Tsuna calmly walked to his classroom with Yamamoto and Gokudera, while Hibari returned to the Reference Room.
As soon as the trio returned to their classroom, students pounced onto Tsuna, asking about what had happened. Obviously, Tsuna didn't spill anything – he didn't want to risk getting shot by Reborn if he somehow found out (amazing, how Reborn always got information of his doings) and this would certainly freak out his classmates. Even if it were only for a month, he wouldn't like it if people shunned him because of his status as a mafia boss. Sighing heavily, Tsuna said that it must have been a mistake. Gokudera and Yamamoto stood aside silently, letting Tsuna think up a plausible excuse.
"What do you mean by 'mistake', Sawada-san? You clearly understood those guys. And how did you jump off 3 stories without getting hurt?" Many students nodded in agreement, getting more curious by the second.
Hiding his nervousness easily through Reborn's rather malicious methods, Tsuna smiled, causing a few girls to start shrieking in delight, while the boys were having nosebleeds. Using this as a distraction, he walked off quickly and successfully escaped the torrent of questions.
"Are you really Dame-Tsuna?" a girl suddenly asked. Twirling around, Tsuna gave another of his earth-shattering smiles.
"What do you think?"
All of the girls could die without regrets now.
As it was already time to return home, Tsuna was accompanied by Gokudera and Yamamoto to get back. They continued their previous conversation, with Tsuna telling the two about his boring day at work.
"你好! Ni hao!" a familiar voice chirped happily.
"Nyahahaha! Tsuna, buy Lambo-san a lollipop!" It couldn't be...
"Oi, Ahoshi! How dare you order Jyuudaime around? I'm sorry, Jyuudaime, I'll take care of this matter immediately." Seeing that Tsuna had not made any attempt to stop him, Gokudera pulled out six dynamites out of who-knows-where, all lighted and ready to destroy stuff.
"Maa, maa, calm down. It doesn't really matter." Yamamoto held Gokudera back while chuckling lightly.
Meanwhile, I-pin and Lambo were engaged in a game of Catch while chuckling happily. The whole sight was just so nostalgic and Tsuna could relax entirely then.
An ominous presence appeared and a knife followed, missing Tsuna by inches as it was caught by the Vongola boss.
Seeing the weapon, the guardians whipped their heads around, meeting another flurry of knives. Expertly, the two dodged out of the way as Tsuna stood his ground, unfazed. Apparently, they had continued with their training and had improved their own reflexes.
"What business do you have with me?"
"So it seems that the 10th generation Vongola boss is really in Japan." The man smirked. "But... Can you dodge this?" A homing missile was detected by Tsuna's Hyper Intuition and Tsuna sighed heavily before twirling gracefully in the air and holding the thin missile, crushing the whole thing with a hand. The missile turned into dust. He could light up a small amount of dying will flames on his own, which meant that his gloves weren't needed. It seemed that Tsuna didn't need his gloves to ignite his own Dying Will Flames, though only for a short period of time.
Watching Tsuna in amazement, Yamamoto asked, "Tsuna, when did you get this much power? You didn't even have your gloves on!" Gokudera and Tsuna made no answer to this comment.
"So you have been trained... Remember this - you will never be able to escape from us. Just so you know, the Gabino family was just a tiny part of us. I am of the Karuno family - remember us. That way, you'll know by whose hands you died by. By the way, I've left you with a little gift. Hope you like it!" With that said, the mysterious man was off, with not a trace behind him, leaving behind the ruined missile and his words lingering behind.
"Tsuna. Tsuna! TSUNA! Lambo-san wants a lollipop!" Lambo's voice suddenly seemed terribly irritating. Luckily for him, I-pin was able to keep him occupied.
"No! Tsuna-san busy! We can have a lollipop later!" It was funny how I-pin chided the sniffling cow. Tsuna's spirits lifted considerably, as he brushed his hands against each other to get the powdery stuff off. Yamamoto and Gokudera fell silent, which was rather unusual for the two of them.
Giving an unworried smile, Tsuna exclaimed, "Guys! We need to get back or Mum will get worried!" Both of them fell back into easy smiles, concealing their own feelings of worry from those few but dangerous words.
Silently, they made their way back to the house with Lambo and I-pin's consistent laughter. Meanwhile, Tsuna was inwardly thinking about the mysterious man. It's the first time I've heard about this. The Karuno family was one of the few influential families before Vongola became the top, and we've been in this position for the past few generations. Why are they suddenly surfacing? Besides, do they honestly think that I'm that fun to tease? If they dare hurt my friends… Tsuna's expression hardened as he imagined what he would do if he guardians met with any danger because of that man and his superiors. And what about the present being mentioned earlier on?
"Decimo-sama. Decimo-sama?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. The whole group of people turned around to see who had been calling Tsuna by his title, and even in Italian. It turned out that Sho and Akira had been waiting near Tsuna's house to ensure that their boss was fine and safe.
"Um, guys, this is Sho," The guy with short black hair and part of his fringe covering a bit of his face bowed. "And this is Akira." The other person with shoulder-length and messy brown hair nodded.
"Eh? These people are protecting Jyuudaime?" Gokudera asked worriedly.
"Maa, maa, it doesn't matter as long as they get their work done!" Yamamoto cheerfully exclaimed.
"Gokudera-kun, relax. These guys were trained by Dino-san for a period of time, before the Varia were forced to spar with them." Tsuna assured his guardians that Sho and Akira would definitely be able to take care of small fry which occasionally "popped in for a small visit".
"Oh yeah, Akira, Sho, I'll ask Mum to prepare rooms for both of you to sleep in, alright? Where is your luggage?"
"Ahh, Decimo-sama, it's fine. You don't have to worry about us, because we'll be fine on our own. If you'll excuse us…" Akira answered, preparing to slink away.
"As my bodyguards, you guys are counted as my friends. And if you are my friends, you are going to be treated like one." Tsuna was using his 'threatening' voice now, and the two guiltily came back. This was the first time that their boss was calling them 'friends', which was an honour. And to be friends with such a cool but cute boss... They bowed and told their kind boss that they would send over their luggage and gave their thanks.
"Jyuudaime, are you sure they are worth doing this? They're just your underlings." Gokudera demanded, thinking that Tsuna was just too kind for his own good, like always.
"Gokudera-kun, I've got to take care of my friends." Sighing inaudibly, the Storm guardian walked straight towards Tsuna's home. Seeing this as a cue, everyone followed, with Sho and Akira trailing far behind.
"Ah! Tsu-kun is back already?" Nana started, but was interrupted by the two youngsters flying into her arms.
"Mama! Tsuna didn't buy Lambo a lollipop!" he complained, tears brimming. Nana turned her attention to comfort the boy by giving him a grape-flavoured lollipop. His mood 'swung' to one of contentment, while he silently licked his candy.
The whole family now had their dinner which was a rather large one, and chatted along happily, with Lambo stealing his fish. Really, the boy was getting more and more like Reborn.
~Meanwhile~
Reborn watched the whole scene quietly, with Leon sunbathing on his hat. Smirking, he wondered which was the best way to torture the cow - roasting, drowning or throw him down twenty-seven floors? Reborn frowned as he recalled the incident Tsuna had been involved in. (Don't ask how he knew, but Reborn had his sources) The Karuno family had been the leading and most influential, until they mysteriously disappeared, leaving no traces of their existence, other than in people's memories. Giotto had once dealt with this particular family before for embezzling funds and killing those under the Vongola 'for fun'. Such a bloodthirsty and dirty family had been destroyed by Vongola Primo himself. So why were they surfacing now?
"Lucifer."
"Yes, Reborn-sama?" A blonde man walked into the room and bowed.
"Prepare a plane to Japan. I'm leaving tonight."
"Yes."
After dinner, Yamamoto and Gokudera left for their own reasons after graciously thanking Nana for the delicious meal. Tsuna had asked his mother if preparing a room would be possible, and of course, introduced his bodyguards who had brought their belongings, stating his wish that they had a room to sleep in.
She was rather... too excited by the idea of Tsuna having bodyguards.
"Oh my... You two are Tsu-kun's bodyguards? Please take care of him!" Nana exclaimed to the two who were starting to smile nervously. They'd never thought that Vongola Decimo's mother could be so… warm and unexpectedly helpful.
"No, no… Decimo-sama is too strong, we are just helping out to clear the weak enemies out of the way." After hearing this, Nana just laughed it off. Honestly, she was rather naiive… or perhaps she already knew of her husband and son's current position in the mafia. Nobody could really tell with her easy-going attitude.
"Alright, alright. Now off to bed, all of you. Have a good rest, and I'll see you. You can wake up later since it's a Saturday tomorrow." The motherly smile shooed them off.
Akira and Sho shared Iemitsu, Tsuna's father's room and went off to take their baths, while Tsuna retreated to his room and flopped onto the bed, thinking back to the man's words.
He'll be back… definitely. But if he already knew that I would be able to destroy that missile… why even launch it at me? Tsuna stared at his right hand which had crushed the metallic object. It looked fine, obviously, and-
Wait, WHAT?
Tsuna brought his hand closer to his eyes, blocking out the light. There were black dots, seemingly trying to make a picture. They were blurry, but definitely there.
What did that mean?
Reborn… if you were here, what would you tell me to do? You'd probably tell me not to be a wimp and try to get this over with, right? Tsuna sighed heavily for the umpteenth time that day, as he considered contacting his tutor.
Ugh. No.
He didn't need his one-month break to be interrupted by more training and paperwork. And the endless number of bodyguards and servants at his beck and call… Everything had happened on his first day back to Namimori, and on his resting time.
Why did fate like to toy with him so much? Couldn't he even have some time to rest?
He stared up at the ring instead to avert his eyes from the dots, which stretched from his wrist to his palm. It certainly did look rather weird and to some, even disgusting. He'd have to do something to hide this.
A burning, intense pain brought him out of his thoughts and to his senses. It wasn't the kind of sharp pain which lasted for a few seconds, but one of such pain that even Reborn's hellish training couldn't really be compared to. It was excruciating, and he gritted his teeth to prevent himself for crying out and alerting his family members and bodyguards. It felt as if a burning hot iron had been placed on his arm, and was moving along, up towards his palm. Moving along? Tsuna wondered through his pain, while tears were brought to his eyes.
His eyes strayed to the dots on his end and almost gasped, out of both pain and surprise. The dots were moving, slowly but surely, up towards the palm. They didn't seem to be forming any shape though. Right then, all Tsuna wanted was for this whole thing to stop. To hell with being a mafia boss. To hell with protecting his friends. To hell with this arm. JUST STOP!
Almost on cue, the pain abruptly stopped. Tsuna wiped away those tears with his left hand in case his right arm felt like acting up again. He stared at that arm. This must be the present that man left me with. But how did it even get here? The only thing I touched from that man was the knife and the- … Oh. That powdery substance… Tsuna had never thought much of the powder, since it didn't seem to be harmful. Oh well, he was wrong now. What was he doing?
While thinking, Tsuna eventually fell asleep, his right arm tucked comfortably under him, his light snores filling the room which was just so familiar.
Reborn stared at the clock. It was time to board the Vongola's personal jet.
A/N: This is a rather short chapter (or is it not?) Either way, I hope you enjoyed it, since I used about 4 hours and some time in between classes to write this chapter. Hope you guys won't dislike it, and please review! Honestly, I really like writing since I always don't have any plot. Anything that comes to mind just types itself on the computer. So if you guys review and I get really inspired, you could get a new chapter soon! :) I hope you won't think me horrid writer, and support me. XD
Ja na~
KuroRaven