noun: comfort, peace

Tsuna drags his feet on his way back home, lost in his thoughts. To think that Enma and his friends are all mafia… Of course it doesn't mean they can't be friends anymore, God knows he has plenty of mafia friends who means the world to him, but he can't help a small, bitter smile pulling at his lips.

It just felt nice to think he got himself that one normal friendship all by himself, but the more Tsuna tries to pull away from the mafia, it seems the more he finds himself further entangled in it.

The Inheritance Ceremony won't help the matter, but Tsuna won't let it happen—can't. Reborn has spilled the bean on the roof, and Tsuna had feared for a second the reaction of his friends, had feared joy and congratulations. They hadn't, not even Hayato, instead wearing solemn faces as a heavy silence fell around them, fitting to the horror Tsuna feels whenever he thinks about Vongola forcing them into the ceremony one way or another.

Tsuna tightens his grip around the strap of his bag. "I won't let it happen. There's no way I will."

"Why don't you run away?"

Tsuna startles, whipping around. Enma lies on his back on top of the shrine's stairs, badly bruised and bleeding. He holds a tissue over his right eye. "Enma-kun!"

"I'm always thinking about running away too."

"Enma-kun, those injuries…!" Tsuna shouts, panicked. "Were you bullied again?"

Enma marks a pause, and it's so unfazed, Tsuna's heart clenches. "When humans have power, they use it rashly. The mafia, school bullies… They're all like that." Tsuna hears his own voice so clearly in Enma's, whatever he was going to say catches in his throat. There was a time other people's strength only meant pain for him too, and as much as Tsuna wished so badly for strength of his own to fight back, to hurt back, he still looked at strength with hateful eyes only. "What about you?" Enma asks, looking him in the eye.

"Eh…?"

What about him?

Enma stands, sliding down on the floor.

"Enma-kun, wait! Your injuries…"

"See you," Enma says, walking away.

Tsuna watches him go, and feels like he's watching himself. Enma is truly so very similar to him, a him at the worst time of his life, but even now. Enma hates the mafia too, but more than that, the mafia hurt him, is hurting him, and no doubt his family too. Reborn has called them a small and weak family.

Tsuna and his friends could be just like them if his blood didn't happen to be from the strongest mafia family in the world.

What about him?

"Enma-kun, wait! I'm just like you too!" He is. How many times has he thought of running away from it all and never look back? Or he was, once. [Was?] "If you want to run away, I… I, too…!"

[Tsuna wants nothing more than to be done with the mafia for good, now more than ever, but when was the last time he thought about running away from it?]

"Be serious," Reborn says, and something hits his head with strength, sharp pain spreading through his skull. "If it was so easy to run away from the mafia, we'd be severely lacking manpower."

"Reborn!" Tsuna cries out, holding the back of his head. Reborn stands on the roof of the shrine, disguised as a female tennis player. "Enma-kun, are you okay?"

Enma just nods, holding onto his head too, briefly glancing at him before looking back at Reborn.

Reborn jumps down from the roof on the top of the stairs, getting rid of his disguise for his normal clothes in a blink. "Really, what a pathetic way for you two to bond, but what else could be expected from losers like you? At least you're doing one thing right the Ninth wished of you."

"The Ninth?" Tsuna asks.

"For the sake of the ceremony, the Ninth sent heartfelt invitations to all the families connected to the Vongola, no matter how small or weak they may be. He was very pleased to know that one of those families went as far as to transfer for the ceremony. He thought you could become good friends, considering you're all around the same age."

"Good… friends…?" Tsuna echoes, taken aback as he agrees with something the Ninth wants from him for the first time. He's already been wishing Enma and him could become friends, but learning it's what the Ninth wants too worries him. Nothing the Ninth or Vongola have ever wanted from him or given him came for free.

"He also expects the Vongola family to take care of the Shimon family since they're extremely weak."

Tsuna frowns, his stomach twisting. "What do you mean?"

Reborn clicks his tongue dismissively, disapprovingly. "You know exactly what I mean. You can't expect these type of ceremonies to go smoothly. Vongola is the strongest mafia family in the world, but that doesn't mean everyone approves of it, the exact opposite in fact. According to the Ninth, some families are already on the move."

"And you're telling me this now?" Tsuna shouts, anger and worry mixing in his voice. "What about the others? Isn't everyone in danger too?"

As if on cue, a weapon slices the air right for him, a sharp blade like a spear linked to a chain. Reborn kicks him out of the way, Enma jumping away at the same time, and the blast sends them both flying, rubble hitting his back.

Tsuna scrambles to his feet, turning to look at the enemy. He's huge, taller than the shrine, and his spear retracted into the shaft around his arm.

Tsuna snaps his eyes to Reborn. "Reborn! What about the others? What if he didn't come alone?"

"Then deal with him as fast as you can," Reborn says, standing on Enma's stomach. "Keep your eyes on your enemy."

The enemy brings his weapon down again, easily destroying the shrine. Tsuna jumps on the nearest tree, upside down, feeling his Flame bursts from his forehead, lighting his X-gloves. The enemy has his back turned to him, and he takes the time to assert Enma's safety, held in the air by Reborn, himself standing on a tree.

Tsuna's flames wash away his panic, and he clears his mind to focus only on the fight.

He deals with the enemy easily with the help of Nuts, knocking him out cold. He lands next to him, his flames flickering out, and immediately finds Reborn's eyes.

"Reborn, the others—"

"They're fine," Reborn cuts him off, walking closer to the enemy. "This is the tattoo of the Pesca family. They like to work alone, but even if they didn't this time, they're not even worth our time. The others will all deal with them as easily as you did."

Tsuna's shoulders sag. "His Cloud flames…"

"Yeah, looks like he was in Hyper Mode thanks to an altered version of the Dying Will Bullet."

"An altered Dying Will Bullet?" Tsuna asks, wary.

"A poorly made one, as you saw for yourself. Still, you get the idea that things will be hectic before the ceremony now, don't you?"

Tsuna looks away from Reborn, clenching his hands into fists. Things will be hectic before the ceremony, but they've been hectic even before that, and will keep being hectic after the ceremony too. Things have been hectic ever since they decided he'd be Vongola Decimo, and should he take that seat, it'll stay the same even after that, he knows.

Things will never stop being hectic, and dangerous, and deadly unless he makes them stop himself.

"You're actually pretty strong." Tsuna snaps out of his thoughts, turning to face Enma. "You were flying."

"Ah, yeah… I mean—" he raises his hands in front of him in panic, intent to cover it up, but then cuts himself off. He lowers his hands. "Yeah, I was. It's a thing I can do using my flames." He doesn't want to lie to Enma. And he doesn't need to either, does he? Enma is mafia too after all.

Enma kneels, facing Nuts at his feet. He holds his hand out for him invitingly. "Is this your cat, Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna laughs. "I'd tell you it's actually a lion, but you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

"I believe you," Enma says easily, to Tsuna's surprise, and it makes him smile. Nuts eagerly lets Enma pet him, and goes as far as rubbing his head against his leg, contentedly purring. Tsuna blinks, his smile widening. That fearful Nuts… But then again, if Sky box animals really are always in harmony with their users… "You are strong, Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna looks up from Nuts to Enma again. Enma doesn't look back, his eyes on Nuts as he keeps petting him. The atmosphere shifts, and Tsuna's smile falls from his face. "I am," he says, glancing at his ring. He is.

"Why would you ever feel the need to run away then?"

"I wasn't always strong."

"You are now," Enma says, standing up. What about you? Tsuna hears loudly in the beat of silence he lets linger between them. "You could run away if you wanted to."

"I want to," Tsuna assures him, because he doesn't want Enma to think he was lying to him. "But it won't be enough. I need it to be more, for them, and me." Tsuna flexes his fingers, feeling his ring brush against his skin. He has strength now, and he will never let it become something other people look at with hateful eyes, but it doesn't mean it has to be kind on everyone. "I'm strong now, and I can do more than run away." He needs to make it more than them running away.

Something cold flickers across Enma's face, something bitter, accusation in his voice, and in that one moment they don't look so alike anymore. "How lucky you are, Tsuna-kun."

A/N: Here comes Enma! My first ever time writing him too. Also I need to get the whole Shimon storyline somewhere where I can still do what I want to do without it getting in the way, so expect to see more of him.

Only him though, unfortunately. The others Shimon will be barely mentioned lol, if only because this is from Tsuna's POV, and he didn't interact with the others in any substantial way.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any and all review are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

- Hope