Tsuna subconsciously paused for a moment as he was about to step through the Namimori Middle's front gates, unknowingly eyeing bemusedly at the students and teachers alike fluttering around the school yard. It took a second for Tsuna to process why the fact seemed special, before realizing that he had never, ever seen so many people hanging about in one place in Namimori Middle. After all, the Discipinary Committee usually scattered the groups before they could form, due to their leader's intense dislike of crowding.
Something within Tsuna burned intensely, at the feeling – the knowledge that something was wrong. Out of joint.
Namimori shouldn't be like that, and especially not Namimori Middle, where their peace-keeping tyrant attended.
I wonder where the Committee is, Tsuna inwardly wondered, resuming his walk when he saw Gokudera giving him a concerned look. Tsuna tried to banish the uneasiness at the pits of his stomach, but it only doubled as he ambled through the hallways to reach his classroom, catching snippets of hushed, nervous conversations as he did.
"Did you hear? They – "
"So scary – "
"….all of a sudden – "
"…disciplinary members –"
"Victims increasing – "
The last part of the conversation twisted his stomach, like he ate spoiled food or his carefree teenage world was suddenly faced with real life problems that Tsuna had no privy to. He felt out of loop and confused at the buzzing state of the school.
"Just what happened?" Tsuna murmured lowly, looking around as he bit his lower lip.
"Juudaime, do you want me to ask around for you?" Gokudera asked, close and attentive enough to have heard Tsuna's words despite his low volume words.
An image of Gokudera holding a student up by the collar and demanding what happened suddenly appeared in Tsuna's mind.
"No, no, no, it's fine," he said, waving his hand frantically. When he saw that Gokudera got the message, Tsuna let out a sigh of relief at the disaster averted. The Disciplinary Committee's presence didn't seem as tangible in the school today, but he still had reservations about fighting either way. Some of his uneasiness did melt away at Gokudera's familiar reaction, though. Tsuna didn't know why it seemed like Namimori was different, but his friend was still the same and to Tsuna, that was infinitely reassuring. Tsuna gave Gokudera a small smile, before opening the door to thier classroom.
"Hey, Tsuna, Gokudera," Yamamoto greeted upon noticing their entrance, his perpetual smile for once absent. "Did you guys hear?"
"Hear what?" Tsuna questioned.
"Well, you know Mochida-sempai from the Kendo club, right?" Yamamoto said. "The one Tsuna challenged to a fight?"
"Just get on with it," Gokudera snapped. "What about him?"
Yamamoto scratched his cheek. "Seems like he got beat up last night. From what my teammates said, Mochida-sempai saw the attacker. It's some kid from the Kokou Middle from next town."
"EH?! Beaten up?!" Tsuna exclaimed loudly as his previous anxiety returning, while Gokudera shouted, "It's Kokuyo, you idiot!"
"Ha? Oh yeah," Yamamoto said with a laugh. "Anyway, my coach told me to be careful from now on, since it seems like those Kokuyo students are targeting us."
"But it's only one attack, right?" Tsuna said nervously. "What does that have to do with us?"
"It's more than one," Yamamoto said. "On Saturday, two members of the Disciplinary Committee were attack and yesterday, Mochida-sempai and another sempai called Tao were attacked."
"No way!" Tsuna cried with dismay. "Does that mean anyone could be attacked?"
"Don't worry, Juudaime," Gokudera said. "I'll protect you from Mukuro Rokudo!"
"Mukuro Rokudo?" Tsuna voiced, looking towards Gokudera in confusion. "Who?"
"He's the ringleader of these attacks," a serious voice said out of nowhere. Tsuna jumped and when he looked down, he saw Reborn with a foreboding look on his face. "He's after you, Tsuna."
Tsuna froze as he tried to compute the information, before shouting, "WHAT?! ME?!"
Tsuna jumped as the classroom door suddenly slammed open A distinct feeling of I'm going to be killed! went through him when he realized who exactly it was at the door, yet at the same time, Tsuna could not deny the relief that he felt. A tyrant the other may be, he was reliable when it came to decimating his enemies to safeguard the peace of Namimori.
"Be quiet," Hibari ordered, and Tsuna watched with awe as everyone instantly silenced even though his voice was not raised in the least. Dark eyes scanned through the classroom for a tense second, before he nodded in satisfaction at the peace restored. He was just about to turn to leave when Namimori's school song suddenly rang out.
No one dared to talk or even breathe as Hibari brought out his phone and flipped it open, talking to whomever it was at the other end. His eyes flicked through the classroom in the middle of the phone call, landing on Tsuna and then remaining there for the rest of the time.
Tsuna's heart pounded against his chest and it took everything he had to not let out a "Hiie!" and interrupt Hibari's phone call, which would lead to him getting bitten to death. His classmates were already giving him pitying looks for whatever was going to happen to him. Tsuna inwardly cried, bemoaning his bad luck.
"Sawada," Hibari called, closing his phone with a decisive snap and Tsuna instantly straightened up. "Wasn't Sasagawa Ryohei an acquaintance of yours?"
"Onii-san?" Tsuna voiced.
Hibari took that as affirmative. "He's in the hospital," Hibari said. "He was beaten up."
"Huh?!"
"Inform his sister when she gets here and take her to the hospital with you," Hibari continued. "I'll excuse you for today. The rest of you" –his sharp gaze cut to the rest of the class –"get ready. Class will begin in ten minutes."
Then Hibari swept out of the classroom and the students broke out into chatters.
Xxx
"Onii-san, are you alright?" Kyoko fretted as she rushed to her brother's side.
"K-Kyoko?" Ryohei said. "Sawada, Octopus Head and Yamamoto are here too. And Reborn!"
"Onii-san, Tsuna told me you were beaten up," Kyoko said worriedly. Ryohei looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall when he saw her eyes began to water and her voice started to shake. "Look at all these bandages."
Ryohei and Tsuna both began to wave their hand around to forestall the tears. "K-kyoko-chan," Tsuna called out, while Ryohei said, "Oi, it's only a sprain, Kyoko. Don't cry."
Kyoko wiped the moisture at the corner of her eye with a hand. "Really?" Kyoko said. She turned to look at Tsuna. "Tsuna-kun?"
"Sawada!" Ryohei hissed rather loudly, quite obviously demanding Tsuna to go along with his statement, but Kyoko didn't react to that. Her eyes were solely on Tsuna, waiting for him to confirm Ryohei's claim.
Kyoko-chan is looking at me! Tsuna thought. He quickly nodded when he felt a heavily bandaged elbow jabbed into his ribs. "Y-yeah," Tsuna said with a wince.
"How dare you, Lawn head!" Gokudera exclaimed, having caught Ryohei jabbing Tsuna. "You and me. Outside. Now!"
"Maa, maa, Senpai is not ready for any game right now," Yamamoto said to Gokudera. His eyes sharpened as he said the next line, anger at the needless violence washing away his carefree tone. "But you said something about the boss of this game?"
"Eh? Octopus head, you know who's behind all of this?"
"Mukuro Rokudo," Tsuna recalled, unconsciously murmuring the name aloud. Just thinking about the name sent shiver running down his spine. That man was dangerous and undeniably related to the mafia.
"Tsuna-kun, you know the man responsible for this?" Kyoko asked, gazing at Tsuna with her amber eyes.
"Huh?" Tsuna said, caught off guard. "Um… not really. I only –"
Tsuna yelped as a foot planted itself against his head and push, causing him to flail forward and fall flat on his face against the ground.
"Juudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
Ignoring the commotion behind him, Reborn turned to face Kyoko. "Tsuna was just saying that he would defeat Mukuro Rokudo," Reborn stated.
"Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed as he peeled himself off the floor. "I never –"
"Is that true, Tsuna-kun? You'll really defeat this man who has been attacking our students?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna opened his mouth to voice his denial, but then Kyoko continued speaking. "To be honest, I doubted you at first when I heard Reborn-kun say that."
Tsuna's head dropped at Kyoko's blunt statement, depressed. He didn't want to actually fight Mukuro Rokudo, but to hear Kyoko voice her doubts hurts.
"But when I really think about it, I believe you can do it, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said. Tsuna's head shot up, eyes widening with surprise. "After all, when you first challenged Mochida-sempai to a match, no one thought you could win either but you did. Now I feel that if it's you, Tsuna-kun, you can do it. I really think you can restore peace to this town."
A worried look crossed Kyoko's face the next moment. "But it might be dangerous," Kyoko said. "I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt like onii-chan…"
"Kyoko-chan…" Tsuna said slowly, looking at the kindhearted school idol.
She's worried about the students' safety, he thought, when I'm only thinking about protecting myself.
"He's after you, Tsuna," Reborn had said before. When Tsuna first heard it, he froze because he was afraid. He had never been in serious dangerous situations like this before. Tsuna was still scared just thinking about it now, but… Unconsciously, Tsuna's hand clenched into a fist.
Mukuro Rokudo was indiscriminately attacking Namimori Middle School students to flush Tsuna out. Mukuro was in the wrong here. But Tsuna was just hiding and as he did, the number of Mukuro's victims increased. Tsuna was equally responsible for what happened, including the fact that Ryohei was in the hospital.
"I-!" Tsuna said impulsively. Kyoko looked at Tsuna questioningly, while Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei's gaze landed on him, waiting for him to make his decision. Reborn's eyes watched Tsuna with an indescribable look in his eyes, slightly hidden by the shadow of his fedora.
"I," Tsuna said again, trying to summon his courage. He squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out with all his might, "I want to stop Mukuro's attacks!"
Silence followed.
Tsuna carefully opened his eyes after a moment and smiles greeted him.
"I'll follow you, Juudaime, as your right-hand man!"
"Sounds good to me, Tsuna," Yamamoto said, giving him a thumb-up.
"YOSH! Count me in, Sawada. I'm going to get my rematch!"
"Onii-san, you're injured!" Kyoko fussed.
"It's just a sprain, Kyoko."
"A really bad sprain!"
In the midst of the commotion, Tsuna watched the person who was silent so far. A smile slid across Reborn's face as he lifted his head, approval shown clearly in his eyes.
"It's decided then," Reborn said, jumping onto the hospital table. He lifted an envelope Tsuna hadn't noticed. "Good thing, too, or you would have been killed, Tsuna."
Tsuna paused to register Reborn's words, then, "EH?!"
"Open this," Reborn said, handing the envelope to him. Tsuna cautiously took it, eyes automatically looking over the envelope. It looked like any other envelope, except…
Tsuna rubbed his eyes, wondering if something was wrong with his eyes. But no, it was still there, so…
"Hiie!" Tsuna exclaimed, jumping. "Reborn, it's on fire!"
"What?" Gokudera said, rushing to Tsuna's side. By then, everyone's attention was drawn to Tsuna.
"That's the Ninth's Flame," Reborn said. "Only Vongola's Sky Flame can unseal it."
"What's the Ninth?" Kyoko asked curiously.
"Eh? Uh…" Tsuna said, panicking. He didn't want to draw Kyoko into this craziness. "Um…"
He was saved when Kyoko's phone suddenly rang.
"Hello?" Kyoko said, answering the phone. "Hana-chan! Wah, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you my brother was attacked and sprained his ankle, so I came to see him in the hospital." A pause. "Eh? But that's really what happened…oh! The test! Thank you, Hana-chan! I'll go back now. See you later in class."
Kyoko closed her phone with a snap. "Onii-chan, I need to go. I forgot my class is having a test today. Please be careful and don't do anything silly."
"I'll be fine, Kyoko."
Kyoko nodded. "Bye Tsuna-kun, everyone. I'll see you in school."
"Bye, Kyoko-chan." Tsuna waved as he watched as Kyoko hurryied out the door.
"Snap out of it, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn's voice called out, followed by sudden pain in the middle of his back.
"Ow!" Tsuna complained, staggering under Reborn's sneak attack. "Reborn!"
"Business first, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said.
"B-But I can't open it," Tsuna said. As soon as those words left his mouth, a familiar glint entered Reborn's eyes. "Oh no."
"Then figure it out with your Dying Will," Reborn said and in the next moment, Reborn had the Leon-gun in his hand and fired.
Flames burst out of Tsuna's head a moment after the bullet hit him.
"REBORN!" Tsuna exclaimed, clad in only his boxer. "I'll open the letter with my Dying Will!"
Tsuna held the Ninth's letter to him with both hand, wide eyes stared intently at it. Then abruptly, Tsuna brought his head forward with all his might and head-butted the letter with the Flame on his head. The Ninth's Flame on the letter flared for a moment, then recognizing Tsuna's Flame, unsealed the letter and disappeared.
Reborn quickly snatched the letter out of Tsuna's hand when that was accomplished, safeguarding it until Tsuna came out of his Deathperation Mode.
"Read it, "Reborn ordered as Tsuna collapsed on the floor in a pile. "What does it say?"
"Uh…" Tsuna said, hands shaking as he struggled to take out the letter from the envelope.
Oh my god, the Boss of a mafia family sent me a letter! This is bad, this is bad. I already said I wouldn't be the Tenth, so how come this keeps on happening?! Reborn said if I don't do as the Boss said, I'll be DEAD! What should I do?! Tsuna inwardly panicked.
At last, Tsuna managed to clumsily pull out the letter. It was folded in two. Gulping, Tsuna looked at everyone that surrounded him; they gazed steadily back at him and the letter expectantly. With shaky hands, Tsuna unfolded the letter.
The first thing Tsuna noticed was the orange Flame at the top of the letter. It was the same shade as the one on the envelope and to Tsuna, just as warm. Upon seeing and sensing that, he unwittingly relaxed.
"Um," Tsuna said, eyes dropping to where the letter actually began. "Dear Vongola Decimo – but I'm not going to be the Tenth!"
A glint that said Reborn was tempted to kick him entered the hitman's eyes. "Just read it," Reborn said darkly, the or else heavily implied.
"Hiie!" Tsuna quickly turned back to the letter and nervously continued to read.
"Dear Vongola Decimo,
I have heard of your development from your home tutor. Well, you are a successor of the Boss, after all. Within the next three days, you are to capture Mukuro Rokudo and his gang of escaped convicts. You are also to rescue the hostage at the same time.
Best of Luck, Vongola Nono.
P.S. If you are successful, I will send you a prize worthy and beneficial of my successor. If you fail or refuse to undertake this mission… well, it's best for you to ask Reborn in person."
"What?!" Tsuna exclaimed. He turned the letter around to see if there was more writing, but that was it. "What will happen if I don't agree to this?!"
Tsuna turned to Reborn, panic in his eyes.
Reborn tilted his fedora down so it covered his eyes. "If you refuse your mission, you'll be branded as a traitor," Reborn said ominously. Dread climbed up Tsuna's chest to his throat. "There's only one path for traitor." Reborn slowly looked up, bringing his huge dark eyes to meet Tsuna's frightened ones. "Death."
"Uwaah!" Tsuna exclaimed, falling back. He quickly crab-crawled backward away from Reborn and the letter. "I didn't hear that! I didn't hear anything! This has nothing to do with –"
Reborn's words echoed in his mind. "He's after you, Tsuna."
The last word got stuck in his throat as Reborn gazed at him with his unerringly knowing eyes. Those eyes…
Tsuna hurriedly got off the floor, ready to flee from the hospital room, the letter, Reborn's eyes and moreover, the whole situation.
"Don't worry~" a voice said, piercing through Tsuna's cloud of panic.
Tsuna unwittingly ceased his attempt retreat to look up. "Yamamoto…"
His friend laughed. "I don't really get what's going on, but this is a team game, right?" Yamamoto said. "I always feel nervous before a baseball game, but when I see my team play and try their best, I always feel better. Don't think too much of defeating the other team. Think about playing with your team and doing your best. That's all your teammates ask. After all," he said with a grin, "that's what it means to be in a team, right?"
"Let me go with you, Juudaime," Gokudera said.
"I'm going too," Ryohei stated. "Like I thought, I want to challenge that guy again and get him to join the boxing club!"
"Onii-san… everyone," Tsuna said. "This is serious thought. You can get hurt –"
"They already know all of this, Tsuna," Reborn said, raising his eyes to meet Tsuna's. "And they're determined to go through this."
Tsuna looked at all the people gathered in the room, all who were determined and somehow, despite his dame reputation, believed in him. Under the blanket of their expectance and trust, Tsuna finally nodded. "Alright," he acquiesced. Soft, worried eyes darted to the injured person in the room. "But onii-san, you're still injured. Kyoko-chan…"
"Don't worry about it," Reborn said. "We have three days."
But three days aren't enough to heal all those injuries! Tsuna shouted inwardly.
"What are we going to do now, Juudaime?" Gokudera asked eagerly. "Storm their base?"
"No!" Tsuna exclaimed vehemently and was surprised when he heard another voice echoing his word at a calmer tone. "Reborn?"
"No, we don't storm their base," Reborn said. "That'll be showing our hand too quickly, including telling them where their target is."
"What do we do then?" Tsuna exclaimed.
A smirk curved Reborn's lips, sharp and dangerous. "We'll play this their way."
Hello, guys, it's been a while. Please read through this because it contains pretty important info. It's probably going to be my longest author's note yet.
First of all, shoutout and millions of thanks to Aori, who helped me immensely with this chapter. For one reason or another, the quality of my writing really dropped this month, and Aori was kind enough to help me wade through this terrible process. That's also the reason why my update was later than usual, since I usually update in the middle of the month.
(Sorry for missing your birthday, Kiba-chan, and happy belated birthday. Hope you had a wonderful celebration.)
Unfortunately, I have not-so-good new for all of you.
There is no other way to say this: I've decided that from April to June, Stranger with a Gun will be on hiatus. It'll come back on July. Reason is really typical and simple: I'm a human, Stranger with a Gun is a hobby, and I have a life outside of it. Right now, real life is closing in on me and I'm feeling the pressure. I've been thinking about it for a while and although I don't want to stop writing Stranger with a Gun because it's as fun for me to write as it is for you to read, it's honestly consuming my life and my brain. I need these brain cells to focus on something else right now, hence my decision.
Here's the good news: You'll still receive the chapter for March, since I've already written that. Aori and I just need to collaborate and fix some stuff, and then it'll be posted. After that, I'll be going on hiatus and the next time I'll be posting will be in July.
Side note: The Kokuyo arc is taking me waaay longer than I thought to write. So far I've only written the events leading up to the eventual confrontation and those events don't seem to be anywhere near done, so expect the arc to be at least 10 chapters. Some mild canon divergence will also occur soon.
Lastly, thank you for taking your time to read, both Stranger with a Gun and this author's note. See you next month.
