This chapter has been Beta'd (: Thank you once again my friend! :D
Warning: Language, violence and same gender relationships.
Rating: M (for language, gore, violence and as the story advances, there will be mature scenes.)
Pairing: R27, slight Allx27, and others (will take suggestions for pairings)
Summary: Due to a failed assassination attempt, Tsuna losses his memories. His Guardians have gathered to protect him. But no one thought Reborn would also help. He claims it's for the Family... Is it? Or is he lying to everyone and himself?
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Chapter 02: The Reactions
Gokudera watched as the Tenth, suitcase in hand and cloak under his arm, disappeared from sight after giving that last smile.
'No, no!' He shook his head, 'Not last!'
Even though he was told to relax, he couldn't until after the Tenth had left safely. Of course, he wasn't happy just because the Boss was on the plane; no, no, that was hysterical!
He didn't leave when the plane received the tardy passengers, made so because of the traffic on the highway, he didn't leave when the flight attendants properly shut the hatch that led to the plane, he didn't even leave when the plane was heading down the runway. It was his job after all, as the Tenth's Right-Hand, to wait until the Tenth was properly leaving Japan, the plane already flying high in the sky.
He sighed as the plane finally vanished from his sight before turning and heading for the exit, not even paying attention to the twists and turns of the halls. He couldn't help but be worried for his Boss. The Tenth was going to Italy all alone and it was all the fault of his goddamned exam!
I should have left with him! I should have!He walked through the entrance/exit doors of the airport and was just about to hail a taxi to take him back home until a certain dreaded and obnoxious voice called out.
"Oi, Gokudera!"
Cursing under his breath, he ignored the baseball maniac's voice and proceeded to try and hail a cab since the idiot was the only thing the cab drivers could hear.
"Gokudera!" a pat on the shoulder told him the baseball fanatic was right behind him but the Storm Guardian had yet to acknowledge his Rain counterpart. "Hey, Tsuna left already?" Yamamoto asked.
"What do you think?" he replied angrily as he slapped Yamamoto's hand away from his shoulder, adding a short: "And don't touch me!" Hayato finally turned around since he was still unsuccessful in grabbing a cab driver's attention. Looking him up and down, the Storm Guardian took note of what the man in front of him wore. While basically looking like his ten year old self, sans scar on the chin, he currently wore a light-blue button-up shirt with a loose necktie around his throat and a pair of formal pants, his feet covered by black leather shoes.
"Oh…" the Rain Guardian said sadly, "We really wanted to give him a 'Have a nice trip!' gift but I guess it's too late." Yamamoto sighed dejectedly.
"Wait. What gift? Further more, what do you mean by 'we'?"
"Of course, 'we'." Yamamoto threw a thumb behind him. Gokudera looked over Yamamoto's shoulder and gaped at the group behind him.
Oh no…"Hahi…! Tsuna-kun already left?" Haru had somehow managed to listen to the whole conversation between the two. She wore a sleeveless, knee-length dress of an amethyst color while wearing a pair of white high heels and had white clips in her shoulder-length hair. She looked more feminine than in the past, but she was still kind of oblivious and still obsessed over Tsuna. Not only that, she still shrieked her trademark scream; which managed to capture the attention of the many passers-by.
"After we brought this EXTREME gift to him?" the boxer shouted at the top of his lungs, capturing even more attention. He wore pitch black formal suit pants and a yellow polo button up dress shirt with a loose necktie around his collar, his hair was still in its usual spiked up style. Just like Haru, he never let that moronic trademark phrase go and still went around with his hands and knuckles bandaged.
"Onii-chan, please calm down." Kyoko raised her hands in a placating gesture in hopes that it would calm not only her brother but Haru too. Her hair was waist length now and wore the same dress style as Haru, in pink. While she didn't wear clips in her hair, she still had a small white ribbon tying it up in the back.
Ryohei didn't seem to listen since he roared again while raising his hands, curled into fists, into the air indicating just how upset he was. The sudden movement almost hit Lambo in the chin since he was standing next to the Sun Guardian. Luckily, or unluckily in Hayato's opinion, the Thunder Guardian moved to the side to avoid being hit.
"Ah, it's Aho-dera." Lambo said casually, a stoic look on his face, and popped a grape flavored candy into his mouth. The action made the Storm Guardian growl in anger at the stupid cow. However, he made sure to hold himself in check before he could throw even one bomb at the stupid cow, because if he did he would be causing problems the Tenth didn't need. That wouldn't have been good for him. Lambo was starting to look more and more like his ten year older self. His hair wasn't an afro anymore, but more wavy instead, almost straight. He still had his obsession over cow prints and still wore his horns but, hey, even the Thunder Guardian ran into trouble more than he admitted.
"L-Lambo! That's not nice!" I-Pin managed to sputter out in Japanese as she caught up with everyone else. Her hair covered more of her head than it had in the past, probably because she stopped shaving it that way. As she got older she started to wear more traditional modern Japanese clothes but today she had gone with some Chinese clothes and flat shoes.
"After I spent all night rating what would be the best thing to give as a 'Have a nice trip' gift to Tsuna-nii…" Fuuta muttered, his eyes downcast, from where he was at the back of the group, Bianchi next to him. He too was almost the same as his future self, but still a little shorter as the others were. And Bianchi… well, she still looked the same. Being an adult already, it was a little hard not to. She wore usual her magenta sleeveless cotton blouse and baggy jeans, sneakers on her feet. Her face, thank God, was covered by yellow tinted goggles.
Gokudera couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in question at his sister. Why was she here when she didn't have to be?
"I had to keep an eye on the kids." She said to his silent question as she pointed at both Lambo and I-Pin.
"Bianchi-chan~!" the perverted doctor known as Shamal came into the picture, his lips perked and read for a kiss with his eyes in hearts and his arms wide open.
"I told you to leave me alone!" she shouted angrily as she turned on her heel, a plate of poisonous food slamming into Shamals' face with such force he was sent back a couple feet before falling flat on his back.
Gokudera groaned. Great! Just great, not only did he not go to Italy with the Tenth, he had to put up with baseball freak, Hahi-girl, Kyo-whatever her name is… lawn-head, the stupid cow, wide-forehead girl, rating boy, that perverted doctor and his sister.
He groaned again at the thought as he slapped his forehead with an open palm.
This is going to be the longest week in my entire life…
"Welcome everyone! Oh, how are you doing Hayato-kun?" Tsuna's mother, Nana, asked as her head popped out of the door leading to the kitchen, a spatula covered in whip cream in her hand. She wore a white, knee-length skirt and a brown, V-necked, long sleeved blouse, an apron wrapped around her waist kept any mess she might make from ruining her clothes.
"I-I'm fine Ma'am!" Hayato stammered out as enthusiastically as he could while he bowed at the waist.
"Oh my," She stared at the pool of people at the entrance, most of whom looked rather depressed, as she cupped her cheek with her free hand, "By the looks of it, no one could see Tsu-kun off or give him his gift."
She received a shake of heads from everyone but Gokudera and Shamal.
"That's troublesome…" she sighed, "Tsu-kun is always making everyone around him worry… Well, please, come on in! The living room will be the only room where everyone will fit in," she giggled before she entered the kitchen again, "I'll bring some drinks and snacks through in a moment."
"Ha-Haru will help! Haru will carry the snacks!" the dark brunette announced after taking off her shoes and breaking into a run towards the kitchen.
"Ah!" Gokudera began as he took off his shoes, "Don't run inside the Tenth's house you stupid girl!" He earned himself a: "Haru isn't a stupid girl you rude boy!" from Haru as she ran out of the kitchen to face Gokudera angrily. And so began the usual quarrel between the two.
"I'd like to help too." Kyoko said as she too took off her shoes.
"Me too, Mama." Bianchi and I-Pin said simultaneously. The three passed the odd couple as they threw each other glares while flames were erupting from their bodies, indicating their frustration with the other. Kyoko turned the corner to the door and entered the kitchen smiling, I-Pin and Bianchi on her heels.
"Oh, but Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan are guests!" the others heard as Tsuna's mom tried to dissuade as they all went into the living room to sit and settle down.
"It's okay, Nana-san. No problem at all." Kyoko assured.
"That's right! Haru doesn't mind!" Haru exclaimed, now completely ignoring an angry Gokudera in favor of heading into the kitchen. The boy just cursed the girl for getting him mad and proceeded into the living room to join everyone else.
Gokudera muttered curses under his breath.
They shouldn't even be here! If they wanted to play video games, make weird cosplay costumes, bake, exercise, practice their swing, eat candy, braid hair, rate the most asinine things, or whatever they should have gone home to do it! Not stay at the Tenth's house to do it.
And the only reason they even were was all the fault of his infuriating sister.
She suggested it like she owned the freaking place! Saying, "How about we stay here and eat Mama's cooking? If I'm not mistaken, she's baking cookies right now."
And of course, she earned several shouts of agreement.
His cursing fit and thoughts were interrupted by the snacks placed in front of him. The thing was they weren't normal snacks, God forbid the day he got regular cookies in his life, they were poisoned snacks. He looked up and saw Bianchi looking back at him. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours while Yamamoto laughed at how they looked funny just staring.
Nana stood next to the door frame to view the wonderful, very energetic, scene that was inside the living room.
Lambo and Fuuta were sitting in front of the television, playing video games while I-Pin and Kyoko sat on the floor and browsed through a fashion magazine they found in the table. Bianchi and Haru seemed to be in a serious conversation if she were to guess from their expressions.
Maybe the topic was love, since Haru's eyes shined with enthusiasm and nodded vehemently at the comments Bianchi made. Every now and then though, Bianchi would turn around and throw a plate of poisoned cooking at Shamal sending the poor man, in her mind, into the wall.
Ryohei, Yamamoto and Gokudera were sitting on the couch. Ryohei and Yamamoto laughing every now and then at a joke one or the other made. She smiled as she saw Gokudera fight to keep a smile off his face. It seemed no matter what he said, he did have fun with the others.
She blinked as Shamal, who was on the floor not seconds ago, sat next to Gokudera. They too started a conversation of their own, something about training and bombs. She frowned, the man really needed to stop giving Gokudera those firecrackers. Those things could get really dangerous if handled improperly!
But she couldn't hold the frown on her face for long, a smile was soon replacing it.
She was happy.
Who would have thought that her sweet, but shy son would have made such wonderful friends? Especially ones who wouldn't abandon or make fun of him?
Her smile widened at the thought. And it was all thanks to Reborn-kun.
The sun was setting, dusk taking control of the sky as a couple of stars started to appear.
The boys had turned off the game console by now in favor of watching the television. Lambo had control of the remote and so he skimmed through all the channels they had available, popping grape flavored candy into his mouth every now and then with Fuuta sitting next to him, his eyes glued to the screen too.
"When will you be leaving for Italy, octopus-head?" Ryohei questioned quietly. Gokudera raised an elegant eyebrow at the sudden quietness from the boxer, but he shook his head and picked up a cookie from the tray in front of them.
"As soon as I finish my exam lawn-head," Gokudera muttered as he munched the sprinkled cookie. He may not be a big fan of sweets, but because the Tenth's Mother had made it, it was his duty to eat as many as he could.
"EXTREME!" Ryohei roared, causing Gokudera to cringe at the volume and Yamamoto to laugh at his sempai's actions, "I'll be leaving with Yamamoto TO THE EXTREME as soon as our EXTREME tournament ends!" he stretched his arms into the air to show his enthusiasm; as though his shouting wasn't enough.
Reason for why they're going to Italy, you ask?
Well, it's quite simple.
The Ninth wished to speak to Tsuna about some important matters. It seemed the Ninths' retirement was close and with Tsuna graduated from High School, it was a perfect chance for them to discuss how he'll be receiving the title as the Tenth Vongola Boss.
Not only that but they also held a party of graduation for Tsuna and his Guardians, the ones who were graduating of course. Plenty Mob Bosses were to attend the party to give their greetings to the soon-to-be Boss of Vongola.
They invited I-Pin and Fuuta also, even Bianchi and Shamal. The Ninth had even asked Tsuna if he would like to invite those who weren't associated with the Mafia, but he politely declined since he did not want to involve them any more than they already were.
"There's no need to shout, we can hear you perfectly fine lawn-head!" Gokudera shouted back.
"But it wouldn't be EXTREME if I didn't do it!" the other roared enthusiastically.
Gokudera grumbled a couple of words in Italian before hearing the phone ringing. He got up from his seat and headed to where the ringing was coming from. Nana would have been the one to answer the phone if she had been there but she had went out to buy more milk and flour with the girls over an hour ago, and had left the boys in charge of the house until they got back.
Reaching for the phone's receiver, he picked it up and answered with: "Sawada residence." before waiting for a reply.
"Gokudera?" The Storm Guardian blinked in surprise. How the hell did this guy know his name? Before he could angrily ask who this was he heard: "Is Nana around?" His eyes widened slightly in recognition, it was the Outside Adviser. The Tenth's father Iemitsu! He sounds worried. Wonder what happened. Gokudera thought.
"I'm sorry, she isn't. She went out to buy milk and flour to make cookies… Is something the matter?" he asked, worried. He shuddered at the thought of there being a problem, of something happening to—
He heard a sigh coming from Iemitsu, "Well… I was wondering if Tsuna left already…"
"The Tenth…? He's long gone, early this morning in fact."
"That's strange… There's been no sign of Tsuna or the plane ever landing in the last couple of hours."Gokudera shuddered again, what if—No, he shook his head. "M-Maybe they're running l-late?" he stammered. So focused on the phone call was he that he didn't hear the front door open or the voices of enthusiastic girls talking about the shape and flavor of the cookies they liked.
Nana noticed that Hayato was using the phone, and was going to ask who it was before deciding to stay silent. Walking into the living room behind the girls she decided not to pry. It had to be a private call from someone he knew or he would've given the phone to her when she came in. She hoped everything was okay, that horror-struck expression on his face didn't bode well with her.
"Maybe…" the Adviser agreed, rather solemnly, "Well if that's the case I'll call again when Tsuna shows up to let you know he arrived safely." Call basically over, he bid a goodbye and a short 'take care of the family' before he hung up.
Gokudera heard the beeping tone and lowered his face, which got shadowed by his hair almost immediately. He put the reciever down and just stood in front of the small table, staring at the harmless black object. He wondered… What had happened with the Tenth's arrival at Italy? He was supposed to arrive an hour or so, ago—
A loud crash brought him out of his thoughts and he rushed to where the sound came from, the living room.
Upon entering, he saw the sack of flour, box of eggs and the milk container, spilling its liquid, on the floor. He looked up to ask what had happened for them to be on the floor, but everyone's eyes were on the television.
"Oi, Lambo, turn that up a notch…" Ryohei ordered as he suddenly got out of his seat and up onto his feet. Yamamoto's face was unreadable. Lambo's eyes were wide in surprise and Fuuta just stared, his mouth wide open, but the cow-print obsessed teen obeyed and turned the volume louder.
Haru, Kyoko and I-Pin stood in place as though frozen, eyes filled with shock and tears were forming at the edge of their eyes. Bianchi's eyes too were wide and Nana's knees were wobbling. From what he could see, she was still standing only because Bianchi was keeping hold of her waist as tight as she could in her arms.
"What—" He would've continued but he was interrupted by the news reporter:
"As we previously mentioned. A plane which had left Japan early this morning was recently found crashed." Gokudera's breath caught in his throat.
"A private jet that was passing by had seen smoke in the distance and had lowered altitude to see what could possibly be causing the strange disturbance in the sky. The smoldering aircraft had been found soon after on an isolated meadow fence not far from Hong Kong. The flight number was 27.
The pilot in charge of the jet had recieved orders to land near the accident and look for survivors. Sadly, there was none. All passengers were either shot to death or had died in the crash, including the flight attendants and pilots.
A list of the passengers that was recovered from the airport will soon be scrolling down the side of the screen in a moment. Please join me in prayer for those unfortunate souls lost today."The news reporter's head lowered soon after. The screen was soon filled with the names of all the passengers. It rolled slowly so as to allow the people viewing in their homes to see the names of the deceased.
All within the Sawada household were horrified even further at the name in third place of the 'S' section of the 'deceased' roster.
Sawada Tsunayoshi
And so, all hell broke loose.
A/N: Thank you for reading!
Reviews are greatly appreciated.