(XV)

(Tsuna Interlude)

Tsuna hadn't really known how to react when Reborn had first mentioned that there had been a break out in the Vendicare, the mafia's most secure prison.

He'd been proofreading his paperwork, the stuff he was doing for Hibari-senpai, making sure every box was checked, marking the spots that needed the chairman's signature. Takeshi was looking over his shoulder as they both leaned against Tsuna's bed, lounging on the floor, idly making comments about how much work it took to keep the school running like this. Hayato was sprawled out in front of them on the rug, worrying a pencil eraser with his teeth as he balanced the boxing club's books with the new funds from a recent bake sale they had held.

All in all, a scene from the deepest, most desired dreams from the trenches of Tsuna's heart from just a few months prior.

The deep-seated feeling of content in his chest was becoming increasingly common after he had joined the boxing club. In addition to Hayato and Takeshi's constant, welcome presence at his side, he was often joined by other members of the club.

Sometimes, when Mama wasn't home for some reason or another, what with her business and all, Komui would come over to cook the household's meals—the exuberant brunette was an excellent chef and hadn't resisted coming over when Tsuna had once casually mentioned in the group chat that he would have to wait until later on in the night to have dinner.

He hadn't exactly listened to Tsuna when he had said that such kindness was too much, but that was a pretty normal thing in the boxing club, really. Besides, with Komui often came other members of the club and Tsuna was something of a sucker for big family dinners.

Laughter, exuberant joking and shouting and roughhousing…having real friends was absolutely worth it, no matter the messes or the late nights.

That, and the extra baby-sitting options for Lambo, I-pin and Fuuta didn't hurt either.

And when Mama had discovered that the end of Onii-chan's usual jogging route was so close to their house, she had insisted on giving him an extra key so he could come in and rest when he was done exercising. After a few days of protesting, it wasn't too unusual to find the elder blonde sleeping on his couch in the mornings before school.

Tsuna didn't bother resisting an affectionately exasperated smile as he went to wake the boy who had become something of a brother to him, each and every time.

"That doesn't really affect us, does it?" Tsuna had questioned, pointlessly—if Reborn had thought it necessary to mention it at all then yes, of course it had to affect him. That's just how things were.

"We've received intelligence that they've set up base here in Namimori," Reborn practically chirped. Tsuna eyed the window longingly.

Hayato narrowed his eyes. "It's too much of a coincidence. The only thing that makes Namimori special is Juudaime's presence… I don't mean to accuse the Vongola of not keeping a close eye on its employees, Reborn-sama, but…"

"But it sounds like you guys have got a leak," Takeshi finished with a lazy grin. "No offense, but whatever players you've got back in Italy don't seem to be too good at this game if the opponents already know where to go."

"It's possible," Reborn allowed. "The Family has been in turmoil since the deaths of the other heirs. If someone wanted to sneak a spy in, then there have been plenty of opportunities to do so."

Well, that was just great. "Wasn't there a branch of the Vongola that dealt with this type of thing?" Tsuna asked, even though he already knew the answer.

CEDEF, led by Sawada Iemitsu.

Sometimes, Tsuna deeply regretted learning to ask the right questions during his time working with Hibari. There are some things that he'd just… rather not know.

"If you have a problem with them, Dame-Tsuna, then it is within your power to contact that branch and tell them to tighten security."

Well, yeah. But Tsuna didn't want to do that. Tsuna didn't want to man up and confront all of his deepest, darkest insecurities.

Tsuna didn't want any of this. Tsuna just wanted to be the assistant manager of the boxing club and to spend time with his friends. Was that really too much to ask for?

He is still just a boy, after all.

"Maybe," Tsuna said uncertainly. A bullet whizzed by his ear.

Tsuna looked up at Reborn's unusually serious face. "If you don't learn to commit to your actions," the not-toddler warned, "—then you won't live to regret any of them at all."

Tsuna shuddered. He wished he didn't know that either.

There were a lot of things that Tsuna hated about himself. For one, he is, at his core, a coward.

See, the thing about Tsuna is that he never really learned to stand up for himself. He wasn't big, he wasn't strong and no one ever listened to him anyway. He usually only ever had two options—run with his tail between his legs or wait until the problem magically went poof all on its own.

Peripherally, Tsuna was vaguely aware that he had other options now. He wasn't alone anymore, nor was he necessarily defenseless. But old habits die hard and truly, Tsuna wasn't so keen on changing himself for the mafia, nor did he think that his idiocy would affect more than Takeshi and Hayato, who, quite frankly, were more than capable of taking care of themselves.

So, like always, Tsuna did nothing about the Vendicare escapees because he was tired and he was scared and he didn't know what to do anyways—it wasn't like Reborn was being particularly helpful on that front.

But now Ryohei was lying still in a hospital bed, as were Mozumo and Yusuke, fuck, some of his classmates were also lying still in hospital beds and no one knew where Hibari was.

And to top it all off, Fuuta, sweet, small and not-nearly-innocent-enough Fuuta, was missing too.

This wasn't the first crazy, mafia-related thing to happen to him, not by a long shot—what with actual assassins, like Bianchi and Shamal, coming to town, and other families showing interest, like Dino's group, but this was by far the worst.

But what could he do? He couldn't afford to think like Sawada Tsunayoshi anymore. He had to…

He had to think like a mafia boss.

Something died inside of Tsuna at that thought, something important, but whatever. It didn't matter, he didn't matter right now. He had priorities now, for the first time in his life.

Standing up, Tsuna began pacing across their small gym, his safe space. Where he made so many happy memories and forged friendships stronger than steel. The place where he felt like he was just a little bit more than no good.

"Tsuna—" someone began, but no. Tsuna was in the zone here, for once. He was pretty good at tuning people out to daydream. Now he's good at tuning people out to...plot. Geez. What is his life, again?

Once a day, Reborn liked to give him mafia boss lessons. Politics, etiquette, strategy. Tsuna liked them about as much as he liked the rest of this crap, which is to say that he likes them about as much as he likes Mochida, but he could put them to use right now.

There was too much at stake if he let this go on for any longer.

Okay, so. Two main options: negotiate, which is definitely more his forte these days, or take out the enemies, which is far more dangerous than he's even remotely comfortable with, so he'd like to avoid that one as much as possible.

But negotiation came with its own problems. First of all, it assumes that these people aren't like, completely nuts from being in mafia prison for so long. Also, he didn't actually know what they wanted, which is pretty important according to his lessons. What was it? Revenge? Money? Blood?

Probably the first or the last one. If Tsuna was remembering correctly, then their leader, Rokudou Mukuro, is… an actual goddamned serial killer. Massacred like, two whole families. God.

What is this, Criminal Minds?

So… he probably wants blood and Tsuna's...whatever this was turning into...seems like an easy target.

Well...if this Mukuro person really is the leader of the operation and organized enough to get from Italy to Japan of all places, then he was probably pretty reasonable, if determined. Tsuna can maybe try and talk him down, hopefully.

It was all he could do.

With Leon out of commission at the moment, he didn't have access to his usual, tried and despised solution, Dying-Will bullets. In other words, he'd probably be pretty useless in a fight—he isn't strong enough to make good use of boxing techniques and he hasn't mastered any particular weapon.

Coming back to dreaded reality, Tsuna asked the gathered remnants of the boxing club and asked, "haven't we been hearing about delinquents congregating somewhere lately?"

As Hibari once said, people with weak wills tend to be drawn to those stronger than them. And, well...the delinquents around here weren't exactly the smartest people. So, if someone new and strong was around, charismatic enough for an entire gang to follow him from prison straight to the middle of nowhere in Japan… he would probably expect to see a weird increase in crime in some area or another.

"In Kokuyo Land," Rin responded, warily. "That old abandoned amusement park. Why?"

Hayato caught on rather quickly. "That sounds like a good place of operations for someone new to town. Isolated, spacious, no real law enforcement presence."

Tsuna nodded. "Thought so. I… might have an idea."

"I don't like that look on your face," Kamui said warily. Tsuna snorted— that was rich, coming from their resident impulsive drama queen. "What are you thinking?"

He pauses and considers. He looks at them, at Rin, Kamui and Kazu, and he sees people that haven't had the chance to be ruined by all the things that Tsuna's been wrapped up in yet.

People that care about him, people that protected him from the bullies and tutored him and hugged him and taught him what it meant to be loved by true friends.

What is Tsuna thinking?

He's thinking that he doesn't want to involve anyone else in this mess. He made a mistake, just now—gathering everyone when he just needed Takeshi and Hayato. He looked for the safety blanket that is everyone before realizing that he can't be that selfish.

Tsuna shakes his head. "I… nothing, never mind. We should all go home and get some rest."

Kazu pins him with a piercing look that has Tsuna squirming squirming in place. "Atsuko hasn't been answering her phone either. It's dangerous out right now."

Right. Atsu-senpai…

Tsuna had always thought of her as something of a kindred spirit— older and wiser, but still a coward, like he was. He looked up to her, but more than that, he related to her. Atsuko, who refused to fight, who hesitated to confront people outside of their little bubble, who was rarely ever home with her family and shook just a tiny bit before meeting with Hibari.

Atsuko, whose eyes had burned with a cold fire in that white, white hospital room.

Tsuna had a bad feeling about this…

"Atsu-senpai can take care of herself," Tsuna points out. Hayato nods in agreement. "She's probably just moping around somewhere about what happened to Turf-top. That woman doesn't have the balls to go confront the assholes that attacked him."

Doesn't she, though? Tsuna won't deny that Atsuko is a coward, but he also can't think of a time when she'd ever let her obvious fear of Hibari get the better of her.

Ordinarily, he'd agree with Hayato, but right now? After seeing that look in her eyes?

Tsuna has a sinking feeling that he knows exactly where she went off to.

"Right," Tsuna agrees. "I'm sure she's fine."

Kazu didn't relent. "She's gone and done something stupid, I bet. Ryohei is like, half her impulse control. More, probably."

Now there was a thought, Atsuko without Ryohei. Sure, he's spent time with them both separately, but he never really got the sense that the other was far behind, whether that presence was physical or not.

They were two halves of one whole. Tsuna couldn't even begin to fathom who they would be without each other.

Was Atsuko only a coward because she knew Ryohei would protect her, shield her from every hard thing in the world if she so much as asked? Did Ryohei only ever speak so freely because he knew that Atsuko would cover each and every one of his mistakes, soothe all of the bumps created by his exuberance?

How far would they go for each other?

Would Atsuko really go after the perpetrators just so that they could never hurt Ryohei ever again?

Part of Tsuna wanted to say no, of course not, isn't Atsu-senpai too smart for that? She'd never stand a chance.

Another part was becoming increasingly convinced that that was exactly what had happened.

"She's probably okay," Tsuna said again. "I think she needs some space after what happened to Onii-chan. I'm sure she'll turn up again once he wakes up."

Or rather, he's sure that Ryohei will wake up, panic once he realizes that Atsuko isn't there and then go and drag her back to them from wherever it is that she's gone off to.

"Maybe," says Rin, unconvinced. "Yeah, maybe we should all just go get some rest. Check in on the others. It's been a stressful time."

And just like that, they were all free to go.

Several hours and terrifying fights later, Tsuna found himself throwing up in a bush as Hayato ran a shaking hand comfortingly along his back.

But Hayato's nervousness came less from the situation at hand and more from his characteristic desperation to be whatever it was that Tsuna needed him to be.

After all, Tsuna knew that this wasn't his first time seeing a body (or two).

Bianchi, Takeshi and Reborn stood behind them, examining the corpses. Tsuna had caught sight of them, frozen, then immediately keeled over. Sure, he had seen corpses before— in pictures, not like, not like this!

Oh god.

They were grotesque, hairless and shriveled. Their hands were less hands and more too-long claws. Identical. Twins. The Bloody Twins that that other man had mentioned, Tsuna thinks— the ones that had stopped responding to their orders.

And they are dead. Very, very dead.

"These aren't very clean cuts," Takeshi observed, almost-disturbingly unbothered, humming thoughtfully. "It looks like something you'd see from a regular kitchen knife instead of one of the special meat-cutting ones."

"Mhm," Bianchi agrees. "This isn't professional work. And look at how their limbs are twisted—" Tsuna hears a dragging noise through the dirt, as though Bianchi is moving the corpses around to inspect them. He heaves again. "They were clearly beaten down before their throats were slit."

Tsuna feels Hayato's touch leave him, whining at the sudden loss of contact when he needed it most.

"Pull yourself together, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn scolds him sharply, having obviously pulled Hayato back. The other teen looked torn. "This won't be your last time looking at corpses and you cannot afford to react like this every time."

But Tsuna didn't want that! He didn't want to ever see another corpse again! He didn't want any of this!

"Look at them," Reborn demands, "—and tell me what you think happened."

Stubbornly, Tsuna thinks about resisting, but he knows that it won't get him anywhere. He looks at the bodies again and is proud to say that he managed to hold himself back from retching again.

"Well… they're probably the ones that Birds mentioned, the twins?"

Tsuna looks to Hayato for affirmation. Hayato nods and opens his mouth to say something, but is cut off by Reborn. "Don't help him. While cooperating with subordinates is a good thing, Tsuna needs to develop his own critical thinking skills."

"Of course," Hayato says, mouthing 'sorry' at Tsuna. Tsuna shakes his head ruefully. "Thanks anyways, Hayato."

"Anyway," Tsuna continues, "I think it could have been Hibari who did this to them? He's the only person I can think of with this kind of strength. But…"

But… that also didn't make sense.

"Hibari isn't the type to kill someone or use a knife like this," Tsuna says firmly. Or at least, he hopes Hibari isn't.

So Hibari couldn't be the culprit. Unless…

Well.

Atsuko talks about death a lot, sure. But… she wouldn't actually kill someone, would she? Slit their throats with a knife after Hibari already beat them down?

Of course not. Neither of his senpai are killers.

Besides, he didn't even know if Atsuko was here or not! She probably wasn't. She's probably safely at Ryohei's bedside and refusing to answer the phone in her completely understandable distress.

"So he can't be the culprit," Tsuna concludes, pushing down that gnawing feeling of discomfort in his chest. "It was probably Mukuro himself who did it."

That made more sense. Mukuro was obviously very cruel— he killed two whole families, at least one of which actually cared for him. He used Lancia as some sick, twisted puppet! He worked with disgusting men like Birds and sent his other men after innocent civilians.

So here's the real story, the story that made Tsuna feel just a little bit better, the one that made him feel guilty for doubting Atsuko and Hibari. The Twins were clearly loyal to Birds, which angered Mukuro. Killers like him were control-freaks. Mukuro couldn't stand the idea of subordinates that bow to the whims of anyone but himself, so he kills them. Easy.

"Hmm, I dunno about that," Takeshi says. "Killing your own teammates? That's a pretty easy way to make sure that you lose the game."

"Unless they were liabilities," Hayato argues in his favor. "It's possible that they were more trouble than that bastard thought they were worth."

"Whatever the case," Bianchi says, "let's proceed with caution. The sooner we get this done, the sooner Reborn and I can get back to spending time together!"

Tsuna wished he had that kind of enthusiasm. Then he thought about it and took that back— no way in hell does he ever want to have any kind of enthusiasm in a situation like this one.

"Sure," he says. And on they go.

There's something wrong with Fuuta.

The child isn't tied up or anything, doesn't look hurt, but there's something wrong with him.

It's in those empty, glassy eyes, in that unnatural smile.

"Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta calls out and Tsuna shivers. "You came for me!"

Something is very, very wrong.

Takeshi had stayed behind to take on another of Mukuro's cronies. Tsuna finds himself desperately wishing for the other boy's sharp observational skills— what is it that's so wrong? That's keeping Tsuna on edge like this?

Fuuta walks towards him, arms outstretched. It's just a hug, right? Nothing big. Tsuna wants to envelop Fuuta in his arms, tell him that it's all going to be okay now, but his every instinct is screaming at him to run.

Unwilling, Tsuna quickly takes a few steps back when Fuuta gets too close. Bianchi is not so lucky.

"What was that?!" Bianchi hisses, blood dripping down her arm. All too late, Tsuna sees a blade glinting from under the sleeve of Fuuta's shirt.

"Tsuna-nii…" Fuuta says, looking up at Tsuna with wide, dead eyes. "Why did you do that?"

"I… Fuuta, what's wrong?" Tsuna asks, horror creeping into his voice.

Hayato stepped in front of Tsuna protectively. "Juudaime… I think he must have been drugged— this isn't normal."

"You don't care about me," Fuuta tells them sadly. Tsuna hurriedly shakes his head. "Of course we care about you! Why would you ever think that we don't?"

"But you took so long to come here… and now you don't even want to hold me?"

Oh god, this hurts to listen to.

"The Possession Bullet," Reborn says suddenly, seriously. Tsuna's knees feel as though they are about to give out on him. "The secret weapon of the Estraneo Family."

Possession…?

"Watch yourselves, he's being controlled by Mukuro."

Oh. Oh. Oh no.

Suddenly, Bianchi begins giggling. Chuckling. Devolving into full blown laughter.

Hayato looks at Bianchi warily. "Now really isn't the time to be losing it, woman!"

"I'm impressed," she says and Tsuna instantly knows that it isn't really Bianchi speaking. "Figuring me out so quickly. But then again, that is to be expected from someone like you, isn't it, Arcobaleno?"

Bianchi's lips are twisted into a sardonic grin. "However, you aren't my target today." She— he? — instead turns to Tsuna. "Hello there, Vongola Decimo."

"Um," Tsuna says intelligently. Crap. He really is here for Tsuna.

"Bastard!" snarls Hayato. "I won't let you do anything to Juudaime!"

Tsuna is momentarily emboldened by Hayato's declaration, but then Bianchi's body turns to stare at him with that unhinged grin.

Tsuna isn't sure what did it, what with the mask and all, but something about that grin must have set Hayato's psychosomatic attacks off, for the other boy immediately dropped down in pain.

Not-Bianchi quirks an eyebrow up. "Well that was a bit easy, wasn't it? Perhaps you ought to invest in better bodyguards, Vongola."

Tsuna turns to look at Reborn, who shakes his head. "I won't interfere. You can handle this on your own, Tsuna."

"Gee, thanks," Tsuna mutters. He was at a severe disadvantage, especially with all of his allies currently incapacitated. "You are Rokudo Mukuro, aren't you?"

"Indeed, I am," she/he says. "Somehow, you are not what I expected out of the heir of the mighty Vongola family."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Tsuna agrees. "What do you want?" he asks, getting straight to the point.

"I have a proposition for you."

That throws Tsuna off for a moment. A proposition? What could he possibly want to offer Tsuna of all people?

Tsuna shakes his head. "While I really would like to negotiate with you…" he says carefully, "I think it would be best if we were on… even terms?"

Damn it. He just can't keep the uncertainty out of his voice.

"Even terms?" Mukuro repeats, obviously amused. He's not even taking Tsuna seriously!

Tsuna nods. "Yes. I'd like to speak to you in your actual body." Mainly to eliminate the possibility of Mukuro's actual body showing up at a terrible moment and screwing Tsuna over.

Not-Bianchi puts a finger to her chin, mockingly considerate. "Hmm… Fine, since you asked so nicely. I don't see how it'll make any difference."

Mukuro's true self emerges from the back of the room, where he'd been hidden in the shadows.

Tsuna's eyes widen. "You!"

No way. This was the boy that they'd helped out earlier! Mukuro's victim!

Shit… they'd been played.

Mukuro chuckles as Tsuna's cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Yes, me. It's a pleasure to see you again, Vongola."

"You tricked us!"

Mukuro sighs, shaking his head in mock sadness. "Did you really expect anything else from an enemy? How naive."

Tsuna glares at the other boy. "Then by your logic, I shouldn't trust you enough to listen to your 'proposition'."

"Ah, that is true. However, look around you! The Arcobaleno won't help you. Your man is lying on the ground, catatonic. The Poison Scorpion is under my control. I even have a hostage! Wait, actually…"

Fuuta kneels down robotically and before Tsuna can even so much as twitch, he slices the pale skin of Hayato's exposed wrist.

Tsuna gapes.

"Make that two hostages." Mukuro's smugness is practically radiating through the air. "It looks like you don't have any other choice but to hear me out."

Shit.

"Okay," Tsuna says, trying to keep his voice from wavering. "You're right. Let's hear it."

Oh god, this is so bad. So, so bad.

"It's simple really. The mafia is a bloody, corrupt institution. The most disgusting underground society of them all— tell me, Sawada Tsunayoshi, do you truly want to be a part of that? To help it grow stronger and spread its roots further?"

Tsuna considers. "No, I really don't."

But Mukuro is a mafia criminal… where is he going with this? Shouldn't he want the mafia to flourish? Is he not a part of it himself?

"Of course not," Mukuro says, haughty. "Who would? And so, we come to my proposition."

Mukuro pauses for a moment. Tsuna is honestly half-way convinced that it's for dramatic effect— Mukuro seems like the type.

"You will allow me to become the boss of the Vongola and burn down the mafia. In exchange, I will release these hostages, completely unharmed."

"Only someone of the Vongola bloodline can become the boss," Reborn finally cuts in. "Your proposition is invalid."

"Unless you possess me…" Tsuna says, eyes wide with realization.

"And will you let him, Tsuna?"

Tsuna thinks about it. On one hand, he doesn't want any of them to get hurt— Hayato, Fuuta and Bianchi.

On the other… well, Tsuna has a feeling that Mukuro would hurt a lot more people with the power of the Vongola Family in his hands. And there's really no guarantee that he would let Tsuna's friends go anyway, so…

"No. I won't."

Tsuna will fight to keep that power away from Mukuro, the one who's hurt so many people that Tsuna loves, with his Dying Will.

After all, if there's one thing that he's learned from being part of the Boxing Club, it's to never give up until every bit of the fight is beaten out of him.

A/N

So…

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for continuing to follow and review this story. I've had a rough time this year, as many of us have for obvious reasons, but seeing the enthusiasm you all have for this?

It really, truly has lifted my spirits. Thank you so, so much.

This story definitely isn't dead and I do have a plan for it. I'm going to be pretty busy with my courses from now on, so I won't promise regular updates, but I have been hit by a surge of inspiration (I wrote half of this in the past two days, actually), so the next chapter may actually come out pretty quickly.

We'll see.

As always, please tell me what you think about where I'm going with this! Is this a good Tsuna interpretation? Have I done my favorite psycho justice? Let me know in the reviews!

With love,

Ciao!