In the warm, incomplete darkness, the door creaked open. A silhouette stepped into the room and quietly closed the door behind him. As silently as possible, he took one step. Two steps. Three ste-

The lights came on.

"Did you off them all?" asked a dark, squeaky voice. The former silhouette, now revealed as Sawada Tsunayoshi, turned his head to look at the other with that unnervingly emotionless look he'd been wearing often lately and shook his head.

"No."

Reborn frowned slightly, "Did you kill anyone?"

"I didn't."

What? Wasn't this supposed to be his vendetta? The boy had been so anguished, so determined, so angry. So why had he done nothing? His frustration became apparent in the darkening of his voice. "Dame-Tsuna-"

"But I left them wishing I had."

And Reborn pulled up short. There was no satisfaction, no accomplishment, no sated note in his voice. Tsuna had come for revenge, yet he had left without it – well, most of it. But... was that a speck of bitterness he heard in his voice? Was that glint in his eyes one of grim, suppressed vindictiveness? And was that a hint of bloodlust that permeated the air around him?

Perhaps his student had picked up a few of his sadistic tendencies along the way. They had been living under the same miraculously non-collapsible roof for three years now, and Reborn had not held back. It was a possibility that he held nothing but pride for.

Still, the question remained: why had he changed his mind? He had half a mind to voice it when he finally noticed the dark bags under his eyes. Shaking his head, he sent the boy off to the bedroom, but not before warning him of their plans for the next day.

"We're going to Vongola Headquarters tomorrow to talk to Nono. I've already called him. So try to wake up early, or I'll wake you up" Vongola style went unsaid, yet completely understood. His only reply was a visible shiver and a closed door.

The next morning found the newspaper on the breakfast table with the head title 'Anonymous tip leads Police to Formica Famiglia – All members apprehended after urgent medical treatment' being ignored while shrill screams and sounds vaguely resembling an electrical current filled the expensive suite in the middle of Florence.


Timoteo was a patient man.

He had been patient when Coyote Nougat had adamantly refused the spot of his Storm Guardian.

He had been patient when one of his men was about to betray him to protect his family.

He had been patient where the antics of the newly recruited Young Lion of the Vongola would have driven lesser men mad.

He had been patient when Xanxus had drowned in denial and closed himself off to the truth.

He had been patient when his chosen heir had refused the position at any chance he got.

And, like every other time, he had gotten what he wanted. With patience and perseverance. It truly felt wonderful when everything went as planned. Of course, the last case had had a few hiccups along the way, but in the end, his patience had been rewarded.

Just as always.

Currently, he couldn't keep the smile on his face from forming, as he was waiting for the reward of that very last case. He glanced at his watch. They should be arriving in-

"Hello, Nono."

Hmm, they were a tad earlier than expected. He'd thought a boy Tsuna's age wouldn't want to get up so early. Not that he was complaining, mind you.

"Ah, hello you two. Please sit down. It's nice to see you again. Especially you, Tunayoshi. It has been a long time."

He received a smile, "It has. It's nice to see you too, grandpa – although I should be calling you Nono now, shouldn't I?" he added after seeing his tutor's pointed glare.

"Oh, nonsense. Call me what you will. Besides, you'll be sitting behind this desk yourself very soon, so there's really no need for such formalities between us." He summoned up the most grandfatherly smile he could manage to add emphasis. However, its counterpart on the boy's face suddenly looked the tiniest bit strained before smoothing out as if nothing had happened. A fact Timoteo chose to ignore in favour of finally having this conversation.

"I-if you insist, then I guess it's ok."

His eyes softened. Tsunayoshi really hadn't changed much in the past year. He was still a stuttering mess one moment, and the next he'd be powerful, infallible Vongola Decimo. The transformation was bewildering every single time he saw it, without exceptions. It seemed, though, that it wasn't taking place now, since he was still a bundle of nerves, just like before. However...

However, there was something; something about him that was different in so many senses of the word, even though nothing looked out of place. It was a shadow, a flash of darkness hidden beneath the surface. Something that made his hairs stand on end and, at the same time, made his heart ache with foreign grief.

He wanted to know, really wanted to know what had happened. What had given birth to that shadow. But it could jeopardize his already tentative deal with his heir and this wasn't the time anyway. Maybe one day, when his successor could really trust him. Until then, sating his curiosity would have to wait.

As the last few details of the deal were hammered down, Tsunayoshi finally brought up the subject he'd been anticipating.

"But what do we do about the Inheritance Ceremony? I mean I've already gone through it, but that one was fake and it was interrupted anyway. Besides, you don't have the Sin. Or the Punishment, for that matter."

"I've already thought of a solution for that. You don't have to worry."

The brunet looked at him expectantly. He just smiled back mysteriously. The boy sighed in resignation, seemingly used to having important information kept from him until the crucial moment. With Reborn as a tutor, he probably was.

At that moment, someone knocked on his office door and his secretary, a woman who would be retiring very soon, poked her head in, "Sir, you have a meeting with the Giegue representative in fifteen minutes. It'll take some time to get to the designated meeting place." So please wrap this up now, were her loudly silent words.

"It seems our conversation must draw to an end now, Tsunayoshi. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

He hesitated for a second, then shook his head. "No, that was all. T-thank you for having us."

"Don't thank me. It was nothing." he replied as he watched them walk for the door, until something caught his eye. "I hadn't noticed before, Tsunayoshi. Is that necklace new?"

For a split second, the brunet tensed, before replying in a slightly raw voice. "Yes. It's a... memento." And with that, he walked briskly towards the door and left.

Timoteo, however, had decades of experience with handling politics and Mafia Bosses. He knew how to read between the lines. And his successor, in all his endearing amateurishness, did not know how to hide the true meaning of his words yet.

That silver chain, which had once held the Sky Half Ring, now had a small, narrow glass container dangling from it, which was filled with some rolled-up, tattered, light blue fabric with tiny, almost invisible red-brown stains. Completely irrelevant to anyone except the boy whose contradicting grief and determination were clearly visible whenever he grabbed it.

It was indeed a memento, but not just of a person.

It was a memento mori.


"Tsu-kun, you'll be gone for a few days, right?" said the deceptively young looking woman that he called his mother.

"M-hm."

She flashed him that brilliant smile that reminded him so much of- "Could you do me a favour then, Tsu-kun?"

His former train of thought derailed, he gazed at her curiously, wordlessly urging her on. Her smile widened a fraction and she handed him an envelope, small, white and simple, "Could you give this to your father while you're wherever you're going? I haven't been able to contact him lately, so I thought a letter would do."

He was already in mid-nodding when his mind finally caught up with the implications of her words. He froze and his eyes widened.

Her smile didn't waver at all, not for a single moment, but something else made itself known. A shade of... mischievousness? She thanked him energetically and he could only stutter out incomplete thoughts.

"How- Wha-"

She turned back to him just as she was about to leave the room and mouthed two words.

Those two words snapped him out of his daze and he suddenly saw his mother in a completely new light. Making a split second decision that he was sure he wouldn't regret, he called out to her before she left. "Mom! I-I need... When I come back... we need to talk. It's important."

She looked at him for a moment, as if assessing him, and then nodded in a serious manner that was somehow not at all diminished by the almost sparkly smile still on her lips. Then, turning around, she left he son alone in his room once again while he wondered if this was how his guardians felt whenever he actually aimed his smiles to disarm.

Tsuna looked down at his hand, or more precisely, the small envelope it held, and was reminded of those two words spoken a mere minute before that had completely changed his perspective of his mother in less than a second.

"Mother's Intuition."

He sighed.


Life was...

Life was...

It was...

Oh, to hell with it. For Lal Mirch, life was many things, but right now, it was completely, utterly and plainly boring.

The CEDEF may have been part of the Mafia, but it wasn't outright involved in anything. They were a sort of neutral party in Vongola's strange times of peace, the blockade that kept them from going nuts on the underworld (not that they weren't pretty close to it already). So, when there was no war or invasion or double crossing or internal conflict or challenge going on, they didn't really have much to do.

Scratch that. They had absolutely nothing to do.

Nothing except actually working in the supposed company that was their cover. What that company was even all about, she had no idea nor interest in. She was a fighter, a soldier, and that was the end of it. No one, not even that idiot Iemitsu, was going to stick her to a chair for an office job. She was not having it. Period.

So it came as no surprise when news of a small, strange teenager in their lobby spread like wildfire throughout the whole building, only much faster. As much as the CEDEF's cover was supposed to be some kind of business, the didn't get any clients. Not really.

And because she was utterly bored and didn't have anything better to do, she went downstairs to investigate what the whole uproar was about. It couldn't be as interesting as it was portrayed, but it would have to do.

The moment the elevator doors opened to let her out, Lal learned how easy it was to eat her own words.

"My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. I'm looking for Sawada Iemitsu. I need to give him something." said the familiar brunet standing in front of the receptionist, who was trying very hard not to gape. She was not succeeding in her attempts.

Lal shook herself out of her stupor – what the hell was he doing here – and walked up to him, "Tsuna."

At the familiar voice, said boy turned to look at her and his face broke into an adorab- insufferable grin. "Lal! I-it's been a while. How are you doing?"

She stared at him, ignoring both the greeting and the question, and then sighed heavily. "What are you doing here, Tsuna?"

His grin turned into a gentle frown, which vanished as quickly as it had appeared, a resigned expression in its place. "My mom asked me to give this to dad, since he isn't picking up her calls. Not that it's anything new." The last part was muttered under his breath, but she got it all the same. She looked at the envelope he was holding, then back to his face.

"He isn't here right now. But I can hold on to it until he comes back." she told him plainly.

The somewhat bitter expression on his face clearly stated that he hadn't expected any less. "Thanks Lal. I'll be going then. Don't want to take too much of your time." he said after handing her the letter.

She received it, all the way staring at him intensely, her brows creased in concentration as if looking for something. Tsuna fidgeted a bit before asking, "Um, i-is something w-wrong?"

He was met with silence until she seemingly found what she had been looking for, apparently not at all pleased by it if the thinly veiled frustration and disapproval on her face was anything to go by.

"What happened?"

"H-huh?"

"There's something about you. Something different. What happened?" she repeated.

At once, his demeanour made a U-turn. Gone was the the sweet, clumsy child. In his place stood a jaded teenager, sad for the world and angry at himself, radiating a sense of power and superiority she had only caught glimpses of before – there was also a hint of guilt and blood in the air around him. And it took her breath away.

"So my father hasn't told you yet? Or perhaps he doesn't even know. It wouldn't be the first time. For all the spies he's stationed there, he knows absolutely nothing." he said with a bitter, deprecating smile. If at himself, at his father or the world, she could not discern.

He then turned to leave, but not before saying, "I can't be sure, but I think that letter has it covered. So ask him when he comes back." He gripped the pendant that hung from his neck. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going there now. I can't." were his last words, whispered in a hoarse voice, before he left the building.

Perhaps life was getting less boring after all, Lal contemplated in her stunned silence.


It came out of nowhere.

One moment, he was looking out the classroom window, wondering where Tsuna had disappeared off to for the last four days and paying no attention to class whatsoever. The next, he felt it.

It was a strange feeling, like something pulling at his heart or a speck of light leading him somewhere. He looked down at his necklace, where it seemed to originate from, and the feeling intensified, turned more urgent as he watched a soft blue glow emanating from his pendant.

Quickly, urgently, he gazed around until he met a certain pair of eyes, and noticed that his belt was also giving off a soft glow, this time red.

That confirmed his suspicions. It had never happened before, because there had never been a need for it. But somehow, for some unexplainable reason, he knew what was happening.

The Vongola Guardians were being summoned.

He watched as Gokudera hurriedly stood up and rushed out of the classroom, not even bothering to give their sensei some kind of excuse. Takeshi himself did almost the same, though he was considerate enough to at least spout some ridiculous excuse along the lines of stopping the other from blowing up the bathroom.

The teacher just sighed resignedly. They'll be gone soon, he told himself. Only a few months until graduation.

Now, if only time would fly faster.


Unexpectedly, they didn't have to walk (read: run) for too long until they reached their unknown destination.

There, leaning against the old railings of the roof, head tilted upwards to look at the sky, was Tsuna, with Reborn standing off to the side.

Hibari was already there, seemingly irritated for the interruption of his patrolling, but still there. Chrome appeared near Tsuna in that misty way of hers with her whole entourage (Mukuro, Ken, Chikusa, MM and even Fran), who apparently had insisted on coming along. Lambo, who had been enrolled in Namimori Elementary earlier that year on Mamma's insistence, came in gasping for breath since he had run all the way to Tsuna-nii's school (not that both schools were very far apart). The last one to arrive was Ryohei, staring at their Sky all the way with a quiet intensity that seemed somehow even louder than his usual behaviour – although said behaviour had stopped being usual lately, and for a good reason.

Once they were all there, a tense silence enveloped them. Every single one of the Guardians stared at the Sky's back expectantly, waiting, anticipating, hoping. The Mist group, except for Mukuro, started wondering if it had really been a good idea to come here. They felt like they were intruding in something intimate, something that shouldn't be looked upon by outsiders. But before they could attempt to leave, Tsuna turned around.

"I'm sorry that I called you all here all of sudden."

"That's not a problem, Juudaime. You can do so whenever you want to!" countered Gokudera without missing a beat, which earned him a grateful smile in return.

"Tsuna... did you...?" his attention was diverted to his Sun, who seemed torn between worry and relief. He shook his head.

"No, I decided against it in the end. Killing is a last resort, no exceptions. But you won't be hearing from the Formica Famiglia any time soon. Or ever."

At his words, a chill ran down the spines of most present. They had all, in one way or another, found about the incident of two weeks ago. Both about Kyouko and... the Mafiosi that had started it all. Both their fates were well known among this group.

Takeshi hesitated for a moment before braving the question that had been plaguing him for a while now, "Tsuna... that time... what... why...?" or attempting to, at least.

Tsuna's gaze shifted to his Rain before he looked down."I... I was sad. I was angry. I hated those men for what they did to-to Kyouko-chan. I couldn't think straight and let my emotions overcome me." then he looked back up, and his eyes were glowing orange with an indescribable intensity. "But that's no excuse. I shouldn't have done that. Right now, I can't do anything about it but regret it from the deepest confines of my soul. So, as long as it isn't completely, utterly necessary, as long as it's not your life against theirs, taking lives is not among my options. But should it come to that, I will protect you and the rest of my precious people to the best of my ability."

A moment passed in awe-filled silence as his Guardians listened, watched him, and were left utterly breathless by the sheer resolve in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, let it out slowly and continued, "That's why... that's why I've accepted the position. I will take over the Vongola as Decimo. Everything is already prepared. So I ask you," and he looked at each of them, to emphasize his next words, "Will you come with me?"

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

Three heartbeats.

A sliver of doubt-

"Of course, Juudaime!"

"Maa, what made you think otherwise, Tsuna?"

"Let's have an extreme match when everything's done, Sawa- erm, Tsuna!"

"Yes, Boss!"

"Does the Vongola have grape candy too? If not, we have to take a whole package there! You hear that, Tsuna-nii?"

"Hn." but that wasn't the Cloud's only reply. He stood up and walked over to the now smiling Sky, "But you're making a branch in Namimori." he said, startling the brunet.

Before he could shriek in a girly (hey!) manner, an idea suddenly overcame said instinct and he nodded. "That's actually not a bad idea. I can present it as a simple expansion, like the base in Spain." the idea of having a Mafia base in Namimori didn't really sit well with him, but Hibari-san would demand to take over and the Disciplinary Committee would most probably follow. With his Cloud's borderline obsession with 'preserving the peace in Namimori', that particular branch would likely resemble a vigilante group more than the Mafia, which was what he was aiming for with the entire organization anyway. "But you'll have to come to Italy for a while until it's all settled, Hibari-san."

The older teen (almost man) just looked at him and then turned around. "That's acceptable. I'll be taking Kusakabe with me." and he left, probably not to the the high school Tsuna was pretty sure he was supposed to be attending.

After a moment, Chrome decided to approach him, "A-ano, Boss. About M-mukuro-sama and the others-"

"They can come if they want to." Tsuna answered with a kind smile. "I'm sure grandpa won't mind and my door is always open."

She bowed, almost hiding the dazzling beaming expression on her face, but not quite. "Arigatou, Boss."

"Kufufu, let's see what I can make of this, Tsunayoshi-kun." he inwardly winced at his sort-of-other-Mist-Guardian's scheming tone.

"Tsuna," and hadn't Reborn been calling him Dame-Tsuna a lot less lately? "come. We need to keep up your Italian lessons." This time, the wince actually appeared on his face, but he still left the roof with his chest feeling suspiciously light.

It had been the right decision, and right now, no one could convince him otherwise.


AN:

welcome to another chappie of Redemption. hmm, it seems more and more that I'll actually keep writing this thing. it keeps me entertained. although more than half of the chapter sneaked its way in after I started writing.

so, a few clarifications: I decided against having tsuna kill them in the end for reasons listed above. Yes, Chrome is now the official Mist Guardian, not Mukuro. I mean, c'mon, she's far more trustworthy and wherever she goes, mukuro follows anyway so it's not that much of a loss. as for Lambo, he should be around eight right now, so I thought Nana would probably usher him to school, with tsuna supporting her decision all the way. and yes, the blue fabric in Tsuna's pendant is the omamori Kyouko gave him.

oh, and a memento mori was something often used in paintings way back when. generally speaking, it's something (a symbol was it?) that reminds you of death, that it's everywhere and can catch up with anyone at any time.

welp, on that overly cheerful note, I hoped you enjoyed this.