CHAPTER VIII

Back to the present...

You unconsciously dodge a knife being thrown across the room as you're trying to discuss some plans for some new equipment with Spanner. It's not exactly Vongola equipment, but Giannini was clumsy and Spanner lived in a bubble when he worked and he was the only one you could trust with this assignment.

"Ooooi, senpaaaai...Could you not throw things around so carelessly?" The youngest Varia member plucked the knife from his giant frog helmet.

"Ushishishishi, next time I won't miss...YOUR FACE!" shouted Varia's second youngest member (and their craziest member - well, when it came to Fran it was debateable who was more crazy) as he jumped down from the sofa, nearly kicking Spanner in the head.

Spanner raised an eyebrow. "We should take this to the conference room," he said, the lollipop jittering with the movement of his mouth.

You sighed. It was so quiet in here five minutes ago... Come to think of it, it hasn't been quiet since the Varia got here three weeks ago.

"Yeah, I think you're right," you say.

"VROOOOOOOOIIII!"

Your ears rang from the deafening voice of the Varia's noisy swordsman, Squalo, storming into the living room.

He eyed the two of you and scowled. "Where is that bastard Xanxus now?! OOOOOIIII, BEL!"

"Urasai!" Bel shouted, throwing one of his knives in Squalo's direction.

You and Spanner make your way to the conference room, listening to the shouting from Squalo and the complaints from Fran being knifed in the head too many times.

"I wish they would go back to Italy already," you mutter.

You entered the conference room and were startled to see sixteen year old Lambo leaned back on a chair with his feet propped up on the long conference room's table.

You imagine Gokudera's eyebrow twitching (an easy way to tell he was annoyed) and him shouting, "Aho Ushi! Get your feet off the goddamned table and take things more seriously!"

You really missed him. He left three weeks ago, headed for Italy, to retrieve sensitive information from the CEDEF, which the Varia was supposed to have brought with them but somehow managed to forget. They ended up recruiting him for a mission they needed assistance with shortly after. Remembering his annoyed outrage with the Varia's incompetence made you smile. He always got so animated in those outbursts.

"Yaré , yaré," drawled Lambo. "They sure are a noisy lot." He lazily looked over in your direction. "Alright, I'll take my leave. Perhaps the lovely Kyoko-chan has prepared some sweet takoyaki for Lambo-san," he said, standing and rubbing his stomach.

Though he was older, nothing other than his hair, clothes and voice had changed. He still was a cry baby, lazy, obsessed with takoyaki and sweets and still referred to himself in third person, a trait you found he had in common with Haru Miura.

"Jaa ne," he said, waving a hand.

You watched him and leave and sighed. "Finally," you said.

Spanner grinned and set his laptop on the table. "This is why I prefer the tech room. Irie and I never have any disturbances there. It's imparative to our work."

"You don't let anything distract the while you work, Spanner. You don't pay attention to anything else," you joke.

"True," he said with a grin, replacing the finished lollipop with a fresh one.

"As a doctor I must tell you that too much sugar is bad for your blood, not to mention your teeth," you said playfully.

"Ah, but it keeps my brain working effeciently," he said, tapping his head.

You couldn't help but smile at his lax attitude.

"Okay," you said, laying out the data in front of Spanner. "Here's the criteria for the new equipment. You need to make sure that it's least 55 inches by 27 inches, and a standard of at least four and a half feet off the ground... and call me paranoid, but I want it to be sturdy and strong, and you know... safe. Just to ease my mind. And his."

Spanner nodded, looking over the paperwork.

You breathed a sigh if relief, so glad that was one less thing you had to take care of. "Also, please don't say anything about this to Tsuna or the other guardians, especially Gokudera. If they ask, just send them in my direction."

Spanner nodded again. "And the modifications?" he asked.

"I'll leave those to you, do what you see fit. Before assembling the complete product, run it by me for approval first."

"Got it," Spanner said.

"Thank you," you said, patting his shoulder. "I couldn't trust anyone else with this."

He gave you a warm grin, the stick of his lollipop sticking out the side of his mouth.

"Alright, I'll let you get to work," you said and left the conference room.

You headed back to your office, enjoying the fact that all the rooms on this floor contained the people that you had come to love as your family, no matter how aloof and antisocial they were, like Hibari-san or how annoying and loud they were like the Varia. No matter how crazy things got around here it always made you feel at home.

You entered your office and saw Shamal sitting at your desk.

"Oooh (Y/N)-chan! I'm back from my vacation!" He opened his arms wide for an embrace, lips puckered.

"Shishou...," you say, startled. It's been a year since you've seen your mentor.

You felt a hard tap on the top of your head.

"Oi, how many times have I told you not to call that perverted old man 'master'? It creeps me out, tch."

Your heart swelled with excitement as the familiar voice scolded you.

You spun around to see the bomber standing behind you with a crooked grin and arms crossed. He was dressed in a black, expensive Italian suit with a crimson dress shirt underneath and black tie. His silver hair was long and shaggy now, looking a lot like Shamal's. (Shamal loved to tease Gokudera about him copying his hairstyle)

He looks so much more mature in his suits, though you still loved the tight jeans and hoodies he wears on his off time. His fingers are still adorned with rings and now his ears are adorned with silver cuffs and studs on either side. His skin was still a creamy alabaster, his eyes still a gorgeous, glowing peridot. He couldn't be more handsome in your eyes.

You threw your arms around him, nearly knocking him over.

"O-oi, take it easy!"

"I missed you," you whispered.

He smiled at you.

"Argh, it's you, brat. I see you came back alive," Shamal said, draping an arm over both of your shoulders.

"Che, I'm surprised you are still alive, you filthy pervert. Get your hands away from her, bastard," Gokudera said curtly.

Shamal raised his hands. "Relax, relax. Still, I can't believe you managed to get a girl as cute as (Y/N)-chan," he sang, pinching your cheek. "You didn't even know what flirting was once upon a time. I didn't think you'd be interested...in women... "

Gokudera's eyebrow twitched. "Urasai baka!" he spat.

You laughed. "Calm down, you two...I smell Kyoko's cooking. Let's go eat," you said with a smile.

After dinner, you and Gokudera headed straight for the bedroom.

He kissed you with a hunger but it wasn't like before; since that night you told him you loved him he had never been that way with you again. His hunger came out of loneliness and lust, and though he never said it, love.

He peeled off your clothes and you only succeeded in getting his shirt and jacket off. He kissed your neck and shoulders and gently pushed you on to your bed.

Gokudera licked and sucked his way down your chest, your belly, your abdomen and kissed in between your thighs. You ran your fingers through his soft, shaggy hair and clutched as his fingers and tongue delved inside you, swirling and stretching and sometimes he'd bite, but only hard enough for you to shudder with pleasure.

You moaned and groaned and called out his name until your mouth was dry like cotton. He kissed down your thighs to your toes and he smiled when he saw them curl, because he knew you only did that when you came.

Gokudera stood, wiping his glistening lips off with the back of his hand and undid his belt, letting his silk dress pants slide down his jutted hip bones and lean, muscular legs. You recovered from your electrifying orgasm and sat up on your knees at the edge of the bed. You hooked a finger into the elastic of his boxers and brought him to the foot of the bed. Once there, you grabbed his waist with both hands and leaned in to kiss the lines of his sculpted abdomen, the creases of the muscles lining his hips and his navel, tracing the trail of faint hair that lead to his erection. You slide his boxers down, tracing your fingers up his inner thighs, stopping to massage his scrotum. He watched you intently, his gorgeous jade eyes clouded with a lusty haze. He bites his lip to stifle a premature moan. You dragged a fingernail up his shaft, following it with your tongue. You circle around his head, kissing the tip now and then and sliding your tongue back down to the bottom of his erection. You took his member into your mouth, slicking his engorged flesh with your saliva, licking and sucking and then pulling him from your mouth with a "pop". Gokudera ran his hands through your hair and clutched it in his fists, biting down hard on the corner of his lip. You licked up his shaft, stopping to lick the slit of his head and pre-cum that beaded there. He let out a throaty moan and pulled your hair back making your neck taught and he leaned in to lick and nip at your neck. Your mouth met his and he slid his tongue between your parted lips and ran it along your teeth, the roof of your mouth and finally, wrapping his tongue around yours, and you realize just how sweet he tastes.

You grab a a fistful of his hair and breathe, "I want you inside me. Now."

He doesn't make you wait or beg for it, he doesn't want to tease you.

He lifts you higher up on to the bed, coming in between your legs and slowly penetrates your wet, eager core. You let out a cry and wrapped your arms around his neck, still amazed that he fills you so perfectly like the two of you were made to fit together.

He rocks his hips steadily, propping himself up on one arm so that he can caress and massage your body with his free hand. His thrusts are deep and hard and you can't stop but think how much of an amazing fuck he is, how amazing he always has been.

It's not long before you're crying each other's names, panting and sucking in air, your bodies vibrating in tandem from the after shock of your orgasms.

You laid in the bed you shared with Gokudera, your head resting on his chest while his fingers were strewn through your hair. His body was warm, his skin was sheen with the sweat of your love but he smelled so intoxicating. You inhaled deeply.

"Don't... don't fall asleep yet," he said softly.

Curious, you propped your chin up on his chest to look at him. His face was a soft pink hue. You loved that he still blushed around you after five years.

"Hmm?" you asked tiredly.

"I-" he turned his gaze from you. "I have something for you," he said bashfully, sitting up.

You sat up, pulling the sheets up to your chest. "Really?" you ask surprised.

"Tch... don't act all surprised like I never give you anything," he said scornfully.

You pushed him playfully. "It's a rare occurrence," you said with a laugh.

"Che..." He leaned over the bed and pulled something out of his pants pocket. He sits, leaning against the massive cherrywood headboard. He doesn't let you see what he has in his hands. You unconsciously tuck your hair behind your ear and he smiles at you and you remember how much he likes that. He pulls you over to him and kisses you. There's still a dusting of pink on his ivory cheeks.

"Before boarding the plane to Italy, Bianchi came to see me and told me she had something she needed to tell me..." Gokudera let out a shaky breath. "She showed me a box of letters written to my mother from my father. She told me that they were love letters they had continued to write to each other even after I was born. In the letters my father is asking her to marry him but she's always refusing, but he never stops writing to her... In the letters he praises me, always referring to me as 'our son'...

"Bianchi also learned that my mother was dying from a rare and incurable disease, which is why she refused my father's proposal and why she let me go so easily. She didn't want to burden either of us, wanting me to have a full and happy life with loving parents. On the day her car ran off the cliff, she had a present for me in the backseat of her car. My father had thought she committed suicide, I thought he killed her but what really happened was that she succumbed to her disease before her car veered off the road...

"I didn't want to believe it, all this rage I had built up over all this time, where is it supposed to go now?"

You took his free hand and squeezed, kissing his cheek. He brushed the hair out of your face and opened his other hand, revealing a small, black velvet box.

After a long pause he says, "She also gave me this and told me that now that I had you and maybe...maybe start my own... family some day -" he blushed again - "that I should know that I was brought into this world by two loving parents... " Gokudera fell silent.

"Hayato...," you whispered. You could feel his anguish, his confusion, his hurt and his sorrow. He spent seventeen years hating a man for all the wrong reasons. You were somewhat relieved though and you hoped in a way, he was too. That now his dark passenger would cease torturing this anguished man you loved so much. That now he could be free to love you and anything else that came into his life, that he would smile for you and anyone else, and not just Tsuna.

His voice broke your thoughts "Anyways," he says, clearing his throat nervously, "this was my mother's...and well, I want you have it," he said, opening the black box.

You stared at him for a while, afraid and anxious, before looking down at the ring in the box. Inside was a gorgeous and ornate Victorian style platinum ring with a large, square cut viridian stone in the center. The ring literally took your breath away. You stared at it for a long time before you found your voice.

"Go-Gokudera... it's beautiful...," you whispered, not sure of what else to say. The ring was captivating.

"Tch, you don't like it, do you?"

You looked him in the eyes. "N-no, I...I... I'm just... blown away," you exclaim. "The ring... the stone is the same colour as your eyes," you said with a smile, kissing him on the corner of his mouth.

His cheeks get warm. He takes your left hand and shakily slips ring on your finger. "I... I want you to be mine, forever," he says softly.

This is all uncharacteristically like him. You're frozen in shock.

"And I want... us to have a family someday, when this family no longer needs me. I don't want to make the same mistakes my father made. I... I want to be with the woman I truly... love."

His last words hit you like sharp pins, sinking into every fiber of your being. You can't move, you can't speak. Hot tears begin to roll down your cheeks. This is the very first time he's ever told you he's loved you, the first time to even admitting that he did. And now he was putting a ring on your finger, staking his claim on you 'forever'. His words ring like bells in your ears.

He looks down at you worriedly. "(Y/N)... Did I say something wrong?"

You shake your head, bringing your hands up to your face to brush the tears away. The ring weighs heavily on your finger but in a good way.

"No...I...," you squeak, still unable to find your voice. You're so overwhelmingly happy, it washes over you in waves. You throw your arms around his neck and kiss him, catching him off guard.

He still has a worried look on his face so you finally manage to whisper, "Yes...yes, I want to be yours forever too."

Author's Note:

This would have been a good ending, no? But no, I had to keep going so... keep reading! (Gokudera's gotten too OOC for me _)