Song is Demons by Imagine Dragons
AND OH GOD I CUT THIS ALL WRONG I CAN TELL I FEEL SO BAD
Well, that's life.
Enjoy!
XXXX
When it was finally time for the assault, Bel and Tsuna had to clip themselves onto harnesses and lower themselves down onto the rooftop. Which, was terrifying enough, without Mammon floating down after them making remarks like,
"Don't look down."
"I'd pay to get that fallen bird scraped off the ground.
"More money could buy a better rope."
Which was really driving Tsuna crazy because he was nervous enough as is. When they finally landed on the roof, Tsuna watched in fascination as Bel ripped the shingles off and carved through the roof. He gestured dramatically at the hole that led in.
"Girlish peasants first." Tsuna shot him an annoyed look before he dropped down in, with the rope slowly bringing him down. He had to kick out one of the panels of the ceiling, but then he was dropped onto the top floor, all of this still cloaked in an illusion so no one could see it. Bel quickly followed and Mammon floated down. As soon as Tsuna was on the ground though, he knew something wasn't right. When Bel was down beside him, about to unhook himself from the rope, he also froze.
"Where did the peasants go?" The room still had computers and chairs everywhere- it looked like a sleek office room, probably where they managed everything, all cubicles, but there was no one there. It was just…empty.
"Something's not right." Mammon said. They rushed downstairs, through labs and giant computers, and engineering areas, finding nothing, wherever they searched. The rest of the Varia were already inside, and apparently they had a few security guards tied up, and were questioning them, but they hadn't found anything. They'd already checked underground- there were only holding cells and more labs, which were all empty. Well, there was one lab that had a scientist bumbling around in it, but he was easily captured and tied up.
The entire facility had been evacuated.
"Where are all the peasants?" Bel demanded, peeved that he didn't have anyone to kill.
"Calm down, Bel-chan, I'm sure the nice scientist man could give us an explanation." Lussuria said, winking at the scientist. Though he seemed innocent enough, Tsuna recognized the chilling suggestion and truth to it. If there was anyone who would know anything about what the Estraneo were doing, it would be the scientist. He would be the one questioned.
"VOIIIIIIIII! THAT'S WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW!" Squalo stormed in front of the mousy, timid man, glaring at him and waving his sword. "WHERE DID ALL OF YOU GO?" The man laughed, not looking as mousy as before. It was like his entire face changed at the cold sound of his voice.
"Gone. Our spy told us about the assault. Not even the Varia is exempt from our skills."
"WHO IS IT?" Squalo roared in his face. The man laughed again, and grinned.
"You'll never know."
"Where are you all now?" Mammon asked quietly. The man's face contorted with a sick smile.
"I don't have to tell you anything. But you should know that the Estraneo don't take kindly to threats. We'll burn that mansion of yours to the ground and destroy the Varia if we have to. The Vindice can't stop us again." He sounded so sure of it, so confident, and like nothing the Varia could do would break him. His smug expression was irritating Squalo and Bel, apparently, because Squalo went off at him while Bel sharpened his knives, staring at the man with a frozen expression on his face.
"-GODDAMN TRASH. AND LET ME TELL YOU ANOTHER THING-," After some time, Xanxus got irritated and threw a chair at Squalo, who spun around, yapping at his boss. Xanxus was closer now, and he tossed a keyboard at Squalo, then a mouse, then a desk, until finally, the scientist leaned forward and spat on Xanxus.
The room froze.
Xanxus slowly wiped it off his face, rubbing it on his pants, his expression unreadable. Tsuna watched in horror as he took a knife out.
"You're going to tell us what we want to know, trash." His voice was uncharacteristically and dangerously calm. Something terrible was about to happen.
"Tsuna." Lussuria said, hesitantly. "Leave the room." Tsuna bolted out of the facility, pretending he couldn't hear the screams echoing from inside.
XXXX
The Estraneo were gone for now, along with all of their experiments. They had collected everything. But the good news was that they hadn't seen the last of the Estraneo. The scientist hadn't said specifically, and no amount of torture could make him give the specifics, but the Estraneo were going to do something big and something violent. Soon. Apparently within a few days. So they'd found their opening.
The Varia were all pretty angry that the Estraneo had gotten away for now, and Xanxus personally set out on a relentless hunt throughout any Varia workers or staff to find the rat. With his methods, he found the rat in that very same day. How could he not?
Tsuna didn't know what happened to the mole and he didn't want to know. Maybe he would have protested otherwise, but he knew that the mole had been a middle-aged mafioso that had already killed tons of people that made his own choice. He had no possibility of innocence in any way at all. Justice, in the rat's case, would be death, which was delivered. And even though that probably would have been the ruling of a court anyways, Tsuna was still uncomfortable with it. And that was okay. He didn't have to be comfortable with the death of someone. But even if Xanxus hadn't killed the man, the Vindice would have, for the crimes he committed.
Every member of the Varia was in a slump for the next day. Because they had failed their mission and nobody likes to feel failure.
Xanxus was the worst; because Tsuna was sure that if he wasn't so slumpy and depressed about their failure, the rest of the team would be better. It was Xanxus's responsibility to get his team out of this. So when Xanxus went down to the training room to train alone and blow stuff up, Tsuna followed him.
Tsuna slipped into the room while Xanxus was shooting dummies angrily, and crept up to him, tapping him on the shoulder. The man swore, and spun around, ready to roar. Tsuna held his arms behind his back, looking up at Xanxus with big, bunny eyes.
"Xanxus-san." He said softly. "I need to talk to you." Xanxus blinked, and then snarled in response.
"What do you want, brat?" Tsuna wasn't good at commanding with authority, but there was a time and a place for everything. He tilted his head to the side and hoped for the best.
"Well, first of all, I'd like you to put the guns down, if you could. Because if you keep holding a weapon at me while we're talking, I will taze you." Xanxus growled at him, but holstered the guns. Tsuna dipped his head. "Thank you. Now, I'd like to remind you that you are the Varia boss and you have a responsibility to your team."
"So?"
"So-," Tsuna started, before his eyes narrowed and his entire demeanor changed, becoming serious and dark. Something fit for a boss. "Pull yourself together. You failed. Get over it. You have another shot at the Estraneo, but you have to prepare for it. If you keep wallowing in your overwhelmingly large ocean of self pity, your team will too. So grow up and take it like a man." Xanxus growled again, reaching for his gun, snarling,
"Nobody talks to me like that, trash-,"
"Your entitlement issues, your, "I'm an adopted child" crisis need to be shelved for now." Xanxus jerked back, like he had been slapped, as Tsuna continued, sharp and to the point. "Your, "I need to earn it, I can do this, I'm just as good as anyone with Vongola blood" problem needs to be ignored. You are using that to add to your failure, using that as a reason for your failure. I can see that and it is pitiful." The truth was written all over his face. It wasn't like Xanxus to wallow in pity- he just wasn't that type of person. The only explanation was that he was blaming himself with all of his issues.
"You spent ten years in the ice; it's not fair but now you need to grow up even faster to make up for lost time. You're leading this team because they trust you, because they respect you. You're the boss. Act like it." With that, Tsuna turned around and left, leaving a shocked Xanxus standing there. Then again, Tsuna really couldn't blame him. The sudden personality change and the fact that no one was supposed to know about all of that. But there weren't a lot of secrets in the secret world.
As he was about to leave, Tsuna paused, and added,
"The reason your "I'm just as good as anyone with Vongola blood" problem needs to be ignored is because that's not the problem. You're making it a problem, even if it never was a problem. The Vongola are a group of people. Their blood makes them special? That isn't true. Because there are truly pathetic people with Vongola blood." My father. "Being a part of Vongola doesn't mean anything. Family isn't about blood. Not having their blood shouldn't matter. So stop making it matter." And then Tsuna left.
It was something Xanxus needed to know.
XXXX
Hibari had made a mistake.
He could feel it as soon as he found the room he had been sure Tsunayoshi was in.
He didn't like making mistakes.
When he entered the room, he had seen that Tsunayoshi was on the ground, limp and bloody, and Hibari had felt a little bit sick at the gory scene. Blood was spattered on the walls, the floor, a thick coating of it covering Tsunayoshi's hair. Hibari wasn't cruel; he would never wish for his student to suffer like that.
And then Tsunayoshi disappeared, and Hibari realized in horror that it was an illusion. He had his tonfas out in a second, expecting an attack, even though none came. He whipped his head around, scanning the room.
"Kufufufu." The laugh came from behind him, and he spun around to see a figure leaning against the wall. "So Skylark-kun came." Hibari raised his tonfas, narrowing his eyes.
"It was all an illusion. Tsunayoshi is still in Italy, isn't he?" The figure dipped his head.
"I wouldn't say that. The blood is still here, isn't it?" Hibari's eyes darted to the blood on the walls and the floor. It was still there…but who did it belong to? That had only been an illusion on the floor. Hibari looked back to Rokduo, gritting his teeth.
It was hard to describe Rokudo's face, since the image seemed to keep shifting. Rokduo was using an illusion to hide it.
"What did you do with Tsunayoshi, herbivore?" Hibari barked out, and Rokudo took a few steps forward, grinning. That image was clear. "Tell me."
"Make me." Rokudo pulled out a trident, and shifted it in his hand, still grinning. Hibari charged.
Their weapons clashed, and then Hibari pulled back, before striking at Rokudo's side. Rokudo was fast enough to move his trident, and he blocked the tonfas, before whipping it around in his hand and jabbing at Hibari, who dodged and blocked a sweeping movement from the trident. He struck, moving in closet, but Rokudo shifted the trident in his hand and blocked at the last minute.
This was no time to play around. Hibari tightened his grip on his tonfas and attacked the herbivore in front of him at a speed that was close to impossible. He attacked furiously, fiercely, with every intention of harming the herbivore. No mercy.
Rokudo actually seemed surprised at the intensity Hibari attacked with, driving Rokudo back a couple steps. But then, Rokudo changed his tactic, and fought back. He didn't drive Hibari back, but he didn't lose anymore ground. He blocked and attacked.
Their fight was too fast for regular people to keep up with. One minute Hibari was pressing Rokudo hard, the next he was being forced to block. They were evenly matched, pushing back and forth without determining a winner. They landed blows and left each other with injuries, but nothing major immediately. Naturally, the nature of the injuries got worse as the fight continued, but they were equally injured.
And it was sort of pissing Hibari off.
When they sprang apart again, both panting, sweating, and bleeding. Rokudo grinned, and Hibari glared back.
"I don't believe we're getting anywhere Skylark-kun. We'll have to find another way to fight." Hibari raised his tonfas again, narrowing his eyes. He didn't care what the creepy criminal herbivore had to say. Rokudo sighed. "Really, Skylark-kun, you're very hard to deal with. Ieyoshi-kun, why don't you bring in your brother?" Hibari felt like he'd been slapped in the face.
Because he wouldn't put it past that herbivore to work with Rokudo and he didn't like that Rokudo might not be lying.
The door opened, and Ieyoshi appeared, dragging in the small, bloody form of his brother. He was pulling Tsunayoshi along, his hands hooked under Tsunayoshi's arm pits, Tsunayoshi's feet dragging on the floor. Ieyoshi threw him on the ground, and crossed his arms, glaring.
"I'm not your errand boy, you know." Ieyoshi complained. Rokudo grinned and shrugged, before suddenly attacking Hibari. The results of the fight were the same, with Hibari holding his ground against the blow. He exchanged attacks with Rokudo, his eyes continuously darting towards the form of his student. He didn't want to think about what had happened to him.
It was because Hibari was being careful that he noticed Ieyoshi taking out the gun and aiming it at his brother. Hibari reacted immediately, jerking away from the fight and rushing over to defend his unconscious student. Tsunayoshi, as his student, was his responsibility, and since Tsunayoshi could not defend himself at this time, it fell to Hibari to do so.
And as Hibari sprang over, throwing Ieyoshi to the side, Tsunayoshi's body disappeared again, and Hibari felt the dread as he spun around a second too late to fully defend against Rokudo. He blocked, sure enough, but he was forced to stumble backwards, against the wall, and the next thing he knew, he was taking a trident to the stomach.
XXXX
"Are we training or what-," Mammon started at breakfast, but was quickly silenced by a glare from Xanxus. The Varia were still sore about the humiliating situation with Estraneo. Personally, Tsuna was also pretty unsure about what they were going to do. He thought they should train and get ready, since Estraneo were clearly going to do something, but Xanxus was still moody and unprepared.
"Shut up, Mammon, you piece of shit." Xanxus hissed, and angrily munched on his bacon. He tossed the rest of the piece across the room, adding, "Too goddamn crunchy." He leaned back in his chair and sipped some whiskey even though it was nine in the morning. Tsuna was getting sick of his behavior and they had only been sitting there for eight and a half minutes.
This was not the time for whining. And Xanxus was sure as hell whining.
"Xanxus-," Lussuria started uneasily. "We really do need to decide what to do." Xanxus glared at Lussuria.
"I don't care, so shut up, trash." Lussuria went silent in his seat, staring down at his plate. Even Bel wasn't laughing. Xanxus wasn't just normal moody or pissed. His attitude was worse than usual and Tsuna could feel it bringing down the morale of the Varia.
Levi was the one to valiantly put himself out there next, and even though Tsuna didn't really like Levi all that much, he found the effort commendable.
"Xanxus-sama," He started strongly, but then Xanxus cut him off.
"Go kill yourself, Levi." Tsuna's eyes widened and he shot up in his seat. He immediately grabbed his glass of water and threw it in Xanxus's face, soaking him in an instant. The mouths of everyone in the Varia dropped, as Tsuna walked over angrily.
Telling Levi to go kill himself just because Xanxus had an attitude problem was disgusting. Those were words that Tsuna thought should never be spoken to anyone. Ever. No matter what they said or did. It didn't matter if you thought it to yourself. You never spoke it or wrote it or showed it to anyone because that was beyond low.
Xanxus's eyes snapped open, and a deep growl came from him.
"Brat." Tsuna wanted to flinch at the tone, and he normally would have, but Xanxus had said that terrible thing and that was not okay. So he stood his ground. Besides, he was kind of getting used to standing up to Xanxus. Somebody needed to. "I'm going to rip you apart for that."
"You don't say that sort of thing." Tsuna said in a quiet voice. "Ever."
"What I say to my subordinates doesn't concern you. If I want Levi to go kill himself, I will tell him to go kill himself, and if he was a loyal subordinate, he wo-," Tsuna snatched the bottle of whiskey away from Xanxus and emptied it over Xanxus's head before he could say anything else. He could practically hear the surprised gasp from the inhabitants of the room. But he didn't care. His only thought was defending Levi. He didn't like Levi, but Levi didn't deserve this sort of treatment. No one did.
Still gripping the bottle, Tsuna turned away to storm out of the room, before Xanxus hissed,
"Brat. The bottle." His voice was filled with barely contained rage. But Tsuna couldn't care less. He turned and flung the bottle at Xanxus's head, before leaving the room angrily, slamming the door. He could hear the shatter, knowing it never made contact with Xanxus's head, and then the roar of anger. Tsuna was comfortable knowing that the bottle never hit Xanxus. If he suspected at all that Xanxus would let the impact happen, he would never have thrown it. He could really hurt someone otherwise. Another door slammed, as Xanxus stormed out the other door.
Before Tsuna could go back to his room, he heard Mammon's voice from inside.
"The two of them are sort of like two sides of the same coin."
XXXX
The effects of Xanxus's rage could be heard throughout the mansion all day. Everyone was jumpy, running away and hiding from Xanxus in fear of what he might do. Though, they were lucky. The temperamental Varia boss spent most of his time in the training room, destroying things. So at least he wasn't taking his anger out on the people that didn't deserve it.
Tsuna knew that he had to go talk to Xanxus again. He was partly what set off this rage, though he had not inspired it. But he let Xanxus get most of his anger out over the course of the day, and at about five o'clock, he headed down to the training room, the room none of the Varia dared to approach.
He opened the door to see a fiery room, little flames of wrath burning all over, with dummies and targets strewn across the floor, burning or in pieces. Or burning pieces. Xanxus was breathing heavily, a gun in his hand and the other hand bursting with the Flame of Wrath.
Xanxus noticed Tsuna's entrance immediately, and Tsuna felt worse seeing the Flame of Wrath flare a little bigger. Nevertheless, Tsuna had to do something, so he stepped across the pieces and approached Xanxus cautiously.
"What are you here for, brat?" Xanxus spat out. "To throw another bottle at my head?"
Well, now you know how it feels, I suppose.
"Xanxus-san," Tsuna started carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad. I was just very angry about what you said." Tsuna looked down at his feet, feeling his cheeks flush. He wasn't very good with apologies. He wasn't apologizing for speaking up. But he knew that throwing the bottle and soaking Xanxus had been rude and probably uncalled for. There was another way to express how he felt. And now it was his fault for making Xanxus angry and in turn, making everyone too afraid to talk to their boss.
"You should be, brat." Xanxus growled. Tsuna blinked up at him hesitantly.
"But you're angry at me, not your team. They really need you right now. So, um, please talk to them?" Tsuna asked softly. He was really more begging than anything else. But it was clear how much the Varia needed Xanxus right now and Xanxus was just neglecting it. It wasn't fair to the team, who had done nothing wrong.
Xanxus glared at Tsuna, and Tsuna was afraid he wasn't going to say anything at all and just keep throwing his Flame of Wrath at the dummies. And that was worse. Not to be acknowledged at all. But to Tsuna's relief, Xanxus spoke.
"You have a lot of nerve, brat." Tsuna shrugged and looked down again. "For such a pitiful little pipsqueak, you have a lot of stupidity or bravery."
A little bit of both.
"Anyways," Xanxus continued darkly. "I'll talk to my team. But stay out of my sight for the rest of the night, brat, or I'll burn you." Xanxus threatened. Tsuna could take that deal, and he nodded quickly.
XXXX
Later that night, after the Varia had "kissed and made up" to put it figuratively, Tsuna couldn't help but smile to himself. He was hiding around the mansion, doing his best to stay out of Xanxus's sight. Xanxus still seemed pretty mad at him, and Tsuna was a little too terrified to deal with that.
Well, a lot too terrified.
Terrified beyond belief.
But in his defense, Xanxus was scary!
After watching Xanxus get into one of his fights with Squalo where he threw stuff at his best friend's head, Tsuna smiled and slipped away. Things were back to normal. He had no doubt that the next day, things would be up and running. They would be going after Estraneo.
It was all worth it.
Mostly everyone went to bed at about nine or ten o'clock that night, knowing they would have training tomorrow. You could feel the change in the atmosphere. Pretty much all lights were out by eleven, and Tsuna was dead asleep by then.
However, silently, someone crept into the house.
The hallways were empty and the Varia were all asleep. It was the perfect opportunity, and Estraneo was taking it. A figure slipped through the mansion, searching for the right room. He had a silenced 22 in his hand and a long knife sheathed at his side. The Estraneo assassin was prepared for anything, ranging from Xanxus's grumpy wrath, to Lussuria in a nightie and bunny slippers.
He still didn't want to see that, though.
After checking a few rooms, he quietly opened the door to what he suspected was the right one. Once he saw the figure lying on the bed, he shifted the knife in his hand. He preferred to use the knife, as the Varia might still wake up at the sound of a silenced gun. They knew the sound, and the Estraneo assassin was sure of it. But he had the gun prepared just in case. He held the knife in such a way that it would be easy to slice the throat of his victim open.
He bent over the figure, lifting the knife into the air, and bringing it down.
Seconds before the knife touched his throat, Tsuna's eyes snapped open, glowing, and a Sky flame flickering to life on his forehead.
The next moment, there was a blast of flames, shots fired from a silenced gun, and a loud bang!
The household came to life in a matter of seconds, Xanxus slinking from his room angrily to kill whatever that sound was, Lussuria rushing out, worried, Bel yawning and blinking sleepily, Squalo waving his sword around halfheartedly, Levi looking confused, and Mammon just floating out as if he'd decided to take a stroll through a park.
However, they all moved a lot faster when they saw the flames coming from Tsuna's room.
Xanxus basically flung the door off the hinges, leading the pack, to see Tsuna on the ground, knocked unconscious, and a severely wounded assassin about to bring the knife down on the petite boy's neck. He shot the assassin many more times than necessary.
Lussuria rushed over to the fallen boy, lifting him up. It was easy to tell that Tsuna had fought back, but the assassin probably had the jump on him, and just one blow was all it took to turn the fight in his favor. Tsuna was sort of half-awake, his eyes half lidded, but not entirely lucid.
"Tsuna-chan!" Lussuria exclaimed, checking the quiet boy for injuries. He found a few scratches, a wound from where a blindly fired bullet had clipped him, but had not majorly injured him, and a small head wound from being struck with a gun, probably what had brought him down. As Lussuria searched more, he found one bullet wound, but it was a simple flesh wound, and with the help of sun flames, would heal in no time at all.
"I'm okay…" Tsuna murmured, some of his hair sticky with blood. Not a lot, but Lussuria still started to fret over him. Meanwhile, Xanxus went over and lifted up the body of the unconscious assassin. The assassin was still alive, but barely. He would probably be dead in a couple of minutes though, no matter what anyone did to try to save him.
"Estraneo sent him." Xanxus snarled, finding the Famiglia's emblem on a ring.
"VOIIIIIII! THEY DARED TO ATTACK US DIRECTLY?" Squalo exclaimed. Bel shrugged, and yawned.
"Probably not us, but the little fox. After all, the little fox basically led the first attack on Estraneo. Perhaps the peasants thought that by getting rid of him, they would be safer." Xanxus darkened.
"An attack on any one of us is an attack on all." He growled.
"But Xanxus-sama, the trash isn't part of the Vari-," Xanxus threw a lamp at Levi to silence him.
"Shut up, Levi. The brat is whatever I say he is. And Estraneo has just attacked one of us." Bel grinned and giggled.
"Does this mean what the Prince thinks it means? A mafia war? The Prince hasn't participated in one of those for ages." Bel sounded….very excited at the concept of another mafia war. Xanxus didn't answer, but it was basically a yes.
"VOIIII! WE ALREADY HAVE PLENTY OF REASON TO TEAR THE ESTRANEO APART!" Squalo thrust his sword in the air enthusiastically. Mammon gave him a deadpan look (well, not technically a look, since you couldn't see his eyes, but the body language was pretty obvious)
"I'm going back to bed. Tell me if the brat dies." He said, and floated away.
"Bel-chan? Can you wake up the rest of the house? I think Tsuna-chan needs medical attention." Squalo frowned.
"The brat isn't badly hurt, is he?" Lussuria shrugged.
"No, but I think he may have a bad concussion and he has a bullet wound I would like to take care of. Estraneo is known for using poison, and I just want to make sure Tsuna-chan is okay." Bel nodded and left the room to get the little hospital wing of the mansion up and running. Lussuria lifted Tsuna up, brushing Tsuna's hair back from his face. "I think he'll be fine, though." Lussuria added. Xanxus, still holding the body of the assassin in the air, paused to study Tsuna for a second.
"The brat better be." He said, before storming off to burn the body to ashes.
XXXX
The fight with Rokudo hadn't ended with Hibari getting stabbed in the stomach, of course.
Hibari was too strong to go down like that.
But it was really pissing Hibari off that he'd gotten stabbed. Of course, it was a battle. If you were a second too late in blocking, you could be terribly wounded. Or killed. He let his guard down and couldn't bring it up fast enough, and now he was learning his lesson.
He was still fighting pretty well, ignoring his pain, and only focusing on winning. That was all that mattered. If he could beat Rokudo, he could solve everything. After Rokudo, Ieyoshi would only take one hit to knock out, as would the other lackeys. Hibari could take care of them, severely injured or not.
If he could beat Rokudo.
Hibari did not want to admit it, but the odds weren't solely in his favor. There was a chance he could lose and he really did not like the feeling of that.
On top of all this, he couldn't figure out if Rokudo really had Tsunayoshi here, or if it was all an illusion. On one hand, Tsunayoshi had been revealed as an illusion twice. On the other hand, the blood was still there. But actually, all of it could be an illusion. But also, making all of what Hibari saw an illusion could be to convince Hibari that Tsunayoshi wasn't there at all, even if Tsunayoshi was. It was frustrating.
Hibari supposed he could call Tsunayoshi's cell, but now was not the time for it.
XXXX
Tsuna woke up feeling like he'd just had a training session with Hibari.
Which meant sore and exhausted combined with a feeling of dread that he had to get out of bed and do it again.
On the subject of Hibari, Tsuna was actually missing the violent prefect. Naturally, Tsuna missed Nana, Bianchi, Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Shouichi, Enma, and even Reborn. But the thing about Hibari that surprised Tsuna was that he found himself continually surprised that he had become friends with Hibari. He never expected the prefect to become such a big part of his life, and now Tsuna was missing him very much. Along with everybody else, of course.
Tsuna shifted in bed and groaned at his sore body. The room he was in was comfortably lit. As far as he could tell, it was some sort of medical room, though not necessarily the hospital. Why was he here again?
Flashes of someone standing over him with a knife came back.
Oh.
That's why.
Tsuna yawned, and ignoring the pain in his body, he slowly sat up, propping himself up against the pillows and looking around.
"Hello?" He called quietly. As if on cue, the door went flying open and Lussuria burst in, waving his feather boa.
"Tsuna-chan!" He shrieked. Tsuna blinked.
"Were you waiting outside the door?"
"Maybe." Lussuria rushed over, to fuss over him. He fired question after question at Tsuna.
"Are you okay?"
"How do you feel?"
"What do you remember?"
"Do you need anything?"
"Do you need water?"
"Are you cold?"
"Do you want your laptop?"
"What about your phone?"
"You don't feel dizzy?"
"Everything's okay?"
"Any pain?"
Tsuna flushed bright red at the rapid questioning, which caused Lussuria to pause in order to squeal at his cuteness.
After some conversation, Tsuna assured Lussuria he was okay, and asked him what happened. Lussuria threw his boa over his shoulder sassily.
"Well, hun, an assassin tried to kill you in your sleep and you woke up right before he did. You burnt off half his face, but he managed to shoot you and hit you with his gun. You fought back, but there was poison on his bullets, so he overpowered you. We came in around then because your room was sort of flaming and Xanxus shot the assassin repeatedly. He is currently a pile of ash in the training room." Lussuria paused. "I think we'll send Levi to clean it up." He continued. "Anyways, we treated you. You had a mild concussion, a bullet wound- but don't worry, it's almost completely healed up already-, a few scratches here and there, and we gave you an antidote for the poison. So you should be better!" Lussuria said cheerfully. "How do you feel?"
"A little sore and tired, but good." Tsuna admitted.
"Well, I should probably go. I have training but I wanted to be close by when you woke up." Lussuria confessed. "I'll tell everyone you're awake. Do you need anything?"
"Could I have my phone and laptop?" Lussuria smiled.
"Yeah. I'll send one of the staff by with it."
After Lussuria had left and a member of the staff brought him his laptop and phone, Tsuna checked his emails and text messages. After he wasted some time like that, he felt strangely compelled to call Hibari. If not just to say hello, then to check on the situation with Rokudo. He looked at the number on his phone for a bit, before he remembered the time zones and that Hibari was probably busy at the moment. He put his phone away. If Hibari had anything to say about Rokudo, he would have called.
After an hour or so, Tsuna decided he was well enough to get up. He felt okay, and he didn't really want to stay in bed any longer than he had to. So he changed into some clothes that a member of the staff had been kind enough to bring by, and left the room, a little shaky and still tired.
He wandered towards the kitchen, figuring he could get something to eat and then go train or something. He really wasn't sure what else he would do.
After he grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen, he went to the living room, where he was surprised to find Xanxus, drinking. Then again, he shouldn't have been so surprised. Xanxus's only purpose for training was probably to train Tsuna. If Tsuna was unable to train, he couldn't imagine Xanxus being too motivated. Still, Tsuna did not expect to run into the Varia boss.
"Brat." Xanxus immediately acknowledged Tsuna.
"Um, good morning?" Tsuna squeaked out tentatively. They sort of had a stare off for a bit, before Xanxus said,
"Well? Are you going to sit or not?" Tsuna quickly took a seat on the couch, trying not to meet Xanxus's eyes. They sat in silence for a bit, until Xanxus spoke. "You okay, brat?" Tsuna quickly nodded.
"Wouldn't be the first time someone's tried to kill me." He said quietly, without really thinking about it. Xanxus gave him a half amused look, as if to say, You want to talk about people trying to kill you, brat? I'm in the mafia. Take a wild guess of who's tried to kill me.
"Oh really? Like who?" Tsuna paused to think. He couldn't say Reborn. But he did have a few answers.
"Well, I suppose I just get in the way a lot, but namely, you," Xanxus snorted. "-and your team, Estraneo, an unknown mafia family, Poison Scorpion Bianchi-that was actually just a mix up though-and my brother. Other than that, it's not so much people trying to kill me, rather just hurt me-,"
"What." Tsuna jumped at the tone, blinking innocently at Xanxus, who looked shocked and infuriated. "Did you say your brother?" Timidly, Tsuna nodded. Tsuna did just sort of figure that Xanxus would understand family members trying to kill each other, since it was mafia. But apparently, Vongola had standards. "Your brother tried to kill you?" Xanxus hissed, and Tsuna shrugged, looking off to the side.
"A couple of times." He admitted quietly.
"Why?" Xanxus demanded. Tsuna shrugged again.
"He hates me. It kind of happened because he sorta has abandonment issues. It's not his fault." Tsuna immediately defended though, seeing the look in Xanxus's eyes. "Our dad basically left us and our mom never stopped him. He never learned any better." Xanxus narrowed his eyes.
"That's not an excuse to try to kill your flesh and blood." Xanxus, Tsuna realized, had never even stooped that low himself. Nono wasn't Xanxus's real father. "How old is he?"
"We're twins."
"Then he's damn old enough to know better." Xanxus growled, and took a sip from his bottle. "That's just pathetic. What happened to him?"
"What do you mean?" Tsuna asked, puzzled. Xanxus gestured with the bottle.
"Did he get thrown in jail or what? What did your mom say?"
"Uh, nothing happened to him. I didn't tell her." Xanxus crushed the bottle in his hand, making Tsuna jump. Clearly, even though immoral, Xanxus could be righteous.
"You didn't tell her?" Tsuna gulped and shook his head.
"She would have been really upset, and I can take care of myself, and he's too scared of Hibari to do anything anymore so it's all okay-,"
"Nothing makes that okay." Xanxus snarled. "That's not even okay in mafia."
"But-,"
"Shut up." Tsuna went silent, eyes wide, looking down at his feet. Xanxus angrily stood up and stormed off, slamming the door behind him.
XXXX
Hibari lost.
He knew he might lose, but he had no way of predicting how it happened. One moment he was fighting Rokudo and doing his best to ignore illusions, and the next, there was a yoyo ripping into his already injured stomach. Rokudo had employed the help of his lackeys to win. Hibari still wouldn't go down, not even when Ken was practically climbing onto his back and ripping through his flesh. He broke out the maces that came out of the end of his tonfas and fought just the same, defending himself from Rokudo and attacking Ken at the same time. He defended himself as long as he could. He refused to go down like that.
But eventually, Rokudo employed another power on him. Rokudo's red eye burst into misty-looking flames, similar to Tsunayoshi's flame, but a different color and texture. The heterochromatic boy babbled something about a path of demons, but Hibari wasn't listening. All he was focusing on was the fact that Rokudo had gotten faster, much stronger, and that the chances of Hibari winning this fight were dwindling. Even if he beat Rokudo, it was looking like he wouldn't be able to last against the rest of the gang, if they teamed up against him. He was too broken.
And if Rokudo's flames were anything like Tsunayoshi's, Hibari knew he didn't stand a chance of winning at all.
But that didn't mean he was going to give up.
That just meant when he finally fell, it was with pride that he had fought as long and hard as he did, even if at the same time, his pride was wounded by his loss. As his head hit the ground, his vision going blurry, he thought of Tsunayoshi, and hoped that this had all been a trick and he wasn't leaving him to die.
XXXX
"Hibari's missing." Yamamoto muttered, pacing the prefect's office. Kusakabe had worriedly informed them that he couldn't find Hibari anywhere, had not seen him in a very long time, and that he wasn't answering any calls or text messages. Given the situation with Rokudo, it was a valid reason to be concerned of Hibari's whereabouts.
Because of that, Gokudera and Yamamoto joined the search and were freaked out as they could not find or contact Hibari. They had even convinced Ryohei to look for Hibari, and Ryohei had been unable to find him either. And Ryohei could search the whole town in a matter of minutes.
"What do we do?" Yamamoto asked no one in particular. He couldn't imagine what had happened to Hibari. Maybe he'd been kidnapped? But honestly, that was something he had trouble seeing. Maybe Hibari had found Rokudo and tried to fight him on his own. That sounded more like Hibari.
"We tell Jyuudaime." Gokudera answered after a moment of thought. "He'll know what to do."
"But even if we do contact Tsuna, it'll be a while before he gets here." Yamamoto pointed out. Kusakabe joined in.
"Perhaps you could call Sawada-kun. Meanwhile, we could gather a lot of the DC, and maybe Sasagawa-kun and all of us could try to find Rokudo. If we found him, we could fight him. I do believe we would have the manpower, especially with you, Gokudera-kun, and Sasagawa-kun being such heavy hitters." Kusakabe offered. But Yamamoto wasn't listening. He couldn't help but notice what was on Hibari's desk. He walked over and picked it up, checking to see if it was on silent. True to Yamamoto's prediction, it was. The black-haired teenager turned to face the group solemnly.
"It's Hibari's phone. He left it here." That just about confirmed it for Yamamoto that he was off fighting Rokudo by himself somewhere, and leaving behind his methods of communication because he was convinced he could do it. Kusakabe sat down on the couch, looking pale.
But Yamamoto knew there had to be more than just finding the phone. He tried to focus on what Tsuna would do, and then it hit him. He opened up the Recent Calls section and checked the last number to have called before them and Kusakabe.
"Kusakabe, do you know this number?" Yamamoto asked, showing the phone to Kusakabe, who blinked, hard, and shook his head.
"No." Gokudera shot up from his seat, realizing the same thing Yamamoto had. After all, how would Hibari have found Rokudo without Rokudo reaching out to him first?
"We have to get the Shouichi kid." Gokudera said immediately, and Yamamoto nodded. They sprinted off to find Irie Shouichi, with Kusakabe running after them.
XXXX
Xanxus heard a voice.
A singing voice, in fact, and he had to admit, it was actually pretty good.
At first, he was a little confused. To his knowledge, no one in his mansion sang at all. Well, Bel sang in the shower but he was tone-deaf and loved it. So Xanxus knew that it couldn't be one of his people. Right?
More curious than he would like to admit, he followed the voice to one end of the mansion, by the brat's room. The door was open, and Xanxus peered in. He scowled. The brat wasn't there. And neither was anyone else. But the voice was definitely coming from here. He stepped in silently, searching around the room. He followed the voice to the window, where it got stronger. Xanxus paused, as he realized that the voice was coming from the roof. Well, not exactly the roof, but a lower roof, a sort of outcropping above this room.
"When the days are cold,
And the cards all fold,
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold."
"When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale."
"I want to hide the truth,
I want to shelter you,
But with the beast inside,
There's nowhere we can hide."
"No matter what we breed,
We still are made of greed.
This is my kingdom come,
This is my kingdom come."
"When you feel my heat,
Look into my eyes.
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide.
Don't get too close,
It's dark inside,
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide."
"When the curtain's call
Is the last of all
When the lights fade out
And all the sinners crawl."
"So they dug your grave
And the masquerade.
Will come calling out
At the mess you made."
"Don't want to let you down,
But I am
Hellbound.
Though this is all for you,
Don't want to hide the truth."
"No matter what we breed,
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come,
This is my kingdom come."
"When you feel my heat,
Look into my eyes,
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide.
Don't get too close.
It's dark inside.
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide."
"They say it's what you make,
I say it's up to fate.
It's woven in my soul,
I need to let you go."
"Your eyes,
They shine so bright,
I want to save that light.
I can't escape this now,
Unless you show me how."
"When you feel my heat,
Look into my eyes,
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide.
Don't get too close,
It's dark inside.
It's where my demons hide,
It's where my demons hide."
Xanxus jerked into action after that melodious voice finished the song. He stuck his head out the window, to see a tiny pair of feet swinging over the edge, and a fluffy head tilted up. He yanked his head back in and covered his mouth before he snorted. Of course it was the brat. Couldn't have been anyone else, could it?
And Jesus Christ, really, what the hell was up with those feet?
Xanxus left the room silently. He'd rather not face the young boy now. It seemed like an inconvenient time, and he really wasn't in the mood for silly babble anyways.
Despite Xanxus's vicious exterior, as a leader, he did know that it was important to know your team. He knew almost everything about the members of the Varia, but not much about the brat. And he acknowledged that. That was why he had been partially reluctant to invite the brat along. He didn't know him, didn't really trust him. The kid seemed to know a lot of things he shouldn't, too.
Understandably, even though Xanxus seemed brash and reckless, he did take some things very seriously. He wasn't the boss of the Varia for nothing. So he had taken a risk. By training him, he did think he got to know the boy a little bit better, but there were still some mysteries about the boy, and moments that made Xanxus question if everything he thought he knew was a lie.
But now, listening to the boy sing, Xanxus felt satisfied. He knew the boy a bit better. And the parts of the brat that didn't seem to fit together, making Xanxus think the boy was acting the entire time, suddenly seemed to slide into place, and the brat finally made sense.