idea of picking the lock was abandoned since there was no keyhole on it.

The first generation storm guardian sighed. Now what? Was he supposed to bury the coffin? He was certainly curious as to what was inside since it held the Vongola insignia but he didn't want to open a dead person's coffin. The design of the coffin also piqued his interest. What did the 'X' stand for?

"Hey, octopus-head! There was a rumor going around saying you killed- Oh my god, what is that?!" The redhead turned his head and growled. This was the person he least wanted to see right now.

"Oi, Lampo, quiet down! I'm trying to think." Lampo walked up to G with a horrified expression.

"G, I didn't know that the rumors would actually be true..."

"Rumors? What rumors?" G questioned, confused.

"I-I can't believe you actually killed someone... I knew you get angry easily and could probably kill someone because of that but I didn't know you would actually do it..."

"Brat, what are you talking about? Plus, if I were to actually kill someone, I wouldn't put him in a coffin!" G yelled out, not believing what Lampo was implying he thought he did.

"I thought you were a better person than this! I thought you had morals-"

"Lampo, listen-"

"Even though you were an idiot with an octopus for a head and I knew you needed anger management, you were a good person! How could you-"

"Lam-"

"Are you sure you're G? What happened to him? What did you do with G?!"

"Um... what is going on-?"

"SHUT UP!" G screamed. Silence filled the room and the only noise was the heavy breathing from the storm and lightning guardian who were trying to recover from their yelling match. G inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to calm down his nerves. As he was starting to explain to the lightning brat about the coffin, coughs resounded throughout the room.

"Ahem."

Both guardians looked at the doorway. G nearly groaned when he saw his vest-clad boss and friend standing with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Vongola! You wouldn't believe what G did! Look at this!" Lampo practically shrieked while pointing to the cause of this whole mess.

Giotto merely raised an eyebrow at the object laying on the low coffee table.

"G, why is there a coffin in the living room?"

"This octopus-head finally killed someone!" Lampo intercepted before G could say anything. G shot the younger teen a dark look that promised he would actually kill someone if he didn't shut up.

"Primo, I can explain!"

"Well, please do," Giotto responded with an upturn of his lips, showing his amusement in his friend's predicament.

"I just found this outside the door of the mansion when I went out for a walk this morning. I didn't want to leave it there so I brought it in. That's all!" G huffed out.

At this point, The blond had approached the black casket on the low table. He bent down to the casket's level to inspect it further.

"Hmmm... It has the Vongola symbol on it. Why is that?" Vongola Primo muttered.

"That was what I was trying to figure out before this brat interrupted me," G hissed out while gesturing to the green haired teen with a thumb.

"Hey, I'm not a brat!" Lampo cried out indignantly.

Ignoring the arguing pair, Giotto focused on the lock keeping the coffin shut. He extended his arm to look at the lock closer but before he could, his sky ring glowed a beautiful orange.

The ring... Why is it reacting?

The blond gasped as the ring continued to grow brighter. He watched in shock as he watched his sky flames being absorbed into the lock. G and Lampo had long stopped their petty quarrel and had opted to watch as the lock absorbed the pure sky flames.

As the orange light dimmed, Giotto tried to stand up but he wobbled a bit. G hurriedly helped his friend to stand up straight before the three occupants looked at the coffin, wondering what had just happened.

"Are you alright, Primo?"

"Y-yeah... Just a bit tired. It took quite an amount of flames from me, you see."

They all heard the quiet click of the lock being opened. G and Giotto looked at the casket, wondering what or who was inside. Lampo strayed behind them, afraid of the content inside.

G pulled the lock out and looked at his blond friend for confirmation to proceed. When Giotto gave a small nod, G turned back to the black shape. Slowly, he tentatively lifted the lid of the coffin.

The three guardians all widened their eyes at the sight before them.

"V-Vongola?" Lampo stuttered.

"Y-yeah?"

"Why is there another you inside?" G finished.

Inside the coffin was a man who looked suspiciously a lot like Giotto. The only difference was that he had brown hair and had a smaller stature. The person in the coffin had a serene expression on his face and his arms were crossed across his chest. He wore a brown suit and white flowers surrounded his body, filling the empty space within the coffin.

"He may look like me, but that is definitely not me." Giotto replied.

"Is he dead?" Lampo asked.

"Of course he is, stupid! Why else would he-"

"No, he's still alive," Giotto interrupted. "Look, his chest is moving up and down, indicating he's still breathing and," Giotto bent down to place his finger on the sleeping man's neck, "he still has a pulse."

"What the hell! Then why is he in a freaking coffin? Who sleeps in coffin anyway?"

"Vampires," Lampo said helpfully.

"Shut up, perm-head! That was not helpful."

"I don't know... I guess we'll just have to ask him when he wakes up," Giotto whispered as he listened to another start of an argument between his storm and lightning guardian. The blond watched as the verbal fight between his two friends had started to get physical.

"What did you say about my hair?!" G shouted rhetorically as he grabbed a fistful of Lampo's shirt.

"I said it was pink- GAHH!"

Giotto sighed as Lampo had started to run around the room while sporting the new bump on his head while G was on his heels.

"Guys, sto-"

"Unghh..." Everyone stopped what they were doing as a moan met their ears. They all peered at the person inside the small space. They all noticed the honey brown eyes fluttering open and another moan following right after.

Gathering his wits together, Giotto who was closest to the brunet inquired, "Are you okay?"

The brunet squinted his eyes when they met with the bright chandeliers and quickly closed them again.

"H-head... hurts..." The man's voice was hoarse as if it hadn't been used in ages. When he tried to sit up, the man lay back down in the coffin, groaning yet again.

"Do you want some water?" No answer. They sharpened their hearing and they heard the brunet's breathing even out, indicating he was fast asleep.

"G, bring him to the guest room next to my own. He seems quite disoriented."

"But Primo, what if he's dangerous?"

"Don't worry. My hyper intuition is not acting up, meaning he's safe. Even if he was dangerous, I don't think he is in the condition to attack us."

G grunted at his friend's mention of his hyper intuition. G grabbed the brunet's arms, trying to heave him onto his shoulder.

"Gently," Giotto reprimanded.

"Yeah, yeah." G rolled his eyes as he changed the brunet's position in his arms.

"And Lampo, call the maids to get a meal ready and a clean change of clothes."

"R-right away, Vongola!" Lampo scurried off to tell grant Giotto's orders and maybe get a few snacks himself.

When the living room was empty, Giotto sat down on the coach and leaned his head back.

He was so tired. Tired from paperwork and what had just happened. Giotto narrowed his eyes. Why were his flames absorbed into the lock? Was the key to the lock his sky flames? If so, why?

Giotto closed his eyes as all sorts of questions plagued his mind. Maybe he should get some sleep too. When the brunet wakes up, he will be interrogated.

Giotto started to his room, leaving behind the coffin with the Vongola symbol on it. He'll just ask G to deal with it.


Tell me if the pace is okay or if I need to correct something. I tried to make it longer but I just don't have the ability to do that. *Sigh