Hey there, I'm back again! Thank you so much for all the reviews, faves and alerts! It's thanks to all of them that I have the motivation to write faster and bring you this chapter in just a week (that's faster than I've written in ages). Review replies will be at the end since I don't want to keep you from reading the actual story. On that note, here it is!
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. (Too lazy to be creative)
Chapter 2
Reborn's words hung in the air and after minutes, Tsuna still hadn't said anything, just staring with a shocked expression glued to his face. The hitman was actually tempted to transform Leon into a marker and start drawing on his student's face. As if sensing he was in danger, Tsuna blinked rapidly and snapped out of his thoughts.
"D-did you just say 'undercover'? A-and Mafioso?" The brunet asked, finally recovering from the shock.
"Indeed I did, it's a good chance for you to develop those skills, especially when your life will be depending on it. I can tell you, the Mafia doesn't take intruders lightly."
"Hiiiiee! Then shouldn't you send someone experienced instead?! Not to mention, I don't even know the first thing about Italy!"
"Hence, for the next two days, I'll teach everything you need to know about the Mafia and Italy. But if you fail to keep up…" The glint in Reborn's midnight eyes promised painful tortures that sent chills down Tsuna's spine.
"R-Reborn-san, are you really planning on sending Juudaime to Italy alone?" Gokudera cut in, concerned about his boss's safety.
"I don't recall saying anything about him going alone."
"So I can go with Juudaime?!" Gokudera perked up, looking like an excited puppy.
"Yes, along with a few more." The silveret's excitement died down while Yamamoto laughed.
"Cool, it's like a field trip!"
"Damn it, why must the baseball freak come as well?!"
"But," Reborn interrupted, getting everyone's attention back. "All eight of you can't go, that would raise suspicion. And there should still be a few staying here to watch over Namimori."
"That's true. And I have a feeling you already decided who's going, who isn't and everything else." Tsuna said, suspecting that the hitman had everything planned out even before the meeting.
"Good guess, Dame-Tsuna. The ones staying are: Chrome, Ryohei and Lambo. Chrome will be in charge since she's the one with the most common sense out of those three. Ryohei will help her. The stupid cow is too lazy and will get in our way so we're leaving him behind," to prove his point, Reborn eyed Lambo who had slept through the entire meeting and was still dead to the world. "For those who are going, you all need to know at least some Italian even though the high-ranking members of Vongola are fluent in Japanese. Gokudera is ¾ Italian, Mukuro and Chrome grew up in Italy, they can help me. Gokudera will teach Yamamoto, Mukuro can go with Hibari since Chrome is busy."
These arrangements will never work out! Tsuna screamed in his mind, if Reborn had read it, he'd ignored him as well. Sure enough, Gokudera immediately argued. "Reborn-san, can't I teach Juudaime instead? There's no way anything will get into this idiot's head in two days!"
"I refuse to be anywhere near Rokudo Mukuro."
"Kufufufu, I have no intention of working with you either, birdie."
"All of you, shut up. Tsuna is still my student, so Gokudera, are you questioning my decision?" one look from Reborn had the silveret gulping and muttering a 'no'. "Then Hibari, would you rather Mukuro go with Tsuna instead?" the hitman smirked when there was a barely noticeable twitch from the skylark.
"Do what you want." Tsuna gaped at Hibari's response, not believing how easy it was for Reborn to change his mind. Not that he wanted Mukuro as his teacher either. And why did Hibari care if Mukuro was his teacher anyway?
"Lastly, Mukuro, just put up with it. I don't care how much you two fight, as long as you get the job done. Anyone else have anything to say?" Reborn waited and hummed in approval when he was met with silence. "Good, then this meeting is done. You can go have a break or whatever for 15 minutes, then come back here. There are more things I need to go over about the Mafia. In the meantime, I have a call to make." With that said, Reborn was the first to exit the room.
The hitman walked to his office, taking out a small suitcase containing everything he'd need later and sat down onto one of the sofas before having Leon transform into a cell phone and dialing a number he hadn't used in years. While listening to the dialing tone, Reborn noted that it was 8 or 9 in the morning in Italy and he wasn't calling at an inconvenient time.
"Si?" a male voice answered smoothly in Italian after a few rings.
"Chaos, Giotto. Or should I say, Vongola Decimo." Reborn greeted back in Japanese.
There was a pause as if the person was checking if he'd heard right, before a response came from the other line. "Just Giotto is fine, but don't you have anything else to say after not contacting in years?"
"There's always time for greetings first, right? But yes, I do have something to say. I'm coming back for a visit in two days, along with five other. I'll appreciate it if you sent one of Vongola's private jets to pick us up in Namimori, Japan."
"It's not like I can refuse or change your mind, but at least have the courtesy to inform me earlier. Why are you coming anyway? And don't say it's just for a visit, I don't even need Hyper Intuition to know that's a lie."
"I'll tell you when I get there."
Giotto sighed, knowing he wouldn't be getting any more than that. "Alright, if there's nothing else, I have paperwork to finish or else G will start pulling his hair out, and I'd rather see him pink than bald. I'll see you in two days, addio, Reborn."
After replying with a 'bye', Reborn ended the call and gave Leon a pat when the chameleon transformed back. Humming in satisfaction that the arrangement with Giotto was done, the hitman stood up and decided to go grab an espresso before going to the conference room.
Ten minutes and one high quality espresso later, Reborn was back inside the meeting room. Underneath the orange-banded fedora, his dark eyes rolled in exasperation at the scene. Everyone had returned, just as he'd directed, but Gokudera and Ryohei were already at each other's throat in one end with Mukuro and Hibari about to fight in the other. Tsuna and Yamamoto were both futilely trying to calm the four down. Seconds passed and still no one had even realised he'd entered, and being ignored was just a little annoying. Having enough of the noise, Reborn took hold of the Leon-gun and shot one bullet to the ceiling, effectively got everyone's attention.
Hearing the loud 'bang!', the others in the room wisely shut up and looked to the entrance. Reborn merely met their eyes with a cold stare while blowing smoke from his gun, but that was enough to drop the temperature in the room by several degrees. "Would it kill you all to not act like a bunch of children for five minutes?" the hitman asked rhetorically and took a seat at the large table with the rest following suit. "Now, back to business. There are more to the Mafia than it meets the eye, more than anything outsiders can imagine."
This pretty much got everyone's interest, they were now hanging on Reborn's every word.
"First of all, Mafiosi are very strong, because they possess an almost supernatural power known as Dying Will Flame. This flame is a form of high-density energy with many different types, varying from person to person based on their characteristics. Its strength also relies on the user's resolve. There are seven types of Dying Will Flame: storm, rain, lightning, sun, cloud, mist and sky. Each of them has its own powerful abilities," Reborn paused, giving the information time to sink in. "I could explain the entire thing, but that would be a very long speech and I doubt any of you would get anything from it. Therefore, you can read the stuff yourself." Opening the suitcase he'd brought into the room, Reborn took out some thin books and handed them around - conveniently, they all had Japanese translation.
The books had all the information on Dying Will Flames, such as appearance and abilities. Twenty minutes later, everyone had finished reading though certain people still looked pretty clueless. "So, do you all understand the flames and their abilities? That's the most important part. Those who have not understood can reread later."
The others nodded and Tsuna raised a hand – rule made by Reborn - to ask a question, curiosity getting the better of him. "Reborn, does that mean you have a flame as well?"
"Yes, mine is sun," the hitman held onto his gun and ignited his Dying Will Flame. "Dame-Tsuna, you want to laugh, don't you?" The look on his ex-student's face showed he was amused that of all flames, Reborn had sun.
"What? No, why would I do that?" sure the thought did cross his mind, but he valued his life too much to act on it. "Although, I'd never expect you to have sun flame. I mean, healing and strengthening doesn't suit you. "
"It's the strengthening part that I focus more on," Reborn pointed his gun to one wall and called out 'Chaos Shot'. A beam of concentrated sun flame hit the target and blew it to bits, the people in the room could now see the car park outside. "Was that strong enough for you?"
"Was that really necessary?!" Tsuna exclaimed, looking at where the wall used to be in dismay while hearing Hibari whispering a 'wao' in a corner. We're the ones who would pay for the damage, and the paperwork for that goes to me!
"That brings me to another point, very few would use Dying Will Flame by itself. The flame is usually channelled into a weapon. Within the recent years, a new type had been developed, called box weapons. The rings which used to be only the symbols of each Famiglia now also serve as keys to activate the box weapons. "
"Hey, if the Mafia is this strong, what would happen if they try to take over the world or something? And how would police like us keep them under control?"
"That's why they keep it to themselves and their world. They even have their own law enforcers, known as Vindice. Anyone who breaks the law will be put in Vendicare prison where there is no hope of getting out. Besides, not all Famiglia's are bad, the Vongola and its allies in particular are known to be quite peaceful. The Vongola Decimo, or tenth generation boss, will not be what you're expecting. One might even call him kind."
Tsuna still looked doubtful, the words 'kind', 'peaceful' and 'Mafia' didn't seem to go well together.
"Now, since you four will be seen as Mafiosi, you need to be able to use Dying Will Flames. All of you can try, it's good to know other skills. Here," Reborn threw a middle-ranked ring to each person. "Each one corresponds with the type of flame I believe you have, try to light them up. If it doesn't work, just swap around. I would give you new weapons that are compatible with the flames as well, but I don't have them. We'll just have to make them once we get to Italy."
And yet you have rings of all flame types? Tsuna wondered inwardly as he put on the ring.
"Rings can be used by anyone, weapons differ from person to person, especially you lot. Same goes with box weapons. I myself don't have a box since I've never seen the need for one, Leon is already enough." Reborn answered the unasked question.
Speaking of weapons, that was another irony. Even though they were policemen, none – except for Reborn – actually used a gun. Tsuna rarely went out on missions – usually stuck in his office with paperwork – but fought with combat gloves. Yamamoto was a highly skilled swordsman, and also deadly with a baseball. Gokudera was the bomb expert with dynamites as the weapon of choice. Ryohei was a powerful boxer. Hibari used a pair of steel tonfas with various hidden components, and occasionally handcuffs. Mukuro sometimes fought with a trident – same as Chrome – but mostly used illusions and five other supernatural powers that he was born with, but claimed to have obtained from going to hell and back six times.
"Oh." With a shrug, Tsuna looked at his ring before closing his eyes to focus on his resolve to ignite the flame. Around the room, everyone else did the same and there was nothing but silence.
After a while of intense concentration, almost simultaneously, multiple flames of seven different colors illuminated the room. But only for a moment. The users barely caught a glimpse of their flames before all of the rings shattered and countless shards rained down to the ground, leaving them in confusion.
Reborn flicked his fedora upwards with a smirk. "I'm impressed, didn't expect you all to break the rings on the first try. Guess that's another thing I have to get made over there," seeing Tsuna about to ask a question, the hitman held up a hand to silence it. "The rings shattered because they could not withstand the strength of the flames you released, that's a good sign. And as long as you know how to ignite the flame and the type you possess, that exercise served its purpose. That's one lesson down quicker than I thought. Now, time to start your Italian lessons."
Tsuna was the first to groan aloud, why must he be the one with a Spartan and sadistic tutor?
After two days of learning Italian, making arrangements for work and other things, Tsuna and company were set to go. They were now sitting in one of Namimori airport's terminals at 9 in the morning, dressed in expensive black suits which a certain hitman had made them buy. Most of the men were sleep-deprived, thanks to the farewell party that Sawada Nana and the girls threw which went to about 3 AM. Good thing there was no alcohol, or else there would also be hangovers to deal with.
"Alright, since everyone's here, it's time to go," Reborn glanced at his watch before grabbing his single black suitcase. "Our plane should be here by now."
"Reborn, wait, I don't see any planes leaving for Italy until at least five more hours." Tsuna said, pointing at the digital screens above.
"Who said we're going by normal airline services?"
"Huh?"
"Just gather your stuff and follow me." Reborn ended the conversation and began walking away, leaving no room for argument.
The Chief could only sigh and followed after his ex-tutor with his four friends, refusing Gokudera's offer to help him with the suitcases. After passing the security and handing over all of the baggage with no problem, the brunet frowned when he saw Reborn exiting via a VIP gate. Outside, a sleek black limousine was waiting with the chauffeur already holding one door open.
Tsuna gaped when the chauffeur greeted Reborn and got a tilt of the fedora in return as the hitman stepped into the limousine. "What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and get in." Reborn said from inside the vehicle.
With another sigh of defeat, Tsuna decided to just follow along to see where this would lead to and did as told. Once everybody was inside, the door was closed and the limo drove off towards where a couple of aeroplanes were parked nearby.
"W-wait a minute, w-we're g-going on a private jet?!" The brunet exclaimed, finally piecing everything together when they came to a stop next to a Boeing Business Jet. Why did we even need a limo?! It was like steps away!
"Of course, courtesy of Giotto, Vongola Decimo. Don't worry, he have plenty to spare."
Tsuna gulped, he'd heard his mother talked about this type of jet and the price range started at 59 million US dollars. Just how rich was the Vongola?!
"Very," Reborn answered without being asked while getting out of the car. "Our stuff should already be on the jet."
If he was impressed by the jet just from the external view, Tsuna was ready to faint when he saw the interior. The large lounge area with numerous comfortable sofas and armchairs took the most space. The jet pretty much had everything: dining area, bar, kitchen with chefs and waiters, bathrooms with showers, even a master bedroom. The group went on a short tour around the place before settling down in the lounge area as the jet prepared for take-off.
"I still can't believe we're actually on a private jet." Tsuna mumbled as he sat timidly on the one of the sofas, not daring to touch anything in fear of damaging such expensive property.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool, huh?" Yamamoto added, he was sitting on the left of the brunet with Gokudera on the right of his boss and Reborn was directly opposite them. Mukuro chose a separate spot a little off to the side and Hibari was in the far corner, but still within hearing distance.
"I don't get why you're all so awestruck, this is actually one of the old ones. Remind me to complain to Giotto when we get there," Reborn turned to a waiter nearby to order an espresso. "It's a twelve-hour flight, so I suggest you guys get comfortable. The bedroom's mine, by the way."
A couple of minutes later, the waiter came back with Reborn's drink and asked if anyone else wanted anything which he received 'no' in return. After a few sips of the espresso, the hitman looked back to the group of males in front of him who had got into small talks amongst themselves, well, minus two individuals anyway. "Now, there is still some stuff I need to go over before we meet the Vongola so you won't be confused."
The trio opposite stopped talking, Mukuro looked at him from the corner of his eyes while Hibari still appeared to be sleeping, but Reborn knew he was listening. "Every Vongola boss has six close subordinates, the Decimo is no exception. These six are known as guardians, each person has their own duty and role to the Family. The boss is also considered a guardian, so that makes seven in total. Some of you might have already guessed it, each person will have a type of Dying Will Flame. The boss will always be the Sky Guardian and have sky flame. You can distinguish the guardians based on the rings they're wearing, the color corresponds with the person's flame. Also, here's a list of the guardians' roles, read them and pass on to the next person."
A paper was handed to Tsuna and his two friends. When they'd finished, Tsuna gave it to Mukuro who later crumbled the sheet and threw it at Hibari with a little more force than necessary. Of course, the skylark easily caught it with one hand. The list was read briefly, but still getting all the information across, before being tossed into a bin nearby.
Reborn smirked when he saw the males glancing at one another, some more discretely than others, no doubt the words on the paper were replaying in their heads. "Yes, some of the roles kind of fit you lot, don't they? Alright, next thing. For the first few days, don't do anything out of the norm, such as starting the investigation. Keep a low profile and don't cause trouble. I'm looking at you three in particular." The older man paused and eyed Hibari, Mukuro and Gokudera.
"One last tip, avoid lying to Giotto. Being the Decimo, he has Blood of Vongola, and with that comes Hyper Intuition. That means he has very good perception and insight into people, so if you don't want to raise suspicion, keep as close to the truth as possible and act natural. That's about it, any questions? Dame-Tsuna, you look like you have something to say."
Tsuna pouted at how easily he was read by the other, again. "Umm, I've just remembered, shouldn't we have stuff like fake ID's and aliases prepared if we're going undercover?"
"You've just realized that now?" the brunet flinched, mumbling apologies. "I wanted to leave as soon as possible, so there was simply not enough time to get all those things prepared. Fortunately, Namimori is a very small town, I doubt anyone – especially overseas - would know of or care about you. I'll also put in a few words about you five being my students, that should be more than enough to keep them from running background checks."
"O-oh. Then I guess we're good to go."
"Of course, or else you wouldn't be here right now," Reborn concluded and stood up from his seat, heading for the bedroom. "Since there's nothing else to do and one long flight left, I'm going to take a nap, disturb me and die." The room's door closed with a soft 'click' and the hitman disappeared from sight.
"Juudaime, let's move to one of the seats by the window so you can see the view clearly later." Gokudera suggested, knowing that this was his boss's first time on a plane, or more precisely, jet.
"Yeah, let's do that," Tsuna nodded and followed the silveret, sweat-dropping when the latter turn to snap at Yamamoto for trailing after them. Then, as he settled onto the sofa beside a window, a thought came to mind. "Hey, Gokudera-kun, shouldn't you stop calling me 'Juudaime'? I mean, I won't be your boss during the mission so it'll be strange to address me like that, right?"
"T-that's true, but...to call Juudaime by your name so casually..." Gokudera looked as if Tsuna had told him to push a helpless old lady down the stairs.
"Maa, maa, just let Gokudera act like normal. Tsuna, you don't need to worry about every little thing, that's just being paranoid. If anyone asks, Gokudera can just tell the real reason as to why he does that, it's no big deal." Yamamoto cut in with his usual wide grin.
"The baseball idiot's right...for once. Besides, even if I did stop, what about those two bastards?"Gokudera pointed to said people nearby. "Hibari would still go around calling everyone 'herbivores', and I don't think Mukuro's going to stop that annoying, creepy laugh of his anytime soon."
Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly at that. "Good point, but at least refrain from threatening people with your dynamites, OK?"
"Ahahaha, it'll be fine, it's not like those fireworks will hurt anyone."
A vein popped on Gokudera's forehead. "For the fucking last time, they are not fireworks!"
The harmless one-sided banter went on, but Tsuna eventually had to intervene when Hibari threatened to bite them all to death for all the noise.
One long and uneventful flight later, the private jet of Vongola finally touched down onto a runway of an airport in Sicily. Some of the passengers had been fully-awake and impatiently waiting to get off, some were excited while adjusting the watched to local time, some…correction, one was extremely nervous now that they had arrived in Italy. That one person was, predictably, the Chief, Sawada Tsunayoshi.
As the group went through the limo ride and baggage collection like in Japan hours ago, Tsuna was pretty much on the edge of hyperventilating. Even though he knew from Reborn's explanation how different the actual Mafia world was, he still couldn't get out of his head the stereotypical images of gun-wielding men in black who wouldn't hesitate to shoot them between the eyes. Why does that sound so much like Reborn? God, what if we blow our covers?! We'll be killed! Reborn said Vongola Decimo has Hyper Intuition and is very good at detecting lies, can we really get pass him? Speaking of Vongola Decimo, Tsuna really did not want to meet the man. After all, he was a Mafia Boss, and Tsuna's imagination of the boss wasn't exactly the nicest person around.
In the midst of all the ranting in his head, Tsuna didn't even realize they had gotten into the second limousine and was driving out of the airport. He only snapped out of the thoughts and registered his surroundings when Yamamoto called his name and pointed out the obvious.
"Jeez, Tsuna, calm down! You look like you're about to pass out and we're not even near the Vongola yet." The taller brunet chuckled and tried to reassure his friend by ruffling his hair.
"I can't help it, we're infiltrating one of the biggest Mafia organizations around! What if we don't sound believable at all and get caught right when we get there?! And how can you be so calm, Yamamoto?!"
"Ahahaha, I don't know. Maybe you should try thinking it's a game, that helps relaxes the mind."
But it's not a game, it's a life and death situation! Tsuna screamed in his mind, hands reaching to pull at his hair in anxiety.
"There's no need to be so nervous, Dame-Tsuna. Nobody would suck so much to the point of being caught right at the beginning, even you," Reborn said, ignoring the sarcastic eye-roll Tsuna gave in return. "So stop messing up your hair, you need to look presentable. We're about an hour away from the headquarters of Vongola."
"Fine…" The brunet muttered and began trying to comb down the gravity-defying mob of hair.
Off to the side, Mukuro suddenly started chuckling and leered at him. "Kufufufu, Tsunayoshi-kun, if you're still worried, feel free to come over here," he patted the spot right beside him. "I can think of many things we can do in the meantime to distract you."
"Stay away from Juudaime, you bastard!" Immediately, Gokudera shot up and stood protectively in front of his boss.
Before the silveret can get out his dynamites, two steel tonfas flew towards him and Mukuro. Having experienced this many times, the latter easily parried the object and let it smashed one of the windows. Gokudera, on the other hand, was not so lucky. "What the fuck, Hibari?!" Emerald eyes glared at said person while their owner rubbed the quickly-bruising spot on his forehead where the tonfa had hit.
"You herbivores are too loud, sit down and be quiet or I'll bite you to death." The skylark took out another pair of tonfas, making Tsuna seriously wondered where he was hiding all of those, and got into an offensive stance.
"Why don't you get over here and try it?!" Gokudera growled, hands gripping eight dynamites.
"I wouldn't mind taking you on either, Hibari Kyouya."
For the rest of the trip, Tsuna was mostly occupied with stopping fights and arguments between the three to get back to his mild hyperventilation. But when the limo stopped in front of cobblestone steps leading up to the entrance of a majestic mansion, correction, castle, the butterflies in his stomach returned with vengeance. He could only hope that his first undercover mission would not be his last.
A/N: And cut! The Vongola will FINALLY appear next chapter and this one was mostly for explanations. Speaking of which, I didn't want to go into details about the Flames and stuff since it really would be too long. But it'll be the same as the anime/manga, except Flames of the Sky only and not Earth Flames. Anyone who wants to research more on the flames, just go to Reborn wiki, best place for info. ^^
Review Reply Corner:
Anello di Tempesta: Thanks for reviewing! It's so cool that you read my story since I love all of yours! Hope to read some more soon! ^^ And I bought the USB on ebay. I first saw it on another website but was WAY overpriced and then found it on ebay and persuaded my friend into buying it for me. It is pretty cool, but mine just crashed today...awkward. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it, if not, still makes a good keychain. XD Yeah, it wasn't until I saw the pic of Psycho-pass that I realized Hibari and Xanxus actually have the same hairstyle!
Laiyuu: I'm glad you enjoyed the story, Tsuna will meet the Vongola next chapter so maybe stick around? :) Thank you for reviewing!
Orekirito: There it is, an update! Don't know if you count this as soon or not. ^^ Yeah, Psycho-Pass is pretty good, though the first episode was a bit too gory for my liking. Oh well, I'm still gonna watch even if it's just for the hot characters. XD Thanks for the review!
Exile Wrath: Thanks for reviewing, I love your story 'Abandonment' by the way! :) Yep, I don't think there's many G2718 around either. And really? I haven't seen that type of stores around. Huh, maybe I'll look up some. On another note, just read your profile (not stalking, I swear!), you're Vietnamese?! Cool, I'm one too and haven't met many around here so just found that interesting. ^^;
Just Another Fan: Haha thanks, good to know I'm doing well. Thank you for the review!
Ageha Sakura: Thanks, I'll try to! :) Hope you'll keep reading and enjoying the story!
And that's about it, please keep reviewing, I love reading them! ^^
Author's rant: Is it just me or is the ending to Curse of the Rainbow arc in the manga disappointing? I expected so much more and we got absolutely nothing! I don't want to give spoilers to anyone who hasn't read, but those who did should know what I'm talking about...right?
