THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS!

I am speechless—I'm not even sure what else to say because the happiness to know that you guys liked the previous chapter is beyond the English Dictionary's knowledge.
There probably are many grammatical errors/ instances where I have not added some words when necessary. In such cases, please do inform me! I'll correct them as soon as possible!

Disclaimer: Don't own. If I did, I would have made this fic a part of the manga.

Enjoy!

For once, Tsuna woke up to no grenades.

It was the oddest feeling ever.

Giving a happy sigh, he flopped back onto his bed, staring lazily at the ceiling, realizing just how lucky he was to not find himself in a life threatening situation so early. A short glance at the clock informed that it was five in the morning.

This is good, he thought to himself.

Really GOOD.

Good.

Good…

Okay, fine, maybe he was missing the machine guns and the grenades and the all too familiar hammer and what the hell is wrong with me?!

He was aware, very much so, that he had hit his head too many times, but still. He should be relieved. He knew he should be relieved so why in God's name did something feel very wrong with not waking up to various paraphernalia used for the sole purpose of murder? He groaned self depreciatingly, leaving the bed with an annoyed grunt. He hated being so damn fickle minded.

He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, changed into comfortable clothes and left the room with an irate pout. He thought of waking up either Gokudera or Yamamoto, thought otherwise since both of them deserved rest, deciding to walk about aimlessly. A part of him did realize that walking about with no purpose would lead to not-very-good consequences courtesy Reborn, be he failed to find himself caring at the moment. On the way, he bumped into someone, tipping backwards but rooting himself to the ground eventually. One glance up informed him that it was Alessandro.

He could feel his mood darkening.

"Good morning," he greeted cheerfully, reminding himself that, yes, Alessandro may have insulted Xanxus, but surely the man had some good qualities.

The man gave a very inappropriate shriek, looked at Tsuna, replied with a very hasty, "G-good mo-morning, Decimo," and then ran away.

Tsuna stared at the Alessandro's retreating back with a raised eyebrow. Shrugging, he continued forward and climbed the stairs to reach the deck, surprised to see one Rokudo Mukuro staring out into the sea.

"Good morning," he greeted once he was side to side with the illusionist.

Mukuro gave him a subtle glance and nodded, not greeting back.

Tsuna was fine with it, preferring the soothing silence himself, so he imitated Mukuro's action and stared at the waters below. The sun was still rising, the sky a pale orange. He could see birds flying, graceful and white, finding himself calming at the effect of the early morning. He may have had seen the rising sun over a thousand times, with Reborn, but he could never find himself getting tired of it.

He grinned at the thought.

"You have the grin of a fool, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro commented with amusement.

"Maybe I am a fool," Tsuna replied, "makes sense now, you know?"

"Does it?"

"Yep," Tsuna said cheerfully, "Can't really find myself complaining, though. Something must be wrong with me."

Mukuro snorted, but the slight tilt of the taller male's lips was an indication that the Mist Flame user understood. It was good to know.

"My mom wanted to see you."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow, "Did she, now?"

"Yeah. Ken and Chikusa, too. I'm sure they'd love to have my mom's cooking. She says that you guys are too thin and ill-looking for her liking," Tsuna laughed softly, but glanced at Mukuro, serious, "and I can't find myself disagreeing. Chrome's in better condition now, since she has decided to stay with Kyoko-chan, but I can't say the same for you guys."

"Worried for li'l ol' me, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"Yes." The answer was immediate, "You should come by more often—or I'll drag you guys back to my place. Since your health is at stake, don't think I won't."

Mukuro laughed, staring at Tsuna's unwavering gaze, "Oh my, imperious like a Boss, aren't you?" There was a little sneer at the word 'Boss'. Tsuna noticed it.

"It's called 'caring', Mukuro. As a friend, I am worried."

"I never asked you to be worried."

"But I am." Tsuna insisted, placing a light palm on the other's forearm, "I can't just stop worrying because you ask me to, Mukuro. Just… please come. At least once a week, okay?"

Mukuro did not reply, prevaricating, "I'm surprised she likes me at all."

Tsuna noticed the digression, lips pursing, but chose to leave the topic. For now.

"Mom? Why won't she like you?"

"First impressions aren't really my thing. I'm sure you're aware of that."

Tsuna laughed, recalling their first meeting, "Do not regret that, though."

"Neither do I. But I must say, I'm surprised that you don't."

Tsuna shrugged, as though the answer was pretty obvious, "If things were to proceed differently, maybe our relationship now would have been different. Maybe I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet Chrome. Maybe we wouldn't have even been friends. I don't think I'd like that. So, yes, I don't regret a thing."

Something shifted in the heterochromatic eyes, but before Tsuna could decipher anything, Gokudera's hysterical voice broke through.

"Teeeeennnttthhhh!"

Tsuna glanced at Mukuro in half-amusement, and the illusionist only shook his head, disappearing in a flurry of Mist Flame just as Gokudera turned around the corner and stepped into the deck.

"Tenth!" he said breathlessly as he a jogged towards Tsuna, "Thank God you're alright!"

"You should stop worrying so much, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera gave a sheepish grin, "Sorry. I didn't find you in your room so I thought…"

Tsuna smiled, "Where's Yamamoto?"

"Last I checked, he was still sleeping. That idiot. Anyway, how's your leg? It's fine, right?"

Tsuna nodded, "Yeah. Onii-san did a good job."

Gokudera breathed out in relief, "Good. That bastard. Are you sure you don't want me to kill Xanxus?"

"I'm sure."

"Hundred percent?"

"Gokudera-kun!"

"But, Tenth—! I really wouldn't mind, you know!"

Tsuna patted the other's shoulder, "I know you wouldn't. Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's go down, shall we?"

Arashi saw Tsuna sit almost tentatively on the chair. At the head of the table.

Maybe sitting there wasn't that big of a deal, but, then the scarred guy who looked like the Boss of some underground, evil nation or something, had been sitting on the other end of the table last night during dinner, and, surely, that was nothing but a mere coincidence, right? He caught Takahira's gaze, and it was safe to say that the other boy's thoughts were probably the same as his.

But still, that did not explain how Dame-Tsuna knew the Evil-Boss.

The—what did they refer to themselves as again?—Varia weren't there. Tsuna was sending worried glances at the door, and, considering that all the brunette's friends had been very coincidentally allotted seats next to and around the brunette, Arashi guessed that Tsuna was waiting for the Varia.

Why and how he knew of the Varia was an unsolved mystery. He knew that, like the rest of his classmates, something was wrong with Tsuna. And he was determined to find out what.

The door burst open with a loud 'BANG!' (It reminded Arashi of a gun, but, surely, that was his imagination, right?), and a loud booming voice interrupted the idle chatter of the students.

"VOOOOOIIII!" the silver haired man—Squalo—boomed, "ARE YOU IN THERE, BABY BOSS?!"

Tsuna, who was in the middle of biting onto a toast, yelped and stood up hastily, "Ye-yes?"

All heads turned to Tsuna who looked like he was really regretting standing up.

Baby boss, Arashi thought in his head, frowning, is that supposed to mean something?

"BOSS WANTS TO MEET YOU!"

Tsuna gulped, "He… he does? Why…?"

"FUCK IF I KNOW! JUST MEET HIM! GODDAMMIT, HE HAS BEEN SULKING AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF!"

Tsuna visibly paled, questioning with a very small voice, "He's been… sulking?"

Gokudera Hayato came to his rescue, "What the hell should the Tenth go to meet him?! Tell him to come, why don't you?!"

Arashi raised an eyebrow. Gokudera knew him too?

He paused. Well… that did make sense, did it not? Gokudera was an Italian, too, wasn't he? Last he heard, Gokudera was rich, apparently. So…

Arashi's eyes widened. Gokudera was somehow related to the Vongola, then? That was… not really surprising, suddenly. That also explained how Tsuna knew the mystery group known as the Varia.

But why did the scarred man want to meet Tsuna of all people?

"BECAUSE," Squalo's voice boomed yet again, bringing Arashi back to the present, "BOSS DOES NOT WANT TO WASTE HIS ENERGY BY WALKING TO MEET SCUMS OF THE UNIVERSE. AND I AGREE."

Yamamoto laughed, and Squalo glared at the boy. He waved his hand in an apologetic gesture, and Squalo huffed. Gokudera looked ready to argue again, rising from his seat, but Tsuna placed a hand on the silver haired boy's shoulder, lightly. There was a moment where the two merely stared at each other, eyes locked, and Arashi had a feeling that the two were communicating. His classmates shifted, awkward, because the little action between the two was somehow very… intimate? No, that wasn't correct.

It was… trusting. As if they understood and had complete faith in each other, not requiring words to get a point across.

Arashi felt as if he was intruding. None of Tsuna's friends seemed to be bothered, though, and a part of Arashi found it a bit odd.

Finally Gokudera huffed, sitting down with an unpleased scowl, and Tsuna smiled. He looked at Squalo with a small smile morphed into a strained one, "I'll meet him after breakfast."

Squalo nodded, snorting, and turned around to leave, muttering something under his breath about 'making me the goddamn messenger, that asshole.'

Tsuna looked around him, at the students who were blatantly staring at him, and wished to be swallowed up by the floor.

Xanxus was furious.

And touched.

But since he did not do being 'touched', he decided to remain furious because that was an emotion he was all too familiar with. And, contrary to Squalo's firm belief he was not sulking since Xanxus did not do 'sulking', either (okay, maybe he did sulk, once, but that was a long time ago and he had been defeated by a wimpy Middle Schooler—but that's besides the fucking point).

He had seen Sawada Tsunayoshi standing up for him during the boy's talk with the Italian scum whose name he wouldn't give a single fuck to remember. He didn't get the kid.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?! I tried to kill him and that fucking IDIOT!"

He slammed his knee against the fighter robot's mechanical chest, ducking a too-slow swipe towards his head by the useless mechanical trash. He stepped back, dodging the razor sharp blade which would have otherwise left a scar in his chest, shooting the damned machine with his Flame enabled gun, watching with irritation as the useless piece of junk cackled and exploded in bright orange flames, leaving a pile of useless metallic scrap in its wake.

"I'd really appreciate if you'd never badmouth my family in front of me, is that clear? Xanxus is the best out there, and as for him being the leader of the Varia? He is the best, got it? And he is not a traitor and he loves his family more than anything, so if I ever hear you saying otherwise, the consequences will not be good for you, understand?"

"Useless trash," he muttered under his breath, for once not sure whether he was referring to the brown haired scum or the robotic scum, though a part of him knew the answer to that.

"Oi, Boss," he heard Squalo say, voice a low, bored drawl.

Xanxus didn't care if the sword master was dying out of boredom or not. Xanxus wanted to blow up things, and even he was aware that destroying the ship considering that he was in it was a very stupid thing to do. So here he was, trying to satisfy himself with the measly 'weapons' created by some unknown weapon expert in Vongola. He made a vague, mental note to kill the creator of the supposed murdering-robot—if this was the level of Vongola's weapons, Vongola would go down very easily.

He heard Squalo sigh. He didn't give a fucking damn.

Just as he was about to send another robot out of the ship and to some random, unknown, faraway country, a familiar shriek resounded.

"HIIIIIIII—!"

A tile of the roof of the room slid to its right, and Sawada Tsunayoshi came barreling through.

When Tsuna, with a quick nod to a still-suspicious-Gokudera, left, Takahira decided to follow the boy. He sent a quick glance to Arashi, nodded, and then pointed discretely in Tsuna's direction. Arashi gave him a nod of confirmation and mouthed a quick 'meet me later'. There were other students sending not-so-discrete glances at Tsuna, too, which was understandable. Takahira sneaked out and managed to not look to suspicious whilst doing that.

He allowed Tsuna to walk a few paces, before following the boy, making sure to not make any sound. By some God-given miracle, the corridors were otherwise empty.

He noticed Tsuna tensing twice—which shouldn't have been possible because Takahira knew that he was very stealthy—so he ducked and hid behind the walls, only continuing his endeavor when the short male continued walking.

Tsuna turned around a corner and—

"HIIIII—!"

Worried, Takahira peered around the corner, only to find no one there.

Dame-Tsuna had disappeared.

Tsuna was, as he found the floor giving away, pretty sure that this was Reborn's doing, too.

After all, since Tsuna had wanted to be swallowed by the floor and Reborn, being the caring tutor that he was, would, obviously, not venture to disappoint Tsuna. He landed on something hard yet soft, which was a pleasant surprise since he had been very much ready to find his hip broken in the near future.

"Ow…"

"Get the fuck off me, trash!"

Tsuna screamed, and hastily got off the fellow Sky-Flame user, instantly creating a distance of about twenty feet in between them.

"Xanxus! You… you wanted to see me?"

Xanxus raised an unimpressed brow, "And that was your entry, was it?"

"Eh…"

Xanxus' eyebrow twitched. Tsuna gulped.

"Fight."

"Huh?"

"Are you deaf? Can't you fucking hear, scum?"

"…" It wasn't that Tsuna had not heard the man. He had, and that was the problem.

He just wished that he had heard wrong.

"Look," Xanxus gritted out, annoyed, "if you are going to be the damn Decimo, you'd better not slack off, y'hear? If you do, I'm fucking killing you, got that?"

Tsuna did get that, but wished he didn't, so, in case he had gotten 'that' wrong (since Tsuna had always been the hopeful sort), he tried asking again. But before he could open his mouth, Xanxus fired his gun and Tsuna ducked, expertly using his right foot to give the ground a slight kick, darting to his left. Xanxus' gun didn't rest—Tsuna didn't expect it to, anyway—and the brunette almost announced, yet again, that he had no wish, whatsoever, to become the Decimo, and then groaned when he remembered that people generally tended to ignore him whenever he said that. This certainly wasn't how he was expecting his meeting with Xanxus to go.

Who the hell was he trying to lie to?

This was exactly how he was expecting the meeting to go, given how obdurately cruel Fate was.

He squeaked, shallowly dodging a burst of Wrath Flames, aware that the tip of his hair had caught fire. Nullifying it with his own Flames by patting the region, he fumbled with his gloves and, still running and evading with many, unnecessary movements, swallowed two pills.

When he glanced at Xanxus through light, assuring, orange, he noticed how the man's savage grin had widened.

Gokudera's senses tingled. He paused, frowned, looked around and shrugged.

Three minutes later, the door banged open, and a somewhat familiar boy stepped in, sweating.

"Dame-Tsuna!" he rasped out, and Gokudera's gut twisted, eyes growing wide, anxious. "He—he's—"

"Spit it out!" he ordered, not giving the boy enough time to catch his breath. He ignored the word 'Dame'. For now.

As soon as Gokudera started taking menacing steps forward, Takahira—ah! That was his name!—promptly came to the conclusion that the task of taking in oxygen when he desperately required it was not of importance.

(Because, frankly, asphyxiation seemed like a better method to go to the afterlife than leaving that task to a certain silver haired classmate who suddenly resembled Satan himself.)

"He disappeared!"

Silence.

"What do you mean 'disappeared'?" Gokudera asked slowly, ignoring the sudden murmur of the students present in the dining hall at the news.

"I don'tknow! He was there, I swear, but then he turned around this corner, he just—!"

Gokudera opened his mouth to demand a better answer, but a slight touch of his right shoulder from Yamamoto Takeshi made him reconsider. He took a breath, and looked at Takahira.

"Can you show me where he disappeared?"

Takahira nodded nervously.

He wasn't surprised to find that that the other classmates (around ten of them) also had also decided to join them. They were curious, he supposed. Sasagawa Ryohei and his sister, Chrome Dokuro, the unknown man with the spear and a few other students weren't there, having left soon after having finished breakfast. He was surprised at the arrival of Hibari Kyoya, though.

"What are you doing here, Hibari?" Gokudera demanded, but Takahira could see how the other didn't exactly seem to mind the prefect's presence.

"He is a student of Namimori Middle." Hibari replied, as if that was enough of an answer. It actually was.

Takahira led them to the corridor where Tsuna had disappeared, watching mutely as Gokudera Hayato stared at the floor, a subtle frown on his face.

A sudden "AHA!" had him flinching.

"You sensed him?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yeah!" Gokudera said excitedly, and Takahira just stared.

Fine. Okay, yes, he knew that Gokudera respected Dame-Tsuna to the point of worshipping the weak-willed male, but sensing? That was plain creepy.

"Great! Where is he?" Yamamoto asked urgently.

What was a bit disturbing was that Yamamoto did not seem to find Gokudera's… talent to exceed even the best stalker even a bit disturbing.

"Downstairs!" Gokudera declared, and rushed towards the mentioned area via three flights of stairs.

Takahira watched, trying not to twitch, as the silver haired teenager tracked down Dame-Tsuna in a very dog-like manner, except that sniffing wasn't involved. Hibari followed them impassively, while the guys (including Takahira and Arashi) were snickering at Gokudera, and if the boy in question was bothered by that, he was doing a good job of pretending not to. The girls, on the other hand, were finding the silver haired male 'adorable' and Takahira had to wonder what the hell was wrong with people.

They stood, fifteen minutes later, staring at a wall.

Gokudera frowned, "He… he's there."

Ymamoto frowned, too, "I can't see a door. There is no entrance, 'Dera. It's simply a wall. Maybe you were wrong—"

"Hell no! This is the Tenth, and you know I've never been wrong about that!"

Yamamoto laughed and waved his hand in a pacifying gesture, "Calm down—"

"Tenth's there—!"

"He's obviously not, Gokudera-kun. Stop kidding," Arashi spoke up, annoyed, "We came all the way here in search of him, but he's not there. Get that across your head, why don't you?"

"You bastard! You don't know anything—"

"Move."

Hibari's voice was cold, sharp and clear. Gokudera and Yamamoto, experts that they were, moved away from the front of the wall and, milliseconds later, a chain broke through cement, leaving dust and a broken wall in its wake.

When the wall on the other side of the supposed secret training room gave away, Tsuna was in the middle of digging his foot into Xanxus' torso. The distraction allowed Xanxus to effectively block the hit, clasping onto the boy's ankle, sending him flying towards the ground. Xanxus landed and sent him a disdainful glare.

"First of all," the man spoke in Italian, "never ever get distracted in a fight. How the hell you've even survived this long is still a mystery to me since you evidently seem to be unaware of such a simple fact."

Tsuna knew what the other had said, but didn't reply. Through the suspended dust particles, he could vaguely make out the silhouette of Hibari. He could hear coughs, too. Many coughs. Evidently belonging to different people.

Garh. You're kidding me.

Barely thinking, he allowed his Hyper Dying Will Mode to recede, the fire on his forehead sizzling out of existence as he scrambled up and expertly hid behind Xanxus.

Xanxus glared, "What the hell are you—"

"Erm. Um, hide me…?"

Xanxus looked just about ready to murder him, but Hibari's voice broke in.

"Is the omnivore here?"

Xanxus glanced back at Tsuna, who shook his head meekly.

"He's not." Xanxus replied.

Tsuna stared at the man, incredulous, because for him to…

Well. This was good, he supposed. Xanxus might have scared him, but he still liked the man.

There was a pause of disbelief.

"TENTH!"

"Tsuna!"

"He's not here, herbivores."

"But—"

"Get the fuck out." Xanxus ordered, "Now."

There was another pause, during which Tsuna figured that they were occupying themselves in a glaring competition. Xanxus seemed to win, judging by the sound of shuffling feet. A whirring noise followed, and when Xanxus finally moved, the wall was miraculously repaired. That, he guessed, explained the whirring.

"Thank you—"

"Did you just take me as your shield?" Xanxus' voice was low, dangerous.

Tsuna blinked, "What—? NO! I'd never—"

"Trash."

Xanxus set his liger on him.

So, how's it? I am making this a family fic, which is why the whole conversation between Mukuro and Tsuna takes place. The ending may have been a bit rushed, but I its 3 in the morning and... yeah. Not even had coffee.

Reviews are needed for my, and therefore this fic's, survival!