"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

The Tenth generation were sitting quietly in the plane; a private jet owned by the Vongola Family. After much hassle over luggage and quarrels over nonsense items and the unique killing intent released from a certain person, they quickly left the base in a record of 2 hours. Within the 2 hours, Reborn managed to finish Tsuna's training menu for the day leaving the brunet utterly exhausted.

Afterwards, Tsuna tiredly packed his essentials and went with the flow, letting his friends guide him. Once they boarded, he slump into a chair and slept. An hour had passed and there was no sound coming from his guardians. Why? Because they had fallen prey to the same disease as Tsuna called sleep. Reborn smirked at the sight before settling into sleep himself.

She positioned herself on the roof of the control tower aiming for the precise spot as told by her boss; the spot where Vongola Decimo would be. It seemed ludicrous for the assassin to believe her target would actually be at that point where her boss said and would have deemed him crazy if not for the demonstration he had given before coming to the airport. She sighed glancing at her weapon one more time a M82 Barret 50 Cal sniper rifle custom made for her as a present from her mentor. It was no ordinary rifle. Her master said it was the 3rd best weapon right after the Rain Arcobaleno's and his mentor. It's a mystery how her master had gotten it for her. She snapped out of her thoughts and kept her mind in track of her final duty to the Millefiore family.

She was calm. She was confident. What she wasn't, was to be able to keep control of her inner mood. Inside her mind, a squeal of excitement threatened to destroy her image. The only solution was for her to temporarily seal it inside an imaginary box, sealing it tightly with a lid and smashing it down with a 10 tonne weight. There was no place for error. One small mistake would mean game over for her. After all, there was no way in hell would she end up like them. According to what he told her, the plane should be in sight in 5 minutes. She loaded a tranquilizer dart into her rifle and waited. True enough, the jet came into view and preceded the main procedures for landing. It landed perfectly as it always did and moved along the track as per instructed by the control tower.

She listened in to their communications noting down the exact moment it would be in her range. A wiring device tapping into their communications was another one of her hobbies to do. It was strange yet oddly serene for her. A way to keep her sanity was to eavesdrop on the people; such fun. As the aircraft came into a stop, she could see through her scope, the Vongola guardians waking up and creating a ruckus immediately. A specialty of theirs, her boss said. She couldn't agree more. It was a strange sight to have so much positive energy when you're involved in the mafia world; an incredible feat more so if they had ties with the Vongola. Out of the corner of her eye, the road crew were bringing the staircase and progressed quickly into bringing out the luggage. They opened the door and one by one they came out.

She focused on the exiting passengers and counted. 1… 2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9 and Vongola Decimo coming out last. The moment he appeared, she fired and didn't wait to confirm if the target was shot or not. She focused on clearing away her equipment in less than 30 seconds as instructed by her boss because in 30 seconds, 7 very angry and powerful individuals close to Vongola Decimo would strike her down without hesitation.

Noise was the very first thing he heard; loud and noisy sounds. Even though his eyes were close, his mind was already awake.

"Tsuna, Tsuna. Wake up, Tsuna."

The tenth boss groaned in his mind and tried to swat the person away only to receive a quick blow to his head.

"Ite…" Tsuna finally opened his eyes and saw his tutor in an irritated manner.

"We've arrived, Dame-Tsuna. Go calm down your guardians." With that note, Tsuna yawned loudly and stood up gaining the attention of everyone in the zone.

"Juudaime, did you have a good rest?" Gokudera asked immediately forgetting the previous matter.

Tsuna nodded wordlessly still feeling the after effects of too little sleep. His body were beginning to ache again and it bothered the young boss. Before Gokudera was able to remember and continue the quarrel, Chrome spoke up, "Everyone, the doors are open. We should go."

The others momentarily focused on the words of the female Mist Guardian, forgetting their usual fight and agreed to down. Tsuna whispered a word of thanks to Chrome causing a spread of red over her cheeks. She smiled warmly in return before following Mukuro who was waiting for her. Apparently, the male illusionist was present for the whole fight yet according to what Chrome could tell Tsuna in few minutes, Mukuro was invisible for the whole flight due to a certain setback. Tsuna most probably guessed he was worried about the Vindince coming back to imprison him or the most believable reason would be it was a favour to someone. Tsuna chuckled at the thought knowing who the 'someone' would be. He followed the others, the last one to leave the plane as he figured Shoichi would be the first to leave to avoid any battles the guardians would've made. As he came out into the seemingly, crisp fresh air, two powerful orders came slapping him.

"STOP!"

"TSUNA, MOVE!"

Tsuna surprised at the sudden outburst wanted to ask why when something sharp strikes his arm. The pain transmitted to his brain was enough for the brunet to look towards the designated spot and saw the makeshift of a bullet and a tranquilizer. Within it was a clear content which was rapidly seeping into his skin. Tsuna, dazed, felt the person closest to him, yanked him down and covered him to prevent any more hits making from making contact. Yamamoto and Gokudera, although worried about Tsuna was more focused into finding the person who attacked their friend. Yamamoto traced the trajectory of the projectile, alerting Gokudera and pinpointed the location to be at the top of the control tower. They ran furiously only for their efforts to be wasted as the assassin had calculated their state of mind and predicted they wouldn't even notice the exquisite yet simple trap that had now caught them.

"Those bas*****! Oi, Yamamoto, cut this, will you?" Gokudera shouted. Yamamoto complied, cutting through the rope efficiently and prepared to chase after the person when Reborn shouted at them.

"Gokudera, Yamamoto, there's no point in chasing. They've gone by now." The two guardians obeyed the infant and instantly rushed to their boss.

"Tsuna, are you okay?!"
"Are you alright, Juudaime?"

"As I've said before to the others and to you now, I'm fine," Tsuna assured them. He flexed his arm to prove his point and the others sighed in relief and helped the young boss up.

"But it was definite that something was shot at you, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said, "If your Hyper Intuition was already as per normal, you've could have easily avoided that bullet."

"Reborn, I'm not superhuman. From what I saw, that tranquilizer/bullet had nothing but clear liquid inside. I'm positive it's not poison because usually they prefer if I'm dead at an instant." He looked towards his friends who wore grim faces.

"Um, guys you don't have to take this seriously, you know?" Tsuna worriedly told them.

Gokudera gripped his knuckles tightly, clenching his jaw at forgetting the most basic rule of being in the mafia. No matter where you are, don't let your guard down especially if you are one of the six guardians. That rule was told to all of them the moment Tsuna decided to be Vongola Decimo.

"Gokudera, don't be too hard on yourself." Gokudera focused his eyes on Reborn. "Do what you have to do now as a Right Hand Man of the tenth." The storm guardian nodded towards the baby, grateful for the comment and ordered the others.

"First priority is to get our boss out of here. Chrome and Lambo stick with Jyuudaime. Tell Mukuro this Chrome; try to find the person that was shooting at Juudaime. Yamamoto, Ryohei, you're coming with me. The scheme we settled back home is now in effect."

The next few hours were a blur for the brunet. After Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei had gone to who knows where; Tsuna was hustled into a limo privately owned by the Vongola. During the time of chaos, Tsuna could feel something inside his body felt a bit different. 'Is it because of the liquid?' he thought. Somehow, he could tell that it was neither attacking nor dissolving into his bloodstream. It was just lying there underneath his skin. Tsuna grew worried.

By the time he was aware of his surroundings; Tsuna was climbing out of the limo and entered the Vongola Mansion. He had to admit as a sense of nostalgia spread his mind, the Vongola Mansion was a second home to him. He took in the view of the recently built Mansion and needed to take time to thank the workers for their handiwork. It looked exactly as it was when he left for Japan; the intricate designs on the door, the refurnished rooms followed by the old or new paintings of all the Vongola bosses and their guardians. Tsuna let his eyes roam over the paintings, finally settling at the picture of Vongola Primo and his guardians which had seemingly survived the blast.

Lambo and Chrome gave their boss a little privacy stepping a few steps back. It was common knowledge to everyone in the Vongola household of Decimo's fondness over the first family. Maybe it was because Primo was his great-great, great grandfather or the resemblance between the first and tenth family or Decimo holding a great respect towards Primo. Either way, it was a common sight to see Decimo at the base of the painting every now and then.

While the two guardians were reminiscing about their past, Tsuna kept staring at the painting. He was not thinking of his ancestor, no, his mind was on an entirely different matter. His Hyper Intuition had since he entered the house, nudged the young boss towards the hung paintings specifically, Primo's. It was the smallest yet significant sign from his Hyper Intuition but it was enough for Tsuna to be wary.

'Something's going to happen,' Tsuna thought. The longer he stared at the painting, the more his Hyper Intuition was pricking him. All of a sudden, his Hyper Intuition came in full force. Tsuna winced at the pain. It was unbearable. He was dimly aware of Chrome and Lambo still behind him and took a deep breath silently, forcing the pain down albeit temporarily.

"Chrome, Lambo, I'll be going to my room to rest. Where did Reborn go?" Tsuna asked.

"I don't know. He was with us when we arrived here but I think he's gone somewhere." Lambo confusedly replied.

'That's good. Now, I won't have to worry about him finding this out.' Tsuna mentally sigh in relief.

Chrome and Lambo then escorted their boss to his room. Apparently, Tsuna had forgotten about their policy. His head was pounding and the two trailing behind him wasn't much of a help. As soon as his room was in sight, Tsuna quickly dismissed his friends. Chrome worryingly looked at her boss while Lambo was unsure what to do. However, a quick change into his HDWM made up their minds. Tsuna entered his room, locked the door resounding with a soft 'click' and promptly collapsed.

"Have you accomplished it?

…

"Have they suspected us?"

…

"You say they didn't but judging from how his Storm was handling the matter, I suspect an inkling of feeling has alerted them to the Millefiore. At least they don't suspect I'm in charge of this group now."

…

"As promised, you've earned your freedom but if they manage to track you, you know what you have to do."

Shichirou ended the call and sigh between happiness and a hint of sadness. He was glad his plan was working as efficiently as it would but at the cost of losing one of Millefiore's top killers. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Sir, here's the formula you wanted."

"Good." Shichirou grabbed the syringe and placed it in his pocket. "It was enough for only 3, I presume."

"Yes, sir. But there's still some left."

"As I expected. Store the rest in a small bottle. I'll need it for another task. The others?"

"As you have planned, they are attacking randomly and the Vongola only suspect it's an act of revenge."

"Excellent and the machine?"

"The modifications are coming of well and will be ready in the next few days."

Shichirou grinned at the news. He couldn't wait to use it. Carefully, slowly, he needed to trap the Vongola to a corner and then engulf them into despair.

Tsuna woke up feeling sweaty and thirsty. His hands were clammy and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know how his face looked like. He breathed in and out slowly as if taking his time. Suddenly, he sat up and glanced at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. Tsuna sighed and then realised he had slept, more correctly, fainted on the floor. The brunet could only think in respite that none of his friends better yet Reborn didn't barge into his room like they usually would.

'Wait, Reborn isn't here…' Tsuna distressing something horrible happened took a quick shower managing to even look good which wasn't a problem and threw on his usual clothes consisting of a black suit, in pair with a black tie and his white shirt. He didn't even bother with his hair since Tsuna knew more or less it would be pointless. Hurriedly, he dashed out of his room only to be met with his Sun guardian who wore a tape over his mouth.

"Wa-Onii-san!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Ryohei greeted the newly awakened brunet or at least he tried to but all Tsuna could comprehend form his friend was mumbling. Tsuna went to take the tape off but hesitated. He didn't want to see his friend suffer but he didn't want the silence to go. Compassion for his friend won over selfishness and Tsuna immediately removed the tape.

"Thank you to the extreme, Sawada!"

Tsuna grimaced at the loud shout of his guardian before asking, "Why did you have a tape over your mouth, Onii-san? Why couldn't you remove it yourself? And what are you doing here?"

Ryohei, over the years managed to tone done his voice due to certain someone and opted to use a safe decibel voice. However, short bursts of his 'extremes' would come every now and then. "That tako-head put it over me and coated it with his cloud flames when I was sent to wake you up for breakfast. All of us figured to let you sleep in but Pao-Pao sensei, I mean Reborn, told us we shouldn't pamper you too much."

"I see. Well, let's go then."

"Wait, Tsuna, let me check your arm." Tsuna at first was puzzled. Ryohei rarely called him by his first name but he quickly realised his guardian's intentions and held out his arm. Ryohei pulled back the sleeve and inspected the wound. It was so much like Ryohei to worry about any wound since he found out his flames could speed up the regeneration. The Sun guardian stared at it for a while before bringing out his box weapon. Tsuna now noticed the rings his sun guardian wore. All A-class sun rings. Ryohei used the scalpel covered with his sun flames to heal the small wound. Once done, both walked towards the door, a gunshot rang out and Tsuna slammed the doors open. There, before him was Reborn holding his gun aimed towards Lambo who was cowering after surviving a near death experience.

A tick mark materialised on the brunet. Lambo on seeing his older brother rush towards him and babbled. "Tsuna-nii! Reborn almost killed me!" he whined.

"Reborn…" Tsuna could barely contain his annoyance at his tutor.

"He was whining, a lot." Reborn said.

"What? That's it?"

"Yes, that's it." The brunet could only sigh and calmed down Lambo.

"Where are the others?"

"They're preparing the food. They should be coming back-"

"Thanks for waiting!"

Tsuna turned around just to see the delicacies entering the room. There was a blend of European and Eastern dishes.

"Oh Tsuna, you're here!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

"Juudaime!"

Tsuna stared at the food. "Can I ask you guys something? Don't get me wrong. I appreciate it but why is there 50 dishes?!"

Ryohei answered him. "We couldn't decide whether you wanted Eastern or European. Then Reborn suggested doing both."

Tsuna glared at his tutor who already started to eat while ignoring Tsuna's look. He saw his friends' expectant faces and Tsuna sat at the head of the table and started to eat. He complimented his friends for the rich flavours in the dishes and each felt a sense of achievement to be able to do at least one thing right for their boss ever since yesterday's incident. All of them joined their boss and started to eat as well.

Even while eating, they managed to be noisy. Tsuna wondered if peace would ever descend in the Vongola household. He then took note of the rings worn by his friends and asked, "Everyone, how long have you worn those things?"

"Things, Sawada?" Ryohei replied questioningly.

"I mean the rings."

All the guardians except Lambo looked at their hands and for sure their rings were still there. They looked guiltily until Tsuna sighed and stopped eating.

"You don't have to look so guilty, you know? I actually knew it was impossible to not use the rings what with the war and all. Better yet, all of you did salvage good box weapons if my memory is correct."

"We don't have them anymore." Yamamoto answered. Tsuna beckoned him to continue.

"From what we all can recall in our memories, those box weapons ended up with our past selves. At first, we thought it was in our rooms so we searched for them but there was nothing."

"… I didn't expect that." Tsuna murmured. Breakfast went on as usual though the discussion dampened the mood. Tsuna felt bad and tried to start a topic when the head butler alerted him.

"Decimo, the CEDEF leader is here," the head butler announced.

Tsuna quickly finish his breakfast and told the others to take their time eating. Reborn was already jumping onto Tsuna's head and the young boss coud see Yamamoto and Gokudera gobbling their food to catch up with Tsuna. They called him to wait, and he did. For 10 seconds; before taking off to the main hall of the house. He saw a young man with a briefcase in hand looking at the interior of the house.

"Basil!" Tsuna called out overjoyed to see his friend. Basil turned around, went up to his friend and shook his hand warmly.

"Sawada-dono, it's good to see you again. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer in Japan when you were recovering." Tsuna waved away at his apology. "Although I would like to exchange pleasant commentaries, you asked for something specific?"

Tsuna looks at him calmly and nodded. "Before you say anything more Basil, let's go to Tsuna's office," Reborn said.

"Reborn-san, of course," Basil replied. The three were later joined by Gokudera and Yamamoto who managed to swallow down the last of their food. They exchanged greetings briefly with Basil and walk behind them falling into step. The Storm and Rain grasping hold of the atmosphere, let go of their childish antics understanding it wasn't the time for one of their one sided quarrel which was technically only Gokudera shouting to the ever agreeable Yamamoto. Tsuna's office was in sight and less than a minute, all were quickly in. Yamamoto leaned against the door while Gokudera stood next to Tsuna's desk. Reborn opted to sit on his desk and the two heads stood in the middle of the room.

Basil handed Tsuna a file and let the young boss read through it. His eyes narrowed, not uttering a word and kept on reading through. When he was done, Tsuna put the file down on his desk and sighed, deeply.

"I wasn't expecting that. Basil is this all the information on them right now?"

"Yes, Sawada-dono. Many of my agents are still gathering out information but it's proven to be difficult. The moment they've spotted, those Millefiore subordinates will target my agents immediately."

"Where are the most common attacks?"

"That's just it, Sawada-dono. We've tried finding a pattern but it makes no sense. All of this suggests resistance."

"So, Shoichi was right. At least from what in your report says, their attacks don't take place in the cities. That's good news." Basil then excused himself to a corner of the room to answer his phone.

"Dame-Tsuna, you're forgetting something." Reborn said.

"I am?"

"What about the sudden attack on you yesterday?"

"Ah, that. I'm not sure. It's possible it could have been one of those usual assassins trying to kill me. Hayato told me to keep an open mind of the Millefiore being behind the incident. Plus I've already asked Shoichi to analyse the contents of that projectile and he's saying it might take a while." Reborn merely acknowledged the little detail.

"By the way, Reborn," Tsuna started. "I've wanted to ask you since yesterday. Before I was hit, you and Mukuro both shouted at me. Now here's what I found strange. My tutor, the greatest hit man in the world actually told me to move when he precisely knew that my Hyper Intution was not working. You could've stopped that makeshift bullet with one of your own. So why didn't you?"

"Heh. Took you this long for you to ask me that, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn cheekily replied. "I guess I should tell you. I couldn't move. I knew there was someone on that tower but I couldn't move."

"Wait, if you couldn't move then is the non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation back?!" Tsuna almost screamed. Gokudera was listening closely to their conversation even though he knew it wasn't his right to listen but neither party said anything and he interpreted the Reborn wanted him to pass the information to the others. Yamamoto on the other hand was focusing on Basil.

"Calm down, Tsuna. It was just for a moment. After I went with you to the mansion, I contacted the others. All of them told me they haven't felt any non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation."

Tsuna sighed in relief. If the non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation was back, he would have to start worrying about his tutor and the others. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yamamoto signalling him to Basil. The CEDEF leader was still on his phone but his actions were getting panicky. Basil sensing the attention of the room shifting to him hung up his phone.

"Basil, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"I…I'm not sure if I can tell you this," he muttered.

"Basil, tell me," Tsuna stated switching into his HDWM.

The CEDEF leader reluctantly said, "I just got a call from base that Master, I mean, your father was attacked about three days ago. "

"What!" Tsuna didn't shout but his voice almost sounded like it did.

"It seems he wasn't hurt but he did say he got injected with some sort of substance."

"Injected?"

"Substance?" mouthed the two guardians.

"Yes, he could not identify the liquid. Master is positive it's not poison."

"Of course, it wasn't poison. If it was the same person, we'll both be dead already."

"Sawada-dono?"

"Basil, Tsuna got attacked too only it was yesterday." Reborn piped up.

"Are you alright?" Basil worryingly asked.

"I'm fine. Basil, what did my dad told the base?"

"Ah, yes. Though it's short notice Sawado-dono, once he knew I was coming to deliver the file to you he said he's coming over here in a few days... with your mother."

Tsuna's confident and calm demeanour cracked a bit. Reborn looked at Tsuna with amusement. 'They're coming? Mom's coming? Tsuna thought. He could feel his HDWM slipping. The two guardians went up to their boss, placed him in the chair where Reborn smacked his head. Tsuna woke up from his shock before hiding his face with a single thought running through his head. 'They're coming?!'

A/N: So this is chapter four. It's only a bit longer as I wanted to make up for the missing month. I want to thank Chrome Nagi Dokuro, LucianaDemon27, azlealady and plantinumheart021 for following and/or favouriting my story. Thanks for being patient. And Chrome Nagi Dokuro, my first reviewer. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting to get a review. I knew I had ppl reading this and it made me happy.

Plus it surprised me. When I got this idea, I wanted another author to do it since I prefer to just read but then I realised that he/she wouldn't end it the way I wanted so hopefully I'll meet up with everyone's expectation of the story.

Okay, story wise. I wanted to let all of you know that the idea of the guardians monitoring the boss was inspired by another author which was long before I became a member of FF. So the credit of that wonderful idea goes to her/him. I didn't notice till now. Sorry.

P.S: Hibari's coming in the next chapter!

ALERT: My updates are going to be slow again. I'll try to update as much as I can. Plus if any of you guys know RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) then please understand that it's also one of the reasons my updates are going to be slow. My wrist is hurting for a while now and writing/typing a lot isn't helping it to heal.