Four months. That's what took me to write this (ridiculous) chapter. Seriously, why am I so lazy?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn but if did, I would write a whole arc only with the first generation of Vongola.

Important: "Speaking in Japanese."

"Speaking in Italian."

Thoughts

Chapter Four: The Storm is Coming

Even before he meet by coincidence with G, Gokudera already had his suspicious that he wasn't in the present. At least, he wasn't on his own time period.

He woke in a dark alley of a street stinking of poor quality drinks, not sure where he was, lying in the middle of the street trash. Luckily, the alley was completely empty; there was no one around. That is, if you could ignore the huge rats that ran from one side to another in search of food.

After checking the ramshackle place, Gokudera struggled to his feet and rubbed his eyes, trying to think. He wiped the dirt off his clothes and looked all around, wondering how he got there.

"Where am I?" it was a cliché question, but it was the only thing the could of at the moment.

His green eyes narrowed as he checked once again the place in an attempt to remember why he was there. Gokudera was sure that he'd slept in his warm bed last night, and even that he had sanded Uri's nails. He closed his eyes again and tried to think back…and the only think he remembered was…

A face appeared in front of him. "What are you thinking about, brat?" G asked, dragging him out to reality.

Gokudera had forgotten for a moment he was in the past and suppressed the urge of calling G a ghost. As an impact, the latest events hit him. He was in the past and coincidentally he met with G, the storm guardian of the first generation of Vongola.

They were coming down the mountain when he found himself trying to remember what had happened earlier that day. The silence was embarrassing enough to make Gokudera prefer to occupy his time thinking about how he had come to the past. His mind was blank; occasionally if he had a great effort, he could remember flashes of what happened but nothing worth that helped him remember the incident.

"Nothing," he lied, looking directly at the older man. He gave a little cough and looked up. Dark clouds were pilling up and the weather began to cool.

G raised an eyebrow and shrugged, resuming to walk.

"Let's hurry, it seems that the weather is changing."

For the rest of the way, they remained in complete silence. G tried to help Gokudera when he groaned in pain as they walked, but the younger was too stubborn and refused to accept help.

The storm came down once they set foot in the city. People ran from one side to another, trying to protect themselves from the strong wind and the pieces of objects flying in all directions. Gokudera could swear that even with the loud noise the strong wind caused, he heard G cursing. Suddenly, the red-haired man turned to him and caught him by his left arm, ignoring his angry protests.

They ran as fast as possible and only stopped when they were inside of an old building that smelled of mildew. The wooden floor was worn and the walls were lined with yellow wallpaper, completely stained in a weird dark color. The lobby was so huge that you could put fifty grand pianos in there and there would still be space left, but the place lacked furniture. Despite the poor lighting of the place, a few light bulbs, and above all, small, made the environment become even colder. The reception was empty, except for a single person sitting behind the counter, who ate bread that seemed harder than a stone.

Gokudera tried to ignore the strong smell of something rotten the place had, but he ended up twisting his nose unconsciously. G noted and stepped closer to him.

"Can you try bear with it until the storm ends? We have to stay here for now," he whispered and turned to face the bearded man, who was behind the counter, smiling at them. "This hotel was the closest. I had no choice."

Hotel?! You're freaking kidding me! This place looks more like a cave than a hotel! Gokudera thought as he started walking towards the counter, as well as G.

Minutes later the two sat on opposite beds in a room ridiculously small that only fit two beds and an old cabinet. G threw himself on the bed and sighed heavily when looking at the ceiling. Gokudera thought it would be silent the whole time, given the awkward silence between them until now, when he heard the first syllable coming out of the older man's mouth.

"How are your injuries?" he asked, looking at Gokudera.

Gokudera looked at himself and for the first time he noticed his deplorable state. His shirt was almost all stained with blood and the sleeves were torn. His face should not be much better, but nothing bothered him more than his right ankle that looked like it was cracked. In all, there were only minor injuries.

"Nothing serious," he said touching his chest checking for more serious injuries. His face and arms, but mostly his hands, were all scratched up. Fortunately, no bones seemed to be broken but he couldn't tell for sure. He could tell that some of his injuries were older than others, some of five days ago or even possibly older. Gokudera could feel a pain in his stomach as if he were hit by a truck, but he didn't need to tell about that one too.

"It's only my right ankle," he continued. "It looks like I will need help bandaging it."

G nodded and got up from his bed when he heard a knock at the door. He walked without haste and opened the door elegantly. His arms stretched out to receive an old wooden box and thanked the old woman with a slight nod, and shut the door immediately. G placed the wooden box on top of his temporary bed and opened it, revealing organized and clean bandages and other first aid kit instruments.

He started clearing the blood of the boy's face and then began to treat the worse injury. His hands moved skillfully as he wielded the scissors and bandages around the boy's cracked ankle, as if he had done it thousands of times during his life so far. G put an improvised support beside the ankle and wrapped a second round of bandages around the boy's leg.

G looked at his work with wrinkled brow and nodded to himself. "Not as good as the bandages Knuckle would do, but this is will do for now."

"…Thanks…" Gokudera thanked G quietly but the other could hear and gave a slight nod. G could notice that the boy, as well as himself, didn't like to thank people and owe to them.

The redhead looked out the window and noticed that the storm was getting a little weaker and thanked mentally. If he had to stay any longer with that boy, who looked so much like himself, he would rather have to fill out all the paperwork in place of Giotto. And he would never prefer to do this in a normal situation, but unfortunately that wasn't one.

"Where are we going next?" Gokudera asked, breaking the silence between them.

G looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Next? Of course I'm going to rest and you should do the same as well, brat."

Gokudera's right eye twitched and he cracked a smile.

He's getting on my nerves.

The storm had just started when Lampo made if safe in the mansion. None of the guards asked why the hurry seeing how distressed the young and lazy guardian was. Lampo was lucky to find the person he was looking for soon after crossing the lobby. Giotto was resting in the tearoom while reading a book.

"Primo!" he shouted, running toward him.

For a moment, Giotto was scared. He thought he had been caught red-handed. He, after all, was doing something he should not. In the list of important things to do, even in the present moment they were in, G would say that Giotto had maximum responsibility of having to fill out paperwork. But for Giotto, a little break would not kill anyone. Or would it?

That was when he noticed it was only Lampo running at him.

Giotto rolled his eyes and closed the book, feeling more relaxed this time. "Lampo, how many times have I told you that you can call me by my name and—"

His eyes widened and he almost left the book he was holding drop to the floor. For a moment, it crossed his mind the worst case scenario and refused with all his might that something like that could have happened. He wouldn't dare. G had promised. He would never…

"…What happened?" he stammered as he looked at Lampo. The youngest was with his clothes all dirty and wet and his gaze was of someone who did not have good news.

Lampo heaved and needed time before he could answer. His right hand went down to his face, removing the dirt and water dropping in his eyes and then did the same in the mouth area. Giotto rushed up and offered him a glass of water, that was untouched on the coffee table beside him, and Lampo readily accepted it drinking all its content instantly.

"Problems…G…fight…" it was all that came out of his mouth before he fell asleep on the floor.

Those three words only made the concerns the blond man had, gave a jump straight to heaven. He ran a hand through his hair and with the other he pressed his temples. In a way he was relieved. From what sounded, nothing so serious had happened to G. But still…

"More problems…"

Tsuna sat on his legs, the east way, and stared at each corner of the room with a wonder look. It was peaceful and it reminded him of his homeland, which he had a feeling of not seeing for years. Not much time had passed, but even so it was all so nostalgic.

"It's a pity that the storm has come on such inopportune time, isn't it?" Asari asked as he put two cups of green tea on the small tea table, along with a plate of rice crackers. The older boy stared at the injured boy and gave him a small smile. "It's comfortable, don't you think?"

Tsuna looked at him in surprise and gave a slight nod; he was embarrassed at being caught looking around so blatantly. He took a sip of his tea in an attempt to mask the red color growing in his cheeks.

"Would you mind telling me what happened? How you got here or why did you have those terrible injures on you?"

The brunette lowered his head and stared at his cup of tea. He poked at its surface a melody created at the moment and remained silent for some time before speaking.

"I…honestly don't remember exactly what happened," his voice echoed higher than normal in the small room. "The only recent thing I remember is waking up in the middle of a forest, hearing shots coming from all directions."

He had to be careful. Any wrong step and his efforts of hiding he was from the future would go down the drain. But, it wasn't a lie he didn't remember exactly what happened. His memories were a bit blurry.

Asari gave a small nod and took a sip of his tea too. Tsuna was playing with his fingers, deep in thought.

I absolutely can't tell them about the future, he thought nervously. But I also need help! Ah!, if only Reborn was here!

He froze at the thought and quickly shook his head. A shiver went up his spine. What was he thinking? If Reborn were with him, he would certainly blame him for everything that was happening! At this time he'd have been punched, kicked, or even worse just because of this. Indeed, the situation would be worse if the hitman was with him. He was fine the way it was. However, a sense of guilt crossed his chest.

"You should have appeared in middle of the battle between Lampo-kun and the men from the other family," Asari reflected giving a slight nod to the thought. "But thanks to this, we avoided any consequences to both Lampo and the other family. I'm grateful."

Tsuna froze and blushed a little. "You don't need to thank me in any way, Asari-san!"

Asari laughed, causing the brunette to instantly feel more comfortable and he relaxed his shoulders. His heart calmed down a bit and his breathing became less hectic. In an instant all of his worries had ceased, even if momentarily, and everything that went through his head was finishing his lunch quietly.

Strange, he thought.

Tsuna had never felt that way unless he was with his friend and rain guardian Yamamoto. The presence of rain guardian of the first generation, Ugetsu Asari, was as refreshing as Yamamoto's.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, please do not hesitate to talk to me if you have any problems," Asari said with the calmest voice possible. "It's like they say: friends are for situations like this, no?"

The boy was speechless. He didn't think Asari would be so easy to get along with, and yet he was thinking about troublesome things instead of enjoying himself even for a moment. Even if for now, Tsuna could feel at home.

Tsuna smile broadly and laughed. "Sure! Friends are for situations like this!"

His smile remained on his lips for several seconds. A comforting warmth burned in his chest. Of course he missed his home, his country, his friends and even Reborn. However, Tsuna knew that for now, while Reborn and all his friends in his own time didn't know how to bring him back, he would be in good hands while he was with Vongola Primo's family.

"Ah, please, you can call me Tsuna."

And that was the beginning of a peaceful stay in the past with the mafia family of his ancestor. What he didn't know, however, was that his stay would not be as peaceful as he thought and wished for.

Asari smiled slightly before returning to get serious, putting a hand under his chin, as if he pondered on something very important.

"But really, you were lucky to have found Lampo there, Tsuna-kun. I wouldn't know what would have happened to you if you had appeared in the middle of the group we are fighting against."

This thought made Tsuna's stomach squirm. He would probably have to resort to force because those people didn't seem very reasonable to have a civilized conversation. Then, he noticed that Asari's eyes were narrowed and he whispered things.

"…even more if they thought they are brothers…they would cause a big problem to Giotto…even to him as well…"

Brothers? Primo-san? But more importantly…who are they? Tsuna bit his bottom lip and not realizing it, the words actually escaped his lips before he knew it. When he realized it, it was too late.

"Who are they?" he asked and immediately regretted doing so as he noticed it'd been a bad idea. Asari looked at him with wide eyes, as if he had just said something he should not and Tsuna felt an urgent to change the meaning of his question.

"I-I mean, why do you fight them?" he noticed that the older man's shoulders relaxed and he seemed a little relieved. Maybe he had touched a topic he should have not and Asari didn't seem to like it; no, he was sure of it. It was like he had hit a sore spot.

Asari gave a little sigh and said, "Who knows. I would also like to know."

"Hah!?"

Tsuna almost fell backwards. Almost. It made no sense. The expression Asari had done was almost comical if not for the kind of conversation they were having. He had always thought that Asari was a person who would think carefully enough before answering a question so reckless; a cautious person, or it was how Tsuna would describe him, but he looked even more like Yamamoto than he imagined. The image he had of Asari had changed completely.

"H-How so?" he asked, wondering what kind of response he could be given now.

The rain guardian gave a sad smile and rested his head on his right hand, looking vaguely at his cooled tea on the table. For a moment, Tsuna noticed a shadow of sadness in the swordsman's eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

"It's a tragic story, this is how triggered the fight between us. A tragic story." His voice was weak and his eyes were far away, as if remembering something that happened many years ago. He seemed not to notice he was speaking with another person, but rather he was speaking to himself. "Since then, they have thrown stones as we watch our flowers dying helplessly."

Tsuna didn't ask anything else after that and neither Asari, as he seemed like he wouldn't say anything more but planting mystery in his words. However, Tsuna knew that things were very bad on Primo's side.

Just…what is happening here?

Gokudera looked impatiently every second at the storm guardian of the first generation. His green eyes seemed to thrown flames every time he looked at the oldest, and on the other hand, G seemed not to notice it, and if he did he could not care less.

The silver-haired boy was about to get up out of bed and explode bad words at G when the other man moved out of his bed.

G looked up to the window and sighed relived, "The storm stopped, let's go."

Gokudera raised an eyebrow, but got up from the bed just like G.

After returning the room's key they had borrowed, they walked in the city's streets, which gradually became packed with people, until G decided to stop in front of a clothing store. Gokudera frowned but didn't question anything, at least not out loud.

"Come in," G ordered in a sharp voice when they stopped in front of the entrance door of the men's clothing store. Gokudera narrowed his eyes, but he did as he was told.

The interior of the store was small, cramped with glass counters and mannequins with pieces of cloth thrown over. There were huge bookcases that went up to the high ceiling, which were full of fabrics and readymade garments. There was a lady on top of a ladder, arranging a beautiful dark blue fabric that was on the last shelf. Gokudera had to look away when he realized that he could see a little underneath the young woman's dress.

Realizing that there were customers waiting for her, the woman came down the ladder and brushed the hem of her skirt. She put on a polite smile and conveniently bowed her head slightly before asking them:

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" her voice was sweet and low, like a lady's should be.

G pointed to Gokudera with his thumb. "Get me a pair of pants and a simple long-sleeve white shirt. Look for one according to his size. Get him a belt too."

His eyes went down to Gokudera's all-star. "As for the shoes…he doesn't need it."

"What?" Gokudera choked. G started at him and returned to face the woman.

"That's all."

The young woman gave a quick glance at Gokudera and a slight nod.

Gokudera, on the other hand, didn't seem too happy. A small shade of red colored his cheeks and he seemed reluctant when the Miss attendant called him to try some clothes.

"I couldn't take you along with those shattered clothes. Giotto would panic at the first glance and I wouldn't be able to withstand more pressure on me."

Within two minutes they left the store, and now, according to G, Gokudera was decently dressed and without any indication that he was with injuries all over his body.

"How's the foot?" G asked casually as soon as they left the readymade garments store. "The bandages will not last long, furthermore the effects from the medicine I gave you is wearing off. We need to get there as soon as possible, before you pass out from pain in the middle of the street. And this is the last thing I would want now."

Gokudera looked away, feeling a bit angry. It wasn't like he was that injured; actually, he was injured even before coming to the past. Also, he wasn't so weak to be defeated by those weaklings from before and neither was patient enough to listen to the implications of the other storm guardian. He was reaching his limit.

Juudaime…where are you? He thought. Please be safe. I'll save you and then we'll go home.

Gokudera looked briefly at the sky and prayed that he could find as soon as possible the young Vongola heir, or they would have to pray for their souls instead. Reborn was somewhat unforgiving. The hitman would most likely torture them if they took too long. He could endure the punishment, but he couldn't forgive himself if Tsuna had to go through the same thing. Or even worse, knowing how sadistic Reborn could be.

Absorbed in thoughts, he didn't realize he was walking towards the other man, who had stopped walking and was with his head slightly tilted down. The next moment, he found himself almost falling to the ground.

"Ouch! Why the hell did you stop for!?" Gokudera shouted at G, who said nothing. That was strange because Gokudera was sure that G would behave much in the same way was he did.

The red-haired man raised his head and looked at Gokudera, who quickly stepped back as if he feared that he would receive his punishment now. It was not what he had expected. G continued to look at him, and too thoughtful for someone who had just been scolded by someone younger.

Gokudera could almost hear the gears moving inside the man's head. He really was thinking. Thinking about what? In the best way to cause pain to a suspect brat who was suspiciously fighting mafia-like men in a forest near the town? It was that kind of face G had on. But that was (fortunately) not the case.

G narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue.

On second thought…should I really take him to the mansion? He thought deeply of all possibilities, if the boy was an enemy and if he were not. It's safer if I do not. Leave him in a hotel should be enough to keep him under my nose; Francisco's hotel that is. Moreover, we are very busy with the final preparations before we leave for the mafia party, and keep another brat inside the mansion will be even more troublesome. It's better if I keep him away and under surveillance.

When G turned to look at him, Gokudera could get a general idea of what was happening. Both of them had similar ideas. He was not naïve. He himself would take the same precautions if he found an injured person struggling with a suspect family. He would think twice before bringing such person under the same roof as his boss. It was understandable, and it was the best decision that G could have done for him. That way he could look for clues about Tsuna, whether he was in Italy or not.

Not everything went as Gokudera predicted. G really had taken he to stay in a hotel, which was particularly good in the standards of the time but he had one condition for doing so.

"If you leave this hotel, and oh, I'll know, be sure of that, I'll kill you. Understood?"

Gokudera gritted his teeth. His hands curled into fists and he felt an urge to yell at G. He could feel his face turning red in anger and the bit of patience he had left was about to end. That redheaded man had many tricks up his sleeve. Had he read his real intention even though he hasn't spoken? How could he look for Tsuna if he couldn't leave the hotel?

On the other hand, arranging a quarrel with the family of Vongola Primo was not a joke. Gokudera had no idea of how much, but he was sure they were very strong and he would not have many chances to win. He had been cornered.

With what little pride he had left, he cracked a smile and said with some difficulty, "A-A-Alright."

G took advantage of the situation, "I didn't hear. Speak up, brat."

Gokudera's smile widened and his hands trembled. Now he was plenty sure that G was doing it on purpose. He wanted to torment him. The corner of his mouth trembled and he nearly said to the man to go fuck himself. It was a delicate situation anyway. Tsuna was somewhere, wounded, lost, and unable to talk to anyone reliable and he, Gokudera, couldn't get in a fight with the Vongola Primo's storm guardian. Gradually, he sighed and calmed down a bit.

"…Fine. I promise I won't leave the hotel."

If he made an effort, he could say something with the calmest voice possible while he was burning in anger inside of his head. What was the case. Once he find Tsuna and find a way back to the future, which he would still have to figure out as he also didn't know how he had came to the past, he would give a good beating on the other storm guardian. Until then, he had to endure the most.

If he could, that is.

"Repeat."

A simple order made Shoichi almost piss in his pants. The hitman was pointing a gun at his head, which until moments ago was a chameleon of a weird color of green. And the expression on Reborn's face, the number one hitman in the world, said he would shoot him if he judged his answer wasn't acceptable enough.

Shoichi Irie, above all, wanted to be someone else at the moment. Of all people, and even Spanner, why he had to be the one to tell the bad news? For a moment he regretted having created alongside Dr. Verdi, the mad scientist he admired, a device that momentarily canceled the natural growth and made the arcobaleno into adults. The good side? Conveniently for him, it only lasted for only 1 hour. Not so conveniently, Shoichi would have to wait for a long hour.

Damn invention!

"U-Unfortunately, it appears that the storm guardian, Hayato Gokudera-kun, also disappeared."

That was it. The red-haired boy counted his last seconds of life before hearing the fearsome sound of trigger unlocking, but no such sound came. Reborn had lowered his gun and had a terrible aura around him. Irie swallowed heavily. He started praying for every God he knew and even asked clemency to Budha. At that moment, he knew he would spend more and more sleepless nights after that day. And that day, he cursed his bad luck.

"Shoichi Irie, it seems like that the night will be long." Reborn smiled a devil's smile under the shadow of his fedora and walked toward the young engineer, who trembled in fear.

And so, the adult Reborn smirked.

Take a peek in the next chapter:

(Part I)

"Tsuna…he traveled through time."

Gokudera turned to him with astonishment all over his face. For a moment his instincts almost made him yell at Reborn, but his conscious side made him stop before doing so. He thought for a time as well. His previous experience about time traveling came to his mind.

"What make you say it, Reborn-san? Even if Juudaime traveled to the future, wouldn't his future self be here at the moment?"

Then, why? That was the question.

(Part II)

"Boss! I came to announce that we have an invasion on the east wall."

Giotto turned to face his young subordinate, who should have the same age as Lampo and looked out the window.

"And whose family is it from?" he asked quickly, trying not to think of that family.

The young subordinate looked nervous for a moment and Giotto wondered if he had been rude to him. He was sure that his voice was not very loud. Sensing his subordinate's discomfort, Giotto walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder encouraging him to speak. This time he really was being polite.

"Yes, Lui? Please continue." And he even preferred calling him by his nickname as to calm him.

"Actually…it's complicated…" Lui faltered and looked around nervously. "We…we have no idea which family the boy is."

Giotto looked at him with surprise on his face and frowned. "Boy?"

Lui shook his head frantically. Even he was confused and if he hadn't seen with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed in what he had seen.

"This boy, does he look familiar? What is his appearance?" Giotto asked, motioning for Lui to follow. In an instant they were crossing a door on one of sides of the mansion and going straight to the east wall.

And again, Lui had remained silent, not knowing what to answer. It only made curiosity grown in Giotto.

"What happened?"

Lui winced and shook his head.

"Boss…I don't know how to say this but this boy looks like that red-haired man who came to visit you the other day."

In the same instant, Giotto stopped walking and stared dumbfounded at Lui. "What did you say?"

So...well...long time no see? I must apologize for this crappy and short chapter but I'll assure you that next chapter things will be better, so forgive me, ne? Keep in mind that chapter 3 and 4 (this one) are not properly beta-ed, so please point out any mistakes I may have made until I upload the revised version...and again, it might take a while.

Also, I think I'll post the next chapter very soon because I'm already finishing it and soon I'll proofread it. I hope you enjoyed the preview for the next chapter (as an apology) and please review. I very much like it. See you soon.

Note: Since the last chapter G have been talking in Italian with Gokudera, that's why their sentences aren't in italic. Sentences will only appear in italic when someone doesn't understand Italian.