The morning after the Arcobaleno Representative Battles, Tsuna had collapsed face first on his bed.
Pretty sure he was already sleeping at that point. It was probably his most peaceful one yet.
When he opened his eyes again, his world was already turned upside down for the second time in his life and a hundred search parties around the world had already been deployed, from the Giglio Nero, to Varia, to the Kokuyo Gang. All stops were pulled.
All eight Arcobaleno had disappeared off the face of the earth.
Reborn was gone.
_
10 years later.
Tsuna watched his reflection, fiddling with his collar and cuffs, and pulling at his hair in futility.
"Tsuna-kun~, Did you miss me~?"
"We saw each other just yesterday Byakuran." In fact, if anything, it's the opposite of missing him. Two, maybe three, Byakuran-less days would be a Godsend miracle.
"And also, stop messing with Rui-kun."
Right on cue, a man -boy, really, in his late teens- barged in with guns blazing. Literally.
Byakuran dove to the side behind an antique cherrywood desk.
Rui shot the window sill, bouncing off the bullet expertly. It grazed Byakuran's cheek, leaving everything else but the carpet intact.
Tsuna grinned. This is why Rui was one of his favourites. His temper and violence wasn't costly.
He was the antithesis of a certain pair among his own guardians.
"Tsunaaaaaa~ your subordinate is bullying me~ this is so unfair~ why do you get all the violent people~"
...really?
The look he gave the white haired man clearly sent the sentiment.
"So I guess your people are just mentally-disturbed and Varia are just psychopathic." Is there a difference? Really, the only one with normal people in their family was Dino.
And his looked like they bench press elephants for warm ups.
Then as if recalling something, Byakuran perked up -also conveniently ignoring his remark. Rui silently made his exit.
"Why aren't you nicer to me? Don't you remember, this is our anniversary. Or rather, today is the day we met. Meet. Will meet."
"...so shouldn't I actually be meaner to you?" he deadpanned. Ah, he hadn't even started the day but his energy level were already being rapidly drained.
"What?! Nonesense! This should be the day we commemorate the twist of fate that led to us becoming best friends!"
...He wasn't going to comment on that.
Had he already forgotten? Byakuran was pretty much Tsuna's first kill.
Tsuna nudged Byakuran from under his desk with his foot and took a seat. "Is that really all you came here for?"
His goofy expression abruptly fell and Byakuran stood up, patting down himself of dust. The flash of distance in his gaze and the furrow in his brows had Tsuna concerned.
Byakuran was hesitating.
He was not a man that hesitated.
Another famiglia making trouble? A rat? Another plot?
No, none of that was enough to make Byakuran act like this.
...sigh. It made Tsuna think of omens.
Byakuran was an omen of big things to come. Somehow, of the people around Tsuna, he was always the first one to get his grubby fingers on the juicy parts. He knew for a fact that it irked Mukuro -this omnipotent act Byakuran loved to rub into his face.
"Let's go have coffee."
If not for the ringing- no, blaring in his head, he might've thought that this was another one of Byakuran's schemes to get 'alone time' with him.
His reply was immediate, "Ok."
_
Tsuna glanced around the establishment they entered in curiosity. From their base in Tokyo to here, they had to drive for around four to five hours. Just right on time for lunch.
It has a relaxing ambience, with browns and muted blues mostly. But it was also nothing special, and nothing in his senses stood out. Except...
Something was here. Rather, someone.
"Are we going to meet someone here?"
Byakuran hummed, taking a seat somewhere tucked away in a corner, "In a sense."
Tsuna followed him suit, picking up the menu to disguise him looking around and closely examining the other customers.
"Aren't you going to explain?"
He smiled mischievously, "It's better if you see it for yourself."
Tsuna shot him a puzzled look.
"Good morning sirs, can I get your order?"
He looked up, meeting a pair of gray eyes so pale it brought to mind moonlight.
Dressed in a red uniform with a white apron and dark brown boots, a girl no older than thirteen at most waited on them. Purple hair cut close to the jaw contrasted her pale fair skin. Dark eyelashes curled around almond shaped eyes, bordered by a button nose. Her pouty lips were curved in a light smile.
She was beautiful.
And no, Tsuna wasn't being creepy. It was fact.
...what was she doing working as a waitress? And why was she familiar?
He'd definitely remember seeing a face like that before, more like, she somehow felt familiar. It's at the tip of his tongue.
"Um..." Tsuna floundered stunned.
He accidentally caught a boy's eyes and the kid actually smirked knowingly. He inwardly despaired.
He chanced a glance at the girl and discovered that she didn't even bat an eyelash. In fact, she looked unperturbed. As if used to it.
Byakuran sniggered at him, then waved the girl towards himself, "Two fried rice, ramen, sushi -surprise us-, a pitcher of ice tea, nachos, then a little bit later two banana split. What else Tsuna?"
"Ah... er... Rather than steak, I'll have okonomiyaki, I think."
"I see. Please be patient, you'll have it as soon as possible." she said before turning away to leave.
Byakuran called out, "Wait, you're a local, yes?"
Tsuna looked at him incredulously. What was he doing? How many times had the ex Milliefore boss denied the accusations of being a lolicon and yet he now sounded like he was talking up a highschooler.
She hesitated before saying, "I work here."
A safe answer. Good, good.
Byakuran rolled his eyes at Tsuna.
"Honestly, why do you think I brought you all the way here?"
"To mooch off of me?"
"That- okay, fair point. But weren't you searching for somewhere to build that new project of yours."
"...yeah." But he seriously doubted that was the real reason for this incognito trip of theirs. But if that's what he wanted the people around them to think, Tsuna will go along with it.
"There's a plot of land at the outskirts a bit of a walk from the living district. Am I right?" he addressed the last part to the girl.
Byakuran watched Tsuna intently. Expectantly.
Why was he keeping the girl from leaving?
She titled her head cutely, "Yeah. It's very wide. Enough for like, seven times this building."
Tsuna blinked, genuinely interested now, "Really? What about the soil? Grass and such, are there like bits of cement or something?"
"I... don't know more but no, it's just dirt everywhere. My siblings and I used to play there together with the other children. Those that don't want to be caught by their parents you know, when they did something wrong"
Tsuna smiled wryly at that, briefly recalling all his own escapades when he was younger. Which, inevitably, reminded him of Reborn.
That's when it hit him.
It hit him so hard his eyes widened and he choked. He did a double-take on the girl -who looked at him in concern.
In the mafia, it's standard procedure to identify someone by their flames. It's not something one can easily do in long distances but easily achieved when face to face. Subconsciously, he'd felt this girl's too but didn't pay attention to it because of the civilian environment.
"Sir? Are you alright? Should I get you water?"
He bobbed his head frantically, anything to make her leave and let him think.
Byakuran looked at him smugly.
Long thought to be dead, hope rose inside of him, filling him to the point that he thought he could explode. His heart quaked. It was too late to be cautious now.
He's already high with the 'yes! yes! yes!' feeling. If they were wrong, this was going to hurt like hell.
But Byakuran knew how much this meant to him and they're at the point of their relationship where neither would carelessly dangle false hope in front of the other.
Clumsily, almost frantically, he retrieved his phone from his suit.
_
BANG!
"VOOOIII! Boss! The Vongola trash said to meet him ASAP!"
Xanxus raised an eyebrow. Leviathan rose to the challenge.
"Who does he think he is to order Boss around?! The guts of that brat!"
"Um, he's the Vongola Boss?" Fran deadpanned, sprawled upside down the couch.
"Ushishishi~ the commoner actually grew some balls. Ordering Boss around." Belphegor cackled.
Squalo sneered, "He texted 'Varia. Come here. ASAP'. He meant all of us."
"Ho? All of us? where does he mean by here?" Lussuria asked, a pair of dumbbells in his hands and sweating profusely.
"Nevermind that! How dare he speak to us like that! Do we look like gophers?!"
"You do." Fran quipped.
Squalo frowned, "He didn't say, I guess it's up to us to track him or something."
Belphegor randomly kicked at Fran, "Who cares about that brat-"
Ting! Ting!
Squalo clicked the new message uninterestedly. Whatever the shitty brat said wouldn't make a difference. Xanxus was still lounging in his throne, stuffing himself with steak and not looking like he was going to be moving anytime soon.
He read the short mail. Then reread it.
Then reread it again.
He read it a few more times before staring at the screen blankly.
Fran watched his facial expressions shift from disbelief, shock, and then even wonder. To make the long haired commander look like that, he wondered what it was.
Then Squalo opened his mouth and Fran thought for a second he'd gone deaf with the sheer volume. Did the foundations of the hundreds years old mansion actually shake?
"VOOOIIIIIII! GET UP YOU FUCKERS! WE'RE GOING TO SLAUGHTER THOSE VONGOLA BASTARDS IF THEY'RE LYING!"
Lussuria dropped the dumbbells, making craters. Xanxus actually spat out his wine and Fran took the chance to kick an unguarded Bel off of the couch they'd been fighting over.
Wha-!
"HE SAID HE FOUND MAMMON!"
Stunned silence.
The group of assassins processed those words then-
The room exploded into action.
Bel stabbed Fran with a cheer, racing towards the car's driver seat. Squalo, Lussuria, and Leviathan tried to overtake him but he slammed the door only a few inches from their fingers.
They cursed. This was the last car of the week. The other seventeen had already been towed to the junkyard. They would have no choice but to suffer Bel's driving skills.
Xanxus calmly sat in the back seat. In the end, pale and dreading, Fran had the misfortune of having to seat in the passenger's seat.