Authors Note:

Well…this is weird. The story is finished. Seriously. Okay, so standard disclaimer still applies which means none of these characters belong to me. The madness however is all mine and I gladly accept the blame.

This has been a wonderful, unbelievable rush. Even now as I write these words, I'm wondering where half of these things came from. This story just wrote itself. The dialogue kept nagging at me—even in the shower, mind you! They were just there, insisting that I write them down somewhere—in bits and pieces—until they finally stop clamoring and just grinned smugly down at me.

I do hope you enjoyed this craziness with me. Please leave me your words. You don't know how comments, sometimes makes the difference between continuing writing and simply letting an idea drift off and die.

My eternal thanks to all those that gave this story a chance. Those that found and read the first chapter and said: MAYBE. Hope it made you smile even for a moment—if I accomplished that, then thank you.

I wrote a very short epilogue at the end. I'm not quite sure whether I should post it separately but no matter what—it will be there. Sorry I couldn't do more. Til the next time, I will be working on "TIES…" I found something in it again and I am excited to write for it again. Wish me luck!

The Fish and The Mob

Day 3: A Small Fish in a Killer Pond

"STATUS QUO: Latin for 'the mess we're in'"

Anonymous

Tsuna could feel the entire room's attention but something inside of him had finally snapped and frankly he couldn't care less what his masked accuser would hurl at him next.

Because seriously—what else is there for me to be apprehensive about? He's been through the ringer and he's still breathing. That's a point on his favor no matter what anyone says.

He flashed a look at his clearly amused mentor and decided to just consign everything to hell in a hand basket. If the man could find something that would elicit a response from him, well kudos to him—he's certainly a persistent inconvenience.

For Tsuna however, each passing minute is just another moment for him to regain his strength. He could allow his mind to wander because clearly whatever passes for a job interview in this madhouse isn't something for him to take seriously and quite frankly he's in no frame of mind to do so. He's jet-lagged, he's tired, and he has been in country for nearly 48 hours and the only things he has seen so far are car interiors, lush rooms and people in black suits. It's enough to turn anyone to espouse the joy of living in a small obscure town, never mind finding a suitable rock and crawling underneath for the foreseeable future.

His gaze swept across the room and was reassured by the approving look of his friends and the total lack of fear in their eyes. Something inside him was oddly at peace and it gave him the necessary boost to sit back and let their latest abductors do their worse. Unless someone makes an attempt on his life or the life of his friends, he figures he is golden. He could just sit back and watch whatever madness his captors would concoct next.

After all, he has been kidnapped, taken by the cops, been served a fake warrant, told his phone calls were monitored by someone who doesn't even live in the same freaking continent never mind the same country, interrogated by a clumsy pair of cops that seemed to have forgotten the script on how to effectively carry out their demented 'bad cop – good cop' skit and then, if he wasn't just the luckiest bastard in the planet—he was yet again abducted by a bunch of sharply dressed drones that had nothing better to do than break into police stations and liberate a confused nearly-eighteen-year-old tourist.

And now, here he is, in an unknown location where he woke to the company of his sadistic tutor who gave him a sketchy idea of what he was about to face and reunited with his friends and professor, while being subjected to yet another interrogation with a masked clown that seemed to have taken pointers from those born during the witch hunt or the Spanish inquisition.

Next thing I know, this man would be showing me mug shots of criminals to determine my associates. It's like a really bad crime-drama written by someone who hasn't even heard of the 'Godfather'.

In the periphery of his vision, he could still make out the cold smirk that hovered at the corner of the temperamental Skylark's lips and the sight of it made him shiver. There was nothing cruel about the Skylark's smile—but there was something primal about the way he was eyeing the adults in black suits, especially the ones that were wrapped-up like a bunch of chain-draped, hat-wearing wanna-be mummies.

Anything that could make Hibari-senpai smile like that wasn't something anyone normal or weak-stomached should ever see—like ever.

It was certainly a testament to Tsuna's exasperation that he didn't even blink or pay any attention to the fact that no one sane would wear that much bandage and wrapping unless they were one—heavily wounded; two—have a bondage fetish that he didn't care to find out or three—they were part of some intimidation plot that fell on the wayside and no one ever informed them as far as fashion statements went—they were certainly as lost as a LSD-soaked Dorothy traipsing through a broken yellow brick road after Toto.

When another of those bandaged-mummy men approached Tsuna's stone-faced , clearly pissed-off Interrogator with a manila folder, something inside the man just lit up with wicked malice and it did more that shoot a bolt of dread down Tsunayoshi's spine—it tied his stomach in knots and he was dismayed to realize that he wasn't quite out of the woods yet.

Oh shoot. He got a second wind. I suppose the intermission is over and now act two is commencing.

The man beckoned Tsuna to approach the table where he was carefully laying down a small stack of eight-by-eleven inch white cards. A set of chairs were placed in front of the man's desk and Tsuna was uncomfortably reminded of meetings set up in the offices of the Principals of both his middle and high schools. The placement of the chairs, he was well aware, was deliberate—their intent to discomfort and dismay could be clearly discerned from the mocking tilt of the masked man's lips.

Well, that answers the question. He really hasn't seen the Godfather. There's no baseball bat. The mug-shot bet panned out though. Gods what a cliché.

The sly smirk that painted the man's thin cruel lips made Tsuna wonder warily if the man was planning to take a snipe at him and bite of a chunk of his vulnerable, idiotic hide when he got close enough.

Small price to pay if this madness would end. Then again I don't want to go through my life missing a few ounces of flesh or massive scarring. I'm not that vain but why add to my negatives, right? If that happens I might as well re-adapt that pathetic moniker Reborn still insists on calling me from time to time.

The sudden cascade of memories attached to his unfortunate middle school sobriquet flowed immediately to mind and he did everything he could not to flinch or give in to the urge to curl up on the floor and maybe just give in right there and then. His vacillation must've been so obvious that it stalled any movement on his part. He certainly must've hesitating longer than he had assumed because when he finally grew aware once more, he felt the firm pressure of his mentor's hand pushing him forward.

"What the hell are you doing you damn brat, standing there like you've suddenly been turned to a pillar of idiotic salt."

"Language."

"Language, my foot. Don't you take that tone with me or I will introduce you to someone who will give you a crash-course on what offensive language really could be you'd need a biohazard scrub before your ears will ever feel clean. Stop harping at me about my language because there will be times when judicious use of it could be accommodated. Now, stop embarrassing me and get a hold of yourself. Get a move on Dame-Tsuna. I don't plan on spending my entire night being interrogated by a stupid clown."

"Shush—! Don't you—"

Lifting a hand to adjust his signature fedora more comfortably on his head, before tilting it back to eye Tsuna for a second or two, before he cocked his brow imperiously at his clearly agitated student and smirked.

"I can say whatever I want brat, whenever I want and—" with a dismissive flick of his gaze and a sneer towards the masked man who was most certainly scowling at them now, "—most especially to whomever I want. Believe me Dame-Tsuna I have earned that right. I'm old enough, strong enough, hell, I'm bored enough to do it just for kicks. And if this thing takes any more of my precious time I would beat up that clown, pullout his guts and tie it like a toy balloon animal and then I will chew your ass like there's no tomorrow for subjecting me to this utter stupidity."

"What?! Why are you blaming me? Dino-sensei organized this trip! All I signed up for was a bloody immersion program to practice using a bloody language."

"I know and don't you think that Idiot-Bronco is getting away with this. He should've dealt with all this mad fuss before he dragged you in here and now because of his utter idiocy other people would have to clean up after him. Trust me, I am monumentally pissed at the idiot that deemed himself aware enough to call himself your teacher."

"Look, I'm sure Dino-sensei never intended any of this to happen. I mean—seriously who ever goes around thinking 'oh today my students might end up kidnapped so I better plan on ahead'?" Tsuna paused for a beat at the look Reborn leveled his way, huffing in exasperation, "And no that only applies to you. No one else does contingency plans like you do, you paranoid sadist—other people react normally. We really can't blame him for that you know."

"You're getting to be more gusty aren't you brat?"

"I'm also getting a bit tired of this play, Sir."

Reborn grinned. "You're learning to banter. That's all this situation is good for. However, if you don't finish this blasted farce as soon as possible, I would make the climb Vesuvius the first chance I get and then I will make you swim the bloody Mediterranean, do you understand me? Now get your ass moving and deal with this!"

"Hiee! Y-yes Sir!"

"Done with your little lover's spat?"Mr. Checker Face sneered, the cunning look on his eyes incongruous against the indifference in his face.

Tsuna reeled as if stunned by the insinuation before gaping at the man in sheer disbelief. "What are you—six? Stop making such sordid insinuations! That man is old enough to be my father!"

"But he isn't." the masked man jeered before his curiosity seeped through. "Is he?"

Tsuna gazed at his masked interrogator with a look that definitively questioned the man's intellect, "I honestly have no idea and no I am not that much of an idiot as to actually risk my neck just to ask him such a stupid question."

"Why would such a question be stupid?" the man asked clearly perplexed.

Tsuna blinked. "Are you thick or something? Why would I ask a man as vain as him how old he is—that's like asking to be bitch-slapped from sunrise to sunset while dangling from the side of a cliff!"

Checker Faced smirked at Tsuna condescendingly. "You sure have an imagination Tsunayoshi. An amusing, if unfortunate gift, I am sure."

Tsuna blinked once more. "What do you mean imagination? I didn't imagine anything. He did all of that to me on my fifteenth birthday when I asked him if he was married!"

The man clearly had no idea what to make of Tsuna's latest non-sequitur and decided to simply ignore the statement. He gestured towards his desk and allowed the young man and his erstwhile companion to gawk and stare at his evidence before he posed his question.

"Do you know that you have been associating with an individual that's been trained by the Triad?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Triad."

"What's a Triad? I don't even know what that is—I don't know what you mean."

"Do you know of a person called I-pin?"

"I-pin? What does she—look, she's just a young girl. She works in the same food shop I do, attends middle school in Namimori and lives in the same apartment building."

"I see. And you don't find that idea suspect?"

Tsuna stared at the cunning face in front of him and decided that he has played with grace long enough. His friends at least were around to defend themselves but not this—not this time. Not with a little girl who's sole fault seemed to be proximity to him.

"Sir, contrary to what you might've been led to believe—I am just a student living an even more mediocre existence. I have no idea what it is exactly that made me eligible for this job you insist on interviewing me for but I think you're quite mistaken in your assumptions regarding the people around me. I don't go around being suspicious about every single person that I come in contact with in the hopes that they're killers or assassins or mad interrogators!"

Checker Face simply sneered. "This child that you say simply shares your workplace and home—is known to be a very proficient assassin trained by the Triad."

He glared at the leering masked man. "As I previously stated, I don't know what you mean by Triad and I-pin couldn't possibly be an assassin! That's absurd! An assassin—what's your excuse this time—the fact that she's very flexible?!"

"I assure you Signor Sawada, my statements are far from ridiculous. For the record—we have watched her and she is very skilled."

Tsuna found his hands curling into fists and resisted the urge to bang them against the surface of the desk that contained the man's so-called evidence. "Then like the term dangerous, we seem to have reached another détente. Your definition is certainly one I cannot accept. Also—that's just disturbing learning that you stalk a teenage-girl. As for her skills I suppose you'll consider the fact that she's part of the gymnastics team as simply her cover for killing people?"

"I can see that even if I point that she is too young to achieve that level of skill—"

Tsuna glared at the man, "A person is allowed to be talented you know! That doesn't mean that she's been trained by your so-called Triad."

"Nothing so called about it. So, you won't care even if I tell you that the Triad refers to a very special organization?"

"An organization?" he scoffed. "That's who you think I-pin belongs to? A young girl, that works part-time in a diner to support her education?"

"The Triad, Signor Sawada, is what you might understand is the equivalent of the Mafia or the Yakuza of Japan." He grinned maliciously at Tsuna's skeptical look. "In short, the Triad, Signor Sawada, is a criminal organization from China."

"A criminal organization from China—look here! Just because I-pin is Chinese is no reason to suspect her of criminal behavior! How dare you, you condescending judgmental racist! She is a lovely young girl who is working so hard to put herself through school and I will not stand here and let you slander her! How can you just stand her and accuse such a lovely person like that!"

"There is no slander when one speaks simply of the truth. That young girl you are so keen on defending has been trained since early childhood to become a weapon. All I'm saying—!"

This time when Tsuna spoke he didn't just speak—no, it was more Tsuna speaking than simply him saying words.

It wasn't often and he seldom used it or even fully cognizant when he does it but there has been instances since his middle years when he would tap into whatever core of strength he had and draw it out fully and harness into a kind of compelling aura that lent a kind of allure and command to his words.

"Silence."

"I will not be spoken to like some incompetent—!"

Checker Face sputtered in surprise and gaped at the young man that's now gazing at him with an unnervingly lambent pair of russet eyes that seemed to reflect the eerie gold of a dying sky.

"There is no need for you to cast aspersions on a young woman who is not here to defend herself and her honor. The nature and means I-pin might have employed to secure a new life away from her past is not something for you to pass prurient judgment on. Do you understand me? This line of inquiry is finished and over with. Move on Checker Face."

This time his voice wasn't just commanding. It was an implacable order and no one in the room could mistake it for anything else. The air seemed to thicken with every second the masked interrogator refused to acknowledge Tsuna's words. The room's occupant could feel tension seeping into their very pores, winding across their skin until it was all they could do not to give in to the need to check that there wasn't a physical noose slowly tightening around their necks.

Their discomfort would've escalated beyond tolerable levels but for the timely intervention of the silently amused tutor who cast an assessing glance at his quietly fuming student before reaching out to tap one of the young man's hands.

"Tsunayoshi."

The call broke whatever spell was being woven around them and the tension snapped like an overly stretched thread. Tsunayoshi took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few second as if to gather back whatever it was that his agitation sent out. When he opened his eyes, they were still the same lambent golden eyes but the fire that burned behind them has been banked.

"As I was saying Mr. Checker Face, please abstain from this line of questioning. I refuse to listen to you impugn upon a young lady's reputation and I will not stand for it. Please, move on."

Checker Face was now openly staring at Tsunayoshi and was disconcerted when the young man did nothing to dissuade his actions. The man was clearly itching to make demands but somehow he held back—perhaps the brief demonstration of Tsunayoshi's ire curbed some of his natural recklessness.

"I-i…fine."

Tsuna inclined his head graciously. "Thank you."

Reborn must've signaled to someone because no sooner than Tsuna could gather his shaky composure and Checker Face could regain his sarcastic, scathing nature an old man entered and offered Tsuna a cup of hot coffee. Murmuring a quiet 'thank you' to the solicitous black suited older man, Tsuna took a small sip of the hot brew and felt immediately relaxed. A quick look at Reborn confirmed that his erstwhile tutor shared his current level of quasi-comfort.

The masked man looked at Tsuna for another minute or two before looking away and shuffling the papers on his desk. He quickly reached out for another piece of foolscap, noted something on it to his satisfaction before murmuring nonchalantly just as Tsuna took another sip from his cup, "How much do you charge for harboring the Ranking Prince in your home?"

Tsuna gulping the piping hot liquid in surprise, burning his tongue and sending a shot of heat down to his cold, cramped stomach. Quickly mopping the small amount of liquid that seeped from the seam of his lips, Tsuna glared at Checker Face as he sputtered, "What?! What are you talking about?"

Checker Face gave him a condescending leer, "The Ranking Prince. You have him. There have been multiple sightings of him, in your company and in the company of your 'friends'—nearly all of them close to or at your residence."

Tsuna gave his cup a regretful look before setting it aside. He then glared at the smirking interrogator and argued internally with himself that there really is no positive outcome to giving in to the urge to beat the man within an inch of his masked life. The action would certainly vent his frustrations but the complications to his and his companions' current situation notwithstanding, the pain he would end up in wouldn't put his already tenuous temper in a better state.

"Look, sir, I don't know who you've been talking to or what you've read from those fraudulent reports of yours but I assure you, I don't have any prince—ranking or otherwise. The only one that lives with me occasionally is a young man a family friend asked me to take care off on the odd weekends that this friend of mine is unable to. He's a lovely young man and comfortably well off, to be sure. But he is hardly a prince even if he does have such lovely manners. I'm taking care of him until his parents come home from their trip abroad. That's the only boy I could think of—other than Lambo—with whom I have any constant contact with.

"Ah…Signor Sawada—why do you persist on these lies of yours?"

"I DO NOT LIE." Tsuna gritted out glaring at the mocking tone in the masked man's voice. "I told you already I don't know any child called the Ranking Prince—!"

"He is also known by the name Fuuta Della Stella" Checker Face interjected gleefully, smirking when he noted the unmistakable surprise that bloomed on Tsuna's face. "Perhaps this time around you will tell me that you do know of such an individual?"

"Fuuta?" Tsuna muttered in confusion, "Fuuta—little Fuuta is your Ranking Prince?"

"Indeed he is, though not many are aware of his given name. He would, certainly, have been advised to not give it away so freely but those in the inner circles of most Famiglias know his famous moniker. That you—a so-called normal university student—would know of this sensitive and rather remarkable detail lends credence to my belief that you—Tsunayoshi Sawada—are more than you appear to be."

Tsuna however was struck with a sudden surge of curiosity to ask for clarification. "Why do you call him that?"

"Call whom what?"

"Fuuta-kun. Why do you call him the Ranking Prince? Why not simply refer to him by his name? Why give him such a fanciful title?"

"Fanciful? Signor Sawada, do you think to mock us with this pathetic attempt at subterfuge?"

"Sir, that is the second time you have cast aspersions on my honor and I will not stand for a third, you hear me?"

"My apologies Signor Sawada. I did not intend to call into question your honor."

"Of course you have. And do not attempt to give me false apologies, sir. Believe me; I do not care for your accusations anymore than I care for your thinly veiled insults. I asked because I was sincerely curious. I do not go about associating with people that bears titles and sobriquets of confusing and frankly alarming natures."

"He is called the Ranking Prince because that's what he does. He creates rankings of things that offer the least as well as the most value; he rates situations from the most volatile to the most benign. He calculates and offers probabilities that may come to pass. But most of all, the Ranking Prince rates people Signor Sawada. He rates and ranks the importance and value of people."

"That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard!"Tsuna exclaimed aloud, incensed with the very idea.

"Does he not tot around with him an unusually large, ornate book that he never lets out of his sight?"Checker Face retorted back with an infuriating leer.

"A large—you mean his surveys? Those random funny polls he keeps on writing about? Wait a minute—how did you know about his book? Have you been stalking a child!? A child that lives in another country—what sick person are you?!"

Checker Face snorted dismissively, "Don't give me those prudent nonsense Signor Sawada—"

"Prudent my left foot! You, sir are displaying every point of a suspected pedophile—watching a young child—accusing a young girl of the most absurd things—how could you?! And you being so overly interested in a young child's funny polls!"

The look on Checker Face was a sight to behold. "Survey? Funny polls? Is that what you think they are? Just funny stupid polls?!" he nearly screamed in apoplectic fit.

"What else was I to think? Fuuta was about eight or nine when he first showed them to me. He was a child! What else would a sane individual think—that this kid is ranking people because a dark, secretive criminal organization might find his doodling of utmost importance?"

"You—you were given express permission by the Ranking Prince to view his book?" the man stared incredulously, gaping at Tsuna who stared back at him in a similar state of bewilderment.

"Well, yes. I don't know what's the big deal about that—! Wait—is that all you heard from what I said?"

Checker Face stared at Tsunayoshi in appalled skepticism, "You don't know—! Don't you know anything about them at all? Hasn't he shown you the contents of his book? Any of it?"

"He tried to show me—I only ever glimpsed at some pages that he insisted on showing me but I didn't pay it any mind—! What?"

"'You didn't pay it any mind' ? You didn't care to find out the contents of the most sought after book in all of the Underworld?" the man nearly screeched in outrage and Tsuna could only blink in abject puzzlement.

"Why should I care for the contents of a child's prized possession? Fuuta loves that book and I was honored and happy that he wanted to show it to me but I had no need to obsess over it. It was his and it was enough that he felt the need to share it. I told him it was nice that he was generous enough to know how to share."

"Generous?" Checker Faced laughed in disbelief being, "Is that all you can say about being offered the chance to see that book? The most powerful and influential source of information in the whole Underworld?"

"Look Mister Mask, maybe from where you came from that's how you see his book in your mind, but when I am with Fuuta, neither his possessions nor his book is any of my concern. All I ever have to care about is making sure that he is well, fed and warm and that cleans up his room. I really can't figure out how such a neat boy could make such immense messes when left to his own devices." Tsuna murmured recalling the constant mess that he had had to remind the boy to attend to every so often.

"That's because he levitates everything around him whenever he makes his rankings."the masked inquisitor deadpanned.

"L-levitate?! That's—that's absolutely preposterous! And you have the gall to accuse me of being delusional over my friends' skills and whatnot. Seriously sir, this madness has gone far enough. Please—whatever you think you are doing here—whatever this interview is—it is over."

Tsuna waved a dismissive hand and started to rise from his seat when he felt the restraining hand of mentor and Tsuna found himself settling back into his seat. The masked man simply sighed at Tsunayoshi's action and rubbed his hands together, staring at them thoughtfully as he considered his next course of action. Clearly he was unsatisfied with the results of his inquiry but as he has proven himself immune to Tsunayoshi's logic, so too has Tsunayoshi proven to be immune to his sarcasm and veiled—if at times, outright—threats and entreaties.

Checker Face stared at the impassive face of the young man that sat in front of him before transferring his piercing glare towards the man whose hand was still holding on to the young man's wrist. Checker Face gestured at Tsunayoshi absently, his voice contemplative.

"Your blatant ignorance is both alarming and amusing Sawada Tsunayoshi that I wonder if you are doing it deliberately."

"Couldn't you go through any statement without working in an insult through it? Tsuna sniped back glaring at the man.

"How are you connected with the Bucking Bronco?"

"Who?"

"Dino Cavallone, Tenth Boss of the Cavallone Famiglia. The man that brought you here to the Old Country in his family's private jet. That Dino Cavallone."

"You mean Dino-sensei—?"

"Yes, him. What is the nature of your association with him?"

"He's our Italian professor for our Language Elective course."

"Dino Cavallone is your teacher?" Checker Face stole a glance at the grinning blonde in the far corner of the room and Tsuna followed his gaze before nodding.

"Yes. Him. Clumsy as a new-born foal unless Romario is around, goofy as a child on sugar-high, blond-haired, brown-eyed Dino-sensei. Him. That's what he is. A teacher and a friend and I suppose pseudo older brother too."

"Thanks a bunch little bro!"

Tsuna grinned at his teary-eyed teacher and gave him a short wave before he noticed that now his masked interrogator was focused on his silent mentor. Observing the man's stare and his tutor's indifferent nonchalance made Tsuna sigh before breaking the quickly growing air of aggression.

"Will you please stop staring at my tutor? He dislikes being scrutinized by strangers."

A haughty brow was cocked and the voice fairly dripped with sarcasm when it was cast Tsunayoshi's way.

"Is that so? And how would you know such a thing Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna scoffed, "I know because I know him. Now please, stop it."

"You know him…that's a first. Tell me—do you really know him Sawada Tsunayoshi? Do you truly know the man that sits at your side and holds on to you so complacently? Do you really—truly, actually know the man that you keep near you?"

Tsuna cast a despairing look heavenwards, groaning in exasperation, "Oh for the love of the gods not this—are you really—you're clutching at straws aren't you?"

"You did nothing to answer my questions Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"That's because what you're doing doesn't make sense!" Tsuna shouted. "What you have done—all you have been doing since this farce of an interview started was to pick apart my friendships, hurl accusations on defenseless teenagers whose sins seem to be solely based on their association or proximity to myself and now—now you're trying to put doubt in my mind regarding the man that's sitting beside me and I am telling you right now that I have had it!"

Tsuna was nearly growling in temper, his eyes fiery and piercing as he glared at Checker Face with the kind of intensity that might make anyone retreat.

Checker Face stole another assessing glance at Tsunayoshi before turning his gaze back towards the silent, fedora-wearing man that sat languidly on the chair in front of him, indifferent it would seem to the tension and the threat of violence that's about to break out around him.

"Answer the question Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Look, I don't know what you've researched or hunted or found out about him—"

"Do you know—with absolute certainty—the man that you keep trustingly beside you?"

Something in Checker Face's voice must've touched something inside Tsuna and the room—that has been holding its collective breath ever since Tsuna started losing his composure—watched as the young man slowly and steadily gathered his control back and settle it under his firm control once more.

Tsuna closed his eyes, willing the heat in them to fade alongside the burning inferno that's racing through his veins, wrestling his anger and resentment and frustration back to more manageable levels. He took a deep breath and then another and another until he could draw a breath deep enough without feeling like he was about to explode. Opening his eyes, he drew another deep breath before slowly releasing it through pursed lips. His gaze when it rose up to meet with his masked interrogator was placid and calm as the golden seas during windless days. Nothing but tranquility and stillness were reflected on the lambent, citrine-hued eyes.

"I know enough. He is my mentor, my tutor. He is the man that aided in exploring and discovering my strengths and curing me of my glaring weaknesses. I know enough about him. I don't need to know everything. "

"Don't you even care that he's known for his expertise in killing people? That is considered to be the best hitman in the world and what that means in terms of collateral damage in human lives? Do you not care?"

Tsuna actually snickered at the man, much to the man's outrage. "Look sir, I don't think YOU know him. He's been my tutor for nearly four years—that's four years I have spent being given the personal, in-depth, in your face because you have no other option tour of the seven levels of hell on earth. The man is a sadistic, controlling, ego-maniacal overlord the world should be thankful is too lazy to dominate it for kicks."

"What the—you stupid fool! Is that what you care about? Do you not even realize that he has been a hired gun long before you were born—selling his skills to the highest bidder? That your blessed tutor and mentor is nothing more than a killer for hire and that he has lived with that reputation for far longer than you have been alive?That he has allowed himself to be cursed to be powerful? That he traded everything for power and near-immortality? Do you care nothing for all of that?"

Tsuna looked at Checker Face's enraged face and shook his head slowly in the face of the masked man's livid state.

"Whatever he is—whatever reputation or past you think you this revelation would do to me—it won't work. There is nothing in this world that would not make me turn away from him. Nothing. Do you understand what that means Checker Face? He told me all of that already. And I already told him years ago that he didn't have to tell me anything he didn't have to."

Checker Face glowered at Tsunayoshi in derision, "You are a fool Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna smiled and gave the man a single nod. "I know. He tells me that nearly single day."

Whatever Checker Face would've said then and whatever response Tsuna would've made no one else would know because at that moment the heavy double doors that led to the room were opened with a bang that echoed all around and a cavalcade of black suited figures came pouring in forming a perimeter around Tsunayoshi and the small tribunal. A moment later, a tall imposing figure, light haired, sharp-eyed and suited to the hilt strode in and as one two voices rang out:

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

The two former combatants—interrogator and accused—stared at each other before turning once more to the newcomer who was staring at them with the most incongruous sheepish look one could ever imagine on a full-grown man's face.

"Ah Tsuna! Checker Face?"

"I LEFT A MESSAGE ON YOUR/MY MOTHER'S PHONE NEARLY 12 HOURS AGO! WHY THE FUCK/HELL ARE YOU LATE!"

Checker Face leaned over his desk to glare at Tsunayoshi, growling at him threateningly, "Stop mimicking me you foolish child! I am trying to rip this idiot another ass and you are getting in the way!"

Tsuna glared at the masked figure before turning his basilisk-like glare towards the now pale-faced man who tried to speak to him.

"Me? I'm not—you're the one interrupting me!"

"Tsuna—!"

"This man needs to answer for his neglect of his duties—!"

"And he needs to answer for more than just dereliction of duties—if you need to make him accountable for something like that—then he needs to be accountable for fifteen years of neglect in my case!"

"Tsuna—my dearest darling—how can you say such things!"

"Don't you talk to me like that you overgrown baby! Don't you dare give me another one of your lame-ass excuses that only someone as innocent and trusting as my mother would ever believe! Where the hell have you been you bloody bastard?!"

"Tsuna—I'm sorry—I!"

Checker Face couldn't contain his ire any longer and he banged his hand against his desk violently. "Sawada Tsunayoshi! What is the name of the Underworld is the meaning of this! What is the nature of your association with this man for you to make such demands! Don't you know who this is?"

Tsuna didn't bother to spare the whimpering , teary-eyed man that was now clinging to him a moment's look as he was too preoccupied trying to pry the said man's tentacle like arms from his lithe frame. "I know exactly who this idiot is—but given the fact that you have such skewed belief about everyone else around me you might as well tell me who you think he is?"

Checke Face couldn't for the life of him what possessed the older man to cling to the young man that he has been thus tasked to interrogate but he felt it imperative that said child understand that the person next to him was someone important.

"If you must know that man is the Head of theConsulenza Esterna Della Famiglia. He is known throughout the Underworld as the Young Lion of the Vongola."

Tsuna stared impassively at Checker Face, his face not giving anything away as he resolutely turned his gaze away from the man who was still frantically whimpering explanations at his side.

"Is he important?"

The masked man threw his hands in exasperation over the younger's clear ignorance. "Of course he's bloody important! He occupies a standing equal to the current Vongola Nono—Head of most powerful Famiglia in the world! Now, answer the damn question—what the hell is he to you then?"

Tsuna pursed his lips in irritation before gesturing a thumb towards the man that's been casting him dejected looks ever since his arrival.

"Well, it just so happens this very important man of yours is my bloody annoying Father."