A/N: Wow, I'm quite surprised at the guesses of whom the person was last chapter. I thought I made it pretty obvious, but I guess not. And yeah, I have not yet disappeared of the face of the earth, but I hope this chapter was worth the wait, it is more than 5,000 words. For those of you who wanted longer chapters, well here you go!
Also, I would like you guys to know that yes, I am well aware of the fact that the Sicilian Mafia started some time in the mid-1800's in Sicily and not during the Renaissance. However, this is fanfiction and if that still bothers any of you, this can also be considered as AU since it technically is. And as cool as the Victorian Period was, I prefer writing during the Renaissance cause it interests me more. I wonder though, does the timeline really bother any of you?
Warnings:Chapters 1 and 2. This is rated T for a reason so please don't complain to me about offensive language or something like that because I will just say look at the warnings...unless I managed to miss something, then I will apologize right here and now.
Disclaimer:Nope, don't own.
IMPORTANT QUESTION AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER.
'Italian'
"Thoughts"
"Japanese"
Recap of Last Chapter:
Gokudera, Ryohei, Chrome, and Mukuro are attacked by the people the townspeople called demons, who turned out to be mafiosos from an enemy family. Gokudera comes to the conclusion that they are in the past and he isn't happy about however, there is no time to worry as they are fighting for their lives. After Ryohei and Chrome/Mukuro finish up their fights, Gokudera is the last one fighting at the docks though there seems to be other fights elsewhere. He meets a woman named Celia and defeats the men after him with the help of Ryohei while keeping her safe. Just as everything seems to turn out for the better, a mysterious person shows up.
"Y-y-you're…!" Gokudera shakily pointed his finger at the young man standing before them. A man who was none other than Asari Ugetsu, the First Generation Rain Guardian; he was in front of them. No, he wasn't transparent. Gokudera pinched himself just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Ouch, okay, he definitely felt the pain. Then that meant…oh hell no.
His theory just became a fact.
"…if I ever see that glasses-wearing idiot ever again..."He chuckled darkly.
Asari blinked in surprise at the looks he received from the three guardians.
Ever since he had officially become the Rain Guardian, he had met many people who feared him, adored him, respected him, were awed by him, or were wary of him, but never before had he met anyone who had such strange looks on their faces. The three oddly-dressed young teens in front of him looked like they had seen….well, for a lack of a better word, a ghost. He thought that the situation couldn't be stranger than it already was, but then his mind registered the words that he heard.
"…you speak the language of my homeland?"
The three guardians were too dumbstruck by the sheer impossibility of the situation to answer him and Gokudera didn't even realize that he had accidentally reverted back to Japanese.
Deciding to test if the boy actually did speak Japanese, Asari ventured to get a reply out of him,
"Come now, I'm not that scary am I? I merely wish to inquire the reason for your purpose here. After all, there have been some...unusual...circumstances in past few months."
Asari kept a pleasant smile on his face, but inwardly he was scrutinizing each teen in front of him. From what he had seen on his perch in a tree nearby, these teens were not to be underestimated, especially when he had seen them take down men at least twice their size without much of a problem. He kept his hands near the swords at his waist in case he had to use them.
Mukuro, sensing that he was probably the only one able to form a coherent phrase at the moment attempted to speak, but someone else beat him to it.
"OH! YOU'RE THE RAIN GUARDIAN! HAVE YOU COME TO GIVE US ANOTHER TRIAL?" Ryohei mocked-punched the empty air in front of him with an excited glint in his eyes and all the people present winced in pain as the boxer's booming voice traversed across the barren town.
Asari frowned, "Pardon?"
Ryohei blinked and seemed put off for a moment, "Then, are you here to make sure we're doing our jobs as guar-." Gokudera panicked and slapped his hand over Ryohei's mouth before he could say anything more damaging. Gokudera hissed at him to shut up and by now Asari, who was always calm in most situations, was immensely confused at the nonsense spouting out of the boxer's mouth and he had no idea what to say.
Mukuro smirked, "My, aren't you all making a big mess of the situation."
Gokudera turned and glared at the indigo-haired teen, "Like you're helping the situation at all! You're just standing there like some wooden post!"
"Oya, I'm offended you think of me in such away," though he still kept that smirk on his face, showing that he was not offended in the slightest.
Gokudera felt a strong urge to blow up the pineapple head next to him, but refrained from doing so. He muttered low under his breath as he released his hold on Ryohei, "Look…as much as I want to blow you up right now," Mukuro snorted, "we need to get -."
Someone cleared their throat and all three teens turned to face Celia, who they had accidentally forgotten during their shock. 'Asari, these boys mean no harm. I can vouch for them and they actually protected the town.'She looked at the rubble lying around with a raised eyebrow. '…More or less.'
Gokudera stared at the woman in mild surprise, 'Celia, you know him?'
She smiled sheepishly as she shifted her foot a little so that it was in a more comfortable position, but as if a switch was suddenly flipped, she suddenly became serious as she debated on whether, or not to tell them something. Gokudera tensed in anticipation.
'Yes, I do, I'm one of the townspeople who help watch this town for Vongola.'
Gokudera's heart dropped to his stomach in horror. To meet one of Vongola's associates and the 1st generation rain guardian…they seriously had the worst luck ever!
Asari had not seen the young woman clearly from where he was watching the fight earlier, but now that he was standing nearer and the teens had moved aside he realized that he knew who she was. His face broke out into a wide grin.
'Ah! Celia-san! I did not recognize you at first since you were blocked from my view.'Asari dimmed his smile a bit. 'And not to worry, I merely wish to bring these three back to the mansion to question them. After all, they did manage to nearly destroy the docks and Giotto will surely want to know what happened…'Then he noticed that she was standing a little lopsidedly, 'You are hurt?'
'Oh…just a slight sprain. You needn't worry.'
Gokudera widened his eyes as he let Asari's and Celia's conversation fade into the background as he contemplated what Asari had just said. Was he talking about the headquarters?...Oh right…the Vongola headquarters was called the Vongola mansion back before different branches opened up across the world…wait…shit! Never mind that! Either way they couldn't be taken to the Vongola mansion!
"Ah, I should bring you guys back now…please come along. I assure you, that I will not harm you unless you give me reason to." For a moment, a stern look flashed across his face before his usual carefree smile replaced it. Okay that was it, they had to do something, and they had to do something now.
Making a split-second decision, he grabbed a surprised Mukuro and Ryohei by the arms, "RUN!" and ran like the dogs of hell were after them. Asari stiffened in shock as the three suddenly ran around him, but immediately chased after them. The he remembered something. "Celia-san! Stay there! A medic will come by later!'She slowly nodded as she stared after the disappearing figures with wide eyes and wondered what just happened.
"Halt!"
Gokudera let out a stream of profanity as he heard rapid footsteps behind him and knocked over a few barrels and crates along his way to hinder the First generation guardian.
"EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted at the top of his lungs as he too knocked over crates and boxes, thinking this was a test. Shockingly, or not so shockingly, he even threw back a potted plant that crashed against a wooden door frame due to his bad aim. Gokudera winced when he heard muffled shouts come through the doorway before it abruptly cut off.
He cursed as the three turned around the corner and Ryohei nearly tripped over a stray cat.
"Damn it! I still need to find juudaime!"
"Kufufu…I would like to help, but I have no desire to participate in this annoying game of cat and mouse," Mukuro chuckled as he disappeared in a cloud of mist (1), "Good luck, you'll need it."
Ryohei stared dumbstruck at the place where Mukuro was just a few seconds ago and Gokudera gritted his teeth as he heard a screech of metal behind him, signifying that the 1st generation rain guardian had finally decided to become serious.
DAMN THAT KUFUFU-ING PINEAPPLE HEAD BASTARD!
Bunny~Clam~Bunny~Clam~EXTREME~Bunny~Clam~Bunny~Clam
Forest
Hibari grunted and staggered back a few steps before reluctantly falling to one knee, growling as he spotted his tonfas several feet away from him. He couldn't believe that he had lost to that...carnivore.
During the fight at the docks:
Dead leaves crunched under his feet as Hibari stepped one foot after another towards where he thought the forest ended. Lambo, who was sniffling from hunger and the bruises he got from when he tripped several times over rocks, twigs, and tree roots, trailed behind three feet away. He had found out early on that the demon-in-disguise in front of him was not a person to be messed with, especially when he glared at you with a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes and said, "Leave me alone, or I'll bite you to death."
The two continued on, one with large strides, and the other with short, but fast steps. The sun, which was high up in the sky when they started out was now just a little above the horizon, tinting the sky with soft orange and yellow hues. The warm, gentle breeze was slowly turning into cold, bitter bites, and several suspicious nocturnal sounds were heard in nearby shrubs and bushes.
Lambo didn't know if his companion, or Reborn was scarier, but he knew that he did not want to get left behind in this gloomy forest, no matter how much his feet ached. He knew that the forests were full of monsters waiting to eat him! Hibari, on the other hand, wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible because it would be a pain to try to walk around after dark with no light. Despite what some crazy people thought, he wasn't some vampire who had fangs, drank people's blood, ran at the speed of light, had inhuman strength, and could see in the dark. The only reason he could bite people to death in the dark was because they were all unnecessarily loud and crowded around, which just made it easier to get to them.
Hibari glanced up when Hibird fluttered into view from above. He had been flying around stretching his wings and returned because it was getting darker. "Hibari! Hibari!"Hibird fluttered to a stop on Hibari's shoulder before hopping up and down. "Hibari! Up! Up!" Hibari raised a thin eyebrow just as a figure shrouded in black dropped down from the shadowy branches. A feral smirk spread across Hibari's face.
"I know."
Yawning, Lambo involuntarily looked up when he saw a flash of silver and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he saw a 'flying monster' with its 'shining claws' heading straight towards Hibari's head.
"AHH! F-flying monster is going to eat d-demon!" Lambo burst into tears, not knowing whether to run away or help the 'scary demon'.
The cloaked figure smirked in satisfaction when he saw that Hibari still hadn't turned around and plunged the knife downwards, just as Hibari was starting to turn. Too slow.
Lambo covered his eyes and bawled, waiting for inevitable the sound of metal cutting into flesh-
THUD.
…which wasn't that.
Cautiously, Lambo peeked through his tiny hands and was greeted to the sight of the cloaked figure clutching his head in pain on the forest floor as Hibari stood over him with his tonfas gleaming against his hands. Lambo screamed in fear when Hibari suddenly sprinted towards him and ducked at the last moment, feeling the displaced air as the tonfa swung over his head. Another thud.
Lambo, now scared out of his mind looked back to see another cloaked figure lying supine on the dusty ground. A rustle of cloth and suddenly they were surrounded on all sides. One of the cloaked persons stepped forward.
'Brat. Surrender or die by our hands.' The man spat out. Hibari narrowed his eyes. He may have not understood what was said, but he did not like the tone or aura the other was giving off.
"I'll bite you to death." He took a step forward and in response to his action, the surrounding men rushed forward in offense. Lambo whimpered in fear and grabbed onto Hibari's leg. Demon or no demon, he wasn't going to die by 'flying monsters'.
The man who had spoken flexed his hand and a dagger slipped into it. He growled and swung it in an arc and Hibari ducked under it before ramming the end of his tonfa into the man's gut. He grunted in pain and Hibari wasted no time to swing his other tonfa at the man's jaw. A satisfying crunch sounded and he went down like a sack of potatoes.
The others weren't deterred and as one they struck.
THUD. SMACK. CRUNCH. CRACK. SMASH. THUD.
A few minutes later the only people left unscathed were Hibari and a petrified Lambo who still clung to Hibari's leg even though he had fainted some time during the fight.
Hibari suddenly turned and narrowed his eyes at the shadows.
"Show yourself." There was a slight rustle of branches and a tall, imposing blond man with cold silvery-blue eyes stepped out into the fading light.
"How interesting. You were able to notice my presence and defeat my subordinates." Alaude spoke in fluent Japanese, remebering that the teen in front of him had spoken in Japanese earlier. Hibari twitched in annoyance. He recognized the man in front of him as the one who refused to fight him during the Inheritance trials.
"They were weak." Hibari glared. "And you had them attempt to kill me."
Alaude's expression was unreadable. "I ordered them to apprehend you. They chose to misinterpret my orders and shall be dealt with later."
Hibari shifted his stance into an attacking postion. "Fight me."
Alaude didn't move as he observed the teen before him. Yes, he had skills, he won't deny that. He also had to admit that he was slightly impressed with the power and potential in one so young, though he would never say it out loud. And he was able to protect his comrade though possibly it was involuntariy from what he had seen…but he was severely lacking in discipline and his bloodlust was so uncontrolled that it would hinder him and endanger other people - including himself. It was a dangerous weakness.
"I have no interest in fighting a child."
That struck a nerve.
"I'll bite you to death." Hibari snarled.
FLASHBACK END
"Have you learned your lesson?"
Leather shoes stepped into his view as Hibari struggled to keep consciousness despite his injuries. He mustered up his last strength to coldly glare up at Alaude whose expression was still unreadable. Unlike Hibari, he had no wounds or a speck of dust on his dark brown coat.
"Weaklings should not attempt to fight the strong."
As Hibari slumped forward and sunk into the depth of unconsciousness, Alaude folded away his handcuffs and bent down to pull the boy onto his back. He glanced at the cow child who was standing a few feet away from him shaking fearfully and deadpanned, "Follow me." Lambo, not wanting to anger the scary blond man rapidly nodded and ran to catch up with him as he strode away.
Alaude mentally scowled as he headed towards the mansion. He did not like hurting children whenever he could avoid it, but the dark-haired teen had literally given him no choice. And the fact that Hibari reminded him of himself when he was younger did not help one bit.
Bunny~Clam~Bunny~Clam~EXTREME~Bunny~Clam~Bunny~Clam
Center of Town - Town Square
Tsuna didn't know what was really happening at the moment, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. He and Yamamoto had agreed to leave the storage building to search for the others, but when they stepped out of the building, they were assaulted by silence. Dead silence. Carts were overturned, mangled pieces of wood were scattered across the road, and a fire could be seen in the docks. That put them on edge, along with the fact that there were no people in sight. They had wandered around cautiously for awhile when two tall men in black suits had appeared out of nowhere, took one look at them, and started shooting.
One thing had led to another and the end was result was this wild chase across town and him and Yamamoto being split up.
Tsuna yelped as someone grabbed his collar and yanked him into a dark alleyway. He grunted as he was pulled against someone's chest.
"HEL- mmf!" The person covered his mouth and Tsuna flailed his arms, all of Reborn's training flying out the window, as he tried to attack his assailant. A quiet 'ite!' from the person as he managed to jab the person in the face with his elbow had him pause.
"Yamfamtho (Yamamoto)?"
"Shh." Footsteps stopped just outside the entrance of the alley just as Yamamoto pulled Tsuna behind some trash. Two men in dark suits stopped and looked around.
'I'm sure I just saw that brown-haired kid around here somewhere.'The one who had spoken had dark blond hair and a thick German accent underlying his Italian. He turned to his companion. 'You lost the other one didn't you?'
His brown-haired comrade merely grunted in reply, his dark-green eyes scanning the small houses surrounding them.
'Whatever, at least we did not fail in our mission like those idiotic underlings.'They both looked over towards the plume of smoke in the distance. 'I don't know why boss decided to send those cocky newcomers who can't even tell a handgun from a rifle. Anyway, let's hurry; undoubtedly the Vongola have arrived by now. What was our objectives again?'
The blond man muttered under his breath as he reloaded his gun with a menacing click and replied,'Objective one: frighten the townspeople. Check. Objective two: kill two high-ranking townspeople. One more person.'Tsuna's and Yamamoto's eyes widened when they heard this. Reborn had made all learn some basic Italian and if they heard correctly, these men were cold-blooded killers.
Something brushed by his feet and in surprise, Tsuna accidentally leaned too far to the right and bumped into something and it fell to the the ground with a clang that sounded like a gunshot in the silence. There was a screech and the two men immediately snapped their heads toward the alley. Tsuna and Yamamoto paled.
'I believe we caught our rats.'The man with the German accent deadpanned as he clicked the safety off his gun and stepped into the alley. Yamamoto and Tsuna held their breaths as he stepped closer; Seeing that there was no way out of this without a fight, Yamamoto inched his hands towards his Shingure Kintoki while Tsuna stuck his hands in his pocket to retrieve his gloves and pills. That's when Tsuna intuition went haywire. He pulled out his gloves, but no pills. He silently, but frantically searched his other pocket, but the only thing he found was a bunch of lint.
"I must have dropped it somewhere back in the warehouse...HIEE why do I have to have bad luck now!"
Yamamoto glanced to the side and his eyes widened in shock when he realized what was wrong.
"This isn't good..." Yamamoto smiled uneasily and was about to attack when something brushed against his leg, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. The blond man shot at the thing and growled when he missed and the thing let out a yowl as it nimbly dodged.
'Ah, it's just a stupid cat...but I'm going to check over there just to make sure.'The man was about to move forward when his brunet companion hissed out a reply, 'Forget it, we need to leave now. We don't have time to waste - I think I hear someone coming. Undoubtedly the Vongola are on the move.'
The blond turned back to the trash and back at the entrance to the alley, debating if he should listen, or not before sighing and backing out.
'Fine.'He swore under his breath before he and his companion strode away. Tsuna and Yamamoto didn't realize they were holding their breaths until they started running out of air. They slowly exhaled and waited a few more minutes just to make sure they were really gone before slumping against the wall in relief.
"Haha! This mafia game sure gets serious sometimes." Yamamoto grinned at Tsuna as he released his tight grip on his sword. He looked over and saw an orange tabby staring at them warily. "It's only thanks to this cute neko that we were saved." He held out his hand in a welcoming gesture to the cat and laughed when it slowly brushed against it before purring and flicking its tail in happiness. Tsuna merely stared back at him. He couldn't believe that after all this time Yamamoto still thought it was a game...was he really being serious?
"U-um Yamamoto," Tsuna hesitated when Yamamoto glanced questioningly at him and couldn't help, but chicken out. He didn't want to ruin his friend's carefree image even though he knew he would have to say something sooner or later, but instead he finished off his sentence differently, "I think we should-"
'LET GO!'They both jerked in surprise at the yell and the tabby hissed before scampering away. They both stood up, but paused. Should they really go to the people who are trying to kill them?
'No can do kid, you're the son of that rich merchant and since we don't have time,'A click was heard as the chamber of a gun clicked into place,'you will just have to be our second target for the day because boss won't be happy if we fail.'
'P-please let him go. 'A smack sounded and the voice cut off into a sob.
'Shut it brat, unless you want to die with your friend here. You'll just be our messenger. Remember this and remember this well, tell the Vongola Primo: Suffer for the consequences of your actions.'
They second part of what the man had said confused them, but there wasn't time to think about that now. They weren't going to let someone, especially kids, get hurt if they could do something about it. Following the yelling and screaming, they eventually made it back to the town square, where a once-beautiful fountain, now destroyed, resided in the center of the square. Water sprayed out diagonally from the broken pipe and the square was littered with debris and filthy water.
And beside the fountain was where the two men were holding onto two struggling kids, a boy and a girl, both no older than 12. The girl was sobbing, tear stains tracing dirty lines down her cheeks, as the brown-haired man held her in a choke-hold while the blond had his gun pressed against the the boy's head. Even though though the boy was trying to act brave for his friend, his pale face and trembling form revealed how terrified he was.
Yamamoto and Tsuna paused behind a tree to observe the situation before doing anything.
The boy smiled shakily back at the girl, 'I-I'm sorry Lena, I should have listened to you when you said not to run...tell Dad I love him and not to wait for Mom anymore...'
The redhead snapped at the blond,'Hurry up already!'
He grunted, 'Yeah, yeah...nothing personal kid, but it's the end of the line for you.'
Yamamoto analyzed the scene and made a split-second decision, "Stay here, Tsuna."
"Yamamoto!" Tsuna yelled in shock as Yamamoto pulled his bamboo sword out and sprinted towards the fountain.
The sound made everyone by the fountain look towards their direction and served as a good distraction. Yamamoto used the distraction to his advantage and slammed the hilt of his now-changed sword into the brunet's solar plexus, just as the man turned, and pivoted before adjusting his grip to slash the back of his sword towards the blond who dodged at the last minute. The brunet grunted in pain and released his hold on Lena who ran towards her friend; the boy pulled her behind him and looked warily at Yamamoto.
"Haha, don't worry, I'm on your side." If anything, his foreign language just made him more wary of him, but his eyes widened when he saw the blond cock his gun and aim it towards Yamamoto's head.
'Look out!'
"Woah!" Yamamoto twisted his arm just in time to raise his sword and deflect the the bullet when someone kicked him in the side. The force sent him skidding across the road and he looked up in time just to see the brunet pull out his gun and glare at him. Yamamoto gulped. To pack a kick that strong after being weakened by a strong blow to a weak point in the body...these men were stronger than they looked and he had found out earlier that he couldn't use his flames.
Not good.
Tsuna fidgeted behind the large oak as he watched the battle. It was hard to say who was winning since both sides were almost on par with each other. He glanced around nervously and was surprised to see some townspeople peeking out of their houses, too frightened to do anything. Comparing himself to them, he realized he was doing exactly the same thing.
"But, I can't fight without my gloves..."Tsuna clenched his shaky hands in frustration, "Ah, but I can't just leave Yamamoto to fight by himself! What would Reborn say? 'A maifa boss shouldn't let his subordinates fight a losing battle?'...yeah, that sounds about right, but I don't want to be a mafia boss and Yamamoto's not losing! But other than that what should I do? What should I do...?"
A sudden cry of pain broke Tsuna out of his internal battle and he looked back up at the battle in shock. The blond was down and unconscious, but it seemed that the brunet had used his comrade's defeat to his advantage and used Yamamoto's momentary lapse in attention to shoot him. Yamamoto had dodged in time to avoid any hits to vital areas, but the bullet had landed a hit on his right arm.
A second shot had Yamamoto's sword spinning through the air. The brunet, who too had quite a few scratches and bruises, smirked in victory as he raised his gun, which was was now infused with rain flames, one last time for the final shot. Yamamoto breathed deeply as he glared back at the man, the many scratches on him from the bullets giving reason as to why he was so tired and slow. He clenched his teeth in pain as he attempted to move his right arm. The children stood off to the side too shocked and frightened to move.
"Yamamoto!"Any other doubts Tsuna had about running into battle without his gloves vanished when he saw his friend injured and losing. Tsuna dashed out and probably made the stupidest move of his life: he tackled an armed gunmen who was twice his size.
The brunet grunted and tried to throw Tsuna off; he manged to punch Tsuna in the face, but he didn't let go until the man tried to shoot him. He ignored the pain and dodged as the bullet flew by his head and ducked when the man tried to round-house kick him. For once, Tsuna was glad he had a spartan tutor who tried to instill fast reflexes and self-defense into him by means of bombs, bullets, posion cooking, and other means of "tutoring" (2). Tsuna fought back for several more minutes, but he could feel himself tiring as the rain flames started to take effect. That and it was impossible to completely dodge all the bullets at such a close range.
Attempting a move that Lal had once taught and used on him during his time training in the future, Tsuna feinted a right hook, and just as the man predictably used his arms to block the punch, Tsuna used his momentum to swing his left leg around in an outside kick to the man's head. The kick connected and the two stared at each other in shock before the man's eyes rolled up to the back of his head and he collapsed into a graceless heap onto the ground. Tsuna gaped in surprise.
"Did I...really do that?" Tsuna asked no one in particular in a shocked and half-hysterical tone. He couldn't believe it. He shook his head - there were other things to worry about. He turned to Yamamoto who looked ready to pass out as he knelt on one knee.
"Yamamoto! Are you okay?" Yamamoto shakily grinned back at him and gave him a thumbs up.
"Yep, just a bit tired, but nothing milk and a few days of rest won't fix." Tsuna smiled back at him in relief before turning back to the children. They looked slightly more trustful now seeing that the two beat up the men who were trying to kill them. Problem was Tsuna did not know Italian. He attempted to mix what little Italian Reborn had pounded into his brain with hand motions.
'I...come...in peace? You safe?'Tsuna had a feeling he sounded like an idiot, but it seemed the kids understood when they nodded slowly and gave a small smile.
The boy stepped forward and nodded gratefully, 'Thank you and your friend for helping us.'
Tsuna assumed he was thanking them and smiled back when Yamamoto suddenly shouted, "TSUNA!"
Tsuna started and turned to where Yamamoto was staring wide-eyed; he gasped in shock when he turned and saw the blond man glaring at them and raising his storm-flame infused gun towards the boy. He looked half-mad with his dirtied appearance and cold eyes. Yamamoto tried to stand up, but fatigue immediately washed over him; the effects of the rain flame still hadn't worn off yet, and his sword wasn't within arm's reach.
The gunman snarled and spat out, 'Even if it kills me I will finish my mission!'
The man was shooting at point-blank range, less than two feet away from the boy. There was no way he could miss. There was no time to think, decide, plan, and he didn't have his pills to go into HDW mode. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
The pistol slowly raised. A click sounded as the chamber rolled and the bullet clicked into place. Almost mockingly, the finger pulled on the trigger.
The adrenaline pumped through his veins as he pulled a stunt that Yamamoto would remember for years to come.
He jumped in front of the boy and spread out his arms as he stared at the barrel of the gun face-to-face. The boy and girl both screamed.
Yamamoto gasped in shock and horror, his hands inches away from his sword,"TSUNA!"
Tsuna clenched his eyes shut,"I'm sorry everyone."
'BANG'
(1): Mukuro had illusionary powers before he had the mist flame so he can still used his illusions, unlike the others' where some of their abilities come from their flames.
(2): I really think that Tsuna can fight without his gloves because he has Reborn as his tutor. I doubt Reborn would only make Tsuna learn only to fight with his gloves, plus while Tsuna may have been pretty useless, no offense to him, before he met Reborn, I'm also going to use this story as an opportunity to show how much Tsuna and his guardians have grown since the beginning of the anime and manga.
A/N:I bet you guys are screaming at me right now haha...I remembered reading a review of someone saying that the only ones that seemed safe so far was Tsuna and Yamamoto so I thought 'Hm...I did make the gunmen chasing Gokudera and the others pretty stupid so why not make the ones chasing after Tsuna and Yamamoto more dangerous and smarter? 'hence, this chapter + review + sadistic mind = a new branch for the plot tree.
Also, this story will most likely get darker later on. Not death note-dark, but just more serious. Don't worry about me completely turning this story into a large heap of angst though. There will still be humor and I will be adding fluff here and there. Just a heads up because I was never one for writing crack-fics, and my strong points were always in darker/more realistic fics. I mean...I'm writing about the mafia. Amano-san may have been pretty carefree with the mafia in her manga, but in real life the mafia is different so I will combine both versions.
Please tell me what you think of this chapter and the story in general so that I may improve it. Reviews = happy writer + more improvement on story. Even a "please update" will make me happy.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Elena...to die...or not to die...that is the question...
The poll is on my profile. I will not tell anyone her fate until after that point in the story arrives.
Until we meet again!^^ (which will hopefully not be something like a year later)