On Sunday morning, well past breakfast time, Tsuna practiced his voice control again. He didn't have any human volunteers at the moment, so until he could find some, he figured he could learn to coordinate with the local birds. He'd learn human persuasion later.
Settled comfortably on a tree in the expansive backyard, Tsuna whistled highly, calling forth a small flock of birds that fluttered onto nearby branches. Most were common sparrows that flitted about. A couple of crows sat together, shuffling their wings to sit properly. What seemed like someone's escaped cockatoo preened in a branch overhead. And… a tiny yellow fluffball of a canary landed directly on Tsuna's soft brown hair. He giggled.
"Hello there," he greeted the cute bird. The bird tweeted back. He laughed happily again.
Hibari watched the lynx kit interact and play with the birds. He had a certain power over them, it appeared. The sparrows preened and plucked loose feathers and set them aside Tsuna. The two crows flew back and forth, gathering smooth sticks and constructing a miniature nest out of them. The cockatoo (which Hibari had liberated from its abusive owner a few days earlier) arranged the feathers neatly within to give it a soft padding. Once the nest was done, the kit stopped his whistling song and thanked the birds, which then sang back and flew away. The lynx carefully gathered the small nest in his hands and lifted it up to his head. The little canary that looked quite comfortable on the soft hair reluctantly left its perch and scooted onto the patiently waiting nest. It settled itself into it and chirruped. Hibari considered the picture they made. How cute.
Tsuna nudged the nest into a secure corner in a nook between branches and hopped out of the tree. The canary chirped and peeked over the nest, wondering where he was going. Tsuna smiled and waved goodbye to the bird as he entered the mansion.
Tsuna was content with the results of this morning. He was able to string commands much more smoothly now. His notes and songs flowed better than they had when he experimented with the emus. And it seemed that most sounds corresponded to more than one species of birds. He'd have to discover all of those to have a more general control. He wondered if birds and humans corresponded as well. That would make things much easier for him.
That wasn't the last of the canary. Lunch that day included the introduction of a new official member of the household.
"Hibird," Hibari simply said when Tsuna quizzically looked at the familiar canary perched on the prefect's shoulder. The newly named Hibird was happily nuzzling into his cheek. Tsuna thought they looked cute together.
Mukuro hummed thoughtfully. "You know, that bird reminds me of something…" He rummaged through his memories for a few minutes more. Then he sighed. "I forgot." He shrugged. "Can't remember. Oh well." He dropped the matter and went back to sipping his tea.
In Italy, M.M., Birds, and the Bloody Twins covertly performed small scale robberies while keeping their heads low. "I can't believe Mukuro-sama left us behind. Maybe he means to come back?" M.M. considered. She flipped through her stack of cash for the fourth time. Their latest run was very successful, much like the ones before it, and she had ample money to spend as she wished. "I guess it doesn't matter when he does."
Birds stopped digging around in the kitchen of the hotel they were staying at. "Have any of you seen my bird?" he asked.
Was the man going senile? Actually, the answer was most likely yes. M.M. pointed up. "It's right there."
Birds looked in that direction. A bird twittered from the top of the bookshelf. He shook his head. "No, not that one."
M.M. shifted her finger two inches to the left. "That one?"
Another yellow bird cheeped on the windowsill. "Not that one either."
M.M. sighed, frustrated. "You have hundreds of birds! How can you even tell which one's which?"
"Of course I would know them all! I trained each one individually! Do you know how long it took?"
"How would I know? They're just stupid birds!" she shouted back.
They continued to squabble, the missing bird now entirely forgotten.
The next morning, Hibird started his career as school mascot. Hibari got weird stares from students wondering why such an adorable creature would stay around such a demonic person, but no one commented out loud—until Hibari was out of range. Then the whispers exploded.
Eventually, the whispers died down as the novelty and shock at seeing Hibari with something cute wore off. No one dared to hinder Hibird's flight as they correctly assumed that to do so would bring violent consequences.
Occasionally, Hibird would fly in through the classroom window and claim his spot on Tsuna's head. This also served to stake Hibari's claim on Tsuna, putting him under no uncertain protection. Tsuna's teachers chose to ignore this small abnormality, but Tsuna's classmates made conjectures on the gesture extended by Hibari.
So word got around that Tsuna had hired Hibari as his personal bodyguard and that Hibird was actually a trained surveillance animal assigned to watch over him. This rumor served to make students instantly behave whenever Hibird flitted through, and Tsuna encountered even less skirmishes at school (Fran still got people angry with callous comments, and Tsuna had to step in). Hibari allowed that particular rumor to flourish unrestrained. It worked to his advantage in keeping order, although he didn't like that he was given the title of bodyguard. H preferred "guardian"; it sounded less as if he was a subordinate. Nevertheless, he performed as his perceived position proclaimed. He dutifully watched over the little lynx and demonstratively disciplined anyone who appeared to be sparking trouble.
Hibird's first arrival at the school marked the beginning of an even stricter regime than there had been at the beginning of the year. Tsuna stayed unaware of the meaning of the tiny yellow bird. Gokudera grudgingly approved of Hibari's actions.
Mukuro stayed in Tsuna's class for numerous reasons. One: it annoyed the skylark. Two: dear Tsunayoshi was in it. Three: it was fun to mess with that particular teacher.
Mukuro silently laughed as Nezu looked for the disappeared sticks of chalk, which were hidden under a layer of Mist Flames. Fran observed it all with a keen eye, taking quiet entertainment in the spectacle.
Today started with an ominous warning from Fuuta. "Today will be the fifth most stressful day of Tsuna-nii's life."
Wasn't that just pleasant? So Tsuna was understandably jumpy about leaving the house. He stood tentatively at the doorstep, trying to get himself to walk out of the gates and on the path to school. As the mansion was on the outskirts of the town, there was more walking distance to cover than from the first house. Hibari had gone ahead to oversee the students' entrance into the school. Gokudera, Fran, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa were outside, waiting for him at the gates. Tsuna didn't want to make them wait any longer, but Fuuta said today wouldn't be a good day, and he didn't know how to deal with that—
Eventually, Reborn kicked the back of Tsuna's knee, making him fall forward, and shut the door so that he couldn't get back in. Resigned, Tsuna started walking.
Yamamoto met up with them on the way, so Tsuna cheered up a bit and tried to put the bad premonition out of mind. Maybe it was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies, and if he didn't act any differently then it wouldn't go into motion.
He should've known not to be so hopeful with Reborn around.
Tsuna hesitantly watched the class, which was in an uproar from an announcement made just minutes ago. Reborn was in the classroom under the guise of an old woman. A very short old woman. And he was the one to cause the cacophony. When Reborn left the front of the room to go to Tsuna's corner, Tsuna leaned down and said, "Reborn… I know you said 'plan I' might be needed, but…"
A girl excitedly squealed to her friend, "Oh my gosh! I'm so excited that I can finally see Venice! Maybe I can find myself a nice boyfriend."
"Lucky! My older brother never did this in his year." The boy high-fived another boy in good spirits.
"…is it really necessary to take the whole class?" Tsuna finished.
Reborn jumped up onto Tsuna's desk and smacked his head with his Leon-fan. "Of course it's necessary. Hitsugaya will probably be here in about three days, two if there are no incidents. We need to hide you far away from here until he leaves."
Tsuna rubbed the light red spot on his forehead. "And why exactly is the whole class coming?" This wouldn't end well for him, he could tell. A feeling writhed in his mind, telling him that something bad would happen while on the trip. Yet another stress to deal with. Joy.
Reborn tutted as if questioning Tsuna's intelligence. "Think deeply. One student suddenly takes a trip out of the country or a class takes a fieldtrip. Which one arouses less suspicion?"
Tsuna twirled a pencil around his fingers in boredom while observing the other students enthusiastically talking about the trip. "I could understand if it was a museum or an art gallery out of town, but an overseas fieldtrip? Isn't that suspicious on its own? What school has the money to fund a whole class for all that?" he asked reasonably.
Reborn replied smugly, "One that has received an anonymous donation from a rich company head."
Tsuna looked up with surprise. "You know someone that high up here, Reborn?"
The baby scoffed. "Of course I do. I have connections everywhere."
"Really? Who is it?" Reborn looked pointedly at him. Oh. "You accessed my bank account again?!"
Reborn shrugged. "I did tell you to be careful with your bank accounts."
Tsuna spluttered. "But there haven't been any withdrawals recently! I checked!"
Reborn fanned himself nonchalantly. "You didn't go over the record like I told you to."
Realization flashed in his mind. "You took the money when the house was being built," Tsuna breathed out.
Reborn smirked. "Finally caught on, little prince?"
Tsuna resolved to look over the withdrawals as soon as he got home, just so that he would know if Reborn had any more surprises in waiting.
Reborn's spy stationed in Italy sighed in frustration. Unfortunately, the spy had lost his secure cell phone a week before, so there was no way of telling Reborn that the detective named Ciel Phantomhive was currently investigating in Italy. He swiped a hand through his hair resignedly. Oh well. It's not like Reborn and the person he was hiding would be coming to Italy anyways. There was no way they would meet even if he didn't forewarn Reborn.
All of the students were given permission slips for their parents to sign, and all of them came back completed the next day. Not one of the parents questioned the spontaneous excursion that was definitely not outlined, planned, or even mentioned in the start of the year.
Namimori citizens were abnormally… obtuse, Tsuna considered as he watched the students turn in their signed forms. Then again, with someone like Hibari around, sometimes it was better to be oblivious to the world—to be aware just enough to stay out of trouble and to be blind to those who didn't.
Rumbling footsteps interrupted the cooking class. Tsuna stopped layering the lemon meringue pie as he wondered what caused them. He got his answer a second later. "KYOKO! WHAT'S THIS I HEAR ABOUT YOU LEAVING JAPAN?!" a voice thundered. Tsuna winced at the sudden unexpected noise and dropped the plastic spoon he had been holding.
The door slammed open. Ryohei rushed in, located his sister, and grasped her shoulders tightly. He looked panicked.
Kyoko gently laid a land on one of Ryohei's large hands. "It's okay, onii-san. It's just a field trip; it's normal. I'm not leaving forever. You know I'd never leave you," she reassured.
Ryohei calmed at that. "Oh, is that so!" He laughed, relieved. "Why didn't you tell me before? I wouldn't have extremely worried then."
"But I did tell you. During dinner yesterday, remember?" Kyoko replied.
Ryohei held his chin with one hand and supported the elbow of that arm with his other hand while he thought back to last night. A hazy memory surfaced. "You're extremely right! I forgot!" he shouted.
"Ah, Ryohei-san…" Tsuna interrupted.
Ryohei turned to him. "Hey, Tsuna! Call me onii-san!" he told him. "You come over to our house so frequently that I feel like you're a part of our family!"
"Oh, okay, then," Tsuna acquiesced. He adjusted quickly to the new title. "Onii-san, it's good to see you, but we're in the middle of class right now."
Ryohei looked around. The students had stopped what they were doing to watch the unexpected arrival and the resulting spectacle. Unsurprisingly, some of the projects were ruined by their inattentiveness. "I am extremely sorry for disrupting your class! You should probably go back to your work. That one looks extremely burnt." He pointed to an especially blackened crust that was starting to give off acrid smoke.
The previously distracted students turned their attention back onto their projects and then jumped into action as they tried to salvage their pies and their grades.
On the day of departure, Tsuna's classmates lined up outside, waiting for the bus that would take them to the airport. Notably, no one was absent. Nezu swaggered about in front, proudly showing off to the classes facing the front of the school that his class got the unprecedented privilege of going on an overseas trip. He was completely unaware of the reasons why they got the chance, but he figured it was a reward for his being such a good teacher. Yeah right.
Tsuna's group stood off a little ways away from the rest. Reborn was in his female persona again. He rode on Natsu's back, who now stood at Tsuna's mid-thigh. Tsuna hadn't expected Natsu to grow, especially since he was a Flame construct and not truly alive. He wasn't even giving him any more Flames than normal. But the proof was there. Natsu was steadily growing. The lion had lost a lot of its baby fat and grew leaner, with corded muscles and a wilder mane that flickered with strong Sky Flames. Tsuna chalked it up to undiscovered Flame properties. Reborn didn't comment on it.
They were taking Natsu with them since Tsuna would be gone for an indeterminate amount of time. They didn't know how long Hitsugaya was staying around, so the trip was set for a week minimum. Reborn could extend it by citing plane troubles if necessary, but a week was probably sufficient. Fuuta was staying behind with Fon, I-pin, and Bianchi since he didn't want to go back to Italy. None of the others had any reason to go there, so they stayed in Namimori.
Tsuna wondered why no one remarked about the fire lion currently bounding around, but it seemed no one thought oddly of him. Some of the kids even petted his head as he ran by.
As if sensing Tsuna's confusion, Mukuro leaned toward him, enclosing his arms around his shoulders from behind. "Natsu is a German Shepherd pup right now," Mukuro whispered into his ear.
Pushing down the blush rising in his cheeks from the sudden close proximity, Tsuna focused his concentration on Natsu. With deeper observation, he could feel the Mist Flames flickering over Natsu, encapsulating him in the vision of a normal dog. Curiosity now sated, Tsuna smiled. "Thank you," he whispered back. He allowed Mukuro to hold him loosely, taking comfort in the rumbles of his chest as the Mist user chuckled.
Mukuro was amused by his doll's worry for the lion. Did it really matter if they knew Natsu was a lion or not? He'd be going with them either way. Anyone who was scared and protested it could stay behind. They didn't matter. In fact, just he and Tsunayoshi could go, couldn't they? He could say that he was introducing his friend to his homeland. And while there, maybe he could implement one of his plans to bring down the mafia… He still hadn't forgotten about that. Even if he had to be very careful now with the Vindice watching him, he'd still do it one way or another.
Hibari watched the interaction from a high window. His eyes narrowed. That herbivore is getting too close to the lynx.
Once the bus arrived, the students piled in, and it drove to the airport.
Reborn had reserved an entire plane for the class (with Tsuna's money, of course). Nezu shouted at the students to get them into a vaguely straight line and marched them in at Reborn's signal. The majority of the students were assigned coach seats. All of them trailed into the empty plane and took their given seats, happily talking about their trip, the new issue of that magazine, that mysterious celebrity…
None of them noticed that the newer students sat in the first class cabin. Tsuna's group was at the end of the line, so when the last of the Flame-ignorant students entered the coach cabin, the door closed to the room and Tsuna's friends settled in first class. With only Fran, Mukuro, Chikusa, Ken, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Tsuna, and Reborn, the cabin was relatively empty with ample room for more.
Ten minutes before the plane doors closed, a yellow bird fluttered in and nestled into Tsuna's hair. Tsuna reached up and petted his head. "Hibird? What are you doing here?"
"What do you think?"
Tsuna jumped a little in his seat, unprepared for the sudden appearance of the Disciplinary Head. "Geh! Hibari-san?"
From behind him, Ryohei waved. "Yo, Tsuna!"
"And onii-san?"
Ryohei raised his arms enthusiastically. "I decided that I'm gonna go with you guys!"
"…I'm not letting weak Namimori herbivores get eaten by Italian herbivores," Hibari excused as his reason. The Cloud Guardian (there was no way he wasn't at this point, even if he was unaware of his own Flames) quite forcefully insisted on coming along, even at the sake of leaving Namimori with lowered defenses, although Kusakabe would be staying behind to keep things in saying so, he looked pointedly at Tsuna, who caught onto the meaning.
"Ah, Hibari-san, I can take care of myself—" At Hibari's frozen glare demanding obedience, Tsuna amended, "—but you are welcome to join us."
Satisfied, Hibari took the seat next to Tsuna, giving a challenging glare to the smirking Mist Guardian.
"Tsuna, where's Kyoko?" the silver-haired boxer asked as he swept his eyes over the occupied seats.
"She's with the other students in that cabin." He pointed to the room beyond the one they were currently in. "Would you like to sit with her there or would you like to bring her here?" Tsuna offered.
"I'll bring her here! You're an extremely fun person, Tsuna!" Ryohei loudly stomped into the other cabin, all the while shouting "Extreme!" and disappeared for two minutes before returning with two people in tow.
"Hello, Tsuna-san," Kyoko greeted.
"Hi, Kyoko-chan," he said back. Then he noticed the cautiously glaring girl behind her. "Eh? Onii-san, who's this?" Tsuna questioned.
"I extremely don't know!" Ryohei shouted happily.
The girl pushed her way to stand in front Ryohei. "I'm Hana. Don't you dare call me -chan," the unknown girl introduced herself. "I'm Kyoko's friend, and I'm not leaving her in a room full of guys, even if her brother's here, if that's what you're hoping. Got a problem?" she challenged.
Kyoko-chan has a protective friend. Good. Tsuna waved away her concerns. "Not a problem. Please take a seat."
Kyoko sat next to her brother, and Hana went next to her. Once settled, Kyoko chattered endlessly with her brother, who was just as unaware of the reasons for the trip as the rest.
"Say, why do you guys get first class seating while everyone else is in coach?" Hana asked while Kyoko was distracted.
Oh. One perceptive Namimori inhabitant out of… several thousands. Not a good ratio so far. The question she asked could lead to more intrusive inquiries, and Tsuna wasn't too comfortable with Hana, an unfamiliar classmate, knowing the deeper reasons, so he decided to divert her attention as much as he could early on. "Well, you know that our school got a generous sponsor this semester, right?"
Hana nodded. It was sudden with no prior signs of happening. The conditions were odd as well. All the funds provided would be spent on Nezu's homeroom. While all of the other classes groaned with disappointment, theirs cheered with excitement. It was the first time something good happened to their class. Their class average was low compared to the others and was kept buoyant only by the few "smart genii" they had, most of which who had transferred in. Nonetheless, the sparse high grades did not save their ranking, so they did not get rewards for excellence, which was a pity because the Disciplinary Committee allowed school funds to go into congratulatory ice cream parties once a month, all of which they had failed to win so far.
"One of us is well acquainted with that person." Tsuna extended his arms to gesture the entire room. "Let's play a game. We'll give you one chance to guess who it is that knows the sponsor. If you guess correctly, we'll tell you who the sponsor is." There. Her curiosity would keep her wrapped up. Even if she was able to deduce correctly, he wouldn't be obligated to tell her the deeper details.
Hana looked around. The room's occupants had been listening in. All eyes were staring back at her in challenge. She smiled. She did love a good mystery. "I accept."
Three hours into the flight, all of the students in coach were asleep. Their room was completely silent, all but the squeaking of Fran's marker as he drew on some faces. In the first class cabin, Gokudera had gotten into a small squabble with Yamamoto and was now snoozing on top of him after struggling against him for half an hour. Yamamoto was dozing contentedly as well. Kyoko, Hana, and Ryohei succumbed to boredom and fell asleep sometime after that.
Tsuna petted Natsu while talking to Reborn. "Is there a specific agenda we'll be following when we get to Italy?" They never went into the details when making 'plan I', so anything beyond escape to Italy as fast as possible was a blank. In the beginning stages of the plan, he'd been hoping Vongola would provide a short term shelter, but Tsuna didn't feel safe taking a whole class's worth of students there. So his version of 'plan I' was already derailed since Reborn made the announcement in class.
"We'll be staying with an associate of mine," Reborn replied vaguely.
Tsuna stopped stroking Natsu. "An associate? Who would that be?" Reborn couldn't be referring to him this time. He didn't have any property in Italy—not that he knew of, at least. Well, there was the Montblanc Company building, but that was for business, not for lodging.
"Someone you'll be closely acquainted with in the near future. After all, the Vongola are allied to his famiglia."
Allies… "Then that means we're hiding in a mafia base." This was no better than just going to Vongola.
Reborn turned an incredulous eye to him. "No. No one is stupid enough to bring a mass of uncultured adolescents into a dangerous mafia base. They'd kill themselves within five minutes." Reborn huffed at the idiotic thought. "We're obviously going to the private manor."
Tsuna pouted, feeling put out. "How was I supposed to know that?"
"Because you're my student," Reborn replied matter-of-factly.
That… was absolutely unreasonable. "What kind of thought process do you have?"
The plane finally touched down on Italian ground. While everyone else had slept early on in the flight, Tsuna had been discussing the trip with Reborn, so he was asleep when they were disembarking. Hibari took charge and carried him before Mukuro could offer to take him. The first class cabin occupants exited the plane first as they were the closest to the door.
There was a fair bit of outrage and hilarity as some students woke up to see obscene drawings on other people's faces or their own. There were mirrors helpfully lining the walls of the first class cabin that were definitely not there when they got into the plane, so they were able to see the bold, indecent markings as they walked out. Most of the drawn on students tried rubbing their faces harshly with their sleeves, but all that did was make their skin red. The remainder decided to wait to get the ink off; obviously, rubbing at it wouldn't work.
Fran subtly pouted as Tsuna wasn't awake to see all the fun. Maybe he could do it again later…
At the Italian airport, the students conglomerated in one giant group as Reborn arranged for transportation to the manor. The group moved from one souvenir shop to another with Nezu keeping a watch over them, if only to prove that he was responsible, although he really wasn't and couldn't manage a thorough surveillance over all the students.
Case in point, Tsuna's friends wandered off, and Hibari followed from behind (with Tsuna still sleeping on his back) because the large herd was annoying him. As long as they stayed in the general vicinity, they wouldn't get separated from the general group and they'd be fine.
So of course they had to get lost.
Somehow, they ended up outside of the airport in what seemed to be a loading area. The door that they exited from closed and wouldn't open from their side. Frustrated at the situation, Hibari (gently) dropped Tsuna into Yamamoto's surprised arms and drew his tonfas, preparing to strike down the doors. But Yamamoto stepped in front of them with Tsuna prominently carried in his hold to stop him. "Mah, mah, Hibari. The airport people won't be happy if you do that," he lightly said.
"We should extremely find some airport people to help us!" Ryohei suggested.
"'Airport people'?" Gokudera repeated.
Before Yamamoto could respond, three large men swaggered up to them. Two of them went on either side of them. The third wielded a knife and stood in front. He waved the blade around demonstratively while saying something in a language that no one but Mukuro's group understood.
"Oya, it seems they want to rob us," Mukuro summed up when the man stopped talking and waited for them to comply.
Fran watched the proceedings from the back but prepared a small amount of Flames in his hands. Ryohei gathered Kyoko and Hana behind him, sensing tension in the air. Chikusa and Ken watched the thugs disinterestedly. Gokudera ignored them all in favor of rearranging Tsuna's limbs to be more comfortable, and Yamamoto stood there and let Gokudera angle his arms to better hold Tsuna.
Hibari still had his tonfas out, looking like he was ready to start fighting. The thugs didn't take the danger seriously and disregarded the glaring teen. The leader barked something at one of the others, and the goon stepped up and grabbed Tsuna's arm. Tsuna stirred at the strong grip on his wrist and woke up.
That provoked a reaction from Mukuro. The illusionist extended his arm out, summoning his trident. He pointed it at the assaulter. "Oh? I didn't give you permission to touch my doll," Mukuro hissed venomously in Italian at the paling man.
Hibari was thoroughly angered then. "Herbivores! Speak Japanese!" he growled as he smashed a tonfa into the man's head. The demand for Japanese went unheard by the man as he was knocked unconscious. Hibari hit him again in irritation.
"Extreme fighting!" Ryohei shouted. He leapt into the fray.
Tsuna roused fully as he sensed the violence break out. Hibari's words slowly penetrated his sleepy mind. "Hibari-san, we're in Italy. It's normal for them to speak Italian," he called out to the prefect beating up the other goon. Tsuna turned to Gokudera. "We are in Italy, right? Reborn didn't take us somewhere else?"
Gokudera nodded. "Yes. We are currently at the airport, but we have a slight inconvenience to deal with right now."
Tsuna relaxed more into Yamamoto's hold at Gokudera's reassurance. He felt like Ichigo was carrying him again. He missed him as he hadn't seen him for more than a month now, the longest time that they've been separated since they met.
Ryohei dealt with the leader, whose knife was smacked out of his hand and was restrained by Fran's snakes. The man screamed as he tried to struggle away from the snakes, but he was unable to and knocked himself out as he hit his head against the floor harshly.
They all stared down at the three unconscious men, not knowing what to do. "Now what?" Fran poked his foot at an already darkening bruise on one of the men's cheeks.
"Tear them apart!" Ken suggested.
"There are perfectly good airplanes all around us," Mukuro hinted. "Look. That runway looks awfully empty…"
Hibari held a tonfa in front of himself. "I'll bite them all to death," he growled as he looked at the three men.
In the end, Tsuna dropped to his feet out of Yamamoto's hold and led them to the front of the airport, planning to go back in and look for Reborn. "With all the noise you made, security guards will be getting there soon, and there's enough evidence to incriminate them for robbing," he explained on the way. However, Reborn and the students (still not aware of any missing numbers within themselves) were waiting in front with a line of limos. "Those came out of my bank account, right?" Tsuna asked once they reached Reborn, knowing the answer already.
Reborn fluttered his Leon-fan elegantly in his female persona. "Obviously."
The students marveled at the luxury cars and carefully slid themselves onto the leather seats, not wanting to damage anything.
"This is my first time ever on a limo," one boy whispered to his friend.
A girl across from him giggled. "Same for all of us."
"I bet Sasuke-kun is used to them," another girl tittered as she held one of Sasuke's arms close to her chest and leaned on a shoulder.
Sasuke shrugged her off, annoyed at her clinginess. Ever since his secret got out, more girls started to pursue him for his money in addition to his looks, probably hoping to marry well. They were in middle school, way too early to start thinking about marriage. Ugh. Well, he could look at the bright side of things. He was in Venice, Italy. He could sneak off and try to secure a contract with Montblanc while he was here. There was also the Vongola Trading Company to consider. The teacher probably wouldn't notice if he went missing for a few hours for a couple of days.
In the first limo, Tsuna had fallen asleep again, still tired from too little sleep. His head rested in Mukuro's lap, who had taken the opportunity to make a claim on Tsuna while Hibari made sure all of the students were present and getting in the limos.
The ride took half an hour, not quite long enough for Tsuna to rid himself of drowsiness, but enough to get himself to wake up enough to walk a short distance. Unfortunately for him, the place they were going to had a long walkway from the gates to the actual residence.
Tsuna pulled himself off of Mukuro's lap, attempting to rub sleep from his eyes and largely failing. He stumbled out of the limo after the others exited and grabbed onto the closest person to steady himself, who happened to be Gokudera. All of the other students had gotten out by then and were staring in wonder at the building meant to house them for the week.
Reborn gestured grandly to the imposing structure behind him. "Welcome to Cavallone manor."
This chapter was supposed to cover all of the Italy trip, but it got too long. I'll probably post the rest in a separate chapter once I write it. AP tests are coming up in two weeks or so. I won't be updating until after I take all four, so wish me luck? And then I have the SAT test after those in June… I might extend my semi-hiatus until then.
Please tell me if you find anything awkward, lacking, etc.
Posted: 4/22/15