I don't own KHR.
"Alright, the time has come," stated Mukuro firmly as he sat cross-legged near the head of the circle.
"And who gave you permission to lead?" Kyoya rebuked with a raised eyebrow as he also sat cross-legged at the actual head of the circle (at least from Tsuna's perspective he was).
"Me. You took too long, my dear skylark-kun," Mukuro sniped back with a smirk.
"Let's just start," Tsuna quickly interceded before a fight could break out and delay the inevitable. "So uh...are we going to debate first, or just go straight to the voting?"
It had been about two days since they visited Hayato's family's graves and about one day since they visited Takeshi's father's grave. Tsuna had honestly been expecting a relaxing day when he woke up this morning but then Kyoya suddenly pulled him aside and told him to go back to their room right after breakfast.
The time had finally come to decide whether they should leave the Vongola or not.
"Maybe we could do both at the same time?" Takeshi suggested from Tsuna's left.
"You mean, we vote and then we explain why we voted yes or no?" Chrome asked as she sat in between Mukuro and Hayato.
"Yeah, exactly," Takeshi confirmed with a nod.
"That sounds extremely good to me, but what if we all agreed to stay? Or leave?" Ryohei pointed out as he held Lambo (who was currently occupied with a toy cow that Elena had given him) in his lap. "Would we all still need to explain why even though we are all on the same page?"
"Hmm...maybe we should do it one at a time," Hayato proposed from Tsuna's right with his chin in his hand thoughtfully. "We'll vote and then we'll explain ourselves. And then the next person will go next."
"But then who would start?" Mukuro asked, his voice calm though Tsuna could detect some nervousness in his heterochromatic eyes.
"Maybe...we should just vote. With our eyes closed," Tsuna suggested a bit meekly. "That why...none of us would feel pressured to vote a certain way or not."
Tsuna hadn't been sure if his idea had been a good one or not, but when Mukuro shot him an appreciative and grateful look, Tsuna knew that he had done the right thing.
"And we could say why we voted the way we did afterwards," Hayato added with a nod. "Good idea Tsuna!"
"Yeah, I like that," Takeshi agreed as he placed his arm around Tsuna's shoulders, making him grin. "Though I guess that begs the question...are there any of us that are still not sure on what to vote for?"
No one answered for a moment.
"We'll take a three minute intermission," Kyoya declared. "Anyone who is still unsure can use this time, quietly, to decide whether you would rather leave or stay. Anyone who is sure can either sit there quietly or make sure what you're voting for is really what you want. Everyone understand?"
"Yea!" Lambo exclaimed with a wide smile as he threw his stuffed black-and-white cow in the air, which resulted in softly hitting Takeshi on the head.
"Good hit Lambo," Hayato muttered softly with a proud smile, making Tsuna roll his eyes though he barely managed to suppress the urge to chuckle.
"Haha, me too Lambo, me too," Takeshi chuckled as he reached over to pick up the toy before giving it back to the baby.
"Alright, if no one disagrees," Kyoya said with a small smile after Lambo clutched his new toy tightly against his chest. "The intermission starts now."
Despite the fact that they now had a three minute break, no one left the circle. Both Kyoya and Mukuro closed their eyes, though while Kyoya looked more or less peaceful, Mukuro looked a bit conflicted. Tsuna wasn't surprised because it hadn't been too long ago when Mukuro had viciously abhorred the mafia with every fiber of his being. It honestly made sense that he still had some doubts.
Tsuna looked at the rest of his siblings and saw that Ryohei looked thoughtful as he quietly played with Lambo. Takeshi was looking up at the ceiling with pursed lips while Hayato stared at a spot in the middle of the circle, nodding once in a while. Chrome herself was looking at her toy cat who was currently lying right in the middle of the two mushed together beds. It was a good thing Kouki Jr. was just a stuffed animal, because that crack was kind of uncomfortable.
Though that crack wouldn't be a problem anymore if they decided to leave the Vongola, since they would probably go back to sleeping on separate piles of blankets. Then again, if they decided to stay, they might eventually sleep in different beds, maybe even in separate rooms. They wouldn't feel the need to stick together at night if they decided to really trust the Vongola after all.
Or maybe the Vongola would just buy a bed big enough for all of them to sleep in comfortably. Tsuna could see them doing that, they were just that kind.
Tsuna smiled as he realized that this train of thought just confirmed that he wanted to stay here. He liked the food the kitchen staff and Elena made, he liked that it was neither too hot or cold in the mansion, and he liked that there were no bullies like back at the orphanage.
But most of all, he trusted the Vongola. He believed that Elena was a motherly caretaker, that Knuckle was a caring doctor, that Alaude was a watchful guardian, that Asari was a kind cousin, that G was an understanding protector, that Daemon was a wise defender, and that Lampo was acutally a good-hearted young man. Reborn wasn't that bad either, he just maybe loved chaos a bit too much.
And Giotto...was the compassionate and strong don who not only gave cake to kids scared of ghosts, but will also hum them a lullaby. He was the type of man who would go out of his way to avenge the wrongs that had been done to children he barely knew, if at all. Honestly, the rest of the Vongola were like that too.
Tsuna really would like to stay here with his family. Of course, if Mukuro or someone else ended up voting that they should leave, then Tsuna would leave without complaint.
But he really hoped that it wouldn't be the case.
"The three minutes are up," Kyoya suddenly said, jolting Tsuna out of his thoughts and wishes. "Everyone ready?"
"Yeah," Takeshi answered while both Chrome and Hayato nodded.
"To the extreme," Ryohei added.
"Me too," Tsuna chimed in with a nod of his own.
"...As I'll ever be," Mukuro finally answered after a long exhale. "Let's do this."
Mukuro still looked a bit nervous, but Tsuna didn't see any sign of conflict on his face anymore. It looked like his brother had made his decision.
"Alright...everyone close your eyes," Kyoya ordered right before he followed his own order. Tsuna quickly did the same, though he also slapped his hand over his eyes for good measure.
"On my mark, everyone will raise your hand if you want to stay here. Everyone got it?"
"Got it," Tsuna heard Chrome say.
"Just start the vote already," Hayato insisted, his voice full of impatience and nervous anticipation.
"Don't rush me...but fine. On three. One."
Tsuna got his hand ready to raise.
"Two."
Tsuna sighed deeply, as he wished with all of his heart that everyone would agree to stay here.
He honestly did not want to leave the place that was beginning to feel like home.
"Three." Tsuna quickly raised his hand high in the air, and kept it there. For a few moments, there were no words, just a hopeful yet tenseful silence.
"Alright...everyone open your eyes," Kyoya ordered once more. Tsuna uncovered his eyes and with his hand still high in the air, slowly cracked them open. The nine-year-old then slowly looked around.
As he had expected, Hayato, Chrome, and Takeshi all had their hands raised, as they also looked around them with hopeful expressions. Ryohei also had his hand extremely raised, while Lambo sat in his lap with both arms raised with a giant grin. To no great surprise, Kyoya's right arm was straight up in the air, as he looked right at Mukuro sitting beside him with a small sincere smile on his face.
His hopes now higher than before, Tsuna looked straight at Mukuro and saw for himself that Mukuro's eyes were looking straight at the ground in front of him.
With his hand raised as high as it could go.
\ "Mukuro-sama...Really?" Chrome asked, her words edged with joy, relief, and hope.
"Mhm," Mukuro mumbled with a nod as he kept his gaze on the ground.
"You sure?" Tsuna couldn't help but ask, to make absolutely sure. "You're not just saying that because you want us to be happy right?"
"I'm not that unselfish," Mukuro said quietly as he slowly picked his head up only to cover his face with his hand as soon as he saw Tsuna and the rest of their family. Tsuna was still able to catch his small smile though. "Oh stop looking at me like that, it's hard enough for me as it is without the rest of you giving me those cute, sappy looks! Oh, what has happened to me?"
"You became a matured pineapple, that's what happened to you," Kyoya answered with a smirk.
"Are you saying that I was immature before skylark?!" Mukuro exclaimed as he uncovered his hand to stare indignantly at Kyoya, showing the rest of them his red cheeks. Knowing that Mukuro was mostly just embarrassed and not really angry, Tsuna started to giggle. And he wasn't the only one as Takeshi began to chuckle too.
"Oh oops, I'm sorry," Kyoya said right before his smirk grew even bigger. "I meant to say that you became a just little more mature, my dear pineapple."
Mukuro sputtered at that, both looking and sounding affronted as Tsuna and everyone else busted out laughing. Tsuna could even hear a light chuckle coming from Kyoya.
"Oh, like you're much better skylark," Mukuro sniped back with a smirk, apparently now recovered. "Unless you overcame your fear of cherry blossoms recently?"
"I don't fear them, I just don't like them!" Kyoya protested, now the one with the affronted voice as Tsuna and the others continued to laugh. "And you know you're to blame for that!"
"But that's all in the extreme past," Ryohei cut in suddenly. Then, with a wide grin, he bounced Lambo slightly in the air, making the baby giggle and laugh even more. "Right now, let's just be happy to the extreme. Because we're staying!"
Tsuna smiled widely as he gained control of his laughter, watching happily as both Kyoya and Mukuro's defensive expressions got replaced with peaceful ones.
They were staying.
"Yes!" Tsuna jumped and screeched a bit at the loud exclaimation as the door suddenly slammed wide open. The nine-year-old turned around just in time to see Daemon, Elena, G, and Asari rush into the room followed closely by Knuckle (who had stopped to check on Lampo who was lying face-first on the ground).
"How long were you ther-ompf!" Mukuro managed to cry out before he got smothered by both Daemon and Elena.
"Oh pretty much the whole time," Elena proudly admitted as she grabbed Chrome's arm and pulled her into the hug without looking.
"You all left breakfast pretty quickly and all with serious expressions too, so Elena and I knew something was up," Daemon explained as he wiped a tear away from his eye. "So we followed you to the door."
"And since Daemon and Elena were acting suspicious, the rest of us followed them," G added with Hayato sitting on his lap.
"And then we ultimately heard what you were talking about so we ultimately stayed," Knuckle continued, who was now standing with Ryohei sitting on his shoulders, Lambo grinning and making happy cooing noises on top of his black hair.
"Which made you all nervous wrecks by the way," Lampo commented as he finally entered the room, having apparently recovered from getting trampled.
"Oh like you weren't much better yourself," G shot back as Hayato with a contented smile leaned back against G's chest.
"He's not wrong though," Asari admitted with Takeshi in his arms as Lampo just scoffed lightly while he made a straight bee-line for Lambo. "It was, admittedly, a pretty nerve-wracking experience."
Takeshi, who was currently hugging his cousin tightly back, actually looked a bit guilty and had opened his mouth to probably apologize when someone else beat him to the punch.
"Sorry," Mukuro muttered softly but sincerely as he continued to get squeezed by Elena, Daemon, and Chrome. "We...I mean...I wasn't sure..."
Before he could continue, before Tsuna could speak up and say that staying or leaving was a decision that they all had to make together, Daemon placed a hand on top of Mukuro's hair.
"It's okay," Daemon honestly replied with a small smile. "We understand."
Mukuro took a moment to take in Daemon's understanding blue eyes before he smiled and seemingly let himself sink into the embrace he was in the middle of along with Chrome.
Tsuna smiled as Lampo, who had grabbed Lambo away from Ryohei and Knuckle, bounced the baby lightly up and down, making Lambo giggle hysterically.
The only thing missing from this happy scene was-
"What's going on here?" Tsuna instantly perked up at the familiar voice as he turned around to see Giotto standing by the doorway, with Alaude standing right beside him. "What did we miss?"
"The kids are gonna stay with us!" Elena exclaimed happily as she turned her head towards Giotto while still hugging Chrome and Mukuro like the world was about to end.
"...And the last few weeks don't count because?" Alaude asked, a somewhat bewildered expression replacing his usual stoic one for once.
"Because now it's official!" Elena explained happily.
"They just voted on it," Asari added as he continued to stand with a grinning Takeshi in his arms.
"...I knew you guys were going to stay with us and be a part of our family," Giotto sniffed as a watery smile overtook his face while Alaude's blue eyes widened a bit in realization. Then Alaude turned to Giotto.
"You don't have to hold yourself back, they clearly didn't."
And just like that, Giotto raced into the room and went straight for Tsuna. Tsuna barely had any time to prepare himself before he was suddenly being thrown high in the air. The brown-haired boy couldn't help but laugh in pure delight as Giotto caught him successfully.
"Oh this is going to be so fun! And great! I swear that you and the others won't regret it!" Giotto beamed up at him with a purely joyful voice. Then a slightly more serious look appeared in his blue eyes. "I promise."
Tsuna took a brief moment to take this in before he smiled down at him.
"I believe you," Tsuna replied with all of his heart. Giotto just smiled warmly as he brought Tsuna back down to his chest and held him tight.
"So, if you had decided to leave, would you have at least told me that we wouldn't be continuing your training?" Tsuna, who was hugging Giotto back, turned his head to see that Alaude was now standing right in front Kyoya (who was still sitting on the ground).
"I don't know, I hadn't thought about it," Kyoya answered simply. "I was pretty certain that we weren't going to leave."
"Hn," Alaude grunted, sounding pretty satisfied as he reached over to rub his hand through Kyoya's dark hair.
"Tch," Kyoya voiced with a slight wince, though he didn't look nearly as uncomfortable or as agitated as he could have been. He didn't even try to bite Alaude to death for crowding his personal space.
In fact, if Tsuna didn't know better, he could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile on his eldest brother's face.
Speaking of his brother and training though, there was a question that Tsuna had to ask...
"Hey Giotto?"
"Hm? What is it?" Giotto asked as he looked back at Tsuna.
"Can...Can you teach me how to use my flames?" Tsuna asked a bit shyly before he realized something before he turned his head towards his siblings. "If that's okay with you guys of course."
They didn't put it to a vote like he had initally planned but...
"Oh, yeah, you do need to learn how to control that don't you?" Mukuro asked out loud, not sounding overly concerned at all.
"I extremely see no problem with it!" Ryohei approved, still on top of Knuckle's shoulders. "Especially since Knuckle is teaching me boxing techniques!"
"Yeah, and since we are definitely staying here, maybe I'll have Asari train me with the sword too!" Takeshi exclaimed.
"I would be more than happy to train you," Asari accepted with a warm smile.
"I totally support you Tsuna!" Hayato approved vehemently with an excited gleam in his green eyes. Then he looked up at G. "You don't happen to know how to handle explosives do you?"
"G no! He just wants to carry his dynamite around again!" Elena hurriedly exclaimed.
"Kyoya carries his tonfas and Mukuro and Chrome have their tridents, so what's the difference?" Alaude asked her.
"The difference is that...uh..."
"Relax, I don't have much, if any, experience with dynamite," G said with a huff.
"Oh...well, okay then," Elena replied, sounding appeased. When she turned her attention to Chrome, G then bent down and whispered something in Hayato's ear. Tsuna of course didn't hear what he said but judging by how happy Hayato looked afterwards, he assumed that some sort of compromise had been made.
At the very least.
"Thankfully, you're too young to be trained yet. I'm not ready to be a teacher yet," Lampo told Lambo, who just laughed as he booped Lampo's nose.
"You got that right," G muttered under his breath.
"I'm okay with it," Kyoya finally granted. "If anything, maybe you would even get strong enough for me to fight you!"
...Now that was a scary thought.
"So...can you?" Tsuna asked both a bit nervously and hopefully as he turned back to face Giotto.
"Yes," Giotto granted warmly and sincerely. "It will be my privilege."
"Well, since everyone is either getting trained or about to be trained, Elena and I should get rolling in training you two!" Daemon cried excitedly.
"Oh yes we should!" Elena agreed.
"I will do my best!" Chrome declared with a wide smile and a determined expression.
"And I would love to learn that teleport move you guys have," Mukuro added. Tsuna looked around the room and saw how each member of his family, both new and old, seemed so happy and content.
Just like him.
"It's technically called shift-"
"Did someone mentioned training?" asked a hopeful but very familiar voice. Tsuna turned his head towards the door and saw that Reborn was poking his head around the corner.
"No!" Giotto exclaimed, sounding very horrified as he clutched Tsuna tightly to his chest as he did his best to cover Tsuna's body protectively. "He's just a child!"
"Yea!" Lambo cried. "Bye bye!"
Despite himself, Tsuna couldn't help but to giggle and smiled as the warm feeling called love blossomed in his chest and spread throughout his body like wildfire.
Because not only they were all safe and together, they were home.
And there we have it, a happy ending. Because what with everything that has happened in the world, we need more of them.
But then again, while this is the last official chapter, I'm not going to put this story as complete. Why? Because I'm leaving it open to you guys! If there is something that you want to see, like maybe the Vongola taking the kids to the amusement park or something, just tell me and I will see what I can do.
So until I receive a prompt, see you guys later. And remember, the prequel is still up and running if you guys are interested. Please leave a review on your way out!
See ya and have a great day or night!