It must've been the gunshot earlier that Gokudera quickly realizes that the tables had been turned.
When he thought Tsuna had tire himself out and Gokudera could go for the killing blow, Tsuna was suddenly able to move faster than he expected, and evaded the oncoming explosives in a graceful movements that was too fluid to be a coincidence.
Was it a trick then? Had he had the capacity to strategize against him to chip away at his ammunition and stamina? Was Tsuna trying to tire him out before landing a final blow?
... Did he even take Gokudera seriously before the gunshot rang?
Gokudera shook his head to rid himself off of the thought. What he needed now was a victory, and to do that he'd have to kill the pathetic wimp to ensure his future.
Tsuna could feel that there was something different going on in his psyche, his sight was more refined, focused and his nerves had calmed down considerably for Tsuna to make a better judgement on his next move. Tsuna admitted that he made more mistake than intended on the last hour – mistakes that would have ripped him off of his life had he been a normal human –, but there was nothing he could do about it now, other than continuing their fight.
Tsuna left his gaze drift to Gokudera, who was trying to regain his breath few yards away from him and let a small smile grace his lips. "Gokudera-kun," He began, and the bomber glared at him for casually addressing him, how amusing. "do you know the conditions necessary to become Vongola Boss?" He said conversationally, as if they were merely discussing the weather.
As expected, Gokudera blew up. "Shut up! Once I kill you, I could be the Tenth!"
Tsuna sighed, he figured as much. Reborn hadn't offered a single explanation to Gokudera before hiring him. "First, you have to be born from Vongola's bloodline." Tsuna continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, watching Gokudera intently as the bomber reached the same conclusion as he had earlier.
That's right, Gokudera-kun. No matter how hard you fight, you could never become a Vongola Boss.
Tsuna knew that it was dishonorable of him to do this – fighting dirty was another matter entirely, were you expecting bunch of mafioso to honor the soldier's code? –, but he had to find a way for Gokudera to admit defeat, he couldn't possibly try to beat him up- or worse, kill him to make his point across, it's just too cruel.
"Secondly," Tsuna pressed firmly, he couldn't back down now, he had to be the one to deliver the harsh truth to the tickling time bomb. "you must posses sky flames."
Gokudera visibly deflated at that, and Tsuna bit back a bitter chuckle that almost escaped his lips.
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Gokudera-kun? Let's stop this unnecessary fight," That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, because as soon as Tsuna stopped talking, Gokudera was throwing waves upon waves of lit dynamites on his direction.
Tsuna bit back a curse as he jumped backwards, avoiding the first wave of dynamites easily.
The dynamites exploded, once again obscuring the area with dust filled air.
Not wanting to be caught in another blast like he did on the first time, Tsuna ran into the tree covered areas, using the thick trunk of the trees to hide his body. Right now what he needs was strategy, he cannot attack Gokudera blindly now that Tsuna had a grasp on his attack pattern.
Now that he thought about it, Gokudera always uses explosives to his advantage. First, he would eliminate his opponent's primary sense – figuratively speaking – by reducing their field of vision and range by a considerable amount. Then, once he was sure that his enemy would be too disoriented to notice, he would send another wave of dynamites on their direction as a final blow. Anyone who was caught unaware of the second wave would have succumbed their fate, considering it was hard to see anything, no one would see the concealed sticks until it was too late.
And if that doesn't work as he expected. He would resort into hand-to-hand combat to finish off the job. He was decent with it, even. Though the movement were too rough and lacked the sign that hinted it was a honed talent.
It was reckless, flashy, and dangerous method, but it worked nonetheless.
"So what if I don't have Sky Flames?!"
Tsuna slowly moved out of his hiding place, observing Gokudera as he ranted about the inequality of the underground hierarchy.
"So what if I don't have that dirty bloodline?! What would you know of me?!"
This is getting personal, I thought he wanted to be the tenth?
"I'll show you! I'll show every one of you that I can be as capable as them!"
Tsuna stared at Gokudera in confusion, now hiding behind the bushes. He could see a vague idea into what Gokudera was trying to tell him, even with the amount of profanities and boiling anger that clouded his words into an incomprehensive sentence.
"And you! I can't believe the strongest mafia famiglia picked out a fucking wimpy civilian, who knew nothing of the underworld– as the candidate! That's a fucking disgrace to us veteran mafioso!"
Well, that's true to some extent, Tsuna thought with an incriminating smile. You had no idea either, Gokudera-kun.
"I don't have a choice in that matter." Tsuna answered calmly, emerging from his hiding place. Tsuna saw no point in hiding now, not with the way Gokudera unraveled his thoughts to him.
If he couldn't convince Gokudera to stop fighting by talking to him, Tsuna figured that he would have to do it the hard way, since the bomber was too stubborn to be reasonable.
Gokudera snarled, raising his hands in defense. "What do you mean you've got no choice? Do you think I'll believe such bullshit?"
"I told you, to be a Vongola boss, you need to posses the bloodline. I happen to be the only one left, you see, so Reborn here-" Tsuna indicated his free hand to the trees, where he knew Reborn was hiding and observing them. "was sent to train me for the position."
Gokudera frowned at the recent revelation, he had reached the same conclusion earlier, but to hear it directly from Tsuna was still jarring.
"Do you know, that they – The Ninth's sons – were assassinated?"
Gokudera visible blanched, mouth hanging open as he stared at Tsuna as if he'd grown a second head.
"They can't protect four grown man in their own turf, and the Ninth was desperate enough for an Heir to be picking me; the last direct line from the first Vongola boss. Yes, I am a civilian, but does it matter to them? No. It doesn't. What mattered to them was for the next generation to continue, and if you honestly think that they'd award you for killing me, you're more naïve than I am." He smiled bitterly. Tsuna could see the pained frown on Gokudera's face, as if he was swallowing a bitter pill with each word Tsuna muttered.
"But-"
"I'm not done yet, Gokudera-kun. If you'd managed to kill me, Reborn will be delivering your head in a silver platter and Vongola would have no legitimate heir left. What do you think will happen then, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna inquired softly, his tone wasn't exactly mocking, but the small self-deprecating smile spoke louder than the warnings he had just uttered.
Hidden beneath the foliage, Reborn silently cursed as he observed the two teens from his perch.
Everything wasn't exactly going as planned, and he couldn't find it in himself to blame anyone other than the Vongola informant on having incorrect information about their possible heir. Because the boy standing there, with blazing orange eyes, was not as the reports made him out to be.
First mistake they'd made was somewhat trivial, if one didn't think too much of it, it was the fact that Tsuna was more perceptive than they assumed. It was a good trait to have in any boss candidate, but the cynicism of how he delivered his thoughts was dangerous. If Reborn trained Tsuna to use his charm as veiled weapon, he could've sway Families into wars. And if that wasn't a sobering thought, he didn't know what was.
Secondly, Tsuna wasn't supposed to enter an incomplete state of Hyper Dying Will Mode. He was supposed to enter the Dying Will state, finish his business with Gokudera in under five minutes – and if he was lucky, Tsuna will be able to convince Gokudera into joining his family. But instead of it going according to his plan, Tsuna had the gall to coax the bitterness out of Gokudera as easily as water running down the drain. He didn't know if he should be concerned with Tsuna's ability to make people reveal their darkest secret to him or if he should be pleased at the prospect of teaching Tsuna another bargaining technique.
Thirdly... there seemed to be some weird medical condition going on with Tsuna. Of all the time Reborn had spent shadowing him, out in the open air or from one of his hiding place, Tsuna had never touched any of his food, even if his mother insisted. He had also noticed that there's always no extra plate for Tsuna when they were having breakfast early that morning, and Nana had been saying that it's been going on for a few months; Tsuna would help her with some of the house chores early in the morning, then taking off to school just as early.
Sawada Tsunayoshi was a mystery, even with the weird sigil and drawings in his bedrooms, nothing baffled Reborn more than his apparent differences from the reports he was given.
Gokudera lowered his hands as the horrified image started to click into his mind, it was too logical to be denied, and he knew he'd be damned if he ignored the warning Tsuna had just given him. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it! There was some sort of vague contract between Reborn and him, the order to 'eliminate the Vongola Heir' was not accompanied by any other information he needed to know, and the fact that the reward was to be 'the new heir to the tenth throne' was too good to pass up.
He hadn't been thinking straight then, with his focus divided on trying to prove himself and the rest of their community into accepting him and seeing him more than the bastard they painted him to be. Thus, acquiring information about his target from Reborn hadn't been in the forefront of his mind.
But now, after Tsuna had listed off how it was impossible for him to be the next heir... there's only one thing he could do.
He'd bring the wimp down with him or he'd die trying.
AN: Hold up guys, don't bring pitch-forks please! I'm sorry for not updating for... almost a year, but I was stumped in the middle of writing this chapter that once again, ended in a damn cliff-hanger.
(But hey, at least you guys know I'm alive right?)