Thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows.
A/N: This chapter is Tsuna against Xanxus and those cliffhangers are there for a reason. Hopefully, you would read this until the end and it would be in few chapters.
January 5, 2017: most lines are Betaed by Pure Red Crane
Diclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn so no suing…!
Chapter Three
"No one told me that he was so dangerous!" Tsuna shrieked as he clung onto the blanket and his body shivering from fright. That man, Xanxus, was really scary, especially when the man would look at him with a deadly glare.
"Those weren't the eyes of a human." Tsuna murmured frightfully as he closed his eyes, wanting to get rid of the image of that hateful stare that was at the front of his mind like a plague. He gripped the blanket tighter, instead of burying the blanket around his head, though he was really tempted to just do that. Reborn looked up at him.
"They are pretty dangerous." And that didn't reassure the brunet at all. It only made him shiver even more. If Reborn, his sadistic Spartan tutor, had contradicted, he would have felt that better. With no comfort, Tsuna could only scream in frustration.
"Don't just agree with me!"
He immediately sagged down and clutched his blanket like a lifeline. When Reborn voiced something like that, it just made the situation real, that those Varia guys would be dangerous. He didn't want to deal with any of them. In fact, the brunet would gladly hand over the half Vongola rings to them.
"Just why do I have to be involved in the fight to become the successor?" he added solemnly and inwardly thought that these stressful Mafia situations would be his death.
"I'd like to ask that myself." Reborn stated. Tsuna noticed that it was voiced in a thoughtful tone, automatically grabbing his attention and made him stare with a concerned raised brow. There was meaning behind those words. Reborn wasn't sure of something, which immediately alarmed him. Reborn seemed to know everything.
However there was something nagging at the back of the brunet's mind telling him that Reborn was merely pretending. Tsuna immediately blinked back that thought.
"The ninth isn't the kind of guy who'd promote this kind of mindless battle." Reborn said thoughtfully. Tsuna looked at his tutor with a questioning expression. The tutor adapted a thoughtful expression on his face, even amplified when Reborn lifted his closed fist and his chubby fingers pressed lightly almost below his chin.
"I can only imagine that something happened." Reborn muttered to himself. Tsuna kept looking at his tutor, who seemed to be thinking really deeply.
Why did he even thought that Reborn was pretending? There was just no way this genuine expression on his tutor's face a fake.
Well, Reborn might pretend to not know for the sake of letting him decide on a good decision without outside influence though those happened at the expense of his suffering. However it was load better than his father who pretend to do things for his son's own good but only made Tsuna's life harder.
The brunet automatically opened his mouth for a questioning word, wanting to hear what Reborn was speculating.
"Something?" Then he jerked from his position and peered at his tutor with an alarmed look on his face at the sudden thought. "Dad messed up too!"
He didn't want to be a Mafia boss or even in the Mafia. Tsuna kept telling them that. His Dad must have known that too, yet his father went over and didn't give those half Vongola rings to Xanxus who actually wanted to be in charge. Now, he was tangled in this mess because of his father's incompetence.
"Just why didn't he hand over the rings?" he muttered sullenly as he looked down to himself when Tsuna suddenly remembered the incident with Xanxus that afternoon. The memory made him shiver. Tsuna said with a touch of annoyance and resignation, "This wouldn't have happened if he had just given Xanxus the rings."
He almost wanted to sigh. This mess was his father's fault.
"That's not true." Reborn immediately disagreed and it made him inwardly bristle. "Xanxus is a man who doesn't make oversights. Sooner or later," The hitman hopped and landed on his bed, gazing his eyes over from his student, "You would all have been killed."
That admission immediately made Tsuna's eyes widen in fear and his back to straightened. He looked at his tutor with a miserable expression in his face.
"T-That's terrible!" Tsuna let out a frightened cry before pulling the blanket on his head. When he deemed himself safe within the confine of the blanket, he said in a sulky tone. "Why did this-" Only to stop when the blanket was yanked upward, unconsciously making the small cowering brunet to shriek.
Tsuna's eyes widened for a bit when the blanket came to be on Reborn's grip. "Reborn!" He said in a fairly admonishing tone and a glare.
He tried to yank the blanket back, but he was violently interrupted when Reborn hit him on the head with a walking stick. Tsuna let out a startled, pained cry at his tutor's action as he automatically pressed both his handd on his head to soothe the blossoming pain he could feel pulsing from his skull.
"That hurts!" Tsuna complained as he peered at his tutor with tearful eyes then winced when his pained skull didn't let up. "What did you do that for?" Tsuna exclaimed as he threw an accusing glare at his tutor.
"You were acting like a coward." Reborn said with a shrug. Tsuna's thoughts were however different from his tutor's. 'You just enjoy hitting me!' Which Tsuna frankly thought was valid if Reborn's amused smirk was any indication.
Tsuna almost wanted to throw his hands up in the air in an act of surrender but instead he looked away before lying down on his bed. He curled into himself as he pulled his pillow over his ears.
"Why did this happen? I don't want to do this!" Tsuna cried out, eyes closed tightly and his voice quivering with fear. His body gave another shiver at the thought of fighting Xanxus that he let out a moan of misery and curled closer.
Reborn on the other hand, watched his student with an almost bored look on his face before kicking his student's back, making that said student shriek in an apparent show of pain as he jerked upright.
Tsuna glared at his tutor once again before finally sighing in resignation. The brunet looked away with a brow furrowed downward and was about to curl when Reborn, his tutor, had landed on his knee in front of him.
It was too close for comfort because God knows what kind of cruelty Reborn would dish out for him. Tsuna backed away, but as he was already leaning on the wall, all he could do was gulp down and wish that Reborn wouldn't hit him.
Reborn's small and chubby hand reached for the fringe of his hair that were sticking near his forehead. When Tsuna saw that action, he jerked his head, accidentally bumping it on the wall and hissed in pain. Despite Tsuna's action, Reborn still stayed unfazed.
"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn called out with a hint of amusement. Tsuna just knew his tutor was inwardly cackling to himself. The brunet outwardly shrieked and braced himself for… more pain. He wished that his tutor wouldn't be so sadistic but looked like that was not tonight or never at all.
"Tsuna." Reborn repeated his name in a slightly lower voice making Tsuna look up at his tutor. The distance was actually close and made Tsuna feel that his personal space was being invaded but this was Reborn, so that point was mute. However, the distance right now felt a lot closer than normal. Tsuna could see Reborn's face up close. He wanted to back away but Reborn was looking at him in the eyes that he couldn't just do that. Tsuna felt like it would be a mistake if he did.
Tsuna looked at his tutor with growing apprehension, waiting for the verdict that would surely be said. The thought that Reborn was acting weird had crossed his mind, but he immediately shot down that ridiculous notion as fear that Reborn would somehow read it on his face replaced it. Despite how unbelievable the thought that Reborn knew how to read mind, the tutor did have instances where he seemed to know how to read facial expressions and every twitch of the human body. It was slightly and oddly discomforting. And he wouldn't want Reborn to read how his student found the baby weird. Reborn would only give him more suffering. Tsuna already had too much going on that his nerve was frazzled, he wouldn't wish for any more of that.
Again, Reborn's hand slowly shot up in the air and Tsuna watched that hand warily, as that same hand was the cause of his many miseries in life. He noticed how those hand hesitantly reached for his hair.
Then that hand didn't actually reach for his hair but instead to his forehead. He felt and seen that he was slightly smacked by that same small and chubby hand.
Tsuna's eyes widened in momentarily confusion. He actually thought that Reborn was going to pull his hair harshly. He didn't expect was for his tutor to smack him on the forehead as if a warning.
"Re-" Reborn's words cut him off.
"You should calm down."
Tsuna abruptly blinked at that statement and turned indignant as he squinted his eyes for a glare. Trust Reborn to say something easy like that when he was not. But his thoughts were disrupted once again when Reborn smacked him on the forehead again, this time with enough force that he could feel it sting. However, it was comparably light to Reborn's usual painful treatment of him. Though the smack it made him let out a startled squawk.
"I still don't want to do this." Tsuna murmured as he averted his gaze. "I don't want my friends getting hurt from fighting those guys."
"Of course. What kind of boss would you be if you let your comrades get hurt?" Reborn said with an approving voice. Tsuna looked at his tutor with a hopeful expression on his face.
"Then you'd agree if we decided to run away?"
Reborn smacked him on his head, making Tsuna groan pitifully before throwing a hateful glare at his passive looking tutor. The hitman seemed to read the meaning of his glare and looked at him a bit disapprovingly. "Maybe the training was too hard on you."
Tsuna's eyes widened and then he huffed loudly, "I don't want to fight, so training me would be useless!" He looked away and at the same time, Reborn had jumped, landing on edge of his bed. Tsuna didn't see this, but with Reborn not standing in front of him, he plopped down and curled himself tightly. "I don't want to fight…"
"I see." Reborn said in a disappointed voice and Tsuna only curled himself tighter as he pressed the pillow against his ears. "Then go to school tomorrow." Reborn decided before trotting away from his student's bed.
Tsuna merely closed his eyes and wished that when tomorrow came, this would be merely a dream.
"They are pretty dangerous."
"I'd like to ask that myself."
"As far as I know, the ninth isn't the kind of guy who'd promote this kind of mindless battle. I can only imagine that something happened."
"That's not true. Xanxus is a man who doesn't make oversights. Sooner or later, you would all have been killed."
"I see. Then go to school."
With wide vulnerable and shocked eyes, Tsuna knelt on the dirty ground on his knees, seeing the result of his attacks. He couldn't believe what happened. Tsuna didn't expect an old man, much less the Kyuudaime to come out of the monstrous weapon machine, Gola Mosca. However, Kyuudaime did come out, strapped and bound and was scorched and wounded in the chest by the brunet's own attack. It left Tsuna's mind reeling and guilt started clawing on his heart.
"W-What in the world…?" Tsuna didn't even finish that line of thought when his tutor, Reborn, suddenly appeared by his side, ready to check up on the wounded old man.
Tsuna peripherally saw that Reborn checked the Kyuudaime but his sight stayed rooted at the scorching and ghastly wound on Kyuudaime's chest.
Reborn glanced at the open and broken weapon in front of them, and then went back to checking the wound on the ninth. Reborn made a displeased tch under his breath. "I've seen Mosca's structure before. It seems like the ninth was being used as Gola Mosca's power supply."
Tsuna gasped at the explanation. He didn't like what those words actually meant.
"P-Power supply?" Tsuna asked in a small voice. He sagged down in misery as his mind came up with an answer to his asked question. The ninth was used… as the power supply, like some battery and he…
He gulped down and slowly chocked out a whimpered, "W-Why?"
Tsuna didn't notice that Reborn had cut the straps around the older man with a displeased frown on his face. "Get a hold of yourself, Ninth."
Tsuna's guilt was running rampant inside his chest. It held him in a chocking hold that made him want to bolt and never see this horrible sin he had committed. He closed his eyes, constricting pain in his heart as he bent down, his face and his hair covering his eyes.
"There is no time for asking why." The angry menacing voice of Xanxus brought Tsuna back to the reality and he slowly lifted his head. The brunet turned to face Xanxus who was glaring angrily at him. "You attacked the ninth." The other man declared. With that sentence, Tsuna's eyes widened in horror.
'I…' His heart almost leapt from his chest with that sentence and Tsuna could feel his fast beating heart.
"I…" Tsuna outwardly started and despite looking at Xanxus, Tsuna wasn't actually seeing anything but what he had committed. "I did?" He questioningly asked no one in particular but as he voiced it aloud, he remembered how he had punched Gola Mosca on the chest and Tsuna started shaking outwardly. The shaking brunet turned his unfocused eyes on his mitten-covered hands.
"I…I…" Tsuna fearfully started again while his body shook. He remembered the way he brought down his flamed-covered hand to chop down Gola Mosca in two, and then how the weak body of an old man stumbled out of it. Right then and there, he felt like his world crumbled and his body felt numb.
"I… That's…" It is his...
"Tsuna." Reborn started, but despite hearing it, the brunet still remained sitting in that pathetic position and wallowing in his own guilt.
"No." A sudden unfamiliar voice rang in front of them. Tsuna's face turned to look at where it was coming from.
A pale, bony and weak hand slowly reached up for him. Tsuna's eyes widened when he saw whose hand it belonged to and he gasped. "It was my fault." Kyuudaime started. Tsuna looked worriedly at the older man, the Vongola ninth boss who had decided to make him the next boss.
"Kyuudaime!"
"We're finally able to meet, Tsunayoshi-kun." Kyuudaime said in an almost relieved tone. Tsuna was slightly confused by that. However, he didn't have time to ponder or even warn him not to talk in this situation when Kyuudaime still continued talking despite his wound.
"I'm sorry." The old man said solemnly. Tsuna continued staring in worried fright for the old man. Despite feeling sinned, for causing the old man's suffering, he just didn't have any heart to stop the man from apologizing to him.
"All of this happened because of my weakness." The old man admitted but Tsuna shook his head, wanting to refute that it wasn't Kyuudaime's fault but his.
"My weakness woke Xanxus from his long slumber." The old man continued and those words made Tsuna's face form into confusion.
"Slumber?" He heard Reborn ask. Despite feeling guilty of what happened Tsuna's felt that Reborn was merely asking for clarification as a cover. Tsuna immediately shot down that line of thought. He could think about it later on. Right now he wanted to know if Kyuudaime's life was safe from harm.
"Re-" Tsuna started a bit panicky, but Reborn cut him off forcefully by continuing as if he wasn't disrupted from the start. "What do you mean?" Tsuna bit his bottom lip when he noticed what Reborn was doing, turning to look at Reborn questioningly while Reborn explained.
"After Xanxus left the crib, he left the Family and should have been placed under heavy surveillance by Vongola."
Tsuna immediately asked his tutor with a frown on his face, "Crib?"
"The greatest coup d'état attempt in Vongola's history occurred eight years ago. The dreadful fact that the ninth's son was responsible was kept secret. Only the higher ups of Vongola and the elite who fought in that battle knew of it." Reborn answered without even glancing at his student. Tsuna looked at Reborn's grave expression, the explanation making him gulp down nervously.
"For Xanxus, time has stood still for eight years. He's been asleep during that time, inflating his dreadful amount of hate and tenacity." Kyuudaime said. Tsuna's mind was left a little bit confused at those words he found strange and he knew had double meaning. 'The time?'
"What do you mean?" Tsuna asked, making a sidelong glance at his tutor, hoping that he had the answer to his question. But the sudden coughing made him hurriedly look at Kyuudaime however it was enough for him to see that Reborn had a displeased expression on his face. "A-Are you all right?" He worriedly asked with slightly raised voice.
"Hang in there!" He exclaimed a bit higher. If this were a different situation, he would have already shrieked rather loudly and muttered how he didn't know what to do.
"Tsunayoshi-kun," Kyuudaime said his name and he looked at the old man in the eyes, wondering what he would say to him now of all time.
"I constantly hear about you from Reborn. About the girl you like, about your school, about your friends, about you…" Tsuna saw the old man seemingly try to relax his body. "You are a child with a heart too ill-matched to that of a Mafia boss just like he said." At the mention of he Tsuna discreetly made a glance at his tutor but Reborn was facing away.
"I know…" Ninth paused to wheeze for air and Tsuna could sense that the old man was growing weak on every word but he couldn't make his mouth work, to stop the old man from saying anymore at the fear he was robbing the old man his last parting words.
"That you've never once fought happily." Kyuudaime's lips formed into a small weak smile, but it wasn't of happiness. It was of sadness for forcing a mere child into holding this heavy burden.
Tsuna's mind was reeling. He could only silently pray that the ninth, this strong man, would be all right in the end.
The old man closed his eyes, willing his limp bony hand to move. "He once said that you always had a wrinkle on your forehead, that you swing your fists as if to pray." The old man lifted his own hand upward, little by little. "I could see that and with your precious bright heart… that's why,"
Tsuna saw Kyuudaime's hand reached for his forehead as he pointed his index finger he said with weak voice but the voice was of determination, of slight hint of happiness, "That's why I choose you to be Vongola Jyuudaime."
His eyes widened for a bit, 'Didn't he choose Xanxus?' And along with that thought the pointed finger produced sky flames which made him take a look at it. Tsuna looked at the flame with little hint of wonder, thinking of why the flame was familiar to him when it was merely his first time seeing the Kyuudaime…
He gasped as his eyes widened in sudden remembrance. 'I…' he knew him. Kyuudaime… that kind grandfather who once visited him, many many years ago.
Tsuna blinked without noticing that tears flowed from his eyes down to his chin. He worriedly looked at the old man as he silently cried.
His eyes suddenly widened in alarm when the pale limb hand weakened and the flames got smaller.
"I'm sorry." Kyuudaime suddenly apologized and Tsuna jerked from his current position to look at the kind old man. Tsuna's hand reached for his arm weakly. "But I'm glad it's you." Ninth said with a genuine peaceful expression on his face.
"Wait!" Tsuna cried out, holding the weak bony hand. The brunet didn't want to see this. It was as if, the Kyuudaime was parting from this world. "No! Please wait!"
Tsuna sniffed and saw the old man's eyes closed as if he was blissfully sleeping. His eyes widened and he yelled with tears streaked face, "Kyuudaime!" Then Tsuna sob weakly and silently.
"How dare you kill the ninth." He heard Xanxus say with his menacing voice yet Tsuna continued looking at the body of the kind old man who had smiled upon him in his memories. But upon those words uttered, Tsuna turned to Xanxus slowly.
"I take your cruel treatment of the ninth as a challenge to his true son, Xanxus, and the honorable spirit of Vongola."
Tsuna gasped. Why would Xanxus still say something like that? Ninth is Xanxus father yet, Xanxus was still talking about the Mafia and Vongola.
"Don't feign ignorance." Xanxus added, "The burns on the ninth's chest are more than enough proof. The ring conflict is nothing compared to what you've done. This is for the sake of my father, who was the boss, and for the future of Vongola. I will defeat you and avenge him."
Tsuna stared with wide eyes. Xanxus said it as if, Kyuudaime was already dead. He couldn't wrap his mind around the thought that Xanxus didn't even feel an ounce of concern for his father.
"This is what you were after." Reborn said, looking at Xanxus. Tsuna's eyes widened at that and automatically looked at his tutor with a hint of confusion, but more for clarification because somehow he felt that he knew what everything meant.
"Even if Xanxus wins the Ring Conflict and became the boss-in-waiting, the ones who know about the crib would object to his appointment and resist him." Reborn explained and Tsuna looked at his tutor with rapt attention. Somewhere in Tsuna's gut, was telling him that everything was a script.
"But if he avenges the ninth after framing Tsuna, it would be different. He would gain the absolute trust of many in the Family. And if he's stronger than Tsuna, who was meant to be the tenth, he could prove that he is the true successor."
Tsuna's eyes widened as the explanation goes on.
"If that were to happen, it wouldn't be an issue to deal with those who oppose him." Reborn ended and as Tsuna stared at his tutor's back. Despite feeling that Reborn was already finished, he could feel that Reborn wanted to say more.
"Then, Xanxus did this to become the boss and create a dictatorship!" Basil exclaimed in horrified realization.
"This was a trap. Where Mosca to go out of control and pit Tsuna's friends in danger, he predicted that Tsuna would come to rescue them." Reborn agreed. Tsuna tensed at that answer amd he started trembling.
"That's…" He sniffed, "Just for that…" He continued crying and trembling at the horrible truth that was said. The thought that Xanxus could do that to his father just to further his own goal, it felt wrong.
"Everyone, please refrain from speculations. We are officially recording all statements." A female, one of the Cervello women interrupted.
"I knew it!" Tsuna heard Gokudera yelled in self-discovery and hatred, "Cervello has always been on Xanxus's side!"
"Do as you wish." Tsuna jerked to look at Reborn, feeling the cold tone.
"I've already snapped." Tsuna waited to know what Reborn's action would be and was a bit surprised that the hitman would even admit that he had snapped.
Somewhere in his gut feeling, this all felt so rehearsed, like a broken script.
However his mind was now in different matter.
"But I will keep my promise to the ninth and won't raise a hand. Not in my student's fight." Reborn continued then glanced at his student carefully. Tsuna wondered what Reborn saw. Tsuna could feel that his tutor was discreetly studying him, waiting for him. "Even as I say that, I don't know what my student, who doesn't like fighting, will do."
Reborn really knew him. Tsuna inwardly smiled but in the outside, he had already stood up. Tsuna slowly said, his fringe was covering his expression but Reborn was looking at his student with a satisfied small smile that no one noticed, "Xanxus. I'll be taking that ring back." Tsuna declared. He turned and looked at his opponent with a determined expression on his face. He will defeat Xanxus. "I won't let you succeed the ninth."
As Tsuna declared that, Reborn watched his student grow with determination and he hoped…
"Hey. Get a hold of yourself!"
"I've seen Mosca's structure once before. It seems like the ninth was being used as Gola Mosca's power supply."
"This isn't good. This wound can't be dealt with using first aid."
"Slumber? What do you mean? After Xanxus left the crib, he left the Family and should have been placed under heavy surveillance by Vongola."
"The greatest coup d'état attempt in Vongola history occurred eight years ago. The dreadful fact that the ninth's son was responsible was kept secret. Only the higher ups of Vongola and the elite who fought in that battle knew of it."
"This is what you were after. Even if he wins the Ring conflict and become the boss-in-waiting, the ones who know about the crib would object to his appointment and resist him. But if he avenges the ninth after framing Tsuna, it would be different. He would gain the absolute trust of many in the Family. And if he's stronger than Tsuna, who was meant to be the tenth, he could prove that he is the true successor. If that were to happen, it wouldn't be an issue to deal with those who oppose him."
"Yeah. This was a trap. Were Mosca's to go out of control and put Tsuna's friends in danger, he predicted that Tsuna would come to rescue them."
"Do as you wish. I've already snapped. But I will keep my promise to the ninth and won't raise a hand, not in my student's fight. Even as I say that, I don't know what my student, who doesn't like fighting will do."
He needed to win. Tsuna knew that. His friends' lives depended on him winning this match against Xanxus, but the brunet already could feel his body succumbing to the pain from all these attacks he had received. He started to see the difference between their strength.
"Die, Trash!" Xanxus said mockingly, yelling with a derisive smirk as the guns in his hands started glowing and accumulating flames. Tsuna's eyes widened at that. It would be fatal if he got hit by that attack in mid-air. He was only able to survive that same attack because of the vest Reborn gave him. Now he was merely in his dress shirt and he didn't think he would be able to dodge fast this incoming attack. Tsuna readied his own attack instead of dodging.
It's do or die. Tsuna braced himself and focused as he waited for the precious moment.
"Scoppio di Ira!" Xanxus yelled, followed by several resounding gunshots.
'Zero Point Breakthrough Custom!'
And as Tsuna received the attack head on, he vehemently wished that he would succeed, that he wouldn't be defeated.
There was a loud explosion that shook him to his very core and as the bright light diminished after he countered it with his own attack. Tsuna knew that he wasn't going to be able to absorbed most of the attack.
Tsuna cried out in pain when a burning heat assaulted him from his back. He slowly fell from the sky. In his peripheral vision, he saw how gleeful Xanxus looked and his guns where pointed at him. How Xanxus managed to get on his defenceless back after unleashing his own attack second ago was lost to Tsuna.
The brunet then closed his eyes as he slowly fell from the sky. Oh, how he wanted to just let himself fall. He could feel himself getting weaker. The flames on his forehead were getting swept by the wind. The pain all over his body lingered and clung to him in a tight hold even more so when his flames weren't there to help him.
Tsuna idly wondered how long it would take to finally reach on the ground.
But despite the pain, he still wanted to fight.
Tsuna's body slowly descended from the air and his body grew weaker and heavier like a lead. He wanted to move; to slow his own descend even if the thought of sleeping was so tempting. However his body wouldn't obey his mind.
Tsuna suddenly thought that maybe someone would catch him and he could fight once again.
"Tsuna!"
That familiar squeaky voice yelled and he willed to face where the voice was coming from. Coincidentally his body was already looking at that direction and there he saw everyone looking at him worriedly and frightened for him. He didn't like that he was the cause of their concerned expressions. Even Reborn, his tutor, was obviously looking at him worriedly and now with sudden alarm.
Reborn was proud of him and for Tsuna, Dame-Tsuna, he wanted to take that expectation head on, but now, he would go to sleep without a choice. How unfair. How could Tsuna show that Reborn's expectations were met? How could he show Xanxus that he would defeat him for the bad things he had committed?
Finally Tsuna fell, claimed by the darkness, once more.
"He's lucky that he avoided a direct hit."
A/N: Please leave a review… *insert pleading puppy look here while trying not to cry at the thought of no reviews for this chapter *