A.N: Thank you so much for stopping by. I gotta thank stellacisem, D C JoKeR H S and Faery66 for waking me up from my slumber with your reviews and a huge thanks all those lovely readers who have placed my story in their favourites and alerts. I really apologize for the long wait and I appreciate your patience with me. 3 3

WARNINGS: Mentions of blood, bad language and dry history.

Disclaimer: I do not own the familiar characters.


"Squalo…how long are you gonna keep staring at the transmission screen?"

Squalo resisted the urge to outright flinch. It didn't take a genius to figure out the heavy tone of disapproval in Ryohei's voice. It baffled Squalo how Ryohei would sometimes completely switch over from his brash, loud-mouth and fiery personality to this cool and level-headed adult capable of crushing bones with his bare hands. Squalo internally shivered.

"Back so soon?" Squalo easily smiled at the Sun Guardian. "Is Basil with you? He was supposed to help me with the dishes today"

"Why did you lie to Hibari, Squalo?"

Squalo sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time in an hour. "It had to be done. He'd worry himself to death if he finds out that I was all alone in the base since morning and the last thing I want is him sprouting grey hairs." The Varia Rain smiled, walking past Ryohei towards the hallway. "Not that he would look any less hot though. Besides, he would kill Yamamoto and as much as I am disappointed in him for leaving without a word, I still lo—Ah! "

Squalo practically squeaked as a strong tremor shook the entire base, shattering the monitors and the lights. "What in the seven spheres of hell is going on?" Squalo panicked, clutching firmly to the door's frame.

"I'm not sure…" Ryohei growled out, trying to grab his phone annoyingly ringing in his pocket. And suddenly, the tremor stopped only to be followed by a loud bang from somewhere in the upper level of the base.

"What was that…?" Squalo enquired Ryohei who was literally crushing the phone in his sweaty palms, his face turning paler by the minute.

"Ryohei…"

"Squalo…I want you to unlock the emergency shaft and run away as far as you can while I help the others evacuate" Ryohei spoke grimly, dragging Squalo hastily through the hallway towards the said shaft.

"But what happ—"

"The White Spell has raided the northern base while the East Wing of our main base is under attack by a Funeral Wreath. I have to help the—"

"I can help too!" Squalo pushed away from Ryohei, "I'm no damsel in distress and don't you forget that I used to be the Sword Emperor" Squalo huffed up, annoyed.

"Squalo, please…" Ryohei practically begged, "There is a possibility of them hacking the Vongola achieves. They could be after you!"

"Fine!" Squalo gritted out in frustration, "But you better come back in one piece or I am setting your trophies on fire!"

Ryohei smiled indulgently and ruffled the smooth tresses of his agitated companion as a soft apology. "I promise…"

"See you at Tsuyoshi's!" Squalo gave him a quick hug before turning around to unlock the latched. Only when Ryohei's silhouette disappeared down the hallway did Squalo turn around to look back.

"You have a long way to go in sensing Flames, Ryohei-kun. The one in our East Wing is definitely a fake" Squalo grimaced, "The real Funeral Wreath is near Namimori and judging from the intensity of the Flame, I'm going to have a tough battle"

Squalo did feel bad lying to Mukuro, Hibari and Ryohei, all in a day! I can't have them worry over me all the time...Besides, a white lie couldn't hurt anyone... Squalo smiled.

After carefully and tenderly pocketing the engagement ring that had greeted the Varia Rain by the side table in the morning, Squalo took the gruelling task of climbing the steep rusty ladder of the shaft in a pair of high-heeled leather boots.


"Besides the rich history of the Vongola, there were several Mafia Families a few decades older than ours." Iemitsu read softly from a book ten times the size of Tsuna's head. Tsuna sweat dropped. Didn't his dad realize that he absolutely sucked at history? Wait! He actually sucked at everything…Oh well…

"And then there was the Italian Mafia where the…" Iemitsu droned on, completely oblivious of his son's glazed over eyes. Tsuna sighed. His dad was a lost cause. His eyes travelled towards the opposite table, taking in the sight of Xanxus reading vigorously through an old journal. At least someone's feeling energetic. Tsuna smiled lazily reminiscing on how Xanxus had awkwardly inched up to him in the morning, trying to nonchalantly enquire if Tsuna stayed awake the night before. He clearly knows something happened…

Reminiscing about last night's events brought an odd sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in Tsuna. He had done the right thing and had earned his Will's pleasure, his Dad's pride and strangely Mukuro's approval.

"Stop throwing daggers at my back, ya worthless scumbag…" he heard the gruff voice of Xanxus drawl out.

"IT'S DYNAMITE NOT DAGGERS! DYNAMITE! I do not throw knives like that bastard, DAMMIT!" came the near hysterical voice of his Storm Guardian.

Tsuna sighed and dropped his forehead on the table with a loud thud. Gokudera had visited them in the morning with a note from their homeroom teacher. Apparently, his teacher thought that a few classes in Math during the holidays along with the other low scorers would help his no-good self for the next year. His mother had beamed at the teacher's generosity; his father had hummed softly as an approval while Xanxus proceeded to snicker in his bowl of cereal all the while ignoring a fuming Gokudera behind his chair. Tsuna did appreciate his teacher's intention but anymore of him destroying the theorems more than he already had was bound to rise Pythagoras from his grave, compass and all. But the conversation after that had slowly slipped towards disaster.

FLASH!

"Juudaime! You don't have to necessarily go if you don't want to" Gokudera smiled pleasingly at him, "I could talk to the teacher in letting me teach you." Tsuna sweat dropped. The said teacher despised Gokudera's guts and always tried to land him in hot water.

"I think it's best if we let the teacher handle this" Nana smiled, "You don't have to use your vacation time on Tsu-kun"

"It's no prob—"Gokudera began only to be interrupted by Xanxus.

"Nana-san's right, Hayato-kun" Xanxus purred vindictively, "It wouldn't do well if you keep solving Tsunayoshi-kun's problems for him. Give him a chance to grow" Tsuna didn't miss the softly muttered some limbs and Xanxus averting his gaze from his dad.

"Speaking of schools…" Nana turned her attention towards Xanxus, "You must be in the same grade as Tsu-kun. When do your classes start, Dan-kun?" Tsuna heard Xanxus choke beside him while his dad looked panicked.

"Umm…He was home tutored" Iemitsu spoke out throwing a tentative glance at Xanxus who was busy trying to catch his breath.

"Was?" Nana looked curiously at his dad.

"Well…he was home tutored until...you know, until that accident . Remember the one we spoke about yesterday night?" his dad whispered cautiously.

Tsuna gave him a blank look wondering what kinda rubbish his dad had fed his mom about Xanxus. If his mom had been taking care of Xanxus before, she must have questioned his dad about the scars. Wonder what unbelievable story he came up with this time…Tsuna thought wryly.

"Well, that won't do at all…" Nana frowned, sizing a now-recovered Xanxus. Suddenly, her whole demeanour brightened. Tsuna heard Xanxus breath out a stiff Oh…Noooo… before he heard his mother squeal in delight.

"Honey!" Nana turned towards Iemitsu, "Why don't you let Dan-kun school with Tsu-kun for a year?" All four table occupants looked to the table's right to notice a passed out Gokudera frothing from his mouth.

"What do you say, Dan-kun?!" she beamed, completely oblivious to the rise in the room's temperature, "Maybe I could talk to Tsu-kun's teacher into having you for summer class too!"

"Ano…Kaa-san…" Tsuna squeaked, noticing Xanxus' knuckle turning white from his hard grip on the spoon and his grown out bangs ominously hiding his eyes from Tsuna's view. Did the spoon just glow a faint orange? Tsuna looked at the said object, mesmerized.

"XANXUS!" he heard his dad bark out. Suddenly, it was like a bucket of water was poured on him. The temperature of the room seemed to have returned to normal and so was the colour of the spoon. Was it just his imagination? He looked up to see Xanxus looking just as perplexed.

"Umm…that's a great idea, Nana-san" Xanxus smiled at his mom meekly and the glanced at his dad. Tsuna curiously looked at his dad and promptly shivered. He heard Gokudera gulp audibly beside him. If looks could kill, Xanxus would have gotten a rebirth by now. Tsuna glanced sympathetically at Xanxus who seemed to be looking at anything but his dad.

FLASH!

Luckily, his mom saved the day as usual chattering on about talking to his teacher immediately and packing their lunch for the day. The ride to the CEDEF headquarters had been painfully quite for Xanxus who had been forced to sit beside Iemitsu in the passenger's seat. His dad, however, had relatively cooled down on the way to the archives and now here he was listening to his dad's lessons on Mafia history.

"However, Tsuna…" here, his dad looked at him seriously, "Vongola is a part of the European Mafia. It is nothing compared to the World Mafia" Wait! What? Tsuna blinked, suddenly wide awake.

"The World Mafia, Tsuna…" Iemitsu patiently repeated, "A Family must reach a certain level of strength and recognition before being initiated into the World Mafia. Vongola is yet to reach that feat."

"Ano…how strong is this World Mafia?" Tsuna enquired nervously. And here he thought Vongola was the best there is!

"The World Mafia comprises of the top hundred Mafia Families from all over the world" Gokudera started, taking a seat beside him, "These Families are constantly on each other's throat to try and get to the third position in the World Mafia"

Eeh?! Tsuna blinked. "Eto…Why third?"

"Because…" Iemitsu began grimly, "Getting to the second position is suicide. And the first, however…" Iemitsu looked around, beckoning the other two closer.

"The first position is ruled by either the ancient Ariana Family or the Aria Family. The second has been constantly shared by the Summer and the Ivanov Family for ages." Iemitsu whispered, "However, the peculiarity about the Aria and Ariana is that the whole Family comprises of just one person."

"WHAAAAAAT?!" Tsuna screeched, earning a glare from Xanxus. He immediately composed himself. "That's impossible! Is that person that strong?!"

Iemitsu smiled indulgingly at him while Gokudera continued as if his boss hadn't woken up the dead a second ago. "The Aria protects while the Ariana destroys. These two beings are rumoured to be the residue of an ancient curse. The Ariana's sole purpose is to overpower and violate Aria. However, Ariana's motives are yet to be seen as he had never won for generations" Ariana. Tsuna scratched his head. He was pretty sure he had heard this name before…

"As for Aria, he's been besting Ariana for generations" Gokudera smiled, "Aria's born male but once he wins, he is rumoured to transform into a female to give birth. Once Aria ensures that her linage is secured, her soul leaves the world." Gokudera sighed. "It's also rumoured that an Aria could be born in any of the Families in the World Mafia, thus automatically promoting the said Family to number one. The Family also earns the support of the Summer and Ivanov since no one wants to take the chance of Ariana winning."

"That's a lot to take in" Tsuna smiled. He felt a little bad for Aria, knowing that once the struggle of saving the world from Ariana was over, he too had to die.

"How about we meet up with your teacher and have some lunch before we continue, Tsuna?" his dad looked at him and Gokudera.

"Yes, please…" Tsuna grumbled. He hadn't learned this much for years!


"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY RAIDED OUR BASE?!" Hibari roared, shaking the living daylights out of Fuuta.

"That's the latest report from the Main House in Japan" Fuuta looked up sadly, "There were heavy causalities on our side"

"What about Namimori High? WHAT ABOUT SQUALO?!"

"Calm down, Hibari-san!" Tsuna cautiously pulled Fuuta away from his rabid comrade. This was getting worse by the minute…

"Oya oya…what's this entire ruckus for, eh?" a soft voice questioned from their left. Tsuna looked up to come face to face with a concerned looking Yamamoto and…

"No…"

He could feel Hibari's agitation become tenfold. Before Tsuna could stop him, Hibari had lunched at a perplexed Mukuro, bunching his collar in his hands.

"Bastard! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Mukuro gave him an odd look. "As much as it pleases me to see you all ruffled up, I have no idea where you expect me to be, Kufufufu~" Suddenly, Mukuro's eyes turned sharp and he looked pointedly at Hibari, "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be with Squ-chan?"

Hibari immediately let him go, a sudden look of realization taking over his face. "Squalo had lied…" he whispered in shock, "Squalo had lied to me…"

"And to me…" Mukuro grimaced.

"Squalo lied about what?" Yamamoto questioned Tsuna, "What's going on?"

It was as if the mere presence of Yamamoto had rekindled Hibari's wrath again. He whipped venomous, accusing eyes at Yamamoto all the while struggling to withhold his Flame. "YOU…" he menacingly began. "How DARE you!"

"Juudaime!" the agitated group turned towards the corridor to notice a frantic Gokudera running towards them.

"Juudaime! Juudaime…!" he struggled with his balance before bending over to get his breath.

"Ryo-Ryohei's report…emergency…" he huffed and puffed with Tsuna rubbing comforting circles to his back.

"Breath…Gokudera-kun…"

"No…" Gokudera finally stood straight, "Juudaime! The attack had been a decoy. The main attack was on Namimori"

Gasp! "What?!" Tsuna caught hold of Gokudera's shoulders. "What happened? What about Mom and the others?!"

"They had been safely guided to the underground base, Juudaime" he replied solemnly, "But…we couldn't get to Tsuyoshi-san on time" he whispered softly. Tsuna cringed when the sound of a sword clattering to the ground filled the hallway. Yamamoto…

"W-what do…?" Yamamoto stuttered his eyes wide but not really observing. However, Tsuna gasped when Gokudera hit him hard on his head with the report folder.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna chided.

"You asshole!" Gokudera growled at a shocked Yamamoto, "Your dad's safe!"

"WHAT?!" Tsuna gaped and so did Yamamoto. Tsuna carefully observed Gokudera. "What are you not telling us, Gokudera-kun?"

"When Ryohei found out that the real Funeral Wreath was in Namimori, he rushed out towards your dad's place first" Gokudera gritted out, "He met with your dad halfway and informed him the direction to the base. So, there!"

Yet, Yamamoto looked agitated. "But how did my dad fin—"Gokudera gestured him to stop and picked up his phone. The face of a haggard Ryohei greeted them.

"I-I fo-found Squ-Squalo!" he gasped out. Before Gokudera could retort, Yamamoto snatched the phone from him.

"Squalo?! What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SQUALO?!" he roared, shaking the projection phone roughly.

"Squalo held the monster back to buy time for your dad to escape" Gokudera spoke neutrally, "When Ryohei reached the restaurant an hour ago, he reported to me that the whole place was in rubbles save for stains of blood splattered on the street" Gokudera glared pointedly at a shell-shocked Yamamoto.

"None of this would have happened if you had not left Squalo there…" All heads turned towards a violently shaking Hibari and an equally distressed Mukuro.

"I-I…" Yamamoto choked out, "I thought bringing Squalo to Italy…"

"Would be a distraction?" Mukuro snorted out in disgust, "Didn't think Squalo would be a distraction in your mass-murdering rout—"

"ENOUGH!" Tsuna roared. "Blaming each other isn't gonna help anyone!" Tsuna glared at the group.

"Gokudera-kun, send a medical unit to Japan through our S.O.S. transportation route" he barked. "Yamamoto, I want you to clear your mind and sharpen your swords. Hibari-san, please reinforce the Main Headquarters in Italy and Venice. I want you to focus!"

Turning towards Mukuro, he glared, "Stand true to your promise and get yourself free from Vendicare" Tsuna pointedly ignored Mukuro's devious smirk. "And before you all leave, would someone tell me WHERE THE HELL IS XANXUS?!"


Reckless Squ-chan! Mou~ (_)

And that's all for today!

R&R everyone! Thank you for your time! 3