X

It had been few days since that day and Yuki never left her room since then. She always settled herself on bed as she was consumed by her thought. She refused to even look at Giotto or anyone. As the afternoon sky continued passing, Giotto was on the phone and the caller specifically spoke her name. After hearing what the caller said, he knew he had to go to her.

"Yuki" he called, but Yuki still lying on bed while facing him away. "You should stop acting like this. All you've been doing all day is just guarding Tsuna and lock yourself in your room" he sat near her.

"I know" she voiced, then finally faced him. "I don't want to be the sorrowful girl. That sort of problem didn't break me"

"I was just thinking about my self-control… I guess" she added. "Then, can you guide a rookie?"

"What rookie?"

"After that incident, Vongola has new members and one of them is sent here. Ninth want you to cool your head by guiding this person, if you don't mind"

Yuki lifted her body and said "If ninth said so, I can't say no"

Thus, Giotto told her about the member and was said to meet her at Namimori shopping district. The information turned out right as she saw a man with a suit.

"Are you from Vongola?" she called out. "I'm Ricosto and you must be Chronos Yuki. I've heard all about you and I really admire your strength. You're one of the reasons why I joined Vongola" they shook their hand.

"You seem well-mannered. Very well, then let's introduce you to Decimo. Stay close and don't get separated away from me. Because if you do, I won't trouble myself to find you"

"I won't trouble you, Yuki-senpai"

Namimori shopping district was truly crowded at the time and Rico really happened to be lost from her sight, but as she said before, she didn't wait for him. When she knocked the door, he wasn't there.

"Yuki? What are you doing here? Who's that man behind you?" Tsuna greeted. "He's Ricosto" she answered calmly.

…

"So that's what it is" Tsuna sighed. "He's really worried about you. The enemies I fought weren't the half of it. They could come after you too"

Tsuna and she sat in the living room while watching Rico played with the kids. "He's good with kids though" he commented. "But, Yuki… are you okay with it? I thought…"

"I'm always fine, Tsuna. I'm sorry for making you worried" she smiled reassuringly.

"She is a he?" the blonde man finally made his appearance.

"I thought you know. So what if he's a guy?" Yuki said as she drank her juice.

"I… no, it's nothing" he was going to leave disappointingly, but suddenly, he approached her and said "No, there's something! You will spend your time more with him instead of me and I can't accept it!" he shouted, which made her startled. However, Yuki didn't get the message. She was looking all dumbfound.

"Seriously, sometimes I don't understand you at all" she sighed, speaking all cynically. Then she stood up and said that she was going to search an apartment for him and that made Giotto more disappointed.

"You can come with us" that words from her mouth brought the joy to him. And with that, they set out a goodbye and left for the search.

…

"Futa! Lambo!"

"What's wrong, mom?" Tsuna asked.

"Have you seen them, Tsu-kun? It's already this late. I'm worried" his mom was looking all agitated and because of it, Tsuna volunteered himself to go. "Want me to come with you, Tsuna?" Reborn sneered, but he said he'd be fine.

With that settled, Tsuna searched for them around 9 pm alone. As he searched them, the fatigue from the earlier training began to haunt him and he knew he had to find them quickly. He couldn't find them anywhere, but suddenly, he remembered one place he forgot. He went to the park and saw the kids were hanging out on the swing.

"Ah, Tsuna-nii. What are you doing here?" Futa asked. "You're not supposed to be here at night. What are you doing here?"

"Umm…"

"It wasn't Lambo-san's fault! It was Futa!" Lambo pointed at Futa. "That's why I said we'll find the replacement" he replied.

"Why? What happened?"

"Tsuna-nii, I'm sorry"

"That's why I'm asking you, what happened, Futa?"

"We… promised Tsuna-nii that we'll buy you and everyone ice cream if you'd done with your training and luckily, there's an ice cream sale at Namimori shopping district, but…"

"Futa accidentally dropped it to the lake and I was looking forward to it!" lambo shouted again. "Since then, we started to go back but it ran out already"

"It's just that? I don't really mind not eating it. I can eat it later. You don't have to trouble yourself". "But we promised" Futa felt guilty for it. He really wanted him to taste the famous ice cream that only came once in a year.

But Tsuna didn't mind and instead, he said "You can say sorry to the others at home. I already forgive you"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi"

"Who… are you?" Tsuna suddenly felt the chills coming from that particular man. He immediately turned into hyper mode and seeing this, the man said with smirking "You've alerted yourself without knowing who I am. You really are the famous Vongola decimo" the man drew a crossbow and pointed it at Tsuna's direction.

"Go home now" Tsuna said to Fsuta and Lambo. And so, Lambo and Futa ran away, but the man pointed his weapon to their direction. Suddenly, Tsuna dashed towards him and blocked his view.

"Be calm. I won't attack an unrelated citizen"

The man ran away from Tsuna and jumped to one roof to another. Tsuna followed the person while they began their fight. The man shot an arrow and Tsuna dodged it, but that was just a trick. The arrow stopped at Tsuna's back and electrified him with its tip. Tsuna used the proportion of his gloves to dash towards the person by his flame.

Weirdly, the man stopped and let Tsuna threw few punches and a Big Bang Axle as the finishing. The man was covered by the smoke so he couldn't see his figure, but as the smoke gone away, much to his surprise, it didn't even give him a scratch. He directed his attack to Tsuna and he was completely broken by the attack.

He couldn't resist, he couldn't bring more attack, and it was almost like the end of him. Tsuna immediately knew that his enemy was a vampire. He knew he didn't stand a chance and the enemy was going to kill him. But suddenly, something from behind shot the man and he turned to dust.

"Are you hurt, Decimo?"

"Ricosto? No, I'm fine. Is this what I think this is?" he stood up. "I'm afraid so. The enemy has reached here. We're unsure of the quantity, but we can assume that you're not safe here"

"We?"

"Yuki-senpai is investigating this matter at the moment. She specifically said I'll stay at your house until she comes back. And she won't accept no as an answer"

Tsuna's hyper mode worn out, then he said "Then, I'll leave it to you"

…

The next sunny morning, everyone was eating their breakfast at Tsuna's place. However, Rico was the one who cooked for them. Nana was very delighted of his cooking, it was delicious.

"Not only you're very good-looking, you're also very good at cooking. We have two good-looking guys who are taking care of the chores and I'm very grateful! I wish Tsuna will grow up to be like all of you" Nana commented joyously as she ate her food.

"Thank you very much, but I'm not that good" Ricosto implied.

"By the way, Giotto-senpai, is Yuki-senpai home?" the brown-haired man asked. "Not yet"

"Has she contacted you?"

"No, why?"

"Just making sure" he continued his cooking while Giotto washed the dishes. After the breakfast, Giotto and Rico helped the chores by hanging the laundries while Nana was resting at the living room peacefully.

"Tsuna!" Lambo yelled.

"Let's go to amusement park tomorrow!"

"Alright, alright. Do you want to come with us, Giotto-san, Ricosto-kun?" he offered. "I'd like to go with you any time" Giotto said.

"I'm afraid I can't accept that opportunistic offer. I still have a lot of work to be done" Rico answered. Though they felt bad about it, Rico reassured that he'd be okay.

Suddenly, they caught Nana was going to go for shopping groceries, but Giotto and Rico said that they'd do it instead. Tsuna also took part along with Lambo and I-Pin. Within only less than an hour they managed to buy everything they need while usually took more than that, but with a help of Giotto and Rico, they did it.

"How come both of you are so good at this?" Tsuna asked as they were in a café.

"I always accompany Yuki to buy groceries" Giotto's answer.

"I just use my instinct" Rico's answer.

"What was that?" Tsuna asked Rico. "I-I mean, I used to do this with my mother"

"If you don't mind, can you show me around this area?" Rico added and they gladly accepted it.

They showed the most places they visit and Rico seemed to enjoy himself. Then, he wanted to be taken to Nami middle.

"So this is what your school's like" he stared in front of it, since they couldn't go inside. "It is" Tsuna also stared at it and Rico looked into his eyes.

"This place must be important to you, I can tell from your eyes" he said. "Yeah, because… something that we're protecting is inside this school along with this town"

"It must be nice to have something important to protect" he mumbled. "Eh? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"Never mind, I'm just talking to myself. It's already this late, I think we should head back" Rico said and walked, but as he walked, he dropped a small pouch. Tsuna picked it up and said "You drop this, but what's this? Is there something round inside?"

Seeing Tsuna was holding it, he immediately snatched it away and said "I'm sorry, Decimo. This thing is fragile and it's my treasure" after he said that, he walked ahead.

"Is it really round, Tsuna?" Giotto asked.

"Yeah, I can really feel it. Why you ask?"

"I just felt a faint sense of… no, it's probably just my imagination" Giotto replied as he was doing his thinking.

…

"Thank you everyone!" Nana cheerfully said.

"It's my pleasure to be of a service" Rico said.

"Now, don't be like that. Why don't you and Gio-kun stay for dinner? And I'll cook this time" Nana said as she was going to head to the kitchen.

"Eh? But you're supposed to be resting all day, we'll—"

"Don't be so stiff, Rico-kun. It's naturally my job as a housewife and a mother"

With that said, they waited for the time and as she done with the food, she called everyone to eat. Rico kept praising her food every time he took a bite.

"I believe this is more exquisite than a five star chef. You should cook at Vongola—", suddenly, Tsuna covered his mouth.

"Vongola?"

"H-He means clam. You should cook something with clam sometimes" Tsuna said as he was sweating agitatedly.

"That might be a good idea!" his mother cheered and began to cook more. "Please don't reveal anything about mafia, Ricosto-kun!" he whispered. "So your mother didn't know about it? Isn't your honorable father works at CEDEF?"

"Even so, my mother is just a normal citizen. And there's nothing honorable about that father"

"I apologize, Decimo. I'll be more careful next time"

"Anyway, have you heard from Yuki?" Reborn asked.

"No, I haven't" Rico replied.

"We can't contact her as of this moment and she stuck with the same circumstances" Giotto replied as he ate.

"She'll be fine. She'll hit you if you still worried about her" Reborn replied.

Hearing that, Giotto stared at his food as his eyes told his uneasy and worried feelings. But then, he put aside that feelings and tried to trust her, though he always had. After the dinner, Giotto spent some of his times to play with Lambo and I-Pin along with Rico. Then, Giotto bid a farewell and left.

...

"Hurry up, slowpokes! I'm waiting!"

"Lambo, wait!" I-Pin ran towards Lambo.

Luckily, the next day was a sunny yet not too hot day. Tsuna, Reborn, Giotto, Lambo and I-Pin were already arrived at the place, along with Gokudera and Enma. Lambo was just a kid, so he really wanted to try all attractions, but still, being hurry was not always the answer.

"Ne, ne. Why Rico is not here?" Lambo scraped his nostril like a snotty kid. "He's busy with his work, unlike you who can only cry, eat, and play" Reborn cynically said.

"Shut up, Reborn! You don't know what Lambo-san can do!" he huffed along the stroll.

…

Meanwhile, Rico was at Tsuna's place as he gazed at his so-called 'treasure'.

"Where's everyone?" a girl suddenly came by.

"Yuki-senpai, welcome back. How was it?" he hid the pouch.

"I thought you're supposed to guard Tsuna while I'm gone" she crossed her arms.

"I just let them have some fun without an outsider like me"

Upon hearing this, she sighed and said "I don't think you are anymore. About that matter… I have new information for them, an important one they can't miss" she turned serious.

"If that's the case, why don't I escort you to them?" Rico offered.

"Will you?"

"Anything for the Vongola and my senior" he smiled.

As they done their talk, Rico escorted her to the way. However, he took her to the forest and that confused her. "Why are they here? Are they partaking Reborn's training?" she looked around as they walked.

"You'll see"

They kept walking and walking endlessly until they reached a certain ground. It was a wide ground and spacious.

"It's the first time I see this place"

"I made this place right after I got here" he replied.

"Are they really here, Ricosto?"

"…"

"Ricosto?"