A/N: Unfortunately, I won't be updating for quite a while, but I hope you will wait for me to return and continue to enjoy the story.
Hours later…
Tsunade was fuming. No one told her that she would be moving in with Reborn immediately after the wedding, but apparently Tsuna and Yuni decided that it was best for them to start living together as soon as possible in case The Puppeteer decided to strike. Keiko left early (a fact that escaped Tsunade's attention because she was still in a daze from being married) to pack Tsunade's few belongings. After the last of the guests left, Tsuna finally broke the news to Tsunade, and she nearly socked him in the face. It took a little while to calm her down, and then Tsunade got into a car with Reborn for an awkward half hour drive to his house.
"His house?" muttered Tsunade as she pulled out her extra suits and set them in her new closet. "A mansion is more like it."
Tsunade knew Reborn had a lot of money from all the jobs he picked up over the years, but it was only when the car entered the countryside that Tsunade caught a glimpse of where he was living for the first time.
The mansion was built to mimic an elegant Georgian country house that would be found in rural England. Standing in front of the house, one could see several large windows that were arranged in a neat symmetrical manner, with four on each side of the beautiful heavy wrought oak doors and one directly above them. There was a cobblestone driveway that led right to the white marble steps in front of the front door, and the mansion also had red brick walls and a gambrel roof that took Tsunade's breath away. Behind the house was a quaint little well-maintained garden with many varieties of plants that Tsunade didn't know the name of.
After her brief tour of the exterior of the house, Tsunade entered the house and was pleasantly surprised to see that Reborn replaced all the rooms on the eastern half of the building with a large training room as technologically advanced as the ones in the Vongola headquarters. On the other side of the mansion were a diverse variety of rooms, including a kitchen, a living room, a library, three master bedrooms, and a couple smaller guest bedrooms. Reborn left her alone to unpack in an (thankfully) otherwise empty master bedroom, and then he went off to take care of something else.
At least I don't have much to unpack, thought Tsunade as she pried open the last box. Though she had been living with Lal Mirch and Keiko for about eight years, Tsunade was never comfortable with furnishing her room since she was always off on missions anyway. Everything she needed fit into one box, and everything she ever owned fit into three. The only thing that separated her room from one you would find in a furniture store was a piano keyboard that Tsunade set up in the corner. All hitmen had their own methods of coping with the pressures of their job, and since Lal Mirch insisted that she learn piano as a way to gain access in high end locations anyway, Tsunade bought herself a keyboard for her to play in her free time.
Tsunade breathed a sigh of satisfaction as she put the last of her knives on her new weapon rack. Now to change out of this uncomfortable kimono, Tsunade thought as she undid her obi. However, when she tried to take off the kimono, she realized that it was secured in another spot that she couldn't reach.
"I can work my way through zipties and metal restraints," growled Tsunade. "But when it comes to my best friend and her decorative knots, I'm as useless as a newbie."
After a few more futile attempts, Tsunade was ready to cut it off and grabbed one of her throwing knives. She suddenly felt an unfamiliar aura near her and instinctively spun and threw the knife, which Reborn barely dodged.
"That's the second time you've tried to take my head since I've met you," Reborn said, raising an eyebrow.
Tsunade flushed bright red. "Sorry," she muttered, looking at the floor. "Not used to your aura signature yet."
"Ah, Colonnello told me about your 'Fated Eyes'," he said, impressed. "Quite a useful skill to have as a hitman. Lal Mirch thinks really highly of you, by the way. She said you could put up quite a fight."
"I can hold my own," said Tsunade, smiling slightly. It was rare for Lal Mirch to compliment people.
"Well, the night is still young," said Reborn. "I was hoping to assess your skills myself, if you wouldn't mind a quick spar."
Tsunade's grin widened. After a stuffy wedding, a fight was the perfect way for her to unwind. The only problem was…
"I'd like to spar, just not in this kimono," she said, her cheeks heating up again.
"I'll wait for you to change," said Reborn. He turned around to leave, but Tsunade reached out suddenly and grabbed his sleeve.
"W-wait," she stammered. "The kimono, it, uh, is secured somewhere else on the back that I can't find." Tsunade blushed, embarrassed that she couldn't pull off what should be a simple task. "Um, do you mind…untying it for me?"
Reborn stared at her for a brief second, and then he gestured to her to turn around.
"You act like your brother when you're embarrassed," he noted as he undid the extra knots on Tsunade's kimono.
"So I've been told," mumbled Tsunade.
"Just like dame-Tsuna," said Reborn. He untied the last knot, and Tsunade turned back around quickly, catching the folds of fabric before it fell.
"Thanks," she said, refusing to meet his eyes. Tsunade was positive her face was as red as a fire hydrant at this point.
Reborn nodded and began to leave the room, but he stopped at the doorway and said to her with a smirk. "I'll meet you in the training room, dame-Tsunade."
"H-hey!"
Tsunade heard Reborn chuckling to himself in the hallway. She closed the door and quickly changed back into her signature black suit while muttering darkly about Reborn looking down on her, but she was secretly relieved that there wasn't any tension between them.
Of course he doesn't feel nervous, she chided herself. Our roles are clearly defined. I'm the bait, and he's the hunter. There are no mixed feelings involved. We might as well be roommates.
And yet…
Tsunade couldn't deny the fact that her heart skipped a beat when Reborn was undoing her kimono. She dismissed the feeling as some trivial womanly emotion that she was better off without, but suddenly she couldn't forget the way his fingers brushed against her cheek during the wedding ceremony when he gently tilted her head up and…
She threw another knife into the wall angrily. There's no use going down that road again, Tsunade thought as she pulled the pins out of her hair and retied it into a ponytail. She scrubbed the makeup off her face in the bathroom connected to the bedroom, and she took a long look into the mirror, relieved to see her normal self again. She was on a mission, and as any good hitman knew, personal emotions were not to interfere with her mission. Tsunade rearmed herself, feeling safer with knives in her suit jacket and guns in her hands, and pulled her black gloves over her wedding band. The Tsunade that walked down the aisle wearing a kimono was exposed and had a temporary lapse in judgement. She hadn't walked in public as a woman in so long that she let her emotions run amok.
"Things were easier when I was Tsunayoki," Tsunade said to herself as she left the room.
Reborn opened up a panel in the training room and flipped a few switches, feeling a buzz of anticipation spread through his body.
It's been a while since I've had a challenge, he thought, grinning.
Reborn hated the multitude of hitmen that shared the training rooms at the Vongola headquarters, and the Giglio Nero famiglia didn't have the technology the Vongola did, so he decided to build his own since he had money to burn anyway. The room was designed and built by Shoichi and Spanner, who were delighted to let their imaginations run wild and create the most intense training room ever. Other than basic pieces of equipment, such as weight-lifting machines and ellipticals, Shoichi designed drones that could shoot bullets, real, Flame-infused, or rubber, at human targets using thermal imaging technology and could only be deactivated by hitting specific points on the drones' reinforced metal bodies. The room could also be altered to mimic different forms of terrain, making it an ideal place for practice. Reborn enjoyed the workout, but drones were drones, and they couldn't react and fight like a human enemy could.
She better be as good as Lal Mirch said.
"Rules of the spar," he shouted to Tsunade, who had been warming up across the room from him. "First one to knock the other out or be in a position to deliver a fatal blow will win. Start at the sound of the buzzer. However, these drones will be firing at either one of us at random intervals, with real bullets of course, so watch your back. I don't want my bait dying on me."
Tsunade snorted. "You should be the one watching your back," she said with a wide grin. Her eyes that were previously so dull were now shining with excitement.
Her eyes can be just as expressive as her brother's, thought Reborn as hit a final button. We might not know each other well, but there's no better way to bond than over a life-threatening experience.
The buzzer went off, and the two of them shot forward. Tsunade immediately shot at him with her .22 caliber pistol, and Reborn rolled to the side and shot back at her with his Leon-gun, admiring the way she dodged fluidly. She threw a knife at a drone that was about to turn towards her and swung at Reborn with the other arm. He blocked her blow and tried to throw her to the floor but was forced to retreat when she nearly blew his head off with her hidden gun. Skidding backwards a few steps, Reborn shot two drones nearby and threw a few of his own knives, adding a few Sun Flames in the mix. Tsunade's eyes widened a fraction, and though she avoided a few knives, the Flames followed her. Cursing, she whipped out her baton and spun it, dispelling the Flames.
That must be the baton Verde made with her, Reborn briefly noted with irritation. He didn't have time to process the feeling, however, because she swung the baton at him and just barely clipped his shoulder. Reborn repaid the favor by nicking the back of her neck with a throwing knife, and he fired several successive shots towards her. She bent backwards and avoided them, but a drone near her turned towards her and forced her to collapse onto the floor in order to avoid the incoming bullet. Tsunade barely moved out of the way in time when Reborn shot at her again, but she managed to disable the drone behind her with a well-placed punch. Reborn swung his foot towards Tsunade in a spinning roundhouse kick, knocking off her fedora, but Tsunade used his momentum against him and moved out of the way suddenly, forcing him to land jarringly. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain shooting up his legs. Tsunade momentarily retreated as well, breathing heavily.
"Tired?" he yelled, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
"Are you?" she shouted back, grinning from the rush.
Reborn chuckled and pointed his Leon-gun at her. "Let's see you dodge this." He fired off a Chaos shot at her, curious to see how she would deal with the constantly dividing Flame-powered bullets.
Tsunade showed no sign of panicking. Instead, she stared at the bullets for the briefest moment before launching herself forward. In a blink of an eye, she whirled her baton around and hit the center of the Chaos shot, a sharp metallic sound resonating throughout the room. With the core gone, the shots hit the opposite wall, disabled.
Amazing, thought Reborn in awe. She could see through the decoys and locate the central shot. Lal Mirch was right to praise her skills. He brought his arm up in time the block Tsunade's chop aimed at his neck and wrenched the knife out of her other hand. They continued to exchange blows and occasionally ended up back to back to take out a few drones, which, at this point, were not so much a threat as they were annoying. The two of them had their shares of bruises and cuts from the other's attacks, but they were still going strong. Neither of them were willing to admit defeat.
Reborn turned sharply to the side to avoid a throwing knife aimed at his carotid artery and swept his leg in a half circle, knocking Tsunade off her feet. She rolled to the side to avoid his follow-up attack and stood up, but the abrupt movement momentarily dazed her. Taking advantage of that, Reborn hooked his leg around her shin and forced her chin up with his arm, placing the blade of a knife against her neck. Tsunade froze, realizing she was trapped, and then she sighed and dropped her weapons.
The battle was over.
Reborn released her and quickly ran to the control panel, shutting down the drones.
"That was the best spar I've had in a long time," said Tsunade, picking her baton off the floor and slipping it back into her boot.
"It was an excellent workout," Reborn agreed. "You're just as talented as Lal Mirch said, but I'm better."
Reborn smirked and grabbed the throwing knife that Tsunade half-heartedly flung at him. "Wait until the next time we fight," growled Tsunade. "I'll give you another run for your money."
"You might want to fix the opening on your right that you leave every time you kick upwards," said Reborn, walking towards Tsunade. "Lal Mirch has the same problem, so I suppose it's not completely your fault."
"What are you saying?" asked Tsunade suspiciously.
"I'm saying that I can help you improve," replied Reborn, holding his hand out towards her. The skill that Tsunade showed him today really impressed him, but there were still areas for improvement, and the tutor side of him wanted to fix those flaws. Lal Mirch was not a bad teacher, but she also had her shortcomings, so Tsunade had not reached her full potential yet. Tsunade fascinated him. She was like a half-polished diamond: still rough around the edges but could really shine with the proper treatment.
Tsunade glared at him but stayed silent. He guessed that she was looking at his aura to figure out if he was mocking her or not. Reborn wondered what she saw when she looked at him.
"Fine," Tsunade said with a sigh, grabbing his hand and shaking it. "If I'm going to be stuck here anyway, I might as well get a few pointers from the World's Strongest Hitman."
"It's for your own good, dame-Tsunade," said Reborn flatly, though his eyes were dancing with mirth. "You need to be able to hold off The Puppeteer before I arrive to finish the job."
Tsunade shot at him again, but she had a slight smile on her face. Though it didn't seem like it at first, under her hard and cynical exterior, Tsunade was a lot like Tsuna, only a lot more talented. Reborn became friends with Tsuna through training, which mean he could at least get along with Tsunade for the extent of their fake marriage. Tsuna and Yuni put them both on a two month "honeymoon" leave for appearances sake anyway, so this would be an ideal time for him to learn more about her through his Spartan training methods.
Lal was right, he thought with an evil grin. I will enjoy her company.
A/N: Thanks to a Guest for reviewing! Like I said earlier, I will be going on hiatus for a little bit, but I look forward to continuing the story!
Please read and review!