Songs: it's time by Imagine Dragons
Enjoy!
XXXX
It had been about two weeks since training with Fon began, and now Reborn was coming to see Tsuna's progress. Reborn was furious with his own student, who seemed to be failing on purpose, and so far, hadn't managed to get any family members, despite his desperate attempts at manipulation. Reborn had come to the conclusion that Ieyoshi's manipulation only worked when Tsuna helped him with it. It was pathetic. His student had steered clear of his brother, but Reborn could feel the tension building again. So today, he thought he would satisfy himself by watching Tsuna's undoubtedly good progress.
When he came to the dojo, he was pleased to hear voices inside.
"That was very good, Tsunayoshi-san."
"Arigato." The quiet voice responded.
"Can you run through a few katas for me?"
"Offensive, defensive, or both?"
"Pick any five." It seemed that Tsuna had gotten more comfortable talking to Fon. Tsuna still didn't talk much, but when Ieyoshi and Nana weren't around, he talked a little more to everyone. It was okay with Reborn, he supposed. Tsuna was breaking out of his shell, but that didn't happen overnight. Fon left the dojo, to meet Reborn outside, smiling.
"How is training going so far?" Reborn asked.
"Very well. Tsunayoshi-san has a lot of talent." Fon said truthfully. Reborn snorted.
"It seems he has all the talent in the family."
"Is training with Ieyoshi-san not going well?" Fon inquired. Reborn sighed.
"It's going terrible. His own big head always gets in the way. But on the bright side, if Tsuna's training has progressed as well as I hope it has, I can get him the position of Vongola Decimo, instead of Ieyoshi. Not talking is fine; we have a few years to break him out of his shell, but as long as he has his resolve and power, then we can do this." Reborn's mind went back to the Hyper Dying Will flame flickering on Tsuna's forehead. He had noticed that it happened occasionally in Tsuna's sleep too, and had slowly come to the conclusion along with Shamal that Tsuna's once-sealed flames were trying to break through. But his body was too weak to handle them all at once. If they wanted him to be able to use his Dying Will flames freely, they needed to find some way to strengthen his body against the flames faster. They hadn't really figured out how yet.
"Well, I know I'll support him. And I think that Tsunayoshi-san knows that his brother can't be Vongola Decimo, for everyone's safety." Fon admitted. Reborn nodded, and then switched topics.
"Have you started sparring yet?" Fon nodded happily.
"But since not all of his opponents will be my size, he spars with Kyoya-san more for practice. I spar with him to teach." Fon explained. Reborn raised an eyebrow.
"So he's been told about your training?" Fon nodded
Flashback
"Hello Kyoya-san." Hibari's head shot up from his paperwork, his teeth gritting, a low growl in his throat. He had never liked Fon mainly because he could never beat Fon in a fight.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded. Fon hopped onto his desk.
"There's no need to be so hostile, Kyoya-san." Hibari glared at him, and Fon sighed. "Kyoya-san, Reborn, Ieyoshi-san's tutor asked me here to train Tsunayoshi-san." Hibari stood up abruptly, glaring at his uncle.
"You will not train my student." Fon shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Kyoya-san, but I've already started. I know you don't like it, but I'm here on mafia business. Tsunayoshi-san needs to be trained to survive. You can't teach him how to fight with Dying Will flames. You can't teach him how to fight against the mafia."
"He is MY student." Hibari growled. Hibari was competitive, and clearly liked training Tsuna. If his uncle, whom he already hated, started to train his student, then Fon had predicted he would be very mad and possessive about Tsuna. And he had been correct.
"I apologize, but I'll be training him." Hibari grabbed his tonfas and glared at his uncle.
"Meet me on the roof." He ordered, and stormed out to get Tsuna.
When they met on the roof, Tsuna looked confused about Hibari dragging him around angrily, and seeing Fon up there. He cocked his head to the side curiously.
"What is the meaning of this, baby carnivore?" Hibari demanded, gesturing a tonfa at Fon. Tsuna blinked.
"Reborn asked him to train me." He said quietly, since he wasn't sure how to Tsuna-speak it. Especially not with Hibari this mad.
"And you agreed?" Tsuna shrugged. "You didn't think to tell lme?"
"I told him I would take care of it." Fon added in. He paused. "It's not going as well as I hoped." Hibari glared, and jabbed a tonfa in Tsuna's general direction.
"You are my student, do you understand?" Confused, Tsuna nodded. Hibari glared at Fon. "He is not going to train you."
"Kyoya-san, I need to train him."
"No, you are not, or I will bite you to death." Tsuna touched Hibari's arm.
"You should be nicer to your family, Hibari-san." He said quietly. Both of them stared at him.
"I didn't tell him." Fon said quickly. He was sure Hibari hadn't either.
"How did you know that, baby carnivore?" Tsuna shrugged. Hibari looked back to Fon. "Stay away from my student." He ordered.
"I'm afraid I can't." It wasn't that Hibari was jealous (well, maybe a little, knowing that Fon could teach Tsuna more than he could), but he was competitive, and he hated the man, so he would fight tooth and nail to be Tsuna's only teacher. Hibari prepared his tonfas for a fight, eyes narrowing.
"Then I will bite you to death." He rushed at Fon, who jumped out of the way and landed on HIbari's shoulder. He quickly jumped off, and procedded to dodge all of Hibari's strikes. To Tsuna, the scene was just incredible, but he decided to put an end to it. He walked straight into their fight, ducking under a tonfa, and elbowing Hibari in the throat, hard. Hibari paused, stepping back and trying not to gag. He glared at Tsuna. "What are you doing, baby carnivore?" he demanded. Tsuna glared at Hibari, and slapped him. Hibari looked confused for a moment.
"You two- figure it out civily and come get me when you've made a decision." He ordered, turned on his heel, and walked away, leaving a highly amused Fon, and a surprised Hibari.
Flashback End.
"It could have gone worse." Fon concluded. "Kyoya-san is still not happy about the arrangement, but it's working out well." Reborn nodded.
"So, can I see his progress?" Fon nodded.
"I've invited Kyoya-san today, so it'll be a real spar." Fon promised. Reborn grinned.
"Excellent."
"Baby." A voice acknowledged. Hibari walked past Fon, ignoring him, even though Fon greeted him pleasantly. He walked into the dojo quietly, as not to alert Tsuna to his presence. Fon and Reborn followed him in, and watched Tsuna finish up his kata. Tsuna's form was better, and he was getting faster. "Are you ready to spar, baby carnivore?" Tsuna glanced over at Hibari, and nodded. Fon had told him that Reborn would be observing, so Tsuna suspected that Fon would have Hibari or someone come in.
Fon directed them towards the middle of the mat. Hibari had his tonfas out, and Tsuna fixed his stance. Fon bounced over to look up at them.
"While I'm sure both of you know your limits and when to stop, the fight will stop when one of you yields. No dirty attacks, but below the belt is fine, as long as you hit respectfully. (A.N. they can hit the legs and stuff, but no kicking in the crotch- I just don't think that Fon would ever say the word crotch.) They both nodded, and Fon stepped back. "Attack." They rushed at each other. Tsuna went furiously on the offensive first, working his way closer and closer towards Hibari, forcing himself into Hibari's personal space. This, in turn, forced Hibari to move in order to not get hit. Tsuna still had problems harming people, but he'd mainly worked past that with Hibari. He could strike without hesitation, but they didn't usually have a huge amount of force behind them (though, occasionally, Tsuna would strike out with great force, but he always felt a little guilty afterwards)
Tsuna's hand swung out at a dangerous speed, and Hibari managed to block it with a tonfa, but barely got his other tonfa up in time to block the knee heading for his gut. Hibari switched to offensive, and rushed forward, striking just as furiously. Tsuna managed to keep up a, albeit a little desperately, and between the two of them, they were constantly switching from offensive to defensive and back again. The first hit was from Hibari, naturally, who caught Tsuna in the ribs. However, Tsuna managed to back up and turn with the blow, and didn't take any damage. He ducked under Hibari's guard quickly, back facing Hibari, and hooked his foot around Hibari's, while forcing his elbow right under Hibari's ribs with both hands. Hibari grunted, and was forced to swing around so he wouldn't trip, and was met with a fierce punch from the front. He blocked it, but he could feel it vibrating along his tonfa. That would have hurt.
Hibari attacked again, dealing a blow to Tsuna's shoulder. Tsuna jumped back, gritting his teeth and forcing himself not to hold his shoulder, which hurt a little now. He needed both hands in play. The next time Hibari attacked, Tsuna stretched his arm out extra far. Hibari's tonfa hit his shoulder, but Tsuna hooked his arm under the end of the tonfa, forcing Hibari's arm up, blocking the other tonfa with his other hand, and striking Hibari extremely hard in the soft area where his arm and body met, just a little below the armpit. Hibari grunted again, louder this time, and Tsuna got out of the way before Hibari could smack him in the head with his tonfas.
As their fight continued, neither of them noticed Yamamoto, Gokudera, Bianchi, Lambo, and I-Pin, who had been invited to see the fight. They had entered quietly, and were now watching, impressed, but not saying anything, as not to break the fighters' concentration.
Tsuna and Yamamoto had originally had a huge fight about him quitting baseball for his Shigure Souen Ryuu. Tsuna didn't want Yamamoto to give things up for him; but then Yamamoto had said something and Tsuna could no longer try to keep Yamamoto from what he wanted.
"Tsuna, would you replace me after I died?" Yamamoto demanded. Tsuna shook his head furiously.
"You're irreplaceable." Tsuna whispered. Yamamoto laid a heavy hand on his best friend's shoulder.
"That's why I need to learn this, Tsuna. I can always go back to baseball. Hobbies can be picked up again. Objects can be replaced. But Tsuna, people aren't replaceable. You aren't replaceable. This is what I want Tsuna. What I'm giving up is no longer as important as I thought it was."
There was really no way to argue with that, and Tsuna now supported Yamamoto's sword career wholeheartedly.
The fight intensified, and soon, Hibari realized that he could actually be hurt. He grinned to himself. The baby carnivore had come a long way. But they both knew that Tsuna wasn't going to win this fight; he was good, but not as good as Hibari. Hibari quickened his pace, forcing Tsuna on the defensive, dodging, but still taking a lot of blows. He slid back, barely missing another strike from Hibari, panting hard.
It went on like this for awhile, until it was clear to everyone watching that it was only a matter of time before Tsuna yielded. Both Reborn and Fon were proud of Tsuna though; he had come along way, and if he had been fighting anybody besides Hibari, he would have certainly won the fight. But they both winced as they saw Tsuna take a flurry of hits. They knew Tsuna probably got worse than this in training with Hibari, but it still looked like it hurt.
Little did they know that Tsuna had one more trick. He knew he couldn't win with it, not with the way he was currently, but it would certainly be something fantastic to see. Because in the past week, Tsuna had gone to Ryohei and asked him to help him practice something. It combined a style of boxing with martial arts. Ryohei was just glad he got to fight someone, and was thrilled to help Tsuna practice it, even if Ryohei ended up flat on his back a lot. After Tsuna took another blow from Hibari, he knew that it was time to use it. He really couldn't take any more. So when Hibari struck out again, faster than lightning, Tsuna grabbed his arm, twisted, striking out with both his elbow and his foot at the same time. He rotated Hibari's wrist, and hooking his foot around Hibari's knee, angling his leg strangely so that his knee was against Hibari's shin, he flipped Hibari. Straight over his shoulder, and slamming him down into the mat with such force that even Hibari's eyes widened. The loud slam that sounded through the room caused everyone to jump. Unfortunately, the flip required Tsuna to go down with his opponent, so he angled himself so that he almost "stage-fell" and hit Hibari's ribs so hard he could swear he heard a crack.
"Wao." Hibari let out a breath. Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little happy with that statement. It was one of the few forms of respect Hibari had, and it wasn't one he gave easily or often.
When they both went down, Tsuna was panting heavily, and it wasn't much for Hibari to get back to his feet, and hold a tonfa close to Tsuna's head.
"Do you yield?" Tsuna was sitting down now, and nodded, breathing heavily. That flip had taken a lot of energy, probably more than he had at the time. It also required a lot of strength, luck, and momentum. But he was sure that if he had forced Hibari down a little harder, he could have hurt him a lot more. Now, Tsuna saw Hibari's hand go to his ribs, touching one gently. Hibari didn't wince, but Tsuna could tell he was a little surprised that Tsuna had managed to deal out some damage.
There was silence in the dojo, before everyone burst out into applause. Tsuna knew he hadn't come anywhere close to winning; Hibari had won by leaps and bounds. Tsuna hadn't even made him tired, and he knew how Hibari could keep fighting after his body was falling apart. But everyone knew that Tsuna had pushed himself extra hard today, and it showed in the fight. Fon and Reborn walked over to Tsuna, and touched either of his shoulders, smiling. Lambo yelled out,
"THAT WAS AWESOME TSUNA-NII!"
"GEGE IS AMAZING!"
"OF COURSE ONII-SAN IS AMAZING!"
"KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YOU, TUNA FISH!"
"GREAT JOB, TSU-CHAN!" His friends called out cheerfully, and Tsuna glanced back, smiling widely. He shot them a thumbs up. Reborn grinned at Tsuna and held up his camera, which he had used to film the entire thing.
"This will be one for the record books."
"Show it to Ryohei." Tsuna panted out quietly. "He's the one I practiced that flip on." Reborn nodded, and Fon felt a lot of pride that Tsuna had taken matters into his own hands, instead of only relying on the guidance of his two teachers. Hibari held out a hand to help Tsuna up, and Tsuna took it, climbing to his feet. Hibari put away his tonfas.
"Good job, baby carnivore. You did better than I expected." Tsuna just smiled at Hibari, and Hibari could swear he felt something warm in his chest, all his pride and secret friendship with his student. He hadn't known the importance of the words he said himself the other day; about Tsuna coming a long way.
"Thank you, Hibari-san." Tsuna said quietly, and in a moment of bravery and gratitude for all that Hibari had done for him, he reached forward, and gave him a small, quick, hug. Everyone suppressed laughter at the look on Hibari's face. For fear that he would relentlessly bite them to death. Tsuna walked over to the rest of his friends. Lambo and I-Pin jumped into his arms, chattering excitedly. Tsuna laughed a little.
XXXX
A few days later, while Tsuna was going to get ready for a training session, Reborn stepped in afterschool. He came up Tsuna's room, and stopped him from changing into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. Tsuna blinked at him.
"We're switching today." Reborn explained. "Fon's going to work with your brother, and I'm going to work with you. Since you have the basics down, we're going to do this a little more often." Tsuna nodded, and shifted his position.
"So what are we doing today?" He asked softly. Reborn grinned.
He was taken to a training area, a clearing among the forest with plenty of room to move, and a small mountain in the distance. Tsuna could tell that Reborn had been trying to train Ieyoshi here from the way the ground was all marked up. Reborn directed him to stand at one end of the clearing, and handed him something. Tsuna looked at the object in his hands. It was a gun. A rather nice one, he could tell, even if he didn't know a lot about guns. He examined it, raising an eyebrow. He gave a questioning look to Reborn. Reborn jumped up on his shoulder.
"Even though you are learning how to defend yourself through hand-to-hand combat, if someone's pointing a gun at you from far away, your martial arts might not be able to help." Reborn explained. "And unlike Hibari, who has his tonfas and could probably keep going even if he was shot repeatedly, you are not like that. Even if you don't like it, you should learn how to shoot a gun." Tsuna was a little uncomfortable with guns. Just what they could do made him a little hesitant to learn how, if Reborn hadn't told him he was going to learn it. But he understood the logic behind it. Besides, he might not even have to use it, and if he was going to shoot anybody, they were mafia and probably deserved it. He sighed, but nodded. Reborn grinned.
The training was pretty quick, actually. There was only so much to learn about a gun, and it was relatively easy. Tsuna's aim wasn't that bad with a handgun, but when he got too far, it wasn't all that good either. In the span of two hours, Reborn covered handguns to rifles to shotguns. Tsuna had to reluctantly admit that he really liked the rifle. It offered more control and precision than shotguns, and more range than handguns. It was the gun that made him feel more in control of it.
After trying out a few different types of guns, Reborn grinned, shoved Tsuna a rifle, and went to set up a few targets. They were just aluminum cans lined up on a log, but Reborn had a feeling that Tsuna was best suited to the rifle. He stepped off to the side, and ordered,
"Shoot." Tsuna loaded the gun, turned off the safety, and cocked it. He sighted down like Reborn had just showed him, and took aim. His stance was a little wobbly though. He fired off a shot, and Reborn was comfortable with the fact that while the bullet didn't hit the can, it hid the log right next to the can, which fell over. It was a near miss. Tsuna sighed, and steadied his hands on the rifle before firing again. This time, it hit the can almost dead center, which fell off the log (A.N. firing guns actually isn't half as hard as it seems. It's hard not to have decent aim with a rifle- even with my first time shooting, I hit the target dead on). Tsuna shot down the next three cans, only missing one of them. "Fire again." Reborn said calmly, and Tsuna did, hitting it with his second shot. Following the safety rules Reborn had laid down for him, he turned on the safety, took out the clip and held the gun so that the barrel was up and aimed at nothing but the sky. "You like the rifle." Reborn stated. Tsuna gave him a sheepish smile.
"I like the rifle." He admitted. The shotgun was too much- they had decided that within Tsuna's first crack at it. The kick had left him with a sore shoulder and the sound was too much for him. The handgun- he could shoot it, but the whole point of this was to find a more ranged weapon in case Tsuna needed it. Still, Tsuna wasn't best suited to the handgun. There was something about it- it wasn't immediately obvious to either of them, it was just that it didn't seem to fit for him. But the rifle was perfectly in between.
Tsuna handed the rifle back to Reborn, who was already making some plans. Reborn gave a revolver to Tsuna, two clips, and a holster. Tsuna blinked at it.
"Hold onto it, just in case. Word about Vongola Decimo is getting out, and you'll also be targeted. Defense is necessary." Tsuna heard the seriousness in Reborn's voice, and nodded. He slid the gun into his bag, which he shifted over his shoulder. There was also another thing that Reborn wasn't talking about, that Tsuna knew he knew about.
Rokudo Mukuro had escaped from prison. He was a killer, a man, or teenager, that had slaughtered an entire Family in cold blood. He was not the kind of person to show mercy. Even though Tsuna was disgusted, he found himself sympathetic at the same time. Rokudo Mukuro had been one of the Estraneo Family's test subjects- a child that had been taken away from his life at a young age and forced to suffer through test after test, alteration after alteration, all his life. It was a form of torture. It was tragic.
But it didn't give Rokudo Mukuro the excuse to kill an innocent Family.
Now that Rokudo was out, the mafia was relatively sure that he would go after the heir of the most powerful mafia Famiglia in the world; Vongola Decimo. Things were going to pick up around here.
But Tsuna still felt sick at his own disgusting thought that if Rokudo killed Ieyoshi, Vongola would be better off.
XXXX
During lunch, Tsuna decided to sneak up to the roof where Hibari was usually at. Ever since that day when Hibari had eaten some of his lunch, Tsuna had noticed that he didn't really see Hibari eat. So today, he had an extra bento with him. Hibari could take this as an act of friendship, gratitude, but it was just being nice to Tsuna. He slipped up onto the roof quietly, and recognized Hibari's prone form across the roof.
He crept closer, to see Hibari with his hands folded behind his head, sleeping on the roof peacefully. Tsuna grinned. He had heard about Hibari's infamous wrath when he was woken up. So he bent down and set the lunch beside Hibari, quickly scribbling a little note and sticking it on the bento. He hurried off afterwards, careful not to wake him up.
Tsuna smiled to himself. Hibari was kind of…cute when he was sleeping. Not that he would ever say that out loud.
Now, it was time to get back to dodging Ryohei on campus. Ever since Ryohei had watched the video, he had followed Tsuna around, begging him to join his boxing club and begging him to replicate "THAT EXTREME TAKEDOWN!" Tsuna knew he meant well, but things got a little crazy, especially with Gokudera threatening him to stay away from Tsuna and calling him "turf top."
A half an hour later, Hibari woke up. He blinked up at the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful day out, partly why Hibari had decided to sleep on the roof. Clear sky, pleasant breeze. Hibari could have slept forever. He yawned, and sat up. When he put his hand down, it brushed something. Curious, he glanced over at it, and realized that it was a bento, with a note stuck to it and a pair of chopsticks. He picked up the note.
Thought you might be hungry. Thanks again
-Tsuna
Hibari yawned, but opened up the bento. Using the chopsticks, he took a bite.
"Hn." It tasted….good. He set it on his lap, and stared out at the clear blue sky as he ate.
XXXX
Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna were all in his room, working on math, when the doorbell rang. Habitually, Tsuna got up to see who it was, but Ieyoshi was downstairs, so he answered first. Yamamoto and Gokudera followed, to peer down the stairs and see who it was. When Ieyoshi opened the door, both Gokudera and Tsuna blinked at who it was. It was the Ranking Prince, Fuuta de la Stella. Fuuta had the ability to rank everything in the world. No one quite knew where his ability came from, but he wrote all the rankings down in a big book, and plenty of people had gone after him for it, to get the information that Fuuta had. Fuuta, a child of about nine or eight years old, smiled weakly at Ieyoshi.
"Hello, I'm Fuuta de la Stella, I really don't want to intrude, but I need a place to stay and I was hoping-,"
"Screw off." Ieyoshi said flatly. The broken look on Fuuta's face intensified.
"Please. I know you're going to be Vongola Decimo, and I really need somewhere to stay. Can you please help me?" Fuuta begged. Ieyoshi sighed.
"Kid, I don't care who you are, I already have enough people here already, so screw off and don't come back. It's not my fault you're a homeless loser." Fuuta looked hopeless and he reached for the door. Ieyoshi started to close it, and they heard Fuuta cry out,
"PLEASE DON'T TURN ME AWAY!" Tsuna was down the stairs in the blink of an eye, stopping the door with his foot. Ieyoshi blinked at Tsuna, who slammed the door open, hard, hitting his brother with it. Ieyoshi stumbled back, eyes wide. Fuuta drew in a breath upon seeing Tsuna, relieved that someone might actually help him. Fuuta looked at him with teary eyes. "C-can you please help me?" Tsuna opened the door a little wider.
"Come in. We'd love to have you stay here." He said softly. With another cry, Fuuta hugged Tsuna tightly. Ieyoshi, rubbing his face, scowling, reached for Tsuna.
"Last I checked you didn't make the decisions in this house. I'm not going to let some brat stay-,"
"Last I checked you didn't make the decisions in this house either." Tsuna said icily. His brother crossed the line at treating children like that. While Tsuna didn't agree with all of Haru's, "Children are angels with pure hearts!" talk, he agreed that they were innocent and should never be treated in the way Ieyoshi had treated Fuuta. It didn't matter if Fuuta was the Ranking Prince or not. He was a child that came to Vongola for help, and mafia or not, Tsuna wasn't going to turn him away. Ieyoshi glared at Tsuna. Fuuta detangled himself from Tsuna, who brushed past his twin and led Fuuta to the kitchen, with Yamamoto and Gokudera in pursuit. They fell into line with Fuuta and Tsuna. Fuuta was still hanging onto Tsuna's hand desperately.
"Hey Fuuta. I'm Yamamoto and this is Gokudera. That's Tsuna. His brother's kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Yamamoto said cheerfully. Fuuta trembled, not quite sure how to answer. Yamamoto laughed a little and ruffled Fuuta's hair. "Relax, kid. No one's going to listen to Ieyoshi and we're not going to shut you out. Tuna will keep you safe." Tsuna scowled at the use of his nickname. Fuuta looked up to Tsuna.
"But you don't know who I am-,"
"Onii-san doesn't care." Gokudera interrupted. "You're safe here." Gokudera promised. Fuuta let out another sigh of relief.
"Who do you have there?" Reborn asked when Tsuna came in with Fuuta. His eyes widened as he recognized Fuuta. Bianchi shifted her position curiously.
"What's Ranking Prince Fuuta doing here?"
"He was looking for Iey-kun." Tsuna said quietly. "He's going to stay here for a little."
"And Tsuna hit Ieyoshi with the door." Yamamoto chirped cheerfully. "It was awesome." Tsuna blushed a little. I-Pin hopped over to meet Fuuta.
"I-Pin glad to meet Fuuta." She said, taking his hand. Fuuta smiled at the Chinese girl.
"Who's that, Tail-head?!" Lambo yelled out loudly, not paying attention to anything.
"SHUT IT, BROCCOLI MONSTER."
"MAKE ME, TAIL-HEAD."
"GYOZA FIST!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"So why's he called Ranking Prince Fuuta?" Yamamoto asked, confused. Bianchi answered.
"Oh, that's because he can rank anything in the world. No one really knows how he does it though." Bianchi explained. Yamamoto looked at Fuuta, seemingly impressed.
"Can you rank something for us?" Fuuta nodded. He closed his eyes, and the next moment, objects around him were lifted off the ground. He himself even rose of the ground, and when he opened his eyes, they looked starry.
"Sawada Ieyoshi is ranked as…..817,560 out of 817,560 mafiosos most likely to take in a child who needs it." Everyone winced a little at that ranking. It really was a terrible ranking.
"Do Gokudera!" Yamamoto said cheerfully.
"Shut it, pervert-idiot, Onii-san should go before me-,"
"Gokudera Hayato….is ranked number one out of 817,560 mafiosos most likely to be good with kids." Gokudera blinked.
"Children?" He squawked. Yamamoto laughed.
"That's a good ranking! Do me!"
"Yamamoto Takeshi….is ranked as number one out of 817,560 mafiosos most likely to become a great swordsman." Yamamoto grinned.
"Why don't you do Tsuna?" The look in his best friend's eyes clearly said that he didn't want this, but Fuuta nodded. Before he could rank, Yamamoto leaned forward, and whispered the question he wanted Fuuta to rank. "It needs to be two separate rankings; the person Tsuna is most likely to fall in love with, and the person most likely to fall in love with Tsuna. Don't say it out loud. I wanna surprise him later on." Fuuta nodded, a small, mischevious smile making its way across his face. He took a moment to rank, and then lighted down, whispering the rankings to Yamamoto.
"The person most likely for Tsuna to fall in love with….Hibari Kyoya." Yamamoto pumped his fist into the air.
"I KNEW IT!"
"Knew what, baseball idiot?!" Gokudera demanded. Yamamoto shook his head.
"The person most likely to fall in love with Tsuna….Hibari Kyoya."
"I SO SHIP THEM!" Yamamoto shouted.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, BASEBALL IDIOT?!" Gokudera roared. Tsuna tugged on Yamamoto's arm and gave him a confused look.
What did you ask? Yamamoto grinned and shook his head, looping his arm around his best friend's shoulder.
"I can't tell you yet." Tsuna sighed, but gave a sad nod. Gokudera growled at Yamamoto, while Fuuta wrote down his rankings in a giant book he produced from nowhere.
XXXX
That night, when everyone was gone and Fuuta was crashed out on Tsuna's bed, with Tsuna on the futon, he pulled out his laptop. Since everyone was asleep and no one was going to bother him, this was a perfect time to check something out.
For a long time, Tsuna had been wanting to hack into the Varia database. It seemed a little dangerous, but he needed to know about Xanxus. He knew Xanxus was free, but didn't know what his plans were. So he opened up his laptop, and got cracking. It took about an hour and a half to find where he needed to break in, and to actually do it. It was tricky, nerve-wracking business. He had to cover his tracks, had to make sure he was untraceable, and that they never knew anyone had gotten in.
But the moment he got in, he got everything. It was automatically stored to the hard drive of his computer, downloading every bit of information on there. He could look at it later.
One of the kids moved in their sleep and his eyes were immediately drawn away from the computer. If he hadn't looked away, he could have fought back against the other hacker that was coming after his computer. But he didn't see it, didn't know, until there was the sound of maniacal laughter shrieking from his computer and the message flashing cross the screen;
DIE, HACKER SCUM. He jumped back, realizing that the webcam was on. He cursed internally, turned off the volume, and hacked it back and closed it all down before they could take control of his computer. He slammed his laptop shut and breathed heavily. When his eyes flicked away from the screen, he saw Fuuta staring at him with wide eyes. He held a finger to his lips and shook his head.
He never had any idea that somehow, the Varia would trace him. Not immediately, since he had covered his tracks very well, but they would trace it back to him. They would find him, and get rid of him, for the possible threat he posed to the squad.
But tonight, Tsuna didn't think about it, and went to bed.
XXXX
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Yamamoto had called a meeting with Reborn and Gokudera. He had a feeling that the kid was a huge fan of Hibari-Tsuna. They sat around the table, with Yamamoto grinning at Reborn.
"So, kid. How do you feel about helping me scheme Hibari and Tuna together?" Gokudera's eyes widened.
"Are you crazy?!" He hissed. "Onii-san would never end up with that bastard!" Yamamoto shrugged, and looked at Gokudera seriously.
"Come on. You can't tell me that you don't think they would be adorable together, and they are a perfect fit." Gokudera blushed and looked down.
"They would be a good couple." He admitted. "But we don't even know if they like each other!" Gokudera protested. Reborn stood on Yamamoto's shoulder. He was really beginning to like Yamamoto.
"Well, personally, I believe that they have some feelings for each other, not many yet, but that it will grow into a wonderful romance!" Reborn claimed, going a little starry eyed. Bianchi and Fon suddenly appeared in the door, Bianchi wearing goggles. Gokudera twisted around.
"What are you doing here?" Bianchi gave a sweet smile.
"I'm here for the power of love." Yamamoto pumped his fist into the air.
"More accomplices!" He exclaimed. Fon bounced onto the table while Bianchi took a seat.
"I know my nephew very well, and I believe that the two of them would be a lovely couple." Fon admitted.
"Well, I've thought they'd be adorable together for awhile, so I asked Fuuta who Tsuna was most likely to fall in love with, and who was most likely to fall in love with Tsuna." Yamamoto explained. His eyes brightened. "Guess who it was~" Bianchi sighed.
"The power of love always prevails!"
"But if I know my friends, they're stubborn as hell and bad with emotions." Yamamoto said. "So they'll need a little push."
"What you have in mind is not a "little push." Gokudera objected. Yamamoto and the King of Schemes, Reborn, exchanged an evil glance. Reborn patted Yamamoto's head.
"I'm beginning to like you very much, Yamamoto." He said, a little bit of maniacal laughter starting in his throat. Yamamoto's expression became almost insane.
"Why, thank you, Reborn. I think we can work out a plan very well, don't you?"
"Yes, and I think we can take lots of pictures."
"Yes, yes, I like the way you think." They shared a moment of creepy laughter, and everyone in the room sweatdropped.
What have we done by agreeing to this?!
"This will be very interesting." Yamamoto and Reborn broke their evil little exchange to look at the rest of the group.
"So, Gokudera, will you help us get them together?" Everyone waited with bated breath to hear the answer. Reborn and Yamamoto both knew that Hibari and Tsuna could be adorable together, Bianchi approved of the couple and would do anything to bring her Tsu-chan the love he deserved, Fon knew the relationship would be good and wonderful for both of them, so it was only Gokudera who wasn't completely on board (A.N. pun intended). Gokudera finally said,
"Fine, but only to make sure you don't do anything crazy to Onii-san." Yamamoto smiled.
"Great!" He slapped his hand on the table. "LET US SHIP THEM!" He roared. That was one battlecry Bianchi and Reborn could agree with. Gokudera facepalmed, and Fon just smiled.
XXXX
As Tsuna was walking home from school the next day, he saw Fuuta running down the street. Fuuta sprinted towards him, and skidded to a stop in front of him.
"Tsuna!" He cried out. "We need to run! They're coming after me!" Tsuna didn't even need to as who "they" were. He grabbed Fuuta's arm and sprinted back towards the school. He went straight to the boxing room, where he knew Ryohei, Hana, and Kyoko would be. When Ryohei saw him, he exclaimed,
"ARE YOU HERE TO EXTREMELY SPAR WITH ME, TSUNA? OR TO EXTREMELY JOIN THE BOXING CLUB?!" Tsuna didn't have time to try to translate his words back and forth; he needed to keep Tsuna safe.
"Fuuta needs your help." He blurted out quickly, and everyone went silent. Oh yeah. Tsuna remembered. They had never heard him talk before. Granted, he still didn't do it often, but most of his friends had heard him talk.
"Tsuna-kun-?" Kyoko started, and Tsuna waved a hand dismissively.
"Kyoko-chan, Hana, I'm sorry but you really have to go. I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. Ryohei, can you please watch over Fuuta? Just for a second- some-," he thought up a lie quickly. "-yakuza came after him because Iey-kun got him involved and now they're looking for Fuuta. Just keep him here and make sure he's safe. I'm going to get Hibari-san for help." Tsuna wanted Kyoko and Hana gone, because Hana could probably figure out the mafia, and they could get hurt. He still didn't want to involve Ryohei, but he was dense and he could take care of himself. That "EXTREME left hook!" of his could take care of a mafioso no problem. They stared at him for a moment, before Ryohei slowly nodded.
"I will EXTREMELY take care of Fuuta!" Ryohei yelled. Tsuna bent down so he could be eye-to-eye with Fuuta.
"Ryohei isn't going to hurt you or anything, but don't tell him about mafia. He doesn't know. Just stay with him for now." Fuuta nodded, and hugged him tightly, tears running down his face.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get you into this mess." Tsuna nodded and stroked his hair for a moment, before Fuuta released him, and Ryohei put a hand on Fuuta's shoulder.
"You go, Tsuna, and EXTREMELY get rid of those guys." He said. Tsuna nodded.
"Arigato." He glanced back at Hana and Kyoko, who were staring at him, stunned.
"I guess we'll get going." Hana said first, looking surprised still. "Should we get off campus?"
"Go around the back." Tsuna said. Hana nodded, and grabbed Kyoko's arm.
"Come on, Kyoko. Hibari's not gonna let anything happen to his school." They left through the backdoor. Tsuna spun around, to warn Hibari, but found himself face to face with the man himself.
"Yakuza? At Namimori?" Hibari demanded.
Mafia. Tsuna mouthed. I'll…take care of them, I just needed to warn you. Besides, he couldn't exactly tell the girls that he, the wimp, Dame-Tsuna was going to go fight off yakuza. Ryohei had seen the fight video, so he knew Tsuna could handle himself.
"No. They might be strong opponents." Tsuna almost sighed. Hibari was always thinking about fighting. But he was glad Hibari was helping. Tsuna nodded, and they left the boxing room with Hibari. They got to the front of the school, where six men were lining up, guns in their hands, and dressed in suits. Cheap suits, but suits.
"Give us the child." One of them ordered. Tsuna shook his head, and Hibari's eyes narrowed.
"For disturbing the peace, I will bite you to death." One of them snorted, and Tsuna sweatdropped. Clearly, they hadn't heard of the demon prefect of Nami Chuu. One of them pointed a gun at Hibari.
"I'd like to see you try." Tsuna found his hands wandering to his bag, and the thought struck him. He'd grabbed his gun and put it in the bag this morning. Just on a whim, and with the feeling that he would go to jail if he got caught, but he'd done it. Thank God. He slipped his hand in, and tried to find it, but his fingers brushed over a cache of grenades. His eyes widened as he remembered confiscating them from Lambo this morning. He hadn't meant to put them in his bag. Or at least not this bag. When his fingers touched his textbooks, he finally realized that he had grabbed the wrong bag for school today. The textbooks were all wrong for today's schedule. But he'd been training with Hibari, and by pure luck, only ended up going to classes where he didn't need the wrong textbooks. Never had he been so glad for such a mix-up.
"Now, give us the child, Fuuta de la Stella." One of them demanded. They all pointed their guns at Tsuna and Hibari. Hibari gritted his teeth. He wanted to fight the herbivores, but it would be pointless if he died trying to get to them. With six of them having their guns pointed at him and his student, the chances of death or fatal injury was highly likely. Tsuna's foot brushed his, and Hibari glanced at him. Tsuna didn't look to him, but Hibari recognized the body language.
Trust me.
"I will." Hibari murmured. They all cocked their guns.
"Give him to us, or we'll kill you!" They ordered. Tsuna flung something out of his bag. Hibari watched the path of the pink "rocks" throughout the sky, and quickly realized they were grenades. Tsuna grabbed Hibari's hand and pulled him away, behind a large metal dumpster before they exploded.
The explosion was massive, a burst of fire and smoke. They heard yells, but no sounds of death. Hibari glanced at Tsuna behind the dumpster.
"Where did you get grenades?" He whispered.
"Lambo." They peeked out when the smoke cleared, to see four battered men still on their feet. Two had been knocked unconscious, but definitely not dead. They pointed their guns as the dumpster.
"GET THE HELL OUT HERE RIGHT NOW, OR WE'LL RIDDLE THIS SCHOOL AND EVERYONE IN IT WITH BULLETS." One of them roared. Hibari growled next to Tsuna.
"Destruction of property, death of students, disturbing the peace in Namimori…." He was ticking off a list. Tsuna sweatdropped. With all these broken rules, someone was going to die today at the hands of Hibari Kyoya. It was a miracle he had controlled himself and stayed behind the dumpster.
"Please don't!" A small voice called. Tsuna's eyes widened, and he jerked up. Hibari grabbed his arm, to keep him down, but Tsuna pulled away and ran out from behind the dumpster. Fuuta was standing in the area, clutching his ranking book to his chest, looking frightened. "If you promise to leave everyone at this school alone, I'll go with you!" Their guns lowered a little, but still pointed at Fuuta, letting Tsuna know that if he made a move, they would shoot Fuuta. They walked closer to Fuuta, one of them grabbing him by his hair and forcing his head up. Fuuta whimpered.
"You'll give us every ranking we want, even if you have to break omertá?" Fuuta nodded, eyes shut tightly. One of the men moved dangerously close to Tsuna, glaring at him, like he was ready to shoot him at any moment.
"I swear! Just leave them alone!" Fuuta begged. The mafioso seemed to consider it, but then jerked his head at Tsuna.
"As long as we get to kill him."
"NO!" But one of the men fired at Tsuna. Tsuna dodged out of the way, but Fuuta ripped himself away from one of the men and ran in front of Tsuna as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the three other men had already fired at Tsuna. Tsuna snatched Fuuta up and tore him out of the way, while hibari jumped out from behind and took down two of them in a moment.
"Tch." The leader said, and started firing at Tsuna. Fuuta kept shifting himself so that he was protecting Tsuna as best he could, and Tsuna kept jerking Fuuta out of the way, dodging the attack himself. Tsuna's hand slipped around the gun in his bag. He didn't want to use it. He shouldn't use it. Could he use it? "I'm gonna kill you!" The leader yelled, and dodging the attack this time meant a painful skid to the ground. Tsuna cursed silently, and Fuuta threw himself in front of Tsuna, just as the leader fired again. Tsuna reacted instinctually.
He grabbed Fuuta and pulled him down, jerking his own gun out. He had decided in a split second; not all hurt was the same. Causing people pain and hurt was what scared him, but there was the kind where you intentionally hurt someone. That was the kind he was afraid of dealing out, afraid of being cruel. But that was not the kind he did deal out. It wasn't so much the hurting people as the reasons for it. Tsuna was protecting someone, and in that moment, to him, any kind of attack was justifiable. So he took a deep breath and shot him in the kneecap. The man screamed in agony and fell to the ground, dropping his gun. Hibari had caught up with the other man, and he walked over to Tsuna and Fuuta, nudging the screaming man with his foot. The man moaned and shrieked in pain, clutching his knee. Tsuna winced, and Hibari raised an eyebrow at Tsuna.
"Nice shot, carnivore." Tsuna winced again.
I didn't mean to shoot him in the kneecap. He had really been aiming for somewhere by the thigh, but he didn't have quite as good aim with a handgun as he hoped. Hibari smirked.
"Where did you get the gun?"
Reborn. Fuuta stared at Tsuna for a moment, before hugging him tightly, crying.
"I'm so sorry….I didn't mean to get you involved…you could have been killed because of me…." Tsuna held onto him, a little awkward.
"I'M FINALLY HERE! I EXTREMELY PUNCHED DOWN THE DOOR!" Ryohei yelled, running into the area, punching a fist in the air. He looked around at the unconscious men, confused. He glanced at the screaming man on the ground. "WHAT EXTREMELY HAPPENED TO HIM?" Tsuna looked to Fuuta. Fuuta gave him a sheepish look.
"I locked him in." Tsuna looked up at Ryohei, and quietly lied,
"I stole one of their guns and shot him in the kneecaps when he tried to kill Fuuta." Ryohei paused for a moment.
"THAT'S EXTREMELY KIND OF YOU, TSUNA!" Ryohei exclaimed. Tsuna gave a smile filled with relief.
XXXX
As soon as Tsuna got home, everyone (with the exception of Ieyoshi) burst out into a loud,
"SURPRISE!" Apparently, Reborn had somehow spread the word, and Bianchi had wanted to throw him a party for shooting his first man. Hibari had sort of agreed to it, because he was a little bit proud of his student shooting a man in the kneecap, Yamamoto didn't care and just wanted to throw a party, in Gokudera's eyes, his Onii-san could do no wrong and deserved all the parties he could get, Lambo and I-Pin only registered "party", Reborn was excited about the same thing Bianchi was, and Fon had decided to attend for his student. It wasn't half bad- especially since Nana cooked, not knowing why, but doing it anyways, and Ieyoshi had sulked in his room.
Tsuna actually did have a lot of fun. Despite the violence, the explosions, the yelling, he had a lot of fun. Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta had gone to bed earlier than the party ended. When it did end, and Tsuna went upstairs to go to bed, he heard crying through the door. He paused by his room, listening to the voices of I-Pin and Lambo.
"Don't be sad, Fuuta. It not your fault."
"Besides, Tsuna-nii doesn't care." Lambo chipped in. Fuuta sniffled.
"It's just…I almost got him killed! This isn't the first time something like this has happened! Maybe I should just leave. You'd all be a whole lot sa-," Tsuna walked in. Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta looked up at him. He walked over and sat on the bed next to Fuuta, and gave him an even look.
"That's not true at all." He said sternly. "Iey-kun is going to be Vongola Decimo. Reborn and Bianchi are hitmen. My friends are crazy. If you weren't here, things would not be safer at all, so just get that thought of your head. Secondly, we all want you here. Considering how close to dying I've been before, this was nothing. You aren't going to get me killed, and I would like you to stay. Thirdly, if you want to leave, you can, but you always have a place here. I won't ever turn you away, and neither will anyone else here, with the exception of Iey-kun. Do you understand?" Tsuna had done far too much talking today; his throat was beginning to become sore. But Fuuta needed to hear this and it needed to come from Tsuna. Fuuta sniffled again.
"But this happens all the time!" He cried out. "Everyone wants something from me- they can never just leave me alone! I just wish I didn't have this stupid power- no one ever wants me around for me, just what I can do." Tsuna took Fuuta's hand.
"Fuuta, I will never, ever ask you for a ranking. And I will protect you if you want to stay." He promised. Fuuta looked up at him with big eyes, and Tsuna decided that there might be a better way to get everything he wanted to say through to him. Because Tsuna could be terrible with just words sometimes.
"So this is what you meant,
When you said that you were spent.
And now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit
Right to the top
Don't hold back
Packing my bags and giving the academy a rain check."
"I don't ever wanna let you down,
I don't ever wanna leave this town,
'Cause after all
This city never sleeps at night."
"It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit,
I'm just the same as I was,
Now don't you understand?
That I'm never changing who I am."
"So this is where you fell,
And I am left to sail
The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell
Right to the top
Don't look back
Turning the rags and giving the commodities a rain check,"
"I don't ever wanna let you down,
I don't ever wanna leave this town,
'Cause after all
This city never sleeps at night."
"It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit,
I'm just the same as I was,
Now don't you understand?
That I'm never changing who I am."
"It's time to begin isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit,
I'm just the same as I was,
Now don't you understand?
That I'm never changing who I am."
"This road never looked so lonely,
This house doesn't burn down slowly,
To ashes, to ashes."
"It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger, but then I"ll admit,
I'm just the same as I was,
Now don't you understand?
That I'm never changing who I am."
"It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit,
I'm just the same as I was,
Now don't you understand?
That I'm never changing who I am."
Tsuna finished the song, gave a soft smile to Fuuta. Fuuta burst into tears and hugged him tightly, sobbing.
XXXX
"Tsuna," Reborn approached him cautiously during a training session one day. Tsuna, who was trying to improve his aim with a handgun (he still felt guilty about the whole kneecap business), turned on the safety and looked to Reborn, as if to say,
Yes?
"Your brother. Do you want him to become Vongola Decimo?" He asked quietly. Tsuna looked down. He didn't want his brother to become Vongola Decimo at all. It wouldn't be safe; not for anybody. But he was the only other candidate besides Xanxus, who wasn't an option. And he…he hadn't originally wanted it, but he was slowly warming up to how things were. It wasn't that he wanted the power; he wanted the ability to help. To help kids like Fuuta. To stop terrible things from happening if he could. Mafia wasn't all bad; Reborn, Fuuta, Bianchi, and Gokudera had proved that. Maybe he should ask about running as a candidate?
It wasn't like running for an office; it was going to be gory. But he did not want his brother to become the murderer he would if he was allowed this power.
No. Tsuna answered. Reborn examined him carefully.
"Do you believe he has any potential?" Tsuna winced, because unfortunately, he knew the answer to this question too.
No.
"Last question; would you make a better Vongola Decimo?"
Yes. Reborn gave him an even look.
"Tsuna, this position is yours by birthright. Your father had absolutely no power to overlook you the way he did. If you decide to become Vongola Decimo, your brother might not even be allowed to fight you for the position. Do you want to be Vongola Decimo?" Reborn asked carefully.
"Yes."