A/N: Double-length chapter! And by that, I mean nearly triple-length chapter because the second part goes on so long. Call it reader appreciation, I love you guys all so much.
Also, something to note in regards to Chapter 13: Giotto's Villa. I got a few reviews in regards to my choice to switch up the family tree so that Daniela was Timoteo's sister, and thus I have edited it such that Daniela is again Timoteo's mother, because that was pretty BS in retrospect.
Big thanks to wyrvel for helping me out with that, also helped resolved some thoughts on the story timeline as well as how to make later developments here a bit more engaging. If you have not read their 'Dead-Eyed Tsuna', I heartily recommend it, you can find it under the 'favorites' section on my profile.
Chapter 14: The First Job Part 1: The Plan
Tsuna was no sooner than opening the door to his hotel room when he was being assaulted with pizza and some type of fried Sicilian rice ball that Ryohei Sasagawa called an 'ara-n-sini', and Gokudera immediately and angrily corrected his pronunciation of 'arancine'. Expecting the filling to be fish or vegetables, Tsuna managed to spill the tomato sauce filling all down his chin when he took a big bite of it.
"A-gha-fu," he said, through the mouthful of food. He wiped off his face, swallowed the rest of the bite, and said "It's good!"
"Hmph, not bad, Lawn-Head," Gokudera said, giving Ryohei the side-eye as he did so. He went for a slice of Sicilian pizza covered in tomato slices, basil, and sausage. "Nothing in the world like it."
"This was your idea, Ryohei?"
"Yup!" Ryohei said cheerfully, from his seat on Tsuna's bed. "Now eat, Sawada! You've been eating poorly, to the extreme! You won't be in good condition if you don't eat enough! Oi, Yamamoto! Get a piece!"
Yamamoto glanced over, said "Oh, uh, thanks", but didn't take a piece before sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed.
Lambo grabbed his second piece of pizza, which was nothing compared to Chrome being on her fourth already—although the boy were all classy enough to not mention it even if they had noticed—and Reborn on his fifth. Which was really amazing considering that he had entered only after Tsuna, without anyone really noticing.
"So what in the world are you doing during the day?" Tsuna said suspiciously.
"Burying bodies," Reborn said.
"Isn't that the kind of thing you do at night?"
"Only if you want to attract attention."
"I'm pretty sure you'd attract more attention dumping a body in broad daylight."
"Then the next time you kill someone, you can decide when and where to bury the body."
"Why would I bother burying the body? I'm a living crematorium!"
Yamamoto, Ryohei, and Chrome were staring at Tsuna. It was mostly for the last comment, but the discussion before it had caught their attention as well. Tsuna went red. "It was…I'm pretty sure he wasn't actually burying bodies today…"
Gokudera tsked at them. "It was a joke, obviously. Besides, Tenth, if it ever came to it, I would take care of the body for you, to reduce the risk of you being connected to the crime."
Tsuna stared at his slice of pizza. "Oh god I'm spending way too much time around weird people."
"The great Lambo will make it all go boom!" Lambo shouted out.
"Stupid cow, that just increases the chance of leaving evidence!"
"Make it aaall go boom!"
"So how'd that field trip go?" Ryohei said quickly, before Lambo started making things go boom in the middle of downtown Palermo.
"Uh…" Tsuna averted his eyes. "It was…okay. We met the Ninth and some of his Guardians at the first headquarters of the Vongola—you know, that mansion from the Keys? It's called Giotto's Villa. It's dusty, and a little lifeless, but it's also passed down—well, it's not inheritance like this inheritance." He pulled on the chain he kept around his neck that held the Sky Ring. "It's inheritance like normal inheritance, and so I guess that means I own a villa in the Sicilian countryside?"
"I wouldn't have thought that building was standing," Gokudera said.
"It's standing, but that's about all it's doing."
"The water pipes need replaced," Yamamoto said. He was looking away from Tsuna, to the window on the far side of the room.
"O-oh? Yeah, I guess that's kind of important, too." Tsuna scratched the back of his head. "He asked me if I had changed my mind, and I haven't."
Nobody asked him to clarify what he meant, and nobody needed clarification.
"Oh and apparently Vongola Neo Primo is entirely made-up." He took another piece of pizza, and glared at Reborn out of the corner of his eye. "Speaking of manipulative, lying crows…"
"Crows?" Chrome said.
"Uh, the Ninth said something about a little bird told him, and I kinda got a little…anyways," Tsuna said, rapidly turning red.
He told them about the Ninth's interference with the adoption process so that it would go more smoothly—Lambo's reaction to the mention of it was, as it had been since being asked if he would like to be adopted, to bounce up and down in his seat, smile big, and say "mamma" dreamily.
When Tsuna brought up the job request from the Trad 6, Gokudera had instantly jumped up, ran to his room to get his laptop, and came back with a map of Palermo and its outlying districts open on the screen. "Naturally, Tenth, I will follow your every order to the word!"
"Wait, no, Gokudera, I don't want you to help me, it's my problem!" He rubbed his forehead. "I mean, I don't mean I don't want your help, but this isn't like the battle in the future where it was so much bigger, or against Enma and his family where it was personal. I'll go find these guys, destroy their stockpile, and scare them off."
"As your tutor, I can't allow it," Reborn said. "I'll shoot you in the leg before I let you go into a dangerous situation alone."
"But I don't want my friends to get hurt over something that's my problem to deal with! If I get hurt, so what?"
Gokudera dropped the laptop, and grabbed Tsuna by the shoulder. "Tenth—isn't that what we're fighting for?"
"Huh?"
Gokudera hesitated, and started again. "To have snowball fights and watch fireworks—so that everyone can laugh together?" He suddenly seemed to become aware of himself, and drew his hand back. "I'm so sorry, Tenth—but is it that different?"
To laugh together?
Tsuna's mind snapped to an old memory, just about one year earlier, of explosions rocking the school and Prince the Ripper versus Smoking Bomb.
"I believe you can do it alone—but if you have others with you, it'll be easier and less chance of injury, right?" There was a desperation in his eyes. Maybe he was just trying to come up with an excuse to stay by Tsuna's side.
"…right. Right, okay. Um…and now that I think about it, it sounds like the gang is holed up in a warehouse, so that means plenty of obstacles for you, right?"
Gokudera's eyes widened, and he coughed, and picked up his laptop again. He nodded, and said "Yes, Tenth, it does work better in places like that. Uh, dynamite, I mean. I mean, the Vongola Gear helped make up for that weakness, as long as I can place catnip I can get a direct hit, but…"
"Okay, so that's me and you," Tsuna said, driving right on ahead to try and keep Gokudera from having a breakdown when he realized how he had talked to his boss. "Don't know exactly where they're holed up, though. But—I think I might have an idea of how to hunt them down. And speaking of, can we leave a little food leftover? I want to take some to Hibari. He's been making the Sicilian Branch of the Disciplinary Committee, and they're all locals—I bet they could find some information about the gang."
"I can talk to Hibari!" Ryohei said enthusiastically. "He can't say no to me!"
More like he won't let Hibari say no to him. "Thanks, Ryohei."
"Tenth, if I may," Gokudera said. "I believe that a squad of three is optimal for such a job. The sociological—uh, I'll save the details for later. But, if you insist on going, then it would be you, myself, and as much as I hate to admit it." And he did, his teeth were ground together from the strain. "Yamamoto's focus on short-range compliments my mid-range well."
"Sorry, I'll have to take the bench on this one," Yamamoto said, although he didn't sound very sorry.
"Oi, baseball idiot! You're going to—"
"Gokudera, it's fine! Nobody has to help! Alright? That goes for everyone." However, Tsuna looked over at Yamamoto. When Yamamoto realized it, he made a point of breaking eye contact and staring at the floor. Tsuna glanced at his Guardians in turn, and noted that Chrome had her arms pulled in and a look of concern on her face. I'll talk to him later. "Like you said, three. So, maybe, me, you, and Ryohei?"
"I could," Chrome said, and seemed to regret speaking up immediately. "I mean—I've gotten better at combat. And I can do a few things with illusions for support."
Tsuna nodded. "What do you think, Gokudera?"
"…Alright. That could work." Gokudera still seemed a little peeved at Yamamoto's refusal. "Uh…assuming their base is somewhere in this district up here." He pointed to the northwest portion of Palermo on the bay. "Generally best time would be night, of course." He started biting his nail. "Fewer people out, fewer polizia. And with Chrome, we can vanish right afterwards."
"Night's no good," Tsuna said. "My flames stand out against the night sky. What about right at dawn?"
Gokudera nodded. "Of course, Tenth, my apologies for my ignorance. Dawn would work, particularly on such a small situation—I've done similar jobs before, it's an in-and-out in five minutes sort."
"Alright," Tsuna said. "It'll be difficult to get that information on such short notice, so probably the morning of the 14th?" he said, uncertainly. Gokudera nodded. "Alright. Oh, and, I want to say it now. I know you guys. You're all like me, in regards to people, and, um…"
"Don't kill anyone?" Reborn suggested.
It's like he read my mind. "I mean, I don't mean to imply anyone would! But…from the sounds of it, these guys are just small-time criminals, right? They're not…not…" Byakuran. "But at the same time, if something happens, if one of them pulls a gun…I don't mean you should hold back even when your own life is in danger, or when somebody else's life is in danger. At that point, it's whatever you feel right doing. I'm not a mafia boss, I'm not going to celebrate casual murder, but I won't try to pass judgement if you did it for a reason." Tsuna considered it for a moment. "And if I do ever try and judge like that, please, please punch me in the face."
Ryohei lit up at the mention of punching. "Got it, to the extreme!"
I knew I could depend on him for that. "Alright. Sorry to get so serious."
"And we understand the rule and will follow it," Gokudera said, nodding. He closed his laptop back up. "Best get to work."
"I'll go talk to Hibari," Ryohei said.
"I'd like to practice my forms a little," Chrome said.
Yamamoto kept his gaze off of Tsuna, crossed his arms over his chest, and left the room, pausing only just long enough to hold the door for Chrome. He had left, but there was still a tension in the air. Ryohei went out next, and Gokudera grabbed Lambo, bowed to Tsuna, and stepped out, letting the door slam shut behind him.
"Did something happen at Giotto's Villa?" Reborn said, on their exit.
"I have no idea," Tsuna admitted. "Yamamoto and Chrome were exploring the grounds while I was talking with the Ninth, but after we finished the Ninth left immediately with his Guardians. I should go talk to him…"
"It seemed like it was you, specifically, he was trying to avoid engaging with."
"Really?" He considered how Yamamoto had kept looking away from him, had gone mostly silent after Tsuna's arrival, and that he had declined to be a part of the job when he was usually enthusiastic about anything. "I guess you're right. Then, I'll go talk to Chrome, she seemed like she uncomfortable—more than usual, I mean. But, I think I might wait until tomorrow. Give things a chance to cool down."
"Or to boil over," Reborn said. He shrugged. "Whatever you think is the best choice, boss."
He's just trying to get a reaction out of me, but his stomach was still turning over from nerves.
The next morning on October 13th, Tsuna was awakened at 8:00 by the guy with the green Mohawk—Rico, if he remembered right. "Uh…"
"I was asked to inform you that we're working on find the requested location, but it shouldn't be difficult. Also—"
"How do you take your coffee?"
"I'm sorry?"
Tsuna threw the door open, gestured for Rico to come inside, and with a bit of minor fiddling started the miniature coffee maker up. Rico, meanwhile, was standing awkwardly, picking at his cuticles. The hotel room was relatively small, with only a single full-sized bed, a closet, a window looking over the street—Rico didn't know it, but the glass was bullet-proof—and a single small table with two chairs. It was not meant for multiple people to stay in, which made it all the more amazing that they had managed to fit seven people into the room to eat pizza the previous night, even for just an hour.
"How do you take your coffee?" Tsuna said again.
"Black is fine."
Tsuna poured two mugs, the only two mugs in the room, and added a generous amount of sweetener and creamer to his own. "Sit."
Rico obeyed, and nodded his thanks when Tsuna passed him the coffee.
Tsuna sat down, took a deep breath, and took a big swallow of coffee. He made a face at the bitterness, and smacked his own cheek. "Sorry. I'm used to tea. Also, sorry if I seem a little out of it. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." That was a lie, he had gotten sleep, but it had been restless and plagued by nightmares he couldn't remember.
"It's fine, sir, really," Rico said. "Thank you for your kindness."
"Also, you really don't have to call me 'sir', I'm younger than you anyways."
"Right. Um, so, sir," he said, plowing right on ahead. "I wanted to mention that if it's the same gang that's been making trouble around here lately, they've got some decent numbers, and even at 5 AM they'll have some guys on guard."
"Guessed as much. What else?"
"Well—the Captain has put me in charge of setting up a perimeter around the building during the operation tomorrow morning, although he was a bit vague as to the purpose."
Tsuna tilted his head to the side. "If I had to guess, probably to enable easier biting to death. At least, that's why he has the disciplinary committee back home make a perimeter, so he doesn't have to spend as much time chasing people down. But! I'm not overruling, but we're not looking to…hurt these dealers, necessarily? Scare them away, threaten them into stopping their business, destroying their stockpile and equipment yes, but there are people who deserve lethal force in this world, and some drug dealers aren't included in that list."
"You're not that kind of man?" Rico said, and gave just a hint of a smile.
"You talked to Ryohei?"
"Uh, more like he was shouting at the captain, but yeah."
"Well…okay, that's not the kind of man I am, I guess." If Tsuna were asked specifically what kind of man he was, he would reply that he was only a boy, but that was beside the point. "What I'll want you and the others to do is make sure that no civilians get inside that perimeter. Given that it's so early, I don't think it'll be a problem, but better safe than sorry."
"We can do that, sir," Rico said. He shook his head, smiling. "Man, I told these guys they were full of shit when they said you were Vongola." He laughed, until he saw the serious look on Tsuna's face. "Wait, you're not…"
"If I have any say in the matter, then no," Tsuna said. "But I'm not doing what I am for the Vongola. It's for my friends, and my family—I mean, not The Family, but my mom, and Lambo. And I wouldn't be doing this job, specifically, if I thought it would go against my principles."
"Merda. Sir, uh, V-Vongola? Sorry."
"Tsuna, or Sawada if you have to."
"Sawada, then. Uh…good luck, then. We could use somebody with a conscience around this city," Rico said, nodding. With his report done and another reassurance that they would find the location of the drug gang, Tsuna let him go on his business.
With that done, Tsuna got himself dressed, walked down the hall from his room, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. There was no reply.
"Yamamoto? Gokudera?" Nothing. Only Tsuna and Chrome had hotel rooms of their own—Gokudera and Yamamoto had been put together in one, while Ryohei was theoretically bunking with Hibari, but with the prefect doing his own business, he'd had the room to himself, and Lambo had claimed the empty full-sized bed for himself.
He had been about to walk away, when he saw a shadow move from under the door. "Yamamoto? It's Tsuna. Can we talk?"
There was a long pause, and Tsuna was just about to walk away when he heard the approaching sound of footsteps on the wooden floor. The door came open, and Yamamoto appeared in the doorway. His eyes were heavy from lack of sleep, and he wasn't even pretending to be his usual cheery self. It wasn't like when he became serious in a fight, focusing on the moment at hand. He just looked tired, and maybe a little angry, and a little…desperate.
"Yeah?" Yamamoto said, breaking Tsuna out of the trance as he looked over his friend.
"I…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed a little out of it."
"I'm fine."
"Did something happen yesterday? At the villa, or did you get a call from your dad?"
"I said, I'm fine." He flexed the fingers of his right hand, as though reaching for a sword that wasn't there.
Tsuna thought of what Reborn said, about how Yamamoto seemed to be avoiding speaking to him. Normally, I'd try to push past that, but I get the feeling that might just do more harm than good. "Alright; I'll get out of your way, then."
"Geez, worse than the kid," Yamamoto muttered, and slammed the door shut.
So Reborn stopped by here, too? Not exactly surprising, he's been invested in Yamamoto's development since day one. There was something wrong, certainly; the last time Yamamoto had been so down was after Choice, when he thought it was his fault they had lost. And he hadn't been nearly so antisocial, then. I hate seeing Yamamoto this way. He's despairing, but I don't know anything about what's going on or what caused this, and he isn't being open about it either. I need more information if I want to help him.
Chrome was not in her room, but she had left a small note at the bottom of the door. Upstairs, practicing.
The only 'upstairs' was the roof. He almost wasn't surprised to find Chrome sparring with Hibari. He didn't appear to be impressed by her combat ability, probably mentally comparing her to Mukuro Rokudo. That didn't mean he was pulling his punches.
Hibari expertly flipped one tonfa through his grip, grabbed it at the long end, and used the handle to hook Chrome's spear between her hands and yank it away. Without pausing, she threw her arms up over her upper body and took the incoming strike across her body without flinching. She dropped low, went under his arm, and grabbed her spear from where it had fallen as she turned. She lunged forward, only for Hibari to deflect the strike with a nearly lazy swing. He feinted to the left, went to the right, and landed a strike on the side of her abdomen strong enough to knock Chrome completely off her feet.
She pushed herself up, a little wobbly, and took her spear back in hand. "Thank you, Kyouya," she said quietly, and bowed as one would to a teacher.
"Hmph."
Chrome nodded, and walked over to Tsuna as Hibari got a drink of water. Tsuna smiled. "You're looking great, Chrome."
"Thank you, boss. Did you need to speak to me?"
Tsuna nodded, and said "I'm sorry, it's a little depressing, but, I have to ask, did anything weird happen at the villa yesterday? I'm worried about Yamamoto, it doesn't seem like he slept last night, he was being really quiet yesterday, it's like, like, he's in despair about something, but he won't say if something's wrong."
Chrome's hands tightened around her spear. "I…I promised I wouldn't talk about it." Just as Tsuna was getting ready to come up with his best begging, she said "But I can't leave it, I'm worried too.
"When we were in the courtyard yesterday, the Ninth Rain Guardian came up to Takeshi and started speaking to him. Takeshi was playing with Jirou, and the Ninth Rain Guardian compared him to Jirou—he called Takeshi a hound, like he took action at your beck and call. I think the idea of being a hound working for its master might have disturbed him. And then the Ninth Rain Guardian tried to attack Takeshi, used his short sword to try and go for Takeshi's back while he was demonstrating his forms, and I think that threw him off some, too. If I'd known he would be like this, I would have said something sooner."
Tsuna nearly started screaming at the first mention of Schnitten Brabanters. First the Ninth now this guy! It's like they have no idea how normal people behave! A hound?! Who says that?! He took a deep breath, and refocused on the problem at hand. "Don't worry about it. Thank you for telling me what happened. I…ugh."
"What is it?"
"I just…I don't think he'd let me talk to him long enough to really say anything, y'know? And he's isolating himself so much, I don't know if there's anyone who has all the information who could…" Tsuna froze at the thought that hit him. It does sound like a swordsman's honor thing…but it's that guy…but it is him, after all. "I might have a thought, but I'll need to think it over whether it'll be worth it…"
The day passed without event. At about noon, Rico got in contact with Tsuna, having found the warehouse just off the water where the gang was hiding out. It would be simple enough, but Tsuna couldn't stop feeling anxious—about everything at once.
By 4:30 AM on October 14th, the disciplinary committee/Foundation was in position. Rico had been given a miniaturized police scanner (courtesy of Gokudera, nobody asked where it came from) and an earpiece in case something went wrong. Ryohei had found a position atop a container crane, and had made an excessive amount of jokes about how he really was the Sun now, looking down on everything—that had been entirely unintentional, Ryohei had been assigned as their 'eye in the sky' largely because he was the only one besides Tsuna who could reliably fly.
As sunrise approached, forecasted to be just about 5:45 AM, Tsuna was making last-minute checks while hidden within an illusion of a shipping container. Chrome was meditating in a standing position. Gokudera was nervously playing with a piece of unlit dynamite.
"Sun's about to come up," Ryohei said over the radio. "We're carrying on the legacy of the First, so get pumped up and do it!"
Tsuna laughed when he realized what 'it' he meant. Tsuna put his hands on each of Gokudera and Chrome's shoulders, and pulled them into a huddle. Chrome was either really chill, or pretending to be chill to hide nerves. Gokudera was muttering about stupid rituals. Tsuna called it out. "Sawada! Gokudera! Dokuro! Fight-O!"
Tsuna released them, pulled on his gloves, and swallowed the Dying Will Pills. His Dying Will flame burst into existence, and he said into his radio "Let's go."
The sky was painted with red as the sun crept over the horizon. A shaped charge set on the side door blew, and the door was blasted inward.
From his observatory position in another building, Reborn nearly choked on his espresso. "Well, subtlety was never this generation's strong point."
Chapter 14: The First Job Part 2: The Raid
Just as the Foundation had reported; twenty and thirty-somethings drawing a profit on misery. No more than ten present. And they weren't Mafiosi; they were two-bit gangsters eager to make a profit while imagining themselves to be something bigger. Thus, the gall to threaten a criminal empire like Trad 6, and the stupidity to work out of Vongola territory.
The guard in the side office had pulled his gun starting from when the door was blasted inward, but then he blinked, and the gun was red-hot and the barrel was melting, and there was this kid with a narrowed brow and fists held like a prayer standing in front of him, holding the barrel of the guard's gun with burning hands. The kid was silent, but then there were two others beside him, and the guy said "Scream, and I'll beat the shit out of you."
"Y-yeah man, whatever you say."
"Where's the scientist?"
There was only one scientist that the guard knew of. "Staging room, go out this door, hang a left. We got him in a side room. Please, please don't kill me. I got family. I never was a dealer, I was just a guard."
"Fucking pathetic piece of work. Who's in charge?"
"I don't—" And then the guy produced a piece of fucking dynamite, and gave a look that suggested he was oh-so-eager to make use of it. "Fuck, man! Roberto, he's down on the main floor. Out this door, hang a right."
"Good man, now piss off."
The kid released him, and stepped past him. The bomber and the creepy girl made no motion to stop him, and the guard didn't waste the opportunity to go running out the door.
Without a word, Tsuna went to the right, Gokudera and Chrome went to the left. One minute in, Ryohei said over the radio "All clear."
Tsuna pushed through into the main warehouse floor, and was met by three ragged-looking twenty-somethings with guns. Fortunately, they were slow, and Tsuna was very fast. He moved past each of them before they could think to fire, disarmed two and knocked each to the ground. With an easy movement he released the magazine from each pistol, dropped the guns, and went for the last. A shaky hand fired once, but even if Tsuna couldn't dodge bullets, he could follow the man's line of sight and move away just before he fired. Tsuna went low and drove his elbow into the man's stomach so hard the man fell over and vomited.
Tsuna nearly winced, took a deep breath, and said "Lascia, e non sarà male." Leave, and you will not be hurt. His accent was probably painful—he still had trouble with the L sound—but evidently they understood him pretty well. The first two skedaddled, and the third just managed to push himself up and hobble away, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't about to be shot in the back. Tsuna didn't take offense to it—if he were anybody else, that would be a well-founded fear.
"Che cazzo é questo?" What the fuck is this? Is what was said by the newcomer, from the far end of the warehouse floor.
Tsuna walked, only walked, and called out "Signore Roberto?"
"Eh? Giappone…" the man said, as Tsuna approached. "Sei…Trad Seis?"
Two and a half minutes in, Rico said "Got some buzz about a disturbance out at the docks." Tsuna and Gokudera both confirmed that they heard him.
"Hai fatto," Tsuna said. You're done. "Lascia, e trovare un lavoro migliore." Leave, and find a better job.
Roberto ground his teeth together. "Sì? Andare a morire, bastardo!" He charged at Tsuna, pulled a knife from his sleeve, and nearly screamed when Tsuna caught him with a flaming glove and pushed him off. Roberto flailed, caught himself, and drove forward again. Tsuna moved slightly to avoid his knife, but not far enough; the blade dragged across his temple and made a shallow cut that started bleeding heavily. Tsuna's arm snapped out, and he grabbed Roberto's wrist, holding it so tightly that Roberto yelled out. When Tsuna released him, he dropped, whimpering.
"Lasciare. O finirò il lavoro." Leave, or I'll finish the job. When the drug dealer hesitated, Tsuna shouted out "Ora!"
"Si, si!"
Tsuna watched him for a moment as he crawled away, wiped off his face, and headed for the back room Roberto had come out of.
Only one person was on guard to the left side, but he was waiting and ready for them with a large handgun. He was, however, not too bright, and emptied half of his clip into a flat image of a hulking brute Chrome had pulled out of her imagination, while Gokudera and Chrome hid on either side of the entryway.
"Huh? Some kinda magic trick?" the guard said, shaking his head.
The brute charged him, but the guard stood his ground now that he knew it wasn't real—and got blown across the room by a half-dozen sticks of dynamite hidden within the illusion.
Gokudera charged into the room, made sure there were no other guards, and went to the only other door—locked tight. He rapped his hand on the door. "Oi, Koenig? If you're alive, moan!"
"Depends on who's knocking!" said a slightly muffled voice from behind the door.
"Vongola the Tenth's Storm Guardian. Stand back, I'm gonna destroy the lock." He pulled out his igniter and set the end against the lock. The degenerating Storm Flames quickly ate through the mechanism and left a gaping hole in the metal. Gokudera pulled the door open, revealing a small lightless closet, and the short-haired scientist cowering in the back corner with his hands over his head. Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "You're Koenig?"
He looked up and blinked at the sudden light. "Aye, I am," he said irritably. "God, took long enough."
"But you're a fucking teenager," Gokudera said skeptically, and indeed, Koenig could not have been any older than Gokudera was.
"So? Dottore Verde is an infant. I assume you've met him, Vongola?"
"Unfortunately. And you and I both know that's bullshit."
"Hayato," Chrome said gently.
"Right, let's get going." Gokudera spoke into his radio. "Tenth, we have Koenig."
"Great, the ringleader ran off, and I just destroyed their stockpile. Let's get out of here."
"Let's go, Koenig—what are you doing?"
Koenig was digging through his jailer's pockets. "C'mon, it's somewhere…aha!" he shouted out, and retrieved a small, violet box weapon bearing the emblem of the Shimon Family.
The big guard seemed to be rousing from being knocked out. "Eugh…what hit me?"
"Ha! Time for some payback, lowlife!" Koenig's ring ignited with Cloud Flames, and with an easy motion he opened the box. A streak of Cloud Flames erupted from the box and covered his arms up to the shoulder, and solidified into armor with vicious blades along the forearms.
With a look of glee on his face, Koenig lunged for his jailor. Gokudera only just got to him quickly enough to grab Koenig under the arms and pin his arms back. Chrome stepped in front of the guard.
"We're not here to kill them," Chrome said.
"The hell? Why wouldn't you, they're just lowlife scum!"
"It doesn't matter, they don't deserve to die. Now let's go, before something goes wrong."
"I'd heard some things about the Tenth Gen, but I'm amazed at your naivety," Koenig said, shaking his head. He snapped his wrists back, and the blades returned to his box. He picked the box up, gave his jailer a kick in the stomach, and followed Gokudera out the door.
About ten minutes past dawn on October 13th, Yamamoto woke with a start, just in time to see a silhouetted figure in black standing on the windowsill.
In her hands, she had the Shigure Kintoki and the Vongola Gear of the Rain dangling from the handle.
The thief glanced back, then leaped from the windowsill with an easy grace into the empty road below.
"Get back here!" If Yamamoto had been in his right mind, he would have grabbed his shoes on the way out. But then, if he were in his right mind, he might have thought twice about jumping out a window to chase down a thief.
He landed hard on the cobblestone road in a ratty t-shirt and shorts, stood back up, and chased the thief down the road. Yamamoto was faster, but the thief knew the city better. She turned a corner into a side street, and when Yamamoto followed she was partway down, watching for him. She started running again, Yamamoto close on her heels, came out into the thoroughfare, vaulted over a car's hood that he had to go around, dove through a tent newspaper stand that he nearly crashed through, and by the time he had followed the thief down the next side street and around the corner into an alley, she had vanished into a dead end.
"Ciao-ciao, Giappone!"
He whirled around, and she was standing on the roof over the dead end, waving the shinai at him and saluting mockingly before walking away.
"You—get back here, or I'll cut you in half!"
There was a rusty old fire escape up one of the buildings. Yamamoto pulled down the ladder and clambered upward. At the top, he was just fast enough to see the thief duck into a roof hatch at the end of the block. He ran across the rooftops, regardless of the pain in his feet and his ire blinding him. He threw open the hatch, dropped into the dark building, and shouted out "I know you're in here! Show yourself and return my things, and I'll let you live!"
He couldn't see a thing in the room. "I'll give you to the count of three! Uno!" His father would disown him if he lost the old sword to carelessness. "Due!" He had been trusted to care for the Vongola Gear, Ugetsu had trusted him with that inheritance. "Tré!"
"Voi! Looks like time's up!"
The hatch slammed shut, and the room became so bright Yamamoto was blinded.
When the spots had cleared in his vision, he realized that the building's outside appearance had been deceptive—the room was built like a modern bunker. Across the chamber, the one and only Superbi Squalo lounged in some velvet mockery of a throne, resting his chin on his intact hand, his sword's edge glinting in the light.
The thief stood at his side, holding Yamamoto's sword almost reverently. She had removed her outer coat, and he could now see the Varia emblem worn at her breast.
"Give me back my sword," he said, ignoring Squalo completely. He hated himself for it, but said "I'm the Tenth Rain Guardian, now hand it over!"
"Voi! What kind of Guardian isn't Guarding anything!" Squalo took the sword and Vongola Gear, then said "Bene, Mako. Now piss off."
"Sì, Capitano," she said, and was gone.
"What do you want?"
"For you to get a fucking grip."
"I'm not in the mood, Squalo."
"Not in the—" Squalo's face twisted into a scowl. A rain flame ignited on the surface of his ring, and with an easy swipe he opened the box at his hip. The box animal grew, and grew, and the shark Alo charged Yamamoto. He threw his hands up just as Alo ran into him, and was knocked across the room from the impact. He slid to the ground in a daze, and the tip of Squalo's sword was at his throat. "I should kill you right now, Yamamoto Takeshi. I'll kill you, and send your mangled body back to your father along with whatever's left of your sword after I snap it over my knee!" He pulled his sword back and turned away. "Wouldn't even be worth the energy. What a worthless brat."
"Shut up." Yamamoto pulled himself to his feet. He was shaking. "Just…what do you know? You're…you said it yourself, you've been obsessed with your boss since day 1, never doubted a word of it. Is that…is that a Rain Guardian? Like a dog?" Squalo had stopped. "Kill me, fine, cause it'd be less of a shame than telling my dad I'd forgotten my way and turned myself into a machine with a blade!"
"Never doubted a word of it?" Squalo spat. "I haven't done anything but doubt that shitty-ass boss." He grabbed Yamamoto's sword, and with a flick of his wrist it turned into a katana. The Rain Necklace sparked with Rain flames. "A dog? Don't give yourself so much credit, you're like a lost puppy how you chase after Sawada. What's so special about him?"
"He saved my life."
"Course he did." Squalo turned over the blade, glanced at the swallow emblem inscribed in the blade, and threw the sword and necklace at Yamamoto end-over-end. Yamamoto snapped it out of the air by the handle without barely thinking about it. "Who the fuck called you a dog? Sawada isn't exactly the egomaniacal type."
Yamamoto hesitated. "Thanks for the warning—about Schnitten Brabanters. He tried to attack me."
"Oh? That old man's head is so far up his own ass, he's like the fucking Ouroboros." Squalo spat again. "Stand up and fight, Tenth Rain Guardian, so I can beat a lesson into you."
Yamamoto had no chance to prepare himself, Squalo charged him instantly. Yamamoto just brought his blade up to fend off the attack. "What's the lesson?"
"The duty of the Guardian of Rain." Squalo rocked back on his heels and moved forward to put his momentum into his forward thrusts.
"Requiem rain, clearing the battlefield," Yamamoto muttered.
"Voi! Get that outta your head, century-and-a-half old proverbs have no place here!" Squalo's attacks came relentlessly even as he spoke. "You know why you won in the Ring Conflict? You had no right to it, and still have no right to be able to stand against me. You didn't win because of some fucking invincible sword style—you won because you're too stupid to realize it should have been impossible! And that's the one thing you got going for you!" He struck, putting force behind his attack such that Yamamoto was temporarily stunned. "You don't fucking think! You start thinking about stupid shit like the Ninth Rain Guardian, and you can't think about anything else! You think yourself to death!"
Yamamoto spun the cord of the rain necklace around his hand, and held the charm tightly. Kojirou burst from the surface and led his charge at Squalo in a wave of Rain Flames. Squalo stepped away as he approached and smacked Yamamoto's side with the flat of his blade. Yamamoto's charge broke and he went stumbling, but managed to stay standing.
"What a fucking joke of a technique, leaves you wide fucking open. Has that 'Scontro di Rondine' worked even once?"
Yamamoto bit back a curse, and shuddered involuntarily at the member of going face-first into a wall hidden in an illusion. "Kojirou, Jirou, Cambio Forma version X."
"Don't even bother!" Squalo moved again, drove the point of his blade into the base of Yamamoto's sword, and twisted his wrist so that it was forced out of his hand. "I've heard of what you do with those 'Brazen Blades'. You're so terrified of illusionists that you've overspecialized to take them on."
Jirou came up beside him, and Yamamoto grabbed two of the empty hilts out of his harness and ignited them with rain flames. He stood, took a deep breath, and held his blades at the ready.
"Hmph. Better." Squalo flourished his sword through empty air. "You know what the duty of the Guardian of Rain is? Well here's the fucking secret—all bosses are idiots. Doesn't matter which one it is, they're all fucking morons. I know it enough that every time Xanxus is about to do something stupid, my stump aches." He flourished his sword again to make his point. "And Sawada Tsunayoshi is no exception to that. Your job is to make up for his stupidity by being the only person to not overthink it. You're the one who points out the problems to start with, who comes out on top when the chips are down, who comes flying in to save the day."
His tone was sarcastic, but Yamamoto caught his allusions to the Rain Battle when the Varia was up 3 to 1, and when Daemon Spade was about to kill Kaoru.
"Doesn't sound like much of a dog to me. Sounds like you decided to follow Sawada just like I decided to follow Xanxus all those years ago."
Yamamoto was breathing heavily. He looked from Squalo, to his sword, to the charm on the Rain Necklace. I…just wanted to see where that Dying Will would take him. I don't know if I follow him, but I trust him like nobody else. "I…I screwed up, I think."
"Tch. Took long enough to figure it out. Now get out, not worth trying to test you like this, brat."
Yamamoto smiled in spite of himself. "Thanks, Squalo." Squalo looked like he was going to gag. Yamamoto used his sword to push the hatch open again, leaped up to it to grab the edge, and pulled himself up. When he shut the hatch, it locked from the inside with a click.
Man, I hope they're okay. Ugh, I left my phone back at the hotel. Along with…everything else. He suddenly became very aware that he was wearing pajamas in public. "Ha, this must be what Tsuna feels like. Alright, step one, figure out where I am, step two, find a phone."
Officer Petrelli cursed the early morning shift, took a sip of his coffee, and stepped out of his cruiser a few hundred feet down from the supposed source of the disturbance. He noted a couple delinquents sitting in the shade of an old shipping container, but he was downwind of them, and it was only tobacco they were smoking. It was just barely past dawn when he stepped in front of the warehouse that once belonged to Carcassa Freight.
God, what a fiasco. Months of legwork and paperwork. And it's not like anything's changed; there was maybe a week between when Legiérre got busted, and when the supply picked right back up again. One enemy for another. What a fucking mess. It was enough to make him pick up smoking again. Huh, I woulda thought the door would have been chained shut.
From his position, he couldn't see the door, and subsequently could not see the scorch marks that had been left on it by the explosion. When he approached the open doorway, something shifted in his gut, and he put a hand on his holstered gun.
A shadow moved inside the room, and Officer Petrelli leaped back and fell on his ass just as a yellow-haired cat shot out of the building and down the docks. He put a hand to his chest. "Holy fuck, note to self, don't let the guys know you nearly shot a damn cat." He laughed at himself even as he was trying to get his racing heart to calm down.
The yellow cat disappeared around a building down a ways, looped back around, and his mane reignited with sky flames as he returned to his master on the second floor of the building all the way back at the front end of the dock.
Tsuna was headed up the stairs inside the building belonging to a freight company under the influence of the Vongola as Nuts barreled into his arms. "Nice work, Nuts." He scratched the Sky Lion on the back of his head.
He spoke into his earpiece. "Status on the Disciplinary Committee?"
"We're clear and away, Sawada."
"Perfect. Storm, Mist, are you guys okay?" Gokudera had insisted on using something resembling codenames over the radios—though he had made a face when Tsuna had called them that in particular.
"Yes, Tenth." Because there were that many Tenths he could be confused with. "A couple of suits showed up, exchanged a passcode with the scientist, and he confirmed they were Trad 6 before going off with them."
Tsuna hadn't even considered that. "Uh…right, thanks. You two get back—same goes for Sun. I'll see you in a bit."
When he reached the upper landing where Reborn had set up his observation post, he wasn't even surprised to find his tutor had made a miniature sniper post, complete with tripwires—probably electrified. He had really gotten a lot of mileage out of the tripwires lately.
Tsuna stepped over the tripwires, stole the military helmet Reborn had on to set on his own head, sat down beside Reborn and said "Well, I think that went pretty well."
"C minus, at best."
"What? We succeeded, didn't we? Chased off the gang, rescued Koenig, and I destroyed their stockpile—although to be fair it might have been a bad idea to set it on fire, I thought it was cocaine and it was some kind of hallucinogen, and long story short is your costume hot pink or am I hallucinating that?"
Reborn cracked his knuckles, pulled his arm back, and punched Tsuna so hard in the chin that his student went spinning out of his seat, fell right on the electrified tripwire, and nearly crushed Nuts beneath him. Nuts was yowling like a housecat trying to get out from beneath Tsuna. Nuts turned into sparks of flame and vanished back into the Sky Ring.
Tsuna shook his head to snap out of his daze, pushed his hair out of his face, and glared at Reborn
"Better?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Alright, then let's start with your composure and lack thereof."
Tsuna sat down and listened without complaint. "What do you mean?"
"Just as the sky derives its strength from its subordinates, so too are the subordinates influenced by their Sky. You were visibly nervous and manic, which influenced the mood of your allies even if you did not intend it. In a simple job like this, the influence is minimal, but when everything is on the line projecting confidence to your subordinates can mean the difference between victory and defeat."
Tsuna didn't bother saying anything about Reborn calling his friends 'subordinates'. "Alright, fair enough."
Reborn was almost surprised that Tsuna was so readily listening to what he had to say. "Next, your plan was dependent on everything going perfectly according to plan, when that almost never happens. How would you have reacted if you had entered the building and their ringleader had a box weapon?"
"Well that's pretty unlikely for a petty drug dealer."
"That's not the question. What if he did have a box weapon?"
"Well…I guess I would have had Nuts use the Rugito di Cieli to destroy the box weapon. Or frozen it with the Zero Point Breakthrough."
"While under gunfire? And while fighting other enemies at the same time?"
Tsuna scratched the back of his head. "Alright, I see the point. Account for different scenarios. Have a plan B."
"Exactly. And then number three, your plans ended with leaving the building successfully, and meeting your Guardians later. So, were you just planning on having to babysit Koenig until you could get in contact with the Trad 6?"
"I…okay, I guess I didn't think that far ahead. Luckily, I have you to clean up after my mistakes." There weren't many other people who could have gotten in contact with the contracting family, after all.
"At least you appreciate that." Reborn turned and retrieved a first aid kit from his bag. He tossed it to Tsuna. "Clean yourself up, you're still meeting the Ninth to report—or did you forget?"
"No, I didn't forget." Tsuna used the mirror set into the lid of the first aid kit to check the cut on his forehead. It was still tender to the touch, but it had only bled so severely because it was a head wound; it was shallow, and probably wouldn't scar. "Lucky me that guy kept his knife so sharp." He started cleaning off the dried blood with an alcohol wipe.
Reborn raised an eyebrow. "One of them actually managed to strike you?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, useless me. And it was a lazy feint, too. Guess I'm a little rusty, it's been so long since I was in a fight." Tsuna stuck a couple thin pieces of sticky gauze over the cut. Not since...I guess there was that Carcassa mole, but that hardly counts, I pulled a gun out of his hand and he kicked me in the face. So not since…April, then, that last night Xanxus was in Japan. Heck, that was more than six months ago. He shook his head and changed the subject. "Have you heard anything about Yamamoto?"
"Not yet. I—" It was at that moment that Reborn's cell phone started ringing with some odd jazzy tune. He smiled when he checked the caller ID. "Speak of the devil," he said, and flipped it open. "Pronto."
Tsuna shut the first aid kit and shifted back and forth uncomfortably in his seat.
"Yes," Reborn said, after a pause. Then "Yeah." He held up the phone to Tsuna. "For you."
Tsuna took the phone, breathed deeply, and said "Hello?"
"Hey, Tsuna! It's Yamamoto."
"Hey! Uh…how are you feeling?" Tsuna already felt his nerves settling; there was an energy in Yamamoto's voice that had been missing.
"A lot better, but that's not important. How'd the job go?"
"Pretty well, I think. We did what we were supposed to, and the only injury is a little scratch I got."
"Oh, thank god. I…man, I should just come out and say it. Sorry for how I've been acting the last couple days. It's been dumb, and selfish, and I let that old man get in my head."
Tsuna sighed in relief. "Hey, I'm just glad to know you're feeling better. I, uh…hope the long-hair didn't abuse you too badly."
Yamamoto laughed. "He had one of his subordinates steal my sword while I was sleeping and lead me on a chase through the city, then he threatened to break my sword in half. Wait…it wasn't you who called him? Kidding, kidding, I figured as much."
Tsuna was suddenly very pale. "Ha, ha-ha, funny joke. Like, are you really okay?"
"Nah, I'm fine. I just had my head screwed on wrong, y'know? And if there's anyone who knows how to knock me back into place, it's Squalo. He told me a lot interesting things…and the point is, I guess, from here on out, my sword is yours."
Tsuna blinked, and felt like he had been hit in the head with a brick. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant—I just wanted you to be happy again and not all…uh, like, kuyo-kuyo brood-brood, to borrow a phrase."
"Well lucky for both of us, I'm most happy being around everyone."
Tsuna could almost hear his smile in his voice. "I…alright. Like I said, I'm glad you're feeling better. Ah, I gotta go, but I'll see you when I get back later, or whenever."
"Ha-ha, you're still the same old Tsuna. Later!"
The call ended, and Tsuna passed Leon back over. The same old Tsuna? I mean I like to think I haven't changed much, at least fundamentally. He shook his head. Stupid brain, however he meant it, it wouldn't have been to make fun of me. Stop overthinking things.
The day had started fairly well, now to see how it would go downhill from there.
The next thing Tsuna learned that day was that the Ninth Cloud Guardian was far less terrifying than Hibari, but that might have been because he was also far less of a bloodthirsty individual. So when Visconti met him at the entrance to the intimidatingly-large Vongola headquarters called "The Iron Fortress" just outside Palermo, and led him to the conference room where the Ninth was holding a meeting and had agreed to take Tsuna from, Tsuna felt fairly comfortable with bringing up a question that had been bugging him for a long while.
"Can I ask you a question, sir?" he said, even as a secretary pushed past him. Well, Tsuna couldn't exactly blame her, it was busy in the hall, and Tsuna just looked like another kid, and not anything special, either. He had come straight here without changing despite having a set of nicer clothes in his bag, and he had worn his third set of flame-proof clothes, a black button-up and cargo pants, which were comfortable and suited him, but didn't exactly give off an air of authority.
"Of course, Tenth."
"So, um. Your name…well, you, and the other Ninth Guardians, I'm assuming your names are actually codenames?"
Visconti seemed to smile. "Indeed, they are. My real name is Victor, but it becomes habit to be referred to by your codename."
"Alright. I figured, since, well, all of the Ninth Generation Guardians are named after sweets," Tsuna said quickly.
"Yes, you would be correct on that."
"Right, but, the thing is, most of them are fairly easy to figure out the influence. Like the Ninth Sun Guardian is Brow Nie Jr., and Coyote Nougat is named for nougat, and apparently Ganache is a type of sugary filling. According to my friend Haru, Bouche Croquant is probably a pun off of Croquembouche. Schnitten Brabanters…" Tsuna unconsciously tensed at the name of the Ninth Rain Guardian. "Schnitten is a type of German dessert, and Brabanter is probably a reference to a place in Belgium, where a lot of chocolate is made?"
"Sounds accurate thus far," Visconti said, a little amused at Tsuna's rambling.
"Alright, so, then, what I can't figure out, is what your code name is supposed to be a reference to? I thought it might be a pun off of Biscotti, since they're pronounced similarly if you write them in katakana, but I didn't think that really worked since you're, um, Italian." Tsuna rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Certainly, that could be one interpretation," he said. "However, I believe that when the Ninth was creating my codename, he was thinking of the Italian word, Visconti, which means 'viscount', and how for much of history, only nobility could have desserts and other sweet things."
"I see! Thanks for explaining, it's been bugging me for a while now, but I was afraid Reborn would call me an idiot if I asked."
Visconti laughed aloud. "Want to know something about your tutor, Tenth?"
"I…that depends, does it involve murder?"
"Not this one. About five years ago, the young Bronco was visiting here in order to renew his family's alliance. I was speaking with Reborn, when suddenly he froze, looked at me, and said 'They're all stupid puns based off of desserts!' Keeping in mind, he had been working for the Ninth for fifteen years previous to this, and he had thought for that entire time that Coyote's surname was actually 'Nougat'."
Tsuna's eyes widened. This is the best day of my life. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," he said, deceptively calmly. Oh he might kick my ass but it'll be sooo worth it.
"Think nothing of it. Now, then, may I ask you a question in kind?"
Tsuna pinched himself back to reality, then said "Yeah, go for it."
"If I pry too much, tell me so, and I will give you my greatest apologies. But, when you mentioned Bruno—that is, Brabanters—you seemed…irritated. Is there something the matter?"
If the pinch wasn't enough, that was a sobering question to be sure. "Oh, that is, I don't mean to start anything, and I haven't even spoken to him personally. But…apparently, the other day, he said some things to…to my Rain Guardian, Yamamoto, about like loyalty and not like normal loyalty but like a samurai to their daimyo, or really explicitly like a dog to its owner, and it really set him off-balance. Yamamoto, I mean. But, it's alright now, the Varia Captain Squalo helped him figure things out apparently, and it's all good."
"Oh? Bruno has always been a…interesting case."
I'm pretty sure that describes most of the mafia. And I doubt you're entirely innocent of thinking about the world in some pretty screwed-up terms, most of the people I've met from this world are like that. From Gokudera dedicating himself to me for life, to Lambo being told he would be the next boss of the Bovino if he could kill Reborn. The Ninth casually manipulating people without a second thought. His eyes went over the people in the headquarters, from secretaries to assassins to medics, and nearly laughed so he wouldn't cry.
The Ninth said he wanted me to turn the family back to its roots, but how many people in this building have a moral compass solid enough to want to do such a thing? One in ten? In a hundred? And how many of the others would resist such a change, and violently. I couldn't protect my friends from that many threats all at once. I wouldn't be able to actually help anybody, I'd be so busy protecting myself from internal threats. I'd have to…to…it just doesn't seem possible! I'd need to already be surrounded by allies, and unfortunately more than just Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, Lambo, Chrome-san, Hibari-san, and Ryohei-niisan. And don't forget the Foundation! Barely more than a street gang…be surrounded by allies I can trust, and then essentially dismantle the Vongola as it currently exists, pick it apart, take those who are not only willing, but want to do good for others. I'd…I'd have to destroy it all, and build something out of the pieces.
"Here we are, Tenth," Visconti said, breaking him out of his thoughts in front of a room with a grand entryway. "You may take a moment to prepare yourself, if you need, and enter when you please."
"I'd just as well go without waiting, or I'll chicken out," Tsuna said. Visconti chuckled, and opened the door for Tsuna.
Tsuna walked in the room, and nearly passed out from the aura of its inhabitants.
At the war table—it was the only way it could be described, the stone slab set into the wood carved with a detailed map of the earth and covered with a thick sheet of glass—was several people, half of whom Tsuna did not know. At the head of the table, the Ninth stood with an authoritative air, his gaze dark. On his right sat a man who had turned to look at Tsuna the moment he entered the room, sneered, and made a comment in Italian. His teeth were uncomfortably white, and his eyes were pale blue. Behind the Ninth, Ganache the Third stood silently on guard, comfortable but no less intimidating. A black woman with stern eyes and short curly hair was to the Ninth's left after an empty seat; across from her was a man in a white pin-striped suit, his hands decorated with rings.
The last had his back to Tsuna, but the ire he raised at Tsuna's entrance made him unmistakable. Xanxus didn't even bother to look before making a noise of disgust deep in his throat.
"Tsunayoshi," the Ninth said, nodding and gesturing for Tsuna to come stand beside him. Tsuna tried not to show his apprehension as he crossed the room and stood before the Ninth.
The old man put a hand on his shoulder, and the man with pale eyes tutted loudly, and said something in Italian along the lines of "The kid's got no sense of decorum, does he?" Except, he didn't say 'kid', but an ethnic slur that Gokudera, while teaching Tsuna how to recognize if somebody was insulting him in Italian, had refused to say aloud.
The Ninth quickly spoke up with "I ask if you might please speak in Japanese, for the sake of my guest, my successor."
Xanxus laughed. "Didja forget the fucker over there is too high and mighty to learn anything besides Italian?" he said, specifically in Japanese. He then added a few choice insults in Hindi. The Ninth ignored him.
"It's alright, I know a little Italian, and I wouldn't want to make it difficult for anyone," Tsuna said, speaking slowly. He looked directly at the pale-eyed man as he said "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name, mister…"
"Humph. Grimaldi, if you please," he said, irritated.
"Forgive me, Tsunayoshi, we were in the middle of some negotiations," the Ninth said. "However, it is a good opportunity for you to meet one of our closest allies. And of course, there is my chief advisor, Roccio Grimaldi." He gestured to the self-proclaimed Mr. Grimaldi.
The man in the pin-striped suit spoke up. "Bernardo Russet. A pleasure to meet at last, Decimo. I am an executive for the Vertolli Trade Group."
"Fucking pompous Trad 6 asshole," Xanxus muttered, also in Japanese. It was crude, and Xanxus still scared the hell out of Tsuna, but it was also a much-needed clarification.
The curly-haired black woman spoke last. "I am Giralia, chief executive for Bertolli."
"I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada," he said. Bernardo stood in order to shake his hand from across the table.
"We never had a chance to meet, but I was at the Inheritance Ceremony," Bernardo said, and winked. For being an executive for a rising family, he was young, no older than Dino was, although he wore a goatee to disguise his youth.
"Shush, B," Giralia said. She rose from her seat and shook Tsuna's hand. Tsuna caught her eyes going over the Sky Ring, but he said nothing of it—though he did take notice of a ring she wore, holding a high-quality green stone.
"I've heard about the Trad 6 a little," Tsuna said. "Uh, sorry, I don't mean to say that as an insult, I'm a little ignorant about some of the Vongola's allies."
"Understandable," Giralia said, waving it off. "Besides, from what I hear, you did us no small favor today, Decimo. That gang has been a thorn in my side for a few weeks now. And it would have been a major setback to lose Koenig's brilliant mind. I look forward to working together in the future." She looked at the Ninth, and said "I wonder if we might take a break? My associate needs another cup of coffee, and I'd like to check on the cleanup."
"Of course," the Ninth said, inclining his head.
"Thank you, Vongola. Come, Bernardo."
"Oi, I'm not a servant to be ordered around," he said, even as he stepped in line behind her.
Even before the door shut, Grimaldi was spitting insults that Tsuna didn't catch. He turned his eyes on Tsuna, and suddenly the large room felt a lot smaller when he realized that he, the Ninth, and Xanxus were looking at him.
"Uh…oh, this is the part where I'm supposed to make a report." He cleared his throat and started through in stumbling Italian, often adding a clarification in Japanese that the Ninth translated for Grimaldi. He began with the plan, and ended with Reborn picking up the slack where Tsuna had forgotten loose ends.
"Speaking of the infant," Grimaldi said with a sneer, "it seems la piccola merda has lost some backbone. Not that he had much to start with."
Tsuna gaped at him, and must have looked weird enough doing it that Xanxus snorted. Tsuna couldn't hide his surprise at the sheer gall of the comment. That, and most people like the Ninth, serious and older, seemed to have a lot of respect for the former Arcobaleno. "What the hell are you talking about?" he said, speaking in Japanese without thinking.
Grimaldi snapped his fingers at him. Tsuna was suddenly really tempted to break his fingers, and found himself wishing that he could do one of those arm-twisting joint locks like he was so often subjected to. Grimaldi snapped his fingers again. "Speak Italian, kid."
Once again, it was not 'kid', but an ethnic slur.
It was Xanxus who spoke up first. "You're one to talk, old man, half your fucking vocabulary is insults."
"Xanxus!" the Ninth said in warning.
Tsuna set a hand on the table. "What the problem with my tutor?" he said.
"Your clothes. That you were allowed to be in the presence of the Ninth wearing denim and headphones says a lot of things about your tutor, none of them good."
"Or that there's more important things to be worried about than getting dressed up in a monkey suit for some—"
The Ninth put a hand on his shoulder, and Tsuna bit back the rest of his sentence.
Grimaldi took the Ninth's intervention as an invitation to continue talking. "It seems this is the last great generation of Vongola, if this is our future. A child who can barely speak properly, executives that are barely more than children." He stood, and rested his hand in his pocket. "I'll be in my office, Ninth."
"I'll send for you when the meeting resumes," the Ninth said coldly.
Tsuna pulled himself out of the Ninth's grip—the old man was stronger than he looked. Before Grimaldi had even properly left the room, Tsuna started in on "Why didn't you say anything? He insulted me and my friends and Reborn!"
"Roccio is abrasive, to be sure, but his knowledge of economic matters is unmatched."
"He's an asshole!" Tsuna said, forgetting himself for a moment. The Ninth fixed him with a glare that quickly reminded him. Tsuna still didn't apologize.
"Xanxus, you are dismissed."
A rolling wave of heat accompanied the affirmative grunt.
"Wait, Xanxus," Tsuna said suddenly—and squealed when Xanxus turned and glared at him. "I'm sorry! I just—" He nearly said that he was hoping to one into one of his subordinates, but thought better of it. Instead, Tsuna pulled his backpack off and pulled out a medium-sized bottle of alcohol labeled as 'Yobiru'. "Sorry, I know I'm a couple days late, but, happy birthday."
Xanxus looked from Tsuna to the bottle. He actually looked stunned at the pronouncement. He absently took the bottle, which had a neat orange bow tied around the neck, and said "The fuck is this?"
"It's, uh, Japanese whiskey. Um, I don't really know much about alcohol, to be honest, so I asked my mom what would be good to get, since you seem like the kind of person who likes finer things, so…" He had gotten that impression from the sheer number of times he had heard one person or another yelling about how the Varia Boss was to be undisturbed because he was either eating steak or drinking, but he didn't mention that.
Xanxus suddenly seemed to come to life again. His arm snapped out, grabbed the front of Tsuna's shirt, and dragged him along nearly choking.
The Ninth was fairly sure Xanxus wasn't going to murder Tsuna, but then that was why Visconti was somewhere around with a stun gun in hand, just in case.
It was barely ten feet before Tsuna got himself free by slipping out of his shirt, but he continued following Xanxus anyways, both to get his shirt back and out of curiosity. Although, when Nuts growled lightly, he recalled the proverb 'curiosity killed the cat' and shivered.
Through one hall and another, and Xanxus threw the shirt back at Tsuna. It was smoldering slightly from an attempt to burn it. Good thing I did wear my combat gear. He was pulling it back on just as Xanxus was kicking open the door to a small lounge, and all the prior inhabitants—all wearing the Varia emblem—didn't need to even look up to know who was approaching.
Several Varia subordinates scattered as Xanxus approached a small table, set down the bottle, and grunted. Tsuna took it as an order to sit. One of the Varia subordinates chanced a glance at Tsuna while Xanxus' back was turned, saw the ring that Tsuna wore, and the whispers started. Tsuna could only sigh as he fiddled with the buttons of his shirt.
Xanxus returned with two small glasses. He sat, pulled out the stopper on the bottle, and poured a small amount into each glass. He pushed one over to Tsuna. "Drink."
"Uh, I don't really," he started, and then caught one of the Varia subordinates shaking his head at him over Xanxus' shoulder. "Alright…" Probably making sure I didn't poison it. Tsuna picked up the glass, braced himself, and took a sip. He nearly gagged on it, and it took all of his self-control to not spit it out at the taste. He just managed to swallow it—then he looked up, and nearly emptied his stomach when he saw the crooked smile of Xanxus. Oh god did he poison my glass? Stop smiling!
"Get a fucking grip, trash," Xanxus said, the smile quickly replaced with a scowl. He leaned back in his chair and took a drink. "Fuck it's like it's been watered down," he muttered. He took another sip anyways. "If I'm going to kill you, it'll be a bullet, or Bester's claws tearing you apart."
That did not make him feel much better. "Right. Uh…" He looked at his glass, still mostly full, and remembered the cause for celebration. He raised his glass half-heartedly. "To another year survived, then."
There was that crooked smile again. "Ha! I'll drink to that!" Xanxus shouted, and drained his glass. Tsuna followed his lead, even if he knew it would make him feel sick.
Xanxus poured another glass, but didn't make like he was going to force Tsuna to have another. "You've got reason to hate the old fuck."
Before Tsuna could think better of it, he said "Which one?"
"The asshole." He tilted his head back, and barely muttered "If he hadn't argued my case—ha! Me and the shitty shark would be spending the rest of our lives locked up in the deepest part of the Vindice prison. Told the Ninth he'd be losing a 'major asset'."
Tsuna didn't relax, despite how Xanxus seemed to be rambling.
"But don't forget, shit-boss," Xanxus said, sitting back up. "If I weren't around, the midgets would probably be dead. So be grateful."
Tsuna hesitated for a long while. "I…there's no way I can ever describe the extent of my gratitude, Xanxus. But…even putting that aside, not even you deserve to be forgotten in the deepest part of Vendicare. The sensory deprivation tanks are apparently horrific."
Xanxus clicked his teeth. "I'll take that as a compliment."
As Xanxus took another drink, Tsuna's brain was in overdrive. So the Ninth did want to punish Xanxus—and Squalo as his right hand—more severely? I was a little surprised that Xanxus wasn't only still working for the Vongola, but is apparently allowed within a hundred feet of the Ninth. But apparently Grimaldi has some sway. Who is he, then? "What's so special about Grimaldi, then?" he thought aloud, without really thinking about it.
"Not a damn thing. But he's got an ego the size of Europe, old ties to the family, and the balls of half the corrupt cops in Italy. You know how many corrupt cops there are in Italy?"
"I'm guessing a lot."
"A-fucking-lot."
"You don't seem to like him very much, for 'pleading your case' as you put it."
"He's a jackass. I don't owe him shit."
Tsuna nodded, and set his glass down. I think I'm right on the verge of overstaying my welcome. He stood and said "Well, uh, until next time, then." Because he had no doubt he would have the pleasure of seeing Xanxus again.
"Hmph."
Tsuna very slowly backed out of the lounge, and only once he was past the threshold that he dared to turn around, and immediately took off running before Xanxus could change his mind about letting him go without a major injury.
A/N: Cultural notes. 'Yobiru' is a jisho-powered translation of literally just 'Good Beer' in Japanese. This year Xanxus gets 'Yo-' which is good, next year is 'Oo-' which is grand, and the year after he gets 'Ten-' which is heavenly. Sort of. Don't quote me on that.
Speaking of language-all of the Italian is powered by Google Translate. However, this is probably going to be one of the last times that is an issue, once Tsuna is halfway fluent in Italian it'll just all be rendered in English. Until then, it bothers me too much to have everyone speaking Japanese/English.
That Reborn didn't catch on to the sweets theme in all that time is even worse than Visconti knows-Reborn has worked for the Vongola starting from about 1962, when it is 2008 in story, with about a ten year gap from 76 to 86 after he was cursed. He just has no idea, because in my own little universe, Checkerface did some memory screwery after cursing the Arcobaleno such that outside of Luce, while their loved ones didn't forget them, they could not make the mental leap between the person they had been and the person they are now. For example, Fon has a sister, who is Hibari's mother. After Fon was cursed, as far as she knew her brother had simply vanished off the face of the Earth without a trace, and could not connect Fon to her brother, even when he grabbed her and told her as much, she was psychologically disturbed but quickly forgot. The only person to ever really break the programming so to speak was the Ninth, and it took him five years past when Reborn had returned to working for the Vongola, and he has Hyper Intuition pushing him along.
This is a humor story I swear to god. (Phoenix says, as she plots out disturbing sequences ten to fifteen chapters from now)
Also, I'm pretty sure that "His head is so far up his own ass he's like the fucking Ouroboros" is my favorite line I've ever written.
And, significantly, this chapter marks the last that is pre-written. We'll see how the update schedule goes from here, but I promise, I have too many ideas to leave this unfinished.