A/N: The first 7 or so chapters are actually just an intro, kind of like a prequel, but not really? This is a side story, so it'll be slowly and irregularly updated, so please bear with me? Although this story sucks anyways, so I guess it won't make a difference…
10th Generation Time
"Boss! Boss, are you alright?" Hayato demanded as he ran over to Tsuna, freezing when he caught sight of Takeshi. "B-boss?" He stammered, confused. "Who is he?"
"This…" Tsuna's eyes flickered over to the swordsman. "This is Yamamoto Takeshi. He'll be joining us."
Hayato sighed, and narrowed his eyes, frowning at Takeshi. "Left and right, you'll make allies. How can we be sure he's not an enemy?"
Tsuna ran a hand through his hair and dropped to the floor of the mostly bare two-room hotel. "We can't." Was Tsuna's answer, and a weary frown grew on his features. "Speaking of enemies, we should probably be changing hotels soon, right?"
Hayato instantly snapped to attention. "Yeah. I've already made the arrangements to stay at the Cormik hotel… it's rated only one and a half stars though. We're running out of money."
"Erm… how exactly do you earn money?" Takeshi asked meekly, feeling like a child as he raised his hand in the air. "You don't steal it, do you?"
Tsuna blinked. "Of course we don't steal!" He exclaimed, turning red as he waved his hands wildly in front of his face. "We just well…" He turned redder. "We—um—go to underground fighting arenas once in a while… only when we're desperate, of course… and we collect the winner's money."
Takeshi didn't regret his choice, no when he other option was his father's death but… this was what he had signed up for? "Any other ways?" He asked.
"I take on some odd jobs here and there." Tsuna said thoughtfully.
"And I occasionally take an assassination target…" Hayato mused.
"Welcome to the life of the Annietare!" Both boys exclaimed, and then paused and frowned at the exact same time.
"Annie?" Takeshi repeated, confused. "Isn't that like… erm… 'Little Orphan Annie'? Like 'Tommorow' and 'It's a Hard Knock Life'?"
The two turned to him with confused expressions. "Huh?"
"N-never mind."
He could tell that his face was burning and he felt incredibly embarrassed that he even thought of mentioning it to them. It was an American musical and while well known on the other side of the world… well, Italy might have had a copy of it somewhere… he really needed to stop making these butterfly effect type thoughts.
"So, your goal is to destroy the Vongola?"
"Basically." It was kind of amazing how calm Tsuna seemed.
"So… what exactly do we do?" Takeshi asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Isn't it obvious, sword freak?" Hayato demanded, shooting Takeshi a piercing, cold glare. "We're planning a coup d'état."
"O-h…" Takeshi trailed off, hoping that they would elaborate without him needing to seem like an idiot and ask even more questions.
Tsuna gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about it for now." He assured Takeshi.
Takeshi, seeing the smile, couldn't help the smile that rose to his face and laughed. "A coup d'état, right?" He asked with a natural, but forced cheer. "Sound like fun."
"Liar." Tsuna said calmly.
Hayato shot Tsuna a slightly curious, yet oddly determined look, and turned to Takeshi. "You can't fool us." The green eyed delinquent informed Takeshi. "Stop pretending. Tsuna-sama won't judge you."
Takeshi's smile slipped, and he blinked, slightly uncertain. When had his false smile become natural? When had he learned to keep his mask permanent? Had this happened recently, or had it happened a long time ago?
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
Hayato's face turned red and he pulled out a piece of dynamite. "If you keep acting like this I'll blow you up." He threatened.
Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "Hayato." He warned, orange flashing through his eyes.
Hayato's eyes flickered to Tsuna, and after what seemed like a major internal conflict for a few seconds, bowed his head, raised it, stared at Tsuna, and got down on all fours. Within seconds he was screaming for forgiveness.
"I'm sososososo sorry boss!" He cried. "As payment I'll explode this bomb on my hand so that I'll feel the pain that—"
"Stooooppp! Don't do it, Hayato! Remember the last time you did that? Don't remake that mess—getting attacked was bad enough, I had to fight them off all by myself… though, come to think of it, I came up with X-Burner because of that fight… that's not the point!—Hayato, you're not allowed to hurt yourself!"
There was a barrage of loud, panicked screaming.
Despite himself, Takeshi couldn't help it. He laughed.
It was as though a silent curtain were drawn between them. Tsuna and Hayato turned to him with wide eyes, their expressions clearly saying: Sorry, but I thought that you just laughed. Clearly I'm having hearing problems, right? ...riiiiiight? Oi, your lack of answer is worrying me…
"Sorry." Takeshi apologized even though he didn't feel sorry at all. Tsuna and Hayato obviously didn't buy the apology either, if their irritated expressions (well, only Hayato, really) were anything to go by. "It's just… you two were so funny together."
"Excuse me?" Tsuna echoed, sounding bewildered.
"Well… watching you two interact is just really funny. Seeing how panicked you're both getting is hilarious."
You're crazy. It was pretty easy to read their expressions and Takeshi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"We're all friends, right? So stop giving me that look!"
"What the heck, sword freak!?" Hayato demanded angrily. "When'd you decide that we were friends, huh? I thought you just joined us out of necessity! I never agreed to be your friend!"
"Maa, maa, Gokudera-kun, we're definitely friends!"
"Idiot! Don't decide those types of things by yourself!"
It was strange. Takeshi felt… calm. Cool. He felt like smiling. He shouldn't. They people were criminals… outlaws even to the mafia. Why was he laughing with them?
Tsuna laughed as he watched them. "I see what you mean, Takeshi. And you can call Hayato by his first name. He won't mind."
"YES I WILL!"
"Okay, Hayato-kun!"
"Shut the hell up! Are you deaf!? I told you not to call me that! And what's with the weird suffix!?"
"Erm… Hayato… Takeshi's Japanese so he adds suffixes at the end of… hieeee, Hayato, don't blow this place up! We're running out of money and we can't afford to attract attention to ourselves!"
"I'm sososososo sorry! I will proceed to punish myself for this horrible thoughtless subordinate…"
"You really don't have to do that…"
"Ahahaha, this is fun!"
"Not helping!"
0o0o0o0o0
"Are you any closer to tracking him down, Coyote?"
There was a moment of hesitation before regret flickered in Coyote's eyes. "No, Nono. Sawada Tsunayoshi's left no traces… it's as though he never existed."
Nono gritted his teeth and the metal fork he held into his hand bent in half. "I need to find him." He murmured. "I had hoped to stop him… for the boy's sake. But now…"
"He's become too much of a threat." Bouche snarled. "It's up to us to eliminate him."
Once upon a time, perhaps some sorrow or a bit of regret would have weighed on his conscience. But Tsunayoshi had done too much. Gone too far. Not even for the young, smiling boy that had once happily called him "Grandfather" could he allow mercy.
Nobody hurts my family and gets away with it. He thought, but couldn't muster the anger that should have come easily to him.
All he could think of was Tsuna's crying face as he screamed out in pain…
Why? Why did it come down to this?
"It's no use having regrets now, Nono." Coyote said as though reading Nono's mind. "It's too late to back out. He's declared war on the Vongola. We must defend ourselves."
Defend? Is that how we justify this? Attacking a boy who only wanted answers? Nono wondered bitterly. No… he doesn't only want answers now. He wants the destruction of the Vongola. He's murdered… he has become tainted with the blood of our dark world.
"We have to do it." Bouche said. "I'm not fond of this method… it makes me feel like a coward, but this is the only way to definitely have him out of the picture."
That's right. Nono thought, shoving away any nostalgia that lingered in his mind. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the despicable words that would come from his mouth.
"Get Reborn to eliminate him."
Bouche gave him a coy smile. "Right away, sire."
It was too late for regrets. Nono stood up, eyes flashing dark gold as he turned to Coyote. "Tell our subordinates…" He ordered. "…to prepare for war."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
1st Generation's Time
"Giotto! Giotto! Hey, are you okay?"
"G- G?" Giotto groaned as he sat up. Pain was in his—oh, just about everywhere, really.
What was that sound that he heard? Soft and lilting… music?
"Asari!?" Giotto exclaimed in shock as he turned to face the black haired man, then choked in pain and lay back down.
Asari's eyes opened and he stared at Giotto for a moment, the smiled and dipped his head in acknowledgement. "It's nice to see you're well, Giotto." Asari greeted with a smile. "I was worried there for a moment."
"What…" Giotto's eyes flew to the flute, and he frowned. "Why are you playing such a cheap thing, Asari? Where's your one of a kind flute?"
"Oh, that?" Asari laughed and waved a hand. "I… uh…" His eyes flickered to the ground. "…lost it."
He could tell instantly that Asari was lying. "Don't lie to me, Asari." Giotto said sharply. "Where is it?"
Asari smiled at Giotto. "I just forgot it in Japan is all." He replied.
"Forgot it my (insert word)." G snorted. "He sold it, Giotto."
"Sold it?" Giotto repeated in shock, blinking at Asari in confusion. "B-but it was your mother's flute!" He protested. "Why would you sell it? It was precious to you! I don't understand why…"
"He sold it for us, Giotto." G snarled. "When he heard that we were in trouble he decided to sell his flute to buy swords in order to help us."
"B-but—" Giotto was at loss for words. "Asari! Your flute!" Was all that came out of his mouth. He couldn't properly formulate the words to shape his meaning.
Asari sighed. "Yes, Giotto." He agreed. "My flute."
"B-but…"
"Snap out of it!" G exclaimed sharply, snapping his fingers in front of Giotto's face. "Yeah, the flute freak sold his flute to help protect us! Can you get over it now?"
Giotto nodded numbly.
"It's fine, Giotto-san." Asari sighed. "You really don't have to worry over it. It makes no difference to me anyways. As long as I can play my flute, I'm happy."
Giotto sighed. "But I want to make it up to you." He muttered.
"Then let me join you." Asari offered. "You're making a group to oppose the Viridus famaglia because they're abusing the citizens of this town, right? Let me join."
Giotto started. "A-are you sure?" He asked in surprise. "The Viridus famaglia is strong…"
"Which is exactly why we need more allies, right, Asari?" G asked, running a hand through his hair. "As much as I hate to admit it, Asari's right, Giotto. We can't plan to fight them without at least a hundred strong men. Even then we'll be outnumbered 10 to 1. Asari's strong… he saved us from the last scuffle."
Asari smiled at G. "Thank you, G-san." He said.
G turned slightly red. "This isn't for you." He snapped. "It's for the sake of helping Giotto to protect the citizens."
"Softie." Giotto teased. This served to make G turn even redder.
"W-what are you talking about?" G spluttered. "I just said that we're protecting the citizens! It's our duty!"
"I mean letting Asari join us." Giotto reply with a sly smile. "You like him and want him to join us, don't you? I'll bet that you're just pretending to dislike him! He's grown on you, hasn't he?"
"Idiot! I just met him!"
"Sure, sure, whatever you say!" Giotto replied sweetly, acting falsely innocent as he gigled. "Hehe~"
Asari smiled as he watched the two bicker, almost seeming to forget that Asari was there. Is this what the rest of my life will be like? He wondered, and grinned. Well, seems like fun.
Protecting Giotto felt surprisingly good. When he fault, Asari didn't feel like he had been fighting. He had just been defending his friend, not intentionally hurting his opponents.
Slowly, his smile stretched even wider as he watched his… friends (the word felt a little strange, even in his thoughts) turn to him, demanded to know who was right. At this Asari gave a clueless laugh accompanied by a little shrug.
"Ahm…. What was the argument about again?" He wondered out loud, still musing it over when G started to yell at him about paying attention.
"You're the one who's the cause of this fight, you know, Flute Freak! You should pay more attention when people are arguing about you and why you're here! Hey, are you even listening to me!? Oi, oi, pay attention! HEEEEYYYY, Giotto, he's ignoring me! You're friend is really rude! Giotto, you're ignoring me too!? You all suck!"
Ah… this is fun. He thought as G continued to yell at him. This just might work.
A/N: I'm not abandoning this again, nor deleting it. I'm finishing it, for sure! (Pumps fist.) I say that, but the chapters suck so you probably don't care anyways...
