A/N: Brr, it's getting cold...

Chapter 4

The Ceremony started off fairly straightforward.

The photographer left after taking a few photos of Tsuna and his family. She looked a little shaken, but he thought she handled it fairly well, considering her experience with Mukuro's sudden appearance and evil laugh.

Tsuna and his friends resumed their conversations while Reborn continued to sip his espresso. He wanted to finish it before the Ceremony started.

A knock on the door caused the shouting to cease, and Lambo opened it to admit Timoteo.

"Nono!"

"Sit down, Decimo," Timoteo said with a grin. "Today's the day I hand this old mantel over to you. There's no need for such formalities."

"There always will be," Tsuna said. "Thank you for everything. You taught me so much over the years."

Timoteo gave Tsuna that slow and aged smile of his and chuckled. "I see that I won't have to worry about your manners when you face your enemies."

"What do you mean?"

Timoteo placed both hands on Tsuna's shoulders and gave his successor a once-over. He tried a last-ditch attempt to fix Tsuna hair while he spoke. "We both—Reborn and I—know that you have your own plans for the Vongola. No, Tsunayoshi-kun, there's no need to protest. I'm not complaining. I may have taught you a lot, but I know that you won't use your knowledge the same way I or any other Mafioso would. Even if your enemies know they can't defeat you, they can at least be rest assured that they fell to the hands of the most compassionate boss anyone could ever hope for."

Tsuna covered his cringe with a smile. Compassionate boss? Maybe. But compassionate guardians? Maybe not. Tsuna's eyes widened. Boss. Compassion. Maybe not. The ninth. "Oh."

Reborn's eyes flashed. "What is it?"

Tsuna shook his head back and forth. "Nono, if you support me, it might cause problems for you." He looked into Timoteo's eyes and saw the truth of his statement from the slight waver in the ninth's expression. Tsuna raised his hands and dropped them before he could pull at his hair. He paced instead. No one can stop him from pacing.

This is why I always felt a little uneasy. Why didn't I realize this problem sooner? I've been thinking hard about reforming the Vongola for years. Years. Why did it never occur to me that enemies might attack the ninth once he retires? I saw him every day during my training to become Decimo.

Just like that, Tsuna found his answer. He faced the ninth. "You..." The ninth waited for Tsuna to finish. "Nono, did you really divert my thoughts every time?"

Timoteo's solemn eyes met Tsuna's. "I did. Every time I sensed you were beginning to realize my guardians and I might be in danger from your future choices, I changed the subject—changed where your thoughts would have left you if you had time to think about it."

Not knowing what he did or didn't want to see, Tsuna kept his eyes on Timoteo as he said, "Reborn...?"

"I didn't agree with him," Reborn said, in a rare show of objecting to the ninth's decisions. "I told him you're ready to shoulder any possible consequences."

Tsuna let out a breath. At least he wasn't part of it. "This is a harsh example of manipulation."

Reborn smirked. "You attended the lesson. It's time to apply."

"Reborn, this is your favourite method of teaching!"

"What, tort—you mean real-life examples?"

"Don't say it as though it's not a euphemism for torture!"

"Tsunayoshi-kun, for what it's worth, I'm sorry..."

Tsuna smiled to himself. Thanks, Reborn. "Nono, I understand what you were trying to do." Tsuna grimaced. "And...at least I won't be falling for this trick again. I just needed to think for a second. Get my head on straight." Tsuna took another moment to collect his thoughts. He hadn't planned to dive off the deep end, but now that he thought about it... "Most of the pressure will be placed on us. There are a lot of the Vongola who support me. I can talk to the others, or I can try. I know I can. I have enough help already, from my family, from CEDEF, and from the Foundation. We can do this."

"Juudaime." Gokudera and the rest of his guardians stood behind him—a solid, physical support.

Tsuna's lips twitched upward at their silent understanding. "Those who plan to attack you won't have time to try. If they do, I bet you can still hold them off." He grinned. "I won't let them disturb your early retirement."

Timoteo laughed. "Reborn, you're right. There was nothing for me to worry about."

Reborn grunted and tilted his fedora to shadow his dark eyes. Tsuna being ready and I, Hitman Reborn, letting those consequences happen in the first place are two separate things.

"It's about time we begin," Timoteo said. "They're waiting for you."

Here we go. Tsuna squared his shoulders and followed the ninth out of the room. Coyote, the ninth's Storm Guardian, joined them as they walked through the hushed crowd to the middle of the room. They passed many unfamiliar faces. Most were curious, but some were dissatisfied when they watched Tsuna and his Guardians pass by. He smiled at those he were familiar with and even exchanged brief handshakes with those he started to build connections with over the years.

The first of his old friends that Tsuna spotted was Dino. The Cavallone Boss and a few of his men stood at the very edge of the cleared space. Dino had ditched his coat for a black tux. He would have blended in with his men, except his wild hair was so him that he couldn't be mistaken for anyone else. He flashed a proud smile at Tsuna, who returned it with an easy grin.

This wasn't going to be too bad, Tsuna reasoned. He spotted Enma and his Guardians. It was easy, since the other Mafiosi gave them room, despite needing to crowd the other guests. The only ones who didn't shy away from them were Basil, Fuuta, and I-Pin.

Enma gave him a wide grin and a wink. Tsuna chuckled under his breath and shook his head. Trust Enma to joke about the last Inheritance Ceremony in the middle of the second one.

The Arcobaleno babies, now children, clustered in a group next to Yuni's family, to Tsuna's left. Even Byakuran had made an appearance.

To Tsuna's surprise, Byakuran was standing next to his parents. The man's lips turned up in a smile. "Why, Tsunayoshi-kun," he mouthed, "this is going to be interesting." He ended the message with a glance at Nana, who was beaming at Tsuna.

Tsuna almost scowled at Byakuran but kept his face pleasant. He slid his eyes away from Byakuran, only to meet Xanxus's ice-cold glare. Tsuna steeled himself and gave him a nod. Xanxus scoffed.

Very different from Xanxus's expression, Jacques, the ex-Luna Family member, gave Tsuna an encouraging smile before he and Jacques were distracted by Basil, who had pulled away from the crowd and was stepping into the circle, where the pedestal stood.

"Nono," Basil said with a respectful nod. Then he turned to Tsuna. With a smile, he said, "Decimo."

"Basil," Tsuna's reply was solemn but his eyes softened. It was Basil's shove that helped Tsuna convince Iemitsu to retire. Without Basil's voice, Iemitsu might have really continued to say he needed to support his son as CEDEF's head, forgetting that he had trained Basil for years and that for years more, the boy, now man, has shown potential to be a leader.

The combo-attack by both Tsuna and Basil opened Iemitsu's eyes to the reality that times were changing. His son and his apprentice were both adults who wanted to and were capable of building their own future.

A move from Nono drew Tsuna back to the present.

Nono faced the crowd. "Friends, family! Welcome. Thank you for attending our Inheritance Ceremony." He spread his arms. "The Vongola has reached ten generations. We've come a long way from Primo, and I have to say, I look forward to what our future holds. Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo, will be your new leader. I, my Guardians, my son, and Iemitsu, our retired head of CEDEF, all believe in Decimo, with the Dying Will.

"Now, around this time, I should be presenting Decimo with the Vongola Rings." Nono continued before the murmurs could grow louder, "I have already given Decimo and his Guardians their Vongola Rings. In fact, I left them the rings ten years ago, as many of you know."

That silenced the crowd. No one wanted to make a comment on what happened ten years ago in the Ring Battles, especially not when Xanxus and his assassins were present.

"We are not the only one who acknowledges Decimo. The Wills of the Rings themselves have spoken. Primo and his Guardians accept Decimo and his resolve. The Rings changed to suit the current Boss and Guardians. They are forms we have never had the honour to see before now. We don't know what this will mean for the eleventh generation, but as always, we will do our best to persevere."

Timoteo turned toward Tsuna and his Guardians once more. "Decimo, instead of giving you the Vongola Rings, I am giving you a symbol of my trust and recognition."

Coyote handed Timoteo a package wrapped in blue cloth. The ninth unfolded it as he spoke. "This is one of Primo's journals."

Almost as one, everyone gasped.

"Primo's journal?" Tsuna whispered. He was almost afraid to touch it. He picked up the book from Timoteo's hands and opened it. The sound of the first page turning was like the crack of a whip in the quiet hall.

Tsuna riffled the pages. It was something his ancestor had touched almost every day, if he was going by the entry dates. All of Primo's guardians were mentioned every few pages. There were some names Tsuna wasn't familiar with, but he could look through it after the Ceremony.

Wait, how much time did I spend staring at this? Tsuna's head shot up and he winced when he saw everyone's eyes on him. Oh my god, they're staring at me.

Tsuna closed the book and wrapped the blue cloth around it. "This is priceless, Nono. I will treasure it for the rest of my life. Thank you."

The Mafiosi clapped, though many of them shouted over one another with their questions about the book. Tsuna deflected them with what he hoped was a joke, "I haven't even looked at it yet!"

A few chuckled, but the younger ones continued to pester Tsuna until their elders dragged them away.

"But pa, that's Vongola Primo's journal! He could've recorded secrets we've never heard of!"

"First of all—if they are good secrets, you shouldn't have heard of any before. Second, it is Decimo's book now. Those words are for his eyes, and his alone."

Tsuna watched the exchange with a twitching smile and a sweatdrop he hoped no one noticed. He dropped the book into an inner pocket as the music began to play.

Rather than dance, Tsuna mingled with his family and friends, making sure to talk to everyone at least once.

He was chatting with Kyoko, Haru, and Gokudera when he noticed something off.

Gokudera, too, noticed. Haru was telling them about Gokudera's epic fail in baking when he squeezed her hand to stop her story. "Juudaime, isn't that man from the Segno Family? And that one, too. And a third...fourth..."

Tsuna sighed. Why? Just, why? I just wanted an uneventful night. "Yeah, it looks like that's everyone from their family who were invited."

"Tch!"

"Hahi! Do you think there's going to be a fight?"

"Probably," Gokudera said as he looked around them for the other guardians.

Haru and Kyoko narrowed their eyes at the guests who tried to hide beneath the shadowed areas of the hall. "They shouldn't have come if they didn't support Tsu-kun," Kyoko said.

Haru agreed and linked her arms with Kyoko's. "Tsuna, I guess we should find your mother and take her to a safe place?"

"Thanks, you two."

"Tch. Don't get into trouble," Gokudera said.

Haru stuck her tongue out at him. "We'll be fine!" Turning to Kyoko, she exclaimed, "This is the perfect chance to ask Nana-san where she bought that dress!"

"You're right, Haru-chan! I think I last saw her talking to Timoteo-san."

Say what!? Tsuna shook his head. I can't think about that now. As Haru and Kyoko left to find Nana, Tsuna noticed that the crowd in the hall was thinning. "A few others are leaving, too," he said.

Gokudera grunted. "They probably don't want to get involved in a fight, even if they're here for the Vongola."

Tsuna smiled. "We can handle it on our own, right?"

"Well—yes, but they're Vongola's allies. If they leave now, they have an excuse to not fight: they weren't close enough to help. The cowards. They left those in the dark to fend for themselves."

"Xanxus is leaving, too," Tsuna pointed out. "Are you going to call him a coward, Hayato?"

Gokudera glowered at Xanxus. "Where's he going?"

"Ushishishi. Why, to take out the trash, of course."

Right next to them stood Bel, in all his manic glory.

"There are Segno Family members in the gardens?" Tsuna asked, his blood chilling. Just how many of them were invited?

Bel flashed them a smile. "Every peasant out there is going to get front row seats of the Varia's parade. Ushishishi. Bye!" With a wave, Bel continued toward the gardens.

"For once, I'm glad I didn't get front row seats."

"Juudaime..."

"What? I have to get my amusement from somewhere if I want to stay sane."

From across the hall, Yamamoto raised a hand in their direction. "I better see what he knows," Gokudera said and peeled off.

Tsuna turned and saw I-Pin and Lambo snapping at each other. Tsuna shook his head with a smile. Some things never change.

Then I-Pin and Lambo turned toward Tsuna. He blinked at them. "How'd you know I was looking at you?"

"Sawada-san—"

"Tsuna—"

"Tell him it's not okay—"

"Tell her it is okay—"

"—to eat the entire cake!"

Tsuna couldn't help it. He really couldn't. He slapped his right hand to his face and used the other to guide the two fifteen year-olds away from the table of sweets. He physically separated them in a sorry attempt to quell the pointless argument.

"I need the calories if I'm going to be training with Octopus-Head," Lambo said, scowling at I-Pin.

I-Pin leaned forward to narrow her eyes at Lambo. "You need to get your calories from real food!"

Tsuna guided them through the crowd, all the while keeping an eye on the shadows in the hall. Satisfied that everyone else in his family had also noticed, he turned his attention back to the conversation. "I hate to break it to you, Lambo, but I-Pin's right about this."

"But it's—Vongola, it really is okay." Lambo slowed to a stop, and he looked around before giving Tsuna a nervous look.

Tsuna smiled at Lambo, thankful that his Lightning Guardian had sensed the tense atmosphere.

The argument now forgotten, I-Pin and Lambo watched the tall woman watching them from the shadows of a pillar. Her dress was black without a single sequin or sparkle. The only colour to her was her blond hair and ruby-red earrings. She would have blended in with the others at the Ceremony, except for one thing. Where the other guests masked their deadly auras, the woman's oozed out of her like poison.

"Wait right here," Tsuna said and left the two of them next to the drinks. He ignored their protests, just as they were most likely about to ignore his request. He knew they were probably going to follow him, but it became more of a habit than anything else to tell them to stay out of harm's way.

"Oh, Decimo, this is a wonderful night," a man said when he saw Tsuna. Tsuna paused and offered a smile. "Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoyed it."

"Yes, I have. I look forward to tonight's feast!"

Tsuna moved on, only to be stopped by a gaggle of young girls who just "Wanted to say hi!"

He grinned with a wave to accompany it. "Hi!" He moved past them and their giggles.

When he finally made it to the woman by the pillar, he smiled. "Good evening."

The woman smirked. "Good evening, Decimo. A fine venue you've chosen for tonight."

"Thank you. You're from the Segno Family, right?"

Her smirk widened and she crossed her arms.

As if that crazy smirk doesn't already tell me something's wrong, Tsuna thought.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for the kind invitation. We were very pleased that you thought of us."

"I look forward to meeting your family's boss soon," Tsuna said.

"Ah, yes," the woman said. "You wanted a meeting with us. I remember my boss telling us about that. See, we've heard about you. And we guessed what you wanted to talk to us about."

"Really?"

She leaned in as though sharing a secret. Tsuna remained standing as he was and focused on her cold, blue eyes.

"You're changing things. And we don't like it."

Tsuna jerked back just before a knife would have slit his throat.

No one else had noticed the move, except for his family.

Her eyes widened when she realized that Tsuna had dodged. But it was too late. If she were prepared for her attack to fail, she could have stopped Tsuna, who swiped her legs from under her.

In that instant, the others of the Segno Family attacked all of Tsuna's guardians and known allies.

Dino fought off a dozen with his men while ten charged at Ryohei and Hibari.

Some guests fought against the Segno's members, but most of them screamed and scrambled to get away. Those who tried for the gardens realized very quickly that it wasn't the best route; those Segno members had already begun to fight and so had Xanxus.

From beneath a table, I-Pin and Lambo charged out, guns blazing—metaphorical guns, of course.

I-Pin jumped in with her hands and feet, kicking, punching, and bulldozing past those who resisted. Her battle cries pierced through the air, accompanied by her opponents' howls of pain.

Lambo tackled some of the members with his old yellow horns but quickly realized they were too strong for them. He lit the Lightning Class ring on his middle finger and opened his box weapon. Out came his Lightning Helm. Wasting not a single moment, he used his weapon to attract all of the enemies' metal to him.

Tsuna ducked as a gun flew straight toward him and swerved to the side as a knife followed right after. That's Lambo's technique!

Gokudera swore as he restrained two Segno members. "I told that Stupid Cow to warn us before he uses that move!"

"Haha! Maa, it works out in the end," Yamamoto said, with a firm hold on both of his swords, which were quivering in his hands. "I wonder if there's a way to control whose metal gets attracted to it."

The members who could still stand retreated. "You'll regret this!" they shouted as they escaped. Before anyone could think to go after them, the Segno Family had disappeared.

"Is everyone alright?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera and Yamamoto glanced at him, and noticed their boss was in Hyper Dying Will Mode.

Yamamoto gave Tsuna a grin. "We're fine. Oh! And I just saw Sawada-san with Haru and Kyoko."

"They need extreme training if they want to defeat us!"

Chrome knocked out an opponent who tried to push her in his escape. Instead, the man fell, stone-cold to the floor. "I'm alright."

Tsuna nodded and turned around to where he still heard fighting. He dropped his Hyper Mode along with his jaw. "Seriously? How did this happen!?"

Mukuro and Hibari had ended up...not fighting against the Segno Family—oh, no, not them. They had already created a small pile of those enemies—no, they were fighting one another.

"Guys...you two are so dead," Tsuna muttered. "I can't believe I agreed to that bet with Reborn."

"Why did you?" Lambo asked as he teetered toward them. Yamamoto caught his shoulders and kept the Lightning Guardian steady while the teenager removed his Vongola Gear and the assortment of weapons stuck to it.

"I was feeling confident that day," Tsuna muttered while watching his Mist and Cloud Guardians fight. "They hadn't fought each other in three days." He looked around. Maybe if Reborn didn't realize Mukuro and Hibari had a fight, the bet would still be on...

"Where's Reborn?" Tsuna asked.

His guardians looked around, realizing for the first time that Reborn wasn't with them.

Tsuna sighed and took out a cell phone. He called Reborn and waited for his tutor to answer. "Reborn! Where are you? The Segno Family just attacked us!"

"I'm with Irie Shouichi."

"Uh...why?"

"We're defusing a bomb."

"WHAT?"

"Dame-Tsuna, you're distracting Shouichi, and he's already nervous. I'll call you back. Ciao."

"Great," Tsuna said when Reborn hung up on him.

"Decimo, are you alright?" The Mafiosi who stayed behind to fight were approaching Tsuna. "Are you injured at all?"

"Of course he isn't! Did you see him in action? Decimo is amazing!"

"His Guardians fought so well together!"

In the background, Mukuro and Hibari's weapons clashed.

"Lambo-san, exactly what was that technique?"

"I didn't even know what was happening until Decimo was almost killed by that dreadful woman!"

"That was a wonderful prelude to dinner, won't you say?"

Uhh...Not really.

"Yes! I'm starving!"

Tsuna latched onto that comment. "No doubt, we're all starving after that battle. The dinner bell rang half-way through the fight, so there's no waiting necessary! The dining room is just down that hallway. In fact, I see that one of our kitchen staff is waiting for us by the door."

The young boy Tsuna pointed to stood frozen on the spot for a second as a group of Mafiosi stampeded toward him. "Th-This way, sir...madam..." he said and quickened his pace to keep ahead of the crowd.

After they left the hall, Tsuna finally took in the mess of the room. Tables were overturned, food was spilled, and chairs were broken. Drinks were splattered on walls with the occasional smear of blood. He thanked whatever god was listening that there weren't any pools of blood.

The carpet looked beyond repair, what with the stains and tears it suffered. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do about all this. He snorted. Most likely, he'd have to pay for the damage.

Or he could bill it to the Segno Family, since they started the fight. That sounded perfect. Now all he had to do was find their hideout, which no doubt, had moved locations.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto said. "They've been fighting for ten minutes."

Tsuna sighed. "I guess it's time to break it up. Onii-san, do you want to help?"

Ryohei thumped a fist in the air. "A or B?"

Tsuna tilted his head and studied Mukuro and Hibari. He activated his Hyper Mode. "D, I think."

"YOSH! Operation Stop Pineapple Head and the Prefect: D!"

Tsuna closed his eyes. "Please don't name the plans..."

A/N: I'm sorry to say that there isn't a lot of Nana in this one. But to make up for it, things are getting crazy? Thank you all for the fantastic reviews/favs/alerts. You're all awesome!

The next chapter will be going back to the present time, with the detectives from DOCI (I feel like I need some kind of catchphrase for them. Can't use "Truth" since DC took that concept...hm. Something to think about).

Anonymous Reviews:

Great: Hah! Yes! That photographer has a smart boss. Luckily, nothing too terrible happened...

Guest: I hope this was worth the wait! :D

Uploaded 2016-10-25th

Edited 2016-11-17th

-LLM