DISCLAIMER: I don't own KHR or any of the associated characters aside from my OCs.

The Ninth Generation of Vongola leaders was no longer present in the decor of the Italian Main Base. The Tenth and his Guardians, except for Kyoya, had chosen a room and made it their own. My precious baby brother was nowhere to be found and when I asked about him, Sawada told me that Kyoya simply couldn't stand crowding so he was off somewhere alone. That was to be expected at this point.

There was a lot to talk about so I was at Main Base with the new official Tenth Generation of the Vongola Family and Dino. On Reborn's request we were here to talk about the upcoming meetings.

"From now on, you will have to carry yourselves with the utmost caution. If you show weakness to the wrong person, you'll be in danger." I told them sternly, "If you trust the wrong Famiglia, this family will crumble. In a few weeks, our former allies will come to review and reestablish our alliances and conditions. You must not give away too much and when the time comes, you must not be too kind."

"But you're going to be there too, right?" Sawada asked quickly, looking extremely nervous.

"I'll have to remind the boss but if I'm not there, Dino will be there. I doubt he would take advantage of your inexperience to get the upper hand during negotiations." I didn't miss the pride that swelled up in Dino's chest at my words.

"Wait! I can't do it without one of you! It's impossible! Can't you get Squalo to come? Do I have to go and tell Xanxus that I've never done this before?!"

"It's alright, Tsuna." Dino cut in, "I'll be there and if you get stuck, just look to me. I'll help you out."

I sent him a warning look, "Dino's family is the most important for him so if you do something to mess up his alliances as well, we're going to have problems, Sawada. We've previously arranged for them to use Japanese at this first meeting but Italian is their go-to language. You must become more confident. This is no longer a game."

Childish tears ran down Sawada's cheeks as he began to imagine the possibility of his own doom, "This is why I didn't want to be a mafia boss. Scary… Kira-san, you have to come okay?"

"I wouldn't want you to accidently sign away the Varia's services to some other family." I smirked, "And I've requested to be a bodyguard for you at the first series of meetings. Hire me. I'll give you a discount."

Sawada's eyes lit up happily, "Kira-san! Thank you!"

"So is there anything the Tenth should know about the bosses at the first meeting?" Gokudera eyed me with pure jealousy, "I'm the Tenth's right hand man after all. I should know these things and I should be next to him during the meeting."

"You'll all sit in during the meeting but you won't be able to speak unless spoken to."

"Ahaha. It's like playing a game." Yamamoto grinned at me excitedly, "So give us some tips, Kira-senpai."

"Hey. I'm here too." Dino reminded them, "I actually have more experience in these things than Kira."

I turned a sharp glare onto the Bucking Bronco making him shrink away, "This is not a competition but if you're making it one I'll make sure that your family doesn't get such a lenient alliance contract this time."

Dino shrunk away, "I was just trying to help."

"You only have a few weeks to figure out what you want from which family. There will be five family heads present at the first meeting. Dino's family has always been a solid ally and the Bovino Family is equally trustworthy but the Jessaro and Ramparte Families will attempt to grasp some sort of advantage over you, Sawada. I wouldn't be surprised if they make things extremely complicated and push both Don Bovino and Dino into a position where they have to fight for something more."

"Hiiee! So what do I do?!" Vongola Decimo screeched.

"Remain calm. No matter what they say or do, you have to be the calm one. It'll give them the impression that you are firm with yourself and your family's needs."

"C-Calm? Give me an example! Do I have to be like Xanxus?!"

I don't think anyone can be like our boss even if they tried, "You are your own color. Instead of trying to be like someone you're not, play off your own strengths. You are kind and understanding but you have a strong will to protect. Display your will to protect our family at the meeting like you have always displayed in crucial moments."

"But what if it's not enough…?" He whimpered, lowering his head finally. The pressure of our world was slowly starting to weigh him down.

I felt sorry for him. I reached out, grasping his shoulders firmly, "I have watched over you all this time. You will be fine, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

He found himself nodding along with me, breaking into an honest smile as he regained confidence.

That's when I dropped the next bomb on him, "One more important thing, if you let me do all the talking for you, people will think that you're just a figurehead and you hold no authority in this family so you can't just count on me the whole way through. I am simply moral support."

Sawada groaned loudly, "Oh god. Okay… I can't do this. What if I screw it up?!"

"For tonight, get some rest. I'll be back tomorrow to give you all the details about how to use our services to get the best results."

"I guess I'll come back tomorrow too." Dino stood up first, gesturing for Romario to go out and wait in the car, "Don't worry, Tsuna, you'll be fine."

"I hope so…" He mumbled.

Don't we all.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

The weeks went by and I spent time with Sawada and each of his Guardians in preparation for the first meeting.

The meeting itself is now upon us and I must inform you that sitting in a meeting is always boring for people like me because all we see is how stupid everyone else is and how futile their argument is but today, I was actually listening into each request with interest. I was looking for something to use to our advantage if Sawada got stuck somewhere but with nearly two weeks of training, Vongola Decimo was doing surprisingly well.

I had no place until Don Jessaro mentioned the services of the Varia, "Will the Varia be willing to do work for allied families this time around?"

"Our position remains the same." I replied evenly, noticing the man's harsh glare, "The Varia is an independent assassination squad and we only move on the orders of our boss but we are a Vongola Famiglia squadron. We won't move against Decimo's orders unless our own boss feels that it's absolutely necessary."

"So Don Vongola, would you so kindly put their services into the contract this year or will you continue to hog their skills all to yourself like your predecessors?"

"Kira-san is our only Varia representative today but I'm sure she speaks for their whole group when she says that their boss' word is more valuable than mine at a time like this. Unless Xanxus says otherwise, I won't include any of their names in our contract." Sawada said sternly.

I nodded sharply in satisfaction. Sawada was holding himself well and he had this aura of calmness about him that he didn't show during our practice runs. As long as he doesn't slip up with his words, it looked like we would be fine.

With no unusual mishaps from Sawada, the meeting came around to the easiest portion. Dino renewed his alliance with our new boss the exact same way that he had done before and our meeting came to a close. This was a major success and we ended the meeting, waiting for them to file out and then we burst out into celebration. I praised them all generously for their act today. It was more than I had expected.

That's how every meeting from then on ended…. Err.. Just the ones I attended but I attended almost all of them. I was busy so I couldn't go to the last two but I was certain that there would be no problems for Sawada at those meetings.

The problems came after the meetings. The meetings had gone in our favor and angered families who thought that they would be able to come to power with the retirement of Vongola Nono.

Those angry families became our enemies. There were some who thought Sawada was unworthy of being the new head of such a large alliance and there were some who thought their new alliance contracts were unfairly similar to the old one and then there were the idiots who thought Sawada was just a pushover because he was so young. Those people all got a run for their money. Whether it was by one of our kind allies or a member of the Varia, a large majority of those enemies were smited and disappeared from the face of the earth.

Other enemies were incredibly large and ridiculously smart. They formed alliances amongst themselves and began to pick off the weaker and smaller families in our alliance to put themselves in a better position to directly attack us when the time was ripe.

Sawada, being the kind herbivore that he is, refused to move his forces into combat where they could be hurt or killed. The enemy didn't directly attack us so we have no reason to move in. That might be the truth but being allies means that we should help when it's necessary or requested.

"That's the third one this week." I flung down a thickening folder of information on the latest destroyed family, "Fifty deaths and counting. Seventeen crippling injuries. Four comatose. Twenty-seven with minor injuries. Not even Don Forza got out unscathed."

"Don't speak to the Tenth like that!" Gokudera snapped at me, snatching up the file from the desk.

Glaring the Hurricane Bomber into silence, I asked, "How much longer are you going to wait, Sawada? Are you going to wait until we have no remaining allies? Or perhaps you think that you'll just wait until they attack us? Whatever it is, our boss is getting restless. We'll move in first if you're still being indecisive about it."

"No!" Sawada insisted, "We can't just jump in to help all of them. You guys will get hurt! And I was told not to play favorites with our allied families!"

Now I know what you're all probably thinking. He's such a caring boss that cares for his family but that's not really a good thing. If we don't make our stand here, it'll cause more trouble for us in the long run.

"We can handle ourselves." I said firmly, "I'm not here to debate with you. I'm here to warn you. If our boss gives us the orders to move out, we're going to move out with or without your permission."

"You can't!"

"Yeah! If the Tenth says no, you should all follow his orders! Idiots like you guys are the first to die!" Gokudera pointed his pen at me while reading the next page of my report, "Go home and tell Xanxus we're working on it so he can just wait on his impatient ass!"

I can't say that…. The boss would come over and murder Gokudera. We can't have that so I guess I'll just let that go.

"You can take your short ass back to Varia HQ!" Gokudera added.

I immediately retracted my previous thought and flipped the Tenth's right hand man out of the very chair he was sitting in before storming out to tell the boss exactly what this stupid mafioso said.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

"Oi." Squalo caught my arm around the corner to the boss' office, "A letter came in the mail for the boss today."

"What kind of letter?" I hissed back at him, snatching my arm away.

"An invitation from Don Walker. He said we should join their growing alliance." The swordsman jabbed me in the gut for my rudeness and got a jab to his thigh in return, "What are you going to do if the boss says we're joining their alliance?"

"Don Walker? He's the main enemy?! We've finally got a lead, senpai! We just have to tell Sawada and he'll just have to send in our forces!"

"Kira!" He snapped, taking me by the shoulders, "What if the boss decides he wants to be Sawada's enemy and joins up with Walker's alliance?! That puts your brother on the opposite side!"

"Senpai." I looked him dead in the eye, "I'm with you guys until I die. If that's the boss' choice I'll be right behind him but that's not his choice, is it?"

I turned, glaring at the boss as he rounded the corner as if on cue. I felt him coming from a mile away. He was so pissed.

"Trash." The boss growled, "There wasn't even anything to think about. I'm not joining them. Vongola is the strongest and we're going to show every single one of them exactly why."

As if on cue, a telephone call came in just then. Lussuria was running down the hall with one of our landlines in his hand, "Kira-chan! It's an emergency! Namimori's been attacked!"

Oh… Shit… Squalo and I exchanged looks and I snatched the phone up, "Who is this?!"

"Kira-senpai?" Yamamoto's cheery voice came through nice and clear, "Hibari's going back to Namimori…"

"Give me the phone!" I heard from the background before Gokudera came onto the line, "Cannibal! The Tenth demands your assistance."

"Gokudera-kun!" I heard someone scream and then the person on the other side changed once more, leaving me to talk to Sawada, "We can't reach Yamamoto's dad and my mom isn't answering the phone either!"

"We've been had." I hummed, "They knew all our Guardians would be here for the Inheritance Ceremony and then to settle into living quarters so they attacked Namimori to take hostages while we were away. Smart plan for a bunch of herbivores."

He screeched loud enough to make me cringe, "What should we do?!"

"We should've moved into attack when our boss pushed for it." I snapped, "Now it's too late to do anything about Japan but Kyoya's going to be there from now on so there won't be any further attacks unless they want to risk their lives fighting Namimori's strongest mafioso."

"But what about Yamamoto's dad?! And my mom?!"

I gave Squalo a sideways look, "Senpai, they've either got hostages or killed them?"

"I'd say it could be both. They only need one hostage." Squalo shrugged.

"Hmm… Our strategy captain says that, at most, only one of them is okay." I spat into the phone, "If they were gracious enough to keep both of them as hostages we need to figure out where and who is going to be making the exchange demands."

I heard shuffling and the opening and closing of a door from the other end. The phone picked up Chrome's panicked voice, "We've got new information, boss! The Cloud person has left Italy and as soon as that plane took off, the Bovino Family was attacked!"

Well damn. Giving our genius of a strategy captain another glance, I said, "Bovino Family was attacked?"

"Stolen goods?" He guessed.

And I repeated, "Did they get information on the Ten Year Bazooka or any other dangerous weapons?"

"That's… unknown." She told me.

The boss reached over, snatched the phone in irritation and spat, "Stop depending on her. The Varia will move according to our own instincts. You do whatever you have to but if you show just one moment of weakness, I'll obliterate all of you."

And that was that but the boss did absolutely nothing. In a crabby mood, he stormed back into his office muttering something about never wanting to talk to Sawada again and he slammed his door so hard that HQ shook back and forth.

Irked, I glared at his backside until I couldn't see him anymore. What's with that? Always talking big but never doing anything until the last minute. How irritating.

"Well Squ-chan?" Lussuria grinned, "Tell us. What's the plan?"

"VOI!" Came the much needed battle cry that only Squalo-senpai could possibly pull off, "Tell Levi to investigate the Bovino grounds. Ask if anything is missing! Tell Bel and Mammon to see if they can dig up any information on the hostages! Lussuria should stay here in case they decided to come and attack us. I'm going to see if I can find out just how many families are in the enemy alliance!"

"I'm heading to main base." I said, already moving, "Report to me instead of the boss. We can't expect that man to help us with so few details and especially since Sawada's involved."

"Good idea. Report to me and Kira. Both of us." Squalo huffed, accusingly jabbing a finger in my direction, "Because you get emotional when it comes to the boss and those kids."

"Whatever." I grumped back and stormed off, speeding to meet with Sawada's group.

I made a dead sprint for Sawada's office as soon as I had gotten to Main Base and found him getting the lecture of a lifetime from Reborn. I narrowed my eyes on the battered and bruised figure of Sawada Tsunayoshi and even more on Reborn who was holding up a green hammer threateningly.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence at the door and Sawada let out a grateful squeal, "I hate to disturb this much needed punishment but our boss has grown impatient. We've taken the time to start investigating our enemies so we'd appreciate it kindly if you stayed out of our way for the time being."

"See, dame-Tsuna." Reborn smacked the young boss when he was least expecting it, "I told you the Varia wouldn't wait for such a failure. I didn't tutor you so that you could be a terrible boss. It's time for you to get things together."

"How was I supposed to know that it would end up this way?!" Sawada wailed, throwing up his arms to defend himself in case another blow should come his way, "I even asked Dino-san and he agreed I should protect them!"

"He never told you not to fight." The former Arcobaleno smashed his hammer relentlessly against his student, "And if he specifically told you not to fight he was being biased."

I made a face and rolled my eyes when Reborn hinted that Dino was probably trying to keep me out of any fights, "Well, it doesn't matter. What happened already is unchangeable but we can fight now."

"Damn right!" Gokudera took my words as his cue to nearly knock down the door as he barged in, "Allow me to fight for you, Tenth! I'll teach them a lesson they won't ever forget!"

"Gokudera-kun…" Sawada sighed, thinking deeply on the matter.

"Regardless of what you say, the Varia has already started to move. You'll only look like a bad boss if you don't back them." Reborn said sternly, "Haven't you learned anything from me? If not from me then from Kira?"

The resolve flashed across Sawada's eyes and I stiffened. I knew nothing about Sawada but when Gokudera took up his weapons I knew exactly what Sawada would say, "Gokudera-kun, gather the rest of the guardians. We're moving in… with our dying will."

"That's more like it." Reborn smirked, drawing his fedora down over his eyes for a moment, "It looks like you learned at least one thing."

I don't know about Reborn but for me, I'm proud of him even if it's just the smallest bit.