~.~.~

Title: Vigilante Tendency

Summary: In which the mafia is very confused. They default to the two usual reactions: assassins and denial.

Notes: Edited 6/24/2014. A guest suggested changes to the Chinese. I decided to still go with "ni hao" just because it's more recognizable to more readers.

~.~.~

And then there were assassins.

In Namimori.

~.~.~

Naturally, their escapades in Mafia Land and Shoichi's online adventures after their return couldn't go without consequence.

No one was quite sure what was happening or who was responsible, but there were definitely waves being made.

Tomaso and their robot army - Robot army? Really? Why, Spanner, why? - had turned England upside down, and the greater mafia community was watching with unease, certain it was only a matter of time before things spilled over across the channel.

The Difo had been bankrupted, crippling them possibly beyond recovery and forming a massive power vacuum in Asia.

Japan itself had always been somewhat off the mafia's radar, but what had been an empty space now appeared to be an unknown threat.

Who was causing all this? Was it some kind of new group? A mafia family? A yakuza gang? The leader was supposedly just a kid, or maybe that was just a decoy? Mafia Land, with its strict policy of neutrality, refused to provide any security footage of this mystery group or a list of the members who had visited.

Whatever they were doing and whoever they were, the mafia and the criminal underworld at large couldn't allow this kind of... unrest.

So despite having no leads and little in the way of concrete information, foreign assassins quickly began to appear all across Japan, and some inevitably found their way to Namimori.

There, they met a dead end - or rather, they met a dead end and then they met Hibari, who put a different kind of end to their search.

~.~.~

But actually, life kind of went on like always.

Being internationally wanted - confirmed by Fuuta to be number one on the mafia's list, to Tsuna's horror - didn't change much of anything. Hibari's biting people schedule now included accosting suspicious foreigners, and Shoichi started monitoring those entering Japan a little more closely, but that was really all.

Except, of course, when assassins ended up on their doorstep... and refused to leave.

~.~.~

"Tsuna-san!" Haru called out, bursting into the Momokyokai building. "Tsuna-san, I need your help!"

She was dragging a little girl along by the arm. Given Haru's deep love of children and meddling nature, this was not the first time. Of course, neither the Committee nor Momokyokai had any objection to helping kids in tough situations, so it all worked out in the end.

However, this little girl was putting up quite a fight. As the two of them passed the doorway, she managed to grab onto the edge and held on hard enough to put a dent in the wall. Nonetheless, Haru managed to pry her away and haul her inside. Haru was practically an unstoppable force where the well being of children was concerned.

"Hi, Haru," Tsuna said, not even surprised anymore. "What's up?"

"I found her wandering around town, all by herself!" Haru told him. In Haru's book, that was a capital offense. "But she won't tell me anything about her parents or guardians!"

The little girl frowned, looking between them.

"I-pin, work now," she protested.

'Huh?' Tsuna thought.

"Hahi! You're just a little girl! What kind of work are you doing?" Haru demanded.

"Need find person," I-pin replied. "Goal."

She and Haru stared at each other stubbornly. Tsuna sighed.

"So who are you looking for?" he asked, kneeling in front of I-pin.

"Bad men," I-pin said, thinking for a moment. Giving up on Japanese, she instead added something in Mandarin.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"You know, I think we better go get Hibari-san," Tsuna said, pragmatically.

~.~.~

The moment she set eyes on Hibari, I-pin turned bright red and attached herself to Tsuna's leg. The moment Hibari set eyes on I-pin, his expression turned thunderous and he stormed off, already pulling out his cellphone. Tsuna knew for a fact this was not the first time a girl had developed an ill-advised crush on him, so he had to wonder why this particular crush was apparently so problematic.

It was not, in fact, the crush that was the problem. It was the red uniform. Hibari had immediately recognized it. He expressed his displeasure in rapid fire Mandarin, to whoever was on the other end of the line.

Well, going by Tsuna's extensive experience reading Hibari's tone - because trying to understand Hibari's special dialect of animal-themed metaphors was unreliable at best - Hibari first snapped a question and an accusation. The answer he received did not make him the least bit happy, and he proceeded to lecture, with a side of demarcating his territory - Tsuna would recognize that particular posture anywhere.

Finally, Hibari stormed back over and held the phone out to I-pin. When I-pin clung to Tsuna even tighter, he held the phone out to his erstwhile leader instead, who passed it down to I-pin.

"Ni hao?" I-pin trilled. "Ah, Sifu!"

As she listened intently to whoever was on the other end of the line, Tsuna looked to Hibari for an explanation. He didn't receive one.

(The explanation was thus: Hibari easily recognized the uniform used by that man to whom he does not acknowledge relations and correctly deduced that I-pin was his student. He initially contacted that man to chew him out for allowing his... herd to invade Hibari's territory, assuming there was some herbivorous plot in the works, something like "bonding" or "building family relations," only to be informed that the girl was acting as an independent assassin now. Hibari had then chewed out that man for not keeping track of his herd properly and ordered him to order his student to stand down, or else Hibari would make her.)

(Fon wisely did so.)

Acknowledging her master's orders, I-pin bid him goodbye and handed the phone back to Tsuna, who handed it back to Hibari.

"About the person you're looking for..." Tsuna said.

"No need," I-pin responded. "Sifu say not do."

"Then, let's get some lunch," Haru said, "and then we'll help you get where you need to go."

I-pin began to demure, but her stomach growled at that moment.

"Okay," Tsuna said, feeling like he was on familiar ground again. "You're in luck. I think Kyoko's cooking something today..."

~.~.~

Kyoko was indeed cooking, as evidenced by the Momokyokai members crowding just outside the kitchen, attracted by the delicious scents wafting out into the rest of the headquarters.

Kyoko's cooking was almost legendary, and even though Hibari had made it abundantly clear that it belonged only to the Committee - coupled with Tsuna's best guilt trip about how having to cook for the entire Momokyokai, because she would, being such a kind person, would be a terrible burden on her, and they didn't want that, now did they - that didn't stop the former yakuza from begging for scraps every time.

No, really. Once, Tsuna had volunteered to wash the dishes, only to find the pots all licked clean and the plates yanked out of his hands to experience the same.

"Oh, a new face?" Kyoko said agreeably. "Today we're having curry. It's a special recipe!"

Tsuna noticed that the two plates she set out for Haru and I-pin were a little different in color from the ones she gave to him and Hibari, but the rumbling of his stomach distracted him. If it was from Kyoko-chan, it had to be delicious anyway, right?

Holding a pitcher of water in her hands, Kyoko watched them dig in with a beatific smile.

"Delicious as always, Kyoko-chan!" Haru praised, blushing a little in happiness.

"Yum!" I-pin added, munching cheerfully, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.

Kyoko nodded along, her smile unwavering.

Tsuna and Hibari had gone stone still. Finally, Tsuna let out a choked sound. Beside him, Hibari slowly toppled over, having gone simultaneously red and pale in the face.

"How is it, Tsuna-kun?" Kyoko asked, beaming. "My special 'Tell the Truth or Feel Your Mouth Burn Forever' super-spicy recipe."

"W-w-w-water," Tsuna managed to force out, reaching one trembling hand toward her and the water pitcher she held.

"Recently, you and my brother have definitely been hiding something from me," Kyoko said, ignoring his suffering. "Ever since that vacation we took. All of you have been whispering together about something, but every time I try to ask about it, you or my brother butt in. Tsuna-kun... that makes me so sad..."

She sniffled a little, tears gathering in her eyes. Tsuna would have been moved to tears himself by the sight, except that he was already in tears and feeling like he was about to die.

Instead, Haru and I-pin patted her on the arm consolingly, all the while continuing to eat their non-murderously spicy curry.

"O...kay... I'll... tell," Tsuna chocked out. "But... w-w-water..."

"Promise?" Kyoko asked. "To never keep things from me again?"

Tsuna held up a trembling pinky, which Kyoko happily linked with hers.

"If you go back on it, I'll make a special 'Promise Breaker' thousand needle dish!" Kyoko promised cheerfully.

Snatching the pitcher from her arms, Tsuna all but upended it on his head.

~.~.~

Hibari refused to go anywhere near Kyoko after that. It seemed he was a bit weak to spicy foods. He kept muttering something about poisonous creatures.

In nature, the most attractive, brightly colored ones are the most dangerous, you see.

~.~.~

"By the way," Reborn said, pausing to take a sip of his espresso, "I heard from Bianchi that a lot of hitmen have been heading to Japan."

Iemitsu choked on his tea.

"Is that so? Who is the target?" Nono inquired mildly.

"I wouldn't know. This job is too low-caliber for me," Reborn said indifferently. Of course, if he was actually indifferent, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

The sadistic little troll loved to, well, troll Iemitsu.

"By the way, Iemitsu," Reborn said to the CEDEF leader, who was still coughing to clear his throat, "if it's too strong for you, you should go easy on the whiskey, especially so early in the day."

"I don't drink on the job," Iemitsu gritted out. "And where exactly in Japan are they heading?"

"I told you, I wouldn't know," Reborn said. "I only heard about it in passing from Bianchi. She wasn't too interested either, because the job's apparently heavy on research and stake outs. She likes fast-paced, flashy jobs better..."

Iemitsu paled at that. A lot of searching for the target, meaning the information was limited; in Japan; well-paid, given the large draw...

Could it be... the Young Lion's family?

"That sounds very interesting," Nono noted. Glancing at Iemitsu and smiling, he said, "Perhaps we should look into it."

Catching his meaning, Iemitsu's face split into a wide grin and he began to laugh uproariously. "Leave it to us! The CEDEF will handle it! I'll personally go undercover to investigate this on the scene!"

~.~.~

"I'm home!" Iemitsu called out boisterously, bursting into the house.

There was no reply, but he didn't let that deter him.

"Nana! Tsuna! Papa's home~!" he sang, waltzing into the living room.

The living room was full of floating things - the couch pillows, the vase, the remote, the framed photos, all spinning in a slow, majestic circle near the ceiling.

Iemitsu had two thoughts.

'There's a kid I don't know in our living room,' was the first. He was absolutely sure that wasn't Tsuna. Tsuna was the same age as Basil, and a few years older than the boy sitting on the floor, in front of a large book.

'Wait, I do know that kid,' was the second. Indeed, it was Fuuta de la Stella, the Ranking Prince.

Iemitsu nodded to himself, feeling as if a great mystery had been solved. That also explained the mysteriously floating items.

But... what was the Ranking Prince doing in their living room?

"...7th for freshest produce in Namimori," Fuuta was muttering to himself as he looked through several sheets of advertisements about upcoming sales. He paused to make a note in his ranking book. "Huh," he muttered in surprise, "Sawada Iemitsu... 32nd most likely mafioso to miss something obvious..."

It seemed Iemitsu had inadvertently stepped into Fuuta's ranking field.

"Yo!" Iemitsu said brightly, holding up one hand in greeting. This... this was going to be tough. Fuuta could probably easily tell exactly who Iemitsu was, and if he blurted it out to Nana...

Closing his eyes, Fuuta breathed out slowly - a technique he had been practicing to gradually close off his connection to the Ranking Planet. Now that he was living with Mama and Tsuna-nii, he wanted to avoid causing trouble as much as possible, and that included not accidentally destroying things by letting them just fall after they floated up during a ranking.

The couch pillows and assorted other objects gently descended, lying scattered across the living room, and Fuuta moved to pick them up. Putting on his best impression of Tsuna's polite "manners or else" look, he handed one of the photos to Iemitsu to put back on its shelf.

Looking down at the photo, Iemitsu saw that it was actually of him and Nana at their wedding.

"By the way, Mr. Young Lion, I need a new book," Fuuta told him, eyes wide and innocent. "And pens. Could you get me some?"

And that was how Iemitsu found himself being blackmailed by a grade schooler.

~.~.~

"Mom, there's a bum on our couch!" Tsuna announced, when he returned that evening. 'And I didn't bring him here,' he added mentally.

It wouldn't have been the first time Tsuna brought someone over to their house - look at Fuuta, who had come for dinner and then just sort of stayed. But Tsuna definitely hadn't invited this guy over, having spent the entire afternoon helping mount a new sign on a small shop downtown after the owner had broken his leg trying to do it himself.

Nana laughed cheerfully in the kitchen. "Oh, Tsu-kun, that's your papa! He's not a bum!"

Tsuna looked down at the man, in only boxers and a tank top, snoring and surrounded by empty beer bottles. "Could've fooled me," Tsuna muttered.

Though... he was an awfully well-paid bum. After all, Tsuna couldn't remember his family ever being short on money, even if they didn't live extravagantly.

Sighing, Tsuna went to get a glass of water. Whether he would give it to the man or empty it on his head remained to be determined.

~.~.~

"And that's why I'll be staying here at the base for a while," Tsuna concluded.

"We'll set up a room for you right away, Leader," said the Momokyokai boss, whose name Tsuna could never remember and who would eternally be Kumi-chou in his mind, after the kanji on his favorite coat.

"That's really not necessary," Tsuna said. "I can just use one of the spare ones."

They had plenty of spare rooms set up for anyone who wanted to spend the night, or a couple nights. I-pin had been only the latest in a series of strays taken in by the Peaceful Namimori Committee, and the little girl was still camping out just down the hall.

The Kumi-chou looked scandalized. Tsuna sighed and let him bark orders to his subordinates to "prepare the executive suite."

"Be careful dropping by the lab, Tsuna," Shoichi told him. "I'm kinda... in the middle of something." Here was another who had stayed overnight and just never really left. His family was apparently unconcerned by Shoichi's tendency to return once every two-three weeks, and only then to ask his mom to do laundry.

"Is this the same something you've been staying up all night to talk to Spanner about?" Tsuna asked. As always, the Momokyokai had no shame in tattling to Tsuna about anything that went on at headquarters, including the fact that Shoichi had not really left his workshop for over a week. "Does it have to do with Fuuta's making things float trick?"

Kyoko had also mentioned that, when she went to give Shoichi his meals, she heard him muttering about hovercars and power-to-weight ratios.

"...Maybe?" Shoichi said. "It's fine, don't worry. I turned in my homework for the next month in advance."

Tsuna couldn't help shooting Shoichi a dirty look. His own marks were still firmly in the just above failing category.

"Leader, is this guy causing you trouble?" Kumi-chou asked, rubbing a finger over his scar thoughtfully. "We're happy to have you here," because it meant they were less likely to get bitten to death by HIbari for crowding or walking too loudly or smelling funny or being too herbivorous, "but Leader shouldn't be forced out of his own home. If you want, me and the boys could give him a talking to. Encourage him to head back to work real quick-like, you know?"

"I really don't know," Tsuna said blandly. "Please don't do that. There's really no need. He'll leave soon enough on his own. It's not like he ever sticks around for long."

Kumi-chou wiped away a tear - Tsuna sincerely hoped that was just an exaggerated gesture and not an actual tear - and murmured something about "Leader" and "gentle heart" and "truly a saint." Tsuna politely ignored him. It was better not to know.

"If you have time, perhaps we can go over this month's activity report," Kumi-chou said instead. "First off, Shin is putting together a group to help with Health and Sports Day. We were also thinking of having our own team..."

"Someone will need to go monitor them," Tsuna said. "Shin's always slipping back into bad habits. They might fall back on the usual 'fee' business..."

~.~.~

Being the head of the CEDEF for a reason, Iemitsu actually noticed even the first night when Tsuna didn't come home. But when he tried to sneak off in the middle of the night to look for his son, Iemitsu almost stumbled over Fuuta, lying in wait by the stairs.

"Tsuna-nii is out with his friends," Fuuta said, yawning. "So don't bother him, okay, Outside Adviser-san?"

Outmaneuvered by a kid in his pajamas, Iemitsu skulked back to his wife and their nice warm bed. He ruminated over what to do for several days. After all, he couldn't just say, "Tsuna, you can't stay over at a friend's house because I'm afraid you'll get attacked by foreign hitmen, because I'm in the mafia, you see. It all started with your great-great-great grandfather..."

Except that, five days in, Iemitsu realized that Tsuna hadn't slept at home for almost a week, and that... that wasn't normal, right?

He came to a conclusion.

"Darling, Tsuna is avoiding me!" Iemitsu sobbed.

It was the right conclusion, actually.

Nana patted his shoulder consolingly. But, he couldn't help but notice, she tellingly didn't deny it.

"Don't give up, dear," Nana said. "I'm sure he misses you in his heart. Tsu-kun just doesn't know how to reach out to you, that's all."

"Nana..." Iemitsu cried, grasping her hands in his. Then, his entire demeanor did a complete one-eighty. "Then we just need to bond! Yes, a manly activity to bring us closer! Fishing-"

~.~.~

"No," Tsuna cut him off, rather sharply, but then it was barely dawn. "That's illegal." He knew because Hibari had bitten to death several people for daring to cast lines in the river.

Iemitsu froze, like a jammed tape deck. "T-t-then how about... how about..."

Tsuna watched him stonily, and Iemitsu could feel himself breaking out in cold sweat. What did kids these days even like to do? What did Tsuna like to do? Iemitsu realized he had absolutely no idea. All Tsuna ever seemed interested in was hanging out with his friends...

"Why don't you introduce Papa to your friends, Tsu-kun?" Iemitsu blurted out.

Tsuna contemplated several responses. "No." "You're too embarrassing." "I barely slept last night because Shoichi somehow magnetized the entire building, or something, and all the furniture ended up on the ceiling." "No, really, explain to me what exactly your job is." "When are you leaving?" "Get out of our house."

Iemitsu looked pleading and amazingly pathetic. Tsuna desperately tried to turn his head away and not look, but that expression just seemed to follow him. In the end, he once again lived up to "number one least able to refuse a request."

"Don't call me Tsu-kun," Tsuna finally replied.

Iemitsu swept him up in a crushing bear hug.

~.~.~

But because Tsuna did have a nasty, vindictive streak deep down, and because he hadn't gotten enough sleep, so he wasn't thinking straight, he introduced his father to Hibari.

"If you disturb the peace in Namimori, I will bite you to death," were predictably the first words out of Hibari's mouth.

Iemitsu's grin didn't waver. "Thank you for looking after my little boy!" he declared instead, patting Tsuna energetically on the back. "Say, why don't we all-"

"I'm going back to patrolling," Hibari told Tsuna, ignoring Iemitsu. He paused for a moment, as if remembering something. "Another foreign fake-carnivore showed up last night. I dealt with them."

"Thanks," Tsuna said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. That was the third one that month.

"Wait," Iemitsu called out, suddenly serious. That surprising change in demeanor was probably the only thing that saved him from losing the hand he placed on Hibari's shoulder. "Do you... deal with strange foreigners a lot?"

"I protect the peace and order in Namimori," Hibari said blandly. "From anyone who disturbs it." His eyes narrowed, and he shrugged off Iemitsu's hand. Strangely, his response - and the implied threat - only seemed to put Iemitsu at ease.

After Hibari departed, Iemitsu asked, "Are all your friends like that, Tsuna?"

"No... Well, they're all pretty passionate about keeping the peace," Tsuna said. "And I guess they're all pretty strong too. Of course, Hibari-san is the strongest."

"That's good," Iemitsu said. Beaming, he repeated, "That's very good. I'm glad you have such good friends to look after you. They'll help you, if something happens..."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed, and he was about to ask what he meant. But Iemitsu suddenly ruffled his hair, grinning again.

"My Tsu-kun is all grown up!" he cooed. "Making your own family even! Good job, good job!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Tsuna protested, flailing. "And don't call me that!"

~.~.~

Iemitsu followed Tsuna around for a while longer, eventually meeting most of the Peaceful Namimori Committee.

If nothing else, Iemitsu was handy with the heavy lifting. Tsuna, rather petulantly, thought Hibari could have out-lifted him, but Hibari didn't believe in doing manual labor, so it was a moot point.

"So you kids do this all the time?" Iemitsu asked Takeshi as they helped carry a china cabinet.

"Oh yeah," Takeshi agreed cheerfully. "It's really fun. I used to be on the baseball team - I still love it! - but I just kind of drifted over to Tsuna's group instead. Everyone is so nice, and it's just really great."

Tsuyoshi struggled to keep a straight face when he served Iemitsu sushi later that day, since he was well aware of what his son was really up to, especially after Takeshi became so much more serious about his kendo.

Iemitsu remained blissfully unaware. He returned to Italy under the impression that Namimori was more peaceful than ever.

It was, admittedly, the correct impression, from a certain point of view.

"There's nothing to worry about!" Iemitsu reported cheerfully. Spending so much time with his family had put him in a wonderful mood. "Japan is totally safe! Namimori especially~ Why, there aren't even any yakuza around anymore!"

"And Tomaso's new ally?" Timoteo asked.

"Are we even sure they're not just bluffing?" Iemitsu said, smiling patronizingly at those rumor mongers. "We haven't seen anything produced by this ally of theirs. And the Difo... for all we know they just ran afoul with a hacker, or maybe it was an inside job, or maybe they even just mismanaged their budget. They might just be trying to shift attention away from themselves. Really, those idiots jumped the gun, putting out a bounty. They're all just chasing ghosts!"

A new family in Japan? Led by a child? What nonsense. Who would even believe something like that?

~.~.~

"This is getting ridiculous," Tsuna muttered as he dragged an unconscious body into the Momokyokai building.

"You're here! Great! I've got so much to tell you," Shoichi, who was holding the door open for him, declared with the manic energy of someone who had clearly not slept in several days. He didn't even glance down at the body, but then Shoichi also thought it was fine to call Tsuna at four in the morning, laugh maniacally, declare, "It's over! We're done!", laugh some more and then hang up before Tsuna could get a word in edgewise.

Naturally, Tsuna couldn't just go back to sleep after that - he knew his friends too well to hope that everything would still be in one piece if he waited until morning - and had no choice but to pull himself out of bed and head down to their base.

He supposed it all worked out, sort of, since he was able to catch a boy their age setting up explosives around the building. And tase him. And drag him inside before anyone noticed.

"We finally worked it out! We can make a prototype now!" Shoichi continued, completely off in his own world.

"Prototype for what? It better not be another robot..." Tsuna said, narrowing his eyes as he heaved the unconscious body onto one of the couches in the lobby. Judging by the way the strange boy was groaning, he wouldn't be unconscious much longer - an impressive recovery rate, even if Tsuna had used the taser's lowest setting.

"Hoverbikes!" Shoichi replied brightly. "We were going to do hovercars, but the weight to thrust ratio was science science science. Science science..."

At least, that's how it all sounded to Tsuna, who was failing science almost as thoroughly as he was failing math. For a moment, he could only let the ensuing technobabble wash over him. It was almost hypnotic in its meaningless (to Tsuna) flow.

The strange boy next to him groaned and opened his eyes. He stared blearily up at the ceiling, frowning faintly. It had to be terribly disorienting to wake up to Shoichi's science talk. Tsuna spared a moment of sympathy, but fortunately he didn't waste any more than that.

His sympathy was definitely misplaced. Their would-be saboteur and demolitionist sat up suddenly, an expression of dawning wonder on his face.

"That's brilliant!" he exclaimed, loudly and forcefully enough to make Shoichi pause in his lecture. He grasped Shoichi's hands in his own and stared at the Committee's inventor with a look of pure awe. "I would have never thought of science science, science!"

And Tsuna was lost again. He stared at the pair - Shoichi all but preening, the stranger nodding along with his explanations and adding his own enthusiastic comments - and shook his head. "Geeks," he muttered, and went to the kitchenette. Tea was no good at this time of day-night, but he could warm up some milk...

~.~.~

By the time he returned, they were still at it.

Tsuna insistently forced the cup of warm coffee milk substitute into Shoichi's hand, and when Shoichi took a breath to thank him, Tsuna seized the opportunity to interject.

"Shoichi, did you write down all your notes?" Tsuna asked.

"Mm-hm," Shoichi hummed, taking a sip of the warm milk-like substance. "I wrote everythin' an' sent it to Spanner..."

"Then you can pick up where you left off in the morning," Tsuna said firmly. "You can talk with..." Turning to their 'visitor,' he paused meaningfully.

"Gokudera Hayato," the strange boy replied automatically.

"With Gokudera when you wake up," Tsuna finished.

Shoichi hummed agreeably and settled down more comfortably on the couch. It was only moments before he nodded off, leaving Tsuna to rescue the still half-full cup from his grip and take off his glasses.

Turning to Gokudera, Tsuna smiled and handed him the other cup he had prepared. Gokudera accepted it, but only with a dubious look. Now that the euphoric thrill of science was wearing off, he seemed to finally realize his situation - captured by the people he had been trying to blow up, about to be interrogated.

"So what did want from us?" Tsuna asked, in lieu of asking why Gokudera had been trying to blow them up. "By the way, I'm Tsuna. I guess you could say I'm responsible for everyone here."

"Y-you?! But you're just a kid!" Gokudera protested.

"We're the same age," Tsuna muttered.

There was a terribly familiar look beginning to shine in Gokudera's eyes. "A kid like me..." he was muttering to himself. "And he was a kid too, but doing such amazing things. I see, the adults are trying to repress you..."

"No, that's really not..."

"Of course! Adults are the enemy! How could I have let myself be misled by them?!"

It was too late. There was no reasoning with him after that.

Gokudera looked down at the cup in his hands with a determined gaze that was entirely unwarranted. Throwing it back, he swallowed the not-milk inside in one gulp and slammed the cup down onto the coffee table. Then, he slammed his forehead down next to it, in a seated approximation of a dogeza.

"My sincerest apologies!" he declared. "I let myself be deceived by the evil adults and almost made a terrible mistake! I understand now! They're afraid of you because have the power to overturn their ugly ways! Please, allow to join you and aid you in your quest!"

'This is getting ridiculous,' Tsuna thought. 'Don't just decide our purpose by yourself!'

But was there even any point in fighting it? It was still not even five in the morning, and Tsuna couldn't really bring himself to care.

"Okay," he said instead. "Hayato, was it? First of all, let's get those bombs defused, okay?"

~.~.~

Spanner delivered the first prototype hoverbikes - well, actually, he and Shoichi insisted on calling them airbikes, but Tsuna saw no difference - a week later. The less said about the test runs that followed, the better.

The mafia were even more horrified when the Tomaso robot army began to fly. Tsuna felt they were whining too much. At least he had managed to veto Hayato's suggestion of installing bombs and rocket launchers on them. They were, after all, an organization for protecting the peace, not an army in the making.

~.~.~