After Tsuna and his friends had left, there was silence in the room as everyone tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
"Did Dame-Tsuna just talk back to a teacher?" asked Aozora Aoki incredulously.
"Never mind that," interrupted Kitanami, "But did he just speak Italian?"
There was a moment of silence before Ohmae Okito let out a snort of amusement and said, "This is dame-Tsuna we're talking about, guys. There's no way he'd know how to speak Italian."
As the rest of the students started laughing as well, Reborn gritted his teeth together in an attempt to stop himself from maiming every single one of them. Nono had specifically instructed that none of Tsuna's classmates were to come to any harm in Reborn's presence, which unfortunately included harm from Reborn himself.
And so, though they didn't know it, the students of class 2-A just barely escaped with their lives that day.
When Reborn arrived at the Sawada residence that day, it was to see one Sawada Tsunayoshi packing some clothes into a duffel bag.
"What are you doing?" asked the infant, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" asked the brunette irritably. "I'm packing my things to go home! I got permission from mom, dad, and grandpa to miss the last two days of school. If those guys will be spending the entire summer at the mansion, I want at least a few days to myself and my guardians."
"You convinced Kyoya to leave the school unattended for two whole days?" asked Reborn, raising an eyebrow and seeming just the slightest bit impressed.
Tsuna smirked. "Of course. All I had to do was remind him that Kusakabe would be there to look after Nami-chuu in his absence and hint at a chance to train with Dino."
Reborn nodded to himself, wondering just when his student had gotten so good at manipulating others.
"Well then," he said, stepping aside to let the brunet past. "Have a good trip."
Tsuna's sharp gaze turned on him when he said this, obviously suspecting something.
"What are you planning?" asked the brunet. He had known his tutor far too long not to suspect that there was definitely something brewing in that cunning little mind of his.
Reborn rolled his eyes at this. "How long have you known me, Dame-Tsuna?" he asked.
"Since I was two," replied the boy immediately. "Why?"
"Have you ever known me to disrupt your time with your guardians?"
Tsuna was on the verge of answering, but as he thought back to all the hellish training regimens his tutor had put him through, he realized that his guardians had always been with him. "…No," he reluctantly answered.
"Because it's important for you to have strong relationships with your guardians. It could mean the difference between life and death." Reborn paused for a moment after he said this before moving onto a seemingly unrelated topic. "You may not want them there, but Nono really wants to meet your classmates, and this could be a good chance to recruit more people to your Family."
"But I don't want my classmates to be in my Family!" shouted Tsuna. "They're still innocent kids! They have a bright future ahead of them! They don't need to be pulled into the mafia!"
"The same could be said about you," replied Reborn evenly.
"But I was born into this world!" shouted Tsuna. "I grew up in it! I have a responsibility to my Family! They don't!"
"That doesn't make you much different from them. The only difference is that they have a choice in whether or not to join our world. We agreed long ago that you would have a break from your training during summer, so you can pretend that your classmates aren't there, but when we get back to Japan, I will have a list, and you will have to check everyone on it for eligibility. If you want to reject someone, then you have to give me reason."
And with that, he turned and left the room.
Tsuna stood there for a moment, stunned, before cursing quietly to himself in every language he knew (which was quite a few). Reborn really was a master manipulator. He could either chose to ignore his classmates and just enjoy his summer with his guardians, then later welcome some of those aforementioned classmates into his family, or he could spend his summer tagging along after them and coming up with reasons why they shouldn't be in his family.
As he lugged the small duffel bag of clothes downstairs (everything else would be provided/bought in Italy), the young Don cursed his noble nature.
This was going to be one long summer.
When the students of class 2-A arrived at the airport the day they were supposed to leave, their excited chattering died away as they were led to a private terminal.
And when they saw what they were going to be flying in, it became so quiet and still, one would have been able to feel the Earth rotate underneath them.
"We're going in that?" asked Ryusaki Ruriko.
"There must be some kind of mistake," whispered Chishu Chiaki to himself.
"Just how rich is Boreen-sensei's friend, anyways?" asked Minami incredulously as she stared at the impressive private jet they would supposedly be flying to Italy in.
They would have stood there, staring, all day if the door hadn't suddenly opened and Boreen-sensei stepped out, saying to them, "We will be leaving in ten minutes exactly. If at that time you aren't on board, we are leaving without you."
And at this, everyone immediately clambered on board, hurrying to find seats for themselves and their friends.
When, ten minutes later, everyone was sitting in their seats with their seatbelts on, the plane finally took to the air, and the students all looked out their windows to watch Japan disappear.
There were excited murmurs as people pointed out famous landmarks until finally they had risen above the clouds, and their small island country was no longer visible.
Just as everyone was starting to get bored, though, one of the stewardesses announced over the PA, "Attention passengers, attention passengers. Now that we are airborne, you may explore the plane at your leisure. There are two staircases at the back of the plane leading to the bottom floor, where you will find various amenities available to you to help you pass the time. There are four bathrooms each on both floors, and if at any point during the flight you feel sick, you may find the doctor in his office on the bottom floor, near the front of the plane. Enjoy your flight!"
Once she had finished speaking, the students all looked at each other, as if wondering what to do, before, one by one, they undid their seatbelts and made their way to the back of the plane to see what the bottom floor would be like.
There was a huge gasp as the first student reached the bottom of the staircase, and suddenly, everyone was pushing each other to see what was so amazing.
What they saw made them all gasp in wonder.
There was a spacious living area in front of them with luxurious couches lining the walls and soft, fluffy carpets underfoot. There was a huge television with all the latest entertainment systems on one wall, and about twenty laptops lined up on a table against the other, just waiting to be used.
There even seemed to be a refrigerator in one corner of the large room.
As the students all spread out, looking as if they had died and gone to heaven, most of the students went immediately to either the television or one of the laptops, while a few of the students even went to a bookshelf they'd seen in one corner of the room and settled down with a manga or a novel.
Needless to say, the plane trip went by without a hitch, and by the time the plane landed in Italy, all the students had high hopes about what their next two months would be like.
There was a huge smile on Tsuna's face as he swallowed the last bite of his lunch.
Turning to look at their chef Celino, who had just walked into the room, Tsuna said to him, "You know, I love my mom's cooking, but whenever I'm craving Italian food, yours is always what I miss the most."
The red-haired man beamed proudly at the young Decimo, saying, "Thank you so much, Decimo! Your praise means more to me than you could ever know!"
And it was true. Celino, and actually quite a bit of the staff, had worked for the Vongola since before the little brunet was born, and he had watched as the little brown-haired infant they had all adored grew into the confident young man they respected almost as much as Nono. Summer was the time everyone in the Vongola looked forward to the most, as it meant that their young master would be coming home for a short while.
Tsuna smiled at the man before excusing himself to go get ready for the trip to town he, Hayato, and Takeshi had planned.
In a few hours, everybody would be getting ready to welcome his classmates, and Tsuna did not want to be around when that happened, lest he be roped into going to the airport to pick them up.
When the plane landed at Milan International Airport at about four in the afternoon, all the students were suffering from jet lag, seeing as it was already almost midnight back in Japan, so none of them really had enough energy to be overly surprised at the line of limos that were waiting to pick them up.
They did, however, have enough energy to be shocked when they saw the sheer size of the mansion they would be staying at for the next two months.
"If he lives there, what the hell does Boreen-sensei's friend have to gain from sponsoring a field trip for a bunch of junior high students?" asked Ohmae incredulously as he stepped out of one of the limos, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Who knows," answered his friend Kitanami.
Just then, though, the huge front doors were opened by two very pretty maids, and the students were ushered in by one very polite butler.
"This way please, ladies and gentlemen," he said in slightly accented Japanese. "Timoteo-sama is awaiting your presence in the dining hall. Our chefs have worked hard all day to prepare the very best food for our master and young master's guests."
Following obediently after the butler, the students of class 2-A huddled just a little closer than they normally would have, staring around at their elegant surroundings.
They were absorbed in staring that none of them noticed all the stares and whispering they were garnering among the maids and other staff on their way to the dining room. Not that it would have mattered much if they had, seeing as they were all whispering in Italian.
When they finally arrived at the dining room, they were all entranced by the beauty and elegance of it.
There were elaborate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, lighting the room with a warm glow, and spread out in front of them was a long, simple dining table, surrounded by beautifully crafted antique-looking chairs.
The table looked about big enough to seat up to fifty people, with all the tableware and cutlery shining brightly.
Already in the room were seven battle-worn men, one of which smiled brightly when they entered and stepped forward to greet them.
"Welcome, students of Namimori-chuu class 2-A. I've been looking forward to meeting you!"
"You must be Timoteo-san?" asked Nezu-sensei as he stepped forward and bowed. "Thank you so much for everything you are doing for us."
"Not at all," replied Timoteo, smiling in a grandfatherly way. "I have my reasons in wanting to see you, so let us call it even."
No one knew quite what to say to that, so they opted to just take their seats as a line of chefs strode into the room, carrying silver platters like one would see in a movie.
Instinctively, the students left the seats at both ends of the table free as Timoteo and his friends took the seats on the end farther away from the door.
A few of the students watched curiously as the seven chefs at the end of the line placed the plates of food they were holding at the end of the table closer to the door.
Timoteo, seeing them staring, smiled. "I hope you won't mind if my heir and some of his friends join us. He doesn't live here most of the year, so when he does come home, the staff tend to get a bit…excited."
"Your heir?" asked Aozora, curious as to who would be inheriting this insane amount of wealth; maybe he was young enough to date.
"That would be me," said a familiar voice from the doorway and everyone's heads snapped around to see…
"Dame-Tsuna!" exclaimed Ohmae loudly.
And within seconds, the boy found himself staring, terrified, down the barrel of a gun.
"Don't ever insult Juudaime in my presence."
SkyGem: Yay! Longer than usual chapter! I hope you guys like it, ne? I'll see if I can update again tomorrow. I want this fic done asap. Anyways, please do leave a review, ne? Ciao~