Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or the song "Step to Me" by Thousand Foot Krutch or Candide or the song "The World Calling" by There for Tomorrow

A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

The Shadow Demon

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Chapter 4

Days passed by.

Weeks passed by.

And nothing in their daily lives has changed.

Tsuna still acted as The Shadow Demon and a student while the heirs to Vongola rings attended school, hung with their acquaintance at said school, and when they got home, trained. Neither person/group knew of the others schedule outside of school, nor were any of them willing to bring it up because they didn't want to have to lie.

At some point, they knew the normal routine would be interrupted by something that caused them trouble. Even knowing that, none of them were expecting the way that the interruption came in.

In the form of a class assignment to build a scene from the book they were reading in literature. They were to work with one other person assigned to them by Mrs. Nariño.

And it would seem that Tsunayoshi and Takeshi were to be partners.

Two boys who refused to let anyone into their homes. Takeshi for obvious reason could not allow Tsunayoshi, who he thought knew nothing of the Underground world, into the Vongola Mansion. Tsuna would not allow Takeshi into his apartment because of fear of him coming across something he shouldn't see. He didn't believe Takeshi to be involved in the Mafia world, but he wasn't sure if the boy could piece it together.

"Why does the sword freak get to work with Tsunayoshi? Why can't I be the partner of Tsunayoshi?" Gokudera grumbled as the three boys were walking out of the school.

Normally Tsunayoshi would leave on his own, but he and Takeshi wanted to get an early start on their project. As such, they were going to go tell the driver to leave without him and he would call later when he needed a ride home.

"Kufufu, what is my little Tsunayoshi doing here? Does he wish for a ride home?"

Tsuna's eye twitched when he heard the familiar laughter. He looked towards the voice to see Mukuro Rokudo, the seventeen year old who was a grade above him, Takeshi, and Hayato. He was about a head taller than Tsunayoshi. Everything about him disturbed Tsuna, but he found himself unable to get the boy to leave him alone. He had blue hair that was in the shape of a pineapple in the view of many people with his hair being longer in the back so it was pulled back into a thin tail. His eyes were different colors with one being blue and the other being red with a number in Japanese in it. Add to that the ever playful and creepy smile he wore, and he was the most efficient person at creeping people out.

His whole outfit screamed he was a punk, a stylish punk that people wanted to avoid. He was dressed in black leather pants with a silver belt. He also wore a white dress shirt with a black tie that he left loose. Besides that, he also wore a black leather jacket, had earrings in his right ear from the helix to the lobule, and wore gloves.

"Hello Mukuro," Tsuna mumbled, not all that happy to see the older boy.

"Kufufufu, you sound upset, my dear Tsunayoshi." Mukuro said as he ruffled the boy's hair because he knew it annoyed him.

Scowling, Tsuna ran a hand through his hair to fix it while shooting a glare at Mukuro, who ignored it as he leaned against the black car waiting for the guardian heirs. "Who wouldn't be upset to see you, pineapple freak?"

Mukuro's brow twitched at the name. "Now really, my dear Tsunayoshi, don't be so rude."

Standing near Mukuro was Ryohei Sasagawa, a seventeen year old in Mukuro's class. Even though he was young, he, for some reason, had white hair. He had bright grey eyes that shined with a lot of enthusiasm and spirit. Like always he was dressed in light sweats (black sweatpants, a yellow shirt, and a white jacket with two black stripes going down each side) since he was a boxer, though he mostly just trained now. He wasn't in the club anymore since he moved to Italy, but continued the training.

"Tsunayoshi, what are you doing here? It is not often we get to see you at this time!" Ryohei asked curiously.

"Takeshi and I have to work on a project so he won't be going home with you guys." Tsuna explained.

"That is EXTREME!" Ryohei replied.

Staring blankly at the boxer, Tsuna could only shake his head. He did not understand Ryohei sometimes. The boxer was just loud and weird a lot. Tsuna sometimes had to wonder where he got all of his energy since just being around him sometimes would tire him out.

Next to the boxer was Lambo. He was the same as always. He just gave Tsuna a bored look as he shook his head in a manner that said to ignore Ryohei.

Chuckling, Takeshi clapped Tsuna's on the back. "We better get going if we want to have time to work on our project today."

Tsuna nodded his head. "We can go to th–"

'I'm sick of letting you control the places that I go, I'm never giving into you, take,
take another look at me and tell me what you see, all of these cats trying to get under my skin
but they can't ste–'

Before he could finish talking, his ringtone interrupted him. Smiling sheepishly at his acquaintances, Tsuna dug through his bag. "Sorry, I need to take this." He mumbled as he walked away from the group while still digging through his bag until he found his red I-phone.

With Tsuna distracted by his phone, Hayato took this opportunity to turn to Takeshi with a serious look. "Remember what G. said about not letting ourselves be seen with Tsunayoshi outside of school, lest he get dragged into our world?"

"I remember, but it can't be helped this time. We have a project. Listen, I'll make sure nothing happens to him while we are working." Takeshi replied, eyes hardened with seriousness that he rarely showed as he looked at Tsuna's back.

As if feeling eyes on him, Tsuna turned his head to the side to look at them for a second before he turned back around, but it was enough for the others to see the annoyed and disgruntled expression he was wearing. He was frowning deeply and speaking angrily into his phone, but it wasn't loud enough for the others to make out the words.

"I wonder what that is about. It's rare to actually see him mad like that." Lambo commented.

*The Shadow*

"Hello?"

"Shadow Demon." A soft voice replied. A voice that was only too familiar to Tsuna. He could never forget this voice.

"Byakuran of the Millefiore." Tsuna growled in reply. "And what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Byakuran chuckled. "There is no need for such an attitude, Shadow Demon."

"How many times must I tell you that I will not work for the Millefiore?" Tsuna snapped.

"That hardly seems fair, Shadow Demon. You work for all the other Mafia Famiglia, no matter their crimes, which means you must have a grudge against Millefiore." Byakuran concluded, making Tsuna scowl in annoyance.

"Think what you like, Byakuran."

"My dear Shadow Demon, I would very much like to work with you. We should meet up and resolve our differences so we may do business together."

"That. Would not be a good idea."

"Oh?"

"I would kill you the moment I laid eyes on you, Byakuran."

"I am not that weak, Shadow."

Tsuna scoffed. "Whatever, Byakuran. I'm busy. Don't call me again." Huffing in annoyance, Tsuna ended the call and practically threw his phone back in his bag. He hated talking to that man. Couldn't he just get the message and stop calling him?

"Hey Tsunayoshi, is everything okay? You seem upset." Takeshi asked when the younger boy came back to them.

Sighing, Tsuna ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "It's nothing you need to worry about. So, about this project?"

Not believing his acquaintance, but figuring he should drop it for now, Takeshi grinned. "Right, let's go. Where do you want to work on this? Your place?"

Tsuna grimaced. "Sorry, but I don't let anyone into my apartment."

"Awww, not even your acquaintance?" Takeshi asked with a cheeky smile, which Tsuna ignored as the two boys left the school, waving back at the others as they left. "So where are we going to work on it since both of our homes are off-limit?"

"Library for today since all we're doing is picking a scene and deciding how to build it. After that, we'll see if one of our teachers will let us use the classroom after school to work on it." Tsuna replied, trying to keep his annoyance form the phone call hidden.

Seeing as he saw the anger earlier though, Takeshi already knew his acquaintance was not happy so he could detect the well-hidden annoyance in Tsuna's tone. "Now, now, Tsunayoshi, just forget that call. Brooding on it will only make it worse. Forgetting it will make you smile."

"I can't just forget it. It is….important." Tsuna argued.

"Then forget it for now and worry about it later. If you think about it while upset and annoyed, you'll never see the solution." Takeshi retorted. Seeing the distress in those brown eyes, the Rain heir slung an arm around his partner's shoulders. "Personally, I think we should do an easy scene to build. What would be easy?"

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "The whole book was easy, Takeshi."

Takeshi huffed. "Well, that doesn't help us pick a scene."

*Demon*

Every day after school for a week the two boys would meet and stay after school to use an empty classroom to work on their project. This made it easier for the two boys as neither had to take it home, then lug it back to school the next day to work on it some more as they could just leave it in the classroom.

Even though they worked studiously and acted like friends during the work, there was an underlying tone of tension between the two that appeared on the sixth day of their work.

They began to work on their project like normal. Tsuna was putting the finishing touches on the schoolhouse while Takeshi finished the background. They were building their project in a box so the bottom of it was covered in a dark green fabric for grass and light brown fabric for a dirt road that led to an area where the schoolhouse would be then branched off to lead to the other buildings in the town. The walls were covered in blue cloth for the sky with cotton balls glued together to make clouds. Since the town was surrounded by mountains on all sides, the two boys had built cardboard mountains that they painted.

They still had to build some trees and bushes out of some more fabrics and popsicle sticks which they would glue together to made a thicker trunk and paint brown. After that would be making bushes with the green fabric to glue to the top of the popsicle sticks. Since they were in Eldorado, they were going to get some fake emeralds, rubies, and diamonds from necklaces and bracelets to cover the ground and to have some of the characters that were kids playing with them when the two main characters see them.

The tension in the air was clearly felt by both boys. Takeshi kept glancing at his acquaintance with a worried look. "Tsunayoshi?" He said at last.

Tsuna glanced up from his work, frowning. "What is it, Takeshi?"

"Is something the matter? You've been agitated this whole time." Takeshi asked, frowning as well.

The secret thief hid a grimace by looking back down at the project they were working on. He couldn't very well inform his partner that he was being harassed by a certain boss of a certain mafia Famiglia called the Millefiore. Byakuran just wouldn't take no for an answer. He was really determined to have The Shadow Demon's help in stealing something.

"Don't worry about it, Takeshi." Tsuna murmured after a moment. "It's not something you should concern yourself with."

Takeshi didn't look like he believed that, but who could blame him? He was in the most powerful Mafia Famiglia, the Vongola. If something was troubling his friend, he was sure he could help solve it with all the resources he had.

Just as he was about to argue, Takeshi saw something he desperately hoped to never see when he was with Tsuna.

Even though he appreciated that Takeshi didn't reply to him telling him to butt out, it felt weird the silence that followed so Tsuna looked up, only to see his acquaintance staring out the window in horror. Confused, Tsuna turned to look as well and felt his heart dropped. Millefiore soldiers. Why now? Why? Why did this have to happen when he was with Takeshi? He was putting him in dan…Wait. Even is the Millefiore was on school grounds that shouldn't cause Takeshi to feel scared. He shouldn't even know about the Millefiore. He should have no idea that they are Mafia, unless…..

"Takeshi, do you know who those men are?" Tsuna asked quietly, almost dreading the answer. Would it be a lie or the truth that he received? And which one did he want to get?

Takeshi was now facing a huge dilemma. He could tell Tsuna the truth that he was in the Mafia or he could lie again, but then he would have trouble protecting Tsuna from the Millefiore soldiers. Such a dilemma he was facing. He never wanted to admit the truth to his acquaintance, but he also never wanted to put him in harm's way. All the guardian heirs knew the risk they were putting Tsuna in when they got involved with him. They were just hoping that it never came down to this. Telling him the truth put him in even more danger, but it also allowed Takeshi to be able to protect him properly.

"I'm in the Mafia." Takeshi blurted out before he lost his nerve.

Tsuna stared blankly at him. While he stared blankly, his mind was going into overdrive. For all the years he knew Takeshi and those boys he lived with, he never once suspected that they would have been involved in the Mafia. It just didn't seem possible. Sure, they were a bit crazy. Hayato used dynamite, Ryohei was a crazed boxer, Mukuro just seemed like a delinquent, and Hibari was a tough Prefect. Takeshi and Lambo seemed to be the only normal ones! He's never even seen the last two fight.

It didn't seem logical that they could be involved in the underground world. Hibari liked rules too much. Takeshi was too nice for that world. Lambo seemed a bit too childish to be involved in the dangers of the Mafia. Ryohei was more like a protector then a Mafioso. They were a group of the most unlikely people that he had ever seen. Nothing about them screamed that they were involved in the dangerous world of the Mafia.

"I know it seems unbelievable, but it's true." Takeshi said as he pulled Tsuna down to the ground so they couldn't be seen through the window.

"It's not that I don't believe you. It just seems so unlikely when you look at the group you're in. I mean, Hibari likes rules too much and now you say he is involved in the Mafia, which breaks laws. It just seems so unreal." Tsuna replied, shrugging.

Takeshi couldn't help the small smile he gave. It was just like Tsuna to realize that when he said 'I'm in the mafia,' that he actually meant the whole group he lived with was in it. "Those people out there are part of the Millefiore Famiglia, an enemy of the Famiglia I'm in. I don't know how they found us here, but we have to go now."

"And how do you plan to escape?" Tsuna asked curiously.

"And that is where the problem comes in." Takeshi grumbled. "I don't have my sword on me."

Tsuna stared at the black haired boy. "A sword?" He mouthed in disbelief. He shook the shock off, decided to deal with it later, and frowned. "Don't you have some type of weapon that you carry on you that is small so you won't be caught with it? You can't be completely defenseless." He added, thinking about his own box in his pocket that he would not pull out no matter what. He could not allow Takeshi to know about his involvement.

"There is something," Takeshi said slowly, glancing at the window briefly. "But we like to use them only in extreme circumstances since we can be tracked by friend and foe if we use it."

The brown haired boy nodded. He could understand that. Anyone who used box weapons had to be extremely careful to only use them when in dire need. Otherwise they would be tracked down by their rings which would be revealed when the mammon chains were taken from the rings to use the box weapons.

"So?" He prompted.

"Run," Takeshi suggested.

"Great plan," Tsuna said sarcastically.

Takeshi shot a glare at him. "I don't see you coming up with anything better. Right now, we just need to avoid them."

"Fine. We'll do this your way." Tsuna conceded.

"Thank you. Now follow me." Takeshi replied.

The two boys crawled to the door of the classroom. Takeshi opened it and checked that the hallway was clear before motioning for Tsuna to follow him out. In the hallway, they stood up and made their way quietly down the hall to the stairs.

At the end of the hallway, both boys threw themselves flat against the wall. Since Takeshi was in front, he peeked around the corner to make sure it was clear. Seeing no Millefiore agents around, Takeshi waved Tsuna forward and took off towards the stairs.

Getting to the second floor was the easy part for the two boys. After that was the hard part since once they reached the second floor, they saw Millefiore agents coming up the staircase to get to the second floor. Both parties froze just for a moment when they saw each other. But it was only for a moment before Takeshi snatched Tsuna's wrist and was dragging him along the second floor. They both heard the footsteps chasing after them.

Tsuna risked a glance over his shoulder at the enemy, regretting it a moment later when he yelped in shock and pulled Takeshi to the side to avoid getting hit with a bullet. Why did it have to be guns? He would have very much preferred box weapons over the guns. He could have least deal with Dying Will Flames, guns not so much.

Takeshi didn't even bother with a thanks to Tsuna. He was too concerned with getting away from the Millefiore agents to bother with pleasantries.

Abruptly, Takeshi turned to the right at the end of the hall, still dragging Tsuna along.

The moment they turned the corner though, Takeshi came skidding to a halt, causing Tsuna to slam right into his back. Growling, the shorter boy pushed off his acquaintance's back, ready to snap at him for stopping all of a sudden, but the words died on his lips when he saw the reason why for the sudden stop.

Floating in front of them were two more members of the Millefiore, but they were different from the other members seeing as they were holding Dark Scythe engulfed in storm flames. Tsuna spun around to see the other agents catching up to them.

"And now?" He asked quietly so only Takeshi could hear him. It was so quiet that Takeshi had to strain to hear him.

There was no reply from Takeshi. Instead, he just pulled Tsuna to the side so their backs were facing the windows before he drew a blue box from his pocket and took a chain from one of the rings he was wearing. In an instant, the ring was alit with blue flames and pushed into the blue box. Just in time, the box released water that formed a defensive barrier in front of them that blocked the storm flames that the two Dying Will Flame users fired at them from their Dark Scythes.

"Jump?" Tsuna asked, glancing at the window behind him.

Takeshi nodded his head. "It's an easy jump."

Tsuna ducked down as another bullet zoomed by him. It went through the window with a quiet smash. He didn't wait for these agents to try to shoot him again. He threw the window open and jumped out of it without another thought.

Barely a few seconds later and his feet were slamming into solid ground once more. A moment later Takeshi landed next to him and they both took off running before they could be killed by the Millefiore soldiers.

To wake up knowing you've got the day /To take on without feeling okay/ To make yourself unwilling to sleep away/ Sleep away the–

Tsuna shot Takeshi a look. It was such a good thing they weren't trying to hide from the soldiers, otherwise their position would have just been compromised.

Takeshi ignored him in favor of pulling his phone out of his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID briefly before answering it, while still running away. He and Tsuna were heading to the school gates to get off school grounds.

"Hayato, not the best time."

"I don't care if you're busy with your project, Sword Freak. The Ninth demands you return to the mansion now. We have an important dinner meeting today."

"Great," Takeshi snapped, patient running thin. "That's great, but I can't make it."

"The Ninth wo–"

"The Millefiore is chasing Tsunayoshi and I." Takeshi interrupted bluntly.

"WHAT?"

Tsuna winced a bit when he heard Hayato yelling. He couldn't imagine what it was like for Takeshi since that was yelled directly in his ear.

"Where are you? I'll come and help you right away." Hayato said urgently.

"No." Takeshi snarled, glancing at Tsuna who had taken the lead the moment they got off school ground. "No. It's too dangerous. We can't use our box weapons unless we absolutely need to."

"How did they even find out about you?" Hayato demanded.

"Don't know. Discuss later. We're trying to lose them at the moment." Takeshi said as he followed Tsuna down an alley.

At the Vongola mansion, Hayato was clenching his phone very tightly in his hand. He couldn't believe this was happening. They were so careful about keeping it hidden that they were involved in the Mafia to keep their classmates, especially Tsuna, safe. And now, somehow, it was all falling apart. Takeshi couldn't handle this alone. He didn't have his sword and couldn't risk using his box weapons and rings much because he would be tracked.

"I'm calling Reborn." Hayato said suddenly and before Takeshi could object, he hung up and redialed a familiar number. He waited impatiently for the ringing to stop and for the hitman to pick up.

The moment the phone clicked to signal the ringing was done, Hayato started talking before Reborn had the chance to say anything. "Reborn, there is trouble. I need your help."

"Hayato, I'm bus so you better explain quickly." Reborn's voice said abruptly.

"Takeshi is with a civilian that is an acquaintance of ours and they are being chased by Millefiore agents. I don't understand the situation completely, but Takeshi can't take care of it by himself. He doesn't want me to show myself so–"

"You want me to get them out of this situation quickly." Reborn finished. "Easy enough if I knew where they were."

"They were at our school working on a project. After that, I'm not sure." Hayato explained. There was no reply except for the annoying buzzing that came when a phone call was cut off. Sighing, he put his phone away, hoping that Reborn got there fast enough.

A/N: I chose Candide cause it was a book I read in English and had to build a scene from the story as well.

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