HELP: While checking the chapters for Mahou Mafia Tutor, I noticed I accidentally took down a chapter, and its deleted; anybody know how I can get that back or are just such an amazing super fan they saved a copy, or were in the process of trying to plagiarize me and have it on them, please PM me. It was the Lambo chapter. And not to guilt trip anyone, but it's a loss that's really kicking my will to write in the teeth. I loved that chapter, and I honestly don't know if I can recapture it from scratch.

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Chapter 2 Setting the Foundations

4:37 a.m. In a castle outside Palermo, Italy

'BOOOM!'

"GODDAMMIT STUPID COW IT'S TOO DAMN EARLY FOR THIS SHIT!"

"SHUT UP MONKEY, YOUR SCREAMING IS CAUSING MORE NOISE THAN ANY OF US!"

"GUYS BE QUIET TSUNA HAS TO WAKE UP IN A FEW MINUTES!"

"SHUT UP BASEBALL IDIOT, IT'S THIS DEVIL WOMAN MAKING ALL THE NOISE!"

'BOOOOOOOOM!'

"DAMMIT STUPID COW I SAID IT'S TOO FUCKING EARLY"

"EXTREME EARLY MORNING SHOUTING CONTEST!"

"SHUT UP RYOHEI/TURFTOP/IDIOT!"


"Well, that's certainly one way to wake up" Akira said sweat dropping as she watched the rapidly ensuing chaos; it was definitely an abrupt change in tone from the last vision

"Sure, let's call it that." Tsuna groaned rubbing his hand over his face, already drained without being in the room

"Cheer up Tsuna, at least you weren't electrocuted this time." Yamamato laughed, looking at the 'bright side', while the Mahora crew mumbled to themselves incredulously. Electrocuted?

"Idiots, disrupting the Tenth's precious beauty sleep!" Gokudera immediately went off on the other Guardians

"You're there too Mr. Storm" Chrome pointed out in a rare vocal moment, making Gokudera blush

"Ha ha ha, she got you Octopus Head!" Ryohei laughed

"Shut up Turf top" Gokudera roared

"Monkey's" Hana grumbled, she couldn't believe she would have to be stuck in here with these idiots for hours… or weeks… Ugh

Suddenly they were cut off by Makie and Misora laughing hysterically, when they turned to the… eccentric… girls, Makie continued laughing and pointing

"Y-you, cough, you sound ha, exactly like the people you're insulting!" she broke off in a fit of giggles, while the Vongola teens paused, looking at the image and their own behavior, before calming down with an embarrassed flush.

Hana especially seemed irritated at "Copying herself" like some of the others had in the last 'chapter'.

"Why am I even there?" she grumbled at possibly being a part of whatever criminal activity their other selves were getting into, while Kyoko patted the girl on the back soothingly


'One day', one Tsunayoshi Sawada thought to himself dead eyed as he stared at the criminally small numbers on his alarm clock, 'God as my witness, one day I WILL snap, and I WILL murder every last one them in THEIR sleep.'

Because of course after his friends had gotten the idea to throw him a farewell party (the night before he had to be up at 5 a.m. to take a flight to one of the most important meetings of his career) that lasted till past midnight, AND he'd had to stay up an extra two hours to arrange for the damages they had all drunkenly incurred to be taken care of; they would no doubt decide to wake him up a good thirty minutes early with their arguing.

Of Course.

Judging by the slight slur in Hana's voice, Takeshi's unnecessary volume when telling them to be quiet, and Ryohei's Ryohei-ness, they likely hadn't slept the alcohol out of their system. This left no excuse for Lambo, who was a child and kept firmly away from alcohol, and Hayato who would be at this meeting with him and like Tsuna had abstained from drinking last night. But then again Hayato was operating on just as little sleep, and he had an idea of why little adopted brother was deliberately being such a brat to explode, whatever it was he was exploding to make that unnecessary noise.


There was an uncomfortable shifting among the Vongola teens before they were distracted by an important fact

"He's calling us by our first names" Hana observantly noted, not sure if she was pleased with that fact or not, before deciding she didn't really care if Sawada used her name

He peers where much less blasé of that fact, and the Mahora group looked over curiously at their stunned faces

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ayaka asked; the girl had remained mostly silent throughout their interactions, but now she was focused intensely on Tsuna, to his confusion and discomfort

"Tsuna never calls the guys by our first names" Yamamato explained "I think the only reason he call's Ryohei-Sempai's sister by her name is to differentiate the two, and Haru is too pushy to except anything less."

Both Haru and Kyoko pouted at him

At that there was a brief pause as the others considered that; Enma almost pointed out that Tsuna had called him by first name for almost as long as they had known each other, but chose to keep it to himself. As odd as it was, his new… friend… seemed almost more comfortable with him (a total stranger) then he did his own Guardians.

Not that Enma blamed him, his own Guardians could intimidate him sometimes 'despite me knowing them even longer', he thought glancing at Adel who seemed determined to watch the proceedings like a silent observant hawk, having the minimal interaction with the Vongola crew.

"Why don't you just call them by name?" Konoka asked curious, everyone in their class did that with each other, having been a part of the same class for years

"That would be rude!?" Tsuna shouted back appalled, interestingly getting an affirming nod from the little professor next to him

"What's rude about it, we're all friends here" Yamamato brushed off easily

"I'm Not/ Don't claim such things herbivore" Mukuro and Hibari immediately rebutted, before glaring at each other for apparently agreeing with each other about disagreeing

"Go ahead and try it, just go Takeshi, ~Ta-ke-shi~" Yamamato sang, ignoring the other two's input as if they hadn't said anything

"Oi, don't force Tenth to act personal with you, baseball idiot!" Gokudera said standing up for his boss

"Ah, c'mon Hayato, I'm sure you want him to say your name too, right?" Yamamato 'soothed'

Gokudera flushed a deep red, before giving shy glances at Tsuna; apparently, he really wanted to hear it too, if he didn't even snap at Yamamato using his given name.

Tsuna was about to speak up and put a stop to all this when a quiet voice interrupted

"I wouldn't mind, hearing the boss calling my name affectionately"

"C-chrome!?" Tsuna stared incredulously at where the quiet voice came from

"Extreme! You can Extremely call me Ryo-nii" Ryohei shouted, while Tsuna cringed at the cutesy affectionate nick name. Never.

"This is amazing" Misora whispered in awe, at the oncoming brawl, not even Asuna and Ayaka were this hair trigger, "All this started with a name."

"They're all morons." Chisame grumbled unimpressed, as the rest of her classmates watched in anticipation

"Oi, I told you to stop pushing the tenth you idiots!" Gokudera snapped at the rise in attempts to get Tsuna to call them casually

"Gokudera!" Tsuna suddenly yelled, making the rest of the group go quiet and turn their attention on him.

"Tenth?" Gokudera question wearily as Tsuna clenched his fist and looked like he was preparing to say something serious.

"…H… H-Hayato" Tsuna stuttered out going bright red, causing a pause to go through the area

A moment later Yamamato snorted, and several others had to look away holding their nose, a teenage boy shouldn't sound so cute

"T-tenth, you don't have to strain yourself for someone like me!" Gokudera immediately shouted face a bright pink, as he slammed his head into the ground with a bow

"Goku- H-Hayato! Please don't hurt yourself!" Tsuna screeched trying to stop him, unknowingly making it worse as Gokudera exploded with (presumed) undeserved happiness

"Pfft, why do you guys sound like some middle school girls on their first date" Yamamato roared, ignoring the annoyed scoffs and giggles from the side of the room filled with middle school girls.

"Are we ready to start now?" Shizuna asked after Tsuna spent a moment going around the room, calling his friends by their first names to various levels of amusement. The moody boy, Kyoya, was by far the most amusing; especially when he asked/threatened that if the "degenerate" was going to call him anything at all, he might as well just call him Kyo.

Truly, such a lively group of kids for supposed mafioso

'At least the girls are more at ease with their presence' Shizuna thought, trading a knowing glance with Takahata, noting the more relaxed state of the student's shoulders after watching the ridiculous byplay of the criminal gang


Letting out a defeated groan, Tsuna pulled himself into a sitting position, idly noting the presence of his other two adopted siblings who had snuck into bed with him for his final night in Italy for the foreseeable future.

A small smile twitched especially at little Fuuta's presence, the boy was fourteen closing quickly on fifteen; the young man had told him not two years ago (quite passionately at that) that he was too big to sleep in his brother's bed anymore and would not do so again. This was maybe the eighth time he'd broken his promise this year.


"You too huh?" Asuna mock grumbled, sending a dry glare at the little boy between the two of them

"A-asuna" Negi whined, getting amused looks from those who knew the boy's "night time habits" and curious ones from everyone else

Fuuta who was on the ground with the other kids, merely leaned back against his brother's legs as Tsuna patted the top of his head in affection

"Well, that confirms it" Hana noted, "The Sawada in this universe is at a later age than our own."

"If Fuuta is fourteen, then that means Tsuna-kun is either eighteen or nineteen?" Haru estimated out loud, as the others leaned forward eagerly to get a glimpse of the future Tsuna

His picture alone had been the most mysterious during their trip to the future, and no one had gotten even a glance at him


Little I pin laid (somehow) scrunched up underneath him, her elbow digging into the older boy's neck; neither seemed to notice or care, sleeping through the still going on chaos happening outside of the room.


Current I pin hugged Fuuta around his neck, even as the older boy grimaced at the image of his little sister's elbow in his neck

"That is so cute" Chizuru and Haru, the nurturers and daycare volunteers of the group, squealed

Ayaka merely looked on with a wistful smile on her face, as she imagined a chubby faced little brother slipping into her bed when he felt scared or wanting company…

"Yeah, as long as their asleep" Tsuna muttered under his breath


Pressing a kiss to both of their heads, this would be the last time he'd be seeing them for a while, he got up and got dressed in the suit and tie that had been laid out for him the night before, letting out a small hiss when his shirt rubbed against his newest in a long line of scars across his chest.


Ako winced, she wanted to be a nurse someday and regularly volunteered at the nurse's office with Shizuna-sensei, but she still was squeamish when it came to bodily injuries.

Her own scar on her back gave a phantom ache at the sight of the literal road map on the other boys

"You have a lot of scars" Negi thought aloud staring at the map of slashes and disturbingly large amount of burns, and oddly enough what looked like an animal bite

It reminded him of Eishun's chest; would he too have scars that covered him like that too? Would he be lucky enough to survive that long?

The rest of the room stared at the image with hard eyes, their thoughts wondering in similar directions. Some were even rubbing their own bodies, no doubt where long ago wounds were inflected.

Gokudera and Yamamato in particular looked murderous as the counted the scars, considering each one a failure on their parts to protect the person they cared about the most

"I guess I do" Tsuna whispered staring at a mark on his center chest, idly rubbing the same ident on his chest from where Lancia's ring stopped Byakuran nearly pierced his heart.

"Forget the scars, do you see the rest of him!?" Haruna yelled interrupting the solemn moment, "Holy crap he's hot! Who would have thought that baby face would grow into something so sexy?"

And like that any solemnity was lost as the girls divided into scandalous gasps and approving hums, and suddenly Tsuna felt a lot less melancholy. Rather, he crossed his hands across his chest, like a woman trying to hide her assets, and tried to meld his body into the couch.


It was still a little sensitive to the silky material most of his clothes were made out of, and to think Big Brother Dino kept trying to get him to get some tattoos. Why on earth would he willingly stab himself with a needle to create a fancy shaped wound he wouldn't be allowed to heal with Flame Power?

Before stepping out to greet the chaos that was his Famiglia, he saw a blue flashing light on his phone indicating a message. Tsuna grabbed at it seeing it was a message from his Chief Advisor and former home tutor, Reborn.


Reborn raised his eyebrow at that; he hadn't planned on staying with Tsuna after his training was complete, just as he hadn't with Dino, or any others he trained. What had this Tsuna done to get him to settle down?

"Woah, he got Reborn to settle down, kora" Colonel let out an impressed whistle as the others looked at the hitman in question


With a raised eyebrow he read the last-minute advice from the man who'd made him who he was today, only to deadpan a second later.

{Message Sent Today 3:58 a.m.

Sender: The Demon

'Dame-Tsuna I know it's your want to do, but don't fuck up your meeting.

If you make the Vongola look bad I'll hunt you down and kill you.

Signed World's Greatest Hitman Reborn' }


"That was… encouraging?"

"That was him being nice" Tsuna deadpanned

What's he like when he's not


Tsuna stared at the message with a bland face as his tutor pretty much made it apparent he expected Tsuna to fail; he'd even added a set of nonstandard emoji miming Tsuna being shot in the head, all ending with his signature arrogant title.

"Asshole"

*Bling, Bling*

New Message

Tsuna blinked at tapped the message when he saw it was from Reborn again.

{Message Sent Today 4:48 a.m.

Sender: The Demon

'For calling me an asshole your training will be upped 3x'}

'Is there a listening device on my phone' Tsuna thought, not putting it past his sadist advisor

*Bling, Bling*

New Message

{Message Sent Today 4:49 a.m.

Sender: The Demon

'No listening devices you're just easy to read Dame-Tsuna'}

"How would you even know what my face is like!?" Tsuna yelled at the phone

*Bling, Bling*

New Message

{Message Sent Today 4:50 a.m.

Sender: The Demon

'I'm the World's Greatest Hitman'}

'Are the capital letters really needed,' Tsuna thought not even phased by arrogant response

*Bling, Bling*

New Message

{Message Sent Today 4:50 a.m.

Sender: The Demon

'YES, THEY ARE NEEDED'}

"NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF!" Tsuna yelled at the phone

"Oi, Sawada, you sound like you're awake in there?" He heard a voice coming from outside the door, and sighed putting his phone away,

"Yeah, I'm coming now Hana"


"You two are hilarious" Konoka giggled at what she saw as friendly bickering, "You must have a close relationship!"

"Yeah, we're… great" Tsuna said in a strained deadpanned, even as he questioned how anyone could think he had a friendly relationship with that demon

Unbeknownst to him, he and Reborn were making the exact same expression on their faces (with Reborn's being a bit smoother), only serving to make those who noticed giggle harder

Hana meanwhile ignored the byplay, instead staring at the vision with growing apprehension; she was about to see her future self for the first time, a future version of her who had gotten involved with the monkeys on a life of crime


When Tsuna stepped outside the door, it was to the controlled chaos that was Vongola HQ.

Vongola Head Quarters was a massive castle sitting just outside the city of Palermo that function both as a home for the elite members of the Famiglia and their various subordinates, as well as a center of business. The original castle was built nearly four hundred years ago by their founder Vongola Primo, all together the castles had undergone no less than 126 renovations, 7 expansions, and had had to be rebuilt entirely from the ground up twice, both times using the schematics of the original.


There were impressed whistles all around, from the Mahora and Mafia crews alike, as many got their first glance at the Vongola's ancestral home. The vision taking the time to pan around and show the sheer expanse of the castle, the beautiful stone, the view of the wild and city life, and everything in between.

"It's amazing" Negi freely gaped in awe, this was definitely worlds away from anything he'd seen at home, even from anything he'd seen in Japan, "Look you can see where the architects took inspiration from the renaissance in the building of the, but the, what is that a courtyard/parking area, that's definitely a modern twist on the roman…"

"And there he goes" Asuna smiled fondly as she watched him go off into an academic ramble about things she had no idea about, it been awhile since she'd seen him dork out like this, "he gets like this from time to time" she explained for the benefit of their visitors.

"It's fine, we have one too" Yamamato smiled as he gave an easy gesture to where Gokudera had leaned forward and taken to inform the boy about the history of the castles and the Vongola's general love for 15 Century Art in their halls.

Many of the Mahora girls looked surprised as the scowling delinquent boy started spitting out intelligent facts that went over most of their heads

"Meh, I've seen better" Evangeline shrugged, this whole situation was only vaguely interesting to her, as far as she was concerned they were still at the intro of the story, she was ready for the good part. And by good part she meant the part where she came in

"Okay, let's put a hold on that" Asuna spoke up interrupting the two academics, before they could get into a full on debate "you guys can dork out over that when we're done here, for now just make a note or something and we'll get back to it later."

Taking her advice, both boys added the topic of discussion to their notes


The building itself was never asleep; people were constantly coming and going at all hours of the night and day, typically depending on how legal the business was. Even here in the residential section of the mighty castle there was usually a clean-up crew present cleaning up the Famiglia's latest mess. In this case, Tsuna's going away party; tame compared to most family get-to-togethers, no burnt furniture, markedly small amounts of bullet holes, and there was only two- no three, random barn animals on the premises.


"Wow, you guys sure par-" Akira started, before being shushed by a wired Hana

"No more interruptions!" the serious girl silenced, her entire attention on the sloppy pants suit wearing version of herself that had just entered the picture


"The idjit monkeys are causing trouble", a clearly sleep deprived looking Hana Kurokawa, groused to him. Her eyes were red, her hair out of place, and oh dear had she said 'idjit' instead of idiot; to be using improper grammar, Hana must be very out of sorts indeed.

"I'll take care of it Hana, why don't you get back to bed and I'll send Ryohei-nii to you when I'm done, okay?" he replied kindly.


Gokudera who had been taking a drink to quench his now dry throat after debating with the tiny teacher, immediately began choking and coughing, as the rest of the room slowly turned to the now frozen girl and boxer

"…Hana?" Kyoko finally braved when her friend didn't blink for almost a minute

"NO!" Hana said coming back to life, "No, I just- No no NO!"

"Apparently yes, yes, yes" Haruna smirked, her eyebrows wiggling

Hana turned on the smirking girl with a mad look in her eyes

"No! I would never, ever-, not even my type I-, I like cool good-looking guys! Cool!" the girl shouted missing Ryohei's wince

"Extremely no tears Ryohei, no tears" Ryohei mumbled to himself in a depressed huddle as he was indirectly rejected by his 'promised girl'

"Be strong Sempai" Yamamato patted the boxer sympathetically on the shoulder

Tsuna, who had faced his own rejection from said boxer's own sister, looked on with pity and empathy

"Ryoheiiii fight" Tsuna whispered in a low tone, not wanting to attract the attention of the still frantic Hana

"Fight" every single male in the room (minus Reborn, the bastard) muttered their quiet support

Eventually the girl sat back down, and they continued their viewing


"Y-yeah, that's fine" the girl mumbled, a bit of red appearing on her cheeks, clearly embarrassed at how blatantly he called her out on the fact that the young couple was sharing a bed.


Hana groaned, and Ryohei went an interesting shade of pink, but both refrained from commenting, their friends giving them both soothing pats on the back and smug grins for separate reasons


'Hana pacified, and vengeance for interrupting my sleep executed'

Was it petty that Tsuna was deliberately putting a good friend on the spot for something mostly not her fault? Yes, yes it was. Did he care? No, no he didn't. Tsuna was a boss, a teacher, a big brother, a fighter, an occasional lover, and the generally overworked employee of his task master grandfather; sleep was a commodity more precious to him than fine wine, gold, and in rare cases his own mother. You bet your ass he was going to avenge it like it was his long-lost son passed away before its time.


Present Tsuna grunted his approval, while those who knew him, couldn't help but make the comparison to how Reborn would've handled the situation and thought perhaps the younger boy may be getting corrupted by his teacher.

Those who didn't however sweat dropped at how vindictive the sweet-faced boy was being over waking him up less than thirty minutes early


"Good night, or rather morning Hana, I'll see you in a month or two."

"Y-yeah, night Sawada, have a safe trip." She mumbled before turning in the direction of her, or rather Ryohei's room.

Chuckling Tsuna continued on his way down the hall until he reached the family dining room, not to be confused with the Famiglia dining room used to host other Famiglia, or the Posh-men dining room used to host some wealthy someone or other that didn't have any particular connections to the Underworld.

Along the way he tiredly smiled and expressed commiserating nods with equally tired staff members all too eager to switch out with the morning staff that started their shift at six.

He even pointed out to one poor girl maybe a year or two younger than him, who'd dropped her gun a few feet back, clearly still new as her name didn't immediately come to him; all Vongola staff were deadly trained and armed at any given time, the night shift in particular.

The girl had flushed a pretty pink, and thanked and apologized to him in rapid Italian. Tsuna had merely laughed and tried to let his Internal Sky Flames (the invisible life force that Mafioso used to fight and bond with one another) wash over and comfort her.

Which apparently had not been the right thing to do; he'd underestimated exactly how new the girl was to the Vongola and Flame Power in general, because as Tsuna's flames (his very essence) washed over her, her face went pinker and her eyes dazed at his smile. Before Tsuna could awkwardly excuse himself, Middy an older member of the crew appeared out of nowhere and yanked the other girl by the arm away from him, but not before giving him an admonishing glare.


Present Tsuna flushed a pretty pink as the other teenagers in the room started to giggle at the accidental flirtation

"What did you do just now?" Takahata said speaking up, curious on the manipulations of Flames

Surprised but eager to get away from the embarrassment of his future self's accident, Tsuna took on a contemplating look

"Ah, I- or he, probably just tugged on their bond" Tsuna said, but realizing that nobody could tell what he was talking about he tried to find another way to explain his limited knowledge; thinking back on those cheesy propaganda videos Reborn used to show him he continued, "Ah, flame users can make bonds with each other like a family, certain users can feel and tug on those bonds for comfort… like giving them a hug, to remind them your there and care for them."

Tsuna quickly cut off his explanation, not wanting to give too much away about the mafia and drag these people in any more than they had to be; it didn't help that he could feel Reborn's silent approval of his appealing explanation (even now he could see some of the girls contemplating making such a bond) without giving away information about 'Our Thing'.

And no, he wasn't blushing from that approval, shut up…

"I see" Takahata said rubbing his beard in thought, but merely waved away the questioning glances he got, 'I'm sure we'll get more detailed information later.'


"Stop staring into space stupid girl and get back to work, you still got an hour left, your shift ain't over!" She tore into the young woman even as she dragged her away.

"S-sorry Signora", but Tsuna didn't miss how her eyes flicked back to him, neither apparently did the older groundkeeper if the narrowed eyes she shot him meant anything. Tsuna could only smile apologetically and continued on his way to the dining room only to run into,

"SAWADA, GOOD MORNING WE ARE HAVING AN EXTREMELY EXTREME EARLY MORNING SHOUTING MATCH."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP TURF TOP, NO WE'RE NOT!" screamed a voice from the room up ahead.

"Ryo-nii" Tsuna replied back calmly, as he gazed at sleep desecrator number two.


Tsuna cringed, he actually got Tsuna to use that embarrassing nickname?

Three seats down Ryohei beamed at the name his 'cute little brother' gave him


Ryohei Sasagawa, Tsuna's own "Guardian of the Sun", just as Brow Nie Jr. was Grandpa Ninth's; a tall tanned young man just hitting twenty, a powerful boxer and wielder of particularly energetic Sun Flames, and an older brother figure of Tsuna since middle school. He was Tsuna's inner circle's trainer, heavy hitter, and aspiring medic.


"You're the medic?" Setsuna asked a touch incredulously; the boy they met didn't seem the academic type, and his future self seemed even larger, louder, and generally more intimidating, rippling muscles freely exposed on screen.

"Sun Flames can be Extremely used to heal!" Ryohei cheerfully explained, while not really explaining anything, even giving a little fist pump

"Onii-chan loves to help people" Kyoko nodded along

All three were totally oblivious to the silence in the room as the rest of the girls seemed very intent at staring at… the future.

Hana herself seemed to be a little dazed as she stared


He was also the president of the Disturbing Tsuna's Precious Sleep Club, and had oh so graciously delivered himself to Tsuna for his humiliating punishment without having to be hunted down.

"Ryo-nii you seem upbeat…more so than usual anyway." Tsuna replied oh so pleasantly, "How much sleep have you gotten?"

"NONE, I'VE STAYED EXTEMELY AWAKE THIS WHOLE TIME TO SAY GOOD BYE TO YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE!"

Which was pretty much the conclusion Tsuna had drawn; now then, how best to use this, hmm. What did he have to work with, an overly hyper Ryohei for one who despite his energy his body was probably begging for him to stop. Ryohei's sister was (thankfully) not present so he couldn't use her, but he did have a frustrated Hana who was waiting for him in his room.

If anybody asked, the smirk that briefly came over his face was only because he'd had a wonderful idea on how to help his brother work out that excess energy; it was not devilish, or Reborn-like in the slightest.

"Hey Ryo-nii, I won't be leaving for another hour," he started off innocently, " and it would be terribly unfair to make you wait that whole time, why don't you go ask Lussuria-nee(que shiver) for an early morning spar, I'm sure he/she would be up for it."

The shemale probably would be too any other time, he/she had made clear his/her interest in Ryohei's body long ago, a fact that would ordinarily make Ryohei keep his distance… ordinarily.

Right now Ryohei was running on such little sleep that what little safety precautions his brain actually had were long muted, and Lussuria, for all he/she was willing to play grab ass with him normally, took his/her beauty sleep Seriously, capital 'S'.

Lussuria, who slept on the other side of the castle with the rest of The Varia- Vongola's elite assassination squad- would most likely kick the ass of the energetic but sleep deprived Ryohei and the older man wouldn't have the strength to make it back to a sexually frustrated Hana any time soon.

Vengeance x2, and if it inconvenienced the Varia bastards who'd shown up ate his party food, drank his liquor, picked a fight with his guardians, and then left before clean up?... well strange coincidences happened all the time in the Vongola household.

"EXTREME IDEA SAWADA!" screamed the poor doomed fool.

"I do what I can to help Ryo-nii"

"EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME!" the fool sprinted away


There was a short silence as everyone in the room gave Tsuna weary glances

"That was…" Akira tried to come up with something to say, but ultimately let herself trail off

"That was hilarious!" Gokudera picked up, having no problem laughing at the turf top's misfortune; as soon as he broke, the rest of the Vongola party broke into laughing and giggling, more than aware of what awaited him if Future Ryohei bothered Lussuria of all people

Tsuna let out a sheepish smile, more than a little embarrassed that some of his private thoughts were broadcasted for everyone to hear, and even more so that his Future Self had the courage to actually act on those thoughts.

"Sorry Onii-san" Tsuna apologized sheepishly, but Ryohei merely shrugged him off with a good natured laugh

Hana, for her part, was just glad that nobody was drawing attention to the fact that other Sawada had referred to her as sexually frustrated. She of course knew that couples that shared a bed did… certain things…, but she didn't like having that advertised.

"Boss is turning into Reborn" Chrome quietly muttered to a horrified Tsuna

"Chrome! Don't joke like that, I'm not turning into that demon baby!" of course immediately after yelled this, he was kicked in the back of the head by said demon

"Dame-Tsuna, you would be lucky to have a fraction of my grace" Reborn admonished ruthlessly

"Grace my ass" Tsuna muttered, never one to let Reborn get the last word, and was immediately rewarded for his defiance by an arm bar from Reborn, making him scream

"Their terrible to each other" Chisame said lowly watching the ensuing violence with a cringe as the brown haired boy tapped out

Her statement received nods all around, except from a young Kotaro who looked on with glee like he wanted to join in, and Negi who didn't get much male interaction, and was watching them curiously.

When they settled back down the vision resumed playing


Tsuna continued on with his rather eventful journey to reach the dining room only to find it mostly clear, Takeshi and Lambo had most likely heard the vengeful Tsuna coming and had made tracks while he was busy with Ryohei.

Takeshi Yamamato, Tsuna's "Guardian of the Rain", wielder of the deadly calm Rain Flames a swordsman like many other rain users in the Mafia as well as an avid baseball player had been one of Tsuna's closest friends since middle school.

Takeshi, who had literal killer instincts, was staying at the Vongola Castle for the holidays, before returning to the states. After high school he'd been drafted by a major league baseball team in the states, during the off season he worked part time with the Varia and Reborn as Vongola's currently 5th best hitman.


"Congratulations Y-Takeshi" Tsuna cheered, choosing to focus on the achievement involving baseball, rather than the hitman part

"You've become a decent assassin" Reborn immediately added on, destroying Tsuna's intended compliment

"Ha ha thanks" Yamamato beamed, looking at the screen at his older sharper self: a fact that made it impossible to tell which compliment he was acknowledging, with him it could have been both


"Tsuna-sama" his right hand man, and one of two remaining people left in the room, greeted him from the table with a cup of coffee in hand.


"And there's the future doggy of the Vongola Decimo himself" Mukuro spoke up, pissing Gokudera off, but before he could speak up the Mahora girls once more made their approval known

"And another hottie joins the list" Haruna cried dramatically in mock upset, "Where do they grow you guys!"

"S-shut up!" Gokudera snapped embarrassed and irritated, his pretty looks had been a constant source of aggravation for him when he was still living on the streets; having such earnest and sweet girls compliment him was new and uncomfortable

"Ah he's blushing" the future mangaka teased

"He's all tsun~ tsun~" Asakura joined

Gokudera grumbled mutinously, unwilling to turn his temper on these civilian brats, especially when it was clear to him that they were acting as a distraction from all the casual mentions of assassination. They needed to keep this viewing peaceful after all


Excepting the no doubt overly caffeinated drink, Tsuna took a long worshipful sip of the holy nectar, and shivered.

"Hayato", he addressed the other young man in a deadly serious and slightly husky voice, " Have I ever told you that I love you."

"Every day tenth" his right hand smiled, green eyes sparkling with amusement, "but I've yet to get tired of hearing hit."

"Good, cause I'm going to say it, I. Love. You." He spoke putting as much emotion in to the words as possible.


"Hey" a voice called Tsuna to look over, where he stilled upon noticing several girls glancing at him

"Y-yes?" Tsuna asked weary of the looks he was getting from the glasses wearing girl asked with a wide smile

"Are you two… y'know" Haruna asked with a wiggle of her brows, making her friends look away from her in mortification

Why did they take her out in public again?

Less used to her antics, the two boys exchanged a quick befuddled glance, before shaking their heads in confusion

"We know what?" Tsuna asked wearily feeling a shiver down Tsuna's spine; he had noticed a trend of this girl liked to make the most embarrassing and inappropriate comments

"~Y'knoooow~" she sang, her smile wide an impossible to misinterpret

"We're not gay/ we're not fuckin gay" Tsuna and Gokudera answered in stereo; interestingly this wasn't the first time this had come up.

Hana snorted

"They say" the original promoter of said insinuations commented

"Yes, we do" Tsuna and Gokudera once more pressed, irritated at the old argument of their sexuality


Hayato Gokudera, wielder of the ever chaotic Storm Flames, as well as several other flame types, was naturally his "Guardian of the Storm". He was the unofficial leader of the guardians, the tactician for Tsuna's inner circle, the Right Hand man, and the Chief of Staff for the various legal Vongola business that were directly under Tsuna's control.

"This" said a voice breaking the loving manly stare of manship, "this right here, is why people think you're gay."


"Ha!" Haruna and Hana crowed vindicated, making both boys roll their eyes


"Good morning Haru" Tsuna greeted the far too perky brunette sitting on the other side of the table, Haru Miura, Hayato's girlfriend as well as the Personal Assistant and general manager of the guardians and Tsuna's inner circle, respectively. She was also Tsuna's ex, but the less said about that the better.


"Wait what!?" Tsuna cried, he dated Haru!?

'Not Kyoko' he thought shooting the oblivious girl a disappointed look, 'And on top of that our relationship didn't even work out… that's really depressing if I can't even keep the affections of the weird stalker girl. Way to go Dame Tsuna.'

"Nooo" Haru wailed, "Why is Haru with Bakadera!?"

"Don't call me that you damn witch!" Gokudera yelled back snapping out of his frozen state at that info. dump, "Like I want to be with a harpy like you!"

However, Haru ignored him as she wailed, Kyoko and Hana giving her sympathetic pats,

"Now you know how I feel" Hana muttered, once more missing Ryohei wince and depressed state at her words.

"Haru was promised to be Tsuna's wife!" she cried

"No accounting for taste" Hana muttered under her breath, receiving an admonishing "glare" (read: pout) from Kyoko

"That was never decided, you crazy stalker!" Gokudera yelled, before going deadly still as feminine arms wrapped around him

"Hayato, never belittle the feelings of a maiden" Bianchi admonished, ignoring or just oblivious of the cold sweat her brother had broken out in, "Especially a future lover"

"Gurk" was Gokudera's intelligent response

As was becoming usual, the Mahora side watched from the sidelines as the chaos rapidly exploded beyond what was reasonable; they had even started taking bets on who would do the next most outlandish thing

"Tsuna don't leave Haru! She loves you!" the girl suddenly cried jumping at the startled teenager, who automatically reached his arms out and caught her

"Haru please calm down please" Tsuna tried and failed to calm her, at this point Gokudera would have usually interceded, but the teen was… indisposed… with his sister.

In the end, they decided to leave her there and continue on with the viewing, Gokudera silent in his sister's "loving embrace" and Haru in Tsuna's


"No, the reason people keep thinking that is because you keep spreading those rumors you bitch" Hayato responded in their 'unique' expression of love.


The people in the room blinked at the "unique expression of love."


"No, it's really not" she replied pointing behind them; Hayato and he turned around only to see a small group of maids loaded up with breakfast foods watching them with heavy blushes on their faces.

Tsuna sweat dropped even as Hayato grumbled at her to shut up, but Haru only continued to tease; it momentarily broke into a bitchfest that was typical of a relationship between someone with Storm Flames and someone with Lightning Flames.


'Well, looks like fighting was still a part of their relationship' was more or less the collective thought of everyone present, the exception being Haru who chose to focus on her own Flame Element being revealed.

"I'm getting real tired of these Flames being mentioned, without any kind of explanation" Hana complained annoyed

"As am I" Evangeline agreed irritably, her unnatural hearing allowing her to pick up on the girl's mutterings; Chachamaru served her master some tea from the provided provisions to calm the vampiric mistress


The two flame auras worked well together, 'like brothers' he'd been taught, but also like brothers they tended to get on each other's nerves.

Tsuna for his part ignored the bickering couple and sat in on the delicious breakfast in front of him, his mind turning to the work he had ahead of him for the next year or so, as well as the conversation leading up to this project.

"I'm sorry Grandpa can you repeat that I don't think I heard you right."

"You heard him right brat" a grumpy voice interrupted

"Thank You Coyote", both Tsuna and Timoteo said at the same time, Tsuna sarcastic and Timoteo exasperated.

Coyote and Tsuna's rivalry had begun long ago and showed no signs of getting better.

Coyote was the epitome of the old school traditional Mafiosi; Tsuna was brat who'd fought tooth and nail to be kept out of the Mafia, and it was only when he was told that he'd be allowed to break Vongola's bloody traditions did he put up 'less' (not zero) of a fight.

Coyote was of the firm opinion that Tsuna was a disrespectful brat, with no control over his Famiglia, who was leading them all to ruin. Tsuna was of the firm opinion that Coyote was a dick.


Several of the Arcobaleno who had worked with the man personally snorted at the Decimo's insult

Tsuna on the other hand felt a subtle relief wipe away a tension he hadn't even realized had built in his chest, even as he flushed appalled at his other self's rudeness.

He was still opposed to the Mafia

Throughout this whole experience, the fact that he was Vongola Decimo was all but a given, and for a long moment Tsuna feared this Future Tsuna had fallen to the same traps as the one from their war with Milliefiore.

The Tsuna that made children fight his battles, and took innocents as hostage to make him fight harder, the one who left Mukuro in prison after all that time, and didn't once try to use his wealth to help out Chrome.

The Tsuna who was a Mafia Boss

Unbeknownst to Tsuna, he wasn't the only one in the room who had picked up on that bit of information, and he'd garnered more attention with that one statement than with any previous information about knowing the Vindice, or being an ambassador to a magic world had.

Enma in particular had to force himself not to lean forward in rapt interest

'Is it true Tsuna? After all that time, are you still untouched by this bloody world?'


"Just assuring little Serafino his hearing was working well" Coyote groused using Tsuna's Italian name.


"Serafino?" Tsuna asked thrown off by the fact that he'd even need another name

"It's the name that was set up for you to do business in Italy" Reborn answered, dropping away from his fellow Arcobaleno to tutor his student, "You're an oriental civilian boy being trained to take over a very traditional Italian syndicate, a false name would be needed for multiple people's protection"

Tsuna nodded, accepting the information at face value, if ignoring the reason behind it

Reborn smirked, good; even if his student disagreed with his path, information should be learned and used.


Typically he didn't like being called it by family; it was for business purposes only and felt too impersonal; 'coincidentally' he never complained when Coyote used it.

"You heard me correctly Tsunayoshi", Grandpa 9th continued, apparently willing to ignore the animosity between his right hand and his heir, "there is an entire world hidden all around you that is capable of wielding magic. We of Cosa Nostra have long held certain non-aggression pacts with their leading government associations. We are about to break the barriers between the two worlds. As the mafia's unofficial prince you would be the ideal ambassador for first contact… and yes their stationed in a school of all places.


"I was surprised too" Asuna and Chisame sighed

"Why is the Magic,… uh, Organization? In a school?" Akira asked, turning to her more well informed classmates

"Kanto Magic Association" Takahata gently corrected, "And it was built around the World Tree, a very powerful magical presence, and has operated their long before being turned into a school, and later a normal-magic school hybrid"

"The school acts more as a cover for the association" Seruhiko said jumping in, like most young teachers eager to educate "since most Mages are also scholars anyway, it's two birds with one stone."

The students on both sides hummed their understanding, the adults filing away the information for future use


"Are you absolutely sure this is magic, and not some Famiglia of people with undiscovered flames the way the Shimon Family was?"


At the mention of the Shimon Family, Enma and Adelheid went stiff, both doing their best to ignore the suspicious glances from Tsuna's right hand and the world's greatest hitman

"Huh, you have special flames Enma?" Tsuna asked in innocent curiosity

Enma, feeling Adel's sharp gaze on his back, decided to take a chance; the Being had all but told them that secrets were useless, since they would be reading each other's minds. And if Tsuna was still trustworthy in the future…

"Yeah" he brushed off with a sheepish smile, "only my family can really use them though"

From the corner of his eye he saw Adel's eyes narrow, he tried to discreetly send her a look back that said lying would do no good here

Apparently accepting it, the young woman let out an audible sigh before backing him up

"Yes, those with blood of the first Shimon Boss, can access his rare mutation of Flames" she drawled as if exasperated, "which is supposed to be a family secret."

"It's fine Adel, I trust Tsuna and the rest" Enma gave a nervous laugh, she was the one who was supposed to be the assumed boss, their performance that of a troublesome little brother aggravating his big sister- and not two people trying to hide a coup.

It worked and Tsuna was immediately apologizing to Adel on Enma's behalf for letting out their 'big secret', which she graciously brushed away

"Of course, it's fine Sawada-sama" she said with a bow, "But please keep this among yourselves, for the safety of Shimon. Those with unique abilities aren't always treated well in Costra Nostra."

Tsuna frowned unhappily but nodded, as did several others in the Vongola group; the Mahora crew stayed silent and like their other half before them just made note of the information for later


"Positive", the old man said amused, "you can ask Vindice, they have all the appropriate records"

'Well that pretty much seals it' Tsuna thought 'If its Bermuda's men then it's pretty much guaranteed to be true.'


Several people narrowed their eyes at a given name of one of the Vindice Guards, absorbing the information greedily, but otherwise stayed silent


"Wouldn't somebody else be a better first choice ambassador, aren't I… you know… too important" Tsuna asked, somewhat mortified at describing himself as such, but over the long years of being with (not in, never in) the mafia, it was a fact he'd come to except. He refused to risk his friends' lives rescuing him because he'd underestimated his own importance.


Enma and Adel exchanged looks at Tsuna's exhale in relief, another point in Tsuna's favor as a decent human being


"True, we could send one of our guardians or some other elite members from our world, but Konoemon and I both share the opinion that such bonds should start with the young." Tsuna's grandfather acknowledged, " That leaves you and your Famiglia, Yuni and her Famiglia, or Byakuran and his Famiglia as the only ones with the appropriate power, influence, and age to be sent."


"Byakuran's alive?" Tsuna questioned, burning the deranged man to ashes had been one of his most frequent nightmares

"His younger self at least" Yamamato answered with a shrug, accepting the information without much fuss. It made sense.

"I hope we don't have to fight him again" Tsuna whispered fearfully

"Is he one of your opponents from your time traveling Sawada-san?" Chizuru asked from spot besides Ayaka; the blond hadn't taken her attention off of either Vision nor Current versions of the boy, and she had a feeling her friend had more than just a mild curiosity of the boy.

So she was asking questions about him on both of their behalves.

Tsuna nodded

"He was the one tearing apart the space time continuum" he answered, shooting a discreet glance at Yuni.

Somewhere in all the surreality of ending up in some endless void, he'd managed to brush off her resurrection; but the girl he saw was at least ten years younger than the one he'd helped in the future, and was presumably a younger Yuni… nevertheless, he was happy to see the girl alive.

Meeting his gaze from where she sat above with the rest of the Arcobaleno, the little girl shot him smile, which he returned, feeling significantly more lighthearted with the topic

"He was really strong" Tsuna continued turning his attention back to the school girl

"If he acts up again, we'll just beat him down again" Reborn answered unconcerned

"Reborn!" Tsuna snapped aggravated at the belittling of the blood, sweat, and tears he'd gone through to pull of that win

"Pay attention to the vision Dame-Tsuna" Reborn ordered, ignoring his student's lack of backbone

Grumbling, Tsuna turned around


Then his grandfather leaned back an stroked his mustache contemplatively as if an idea had just occurred to him, " I suppose one of the Arcobaleno could be sent, they're not children but they could pass."


Tsuna tilted his confusion, um, the Arcobaleno were children, they were babies, right? Right?


Tsuna felt a shiver run down his back at the thought of those prideful ridiculously powerful monsters being sent on a diplomatic assignment.


No sooner than the thought past through Vision Tsuna's head did he feel four tiny (but impossibly heavy) feet stomp into his back and head

"Ouch stop punishing me for someone else's thoughts" Tsuna screeched

Reborn stared at him, before putting a comforting (read: mocking) hand on his shoulder

"Tsuna is Tsuna no matter what world he's in" the baby hitman said in an adorable comforting baby voice

"Don't say it like you're trying to comfort me!" Tsuna snapped


Yuni's family would rather die than send her on a mission without at least 6 platoons and a tank as a guard.


Yuni giggled, Gamma probably would do something like that


Byakuran and his were barely as sane as Varia- who themselves were a bunch of psychotic sociopathic sadists (and one masochist), which also exempted the Varia themselves.


The tenth generation gave awkward looks at the looks from the others in the room


The Shimon were the appropriate age and power, but lacked the influence to speak for all Cosa Nostra.


At there second mention, several people rose their eyebrows, including the two Shimon kids themselves

'So, they have the power to stand with the Trissinette and Varia families?'


Anyone else Tsuna could think of failed for previously mentioned reasons, leaving him and his own circle as the only ones capable.

His Storm had too many responsibilities already, his Cloud and Mists wouldn't go even if he told them, his Sun, though awesome, was not the one you sent for first impressions, his Lightning was a genius but still too young for Tsuna to release his overprotective big brother (mother bear) instincts, which left his Rain.

Takeshi was actually perfect, he was scarily observant, likeable, had the infiltration skills of a natural born hitman, and was a very powerful player to send should things get rough. But Tsuna wouldn't send him, Takeshi's dream since boyhood was to play baseball, he sacrificed so much to Tsuna, and now that they had finally found a way to make both Famiglia and baseball work, Tsuna wouldn't, couldn't take that away. The only one better to go than Takeshi would be Tsuna himself.

Seeing his grandson's indecision, it was a very big decision on quite short notice, The Ninth made to speak.

"Tsuna, I know you are not happy here" he said making Tsuna stiffen, " I know you didn't ask for this life, that you've done your best despite all the challenges thrown your way, and made it farther than anyone ever expected. And about that girl you were with…Kyoko"


At the Ninth's words a second stifling silence hit the group, before exploding in noise

"Eeeeeh! Kyoko-chan dated Tsuna too!?" Haru shouted

"Hiiie! I lost both Haru and Kyoko-chan!?" Tsuna screamed right behind her, but his words had an effect he didn't intend on

Haru, apparently hearing the romantic version of what Tsuna said, immediately turned from where she was still in his lap and wrapped her arms and legs around him

"Tsuna hasn't lost Haru yet, Haru swears she'll work harder this time to make their relationship work!" she swore, squeezing him tight at his 'passionate' proclamation

"You dated Dame-Tsuna?" Hana muttered in disbelief to a stunned red-faced Kyoko

"I , I uh, I" she stuttered incoherent

"Get off him witc-" Gokudera tried to spring to life, but was immediately taken down (this time deliberately) by his sister Bianchi

"That's right Haru, fight for your right to love!" Bianchi cheered her 'sister' on, lost in teary eyed passion, "I'll keep this degenerate from breaking you up a second time!"

After finally, finally, freeing himself from Haru's (admittedly not unpleasant) hold, Tsuna breathed and tried to calm to situation down, only to be blocked by a massive shadow

"Sawada" Ryohei breathed, his face shadowed, his voice a dark promise

"O-o-onii-san?" Tsuna stuttered, having never seen this side of his sempai before; the closest being when the older boy decked him in the face in The-Future-That-Never-Was.

Which also was about Kyoko, ah man

With lightning fast reflexes, he reached out and grabbed the younger boy by the collar, and Tsuna prepared for another beating, when Ryohei suddenly raised his head and showed not an angry face but…

"You Extremely took my baby sister from me!" Ryohei wailed, tears and snot streaming down his face, "My EXTREMELY SWEET, EXTREMELY INNOCENT, BABY SISTER! ONII-CHAN ISN'T READY!"

"ONII-CHAN PLEASE STOP!" screamed a mortified Kyoko, at equal volume of her brother, as she tried to get him to put Sawada down

"Put the Tenth down Turf Top!" you can guess who screamed that

"Ha, ha, ha" Yamamato stayed at the side, one arm under his ribs, the other holding himself up, and otherwise made himself utterly useless in stopping the chaos as he gasped in air laughing

"Hmm who knew Baby face could be such a player?" Asakura smiled, as a reporter she loved the drama unfolding, and had been taking detailed notes of all the interactions so far. She couldn't wait to meet these Vongola again in her time

But unlike the other times the chaos didn't wind down, instead it somehow gained some sort of resonance, feeding off itself and growing exponentially until…

"Herbivores" a dark voice spoke creating instant silence, to the curiosity of the Mahora crew

"For disturbing the peace" one Hibari Kyoya stated, his tone slow and condemning, "I will bite you to death."

"H-hey H-Hibari let's just calm dow-"

WHAM

Several minutes later, the Vongola children sat in neat and orderly rows, patiently waiting to continue, while the Mahora girls huddled together in fear

'He's a monster' was the collective thought on their side, as they had watched the teenager lay a brutal and disproportionate smack down on his friends; he had even used the fact that they couldn't really die in this realm, to give the maximum pain possible

"Hn, continue the story herbivore" the prefect ordered

The Vision obeyed


Tsuna squirmed at the mention of the taboo name


Both Kyoko and Tsuna cringed outside too; the relationship must have been especially bad to get that kind of reaction, especially from the clearly older more confident Tsuna


"This could be good for you, get away from Italy, your guardians, the weight of Vongola Decimo/Neo Primo; go back to your home country, meet new people, new family, sharpen your skills, learn, see, explore a whole new world." The Ninth continued selling from what Tsuna could read was a "working vacation" of some sort.

"I'm also told where you'll be working is an all girl's school" the old man finished with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.


Several of the girls, rather than proclaim the old man a pervert sent flirty looks to the posture perfect teenager on the opposite couch, delighting in the way he blushed so easily under their attentions.

Haru sitting on the opposite side of the couch where she'd been regulated by Hibari, sent the girls a glare


"G-GRANDPA" Tsuna's face exploded red, the old man only laughed

Tsuna grumbled about embarrassing elders for a moment.

"How long will it be?" he finally asked

"A year give or take"


"A YEAR!" screeched everyone under the age of 15

"Herbivores" Hibari's warning growl, made them quiet down, and they reminded themselves to have no outburst until the prefect's nerves were soothed


"So long!?"

"A year is far from a long time Tsunayoshi, especially for a project of this magnitude"

'Right' Tsuna thought 'exploring a whole new world does sound very time consuming' taking a moment to think on the pros and cons, Tsuna made a decision,

"I'll do it"

"I knew the All-Girls-School would do the trick"

"GRANDPA!"

The older man merely laughed before dropping a file in front of him,

"This is all the information Konoemon provided about all you should know about the Magi World."

Tsuna didn't even reach for it, merely raised an eyebrow,

"And how much do we actually know"

Nono grinned before slapping a damn textbook on top of the file


The old man's grin made the teachers' eyebrows twitch, and they dared not look across the aisle at the insufferably smug looking baby in a suit


"This is all we're not supposed to know"

Tsuna leaned forward, and flipped through a couple of pages, before looking at the old man with wide eyes,

"A magical PLANET?!"

"In a separate dimension accessed through Stone Henge at that."


"eeeh?" Ako, Asuna, Chisame, and Makie whisper yelled, mindful of the sleeping demon

"Mundus Magicus is a separate dimension for magic countries" Negi quietly answered their unasked question


"That's insane" Asuna whisper-screamed, "How crazy is your magic world"

Gokudera looked like he was about to squeal, he had his hair pulled back in a ponytail and glasses on his face, and looked poised to take rampant notes, as he immediately began interrogating the child professor

To the amusement of the adults, all this happened in varying toned whispers, as they dare not wake the demon prefect

"Smart delinquent boys are sexy~" Haruna whispered to Yue and Nodoka who were staring at Gokudera

"Mmm Smexy~" Asakura whispered back


To Tsuna's credit he only let out a low whistle at the news, "This is going to be the project of a life time"

"Indeed, and it would be yours" Timoteo said sliding the other file to him meaningfully; while Tsuna looked up at the shifted tone of voice. "I know I asked for your help in reforming the Vongola and by default the Mafia, but I never said you had to find the long sought after answer to world peace. If there's no peaceful way to keep the smaller Famiglia in line, perhaps an outside influence to focus them on would be better."


A tension rippled through the adults at what the old man was implying; they would use the magic world as a rally point to focus their aggression.

Reborn tapping his foot caught their attention, the baby then made a gesture the same as Tsuna had made to Gokudera earlier and they all forced themselves to relax

This wasn't their world, different times, no causing fights

As for the younger generation, Tsuna was focused on the face that Nono wasn't trying to force the previous Vongola values on him


Tsuna swallowed and looked into deep amber eyes, heart pounding as the old man handed him, what could be the key to Tsuna's-both of theirs- life's work.

"As it is there are things only you can do, we need someone to talk to The Vindice before you leave and they decide to reign fire down on all of us."

Tsuna merely nodded, when it came to Vindice, Tsuna was the go to negotiator

"I wish you good luck Tsunayoshi"

"…Thank You"

"JUST ADMIT YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT! HARU PROMISES NOT TO JUDGE!"

"FUCK NO YOU CRAZY WOMAN, KEEP YOUR DAMN FANTASIES TO YOURSELF. GUYS CAN SAY THEY LOVE EACH OTHER NOWDAYS!"


"They're still arguing about that?" Chisame asked incredulously

"Yes" Tsuna said sounding drained, Enma feeling more at ease with his friend gave the boy a commiserating pat, he knew what having was like trying to reign in the insanity in the family


Tsuna slowly blinked out of his musings, and glanced to where Haru and Hayato were still arguing about the apparent gay moment they'd just had.

Satisfied that they were occupied, Tsuna closed his eyes and focused on the meditation technique he'd been taught by Mammon, and focused on his inner flames. Reaching out he saw all the flames that were bounded to him; as a Sky, Tsuna was capable of Harmonizing and bonding with those of other flame types.


"Ooh, ooh, they're doing something with fire again, they're doing something with fire!" Konoka squealed in her seat, bouncing forward in excitement, while her friends looked at her with fondness.

Tsuna spared a smile for the enthusiasm of the girl he'd been sorta making friends with via eye-tag and mutual embarrassment


There were the seven particular flames that Tsuna felt all the time no matter where in the world he was, the flames of his Guardians.

Hayato right next to him, flames a beautiful Storm Red with small traces of the other elements floating about, fierce and chaotic but tightly controlled. He could also feel echoes of his current irritation and embarrassment.


"Ooooh" the Mahora girls awed at the crackling colors that represented Hayato Gokudera

"You're so pretty" Konoka awed, at the grumbling embarrassed Gokudera

"I don't want to hear that from you" the teen delinquent muttered

"Your flames are really beautiful G-Hayato" Tsuna spoke up in awe, "The multiple colors are definitely more beautiful than my own."

"Tenth, you praise me!" the boy squeaked pink faced

"Wait is he a tsundere or a yandere?" Chizuru asked, before being shushed by Ayaka


Takeshi down the hall, flames a calming Rain Blue lazily swirling, prepared to become a fierce whirlpool at a moment's notice. He felt echoes of amusement and could guess the boy was close enough to hear Hayato's predicament.


Yamamato gave an easy smile at Tsuna's perception of his Flames, winking at the boy when their eyes met


Ryohei on the other side of the castle, flames a blinding Sun Yellow overwhelming with their intensity, radiating energy and life. There weren't many emotions echoing, but Tsuna guessed the man was already knocked unconscious.


Tsuna winced at his other selves' revenge coming to fruition, but nonetheless chuckled when Ryohei beamed at him for his description


Kyoya Hibari was not on the premises, upon hearing that Tsuna would be coming to their home country he remained in Japan. His Cloud Violet flames were not as large as the others, but they were easily five times as intense. Being in another country at the moment Tsuna couldn't feel his emotions.


Hibari had lazily opened an eye upon hearing his name, but satisfied that his Flames were more intense than the others despite their size, pacified him and he went back to sleep


Mukuro Rokudo and Chrome Dokuro the two halves of his mist guardian, their Indigo Mist flames as ever shifty and illusive and so tightly wrapped around each other it was impossible to determine which of them he was more closely bonded to, which was just fine with all of them.


Hearing their description, Mukuro reached over and pulled the small girl towards him, getting a brief blush, before she smiled happily up at him. Both pleased at the ability to touch each other; Mukuro was taking the time to enjoy everything about this experience.

And he had been prodding and testing the various things in the room, well aware that technically none of it was "real" and intended on using it as inspiration for his own illusions.

The girls who had been matching each flame per person, silently aww'd and squealed at the private moment of affection


Chrome had been present last night but she'd left early to meet up with Mukuro, but he could feel echoes of the male mist somewhere in the country, which meant he'd already started on his part of the mission, good.

He was about to tug on the last guardian's flames, Lightning Green staticky and currently radiating distress, when one of his smaller Flame bonds, this one to another Sky no less, suddenly crashed over him.

Tsuna snapped open his eyes, not surprised in the slightest to see a gun being pointed at his face.

"Trash" said a gruff voice


"Is that an extra Guardian Sawada-san?" Negi asked, having carefully counted the elements, and was eager to see what exceptions existed, like that of the Mist Duo

"No, no it is not" Tsuna said slightly paled, before frowning and turning to the younger boy calling him by his last name, "And you can call me Tsuna, Negi-sensei, Sawada-san makes me feel old."

"Ah Tsunayoshi-sa-" Negi started, only to be cut off by an uncharacteristically stern Tsuna

"Tsuna." He emphasized, determined to keep another person from using his mouthful of a name

"T-Tsuna then" Negi replied slightly taken off guard by Tsuna's tone, but his nervousness was released when the older boy smiled happily at him, Negi smiled back


"Uncle" Tsuna replied,


"Oh, so he's your uncle then?" Negi asked curiously turning back to Tsuna; unfortunately, Tsuna couldn't answer as he and everyone on the Vongola side where busy choking on their tongues at Tsuna's nickname

"Kufufufu" well almost everyone, "Not at all Little Professor, their closer to distant cousins" Mukuro answered beyond amused by the turn of events, and even Hibari opened his eye in curiosity

Had the cub grown his fangs?


rolling his eyes when the gun cocked at the "nickname".


"Oh, so that's why their surprised" Mana Tatsumiya whispered to herself unconcerned by the appearance of a firearm, while the rest of her classmates watched horrified as a grown man pointing a gun at a teenager for a mocking nickname.


"Fine Xanxus then" Tsuna sighed using the man's first name.


"You seem remarkably calm in such a situation" Mana coolly remarked

Tsuna, not taking his eyes off the vision and so unaware of how badass his response would make him sound, merely gave a casual shrug

"It's just a gun, you get used to it" he responded casually not seeing the stunned reactions that the current baby faced version of him was being as cool as the future version, "At worst I would dodged, if I felt really in danger."

Tilting his hat down, Reborn smirked at his Dame-student unintentionally gaining the attention of several of the cool beauties on the opposite side of the room


Xanxus Vongole', wielder of the Flames of Wrath, a particularly destructive mutation of Sky Flames adopted son to one Timoteo Vongole'(thus Tsuna's adopted uncle) and leader of Varia Assassination Squad, did not look like he was having a good morning.

"You sent the Boxer Trash to my office."

Oooooh damn, that's right Ryohei went to bug Lussuria who probably was near Xanxus… which meant he probably got more seriously injured than he should have…it really should bother Tsuna that he doesn't quite care.

"I'm sure he just wanted to make sure you didn't miss my departure."

In the next second Tsuna's body blurred as he avoided the bullet Xanxus shot at his head.


"See" Tsuna said casually, still missing the stars in the eyes of his subordinates or the awed impressed stares of the other guests


"Don't fucking lie trash, Boxer trash didn't find me, you sent him for waking you up, so you sent him to wake me up." The red scarred eyed man growled

"…And your response was to come all the way over to this side of the castle" note: the Vongola castle was an actual freaking castle, capable of functioning as almost a small city in and of itself, Varia office(not HQ) was over a mile away on foot. "…You're weird."

The morning ended as it did every day, with shouts, bullets and flames, The Housekeeper staff with less than an hour to go on their shift was not pleased.

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He finds him in the living room playing a video game; after running away from Xanxus's fury and quite literally (quite bastardly) using a surprised Takashi as a friend shield (Vengeance # 3 achieved), he decided to search out his little Lightening Guardian.

Yamamato winced at the untimely "end" of his future self


"New rule, no one mess with Sawada's sleep" Hana droned as she watched the final petty vengeance reeked, "Ever"

She received murmurs of agreement, while Tsuna muttered that he wasn't that bad… yet.


Unlike everyone else, Lambo Bovino has avoided him like the plague, hardly acknowledging his presence; after Tsuna graduated high school and moved to Italy full time, he found it harder and harder to find time for the youngest (by only two months Tsunaaaa) of their little group. The fact that he's leaving before Lambo's break from school is up is probably all the worse.

Ten-year-old Lambo sits on the sofa supposedly dead to the world outside of his game… which Tsuna immediately knows to be crap because one, if he didn't care he wouldn't be up at this ungodly hour in the first place. And two, he wouldn't have made so much noise in the morning so that Tsuna would know he was awake at this ungodly hour.


"That's that brat" Ayaka said in disbelief, comparing the wavy haired, and honestly good looking for his age brat on 'screen' to the puffy haired snotty brat drooling on the floor

"Ai, Lambo-sama's the best, gyahahah" the little cow themed child cheered, oblivious to her skeptical tone

"He's starting to look like his adult self" Tsuna mused aloud gaining Negi's attention

"Oh, he has an adult form too?" Negi asked curiously, getting Tsuna's attention

"Too?"

"I guess it's true about their being something in the water that makes handsome" Chisame muttered

"Where can I get some?" Natsumi whispered back

"Better watch out for the president, kid" Asuna said, unable to resist the jibe

"And what is that supposed to mean you Ape!?" an outraged Ayaka snarled snapping her neck to her rival

"Isn't he you're usual prey shotacon?" Asuna sniped

"Look whose talking grave digger!?" Ayaka growled back

Asuna, suddenly very aware of who was in the room, suddenly went quiet, abruptly turning back to the vision

Ayaka, not expecting the easy win, stared at her in confusion and (extremely, minimally, slight) concern, before following her example

Across the room Negi finished giving Tsuna and an extremely interested Gokudera a quick run down on he and Kotaro's adult forms, unaware that Chisame was worryingly glancing down the line at Ako to make sure the girl wasn't listening. Thankfully she wasn't, but to hurry things along she shushed them, and made them pay attention


"Lambo" he calls

"Mhmm"

"I'm about to take off here soon."

"K"

"I'll be very busy for the next few months, so we probably won't get much time to hang out."

"We don't hang out now." Lambo response in the same dead tone he's been using since the beginning of their conversation, his eyes haven't left the console in his hand, but Tsuna knows he felt Tsuna's flinch at the words nonetheless.

"S-still, I'd like a goodbye y'know."

"Bye" Lambo says uncaringly, and where Tsuna might ordinarily be irritated by Lambo's attitude, because doesn't he know that Tsuna's trying to change the world for him, he can feel Lambo's emotions through his flames-their frustration, bitterness, hurt.

And all Tsuna can do is think about when he was a child watching his own father walk out the door time and time again and how freaking long it took for them to make up, about the awkward moments that still snuck into conversations; because kids don't care your trying to protect the world, protect them, only that they love you, need you and how you. Are. Not. There.

"O-okay then. I'll see you later Lambo?" it comes out a question because he doesn't know if Lambo does want to see him later, and his eyes are burning, and Tsuna can't believe he's going to cry over a rejection from a ten-year-old.

"Yeah, whatever" Heart breaking just a little, Tsuna walks out the room.


Present Tsuna looked crushed at other Lambo's dismissal, 'guess not everything in the future is for the better'

He never thought he would be the one to pull an Iemitsu Sawada, at least he wasn't a compulsive liar, the information that the future versions of him and his father had apparently reconciled had been taken without much notice

Gokudera almost, almost, picked a fight with the little boy, but Tenth had already had to admonish him countless time in the last hour; guess the UMA had been right about them "lower life forms" not being able to handle their emotions being broadcasted.

Besides Hayato Gokudera was not a hypocrite, and he wasn't blind to mirror image with his own father, that he still hadn't spoken with despite the future Nee-san clearing the air about his mother's demise

Everyone else in the room, sensing the unspoken privacy of the moment, held their silence and looked on


"TRASH!" Tsuna jumps at the sound of Xanxus voice, apparently Takeshi didn't hold him off long, and upon running up to him Xanxus frowns.

"The fuck are you doing trash?" he demands

"Ah, I'm just saying bye to Lambo, do you need anything?" he asks hoping to distract to violent Sky.

But Xanxus only glares at the way he came from, tells him 'not to fuckin move' and enters the room. Tsuna can't help but stare after him, really too stunned to move even if he tried.

There's a bang from inside, the sound of Lambo's whine which makes Tsuna's mama bear instincts flare and almost has him stepping inside, before Xanxus is back with Lambo gripped in his arm,

"You know the world we live in trash baby, that's your father" he hisses lowly

"Brother" Lambo mumbles mutinously before flinching and taking a giant step behind Tsuna at Xanxus's glare, with that the scarred man stalks off, apparently done with the both of them.

A long silence passes in the hallway, both of them a little off put by the violent whirl of emotions known as Xanxus; a beat later Tsuna feels tiny arms wrap around his waist.

"I don't want you to go." A small voice mumbles into his shirt, and Tsuna wraps his arm around the younger boy.

"I know kid, I know."

"My birthday's coming up" he mumbles still refusing to move his head from Tsuna's shirt.

Tsuna pulls him back anyway, "And what on earth made you think I wouldn't show up for that."

"You're leaving for a year. Minimum" the young boy stresses the point Tsuna made to him and the others two weeks ago.

"I'm going to live there, that doesn't mean I won't be visiting." Lambo scoffs, but even so a second later he asks hesitantly,

"Really"

"Of course" Tsuna exclaims, "First Sundays are Law."

Three years ago when their oldest Kyoya graduated high school, Tsuna realized just how hard it would be for all his family to stay in contact with each other, so he enforced a Saturday night dinner. Then two years later when he graduated and they all started spreading out across the world the dinners were changed to the First Sunday, when every Mafioso rather hypercritically showed up to church. It was as peaceful a time as it was ever going to be, and the most likely time he could gather everyone.

Tsuna a notorious cheapskate hadn't been sure about continuing them given as the he himself was the host would be in another country this time, but looking down at the now embarrassed happy face of his little brother decided it was worth it to dip into his ridiculous wealth if it meant having all his loved ones together at least one day a month.

"I'll be seeing you in two weeks Lambo"

"See you in two weeks Tsuna-nii"

'Just one more stop now'


There were several sniffles in the room as the more emotional members in the room got caught up in the moment of the two brothers (or father and son depending on how you looked at it) had a heartwarming moment

Smiling, Tsuna reached down and patted the head of the oblivious cow child

"Thank you, Lambo" he said warmly to the little boy, he didn't think he would be able to take it if their relationship deteriorating like his and Iemitsu's.

And thanks to Xanxus of all people

But the child merely looked at him with confused eyes

"Stupid Tsuna, you should get on your knees when you give thanks to the great Lambo-sama" the boy said with annoying condescendence, destroying any heartfelt moments

"Like hell, you shitty brat" Gokudera snapped, immediately snatching the child up and rubbing his knuckles harshly in the head

"Gah, get off me Stupidera!" the boy struggled, kicked and screamed, but Gokudera held on tight

"Hell no! Who taught you shit like that, who do you think you are you little brat!" Gokudera barked, still rubbing his knuckles in the boy's head. Though anybody could see, he wasn't being as harsh as he could be, and for all Lambo's squirming, he wasn't trying anywhere near as hard as he could to escape.

Most of the teens and adults watched the scene with smiles.

Most

Chizuru suddenly crossed over the invisible line separating the two groups and stood in front of the two boys with a pleasant smile, making them stop

"I can appreciate that boys will be boys with the roughhousing" she said with an oh so pleasant smile, "But, Gokudera-kun, was it? Could please refrain from using curse words in front of children, hmm?"

"Wha-?"

"Please?"

"I-"

"Please"

Gulping, both boys huddled together and nodded their heads frantically

"Thank you!" Chizuru cheered, menacingly pleasant smile, relaxed into something warmer

Instead of skipping back to "their side" of the room, the big… hearted… girl settled down on the cushioned floor and began striking up a conversation with the kids

There was a subtle shifting from the male dominated couches, as the scary but no less very attractive young woman sat near them

"Naba-san is scary" Tsuna whispered to Negi; Kotaro who had been sitting next them a moment ago, popped his head out from under the physically impossible for him to fit under couch

"You have no idea" he whispered, his eyes vacant and scarred from events passed

"Well my other self said there was one last stop" Tsuna suddenly spoke up, trying to change the subject, "What could that be, wouldn't I just go to Mahora?"

"So forgetful Dame-Tsuna" Reborn admonished, "The Ninth promised you would deal with the Vindice remember"

Like a bucket of cold water in the early morning, everyone suddenly found themselves suddenly alert, and eager to watch what came next

Hibari had sat to his full attention, Mukuro stopped playing with whatever he was doing, even the Arcobaleno stopped their whispered squabbling, while Tsuna himself went deathly pale

Sensing their neighbors tension, the Mahora side straightened and turned their attention to the 'screen' as well

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Lukas Burton, not for the first time in his admittedly short life regrets ever joining the Mafia, despite the fact that he didn't really join so much as he was born into it,

and his father was a rapidly rising underboss for the newly established Milliefiore-Giglio Nero Division.


"Who the heck is this scrub?" Gokudera grumbled, looking unimpressed

"And why is he bringing up Milliefiore?" Gamma grumbled back just as darkly; it would be a cold day in hell, before he let that insane Sky near his boss, alternate timeline or not.

"So, you don't know him?" questioned

"His last name is the same as someone I know whose pretty big in our American division", Gamma answered looking contemplative, "this could be his son, though I can see he wouldn't be old enough to do much of note in our timeline."


Right now Lukas is hugging the side of a frozen mountain as he and the other girl from Milliefiore-Gesso Division- hike up the suddenly very steep incline.


Gamma growled, so they were Gesso, why on Earth were they doing business with Byakuran?!

"Why on Earth are they climbing a mountain?" Kuzunoha asked incredulous, but only received shaking heads from the teens across the room.

Mafioso are weird


No, unbelievably, it's not the fact that he's climbing up the mountain of a foreign country that's making him regret mafia life, though it's definitely not helping his nonexistent decision.

"Hurry up newbie, you spend any more time down there, I'll think you're getting a free show!"

Lukas hurriedly continues his trek, not that it wouldn't be an excellent view, but he's heard things about this girl, Iris, and what she does to men she seduces.


"Oh… her" Tsuna grimaced

"You know her, Tsuna?" Yamamato asked, having never seen the woman in his life, and curious about his friend's uncharacteristic distaste

"We fought at Milliefiore base in Japan" Tsuna explained, not having to go into detail about it being during their horrific trip to the future; no explanation was needed for the type of characters that could have been found there, "You don't want to know about the men she seduces, it's… not pretty."

Of all his battles, fighting Iris had been one of the most horrifying; fighting crazy bastards like Byakuran or Mukuro, or wrathful ones like Xanxus was one thing. They were simply humans, messed up people, but people nonetheless who needed a good beatdown to let them know they couldn't just do what they wanted to the world without consequence.

The creatures Iris had formed out of those scientist bodies had long ago lost their humanity, and their grotesquely expanded muscles only made the image more disturbing, but that was far from the worst of it.

Never once had Tsuna wished to turn off his Hyper Intuition so bad during a fight, because if seeing the monsters they had become was bad; then looking into the tortured souls they used to be, crying out for help, was infinitely worse.

They were the first living beings to feel the X-Burner, and Tsuna hadn't particularly cared if they'd survived or not… he wasn't sure which result would be the mercy; he sincerely hoped her younger version was much better.


On top of that they're now technically family and no one smart hits on female family- though considering how distant the two divisions are, their particular situation would be exempt;… STILL it was just bad professionally speaking.


"Did he just make an incest reference?" Seruhiko made sure to whisper as lowly as possible to his colleagues

Getting them to frown in contemplation and replay Mr. Burton's thoughts

"I think that was the joke, yes" Shizuna whispered back after a moment

"I think he has romance a little more on the brain than he's willing to admit" Takahata deduced getting nods from the others


"I'm coming alright! Excuse me if I've never climbed a mountain in some frozen wasteland before!"

"It's been twelve minutes newbie, and we took a car most of the way up!"

"Yeah yeah" he mutters, Iris isn't adding to his enthusiasm for the job either come to think of it.

"Hurry up before Vongola leaves!"

Her warning does the trick and Lukas spurs himself at a faster rate, that's right Vongola Decimo was with them on this trip. He and his right hand had arrived with business suits and briefcases and not even a summer jacket, apparently they were both skilled enough to use their flames to keep themselves warm.

Lukas had to let out an appreciative whistle at the level of control it took to do that, manifesting flames at all was hard enough to do let alone keep just a small barely visible level of heat wrapped around them.

'Kufufufu, you know nothing of true control, boy'


The creepy laugh was enough to get the Vongola's to jolt in their seats, and Hibari opened his eyes with a scowl

"Mukuro… are you…?" Tsuna trailed off, looking questionably to the darker Mist Guardian

"Kufufufu" Mukuro raised an eyebrow now looking thoroughly invested, "Well this just got much more interesting~"


A black voice said in the back of his head, a moment later Lukas mumbles out loud confused,

"True control?"

"BURTON!"

"I'M COMING" Lukas screams immediately forgetting about dark thoughts, 'Dark thoughts what?'


"He doesn't remember" Takahata noted, more to clarify the confused looks on his students face "he doesn't remember hearing a voice in his head."

His voice wasn't accusing in the slightest, but there was a grave seriousness to it, that created some worry in the viewers for Burton's safety

"Is it a ghost possession?" Asakura asked aloud curiously, her mind on her friend Sayo

"Please don't say things like that so casually" Akira pleaded, with mafia and magic, you never knew what could turn up in the world


"There you guys are I was beginning to think we'd lost you guys" says a chocolate warm voice, and Lukas looks to see the smiling warm face of the Vongola Decimo.

He's younger than Lukas thought he would be, younger than Lukas himself by a good few years, maybe less it's hard to tell, he just has one of those eternally young faces.

"Bout fuckin time", the young man grumbles next to him, Decimo's right hand, just as young but far more intimidating. Silver hair almost making him invisible in this snow, but green eyes glow, glaring at him like a snow leopard observing prey…and finding it lacking.

"S-sorry" Lukas apologized teeth chattering, not entirely from the cold

"Ignore him Sr. Burton", the Decimo says politely, his polite address unknowingly making him seem even younger, "he always gets in a huffy mood when we have to visit them."

The silverette proves his point by huffing, but Lukas is not focused on that, but rather Decimo's words have abruptly reminded him of exactly why he'd been regretting his life choices. Not because of the Vongola, no, the young man is surprisingly warm like home and chocolate and Lukas knows that if he wasn't already claimed by Princepessa Yuni flames, he'd definitely go Vongola.

No Lukas is regretful because of the figures he can see just up ahead, dark cloaks and bandaged faces watching them. Not with eyes, there are no eyes, but watching them nonetheless.

Vindice

The boogeymen of Cosa Nostra, the keepers of Mafia Law, guardians of Vendicare Prison.

"So Vendicare is on top of a snowy mountain?" Akira asked rhetorically even as across from her the younger silverette was scribbling notes rapidly, recording everything he could about his boss's encounter with the keepers of Mafia Law

'Home sweet home, Kufufufu' a voice in the back of his head whispered, Lukas ignored it, and moments later forgot it.

Why am I here again?

Because apparently the Vongola Decimo had a meeting with their leader, AND HOLY CRAP THOSE RUMORS WERE TRUE!, and it needed someone to represent Gesso and Gigilio Nero Famiglias.

All the important people were apparently too busy and, DO YOU HONESTLY EXPECT US TO LET THE PRINCIPESSA ALONE WITH THOSE MONSTERS, Division Chief Gamma had yelled at him when he asked why him.


"My ass, I'd let that happen" Gamma confirmed sternly, to the amusement of his Sky


Which basically translated to him as being disposable, really feeling the love family.


'Poor guy' was the general thought of everyone in the room


Why hadn't he gone traitor again oh right because Principessa Yuni had batted those big blues and he hadn't been able to say no to her.

He'd asked Iris why she was a representative for Boss Byakuran; her answer had been simple,

"His right hand is too busy looking after the rest of the psychopaths, and the Boss himself would probably deliberately piss them off for his own amusement"

Right, why were their Famiglia's merging again?


"That's what I'd like to know" Gamma grumbled, but his Sky merely patted him soothingly on the shoulder

"Relax Gamma, remember what Tsunayoshi said; they are not us, and we don't know the circumstances that led them here" she soothed, "Byakuran has obviously done something to proof his trust in the eyes of that Yuni and Gamma."

At the mention that his other self was almost certainly involved in the merger, Gamma finally allowed himself to relax, especially at the reminder that no matter what he saw didn't have to have implications for their own world.


"Right" Decimo says with a clap of his hands, "We best not keep them waiting."

"Not even a little wait" Lukas heard himself say, but Decimo merely laughed as if he'd told a joke. Lukas idly notes that in bright morning light that the younger man's eyes are actually a startling burnt orange and not the brown he originally assumed, before striding in.


There was yet another pause, as several people in the room turned their attention to Tsuna, to confirm his eye color

"W-what?" Tsuna asked, off put by the random attention

"N-nothing Tenth" Gokudera asked embarrassed to be caught staring into his Boss's eyes

Konoka, having no such shame and feeling she had gotten silently close to the young man, stood up and immediately put her face in his, even cupping his chin so he wouldn't move

"Wow, they really are more orange than brown" Konoka beamed, somehow missing the intense blush that took over her subject of observation's face, "They're like cinnamon, tasty!"

Well, that certainly didn't make his blush go away

Oblivious, or perhaps uncaring, of the minor stir she caused, the teenage girl happily returned to her seat.

Either way, another barrier had been broken between the two groups


"Vongola Decimo" said the black figure on the right


The groups shivered


Lukas whimpered, beside him Iris shifted, and Vongola's Right Hand narrowed his eyes but otherwise doesn't react.

Decimo merely smiles politely and responds with a nod to each black figure

"Jack" he nods to the one on the right, "Alejandro" he nods to the one on the left casually.

'…'


"Jack" Tsuna let out a strangled choke on the name

"Alejandro" Asuna said in her own stone faced deadpan

"What else would their names be Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn sniped, just to be difficult despite his own well-hidden surprise, "Skull Squisher, Death Reaper?"

"Not Jack!" Tsuna snapped, irritated that he was embarrassed


From the corner of his eye he sees Iris's dumbfounded expression at the casual address, and is sure there's a similar one on his face.

'THEY HAVE NAMES!? MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT'S WITH THOSE AVERAGE SOUNDING NAMES, HOW CAN HE EVEN TELL THE DIFFERENCE!?'


The viewing room concurred with Lukas's very appropriate internal reaction


Lukas is sure right then and there that this kind of meeting of powers is definitely above his pay grade.

"Why are you here?" the one on the left asks, and it's just as nightmare inducing as Lukas always tried not to imagine it being.

Decimo's face goes oddly serious, as he pulls something from his suit jacket; a second later Lukas sees it's a letter with a black flame on top. Black?


The unknown Flame was enough to make the Arcobaleno in the room straighten

"What is that?" Mammon muttered under… it's… breath


"We have a meeting with Bermuda." He calls out before handing the letter to his right hand, who in turn hands it to the one called 'Jack', Jack doesn't even scan it, just puts it his coat.

"Proceed"

'…'

"Bermuda?" Iris asks after a tension fraught moment where they actually had to walk past the monsters.

"There boss", Right Hand answers

"Oh/Oh" Both he and Iris respond, he didn't even know there was a Boss. What kind of monster does it take to keep a legion of monsters in line?

There's silence as they walk, and not even Decimo says anything to lighten the mood. This place is a place of death and hatred.


The vision took the time to show the long corridor the group of four were walking through. Stone walls, only lit by old fashioned torches, and even then, there were gaps between the light leaving pockets of total darkness.

On top of that, there was a clear muted silences so engulfing, even the breathing of visitors seemed unnaturally loud. It was… unnerving

"I-it's worse than the haunted house aru" Kū mumbled, as she unconsciously pulled her legs up in her seat, as if to not risk the blackness touching her

"Really quiet too" Yuna said in her own unconscious whisper, "You'd expect a place like that to be filled with the tortured screams of its victims…"

There was a pause as all the teens cringed at the mental image the teenage girl painted

"…What?" she asked curiously when she noticed most of the room staring at her

"What do you mean what!?" a freaked out Asuna exclaimed in a louder than necessary tone, trying to fill the unnerving silence, "What the heck is wrong with you!? Why would you say something like that!?"

"Ah, it just seemed like something that would happen in a horror flick y'know" she answered a bit sheepishly

"Kufufufu" the laugh that came from the Vongola side sent the hairs on the back of their necks standing straight up, a laugh that was suddenly very familiar…

"Of course, not Yuna Akashi" Mukuro chuckled, his disturbing red eye on the girl across the room, "This is merely the top most level of the prison, a maze of identical corridors."

Mukuro's smile suddenly took a crazed sadistic look, as his next words came out a sinister whisper

"The tortured screams come from the lower levels, deep in the belly of the mountain" his eyes narrowed as his final words came out with a sadistic relish, "… at least from those who can still scream, that is. Kufufufu"

The fact that his entire speech had been accompanied by the illusion sounds of tortured screams, before ending with his creepy laugh echoing through the room

"Grglb"

"Ako, Makie!" Akira screamed as she caught her pale faced friends from fainting

"Lambo! Tsuna!" Gokudera was immediately on his knees shaking his boss, while Ryohei had scooped up the traumatized five-year-old, and was shaking him twice too hard

"Kufufufu"

"Grglib"

"Would you knock it off already!" Asuna screamed, scared tears at the corner of her eyes; behind her Konoka was mockingly hiding behind (and hiding her smile behind) a pale jittery Setsuna, while a gently laughing Chizuru was trying to coax Negi out from under the couch where he had joined Kotaro.

Evangeline through her head back and laughed, her own "evil mage" laugh

"Mukuro-sama please stop, we have to finish this vision" Chrome's quiet voice put in, completely undisturbed by her master's antics

The Demon Mist smirked, but stayed quiet his job done, the scene was mostly passed by the time everyone really settled down


Before long they reach a room, that looks surprisingly normal, and its clearly some kind of office. At the desk of the office sits a man in a white button up and a familiar top hat, his face could almost be called babyish, until he looks up and Lukas is greeted with the coldest, blackest orbs he's ever seen. It's the eyes, that prevent him from looking remotely human; theirs hate in those eyes, old hate; so deep and terrible it reminds Lukas of an old saying he once heard,

"When you look into the Abyss, the Abyss also looks into you"


"He's… not human" Mana was the first to speak after a moment spent examining the creature's appearance; considering her own heritage and former profession, she considered herself something of an expert on the subject.

"The Vindice long gave up their humanity" Reborn stated evenly, taking in the imbalanced proportions of the man's body.

But that wasn't what had his attention in the slightest

"On his neck" Colonel mumbled beside him, careful not to let his voice carry

They'd all seen it, the crystal-clear pacifier, hanging from his neck

Clenching his fist, the baby hitman had to resist a rare moment of rage, not to go to that hunched over freak of nature and start demanding answers. That would get them nowhere, and the thing could choose to stop the viewing and send them away like children.

Reborn clenched his teeth, this was infuriatingly frustrating

"It's clear, these visions have more wisdom to offer than we previously anticipated" Fon said in that faux ancient Chinese wisdom voice that used to irritate him before they were cursed; nowadays he'd come to appreciate the effort the man took to reign his temper, Reborn's own terrifying reaction to the curse seemed downright tame in comparison, "We will have to keep our minds cool and sharp"

"Does Princepessa Yuni know anything about this" Mammon asked in an almost gentle tone, they all reserved for speaking to the Sky Princess

The girl in question merely shook her head

"I can't see anything in this timeless void" she answered apologetically, "If it's to happen in our universe, then it was still beyond my sight before we came here, and I cannot see the past."

"A former Arcobaleno?" Skull asked in uncharacteristic seriousness stirring the others; the lackey's thoughts were usually wild and unrestrained, but there was a reason he was a tactics consultant for the Karkassa Famiglia- he had a knack for thinking outside the box

"One who broke his curse" Verde continued following along the Cloud's thoughts, "It could mean that all the Vindice are former Arcobaleno, who else would have such strength?"

A plausible theory, and a frightening one… if only for the hope it could bring

Hope… such a dangerous thing to offer men and women who'd long lost theirs…


"Vongola Decimo", his voice is…softer than the bandage ones outside. Softer, but even more terrifying because of it. Like a black poison, silky and smooth, seeping into their skin. Lukas feels the urge to clean himself.

"Lord Bermuda" Decimo nods, but doesn't bow to, "I believe you know why we're here"

"I read your letter" Bermuda intones softly, "You wish to repeal the law separating the two worlds"

Ah yes, worlds, plural. Apparently there was a magical world living right alongside them this entire time, who knew? Except apparently the people in this room who are all vastly above the pay grade of a reasonably intelligent gopher like him; Lukas gulps and remains silent, and doesn't ask for a seat even as Decimo sits in the only available one left in the room.

"Yes that's correct, I believe my letter informed you, that the wall keeping the Magicals from public knowledge would be crashing down soon and we wish to keep the fallout from being to expansive." Somehow it doesn't sound nearly as silly when Decimo is the one to say it

"I know, what of it" the man, Bermuda responds

"What of it?" Decimo asks, seeming confused though Lukas is sure he's not, Lukas wishes he was, "If the law isn't repealed, a lot of people will die in the chaos as we can't give them aid without breaking the separation."


"Vindice ALWAYS enforce their laws" Reborn clarified to the room, unusually chatty with his current dilemma in mind "Right, wrong, ignorant doesn't matter. If magic is exposed, Vindice will hall away anyone that tries to put Costra Nostra in danger by interacting with them."

"What that's ridiculous!" Ayaka yelled, outraged by injustice of such a so-called law force

"That's Costra Nostra" was Reborn's unrepentant reply

More than one person in the room looked outraged, but Reborn cut them off

"Don't forget the people you're about to defend are thieves and killers" he said cutting off most of the protest, most

Ayaka Y, was not most people

"Their still human" Ayaka protested passionately, "And all humans have basic unalienable rights"

"U.S. Declaration of Independence?" the baby hitman asked, not taking her seriously in the slightest, much to the young woman's ire

"We'll change it" a young voice cut in before they could continue

Both turned to the fluffy Tuna, who had remained silent since the entering of the prison; he hadn't been oblivious to the comments flying around… well not completely oblivious, there was a brief infatuation at watching his older self handle the situation so easily, but that didn't blind him from the horror that was Vendicare, nor to Mukuro's no doubt true accounts of its lower levels

The blond girl was right, it wasn't human, and it needed to stop

Reborn was less impressed

"Oh, are you finally acknowledging your claim to Decimo?" he asked, watching the boy flinch; it was good that he was standing up and having a voice, but impossible things were impossible

"We'll figure it out" Tsuna said earnestly, surprisingly for him not backing down

Reborn wasn't so sure, but if his Dame student could be motivated to taking his rightful seat, by some drive to see justice, then so be it. The Ninth never wanted a mafioso for the tenth boss anyway


"We do not decide the law, only enforce it; your coming here means nothing." Bermuda replied, "Is it not the job of the Three Great Skies, to create the law that governs our world."


"Mare, Vongola, and Arcobaleno" Yuni this time clarified

"And those are?" Ayaka asked still upset and eager for more information on this messed up justice system

"The Three Great Skies" Reborn cut in, in a tone that said 'Aren't-you-paying-attention', just to aggravate the girl. Pissing off students was really his most healthy form of stress relief he could take

"Their the three Sky's that hold the pieces of the Trissinette" Yuni answered

"And that is?" she trailed off meaningfully, but the little girl merely smiled at her and shook her head, before pointing to pay attention to the vision

Ayaka huffed and Natsume patted her, it was a good effort


"True, but your cooperation is as always needed. We cannot change the law if we do not know how it was created."

"That is not our problem"

A thick silence enters the room, and Lucas notices an anger growing in the Decimo. Dark eyes flash bright orange, and suddenly Lukas can't remember how on earth he saw the man sitting next to him as a boy.

"If we do not change the law," Decimo bites out slowly, bitter heat warming the frigid cold air, "People will die out of ignorance of a law they don't know even exists."

"Not our problem." Bermuda smirks evilly and Lukas feels cold panic seep into his soul; this was the Vindice, the merciless boogeyman, the punishers of those who can't be punished by the law. Dear God, WHY IS HE HERE!?

"You as the keeper of said law" Decimo grits out, and Lukas can feel angry sky flames brushing against his soul, it makes him sick "will be the ones exacting punishment, this can't be more your problem if you tried."

"Then I guess you better find me proper incentive, Sawada-Vongole'" Bermuda responds with his arrogant smirk.

The Sawada part of the name goes over Lukas's head, but the threat does not, he is an intelligent gopher after all, hence the reason he was sent on this job on the first place. The Decimo has something Vindice wants and is going to hold untold amount of lives hostage over it. Lukas gulps, was this what meetings between the top brass was like? Lukas is suddenly very glad he's just a little fish in a big pond, it's scary at the top.

On a side note, he's suddenly not so eager for a promotion anymore, who cares that he'd worked over time for three months straight, that just meant he was good at his job where he was.

For his part Decimo merely narrows his eyes dangerously,

"No."

Such a simple word, but it makes his heart stop,

"Then no to your request"

and Lukas wonders if he has time to call his loved ones and tell them… tell them what, get out of the planet, cause shits about to hit the fan in an unspecified amount of time?

"This is your job" Decimo tries to reason

"My job is to guard the Trissinette", Bermuda replies blandly

The Arcobaleno jerked, more evidence that Vindice had connections to the Arcobaleno system

"A self-appointed job"

"And this isn't"

"…"

"…"

"…I don't wanna" Decimo…pouts?

"Neither do I"

"Can't you ask for something else", Decimo…whines? Seriously what is it that Vindice wants from Vongola?

"No"

"I'll be your best friend."


Several choked at Tsuna's response, what was he doing!?


"No"

"I send you some expensive wine"

"No"

"… I'll bring you into the Famiglia", beside him he hears Iris choke, and Hand palms his face

"…Boss"

"That is what you want Sawada-Vongole'" the Vindice boss deadpans

"…Can I take time to think about it?"

"…Boss"

"Take all the time you need, just don't take up mind" with a slam of his fist chains wreathed in black fire appear around them. Lukas hears screaming


Several people in the room jumped at the scream

Seruhiko-sensei in particular, who had acquired some popcorn, was the victim of a particularly bad 'movie-watching-jump-scare' scare

and looks to see Decimo and Hand still look relaxed, Iris has made a break for the door.


'Oh, the screaming one is me'

"FINE!" Decimo yells, and the chains stop, there's a 'thump' by the door and Lukas turns to see a shaken Iris being dropped by another Vindice Member he hadn't realized was in the room.

A quick glance behind him shows several more, and Lukas didn't know it was possible to feel this unsafe. Like waking up and going on about your day only to find your house has been transported half way off the edge of a cliff and realizing you could have killed yourself at any moment if you were a touch less careful.


Sighs of relief went through the room, and several people patted their chests, as the scene didn't end in a murder

Seeing it on the big screen was difficult enough not to get nightmares

Seeing/feeling it from a real-life portal of a world where there were certainly people who were you, was a much more difficult trauma to brush off

Tsuna in particular, who was just pessimistic enough about the Mafia society to realize that sooner or later things would turn violent, was not eager to see the spill of blood

… He had enough nightmares about that from his own experiences…


Lukas swallows when Decimo looks resigned, and can't help but shudder in horror at what he's just traded the Vindice in exchan-

"I, Serafino Tsunayoshi Sawada-Vongole', swear as Vongola Decimo that you Bermuda von Veckenschtein, will no longer owe me a favor."

The Decimo pouts and Vindice merely leans back looking smug


"…"

"…"

"…What?"

"WHAT!" both teens screamed at Vision-Tsuna

"You got us all worked up over something that stupid!?" Asuna yelled, turning her blame to the current Tsuna, as if he would explain his future self's actions

"H-hold on Kagurazaka" Tsuna said waiving his hands, "I'm sure they'll explain!"

"Oi, don't yell at the Tenth!"

"Of course, I'm gonna yell" Asuna snapped not backing down, "What kind of reason is that-"

"Sit down silly girl" Mukuro interjected, just wanting the whole Vindice trip to be over; he only had so much time in this void, and he didn't want to spend it in an illusionary version of his prison, "Like Tsunayoshi said, it'll be explained."

"Asuna" Negi pleaded, and the girl eventually crossed her arms and sat


"Bargain accepted"

'What', Lukas thinks trading his fourth in as many minutes, 'Are-you-seeing-this-too-?' glances with Iris

'WHAT!? ALL THAT FOR ONE MEASLY FAVOR!? '

'Kufufufu, how much do you think a favor from them is worth, little one. Let alone several' a soon forgotten voice in his head whispers

"Great," Decimo grouses, pouting furiously in what he must think is an intimidating manner, "Can you show us the original transcript detailing how the law came about?"

Bermuda raises his hand and a black flame appears, before he sticks his hand through it, arm disappearing as he rifles through what looks like some pocket dimension from a sci-fi show-

Decimo turns at that exact moment and looks Lukas square in the eye, his own flashing neon orange,

'Understood' a voice from nowhere important whispers, and suddenly a pressure Lukas hadn't realized was in his head disappears leaving him feeling slightly light headed. Before he can even wrap his head around what happen there is a thud on Bermuda's desk as the man (?) slaps a heavy old looking document on it.


The illusionists in the room narrowed their eyes, an idea of the situation starting to form in their heads


"The Gordian Accords"

"A knot unbreakable to all wisdom except by that of a giant blade, huh, ironic?"

It's only a second later when he sees Iris's 'What-the-hell-are-you-doing-idiot" look that he realizes he spoke out loud and flushes horribly at the sudden attention.

"Who are your pawns" Bermuda questions the Decimo

"Gophers actually," Lukas interrupts the most powerful man in the mafia, and can't for the life of him understand why he suddenly lacks his brain to mouth filter, "sent on behalf of the other two members of the Three Great Skies"

Lukas does not miss the very obvious step Iris takes away from him, Right hand mutters something about nervous talkers.

"He wasn't nervous, just scared as shit, completely sure of that- nothing to be nervous about that"

It's only when he sees Decimo's shoulders shaking and his lips twitching even as his eyes look so horribly sympathetic, that Lukas realizes that he's spoken out loud again. Thankfully the others in the room have apparently decided to ignore the mumblings of a suicidal idiot.

"Your still talking out loud suicidal idiot" Right Hand mumbles

"L-lets see what we got to work with here", Lukas appreciates Decimo's attempt to keep the meeting moving, even if he can hear his restrained laughter.

"Gordian Accords, to thou set for which sveet vords oove, ah hell it's written in Old Italian, Regulus can you read this?" he asks the now named Right Hand Regulus.


"Regulus?" Tsuna asked looking confused, and then even more so when a teary eyed Gokudera suddenly bowed to him

"Tenth, I am honored to bear such a name!" the passionate boy bowed, unintentionally freaking out his boss, "I will wear it with pride, and do my best not to shame the Vongola."

"What?" Tsuna said trying to calm his Storm, while looking at Reborn for explanation

"Give it a moment to see if it's explained Dame-Student"


Regulus like the stars? Weren't Vongola Guardians supposed to be codenamed after food? He knew for a fact that Vongola Nono's Guardians were codenamed after French pastries. Their codenames used so often that their birth names became lost to time, Lukas didn't even know Decimo's name until today, let alone Vongola Nono's real name.

Then again Varia was Vongola and they were codenamed after demons depicting the seven deadly sins…then again they were Varia after all.


"Wait really?" Tsuna asked surprised, "You mean that's not Xanxus and them's real names?"

"Xanxus's name is still Xanxus idiot, it's the Guardians who are given code names" Mammon sniped from above

"Of course really Dame Tsuna" Reborn said double teaming him, "Who on earth would name a child Belephor or Leviathan?"

"…Who on earth would name a child Reborn?" Tsuna muttered lowly, but not low enough

BAM

"Continue" Reborn stated, ignoring the bleeding form of his student


"Of course Tenth" Regulus says and takes the document, several moments pass before he speaks up again, "The document was set forth by the Eastern Mage Associations of the Old World (here) and Vongola Segundo, Katerina Giglio Nero, and Demetri Gesso of the Mafia, presided over by Jaeger of Vindice, Jun-Woo of Murim (that's the general society those who fight with Ki belong to) and… Bresseli Shimon?"

"Shimon?" Decimo questioned curiously, "Weren't they in hiding for like two hundred years?"


There was another invisible bit of tension that seeped into the bones of the two Shimon Famiglia residents, along with some genuine surprise at their inclusion in such a documented event, but mostly tension.

So far the Shimon Famiglia, had been brought up twice, but never at any point had their status been explained in any detail, other than that Tsuna was aware of their power. Did that mean their attack was cancelled? Tsuna Sawada was certainly still alive and on the path to being Decimo. Did their family fail and perish? No animosity could be heard in the Decimo's tone, indeed he sounded friendly and curious whenever they were brought up.

But absence of evidence was not the evidence of absence

No hate being shown, did not prove that there wasn't any bad blood between the groups; and if Lucas Burton continued his role as exposition giver…

Enma and Adel shared a look and a complete understanding passed between the two

No matter what happened, they were swearing ignorance to any information revealed; if the bastard Iemitsu Sawada himself showed up in the flashback of The Flood of Blood incident, then Enma and Adel were ignorant.

Mentally prepared, the two geared for whatever may be revealed


"Hiding from your Famiglia, Decimo, not the from the rest of the world" Bermuda answered

"Huh"

Huh indeed, The Shimon Famiglia had shaken the Mafia world to the core when they'd broke their way into the Vongola Inheritance Ceremony a few years back.


"What/what?" Enma and Tsuna asked at the same time; in a stroke of brilliant method acting on Enma's part, the two boys shared dumbfounded looks the moment the information passed through Burton's lips.

Enma even went as far as to raise his hands in the universal 'Wasn't-me' sign

"Other world, keep it playing" Adel immediately chimed in, in what was now becoming the catchphrase for suspicious facts or scenes shown in this other world.

Suspicions somewhat eased, the viewers split their attentions back to the vision


A handful of teenagers making the most powerful names in the business eat dirt in front of all the other powerful names, huge. On top of that they'd reintroduced to the world The Seven Flames of The Earth, a power as strong as if not stronger than the common Seven Flames of the Sky that everyone had used since the dawn of Cosa Nostra. To this day Famiglias were killing themselves, literally in some cases, trying to figure out how to activate the rare power. The Shimon had been rising names ever since, especially since their boss was apparently best friend's with Vongola Decimo despite previous incident; the two having apparently bonded during the Arcobaleno Wars.


Relief, cool hard relief, for too many reasons to count flooded Enma

One, they were outed for trashing the ceremony and the Flames of Earth were revealed, but the reaffirmation that he and Tsuna were best friends, all but saved him in that very same breath

Two, Shimon were flourishing in this other world… that, that meant more than words can describe

And third and finally, there was a far more horrifying event would distract the viewers

"A-Arcobaleno wars?" it came out a squeak from the usually gruff Gokudera; and everyone on the Vongola side had similar looks of horrified disbelief

"Shh" Reborn hissed, they needed to hear this


Arcobaleno Wars, the name sent shudders down anyone who heard them spine; it was rumored that the Vindice themselves had taken part in the 'War of the Best' and that Vongola Decimo had allied himself with them.

Well at least one part of that rumor could now be confirmed

"We were enemies during the battles" Decimo suddenly said, "We became allies after it ended."

At Lukas's blank look he continued, "Your still speaking out loud, anyone ever tell you, you have a gift for exposition" he continued kindly.

Lukas flushed, "Many times, its why I'm used as a gopher for things like this" and oh god would his brain to mouth filter please turn back on soon.

"Lukas Burton, was it" Decimo asked

"Yes sir", blinking when he nodded to his Right Hand who took out his phone 'it gets reception here?' and began typing, a second later the silverette nodded to his boss, who turned back to Lukas,

"I'll be sure to remember it" and Lukas felt his heart stutter, was, was he being noticed by top men?, "It's good to know who can keep their cool during meetings this big"

'Is he being sarcastic'

"I'm not, you're doing better than most would in your position"

'Did I say that out loud again'

"No you just have an easy to read face", Decimo grinned at the deadpan on Lukas's face, before turning back to the table, "Side note, why was Shimon even involved in the first place, I only have Shimon Decimo's recommendation by chance out of sheer preparedness? "


Several of the Arcobaleno let out huffs of irritation when it became clear that no further details would be given about any war between them.


"It is the duty of The Great Earth, to act as a balance to the Three Great Skies that keep the Trissinette. A rational impartial judge, to you who are the lawmakers and we the punishers" Bermuda answered blithely

'A Great Earth... huh, new terminology'


The two Shimon listened with rapt attention, and so (disturbingly, they noted) did the rest of the Arcobaleno.

Enma had no illusions that they wouldn't be coming back to their attack on the inheritance ceremony, but he hoped that at the very least they had absorbed enough information about this possible future to know they needed to wait for explanations instead of jumping to whatever conclusions.

If only for the sake of peace in the viewing room, and their continued privilege of viewing


"So, we just need the agreement of Eastern Mage associations (which we have), and the Three great skies (which we have)" he said with a point to himself and a wave to Lukas and Iris, "And a recommendation from Shimon Decimo, you, or a high ranking Murim-in, which I also have from the Shimon (taking out a letter with an inversed burgundy flame Lukas assumed was Earth Flame), which I know you should be able to sense."

At this point Decimo was gritting his teeth, eyebrow twitching, "So we already had everything we needed for you to stop punishment for the law in the first place."

"Yes that seems correct" Bermuda smirked

"So you made me waste a favor for nothing" Decimo grit

"Not for nothing Sawada-Vongole', for ridiculous amounts of money and unnecessary bloodshed." Bermuda said lifting the documents as more black flame appeared.

Once again he was met by orange eyes of the Decimo, which didn't make any sen-

'Safe' said a returning pressure in his head.


"What is that?" Chisame muttered allowed, more than disturbed about whatever implied mental powers/insanity was going on

Hearing her question, several people who recognized the voice automatically cast side eyes to a suspiciously grinning Mukuro


"Money", Iris muttered to herself probably thinking it was quiet, but echoed in the still silent room.

"Of course" Bermuda said turning to her making her stiffen, "You don't think Vongola actually cares about saving lives do you? We're not insane, if the vast majority of Mafioso become aware of the magical world (which they will when it's exposed to the world) there will be no reason to uphold the law of separation, after a certain amount of favor (7/8ths to be precise) turns to blending the two cultures (for profit reasons mostly), the law will be dropped automatically."

"7/8ths" Lukas interjected, more to get attention off of Iris, they were technically family, "that seems like a large number to change a law."

"We're criminals by nature Burton" Regulus deadpanned, "Obeying any kind of law defeats the purpose of being criminal, which is why they are so few. And why we take them so seriously" his eyes glanced to Bermuda before continuing, "It has to be especially heinous to make a majority of a society of thieves and killers cringe."


"Which is another reason no questions the Vindice, other than their terrifying powers" Reborn spoke up, mostly directed at the blond girl who had argued their practices, "There are some beings in the world, who not even a saint could forgive. To punish those who can't be punished by the law."

Glaring, it was clear Ayaka did not agree with the spirit of the statement, but rather than comment, she grit her teeth and made note to bring it up as soon as she could with her family.

…And to the Tsuna she was sure she had met before…


'Ah right, so wait, "Why are we here if the law will be overturned anyway?"

"Greed" Bermuda smirked

"I'm not greedy Bermuda, I actually… you know…give a damn about countless innocent lives" Decimo interrupted sternly

"But it was not you who brought up this idea to overturn the law was it, the people who did aren't as virtuous, their just out to make a profit"

"…You're awfully chatty today." Decimo mumbled

"It is my duty to educate the ignorant, so they don't unknowingly trespass on unwritten laws" Bermuda said hypocritically considering he had just threaten to lead an eventual massacre (though apparently temporary one) on others for exactly that reason.

"Bulg Shigt!" Decimo sneezed, and if it sounded like two other words, Lukas wasn't going to call him out on it.


Several people rose a brow at the Decimo's brass; Tsuna himself was silently sweating bullets at his older self's impertinence

"Looks like, I haven't yet beat that disrespectful mouth out of you" Reborn commented; it was said as a jibe (and there was a bit of irritation at that particular failure), but there was also some pride

'I can see the ending' Reborn thought, 'You finally became as I wanted you'

"Good luck with that, Demon" Tsuna muttered

'But not today'

BAAAM

"It does my heart good, that I have such a willing to learn student" Reborn stated from where he was standing on top of Tsuna's newly crater planted skull; it seems he'd have to feel proud for that rampant mouth later

"T-Tsuna, you alright?" Yamamato asked worriedly, he didn't think he'd ever seen Tsuna take a blow that hard outside of battle

"Of course, he's alright Yamamato" Reborn answered completely unsympathetically over the gurgling noise of his pained student, mind already fixed on new tutoring plans, "It's physically impossible for him to die here, no matter what I do to him; that opens up so many training opportunities for me."

He's a Demon was the concurrent thought of everyone in the room


"Sorry I'm allergic to B.S., I think you got some floating in the air" said the only man in the world willing to snark at the Mafia's Boogeyman to his face.

"By removing the law early" Bermuda continued, apparently ignoring the disrespect, to Luka's relief (Decimo had Brass Cajones), "Vongola and Millefiore and Shimon are capable of controlling the flow of who has access to a whole new world, and whole new technologies, medicines, goods, and customers"

Ooooh, that made more sense that a bunch of altruistic Mafioso Famiglias joining together to save the world.

"Which we didn't even need to do at all apparently, since our compliance should have made it moot. You just dragged us up here to waste a favor of mine" Bermuda shrugged unrepentedly.

"…You have a creepy baby face"

"Get out of my prison"

()()()()()())()()()())(())()())()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()())()()

Relief, aching frigidly cold, beautiful relief flooded through him as soon as they slid their way down the mountain side, the hummer limo they'd taken up here just visible in the distance. He was alive, blessedly wholly alive.


There was a universal sigh of relief from the rooms inhabitants

"Finally" Makie breathed, even going so far as to stretch her muscles at the newly lighted location, "I thought we'd never get out of there."

"I think I'm just ready for them to get off this mountain of doom" Asakura chimed, to the agreement of the rest of the room

Nobody, not even interdimensional viewers, liked to visit the Vindice


He wasn't the only one feeling it; Now that the doom had passed, Iris had begun flirting uproariously with the two slightly younger men, praising them about how well Decimo had kept his cool, and how intelligent Regulus was to be able to translate Old Italian. Lukas rolled his eyes, neither the Decimo nor his right hand would be as susceptible as some socially awkward scientist that she usually practiced her skills on. If anything Regulus just looked annoyed and Decimo just seemed amused.


"Why is this woman flirting with Haru's boyfriends?" Haru asked lowly, a hint of a threat in her voice

"Boyfriends!? Since when do you have more than the one?" Gokudera stared at her incredulous, making the girl blush at her own choice of words

"Maa, maa Haya-chan's getting jealous" Yamamato teased, only furthering both blushes

"Who the hell is Haya-chan!?" the teenager snapped, even as the rest of the group burst into giggles

"Does that slut have no shame?" Ayaka snarked under her breath, getting an eyebrow from her roommate, but neither continued that line, when they noticed the resident class pervert suddenly twitch and smell the air as if she could sense the gossip.

"Paru?" Nodoka asked her friends curiously

"Someone's hiding something from me" the glasses girl said narrowing her eyes scanning the group; on the other side, Ayaka and Chizuru did their best to look nonchalant


"I'm sorry Ms. Iris" Decimo said politely, but this time the presence of manners didn't make him seem younger, not after the meeting with the devil, but rather cultured. Lukas saw Iris let out a swoon, that may or may not have been genuine,

"But I don't think Regulus' girlfriend would appreciate either of us spending the weekend with you at the ski lodge near the airport. As is happens I have to be in another country entirely before the day is up, sooo…" he finished with a helpless shrug.

"Ah", Iris let out a surprised noise, but months of working with her as their families blended let him see just how irritated she really was, and Lukas stifled a smile.

'Bitch'


Several of the girls smirked at watching the young woman get shut down


"Sorry" Decimo said cheerfully, which showed just how little he actually cared

"Oh no, I'm sorry, I completely forgot about…well you know" Iris responded with false empathy, and Lukas felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

'No no no, they were so close to the car; please please please don't let Iris say anything vindictive that will get us stranded out here.'

"I know… what?" Decimo asked curiously, but the smile on his face seemed a little strained

"Well y'know… the rumors about you two…or three, really… not that I'm against it! No no, it takes all kinds after all" Iris continued 'kindly'.

Both the Decimo and his right hand slowed to a stop, as did Lukas and Iris, looks of irritation and mild horror coming on their faces.

"We're not gay/we're not fuckin gay" they spoke in tandem

"Of course not," Iris said condescendingly, "Bisexual I believe is the term when there's a girl in the middle. Though I don't personally distinguish"

"We're not gay/we're not fuckin gay" they spoke again more stressed.

"Of course, of course" Iris shook her head in mock sympathy, "I'm sure all straight male friends fall asleep holding each other, kiss, say 'I love you', and spend every waking moment together"

"We were injured and exhausted when we fell asleep, I was drowning and he performed CPR, and he's my right hand where else would he be if not by my side?" Decimo retorted, though Lukas noted he didn't say anything about the declarations of love.

"Sure honey, sure", Iris said as she slid in the back of the car, ignoring both men's glower. Lukas slid in even quicker if only to put as much distance between himself and the two men who'd glared down VINDICE; seriously was she so vindictive she forgot that?


"Apparently so" Lal Mirch spoke, looking disgusted at the woman's behavior

"Some people don't take rejection well" Bianchi said scornfully, missing the way her brother and Tsuna's faces twisted at her words

Exchanging glances, both Tsuna and Gokudera silently agreed to keep their silence


"All I'm saying", Iris continued when they got in the back of the car "is-"

This was as far as she got before Regulus suddenly leaped forward to her turned head and gave a harsh chop to the back of her neck, knocking her out cold. A second later the sound of doors being locked was heard as the vehicle started moving, and both Decimo and Regulus turned to him.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, they're going to kill me to keep their gay love hidden!" Lukas screamed in his head.

"Your speaking out loud again dumbass" Regulus rolled his eyes, even as Decimo face palmed, "Just let Mukuro in control idiot."


"Pahahahaha" Hana finally broke down laughing pointing at the irritated faces of the two boys in question

"What's wrong with that kind of love?" Setsuna said in a low undertone, though not low enough that Konoka, Asuna, Negi, and Tsuna, who were all close to her didn't hear it making them turn to her with raised eyebrows.

"W-what!?" she squeaked embarrassed when the mentioned four turned to her eyebrows up

"Nothing" Negi assured her, "Nothing is wrong with that Setsuna, we were just… ah"

"What?"

"Ah, nothing" the boy trailed off, he and Tsuna deliberately turning away and not making eye contact with the girl while Konoka and Asuna laughed at the bird girl's embarrassment.


'Mukuro, who the hell was-'

"Kufufufu, you certainly put the fear of God into this one Gokudera-kun" a voice that was most assuredly not Lukas's escaped from his mouth without permission.


"Ah, what the hell!" Asuna and several others jumped on the couch, as the unnatural twist on Lukas's face appeared with a deep voice coming from his mouth.

Takahata and Mammon both leaned forward in keen interest

"Possession!" Yuna, Ako, and Akira screeched

"Crucifix, crucifix, crucifix!" Misora shouted making a cross with her pointer fingers

"Quiet!" Chisame shouted over the pandemonium, when she had the room's attention she pointed at the vision, "One, for the thousandth time, this. Is. Not. Real. This is in some parallel dimension, lightyears away from here!"

"But-"

"Not here!" she cut off any protest, "Two, the 'ghost' is someone they" another jab to he Vongola side "know! And three! You're acting like there isn't some ghost whatever in our own classroom!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Ooooh" came the collective response

"Idiots" Chisame sat down with a huff

"…Wait, there's a ghost in you guys class-?"


"Are you okay, they didn't have any traps that hurt you or anything like that did they" Decimo asked concernedly.

"Save your mother bear worrying for the children Tsunayoshi, I am the best, I don't set off traps", Lukas noted from the reflection of the glass that one of his eyes had turned red with a strange symbol in them.

"Second best" Regulus snorted, "Did you get the info. or not, I'd hate for this trip to be a complete waste of Tsuna-sama's time."

"Kufufufu, how impatient" the voice thing laughed, by now Lukas was internally freaking out even if his body wasn't showing is, HE WAS BEING POSSESSED, HE DIDN'T EVEN THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE. And if it was, by who, how, why. No scratch that he already knew who and how, Mukuro Rokudo, the only man known to have ever escaped Vendicare prison, which meant the 'how' was through his specially mutated mist flames. But Why, and why were Decimo and Regulus so calmly chatting him up?


"So it is you?" Takahata stated, looking at the boy with the hetechromatic eyes

"Huh, that's you!?"

"How?"

"Ah ah ah" the teen said in mocking admonishment, "No spoilers remember"


"As it is I was able to find their records room when he pulled out the Gordian Accords", suddenly puzzle pieces began to slide into place in Lukas' head,

Decimo looking at him, signaling him with orange eyes,

The sudden pressure leaving his head, his sudden lack of control on his thoughts,

The pressure returning when Bermuda put the documents back and Decimo's concerned look, before Lukas's face contorted to let him know he (Mukuro) was safe.

"Good, hopefully we won't have to waste anymore favors finding records to old long forgotten deals." Decimo said, relieved.

"Then there's the wealth of untold information on the documents themselves" Regulus nodded, "the Gordian Accords alone tell the existence of magic, the hidden Shimon, and Murim. Who knows what else is out there; The Vindice are one of the oldest organizations in existence, after all."


"Holy crap they pulled off a heist on the Vindice!" Skull exclaimed, his shock for once not overdone

Colonel let out an appreciative whistle

"That takes some balls, kora"

Mukuro looked insufferably smug


"I'll be sure to send Vongola HQ a copy of the info. as part of their cut for this operation."

"Which we both know will be heavily edited" , Decimo said levelly, "I can't afford to have to track you down all the way around the world to look up some information Mukuro, please send an unedited copy to Kyoya instead"

"That agoraphobic skylark?", the voice to Lukas sounded almost disgusted, "Why in the six levels of hell would I do that"


Hibari snarled, leaving no mystery to the new people exactly who was being talked about


"Because you can trust that he won't abuse the information or be strong armed out of it." Decimo replied evenly, "And because I won't heckle you for info. since Kyo is always in Japan to find easily."

"Tch, what makes you'll think your precious little bloodthirsty Cloud Guardian will accept anything from me." The voice, Mukuro, said annoyed

"Just give it to Kusakabe-kun and he'll get it to Kyo."

"The one with the ridiculous pompadour?"

"That's the one", Decimo beamed

"Yeah sure whatever" Mukuro grumbled using Lukas's lips

"And can you put Mr. Burton to sleep when you leave, he's had a stressful morning"

"Kufufufu, you are too soft Tsunayoshi", but Lukas felt the tendrils of 'Other' remove itself from his head, and his face hit rich crinkly leather the last thing he heard before the conversation was wiped from his mind forever was Decimo's heartfelt thank you.


'Agreed' Mukuro privately thought, but otherwise kept to himself; it wasn't a trait he disliked about Tsunayoshi Sawada

"At least Mr. Burton got a good rest?" Negi tried to salvage

Kotaro snorted, but otherwise pat his friend on the back; the teen on the other side wasn't the only softie here


()()()()()())()()()())(())()())()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()())()()

'Now boarding flight 309 to Tokyo, Japan, Now boarding flight 309 to Tokyo, Japan.'

"That's me", Tsuna said standing up from his seat in the small Scandinavian airport; for security reasons it was decided that Tsuna would fly commercially (first class of course), rather than take one of the family's more conspicuous private jets. There were people, government/rival Famiglias, that kept an eye on that sort of thing, and Vongola wanted all business dealing with this as hush hush as possible.

His birth or rather Japanese, since apparently his father had taken the liberty of making a second birth certificate for him in Italy the day he was born, name was kept strictly out of mafia affairs and so he was free to use it as he pleased without scrutiny from Interpol.

Beside him Hayato picked up his lone suit case (the rest would be sent over as needed at a later date) and walked with him to the gate. Upon arriving Tsuna paused and took one last look at his right hand his other half so completely a part of him, thinking of him as a separate being at all felt wrong and gave him a curt gentlemen's nod.

"Regulus"

"Serafino" he nodded back, and there was a brief pause as they kept up their professional gentlemen shtick before Tsuna let out a genuine smile,

"Hayato"

"Tsuna", and without signal both of them pulled each other into a tight hug; not the hard slap on back man-hug, but a simple 'I-love-you-old-friend' hug. Screw the 'boys weren't supposed to show emotions and do that' crap; he was saying goodbye to his brother dammit.


The two young men exchanged glances and smiled; many of the girls in the room quietly aww'd


'Now boarding flight 309 to Tokyo'

Pulling back, Tsuna smiled and grabbed his luggage.

Vongola Decimo was coming to Mahora


"Finally, it's time to start the main plot!" Makie cheered to the agreeing cheers and subtle smiles of her friends and classmates

"I wonder who he'll meet first?" Konoka wondered aloud

"Probably Negi" Kotaro said easily, "He's supposed to be one of the stars here right?"

"That could mean he'd meet Takahata-sensei or Shizuna-sensei, too right?" Nodoka asked, then blushed when she received attention, but soldiered on, "They were the only ones besides Reborn-san, who the Being talked to."

"That's pretty good theory, Nodoka" her best friend Yue, complimenting the girl more on her courage to speak her opinion then anything else, getting a pleased flush from the girl.

"Forget that" Haruna brushed off, "I wanna know who he gets together with"

"W-what?" Tsuna squeaked, shocked into entering the conversation, "Why, would I be doing that!?"

"Oh please" Asakura rolled her eyes, "A fine piece of man meat, moving in to help with studies~"

Her words had their intended response; Tsuna and more than one girl was a flustered mess

"Asakura!"

"Don't lie, I saw some of you eyeing him, when he was shirtless"

Tsuna squeaked, before whipping his head to look at the girls; all but three would meet his gaze

Tsuna sunk to the floor, Asakura laughed

"Well I can't wait to see what happens next!"

Tsuna whimpered

I say it every chapter, but damn these are long. But seriously, anyone know how to get back a deleted chapter, I swear I see it on Google Search, but I JUST. CAN'T. REACH. IT!