First things first, call Octopus Head and demand an explanation. Assuming all of the guardians have received the same message, the bomber already knew. Knowing the guy, he was probably beating himself to death, or beating some other poor soul, or just blowing shit up. He had to divert his attention and intellect on a higher- and moral- level if they wanted to find anything at all. Sliding his cell phone from his suit pocket, he made to call the silver haired man, only to be tackled to death in the next moment.
Lambo ran. He did not know how much time had passed and ignored adamantly his pained feet. He would not stop in fear of his heart aching again. He knew that if he ran, he would not feel anything, or be able to think about anything- and that would sit best with the teen in this moment. His treacherous mind kept replaying the words in his head and bloody ink was imprinted on his retinas.
Finally, his legs gave out and he slumped to the ground, large tears falling to the pavement. A large, warm hand touched his shoulder and his green gaze looked up to see his driver crouched down next to him, a warm expression on his old face. It was not a look of pity, Lambo did not need those, it was a look that conveyed that everything would be all right. Not quite seeing it, but deciding to trust the man, he continued crying but stood up, allowing him to guide him to the car.
Roughly ten minutes later, he was once again running on the long, luxurious corridors of the Vongola mansion, his eyes searching desperately for one of his elder brothers. When he did not find him in any of his favorite spots, he decided that the only possible place was somewhere the boy did not want to be, less see, right now. Swallowing the ever growing lump in his throat, he continued on, pushing the wooden doors away, his feet finding a dark red carpet that muffled his steps.
The dried tears sprung up again when he saw Sasagawa Ryohei standing behind Tsuna's desk. The man had on a grave expression on his face, his phone out and open, ready to make a call.
He did not acknowledge Lambo, which meant that he was very concentrated on his own thoughts. Despite knowing better than to tackle an experienced guardian of the Vongola famiglia in such state of deep thought, the boy flung himself at his older brother, startling the other. His tears sprung up full force and he cried desperately clutching at the older man.
Ryohei's earlier stiffness receded and he hugged the boy back, patting him on his back. He knew how he felt.
Letting the Lightning guardian cling onto him, Ryohei lifted his phone to his ear, mentally chanting for the other to answer.
"What now, Turf Head?!" Gokudera's angry voice shouted over the speaker making the Sun guardian cringe at the sheer volume.
"I hope you are not making your manicure right now. Get your ass over here Octopus Head, we've got trouble." Ryohei spoke, his tone a calmer note.
Gokudera snorted."I am not an idiot like you. I'll be there in ten."
With that, the line went dead. Ryohei smiled. Seemed like Gokudera was better at handling this. That past- or future- experience has proved better for them after all. Quickly deciding who to call next, he pressed the button, absentmindedly rubbing Lambo shoulders.
"What is it, Onii-san?"
The boxer frowned at Yamamoto's blank tone. He concluded he was either very affected, or very angry. Ryohei would bet all his money on the latter.
"I need you to come to Palermo. Now."
His voice was thankfully still steady. He awaited the other to answer, hearing a couple of screeching noises.
"Ahaha, will do. But I'll need you to deal with the police after that."
Rolling his eyes, Ryohei agreed and closed the conversation. So far so good, he only had three more to bring here. The piece of technology vibrated in his hand in that moment, signaling an incoming message. Pressing it open, the white haired man chuckled. It was typical for Hibari to only send a sentence long message.
'I'm coming to bite those carnivores to death.'
Judging by the use of the word carnivores, it seemed that the Cloud had accepted the challenge. Ryohei smirked, dialing one last number. The person picked up on the second ring.
"Mukuro, where are you?"
"Hmm, what business may you have with me?" The sly voice enquired sending a wave of fury through him. The damn Mist would do better to listen for once.
"If you wanna play the idiot that's fine, but you better not deny that fucking paper you've received."
Most of the time, Sasagawa Ryohei was unchanged, careless, extreme boxer looking for a good challenge. But in the last years, the adult and mafioso in him would wake up and take control and that was a very good thing, he thought. He had learned long ago that there was no place for reckless kids in the mafia.
The other line was silent for a moment and the Sun guardian thought his friend had hung up, but a sudden hand on his shoulder made him think otherwise.
"You should watch who you're talking to, Sasagawa Ryohei." Mukuro's mismatched eyes glinted dangerously in the low light coming through the velvet light brown curtains. His mouth was twisted in a bloody smirk.
Ryohei grinned haughtily right back."Ah, don't worry, I never forget."
The Mist's eye twitched but he refrained from making any more comments.
A sudden shift from Lambo distracted his attention from the man, and Ryohei saw the teen disentangle from him and fling himself at Chrome instead.
"Chrome- chan..." the boy sniffed, hugging the girl as if his life depended on it. The female guardian smiled sadly at the boy, reluctantly hugging him back. This was the second time something like this has happened. Lambo needed all the comfort he could get.
Looking one last time around the office, he opened the door.
"The others should be here soon. Let's get down to business."
A flight from Japan to Italy should usually lasts 12 hours with the fastest jets. Hibari Kyoya made it in 5. How he did that? No one will ever know.
The steel gazed man walked through the halls of the Vongola mansion with an aura of vicious bloodthirst, his eyes darting from left to right, daring anyone to come closer or stop him.
His dark hair was a bit ruffled from the journey and the speed driving through the Italian countryside, disregarding every stop and throwing to the wind safety and rules. Only one thought occupied his mind: the omnivore was killed by some other sly omnivore and he wanted to find him and fight him. He needed to see how much stronger this new omnivore was.
Turning a sharp left, his sight settled on the grand doors of the meeting room, a room he and the guardians frequented almost daily, and where debriefings and strategies were discussed. His instincts proved right when he was met with a desolate sight that made him want to vomit. Well, at least it wasn't so bad.
The herbivores' first instinct had obviously been to gather and crowd the spacious room and mourn or whatever people did when someone died. Hibari did not have time for such things, they could cry themselves to death for all he cared. He had new animals to hunt and catch. Walking into the lavishly decorated room, his keen eyes surveyed the idiots and concluded that it wasn't that bad after all.
The idiot right hand man and stupid baseball idiot were locked in a fierce discussion, looking for all intents and purposes, not like the emotional fools they were in reality. The pineapple haired herbivore- that he had a promise of death to keep to- was slouched on a chair, a cup of tea and a cookie in his mouth. The eyepatch girl was patting the cow herbivore on the back soothingly. Of course, Hibari deadpanned, this was not surprising at all to see. From all of them, he was the only one expected to cry in such case. And at last, the extreme herbivore was standing to the side quietly, his eyes glossed over in deep thought and almost brooding.
Hibari looked again. Then again. Then he growled, his right hand itching to take out a tonfa.
His actions attracted everyone's attention but he did not care. In two strides, he closed the distance, only a glinting tonfa standing between them.
"You have ten seconds to tell us everything you know, herbivore." The black haired man growled, a smoldering glare in his eyes.
He would grudgingly admit that Sasagawa Ryohei had changed from the foolish idiot he had once been, but that did not mean he was still not a foolish idiot. Even in this situation, he would not look like he murdered the omnivore, so Hibari came to the conclusion that he did the next worst thing: he knew something important. And if he did not tell them fast, he would have to extract it forcefully.
"He is gonna do that. We were waiting for your late ass." Gokudera scowled, standing up from his spot. He looked around the room once, counting their heads before gesturing to the large table in the middle of the room.
"Let's start the meeting. Obviously all of you know why we are all here." His calm tone betrayed a note of urgency.
Hibari seated himself as far away as possible and crossed his arms. He would like to see how this played out.
"Of course." Mukuro agreed, an acrid smile tinted on his face, "We are here because a certain right hand man," he drawled looking at Gokudera pointedly, "Could not take care of his little boss."
The bomber remained impassive, feeling all eyes in the room trained on him. He sighed.
"All right. Let's take this from the beginning."
Mukuro raised a finger to argue, but the bomber's heated glare stopped him mid-air.
"I speak. You listen." Gokudera spoke slowly daring him to defy his order. Mukuro sighed dramatically but suited himself.
"Go ahead." Yamamoto urged, his fingers were tapping on the wooden table impatiently.
The right hand man cleared his throat.
"The Tenth and I were in Florence since yesterday. Today, he requested to meet with Maurizio alone at Palazzo Vecchio to discuss the tax fares."
"Never heard of this Maurizio guy." Mukuro flipped his hair over his shoulder. Almost all his colleagues rolled their eyes.
"I was hesitant ," the bomber continued, willing the irritating Mist to go away, "But the Tenth assured me he could handle it and so I did not have any other choice."
"And then he goes and gets himself killed. That's irony." The illusionist drawled once again. Hibari snorted from his seat.
"Fucking irony or not I don't care!" Lambo exploded, looking almost desperate. He jumped up from his place, startling all of them.
"How could you let this happen to Tsuna, Stupi-Dera?!" The teen shouted, pointing at the man."Why weren't you there, that's your job. YOU LET TSUNA GET KILLED!"
"Calm down Lambo, Gokudera couldn't have known that this was going to happen. I'm sure he wouldn't have left Tsuna's side otherwise." Yamamoto's smile was sour.
"I doubt that Tsunayoshi is dead." Mismatched eyes crinkled. "He's just playing a game with us, that's all."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?!" Lambo asked, his emerald eyes glistening with tears.
"Watch your language, cow." Gokudera warned, throwing the boy a disapproving look.
"You care for my damn language in a situation like this!"
The bomber scowled. "I hate to agree with the damn pineapple," he spoke slowly, as if the words pained him, "but he may be right. The Tenth could very well be in hiding. Either way, we have to take action. Everyone had their messages delivered by the Vindice right?"
They all took out the pieces of paper, putting -or throwing- them on the table.
"They all say the same thing." Yamamoto remarked looking at each message with curiosity.
"Do you think they wrote it?" Hibari spoke for the first time.
"No, what reason would they have? They are supposedly allies of the Vongola." Gokudera scratched his chin thoughtfully.
By this point, Lambo was almost pulling his hair out. "Why are you people so calm?!"
The right hand man scowled. "Because we learn from past mistakes. And the first one was that we panicked."
He spoke reminding everyone of what transpired in a disastrous future that will never be. "Second was, we were separated. You see anyone not here, stupid cow?"
It was a rhetorical question, but Lambo opened his mouth to answer nonetheless.
The silver haired man cut him off before he could begin again. "We have to find out what happened first and then we can cry when this is over. The Vongola itself is in danger now. This is what the Tenth would have wanted."
At the mention of Tsuna, Lambo visibly stiffened, before his shoulders slumped. Somehow or another, the stupid Gokudera was right.
"Where are we supposed to even begin?" Yamamoto scratched his head, lost.
"That's where I come in." Ryohei's voice surprised everyone. The man had been so silent it was unnerving. They waited with baited breath his story.
"When we were in Mafia Land some days ago," The white haired man began, "Sawada gave me and Lambo a reconnaissance mission on the Settera famiglia."
Shoulders tensed, the atmosphere in the room becoming denser.
"Somehow or the other, we were spotted."
"What!" A ringed fist collided with the table.
Ryohei continued, unperturbed. "Sawada said to not mind it, but I had this nagging feeling that Rittoro would do something. The confrontation that night had been enough clue. Today I went on another one alone, and thankfully I found out something else that makes my earlier thoughts solid. Unfortunately, I've been spotted again."
"Herbivore," Hibari's voice was laced with warning, "You better stay away from reconnaissance missions from now on."
Ryohei chuckled."I suppose you have a point. Anyway, what I found out was that the Settera famiglia is indeed helped by an external force."
"Ah." Lambo exclaimed, a dawning revelation in his face. "There was this masked man that met with Rittoro on that night on the island."
"A masked man doesn't help us very much." Mukuro said, sipping his tea.
"Do you think it was an illusion?" Chrome's timid voice echoed around the room.
The Sun guardian shook his head."Couldn't be. I made sure of that. I've seen him two times already. It's no illusion, but he sure hides his identity good."
"There was something else." Gokudera began, green eyes scanning the room's occupants. "The Vindice. When they left they said something to me: cerca trova, bring them down."
At the mention of this phrase, everyone stood up from their seats.
"Kufufu, the Vindice are playing a dangerous game." Mukuro smiled sadistically.
"Those zombie herbivores are going down this time."
"Wait wait wait," Yamamoto waved his hands trying to make peace."So the Vindice told us the same phrase. Almost. You think this is a clue too?"
"If they told us all, then it probably was part of the message they were supposed to deliver." Ryohei reasoned, looking a little lost.
"Seek and find. What kind of person sends such message?" Mukuro's smile dropped, his mouth becoming a firm line.
"Probably someone that wants to give you a clue." A high pitched voice said. The guardians looked in surprise at Reborn who was leaning on the door. They did not even hear him enter.
"So nice to see you are all fired up and cooperating. It almost tears me up. They grow up so fast." The hitman wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, theatrically.
Mukuro and Hibari visibly twitched.
"They said something else to me." Gokudera said, successfully diverting another costly fight. "They showed me a photo of Maurizio dead."
"What, but-"
"And they told me he was the killer. In the photo there were two blood pools at a small distance one near the other. The guy had a revolver near his head. The other pool had no body."
The bomber gulped, knowing what was to come. "They also told me they have the body. 'It contains secrets' they said."
Lambo whimpered, looking ready to cry again.
"And then they told me 'Bring them down' like all of you."
"Seems like the Vindice may be on our side, after all." Yamamoto crossed his arms, trying to process all the information.
"That, or they are playing with us. We cannot trust that organization." Mukuro said, his voice betraying an edge of warning.
"I agree with Mukuro. We should not involve ourselves too much with them." Reborn said, "For all we know, they may be as clueless as we are. They were probably just the messengers." His fedora shadowed his eyes as he spoke next."Cerca trova may very well be Tsuna's message to us. We need to seek and find. What? I dunno, that's for you to figure out."
With one last smirk, the hitman exited the room, leaving them with more questions than answers.
"Well, that was strange." The Rain guardian tried to joke but failed. Every one of his friends looked a different shade of desolate and bored, in Mist and Cloud's cases.
"Question is where do we even begin to 'seek and find'." Gokudera mumbled quietly.
"I thought the message was pretty obvious," Mukuro paused, feeling all glares on him, "Florence. The first place to investigate is always the crime scene." The illusionist explained.
The Guardians thought it over for a moment, before each one of them reluctantly nodded. They were not so comfortable going back there, but they all realized, in their own ways, that they did not have a choice anymore.
"Enma trust me, I would not ask you this if it wasn't serious." Gokudera scowled at his phone. There was a flurry of movement on the other line before it went deadly silent.
"You dropped your paperwork again, didn't you?"
The boss of their most trusted ally laughed, embarrassed, and Gokudera had to sigh. Contrast to the Tenth- who had become less wimpy- and more organized with his life (he did not have a choice, but that is another story) - Enma did not progress much from his past self, unfortunately.
He was the same ditzy and inattentive idiot, but at least he was a helpful guy.
"Look, you've gotta look after the Vongola for a while, got it?"
Enma's answer was expected. "WHAT?"
Gokudera held the phone away from his ear, cringing at the sheer volume."Bu- but! I got tons of paperwork, I can't deal with the Vongola as well!" The red haired man exclaimed, sounding almost desperate.
"Did Tsuna- kun mention what is so important that he had to take a leave? Is he sick?! Did something happen to his family?"
The barrage of questions was cut short by the bomber. He'd had enough of this.
"Look Cozato, you gonna help the Tenth or not? If you're such a weakling to do it, say it, so I can call Byakuran and be done with it."
There was a long pause on the other side of the line, before Enma spoke.
"Fine. But I expect a long vacation after this."
Gokudera pressed the end button, but not before hearing the man on the other line sniff in defeat.
"That was a little underhanded, don't you think 'Dera?" Yamamoto grinned, trying hard not to laugh. A car horn attracted their attention in time to see a truck go their way- or the other way around.
The Rain guardian swerved sharply, making the tires screech.
"Goddammit baseball freak, keep your eyes on the freakin' road!"
The right hand man almost yelled, his hands itching to strangle the idiot.
"I'd advise you to drive correctly, lest you want to die, Yamamoto Takeshi." Mukuro warned, peeling himself off from the back seat window.
"Seriously, what's with you?!" Lambo rubbed his head from besides him. A low growl came from next to the teen, making him shiver.
Their driver only laughed joyfully, oblivious to the threats on his life, and turned another left, entering on one of the main streets of old Florence.
After a fast flight, the guardians, surprisingly together- they threatened/ bribed Mukuro and Hibari- had wanted to rent a car, but the only ones remaining were the small, four person ones. So the group of six grown men had to squeeze in a Renault Sedan, and were off to Palazzo Vecchio. Unfortunately, they could not call their Vongola contacts since none were informed of the new situation. They had decided to keep it quiet for now, until they will have enough clues to outline the next step.
After another couple of minutes of sitting too close to each other, the tires of the car screeched to a halt in front of the personnel entrance of the museum.
Hibari almost flew off from inside, taking the door and everything that stood in his way with him. Ryohei climbed out after him, stretching his stiff muscles, followed by a squashed Lambo and lastly Mukuro, who was straightening his crumpled clothes.
The luckiest ones were Gokudera, who stood in the pilot seat- arguing that he knew the way- and Yamamoto, who grabbed the wheel first when Hibari and Ryohei were too occupied to fight one another for the driver's seat.
Walking up the ancient steps, they were greeted by the assistant of the man they were researching about. His name was Laurenzio apparently, and he was half- italian, grown up in Sienna. Hibari made it clear that this time around, he would be taking care of information gathering.
"Welcome, please come in." The light brown haired man smiled warmly. He ushered them all inside, before taking his place at the head of the group, guiding the group through the building's halls.
"Sorry to have called so abruptly." Gokudera formally apologized, though he was evidently not sorry.
"Nonsense, it is my duty after all. After Signor Maurizio's death, things have been hectic. What is this item that Decimo requires?"
"Ah, that..." Yamamoto grinned sheepishly. Suddenly his eyes went steel hazel, a dangerous glint making its way up to the surface. In a matter of seconds, their young guide was lying on the floor in a deep sleep.
"Tch, why do you all keep leaving scraps in your ways." The bomber huffed, walking away.
"Haha, you're one to talk." The swordsman laughed following suit.
They navigated through a couple more corridors, before exiting in a smaller one, the bright yellow tape gathering their attention.
"You were not wrong herbivore." Hibari's voice came from the other side of the tape.
"When the fuck did you get there?" Gokudera swore, clearly surprised. He had not felt the disciplinarian slip away.
The dark haired man simply ignored the comment, choosing to crouch down for a better look. "This blood is the omnivore's."
Lambo almost recoiled. He did not want to know, or even see this. Fresh tears gathered behind his eyes but he pushed them back stubbornly. He had to be strong this time.
Everyone got closer for a better look, leaving the young Lightning guardian near a piece of furniture that looked like a cupboard. The teen realized it was an exhibit, after all. Stepping to the side to take a closer look, Lambo yelped, his emerald eyes wide in fear.
Behind the glass, he recognized the exhibit as Dante's Death mask. But it was not the wax mask that made the boy so scared. On the glass that separated Dante's mask from the rest of the world, a message was written in dark red ink that looked very much like blood. Resisting the urge to throw up, Lambo stepped forward for a closer look. At first glance, the message did not make sense, but then he realized it was written in Japanese not Italian. Green eyes went wide as he struggled with his bad language skills to decipher the Kanji. He felt something sticky under his foot and looked down. This time he yelled out loud. He had been staying in a pool of blood!
"Wh- why didn't I smell anything?" Lambo shivered involuntary.
The other guardians heard the commotion and immediately left the yellow tape zone, joining him in front of the exhibit.
"What is it now stupid co-" Gokudera's mouth snapped closed as soon as his eyes locked on the glass door. He lifted his foot to take a step closer, but Lambo grabbed his arm.
"There's a pool of blood there!"
Looking down, they all realized that their youngest family member was right.
"What's it doing here?" Yamamoto frowned.
Hibari crouched down again to inspect the blood. "It's the omnivore."
"Then that means that Sawada left us a message there." Ryohei squinted, his eyes trying to decipher the words, but failed. "I cannot read it TO THE EXTREME!" He threw his hands in the air.
Gokudera pushed him away."Obviously, you ignorant one. Let me see."
The silver haired man looked it over once, before turning around and announcing."It says: All roads lead to the past."
"You looked at it for, like, two seconds and you could read it?! Are you sure it says that?" Lambo exclaimed obviously concerned for the correctitude of the message. He knew for a fact, that Kanji were hard to read and can have multiple readings. What if the message said to look in the back garden instead?!
"Don't exaggerate, Lambo- kun." Chrome's soft voice came from behind him, making him jump."I don't think Boss would go through the trouble to make us look in the back garden."
Lambo ducked his head, embarrassed."How do you always do that?"
Chrome smiled shyly."I've known you for a long time, you know."
Before the teen could retort, Yamamoto spoke.
"Well, I can see the sense in that, but how does it help us?" The swordsman scratched his head, helpless.
"It doesn't really." Ryohei crossed his arms.
Gokudera pulled out his phone, taking a quick photo of the message."If the Tenth wanted to write this, it must mean something."
Just then, mist started filling the hall and Mukuro appeared from it."I've found the videos. They are all set to go."
The right hand man nodded."Ok. Let's see what really happened."
The control room was really small, almost as small as the car. Not to mention that none of its occupants liked being near each other, their personal space being the most precious of all. The tension in the air was almost palpable and the atmosphere temperature was below zero. All in all, the room felt really tight at the moment. And it did not help in the least that the worst was yet to come.
Lambo gulped, not sure if he really wanted to see it. He argued that he needed to know. Otherwise he would remain the same clueless, ignorant kid and he promised himself to never be like that again, ever.
The camera footage was replaying the events from yesterday. Suddenly, a man in his late fifties came into view, and with him, their boss. Tsunayoshi was talking amiably. Both men laughed at a joke the brunette had probably made. Lambo's eyes prickled again, but he rubbed them quickly.
Mukuro fast forwarded it to a few minutes later. This time, it was another camera recording, showing both near the Dante mask. Several pair of eyes widened.
Maurizio had a gun pointed at their boss, ready to fire, when a dark shadow approached from behind him. The man suddenly kneeled and dropped dead, a dark liquid, that the teen concluded was blood, pooling quickly around his body.
In that moment almost everyone in the room shouted "Maurizio is not the killer!"
It could be clearly seen that Tsuna tensed in that moment. The dark shadow approached the young don. They talked for a few moments, before the dark form pulled the trigger.
Lambo turned his head away as his older brother figure dropped to the ground. He prayed for the video to end but the black shadow was not done. He stepped towards the fallen body of the Vongola don, its body still black like the camera had been dirty, but still deciphering movement. It was unnerving to look at a moving form without any clue to who could it be. The shadow took Tsuna's right arm, clearly slipping off the Vongola Ring from his fingers. He placed it in his coat, before disappearing. Literally. He just disappeared in place, like a ghost.
"What the fuck?" Gokudera spoke everyone's mind.
A few moments later, the video showed Tsuna, moving to stand and dragging himself in the direction of the death mask. He lifted a bloody hand, writing on the glass.
The bomber looked away, his whole body tense. No matter what he convinced himself that his mission was now, seeing his beloved boss in his last moments made the pain in his chest almost unbearable. He had made himself a promise long ago that he would die before Tsuna- preferably protecting him. But it seemed that Fate was never on their side to begin with.
Yamamoto's mouth was pressed in a firm line, his fists clenched at his sides. He had never liked his job as a hitman, no matter how much everyone insisted he was born for it. Taking lives was serious business, and the Rain guardian had never liked conflict to begin with. But now, seeing Tsuna, the one who had saved his life so many times, and to whom he owned his life, no matter how much the brunette insisted it was not the case, he was prepared to demolish the bastards who did this. He swore to find the shadow bastard and kill him slowly.
Chrome covered her mouth, tears spilling from her eye. She knew it would be painful, but the pain fluttering in her chest was making her have trouble breathing. She looked away, trying to regain her wits. She had to be strong, if not for Mukuro- sama, at least for the cow kid.
He looked the worst out of them, almost on the very edge of having a breakdown. He needed all the support he could receive and she knew that Tsuna would be really worried for the young guardian. She had made it her mission long ago to take care of him. Through all these years, there was a soft spot for him in her heart.
Ryohei's scowl deepened the more he gazed at the image on the screen. He had been right after all, that was the same guy who was talking with Rittoro some days ago. That meant that he was more involved than they liked to think. They had to find him and take back the Ring. His only consolation for the moment was that his unsuccessful missions had some results, at least.
Mukuro always thought that his feelings for the Vongola's boss ranged from killing him, to taking over his body- and effectively killing him- to trying to find as many torturous situations to put him through as he could. But even with all his efforts, the man had gone from fretting over him, to not batting an eye at his antics. Even so, he continued his games since he had found that there were not many things in the last years that he enjoyed doing, but through all this, his intentions of maiming the young don had not changed.
Or so he thought.
He was obviously concerned when his fingers started shaking as his mismatched eyes gazed at the fallen body of Sawada Tsunayoshi, and then at his struggling form. He was trying so hard to send them this measly message that did not make any sense. But that did not mean anything. Probably. Scowling in irritation at his behavior, his eyes narrowed. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he had known from the beginning that Sawada Tsunayoshi was a dangerous person. He may be not so powerful on the outside, but people that tended to hang around him changed- mostly for the better. He had this aura and influence over you that you could not resist. And most of all, ever since he had freed Mukuro from the Vendice prison, the brunette had started to change him as well.
He had made a group of people with such contrasting personalities come closer and closer together during these years and now they even worked together.
Granted, they have learned from past mistakes. Even if Mukuro did not mind Tsunayoshi dead, he surely did not want events from a changed future to happen again. For once, he'll have to swallow his pride and mentality and work with the idiots. And if Sawada Tsunayoshi proved to be alive, again, he'll make sure it was not for long.
Hibari Kyoya frowned at the image on the screen. He did not like that shadow. The carnivorous appearance did not have anything on it to be recognized with and it irritated him to no end. He wanted to find it and bite it to death. He flinched when the brunette was shot on the screen. Even without sound, it resonated pretty clearly inside his mind. He swore under his breath for the thousandth time. Here he was, giving the omnivore a second glance after he practically swore he did not care what happened to him. But that was not true, and the disciplinarian knew that very well.
In the past his statement was more than true, but ever since then, ever since Sawada Tsunayoshi had taken the seat at the head of the famiglia, he had put on Hibari an invisible and flexible leash, but a leash nonetheless. And the carnivore felt it every time he received an order. He felt like a lion in the care of a mouse.
And he did not like it.
a/n: I wanted to post this earlier but...I got lazy (ups)
I will try to post the following chapters more quickly * crosses fingers in silent prayer *
As always, please tell me if you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes!
Reviews and Feedback are appreciated! :D