Chapter 11: The Return

Jean was sprawled out on the light green comforter of his temporary bed with his gray jacket unzipped and his black wife beater underneath riding up a bit to expose a bit of his scarred belly. His eyes were closed and his lips were parted slightly as his even, deep breaths passed through them. He was asleep, and a pair of blue eyes watched him in boredom as the owner waited for him to wake up. He was clad in a green and black letterman jacket that hung loosely over his muscular frame. Under it was a simple white button up shirt, and on his legs was a pair of loose jeans that were too loose and showed off his red boxers. He was relaxed on one of the chairs, his head hanging off the side and his green converse covered feet pressed against the dark wall lazily. "Wake uuuup…." He groaned as he tapped the bed lightly with his pale fingers. When Jean didn't stir, the white haired boy frowned and flicked his parted black bangs out of his face, then reached up and held up his hand and gazed at the green puzzle ring on his middle finger for a moment. "Man, I didn't want to have to freak you out like this, but it seems I don't have a choice," he mused to himself, then gently brushed his finger against the bed, and ignited the ring. The static traveled through the blankets and as soon as they reached the sleeping boy, shocked him. With a startled howl, he flew out of the bed and onto the ground. "I told you to get up like four times."

Jean popped up from the side of the bed, his brown locks tussled and standing straight up from the shock and his hazel eyes narrowed in annoyance and suspicion. "And who might you be?" he huffed as he rose onto his feet and smoothed out his hair.

"Take a guess."

"You're one of her guardians, right?"

The boy blinked and turned his light eyes to him and watched him for a second before chuckling. "Hah, and I thought you were stupid."

"Looks can be deceiving. Had I not received that shock, I would have just thought you were some punk, with your pirate earrings and all." The boy pouted and gently grabbed the small silver hoops on his ear.

"Don't knock my pirate earrings. They're hot."

"Are you here to help me figure out the ring?" Jean asked as he advanced on the boy, determination in is step and hope in his eyes. "Because I already managed to produce a flame without it!"

"Ne? Really now? Can you do it for me?" Jean looked down and bit his lip. "I'll take that as a no…So then it must have been some sort of dying will flame?"

"I dunno; it was pretty cool though!" The boy grinned and got up on his feet.

"Yeah. It was pretty cool the first time I did it too, except I was just a little tot. I almost shocked the hell out of Avrilina, but she didn't let me get close enough to do it," he said as he brushed his clothing smooth. "I know she doesn't let you close enough either, but keep trying…She'll need all of your support…"

Jean grinned and raised his hand to his head in a salute. "Yes sir."

The boy cracked a large, wolfish grin. "You're not too bad, bro. Keep it up and you might get places." He shook his head and looked at him with a serious gaze. "All jokes aside, I'm here to talk to you. If you're going to succeed me, you need to know a few things about this family." He tore his gaze away and looked at the walls, where pictures, mostly drawn, were tacked up and taped on nearly every inch. "…It's a hard life to be an Espinoza guardian, or, at least for me it was…" He gestured for Jean to come closer, and when he did, he took his hand and placed it on the pictures and ran his fingers over the surface of them. "This was my way of venting…Drawing these creatures I saw in my dreams…But the more and more I drew, the more and more I saw, and I began to think that they were stalking me outside of my dreams, only…they were people…" His blue gaze watered slightly, and he released the boy's hand. "…The Espinoza should have won the battle that took my life, but something went wrong that day, and I feel it was mostly my fault…"

"Battle…?"

The bi colored hair male looked at him, his eyes sad, and he pulled a paper down from the wall and folded it up. "You'll learn…If you really are the one to succeed me, then you'll know…Be careful of this one though, it'll get you and kill you if you don't watch…" Jean's fingers wrapped around the paper the boy held out, and he pocketed it to look at later. "You've already solved the ring, I assume…You were fooling with it earlier before you fell asleep…"Jean nodded, though the fact that he was being watched for that long disturbed him. "Well…All you have to do is get your flame working…To do that, you need to really concentrate on your will to live: the driving force behind all that determination I know you have…And when you do, you need to assemble the ring and put it on your finger…It'll never come off again after that, though…You'll be bound to her side as her lightning guardian." Jean nodded and looked at the ring in his pocket with a smile. "…The ring will release a tremendous amount of power once its assembled and on your finger, so you need to realize that that when you assemble it, you'll be on the enemy's radar until the ring adapts to your energy level and synchronizes."

"Alright…So I need to assemble it in just the right place…that's risky business…"

"You're in the mafia…it's going to be risky."

"Touché…My name is Jean. What's your name?" he chirped as he held out his free hand, which also happened to be his scarred hand. The boy blinked and looked at it, taking in the darkened flesh, which made Jean pout. "It won't hurt you or anything…it's just a scar…"

"That's not it…My name is Vasco," He said softly as he grasped his successor's injured hand in his own, the pink, angry skin glaring back at Jean. "I wish you luck, Jean…You have my blessing…"

"…So that's how it happened?" Rossi asked, not quiet believing what the boy across from her said. The lightning guardian nodded vigorously, and held up the folded up paper for the red head to see.

"See? He gave this to me!"

"A piece of paper...Alright…Did he mention anything about my successor coming to talk to me…?"

"Not a thing. Sorry, Rossi…"

She shrugged and looked outside the window of the car they were in. They had been ushered out of the Espinoza mansion by its owner before they could even eat breakfast, and now were on their way back to Japan to meet up with the Vongola in a day's time. Only, with a car full of hungry and tired teenagers, that probably wouldn't happen.

"Avrilina…Can we please get something for breakfast?" Kim said as she watched the woman in the front seat for a reaction. The Sky Guardian glanced back and thought for a minute before curling back up in her seat and closing her eyes.

"Can you do it in five minutes?"

"If we pull into a fast food drive-through."

"That's your breakfast. Make it snappy. We have a plane to catch."

Sakaki, who was driving the car, looked out the window to see that there was a conveniently placed fast food chain and thanked whatever god there was as he pulled in. After gathering everyone's order, he looked at his boss for her, and she scoffed and glared out the window. "I don't eat this crap. I get sick when I go because of all the greasy and nasty stuff…"

"You have to eat too…"

"I'd rather starve."

"Stop being such a sour puss, Avri!"

"Jean, call me by my proper name or don't talk to me."

"It's a term of endearment, Avri. I could make up something more embarrassing, especially if you don't get something to eat."

Avrilina frowned and glared at him for a moment, then dug out her wallet and handed it to the driver. "…I'll have some milk and apples…" Jean grinned victoriously in the backseat and squirmed almost childishly as he waited for his food. "I swear to god, if you don't sit still, I'm going to burn the hell out of you."

"But I'm so angelic!"

"…Make me correct you again and you're dead."

"You both are being childish…Hush…" Kim said as they drove up to the window. Avrilina rolled her eyes and after checking her phone for the time, she glanced up to see the cashier at the window, and her expression deadpanned once she recognized him. The blue eyed twenty five year old blinked in confusion, trying to place her as well, and after a second, he paled and practically threw the food in the car and slammed the window shut, not bothering to take the money to pay for their meal. The Espinoza family, except for its head, stared in confusion and waited for him to come back, but after realizing that he wasn't coming back, they turned their curious gaze to Avrilina. She met their looks and shrugged, closing her green eyes. "Are you going to turn down the opportunity for free food? Drive."

The car started moving, and Sen, who was intrigued by what had just occurred, spoke up. "…What was that…?" The Spanish woman gave a hum and shrugged as if it was nothing that the cashier was so scared of her that he fled like a frightened puppy at the mere sight of her fifteen year old self.

"I…make a lasting impression," she said after a moment of silence. She tore open the bag of apples and took a bite of one of the crisp slices of fruit.

"How do you know him?"

"…He tried to hit on me when I was like, fourteen…And I put him in the hospital for it. No one else really bothered to try wooing me after that." Gabriel gave an amused chuckle as he, along with everyone else, tore into their food.

"I suppose that's something I should have expected…"

"Oh yeah. Rossi, catch," Avrilina said as she chucked her phone over her shoulder and at the red head. With quick reflexes, she caught it in her nimble hands, and read the message on the screen.

Chrome Dokuro has been found and brought back to the Vongola base, meaning all of Tsuna's guardians have been gathered. She is in critical condition, however and will not be able to participate in the planned invasion. Return as quickly as possible.

"The Vongola gave me this thing so they could communicate with us without the enemy family getting the messages, but before we left for this grand adventure, I learned a bit about you and your involvement with the Estraneo and the tenth generation Vongola mist guardians."

Rossi blinked and stared at the screen, her eye wide in shock and her hand almost shaking with all of the emotions that ran through her veins. "Who?" She mumbled softly, "Who put her in critical condition?"

"The man has already been taken care of, if I'm correct, but the organization he works for still runs a threat to the Vongola as well as us."

"I don't really care for your family, or even the Vongola for that matter. I only care for Chrome and Mukuro."

Everyone in the car stared at the redhead in disbelief at how blunt she was was about her feelings towards the family. That was, except for Avrilina. She didn't seem to care for a moment, then, softly, a soft choking sound bubbled in her throat and her shoulders shook slightly as she tried to contain the sound. Her tan hand moved to cover her face as the noise became louder and her shaking a bit more violent. "Are you-?" Sakaki began to ask from his position in the driver's seat, but, before he could finish asking, a peal of laughter burst from her lips, and her lips were quirked up just enough to see her white teeth. Rossi narrowed her eyes, though, the left couldn't be seen under her eye patch and her fringe of hair; she didn't like the woman mocking her.

"I understand," the Spaniard managed to get out once her giggles died down, "You have the cloud ring, after all. I didn't expect you to be too concerned with the family. I didn't expect any loyalty at all, to tell you the truth." She then seemed to drop her almost lighthearted attitude in place of a more serious tone. "…While I may not demand your utmost loyalty to the Espinoza family, you must realize that ring, once it's attached to your finger, will. Your cloud flame will allow you more wiggle room, but the rest of you won't have the same benefit…"

"…I suppose those terms are acceptable," Gabriel said softly as he swished his orange juice around in its container before taking sip, "Family…That's what we are now…"

"Yes…Familia…"

"We've all come to terms with the situation, and have accepted whatever misfortunes it may bring…"

"Very well then…You have a couple of days to learn the solution to the ring from your predecessor. You'll be learning a bit with the Vongola, and a bit with me about what to expect when you first open your box…It's inconvenient that we have to wait until the day of the battle to test out your boxes, but I suppose there's no other way. You should expect something that you're somewhat familiar with, whether it be equipment, or an animal, and once you earn its trust, it will generally obey you," Avrilina said as she pulled out of her box weapons, and released the small white puppy within," though, some prove to be…troublesome…" In response to the offhand insult, the puppy pouted and bit the Spaniards finger with its tiny teeth. It pierced her skin, but didn't faze her as she waved her finger, the tiny canine still attached to it. "You'll learn to deal with them, and they'll become your most important ally, and perhaps even a friend…" She reached up and scratched the puffball's back, making it groan in pleasure and release her bloodied finger. She glanced up, her green eyes a little softer. "But…No matter what I say…You need to be careful, on an off the battlefield…I can't lose you six now…"

"Avri! I love you too-"

"I'll punch you in the face, Jean."

The Vongola HQ was quiet as everyone sat down for dinner after a day's worth of training. The talkative boys were too busy stuffing their faces with the girls' cooking to even bother mentioning a word about their training outside of nods and shaking heads. Even Yamamoto, who was always very sociable, was intent on getting back to training once his belly was full.

"You shouldn't eat so fast. You'll have a guest coming to join you soon," Reborn said as he held his hand out for Leon to crawl onto. The small green lizard crept into his palm, and after a moment of morphing, became a small timer that was counting down from ten seconds. "And you won't want to miss this visit." Tsuna's brown eyes were locked on the doorway that led into the room as the watch silently kept track of time with mocking ticks. Just as the shrill alarm sounded, the door exploded open and a body slammed down into the luckily cleaned table, but as the person fell off the table, he landed gracefully on their feet, a soft chuckle falling from his scarred chest.

"You've got to stop beating me up eventually," Jean said as he smoothed out his clothing.

"No I don't. You're awfully fun to kick when I'm angry," came a familiar growl from the doorway, and the click from her heels only confirmed Gokudera's suspicions on this person's identity. The bomber groaned softly and drank down the tea in his hands before getting up and going to storm out past them, but Reborn's voice stopped him.

"Did I tell you that you could leave, Gokudera?"

"…No."

"Then you should stay. This will be beneficial to you."

The bomber scowled, but returned to his seat to observe the family. He counted six of the seven family members, and immediately noticed that the girl with the wild red hair was not present. His thin lips drew into a scowl, and immediately made the connection that if she wasn't obeying her boss's orders, that she must be the cloud guardian. It was very rare for another to disobey their boss so blatantly, so he was positive that he was right.

"I'd like to get to work as soon as possible, if you would just ignore the stupid octopus," Avrilina said as she examined her nails from her relaxed position on the wall. She seemed a little worse for wear, and had she not insulted him as Ryohei did, Gokudera might have held his tongue. She insulted him though, and as if it was nothing. He growled and rose from his chair threateningly.

"Don't talk like I'm not here, you dumb bitch."

"Hm, how creative. At least I don't look like some old shit."

"Stop fighting, you two," Kim said, trying to calm them down. "I thought that we might try to be civilized for a few minutes."

"You're here to train these useless kids," The infant said bluntly as he raised his gun threateningly towards the trio. Avrilina raised a brow and looked at him.

"You want me to baby sit them?"

"If that's how you want to look at it, then I suppose so."

"I'm going to make the assumption you've already decided where you want each of us, no?"

Reborn smirked softly, then lowered his weapon. "You catch on quick."

"It's an…acquired trait," she said lowly.

The silver haired Italian got up again and moved towards the tan woman. "It's probably me and you, woman, so let's go…I don't want to be held behind because of you again," Gokudera said as he seized the Spaniard's tan wrist in his pale fingers. Out of instinct, she growled and raised her hand to strike him, but before she could, Reborn took hold of the situation.

"Not this time, Gokudera." This caused the boy to blink and look at the arcobaleno in confusion. "You both need a lesson in patience, and neither of you can teach the other how to master it. Avrilina will be working with Yamamoto, and you will be working with Sen."

The dark haired baseball player's head perked up at the mention of his name, and his wide brown eyes locked with her narrowed green ones as she glared at him. He he seemed to not notice her angry look though and smiled happily at her.

"I've never worked with you before! This should be a fun game!" he said as he got up and walked over to her, his hand outstretched. "Let's hop to it! I want to get back soo-"

"I'll stab you if you think of laying your fingers on me," She snarled at him and slapped his hand away, "I appreciate your assistance when I've been injured, but that gives you no right to touch me." The Rain Guardian blinked, his smile faltering for a second as he tried to comprehend what she just said, and then just as quickly as it fell, the grin was back again.

"You're just like Gokudera! He's always fussing at me too! We'll be good friends!"

"Keep our paws off and you might have an ice cube's chance in hell."

"What's that mean?"

Gokudera blinked and watched the two as if they were crazy. She seemed angered by Yamamoto, but not to the degree that she was with Gokudera. She had only slapped his hand away when it got a little too close for comfort, where she had forcefully beaten the bomber down before because he had been in the same vicinity as her. It was unbelievable how quickly she had learned to hate him and respect the baseball player. He was the boss's right hand man, so he needed to get her to like him more then she liked the stupid baseball nut!

"R-Reborn! Can't I be with her? I need to become the boss's right hand man, and this is the only way!"

The baby's black eyes turned to Gokudera. "Are you saying that you think my judgments aren't good enough for you?"

"N-No! That's not it! I just-"

"Maybe if you're lucky, you can tomorrow, but only if you finish your training for today with Sen."

"Who the hell is that?"

"That's me…" came a soft voice from the side, and Gokudera glanced over to see the boy in bright clothing. He blinked and eyed the familiar scarf, then growled lowly in annoyance when he placed the sleepy looking boy.

"You're the mist user…" Sen nodded, his messy locks bobbing gently with his head, but said nothing more to respond to the Vongola Strom guardian's aggressive tone. "Why am I with you?" The boy shrugged and walked out, his hands shoved in his fluorescent pink skinny jeans and his shoulders hunched over. Gokudera blinked in surprise, then again growled at him. "Don't you have anything to say?!" As if to be snarky, Sen glanced back at him, his eyes hidden behind his dark hair and a pair of large, fashionable glasses, then shook his head and walked out. The bomber snorted and narrowed his green eyes, then stormed out as he fiddled with a cigarette and his lighter. "Damn it…All these people are so infuriating…They must be learning from their boss…"

Yamamoto flopped back on his bead with a big sigh of relief as comfort washed over him. Avrilina had been a tough cookie towards him, and had Spartan training similar to that of Reborn, though, it was never as bad as the Arcobaleno's could get. That didn't mean that he was pain free. There were a few little woulds on his body where she had been unnecessarily rough with him and had cut his lightly tanned skin with the blade of her halberd, or where her nails had dug in too tight, or where her box animal had managed to bite him, but it was mainly just bruises that dotted his body.

He stared up at the ceiling as he allowed his thoughts to wander a bit to his newfound friend's personality. The brunette was so guarded and angry, but he was sure she had a nice side. He just needed to find that side. He didn't really mind her anger and figured she had a reason for having so much pent up rage, but it worried him that someone could be so angry and overworked. It wasn't good for anyone to have such stress, and she might get sick…

A sigh left his lips and his hand tumbled down towards the floor, but something that brushed his fingertips caught his attention. The boy glanced down and saw the corner of a small book peeking out from under the corner of the bed, and with a small smile of satisfaction, he picked the mysterious book up. There was no name on the thick black, leather bound journal, but since it was in his room, he imagined that it was his and opened the book to look inside and examine its contents.

Yamamoto immediately recognized the swirling, fancy script as handwriting as belonging to someone other than himself, and he flipped through it quickly, scanning for a name so he could return it without looking at it. There was nothing though. While he wasn't one to snoop, he wanted to return it to its proper owner, so he read through the first page in an attempt to figure out the owner.

I've decided that your advice is good, Yamamoto…I should start writing about how I feel, but I need to write to someone to get my emotions out onto paper. I know you won't judge me for whatever I put down in ink, so you get to be the one to help me…You can't tell anyone about this though; it's our secret. I'll leave the book at your door, than you can reply to me on the other side and leave it at my door.

Yamamoto glanced at the opposite side, and sure enough, there was his familiar handwriting that looked like chicken scratch in comparison to this person's elegant script. Figuring he'd have time later to read his reply, he continued to read this mystery person's entry.

Life is tough right now, and I would really like for things to be simple for once…Do you ever wonder what its like to live normally? Without all the responsibility on your shoulders? I don't remember when I was relaxed….Or at least I don't remember a time when things were carefree. How do you manage to radiate such a clean, happy, and almost calming air? Everyone else is so high strung about the mafia and the stress and threats that come along with it, but you still always seem so happy, and your smile and laugh are genuine as the way your greet your friends…

We are friends, right? It's not something I asked; I just assumed since we're both so comfortable, that we were. If you don't want to be, I suppose I understand. You need to show me how to play baseball though. You promised me you would, so you have to. Breaking promises is a bad thing, even if you don't want to be friends-

A soft snore bubbled in Yamamoto's chest as he fell asleep with the book in his hands. It bored him to sleep just looking at the amount of words on the page that covered both the front and back, and there were four more like it. The fact that he was worn out didn't help him focus either. On top of the pages, his fingers twitched and brushed over the long dried black ink, and gently pinched one of the sheets between the calloused tips. He'd finish the journal one day, no matter how boring it was.

I'm just going to point this out, if you have expectations for me; I'm going to screw this time line up because I haven't gotten through the entire manga. It won't be off too much, I hope, but I don't really know when something happens, and I will rarely have the OCs interacting directly with a main plotline (the only exception being chapter eight and a few future chapters.) I just loved the idea of a future arc so much, I had to shove the Espinozas in there.

I'm going to need sky OCs, and for these, you need to be very descriptive, and have a past involving the Espinoza in some way. It doesn't have to be very much, but provide some possible motives for wanting to attack them.

Question time! Who's journal is Yamamoto reading? Avrilina's? Someone I haven't introduced yet? GOKUDERA'S?!

I'm sorry for dying! I had a lot of work and health problems that kept me away. Hopefully, I'll be back in business, though!

I'd appreciate if all of you who read this would review! So do that, and send me a PM! I love to talk to you all and get your input on the story, and what you'd like to see in it.