AN: Hiya, everyone! Hope you doing well. I'm so happy that you guys are still reading this. As I said before the story is about to come to an end only 4 or 5 chapters left, I believe. Anyway this chapter is mostly just a look into Tsuna and his guardians' training with the Varia and for some reason I find it a bit boring to write so it mostly just Tsuna looking for his guardians and learning what they might have done during their training. Enjoy!

Last Chapter:

Having finally gotten the box opened. Tsuna as Vuoto passed out the weapons found inside to each guardian. They also met with the Varia who would be training Tsuna and his friends. Xanxus seem to think that Tsuna was his cousin from childhood, but Tsuna doesn't seem to remember him at all except for those two times where they were rivals on duties.

As the guardians are pulled into their own training regime, Vincent's is preparing to escape the mountain valley where his plane had crash landed. Now, three days had passed, but is Tsuna and his friends ready to face Vincent?

Chapter 21: Sky Hunt

"I won't die!" Tsuna shouted at Xanxus when the man once more fired a blast of flame right at him. He took advantage of the river and dived under. It was hot, but it was better than getting the full blast of the hit as Tsuna stood back up for the much needed air.

He felt grateful for the facts that the stream wasn't deep. If it had been, Tsuna would have been dead not by Xanxus' hands but by drowning. He was a lousy swimmer having rarely gotten the chance to learn to swim.

Crawling back onto the other side of the bank, Tsuna made his way into the nearby forest. A part of him warned him that it was pointless trying to escape for he had already failed the last three times he tried, only to be dragged back by Xanxus.

Why the man even bother dragging him all the way back to camp just to kill him, escaped Tsuna's understanding, but the man really does want to kill him, his intuition had been screaming it. Perhaps Xanxus was a different sort of sadistic from Reborn; one that loves to torture their prey before the final kills? Unlike Reborn, who's kept his hobbies and works separates. Probably? Hopefully!

Tsuna shivered. Pushing himself off the dirt ground, he gave Xanxus a strange look of confusion before turning to look toward the forest. Something was wrong.

There was no wind and it wasn't the fear of being kills by Xanxus that he shivered. So what was the feeling he was getting? What was the feeling of wrongness he felt?

"Bossu!" Chrome suddenly pushed her way out from the greenery of the forest as she marvelously dodged the sudden blast of flame that Xanxus shot out of suspicion of enemy's attacks.

"HIIEE!" Tsuna shouted in horror to see that Chrome almost got burned by the strong heat blast, having experienced them himself. In fact, her right shoulder seems to have gotten a little stung, but the purple haired girl only dashed forward nonetheless.

"Are you okay?"

"I lost Mukuro-sama!"

Both exclaimed at the same time causing Tsuna's panic to worsen when the message seems worse than it was.

"Stupid girl…" a clamer yet more childish voice called out from the bushes as Mammon made his way toward his boss.

"Boss" he greeted Xanxus before making his report, "The illusionist, Rokudo Mukuro had cut contact. I believe that mean our time is up."

"HIIEE? Already? But I'm not ready!" Tsuna exclaimed when he finally remembers the reason why he was stuck with Xanxus in the first place. Perhaps the real reason why he was still alive was that Xanxus had been able to remember the fact that they were training? The ethic of a professional? He surely hope that was the case and not just because the man like torturing his prey.

Reborn jumped down from who-know-where knocking Tsuna back down onto the ground.

"Reborn?" Tsuna was surprised to see that the baby hitman had been nearby. How did he miss him? Had Reborn gotten stronger during his capture or had he gotten weaker during their separation. "What are you doing here?"

The baby hitman gave him a smirk, "Did you really think that I would leave you alone with an assassin without some guarantee of your safety?"

Only some protection? Tsuna shivered. Reborn wasn't really serious about letting Xanxus kill him right?

"Dame-Tsuna, no time to wastes if that man is heading this way. Go gather your guardians." Reborn ordered.

"What about Mukuro?" Tsuna asked worried that they had lost contact with the illusionist that even the Vendice had trouble catching.

"You said it yourself, Dame-Tsuna, he is the man that even have the Vendice chasing his tail, he'll be fine."

Nodding, Tsuna rushed back toward the direction of town with Chrome following after him.

Reborn turned to watch Xanxus for a moment before following after his student. Xanxus had looked angry, but he must deal with it for now; this was a state of emergency after all.

"Boss?" Mammon questioned, only to have his boss cut him off when Xanxus barked out order to follows after those 'trashes'.

"Trashes?" Mammon paused for a moment to take in the term his boss had used. Did his boss perhaps like that boy? He usually only used that term when referring to the members of the Varia. Everyone else had been labeled as 'scum'.

A mental report from Tsuna: Chrome—Founded. Tutor: Mammon. Training Result: A secret but she seems to have improved in her connection with Mukuro.

"Bossu…" Chrome quietly called out to Tsuna as the two raced down the thinning forest trail, "Where are we heading?"

Tsuna shifted his eyes over to see the girl. This wasn't the first time he saw her, but it was actually the first time, he had talked with her. Before at the hospital, Vuoto had been the one in possession of his body and he was the one who did all the dealing with her. Her calling Vuoto by 'Boss' had been like her calling someone else 'Boss' so he had not been weird out by it.

But now, hearing her calling him 'Boss' was awkward.

"C-Chrome-chan. That's your name, right?" Tsuna asked, "Sorry if I'm not making sense, but I thought I should reintroduce myself."

She looked confused, but allowed him to continue explaining.

"I'm not the same person you met a couple of days ago. That was Vuoto. My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. So…"

Again she stayed silence waiting for him to finish. Tsuna couldn't help but felt grateful for her silence patient.

"You can just call me Tsuna instead of Boss."

The silence as they entered town was killing him, but he allow her time to take in what he had said in order to returns the favor. She had been patient when he explained thing, so he should be patient in returns, right?

"I don't understand." Chrome stated causing Tsuna to come to a sudden stop. She didn't? He thought he made it very clear that he was not the boss that she has been speaking to, but instead was another person name Tsuna.

"What is there to not understand?"

"Mukuro-sama said that I was under your care while he is away. That makes you my boss, right? Since both sides of you take care of me, aren't both of you my bosses?"

She got a point. "Ehh, I guess you're right…" Tsuna laughed. This was pointless. Why did he even bring up this conversation?

"Bossu" Chrome called him again, this time she was not looking at him but instead over his shoulder. "Isn't that Lightning-san?"

Tsuna looked in the direction she had pointed. Indeed, it was Lambo. The little boy was running away from another child. A kid that he recognized is I-pin, Fon's student. Why was she chasing Lambo?

"Lambo! I-pin!" Tsuna called out to the two kids. Lambo being the first to see him, grinned widely before running toward him shouting his name in happiness.

"Tssuuunnnaa!" Lambo was about to jumped into his extended arms, when another voice tackled him in the stomach first.

"TSUNA-NII! You're back!" Fuuta exclaimed rubbing his face into Tsuna chest. "We all missed you!"

Patting Fuuta's head, Tsuna smiled at the kid. He was speechless, having never gotten such warm welcome before and not only from Fuuta as Lambo pushed the older boy away in order to get his own hug.

"Lambo-sama had given you a hug! So treat Lambo-sama to crepe!"

"Ha-hi! Tsuna, you're home!" Haru happily smiled before she, too, threw herself onto Tsuna causing the brunet to blush.

"H-H-Haru-san! H-how…how are you?" He asked trying to calm his heated face. Why was he feeling so hot all of the sudden? It didn't help when his eyes landed on Kyoko as he wonders why the sun heatwave feels even hotter than Xanxus' fire bullets.

"Kyoko-chan, hello."

"Welcome back, Tsuna-kun" the girl smile softly at him only to get one in return.

"Yea—"

"Get moving on finding the rest of your group of scums!" Xanxus shouted interrupting Tsuna's happy moment.

That was right! He didn't have time to be hanging around like this. He needs to find his friends! Quickly!

"Crepe, first!" Lambo ordered and for some strange reason Tsuna gave into the little boy's order. It wasn't like he knows where to search for the others anyway.

"Yes, let's get some crepe for Lambo first." Tsuna commented ignoring Xanxus look of impatient disbelieve as a large wave of killing intents washed over the area causing many of the general public to rush home as soon as possible.

A mental report from Tsuna: Lambo—Founded. Tutor: I-pin. Training result: Undetermined. The kid had been wasting time playing tag.

Xanxus glared at the group of happy-go-lucky-trashes and scums. Oh…how he wish to squeeze their neck and break them apart limb from limb for being so carefree. Especially when you consider that one of those trashes should be worrying about the up and coming danger.

Tsuna had brought Lambo and his friend to a nearby park where he purchased freshly made crepes for them under the watchful and very angry glaring eyes of Xanxus. Sure, he understood where the anger was coming from, but Tsuna couldn't allow the girls and kids to worry. They shouldn't be involved.

Lambo had already helped him more than enough. The kid shouldn't have to be force to fight. This was between him and Vincent, and no one else should have to get involved. This was his fight and his alone.

So here was the question: should he continue to look for his friends? He shouldn't right. He should look for Mukuro himself. The illusionist being missing was no doubt his fault. Why should his friends get hurt because of his mistakes?

As if Xanxus could hear his thoughts, the man's glare hardens. "Get off your ass and go get those scums you called your guardians!"

Tsuna looked at him in surprised having been caught off guard. He was just talking with Haru and Kyoko about Lambo when the older man just starts shouting the answer to his inner question.

Chrome stood from her seat at the edge of the bench and walked over to Xanxus' side. She looked at Tsuna impatiently, almost as if she wants to ask him to hurry up and search for her precious Mukuro.

Tsuna felt guilty. He had forgotten about her for a moment, as he found himself thrown into the comfort of false peace talking the Haru and Kyoko. He knew that Mukuro was important to her and that he had promise to help her find the illusionist. How could he be so thoughtless as to completely forget about her problem? She must be totally worried.

Should he explain that he plan to rescue Mukuro without his friends' help?

"Chro—" just as Tsuna was about to tell her his plan of actions. A sudden blast of explosion from the nearby forest caused him to turn away. Had he been found already?

No. Two males, one after the other, both tumbled out from the thick wood.

Gokudera growled at the blond prince that had been chasing him for the last three days. While he had used up all this dynamites, that bastards that kept retreating his knifes with help from his wires. Gokudera had been forced to use the arrows his boss had given to him before the brunet had been kidnapped.

"Dammit!" He was wasting times with this bastard while his boss could be dying! He must hurry it up! "Go! Gatling Arrows!" Four simultaneously arrows of burning red lava flew at it target.

"Ushishishi" the boy prince laughed when he once again dodged the storm arrows send his way. "You are never going to hurt the pri—" he watched in horror as a different kind of arrow suddenly flew toward him. This one much larger than the previous four and look much stronger. Belphegor growled in anger for a split second before sending his own storm knifes flying toward Gokudera.

The two attacked landed upon their opponent causing many of the nearby park dwellers to screams as they rushed away from the smoke screen that engulfs the area.

Tsuna rushed forward, seeing his guardian fall to his knee. "Gokudera!"

The called of his name, made the bomber turned to see his boss running toward him. All his pains forgotten Gokudera suddenly felt like a happy puppy greeting it master home.

"Itdiot! Didn't I tell you not to treat your life so worthlessly?" Tsuna scolded as he made sure that Gokudera wouldn't die. "Let's go to the hospital!"

Tsuna's Mental Report: Gokudera—Found. Tutor: Belphegor. Training result: Successful. Able to use G-archery, but badly hurt. Dynamites are used up. Heeiii? Really? I thought those were endless!

"You guys again!" Ikuto growled at the patients he was told to treat. "You guys sure have guts to come back here after all the damage you caused!"

"I'm sorry!" Tsuna apologized, "I will pay for all the damages! Just please treat Gokudera!"

Ikuto sighed at the sincerity in Tsuna eyes, "Don't worry, he not going to die…the boy injuries isn't as bad as it look. Most of it is just surface wounds." He diagnosed with a smile.

"In fact, he's doing much better than those other friends of your"

"Other friends?" A flash of panic crossed Tsuna's feature, "Who else is hurt?" Images of Yamamoto sliced to pieces, Ryohei beaten black and blue, and for a moment even Hibari crossed his mind, only the skylark look fine except for that single piece of bandage on his cheek.

"The guy with the loud voice…" Ikuto started to explain.

Hearing that Tsuna instantly thought of Ryohei. He rushed off to the room he knew Ikuto had putted the teen in with Kyoko shouting 'Onii-san' following right behind him.

"Ryohei-senpai!" "Onii-san!" Both of them burst into the previous room where the guardians had stayed in before to see Ryohei was indeed inside.

"Kyoko!" he looked surprised to see the girl worried and there is a reason for his surprise. He wasn't the one laying on the hospital bed. In fact, Ryohei didn't even look as if he was injured at all.

Too, bad it couldn't be said the same to the buff man with raven hair laying on the bed all bandaged up from head to toe. Even his mouth had been covered and both his legs hanging uselessly in supports. Lussuria lay on the other bed, he was only lightly bandaged compared to his partner. A long white gauze wrap around his head and his right arm put in a cast.

"Huh? W-What is going on? Onii-san, you're not hurt?" Tsuna asked looking at the man confusingly. In fact, Ryohei had looked as if he had just came out of a spa, all fresh and shiny as he greets Tsuna with a large smile.

"Sawada! You're back! How was your training? Was it extreme? Mine was extremely FUN!"

"F-fun?" Tsuna realized that he wasn't the only one who looked shocked. Lussuria and Leviathan had also found themselves asking the exact same question as Tsuna. What kind of training did they do?

"It wasn't fun at all!" Lussuria whined, "Boss~! You came to save me! This guy here is even more crazy than us!"

"How so?" Xanxus grinned. Perhaps he could use the boy's training method the next time he found his underlings annoying.

Lussuria immediately shut up, no longer feeling like whining to his boss and giving him ideas to use as punishment.

"Well?" Xanxus lured seeing that his men, both of them had decidedly avoided his eyes.

Then to both their horror, Ryohei opened his big mouth.

"We did push-up!" the boxer screamed.

"What the hell? Push-up? That the training you guys did?" Gokudera yelled.

No, we did twenty-thousand push-ups! Both Varias screamed within their mind.

"Then we went on to sit-up!"

Fifty thousand of those!

"Afterward, we run around town!"

Seven times!

"Then we fight a friendly match of boxing!"

Friendly? Total lies! That boy is way to serious!

"We cool down with some laps around the school yard, afterward! Hibari even joined us!"

We were being chased! Being chased! For five strange hours! Every day!

Tsuna and Gokudera both felt a chilled at Hibari's name. If Hibari was involved, those simple trainings can't really be as simple as they had seen. The looks of horror on the two Varia's faces were further proofs. Xanxus, however, only glare at his two subordinates for putting down the Varia-quailty. Oh no! He was being to sound like that Shark of a vice-commander!

"B-By the way, Onii-san, is Hibari-sempai still at the school?" Tsuna asked. Perhaps having Hibari with them will be best. The man was a great fighter and Tsuna was sure that even if he was to join their fight, Hibari will be the one person who wouldn't die.

"Hibari?" Ryohei looked thoughtful for a moment, "I think he is usually there, but today is a weekend, so he probably only be there in the early morning and late evening."

"Then, I guess I will go see him later…"

"Boss does this mean that the bastard had already arrival?" Gokudera asked looking Tsuna over. His boss didn't tell him much when they met again at the park, but he got the suspicion that Vincent had came back when he saw his boss again.

Tsuna nodded. He didn't see a way out of fooling Gokudera. If it had been Ryohei alone, he could probably fool the boxer, but Gokudera had always been a different story. His friend was just too observant when it came to him.

"Then we should go search for the others! Who's missing? The baseball freak!" Gokudera shouted realizing that Yamamoto was missing if he didn't count Hibari.

"Let's go to his shop! I know where it is!"

"Eh? You do?" Tsuna was slightly surprised since Gokudera didn't seem to be the type to hang around another house. Especially, one that belong to Yamamoto Takeshi.

"I-I just happened to have sushi at his place before!" Gokudera quickly explained with a deep blush. Truth be told, he had enter the shop hoping to learn some skills in order to make some great sushi for his boss. It was only his unfortunate luck that he picked the baseball freak's shop.

"Then let's go trashes." Xanxus ordered, "We are wasting time and I have more important thing to do than babysit you trashes!"

Gokudera growled at the man but followed him out after Tsuna nodded his agreement. He silently made a promise to himself that he would kill the bastard once this is over for ordering his boss around.

Tsuna's Mental Report: Ryohei—Found. Tutor: Lussuria and Leviathan. Training result: Could be calls a success since he beaten both tutors. Seem to have mastered his boxing and usages of Knuckle's Maximum Break.

Varia—Lost Lussuria and Levi. "Hey! We're not dead yet!" Lussuria whined and Levi mumbled his agreement in the background.

Hibari—At school in the evening. Should be an easy find. Tutor: None. Training result: Unknown I hope he is willing to help us.

"VOOOOIIII! Welcome!" was the greeting that greeted them upon entering the small wooden shop called 'Takesushi' by a long hair swordsman.

"Bawhahahahaha!" Xanxus broke in laughing at the sight of his second-in-command wearing a white sushi chef uniform stand before him waving around a sushi knife instead of a sword. The man long silver hairs tied up in a ponytail and despite his killing intents floating around him, the swordsman look like a harmless man with a bad temper.

"What are you guys doing here?" the swordsman screamed, his face completely red from embarrassment and anger.

"That is what we should be asking you?" Mammon calmly asked, although the slight twitching of his lip shown that he wanted to laugh as well.

"Last I saw, you were going to train the kid, what happen when we left the shop? Did you love the sushi so much that you have decided to become a chef instead of a swordsman?"

Squalo growled at the tiny illusionist. "I was asked to watch the shop! When I was discussing about how to train the brat, his old man cut in and said he was going to train his son himself! The two left for who-know-where and told me to watch the shop!"

"And you're actually watching it?" Mammon looked totally shocked, "Without getting pay?"

"Yeah! Without getting pay?" Tsuna repeated then as if the little illusionist and Tsuna were in sync they both asked Squalo the same question: "Are you stupid?"

"Why are you working for free?" Mammon looked at his speechless commander slightly still unaware of Tsuna's presence.

"Working for free is just ridiculous! At least demand to be pay. If you don't need the cash, I do so give your pay to me!"

"To you?" Mammon turned, finally realizing another person standing beside him, "Why should he give them to you? If he was to give them to anyone, it should be me. I take care of all the Varia's finances."

"Give me a break!" Tsuna shouted in distaste at Mammon's simple reasoning, "You at least got money to spare! I'm a poor high school student who has six mouths to feed plus an ever growing debt!"

"Boss—" Gokudera wants to cry having finally seen Tsuna's true face. Although, he felt a little guilt for having to depend on Tsuna and causing the debt, he still couldn't believe his boss would go so far. When did his boss become…become such a…

"Money-goblin, shuts your yapping!" Xanxus yelled and Gokudera silently agreed to the term used; yes, 'money-goblin' for being both short and greedy. OMG! What was he saying about his boss? Bad dog! Bad!

While Gokudera had a mental breakdown at Xanxus's word, Squalo found himself nodding feverishly in agreement. "I wasn't really working anyway! It just that for some strange reason, the customers just kept coming back! VOOOIII! Look!"

As Squalo had said, an elderly man with a cane came wandering in. He didn't pay attention to Xanxus as he patted Squalo on the shoulder in a friendly greeting.

"Hello again, Squalo-kun. What is the special today?" the old man asked as he made himself comfortable in one of the few corner tables.

"VOOOIII! Go away old man! Can't you see I'm busy?" Squalo screamed.

"See-i-bi? Sashimi?" the old man suddenly laughed, "I told you before Squalo-kun, speak clearly. I'm old and my hearing isn't as good as it use to be. One plate of Sashimi with some green tea, then."

Squalo face-palmed.

"Ushishishi…Are all of this shop's customer elderly?" Belphegor asked with a laugh at his vice-captain's distress.

"No." just as Squalo had answered a group of teenage girls made their way into the shop.

"VOOOIII! I told you to never come again!" Squalo shouted at them causing the group of females to squeal in delight.

"He yelled at me! I'm so excited! Yell at me again!"

"Look! Look! He got friends today!"

"I like the silver-hair boy! He looks like he's strong!"

"Strong? That man with the scars look scary, but I believe that he must be the strongest!"

"No, no! Squalo-chin is the strongest!"

"VOOOIII! SHUT UP! I CAN HEAR YOU!" Squalo's yell only seem to fused the fangirls' squeals of delight as he found himself face palming once more in distress.

The others could only laugh when they realized that although, Squalo was a strong and undefeated swordsman, he could still easily lose to elderly old man and crazy fangirls…and to the owner of Takesushi and his son; the Yamamoto.

Tsuna's Mental Report: Yamamoto—Missing, but appeared to be with his father. Tutor: Squalo. Never mind, he got kicked out from that position by Yamamoto Tsuyoshi. I wonder what he is like? Must be an amazing/frighten person to be able to get Squalo working for free. I wish to learn from him!

Training result: Squalo said, "How should I know? I got stuck shop-sitting for them!" Is thing going to be okay like this?

"RUUUNNN!" Leonardo screamed at his comrades when he was suddenly smacked on the head by a steel tonfa burning with purple flame.

Hibari Kyouya stood before the undead corpse of one of the fools who had dared to trespass onto his beloved school ground causing troubles. They had seemed to be looking for someone, precisely one, Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Hibari growled at the flies that had gathered in search of the herbivore before a dark amused look crossed his features, "I will enjoy biting you to death. Especially, you." He stated staring at the long raven haired man standing amid the crowd of flies.

Vincent glared at the prefect. After spending almost two weeks at this lousy no-name school, he had learned to hate the boy. Always so high and mighty, ruling over such a small pathetic group of students, and yet, the boy dared to stand up to him!

"I only want Sawada Tsunayoshi! Just hand him over, you vampire-impersonator!"

Hibari bristled. "Look for him elsewhere. The herbivore is not here." He stated dispassionately.

Vincent narrowed his eyes, "But you know where he is…" his tone was deathly, promising suffering to the head prefect. "I noticed…you were always watching him. There is no way you wouldn't know of his current location!"

Indeed. Kyouya looked impressed by the man's observation. He had been watching the herbivore. Always. Every day. Ever since that night at the festival, but it was because he was waiting for a chance to question the carnivore, not that he needed to anymore. He gotten what he wanted and that had been the fight he experienced with the herbivore. The new power he gotten from their fight had been interesting but he had learned that on his own. There was no longer a feeling of wanting to observe the herbivore. But of course, that didn't mean he didn't know of the brunet's location; that job had been passed to Hibird.

"Tell me where he is and I'll leave your little town alone!"

"Are you threatening me?" Hibari asked, a spike of indignation on his abilities to protect Namimori had been hit and he glared at the man. No one threaten Hibari Kyouya and get away with it!

"I will do anything to get Tsuna!"

Normally, Hibari wouldn't care about the students relationship outside of school ground, but as they were currently standing on Namimori's campus, a widen sadistic smirk appeared on his face, "It seems that I must bite you to death for breaking a school rule…No relationship beyond study buddies and rivalry are allowed on school ground!"

Hibari charged forward, tonfas in hands as he slide his way through the crowd, biting all the 'flies' to death. The smile on his face widen when he lifted the weapon to smash Vincent's arrogance face. It's dropped, however, when a small black steel dagger blocked his path.

Looking up, Hibari saw red. The red blood from his own arm when he had brought it up to blocked another blade from slitting his face. The red locks of hairs from the man beside Vincent's side. The angry ruby red eyes of Sergio as he pushed Hibari into retreated.

"Wao…how interesting..."