Hello, everyone! I am so sorry for the late update. I was quiet busy this week with many events had occurred. I was about to post last week but then I have family gathering that weekend. Then, I was about to post this on Tuesday since the internet finally returning back to normal, but I have to go to the hospital because my older sister was giving birth and honest, I would never trade that special moment with anything else in this world. Yeah, it was pure selfishness of me, but I hope you guys would understand. That's why, I could only manage to update this story today.
Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone who had adding this story into their 'favorite' as well as 'story alert' lists.
And a very big Thank you to my beta-reader, Sapphire644, for your help :)
So, more usual things;
Disclaimer: I do not own KHR
Warning contains OC and OOC-ness as well.
Happy reading , everyone.
Chapter 24
Iemitsu and Reborn were sitting at the dining table while Nana busied herself preparing food for dinner. Everything was so calm and the only sounds were Nana's humming voice, the knife cutting vegetables and the sizzling of the fish on the pan when all of sudden, the house was literally shaking with the older twin's angry, yelling voice.
Iemitsu spat out his tea while the hitman experienced a rare choking situation drinking his espresso and even Nana accidentally cut her chopping board in half. After a few seconds, they could hear the twins' argument rather clearly because of their loud voices.
"Wh-what happened?!" Iemitsu looked bewildered at the sudden commotion. He quickly stood up and was thinking of going to stop the twins from shouting at each other when the hitman tutor stopped him.
"Let them be, Iemitsu. Dame-Tsuna is in confusion right now and the only one who can clear his uncertainty would be Dame-Tsuki..." The tutor said. His eyes then drifted to Nana.
"The same thing goes to you too, Maman!"
"But... this is the second time they have had a misunderstanding. When the first one happened, it almost cost Hime-chii's life!" Worry was obvious on the mother's face.
"I can assure you that nothing bad will happen to Dame-Tsuki, Maman. You have my word." Reborn said in an assuring tone.
Nana nodded in understanding and continued her earlier chores and Iemitsu went back to his seat. They did nothing but continue listening to the heated argument between the twins.
"...WHY YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A DICKHEAD TO THEM?!" The eavesdroppers could hear the younger twin's question.
Reborn nodded in agreement. "I wonder why Dame-Tsuki could see that point rather than Dame-Tsuna? As expected, Dame-Tsuki was not as stupid as I thought she was..."
Nana let out a soft giggle.
"Tsu-kun may possess the Primo's Hyper-intuition, but Hime-chii possessed a woman's intuition, Reborn-kun. In this case, apparently she could predict how others will felt if Tsu-kun refused them to become his guardians." She explained.
"WHY...ARE...YOU...ACTING...LIKE...OTOU-SAN, TSU-KUN?!" Again, the younger twin's voice was echoing through the Sawada residence.
"Huh?!" The CEDEF's leader looked both surprised and puzzled.
"Ouch!" Nana gasped. She knew how her son really hated to be associated with her husband.
"One point for Dame-Tsuki!" Reborn said in amusement. It seemed like he and that younger brunette were on the same page this time.
"DON'T YOU DARE PUT ME IN THE SAME GROUP WITH THAT PATHETIC-EXCUSE OF A FATHER, HIME-CHII! I'M NOT HIM!"
Iemitsu frowned at this. Did his son really hate him that much that he wouldn't accept the fact that he was a part of him?
Then, the noises quieted down and only inaudible mumbling could be heard before the sound of light footsteps, that they immediately knew belonged to the younger twin, were heard. They could see Tsukiko walk past the kitchen, ignoring the occupants.
"Okaa-san, I'm going out for awhile!" Not long after that, they could hear the brunette banging the door loudly. Nana quickly assumed that her daughter needed to cool her head off and she let out a helpless sigh.
"I am worried about Hime-chii...can she just let her steam off rather than keep everything inside? Honestly, as a mother... I've never seen her get angry. Irritated and annoyed... yes, but never angry." said Nana, worriedly.
"Eh, I thought angry, irritated and annoyed were all same? What are the differences anyway?" Iemitsu asked confused.
"In your daughter's case, they are all different, Dumbass! 'Irritated'- is when she is upset and all she can do is scream and yell. 'Annoyed'- is when she just feels slightly upset to the point she wants to slap someone's face. 'Angry'- is when she is fucking ready to kill someone in the cruelest way possible with a smile on her face. At least, that's how your daughter sees her emotions." Reborn explained about Tsukiko's unorthodox emotional chart.
"And I am agreeing with Maman... if she keeps going on like that, she will become a walking time-bomb..."
"So, where do you think Hime-chii is going?" Iemitsu asked .
"Cavallone's HQ. Maybe to see Basil." Reborn replied before he raised his cup to his lips and took a sip.
Then other footsteps could be heard and stopped at the kitchen's doorway. Tsuna glared at both his father and tutor angrily before he looked at his mother with a smile on his face.
"I'm going out for awhile, Okaa-san." Then the older twin disappeared out the front door as well.
"And where do you think Tsu-kun is going now, Reborn?" Iemitsu asked curiously.
"I assume he wants to prove that his sister was wrong."
Iemitsu stood up from his seat and did a small stretch.
"And where do you think you're going, Baka-Iemitsu?" Reborn asked.
"I have a meeting with Nono in twenty minutes. Gotta go~" Iemitsu said.
After lightly kissing his wife's cheek, Iemitsu left the house as well.
Reborn and Nana exchanged looks.
Nana smiled bitterly.
"I hope they are not going to object Hime-chii's decision of becoming the next advisor, ne Reborn-kun?"
"You know your daughter pretty well, Maman...Dame-Tsuki would object to whoever was trying to change her mind in this matter." The hitman explained.
"Yeah, Hime-chii would always know what to do. She was usually one step ahead of everybody else." Nana said proudly.
'IX hotel'
The Ninth was enjoying the view outside and occasionally let out soft sighs. Coyote, who was getting annoyed at his boss' restlessness, finally had enough of it and opened his mouth.
"What's the matter, Nono? Aren't you supposed to be happy that Sawada Tsunayoshi accepted the position without any objection?"
"I'm not thinking about him, I'm thinking about all of you, my friends."
Most of the Ninth Generation's guardians simultaneously displayed an 'I don't know what you are talking about'-face and Timoteo chuckled at his comrades' predictable reactions.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can tell that all of you had agreed that Tsunayoshi-kun was suitable to become my successor...the restlessness in you guys must probably be because of Tsukiko-kun as the future advisor, no?" The Ninth looked at his guardians' faces one by one and lastly to his own External Advisor. A father should have an undivided faith for his child's capability, but ironically... Iemitsu was doing the other way around.
"Hime-chii is not suitable to become the External Advisor, Nono. She is just too weak, she gets physically hurt rather easily, she is clumsy, she is an idiot and I'm saying this not because I'm a protective father, but as the CEDEF-boss of Vongola. I mean, you already read her report. She doesn't have what it takes to become the Advisor." Iemitsu loudly spoke out his thoughts.
"And I think she survived all those injuries must probably thanks to Reborn's sun flame..." Ganauche added.
"I am disagreeing with you guys." Bouche blurted it out all of sudden. All questioning eyes focused on the Ninth's mist guardian.
"Reborn had accepted Tsukiko-kun as much as he had accepted Tsunayoshi-kun as his students. We all know Reborn...for him to accept someone, that only means that he can see something in that person. I don't think everything Tsukiko-kun had survived from was out of mere coincidence." Bouche explained.
"Thank you, Bouche. That's what I thought as well!" Timoteo seemed to share the same idea with his mist guardian too.
Unfortunately, the rest were not convinced yet and Coyote was one of them. He pulled out a set of files and went through with the papers.
"IQ results: N/A, EQ result: N/A, Choice of weapons: N/A, flame type: N/A... she's only good at gymnastics. Hmm, quite 'useful', isn't she, Bouche?!"
"I'm sorry to have to break this to you, Coyote, but you'll find almost the same information in Tsunayoshi-kun's file as well. That information was from last year and therefore they are no longer valid." The Ninth's mist guardian declared.
"Just think of it this way, those brats have never taken any psychological tests to determine their IQ whatsoever...that's why, in their records, there were none. Secondly, these brats have the Vongola's blood flowing through their veins. All Vongola-born children are great leaders and we all know that. After all, we have two living pieces of evidence right here in this room." Bouche explained and he pointed his thumb at the Ninth and Iemitsu. Then, he looked straight at the storm guardian and smirked mockingly at him.
"... and thirdly, Tsukiko-kun actually possesses a rather powerful, mist flame. Admit it, all of you could sense it the second Iemitsu was provoking her..."
"Shit, that was her?! I thought it was from you!" said Brow Nie in disbelief and Bouche shot him an 'are you fucking kidding me'-look.
"Since when does my flame feel that 'raw' and unstable, anyway?! I have more control over my flame than all of you combined." The Ninth's mist somehow sounded offended.
"But, I still can sense that you're not spilling everything, Nono. What else is worrying you?" Schnitten asked worriedly.
Timoteo facial expression turned slightly nervous as soon as his Rain mentioned it. Apparently, he could not hide anything from his fellow guardians. That single sentence coming out from the Ninth's mouth startled everyone.
"The Varia... they're coming..."
Before the rest of the neither guardians nor Iemitsu could ask more, there was a sudden knock on the door and the Ninth's subordinate invited himself in.
"Nono... dinner is served." He announced.
"Oh, dinner~ What's for dinner, Ottabio?" Ganauche seemed to forget about the earlier tension once he heard the word 'dinner'.
"We have escargot as the main course." Ottabio replied.
"Care to join us, Iemitsu?" The Ninth's invitation sounded good, but Iemistu still preferred his wife's cooking.
"Nah~ I'm good..."
'Cavellone's HQ'
"Hime-sama, are you alright?" The dirty-blonde teen asked when he sensed that the girl was in a foul mood.
Tsukiko's continued frowning when she looked at the other boy.
"The real question is, are you alright, Basil-kun? How are your injuries?"
"I'm getting better, Hime-sama. The doctor told me that I could take off my casts tomorrow." Basil exclaimed. Then, his lips smoothened out into a firm line.
"And you didn't answer my question just now, Hime-sama."
The brunette just sighed softly, "I'm just feeling quite annoyed at someone, Basil-kun."
Basil's eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to take care of that person, Hime-sama? You know I can do it despite my condition. Just say their name and I'll…"
Tsukiko let out a chuckle seeing Basil's reaction just now.
"It's okay, Basil-kun. There's nothing I can't handle."
"Hime-sama..." He paused looking straight at the brunette's smiling face.
Seeing that the girl was giving him permission to go on, he nodded his head.
"I heard that the Ninth has given you his blessing for you to become the next CEDEF head."
Tsuki nodded and the Basil's grip on his pants became tighter and Basil swore that he was sweating despite the cool air from the air-conditioner circulating evenly in the room. He felt so damn nervous, but he just had to ask her this question. With determination and seriousness in his eyes, the next question from the boy surprised the girl.
"Will you accept me as your right hand man?"
Now, Tsukiko could understand what her brother truly felt.
Tsuna was frowning as many thoughts came across his mind. He shoved his fists into his pockets and mumbled some inaudible words. Unconsciously, he kicked the small pebble on the road and accidently hit someone.
"Ouch!" Could be heard, followed by few curse words. A silver-head turned around and start shouting.
"You motherfucking bastard, watch where you throw that fucking stone! Argh! Scratch that! I'm going to blow you up, you son of a..." The other person paused when he finally took a good look at the brunette.
"Juudaime! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to vent my anger on you! You could throw another thousand stones at me as you like!" Gokudera bowed down apologetically at the brunette.
"Hieee~ Gokudera-kun! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that to you." Tsuna replied nervously. His hazel, brown eyes locked with the emerald pair in question.
"Wait... you're angry? About what?" Tsuna's eyes focused on the silver-head, right hand curled into an unusually tight fist. He quickly approached the other teen and grabbed his wrist.
"What are you hiding from me, Gokudera-kun?" There was a guilty look on the silver-head's face before he slowly uncurled his fingers and showed the brunette what was on his palm; a ring.
"This is the reason why you're...angry?" Tsuna was wearing the same expression as Gokudera.
"J-Juudaime... I- I..." Gokudera blushed and looked away and the brunette assumed that the other boy was blaming him.
"I- I am sorry, Gokudera-kun. I know this is kind of unfair for you..." Tsuna grabbed the ring from Gokudera's palm making the silver-head gape at him in disbelief.
"That's why I have to take this back..." Without saying another word, Tsuna pocketed the ring and walked past his friend, leaving him standing at the middle of the street alone.
"J-Juudaime?"
Gokudera's eyes looked at the brunette until his shadow disappeared. Tears welled up in his eyes.
'Did I do something wrong, Juudaime?'
Tsuna was determined. He would retrieve all of the guardians' rings. He could not afford to let anyone get hurt anymore, especially because of him. He stopped right in front of the sushi restaurant and entered it.
"Irashaima... ara, Tsunayoshi? Are, that's odd..." the older Yamamoto looked at him weirdly.
"What's the matter, Oyaji?" Tsuna asked, curious about Tsuyoshi's reaction.
Tsuyoshi grinned widely when Tsuna addressed him with the name that they had agreed on to call him with.
"Where's Hime-chan? You twins are always together."
"Uh... we... ahh..." The wooden floor suddenly was more interesting for the brunette than the conversation. So he stared at it while laughing nervously.
"W-well, where is Yamamoto and Fuuta?" The brunette quickly changed their topic.
Tsuyoshi, who seems to be oblivious with Tsuna's actual intention smiled.
"Well, Fuuta went to visit his friend at the hospital and Takeshi is training at the dojo. Help yourself to your way there, Tsuna" told the old man.
Tsuna nodded and walked ahead when Tsuyoshi called him out again.
"... Takeshi seems to be troubled ever since yesterday. Would you ask him what is it all about?"
"Don't worry about that, Oyaji. Yamamoto's burden will be off of his shoulder by the time I take my leave later on..."
Tsuyoshi looked at the brunette weirdly again, but then he just shrugged it off.
"Ahh, teens and their hormones~ But wait... I thought it was only girls would experience mood swings?!"
Tsuna takes a peek at the tiny opening at the dojo's door and he could see Yamamoto was lying on his back with his arm raised towards the ceiling, at the middle of the room. The brunette could see clearly the rain guardian's ring between the boy's thumb and index finger. The baseball ace was staring at intensely at the ring before he sighed heavily.
'So, Yamamoto is also troubled regarding the ring as well. I really had troubled him to this extent. Hah, I am really the worst friend anyone could have...'
Tsuna finally decided to step into the dojo to confront the other boy.
Yamamoto jumped up as soon as he heard loud footsteps and transformed his bat into sword. Lately, his father love to launch surprise attacks on him and he continually succeed beating the boy up. But to his surprise, instead of his sneaky father, it was Tsuna standing at the doorway.
"Ahahahaha~ You startled me, Tsuna..." the boy laugh sheepishly over his own silliness.
Tsuna just flashed a small smile to his friend. He just have to kept wondering on why Yamamoto would still able to smile at him despite of the brunette had putting the Ace's life in danger few days ago. The brunette's involvement in the mafia had even reminded the baseball ace of his awful past memories.
Not only that, the previous circumstances had forced the other boy to get engaged in a battle with his mother's murderer. Just how horrible friend Tsuna thought he had became?
"Tsuna? Anything wrong?" Yamamoto gave him the questioning look.
Tsuna snapped out from his internal thought and his eyes fixed on the tall boy's fist, where he knew the ring is.
"Yamamoto... the ring..." Tsuna paused from his talking when he heard the baseball ace's signature laugh.
"Oh... this ring? That old man Schinitten gave it to me. He said I could stay by your side if I accepted the role as your... what was it again... ahhhh~ GUARDIAN!" Yamamoto looked glad when he could remember that certain detail before his face contorted to confusion once more.
"I was just wondering why Tsuna would need a guardian for, though. Since you still have your parents, no? And I am too young to become a parent to someone's in my own age too..."
Tsuna sweat dropped when his listen to his friend's thought.
'That was his idea of becoming a guardian about?!'
"I think I need to take that back, Yamamoto" said Tsuna, bluntly.
The baseball ace instantly frowned at the brunette.
"Why?!" he asked.
Tsuna couldn't even dare to imagine the sight of Yamamoto is dying for his sake.
"You are not the right person to wear that ring..." Tsuna replied without even thinking.
The black haired boy stared at him in wide eyes. All of sudden, the moment that Yamamoto had spent with Tsuna as his friend, flashed before his eyes. He just couldn't believe the boy. They had gotten along pretty well, right? They are best friends now, right? Then why the brunette seems like 'pushing' him away? He doesn't understand a thing!
Then Yamamoto remembered the day he tried to commit suicide and the reasons why he was doing so as well. The reasons were because he thought that he was useless and unwanted to his team. And this time, he felt that he was useless and unwanted by Tsuna. That's why the ring that was supposed to 'linked' them together... the brunette wanted it back.
Yamamoto's eyes became dull as he hands the ring to Tsuna and it hurts to see the brunette was rather accepting the ring gladly. Worst, the brunette even thanked him for doing so. Tsuna turned around as the other boy watched him leaving with a pain in his heart. As soon as he knew Tsuna could no longer hear him, Yamamoto dropped down to his knees and cried his heart out.
"I'm sorry, Tsuna. I wished I could be more useful for you..."
Tsuna stared at the three rings on his palm; the storm ring, rain ring and Lightning ring. He doesn't understand why Lambo was crying as soon as he told him to hand him back the ring.
"Why would you do that?! What did Ore-sama do wrong?"
Tsuna quickly assumed that Lambo was angry at him for involving him in his matter and would put his life in danger for accepting the ring that symbolised his involvement in Vongola. The brunette wanted to tell Lambo that he was actually concerned for the boy's life and he absolutely would not want him to get involve in problems that will arise once the brunette officially become the 'Vongola Decimo'. Too bad, the boy was already 5 KM away from him but he could hear the boy's voice clearly.
"I HATE YOU, TSUNA! YOU'RE SO MEAN!"
Tsuna sighed heavily when all of sudden, the ground where he was standing was shaking literally due to one particular, loud voice.
"EXTREME! OH... SAWADA. EXTREMELY NICE TO SEE YOU HERE. EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL DAY TODAY, YES?!"
"the day is about to get better, Onii-san..." Tsuna frowned when he saw the sun ring hanging on the older twin's neck.
"Oh really?! Are you going to accept my offer to join the boxing club, Sawada?" ask the boxer excitedly, quiet oblivious with the brunette's stern face.
Seeing the boxer's elated expression, Tsuna really wished that it would never disappear from the older boy's face. Ryohei always got excited easily, even over the smallest thing ever. Tsuna was afraid that his senior would lose that personality one day because he was the reason why the boxer got dragged into the mafia world in the first place. Even worst, not only he might cause the sadness to the boxer in the future, Kyoko might face the risk of losing his brother as well. Tsuna just couldn't afford to allow that to happen at all cost.
The brunette stared at the boxer with empty gaze.
"That ring, Onii-san. I need it back..."
Ryohie shot the brunette a disbelief look. The old man Brow Nie had told him that he could stay by Tsuna's side, watch him grow stronger and fight along with the brunette in the future, if he accepted the ring and he did. So, why would Tsuna 'rejected' him?
On the contrary of what other people's belief, Ryohei was not an airhead. He knew what Vongola do exactly. He knows what a 'Guardian' line of work was all about. He knows what 'Mafia' really is. He know the world they lived in was not as safe as it appeared to be, especially when his parents were directly involved in 'that' world as well. That was the reason why he was training to become stronger in the first place, so he could protect everyone and everything he loved. And according to Brow Nie, he knew Tsuna was planning to bring some changes to that world and that was the reason why he wanted to joined forces with the brunette as well.
He was pretty much aware that, Sawada Tsunayoshi was the most extreme and worthy person to bring that positive change.
'But apparently, I am not extremely worthy enough to help him...'
Ryohei shut his eyes as he grabbed the ring and pulled the ring away from him. The shattered sound of his snapping necklace represents the sound of his heart... broken to pieces. His trembling fist was just right above Tsuna's accepting palm. The moment when sun ring landed on the brunette's palm was the exact moment when he boxer's tears fell. Ryohei quickly turned around to prevent the younger teen to see his form of 'weakness' . It was enough for Tsuna to think that he was a weakling, so Ryohei thought he shouldn't give the brunette even more evidence to prove that he was, indeed, a weakling.
Tsuna's face contorted to confusion with the boxer's sudden reaction.
"Onii-san?"
"Ah, Sawada! I just remember that I've got something to do. See you at school tomorrow!" then, the boy hastily jogged off.
The brunette sighed at this.
"Even Onii-san didn't waste the time to get away from me. I assume he is not as clueless as I thought he would be. Mafia is a dangerous world after all. Onii-san definitely did a right thing..."
Tsuna had been walking for two hours straight, but the step siblings and the prefect was nowhere to be found. He just want to finish retrieving all of the rings by today and prove to his sister that he was right about the refusal of their friends of becoming his guardians when all of sudden, his phone rang.
Tsuna check out the incoming SMS and to his surprise, it was from none other than Hibari Kyoya himself.
"Namimori Shrine. 5 pm sharp!"
That was the message content. Tsuna let out a sigh of relieve. So, the prefect came to him instead of him looking around clueless of his whereabouts for him. Tsuna took a glance at his watch and it was fifteen minutes to five already.
The brunette was panting so heavily as soon as he arrived at the top of the stairs. Right in front of the shrine, he saw the carnivore-prefect standing with his arms across his chest wearing a bored expression.
Surprise was once again decorated his face when he saw both step siblings were standing next to the prefect respectively, staring at him as well.
"Oh, thank goodness that all of you are here! I had been looking for all of you for the past few hours" said Tsuna in relieved-tone.
"What for, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Mukuro asked in unusually serious tone.
"Perhaps for this, herbivore?" Hibari and Mukuro showed the brunette the Cloud ring and Mist ring between their fingers respectively.
"Yeah, I'm here because of the rings. W-wait? How did you know about that?" ask Tsuna in confusion.
"Why should we gave this back to you, Tsunayoshi-kun? Was there any particular reason you don't want us to have these rings in our possession?" ask Mukuro again.
"Only the chosen people are worthy enough to be able to wear these rings and somehow, we're the chosen one. Why would you want to deny our right, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" once again, Hibari addressed the brunette by his full name.
"Don't you know Mukuro-sama and I were quarrelling to find out which one of us are the worthiest to become YOUR Mist guardian? And then what, you want the ring back? Please don't waste our effort, Tsuna-kun" this time, it was Chrome who was talking.
"You don't understand. I'm not denying anything. It's just that..." Tsuna paused, trying to construct a suitable sentence to answer the questions.
"It was not your destiny to wield that rings!" oh, how the brunette didn't realize that he was pouring gasoline into the fire.
Hibari's brow twitched before he charged towards the brunette in amazing speed. Tsuna managed to catch the prefect's tonfas before it hit him.
"Who do you think you are to decide what is my destiny supposed to be, Herbivore?!"
Tsuna swore he could felt some barbed wires tying his whole body up and he could felt the sharp specks dug into his skin as well. He noticed Mukuro had his trident on his hand and immediately know that this was one of his illusions. Then, he saw Mukuro was glaring at his sister and that was the moment when the pain disappeared. He looked back what was tangled around his body and notice it was just some tree vines, that was soft against his skin but strong enough to bind him down and he realized, it was Chrome's illusion that intercepted Mukuro's.
"You should give us much better reasoning than that, Tsunayoshi-kun..." told Mukuro in cold tone.
The brunette could not understand what was going on. Why the two top fighters among his peers would go against him when all he wanted to do was to protect them. And why was Mukuro's question sounded so familiar?
"I just don't want any of you to get involved in the mafia any deeper, guys! Mafia world is dangerous, I don't want any of you to get hurt!" he started to explain.
"Is that why you take my ring away, Tsuna?" Yamamoto appeared out of nowhere.
"I understand that you're extremely worried about our well being, Sawada. But what makes you think by taking our extreme rings away would solve the extreme problem?" ask Ryohei.
"Did you know those rings represent your trust upon us, Juudaime? Taking those rings back was same as you taking your trusts away from us..." Gokudera added.
"That's why I asked about this before... Did I do something wrong to you, Tsuna? If I did, then I am truly sorry..." apparently, the twelve years old tried to hold in his tears from falling down again.
"What is the meaning of this, guys?" Tsuna looked bewildered when he saw his friends circling him, but what bothers him was the pained expression on each of their faces. Their eyes were all red, as if they were just finished crying or something.
Hibari yanked his tonfa and pushed the brunette backward rather harshly.
"Isn't it obvious, Herbivore? This is an intervention..."
The illusions on him were all gone, but instead, he was surrounded by his friends from every corner, demanding his reasoning for his action towards them today.
"What happened to you guys? You guys seem to be hurt because of something... Who did this to you?" Tsuna somehow, was still clueless on what this was all about.
"You did this to us..." his friends simultaneously answered his question.
Tsuna gripped the clothes over his chest. He was too surprised that even words couldn't express it. He felt like his heart was tugged from inside and about to burst out.
"W-what?"
"I know you were worried about our life, Juudaime. But that's that, it was OUR life that you had worried about. We can take care of ourselves just fine, Juudaime..." said Gokudera.
"so, our life will constantly be in danger after we accepted the role of guardians. So what? We already got involved in the mafia in the first place... " Lambo added.
"That's exactly why I don't want any of you to become the guardians! I don't want any of you to get involved too deeply into the mafia!" Tsuna still insisted with his reasoning.
"But we are extremely doesn't deserved to be extremely mistreated like this. What you did to us... it was extremely HURT!" Ryohei was being honest with how he felt about Tsuna's action as well.
"...THE ACTUAL QUESTION IS, WHY YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A DICKHEAD TO THEM?!" Tsukiko's question was echoing in Tsuna's mind. She was right, Tsuna was acting like a total dickhead to his friends and worst, he hurt their feelings.
"...But, but... I was just trying to protect you... All of you..." said Tsuna again.
"Why are you trying to protect us from the world that we already born into, Tsuna? You do know that all of us were born in mafia-related family?" Yamamoto's words reminded Tsuna of his sister's words again.
"WHY... ARE... YOU...ACTING...LIKE... OTOU-SAN, TSU-KUN?!"
Tsuna felt like he got bitch slapped to his face. This whole time, he was angry at his father for keeping his sister and him in the dark even though they were already exposed to the dangers from it. He never accepted the fact that his father was using shitty excuses, telling them that he just wanted to protect them. Yet he did the same thing to his friends AND using the same reasoning as well. Once again, his sister was right. Now he understood why his sister wouldn't want to rubbed off this facts right to his face. Tsukiko was definitely right about him feeling hurt from this realization.
'it was a good thing Hime-chii didn't tell this to my face or it would have become the heaviest blow to my pride... I really owed everyone some apologies' Tsuna thought. He rubbed his face with his palms, realizing his mistakes. Tsuna bowed down before his friends.
"I am sorry that I had looked down on your capabilities, guys..."
"Why the hell you did that in the first place, Tsunayoshi-kun?! Never do that again!" warned Mukuro.
"I am sorry for hurting you guys' feelings..."
"Don't do that EVER again, Tsuna. Ore-sama hates it..." Lambo was biting his lower lips, trying to hold in his tear.
"Last but not least, I am sorry for taking an action without asking your opinions about it. That was so selfish of me..."
"Stop assuming next time, Herbivore. Try this new thing, it's called 'asking'!" told Hibari monotonously.
Tsuna stand up straight to face his friends once again and smiled brightly.
"I realized my mistakes now and I realized what you guys really want. So, I want you guys to answer me truthfully..." seriousness filled in the air before Tsuna continued his query.
"By becoming my fellow guardians means that you guys are willing to go through every thick and thin situations with me. It's underground world we are talking about, so not everything is pretty. What I asked from you is your loyalty and commitment towards your line of work in the future. I am planning to restore the Vongola to its original state, so I'll needs all hands on deck. Are you wi..."
"We know that already. Just cut the chase and ask already, Herbivore!" said Hibari impatiently.
"yeah, Tsuna. Oyaji might scold me if I came home late today. It's weekend so there will be more customers than usual..." Yamamoto gave the brunette an apologetic smile.
Tsuna laughed nervously before he return back to his serious expression.
"Gokudera Hayato, Yamamoto Takeshi, Sasagawa Ryohei, Lambo Bovino, Rokudo Mukuro, Chrome Dokuro Nagi, Hibari Kyoya..." the teens automatically straighten up when Tsuna addressed them.
"... Are you willing to have the honour to be my guardians?"
Tsuna stopped right in front of his home's front gate and sighed heavily. He wondered how he would face his sister after their big argument, especially after she CLEARLY had proven him wrong. The idea of Tsukiko mocking him for the rest of the month really bugged him. But, he really owed the girl an apology. Well, he had to face her sooner or later after all, so what the hell?
"Tadaiima~" he said in tiring voice and as soon as he stepped into the house, his eyes locked with his sister's who just descended the stairs. He hasn't seen her this whole day, but now he realized he actually missed her. He rushed to her and quickly embraced her in a warm hug.
"I'm sorry, Hime-chii. I was wrong... Dead wrong! Will you forgive me?" Tsuna's voice sounded muffled since his head was buried on the nook between Tsuki's shoulder and neck.
Tsukiko let out a small smile and returned her brother's embrace even tighter.
"Did you do something wrong, Tsu-kun? I don't remember you were doing anything that offended me at all..."
Whenever they were having a big argument, at the end of it... Tsukiko would always act like nothing was happen. Just like what happened ten years ago and what happened right now.
"I'm home, Hime-chii..." Tsuna tried to hold in his tears. He just couldn't believe his usually troublemaker-sister can become this nice as well.
"Welcome home, Tsu-kun."
That's it for chp 24, people. So, the ending was quiet expected right? But on the bright side, Tsuna finally accepted his guardians wholeheartedly. Yeah, I know, Tsukiko was too nice, too Mary-sue in this chapter, but I think the next few chapter would be able to explain more about her personality. Anyone could guess what will happen next?
Oh before I forgot, this month ( and most probably next month as well) is going to be a hectic month for me since, I finally setting my feet back into school after a yearlong rest... so wish me luck, people and no, I'm not giving up in writing this story but just don't expect me to update in time. I am truly apologised for this inconvenience.
So, my replies for the lovely reviews for the previous chapter:
Konan 248: well, as you already read, Basil made his brief appearance in this chapter and asking the 'important question' to Tsukiko...
Urara S. H: yeay! You finally have an account~ oh about Iemitsu's reaction, I know it was boring but that all I could think of, I'm sorry TT_TT... and no, if Tsuki didn't mention about their friends' family's relationship with the mafia, Tsuna would never knew. Let's just say, Tsukiko was better with computer compare to Tsuna.
Risako: honestly, I'm having a self-debate about doing the future arc or not. The idea sounds good though, but it was me who don't have that much idea for the future arc. Should I make a poll for this?
Helloimxls: Wow, that was amazing! 25 chapters in a day? I'm glad this story could grab your attention. Thank you for reading and I hope you'll stay tune for more.
He-who-runs-into-walls: I guess I had 'turn' Tsuna into Tamaki with me knowing it. Hahaha thanks for reading by the way.
Awakened-Masterpiece: did you know I quickly searched for the video you had mentioned as soon as I read your review? OMG! Those boys are so hilarious! Love them~ I mean, why didn't I found that video until you mentioned it? Actually, the part when the twins were singing in the elevator was inspired when I re-watched the Wannabe lip-sync video from ages ago, starred by me and my older sister. I know it was embarrassing, but hey, inspiration could pop out from anywhere.
InvisibleGoldStar: Well, here's e-hug for you then~ thank you for reading. That was very awesome of you :) I hope you'll stay tune for more.
Belladu57 & guest: Thank you for reading, guys and I hope you'll stay tune~
Alritey, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and please don't forget to drop your reviews. Love you all and see you soon. Ciao~ Ciao~
(Beta-edit: Jul 19, 2013)