Hibari and Mukuro paused their fight to inspect the newcomers. Xanxus stood before the wreckage, his poise regal and arrogant as he stared down at everyone. Squalo, ever his shadow, stood by his right as he muttered curses and obscenities about the lack of decency about the place. The rest of the Varia trudged behind them, quiet save for Belphegor's cackles and Lussuria's squeals of excitement. Mukuro lifted a mocking eyebrow at them.
"Oya oya, look what we have here. It seems like some second-rate mice have chosen to grace us with their unfortunate presence."
Hibari wiped a smear of blood from his chin with a sleeve, turning his glare on Xanxus. "Hn. They don't even deserve second-rate status." Both fighters seemed to have forgotten their quarrel, instead facing the Varia with their weapons at the ready.
"VOOOIII! Don't get too cocky, you insolent brats! Boss received an invite for Vongola Event so you better damn well be grateful he even bothered to come to see your ugly mugs!"
"Ushishishi… How presumptuous of you Vongola scum." a wicked smile cracked on Belphegor's face as he twirled a handful of knives round and round in his hand.
"Quiet, trash." Xanxus commanded with deadly quietness. The Varia fell silent at once. Even Bel stopped cackling. "You idiots have wasted enough of my time. Tell me; where is Sawada Tsu- "
"OOOOH! RYOHEI-KUUUN!" cooed Lussuria, interrupting Xanxus. Xanxus turned to give his I'll-reduce-you-to-ashes-glare at his subordinate over his shoulder but the Muay Thai master was already skipping across the ground toward where Ryohei, Yamamoto and Gokudera were recovering from the second blast. The three boys, upon realising the Varia's presence, had varying degrees of reactions.
"LUSSURIA-SAN!" roared Ryohei in greeting (he intended this to be friendly). And apparently to Ryohei, greeting an old friend was never complete without a straight punch to the face. Lussuria went sailing back the way he came, through the air and landed with a sickening crash on the concrete ground, narrowly missing Levi who stepped aside just in time with a string of obscenities. Ryohei did not seem to notice this. "THIS IS EXTREEEEME! ARE WE HAVING ANOTHER EXTREME BATTLE ROYALE?!"
Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously as the ground beneath Lussuria's twitching body cracked and chipped. "Sasagawa Ryohei. See me in the Disciplinary Committee Room by the end of school hours today."
"SURE THING, HIABRI-SAN!"
Yamamoto's face broke out into a smile as he waved in greeting, then shone as he spied Squalo. "Oh, hey! Hey! Squalo!" Yamamoto grinned, waving his arms about like windmills to get the Varia's Sword Master's attention. "What the burning hell do you want, you brat?!" Squalo spat back, silver hair flying and whipping Xanxus across the face before smacking Levi's as he turned sharply to face the teenage boy. Yamamoto laughed in the face of hostility. "It's good to see you, too!"
Squalo's nostrils flared. "What the bleeding fu- "
"The HELL are you welcoming them for, Yakyuu Baka?!" barked Gokudera as he savagely shook bits of concrete from his hair. "You DO realise they are the enemy here?!"
"Mu. At least the obnoxious one seems to have his head screwed on right." murmured Mammon, perched comfortably on Bel's shoulder. Gokudera heard this.
"You! Why you-! Little snot! I'll- "
The crack of a gun cut through the cacophony of yells, effectively silencing everyone. All attention was now on Xanxus who now wielded a slightly smoking pistol, pointed at sky.
"I've heard enough of the nauseating wails of you trash." he cocked the gun, readying it for another shot while withdrawing a second one from its holster with his other hand. "If none of you scum is going to tell me where Sawada Tsunayoshi is…" with a deadly click, he aimed the guns at the Vongola guardians. "… I'll just have to kill you and find out myself."
Mukuro smiled, a sickly sweet smile. It still could not hide his irritation as he turned away from Hibari to face the Varia instead. "Little Skylark, why don't you and I put our little disagreement on hold while we deal with these fools?"
"Tch. Don't order me around, or I'll stab you in the back while you're kept busy." growled Hibari, nevertheless fixing Xanxus with a scowl that could melt rocks.
Levi reached for the weapons strapped to his back.
Belphegor giggled, stringing together wire and blades with expert waves of his hands.
Yamamoto gave them his game face, drawing the katana hidden in his baseball bat holder.
Gokudera, gritted his teeth and snarled as he whipped out twin handfuls of dynamite from… whatever third dimensional pocket he keeps them in.
Mammon began to float, suspended by a ring of Mist flame.
For a moment, all stood still. It felt as if the very air had stopped moving. Even the birds were quiet.
Then without warning, Gokudera had sent the dynamite hurtling through the air toward the Varia. They were somehow already lit. And therefore highly hazardous.
"EAT THIS, ASS- "
His words were cut off by the third deafening explosion that day – but the dynamites were nowhere near their intended targets. Everyone present froze, startled at the premature blast. They waited with bated breath as the resulting smoke began to clear…
… revealing none other than Tsuna. A rather angry Tsuna. With bright orange flames roaring about his arms and blazing furiously upon his forehead. His molten eyes were far from pleased. Despite his flaming hand, the holy silver bag somehow remained unharmed and swung wildly in the gale.
"Enough."
It seemed that one word was enough to crack the very Earth in two in its very malice. Nobody dared say a word. A dull clattering sounded as Gokudera dropped his remaining unlit bombs. Even Bel was heard gulping loudly.
"This ends here." Tsuna glared down at all of them, the spirit of a Vongola Boss suddenly bright in his eyes. "Either one of you wins, or all of you lose. If you're too wimpy to participate, get out of everyone's way."
Lussuria whimpered pitifully from his position on the floor. "Since when did he get so scary?!"
Molten eyes narrowed. "Hurry up and get serious, I'm already sick of all this." And with a flash and burst of flame, Tsuna was suddenly nowhere to be found.
There was about three full seconds of stunned silence before a predictable riot broke out.
"Juudaime! Wait – wait! Wait for me! Where did you gooo- "
"VOOOOIII! What the hell just happened?!"
"You let him slip through your fingers, you worthless trash!"
"But Boss, it wasn't our fault- "
"GOKUDERA-SAN, YOU JUST GAVE ME AN EXTREME PUNCH TO THE HEAD!"
"Gokudera, stop struggling! Ryohei was only trying to help- "
"Boss! Please, oh please don't send us to catch him! It's going to ruin my new haircut and I've only just got it last week- "
"Tch. Noisy." grumbled Hibari as he observed the ensuing chaos.
"Oya oya, I'm more used to the silence myself." Mukuro purred in agreement, raising an eyebrow when Gokudera delivered an impressive right hook to Yamamoto's jaw while he and the boxer attempted to restrain him.
"Muu. Bel, it's best we be off."
The prince gave his partner a side-long glance – though nobody could really know this since his eyes were hidden from view. "Ushishi. What's the rush, Mammon? Boss is still here- "
"Why yes, why don't you tell us where you're off to in such a hurry?" drawled Mukuro. Belphegor whipped around – only to find himself face to face with all three points of a deadly looking trident. He giggled nervously.
"Shishishi… none of your business, I should like to say."
"Not a wise answer." Hibari stepped closer, tonfa poised to strike.
Mammon floated closer as well, fearlessly approaching the Mist and Cloud guardians. "Boss said he would give me an… ah, increment in monetary expenses should I capture Sawada Tsunayoshi for him."
Bel still had the sense to cackle even with a pointed object two inches away from his throat. "Ushishishi… so that's the reason."
Mukuro's eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure, but the smile remained on his face. "Ah, I see. But I believe you are sorely mistaken."
"Mu?"
"If there is a victory to be had today, it will be a victory that will go to Vongola. Not outside trash like the Varia." the illusionist sent a sideways smirk at the prefect of Namimori. "What do you say, little Skylark?"
Hibari spat in response. "I already told you not to order me around!" he snarled as he broke into a sudden charge toward the trapped Bel. At the same time, Mukuro thrust his arm forward with a cruel smirk, driving the points of the trident through Bel's throat. Almost an instant later, metal tonfa made contact with a blonde head with a sharp crack.
"Oh my, just where are you aiming? Ushishishi…" the impaled and limp Bel vanished; an illusion. Hibari and Mukuro whirled around to find him and Mammon several smug metres away. "Ushishishi – catch you later! Or not!" taunted Bel over his shoulder as he and his Arcobaleno partner swiftly made for the ruined building entrance and disappeared from view. The two guardians paused for a moment and exchanged glances, each assessing the other. Then upon some unspoken consent, dived in together after Bel and Mammon with deadly intent and glinting weapons in hand.
Meanwhile, things were not going as smoothly for the others left in the school grounds – turned into a blast zone in merely five minutes flat.
"VOOOIII! JUST LIE DOWN AND DIE ALREADY, YOU IRRITATING INSECTS!"
"Hahaha! You're very lively today, Squalo-san!" laughed Yamamoto as he parried Squalo's sword strike with his own katana, metal meeting metal in a carrying clang.
"Stop laughing, you idiot! Take something seriously for once in your life! We've got to kick their asses then go find Juu – what the? What's the stupid cow doing here?"
True enough, little Lambo had just ambled past the school gates. It was (un)fortunate Hibari was not present at that time, or Lambo might have met his untimely, meaty demise.
"Lambo-san has arrived! The Chocolates for Lambo Event can now begi – AUGH!"
Lambo cut himself off mid-sentence with a pained cry. It was no wonder – Xanxus had just delivered a kick to his head with a very expensive Armani leather shoe. Shined and polished to perfection.
"Stupid trash." Muttered Xancus vehemently as he scowled down at the snivelling lump at his feet.
"Ga… ma… n…" a sniff. A sob. Then full-blown wailing. "LAMBO-SAN HATES YOU! PREPARE TO DIE!" the child then proceed to pull out a pink bazooka from the mysteriously fourth-dimensional pocket that was his afro and scrambled inside it's barrel. The trigger was pulled and the general area filled with pink smoke.
"God damn it," cursed Gokudera as he warded off an attack from Levi. "What does that stupid cow think he's – "
The Vongola's resident bomber was interrupted by a second bazooka shot.
Everyone froze. Not like anyone could see it. The only still moving was Lussuria – still twitching on the concrete. Not like anyone could see that either. The smoke was so thick.
But the smoke was clearing, dissipating as the wind carried it away. The able bodied fighters slowly and carefully turned to the last place they had seen Xanxus and Lambo, as if the slightest of wrong moves would cause a lightning bolt to split the sky and smite them all. Had Xanxus been shot with the bazooka? If he had, then even Squalo doubted he would be able to stop him.
"Hm? What's going on? This does appear to be Tsuna-nii's school…"
Yamamoto, his grip having gone slack with apprehension at the smoke, now let out a full out grin. That voice definitely did not belong to Xanxus.
A final breeze harried away the blinding smoke and there, near the school entrance, stood a twenty five-year old man with short, curly black hair worn in three, thin braids over his shoulders and donning a fur-lined brown cowhide jacket. The twin horns atop his head were unmistakable. Even Gokudera smirked in greeting.
"Heh, welcome to the party, stupid cow."
A/N: Everyone may now fire at me with an assault rifle or a sub-machine gun for my utter neglect of this fic. -shot to smithereens-
Hi again guys - if you're still reading this. A year after starting this fic and this is only chapter 5. Oh man. I suck. D: I've tried checking the best I can, but since I haven't written for this fic in a while I've lost my feel of it so there might be some inconsistencies. I'm trying to get back into the groove however. xD
Don't worry, I will see this fic to the end to the best of my abilities.
- Kasumi.
P.S.: Twenty five year old Lambo is hot but doesn't get enough love. D: