OooOoOooO

AN: Thank you to those who read this story. And I don't know what the pairing will be but it won't be MomoRyo - their relationship would be similar to either that of a mentor-student or friends with a very strong bond. I don't even know if I'll give Ryoma a pairing, there is a certain part in my plot to be considered and pairing him will somewhat jeopardize that. But I'll think about it.

O.o.O


Chapter II

"Vongola wha–?" An overwhelmed Momo managed to mumble out, his mouth parted in surprise and confusion.

Echizen sighed exasperatedly, making it seem as if he was dealing with a five year old.

"Vongola Dodicesimo. The Twelfth Boss–or at least, future Dodicesimo." The boy amended as he went back to twirling the gun in his hand. "And for that to happen, I have to train you to be ready to take that mantle one day." Echizen elaborated almost boredly as he crossed his legs.

"But you didn't answer my question," Momo pointed out quietly. "Boss for what?" He still asked even if his voice was skeptical.

Echizen smiled sarcastically.

"So you do have a perceptive bone in you," The boy stated mockingly, ignoring the way Momo's eyes narrowed at him. "I thought you'd be a lost cause. I guess you aren't." He met the blazing amethyst eyes challengingly, as if daring Momo to oppose him with its intensity. The second year barely withheld a flinch at the sight.

"Just answer the question," Momo snapped impatiently.

The next thing he knew, there was a ringing sound akin to that of a newly popped balloon. Momo scarcely avoided the shot at his foot–only his reflexes and instincts that were honed through tennis had saved his limb from being drilled into by a bullet. A small smoking hole on the floor had appeared less than an inch away from his right foot and Momo understood that if he hadn't been fast enough, he would have been bleeding on the floor by now.

"That was for talking the way you did," Echizen glared at him darkly. "Nobody demands answers from me unless I give them permission. Next time, I won't miss." The boy twirled the gun one more time before gripping it more tightly for emphasis.

Momo didn't know which terrified him more–the incident in which he almost got shot or the implication from Echizen's words that he had intentionally missed. It was as if the freshman was warning him that he never missed, a rather scary thought. But, why did Echizen have a gun in the first place? As much as he wanted the answers to his questions, Momo knew better than to provoke Echizen who apparently had no qualms about shooting him.

"And to answer your question, Momojiri," The harsh pitch in the insult made Momo cringe, Echizen had not been pleased. "The Vongola is the most powerful Mafia Famiglia in all of Italy for almost six-hundred years now. It is also the largest Famiglia in existence. And you are chosen to lead its Twelfth Generation as the Dodicesimo." The explanation was brief but precise and to the point.

"Mafia?" Momo squeaked with wide eyes. "And why me? I was never involved in it in the first place!"

"But you are a direct descendant of the Vongola Decimo or the Tenth Boss through your mother's side. That alone already makes you a candidate for possessing the Vongola blood in your veins. As does your siblings but you are the immediate choice for being the eldest, which makes you an Heir. The Eleventh boss never had an heir so we had to look through his brother–who was your grandfather, Sawada Takahiro who eventually had your mother, Sawada Tsubaki or as now known, Momoshiro Tsubaki. And you don't have to be involved before to be involved now." For some reason, Echizen seemed incredibly amused by the concise summary of his family tree and history–ignoring the fact that the first year seemed to know more about it than him.

Then it clicked.

"Are you saying that I don't have a choice in this?" It was a rhetorical question. Momo knew just judging from Echizen's sinister smirk.

"Of course not," Echizen stated it so decisively that made Momo think that the boy would not give him a choice.

Then it finally sunk in, this freshman–a kid–was telling him that he was a future boss of a mafia family that he had no idea about until this moment. It wouldn't have been believable in the first place if not for the real gun in Echizen's hand and the accurate information about his heritage. Furthermore, he just got this distinctive…feeling that everything Echizen had said was all true but definitely lacking.

"I-I can't possibly–" He stuttered out, genuinely confused at the sudden load of information.

It was mostly uncharacteristic of him to stutter unless he was threatened (mostly by Inui's juice) or afraid (with Echizen's gun). But this time, he was just utterly perplexed how to deal with this news. Heck, he had never even really heard of the Vongola until Echizen casually fired at his feet and explained it.

"Oi, don't think too much about it." Echizen cut in Momo's musings as the boy stood up and tilted his head, gazing at a surprised Momo coolly. "That's what I'm here for, remember? I have to at least make a decent boss out of you since it's my job. And I don't fail on my job, ever. For that to happen, you'll have to be trained." He stated as he tapped the muzzle of his gun on Momo's forehead.

"S-Stop that!" Momo's eyes hardly left the gun, anxious that Echizen might accidentally shoot him with it so close. "And you…will train me?" He questioned with a bit of disbelief.

Echizen raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"What? Did you think I'm tutoring you only for academics? Mada mada dane."

With that, Echizen swiftly hid the gun from sight as he picked up his own schoolbag from the floor and began walking to the door. Momo didn't even bother asking about his homework, it was clear that it had not been Echizen's motive in the first place–but just a way to call his complete attention. So he had been gaping as soon as the freshman had given that last parting statement and couldn't help but blurt out.

"Echizen, just who are you?"

The boy didn't look back but just shrugged indifferently as he continued his exit.

"Your tutor, Momo-senpai. That's all you'll need to know."

O.o.O

Momo realized that that was the most Echizen had said in one conversation–from the entirety that he had encountered the boy.

Though, as soon as Echizen had gone home, Momo had proceeded to subtly grill his parents for information that might tell him more about Echizen's story. His mother, obviously, didn't have any idea about his granduncle's business since they never met the man. His grandfather had already passed away two years ago so the subject redirecting to him was promptly changed.

Fortunately, his mother had unknowingly confirmed some of Echizen's points. His granduncle owned a company named Vongola. That there were rumors about his granduncle transacting with underground dealings (which could mean anything–from yakuzas, to syndicates, to mafias) which she immediately assured that wasn't true. That was all he needed to know since any company named Vongola had not appeared in the internet.

He might not have been as subtle as he wanted because his mother had expressed her concern on his sudden curiosity about her family. He had just made up some half-ass excuse about needing an essay for English class about his family.

So he shouldn't have been that surprised when he found Echizen standing in front of his house.

"Oi, what are you doing here?" Momo asked a little cautiously, not wanting to sound demanding as he remembered Echizen's reaction.

"I'm your tutor," Echizen shrugged lightly and Momo knew that it had nothing to do with school, but with that business. "I couldn't and didn't want to live with you so I had to at least know your everyday routine–makes it easier to tell just what kind of brat you really are." The boy crossed his arms over his chest, exuding the very air of nonchalance and boredom.

Momo's eyebrow twitched but refrained from snapping.

"You talk as if you're not a brat yourself," He chose to mutter under his breath grumpily, reluctantly following the smaller boy out. He would've used his bike but then again, Echizen could just shoot his tires off and Momo liked his bike enough as it was.

He stumbled back as Echizen suddenly flicked him on the forehead, which was surprisingly painful with just a simple finger flick.

"If you have something to say, say it to my face," Echizen muttered lowly as he adjusted his tennis bag on his shoulder. "And do you really think that the Eleventh Boss would just send a twelve year old boy to train his successor? Che, stupid as always. Mada made dane." The freshman scoffed and gave him a condescending smirk.

"Wait," Momo halted as he stared at Echizen with wide eyes. "Are you telling me that you're older than you look? Are you kidding me?" He blurted out in incredulity.

"Maybe, maybe not," Echizen's infuriating smirk just widened. "And hurry up, Momo-senpai, or we're going to be late." The way that the freshman said the honorific was almost mockingly and there was that feeling again which told him that the brat was up to something, it's just behind his words.

Momo hesitantly trudged beside him–and couldn't help from staring at the brat from time to time. Echizen was shorter than the average freshman but his presence seemed more dominating somehow especially when he had pointed that gun at him. The silence that permeated was surprisingly tranquil and Echizen appeared to bask in it. As they turned around a corner, the sunlight caught something on Echizen's chest. Momo had to squint a little and blinked in slight surprise.

Hanging around the freshman's neck was a silver chained necklace, a medium yellow sphere-like gem attached to it. Momo could have sworn that it glowed.

"Aren't you getting tired in staring at me?" A drawl cut off his musings and Momo instantly backed away, embarrassed at being caught.

"I-I wasn't staring at you, no, I wasn't," Momo argued indignantly and pointed at the necklace. "I was just looking at that!"

Echizen paused and stared at him, and Momo got the feeling that the freshman was surprised.

"So, you can see it," The boy commented casually as if simply talking about the weather. "Interesting," Echizen settled with that before resuming his walk.

"Wait up!" Momo ran after to catch up. "Sheesh, warn me next time, would you?" He gritted out sarcastically and even prepared himself to be on the receiving end of a gun or that dark unnerving look but Echizen elbowed him on the stomach instead, making him double over.

"Get used to it,"

O.o.O

As they reached the crowded streets on their way to school, that sinister feeling Momo sensed earlier became more foreboding–an uncomfortable weight on his stomach. The way that Echizen smirked just justified that feeling, the freshman was up to something.

Then everything seemed to be in chaos.

Momo could still remember it when a man had ran into him, harshly shoving him to the side as he continued to run with what was obviously a woman's bag. Then there was an old lady screaming after the man. Without even thinking, Momo had already given chase. His feet moved as he maneuvered around people, eyes sharply trained on the burglar. He had been so caught up on keeping an eye on the man that he failed to notice the bike heading straight to him from his left. So he was now laying on his backside, his left side tingling from where the bicycle had crashed into him–he didn't even acknowledge the dark haired boy driving said contraption and was now dusting himself off.

Footsteps echoed around his ringing ears and Momo looked up to see Echizen's disappointed face peering down at him.

"Is that all you got, Dodicesimo?" Echizen drawled in what Momo seemed to be annoyance–though the second year got the feeling that it wasn't really genuine.

"E-Echizen–" He mumbled out dazedly.

Golden eyes were gleaming ominously but Momo could hardly concentrate on that, the world seemed to be morphing around him.

Then the freshman smirked.

"I think it's time for lesson number one, Momojiri," Echizen declared haughtily as his smirk widened and brought out a blue pistol gun this time–was Momo just imagining it or was there a yellow flame that lighted the muzzle? He instantly snapped into awareness as the freshman aimed the gun at his forehead. "And for that, you'll need your… Will." The boy revealed enigmatically.

Echizen fired and a loud gunshot was heard.

The second year suddenly felt incredibly cold all over at first–numb even, then warmth from his forehead seemed to spread from there down to his toes, fingers, everywhere and everything felt like they were tingling with that heat. But at the same time, it felt like he was still not aware yet, that his mind was like separated from his body. Was this the feeling of death? The stray thought came to mind, but still couldn't believe that the psychopathic brat would really kill him.

He hadn't even managed to be really a full-time regular yet, hadn't beaten Mamushi yet, and his family

For some reason, that last concept made him feel humid, the sudden heat becoming a sharp sensation, and the awareness that it suddenly felt hot, too hot… His eyes snapped open suddenly and met the image of endless blue, the sky, and Momo felt an unfamiliar yearning to reach out–

"I'm going to catch that guy with my damn Dying Will, yeah!" Momo didn't know when he had jumped up as he raised an excitable fist, his amethyst eyes appearing to be bathed in orange flames to those who could see them and would see the spark of yellowish fire on his forehead. "Just you watch, Echizen!" His mouth continued to yell his thoughts out loud despite the rational part of his mind begging him to do otherwise.

Then he was off like a speeding bullet, nothing but a black blur in his school uniform to the passersby.

O.o.O

The blue haired boy who had been riding the bike earlier stepped beside Ryoma with an exasperated smile–appearing to be the same age as the golden-eyed boy.

"You could've warned him, you know?" He gave an imploring look to the emerald dark haired boy beside him, his honey brown eyes glittering with amusement despite his gentle chastising tone. And he smiled gently, almost shyly, at the familiar scoff that Ryoma gave.

"He should get used to it," Ryoma merely countered calmly, as if it was an everyday occurrence.

"You're still just as rough in your methods, ne, Ace?" The boy teased lightly with a grin, reminiscing about the days of his friend as Ace.

Ryoma just raised an eyebrow as if what the other had asked was ludicrous.

"Of course, or they would never learn." He smirked condescendingly and the sadistic fire in his golden eyes gave away some of his intentions. The boy sighed again, he should've known that Ryoma would never change, still arrogant and still that sadistic bastard.

"You never changed," He chose to comment instead, voice somewhat putout.

"Don't have to," Ryoma shrugged nonchalantly. "And you sound as if it was a bad thing, I even let Momojiri off lightly, only used a partial dying will bullet. If I really gave him the real one when his flame is still obviously immature, his body could give out–not to mention, the Vongola Decimo didn't even have that luxury. From what I can remember, he ran around in his boxers in front of his whole school."

The boy laughed at the mere mention of the Tenth Boss.

"You have no mercy, Ace." He remarked confidently.

"Che, can't help it if people are all so mada mada." Ryoma grunted as he started his walk to school while the other boy didn't even bother saying goodbye, they would see each other soon enough as it was. Especially since there were the upcoming tournaments, he knew Ryoma would force his way into the tennis team to keep a better eye on the Dodicesimo–they could just see each other there. And he couldn't help but notice from the brief glimpse that the Twelfth started out much differently than the other bosses–more bold, more confident in his young age.

The boy smiled widely as he hefted up his bike–a silver chained necklace not unlike Ryoma's hanging around his neck, only, the medium sphere-like gem glowed a vivid violet.

"Dodicesimo sure is interesting," He commented cheerfully.


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