I don't know what happened the first time I uploaded this chapter, and I am so sorry that I couldn't fix it immediately, and thank you for letting me know about it, but it should be fine now.
This takes place about 7-8 years later.
Warning for Varia, and slight OOC behaviour.
This is un-beta'd.
See end of chapter for more notes.
Matsumoto Ayumu, a new Varia recruit, was excited to be a potential member of one the most elite forces in the underworld.
Ayumu's parents are members of CEDEF, which stands for "Consulenza Esterna Della Famiglia", meaning "External Advisors of the Family". His father pushed him to work hard his whole life, always encouraging him to do his best in order to be useful to the Famiglia when he was older.
He was on track to become a valuable member to assist the Family, and he couldn't be any happier.
Ayumu believes that good things were in store fo him in the future.
Tsuna was going to be late!
True, Xanxus might not care, but Reborn and Commander Squalo do, and they were going to end him for it.
The young Sky hurried through the entrance to the Varia's castles, nodding distractedly at the guards that greeted him, all the while silently cursing his Guardians for starting a fight the very second he stepped out the door, forcing him to step in and stop them from destroying anything and everything in their way. Again.
Honestly, you'd think that they'd mature a bit since they were in middle school. But alas, it seems that he spends less time leading the Famiglia than he does babysitting those destructive nutjobs he calls family…
He loved them, truly he did, but sometimes he just wanted to murder them all and finally get some peace and quiet. 'But things wouldn't be as fun without them around.' He thought with a little smile.
Tsuna hurried through the hallways, heading to Xanxus' office, unconsciously categorizing and memorizing everything and everyone in his way, a habit beating into him (literally) by Reborn. He noticed several of the older members that he was familiar with nod in greeting, while those he was on friendly terms with added a smile to that, while the newer members and the new recruits watched him curiously.
It was that particular habit that caused him to tense and prepare for a hostile encounter before his councouse mind could assess what he saw and the possible danger it might have on his person.
Up ahead a group of what looked like new recruits and Varia soldiers standing together, talking loudly among themselves. One of the recruits, though his back was turned to him, stood out in Tsuna's subconscious, an old instinct made him tense and brace himself for… something, something unpleasant.
A couple of people that he knew well noticed him, smiling and waving politely; knowing their place with the Don (at least in public), despite becoming friends when he spent three hellish months living and training with them when they were new recruits, which caused the rest of the group to turn and look at what caught their comrades' attention.
Aside from the Varia Command and the few then-recruits that he became close to, few in the Varia knew that he was actually the head of the Famiglia; some think he's a high ranking enough member in the family that requires him to attend meetings with Xanxus, but most know that he's their boss' nephew (thanks to a nasty incident that occurred towards the end of the time he spent living as a varia recruit), which means that they don't know just how powerful and influential he is in their world.
One of the recruits that turned to see what their friends' attention seemed vaguely familiar, but Tsuna couldn't place him; a young Japanese man, in his early to mid twenties, straight short black hair, small brown eyes, average height, muscular. The man, on the other hand, and unlike the rest of the recruits, seemed to know who Tsuna was, at least partly.
With bugged out eyes and a slack jaw the man murmured, "Dame-Tsuna? ...What..?"
Then it hit the young Don like a ton of bricks, or one of Reborn's kicks, Matsumoto Ayumu, he's a couple of years older than Tsuna, and has derived great pleasure from bullying the younger man during their shared school years (as did a lot of people), Matsumoto was particularly vicious in his verbal abuse, though his physical bullying was nothing more than a few 'accidental' pushes.
Upon hearing his near silent comment, the people surrounding him grew quite; three of the seven people around him knew what Tsuna was in the famiglia, another two knew that the gentle young man before them was their Boss' nephew (they were still working on the believing bit, no way was someone that nice related to Xanxus. Don't tell him they said that!), while the remaining two were new recruits and had no idea who the man approaching them was.
Tsuna sensed three pairs of eyes watching them with sudden interest, and groaned quietly; he didn't have time for this, "Look Matsumoto, can we do this later? I'm kinda running late here."
Ayumu didn't notice, or just didn't care, that almost everyone else in his vicinity was gesturing for him to forget about the rain-check Sawada was offering and drop the matter completely. The man, however, was not about let his curiosity go; Dame-Tsuna was everyone's favorite punchline in school, and yet here he was, in Varia headquarters, dressed in a suit that looks like it cost a small fortune, and standing like he owned the place and expected to be obeyed.
"The hell you doing here, Sawada? This is the Varia, they don't accept losers like you even as footstools!" He laughed, not seeing the expressions of everyone listening harden with rage.
Tsuna idly wondered if he was sensing the dark aura from their three spectators because of his Hyper Intuition, or if the Varia soldiers needed better training since it doesn't appear like anybody else noticed yet.
"You people should really learn to quit while you're behind," Tsuna mumbled under his breath, louder he said coldly, "A word to the wise, Matsumoto, insulting me here is not a good idea."
Seriously, what is it with people from his past not seeing him as anything other than the loser kid he was when his Flame was sealed.
Before Matsumoto could open his mouth to respond, one of the more seasoned soldiers cut him off; Ulrich Gwerder, who was a relatively new soldier when Tsuna trained with the recruits, he made the (nearly life ending) mistake of picking on the scrawny youth, "Seriously Matsumoto, drop this, for your own good."
Ayumu stared at the older man in confusion, why was he interfering in this. "What…?"
But Ulrich's attention was already elsewhere, "Commander Squalo is in a rather foul mood. He is currently in Boss' office, you best hurry Tsunayoshi, Sir."
"I thought so," Tsuna mumbled quietly, he was very much dead, "Thanks for telling me Ulrich."
The young Don was about to resume his journey to Xanxus' office when Ayumu stopped him again.
"Wait,what? Why would he be meeting with the Commander, Sawada isn't anything special, and he certainly isn't strong enough, or smart enough to be Varia material."
'How are you smart enough to be a Varia recruit if you can't tell what a horrible idea this conversation is?' Tsuna thought tiredly.
"I really don't have time for this nonsense Matsumoto. I should've been in a meeting with Xanxus and Squalo already. If you have a problem with that, take it up with somebody else at your own risk."
"VOOOOIIIII! What are you scum doing standing around like idiots?!"
'I'm so dead…' Tsuna watched as the aforementioned Commander stomped towards them, 'At least it doesn't look like Squalo heared what Matsumoto said, those three however...'
"Shishishi~ You disturbed the show, Sharky,"
Bell, Viper, and Lussuria made their presence known to the people present.
"What show? The Brat should be in the meeting with the Shitty Boss already!"
"That Matsumoto recruit was insulting Tsu-chan." Lussuria informed Squalo darkly, the Commander turned his glare from Tsuna to Ayumu, "We were waiting to see what he'd do, then teach the idiot a lesson on why he shouldn't mess with Tsu-Chan." The Sun continued joyfully.
"Lussuria!"
"Yes, Tsu-Chan?" The older man replied with fake innocence.
Tsuna didn't bother with a reply, he had to stop a Shark from committing the murder he was currently plotting, "You do know that you'll be the one stuck with the paperwork from killing Matsumoto, right Commander? Zio definitely wouldn't do it."
They watched as the Varia second-in-command debated if it was the resulting paperwork if he killed the Japanese recruit now. "VOOOIII! You're coming with me NOW, Trash." He dragged Tsuna towards Xanxus office, muttering angrily about what he was going to do to the idiot recruit, the rest of the Varia Command trailing after them, enjoying the new show and debating the merits of his ideas.
"Looks like you're as good as dead, Matsumoto." Ulrich sighed, "Next time someone tells you to shut up, you do it. Especially regarding Tsunayoshi Sawada."
"What… Why?"
"Seriously," Katerina Megalos muttered, "Insulting the Boss' nephew," Ulrich taded looks with the other two that knew that Tsuna was the Decimo, while Katerina ignored Ayumu's fearful "Nephew", "You couldn't have been more idiotic if you tried.
Looks like grave bodily harm was in Ayumu's immediate future.
First off, I am so sorry for how long it took me to get this done. Life's been doing a good job of kicking my ass, and I've had zero motivation to write.
I started this nearly a year and a half ago and kept getting stuck on it. I couldn't figure out when it was going and how I was going to get to the point I wanted. It still feels wrong, but I know I won't manage to do any better on this anytime soon, so I might as well get it out.
Regarding these stories and writing new chapters:
I am not abandoning this story, but I don't know if I'll manage to keep a proper release schedule.
I have at least another 5 or 6 chapters planned, plus a few one shots that occur in the same universe that I'm going to publish separately.
I will try to post bi-monthly (as in, every couple of months, twice a month. Don't you just love English), but no promises.
I first got into writing as a form of therapy, so the frequency of my writing is often connected to the state of my mental health.
RogueMagic