"Here's your order Tsuna-kun!" the woman behind the counter calls, holding out the box.
"Thank you," Tsuna calls back, grabbing the expresso from the table and going over to the counter. Kyoko glances out the window for a moment, then turns back as Tsuna stops by her table again. "I have to go now. See you?"
"Don't forget, you're invited to dinner," Kyoko reminds him, her fork tapping on the porcelain of her almost empty cake plate. "We're having your favorite food, and Kaa-san wants to meet those new friends of yours."
"Of course," Tsuna says, then he bows slightly and leaves.
Kyoko watches him go with a sigh before she eats her last bit of cake. Then she stands and returns her plate to the counter to get another slice and steps out onto the sidewalk.
"You're never going to learn anything if you don't talk to him," she says, sliding the paper plate across the table and putting a plastic fork down next to as she sits down.
"I could if you would ask him for me," Enma says, eyes focusing on her rather than the middle distance where Tsuna disappeared. he picks up the fork and pokes at the cake before cutting off a piece and eating it. ". . . I know Sasagawa-san. Thank you."
"Do you have enough to eat until Mizuno-san's next paycheck?" Kyoko asks after a long moment, propping herself up with a hand on her chin as she watches him eat.
"We're fine Sasagawa-san," Enma says, looking up. "You found Julie and Koyo good jobs, and we've been doing better ever since they graduated. You don't need to worry Hibari-san and Kurokawa-san over us again."
"I don't really think Hana-chan will stop worrying over you even after you've grown up, but if you say you're doing alright on food I won't bother you about it. And if any of you need medical attention-"
"It's free in all Namimori hospitals, covered by Orphan Policy."
"It's Low Income Policy now, ever since Mizuno-san turned twenty. Legal age of Adulthood and all that."
"Right." Enma droops a little, picking at the cake.
"You should talk to Tsuna," Kyoko repeats after a while as she stands up. She leaves before Enma has a chance to answer, and he sighs as he picks at the slice of cake.
"I know."
()
Futa watches the brown-haired boy run with a frown from the park bench he'd perched himself on. In the back of his mind he can feel his lists of rankings recalculating and shifting to include this new variable, but he doesn't reach for it, all too aware of the security camera of the store across the street from the park. Even in the extensive disguise, he doesn't dare reach for his rankings in Namimori. Even with the Hibari Family's protection, there were too many Families looking for him to chance it in a town he was known to frequent.
Still, who ever that was, they were on . . . so many lists.
Futa signs and dusts his hands off as he stands. He can check out strange rankings later, in the safety of his home. There, at least, even if anyone spots anything floating, they will just dismiss it as Enma practicing again.
He can feel himself drooping under my many layers of his disguise, his hair itching under the wig, the lace of the petticoats itching against his legs, and the whole of it trapping heat under the bright sun above. He still has to report into the Hibari Family to let them know that there will be more families in town chasing after him.
And then, maybe he can sleep. He can't stay for long, but at least while he's here he can sleep safe in the knowledge that his family will defend him.
()
"My lady," Shamal says as he kneels down next to the chair. He catches the extended hand and presses a kiss to the rings on her fingers before he stands.
"Shamal," Cristiana says. She doesn't look up from papers she's rifling through on her desk, trying to do the work of half the family as they recover from Timoteo's search for an alternate candidate with Sky flames. "You're going to see my baby brother." It's not a question.
Sitting on her desk, carving a block of wood, her other brother snorts, but doesn't say anything.
"I'm leaving in an hour," Shamal says, not denying it. "All of my patients are stable and should be able to recover under the other doctors' care. Those who managed better are already returning to work. Giannicchi offered to take we, so we will likely be flying with the Varia. Reborn said that Tsunayoshi had an adverse reaction to his Dying Will Bullets."
"How is Macbeth's search going?" Cristiana asks.
". . . Bianchi has found a suitable candidate to serve as the family head until Enrico's daughter is old enough. I believe that she is currently relying upon me to act as his Mist to back him with my authority as one of Enrico's former guardians. However, with the mess Timoteo's search caused, there are enough flame actives in the family that she should be able to find a different candidate if necessary."
"Mmm." Cristiana shift some of the papers and writes something down, then sets her pen down. She stares down at her hand for a moment as she massages it, then she looks up at Shamal. "I've got something for my baby brother. Fennel?"
Her brother sets down his wood carving tools, and in a small cloud of deep, blue-purple smoke a small box appears. It rattles through the air as Fennel tosses it at Shamal.
"They're pills, like the type Basil uses," Cristiana says, "and some other things. If can figure out how to use them, then . . ." Her head falls a little as she stares blindly down at the papers laid out on her desk. ". . . Then good."
"My lady." Shamal tucks the box into a pocket. "Anything else?"
"No. You may leave."
The door closes behind him with a click. Cristiana continues to stare at her paperwork without really seeing it.
"Nico," she says, and her brother looks up from his carving. "Are we doing the right thing? I might . . . I might get our brother killed - I might get both of our brothers killed now that Bianchi's sent Alessandro to Tsunayoshi."
"Better a quick death than another slow one," Nico signs. "Better we know if he can handle it, better we know he can defend himself, than loosing when we think we are doing well."
()
Sveva jerks back to wakefulness at the sound of movement. She slumps for a moment, the she actually sees the empty bed before her.
She jerks again, looking around, then moves on silent feet to stand behind Xanxus.
"Sveva," he says after a long moment, swaying backwards a little so that she can wrap her arms around him. "I'm . . ."
"You're alive," Sveva says when he does not continue. "It was a damn fool thing you tried to do, little brother, but at least you are alive."
"And Federico? Massimo? What about our brothers?" he asks, turning in her arms
Sveva's silence speaks for itself. Xanxus closes his eyes and nods. Then he lets his foreheard fall forwards to rest on her shoulder. His shoulders don't shake much and he make no noise other than soft breathing, but Sveve can feel the wetness where his tears seep through her shirt.
She holds him close and rocks him slowly back and forth until he gently pushes her back. Wiping his red eyes on the back on his hands, he takes a shuddering breath.
"Tell me," he says. "What happened?"
()
Nana closes the door of her home and sits down to slide off her outdoor shoes and exchange them for her indoor shoes. She hums a song to her self as she stands and properly enters her house, pulling her suitcase behind her.
Her Tsuna had texted her to let her know that he would be staying with the Sasagawa family tonight so that she didn't need to worry about him so soon after her vacation. He's sweet to think of her.
"Sawada-san."
Nana yelps and turns sharply on her heel, dropping her suitcase to slip her hand into her pocket for her brass knuckles.
She looks up down-
She pauses. "Oh, Reborn-kun! I didn't see you there," she slips her hand out of jer pocket to place it on her heart.
Then she frowns down at him. The being-who-looks-like-a-child blinks up at her with bark eyes as the chameleon on his miniature fedora yawns. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Tsuna?"
"I'm here because we needed to talk Sawada-san. Did you husband tell you why he took you on the cruise?"
The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had been trying to ignore for the duration of the cruise raises its head sharply and Nana can't stop her shoulders from sinking.
"Its about Tsuna, isn't it?" she asks. "Hibari-sensei said that Tsuna might have issues with Iemitsu."
"She was correct," Reborn says, "though as I prioritized preventing the situation from recurrent I am unsure as to the extent. That is not the only thing I wanted to talk with you about, Sawada-san. You are aware that you husband is a part of the mafia?"
"Of course," Nana says, blinking.
"Due to a lack of other candidates, your son has been chosen as the heir to the mafia family. I was brought in to train Tsuna for this position."
Nana is distantly aware that she is shaking.
"Sawada-sna?" Reborn asks. "Are alright?"
"Get my husband back here," she hears herself say over the roaring in her ears. "You get my husband back here right now."
"Sawada-san, your husband-"
"Is a very busy man, right, I remember." Nana leans down to pick up the handle of her suitcase and she turns and goes for the phone.
"Sawada-san?" Reborn asks as she dials the familiar number of the taxi company.
"Italy, she murmurs to herself as she listens to the dial tone. "Italy, Italy. Not Venice, something about the water being bad for his family's magic-"
"Sawada-san?"
"Tell Tsuna-kun I'm sorry, but I had to go," Nana says without turning, then she turns her attention back to the phone arranging for a cab to take her to the airport.
()
"Kyoya?" Taka sets her pen down as her cousin walks into her office.
He's fiddling with the sleeve of his uniform jacket, pulling at a string. It's making the cuff of his jacket hang awkwardly where he'd separated the outside from the liner. The fact that he hasn't even noticed when normally he would swoop down like a hawk upon any other student who'd managed to do the same to their jacket, let alone that he would have never allowed it to happen to his own clothing tells her how distracted he is.
"Kyoya, it's okay," Taka says, standing up and moving around the desk to grab his hands and stor him from picking at his jacket anymore.
"That research we found on Vongola's magic," Kyoya says, not really focusing on her. "It's not good. It's not safe. He just tried to commit suicide, and they're putting this on him."
"Oh Kyoya," Taka sighs, squeezing his hands. "I know."
"I don't understand why I care," Kyoya says. He wrinkles his nose like the twelve-year old he is and not the miniature adult he pretends to be most of the time. "I don't understand why I can't just let it go. It was supposed to be the school. Taka - it was supposed to be the school. It was supposed to be the school but it's not, it's him."