Alright I have to say that I shouldn't keep saying that this is the last chapter, I'll end up writing more. But I really enjoy writing this story haha! Thank you all for the support!
When he blinked, he cringed as colorful spots dotted his vision. There was a constant buzzing in his ears, and he almost thought that the phone speakers were left on; the only reason why he didn't was because that it came with a throbbing pain in his head. His throat was sore and his chest tight. After a few moments of dazing, he finally managed to turn his head, and saw glass bits strewn around him.
He then heard faint sounds of explosions, and more sounds of bullets. Most likely, the enemy must have entered the mansion.
'Not good.' Tsuna glumly thought, and his mind wondered to the children.
He slowly sat up, trying to ignore the dizziness and nausea coursing through him. Then pain began to flare on his abdomen, a hand and a leg; he couldn't really tell which side as he was disoriented. It must have been bad, the pain was enough to send Tsuna falling back onto the glass shards. Cursing, he limped out from the office.
Immediately, Hibari frowned. Having decided to leave the room because he hated to crowd with weak animals (not children the same age as him), he opted for a short lone stroll in the hallways. He could feel the presence of men-like herbivores, crawling around like filthy rats. He then narrowed his eyes as he saw his nemesis, Mukuro appearing from a dark corner.
Mukuro smirked as Hibari raised his tonfas. Never mind, those adult herbivores weren't worth his time anyway.
"Freeze!"
There were men coming in from the hallway, heavily armed, and one of them called out. Hibari snorted.
"Don't bother us." Mukuro said, circling the wary other.
"What? They are just...kids?" One of the men asked, perplexed. He lowered his gun a little, only to to earn a harsh hit from another.
"Boss asked to eliminate whoever was in the mansion, Kids or not. Sorry son, world's unfair." An older voiced, and raised his weapon. Yet the two were not intimidated, but looking bored.
"You the one who'd be sorry for interrupting us. And on the part of unfairness, I already have my two cents on it." Mukuro grinned deviously, pulling out a long trident from thin air. Apparently, the child had figured a part of the pattern on how the older Mukuro would hide his weapons with his illusions, and gotten an instant liking to the tridents. He had been planning to test on the persistent skylark, but there had been too many interruptions, so he would vent on the intruders.
Of course, they were intruders. He could smell weakness radiating of them. Mukuro mused, because the truly strong people don't need brittle weapons. The man who called himself 'Tsuna' that is.
"I'll bite you to death." Hibari growled, slightly irritated that he had to fight along-side with the pineapple. He didn't understand whatever they had said, but either way he would just vent his irritation on those so call terrifying grown-ups.
"Ushishi."
"Wah! What's with this?! Watch out for the knives!"
Bel laughed heartily as he watched the men scattered like ants in his wired knife trap. Finally, there were decent practice targets other than his deserving-to-die older brother. This was much fun compared to snoozing in the lounge. Sitting up abruptly, he heard an annoying hum.
...And a giant Apple?!
"Pineapple faaaires~ Kitchen faaaaires~"
Bel decided he would try kill him for that matter, knives or what, and whoever they were. Because for starters, their song was loud, horrible and too out of tune to be even considered a proper song. In short, it hurt his ears. Secondly, because of it, he was spotted by the enemy. There were still other more reasons, but first he would have to eradicate those men who started pointing their guns at him.
"VOIIII!"
Enough said.
Yamamoto had woken up minutes earlier, sensing something was quite a missed. He turned to look at his other alerted companion, which was the silver haired male who played firecrackers. He wore a deep frown, as if expectant of something to happen as he tightened his grip on the belt.
Suddenly the doors burst opened, but there were no enemy, except the kind man Tsuna. He laughed to greet him, but he stopped. Because, this time, he seemed to be pain, there were red everywhere. He saw how the man tried to hide his expression behind a forced smile. It didn't feel like a game, nor an act at all.
The silver hair charged to Tsuna, and after Tsuna told him something, he started protesting in a language Yamamoto didn't understand
"Yamamoto, if you could bring them in another room downstairs." The man turned to address him. "He's Gokudera by the way. And he will help you."
Yamamoto looked at the scowling kid, who reluctantly exited the room.
He pulled the girl up, named Nagi, he had remembered, who looked at him groggily and confused, then he proceeded to the cow-liking (he had assumed that because Lambo seemed to be always in a cow suit) toddler, and the interesting extreme boy who chatted non-stop, Ryohei.
"Something seems wrong to the EXTREME!" Ryohei suddenly sat up before Yamamoto tapped on his shoulder. For a moment, he marvelled at the boy's reflexes.
"Lambo wants to sleeeep." Tsuna had to come urge him to get up.
"I don't wannaaa..."
"Stop causing trouble for Tsuna!" Gokudera shouted in Japanese, he had just peeked into the room to see what was wrong. Immediately the bomber ran and whacked the young Bovino on the head, while Tsuna remained shock at when Gokudera actually picked up Japanese.
"Whatddya hit me for?!" Lambo then started wailing, in which Skull started as well. Gokudera just looked more irritated as Nagi watched on, frightened and confused. Ryohei didn't seem to be getting the situation though, he was just looking around.
"Tsuna, are you ok?" Yamamoto asked the man, who was clearly flustered by their crying. Gokudera had shouted to him that it was not a good time to ask such dumb questions. He didn't know what' was actually 'a good time' and he was not sure about his question being dumb, but his dad always said that he should voice out any questions immediately.
Tsuna smiled tiredly at him. "Thank you, I can manage."
It felt reassuring and warm, yet similarly he could not really relax. He did not know why, but this time, he kept his quiet.
"Anyways..." Tsuna groaned. He turned to the corner and then wanted to collapse in shock. Well he knew Hibari, Mukuro, Bel, Squalo and Lussuria had wandering tendencies (which was nearly half of them and never mind about that), but where were Fran and Xanxus?
He had better search for the kids before the enemy gets to them.
Xanxus ended up alone in the hallway, or the more correct terms were that 'he was lost'. He had wanted to search for the older man to warn him of the unpleasant danger he smelt. But before he could make a right turn, he heard voices over static on the other side.
"What? There are only children around and they're beating the men up?" The man spoke in disbelief, there were muffled laughter around him.
"If you want me to believe a lie, make it less ridiculous. Don't just come up with something like the Decimo managed to produce some overpowered up kids who is beating our asses like some farm pigs. And for crying out loud, we're adults!"
Xanxus couldn't really hear the man over all the static. But nothing about them could be good. After all they had the same smell as the smugglers or the black market merchants on the street.
"VOIII!" Xanxus turned his attention to the voice, and saw the white hair boy with the sword from earlier. He waved his weapon madly, but he was precise in his cuts and had disarmed many men quickly. A gun slid its way to Xanxus' feet and the boy stared at it for a moment. He picked the cold metal, and looked up again. This time the sword boy was too preoccupied fighting to see a man wobbling back up to aim a bullet at him.
Xanxus didn't hesitate. He felt like it was second nature as he pulled the trigger. When the man fell, he saw the boy turned to him with a dark glint in his eyes,
"Heh, you're good." He grinned somewhat, and Xanxus returned the smirk.
It was definitely not a good idea to exit the door with a crying Lambo and Skull. Their wails had attracted several enemy men and Tsuna found himself doing dodging exercises once more (though more deadly). He somewhat felt more somber and less tired again.
"I can't believe I actually found something more effective than coffee." He chuckled coldly at his poor joke. He ushered the children to quickly move, and it was difficult really, as Gokudera for more than an instance, kept insisting that he should fight.
He soon found himself trapped between the stairs and hallways, and as Tsuna balled his fists to call Natsu out, a terrified Lambo threw his grenades down the stairs to where the men were running up and behind them.
Needless to say, the cow had cleared the way, Tsuna had to pick up a flustered Nagi and to nudge a stunned Yamamoto to keep moving. Gokudera added a few more for safety measures, or that the kid just really wanted to do his part in aiding the brunette.
"You stay in this room." Tsuna whispered, when he finally came to a halt. It was one of the Vongola's meeting rooms. "And no matter what, NO MATTER WHAT, DO NOT attempt to fight. Run, if danger gets a little too close for the liking. I have to get the others."
Tsuna sighed and shut the door, after Yamamoto took Skull and Ryohei shouting that he would protect the baby to the extreme. There were mist flames coated on it, hopefully, it would act as a good camouflage. He then backtracked and saw the group who was chasing them earlier finally catching up.
Narrowing his eyes which glowed a deadly orange, and raising a single hand, he muttered softly. "X burner."
The children ruining the house was not a problem anymore. Paperwork be damned. He just prayed that there might be at least a portion of the roof spared for their heads in the rainy weather.
As he headed upstairs, he honestly had not expected (he should actually) to see Hibari and Mukuro standing around a pile of fallen men. Maybe he finally knew that was why Hibari became the real security, or the undertaker in Nanimori, or that Mukuro could only be half-restrained in the Vendicare water cell.
When both boys came to eye him, Tsuna managed a lopsided grin. "Good job." He croaked out, and mentally cursed himself that he was definitely now part of the reason why they have such twisted understandings and borderline morals.
Hibari seemed proud and Mukuro flushed a little, like good kids who had been complimented for good behaviour. Tsuna however flummoxed he was inside, still continued smiling.
Parenting was really not his forte.
"You're injured." Mukuro pointed out.
"I know, don't remind me. I'm just running on adrenaline to curb the pain."
Then there was a loud explosion downstairs, and Tsuna need not know who did it. No one actually ever listened to him, regardless of age. He groaned, turned around to the noise of the incoming footsteps and created another blast which sent several men flying from the mansion.
He did not miss the awed looks on Hibari's and Mukuro's faces.
When he dashed down the stairs, he had to avoid more tumbling men down the stairs. Tsuna saw Lussuria casually strolling from the side, flexing his arms. They watched each other for a moment, before the boy opened his mouth.
"They wanted to enter the room when I was changing."
"Yeah it's rude to peek." Tsuna replied dumbly, though Lussuria seemed satisfied by the answer and went on ahead.
"Well it seems nowadays kids seem to be more efficient in caring for themselves." He mumbled before heading a floor down and then seeing an annoyed Bel throwing knives at a screaming Fran over a pile of fallen bodies. As creepy as it sounded, it was indeed happening. Fran was stepping over bodies like he was stepping on flat stones and Bel sat on them like he was sitting in his 'Princely' chair.
He then thought about the whole idea of moral education classes. After all, Vongola's moral education classes were far by one of the worst standards in today's society. They employed Reborn as a home tutor, that was more than evidence itself.
"Definitely." Tsuna concluded his statement.
It seemed that he was the only one normal out of all them. And being normal actually kind of hurts, in many ways, especially the head.
"Bel, stop bullying Fran." The blond boy snorted in reply and threw a knife towards Tsuna.
"Waah mister Kitchen Fairy!" Fran hid behind Tsuna. "There were kappas all around!"
What sort of kitchen fairy cut his hand like fifty times when cooking a simple meal?
"Kappas?" Tsuna caught another knife intended for his leg.
Fran gestured at the enemy men. "They're kappas. They were squishy when I stepped on them. By the way, why are you red? Have you turned into a tomato fairy?"
Forget moral educations, it seemed that he would start with 'common sense'.
When he came down to floor where he had left Gokudera and the others, he saw an upset Squalo kicking the head of one of the fainted. He saw Xanxus musing silently as his hand held a weapon tightly.
"VOIII! What's with the explosions?!"
Xanxus saw Tsuna slowly walking into the hallway, and he greeted him with a nod.
"Bad guys." He said. And he showed his weapon before grinning, "I...beat them."
Tsuna picked the gun for him in horror, as he looked at the weapon, in which he released a sigh. Thank the heavens, it was a specially made gun with strong stunning flame lasers. At least Xanxus didn't have to be convicted of murder. But still, they still didn't mean nice news, despite it being mainly non lethal. Tsuna had gotten it once, and it came along with convulsions and seizures for a few hours.
Suddenly a familiar pink grenade rolled in front of them, Tsuna pulling away Xanxus roughly shouted a "LAMBO!" before the bomb detonated.
Immediately, Gokudera was hovering over him. "Tsuna! I'm so sorry! I thought you were the bad guy!"
"Haha! Tsuna flew like fireworks!" Lambo giggled.
Xanxus quickly pushed himself away from Tsuna, slightly red in the face.
"It's alright, you did a good work to protect them." Tsuna ruffled his hair and Gokudera beamed like the sun. He then turned to the other boy.
"Xanxus you alright?"
The boy replied with somewhere in between a nod and a yes; he was focusing on his hands. Tsuna wondered about his strange behaviour briefly, before heading back to face things (which were things he often did not wish to face).
He took Skull from Yamamoto. Now that everyone was gathered, it was best to head to head to the basement, or rather where the med bay was, where everyone would be the safest there, with the sleeping.
He then narrowed his eyes, hyper intuition flaring.
"Vongola Decimo."
Tsuna turned to face the lone intruder, pushing the children behind him. This man was bad, bad news. Where was Verde when he needed him most?
Oh yeah, he tended to forget people in the Vongola had a sort of sadistic streak in them.
"I didn't invite you in." Tsuna said blankly.
"Why, young Decimo, I really didn't believe my men when they said that there were no reinforcements but children in here. However, much to my delight, it is true."
"But you couldn't beat even one of us!" Gokudera shouted, but immediately recoiled when the man revealed a nasty grin.
"Well they were just testing the waters. I expected Varia to be here, would you really think that I would just let men of this standard in?" He chuckled.
Tsuna bit his lip. He had been running around for meetings lately, hence he might have been a little negligent with the security systems. There was no doubt that the man in front of him was mastermind of the whole facade, with the precise timing of the 'holidays', the lack of available contact and the whole messed up communications.
"Reinforcements will arrive. And you won't be touching any of them here." Tsuna snarled (or the best he could, because Tsuna couldn't actually look evil).
"Yes, but I realise the lack of presence of the Varia and your Guardians. I expect to you put up much more of a fight. Though I'm glad you're very much vulnerable, where are they? Have they abandon their precious Decimo?" There was sneer in his words, yet Tsuna chose not to react. Behind him, however, those who understood made a bad face; those who did not, still could sense the man's hostility, and cuddled protectively around his leg.
Tsuna balled his hands into fists.
"Chat's over by the way, Decimo." He grinned, and more people entered the corridor, their demeanour far more different and dangerous than the first.
"Yeah I know." Tsuna said, raised his hands and unleashed a XX burner. When the hallway was consumed with flames, Tsuna urged the children to move.
"Wait, you aren't going to fight?"
"What are you doing, herbivore-carnivore?"
"Obviously what you're seeing now. WE... RUN!"
I just wanted to put some interactions between the children that might contribute to their relationships in the future. I really need to separate Hibari from Mukuro soon haha.
Tsuna is a superman lol.