Recap
Tsuna, Donato Cavallone, and Atsuka Menta follow the thugs who were beating up civilians in Namimori and planned to do something about it. Instead, they witness the Vognola's Cloud Guardian finishing the job. When the three friends approach the unconscious men, they find out that the thugs belonged to the Puniamo Family. Tsuna panics, thinking that they were after him (since he injured one of their members before and they swore vengeance), while Donato tries to beat up the thugs for a reason unknown to Tsuna. Two years later, Donato leaves Namimori for Italy, giving Tsuna a warning to stay away from their friend, Atsuka...
Chapter 12
~EO!~
"Is this why Tsuna was sent to Earth?" Yamamoto asked, pointing at Dino, who was talking to his terrified son.
Chrome pursed her lips. "But he's not in Italy right now. He's in Japan, where it's still safe."
Yamamoto zeroed in on Namimori and winced at what he saw. He laughed nervously and pointed. "It looks like that's about to change…what's that noise?"
Chrome stood up and tilted her head to catch the sound. It was a calm day with only a little wind to carry the…sound of voices. She gave the clear blue sky a once over and walked away from the edge to look down on the lower levels of the Elgan Order.
She saw a gathering of angels yammering away in frustrated and indignant tones. "Hayato started a fight with someone."
"What? Really? He hasn't even been back for a day!" Yamamoto looked down and sure enough, Gokudera was confronting an angel that neither of them knew.
Yamamoto and Chrome glided down to Gokudera and tried to pull him off the bigger angel.
"Hayato, you're going to kill him!"
"You can't die in the Elgan Order unless you choose to," Gokudera snarled. "You can only experience immense pain and—"
Yamamoto laughed as Gokudera started to shout facts while trying to elbow his friends off of him. I missed this. He approached again and with Chrome's help, separated the two angels. "Maa, maa…"
"What's wrong with that brat? I was just telling the truth," the angel on the ground said with a scowl. He sat with with a groan, clutching his stomach and nursing his jaw at the same time.
"'That brat' is a hundred years older than you," Chrome pointed out.
Gokudera brushed off her hand and straightened his clothes. "Byakuran's a jerk, but he fulfills his responsibilities as an archangel," he spat out. "You weren't here when the previous archangel was alive. I was, and I can tell you that Byakuran is doing a hell of a lot better than she was."
The other angel looked hesitant to believe Gokudera because of Gokudera's child-like size, but he walked away without another word of protest.
"Tch."
Yamamoto exhaled. "What was that about?" The angels who were watching backed away and continued their own whispered conversations. From the words he heard in all the groups, Yamamoto had an idea of what it was about, but he couldn't believe it.
"Someone is spreading rumours to discredit Byakuran. They question his rule over us because Byakuran still hasn't found the angel who killed the Advisor."
Chrome frowned. "But the Investigator is in charge of finding the murderer."
"If they can blame him for something, they'll blame him. Causing unease now is only helping the Fallen Angels."
"You'd think angels would know better than to spread rumours like that," Yamamoto said with a sigh. Suddenly, his eyes widened. Angels should know better. Every angel knows what could happen if they weren't united. He looked at Gokudera and Chrome, seeing in their grim expressions that they understood what it meant as well.
They had a traitor.
~EO!~
Tsuna heaved out a sigh and sagged his shoulders the moment he shut the door to Vongola's safe house. The week was finally over and he didn't have to go back to school until after the break.
Not, Tsuna thought, that it's hard.
None of the subjects gave him any trouble but there was just something about every class that made him tired. He didn't notice it at first, when his homeroom teacher started the lesson, but as the day wore on, he felt increasingly twitchy. He kept having that knowing feeling, when he knew something but couldn't say it. It kept him on edge the entire day, even when he was trying to relax with Atsuka, his only best friend, now that Donato left.
Turning on the lights and kicking off his shoes, Tsuna went to the kitchen to find something to eat while he worked through his homework. It was almost instinctive now to get the work done as soon as possible, even if the assignment wasn't due until a ways off—if he didn't, that anxious feeling wouldn't go away. As if something was glaring at him, daring him to procrastinate.
Just as he was putting aside his Japanese literature to start working on math, something slammed into his front door.
Tsuna nearly fell out of his chair and was saved only by his reflexes. He clutched the back of his seat, pencil still in his hand while his other gripped the table's edge. Then came the ferocious ringing of the doorbell and frantic pounding on the door.
He approached the door as though a wild beast was lying in wait on the other side.
"Wh-Who is it?" Tsuna stuttered into the intercom.
"TSUNA, OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE!"
Tsuna's pencil clattered to the floor. He slammed his palm onto the buttons to disengage the security—Atsuka fell in and crawled away from the door faster than he could blink.
The moment she was through, Tsuna slammed the door shut and engaged every security measure he could. All the lights in the house turned off and a series of clicks echoed as locks for all doors and windows were engaged. Then an unfamiliar hiss ran through the house as the ventilation from outside closed off and artificial air spat out of the vents in quiet reassurance.
The house was completely silent save for Atsuka's ragged breathing and Tsuna's phone, which had started to ring the minute he activated the lockdown procedure. He raced to the kitchen and fumbled with his bag to find the phone. He found the glaring screen and answered the call.
"Hello," Vongola's Rain Guardian said when Tsuna answered the phone. He spoke with a flat voice, void of all emotion.
"I-I'm okay." Tsuna stumbled back to the hallway where he could still hear Atsuka's breathing. He tripped once and landed next to her. She let out a hiss.
"…Someone's with you."
"That's my friend! I don't know what's going on but it sounded like an emergency. I'm sorry…"
There was a pause and then a laugh which put Tsuna at ease almost instantly. "No, no! It's fine! You did the right thing. I worried for a moment that someone might've taken you hostage. Are you both alright? You're uninjured? I can have someone there in minutes if you need help!"
"I think we're fine…" Tsuna trailed off as he heard shouting outside. Pressing his ear to the door, he concentrated on hearing what the angry voices were saying.
"Azzurra Menta, where the hell did you hide? Show yourself! I'll have my revenge if it's—"
"Shut up. Do you want the entire neighbourhood to hear you?"
Tsuna gripped the phone tighter and looked at Atsuka. With his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw her outline but still nothing that told him if she needed medical attention. "Atsuka, are you hurt?"
She gasped and took in another breath. She weakly hit Tsuna's leg with her hand and repeated the gesture. Ignoring the Rain Guardian's voice for a moment, he tilted the phone so he could use its flashlight to shine it on her.
The first thing he saw was a smear of blood on the floor.
"What the..." Tsuna left the phone on the floor and scrambled for the light switch.
There was blood trailing down the right side of her face, though as head wounds went, it didn't look too serious. One eye was closed while her other looked at him in shock. Her white uniform was stained with dirt and blood while her knees were bleeding from various cuts. Her left sleeve was in shreds. "What happened?!"
Atsuka shook her head. "It's not as bad as it looks."
"C-Can you stand?" Tsuna asked and reached for her uninjured arm. She leaned all her weight on Tsuna and let him guide her to the kitchen where he could help with the wounds. He pushed his homework to the other end of the table and helped lower her onto his chair. Then he heard his phone ring.
"Ahh!" Tsuna groaned and ran to pick up his phone. "Sorry! She's hurt!"
"How badly?!"
"She could walk," Tsuna said and started to move. "I don't think it's too bad."
"Do you remember everything we taught you about first aid?"
"Yes!"
"Okay…call me again when she's bandaged up. You'd better hurry to her."
"Right," Tsuna said. He hung up and looked at Atsuka in bewilderment. "Do you want some water?" he asked and went to fill her a glass before she could answer. He set it on the table and took out the first aid kit that he found on his first day.
Atsuka yelped as Tsuna cleaned her wounds and she accidentally kneed his chin. She apologized profusely while Tsuna brushed it off with a grimace.
"Okay, that's done," Tsuna muttered to himself. He felt calmer after seeing that it really wasn't as bad as it looked in the hallway. "It doesn't look like you'll need stitches…"
Atsuka drank the water and wiped the blood from her face with a cloth. "Thanks."
"Will you tell me what's going on?" Tsuna kept his eyes on her arm as he asked the question, not sure if he wanted to read the expressions on her face. She didn't answer him and he continued to bandage the arm. A few minutes later, he moved to her knees and glanced at her from under his bangs. He stopped, looked at her fully, and sighed. "You fell asleep!?"
Her eyes were closed and her breathing evened out, as breathing was prone to do when one slept. He finished taping the last bandage and carefully, keeping the struggle to a minimum, dragged her into the living room to lay her on the couch. He pulled a blanket over her and entered his own room, where he finally let himself panic.
...
"Do you know how long it took to find you?" the red haired man asked.
A blonde stepped out from the trees behind her, effectively trapping her on the secluded playground. The nearest house was within screaming distance, but she didn't think that they would give her the chance to call for help.
"Who are you?"
"You know who we are, Menta. We're your allies."
"We used to be allies," Blonde corrected. "Now we're back for revenge. Betraying us to side with the Vongola wasn't a good move, Menta."
"I had nothing to do with it!"
"Your father did, didn't he? He was the one who gave us up. Why would the Vongola take in a family of traitors?"
"We never wanted to do business with you!" she said through gritted teeth. "You forced us to do every single thing that we regretted. My family was a mess because of your meddling. If anyone should be taking revenge, it's me."
"Big words for a small girl," Red remarked.
"You know who we are and you know exactly what we do to those who cross us or go against us," Blonde said. "We punish them."
"Is that why you're here? You've been beating up the civilians!"
"Of course. You're the resident Mafia family in the area. This is Vongola territory, isn't it? They allowed your family to live in it and they clearly hoped that you might protect the people living here. What will they think when you can't even stop a single gang from hurting them?"
"Enough," Red said. "We've decided that we won't beat up any more civilians. That idea is taking too long to hurt the Menta. Instead, we're skipping all the way to the top."
"So be nice and come with us…Azzurra Menta."
"As if!" she yelled and threw her bag at Blonde. While he was blinded by the items spilling from her bag, she ran past him.
But she wasn't fast enough. His box weapon was already out. He had metal claws attached to both hands and he used one of them to swipe at her as she tried to escape.
With a gasp, her steps faltered but she continued to run while she put her own ring on a finger. Red flames immediately coated the ring. When she pressed it into her box weapon, nothing happened. Confused, she tried again.
Nothing.
She ran down the endless street, the signs blurred until she couldn't see them—couldn't see anything except the road ahead.
Red and Blonde were still after her, shooting flames at her, not even caring if anyone heard.
The sun was setting. It was late enough that everyone was already indoors.
She tripped. Got back up.
An animal covered in storm flames pounced on her and hissed. She shrieked. It bit. Using her hands, she ripped it off and threw it behind her back.
Suddenly, she knew where she was.
She had to run faster.
Almost there.
She was almost there.
So close.
Tsuna was only a few houses away. She could see the light through the kitchen window.
Strong arms grabbed her from behind. They had caught her. There was no escape. No way to get help—
...
Atsuka flung herself off the couch with a scream lodged in her throat.
She stared at the digital clock on the wall, the colon blinking sleepily back at her as though wondering why she was awake.
06:55. SAT.
For a frightening moment, she didn't know where she was. Did they actually kidnap her? She looked around in the dim morning light and noticed the table next to her. On it was a biology textbook that had a small piece of the top left corner ripped off. She relaxed. A year ago, Donato had accidentally burnt Tsuna's textbook when they were in home economics. Then he figured that the only way to save the book was to chop the burning corner off. She had laughed her head off at the scene.
"Ughhh…" Atsuka rested her forehead on her knees.
A door on the second floor opened and she heard shuffling footsteps come down the stairs. Thirty seconds later, she saw Tsuna dressed in blue pajamas walk into the living room while covering a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Good morning…"
"Good morning, Tsuna."
Tsuna nodded and teetered toward the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway and turned back around to give her another look. His eyebrows scrunched together and his mouth opened in question. "Wait…why are you in my—" Then with dismay, Tsuna remembered last night's events. "You were being chased by those bad guys!"
Atsuka's mouth twitched upward. Trust Tsuna to lift the mood with his absentmindedness. "Uh huh."
Tsuna hurried to sit down across the coffee table from Atsuka and studied her critically. "You look better than last night. You nearly gave me a heart attack when you came in covered with blood!"
"Now you're exaggerating…"
Tsuna shook his head and gave her a worried frown. "Atsuka…what's going on?"
She hesitated and fought with her instinct to lie. She didn't really have to lie to her friends about being in the Mafia. Actually, she only ever avoided the conversation when Tsuna was around since she didn't want him running away from her like the friends she had as a child.
Then Tsuna's stomach let out a loud growl.
Atsuka snorted out a laugh at the sudden sound that brought her out of her thoughts. This was Tsuna. Tsuna, who helped her and Donato find out who was behind the attacks in Namimori. That could have gone bad very quickly...and yet he stayed with them.
He wasn't like her old friends.
This was Tsuna.
"I could tell you, but you have to promise to not let anyone know," Atsuka started.
Tsuna sat up and nodded. "I won't tell. I promise."
"It's not like…a big secret or anything…okay, I guess it is. It'll cause some pretty big uh…issues if it got out. Anyway…I'm…gosh, how do I say this?"
"I'm…?" Tsuna started with a shrug. "You are…what?"
"...part...of…the…Mafia…?"
She watched Tsuna carefully after she said that, a small smile touching her lips. She bit it back to stop it from developing into a full grin when she saw Tsuna's face turn from patient to confusion to a slow shock.
Then to her disappointment, he became dubious. "What? You're in the Mafia?!"
"I'm not joking!"
Tsuna's expression turned to horror. "Seriously?"
Atsuka nodded twice.
"Oh." Tsuna leaned back and just stared at her. Just stared while slowly shaking his head. "I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming."
She prodded him with a finger to his shoulder. "Is it that bad?"
H-How am I supposed to answer that?! Tsuna thought. If I say it's bad, she'd probably think I don't want to be friends with her anymore. Besides, I can't say it's bad because I'm involved, too. I'd be a hypocrite. But being part of the Mafia is bad!
Tsuna groaned and rubbed his head quickly. "Okay, it's…surprising! It's surprising! I just wasn't expecting it…" Tsuna said with a weak laugh. "Does Donato know?"
Atsuka winced. "I didn't…tell him that my family is in the Mafia."
Tsuna was slowly nodding his head and looked at his hands thoughtfully. "Are you hungry?"
The question came entirely out of nowhere. "What?"
"Sure, it's super early and it's a Saturday, but we're up, so we might as well eat. What do you want? I have eggs, rice, and some things left from last night…"
Atsuka followed Tsuna into the kitchen and little by little, let herself relax when he didn't show any signs of avoiding her. They pieced together a meal and started to eat. Between mouthfuls, Atsuka told him a few things about her life before Nami-chuu. By the time they were finished, she had started to tell him what happened to her last night.
"After we finished clean up, I went home my usual route but two guys stopped me. They…accused my family for betraying them. But we never wanted to have a partnership with them in the first place! It was forced on us. When this big shot family offered us a chance to escape, we took it. We joined them and their allies, severing all ties with the Puniamo." Atsuka frowned. "But some of our members are still influenced by Puniamo ideas so there were some...problems for the years after. They kidnapped one of our mutual allies' son. I don't know a lot of the details, since I was only around six when it happened."
"That's why they're attacking the citizens," Tsuna murmured. "Now we know. Why didn't you tell us after we found out that the attackers were part of the Puniamo Family?"
"I didn't know that they were here for me," Atsuka protested. "It could have been a whole lot of other reasons. They're enemies with our new allies, remember?"
"Right, sorry," Tsuna said, inwardly swearing. So they're not here for me, but they're here for one of my friends. What am I, cursed to be connected to the Mafia wherever I go?
"I'll help with cleaning up, since you did most of the cooking," Atsuka said.
"No, I'll do it! You might get the injuries wet."
"A bit of water won't hurt. It's really just a scratch. I'll just find someone with Sun flames heal me later."
Sun flames… Tsuna stared at his hands again before balling them into fists. I wish I had Sun flames. Or any flame, at this point.
The water tap turned on and Atsuka started the wash. Donato was right about some things. She's definitely mixed in with dangerous people.
~EO!~
"Ami?"
"No, that girl's too docile."
"That George, from the New York region?"
"He's still on his mission so there's no way he could be the spy."
"What about Katsuro?"
"That wimp?" Gokudera snorted. "He flinches whenever he hears Kyoya's or Mukuro's name. Unless he suddenly grew a spine while I was gone, there's no way he would risk the punishment that comes with betraying us."
"I didn't think you knew him," Yamamoto said. "After all, you don't really pay attention to those you consider weak."
"Then why'd you suggest his name?" Gokudera demanded.
Chrome laughed. "You did say every angel we knew."
Gokudera grumbled under his breath and scowled, though his chubby cheeks made it look more like a pout.
"We've named all the angels that we know," Chrome said. "There might be some new ones and some very old ones that we missed."
"None of them sound promising as a spy…" Gokudera muttered. "But they could be really good at faking it. Who could it be?"
"Do you think they're also the ones who murdered the Advisor?" Yamamoto whispered.
"The Investigator said that the one who did it used their Angel Dust, right? One angel's Angel Dust is only poisonous to a few specific angels. Like how Boss's Angel Dust is Kyoya's and Mukuro's weakness. If only the stubborn old fool would tell us more, we might have a better idea," Gokudera said.
"It's not like the Investigator's going to give it to a bunch of young angels," Chrome said.
"Kufufufufufu… He won't be giving it to anyone."
Gokudera's head snapped up all the way to see Mukuro standing behind him. He scowled. "What do you want, Pineapple Head?"
Mukuro scowled. "Why are you calling me that?"
Gokudera smirked, his big emerald eyes twinkling. "I read in the files that it pisses you off. It's true, isn't it?"
Seeing the twitch in Mukuro's hand, Chrome figured that he was going to reach for a weapon soon. "Mukuro-kun," she said and forced herself between the two boys.
Mukuro shifted to give her more space but he continued to glare at Gokudera past her shoulder.
"What do you mean, the Investigator won't be giving anyone any information?" Yamamoto asked.
"Kufufufufufufufufufu…"
"Spit it out!"
"He's dead."
"What?" Yamamoto and Gokudera said.
"The Investigator was killed earlier."
"And you tell us this now?" Gokudera demanded. "Why didn't you contact us the moment you knew?"
"I was trying to find out more first."
"What did you find?" Chrome asked.
Mukuro frowned. "Not much. Byakuran had it closed off as soon as he was alerted to it. He's trying to control the crowd right now."
Yamamoto looked toward the direction he sensed a large gathering of angels. "Is it that bad?"
Mukuro also turned to face that direction and hummed. "I left before it got that big. Maybe there's a riot now."
"A riot? Angels don't riot," Gokudera said.
"Kufufufufu…Apparently, angels do riot," Mukuro said. "Whoops." He dodged to the side as an angel was thrown in the air, headed straight for him. He kicked the angel away.
Angels were taking sides and fighting one another. In fear and in pure panic, they were attacking each other, not caring if the other person didn't want to be involved. Chrome had to duck as an angel fell toward her. She wondered out loud, "Why are they acting so panicked? Is it because of the rumours that were spread around?"
"Hey, stop that!" Yamamoto shouted and broke up a fight between two angels. He hit them over the head and carefully lowered them to the ground. He made his way to the centre, where most of the trouble and Byakuran were. The archangel in question stood quietly among the crowd, observing the mess with cool, critical eyes and a firm mouth.
He was waiting to see what would happen.
Yamamoto glared at him. It's not going to suddenly end on its own! Is he trying to figure out how each angel reacts to a riot? That's not worth it!
An angel who was about to attack Yamamoto was knocked away by Gokudera.
"Thanks!"
"Tch. Pay more attention, idiot!" Unlike his friend, Gokudera didn't care where the angels landed. After all, they wouldn't die. So he punched, kicked, jabbed, and elbowed angels until he created a wide circle around himself. Then he threw himself into the fray again. A stray fist would hit him but he would roll with it and deliver a heavier blow on the angel. At times, he saw Chrome's grim expression in the crowd or Mukuro's wicked grin. He fought back to back with Yamamoto for the last stretch, when Byakuran finally decided it was going too far.
The archangel flew higher in the air, dislodging those who clung to him. He started to glow until everyone had to shield their eyes or look away. "That is enough," Byakuran said. His tone was low and froze all of them in place.
Slowly, every angel was forced to land. Byakuran's presence increased until the pressure made a few buckle under the weight.
"I won't tolerate this again," Byakuran said softly. "From anyone." His eyes bore into each of theirs and promised pain and misery if they disobeyed him. None wondered at why he allowed it in the first place. "Do you understand?"
When the echo of his voice died, the angels whispered.
"Yes."
~EO!~
A/N: Hello, hello! I hope you guys are all ready for a new school year, if you're still in school. Thanks for reading!
Who's ready to meet Reborn!? (I might've mentioned that I wasn't going to include canon Reborn, which still stands. AU's Reborn, however, somehow made his way into the next chapter without telling me)
Updated 2016-09-05th
-LLM
