A/N: I have no excuse other than "I was busy", so I hope this chapter will make it up to you guys…
3 days later, the day of the Vongola Hitman Competition pre-party…
Tsunade groaned and rearranged the groceries dangling in multiple bags on her aching arms.
"Dammit Reborn," she muttered under her breath, cursing her tutor for the billionth time. "If you wanted more supplies, accept the damn caterer's offer to go buy more instead of saying your student would be delighted to walk three damn miles to the nearest town and pick up these high end supplies that take three hours to fucking find!"
Around nine in the morning, Tsuna had gotten a call from the Yakuza Coalition stating that they were going to bring nearly double the number of people that were signed up to attend the party. Though space wasn't a problem (Reborn was confident a whole city could fit into the main area with space to spare), food definitely was. Unwilling to make a fuss despite how annoyed he was, Tsuna made an urgent call to the caterers that were swarming the mansion and asked them to increase the amount of food drastically. This caused the many chefs and planners to go into a panic, shouting and bickering with each other as they tried to find someone who could spare several hours to go buy the supplies. Reborn, irritated by the sudden increase in noise, came out of the training center to see what the commotion was about and immediately volunteered Tsunade to go buy the groceries.
"You need her back by 17 o'clock?" said Reborn coolly, ignoring Tsunade's protests. "She'll be back by 14:30." Then, he pushed her out the door, saying that it was a timed endurance exercise and she wasn't allowed take a vehicle there or back or else there would be severe consequences, and closed the door, leaving Tsunade speechless and furious.
It didn't take long for Tsunade to arrive at the town, running three miles in half an hour was child's play for her, but it took forever for her to find the exotic high quality goods the chefs needed, and by the time she finally found quail eggs, it was already 12:30.
'I can't even run back without possibly damaging the fragile groceries,' she thought, exasperated. 'It's a good thing I found a few shortcuts on the way here.'
As she walked, her mind began to wander, and she grimaced as a now familiar wave of pain burst in her chest.
'At least I can be alone for a while,' she thought grimly.
Though Tsunade was angry with Reborn for sending her on such a useless errand, she was also kind of glad for some time away from him. After the day Sakamoto proposed to her, she and Reborn had seemingly fallen back into their usual training routine. She had passed the final exam for her Master's degree with flying colors, and after her ankle was cleared by Yuni to be fit for use, continued to hone her skills under Reborn's careful instruction. Though it would seem normal to anyone familiar with Reborn's training regimen (the usual life-threatening tasks and surprise attacks that could end up with someone in the hospital), it certainly didn't feel that way to Tsunade. There was an unexplainable tension between her and Reborn now that didn't exist before, and it acted like a barrier between the two, keeping them apart whether they liked it or not. The normalcy of the last three days nearly drove Tsunade insane because her thoughts were far from ordinary. She often laid awake late at night, trying to create a solution, a simple answer, to solve all the questions inside of her head, but to no avail. Tsunade desperately wanted to break the wall that now cut her off from Reborn, but whenever she came close, she hesitated and drew back, keeping her jumbled feelings at bay. She realized that this barrier was a creation brought about by the two of them, and Tsunade was frightened to bring her own defenses down.
Because of this, both Tsunade and Reborn continued to act like nothing was different, even though it was obvious that everything had changed.
Tsunade was about to walk out of an alleyway that would take her just outside of the mansion grounds, when five thugs moved in behind and in front of her. She rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh, hearing Jacine do the same.
'I noticed them trailing me a while back, but I was hoping they wouldn't bother me," she thought irritably.
"Oi, lady," said the largest one, probably the leader. "Give your wallet and valuables to us and you walk away uninjured."
"How about you get the fuck out of my way and I let you all off with nothing worse than a broken nose?" Tsunade shot back sharply. She was already having a stressful day, and she didn't want to deal with unsophisticated goons right now.
Tsunade felt their auras flare up in anger. "I don't think you understand who's in charge here, bitch," said the leader angrily, pulling out a gun as the rest of his henchmen did the same.
She sighed in annoyance and jerked her head upward slightly to signal to Jacine to be ready. 'Five guns, five men,' thought Tsunade as she gently dangled the groceries on a low-hanging pipe out of danger's way so they wouldn't get crushed. 'I almost feel sorry for them.'
The thug leader opened his mouth to say something else, probably to ask what she was doing, but he never got the chance when Tsunade's leg shot up and kicked the gun out of his hand. Taking advantage of his momentary surprise, she then brought her elbow smashing into the side of his head, knocking him out. The rest of the gang finally seemed to figure out what was going on and began charging at her, ignoring the possible consequences this could procure. Tsunade smirked and leaped upwards gracefully. Time seemed to slow down as Tsunade executed a perfect backflip in the air while the henchmen clumsily ran into each other. When gravity finally took hold, Tsunade grabbed onto another metal pipe and swung towards two of the men, her red combat boots colliding with their abdomens. They fell to the floor with a grunt, and Tsunade swung around to kick the other two men in the nose with such force that their eyes rolled back.
The excitement now over, Tsunade let go of the pipe and landed lightly on her feet, surveying her work coolly.
'I warned them,' she thought with a smug smile, a fierce sense of satisfaction coursing through her veins. She was so satisfied, in fact, that—
CLANG!
Tsunade blinked her eyes, dazed. Then, the pain settled in and she rubbed her throbbing forehead, cursing her own stupidity.
"Damn great job letting your inflated ego blind you from the metal pipe right in front of you," she muttered to herself.
After a few moments, she stood up, stumbling a bit, and picked up the groceries from where they were still hanging. Tsunade looked over the groceries quickly and found, much to her relief, that they were all still intact. As she walked out of the alley and up the path that led to the mansion, she brushed her fingers against her forehead again and was dismayed to find a bump forming.
"Reborn's going to lecture my ear off for this," she said with a sigh.
Tsunade opened the door and was immediately flooded with overly grateful cooks and planners who snatched the groceries from her hands and retreated back to their various tasks. Her arms suddenly empty, she sighed in relief and stretched her aching limbs.
"Back so soon, dame-Tsunade?"
Tsunade looked at Reborn, who had appeared in the hallway, with a fierce glare, ignoring the way her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. "I believe you gave me a thinly veiled warning of what would happen if I didn't make it back quickly," she said harshly.
"You got that right," said Reborn flatly. "I was beginning to think that I would have to do ahead with my plan of—"
He abruptly stopped talking and narrowed his eyes at Tsunade. Tsunade paled considerably when she realized she had been subconsciously rubbing the bump on her head. 'And I was hoping that I could delay this lecture until the party blows over,' she thought glumly.
"You've touched the same place on your head 3 times in the last minute," Reborn said suspiciously. "What happened?"
Tsunade was about to say that she was fine when Reborn walked up to her and put one of his own hands on her forehead, feeling around for a brief moment until he brushed over the lump on her head.
"Care explaining to me how you got clocked on the head?" he said, pausing over the bump.
Tsunade felt the warm heat of Flames on her forehead and decided that if Reborn was being nice enough to take care of the bump and possibly her pounding headache, then she might as well tell him the truth.
"I ran into a group of thugs on the way back," she said with a sigh.
Reborn raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you actually let them hit you?" he asked incredulously.
"No! Of course not!" exclaimed Tsunade indignantly. "There's no way unsophisticated goons like them could ever hit me! I took care of them quickly and then…" Tsunade's face flushed dark red with embarrassment as she remembered the stupid way she got hurt.
"Then…?" prompted Reborn.
"I…walked into a metal pipe," muttered Tsunade, suddenly observing the floor keenly.
There was a brief moment of silence, and then Reborn burst out into laughter.
Tsunade looked up abruptly, staring at Reborn in shock. In all her years with Reborn, she had never heard him laugh before. A few chuckles, maybe, but full-blown laughter? She didn't even know it was possible for Reborn to laugh or find something very funny.
Of course, it didn't help that he was laughing at her.
"I-it's not that funny!" stammered Tsunade, glaring at him.
"You walked straight into a metal pipe," said Reborn, though his words were a bit muffled by his laughter. "You, the world's second strongest hitman, single-handedly took down a group of men twice your size, and you got hurt by an inanimate object. What do you mean that's not funny? That's hilarious!"
Reborn continued to laugh, and though Tsunade tried to maintain her angry glare, his laughter was contagious. A few giggles slipped past her frown, and next thing she knew, she was laughing uncontrollably as well. A few party coordinators stared at them strangely, wondering what the hell they could be laughing at, but Tsunade didn't care. For the first time in three days, she could finally feel the connection between herself and Reborn again. She forgot she was mad at him and laughed along, trying to enjoy their reconnection before it faded.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, both of them became sharply aware of Reborn's hand that was still on Tsunade's forehead, and that their faces were very close to each other. The events of the past few days came rushing back to them, shattering their brief moment of happiness.
"I'll be sure to give you a lesson on dealing with inanimate objects tomorrow," said Reborn, removing his hand deliberately and standing up. Though it was meant to be a joke, Tsunade could see that the humor didn't quite reach his eyes, and that his expression became closed and guarded again. "Meet me in the training room."
Tsunade nodded, and as he walked away, it took all of her willpower not to scream in frustration. That infuriating façade of normalcy was back, and she had no choice but to play along. The mental wall was up again, and though a part of her said it was for her own good, another part of her wanted to pound at it until broke. Tsunade wasn't sure what she wanted, and not knowing what to do drove her crazy.
She had to make a decision and choose between her logic or her feelings. She knew that a marriage with Sakamoto would benefit the Vongola the most, but would it benefit her? Maybe she would learn to love Sakamoto with time, but was she willing to try when it was obvious her heart wasn't into it? Other people would have days, maybe years to make a decision like this, but Tsunade?
She had only a few hours left and she wasn't any closer to figuring things out.
Several hours later…during the Vongola Hitman Competition pre-party…
Tsunade ducked behind a fancy (and completely unnecessary) ice sculpture and sighed in relief.
'He almost caught me that time,' she thought, glancing at the nearest reflective surface (a dainty silver fork held by some rich heiress that funded part of the game) to watch Sakamoto as he walked away, confused. She had been avoiding him since he arrived to buy herself more time. Her secretive tactics managed to let her stay undetected for the first two hours, but Tsunade was scheduled to play the piano later as a sign of goodwill that the Vongola weren't superior to the other famiglias, and there was no way she could hide from Sakamoto then.
Tsunade let out another long sigh and stood up, ignoring the curious glances she received from people wondering why the hell one of the Vongola representatives was crouching on the floor. She looked around, taking in her surroundings like she was trained to, when something strange caught her eye.
Up on the second floor balcony that looked over the ballroom, Reborn was talking in what seemed like a casual manner. He never talked casually to anyone. Reborn was always either teaching a lesson with his words (and actions), or he was clashing egos with one of his many self-declared rivals. Despite the fact that Reborn was like a glacier in conversation, he was talking informally to two strangers that looked vaguely familiar to Tsunade, and that made her very curious. She carefully took a long route around where Sakamoto was grabbing a drink, evidently still looking for her, and made her way up the stairs, walking towards Reborn.
Reborn noticed her and waved her over. She strode warily to his side and observed the middle-aged couple he was talking too. The woman had jet-black hair with a few streaks of gray that revealed her age, and the man had black spiky hair that slightly ruined the effect of his professional attire.
"I've been meaning to introduce you to each other," said Reborn smoothly. "This is my student, Sawada Tsunade, sister to the Vongola Decimo and self-proclaimed world's SECOND strongest hitman."
Tsunade looked at Reborn sharply. 'Wait, did he just make a semi-joke?!' she thought in astonishment.'He never does that in public unless it's needed for a cover identity!' Tsunade's shock settled back into confusion when she felt a burst of sadness and joy from the couple, feelings that were covered up just as quickly as they had appeared.
"Tsunade," continued Reborn. "These people here are Professor Itami Kureko and his wife, Itami Keiko. "
At the sound of their names Tsunade felt a strong wave of pain course through her head. She only barely managed control her instinct to wince violently and only twitched instead. Reborn noticed, but he kept talking, as if her reaction was to be expected.
"Kureko works as the head math professor at Tokyo University, and Keiko is a leading fashion designer for Kagami Fashion Designs. They also double up at CEDEF, with Kureko as a consultant and Keiko as an interrogator."
Tsunade opened her mouth to reply with a polite greeting, but in that moment, Keiko grabbed her arm and looked her in the eye, her grip surprisingly strong for someone her age. Normally, Tsunade would've flipped her onto the ground, but she was too shocked to move, and something about Keiko's grip was familiar, though Tsunade knew that couldn't be possible.
"This is probably one of the biggest social events you attend all year," said Keiko seriously, "and you're wearing work clothes?! What type of impression are you trying to make? A serious workaholic?"
Tsunade blinked, still kind of dazed. "Keiko-san, I—"
"Call me Keiko-chan," interrupted Keiko, suddenly pulling her around and dragging Tsunade with her down the hall. "Luckily, I have an outfit that I was fixing up earlier." Keiko stopped for a second and looked back at Reborn. "Where's the nearest bathroom?" she demanded.
"Down the next corridor, first door to your right," said Reborn, amused.
Tsunade gave him a you-were-supposed-to-help-me-and-rescue-me –from-this-maniac glare as she was dragged helplessly down the hall. For a brief moment, she thought about resisting, but something in the back of her mind told her it would be a horrible idea and wouldn't work anyway. The people that thought it was weird when she was sneaking around now openly gaped at her when they saw her submissively being pulled by a middle-aged women. Tsunade sighed helplessly.
'Why me?'
Reborn and Kureko watched, amused, as Keiko hauled an unhappy Tsunade around the corner and out of their sight.
"She hasn't changed a bit," said Reborn, smiling fondly at old memories.
"Yeah, married life hasn't taken its toll on her at all," joked Kureko. "I, on the other hand, could use a few drinks."
Reborn allowed himself one last grin before settling into a serious mood. "Remember what we talked about briefly over the phone?" he asked.
Kureko nodded seriously, his smile now gone as well. "I've done some digging," he said, "and I have concluded that the only way he knows so much about the mafia world is if he's in a high position himself."
"That's what I was afraid to hear," said Reborn grimly. "There are so many people that chose to remain anonymous in the Vongola Grand Alliance. It could be anyone of them."
"I think it would have to be one of the major famiglias that are closely tied in," said Kureko. "Information flow to them isn't as strict because no one wants two major famiglias clashing over withheld information."
Reborn sighed. "Well at least that narrows it down a bit. I'll ask Iemitsu to look into the Yakuza Coalition and the other five families that were included in the original treaty. No one likes to hear there's a traitor in their midst though; it won't be easy."
"Iemitsu will be able to handle it," said Kureko confidently. "I am one of his best consultants after all."
"Still as vain as ever I see," said Reborn with a chuckle. "You haven't changed too much from your days as my top strategist."
"I came up with some pretty good strategies back then, didn't I," said Kureko with a mischievous grin. "Including one involving a hotel room."
As Reborn flushed a bit as he remembered the scheme Kureko was talking about, Kureko turned to him with a determined glint in his eyes.
"Speaking of that, it's time for us to talk about what you really wanted me to advise you on," he said, a bit quieter.
"What do you mean?" asked Reborn, confused. "That was the only thing I wanted to discuss."
Kureko shook his head. "No, it wasn't," he said seriously. "I could hear the worry in your voice when you talked to me over the phone. When I asked Iemitsu for more details, he told me about the ridiculous keep-away game you're playing. Now that I'm here next to you, I can see the sadness in your body language, and I saw the way you glanced back at Tsunade with longing and pain. Keiko's not the only one who hasn't changed. You're in love with Tsunade, as you should be, but you're not exactly sure how not to lose again, so you're taking the easy way out and pushing her away."
"I'm not—" protested Reborn, but Kureko held up his hand to silence him.
"I was your top strategist," he said firmly. "Now, I'm your friend and advisor. I did it once and I'll do it again.
It's about time someone talked some sense into you."
A/N: Yes! Finally! The power couple that got Tsunade and Reborn together in the first place is back, and now they're doing the same thing all over again! Special thanks to kari, Kiera Vincent, 05xRi-chanx27, Lite Crystal27, and Drika –Veras for reviewing!
Read and Review please!
