The flight back to Palermo was unusually quiet. After everything that had transpired and they learned, none of the guardians seemed to be in any mood for conversation. Rather, each one of them was in a different stage of brooding.
When the Sicily sun finally welcomed them on the lively streets, Gokudera spoke for the first time in two hours.
"We're gonna return to the Headquarters for now. Tomorrow I expect all of you in the Conference hall."
He eyed the Mist and Cloud pointedly from his seat in the limousine.
Hibari shrugged, bored. "My mission is to find that carnivore shadow and bite it to death." That mostly meant an OK.
Mukuro flipped his hair back and smirked. "Expect nothing more from me on this matter anymore, Mr. Right hand man."
Gokudera's eye twitched, but before he could lash out at the bastard, Ryohei yelled out first.
"MUKURO YOU NEED TO COME TO THE EXTREME. WE NEED YOUR HELP!"
All of the occupants visibly winced at the sheer volume. Mismatched eyes glinted with mirth.
"Oho, that's new. I thought myself to be a hindrance to you-"
Gokudera snorted. "Only when you act like a princess."
A second later the bomber seemed to realize what he had said as he turned his head to glare pointedly out of the window. If one had a magnifying glass, you could see the slight widening of Mukuro's eyes.
"Point is," The Rain guardian began, sensing the pulsing discomfort emanating from his friend, "We need everyone's help if we are going to succeed in finding the guy."
"Mukuro- sama," Chrome began shyly from next to him, "You are curious about him right?"
The Mist guardian grimaced. "Kufufu, fine." He agreed,though internally he was frowning. He did not like that his Nagi had used his curiosity to best him. Yes, he was very curious- but that was his nature. He was a very curious man indeed. And he would have continued on alone anyway. He believed it was better to not have this hindrances around him. They were a burden, and he could not take action with them ordering him around.
Unbeknownst to him, Chrome already knew all these, and she made a mental note to talk to Gokudera when they arrived. Mukuro- sama's help would undoubtedly be an advantage, but they had to know how to play him. And unfortunately for him, Chrome was just the right person for the job.
Kyoko Sasagawa sighed tiredly as she sipped her tea. Today had been an unusually tiring day- both emotionally and physically. The auburn haired woman replayed in her mind her earlier meeting with Reborn. The shock was still swarming her chest, but she tried her best to not let it cloud her mind.
She had almost broken down crying when the hitman told her that, no, it was not a test and Tsuna was really dead. Thankfully, her training kicked in, and she refrained herself from displaying weakness, as she had been taught.
But now she was alone, and she could not help the fresh wave of tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. She knew the story, but that did not stop her from questioning: Where was Gokudera? Why wasn't anyone there with Tsuna? How could he let his guard down like that?!
She knew the brunette was very powerful, feared throughout the Underworld despite his negations. She had witnessed his power first hand, and her trips to the darkest corners of the Mafia world had led her through all kinds of rumors and stories and she knew.
So then why?
Reborn told her the guardians left for Florence, to search the scene once again and she had to wonder why they took Lambo with them. Sure, the boy was a guardian, but he was still so young. Her protective instincts rose to the surface, but she refrained from lashing out at Reborn. She will have enough time to give those grown up idiots a piece of her own mind soon.
The mansion was unusually quiet and it gave the young guardian an unsettling feeling. It did not help that his companions were as silent as death itself.
He knew that, whenever Tsuna left the Headquarters, there were two options: everything remained quiet and unmoving, as if the time stopped and only the young don himself could unstop it. Or everything descended into chaos, fights broke out between the guardians and bets were thrown left and right- even the staff joined such festivities- but in the end something was destroyed, and the party was off, in fear of an angry boss that would mutilate them all to death for adding more bills.
Those were fun times, Lambo reminiscenced with regret. Unfortunately, the mansion was now lost in time forever, since its master was gone.
Swallowing down a sob, the green eyed boy looked up at Gokudera's broad back, his posture still proud, moving with a learned grace through the halls.
Only Lambo knew how much the silver haired baka had suffered to obtain that posture. But he suffered proudly. He and Gokudera were immediately put under walking lessons, seeing as they both tended to slouch when they walked and their postures were more for a neighbourhood gang, than an esteemed mafia famiglia.
Their horrified teacher had drilled in them the correct way to walk and hold themselves, and from then on, he had not seen the man slouch once. Unlike him, who only walked like he was taught when formal events and meetings arose on the horizon. But such was life, and life tended to be cruel most of the time.
The grand doors that signaled they have arrived to the guardian's quarters appeared in sight and the boy exhaled in relief. He would go straight to bed and sleep, or at least cry if he could not. His wish would not come true unfortunately, as along with the doors, a person entered their sight as well.
It was a medium height woman, dressed in a knee high length black dress with assorting high heels. Her long, caramel brown hair cascaded on her back in light waves and her warm amber eyes could melt even the coldest icebergs. And today, that raging fire was directed at all of them.
Ryohei visibly halted in his step when he saw his younger sister leaning on the dark red wooden doors, but he regained his composure quickly, jogging up to her.
"Yo, Kyoko!" His voice was steady and cheerful, not betraying a hint of the events that transpired today. "Wha' cha doing here?"
His question was met with silence as Kyoko's gaze remained fixed on the group as a whole. When the other guardians were close enough to be in hearing range, she finally straightened herself, her arms remaining crossed.
Hibari growled, signaling that if she did not make way, he would bite. The prefect was in no mood for happy talk. Fortunately, he will be disappointed.
For a small moment, Kyoko let her training reign over her senses, becoming the very woman every mafioso dreaded- the strong willed, powerful one. Her eyes burning with unshed tears and rage, she asked in a loud steady voice.
"I am searching for my boyfriend." The accented word made most of them flinch. "Mind informing me where I can find him?" This time her eyes locked with Gokudera's emerald ones.
The man froze, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Uhuh. He forgot that he was supposedly in Florence with the Tenth.
"Uh..." The bomber stuttered before clearing his throat. The fuck did he begin to stutter for now?!
"He's in a meeting." This time his voice was steady enough to be satisfied.
Kyoko made a sound between a snort and a huff, her foot beginning to tap on the floor impatiently.
"Yes, in a meeting with death in Florence. I heard the Palazzo Vecchio has a very popular spot to be shot in."
Every word she accentuated resonated loudly down the empty hall and into their ears.
Ryohei's jaw went slack as he stuttered incomprehensibly.
"Bu- but h- ow did you extremely- !"
"Enough!" The woman yelled making her brother, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Lambo's backs straighten from reflex. Hibari was watching the exchange impassively from a comfortable spot near the terrace entrance, while Mukuro was looking in amusement at their reactions with Chrome frowning softly next to him.
"When did you plan to tell us what happened?" She demanded shifting her center of gravity and from one foot to the other.
"We thought we should better have some solid evidence fir-" Yamamoto began amiably, but Kyoko was not done.
"Solid evidence for what?! Where is his body?" She almost chocked the word out.
Her question was met with silence. Kyoko blinked looking at them incredulously. After a few more moments, Gokudera answered hesitantly.
"The Vindice have it. They told me that."
"Why didn't they return it? And what has Vindice got to do with all of this?"
"Kyoko, we should not have this discussion here." Ryohei's smile did not reach his grim eyes.
Kyoko placed a hand on her hip, "I am not leaving without solid information, Onii-chan. And neither will you, until I am satisfied with your answers."
"Herbivores." The Cloud guardian warned, his glare zeroing on the woman. She did not even flinch under his gaze. Raising an eyebrow, he decided to humor her.
"They left a message to all of us."
His sentence shocked the guardians but attracted Kyoko's curiosity. Her eyes brightened, happy to have finally cracked the wall a little.
"What kind of message?"
"Kyoya." The Sun guardian warned, but the Cloud was having none of it. He did not plan on spending the rest of the day in the freaking hall.
"If you don't want me to tell her herbivores, then you better tell her yourself. I am not going to spend the rest of my day here." His deadpan tone made Kyoko smile.
Mukuro nodded. "Kufufu, for once I agree with the carnivore. I want my bubble bath."
His serious tone did not let any room for joking, making the other guardians sweat drop.
"Just when I though you couldn't be more girly." Gokudera clicked his tongue, sighing. "Fine, come on. This is no place for a discussion." He repeated his friend's earlier statement, gesturing to change places.
Kyoko grinned, pleased that she had managed to finally break through. For a moment there she doubted herself, and that only served to make her angrier. When she began her training, she swore to not be a dead weight anymore. Reborn had told her years ago that if she survived his training, then she would survive everything else. Years later she agreed. These idiots, along with her idiot, had always left her and Haru out of everything related to the mafia.
'Never again.' She thought as she followed Gokudera down the carpeted hall.
This time she would make a difference.
Haru tapped her foot impatiently on the polished wooden floor. With her arms crossed, she was the very epitome of an angry woman. Today at lunch, her best friend Kyoko had called her. Normally she is very happy when she gets to catch up with her friend. The two girls were separated when Kyoko went to train under Reborn, Haru was taken under Lal Mirch's unmerciful wings and both of them did not have a moment's rest for a long time. But that was some years ago, and now the two usually met on weekends or went together on vacations.
Today she had a free morning so she took I-Pin out to the beach with her. The weather was just perfect, the Sicilian sun not having enough power to scorch the land just yet.
It had been a good day, until Kyoko called. The unsettling feeling at seeing the caller ID increased tenfold at the woman's words. Apparently, Tsuna was dead.
The brunette woman almost collapsed crying, had she not been in such a public place. But apparently, she had not heard the whole thing. There were some ups and downs in Kyoko's story, not to mention the details were sketchy at best, so she decided to face this problem head on. Gokudera Hayato was going to get it for keeping such secret from her.
She had been waiting in his room for almost two hours, when the bomber's door closed behind him, looking dead tired.
His green eyes settled on her form, and he swore under his breath.
"Don't remember calling you today." The man mumbled, loosening his tie.
"You didn't." Haru's tone was even. She decided to play it nice, even though she knew he was not going to crack with this strategy.
"Ah."
This time he did not even turn around. His suit jacket went next to the floor along with his favorite leather bracelet.
Something was bothering him. Haru almost snorted, placing her hands on her hips ,she abandoned the good girlfriend act.
"Weren't you in Florence with Tsuna- san until tomorrow?"
Gokudera paused in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. "We came back earlier than expected."
"And where is Tsuna- san now?" Haru looked at him expectantly.
The bomber turned around, a fierce scowl on his face. His burning glare took her by surprise.
"None of your business, stupid woman." He growled, reverting to calling her by her old nickname. "If you are here just to admire, then leave."
"Not until you tell me what happened!" She exclaimed, her eyes desperately searching his for an explanation. But there was nothing there, only emptiness.
"I'm not in the mood for stories."
"Then I will ask Kyoko." She turned around, intent on leaving the room before she decided to leave him one more message.
"She called me, you know." Haru's voice had never been so quiet to Gokudera's ears. "And she told me he is dead."
He felt her turn around, her concerned gaze burning a hole through him.
"What else has happened?"
"Nothing." His voice mirrored her own silent tone. "What else could there be?"
Two thin arms embraced him from behind and for the first time that day, Gokudera allowed himself to cry.
Kyoko gazed outside in the darkness, but her mind could only see her earlier confrontation with the guardians. Even if she now knew everything, it did not hurt less. Actually, it hurt so much more.
They explained everything, from how Tsuna was shot, to his message and the creepster in the shadows. The woman buried her head in the blue pillow in her lap, willing everything to go away. The guardians insisted she could do nothing, even they did not know what to do next. They've invited her either way, to the meeting next morning, but she decided not to join them.
It would be better to let them figure out some of the clues. In the meantime, she would do her own research.
Grasping her phone from the nightstand, she sent a quick message to one of her most trusted contacts. She did not feel like giving orders today, so she refrained from calling. Finishing up, she let the device fly into one of the room's corners, feeling the long past due tears spring forth.
The next morning came quickly and before Lambo realized, he was sitting in a chair, in the conference room, looking back and forth between Storm and Rain as they argued about the video recordings they saw yesterday.
"Shut up or I will bite you to death."
Apparently, Hibari did not enjoy heated debates either.
"Then what do you purpose we talk about, skylark?" Gokudera scowled at the impassive man.
Before he could answer, Ryohei joined in. "Wait so, that Maurizio guy is not the killer," he began pointing at one of the videotapes they took from the museum, "but the Vindice told you that he is." This time he pointed at Gokudera, who continued to scowl.
"So what's the answer, to the extreme?!"
A little bit of the old Ryohei showed in that moment as the man yelled, holding his head with both hands.
The bomber groaned. "I don't know."
"This would have been avoided if you took the photo." Mukuro said nonchalantly from the sofa he was lounging on.
"They did not give it to me-"
"So let's recap: the guy that's supposedly the killer, is not, and some shadow guy is helping the Settera famiglia." Yamamoto counted looking at them for confirmation.
"So much depression in here, I cannot breath." A joyful voice came from the direction of the doors.
Byakuran flew in, his little white wings fluttering quietly on his back.
"You're not gonna know how to walk anymore if you keep flying like that." Lambo drawled, his head resting on his left palm. He was long past the point of even considering the man a threat.
The white haired mafioso only smiled widely, letting his feet touch the ground before throwing himself into an empty chair.
"That doesn't count y'know..." the boy mumbled.
"Why was I summoned?"
"Stop speaking like we hired you to kill dragons." Gokudera crossed his arms over his chest. "We need your help in locating this guy." He slid a photo of the shadow in the don's direction.
"Okay, firstly, you did hire me once to kill a dragon." The man began, making all the guardians blink. "Second, how am I supposed to find a black spot?"
"What are you talking about, look closer," Ryohei pointed to the photo, "this is the guy."
"Oh~" Byakuran hummed, his purple eyes scanning the photo with newfound curiosity. "I've seen him before."
Following his statement, the temperature in the room dropped down like a bullet train. All the eyes in the room were suddenly trained on an unsuspecting Byakuran Gesso. The man looked almost scared.
"Wha- "
"Who is he? How do we find hi- And why does he hide his ide- No scratch that- How does he disappear?!" The questions flew out so fast that Gokudera could only choke them out without any sense.
"No, no, this guy is pretty strong." Byakuran waved his hand a little bit, his eyes still gazing at the photograph.
"How do we find him?" Hibari repeated the bomber's earlier question.
This time, the white haired man did look up, his violet gaze locking with a steel grey one.
"Why do you want to find him so much?"
Yamamoto looked at his friends uncertainly, before his amber gaze slid to the photo, his finger pointing at the black form.
"You probably know this but," he began, "This guy killed Tsuna and took the Vongola Ring."
The silence did not last long. "Mhmm," Byakuran agreed leaning back in his chair, "I knew that, Yamamoto Takeshi. But I had to ask because this guy," Violet gaze slid back down to the paper, "has a very interesting ability. I can only tell you that the Vongola Ring is not here anymore."
The man stood up, his hands going in his pockets. He looked over the room once, before continuing.
"You've gotta search for it in the past."
Kyoko inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm down. She wished her driver would press that acceleration pedal already. She would have driven herself, but speeding through the streets of Palermo in her state was not indicated.
The young woman was on her way back to the manor, after meeting with her contact.
'That shadow man is special.'
He had said, taking out different photos, each displaying a dark shadow in different angles.
'He allies himself with destruction. And eliminates order.'
Her fists clenched as she looked out at the passing sights. She said she wanted to find him.
'You cannot. That is his power.'
.
.
.
'But that is his weakness as well. The Vongola famiglia has that power, too. You have to trust Decimo.'
Oh, she trusted Tsuna- kun. Always. She had never doubted his actions until now. The question 'Why did he let his guard down?' still rang through her head. But now his reasons were clear, like the blue sky above her head today.
'The Vongola Ring is in the past.'
Her shock was nothing compared to the desperation she felt when she realized she did not have a way to go back. But then, she remembered the three legendary Vongola mechanics and their amazing technology, and all her worries went down the drain immediately. She had burst out of the coffee shop, almost twisting her ankle in the process. Kyoko frowned, a determined expression on her heart-shaped face, her eyes a smoldering gold.
'Two Vongola Rings cannot exist at the same time. The Trinisette will be unbalanced. Hurry.'
Judging by everything he had been through in his life, one would say that Yamamoto Takeshi shouldn't have been surprised that the ring was in the past- or that they had to go there. But surprises like these had not come for a long time, so he was naturally unnerved by this new revelation.
And looking around the room, his friends were as well. Byakuran looked pretty amused, and the swordsman supposed they were a pretty rare sight to look at.
"How do we even get there?" Lambo looked very confused. The conversation had descended rapidly from the random guy to time travel.
"You shouldn't ask me that." Byakuran shrugged. "The answer is right under your nose. One could consider this a test for the Vongola's mechanics as well."
A dawning revelation broke across Gokudera's face. Hibari lifted himself from the wall and immediately started towards the Engineering Quarters. Mukuro smirked as he and Chrome were enveloped by mist, disappearing from view. Ryohei followed the skylark quickly, Lambo and Gokudera just a step behind him.
Yamamoto made to follow but halted, remembering a curious thought from earlier. He turned back towards the white haired man.
"How do you know the guy?"
"Hmm," the man hummed, his eyes closed and a tight smile on his lips. "That is a long story. I will tell you when you come back, if you'll still have questions then."
His cryptic answer did not help the swordsman in the least, but his friends have already disappeared from view, and knowing Gokudera, he'll be left behind here.
"You better run, Rain guardian." Byakuran laughed, his eyes half opened.
"Time waits for no one."
Irie Shoichi looked at the flat screen in his lab and frowned. He had been in the process of analysing the new samples some Vongola underling had collected, when a warning sprung up on his desktop.
Technically, the warning was legit, but it was impossible. Or so he thought. The bright, red and black message clearly stated that the Trinisette was unbalanced.
'But how?!'
No, scratch that. He did not even know how to begin to grasp what could have happened for this message to appear.
Years ago, he had discussed with Tsunayoshi, and both men agreed that implementing a detection system for such things was a good idea. It would, at least, tell them that something was wrong somewhere. In the last months, the scientist had worked on improving the program, upgrading it to search and point out the last location the Ring was seen in. The Arcobaleno jars were out of the question. They were in Bermuda's care and he knew that the Vindice will protect them no matter what.
The Mare Ring was also safe and locked inside Vongola's best safe, and would not leave for a long time.
That left the Vongola Ring. The ginger head looked again at the screen and froze. Now the signal was dead completely.
'The Vongola Ring has disappeared?!'
But how could it vanish like that. It was unnatural!
He made to call Tsunayoshi, but the device would not connect. 'What is happening?!'
Suddenly the door to his lab opened and he jumped, looking back at the intruders with wide frightened eyes.
Spanner entered and blinked, surprised at his friend's behavior. Behind him, Gokudera yelled Shoichi's name and stepped aside to face the mechanic.
Listening to the right hand man's ramble, the blonde was slowly becoming more and more confused.
"The Ring... shadow... guy?" He spoke slowly, testing the words. Next to him, Lambo shook his head.
"It's such a long story, I don't remember the beginning."
A blonde eyebrow shot up, before his gaze settled on a desperate Shoichi, shouting at Gokudera, the silver haired man shouting right back, their volume increasing with each word.
"The Ring just disappeared from my radar!"
"What! So the shadow guy did not transport it directly?!"
The bomber looked almost hopeful, but Shoichi destroyed his moment. The ginger haired man ran back to his computer, typing rapidly.
"No, he did. There is a bug in the system."
"Settera..." Yamamoto's frown was unnerving.
"Probably." The mechanic agreed absently.
"Look, Shoichi, we need you guys to send us in the past." Gokudera slapped a hand near his keyboard.
Both men paused, asking themselves if they understood correctly.
"Bu- but a trip to the past would cost so much energy!" Shoichi protested, looking horrified.
"How can you be concerned for the energy bill right now, to the extreme!"
The Sun guardian exclaimed.
"It's not that." Spanner placed a lollipop in his mouth. "Are you sure the Ring is really there?"
"Kufufu, the Gesso bastard told us the shadow has the power to travel to the past. So we only assumed the worst." Mukuro's eyes glinted under the neon lights.
"Before I even ask how you managed to drag this guy," Spanner drawled, pointing at the Mist guardian with his lollipop, "and that guy," This time he pointed to Hibari, who glared, "I am going to tell you that we can make it happen," The red lollipop paused mid-air, looking like a wand that should have blocked the furious barrage of demands from the guardians, if Spanner would have been a wizard. Too bad for him that he is not. "But we won't be able to bring you back."
"What." The word was not even a question by this point.
"The past does not have that machine," The blonde pointed to the white circle, "so we obviously cannot bring you back. But if the Vongola Ring is really there, then there should be no problem with the return trip."
"What does that mean?" Chrome's soft voice rang through the silent lab.
"If the Trinisette is really unbalanced, and the Ring is in the past, then nature would try to rebalance the order of things, even if it means teleporting the ring from the past back to the future. In that moment, you all should be near it to be transported as well."
"But why doesn't it teleport now?" Lambo asked, looking intrigued.
"Probably because the shadow guy, most likely, is forcing it to remain there." Shoichi explained, typing furiously. "But if you defeat the guy, then I suppose there is no problem."
"You suppose..." Mukuro raised his eyebrows.
Spanner shrugged. "We're not sure either."
Feeling an incoming headache, Ryohei decided to stop asking questions and "LET'S EXTREMELY GO!"
"You heard the man." Gokudera smirked.
Yamamoto grinned at his senpai, an arm coming to rest on a pouting Lambo's head. "C'mon kid. We're going on an adventure!"
"The fuck? I'm not twelve you know!"
"You'll wish you'd be if I hear another answer like that." Gokudera glared, at the teen.
Mukuro's smile screamed an underplot, while Chrome's was small but sweet. Hibari only closed his eyes, looking content with the situation.
Shoichi and Spanner blinked, but began the preparations nonetheless.
"Ok~ five minutes everyone."
Kyoko cursed for the thounsandth time her choice in shoes. Her black high heels did nothing but hinder her and they were not even that comfortable.
'Only a little more.'
The auburn woman was two halls and a door away from her destination when the soft click of a handgun made her freeze. Her head turned around slowly to gaze at Reborn, leaning on the wall and holding a transformed Leon in his hand.
"Reborn- san wha-"
"I have a mission for you, Kyoko." The child rotated Leon in his hand absently.
The woman shook her head, golden brown locks lashing at the air.
"I can't, I'm sorry." She said quickly, her eyes longing to go. Unfortunately for her, Reborn was not there to be refused.
"It will also help Tsuna. You will be of no help in the past." His student opened her mouth to protest, but Reborn did not stutter. "Let the guardians take care of taking the ring back. They have the other rings after all."
Snapping her mouth shut, Kyoko considered this. Her teacher was right, but that did not mean anything right now.
"If I don't go, then all the training I've done would be for nothing. That was the purpose! To help Tsuna- kun and the others."
"Nonsense, your training was for your own self. Stop acting like Tsuna, only a block head like him can think like that in a world like ours."
A tense silence descended. Kyoko could only stare at the black haired boy. She was furious and shocked, but she realized it will not help her. Time was almost up.
A sudden earthquake reminded her that things were still moving, and moving fast.
The earthquake stopped as fast as it came, leaving in its wake only her shattered hopes.
"All right. What's the mission?" Caramel eyes gazed into his pitch black ones and he smirked.
"Something even more important than the ring."
a/n: tadaa I was faster this time (lifegoal achieved) xD
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! I hope to have the next chapter up by tonight .-.
Any grammar or spelling errors you spot, please inform so I can correct them
Reviews and feedback are appreciated! ^^
