A/N: chapter 2 let's go! WARNING: some swearing.


"What do you mean the tenth is gone?" The storm guardian gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his cool. He really needed a smoke right now.

"Tsuna-nii is missing?!" Ipin gasped and was almost in tears. Fuuta moved forward to grab her hand while Lambo slung an arm around her in comfort.

"What happened to Tsuna-nii?" the Bovino asked calmly but everyone could tell he was shaken from the news as well.

"We checked the security cameras and found that he just disappeared from the labs. We hypothesize that he's somewhere in another timeline now." Spanner replied casually with another lolly back in his mouth. Shoichi had summoned the guardians and the main family though the PA system and they've decided to hold the meeting in their labs so that they didn't need to move the huge lion out of the rooms just yet.

"Somewhere!? Hypothesize?!" the storm guardian shrieked losing his cool for a moment. It was frustrating to hear non-definite answers. Gokudera Hayato scratched at his forehead and roughly run a hand through his hair as he slowly took in deep breaths to calm himself down again. His face felt numb and his hands were shaking. "I need some fucking solid, proper answers now."

Yamamoto Takeshi moved to stand next to the bomber and placed a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "Can you give us any more information?"

Spanner was doing all the talking because Shoichi was still freaking out. "Well, the boss was meddling with our unfinished time machine before the video feed got cut off. All that was left behind was an overgrown Natsu." He pointed to the sleeping lion lying down at his feet.

"Natsu is a box weapon. He's not supposed to be able to grow." Hayato countered angrily.

Spanner shrugged. "That's all the information we have for now. We can only assume what happened."

"So the tenth is missing. We have an overgrown lion on our hands who may or may not be Natsu who also happens to be a powerful box weapon." The bomber was visibly shaking in anger now. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cigarette box only to find it empty. "Fuck!"

"Oi, Octopus-head, calm down. Tsuna prepared us for a situation such as this." Sasagawa Ryohei reminded. The boxer then locked eyes with the rain guardian and tilted his head towards the bomber signalling for Takeshi to handle the short-tempered man.

"Hayato, calm down. We'll work this out." The rain guardian pulled out an unopened cigarette pack from his pocket and handed it over to the bomber who snatched it away and immediately lighted a stick.

"Alright. For now, I, Gokudera Hayato, Storm Guardian and Right-hand man of the Vongola Decimo, will assume control over Vongola while the Tenth is away." All of a sudden, a mask fell over Hayato's face and he looked calm and in control again. "Takeshi, I want you to watch over every single person in this stronghold and make sure this information is contained within the family."

Takeshi gave a mock salute and a pat on the Storm's back before leaving the room to do some damage control.

"Chrome?" Hayato called out knowing that the illusionist was somewhere around.

"I'm here." The mist guardian appeared from a random corner. She wore a formal jacket over her spaghetti-strapped cropped-top and pencil skirt, and her violet hair was in a high pony-tail today.

"Looking good today, Chrome." Ryohei exchanged smiles with her.

"Thank you, Ryohei-nii. Hana-chan picked it out for me."

"She has extremely good taste."

"Of course you'd say that." Lambo teased causing Fuuta to snigger and Ipin to giggle.

Hayato blew out a puff of smoke which drew the attention back to him. Everyone returned to serious mode again. "Chrome, can you tell the other two that the Tenth is missing and that we're trying our best to find out what happened? Tell the Pineapple to keep a look out for any information leaking out from here. And tell Hibari that he can eliminate any spies he sees around the vicinity. I really don't want any information about this reaching external sources."

"Got it." Replied Chrome and right before their eyes, she disappeared.

"Your mist is so dramatic." Spanner rolled his eyes at her dramatic exit.

Hayato just shrugged. "That's how Tenth likes it." He then extinguished his cigarette in the sink before approaching the now teenagers. In a gentle manner, he placed a hand on top of Ipin's head.

"It's going to be alright. Just focus on school and leave the rest to your older brothers." Hayato softly said to the young girl with his back faced to Ryohei, Spanner and Shoichi. It was obvious he didn't like showing this side of him to anyone and so the other adults politely pretended they couldn't see what was going on.

Ipin was unsurprised and gave him a nod in acknowledgement. "I'll be strong for the family, Hayato-nii."

"That's a good girl." He gave her a little smile which quickly disappeared then proceeded to grab Lambo by the elbow. "You're doing well. Just continue taking care of them."

"You don't have to tell me that." Lambo replied haughtily. His eyes, however, assured the bomber that he would definitely protect Ipin and Fuuta while Tsuna-nii was away.

"Get lost, kids!" With a dismissive wave, the three teens left. Hayato sighed and pulled out another cigarette. He was the right-hand man. He needed to stay strong.

"Turf-top-"

"Relax. You don't even have to tell me what to do." Ryohei waved the other off and moved off from the counter he was leaning against. "I'll watch over them. Make that your last cigarette, alright?"

"Che. Don't tell me what to do." Hayato's bad attitude was back now that the kids were gone.

Ryohei raised a brow. "Don't forget, Mr. Right-hand man, even though you're second in command I'm still in charge of all the guardians and that includes you."

Hayato huffed. "Whatever."

Ryohei sighed and left after saying goodbye to the two scientists. He knew that the bomber would listen to his orders simply because their beloved Tenth gave Ryohei the power over all guardian matters. Hayato would never go against the Tenth's commands.

As soon as the boxer left, Hayato put out his second cigarette and obediently didn't pull out another. Spanner and Shoichi gave him knowing smiles but he chose to ignore them.

"Right, you two. I want you to complete that time contraption of yours and hurry find out where the heck Tenth disappeared to."

"We're doing the best we can." Shoichi sighed.

"Well, do better. Because your deadline is before Reborn gets back. You know shits gonna fly if Reborn comes back and finds out Tenth disappeared on our watch. Several of us will die if that happens."

"We know." Spanner grounded out with the silent message to the bomber that he knows how fucked up things are at the moment. "Leave us to do our jobs. You should just focus on running Vongola."

"Take Natsu with you as well." Shoichi gestured to the lion that had woken up some time during the meeting. "We can't watch over him while working."

Hayato exchanged looks with the lion. Upon meeting amber eyes, he calmed down and sighed in resignation. As he walked to the exit of the labs, the lion followed without asking. Somehow, he had the feeling that the big cat had understood everything they were saying. Well, Natsu was a box weapon and would probably be really clever as well. With a backwards wave, he left the scientists in peace.

-'`~~~ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOO~~~'`-

Tsuna was really proud of his Storm.

It was the first time Hayato had been left in charge without Reborn to supervise and he did so very, very well. He watched as Hayato lost his cool at first but was immediately calmed down by the Rain. Tsuna was impressed at how Takeshi's little gestures could calm the Storm down so quickly. And it was like half the conversation between the guardians were exchanged without words. How did Ryohei know that Takeshi had a box of cigarettes for Hayato? Why did Takeshi even have a box with him? Takeshi didn't smoke right? And it was amazing how Takeshi and Hayato listened to Ryohei.

Then again, it was amazing how no one asked questions and immediately obeyed the directions from his right-hand man. Tsuna thought that there would be more fighting and opposition against Hayato. The guardians also bickered with one another over the littlest things. It would usually take either Reborn or himself to stop their arguments.

It was also really nice to see Chrome being confident on her own and exchanging words with Ryohei. Tsuna was impressed when Hayato used a relay system through Chrome to inform the two missing guardians about the crisis. If anyone could find the two, it would be her. Chrome had the knack of chasing down evasive people.

Tsuna was genuinely touched when he witnessed the scene between Hayato and the kids. Hayato was known as a rough and crude man but who knew that he could be so caring towards the younger ones. Tsuna smiled proudly as his Storm reassured the kids and was even more impressed when Hayato handled Lambo. Somehow, he praised and commanded the cow-teen all while maintaining his own tough image. He even ensured that Lambo would look strong and reliable to the other two. There were all sorts of subtle messages being exchanged and Tsuna could hardly keep up.

When Hayato rebelled against Ryohei's orders, Tsuna really thought that the bomber wasn't going to listen to the boxer. Then when Hayato proved him wrong and didn't take another smoke, Tsuna was even more impressed with how Ryohei knew and trusted that the bomber would take his last stick even though Hayato said otherwise. It really showed how in tune they were with each other and how well they knew and trusted one another.

Having changed into a lion did give him the opportunity to observe his family from the side lines and he was really, seriously, impressed with how they all acted. To be honest, he had never expected this level of relationship from his guardians. But then again, Tsuna realised that he never really did get the opportunity to observe his guardians during their candid moments. They always acted formal around him and they would try to impress him as much as they could.

It suddenly felt like there was an invisible wall between him and his guardians all this time. How did that happen?

At the moment, Tsuna followed his right-hand man back to the boss office. Hayato went over to sit on Tsuna's chair behind the desk and sunk his face into his hands with a groan. There was silence after that. Tsuna decided to observe from a distance and chose a wall next to the desk to watch his Storm. Hayato's body was moving up and down as he took in deep breaths. This continued for another ten minutes or so. Then, Tsuna heard sniffling.

A bang on the table startled Tsuna. Hayato cursed under his breath as he took out his frustrations on the solid mahogany desk. The bomber's hand still covered his face as the sniffling continued. All Tsuna could see was his Storm biting and abusing his own lower lip while trying to even out his breathing again.

Stop it, Hayato.

Tsuna felt the urge to cry. His heart went out to his right-hand man who was breaking down right in front of him. Tsuna felt so helpless.

Soon, the sniffling stopped and Hayato's was taking in deep breaths and exhaling loudly.

"Tenth…" He heard his Storm's almost silent cry. "Fuck. I need you to be alright." He pleaded.

1… 2… 3…

Suddenly, Hayato sat up straight, dragged an arm across his eyes and exhaled out loudly one last time. He adjusted his shirt and tie then combed a hand through his hair. The mask was back on. He started to clear the mess of papers on the table and rearrange the pens to how Tsuna always found them in the morning. The bomber then looked around, got up, went to the adjoining bathroom and got a small cup of water to water the various pots of plants around Tsuna's office.

Tsuna watched in silence as Hayato did what he had to in order to get back a semblance of peace. After all that, the bomber sat back down and started writing and working on several papers on the top of the stack that Tsuna had left unfinished.

Today was Monday, after all. It was paperwork day.

Tsuna couldn't do anything for his best friend. Deciding to offer whatever comfort he could as a lion, Tsuna shuffled over to lie under Hayato's feet. The bomber retracted in shock at first but when he met Tsuna's eyes, the same feeling of calmness and assurance overwhelmed him. Tsuna purred in content when eventually the bomber decided to remove his shoes and dig his feet under the lion for warmth.

"At least you're still around, Natsu. Your sky flames must be making me feel at ease." Hayato rewarded the lion with a scratch behind the ear. "Let's hope everything is well with your owner and that he comes back to his family as soon as he can. I put all my faith in the fact that my Tenth will never abandon his family and he will return to us with his dying will."

Tsuna rumbled in agreement and nudged his head up and down Hayato's shin. He felt guilty and sorry that he was tricking his family in some sort of way. But at the same time he was happy he could watch his family grow.

'Stay strong, Hayato. You should know that the sky will never truly disappear – only hidden from sight. I'm sorry for putting you through this but just hold on for now…' Tsuna decided he would try his best to watch over his family as a lion. And with that, he accompanied his Storm all through the night.