A/N: I'm amazed I updated this within a week '^'b
xxreader - I've got the plot planned out .w. And yeah, I want it to be fun
Koreijutsu-shi - Thank you /o/ I'm aiming to update it every Wednesday
Sky Veneziano - Knives are the best yo. Thanks
Guest#1 - Eh, sorry it isn't. If I were to make a pairing it'd probably be 1827 '^' If someone wanted a pairing I could include that and have background pairings, but it wouldn't take much away from the plot
Sayaku Shiina 'Shi-Chan - Sadly I have to limit the gore so it doesn't go into M category, but fighting scenes shall come '^'b
Guest#2 - Haha, thank you yo
rainbowsandcottoncandies - .w. Danke
Kuroi Rin - He is, but it's sort of difficult to separate strong Tsuna from sarcastic for me '^'; And thank you yo
"Caelum-sama, how did the mission go?" A silver haired teen greeted the slim figure that seemed to have emerged out of the shadows. He was clad in a near skin-tight, charcoal bodysuit that had black protective plates over the chest, forearms and knees. A sturdier silver plate ran down the back of the suit, protecting the wearer's spine and several straps and pouches for weaponry lay about his person.
"Hayato, I told you to call me Tsuna when I'm not on a mission." The assassin grumbled, flopping down upon the seat next to the bomber before removing the black mask that covered the lower half of his face. It was a sleek black made of a light metal alloy with discrete circular filters on either side that allow it to double as a gas mask as well as a means of keeping his identity secret. Tsuna reached back and tugged the band that held his hair back, sighing contently as he ran his hand through it.
"But Caelum-sama is Caelum-sama."
"Stop calling me Caelum."
"Aether-sama–"
Tsuna shot a glare at the other boy, not missing the hidden amusement he found in the bomber's eyes. Gokudera was both his friend and right-hand man. Despite being equals, the teen had somehow developed a massive amount of respect for Tsuna, never calling his by a name that didn't end in the respective 'sama' suffix until Tsuna finally threw a fit and was thankfully reduced to 'Tsuna-san' in casual conversation. It was hell during their last two years at middle school – with the bomber exploding at anyone who he felt disrespected his "Tsuna-sama". If Hibari hadn't forced them both to attend, even if he did allow them long absences for jobs, Tsuna would have dropped out years ago. Thankfully, High school was not compulsory so at sixteen, he was entirely free – as was Gokudera, who was surprisingly only born the month before him. Tsuna was only glad that Gokudera saw him as a friend as well as a boss (though how he became a boss from a partner still eluded him), otherwise his overly polite demeanour would have driven Tsuna mad.
"Tsuna-san." The bomber sounded only slightly reluctant as he relented. He'd memorised every alias that Tsuna went by, and could tease the boy endlessly by refusing to call his name. "How was the mission, Tsuna-san?"
"Good. It was a success. Thanks Hayato." The brunet stopped running his hand through his hair after feeling tiny specks of liquid clinging to the strands. Drawing it back, he saw the tell-tale redness of blood and grimaced.
"Ugh, I need a shower. Can you put my mask away?"
"Sure thing, Tsuna-san."
The brunet rolled his eyes before hoisting himself up. He drew all his knives and weapons before placing them carefully upon the coffee table that held the laptop that Gokudera had been paying attention to before Tsuna arrived. He would clean then later. After graduating middle school, he and Hayato moved in to a spacious, two bedroom flat in a town near Namimori. Tsuna hadn't wanted to entirely leave the area given that both Hibari and his mother still lived here, though the latter was under the assumption he'd gone to work in Tokyo. They still kept in contact, and he'd visit every so often.
"Remind me to text Nana when I get out." Tsuna barely stopped to hear the sound of affirmation before stalking to the bathroom and quickly stripping out of his assassin get up. Stepping into the shower and turning the temperature on high, it wasn't long before the hot water relaxed all his muscles, washing away the dirt, sweat and blood from his last mission. He let out a long, drawn out sigh as he slowly relaxed, working through the kinks in his shoulders. Showers were one of the few things that let him unwind after a job, especially after a particularly gruesome one like the last had been. Human traffickers. Tsuna shuddered. He'd never be able to understand just how someone could put other humans through such torture.
"Tsuna-san." Gokudera's call faintly echoed through the house. Quickly rinsing himself off and stepping into a pair of soft cotton trousers, Tsuna made his way back to the other teen, one towel still drying his hair.
"What's up Haya-chan?" The bomber made a face at the nickname, but made no effort to reprimand the other boy after years of putting up with the brunet's odd nicknames. Tsuna grinned and sat besides the bomber, glancing at the laptop in front of them. Several tabs of various emails were open.
"You told me to a keep a look out for missions concerning the Vongola." The brunet perked up at the mention of Vongola, eyes narrowing and playful demeanour vanishing.
"The Vongola asked for a hit?"
The bomber shook his head. "Someone's been asking for hits against them."
Raising an eyebrow, Tsuna turned towards the laptop, glancing at one of the requests. It was against one of the important members of the CEDEF, yet the brunet let out a sigh of relief when it wasn't the member he'd been looking out for. He went to the other tabs, his frown deepening at each request, eyes narrowing at names he recognised until finally he came across a hit on the man he'd been trying to simultaneously avoid and monitor. Sawada Iemitsu.
"This isn't a case of one person from Vongola pissing off someone else. Whoever sent these has a grudge against the entire family, it's like anyone related to them is being targeted." Tsuna frowned, worrying his lip in anxiety.
"You're freelance, so there's no need to worry Tsuna-san." Gokudera forcefully inserted some cheer, unnerved at the reaction of his partner and best friend. The brunet shook his head, smiling bitterly.
"I'm the son of the external advisor."
"T-the young lion of Vongola?" Tsuna grimaced at the name.
"Sawada Iemitsu. I don't want anything to do with that bastard, hence why I completely avoided Vongola. He still thinks I'm a sweet, innocent civilian." The words were spat out, as if merely relation to the man made Tsuna sick. Gokudera could only nod soberly, completely understanding complicated familial relations.
"Anyway, I'll be fine. 'Sawada Tsunayoshi' is supposed to be in Tokyo, and this apartment is under a different name. The only one who even knows I moved out is Nana–", Tsuna quickly halted, eyes widening. He swore.
"What is it, Tsuna-san?"
"My mother. Quick Hayato, get the bikes." Tsuna had already jumped up, fetching his keys and returning to his room, quickly throwing on suitable riding attire. He grabbed a helmet, throwing another at Gokudera without looking before grabbing a random assortment of knives to be hidden on his person, and a sleek, black handgun he hid under his jacket. Quickly locking the door behind him, he ran down the stairs, Gokudera already ahead of them to prepare their motorcycles, before arriving onto the street where the bomber was waiting. Hopping on, Tsuna drove off with the silver haired teen behind him, cursing his father the entire way for leaving them without protection.
They arrived in Namimori near thirty minutes later, having broken the speeding limit the entire journey. Gokudera was worrying silently. He remembered hitmen appearing randomly throughout their short time at school together; he'd go crazy checking nobody knew the identity of 'Caelum' but each time Tsuna would pass it off as an attempt on Hibari's life, or someone with a grudge against the local yakuza. The bomber could understand why Tsuna didn't want to relate himself to his father if he had abandoned them, but the lack of information was worrying. He should have known that Tsuna had another target on his back - being the son of the leader of the CEDEF was just as dangerous as being as assassin, and how could Gokudera protect his friend properly if he didn't even know what he had to protect him from? The bomber grit his teeth, hoping at least his partner wouldn't be pulled further into Vongola's mess.
They rounded the last corner before coming to a halt. Tsuna was prepared to face an unidentified amount of enemies in order to save his mother but his hope shrivelled and died when he caught sight of his childhood home up in flames. Gokudera was snapped out of his musing by a sharp inhale of breath from the brunet besides him.
"Shit."
Tsuna barely heard Gokudera's comment before he was rushing forwards, intent on clawing his way in, on the miniscule chance that his mother was still alive. Strong arms gripped him from behind, halting his approach to the burning house. He could have gotten out of the hold, but not without injuring Gokudera and Tsuna wasn't gone enough yet to do that.
"Tsuna, get a hold of yourself." Gokudera rarely called him by his name, and the slight shock helped distract him from the desperate need to do something and the oncoming despair that followed the idea that maybe there was nothing he could do. Slowly, Tsuna relaxed in the hold of his best friend, feeling somewhat drained.
"Now. Can you sense anyone?" The young assassin frowned before concentrating on the mass of roaring flames before him. He'd forgotten about his uncanny sensory ability that could detect any living thing by looking for their innate flames. It was much harder to use on civilians but possible if he concentrated hard enough. Quickly, he searched the areas of the house, starting with the kitchen, for any hint, any clue of the small but warm trace of sun flames that belonged to his mother. As each room showed no signs of life, Tsuna become more and more worried. It was only after the last room - his own - showed up as a negative that he let his despair show.
"Gokudera I - I can't... S-she's not there." Tsuna was on the verge of panicking, and would have if only a shrill ringing hadn't started calling out. Gokudera quickly pulled out Tsuna's phone, glancing at it for a moment before a smile made its way onto his face.
"It's Hibari."
Tsuna blinked, quickly grabbing the phone and answering it before pressing it to his ear. He'd entirely forgotten about the older assassin's presence in Namimori.
"Kyoya?" Tsuna's voice was shaky, and if not for that he was sure the other teen would have berated him for using his first name so casually, even if Tsuna used it regardless of the other's protests.
"Calm down Omnivore. I have your mother." Tsuna heaved a sigh in relief, almost slumping to the ground as the tension left his body. Gokudera moved so the boy could lean upon him, which Tsuna gratefully did, shifting so they both could hear the conversation.
"Thank god. What happened?"
"Where are you?" Hibari blatantly ignored Tsuna's question, which Tsuna allowed in his relief that his mother was safe.
"Outside my house. Why is it on fire Kyouya?"
"Get out of there immediately. I'll be waiting at my house." Tsuna frowned but decided to comply nonetheless. Something was evidently wrong - or more wrong than his mother's house on fire.
"Hayato's with me." Hibari wouldn't let anyone in unless he'd invited them, so Tsuna was prepared to send the silver haired teen back to their apartment. Surprisingly, he didn't have to.
"Good, now both of you come." A moment later a series of beeps came through the phone. Hibari had hung up on them.
Tsuna blinked before motioning to Gokudera to follow. They each mounted their bikes once more and sped off, Gokudera still following since he wasn't as familiar with the route, but no longer at a breakneck pace. Thankfully the way to Hibari's house did not take long, and soon both the young bomber and young assassin stood waiting outside the large, imposing gates of the property. Every time Tsuna visited the mansion (because that essentially was what it was), he couldn't help but feel both impressed and worried about the fact that the house painted a large target sign on Hibari's back. Tsuna shook his head. Only Hibari Kyoya could handle being such an indiscreet assassin and survive.
Barely thirty seconds passed before the gates opened, allowing entry to the two teens. They rode their bikes in, Tsuna quickly discarding his somewhere near the front door, and Gokudera dismounting gracefully, straightening both bikes before following. The brunet didn't bother knocking when he knew that Hibari was expecting them. His impatience to see his mother and make sure she was entire unscathed overrode all formality. A tall boy with a large pompadour looked somewhat startled at their sudden entrance, but quickly overcame it.
"Kyoya-san is in the living room." Kusakabe nodded in respect to Tsuna and then Gokudera, both which were returned.
They arrived at the Japanese styled room to see Hibari sitting behind a normal low table, a cup of steaming tea in front of him. He casually wore a plain black yukata with a white obi, and looked the picture of serenity. Before Tsuna could voice his questions, the older teen cut him off.
"Your mother is resting in the guest room. I told her there had been an increase in vandalism lately."
Tsuna nodded, satisfied with the answer. He could convince Nana not to report the 'vandals' to the police, and leave it to Kyoya, who was pretty much the local law enforcement in all but name. He wasn't ready to tell her about the bloody world of the mafia, at least not before giving his asshole of a father one last chance to redeem himself and tell the woman what really was going on. If their lives were in immediate danger, that was the least he could do. Tsuna had a feeling that if he was the one to tell his mother, rather than his father, then some sort of irretrievable trust would be broken between the two. As much as he disliked the man, Tsuna wasn't yet prepared to ruin his marriage, not until he deemed it too dangerous for her not to know at least.
"What really happened then?"
"Mafia." Hibari grimaced. "I didn't recognise the family, but I took one of them to the basement to do some questioning."
The brunet assassin shuddered. Torture was a practise that no matter how necessary people deemed it in the mafia, he could never quite swallow. Sure he killed people, but he didn't hurt them while killing them, and he even rejected hits on decent people. Thankfully he could always count on Hibari to help him if he ever needed to extract information from someone. Tsuna much preferred the jobs he'd do for the prefect in return, and Hibari could satisfy his somewhat sadistic personality. The shorter boy indicated for Hibari to continue, the latter who frowned, but did so anyway.
"They were only lackeys. Each of them had been ordered to kill anyone associated with Vongola, but none of them knew the real reason why. Those weaklings decided to pick off the civilians first." Hibari spat the last line. He had always despised those who preyed upon the weak and unaware like cowards rather than facing someone who could actually fight back. "The only thing they knew was the word 'Gesso'."
Tsuna blinked. "Is that some Italian word I haven't learnt yet?"
"I wouldn't know." Hibari replied, almost petulant about it. Tsuna had taken to Italian like fish to water while he still struggled a bit, despite starting it earlier. Hibari was better at Chinese and surprisingly English, but Tsuna still beat him in French.
"It's a name. A relatively small famiglia, I'm not sure what sort of grudge they would have against the Vongola. I mean traditionally the Vongola protect small families from larger ones." Gokudera scowled at the two faces that were suddenly focused on him. "I'm mafia born, of course I know this stuff."
"Hn."
Tsuna grinned. "Ah Hayato, we would be lost without you." He winked, watching the bomber become flustered in response.
Gokudera was gearing up for a response when a knock was heard from the entrance to the room and Kusakabe's head appeared.
"Kyoya-san, there's a new request." Kusakabe had taken to calling Hibari's hits 'requests' so that it didn't imply that Hibari was being ordered to do anything. Hibari gave him a look that explicitly said 'can't this wait?'
Kusakabe shook his head. "The request is for Tsuna-san."
The brunet in question blinked. "Eh Hayato, do I have any new requests?"
The bomber quickly checked his phone before frowning. "I don't see-"
"Tetsu." Hibari cut them off. The word was both a question and a command to explain.
Kusakabe grimaced. "I meant that the request is to target Tsuna-san."
XXXXX
The meeting room had a tense atmosphere surrounding it Despite the cheerfully sunny Italian weather outside, the three men each had dark, sombre expressions on their faces. There was nothing said, only a quiet mourning took place for the recent loss of their comrades. A man in his mid twenties finally growled in anger.
"Well? Are we going to fucking do something or not?"
"Xanxus! Don't be so disrespectful." A blonde man in his forties reprimanded the Varia leader, only to get a sneer in return. The last man in the room smiled at the two. He was aged, sporting silver hair and a wrinkled but kind face. Vongola Nono finally spoke up.
"No Xanxus is right. It may not have affected any of the upper ranks yet, but we cannot ignore the fact that someone is killing off members of Vongola."
"It's a fucking manhunt. Who'd you piss off this time, old man?"
"Xanxus!" Sawada Iemitsu, head of the CEDEF, hissed.
"What makes you say that, Xanxus?" Timoteo ignored the hissing blonde.
"I've done enough of my own to know." The Varia leader snorted. "If they had a grudge they would go straight after you. You aren't known to be exceptionally kind-hearted either, so they aren't killing people off to lure you out because it wouldn't happen." Xanxus ignored the dirty look Iemitsu gave him. "It's a declaration of war."
Timoteo smiled sadly at his adopted son. After it was revealed they were not in fact blood-related, their relationship had been strained. Even now the older man could see how agitated the Varia leader was that someone was attacking his family. After another moment, he inwardly frowned. Despite being the largest mafia family in the world, they were not under constant attack. In fact, usually the name provided protection against those who would fear invoking their ire. The old man couldn't think of any of their rival families resorting to this - an all out war with Vongola would destroy the entire mafia community - and they knew this. Also, it just wasn't their style. Any large family had some semblance of decency, and targeting grunt workers and associated civilians was one of the least decent things a mafia member could resort to. Any family who had to power to start a war with Vongola was either suicidal or very large and powerful, hence they were stumped as to who was picking off their members. No names or insignia had been left behind - simply the dead bodies.
"Timoteo, you should think of your son." The leader of CEDEF cut in, disrupting Nono's thoughts. "He is your last heir. Right now he's in France, but to may be better if he came back to Italy."
Vongola Nono nodded. "You should bring in your own wife and son, Iemitsu."
"It's okay." The blonde waved his hand in a placating manner, grinning. "My Nana and Tsuna-fish are safe. Nobody knows where they are."
Xanxus let out a snort, as if he didn't believe the older man in the slightest. He made to get up and leave, eager to start his own investigation into the manner, when Timoteo called him back.
"Xanxus, I would like you to be the one who retrieves Frederico, please. It would be most reassuring that way."
The Varia leader glared at his adopted father, but in the end made no protest. Continuing on his way, he roughly opened the sleek, wooden doors to the meeting room, snorting when silver-haired man fell through. Varia's second in command, Superbi Squalo looked somewhat sheepishly at his boss, before looking at the other occupants in the room where his expression morphed into a glare. 'He looks like a territorial little cat.' Xanxus mused, almost smiling at his best friend's antics.
"Get up, Trash."
For the second time that day (though the room's occupants were unaware of it), a phone rang out, interrupting whatever was to be said next. Xanxus glared at the blonde, who was the source of the irritating noise, but held back just in case it was important. Said blonde hurriedly checked his pockets before pulling out a small, red device. He looked alarmed for a moment before he quickly answered the call.
"What is it now, Oregano?" A silence was heard as the other person on the line answered. "What?!" The shout surprised the other occupants of the room, but the man's next words brought a dark look to their faces. "Did... did they find her body?" The CEDEF leader let out a shuddering sigh at what was presumed to be a negative response. "What about my son?" Xanxus narrowed his eyes, turning to look fully at the CEDEF leader to observe his reactions. "... I see. Call me if you get any updates. Thanks Oregano." The phone call ended, and Iemitsu sighed, turning towards the other occupants of the room who looked at him expectantly.
"Well?" Xanxus growled.
"They burnt down Nana's home." The blonde man swallowed. "And my son is missing."
XXXXX
"You better not touch Tsuna-san!" An agitated silver-haired bomber glared at the raven-haired assassin. Said assassin looked at Tsuna appreciatively, as if considering it. He smirked and the bomber growled.
"Kyoya, you're really not helping here." The only brunet in the room tried to placate his partner and simultaneously hold him back from launching at the assassin while glancing at Hibari somewhat nervously. He received another smirk for his efforts.
"Relax herbivore. I will not touch your mate."
Gokudera stilled, before turning a bright pink and resumed trying to strangle the prefect.
"His is not my mate." The bomber hissed indignantly. "He's my partner!"
"Hn." If Hibari was the type to grin, he would be grinning widely by now. "It's the same thing, is it not?" He heard a strangled sound in return, as if Gokudera choked upon his spit.
"I- I didn't mean it like that-"
The bomber's protests was cut off by a laugh and Tsuna patting him on the back. "Now, now Hayato, you're really not helping yourself here." He grinned, before turning to the bewildered Kusakabe, becoming serious once more.
"Do you know who requested it?"
"No, I don't. But we could trace the contact number they provided."
Hibari nodded, before making a gesture that indicated the teen was dismissed. Kusakabe bowed, before exiting the room once more.
"It's odd though." The bomber in the room frowned, before seeing the looks of his companions and continued. "Well even if you are related to-", Gokudera stopped, looking at Tsuna in question. The brunet waved him off.
"It's fine, he already knows."
Gokudera blinked, not sure how to feel about being the last to know his partner's personal information. He shoved the thoughts to the side for now, before continuing. "Even if you are related to the CEDEF leader, in the eyes of the public, you're still a civilian. There's no need to get a high calibre assassin like Hibari after you." Hibari seemed to enjoy the indirect appraisal of his skills. Gokudera pointedly ignored the amused look in his eyes. "I mean Nana is also related to Sawada Iemitsu, but they only sent grunts after her when logically you two would be under the same level of protection."
Tsuna grimaced at his implied relations to his father, no matter how true they were, before he turned to a frown at the other implications. "So I'm being targeted for something else? It must be big if they wanted Kyoya for it."
"You don't think they know that you're an assassin?" Gokudera asked, worried.
"If they did know, things would probably be a lot worse, if my dad doesn't murder me first."
"As of the herbivore would come close."
Tsuna smiled at the compliment. It was rare that the skylark didn't feel like insulting someone. "Well", he mused. "I know someone I could ask about it." Tsuna looked at the other assassin. Are you okay with following the trace of who asked for a hit on me?" While Hibari was a good friend, Tsuna knew the problem wasn't his, so there was little reason for the teen to help out.
"Hn. I will not allow anyone to use me for their petty plans."
The brunet almost grinned at the blatant (in his eyes at least) excuse the other assassin had given, but knew better than to do so. "Then that's sorted. I'll be finding out why I'm a bigger target than I should be, and Hayato, can you stay at home and keep things running? You can do independent information gathering for either of us."
"Fine." The bomber sighed. He really didn't want to be separate from his partner when there was an unknown enemy after them, but knew better than to insist to tag along after the last time. When they still hadn't been together long, Gokudera had been offended that Tsuna hadn't wanted to fight besides him. When he finally convinced the assassin to bring him along, he'd almost gotten the other boy killed covering a sniper for him. He took the lesson to heart, especially after he realised Tsuna wasn't doubting his combat skills, but highly valued his other skills that the brunet himself didn't possess.
"Thanks Hayato." Tsuna let out a wide smile in response, knowing how hard it was for the bomber to let him go out into danger alone.
"What herbivore are you going to ask?"
The young assassin faced Hibari and grinned. "Xanxus."