Well, I'm back. Finally. It's not that I forgot about writing this story, just other things got in the way of writing this chapter. but after several months I finally got it done! That's all that matters, right? So, here's the chapter. As always, please read, review, and enjoy. (Oh and I don't own KHR)


Tough Fight, Rough Seas

Rough waves like pounding fists slammed against the sides of the ten huge battleships that bobbed on top of the frothing waves like helpless corks. Foaming crest spewed into the air from the boiling cauldron of the sea. The Vongola team's ships bobbed up to the ships, stopping as V's yacht pulled to a stop.

"Alright, V, now what?" Tsuna shouted over the roaring waves.

"Now you go get on the ship that has your symbol on it. You get on the one that has the sun emblem on it and so on and so forth. Can you understand that?" V said, pointing at the rocking ships. The five battle ships closest to Tsuna's ship sported the Vongola family crest, glistening under the shining sun.

"How is this battleships if you can see our ships and we can see yours?" Shouichi demanded, holding tightly onto the railing of the ship.

"That's extreme cheating!" Ryohei cried loudly.

"All in due time, dear four-eyes," V said and snapped his fingers. Out of the water a thick wall of black rose towards the sky, disturbing the water as it cut through it.

"W-What is that?" Tsuna exclaimed as the people on the boat braced as the ocean waves tossed them about like a cork.

"It looks like a huge grid..." Shouichi pointed out, fixing his glasses as the waves settled down.

"That's because it is a huge grid," V affirmed as the black grid cam to a halt, dividing the ten ships into two separate playing fields of five. "Alright, now each team choose its players and board the ships you want to be on. Once you are on your ships, punch in the coordinates you wish to set your ships at and then we will begin the game."

"Coordinates?" Ryohei questioned, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Yeah, it's the coordinates that you want to place your ships at. An example would be A1 or D3 and so on and so forth. Think you can understand that?"

"I guess…" the Sun guardian mumbled, still trying to work through the details V had explained for him.

I guess Ryohei will be the wrong person to use for this strategy game…Tsuna sighed as he looked over the Vongola team for people to be pitted against V's team. He thought about their strategic skills and their strengths. Shouichi is an obvious choice…and choosing him would put his clone on the field who lacks strategic skills. Hibari will place his ship mostly likely far away from everyone else's…Yamamoto will you his battle skills to pinpoint enemy ships so that will come in handy…With the Varia…Bel is the one who is considered a genius so I might be able to have him on the team. And including me with my hyper intuition there is a chance of winning this match. "Alright, Shouichi, Yamamoto, Hibari, Bel and myself will be playing this round," Tsuna said finally after thinking everything over.

"Is that you're final choice?" V asked, his mouth twitching a bit at his obvious miscalculation as he realized that most of the players on his own team were sorely lacking the skills needed to win this game.

"Yes it is," Tsuna repeated, eyeing the cloaked man with eagerness to have a chance to get at V to end the whole thing before anyone else was lost to the madness of the games.

"Alright then! Time to let the match begin!" V declared, pointing at the sky. "Now, men, take to your ships!" The teams scattered as if he had fired a gun, taking their boats to their appointed sides.

The Vongola boat went around, dropping off the competing guardians. "Hey," Dino said as Tsuna was dropped off on the largest battle ship, "you be careful out there. Don't let V get to you."

"I won't," Tsuna told him, managing a smile as the salty wind whipped up. "I won't let him take anyone else this match or any other match. I'll end this and save Gokudera and Kyoko."

"I believe you will. Just don't forget that you have us to help you, Tsuna," Dino reminded him, giving him an encouraging smile.

"Voii! I refuse to help that little wimp of a Vongola!" Squalo snarled.

"If that were really true then why are you here, Squalo?" Dino asked the Varia swordsman.

"I'm not here 'cause I want to!" Squalo snapped, turning away to look out at the ocean with a dangerous look on his face.

"Sure," Dino said, unconvinced. "Well, we'll be supporting you from the sidelines. Do you're best, Tsuna." Dino gave him a thumbs up before Tsuna climbed the later leading to the deck of the battle ship.

"Win to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted over the waves, grinning broadly.

Tsuna nodded, climbing up the slippery rungs of the ladder as the boat behind him sped off back to a safe distance. He hoisted himself onto the deck, spotting a small control panel with a grid on it that looked exactly like the massive one sticking out of the ocean. How in the world is V able to set up all of this? Tsuna thought, staring at the panel with questioning brown eyes. Never mind, I have to start this game.

Quickly, he chose a random column, C, and chose the five middle spaces in the row. The shift suddenly began to move, groaning under his feet as it floated over to the desired coordinates. Tsuna gripped the control panel to steady himself until the ship stopped moving. On the screen a tiny icon of the ship flashed where it was currently. Around it the other four ship icons floated, displaying their locations as well. One ship off to the far corner of the playing field caught Tsuna's eye. He instantly guessed that it was Hibari's ship based on the fact that it was so far away from everyone else's.

"That's just like him," Tsuna muttered, a faint smile on his face as he could almost hear Hibari's famous line, "Don't crowd around me or I'll bite you to death."

"Are you guys ready?" V's face suddenly appeared on the giant screen.

"I'm ready over here, Tsuna!" Shouichi's voice came in through the control panel, coming from a ship that was flashing blue.

"Me too!" Yamamoto seconded.

"The Prince is always ready. I don't know what took you peasants so long, shishishi," Bel's cackling voice snickered.

There was no response from Hibari, but Tsuna knew that he was probably ready to begin just so he could get the whole thing over with. "We're all ready."

"Ok. Now, I should warn you a bit about what happens if your ship gets struck. Hopefully you guys have placed your ships in positions that will be hard to guess otherwise things could get a bit...explosive."

"Wait! You haven't said what would happen if the ships are struck!" Shouichi protested.

V smiled craftily. "Just hope that you're a good swimmer, that's all," he sniggered. "But I'm drawing this out. Let's begin. Vongola, you can start since I'm such a nice guy." V's smiling face disappeared after he said that, returning to the grid screen.

"Good swimmer?" Shouichi repeated worriedly.

"I'll take the first move since I'm a prince, shishi. I need to get rid of the cheap imitation that sullies the prince's noble name," Bel informed them before anyone could protest. "B4!" he proclaimed loudly, his hidden eyes watching the screen eagerly for a hit to appear. A missile suddenly shot from the front of Bel's ship, sailing into the sky with a trail of smoke left behind it.

We're firing real missiles? Tsuna thought nervously, covering his ears over the roaring sound of the missile. It disappeared over the grid with a screeching wail, nose-diving onto the other side. Agonizing seconds ticked my as they waited, listening as the waves rolledand crashed.

An X did appear finally on the screen, but Bel's move hadn't hit anything. A look of frustration marred his wide grin, the corners of his mouth turning downwards. The prince's hands gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white, rage coursing like electricity through his body.

"How could I miss?" he seethed, chuckling darkly under his breath. "I will not miss again!"

"Look's like the stupid prince missed! Ooops!" a jeering voice called out from the other side of the huge grid.

"I'll kill the commoner who said that!" Bel hissed, drawing his knives.

"Calm down, Bel," Tsuna told him and turned back to the screen, waiting for V's move.

"I choose C1!" a cheery voice crackled slightly over the intercom and another missile was fired from the opposing side. Tsuna's stomach turned nervously as it headed for his row, dangerously close to his ship. The missile dove into the ocean, splashing into the waves with a huge explosion that rocks the ship. It hadn't struck, but had been too close for comfort.

That was too close! Why did I choose this row? Tsuna thought, his mind still racing from his close encounter with the missile. If that had been any closer…

"Looks like I missed. Your turn, Vongola," V said with a disappointed sigh.

I guess I'll go…Tsuna thought as he collected himself, standing up straight and fixing his crooked tie with calm fingers. He had to be calm. If he let himself lose his head again then V would be able to throw him off. Remaining collected was the only thing that would make Tsuna stay focused. He had to rescue Kyoko and Gokudera at all costs.

Clearing his mind to relax himself, Tsuna saw a flickering coordinate in his mind. He zoned in on in, pulling it close like a flickering flame, until the letters became clear. B9. Tsuna had no idea how he had come up with the coordinate, but a strong gut feeling urged him to go with the letter-number pair.

"B9," Tsuna said, his voice leaving no room for hesitation for regret for his decision. The coordinate felt right; more than that, he was sure he was right.

The missile cut into the air and screamed into the opponent's area. Suddenly a large explosion erupted, agitating the waves. "We got a hit!" Shouichi exclaimed in awe, his glasses slipping from his nose. He pushed it back up with fingers trembling in excitement and a hint of fear. "I-I didn't think that they'd actually use real missiles…Ah! My stomach hurts!" he groaned, holding his throbbing stomach.

"That's the boss's hyper intuition for ya," Yamamoto said a little breathless as a column of thick smoke choked the sky. It coursed like a black snake across the cloud-littered expanse of blue, sinister and foreboding. On the screen two spots lit up, exposing part of the hidden battleship.

"Wait why are there two hits?" Shouichi pointed out as his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Aw, looks like you got a hit, Vongola. I guess I overlooked your hyper intuition," V whined in a disappointed voice that seemed more fake than sincere distress. "Why are there two hits, you ask? Well, just waiting around for you guys to take a shot in the dark and trying to hit the ships would take to long. A game's really no fun if it goes on for a super long time. So I decided to throw in an extra special surprise. Instead of one hit you get two hits for the price of one! That means that both teams will have to extra careful, especially those with smaller ships, otherwise they'll be blown up super fast."

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Tsuna demanded, eyes narrowing with irritation, but he didn't raise his voice in anger.

"Because a game needs to have a few surprises," V replied casually and they almost hear the nonchalant shrug in his voice. "Just to keep things interesting."

"Is there anything else that you're not telling us?" Tsuna questioned.

"Nope. I don't think there is," V answered after a few seconds of thought. Tsuna detected a lying note in V's voice, but he didn't say anything. "Let's keep going. My turn? Alright then I chose...H6!"

Team Vongola had barely anytime to react as a missile came soaring over, its trajectory unknown as it fell earthwards. The mafia members tensed up, waiting nervously for it to hit. Much to their surprised it passed over them, first causing a sense of relief then worry as they wondered where the missile was heading next. Fear bubbled in their stomachs, finally realizing that it was heading to the furthermost corner of the field—right where Hibari was.

"Hibari!" they cried out instinctively, suddenly concerned for their teammate's safety. Bel of course merely scoffed, not even bothering to care where the missile was heading just as long as it wasn't towards him. The Vongola members barely got the Cloud Guardian's name out before the missile hit. A wall of water roared up, agitating the sea again.

"Hey…you don't think that Hibari was…" Shouichi asked hesitantly through the headset.

"I doubt it. Hibari won't go down that easily," Yamamoto said as they watched the Cloud Guardian's ship. The steam and spray cleared, revealing the unscathed hull with a hard-faced Hibari standing like an unmoving stone statue. "See? What did I tell you?" Their relief was short lived because the dark look on Hibari's face was as menacing as a demon's.

"I thought I told you people to stay away from me. You just got too close. Now who should I bite to death first?" Hibari hissed darkly, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"It wasn't us, Hibari," Yamamoto informed him, trying to direct the anger of the group hating guardian away from the Vongola team. "It was V who did it. If we don't stop him now he's just going to keep getting closer to you. You have to help stop him otherwise he'll force you into a group."

"I hate groups. Only weaklings group together. I will not be grouped together with weaklings." Hibari's voice was as cold as steel with raging anger bubbling underneath his calm exterior. "I guess I'll just have to bite them to death." As if frightened by the dangerous aura radiating from the Cloud guardian, a missile shot out and whimpered over the screen. A surprising explosion filled the air and another column of smoke curled upwards from C9. Another hit for Vongola. Two more marks were delivered to one of the ships and the spirits lifted in Tsuna's team.

"That's our Hibari!" Yamamoto commented with a broad grin. "Get him motivated and off he goes!"

"Y-Yeah…but he sure is scary when he gets mad like that…" Shouichi stammered and fixed his crooked glasses.

"Hibari is so scary! The Vongola are all so scary. That's why I think I'd better step it up a notch otherwise these Vongola will end up winning," V said. "Maybe I need to throw a curve ball…"

"That's cheating, V!" Tsuna said loudly, thinking quickly about where the next strike would come from.

"Not cheating. It's simply adding more excitement to this hot-blooded game. I just want to see if you're really serious because I'm beginning to doubt that you are. Let's just check up on how your beloved princess is doing."

The grid suddenly vanished and a picture of Kyoko was thrown up. Tsuna's eyes widened at the sight of the girl with her face fresh with fear and her big brown eyes darting around with fear. Her orange hair was in disarray around her pretty face and his heart twisted at the sight of her. It had felt like forever since he's seen her, only able to keep her close in his memories that he kept constantly turning over like old photographs. Yet, the image of her was slowly fading the longer he was apart from her, leaving Tsuna with only a hazy image of face and the echo of her voice in his head. Now Tsuna could see her tied to a pillar, but otherwise alive and unhurt.

"Kyoko!" He couldn't stop the desperate cry of her name from escaping his mouth. It echoed across the waves, swallowed up by the raging sea.

"Tsuna? Tsuna! Where are you? Tsuna! I'm scared! Please! Help me!" Kyoko cried, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. Claws of agony tore at Tsuna's heart as he watched, unable to do anything. He wanted to cry out, to crush the screen with the awful image, but he could do nothing but listen as her desperate pleading filled his ears.

"Stop it…" Tsuna begged in a hoarse whisper. His hands trembled like leaves by his side, the Vongola family ring feeling like a heavy stone tied around his finger.

"What was that? I don't think I heard you," V jeered, his voice invoking a wave of rage inside of Tsuna.

"Stop it, V! You don't need to be doing this!" he shouted. He wanted to run away or at least go blindly searching for Kyoko, but remained frozen to the spot with his shout still burning on his lips.

"Hm…Let me think…No," V said mockingly and Tsuna flinched inwardly. "Why should I? She's fine, so long as you keep winning."

"It's not…fair…" Tsuna whispered to the ground.

"Life's not fair. The life of a mafia boss is the least fair thing in the world. You need to realize that otherwise you'll get yourself and your whole family killed," V scoffed at him and the image of Kyoko disappeared. "Now, it's my turn."

Tsuna was no longer able to hear V, too absorbed in his own raging thoughts and the sound of Kyoko's cries. Her voice still reverberated in his mind, growing louder than the seas. His eyes locked on the air in front of him as his thoughts became an overpowering roar. That brief instance had shaken him to the core and he could still see and hear her even though the image had vanished.

Why couldn't I do anything? Why can't I do anything? Tsuna thought, not hearing the sound of the missile screech overheard. His name was shouted, but he wasn't paying attention to the voices. Everything seemed to fade away from around Tsuna, leaving him isolated in a world of detached silence. The sound of the missile exploding nearby, hitting a ship a little ways off.

"Darn, looks like I missed him, but at least I hit something," V smirked. "Now, Vongola, it's your turn."

"Tsuna! Tsuna!" Yamamoto shouted into his headset, desperately trying to reach his shell-shocked boss.

"Hmph, looks like the Vongola boss has is no longer with us," Bel scoffed. "I guess the Prince will have to step up and covered the weak boss. H5." The cruel smile on the Varia Storm Guardian's face broadened as the familiar sound of the missile taking flight filled the air. The grin only grew in size as the missile struck a ship and sent up an X on the screen. Tsuna remained unfazed, still locked in his out screaming thoughts.

What am I going to do? Tsuna shouted at himself over the roar of the waves and the cries of his team.


Will Tsuna ever be able to overcome his shock? Will this long game of battleships ever end? Does Shouichi actually know how to swim? Who knows; if I ever get another chapter done then we might just find out.