Pairing: X27 – Xanxus x Tsuna
Prompt: Lessons
Rating: PG 13
Word Count: 1500+
Warnings: Character death? :D; Spoilers for recent chapters.
Author Notes: Another fiction… Another sort of X27… I really need to get on the ball about writing for other series… Like SoulEater (GIRIJASU). This is set in the current arc, meaning the future. Not sure if I liked this one or not… Just an idea that popped into my head from recent chapters. Read at your own discretion.

He hadn't traveled to go to the funeral. There really wasn't much point in going to view an empty shell that the soul had left behind days ago. His team carried on like nothing had happened; that life was to continue forward despite any inner turmoil, even if there was any to begin with, that their leader was going through. After all, they had missions to complete and another mafia family to stop. Xanxus had more important matters to deal with than the dead of the head of the Vongola. He had a task to do and he had to force all else aside to get it done. His battle was here in Italy. The mind behind those crimson eyes had to remain here and not wander to the one now adorned in white flowers in some hidden location even unknown to him.

Staring at the two men floating in the air before him, he realized this. There was pent up underlying rage surged through his veins. Though not one bit of it showed on his features, the man appearing to be calm and collected while he remained in that chair. Bits and pieces of the building lie scattered everywhere, some of it blown to pieces by their foes. He cared not about the chaos and disaster that rested on either side of him. Xanxus sat there, boots propped up on the desk, his box weapon ahead of him. Let those fools keep talking. They were weak. All his opponents had been weak, except for one.

"What you want is to be the boss of Vongola right!?" One of them screeched, Xanxus didn't know or care which one. Begging was a sign of how weak and desperate he was…

Sawada Tsunayoshi… That would be a name that would forever haunt his life. He had been beaten by that child so many years ago. Looking back at that, he didn't regret it. Xanxus had taken a while to come around after his defeat. Yet even after all that had passed… The boy welcomed them with open, yet careful arms. He had been terribly forgiving to the point that Xanxus almost gave Tsunayoshi a good thrashing. Yet he hadn't dared. At that time, after a few years, the brunette had been surrounded by his guardians. He was no longer Sawada Tsunayoshi of Japan standing before him. The child was taking his role as head of the Vongola and therefore untouchable to Xanxus. The child, no, man at that time had smiled and offered his hand. Xanxus sneered and walked off without another word. Just because he was accepted by the head of their family didn't mean that he had to accept the brat back.

"It's obvious you hate him more than anything!"

His eyes narrowed. Hate Tsunayoshi more than anything? If that is what the world wanted to believe, then so be it. Xanxus didn't have the need more desire to explain it to this begging little worm. In all actuality the man with the flames so much like the second leader of the Vongola hadn't had the time to go to Japan for the funeral of his deceased boss. There was only an announcement of the man's passing and nothing more. Xanxus hadn't a clue about any other arrangements before being shoved into this mission and war. At that time he had felt a searing pain that, just as everything else, turned to rage. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Varia, the reason he had locked himself up was simply to take his frustration out on the building and not his members. It's not that he cared about if he ended their miserable lives, but it would have just been more work for him if his numbers had been down. Inconvenient if anything…

They had been the biggest secret. The two didn't know when it happened or why it did. Tsunayoshi, for it was always Tsunayoshi, merely said that his mother told him that "love has an odd way of showing itself." Xanxus would scoff and say that "it makes people into fools." Yet, every time that their paths crossed in the main house, glances wouldn't be missed. The slight brush of fingertips as paperwork was exchanged sent an electrical charge through his system. Words were hardly ever passed each other's lips; there needn't be any. Tsunayoshi merely had his ways of knowing and that worked out just fine for the Varia leader. He wasn't a soft and gentle man, which his boss didn't seem to mind. Their encounters were more like battles, raging and only dying after a violent fit, only to smolder and last until another long was added.

His attention returned back to the shit that poured from the mouth of the other man, snapping out of his little reverie. The way he spoke made his blood boil. Defeat the young Sawada Tsunayoshi? Take Vongola for himself? This idiot had to be joking. There was no way that Xanxus would turn tail. Xanxus wouldn't let this priss Byakuran throw a collar onto him like some leashed mutt. The promise for power and the price of betrayal… After what he had personally lost? Xanxus now was done listening to this. It had been boring and monotone to his ears before, but that was the last straw. "You fucking scumbag…"

The words flowed out of his mouth without really much thought. He was furious, though his face betrayed none of it. Xanxus' own personal flame flowed into his gun, a slight glow forming around his hand. Speak ill about the Vongola and prepare to die. Speak ill about his person and you will die. That was his thought at the moment. He didn't want the Vongola like this and not through underhanded means. Not anymore. Xanxus, if anything, wanted the family to be strong. Being weak was worthless. Meaningless. He hadn't been able to do a damned thing to stop this war from happening. Pitiful. Unable to protect his own boss from the younger man's demise. All of his rage flowed into his gun. His words were sincere, laced with hidden and perhaps repressed emotions other than rage. Scumbags like the one before him couldn't understand, just like he didn't ten years ago.

"We, the Vongola, are always one!" And just as simple as that, Xanxus pulled the trigger.

When they had all met up later, those crimson eyes were still hidden behind dark hair and lashed. His expression was rather stoic, like he hadn't just committed overkill on one that really didn't need that amount of strength to defeat. Xanxus paid little to no attention to the announcement. Let Squalo or one of the other maggots under his command listen to fine details like that. He didn't care. His attention was elsewhere… More on memories of heated bodies pressed against each other in a battle for dominance. The only distraction provided was the loud obnoxious voice of the man with that absurdly long hair. Eyelids opened, red orbs looking at his second in command. He had made contact with the group of brats. Without thinking he chucked some debris onto Squalo's head. Ingoring the protest, he spoke to that group.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi…"

No… He spoke to his Tsunayoshi. Wrong again. This boy was not his. The boy was weak and frail. What was his was the man that the boy would, and should, someday become.

"Have you gotten rid of your naïve feelings?"

Naïve… He had always been so naïve. So trusting… His heart had been so big and so willing to allow anyone and everyone come near him. His Tsunayoshi was a gentle person; a strong, yet, compassionate person with abundant understanding. It was no surprise that so many became loyal to him, Xanxus himself included. Any other time, it would be endearing. However, this was no time for the relaxed, no-war, no-killing if possible style that the boy had. This boy needed to become the man that would lead the Vongola and have this family be the strongest out of them all. Xanxus needed the boy to cast off any of that child-like foolishness that the crimson-eyed man knew he harbored in his heart. There was no room for uncertainty, only action. There could be no gentleness, only ruthlessness. This had to end. It could not be allowed to drag on. Perhaps then the boy would change… Perhaps then he would not, in ten years die… Wouldn't leave --

Xanxus frowned. It was most unbecoming and wouldn't change the here and now. "The Vongola in ten days will be the strongest! You will prove it!"

He cut off the connection and also ignored Squalo being restrained behind his chair. Out of his entire life, he had never shown so much faith in his boss or his family. Xanxus had never understood why it was necessary to push, prod, and care about those under or even above him. He thought that only number one mattered, only himself mattered. As long as he was the strongest, he and he alone, that it would be all right. Yet he knew it was wrong. He now understood was it was like to have pride for one's family, for one's leader.

It only took him loosing it all to learn this lesson.