"Thank god, you're all safe," Basil sighed as he caught sight of the three teenagers walking into the main room of the base. He hissed as Lal dabbed a cut on the back of his neck with an alcohol soaked cotton swab.
"Hold still or I will tie you down, brat."
"Yes, ma'am." He clenched his jaw as she cleaned another of the small wounds he had received from the squad leader. Those box animals of his were vicious.
"Well, at least I don't have to kick your ass for leaving the kids to fend for themselves," Tsuna said as she strolled in the room behind the kids. Basil went tense for a moment before relaxing.
"Tsunami, it's good to see you."
"Hold still," Lal grumbled as she tried to finish up the wounds. She slapped a butterfly stitch on one particularly stubborn cut before leaning back and closing the medical kit. "Don't undo my work, brat."
"Yes, commander."
She slapped his uninjured shoulder as she tried to suppress a grin. "Brat."
"Well, at least you two get along," Tsuna said as she sat on the chair opposite her brother. She looked over the older version of the blond. He leaned back and winced as he rubbed against his wounds. "You are looking good, brother."
"It's good to see you, too, Tsunami."
"So, what happened out there?"
He frowned, brows drawing together. His lips pressed into a firm line. "We were ambushed by a Millefiore hit squad. I told the kids to run and tried to take all of their attention. Two broke off and followed the kids before I could stop them. I managed to take down all but the squad leader, and I just barely managed to get away from him and his stupidly effective box animals."
"His name's Gamma," Lal spoke up from where she was taking care of the kids' wounds. Her head stayed bowed and the muscles around her eyes tense.
"He was the right hand of the Giglio Nero donna," Reborn continued.
"You know him?" Hayato asked from where he was updating Takeshi about everything in soft whispers.
"Yes," Lal ground out.
"He served the previous Arcobaleno Sky and the current one." Reborn tilted his fedora over his eyes. He practically vibrated anger and frustration.
Tsuna winced. "I see."
"Well…" Basil muttered and coughed as he tried to restart his story. "I managed to use my own box animal to distract him and get away. I took a roundabout way to get back here after Lal contacted me and told me to not worry about the kids."
"We aren't kids," Lambo grumbled and squawked as Lal pressed against the larger wound on his arm with a cleaning wipe. He shot the older woman a glare. She gave him a flat look. He cringed back.
"Yes, you are," Tsuna said before turning back to her brother. "So I take it a box animal is like that creepy crawlie thing of Mirch-san's?"
"Are you still afraid of Zamza?" Lal barked with a laugh.
"There is no reason for a bug to become that big!"
"Zamza is a Cloud animal." Basil chuckled. "Alfin is Rain based."
"Alfin?" She frowned before wincing and sending her brother a look. "Please tell me it's not a fish."
"Well, no." Basil turned his head to the side and coughed lightly. Tsuna's eyes narrowed. He began to sweat. "He's a dolphin."
Tsuna groaned and put her head in her hands. Everyone could vaguely understand her muffled complaining about bad puns.
"It's not that bad," Lambo muttered.
Tsuna's head went up. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the teenager. He froze, his entire body going tense. "I believe we have something we need to talk about, Lambo."
Without moving his head, Lambo's eyes darted to Hayato and Takeshi. "No we don't."
"Oh?" Tsuna's voice became light, teasing. "So you do not remember when a certain child of mine used the ten-year bazooka, brought his older self to my room, and said older self deigned to give me a kiss in front of the boy I was trying to court and that he did not have permission to give me said kiss in the first place?"
I-Pin and Fuuta, both sitting on opposite sides of the Bovino, turned to look at him. Lambo sunk down, trying to make himself look small. I-Pin lifted a hand and slapped him hard enough on the back to send him forward onto the floor in a tumble of limbs.
"I remember that," Hayato muttered. His eyes flashed red as his Storm Flames came closer to the surface.
"Well, Lambo," Tsuna purred, "what were you thinking?"
The Bonvino teen's head jerked as he tried to find someone to help him. Both Hayato and Takeshi did not look happy with him. I-Pin had shoved him off the couch, and he could feel Fuuta's eyes boring into his back and Cloud Flame filling the air. Lal and Reborn snickered from where they were going over something on the computers. Basil pointedly ignored the teen and leaned back in his chair in a way that did't make his injuries throb.
"Well, Lambo?"
Lal snapped, catching everyone's attention. "Lay off the brat for now. We just found Hibari's location beacon."
Tsuna stood up. "Is he in danger?"
"Can't tell." Lal shrugged. "But we need to get him back here."
Tsuna blinked. "Can't you just contact him and ask him to come in?"
Lal shook her head. "His comm is down. Are you up to fetching your Cloud? He's near the big shrine on the hill."
Lambo, from where he was sitting as still as possible in the hopes everyone would forget he was there, let out a small sigh of relief.
"Lambo, we'll continue this discussion later." Tsuna turned to her Rain and Storm. "Takeshi, you were lucky you had one of your swords on you. You'll need a better one though. I have no idea what happened to Shigure Kintoki of this time."
Reborn nodded solemnly as he caught on to what she was saying and threw a cube at Takeshi. "Quick explanation. Insert Flames get weapon."
"Oh, cool." Takeshi put the cube in one of his pockets.
"It's more complicated than that, idiot," Hayato muttered and quickly began a hushed explanation to the Rain Guardian as Tsuna looked over the information Lal had on her screen. Her lips pressed into a tight line as something in the back of her mind flared in warning. She pulled her gloves out of her pockets and pulled them on her hands. Everyone in the room looked at her in surprise.
"Tsunami?" Takeshi's voice, both hard and curious, broke the silence.
"Go get some armor on, Takeshi. I've got a really bad feeling."
Tsuna shivered as the group of three started getting closer to the Namimori Shrine. She knew her soul was not bound for a peaceful afterlife with everything she had done. As a general rule, she avoided the place unless necessary. The fact a branch of the Hibari clan took care of the area just made that easier. Even her people didn't go near the shrine.
Her heart pounds in her ears. Her jaw clenched tightly. Skin at the back of the neck prickled. She skid to a stop. Her boys instantly stopped running, making it only a few feet in front of her. They looked back at her. She ignored the looks and instead tuned her attention to the tree lined path that hid the area around the shrine. Lips pressing into a tight line, she made the hand sign for enemy close. Her boys shifted, their eyes hardening as well as their Flames.
"So Vongola Intuition is as strong as I had heard," a male voice came from ahead. A young looking man with short, curly blond hair stepped out of the tree line. He held an odd, thin stick in one hand. It didn't look to be much of a weapon ,but Tsuna knew the insanity that was the Italian mafia could make weapons of anything. Hell, one of Vongola's leaders had used a fork as a weapon. She couldn't afford to underestimate this man.
"Who the hell are you?" Hayato snarled as he dropped back to Tsuna's side. He rolled the box with his arm cannon in his palm, ready to open it in a moments notice. Takeshi's stance grew both loose and firm. Tsuna had no idea how he managed to do that but knew it was a signature of the Shigure Soen Ryu. She'd managed to see Tsuyoshi practicing his forms once and could see the similarity. Like Hayato, Takeshi held a tiny metal cube in his curled fingers.
"Ah, you may call me Gamma, Vongola Decima," the man bowed, his eyes never leaving Tsuna's. Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth at the blatant disrespect in both tone and action. Her Flames began to leak into the air, turning the peace into a tense waiting game of first actions.
"Millefiore," she whispered softly, her voice as devoid of emotion. "A dog baring his fangs for an unworthy master."
Gamma's eyebrow twitched and his congenial smile became a tad bit harder. "You have no understanding of what is going on, do you, Decima?"
Tsuna inhaled slowly as she forcibly ignored the way he rolled her title over his lips. Her hand shook. Teeth ground as she felt her temper flared. Her boys tensed. Takeshi, normally so calm and collected, snarled. Hayato began muttering chemical formulas under his breath in an effort to control his own mercurial temper.
"I know enough to know you are an enemy, and enemies are meant to die." She had to fight back the urge to grin at her enemy's surprised look. She wondered how much she had changed that they did not expect her to be so vicious in words this young. Maybe they just hadn't expected her to be so harsh at her age. She hoped that was the reason rather than her becoming soft as she took over the Vongola. She'd interrogate her brother more once they all got back to base.
"Such words," Gamma said though she could tell he was unnerved. He hid it well but the thin sheen of sweat forming on his brow and the way his hands tightened on his stick stood out like a beacon to her Intuition. Said Intuition also told her she needed to get around this man in order to find her Cloud.
"Hayato, Takeshi," she stated. They both shifted but understood her words. They had several plans worked out for these kind of situations. Smiles, feral and vicious, crossed their faces before their Flames flared. Gamma, caught off guard by the two, stepped back. That was all Tsuna needed to dash for the trees and disappear into the foliage. The blond turned to do something to stop her only to have to jump out of the way of a blast of Storm Flame. Hayato smiled as smoke drifted up from his arm cannon. The gunmetal gleamed in the sunlight and the skull decorating the end smiled at the Millefiore underling. Takeshi's Rain Flame flared up to his right and he barely had time to get out of the way of a very sharp, very bloodthirsty sword bisecting him at the waist.
"I see," Gamma muttered and jumped back from the two. He eyed them both and growled low in his throat. They had not expected the teenagers to be as good as they were. Yes, these teens had managed to defeat the Varia in one-on-one combat, but there had always been rumors that those fights had been fixed somehow. That the 9th Generation had used some form of blackmail to make the Varia only give a flashy fight but ultimately bow to the 10th Generation as a way of making the teenager seem stronger than she was. That supposition was proving to be rather erroneous.
"Well, this is not quite what I was expecting," he continued to step back. His Flames flared around him, green lightning bouncing off his clothing and activating his flight capable boot. He smirked, bringing out two boxes. Lightning danced over the dark metal, the engravings glowed green for a brief moment before they opened with two bursts of white smoke. Hayato and Takeshi leaped to opposite sides. Hayato slid a cartridge into the Baku of the cannon from one of the many pockets in his jacket. He made a hand sign to Takeshi who nodded.
Neither expected the two snarling, raging, teeth lined mouths to come dashing out of the smoke or the set of billiard balls to try braining them where they stood. They dodged both. Barely.
The smoke cleared. Gamma glared down at them. A grouping of billiard balls orbited around him as lightning sparked around his form. The two animals, foxes, stood perfectly still as they too stared at the boys. Takeshi moved into one of the Shigure Soen Ryu stances. Hayato glanced over at him and nodded slightly. Twin smirks appeared on the boys' faces. Far from overconfident, they had a plan.
Tsuna ran through the trees, dancing around new and old trunks and fallen logs. Her ears strained to listen for any sign she had been followed. Hearing none, she slowed her pace and stopped on top of an old log covered in moss. She let out a soft breath and relaxed as much as she could. She took several deep breaths, centering herself, before she focused on her bonds to her Guardians. Takeshi and Hayato blazed brightly behind her. She ignored the feeling of Misty Rain and the conglomeration that was Hayato's Flames. Her other bonds felt odd, older and more mature. It made her skin crawl for reasons she didn't want to dig into, not with the mission to find the older version of her Cloud. She focused in on the sensation of freedom and wandering mixed with blood lust, a much more subdued blood lust than she was used to.
"Really, you calm down as you age, Kyouya?" she muttered as her head turned in the direction she felt the bond pull. She jumped down from her perch and started to move toward the pull.
-Na
Tsuna spun around, her eyes wide. Sky Flame flickered on her gloves. The Vongola Ring sparked, throwing off an eeri, dark orange glow from the center stone. "Who's there?"
Her head turned on a swivel. Her senses reached out as far as they could. Her Flames filled the air in an effort to aid her senses. Her heartbeat increased. She knew she heard someone, a woman with an achingly familiar voice, speak. Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth. No one was there. She shook her head, hair flying around her face. No one was there. She had to be imagining things. The stress of staying calm in this future from hell was making her hear things. That had to be it.
She continued on through the trees. No matter how far she moved, she felt as if someone or something was watching her from behind. Her jaw clenched tightly as she ran faster. Her feet pounded against the ground. Sweat, not from exertion but true fear, began to drip down the back of her neck. Gooseflesh prickled on her skin. Her Flames and Intuition felt calm, so she wasn't sure what was causing her to freak out. The disconnect made everything worse.
"Omnivore," Hibari's voice forced her out of her panicked state abruptly. Her head snapped up. Her eyes grew wide as she saw her Cloud Guardian and boyfriend. That suit looked really good on him.
"Kyouya?" she breathed. He frowned down at her from his perch in a tree and jumped down. He leaned with nary a sound. Only the faint, soft whisper of cloth could be heard. She shivered at the dark look in his eyes. It reminded her far too much of the Akatora's namesake. Predatory and dangerous.
"Omnivore," his lips curled into an amused grin as he loomed over her. Her heart started doing loops at the sight. "I forgot how innocent you could look."
She blinked. "Innocent? How the hell am I innocent looking?"
He chuckled. He sounded like cream over dark velvet. "Compared to how you looked recently, you are much more innocent now."
She swallowed thickly, both at the sound of his voice and what he was implying. She shook her head. "We were sent to retrieve you."
"I was in no danger, omnivore." He frowned. An explosion in the distance caught both their attention. Tsuna inhaled sharply.
"Hayato," she hissed. Her eyes grew wide. Her Flames roared at the thought that something had happened to her Storm.
"Who came with you?" Hibari growled. He slipped a ring on his finger. He grabbed a box out of his pocket. The Flames flickered and whooshed through the tiny opening. The box unfolded and two tonfa, far different and more advanced than those she was familiar with, came into existence in his hands.
"Takeshi and Hayato."
"Your Yamamoto and Gokudera or ours?"
"Mine."
Hibari grunted and ran toward the explosion. Tsuna startled for a moment before rushing after him. Flames flickered on her ring. She cursed her short legs as she tried to keep up with the far taller Kyoya.
"Enemy?"
"Gamma."
Kyoya snorted darkly and picked up his pace. Tsuna blurt out a soft curse as she watched his back disappear into the distance. She growled lowly in her throat. Her ears burned and she swore she heard laughter echoing in her ears. She ignored it and rose into the air ever so slightly. Her speed increased exponentially as she was no longer bound by her legs. Air blew over her face, making her hair fall back. She squinted as she nearly slammed into Hibari's back as he came to a stop where the forest turned into steps. Landing back on her feet, she peered around him and blinked.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
Gamma's hair, once immaculately styled, stuck up in several directions. A soot streak ran own his right cheek and his suit had a torn sleeve. Hayato and Takeshi both looked worse for wear. A mixture of blood and dirt stood out prominently against Hayato's skin. Takeshi's sleeves were shredded up to the elbow. Rain Flame flickered up and down the blade. Hayato, standing behind him with his cannon attached to his arm, breathed heavily. His eyes glowed faintly red. His teeth clenched, and a low growl rumbled up from his chest. Two foxes stood shakily to the side, sparks jumping from their fur as they panted.
"You two..." Gamma finished his sentence wioth a growl, not having the mental presence to finish his threat. Three balls orbited him faster. He lifteda long, cylrindical piece of wood. Tsuna squinted and frowned. Was that a cue stick?
"Scavenger," Hibari said with a wild grin. Gamma jerked to the side, his eyes going wide as he caught sight of the Cloud standing beside his Sky.
"You," the Lightning hissed. The foxes perked up and lunged toward the two younger teens.
Takeshi moved. Blade came up to lock with the fang lined mouth. Hayato dodged backward and lifted his arm. The skull mouth on the cannon glowed red for a moment before a burst of Storm Flame, concentrated into a bullet, slammed into the other fox. It yelped and fell to the ground and rolled.
Hibari smiled, his eyes starting to take on a purple hue. Teeth glinted in the sunlight. Gamma's tan skin paled. He jumped backward and activated his hover boots. He barely avoided his cranium being splattered across the trees via tonfa. Bringing up his cue stick, he manipulated the hovering balls and took his shot. The Cloud moved out of the way.
"So fast," Tsuna muttered as she watched the fighting. Her attention turned from the older version of her Cloud to her boys. The foxes, injured as they were, didn't seem to be giving up their harassing attacks. Her eyes narrowed. Tiny Sky Flames formed over the tips of her gloved fingers. Her leg muscles tensed. The foxes looked up at her. Her boys took advantage of the short lapse in attention. Blade cut deep into electrified fur. Electric sparks crackled in the air and shot in every direction. Takeshi hissed as small amounts of Lightning Flames danced their ways up his blade. Hayato managed to get close enough to grab the back of one fox's neck and flared his flame. The smell of burnt fur filled the air.
"Well done," she muttered. The foxes jumped backward, the one with a slash on its leg stumbled. They looked more worse than they had been. The boys grinned ferally. Tsuna turned her attention back to the fight between Hibari and Gamma. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and blinked again. Where the hell had the hedgehogs come from and so many?
Thirteen spinning balls—hedgehogs curled up-slammed into the billiard balls orbiting Gamma. The blond man floated backward. Hibari appeared behind him in a burst of speed that surprised Tsuna and slammed a tonfa into the man's side. He flipped end over end in the air for a few feet before righting himself. His hands shook where they gripped the cue stick.
"You pustule," the blond growled. His eyes flicked over to his injured box animals. Lips pressed together.
"Do you really think you alone can face down four of us, including my Sky?," Hibari asked with a toothy smile. The hedgehogs bounced up from the ground and the air around them became a hive of bouncing, spiky death. Hibari's eyes glowed dark purple.
Gamma's jaw clenched. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. The foxes glowed green before being sucked back into the boxes hanging on his belt. Dodging another swipe from the annoyed Cloud and the bouncing balls of death that flanked him. He pulled out a small silver sphere and threw it onto the ground. Grey smoke filled the clearing. Tsuna instinctively covered her mouth and ducked. She felt a breeze on her neck. Her eyes widened. She rolled to the side. After only a few seconds, the smoke disbursed. Gamma had disappeared, much like she had thought he had. The crater where she had been standing wasn't.
"Son of a bitch," she murmured before standing.
"Well, we found Hibari," Takeshi said after several seconds of silence. "The hedgehogs are new though."
"Takeshi, please, shut up," Hayato grumbled as he fell onto his back. His eyes narrowed as he watched the heavy metal cannon on his arm become red light and get sucked into the metal cube in his hand. He reluctantly got back up and winced.
"Hayato?" Tsuna hurried over from where she had landed. Hibari's eyes narrowed. He clicked his tongue. The multiple forms of his precious Roll poofed into nothing, leaving only the one hedgehog to land in his outstretched hand. The tiny bug eater crawled up his arm and nuzzled his master's ear before going back to his box.
"Injuries?" the Cloud asked as he stalked toward the group. Tsuna had knelt beside the Storm and was looking him over for the source of the blood.
"Nothing serious for me," Takeshi said as he inclined his head. "I've got mostly scratches."
"I'm fine," Hayato forcefully said as he tried not to blush under Tsuna attention. "It's just a few scratches."
"This much blood does not come from scratches," she snapped as she poked at a blood trail coming down his neck. Blood stained his silver hair.
"Head wound," Hibari stated.
"Great. You're going to get that looked at when we get back to base." Tsuna stood up and turned to the calm Cloud. "We need to get back to the base before Millefiore can send more thugs after us."
Hibari nodded and turned away from the group. He began to walk away.
"Wait, where are you going?" Takeshi said. He tensed, his hand tightening on his blade.
Hibari snorted. "Follow."
Tsuna frowned and helped Hayato up. He stumbled a moment as he adjusted to not having a heavy block of metal attached to his one side. She held onto his shoulder to stabilize him.
"Hibari—" she began.
He turned to stare at her. His lips pressed into a tight line. "I have a hidden entrance at the top of the shrine. Now follow."
"What's up with him?" Hayato muttered darkly as he fell into step behind the agitated Cloud. Tsuna shrugged but did keep a closer eye on the older version of her Cloud. His shoulders had gone tense, or at least as tense as Kyoya usually allowed himself before striking out at what was causing his discomfort. Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth as her intuition told her that her Cloud's current state was her fault. Her heart ached at the thought. Kyoya always avoided things that brought him pain, such as his sudden aversion to sakura trees even though Shamal had cured him of that sickness. This was going to make their time in the future so difficult. She could feel it.