AN: Just for this chapter, text in italics is Italian. Regular is Japanese unless otherwise noted.
Dino had been going over the financial reports from the last week when his desk's intercom relayed a message of unexpected guests arriving in non-armored limos. Taking that to be a friendly gesture from important guests, he ordered the gates to be opened but for the outside guards to be prepared just in case.
He put aside the papers, stood up, and stretched his sore limbs to get blood flowing freely again. Three straight hours of work was never pleasant. And now it was time to go greet his guests. Reborn always said a boss must show hospitality when not dealing with enemies.
Children. There were children roaming the grounds. And a short lady. The short lady looked awfully familiar…
"Ciaossu," the lady greeted.
Ah. That would be it. For some reason, his former tutor saw it fit to make an unannounced visit with kids in tow. Why? Dino mentally groaned. At least I get to get out of work for a while.
As if sensing his thoughts—How does he do that?—Reborn smacked him to the floor with his Leon fan.
"Gah! Reborn, why'd you do—" He yelped as he was hit again, this time making him roll two feet away.
"How disrespectful, Dino. You dare to greet your mother like that?" Reborn scolded in Japanese, eyes gleaming with dark humor and glee.
Taking Reborn's cue, he responded in the same language. "My mother? But she's dea—" When Reborn lifted his fan threateningly, Dino wisely stopped the thought. He chose to go along with Reborn's pretense in order to preserve his remaining brain cells from Reborn's abuse. "M-Mother! How good to see you!"
Unfortunately for Dino, he was hit again anyways. "What did I tell you about stuttering?"
"N-not to…" he waveringly replied.
Reborn took slow, steady steps to Dino, who hastily scrambled away from the menacing presence of the Sun Arcobaleno.
"And what are you doing now?"
"S-stuttering?"
"Wait! Reborn!" Dino slipped a little as he fled from the surprisingly fast little figure that was easily keeping pace with him.
The fan flickered as it sliced through the air, aiming to hit the man's calf. "Don't be disrespectful to your mother!" Smack.
The man yelped. "Okay! Okay! Please Stop!"
"A boss shouldn't give in so easily." Smack. "Where's your pride?"
The Namimori kids stood by as they watched a grown man be beaten by a tiny lady who was supposedly his mother.
"Hey…" a boy hesitantly interjected into the uncertain silence. "Should we try to stop her?"
The crowd backed away. "If you want to, don't let us stop you," one boy said.
"We believe in you, Hanataro-kun!" a girl shouted.
"Go for it!"
The students gave their encouragements, having no intentions of helping and only wanting to see what would happen should a person interrupt the squabbling family members.
Tsuna took pity on Hanataro, who was trying to shrink out of existence, and audibly told Gokudera, "I'm feeling a bit of jetlag." This served to stop both the students' goading and Reborn's relentless beating of Dino and opened up a flood of complaints from various students.
"I'm hungry."
"I'm a little tired."
"My feet are sore."
"If you're tired, I can carry you, Tsuna-sama!" Gokudera offered, picking up on Tsuna's hint.
"What are you doing letting your guests get to this level? Get them inside," Reborn demanded. "I raised you better than that."
"You were hi—" Dino started, but then thought better of complaining. His legs were sore enough from running and enduring Reborn's deceptively strong hits. He didn't need any more of those. "Right." He nodded. "Romario," Dino called out to a man standing in the front of a line of similarly suited men. "Are we ready?"
"Yes, Boss," Romario answered. "Please, come this way," he instructed the children.
At this point, Tsuna was starting to succumb to his drowsiness again, so Yamamoto offered to pick him up before Gokudera could shift him onto his back. Tsuna was in Yamamoto's arms once more before Hibari and Mukuro could finish exchanging their competitive glares.
As expected, the opulent manor was just as impressive on the inside as the outside. The typical features of a richly decorated residence were present; there were bracketed lamps lining the walls, thick carpets sprawling across the floors, and huge portraits glittering in gold frames. The portraits each depicted a blond man or woman holding what seemed to be a weapon of some sort in a blue background.
"Hey, Dino-san," Yamamoto called out. "What's that? It looks interesting."
Yamamoto was unsteadily pointing to the portrait of a woman who had a mace in hand. A smear of red decorated the tip of one of the spikes. Yamamoto moved his hand back into position before he could lose his grip and drop Tsuna, who was now asleep.
Dino rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ahaha… That is—uh—"
Dino was saved from attempting to come up with a plausible answer when another, while pointing to a separate frame, asked, "Who's that?"
"Oh," Dino sighed, relieved. That wasn't as hard to answer. "That would be the founder of the group of our greatest allies."
All of them stared up at the gleaming portrait. It was an old oil painting of a man with gentle blond hair and eyes with the rare hue of orange. He wore a rich pinstripe suit under a regal black cape that hung over his shoulders. "Giotto di Vongola" was engraved into a gold plate under the frame.
Next to the portrait was another one that looked just as old. The man in the other frame also had blond hair, but he had the more typical blue eyes. He wore a gray suit with a cravat and no cloak. The man held a whip that was coiled tightly. "Jerome Cavallone" gleamed brightly at them from the engraved nameplate.
"This one is the founder of our group," Dino explained as their eyes wandered over to the other frame. "These two formed an alliance centuries ago, and the alliance holds strongly to this day."
"We'll be seeing both of the companies, so you can hold off your questions until later," Reborn said when a student attempted to ask another. "Now we shall proceed to lunch, won't we, Dino?"
"Alright, Re—Mother! I said Mother!" Dino hastily corrected with a subtle movement from Reborn.
A decadent meal-with-way-too-many-courses later, Romario guided the glutted kids to their rooms for the week, all of them gathered in one wing of the building. A satisfyingly full stomach and the drag of jetlag were finally catching up to them, and not a few students yawned as they stumbled into their assigned rooms and onto the plush beds.
Tsuna stayed in the dining room. He'd woken up halfway through the meal when everyone else was on their third course, so he was still trying to spoon some of the soft red stuff into his mouth while the others went to sleep. That and he'd caught the blond man's eye requesting him to stay behind.
Once the dining room door thudded shut and the soft muffled footsteps of the group gradually disappeared, the man introduced himself. "So you're Reborn's new student, I hear. I'm Dino Cavallone, the tenth boss of the Cavallone famiglia. Nice to meet you." He lifted his water glass minutely in cheers.
Tsuna reciprocated. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, soon-to-be tenth boss of the Vongola famiglia. Nice to meet you, too, Cavallone-san."
With the official introductions over, the air became much less stilted. "Now, you don't have to call me that. It's much too formal for you. Hey, I know! Since we're both students of Reborn, that makes me your senpai, right? We've both suffered under his tyranny." It was a good thing that Reborn wasn't in the room to hear that, else Dino would've had to dodge a bullet. "In that case, we're like brothers! I can be your nii-san!"
"Then… Dino-nii?" Tsuna looked up for approval. Seeing the rather ecstatic gleam in Dino's eyes, Tsuna smiled back.
After Tsuna finished his lunch, Dino escorted him to his room, which was in an area not previously gone through. The area was brightly lit and seemed disturbingly well-kept even compared to other parts of the mansion. A gilded set of double doors led to Dino's room. Dino waved toward a smaller set of doors to the right of his. "You can stay here," he said as he pushed open the doors.
It felt just like his room in the mansion back in Namimori. A dresser carved from quality wood—cherry, maybe—supported a large decorative mirror. A four poster bed (which Tsuna had at Reborn's insistence) was piled high with soft pillows and fluffy sheets. Unlike in his mansion room, there was a ceiling-high window at one wall that led to a balcony. It was more like his castle room in that sense, albeit with the absence of a beloved tree.
Nevertheless, Tsuna was pleased by it. "Thank you," he said sincerely to his beaming host.
"Don't mention it," Dino waved off. "You'll want to take a nap, I suppose. You look like you're about to drop asleep again."
Indeed, Tsuna was leaning toward one of the posts of the bed, holding onto it for support. "You don't mind, Dino-nii?" Tsuna asked.
"Go right ahead. I bet the others are already sleeping," Dino excused. "We can talk at dinner."
Dino left the room as Tsuna settled into his comfortable nest of blankets and pillows, dropping off to sleep yet again.
Just ten minutes later, all of the kids were asleep and the manor guards and servants had left the wing. Chance. Sasuke left his room after calling for a taxi. There were no employees he could call for here… yet. He planned to get the cooperation of the Vongola Trading Company to get an unlimited access to Merith's markets. If he managed to get Vongola's backing, then it was practically a done deal that Merith would acquiesce. Currently, he only had the trading rights to about 18% of Merith's grape stock. The limited amount made the Uchiha wine chocolates very exclusive and rare that only the very wealthy could afford to indulge in, but if he were to get all of the grapes there would be more opportunity to sell and profit. It would be very lucrative… for him. It wasn't his business if the smaller rival companies couldn't keep up with changes.
He needed to do this. Then the Akatsuki Sweets Corporation would go out of business and Itachi would learn that he can't just betray the family. Itachi would have to come back.
Sasuke slipped out of the mansion, unnoticed by all but Dino, who watched the always frowning student stroll out of the gate. Dino wondered how Sasuke expected to get back in.
Tsuna felt he was finally caught up to the others in terms of sleep. While the others only took about an hour or two to nap since they were less tired, Tsuna took the opportunity to have a nice sleep and went for four hours.
The other students were gathered in the gardens, playing childishly with each other. Hibari looked to be suffering an abnormally high level of aggravation as he keenly watched over the kids running across the lawn and ducking between the copse of trees.
Fran was up to his usual play; he materialized a snake and set it upon four kids he didn't like. The startled kids shouted and fled from the snake, which continuously slithered toward them. Dino stepped up and grabbed it by its head, preventing it from biting. After a quick assessment, he released it into the brush, saying, "It's just a Horseshoe Whip Snake. They're not venomous, so don't be intimidated, even if that one was particularly large." Then he turned his head to Fran, correctly deducing that the Mist Flames he sensed that made up the snake came from him. Instead of calling him out on it in private, he just smiled amusedly. Fran approved of Dino.
Yamamoto was attempting to get the other students to play catch with him with a ball that was provided by Romario, but they all backed away, knowing that the cheerfully smiling boy had a frighteningly strong throwing arm.
Hana stood off to the side, watching the interaction thoughtfully. Yamamoto was very friendly with the suited men watching over them and with Dino-san. It would make sense if he were the one with the connection. But then again, wasn't he always friendly?
Gokudera straightened up from where he was leaning against a tree when he saw Tsuna emerge from the mansion. "Tsuna-sama! Are you fully awake now?" he asked when Tsuna walked to him.
"Yes. The room was very comfortable," Tsuna commented. "So, what's been happening here?"
Gokudera shrugged. "Not much. Most of us woke up quickly and nothing was really planned out for today, so we've been exploring the mansion. Then some got bored and decided to start a game outside, and eventually everyone else followed. No one's playing it now, though." Once Yamamoto had gotten a hold of the ball, everyone else backed off.
"Is that so?" Tsuna slid down to the springy grass next to Gokudera and let out a content sigh as he leaned against the bark of the tree. Gokudera followed his actions. The two of them sat there and watched Mukuro have a covert match-off with Mist Flames against Fran out of sight from all but them deep in the trees. To Tsuna, it looked like Mukuro was directing Fran in making more intricate illusions. Fran was now capable in creating a wave of snakes that surged forward as a whole. Hm. Maybe Mukuro was taking him in as an apprentice.
Eventually, the sun sank down and the kids withdrew into the mansion, exhausted but happy. They were given a filling dinner before they were put back into their rooms to sleep.
Their first day in Italy passed without incident.
Sasuke was frustrated. Apparently, he couldn't meet with the head unless he made an appointment. He was the heir of Uchiha Confectionaries, a prestigious company that they should be honored to serve. Fine. They'd learn how great his company was soon enough. He made an appointment scheduled to take place in two days and took the taxi back to the Cavallone mansion. It was already ten p.m. If he'd been one hour later, he wouldn't have been able to even make an appointment.
He stood outside the gates, now realizing his problem. He was stuck. Outside. With the gates locked. And he couldn't ask for the gate to be opened or he'd be questioned. Then… the only way in was to climb, which would definitely ruin his suit, which he needed for the meeting in two days. Hm… ruined suit or damage to pride? He really didn't want to be seen like an errant child, and suits can be replaced, so… He nodded decisively.
Climb it is.
"Boss, there's a kid trying to climb the gate," Romario announced as he handed his boss another sheaf of papers.
"Oh, he's back?" Dino mumbled around a pen. He swiped the pen out of his mouth and casually pointed it to the direction of the gate. "Let him climb. He wants to be unnoticed. Have the guards stay back."
After sending the order, Romario settled back, watching the kid crest the top of the gate and getting the edge of his coat caught on the wrought iron points. The coat tore as he tried to wriggle away, and the sudden loosening made him lose his balance and fall over into the side of the mansion. He managed to grab onto a bar of the gate as he fell, however, and slowed down his descent enough to let him reorient himself and land on his feet instead of his back as he was previously positioned to do. The kid dusted himself off angrily and readjusted his coat before walking back to the mansion as dignified as he could be in such a situation.
As he passed by one of the garden lights, Romario caught sight of his face. "Sasuke Uchiha," he noted. "What was he doing outside?"
"It doesn't really matter. His background check says he's the heir of Uchiha Confectionaries of Japan, so he was probably making connections. The most harm he could do to us is try to sway our allies away from us—try, since his company may have strength in Japan, but we are stronger in Italy."
In the morning, the kids were unexpectedly jolted into waking up by the sound of a bullhorn. When they stumbled out of their rooms, it was to the sight of Mother Cavallone with a finger ready to press the button of the green bullhorn again. However, instead of hitting the alarm, she switched buttons and pressed the speaker button to announce, "Breakfast started thirty minutes ago. If you're not down in ten minutes, you're not having breakfast today." With that said, she walked back downstairs with surprising speed for a lady of her supposed age and stature.
A flurry of activity sparked once the realization that they were late to breakfast sank in. Missing one of the meals here would be a crime. They only had a week to experience such lavish authentic Italian food, and they couldn't even appreciate it all that much on the first day because of the disorientation from settling into an unfamiliar place.
The Cavallone Company building was impressive like the mansion had been. A row of workers lined each side of the walkway, greeting their boss in synchronization. The automatic doors smoothly slid open as Dino took the lead in, waving and greeting the workers back.
"This is the main building. Here we organize meetings and deals. Our main dealings are the finest horses raised in Italy. One of the ranches is on my estate, but considering it's about two kilometers away from the mansion, it's likely you didn't notice it." Dino continued to detail his company's history and jobs as they walked deeper into the building.
Tsuna felt a little uneasy as time passed, however. He couldn't find anything in his surroundings that could've made him feel that way, and the lack of a visual cause made him even more nervous.
Back in Namimori, Hitsugaya had arrived in the small town and was looking around uninterestedly. He'd already combed through most of Egypt, Denmark, and Britain, all without a trace of the prince. He did end up unexpectedly meeting Phantomhive while in Britain, however. The fourteen year old boy had been taking the chance to check up on some of his corporations there while following a possible track of the prince. The last he heard of him, he was heading off to Italy to look over his branches there and follow another lead. The prince's personal guard had been tagging along, from what he'd seen.
He himself had no leads to follow since he was given the orders to simply explore any possible places the prince might have gone in the whole world. It would take him a large stroke of luck to get even close to that. The game of hit-and-miss was getting very tiresome. It had been for a while now, actually. Hitsugaya sighed, irritated. What chance was there of the prince being in such a backwater town anyway? He should go to Hokkaido instead. The prince would probably be interested in the black watermelons. It had nothing to do with his own desire to sample the delicacy…
"Oh, if it isn't Hitsugaya-kun!" a voice called out.
He stopped walking. That was a voice he hadn't heard in a while. The man had disappeared a few years back with no hint of return. He turned around, expecting to see the sweets-loving man, and sure enough, Urahara stood at the door of a nondescript candy shop while eating a large lollipop.
"Urahara-san," Hitsugaya acknowledged. "What are you doing here? And for that matter, why did you leave?" He walked closer to the man.
Urahara waved his customary fan trivially. "It's not that important. But if you must know…" He leaned forward secretively. Hitsugaya leaned in too with anticipation. "…I got bored!" Urahara laughed at the put-upon expression now on Hitsugaya's face. "You can't have expected me to stay there forever. Besides, I have stuff to do here."
Hitsugaya was interested again. "Oh? Like what?"
Urahara covered his grin with his fan. "That'll cost you if you'd like to know."
Knowing that the man may ask for an exorbitant price, Hitsugaya declined. "No, it's okay."
"Really? Are you sure?" At Hitsugaya's withering glance, he relented. "Fine, fine. Would you like to come in for tea? I have some new candy I think you'd like. I know how much you like watermelons." When Hitsugaya blushed, Urahara laughed again.
"Shut up!"
"Don't be so angry, Hitsu-chan!"
Hitsugaya growled.
"Freeze!" an armed man yelled out in the lobby. The people that had been crossing through instantly dropped what they were holding—coffee mugs, meticulously organized papers, congratulatory bouquets—and froze their movements. Satisfied by the compliance, the man strode in confidently, still waving his gun around, and demanded, "Bring me your boss."
The receptionist stuttered, "R-right away, s-sir." She swung in her chair to reach the corded phone and rang the secretary of the boss's office. As she punched in the buttons, she discreetly pressed another button, sending out a subtle signal to the guards and a warning to the workers that there was an armed force in the building.
"This is the administrative offi—" Dino was cut off as his cell phone's ringtone went off. He slipped it out of his pocket as he nodded apologetically to the students standing by and picked up the call. "Yes? What is it?"
"Boss? Where are you?" Romario's muffled voice was heard by the curious students.
"The west side of the thirteenth floor. Why?" Dino answered.
"There is a little problem in the lobby. If you are able, please drop off the kids in your office and watch over them."
"It seems like there's some trouble down there. Do you need help?" Dino offered even as he motioned for the group to follow him. He fetched his keys from an inside pocket and turned the correct key in the lock when he reached his office door. The door swung open and he waved the kids inside.
Romario declined. "We have it under control. He's probably just a small-time thug that wants to make a name for himself."
Dino laughed unconcernedly. "That was a bad choice of his—to try to invade Cavallone territory. What does he even want?"
"All he demanded so far was for you to meet him here. Don't worry, Boss. The guards are coming in now."
There was a short pause, then a surprised exclamation of "Hey! What are you—!" before several thuds were heard, and then silence.
"All done, Boss."
"Good job, Romario. I—" Again he was interrupted as the quiet scraping of metal sounded from overhead.
The tittering of girls in the back and the murmurs of the boys congregated in a corner died down as the shuffling above became more animated and the air grate was removed. They watched silently as a woman dropped down. She was crouched from landing a fifteen foot jump down, but she soon straightened into an upright position, ready to continue her covert mission—which she discovered to be not so covert as she found herself being stared at by a large group of children in the boss's office. Oh. And the boss himself, it appeared.
The invader and Dino had a short face-off, in which the two stood unmoving, unblinking, while Tsuna's classmates so very discreetly whipped out their phones and started to record the confrontation. The small five second window in which the invader was shocked frozen was all that was needed for all of the students to have their phones out and ready for the scene that followed.
It was also enough time for the lady to get her wits back about herself. The woman finally snapped out of her shock and jolted into quick movements, reaching to her belt to utilize a small handgun and an eight-inch blade. A wave of fear flooded over the students as they noticed the deadly weapons. Gokudera slid in front of Tsuna to protect him just in case she came over to his area. Unfortunately for the woman, Dino was much faster and had his hidden whip out and uncoiled, already twining around her as one hand just barely touched the handle of the gun. Dino pulled at the whip, tightening it around the woman and pinning her arms to her side, unable to reach either of the weapons. She collapsed as she lost her balance when the whip tightened her legs together.
Dino went back to the phone call. "Hey, Romario, I found another novice trying to root around in my office. She didn't even check if the office was empty before getting out of the air shaft. Can you send someone to pick her up?" he requested. After being given an affirmative, Dino dismissed the call. With that done, he put away the phone and strolled forward to the woman who was trying to escape her bonds. "I don't suppose you would tell me who sent you," he said to her. She scoffed and turned her head away. "Yep. Didn't think so. What were you after anyways? Files? My authorization stamp? The safe?" At the last guess, the woman flinched. The safe, then.
There was a knock on the door. Dino gave permission for entrance, and Romario and a group of more suited men streamed in. They swiftly swept up the intruder and disappeared as fast as they'd come.
"Well now, that was a little disaster averted," Dino remarked. "Lots of people would've been angry at me if…" He shuddered subtly. "But they wouldn't have been able to get into the safe anyways." To Tsuna, he added on in a whisper, "It's Flame-locked."
The Namimori students put away their phones once they realized there would be no more exciting scenes for now. Hana contemplated the situation before asking, "Dino-san, what's in that safe anyways?"
"Nothing that you need to know about," Dino teased. He laughed when many groans of disappointment arose. "But if you're so curious…" The students perked back up. "…you'll have to find out, won't you?" Now they were unsure. Was this further teasing or was he going to tell them? Dino did neither. Instead, he gestured for Tsuna to step toward him. Together they walked to a back corner and pushed aside a shelf from the wall. However, instead of there being a safe embedded into the wall, Dino reached down and pulled away a small section of flooring, revealing the false bottom. Within the nondescript hole laid the safe. Unnoticeably to the group at large, Dino lit a small Sky Flame on the tip of his finger and tapped in the code on the Flame-sensitive keypad. The safe clicked open. Dino put a hand on Tsuna's shoulder and smiled at him, motioning for him to take out the small case that resided inside.
Once Tsuna had the case in hand, Dino procured a little key from an inside pocket and used it to open the lock. The case popped open. Inquisitive students leaned forward, trying to see around the top of the box. To satisfy them, Tsuna announced, "They're rings, but they look broken." Seven rings sat comfortably in a red cushion securely embedded within the thin box. Each seemed to have a different half-completed crest on top.
"Yes, they're not whole, but you can get the story from me later." Dino's eyes wandered to the enamored watching kids. "I was supposed to give these to you when I went to Japan, but you came to Italy before I got the chance to." He shrugged. "All the better, I suppose, since it seems new troubles have sprung up. It might take a while to deal with them." Then he clapped suddenly, startling them all out of their reverie. "All right! Time to get on with the tour!"
Day three was spent leisurely making a general tour of the area, going to popular tourist hotspots. However, only an hour into the trip, they were interrupted by a phone call.
Dino excused himself from the group, pulling out his phone as he waved his hand with apology. "Sorry, it's important. Wait for me here, will you? Actually, none of you move." After having gotten possibly-sincere promises of staying in place from the students, Dino slipped into a quiet corner of the street. Reborn would make sure they behave.
A few minutes later, Dino came back. He looked hurried and slightly flustered. "Something came up. I'm going back to the mansion. Can you take care of them, Re—Mother?" he requested quickly even as he patted his pockets to make sure nothing was missing before he positioned himself to leave. A number of guards split off from the main group to accompany their boss back, the ever dependable Romario being one of them.
"Go ahead," Reborn permitted. "Don't do anything stupid, my idiotic son. Remember what I've taught you." The last part was said in a subtly threatening manner.
"Got it," Dino said in a somewhat distracted tone. Without another word, he dashed down the street to a waiting car prepared to take him to the mansion.
Reborn turned around to face the students again after seeing Dino leave safely. "Well then, shall we continue?"
Ichigo wandered through the streets, having nothing to do since Ciel was still organizing his business and of course Sebastian was helping him. Were they even trying to find Tsuna at this point? Zangetsu's soul stirred within him, sympathetically incensed by his own irritation.
The afternoon sun crashed waves of heat upon him. It wasn't as hot as Merith's summers (it was at the equator, after all) but it was certainly feeling like it would reach that level.
Summer was coming. Usually that would mean summer break for someone his age or younger, but he would normally be indulging Tsuna with sanctioned trips outside the castle until Tsuna's tutors decided they had enough of a break or finished tending to their family businesses (all of Tsuna's tutors were high nobles, so they were busy year round). Up ahead, he caught a glimpse of a large group of kids disappearing around the corner. A school trip, maybe. They didn't look native; they looked Japanese. He huffed out a breath. Young students had it so easy; just play games, occasionally study, read a couple books…
Ichigo stopped. There. That… lady looked familiar for some reason, although he was sure that if he'd ever met someone like that, they wouldn't be so easily forgotten. In fact, the only person he could recall at the moment was that bastard Reborn. The lady even had a green chameleon…
And suddenly realization struck him. It was Reborn! "Hey you! Stop!"
And, as expected, the bastard didn't stop. He actually disappeared faster. By the time Ichigo reached the turn, the entire group of students and the Vongola representative had disappeared.
No, it seemed one student was left behind. A black-haired boy swiveled his head left and right, attempting to catch sight of anything familiar, disoriented and lost. However, as Ichigo continued to observe him, it became more likely that he chose to become separate. The kid appeared to recognize a café across the street and turned to the right of it. Ichigo followed; he was still bored, and if he stayed long enough he'd likely find Reborn again.
Life hated him. He was sure of it. First he was denied a meeting, and now the secretary had forgotten to pass on the notice for his meeting to the boss. He'd have to wait another two days for that meeting. Irritated, Sasuke swept some hair out of his face and breathed in deeply. Fine. He was a mature young adult. He could wait.
Outside, Ichigo stared up at the name of the building. Vongola. So Reborn worked here, huh? He pulled out his phone and called Ciel. As soon as the call picked up, Ichigo excitedly started talking. "Hey, Ciel, I found—"
He was interrupted abruptly by Sebastian's voice. "Young Master is currently in a meeting with Uzumaki Creameries. Would you like me to pass on a message?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure. Tell him that the Vongola Trading Company is based here. I found the building and saw Reborn earlier—or at least I think it was him." Ichigo trailed off uncertainly. Why was he crossdresssing? He shook his head. "Never mind that. Anyways tell him to come down to 13533 Palermo when he can."
The butler hummed, considering. "I do believe the master's schedule is full for today. The best course of action would be to go together tomorrow as a group. Is this acceptable?"
"What? Really?" Ichigo sighed. "Fine. I'll go back to the hotel then. Don't forget to tell him."
"I assure you I won't."
It was night by the time Reborn decided he'd had his fun exerting the students to their vestiges of physical strength, which was after three students collapsed from exhaustion. Then Reborn summoned the cars and had them driven back. When they returned to the mansion, Dino drew Tsuna and Reborn away from the crowd trying to drag their feet in the direction of the rooms without tripping.
Once the three were nestled in comfortable couches a few rooms off from the entrance to the guest wing, Dino started the conversation. "You should be cautious. I have word that some suspicious people have docked about two weeks ago," he warned. "In addition to that, I found out the source of the people who broke into the Cavallone Company building yesterday. Apparently, word got out that the Varia are active, acting out, and seeking the other half of the Vongola half-rings. I don't know how the small fry got word that I had them, but it seems the Varia themselves didn't know. The duo was acting independently. They were probably hoping to be rewarded or wanted to trade with the Varia for them."
"Dino-nii, would you mind explaining the rings to me now?" Tsuna asked.
Dino startled. He'd… sort of forgotten to do that. "Oh, yes. Do you have them?"
"Right here." Tsuna swung the box out from behind his back. He'd had Gokudera carry it around in his bag and slip it back to him when they came back to the mansion.
"Okay, then." Dino opened the case again, revealing the half-rings. "These are the heir rings that declare you next in line for Vongola. This one—" He pointed to the ring in the middle. "—is yours, the Sky. Around it are Storm, Sun, Lightning, Rain, Mist, and Cloud. I assume you already have your Guardians in mind."
"Well, I have most of them," Tsuna said shyly. At Dino's questioning look, he added, "I'm warming up to a potential Sun Guardian, but I don't know about Lightning."
Dino turned to Reborn, who simply said, "I have a candidate in mind." And that was settled.
The next half hour was spent getting Tsuna caught up on matters relating to the Varia, how they would probably seek him out for the rings now that their leader was freed to pursue his desires once more. They decided to hold off on giving out the rings until Tsuna had all of his Guardians firmly chosen.
On the fourth day, they went outside of Sicily. The majority of the day was mostly the same as the previous day—meandering around the region and touring. Their last stop for the day was another mansion, albeit a smaller one. This one was decorated oddly. Large horns curled up from the gate and the walls of the mansion itself was… spotted. Like a cow.
Suddenly, an explosion rang out and smoke rose from one side of the mansion, yet no one inside was screaming or showing any other sign of panic. It was as if it was an everyday occurrence.
And then another, smaller explosion sounded and a puff of pink rose into the air, joining the first cloud of dust. No one reacted to that one either.
From the new hole in the wall, a man(?) emerged, running from the scene. The new person wore a spotted dress shirt and had one eye closed as if doing so didn't hinder his eyesight. The person looked around, possibly for a hiding space, but landed his eyes on the group gathered around the gate. One student was just about to hit the intercom attached to the brick wall.
The man—more of a teen, actually—brightened when he caught sight of Tsuna and Reborn standing off to the side. He ran toward them, hitting a button on the bovine statue on the way, making the gate swing open.
"Hey!" he shouted at them as he approached. "Nice to see you, nii-san!"
His Tsuna-nii looked confusedly at him. Oh, right. This was probably their first meeting.
"Would you happen to be Lambo?" Reborn asked.
Lambo looked down at him. Man, that felt good—to look down at Reborn, even if it was only for the next three minutes. But why was Reborn wearing a dress? Wait. Reborn had just asked him a question. He had to answer or risk getting shot, or tased, or burned, or pulverized… After reorganizing his thoughts, Lambo regained the ability to use his tongue instead of rambling in his mind. "Huh? Yes."
"Get in the car," the hitman ordered.
"What? I—"
And he was unceremoniously tossed into the limo head-first. Reborn never did have any patience with him. He probably didn't appreciate his hesitance either.
All of the students were herded back into the limos as fast as they had exited. The line of limos drove away with one Bovino in tow, and the mansion's inhabitants stayed unaware (or uncaring) of one of their missing numbers.
Lightning acquired.
Lambo in his normal five-year-old form was not that difficult to handle, Tsuna discovered, given that he had candy on hand. He'd bought some earlier to satisfy his sweet tooth, and the varieties of sweets were obligingly stored in Gokudera's bag. Once the second puff of pink happened and Lambo reverted from fifteen to five, the boy had been more curious than scared when he found himself in a car full of unknown people. Lambo roamed in what limited space he had, climbing all over people's laps and generally getting on the more volatile people's nerves. He settled down when Tsuna sacrificed a swirled lollipop to him and fell asleep as soon as he was done eating it.
The Ten-Year Bazooka was an odd invention, Tsuna thought. It defied normal conventions of space-time theory yet appeared to have no negative repercussions.
Ciel was acting weird today, Ichigo noticed. He kept swaying somewhat unsteadily yet refused a helping hand from Sebastian. Ichigo snorted. A nobleman's pride. He thought it'd be better to accept the hand instead of tripping over his feet, which is what Ciel was bound to do sometime soon. Maybe he was sick.
Suddenly, Ciel stopped his stuttering steps and raised his nose to the air, as if sniffing out a pleasant scent, but Ichigo didn't sense anything. What Ichigo didn't and couldn't sense was the soft, feathery black cloud trailing along the sidewalk, feeling sweet yet tainted like a doomed, wretched promise.
What is that? Ciel pawed at the air, trying to move the black miasma, which seemed to emanate from a timid looking girl further down the road.
While both Ichigo and Ciel were distracted, Sebastian flashed his blood red eyes, finding the source of the delicious, despairing taint that distracted his master. Oh? We'll have to return tomorrow, then. It seems that Young Master's blood has fully awakened. Let's see how he handles this. Not a bad choice for a first meal…
In the next moment, Ciel rushed forward all of a sudden, catching Ichigo off guard, although Sebastian expected it. Ciel ran toward the girl and swiped a hand out once in reach. His fingers went toward, in, then through the girl's head and emerged holding a black, spherical mass.
The girl started and stumbled away as she saw the boy running in a course to almost crash into her, but she did not feel the intruding fingers in her head or see the malignant object that was pulled out. She watched quizzically as the boy delightedly held his cupped hands to his chest and kept running.
"Young Master!" An old-fashioned butler called out to the fleeing boy. However, instead of looking annoyed at his runaway charge, he seemed joyous. How odd. The man ran past her quickly, easily catching up to the boy. He scooped him up in a secure hold, making sure that whatever was in the boy's cupped hands didn't fall out. The boy himself didn't appear to be irked by the childish treatment but instead curled up and… purred?
"Ciel!" And another man ran down towards them. "What's wrong?" he asked when he reached them. "He's sick, isn't he? I'd thought so earlier, but—"
"He's alright. Don't worry about him. This is normal," the butler assured.
Normal?
The girl shook her head. This wasn't her business. She glanced at her watch and jolted a little. She had to get back to the hotel soon or her mother would notice she'd been out. She'd have to look for that little lonely-looking cat she'd seen earlier at a later time.
She turned around and went back the way she came, leaving the two men and the purring boy alone in the empty street.
"What in the world is wrong with him? This doesn't look normal," Ichigo argued when they were back in the hotel room. Ciel was on his bed, batting around something invisible around the sheets and into the air.
"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with," Sebastian replied uncaringly. He was absorbed in watching his little master play with the black ball. Cats always do love to play around with their food. His young master was so adorable, and he wasn't even fully through his spiritual growth yet.
"Hey, you bastard, I think I have a right to know. I'm the one working with him," Ichigo growled back.
Sebastian sighed, as if giving him an answer was a pointless endeavor that he shouldn't bother with. But he acquiesced, if only to get Ichigo to leave him alone to watch his young master. "He's undergoing his spiritual inheritance," he explained. "My young master, like the prince, is descended from both humans and spirits, but his family is exclusively from one specific spirit line." Oh! Young Master was finally starting to eat his first meal—well, his first supernatural one.
"And what does that have to do with this?" Ichigo was more confused than before. The question was unable to prompt an answer from the very distracted butler who was gazing upon his master with adoring eyes. Any further attempts were responded to with unfriendly silverware.
Young Master would go back to his normal persona once the kitty high wore off anyways; no need to panic.
The next day, Reborn finally took them around to the Vongola's corporation building. It looked the same as the Cavallone building, except with more floors. The receptionist bowed and waved them through to the large glass elevator once he saw Reborn and Dino. Dino pressed the button to the very top. They were going to start with the boss and work down.
The clear doors of the elevator let them see into each floor that they passed. Workers ran around frantically with stacks of paper, some shouted into phones, someone held a yellow flame in his hand—
Dino hurriedly stepped in front and spread his arms as if to block the image that most of them had already seen. Then, realizing how suspicious he must have looked, he folded his arms behind his back casually once the floor had passed. "Ahaha… so…"
"That guy was holding fire," a boy whispered loudly, completely defeating the purpose of whispering.
Dino tried to explain it away. "Well, that was the science department. They're experimenting… with fire. For science." He laughed nervously. In truth, it was the medical ward. Why the patient and doctor were not safely within one of the private rooms was beyond him. He'd have to talk with the head about that.
Thankfully, most of them bought it. Most. Hana was, of course, sharper than most.
They left the elevator at the top floor and met the secretary there. "Are you waiting for the president?" he asked.
"Yes. We are the Cavallone group. I scheduled the time for one o'clock to two," Reborn announced.
"Understood, ma'am." The secretary tapped a few keys and clicked while looking down at the screen of the computer. He sighed. "I'm sorry, ma'am. The president is still in a meeting. It should've ended half an hour ago. Would you like to wait or schedule for another time?"
Reborn gritted his teeth. Incompetence irritated him. The discipline here was much too lax. Forget the head; he was no good. He'd have to go to Nono about this. "We'll wait," Reborn primly answered. He fluffed out his Leon-fan and delicately fanned himself, preparing himself for the wait.
About two hours earlier
"Thank you for being so patient, Mr. Uchiha. I'm sorry no one was here earlier this week. The current president… uh… got into an accident and a stand-in had to be found. And so here I am. But don't worry; I am just as capable, in not more than, as the president."
This isn't the main building? Sasuke wondered incredulously. But this place is huge. He coughed to clear his mind. "It was of no inconvenience to me, so no harm done," he said. No, it was plenty of inconvenience.
"Well, that's a relief," the stand-in president of VTC laughed. "I fear I would've been in even more trouble if you had. The CEO seems to be losing patience these days."
"Of course, of course." Sasuke nodded understandingly.
"Really, he didn't have to choose me to do this. So what if the president's broken arms… and legs… were my fault? He shouldn't have been standing so close to me when—"
The third seated person coughed politely to draw attention to himself. "If you wouldn't mind, may we bypass the pleasantries and get to the point of this meeting?" Ciel requested. Sebastian stood rigidly and attentively behind him, watching to make sure Ciel didn't slip back into cat-minded adolescence in front of the company representatives.
"Oh, yes. I apologize." The stand-in shook out his hands to get blood flowing and grabbed the papers in front of him. "First order of business, the shipment requests of Uchiha Confectionaries for our grape stocks."
Present time
About twenty-five minutes after the group arrived, the secretary called Reborn over and informed him the meeting ended. Reborn then summoned the kids from the spacious waiting room and led them through the hallway to the end, where a finely carved door kept the president's room private. When they got there, the inevitable collision happened.
First, Sasuke strode out of the room, a little pleased with the results of the meeting but not completely satisfied. Sixty percent was a good enough start; he'd wrangle more out of him later. He felt his conduct impressed the president and made it more likely to induce a stronger business bond. Then he'd really have the Vongola in his pocket. His self-congratulations were cut short when he became aware of his classmates loitering outside. He froze. Then he remembered some vague promise of going to the VTC building. Oh. Was that today?
"Ooh, Sasuke-kun?" a girl's high-pitched squealed over the din of all of the other students. The side conversations stopped. While Sasuke inwardly panicked at his awkward situation of being found out, Hana contemplatively looked at him.
The second to leave the room was Ciel, followed by Sebastian. At the tail end of the meeting, Ciel almost reverted to a cat-oriented mindset (as his bloodline inheritance had not yet stabilized), but Sebastian managed to calm him down and refocus him on the meeting. He still had to steady himself five minutes after it ended, however.
The meeting turned out to be a waste of time—in terms of Tsuna-related goals. He had asked that "missing cargo" mistakenly taken by Vongola workers be returned, but the stand-in denied it. Either the Vongola were extremely determined to keep Tsuna or the stand-in didn't understand his metaphor. Both seemed likely, judging from the man's absolutely carefree demeanor. Ciel at least secured new stocks for his Funtom candy branch.
Ciel, still feeling rather playful because of his new instincts, made a jab at Sasuke when he saw his quiet panicking. "Oh, Mr. Uchiha, are these your schoolmates?" His eyes swept over the interested students who were unabashedly staring at him. His attention was called to as familiar fluffy-haired brunet that didn't even bother trying to hide; Sebastian had inordinately sharp senses. Ciel's mannerism immediately changed to befit his noble station, his inheritance-influenced behavior being pushed aside. "I finally found you, my prince," he whispered in English.
Tsuna smiled thinly. This situation brought up to mind the English saying "out of the pan and into the fire" although he'd suspected they'd run into each other soon. He'd had a foreboding feeling for days. "Nice to see you, too, Ciel," he replied, also in English. The spectators were very lost, as their teacher was none too good with English himself.
Lambo finally got through the thick group from where he'd been stuck at the back and struggled to the front. Once there, he looked up curiously at the newcomers. When he saw who they were, he broke out into a smile and yelled, "Hey, it's Catboy!" His brief five-minute stints ten years into the future had allowed him a few chance meetings with the Merithian noble and his cat-loving butler. Most of the later times, Ciel had been agitated whenever Lambo saw him, which caused Ciel's instincts to flare and push him into his spirit form—or was it because Ciel saw him? Lambo immediately threw that thought away. No one could possibly feel worse if he was around. Either way, Lambo enjoyed playing with Ciel's fluffed-up tail whenever he could, which was when the butler wasn't coddling his kitty master.
Ciel was startled as the little cow boy suddenly yelled that at him. What cat—?
Then the cow jumped up, aiming to land on his shoulder but never reaching his mark as Sebastian swiped him out of the air mid-leap.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Lambo yelled at the stoic butler.
"Please refrain from assaulting my master," Sebastian calmly requested, making it sound more of a subtle demand. Lambo's struggles were ignored as there was more movement at the doorway.
And the fourth to emerge was someone Tsuna didn't expect to meet anytime soon, if ever. He'd never been around before, after all.
Sawada Iemitsu had finally gathered all of the papers he had scattered all across the table in boredom during the meeting and had them all in hand. Once he had them in some semblance of order, he left the room, but was unable to progress any further because of the blockade of people standing outside in the hallway. Oddly enough, most of them were children. Iemitsu thought his own son would be about this age. Probably. In fact, that boy over there resembled his son, from what he could remember of him in his years-old memory and his outdated photograph kept securely in his true office. Huh. "What's going on here?" he questioned as he noticed Phantomhive talking to the boy. From what little of the conversation he managed to glean, they knew each other closely. Closer observations of the boy brought up the portrait of Vongola Primo into his mind. They were eerily similar. And the boy next to him looked a lot like G, who stood next to an Asari look-alike. And the chaperone of the children looked like—no, that was Reborn. Then that must mean…
Tsuna was startled when he was suddenly swept up into unfamiliar arms and swung around like a child. Gokudera looked like he was having an aneurism, Yamamoto laughed, Mukuro and Hibari put a pause on their glare competition, and Fran slipped quietly into the office to peruse files.
"Tsu-chan!" Iemitsu greeted his son he hadn't seen since infanthood. "Look at you! All grown up! And still so cute!" The embarrassing commentary was all said in Japanese, which allowed the bemused students to follow what was happening.
On the side, Reborn was fuming. Not only did his spy fail to inform him about Phantomhive, he somehow managed to miss the CEDEF leader's presence in the same city. Useless imbecile.
Tsuna wriggled out of the suffocating grasp and unobtrusively backed up behind Gokudera, seeking shelter from the man who was supposedly his father. As expected, Gokudera bristled at the threat (once he managed to overcome his initial shock).
"Hey, what gives? Tsu-chan, come here and greet your father." Iemitsu held out his arms, expecting the boy to come running to him. When Tsuna stubbornly stayed where he was, Iemitsu sighed. His adorable little Tsu-chan was so shy. So cute! "Aw, don't be like that. Come here."
Iemitsu's approach was stopped by his secretary, who'd come to inform him that his next meeting was going to start in five minutes. "Eh? So soon?"
"Yes, sir. Now, if you don't mind, please prepare your papers. I left them in the folder on the first shelf and the third cabinet."
Iemitsu tried to wave him away. "But I do mind. I'm busy. Look at my adorable son! We have some catching up to do." He gestured to Tsuna, who had yet to budge from behind Gokudera.
The secretary only saw the intimidating glare of the Storm Guardian. The silver-haired boy looked and acted nothing like the Young Lion. He turned back to Iemitsu. "You can catch up later. I don't believe your son is up to it right now anyways."
"But I—"
"You have two minutes left, Mr. Sawada." The secretary forcefully ushered the reluctant stand-in president back into the office, from which Fran had already left.
"We'll be taking our leave," Reborn declared to Iemitsu's protesting form. "Have fun," he added tauntingly.
"Wait! Reborn! Where are you staying—?" Iemitsu tried to draw out the location of his son's temporary residence so that he could visit him later, but Reborn refused to comply.
"Ciao ciao." Reborn was still sore about the misinformation regarding Tsuna's life way back when he was supposed to start his tutoring, so any opportunity to give grief to Iemitsu was welcomed.
Incompetence actually helped him in this case. The too-closely-scheduled meetings disallowed Iemitsu from following and pestering them. Maybe he could be more lenient on the secretary, Reborn considered.
"Found you," a dark yet high-pitched voice called out hauntingly.
The spy was soaked in cold sweat, feeling imminent doom approach. He realized the magnitude of the mess-up he made in holding off on reporting. He should've requested a replacement phone earlier.
Reborn stepped out of the shadows, back in his normal suit and fedora. "So this is where you were hiding." The tiny figure took a small step forward, and the spy took a matching step back.
They continued the dance of approach and flee, up until the spy ended up with his back trapped against a wall. He gulped. "Mr. R-Reborn. I wasn't hiding. I was just—eh—"
The characteristic green gun adjusted the hitman's trademark fedora. "Don't bother," Reborn interrupted. "Do you know what your job was? It shouldn't have been so hard to understand."
Uh oh. Past tense.
"Mr. Rebor—" the spy tried desperately.
"All you had to do was keep an eye out for Merithian people searching for my student." The gun glinted menacingly. "And what did you do? You waited until my student was already in Italy to tell me that they were here. And on top of that, you let your attention slip enough not to notice that Iemitsu Sawada is here, and you know how flamboyant he can be. Do you know the punishment for failing your duties?"
The spy was sobbing now. "Please, Reborn-san. Anything but that! Anything!"
"Too little, too late," Reborn callously responded. "They'll come by in an hour to pick you up—" Reborn leered. "—and make sure you don't escape."
The former-spy cried in despair, and Reborn uncaringly left him behind and exited the hotel room.
On the sixth day, Dino took the kids back to the VTC building for the tour that they missed yesterday. Tsuna and his Guardians stayed back with Reborn and the Merith group to… discuss their anticipated course of action.
"My orders are to bring the prince back to Merith. You've had your fun with him for this long already. It's time he returns," Ciel demanded.
"Well, my orders are to train him up to be the Decimo, and Tsuna has already agreed to it. Would you be willing to go against your prince's wishes?" Reborn goaded.
"He may be my prince, but I have orders from the king. And he wants him home," Ciel retaliated.
"Yes, the retired king. Isn't the regent queen in charge? Are you sure you know the order of hierarchy?"
"And are you aware you can be charged with kidnapping by our law regardless? The prince is still a minor. He can't go off on his own without permission."
"Oh, but wouldn't that be his mother, the regent queen's decision, not the king's? And if that's not enough for you, his father wants this as well."
Ciel scoffed. "You mean the father that was never present in the prince's life? Oh, yes, I'm sure he has plenty of say in his decisions," he said sarcastically.
Tsuna interrupted. "Excuse me; may I have my say in this matter?" When greeted with agreeable silence, Tsuna let out a breath of relief. "Thank you. I think it would be a good idea to tell you the terms of our agreement first. It may solve a couple problems." At Ciel's nod, he continued, "The deal was that Reborn would help me turn the Vongola from its bloody past back into its vigilante roots. He trains me to be the next boss, I take over, and I stop unnecessary violence with him at my side. However, he agreed that should it come between the two, I can put my princedom in first priority. Not too bad, right?"
Ciel considered it for a moment. "Yes, but this doesn't solve the problem with the king. Do you know why he rejected the proposal in the first place?"
"He didn't want me out of the castle, let alone in another country. It's a matter of a sense of safety for him. He needs me to ensure the line, but if I go into dangerous business I am threatened," Tsuna explained simply. "You shouldn't worry, though. Reborn won't let me die, and I have my Guardians with me—well, most of them." He wasn't sure what to do about Ryohei yet.
Ciel hummed, thinking. "So all of this was caused by the king overreacting to your disappearance? Is that it?"
Tsuna nodded. "Basically, yes."
There was a silence as Ciel realized the whole order ended up pointless. Tsuna was not in any immediate or foreseeable danger; at least not for now. He would inevitably encounter trouble in the future, but that was to be expected in a mafia life. However, by then Tsuna would have gotten stronger and his so-called Guardians would've matured in power as well. In that case, there really was no need for Tsuna to go back to Merith. Sebastian's gathered information indicated that Reborn was qualified to continue Tsuna's studies outside of Merith, and from the looks of it he was also taking care of the physical training that the king chose to push to the side. Tsuna could learn the royal sword style once he was done with the mafia business (hopefully soon). Tsuna's duties were being diligently taken care of, so he was not strictly needed there either, although a few guiding point would be appreciated, but that could be handled over the internet.
Ciel sighed. He could try to force the issue and get Tsuna to return, but he'd end up leaving soon afterwards. Ciel was familiar with his student's escapes from the castle. No matter how many guards the king posted, Tsuna somehow always managed to slip away, and he got better every time. All of his visits to the nearby districts ended up harmless. Hopefully this one would be, too, or the king would have his head.
"Alright," he decided. "I won't tell the king where you are and I won't follow you anymore around. However," he added, cutting off early cheers, "I would like to know how well-defended you are currently." He looked over the Guardians seated at the table with them, trying to discern the strongest. Hibari's eyes glinted with challenge, and Mukuro laughed disconcertingly. "My condition is that one of your Guardians fight Sebastian. Show me your strength."
It was decided that the duel would happen back in Japanese home ground, where the fight could happen freely and uninterrupted. Tsuna had never seen Sebastian fight, but he knew the butler was much stronger than his slight appearance suggested. The two more fight-eager Guardians waited anticipatorily for the coming battle, Hibari to prove his alpha strength (which he didn't really need to do as his strength was already widely acknowledged) and Mukuro to one-up Hibari. Gokudera was too busy fretting over Tsuna now to think about later, and Yamamoto had no true fighting experience at all. Fran preferred more subtle tactics than head-on fighting, and Lambo was too young and unfamiliar to even consider.
Ciel and Sebastian went back to their hotel room, where Ichigo was waiting and tending to other business. They informed him of the new agreement and easily ignored his demands that they change it to bring Tsuna back. Ichigo didn't trust kids to do his job, and Merith would be safest for his little brother. An hour of ranting let Ichigo calm down enough to agree to accept the outcome of the duel. He hoped Sebastian would prove them unworthy.
The last day of the trip found the students lined up at the airport, waiting for their three extras. A half hour before the flight, the trio arrived with their belongings and…
"Is that a kangaroo?" Gokudera asked incredulously.
Indeed there was a kangaroo poking around behind them.
"Why yes, yes it is," Sebastian helpfully supplied. Tsuna looked questioningly at Ciel. Everyone else followed.
"Don't look at me," Ciel growled.
They continued to stare.
"It followed us and it wouldn't leave." At the students' disbelieving gazes, Ciel threw up his hands in exasperation and sighed. "I'm serious."
"It is rather difficult to hide a kangaroo in a hotel, especially considering this one seems to have found a liking to martial arts," Sebastian commented. "I had to fix that door many, many times." And that is why kangaroos should not be allowed to watch TV.
They were all in the plane now, kangaroo and all. The Merith group joined them in the first class cabin, and Ryohei continuously talked with his sister, providing soothing (loud) background noise.
"I have my guess." Hana shifted in her chair, gathering up her confidence. "It's Uchiha-kun."
Tsuna's eyebrow rose. "Care to explain your reasoning?"
Hana settled comfortably into her chair. "He's obviously rich, seeing that he is already in a high position in his family's company, so he should have been able to fund the trip on his own or with his family's backing. He was at the Vongola meeting room when he should have been with the rest of us, probably to give a courteous thank-you. And he wasn't in this room during the first plane ride so that he wouldn't be seen associating with you and putting even more suspicion on him." Hana spoke confidently, listing off her points. She smirked. "Now, will you please humor me and tell me the purpose of this trip, or was it just for cultural learning?"
Tsuna smiled back at her. "Those are some very fine clues that you analyzed; however, you have reached the wrong conclusion."
Hana stopped smirking.
"Uchiha Sasuke is, in fact, truly not in our circle." Here he gestured to the others strewn casually around the room. "He just happened to have his own agenda that made him look suspicious, and his financial situation had absolutely nothing to do with the… very expensive funding." Tsuna would've been more annoyed at that, but the lost funds would have been regenerated by now. The interest of his bank account alone was enough to regain the money after a few months. "But, yes, I will humor you."
Gokudera made a movement as if to protest, but it was aborted when he caught sight of Tsuna's angelically devious smile.
"That boy over there—" Tsuna pointed to Ciel, who was dozing while leaning against Sebastian, "—is the current head of Funtom. Remember seeing him at the VTC? Make of that what you will." It had absolutely nothing to do with the trip; Ciel's appearance was just a coincidence that ended well for him, but there was no way for Hana to know that. All she'd asked for was something to "humor" her. Well, he gave her something to think about. That was good enough for now.
A couple days later...
"I said I want candy!"
"I want brownies!"
"Outside!" another demanded.
"Buy me this!" And a toy catalogue was shoved into the former-spy's face.
Yes, the informant was demoted into a babysitter. A babysitter for the Vongola famiglia's demonic children—children with guns and lances and tasers and sabers and… The babysitter broke down, crying miserably. A just-fired taser sent a shock into his side. And around him the children kept shouting, demanding, wreaking havoc, pushing over expensive vases that he would have to pay for...
"Candy!"
"Gum!"
"I wanna play!"
Here is your stupidly, disgustingly long chapter, way over my original goal (about twice as long as a normal chapter). After my AP tests, I was like "I'm going to finish writing this chapter!" And then I got stuck. *facepalm* Sorry, and thank you for your patience. Am I forgiven? It takes me days and hours to write a chapter and my sister can read through it in ten minutes. Meanie.
Jerome Cavallone is a made-up name since I don't know the founder. Next chappy will probably have Nagi (Chrome) and more Urahara. I hope you can tell who the unnamed girl was.
Reborn used Tsuna's money as a lesson to teach him to be careful with his bank accounts. It wouldn't do for Tsuna to lose all of Vongola's money because he had lax security. And I don't think Vongola would've been happy that Reborn used money so freely on something not directly related to the Vongola. Does he even have access?
To Ninazu (and others): Thank you for not being a narrow-minded homophobe.
While looking through my English textbook, I found out that Benjamin Franklin slept more than I do. He went to bed at ten and woke at five.
Happy (USA) Father's Day
Posted: 6/21/15
