"Hey, Byakuran-kun. What brings you here?"

The older male shrugged, merely replying with, "Marshmallows."

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at him before Yamamoto asked, "Why not eat them in your own kitchen? I'm pretty sure your chefs keep a supply in store for you."

An image of a room in his mansion filled to the brim with bags of marshmallows flashed through Byakuran's mind before he refocused his attention on the rain guardian and smiled, saying, "Oh, they do! But I wanted to visit my little tuna fish-chan, since I heard he was back in Italy!"

'That still doesn't explain why you're in the kitchen,'Yamamoto thought to himself, a sweatdrop appearing on his forehead. "We-well, Tsuna's sitting in on a meeting at the moment, so I'm sorry to say that you can't talk to him right away…"

"It's fine, it's fine," assured the white-haired male, his creepy smile still in place and his eyes glinting with curiously as he took in the sight of Yamamoto's classmates as they stood a few paces behind the young swordsman. "Now, would you care to introduce me to your guests? I don't think I recognize them."

"A-ah," said Takeshi, trying to quickly think up an excuse, "You w-wouldn't have seen them before since th-this is their first time at the mansion."

Byakuran's eyes lit up in childish excitement. "Ah! So they're new recruits!" he said, jumping up to walk around them, studying each member of the group as if they were a piece of meat he was thinking of eating. "Not too bad, although I do think little tuna-chan would be able to find much better people to join his Family. Preferably people who aren't so…weak-looking. Can they even use flames?"

"We're not new recruits, or whatever!" retorted Kitanami indignantly, and Yamamoto's eyes widened. The boy tried to tell his classmate to shut up before he dug his own grave, but was unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it), too late. "We're his classmates!"

Byakuran stopped dead in his observations when he heard this before straightening out, a steely glare flashing in his eyes for just a second before his smile was back on, full blast and even creepier than before, if that were possible.

"So you're Tsu-chan's classmates, are you?" he asked in a honey-sweet voice. "The same ones that tease him all the time and call him Dame-Tsuna?"


Tsuna was trying really hard to pay attention to what the conversation was about but all he could really get out of it was that they were talking about renewing the alliance between the three Families and talking about other possible allies. At present, the brunet's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the menace that would be arriving at his home later that day.

Noticing that his friend didn't seem to be feeling too well, Enma leaned over and asked, "Are you okay, Tsuna-kun? "

"A-ah," replied the brunet in a whisper, "It's just that, I d-"

Before he could finish what he was saying, though, Tsuna was interrupted by the Donna of the Giglio Nero asking, "And what is your position on this, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

Snapping back to attention, Tsuna looked in Aria's direction in what he hoped was a neutral expression, blurting out, "Excuse me?"

Dino, who took his job as Don surprisingly seriously, threw his little brother a warning look before coming to his rescue, saying, "I know how you feel about them, Tsunayoshi, but it's been many years since that incident, and the Estraneo are starting to regain their old power. It may be more advantageous to invite them now and have them indebted to us in the future than to keep them as enemies."

Tsuna immediately realized that they were talking about the upcoming annual banquet that the Vongola and her allies took turns hosting, and even though he couldn't quite call to mind at the moment whose turn it was to host, there was one thing he was definitely sure about.

His expression set into an icy mask, the brunet said, "I would very much appreciate it if we didn't welcome that Family into our alliance. They did something completely unforgivable to one of my mist guardians and many, many other children, and there's nothing to say that they won't do it again."

Timoteo frowned a little at his answer, saying, "I know I said I would give you final say on this year's guest list so you could get some experience, Tsunayoshi, but you shouldn't let your personal feelings get in the way of your decision making."

Wait…Tsuna got the final say? But…it was always the hosting Family that got the final say on the guest list which would mean…THE VONGOLA WAS HOSTING THE PARTY THIS YEAR?

Tsuna began to panic a little at this realization. Would his classmates be here on the day of the party? Surely Reborn wouldn't put them in thatmuch danger…would he?

Shaking his head to get those thoughts out of his mind and focus on the task he had right now, he told his Nonno, "It isn't only because of Mukuro anymore. My classmates are here this year, and there's no way I'm putting them in that kind of danger! I'll consider discussing it next year, but there is absolutely no way they're coming to this year's party, sir!"

Everyone around the table was now staring at Tsuna, who sometime during his short speech had stood out of his chair. Feeling a small blush creep onto his cheeks, Tsuna sat back down, saying, "I apologize for getting so worked up."

Vongola Nono stared at him for just a moment longer before finally relenting, and after that, the meeting went along normally until Tsuna got an emergency call from Celino down in the kitchen.

"Decimo!" shouted the man from the other side, and Tsuna thought he could hear the sounds of fighting from the other end of the line. "Master Takeshi is currently trying to protect your classmates from Don Byakuran of the Gesso Family! Please come down as soon as possible!"

It took Tsuna just a moment to register what the chef had said, and when he did, he let out a long shriek. "HIIEEEE! What's Byakuran doing in our kitchen? Big brother Xanxus and the Varia are coming over later, and that's bad enough, but now I have to deal with him too?"


SkyGem: Lol. When Bya-kun showed up last chapter, you all immediately assumed he was the 'him' I'd referred to in the previous chapter, and some of you were disappointed it wasn't Xanxus…well, looks like you've gotten your wish, ne? Anyways, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought and I'll see you tomorrow! Ciao!