Hi again :]

Well, this is where the yaoi part begins, not much now but there will be more later... Anyway, just be careful in proceeding if X27 that is OOC for obvious reasons is not your thing.

I just can't see a regretful and confused Xanxus staying in character, isn't that right?

Enjoy.

A Piece of the Sky

He wants you but doesn't know how,
no more, not yet.

You are oblivious to how much pain he holds,
now.

It was certainly a meaningful day when the Varia finally set foot in the underground Vongola base.

With not much of an announcement, the assassinations squad of the Family advanced into their new, yet only temporary, residence. Temporary residence meaning until department to rescue the brats. In the deadly groups' opinion, hopefully soon. Passing through the lucky-to-be-alive-yet-scared-to-death-at-the-same-time guard that was currently watching the entrance to the base, they made themselves known to all occupants as their aura spread murderously around the maze of corridors.

The days are short and the general area of the Millefiore base that the two missing guardians are held at is already known. Only needing the exact location of where to attack, the The headquarters were proclaimed closer than the Varia base to the location, hence why they are here.

While the arrival drew all the attention from the people of the base, non had much of the nerve to actually reveal themselves, and with good reason. For it was widely known inside the family, and outside as well in fact, that crossing paths with the Varia did not bode well with anyone's well being.

Well, actually, for the fairness of the situation, there was one person. Just one person who had either enough courage or too large amount of stupidity to actually bear witness to the arrival of the odd group. Given that he was hidden fairly good from any eyes whatsoever, the silently observing bystander managed to go unnoticed by the passing people from his position.

That person was no other than Sawada Tsunayoshi, otherwise known as Vongola the Tenth.

Attracted to his current location by unhealthy curiosity, he looked at the slow walkers that paced through the concrete corridors with confusion clear on his face. Xanxus. That man, frightening, intimidating and downright scary Xanxus. This made no sense to Tsuna at all. How could the memories of the ring battles be so blurry at the moment? The man simply looked nothing like he was before.

That was probably an exaggeration on the young sky's part, because the man was still all of the aforementioned, but there was something about the change in these ten years that cleared the difficulty in understanding. The man was... different.

Well, truthful to recognition, the man standing there, Xanxus, concentrated on whatever it was ahead of him that Tsuna couldn't see still held the same scars and the same posture, but that was where it ended. A different hairstyle, a slightly different build and a whole different set of expressions, both expected and unexpected. Xanxus was older, obviously, but more than that. the aura around him was much more controlled and restrained than before, more concentrated into a threat. More deadly than he remembered.

Taller, darker and much, much more frightening, the man was demanding attention without even trying.

Safe to say, the quick and unintentional evaluation the boy was making at the person in front of him came to a conclusion that couldn't have been more accurate. The man he was looking at was more dangerous now than he had been ten years ago by far. With that thought, the short boy made the decision to retreat from his hiding place before he caught attention he never looked forward to be receiving.

It was only later that day, when Tsuna saw him at dinner, face to face, that he surprised himself with the knowledge that he didn't really feel scared of the older man. It was probably because of the aura around him. At the lessened intimidation, the Vongola boss could look and explore with his gaze the enigmatic man more thoroughly than he had ever managed or even wished to before.

From the moment he laid his eyes on the violently wild man, he couldn't allow himself to stop. It was like he was drawn to the matching gaze that caught his for the first time in what could possibly had been ever. There just seemed to be emotions that has never before been seen in those eyes.

In the midst of the Varia's second day after their arrival, a conversation was taking place. Well, not truly a conversation... more like a dispute.

"What the hell, trash?" a raised voice rang through several corridors "Where did that comment come to your stupid head from?"

Xanxus was pissed, Squalo knew it, but he wouldn't be where he was in this day and time had he been cautious around the other male and now certainly wasn't the time he had to change. So, while laughing at the expense of his raging friend and boss, he answered,

"Well, it's true." he said, needing even more control to restrain his laughter so he could continue. "The looks you give the brat are too obvious to be ignored. Even he probably knows what you are thinking!"

"Really? Are you a kid? Or is it that you are jealous?" Xanxus snarled the silver haired man's way.

He hated being made fun of. Actually, there was no other person in the world that would have this privilege other than Squalo so Xanxus simply hated the fact that he couldn't just kill him and be done with the stupid teasing. So what if he was obvious? It didn't matter anyway seeing that he never felt the need to hide things about himself from the world. They would have to deal with it and arrange themselves accordingly, not him.

It was never a secret that he was bisexual. The fact that it went unknown most of the time was simply because he didn't go around shouting about his life to everyone he meets. Really, he was not that sort of person. Well, he really was attracted to both genders, and now that he had the smaller version of his years' long fantasy, very much alive and with a very delicious looking ass, he will be damned if he will let his eyes miss the live show.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous?" the rain Varia actually looked offended behind the traces of laughter at the mocking question, though deemed it too unworthy of answering. "Forget what I said, the kid will never notice, he is just too dumb to find out about that!"

Anyone in their right mind would have shut up by then, but it was clear that Superbi Squalo was not in his right mind at the moment, if ever. So he continued.

"And so are you!" he threw at the other. He didn't know when it became serious, but if there was ever a time to get back at the dark haired man for years of abuse in the name of an obvious attraction the other was denying to a certain Vongola boss, it was then. "You think if you just look at him he will realize what goes through your head? Hell no! That's what words and actions are meant for. If you never tell him or show him, nothing is ever going to change!"

And the voices raised more than before, clearly and indifferently missing the fact that any occasional passerby could hear the loud discussion.

It was by pure coincidence that such an occasional bystander did pass by. Given that he was passing by two corridors from the discussed location, it was still heard quite clearly thanks to a random 'Vooooi!' coming from a certain silver haired man. And seeing that it was no regular occasional bystander who happened to make there, but once again the unlucky sky, leader of Vongola, Tsunayoshi, it was by no means ignored and discarded.

Instead, the young Vongola made two fatal mistakes: Walking carefully to the occupied room after hearing his voices and concluding it was indeed Squalo who was arguing with someone was the first. The second mistake was stopping for no apparent reason instead of continuing on his relatively safe way. Could this possibly be Xanxus the older male was talking with? It did seem like these two rarely spoke to other people...

Something in the back of his mind was at the moment very busy with screaming at him about the fact that it seemed he apparently didn't have any sense of self preservation after all, otherwise, why would he be eavesdropping to the older male outside his bedroom and not keep walking. The risk of being caught strangely did not occur to him.

He just felt that if he stepped away he might never find his answer. You see, Xanxus had been looking strangely at Tsuna the previous day far more times than once or twice and he was finding it pretty creepy.

So the first thing that comes to his mind when such an opportunity to spy on anything related to the man's intentions arose, the teen gladly hung on to it as it led him to the other side of the door where the voices came from.

"...and the him that I know, he's dead! He isn't here anymore." Tsuna heard, making an effort of trying to hear the, now, lowered voice of Xanxus. Hearing such a serious tone coming from the other, the young Vongola boss wondered what the topic of the conversation could have been to change the regular angry tone of the man into something so... regretful. Luckily, he didn't need to wait long to find out, for better of for worse.

"I thought everything I had for him would be lost with his death, but it never went away. I can only regret not..." a pause, as if something was holding the man's tongue back, and then it continued. Pained, straining, the voice kept on, "You could never understand. No one else was ever enough..."

The silence that rang through the room and the corridors was filled with many questions about that statement, still, only one was asked,

"So what are you going to do now? Alive, breathing, whatever you call it, he's here." Squalo asked "What now?"

Hearing the direction the conversation was taking, it could only be classified as strange and Tsuna tried to understand the meaning of the unexpected whispers. Unconsciously, he ended up revealing himself through the small crack in the door as he tried to get a view to match the voices.

And that's when he saw them. Indeed the Varia boss and right hand were sitting in the room, their discussion much calmer now than when Tsuna first heard their voices. Xanxus for his part, was sitting on the bed, his hands woven together under his chin as his elbows rested on his thighs, on his face was an unreadable look with a distant gaze to match the tone of his voice. He had never seen this expression on the older one before, and so he leaned a bit more to see. Just a little push and...

...And he sees nothing.

With this one moment of lost concentration as he fell into the shock of surprise, he felt himself being pulled inside the room roughly. He could vaguely hear the door being shut closed and locked after a growled order for Squalo to disappear. Not having the time to even register what was happening Tsuna felt himself thrown against the wall suddenly and his shirt's collar yanked by hands much larger than his.

With his innocent calm of still not realizing the consequences of being caught, Tsuna looked up and wished he hadn't, for he no longer misunderstood.

Obvious but not anticipated lust with expected rage showed in those eyes he never seemed to look much in and couldn't tear himself from at the rare moments he did. Suddenly the broken sentences he heard only minutes before seemed to be thrown in his face with frightening clarity as he felt the other's warm breath on his flushed skin.

As realization hit him it was already too late. At that moment, he had already been caught, now in the arms of this unrefined man there was nothing he could do to salvage the situation. He had brought this on himself. Whatever it was. there is no getting away, that much his currently very distressed mind was capable of supplying... for now he would just have to endure. Really, he was beginning to sound like Lambo.

Did curiosity really was what killed the cat?

It was only when he closed his eyes in surprising resignation that he could feel the tight hold on him slacking and slowly losing it's might. And even before he looked up again, he was already free of the Varia leader's clutches as the other took three steps, now four and more backwards, giving him his precious breathing space back.

He didn't know how many minutes have passed since Xanxus had finally managed to lean back on the wall in the other side of the room, but the silence that ate it's way through their precious air was thankfully lifted.

"You heard." the scariest thing for Tsuna to deal with in this statement was that it wasn't an accusation, but a recognition. A small nod was all he could manage.

"I'm not angry." difficult to acknowledge, but the boy already knew that. Had the other been angry at him, he would have been in a lot of pain at the moment. "It's just that, it was always about you."

Had the teen had any doubts before about the person in that discussion, those were completely lost now.

"The great Sawada Tsunayoshi." it was said with a bitter, sarcastic tone that planted new doubts in the boy's heart about the whole situation. "Vongola the Tenth, unreachable to all but his guardians. I could never had gotten to you. There was always security wherever we met, there were always witnesses whenever we spoke, all interaction was supervised, until the day you died.

"And yet, here you stand, alive, alone, looking at me with those same eyes." pushing from the wall, the man who had nothing to lose looked at the cautious teen as if looking at a preserved artifact through a glass. He could watch it but never hold it. "Can't you just look at me differently?"

Completely immersed in the monologue, it felt as if something had fallen on his head that Tsuna realized that he was meant to give an answer. Still, he couldn't quite comprehend what was being asked of him, so instead of replying, he asked, "W-what do you m-mean differently?"

"Differently. See me as a changed person. A second chance, a clean sheet, a new page, differently." he really had nothing to lose as that was a moment of now or never. And seeing that he had already witnessed the 'never', he was easily going with the long-wished for 'now'.

It would be easy for Tsuna to agree now. But yet, holding it back was just one thing that didn't let him open his mouth to allow the acceptance to escape. It was the same sarcastic undertone whose origins he couldn't figure out that he couldn't allow to pass by him. And so his changed answer was at the end,

"I-I don't know." he whispered at first, and finished "I'm not sure I can."

Really, he would have believed the sincerity in the request, but his doubts were eating him and his low confidence always did seem to have it's way with him and his decisions.

"I can never see you taking me seriously." nothing seemed to have changed for the younger one after all. He was not the one who had ten years knowledge in him, therefore it all was too overwhelming at the moment. "The moment that it get's out of this room, for everyone else to see, nothing will change." newfound courage allowing him to speak clearly, he kept to the end,

"After all, that's all it is, isn't it? Just an illusion of time."

With his last portion of bravery, the teen looked at the older man's eyes as his opinion was made clear. His eyes burned with ever-existing flames shortly before he walked to the door to his left and unlocked it, effortlessly passing through it after it was opened without another word. He had nothing else to say.

As he was left alone in his room, his mind calm and his thoughts focused, Xanxus only had one, simple, conclusion to this whole occurrence. It was so simple it had brought a satisfied smirk to his features.

If that was all that he had to contradict to get the chance prove himself, then nothing was more easy.

But first, where was Squalo when he needed him? That unintelligent trash, he needed his whiskey!

All the stars fall, all the brave leave.
All those who screamed are silent,
everyone who laughed are crying.

"But why can't it be us?" Ryohei asked with a confused look on his face for what was probably the twentieth time in the last hour.

At the moment the infirmary was occupied by the younger members of the Vongola family. More accurately those from the past. A distracted Tsuna, the normal explosive Ryohei, both of the reluctant members Hibari and Mukuro, one peacefully sleeping Lambo and two others were more than enough presences in the clinic room. It came with little to no surprise that gathering the remaining young guardians was somewhat of a difficult task, even to Shamal and Reborn, the room's two other occupants.

Between Tsuna's disappearances, Mukuro's evasiveness, Hibari's indifference, Lambo's disinterest and Ryohei's inability to focus for more than one or two minutes, then yes, it was difficult even for the two veteran Mafioso.

Currently, it was the inattentive one that was trying to see reason and make sense of the explanation that was taking place about the Varia's recent relocation.

As it seemed, he and the others, as much as some of them don't show it, were beginning to feel a bit frustrated that they couldn't take part in the rescue party and that the Varia had been called behind their backs, thinking they have been underestimated and thought of that they couldn't be able to handle it.

They do want to save their friends by themselves after all.

"Well, nothing ever does seem to go as wished, especially when there is only meaning and no official plan." a newly arrived Dino announced. He had make them understand the need to call the Varia. "Currently, the plan involves myself and the Varia in a clear mission to infiltrate the Millefiore base while you fight at another location."

"You know what they say," he continued, "the show must go on."

A disbelieving sigh escaped Mukuro's mouth as he heard the statement. 'Really?' he thought to himself, 'Couldn't he had been at least a little more creative?'

Sensing he knew what the other was thinking, the blonde turned to face the mist guardian and said "A cliché, true, but it still stands for the fact that you have to to br the one's to fight against the Millefiore. No one else can do that." looking at the rest carefully, he continued "You guys can't afford to split up and you definitely can't be in two places at one time."

Sighting deeply as understanding downed on them with those words, the realization of their situation had been obtained.

"Basically," Reborn began as a way to simplify the next course of actions "You would have to serve as the 'distraction' to the rescue mission that would actually be the main fight against the real six funeral wreaths."

'Alright, this is beginning to feel too strange to ignore.' was Tsuna's thought that day's late evening. He was finding himself the receiver of the Varia leader's gaze almost every part of that day. In every corner, during every turn, he could feel it following him.

A bad feeling led him to taking the path to his room in the base, in which he actually felt quite safe. Walking fast, the young Vongola couldn't suppress the uncontrollable need to look to all directions with consistent paranoia in his heart.

And so it seemed luck wasn't really with him that day, because just as he reached to open the door to his room, a hand on his stooped his movement as he was cornered once again.

Xanxus, for his part was pretty satisfied with himself for managing to get his prey in this spot, in the hallway right next to his room, he knew that if he managed to get him through the door he was unstoppable.

Judging by the frightened look on Tsuna's face, he knew it too. Something about this situation was different, something in the man was strange, unnatural, irregular. No amount of pleas will get him help then. With his back to the wall, hands on either side of his head as he tried to shrink back even more against to wall at the predatory look the other was giving him, he looked up to see an unfocused gaze.

The man was probably drunk. Scratch that, he was definitely drunk, judging by the strong smell of alcohol that assaulted him in the wake of the unexpected physical closeness between them.

At the moment, Tsuna had to admit to himself that he found Xanxus pretty intimidating. The man was scaring his breath out of him out of years of experience as the leader of perhaps the most frightening organization in the mafia at times. And just when he thought it could get no worse than that, the man began speaking.

"How can you be left so alone, so unguarded?" he asked, his enigmatic voice rough and difficult to ignore. Letting go of one of his captive's hands, he caressed a soft cheek and continued. "The things I could do to you, no one will be there for you. Someone might think that you are looking to be-"

His last words were cut off as a slap could be heard clearly through the corridor. With his one, freed, arm Tsuna had managed this action of defiance out of fear.

Still, it only brought a soft, almost silent laughter with it. No other movement, no retribution, it was simply madness.

And then he was shivering upon seeing the threatening twist in the other's features. A smile like that was not something he saw often enough. It truly was madness. Still, the thing that bothered him more than the revenge promising smile was the lustful gleam in the dark haired man's eyes that screamed his ill natured intentions towards the boy. And with all the naivety the teen held in himself he understood.

There was nothing else that could contradict Tsuna's thoughts of the man in front of him, pinning him, apparently also pining for him... this man was a demon.

An unnatural life form, he was the representative of all that was negative, the epitome of sin and the essence of evil. As it was, He was purely the opposite devil to the angel in his arms.

His big... strong... arms- 'Wait, what?'

As the taller, older man crept slowly downward, the bunny like teen cowered and tried to shrink unsuccessfully into the wall once again as his movement began being restricted by the very source he was trying to run away from. Surely, had he had the elongated ears his metaphoric kind are known for those would have been long ago flattened against his messy hair with fear and submission.

Closing his eyes, he couldn't suppress another shiver due to the surprise of something pressing to his ear. A warm, air-breathing thing that made the entire left side of the Vongola's head tingly with a warm feeling he was utterly unfamiliar with.

And then he heard words. So close to him, practically on him, and those words caressed his ear with shocking gentleness that was only increased by the whispering tone that was used to deliver them. A soft feeling at the back of his throat constricted him, yet he could feel that at the moment he could still keep a hold on it. But what was it really? Regrettably for Tsuna, he had never felt a sensation quite like this before in his life. It was like his heart was beating at his throat, intensifying the sweet suffocation with every passing movement of air inside and out of his lungs. It felt as though he was breathing nothing.

So as one last distraction the boy listened to the words uttered so perfectly in his ear and tried to make sense of them in his partly fogged mind.

"You will never understand how difficult it is for me to stop myself from getting close to you. How difficult it was to do so all these years. And how impossible it is to do so now." a lick to his ear and a shiver later, it continued, "This is the only time for this, the last chance at this..."

With every word closeness was enhanced and soon no layer was in between them but their clothes. As it seemed he also came to the same conclusion that he couldn't get any closer than he already was to the boy, Xanxus pushed them both away from the wall and pulled Tsuna with him, against him. Holding him closely he paid no attention to the useless attempts of the boy to fight his way out of the embrace. He was going to be heard. He refused to be ignored.

He continued as his almost silent, yet close enough to be heard, voice left no room for comments or, alternatively and more accurately, rejections. It held none of the animosity and bitterness it was laced with only mere minutes ago as he sobered fast enough to correct himself. He should have known Squalo could not be trusted with not lacing his drinks with something. Probably for an idiotic reason like overcoming his pride.

"Now I'm going to let you go." he whispered, as softly as no one thought he could "Try being a bit mature and stay until the end."

Apparently Xanxus' definition to letting go was different than the still shocked teen's, as he only released the arm that he held and slightly lowered the amount of pressure in the forced embrace.

Speaking hypocritically, the man said, "Let go a bit," he looked down with something akin to sincerity in his eyes "you are too stressed and worried about everything that you judge the situation too harshly."

Coaxing Tsuna's head to look at him by a gentle upward push of his fingers, he said, "You were wrong when you said that when everyone else would become involved it would matter anything. If this is the only thing keeping you away, then fuck them! They are not the ones who matter to me, you are!"

The Varia assassin was at the point where he was so frustrated that he really didn't care about his own pride anymore. Losing image in the others' face was an easy enough sacrifice. He would get everything he loses now later.

With all that he lost and what he gained shortly after, he just couldn't let go, literally. The boy was sooner to learn how to fade into nothingness like the cheshire cat than getting out of his hands this time. So he held tightly and didn't dare to let go even as he watched the fear of his obsession in the younger one's eyes. And the worst thing for little Tsuna was that the situation was in Xanxus' favor this time, because in the older one's eyes no one could blame the dark haired man who was now towering over him...

After all, he just wanted a piece of the sky.

At the end, curiosity wasn't what killed the cat. It just led him to the cruel wolf that sunk his teeth into the small being's very, very tasty flesh.

He is close, but not with you,
no more, not yet.

Everyone knows you're meant for him now,
everything, everything.

End of chapter 2\6, don't go thinking it's over yet :] But wow, even I have to admit that it was pretty detailed, I hope not too much for your tastes... It was difficult and I hope I managed to get it all across. And so what if Xanxus is a bit bipolar! So am I...

I have no idea when I am going to update, but hopefully soon. Really, a service in the army can be so unpredictable and very time-consuming sometimes... Basically, ciao for now.