It started the day after Tsuna sent out the 'family rings', as Haru liked to put it, to their rightful owners.
Hayato had been sent, yet again, to retrieve his Boss who was late for breakfast. Deciding that it was too early to find him in the office, he'd gone left instead, towards his private chambers. Once at the heavily reinforced door he had rather unsuccessfully tried to kick down mere weeks ago, he knocked.
"Juudaime! Breakfast's ready. We're waiting for you."
What he got in reply, however, was not said boy's shrill, panicked voice after realizing he was late for a meal – again – but a rather indistinct and in his honest opinion somewhat disturbing noise. Slightly worried, he called out again. "Juudaime?"
For a moment nothing could be heard. Just as he was about to pull out his emergency key, the door burst open, giving him full view of the obviously hastily dressed brunet in all his morning glory. He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, giving the silver haired teen a bright, if only the slightest bit strained smile and a nod in acknowledgement of his previous statement.
Hayato paused for only a moment before leading Tsuna towards the dining room, as had almost become custom during the last few months. They walked together in comfortable silence for a while, until curiosity got the better of him.
"Juudaime, is everything alright?"
He received a confused glance for his efforts.
"Ah, no, it's just, I heard something weird from your room a moment ago."
Realization dawned in Tsuna's eyes accompanied by something else that was quickly covered up before he sent him a reassuring smile which succeeded magnificently in defusing any of his worries.
Finally arriving at their destination, they sat down in their respective seats, thus allowing breakfast to officially begin (which really hadn't deterred Reborn from serving himself some food beforehand).
During the entire meal, Hayato noticed, Tsuna didn't speak a single word.
"Is he giving us the cold shoulder?"
It had been five days already since that incident and even the densest members of Tsuna's family in his immediate vicinity had already figured out something was wrong. After all, why else would said Sky stop talking for days on end?
In all five days, he had not said a single word. When he was asked to, he somehow changed the subject. When he was bribed, he just smiled and walked away. Even when Reborn had threatened to have an extensive tortu- erm, training session, he'd simply whimpered while still shaking his head vigorously.
It was off-putting and no one really knew what to do about it, which lead to the current conversation, spurred on by Takeshi's absentminded question.
Hayato snorted at the mere thought and made to retort, but Haru beat him to it, eliciting a glare from the bomber, which she masterfully ignored. "I don't think so. We haven't really done anything wrong and he can't exactly be mad at the world. Besides, he's still kind and friendly to everyone, just like always. He's just more... quiet about it."
Takeshi hummed in acknowledgement.
"Maybe he's sick and can't speak?" offered Chrome, but the possibility was quickly shot down by Ryohei.
"No, I already checked. Aside of the internal damage that's pretty much gone by now, there's nothing wrong with him. He has grown a few inches, though..." the last part was almost muttered as the boxer sank back into his worried thoughts.
Mukuro, quickly growing tired of this, finally voiced the idea that everyone had been thinking about but no one had been willing to propose, "How about we just ask him directly?"
"He couldn't answer, stupid pineapple."
Mukuro bristled at the silver haired boy but kept himself under control, if only to get this over with as quickly as possible, "I know that, you ignorant fool. But nothing is keeping him from writing it down, is it? And if he doesn't want to, there's always other ways..." he ended the statement vaguely, allowing them to imagine whatever their minds conjured up.
Evidently, it worked as Hayato suddenly shot up from his chair, hands twitching towards his hidden dynamite stash in an age old habit. "Don't you dare do anything to Juudaime, you-"
"Maa, maa, maybe you should calm down, Gokudera. Nothing will come out of it if you start fighting and we still haven't figured this out."
Said boy sent him a heated glare, which he knew to smile away from experience, before clicking his tongue and sitting back down, his mood definitely not improved from its previous state.
"But... I guess you're right. Maybe we should just ask." Takeshi looked towards Mukuro, waiting for a reaction.
Said illusionist snorted derisively, "Of course I'm right. And I will not waste any more time here than necessary." He walked out the door, quickly followed by his female counterpart.
Ryouhei looked at the remaining people in the room, taking in Hayato's grumbles of frustration and Takeshi's sheepish shrug before running out the door himself, the rest following suit after a moment's hesitation.
"Oi! Wait for us to the extreme!"
As it turned out, having all members of Tsuna's family from the Vongola mansion together in one place was a very bad idea. The effects were multiplied, however, if said get-together took place in the Boss' office, which was filled to the brim with priceless artefacts, antique objects and mountains of very important documents.
Tsuna, for his part, was on the verge of panicking. They had all just suddenly barged in, demanding an explanation for his sudden muteness, but had shortly thereafter noticed that they didn't all fit into the office, not giving him any chance to answer.
Thus, his office was overcome with chaos.
He sighed and ran a hand down his face. First week back in the job and he already had to deal with this. He even had a good reason for his behaviour too!
Well, at least he considered it a good reason, though, having tried speaking numerous times while alone in his room, his primary reason was pretty much gone by now. The only other reason why he hadn't spoken a word to anyone was a bit more childish, which made him embarrassed.
He scanned the room to distract himself. Out of everyone here, Takeshi seemed the calmest of them all. Perhaps he could defuse the situation as he usually did.
Alas, it was not to be, as the Rain himself had no idea what to do. It was way to cramped in here and he could barely move. He just hoped they didn't break anything too important.
"Turf top! I'll blow you to bits!"
A growl.
"Kufufufu, your movements are slowing, skylark."
A shriek.
Takeshi winced. Yeah, he could hope, but that didn't seem to mean much.
"Everyone STOP!"
Those two words seemingly cut through the chaos in the room, leaving only stunned silence in their wake. The voice that had shouted them was foreign to all of them and many found themselves looking for the source.
It was deep, a man's voice, yet not enough to be grating. It seemed smooth and silky, a voice that could relax you with a single word and convince you that yes, the sky was indeed green, with five. Its melodious quality left them all dazedly looking around.
Then it came again.
"All of you, get out of my office! NOW!"
Now that there was no chaos in the way, it was easy to pinpoint the source.
Everyone looked towards the desk at the front of the room, where a single brunet, eyes blazing in disapproval, stood expectantly, waiting for them to comply.
They all froze in their tracks.
What.
No, seriously.
What.
They stood there, brains shutting down and starting back up repeatedly, trying to process what was going on and failing miserably. Finally, someone broke the silence, snapping them out of their self-imposed trance.
"J-j-ju-juud-d-daim-me...?"
The centre of everyone's attention sighed resignedly, a mild blush of embarrassment decorating his cheeks. "Yes, Gokudera-kun?"
And there it was again. That voice. That unfamiliar yet alluring voice. There was no doubt now.
Takeshi, being his obliviously cheerful self, finally offered the plausible explanation everybody else had been looking for.
"Oh! So you're a late bloomer, Tsuna!"
Tsuna spluttered.
"Wait, so let me get this straight." interjected Haru, who was looking more incredulous by the second, "You stopped talking the moment your voice change started because you didn't want us to hear you like that."
He nodded.
"And when it was finished, you just kept silent because you thought the sudden change was embarrassing."
He flushed, but nodded again.
She sighed, shaking her head, "Well, at least it's nothing bad."
"But you must have talked at some point." Takeshi inquired.
Tsuna muttered something inaudible.
Mukuro frowned irritatedly, "What was that?"
Tsuna was starting to resemble a tomato, "I talked to myself when I was alone."
They blinked, but decided not to comment on that, lest their Boss die of high blood pressure.
In the end, it was decided that this incident would be kept under wraps. Most of them being teenagers, they all easily agreed.
After all, no one wanted to be reminded of the horrors of puberty.
Surprisingly enough, the voice incident was quickly forgotten as more pressing issues entered the stage. In fact, it was mostly preparations for what Tsuna had sworn to do even before he'd officially accepted the Boss' mantle. He was preparing to do what he'd been meaning to from the very beginning, but had not gotten the chance to start.
He was preparing to change the Vongola.
And the entirety of the Mafia by extension.
Needless to say, it was very stressful work.
The Vongola, he knew, was not considered the bloodiest Famiglia out there for nothing. While not all at the same time, the Famiglia had been involved in every kind of shady trade out there at some point or other; from weapons and human trafficking and drug trade to loansharkings, extortion and smuggling. Not to mention indiscriminate murder of those in their way. They'd had it all.
Sure, they had started to tone down with the ninth generation, but that wasn't nearly enough to uproot centuries of habit and tradition. This was why Nono hadn't asked him to simply change the Famiglia.
He'd asked to tear it down and build it up from its roots.
Sadly, as much as Tsuna would have loved to, it was near impossible to do that without completely and utterly destroying it and any influence it currently held in both the world and the underworld. While he wouldn't have minded starting a completely new vigilante group, he knew that firstly, it would throw the whole international Mafia in disarray, and secondly, said influence was very much needed if he wanted to get away with what he was trying to do.
So, as gladly as he would have gotten rid of all these illicit activities his Famiglia partook in, he really couldn't ditch them all. Otherwise, he would suddenly find himself with absolutely no income to work with and his already quite delicate house of cards would collapse on him. Therefore, his goal was to slowly shift the Vongola towards more... guilt-free sources of income.
This meant that he would probably be keeping drugs and weapons trade, since as much as it made the world worse, they really weren't forcing anyone to buy their goods. The morals were twisted at best, but hey, he was a Mafia Boss. It sort of came with the package.
Also the Varia. He really didn't want an assassination squad. But, favours and tentative friendships aside, there were some people in the world you simply couldn't reason with. You know, the ones who tried to screw up the world more than it already was (pre-death Byakuran being a prime example). Those people were what he still needed the Varia for, not to mention extra forces in the very probable case of a disagreeing party starting a full-out war.
He winced as he saw an image of his younger self in his mind's eye, berating him for such thoughts. Sighing, he leaned back on his chair. Back then he had been so innocent, so soft – not jaded – and had held his ideals at heart. He sometimes wished he could go back to simpler times, when he could verbally deny his fate while stubbornly ignoring the impossibility of escape.
Sighing once more, he sat back up and went back to work. The transition to the vigilante group the Vongola had started as would be gradual and a long, bumpy ride, that was for sure. He was attempting the same as the previous generation, but this time it would work, if only because he was stubborn enough to see this through until the end.
Ah, that brought back some memories. He smiled wistfully, remembering the first time he had taken everything into his own two hands. Back then he'd been willing to move mountains for the sake of the one baby hitman who had stubbornly refused his help. The feeling was the same now.
It hadn't worked before because Nono had been too gradual about it, too compliant, and everything had eventually gone back to its previous state. Tsuna, however, would do this far more erratically. While the change would be gradual in a certain sense, he would also make sure to push it as much as possible before everyone else's patience broke, at which point he would clean up and keep pushing once everything was calm again.
If there was one thing he knew, it was that he couldn't simply leave it to change itself; he had to have a hand in it. It wouldn't be easy, sure, but he was determined to get this done.
Then again, while most of it would be gradual (if at an exponential rate), the first step... would be more like a leap. The first signs of change had to be big, which would probably come as a punch in the gut or a bucket of ice water for the more complacent members of his Famiglia.
He held in a wince. No, they wouldn't like it. Neither in the Vongola, nor in its allies.
That's why the first speech, the one that would break this to his entire Famiglia in less than an hour, would probably make or break his plans. The moment they turned their backs to him was the moment everything would fail. They might even be so outraged that he and his Guardians would have to flee from the underground. To where, he had no idea.
He shuddered. He really hoped it didn't come to that.
Managing to calm himself down, he stood up and walked out of his office and towards his rooms. He had to take a shower.
After all, he had to give the most important speech of his life in two hours and it really wouldn't do to appear in front of the entire Famiglia covered in nervous sweat.
At least he didn't sound like a brat anymore. That ought to earn him some points.
Hopefully.
BANG.
Sweat trickled down his neck, soaking his shirt.
BANG.
His visor was starting to fog up.
BANG.
His arms were stiff and sore.
BANG. BANG.
He didn't care.
And the next shot would be-
"Boss?"
! ! !
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
He let the hand with the pistol hang beside him while he raised the other one to rub his face, then looked at his most certainly unexpected companion.
"...Chrome? What are you doing here?"
She startled, "A-ah, I just... wanted to check on you. We haven't seen you since your... speech. Though, I didn't think you'd be doing target practice..."
He sighed heavily, "It's okay, Chrome."
She looked at the human-shaped target at the other side of the room. It was riddled with holes, but except for a few, they were all on non-lethal locations: arms, legs, hips, shoulders, ears. "B-but you don't seem to be doing well with a gun, except for those last four shots."
He released a dry chuckle accompanied by a weary smile, "That's because I was aiming at non-vital areas. Those last four were an accident."
Her eyes widened and she looked back at the target. The only four holes that were in a vital area were nailed perfectly centralized at the forehead, the neck, the heart and the crotch.
And that was an accident?
Gulping when she heard the distinct sound of a gun being loaded behind her, she silently wondered if Reborn's tutoring methods were all about making his students absolutely terrifying without them knowing.
"B-boss?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you here?"
A sigh, "I'm trying to release some stress."
She felt something being pressed to her ears and suddenly all sound was muffled. Still, she asked. It was a wonder that he actually heard her.
"Why?"
His lips were pulled into a bitter smile as he raised the gun once again, this time before a different target, and yelled loud enough to be heard.
"I've been a Mafia Don for several months-"
BANG.
"-and I'm only seventeen!"
BANG.
"I had to drag all my friends into this too!"
BANG.
"I lost a very important person-"
BANG.
"-wanted to avenge her-"
BANG.
"-and almost died for it!"
BANG.
"Not to mention, I've still got Night flame residues that won't-"
BANG.
"-go-"
BANG.
"-away!"
BANG. BANG.
"I've got mountains of paperwork waiting for me every day-"
BANG.
"-and you guys always manage to make it worse!"
BANG.
"Just a few hours ago, I had to give this speech-"
BANG.
"-the most important in my life-"
BANG.
"-to convince an entire Famiglia-"
BANG.
"-that we're not Mafia anymore-"
BANG.
"-and a whole third of our forces left us!"
BANG. BANG.
"Not to mention, I've got a meeting with our allies in a few days-"
BANG.
"-to convince them of the same-"
BANG.
"-and hope they don't start a freaking war-"
BANG.
"-because I'm invading their comfort zone!"
BANG. BANG. BANG.
"And still my doctors won't-"
BANG.
"-let me-"
BANG.
"-train!"
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
She stood there, frozen, as she took in the new target, riddled with holes. She felt the pressure on her ears go away and saw Tsuna storing everything back into their designated places, gun included.
He turned to her and sighed, "I'm sorry. I just needed to vent a bit."
She nodded, coming out of her stupor. "I-I understand, Boss. It's not easy and you're not exactly in a comfortable position. But... why shooting?"
He laughed lightly at that, and she was inexplicably happy she could make him do that, "Well, I already told you I'm not allowed to train because I'm not supposed to do any 'straining flame-related activities' for another week or so and Reborn's been beating this into me ever since we came here, so I figured," he shrugged, "why not?"
"So you use shooting as an outlet?"
"Precisely."
She blinked and a sudden realization hit her just as they exited the room. "Ah! You said you have a meeting with our allies."
"Ugh, don't remind me."
She tried to muffle her giggles, but to no avail, "Are the Shimon coming too?"
"Huh? Oh, not all of them. Just Enma and Adelheid this time. Why? You wanted to see them?"
She shook her head, "Not particularly. It's just... Haru-san."
He raised an eyebrow, "Haru?"
She nodded, suppressing another fit of giggles, "She... she's taken a liking to Enma-san."
He blinked. Then blinked again.
"What? Since when?"
"She told she met him at the Inheritance Ceremony."
"She- he- that-" when he thought back to it, he had introduced them right before the ceremony, "Wha-"
That didn't mean he could get his head around it.
Finally calming himself, he looked back at her only to blush furiously when he saw her shaking uncontrollably with suppressed laughter.
"I-it just took me by surprise, that's all!"
She attempted to nod but almost lost control. This just helped to mortify him even more, which in turn deepened his blush.
"Jeez, Chrome, don't be like that."
It was a while before she removed her hand from her mouth, "I'm sorry, Boss. It's just-" a giggle, "-your reaction..." she trailed off as another giggle escaped her.
He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I looked stupid. No big deal."
"No, no. It's not-"
An idea struck him. "But," he interrupted, "I know Enma will be staying for a few days after the meeting. Why don't you go tell her that? See how she reacts."
She didn't know where the courage to say it came from. Maybe she had become closer to him or maybe it was this feeling of acceptance he exuded. Either way, she said it right before they parted ways.
"Petty."
Tsuna spluttered.
AN:
I'm alive. And I just sacrificed my last day of vacation to finish this. Be grateful. Oh, and this story has a new summary. I'll try it out for a while and see if I keep it or go back to the old one.
Also, I had no idea how to end this chapter, then that conversation happened. ugh... oh, and I'm by no means an expert in the male aspects of puberty. everything I have, I know from wikipedia. and no, people, the next arc isn't about puberty. I just needed to stick this somewhere (TYL Tsuna's voice omgasdfg!) and right in the middle of of the arc would have been a... bad idea. It wouldn't have fit in all the chaos. And I couldn't save it for after because I don't even know if I'm making a third arc. Thus, we start the arc with a wonderful reminder that yes, puberty does exist, and no, Tsuna wasn't going to remain a short, shrill-voiced brat forever.
And so, the second arc begins! Enjoy!
Please leave a review on your way out. Thank you~