AN: I think up to this point, it doesn't matter if it's following the cannon, was it? As I've derailed the plot from its source since the beginning. So, yeah, this story will loosely be following cannon. Expect the unexpected (or if you've had wild guesses or extremely lucky guesses; expected) characters to show up... without particular order. I will try to use side characters with Minimal screen time/line into a more active role.
Oh yeah, every character that I've decided to include has their own role in this, whether they're vampires or humans, so don't be sad if your guesses missed their mark.
Warning: Trigger happy Hayato + Dynamite + Reborn – Tsuna = Chaos, in a sense. Think I should raise the Rating to M, just in case? (lol it rhymes)
==oOXOo==
"Don't you think that's a bit much?"
Kawahira ignored the question and took a scalple off of the metal trailer with his gloved hand. This was no ordinary scalple, as it was made of pure silver – the only substance aside from spells that could physically render any vampire from recovering too quickly – coated with enough Holy Water – another useless substance those humans so-called hunter believed to have harmed their kin – to leave enough trails to indicate the preparator and carelessly slashed an open wound onto the unmoving body, he was careful enough not to hit any vital artery and have made the wound appear to be a clumsy strike to be passed off of as a failed attempt at killing the said vampire.
"Kawahira, I know you're careful, man. But take anymore and the Order will be suspicious!"
Said pure-blood scoffed, then set the scalple down on the metal tray, and muttered a quick incination. A glowing blue rune circle appeared below the unmoving body, glowing brighter and brighter until the light was blinding-white and abruptly disappeared along with the body.
Kawahira sighed in relief, that was the third body he had farmed today, and he would be lying if he wasn't exhausted. Illegally extracting their blood – only two third of it, and he always made sure to leave an open wound large enough to make his victim bleed to death before their slow healing could cover it up – was different than having to stalk, hunt, and immobilize them. Especially if he did it all himself; alone.
He wiped off the sweat that was starting to drop from his eyebrow with his handerkchief. Today was exhausting, and he doesn't need a green-leaf to tell him how to live his life, damnit.
"Calm down, I have taken precaution and only take the... trash off of the Order's list. They should be thankful that I've reduced their work by one-third." He took off the rubber gloves, tossing it onto the metal tray, and flicked his fingers.
The tray caught aflame with an unsettling shade of reddish orange, with the two man staring at the concentrated flames with exasperation and indignation. "'Sides, I need their blood. How else would I get my share when these scum had weeded out the good ones?"
"You haven't taken out Mukuro." His companion pointed out flatly.
Mukuro had been increasingly active on his hunt lately, having taken the initiative of wiping out a good portion of Japanese citizen – those with high quality blood – before moving onto the neighboring countries and proceed to do the same thing with their own citizen. The last time Skull had heard of him was three months ago, and by that time Mukuro was working his ways across Russia.
No one knows his motives yet, but numerous source had claimed that he was taking human companion with him along the way.
"Ah, yes, that rogue criminal." Kawahira waved his hand dismissively, strolling past the shorter male to take the metal briefcase. He knew he was stalling for time, but he had to know what the other male's intention of seeking him out. "He's not my prey, though, and I doubt the Order wanted to accept him into their ranks given his upbringing."
"So, you're saying you're leaving him to someone else." Kawahira nodded. "That's not all, was it?"
"Perceptive as always, Skull."
The newly identified man raised an unimpressed eyebrow towards Kawahira. "Is there something I need to know about?" The purple haired stuntman inquired, having been used to the other's eccentric behaviour for the last century to be surprised. He followed the bespectacled man out of the sterile room before shutting its metal door in place, it was now a matter of time before the whole building would caught on fire, and both of them didn't want to stick long enough to be caught in the blazing inferno.
"I'm planning on letting Tsunayoshi take care of him. He needs practice, you know, and what's the best teacher than experience?"
Skull knew that there was something wrong the moment he heard about the missing bodies report a year ago, and his guts had been telling him that he needed to check up on his acquintance – not yet a friend, considering how Kawahira roped him into becoming one of the Cursed Seven – to confirm his suspicion. He was right, in a sense, that the pureblood vampire had done something to throw off the Order into a controlled chaos within their own realm, but he never quite found out on what made the man as motivated as he is.
He expected that the man had found another project to amuse him, but Kawahira had thrown all those expectation out of the window the moment he told Skull that he was harboring an unidentified half-blood under his wing, undetected.
Skull smacked his forehead in exasperation, he had long given up trying to figure out the mind of a six thousand years old vampire, and he certainly wasn't about to try now. "Anyway, I came here to tell you something."
"Finally, I was waiting when you'd bring it up,"
"Shut up. Your midnight activities has alerted the Order, and they're planning to send the Hounds if it continues,"
Kawahira stopped dead on his tracks, his previous taunting smile wiped off of his face. While he was strong enough to take the underground group known as Hounds alone, he wasn't willing to go directly into their path, as he knew those ferocious vampires was all but forgiving. It just spell trouble for him, and by extention, Tsuna.
There's one thing he had to do now, and that is to proceed with Tsuna's training without a moments delay. Kawahira needed to teach him before the shit hit the fan.
"Do you know what they're planning now?" Kawahira asked instead, having come to the decision that there was nothing he could do to prevent the Hounds from sniffing into his territory. Kawahira would be damned it he left his apprentice unguarded for much longer than necessary, and if the question of his ancestry even come forward, he knew they would most likely capture him and corrupt him like they did to the majority of the pure-blooded nobles.
Skull shook his head. "I don't. But, they've heard the cases of missing vampires, Kawahira, and we both know who was responsible for that."
Kawahira cursed loudly, and Skull could only watch in sympathy as he begin drawing a large rune spell beneath their feet with a large stick. "They'll find Tsunayoshi! I haven't even finished training him yet!" Kawahira continued drawing the necessary spell used for teleportation – making necessary adjustment now he had someone else to accompany him – all the while cursing his mind out at the meddling third party with such colorful words that left Skull wondering if this was still the same wise vampire he met all those years ago.
Kawahira finished the last stroke of the circle and carelessly tossed the wooden stick away from them. "You're coming with me." He all but growled out.
Before Skull could utter a word of protest, Kawahira had grabbed his wrist in a vice grip, and without a moments delay; the two vampires disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Soon, the building was engulfed with the same reddish flame Kawahira had set inside; wiping all traces of their involvement in its wake.
~oOXOo~
Gokudera twirled the lone dynamite stick between his fingers idly, waiting for the wimpy Vongola Tenth candidate to show up on the promised meeting place. Never in his life had he considered that he would gain the opportunity to assassinate the world strongest and bloodiest mafia Family heir, with promises that Gokudera himself would be the next boss.
The thought of sitting on the top-most feared Family made him giddy in exitement, it was almost too good to be true. But Gokudera trusted Reborn to honor his end of the deal if he did manage to kill Tsuna.
It was too easy.
"He's coming from the main gate, Hayato. I hope you would perform as expected." Reborn informed cheerely from his perch atop of the nearest tree-branch, his binoculars having transformed back into his pet chameleon.
Gokudera scoffed. "'Bout damn time." He took a cigarette out the pack inside his breastpocket, and using the lighter he produced from his pants pocket, lit it.
~oOXOo~
Tsuna smelt it before seeing him. There, in the middle of the playground, stood Gokudera with a stick of dynamite twirling between his fingers. If Tsuna was in denial – and Gokudera hadn't made that threat –, he would think the tan, cylinder stick to be some harmless fireworks. The prospect of getting killed with one of those explosive stick felt too real to be a prank.
Here he was, facing his soon to be killer with nothing but empty fists as weapon.
Reborn choose this moment to jump between them, a gun in hand. "I will be acting as referee-" Of course. Reborn would treat this death match as if he's judging an interstate sports game. "-and I will make sure none of you cheated. The winner for today's match will be the Vongola Tenth generation heir, and the loser-" If they're alive went unspoken, though the two of them caught the double meaning soon enough. "-would have to pledge their loyalty to the winner."
Tsuna stood still, confused beyond measure as Reborn delivered the last warning before their match. He promised the position of Vongola Tenth to the winner? But, wasn't Reborn the one that told him that Vongola was strict when it comes to inheritance?
Tsuna could distantly recall what Reborn had said to him, on his first night of meeting the Hitman in his home.
"Only those with the blood of Vongola will be accepted as the new Boss; position gained through coercion, defeat, and assassination will be null if they do not posses a drop of Vongola blood."
"I will be your tutor, as well as your first line of defense should anyone wishes to harm you."
Then it clicked, and everything made sense once Tsuna remembered the crucial piece of information unknown to those outside of Vongola.
And the loser has to pledge loyalty to the winner. Two birds, one stone.
The previous boiling anger he felt towards Gokudera simmered away as realization hit him full force. This was just a set up to test his capability as Vongola heir, carefully wrapped into an elaborate plan to make it seems like it was a fair chance to challenge the position for the Tenth heir, when the truth was that it was simply a ruse to train him, and to eliminate any direct threat aimed at Tsuna. Gokudera was played into believing that he could become the Tenth, and the fact that the bomber has no additional information of the inner workings of Vongola and accepted the challenge has cemented the fact that he knew nothing of what was coming for him.
He would involuntarily become Tsuna's subordinate, or Reborn would crossed him off if he managed to kill Tsuna.
It sounds cruel, but it's also very effective.
"You may begin once I left the field."
You won't survive the underground if you're fragile.
~oOXOo~
Tsuna bit back a curse as he was flung backward with a massive force from the chain explosion the bomber had set. Having not expected the force of the explosion to send him sailing through the air, Tsuna had put minimal effort on covering his body from the impact, and he soon regretted coming here without an ounce of preparation as he felt his breath left his lungs when he slammed into the metal railing that he could only identify as the park's gate. There was a sickening crack and Tsuna hissed at the numb throb on his back.
He was glad that all his internal organs were dead, or else he could imagine passing out by the impact alone.
Tsuna hissed as he felt blood dripping down from his back into the ground, he was sure he broke something there, but that could wait another time as he heard Gokudera shout 'Double Bomb!' somewhere in front of him.
The airwave from the previous explosion was enough to send everything into disarray, covering a good portion of the park with dust-filled air, and it was easy to deduct that Gokudera only had his general location from the sound of the impact his body was in.
Oh shit!
There was a tug at the back of his mind that screamed 'Duck!' and Tsuna wasted no second as he fell flat to his stomach, Tsuna covered his head with his arm and the explosion followed soon afterwards. The brunet ignored the stinging pain, and the heat the bombs produces when he heard a set of footseps coming closer into his position.
"Tch, are you a coward? Come out and face me! Or have you forgotton my next target?"
Tsuna wisely kept his mouth shut as he slowly crouched down. Gokudera was trying to provoke him, he knew, and by insulting him, the silveret would have expected him to charge head first into the more experienced fighter. He did none of that, and instead, Tsuna stepped sideways, careful to not make a sound.
Using his limited range of vision, Tsuna began to feel around him for whatever could be used as a weapon against Gokudera. "Come out, you coward!" Tsuna ignored the taunting as he continued searching for a weapon, and stopped short when he felt a cool, metal pole in his grasp.
Tsuna eyed the teal pole, there was a rugged part on each side – probably because of the blast of one of Gokudera's stray dynamite – it was an arm's length metal pole, and it's width was small enough that it fit into Tsuna's small grasp.
It was enough, Tsuna decided. He then gripped the metal pole and carefully swung it to the side as if he's holding a shinai.
Tsuna took a step into the cloud of dust, and another, and another, and another, until he was running directly towards the source of that awful smell of tobacco. He gave no moment of hesitation as he swung the pole high into the air and brought it down with enough force to stagger Gokudera, who used the back of his arm to block it before it could hit his head.
Gokudera winced as the pain finally registered, and waste no moment to drop into a crouch and kicked Tsuna's leg with one fluid swipe.
Tsuna dropped into the unforgiving ground, he did not expect Gokudera's fast reaction time and hadn't taken the necessary precaution on defending himself.
That was a mistake he would not repeat the third time.
Tsuna opened his eyes just in time to see Gokudera's sillhouette directly in front of him, and the shadow was getting closer and closer and–
The familiar pull on the back of his head was working overdrive, spitting directions and any possible way to sabotage the situation on their favor before the urge to roll out of the way gained his attention. Tsuna did just that, and rolled away to put a good distance away from Gokudera.
Tsuna looked up in time to see Gokudera lit another dynamite and throwing it in front of him.
Gokudera was a good fighter long range and even better fighter on close range.
It frustates Tsuna that in every hit he managed to give him, Gokudera always moved two steps further and manage to retaliate just as fast. Gokudera was used to this, he realized, between an untrained civilian and a freelance assassin – that Tsuna had no idea how long had trained – it was obvious to him who would emerge as the victor.
But Tsuna refuses to accept defeat, because he knew what the outcome will be if he let Gokudera win.
With renewed vigor, Tsuna charged at Gokudera–
~oOXOo~
"Hmm, his speed is average at best– that was one sloppy uppercut! His strength and endurance is below average even for normal civilian. Balance is okay– need more work on that, but that reaction speed is unnatural... it's as if..." He knew where it comes from.
Reborn muttered to himself as he watched the two trade blows after blow, with Tsuna playing dirty – that was unexpected, he never knew Tsuna had a single mean bone in his body. Reborn guessed it must be the effect of fighting in a death match, he'd have to increase the amount of hostile party for Tsuna to take care of, then. – and Gokudera returning the favor two fold, with his carefully timed attack pattern and distraction his dynamites provides him, it was clear that he would win this round.
But... Tsuna did so well for someone who has never involved in a fight before, and the brunet had even took the initiative on picking up random object as weapons to get an upper-hand from Gokudera.
He has the brain for combat, but he doesn't have the knowledge nor experience to single handedly defeat an enemy.
"Oops, seems like the timing is long overdue, how about..." Reborn cocked his miniature sniper rifle, waiting for the perfect opportunity to shoot Tsuna with the Deathperation bullet.
(Which only has one by ten chance of working successfully, with failure resulting in death. However, his name isn't Reborn if he's afraid to take risks.)
~oOXOo~
Tsuna staggered back after the blow he received on his face almost dislocated his jaw.
Unsurprisingly, Gokudera didn't hold back at all, he even enjoyed beating Tsuna, too!
Tsuna spat out the blood that started to gather in his mouth (Ow, did he broke something inside?), and wiped it with the back of his tattered gloves.
They weren't given time to rest when they heard a single gunshot.
~oOXOo~
Reborn watched his student drop dead to the ground, unmoving, with a bullet hole on his temple.
(He secretly prayed that Tsuna will be one of the lucky ones to emerge into a Dying-will state.)
A second passed, then another, and another, and Reborn couldn't stop his rapidly beating heart, anxious. This is longer than what it normally take for the bullet to takes effect and Reborn was suddenly afraid that he had accidentally killed Tsuna.
Then, like a ripple on a calm pond, Tsuna's eyes opened – not wide, not aggressive – and they were treated with the sight they never expected.
There was a lot of contradiction happening all at once, because Reborn knew that this wasn't supposed to happen yet. Instead of his clothes ripping off of his body and leaving him only on his briefs, Tsuna retained his clothes. Instead of him screaming 'REBORN!' on the top of his lungs, Tsuna stood there, assessing the damage created by Gokudera's dynamite with an aura of calmness Reborn knew he never possessed.
Instead of aggressive assault Reborn knew was the result of Deathperation bullet, there is...
"I thought it was kind of unfair that I was not given any weapon to fight someone who's clearly more experienced than me,"
This new, calm Tsuna shrugged off his leather jacket carelessly, a lazy smile forming on his lips.
"But, now, this match has been decided," Tsuna let his smile form into a smirk, picking up the same metal pole he first used against Gokudera. "right?"
==oOXOo==
*cackles evilly* HA I'M NOT DEAD YET.
Sorry guys for the late update, but I hope this will satisfy you for this time *wink*
The fight was supposed to end here but dear me extended it till I'm dizzy with all these words.
Guys I need your cooperation for this fic because I can't do spell check when I don't have WiFi T_T so if you find any spelling errors, just review it or message me. (Or if you find any grammatical mistakes be sure to let me know so I can fix it.)
Special Thanks for; sousie, rozielrie, Paintingroses201, Nella Moonblood Royalle, and Guest for reviewing last chapter! Your input helps me a lot!