"Teacher evaluations should be more specific. It's not that he was an 'unsuccessful' teacher, it's just that each class assignment killed a piece of my soul. Which bubble is that on the scantron?"
-SashaSweety
"Why are vacations so exhausting? You go relax at the beach. And then you go relax by the pool. And then you're tired from relaxing so you go back to your room and take a nap. And then your vacation is over."
-chasedoutre
Ashlynn decided that it was a very good day when she left her apartment to walk with the boys to school. She wished them luck on the first day and smiled knowingly as she walked away to her campus. She heard Tsuna shriek in surprise when he learned that Ryohei would be attending Namimori as a third year instead of attending Namimori high as a first year. The boxer himself believed that he had been a third year the previous year until one of the staff had to tell him otherwise. Strange since Ryohei had been the Valedictorian and had delivered a speech despite really being a second year. Ashlynn kind of wished that Ryohei had graduated from Namimori Middle. She figured it would have been interesting to attend school with the enthusiastic boxer. She supposed she would wait another year for that to happen.
It was April and the start of a brand new school year. Both Ashlynn and Ran were immensely relieved when they looked on the class lists and found they would be in the same class for another year. Though Ashlynn paused momentarily when she read the name of the teacher for their homeroom. She swore that the name was familiar but just couldn't bring herself to remember. She raised an eyebrow when Ran spotted the name she had been staring at and sighed sadly.
"He's the worst teacher in the history of worst teachers ever!" Ran explained in a soft whisper then grabbed Ashlynn's hand and led her out of the crowd in front of the bulletin board. "Hated or not, I would never want anyone to have to endure that man. Nobody knows why he hasn't been fired yet and it's not like he makes an effort to not lose his job. And now we're stuck with him for homeroom for the whole entire year! This sucks!"
Ran continued to sulk during the distance it took to go up the stairs and down the hall to their classroom, 2-C. They entered and found the room dark with an overhead projector lighting a labeled page on the board. It was their assigned seats and according to the note scrawled on the side, there would be absolutely no changes. Ran grumbled and sat heavily in the front row seat closest to the door. Ashlynn quickly dropped her bag at the seat next to the window in the back row then went to sit on Ran's desk and played with the girl's hair while more students glumly filed into the room, found their places and quietly talked amongst themselves.
Ashlynn looked up in barely concealed horror as the sliding door was slammed open and the teacher flicked the lights on and sauntered to the desk in the front of the room. 'No fucking way...this guy is from that Persona game...the fourth in the series that Norene was playing...but isn't this guy supposed to be dead...?'
The man slapped down a stack of papers on the table, used a remote to turn of the overhead, and leaned against the side of the desk as he glared at the students around the room.
"Alright you little piece of shits! You were given enough time to find your seats, so hurry up and sit you asses down already!"
There were grumbles about the class as everyone did as instructed. Ashlynn did so in a bit of a daze. 'Why is this man here? He's from a whole different series!'
"Shut your traps!" The teacher, Morooka snapped at them. "I'm taking roll so you better be in your assigned seats, and I damn well expect you brats to respond in an orderly manner!"
Ashlynn sighed. So much for a good day especially when it had started out so well. She and the boys had a friendly race alongside the canal that morning. Yamamoto had actually beaten her in sprinting. She made second in their little contest with Ryohei following 'To the Extreme', then Gokudera who was trying to make it that Tsuna would beat him across the mark they made to serve as a finish line. Reborn had then 'kindly suggested' that they have a nice 'friendly' spar with one another. Ashlynn was pitted against Yamamoto and his magical katana transforming baseball bat. She found out firsthand that Yamamoto truly had the instincts of a hitman. Of course, she had a bit more experience using her chakrams than he did with his sword, so they were pretty well-matched between each other.
That was all well and all but being evenly matched wasn't going to help her too much if she wanted to become stronger. So that meant that she would have to spar and or fight with someone above her level that wouldn't kill her but also wouldn't go easy on her because she was a girl (she had a feeling that Yamamoto really didn't want to strike her). Her studies with Bianchi were going great but she wanted another person to spar with and she had a certain person in mind for that particular endeavor.
She needed to see Hibari.
With that decision in mind to seek out the prefect (Or just wait till he drops by the bakery) who would most likely be more than happy to beat her up; Ashlynn turned her attention back to Morooka-sensei as he grumpily went over safety procedures like fire drills and lock downs and how the grading system was going to work. Stuff that everyone knew from early conditioning in primary school but had to go over again at the beginning of every single school year to make absolutely sure.
It made her wonder if someone had ever had a mental breakdown from going against said conditioning.
Ashlynn shook her head and looked over the papers that Morooka-sensei had passed out and was reading aloud for the class. Sure enough it was something everyone knew so she started doodling on the side of the margin as she waited for class to end and let her mind wander to the past few months filler events.
(*Flashback*)
"Welcome. To the House of Sawada."
Ashlynn looked up from finishing the last of her school assignments that were laid out on the low table in front of her in Tsuna's bedroom to stare at Tsuna and a girl that she recognized as one of Kyoko's friends from Namimori middle: Kurokawa Hana.
Reborn looked up from the newspaper that he suddenly had been reading when the two entered the room, wearing a dark green yukata, round glasses and a little mustache above his upper lip.
"My name is Kurokawa Hana. It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope that I am not intruding." Hana introduced herself and bowed to the two of them, Reborn nodded his head to her before looking back down at the paper. Ashlynn offered the girl a small smile before gathering all of her papers into her school bag, stood up and playfully ruffled Tsuna's hair before she left for the kitchen downstairs to meet with Bianchi. Tsuna was a little busy staring at Reborn in shock, did that baby have a different costume for every situation? And why was it that only he and Dino could tell that it was Reborn the entire time!
Hana nudged him with her elbow and peeked out the bedroom door at Ashlynn's retreating figure down the hall then went back into the room. "I didn't know you had an older sister, Sawada. She's cool."
"Eh...? Oh, you mean Ashlynn? But, uh, she's not my sist-"
"Now, where is that hunk that you promised to let me see? If I don't get to see him today then I'll be telling Kyoko." Hana cut in sharply.
'I wasn't able to refuse and I don't want Kyoko to get the wrong idea...' Tsuna sighed. "Alright, alright, but even if you see him it will only be for a few minutes."
"Right-o. Just bring him out already~."
Ashlynn grinned, pausing right before the steps of the stairs before she continued downwards. This was another check off of the filler events.
(* End Flashback*)
'Poor Lambo.' She thought as she turned to the page that needed a guardian signature and wrote her name down on the line.
'The ten year bazooka was malfunctioning so first it was the older Lambo's body that came back in time dressed as the younger Lambo. Then the mind of the older Lambo came back in time dressed as himself but he was back to the height of his younger self. Poor Lambo from the future was stuck in the past for a whole week and would not stop crying.'
Then when the Lambo's finally switched back to their original places, the younger Lambo wandered into the kitchen at Tsuna's house and asked 'what happened to her big boobies?' causing Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera to choke and spit out their respective drinks. Ashlynn's first reaction was to look down at her chest with a thoughtful gaze then cupped and pushed them up before letting go.
"The girls get bigger? All right~!"
Apparently her breasts would still get a little bigger in the future. That was a happy thought. And the boys hadn't been able to look her in the eyes for the next few days. Mostly because she, Bianchi, and Reborn were making jokes at the expense of their embarrassment. Even Maman had joked along with them.
'...Then there was White day...it had been...entertaining... to say the least...' She doodled a heart with wings before she started filling in the blank lines asking for her contact information and who was to call if there was ever an emergency. She wrote down Dolly's name and the hospital as her emergency contacts.
Maybe entertaining wasn't the right word to use. Shocking definitely; and frightening seemed an even better term to use. She had come home from working overtime and noticed that her door was unlocked when it should not have been unlocked. So she had dropped her bag outside and burst through her own home, flicking on lights with a charm in one hand, searching for intruders.
She had been paranoid for nothing.
There was a stack of gifts and two vases of flowers, one light pink the other yellow, left sitting on her island counter. Though she was curious she decided that it wouldn't hurt to thoroughly check the rest of her home in case there really was an intruder that was waiting for the gifts to keep her attention then jump out at her when she was distracted by the pretty wrapping paper and ribbons. Once she felt satisfied with her search she went out and retrieved her bag before locking the door and making sure that her windows were tightly secured. Then she set her sights on the pile of white colored presents.
Some of it was candy and sweet things, namely from Tsuna, Gokudera, Shoichi, Maman, Birdy, and Ran. The other day Bianchi had given her another poison cooking lesson using Irish recipe's for a white day gift but Ashlynn still couldn't get exactly how to get hers to become poisonous.
She found when getting some juice that the contents of her fridge had been moved around so a couple of cases of sushi could fit snugly inside. It was obvious who that was from. She pulled put a case to munch on while she finished opening the other gifts.
There was one very extravagant looking box with off white roses printed on the casing. A note tied to the white lacy ribbon showed that it was from Lussuria and had the Varia sun guardian's phone number and e-mail address written on the other side of the note. His white day gift consisted of a pair of very nice arm guards in white and silver thread and trimming. And when she tried them on they covered her elbows and reached past the back of her hands to the beginning of her fingers and there was a piece (she thought it was elastic) that held the padded cloth to her hands by tying around her middle fingers. She decided that she would use them in her spars. And not only that; it felt like a good idea to always have them on her person or in her bag... The only problem she could think of was: how was she supposed to wash them when they ever get dirty? The box certainly didn't come with any instructions on how to keep them clean. She'll stall from using them for a while until she contacted Lussuria and find out how to wash them.
Don Timoteo and Reborn had combined their gifts: The vase of pink roses and a grey with silver lining pistol that held two more shots than regular pistols held in their capacity. There was also six loaded mags that she could switch out when she ran out of ammo and a case to carry them in. There was a note from Reborn that he would get her in contact with their engineer for more ammo and a P.S. that Dolly had volunteered to teach her how to handle and care for her new weapon. The card on the other vase revealed that it was Dino who sent it (and his men signed the card thanking her for baking them cookies). From the Cavallone Boss she also received a small silver bracelet that she immediately put on to join the many others on her wrists. There was a pair of black women's boxing gloves with a white ribbon with note attached asking her to consider joining the Extreme boxing club at Namimori junior from Ryohei. It was a nice thought but she didn't box though she knew she wouldn't mind learning a few moves.
Although she really didn't expect anything in return from Hibari, he proved her wrong when she found a small plain box sitting on the desk in her bedroom (the boy probably thought the other gifts would crowd his). Inside was a very nice dagger that she decided would be hidden on her thigh when not in use.
All in all she was happy about white day even though that initial experience had been frightening... she was glad that her friends thought of her on white day.
A few days after white day there had been that trip to the zoo where she had been paired with Ryohei to round up the escaped animals that were wandering around the park. Ryohei, ironically enough, had an impromptu spar with a kangaroo once they were done doing their part of leading their group of animals back to their areas. He yelled at the zoo keeper that he wanted the 'Extreme' Kangaroo to join his boxing club and that he wanted the lion to be brought back out so he could fight the 'King of the Jungle' and would not be taking no for an answer. Thankfully he completely forgot about it once Kyoko had stepped forward, looked up at him and asked to walk back with the group back to Tsuna's house to see Maman...
Ashlynn snapped out of her reverie when Morooka slammed his hand on the top of his desk and many of her classmates jumped and yelped at the loud sound. It looked like she wasn't the only one to let her attention wander.
"That's all for today. Normal lectures will begin tomorrow. You have an assignment due at my desk first thing tomorrow morning! An essay on why these rules are important and why we go through with them! No whining!" Morooka ignored protests of an essay on the first day and the dismissed the class, glaring as he snatched up his papers and left the room. After a few seconds to make sure that he was really gone; no one wanted to chance walking besides the man through the halls to get out of the building. They would risk being expelled on the very first day! Once the coast was clear everyone grabbed their things and left the classroom.
Ashlynn waved goodbye to Ran as they reached the bakery and entered as Ran went on ahead home after buying a blueberry muffin. Ashlynn went into the bathroom and changed into a pair of faded gray jeans and a dark blue t-shirt before covering it with an apron. She looked towards the door when she heard a few screams coming from down the hallway.
'Hibari is early today...'
Ashlynn fixed her hair into a tighter bun before she left the bathroom and walked down the hallway towards the baking area. She paused a moment before pushing the door open and was met with the sight of Hibari waiting for her at her work station and the other employees were pressed into their own work stations with bruises and a few were limping about (and a few glares in her direction). Ashlynn shook her head but gathered a tray of shortbread and a cold can of juice and placed it in front of the prefect before she grabbed the recipe orders on her table. The way that the work was split between each employee; they had a quota of their own to finish during their shift. Ashlynn was in charge of shortbread for obvious reasons along with normal two layered cakes, cupcakes and cookies. She would get something different when she was working overtime or when she would lend an extra hand here and there. Amazing that she had extra time to help out more.
Today since they were starting get low on the chocolate cupcakes, that is what she would be making for the majority of her shift. She glanced over a few times to the prefect still sitting on an extra stool she had added for him at her station. He rested his chin on one hand while the other picked up pieces of shortbread in front of him.
And he was staring at her.
Ashlynn tilted her head and gave the boy her full undivided attention and proceeded to stare back. After a few moments of the silent stare down Ashlynn reverted her attention back to work but still watched the boy from the corner of her eye.
"You know..." She started. "...It's been a very long while since we have sparred, Hibari-san."
Ashlynn took out a finished batch of cupcakes and removed them from their holders in the pan and began frosting them. She gave the boy next to her a sidelong glance to see a pleased smirk on his face and a few looks of horror from her co-workers.
"...Some things are happen in the near future...and I want to be ready for them...so...I want to become stronger... starting tomorrow after school okay with you?"
For the next few weeks Ashlynn had to become very aware of how she spent her time during the day. She used whatever free time during school to learn, review, and finish class assignments. This served to allow more time to commit to other things. Namely if she didn't have to work after school she would go straight to Namimori middle to meet with Hibari to spar in either the courtyard or on top and across the school roofs. During the days that she had to put in time for her shift at work Hibari would come by like he always did but he had now developed a habit of throwing knives in her direction. She had to quickly (And very painfully) learn to catch the projectiles before they hit since she couldn't dodge because of the equipment and the other employees on the room.
Any time not dedicated not dedicated to school and work was spent either hanging out with Ran at her place or with Tsuna and his friends, training with Bianchi, while also wading through Ashlynn's secret mental list of the filler Arcs. After each one Ashlynn could feel that finally the storyline was finally picking up pace and although she was nervous about the upcoming conflicts (Mukuro for starters, then the ring battle against Xanxus and the Varia, promptly followed by the Magnificent Bastard Byakuran and his merry organization). She like any anime fan disliked fillers and wanted to get a move on, but she did see how they were useful: character development and whatnot. It also gave her time to become stronger, and now that she had been fighting with Hibari on a near daily basis she truly felt that she had at least gained a few levels; to put it in video game terms. It hurt of course and she sometimes questioned herself on her sanity. Dr. Ozumi-san wasn't very happy that she came to the hospital more frequently but then she irritably called him out on being one of Vongola Nono's subordinates and then went on that she was part of the new generation. He lightly scolded her for not following the rule to have a third party to introduce the two of them as mafia members but he relented from hounding her health but still warned her to take more caution.
Ashlynn was starting to see results when one evening she was set to spar against Yamamoto again and she soundly thrashed him into the ground. She would forever remember the look on their faces when they asked her how she improved so much and she answered truthfully: She had been fighting with Hibari on a near daily basis. Ashlynn smiled at their expressions and at the praise from Reborn of her new strengths and going out of her way to include Hibari into the family much to Tsuna's horror and dismay. The baby hitman ignored his student when he denied that he was going to be the next Vongola boss.
Reborn pointed out that at least he was able to run away from what was left of his bullies when Gokudera and Yamamoto weren't around, though he remarked that Tsuna should have had enough training to beat them back by now.
Tsuna whined softly. "But now they just push harder when no one's looking and they still call me Dame-Tsuna and other names."
"What! Juudaime! Are there people bothering you! Just leave it to me Juudaime! I'll make sure that no one will speak negatively of your name ever again!"
"G-Gokudera-kun..."
Ashlynn decided to pipe in at that moment and gained the boys attention. "Well it could have been a lot worse, Tsuna. You could have been trash-canned or swirlied."
"W-what? Trash-canned? S-swirlied? Do I want to know what that means?"
"Eh, probably not but I'll tell you anyways. I've been trash-canned before but fortunately I've never been the victim of a swirly." Ashlynn grinned at the blanks look she was receiving and began to explain for the boys. "A swirly is where you hold the victim upside down with their head in a toilet and flush while their head is in it, though I guess that one is more of a college thing. There's also being shoved and being stuck into lockers if they are large enough or being spanked with a paddle with the school's name or a picture of the mascot. My old high school had very small lockers so a few of my friends that were upperclassmen gave me my initiation into high school by picking me up and dumping me into a trashcan. It was all done good naturedly of course though it really stank. But it wasn't as bad as you'd think, the initiations into the marching band were a lot more crazy from what I heard from a few friends that joined."
"Hiiie! I w-wouldn't want any of that to happen to me...Hey, um... Ashlynn? didn't you just start high school last year here in Japan?... Or do they really do that at Nami high?"
Ashlynn shook her head. "No, I should actually be a third year this year. Before I came to Japan I was already at the end of my freshman year (They had four years of high school in the states, Tsuna). Whereas school here starts in April here it starts around August or September in the United States. I ended up retaking freshman year here as a precaution really. It was just in case if the second year would be too far ahead and I would definitely fall behind. I thought it was better to know the material and review than to fall behind. I was proven right, the last semester of this past year was review while the first parts were new material for me."
"Well that's good then! I would have definitely fallen behind!" Yamamoto laughed.
"Hmph, of course you would, you baseball idiot!"
Ashlynn sighed, crisis successfully averted. She was sure that Tsuna hadn't meant to even mention that he was being bullied. Still, during whatever breaks she might get with fighting Hibari she would go try and check on him.
They had a few more hours of mock fighting that evening before Gokudera walked her home in a companionable silence then leaving once they made it to her apartment door.
Tsuna woke up one Sunday morning at the end of May completely exhausted. But then again he had been waking up tired a lot more frequently than he preferred. He turned on his side and stared sleepily at the wall. Now that he thought about it, this new school year seemed more tiresome than the previous year.
It started with that contest early that first morning in April to see who was the fastest and longest sprinter. Yamamoto barely won nearly tied with Ashlynn, then Gokudera-kun tried to cheer him on and make Tsuna beat him across their finish mark. Then Reborn ordered them to have a 'friendly' spar. Ashlynn and Yamamoto were pitted against each other, then Gokudera and Nii-san, and Reborn had Bianchi come by to spar with him (luckily Gokudera-kun was too busy fighting Nii-san to notice that his sister was in the area) shuddered remembering the horror of Bianchi's poison cooking.
Then at school (after the shock in knowing that Nii-san was really a second year) they found that they were all in separate classes but were given a chance to rewrite the class roster (The principal actually agreed to it!) if they could find and capture Reborn. They won but only because of Kyoko-chan (who didn't know about the contest in the first place) picked up the evil little hitman.
And from then on the early (and when they sometimes met during the evening) training only got more difficult. He would be beaten up all in the name of training and getting stronger. Tsuna was surprised that Ashlynn went along with wholeheartedly than he ever thought she would. Sure he expected it from Nii-san, but then when she had improved almost dramatically she admitted that she was now sparring with Hibari-san and Bianchi on a near daily basis! That was crazy!
'At least I figured out when everyone's birthday is...' Tsuna thought as he dragged himself out of his bed and grabbed some Manga before he went downstairs and made himself cereal for breakfast. He knew from missing it last year that Ashlynn's was on May 11th and they had given Gokudera-kun a small party on September 9th. And now he knew that Nii-san's birthday was on August 26th and Yamamoto's birthday was on April 20th (He wouldn't know until awhile later that it was also Easter and that was why Ashlynn had come to the party with bunny ears, a fluffy tail attached to her skirt, and passing out chocolate eggs from a basket). Tsuna was grateful that none of the party's this year were Vongola styled.
"YES!"
"Hiiiie!"
Nana burst through the front door and slid on the hardwood into the kitchen with her filled canvas grocery bag and her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Tsu-kun! Tsu-kun! I have wonderful news! I won the grand prize in the raffle attached to the tea bottle! I just mailed it in right now!"
"R-really?" Tsuna picked up the empty bowl and placed it and the spoon in the sink. "Wow! What did you win!"
Nana clapped her hands together. "A cruise ship to a tropical island! So lucky!"
"...Eh? A ship? Mom, I get sea-sick easily...maybe you should go with someone else..."
Nana placed the grocery bag on the counter and started to put the contents away. "Now don't say that Tsu-kun! This is a luxury ship cruise! Tsuna, all you've ever been on are small boats. Those are tiny compared to the one we'll get to go on!"
"Hmmm, but it's still a ship, right?"
"That's where you're wrong Tsu-kun! Cruise ships are like very high class hotels floating on the sea! They have nice soft beds and high class food! Like steak! And there are even swimming pools on the deck, and there's a casino and even concert halls!" Nana's eyes sparkled even more as she continued. "And then at the end it will reach a tropical paradise! The tropical sun will soothe all troubles away!"
"Well, I guess if you insist that I should go..."
"I only have tickets for two people...so Maman can't just leave Lambo-chan, I-pin-chan and Fuuta-kun all by themselves..."
"That is something you won't need to worry about." Reborn declared as he and Bianchi entered the kitchen. "Maman, you should enjoy yourselves every once and awhile. You deserve it."
Bianchi crossed her arms. "So I will look after the children for you while you are away Maman."
"Really! You mean that Reborn-kun, Bianchi-chan! Thank you so much!" Nana happily linked her arms with Tsuna. "How long has it been since we went on a vacation, just you and me, Tsu-kun? Haha! This feels like we're going on a date!"
"Eww! Mom! Don't joke around like that! It's gross!" Tsuna tugged his arm away from his mother but he smiled. '...though it would have been great if I could have gone with Kyoko-chan… I guess it's okay. And Mom's right, it has been a long time since we have gone on vacation with each other. This sounds like fun."
"Wow~! It's so big and luxurious! It's almost like a dream being here! I'm so happy!" Maman sighed happily as they returned to one of the main halls from dropping of their small carry-on bags to their room. They decided that they would go and eat first before they'd go around and explore the rest of the ship as they waited to get to the tropical destination. Tsuna walked next to her as they approached one of the hosts of the dining area. The man looked up with a smile and nod of acknowledgment.
Maman smiled back. "We are Sawada."
"Eh? Sawada-sama...? Hmmm. Ah, didn't you come by earlier and eat already?" The man pointed to one of the tables in the middle of the large room. There was only one clean space on the now dirtied white tablecloth. the rest of the table was littered with messy dishes and food staining large pieces of cloth. Tsuna gasped as he and Maman went over to investigate the mess. He scratched the back of his neck in confusion as he looked at the space in front of him.
"...But we haven't even been in this room before right now...y-you don't think that there's an imposter of us walking around!...Mom?"
Tsuna looked up as Maman walked to the other side of the table and bent and disappeared from view then stood back up with a familiar child in cow printed pajamas. Tsuna gasped. "Lambo!"
The child's stomach was bulging from the food he had consumed and groggily shifted as he cuddled into Maman's arms. "...Lambo-san ate a whole lot... so Lambo-san can't eat anymore...mmm."
Nana tilted her head in confusion. "Lambo-chan? what's going on? How did you get here?"
"I was telling the stupid cow..." Tsuna gasped and turned to see Bianchi walking towards the table with her arms crossed. "That Maman wasn't here and then he started crying...so I threatened him that if he didn't stop crying then Maman would never come back and then that made her start crying too." Bianchi pointed to I-pin who was poking her head from behind Bianchi's legs then scurried over to where Maman was standing with Lambo.
Nana cooed at the children. "Aww, did you get worried then come look for me? How sweet. But if the two of you are here then does that mean that Fuuta-kun and Reborn-chan are also here?"
Bianchi shook her head. "Fuuta did not want to come so he is staying with Dolly-san and Birdy-chan."
"This is a dilemma...if you three are here then does that mean... that He is here too...Is Reborn here?...Please tell me that he really isn't." Tsuna paled at the thought of the baby hitman.
"Renaissance~."
"Hiiiiiie! Reborn! And Ashlynn's here too! A-and Reborn! You can't walk around like that! What if someone sees you? Go put your clothes back on!"
Ashlynn was lounging on a long devan chair that Tsuna had first thought was decoration. Her hair was down and was wearing a white palla(1) and a long strip of white cloth that laid like a scarf around her elbows. Reborn was standing at her bare feet holding a small pot filled with fruit, mostly pears and grapes, with a sandy blonde wig and a crown of laurel leaves and he was naked save for the small leaf that covered his private parts.
Tsuna grabbed at the sides of his head in horror. "Why! And when? How did you guys get in here!"
"It was simple enough." Reborn smirked as he offered Ashlynn a pear from the little jar. "We first had to kidnap Ashlynn here then we came here and charged in straight through the main entrance and defeated any of the guards that dared to stand in our way."
"Y-you charged in and beat up security!" Tsuna paled then squealed when he turned around and saw a group of men in uniform talk to the host then walked straight in Tsuna's direction.
"I'm sorry to disturb you." The leader bowed. "But we have reason to believe that there are stowaways hiding on the ship. Have you seen anyone suspicious around here?"
Tsuna quickly shook his head negatively, not trusting his voice at the moment. The man bowed again and motioned for the men to leave and look somewhere else. Tsuna waited until until a few minutes after the group was gone before turning around to scold the group of 'stowaways' only to find them missing.
He glared childishly at the table then picked up the tablecloth and found them hiding beneath the table underneath the tablecloth.
Tsuna regained his lost voice and scowled at them. "They are already sending out search teams to look for you guys!"
"That's not good. If they find out there is a connection between us then Tsuna and Maman will be thrown overboard and chased to one of the local islands." Reborn left the safety of the table
"T-that! Does that mean that out vacation is ruined!" Tsuna cried.
Bianchi helped Ashlynn out from underneath the table then held Reborn in her arms. "Relax. Everything will turn out fine. Besides we want to have a nice tropical vacation too."
Tsuna blanched. "Then you're planning on hiding away until we get to the island?"
"Of course not, what kind of talk is that Tsuna?" Reborn still in nothing but a wig with laurel crown and a leaf preserving modesty, struck a pose with the Leon pistol with Lambo with a pink grenade on his right, I-pin with a gyoza bun on his left, and Bianchi and Ashlynn with a poison cake and chakram respectively. "We're going to permanently take out the guards so they will not bother us in the future. Now let's go! Scatter!"
Tsuna reached a hand out. "No! Wait! C-come back! I think you all have the wrong idea about this! Don't run! You'll only bring more attention to yourselves!"
Maman giggled. "It's a lot more fun now that everyone is here now, ne Tsu-kun?"
"M-mom~! We have to find them!" Tsuna jogged off out of the dining area and into the hallways. He turned sharply around a corner and nearly tripped over a small body. He turned to apologize but it caught in his throat when he saw Lambo holding his stomach with tears in his eyes.
"Lambo-san ate too much then Lambo-san started to run making Lambo-san's tummy hurt. Lambo-san feels like he's gonna puke~"
"Hiiiie! Lambo no!" Tsuna scooped up the child and jogged back to the room he shared with Maman and put Lambo to bed then went out the door. "You rest for awhile, and make sure you don't puke on the bed, Lambo!" Tsuna sighed wearily. "Four more to go."
Tsuna went to another of the main floors, after a quick scan he was about to leave when he heard a scream and saw a cloud of pink smoke. He pushed forward to find the older I-pin asking one of the older women what this place was and what prefecture she was in.
"I-pin!" Tsuna shouted for her attention.
I-pin turned her head and gratefully stepped over to him when she saw him. "Sawada-san, thank goodness! Where is this place? I-I think I'm lost! Please, Sawada-san! If I don't hurry then Kawahira-oji-san's ramen will get all soggy!"
The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves and pointed to the two. Tsuna quickly grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. "Yeah! I get it! I'll help you get there, so let's go! People are watching~."
Tsuna jogged back to the room with I-pin in tow and let her in and shut the door. The older I-pin began to bang on the door in dismay.
"Ah? Sawada-san! Sawada-san! This is a hotel room! I need to get to Kawahira-oji-san!"
"Just wait in there for a few minutes then, after that you will see familiar streets again! I promise! I'm telling the truth! Three more to find! Ashlynn, Bianchi and Reborn!"
Tsuna jogged throughout the entire ship searching everywhere that as a guest he could look (There were places that he wasn't allowed to go in) for the three to no avail. There just wasn't any sight of them and he was quickly losing hope. None of the other guests on board were panicking or gossiping about strange people, security seemed to be doing absolutely nothing and Tsuna was on the final straw! He grabbed the sides of his head in worry. If security somehow found out that he knew the stowaways then he and Mom would be thrown off the ship with no way of getting back home. He marched passed the double doors of one of the many kitchens and quickly skidded to a stop and hurried to peek through the window on the door.
There was Bianchi finishing a poisonous dish of her own creation with many of the chefs watching on with awe. Tsuna shook his head and entered through and called out to the older woman. "Bianchi! I found you!"
"Ah, so you have. You there!" Bianchi pointed at one of the chefs. He pointed at himself in shock before he shook himself before approaching the woman in akin to wonder. Bianchi smirked. "It is ready, so may do what you like with my creation made with love."
Bianchi exited the kitchen area and followed after Tsuna as he walked through the hallways and tried to think of where else he could possibly look and found himself entering a concert hall. Bianchi crossed her arms. "So you have found everyone save Reborn and Ashlynn..."
Tsuna walked down one of the aisles between the empty seats, searching for the last two stowaways. He sighed when he made a full circuit around the room with no luck and stood by on of the many statues in the room. Next to him was a statue of the Virgin Mary and her baby with an angel hovering above her. Tsuna stared closely at the statue in wonder. 'I...I need to calm down. Where would Reborn and Ashlynn be at a time like this? Reborn is always hiding and dressing up as many things... in paintings and statues like these...Now that I think about it...that baby doesn't seem very...right...'
"Fnn, you actually found out." The angel opened his black eyes and stared at him.
Tsuna shrieked and back-peddled and fell over one of the theatre seats in surprise. 'H-he was actually the angel! No way!'
Reborn smirked as the baby turned into Leon and the Virgin Mary reached her arm up to take the cloth covering her hair off and her face to reveal Ashlynn still in what he thought was some sort of toga outfit. She smiled and gave a small wave. Reborn jumped to land on top of her head. "You did well Tsuna. Keen observational skills are indispensable in a mafia boss. Even more so in the Godfather."
"Reborn, it's strange. The guards do not seem to be searching for us anymore." Bianchi called out from looking out of the main double doors then walked to stand by Ashlynn.
"Of course they're not." Reborn smirked. "We did in fact do the proper paper work to have safe passage to Mafia-land."
"What! Then from the very start you planned this!...And...and you said 'Mafia-land'? What on Earth is that! I thought we were going to some tropical island!" Tsuna cried.
Reborn held his hand out and Leon returned to him. "It's a tropical mafia paradise, Tsuna."
"What? But, I don't understand at all! This shouldn't have anything to do with the mafia! Mom won the trip from a raffle off the tea bottle!"
"That was merely a fake notice that I slipped in. Because Maman does so much for us, I wanted to see that she gets some rest and have some fun."
"T-then this ship...and all of the passengers on board? and you never said what 'Mafia-land' is." Tsuna asked as they left the concert hall and walked down one of the hallways with windows towards the their room.
"All have some kind of connection to the mafia. The mafia paradise is a place created by all of the families pooling their funds to create a place where they could relax without having to worry about police crawling around. It's a whole island resort. And it seems that we have arrived." Reborn pointed outside the windows.
In the short distance was a large island theme park. Tsuna gaped with his face nearly touching the glass. "It's huge~!"
He would never know it until much much later but the security really was searching for a stowaway. He had sneaked into the ship and took refuge hiding in the cargo areas in a room where the ship held a pen of pigs. He was mumbling to himself (Or was it to the livestock he was sharing to room with?) how he would get to the Juudaime the very instant his sister left.
Ashlynn whistled very impressed as she stepped down the platform of the ship and walked down the main road of the mafia land theme park resort through crowds of people from mafia families. She had changed out of her toga like garment into her two piece white and blue halter tankini and a pair of dark blue basketball gym shorts over her short bathing suit shorts and a pair of flip flops to cover her feet. She held a beach bag with a towel and other items such as her phone, charger and wallet.
"Sooo, Mafia Land huh?" She asked the little hitman after a group of businessmen tried to convince Reborn to make an appearance at a press conference. He had refused. Then Tsuna made a big deal about how there were large balloons with Reborn's face with welcoming banners around the main hotel in the area. As one of the very best successful hitmen; With all the respect that everyone showed to him it wasn't very surprising to see something like that.
Reborn nodded. "This place has very tight security. Aside from the fact that the island itself can be moved to a coordinate of its' choosing, it also releases disruptive radiation that blocks its' presence and isolates it from the rest of the world. The mafia invested large amounts of dirty money into this place so that they could have a place to relax without worrying about pesky police squads wandering about. Vongola Nono himself has visited this places a few times."
Ashlynn nodded at the information (she already knew parts of it anyway.) then looked over when Maman squealed happily and pointed towards the beach.
"Look Tsu-kun look! It's the beach! Isn't it lovely? How about we go swimming first?"
Bianchi, Lambo, and I-pin cheered as they took off their outerwear and sprinted across the soft sand towards the water. Tsuna happily hopped into the air. "Yeah! Swimming first sounds great! We'll let the water was all worries away!"
"Ah, Tsuna, you can't."
"Huh? Why not?"
"You have to do the needed preparations for entering the island. You need to go to that building there (it's our hotel by the way. Nice, isn't it?) and go to the front desk and tell them that you have arrived. You have to do this because as the next Boss of the Vongola, you are our representative." Reborn removed his fedora and put a swimming cap over his hair and goggles over his eyes.
"Ughh, jeez, way to ruin my good mood. Alright, it's that building right? I'll be back in a little bit." Tsuna grumbled but made his way to the hotel.
Maman waved as she called after him. "We'll be waiting over here so make sure to hurry up, Tsu-kun!"
Ashlynn hid her growing smirk by turning away and following the kids example and toed her way through the sand towards where Bianchi was laying out beach towels and an umbrella for shade. Between her, Bianchi, and Maman they made sure that everyone had enough sunblock (light tanning for Bianchi) to keep from burning too badly. Though Ashlynn knew it was a bit of a lost cause on her. Even if she put layer upon layer of sunblock she was still going to burn; namely her face and her shoulders. For some reason she would get sunburned then that burn would somehow degrade into a tan.
Ashlynn laid out her own towel on the sand then took her gym shorts off and went to play with I-pin and Lambo in the shallow waters and looking for seashells for a while then she switched with Bianchi to sit with Maman underneath the umbrella. Reborn, she noticed, was unsurprisingly not present with them. No doubt he had already left to go torture Tsuna with the blonde, Rain Arcobaleno: Colonello. When Maman had brought it up that it was taking Tsuna awhile to get back Bianchi gave her a convincing story that he and Reborn had found something to do with their time and no doubt that they were having lots of fun right now so Maman shouldn't worry and focus herself on relaxing.
That was why they were now exploring the theme park rides and stalls of Mafia Land.
Ashlynn gave an amused chuckle when she caught sight of the swinging ship ride and went to go stand in line with Bianchi while Maman and the kids went to the bathroom. Bianchi raised an eyebrow at her mirth.
"I remembered a story that one of my brother's older friends (his friend's name was Arron by the way) told me once. He had gone with a group of his friends went out on his twenty-second birthday for drinks then one had the idea of going to a theme park and one of the rides they went on was the pirate swinging ship."
The line for the ride inched forward as more people went on. Ashlynn and Bianchi would be in the next group on.
"Aaron said that the ship they were waiting line for looked like a realistic pirate ship with all the ropes and pulleys. When they got close he started to make observations. 'Wow, it's squeaking really loud. Do you think that it could break? You guys never know; a group like ours could go on it and then it would break.' And they were in the middle of a group of kids when he was saying this!"
Bianchi smirked but Ashlynn wasn't finished yet. Some of the kids around them began to look up fearfully at the swinging ship while some of the parents shot Ashlynn a glare as they tried to console their children.
"Then...ha ha...then when they get on the ride, Aaron sat in the third to last row and there are kids sitting in the row in front of them. He starts holding his stomach and moaning that he shouldn't have drank that beer before getting on and claimed that he was going to throw up! The, the girl in front of him kept looking back, so to mess with her and the kid next to her, Aaron starts making sounds like he's throwing up!"
Bianchi had to hold her stomach she was laughing so hard! Ashlynn snickered at some of the looks she was receiving from the people around them. Some of the kids were crying and were taken out of line by their parents.
"The only way he could have upped that is actually throwing up on them!"
After the ship the two went and rejoined the group with Maman and spent the rest of the day with her, occasionally Ashlynn looked towards the fence that she had seen Tsuna grasp onto looking out to the amusement park just out of the poor boys reach. He had been dragged away by two small figures she couldn't make out at her distance but she knew that it was Reborn and Colonello competing against each other using Tsuna as their victim. Every once and awhile Maman would see him and call for him to join her and the kids but when he never left the area behind the fence she figured that he found something he really liked so she left him to it. In her mind there wasn't enough things that Tsuna liked to do while he was outdoors.
But when lunchtime came around that was when he mother started to worry a bit. "Hmmm. I'm a little worried about Tsu-kun and Reborn-chan...do you think that they have eaten yet? They are growing boys..."
Ashlynn looked over from her finished meal and smiled. "Do you want me to go check on them, Maman? I could bring them something to eat in case they haven't eaten yet."
"Would you? Thank you Ashlynn-chan, here take this." Maman pressed money into her hands. Ashlynn tried to give it back saying that she did have money on her but Maman smiled, shook her head and sent her off to buy some to go lunches from the restaurant they were sitting at then off to find the boys. Luckily she didn't really need to look for them. She just made her way to the front desk of the hotel that Tsuna had first entered and never returned. The woman behind the desk gave her a welcoming smile as she approached and asked how she could be of service when she saw the card that Reborn had given Bianchi to pass out to them all before he left to torture Tsuna.
"There was a boy who came here this morning named Tsuna and he was followed by Reborn to the backstage training grounds. I was sent check on Tsuna and bring them all something to eat."
The woman nodded and had a man escort her through the halls to the subway, opened the doors and sent her speeding on her way. Ashlynn waited for the little subway fully come to a stop before she stood up and exited through the doors. She quickly ducked to the ground and barreled to the right across the ground mindful of the boxes in her hands.
"Hmph, not too bad to be able to dodge so quickly, but you should have jumped towards the left instead of the right. Look forward and you'll understand, Kora!" A voice called out.
Ashlynn momentarily froze on spot as she looked forward to see what was in front of her. She shook her head to regain her nerves, carefully stood up and backed slowly away. She had been mere inches away from a deep pit of hissing snakes. If she had jumped with more force then she would have fallen right in there. Ashlynn sighed at her mistake as she walked to where Reborn and the other Arcobaleno were sitting on top of a beaten and exhausted Tsuna.
Reborn smirked. "Colonello, this is Ashlynn Meagher. One of the stronger members of Tsuna's family. Ashlynn, this person is a former member of the Italian combat frogmen force, Comsubin, Colonello. He is in charge of the backstage training facilities and the islands defense."
"Ah, it's nice to meet you, Colonello-san."
The blonde baby nodded in acknowledgment as a seagull nestled on his head. "Colonello is fine and this is Falco. I suppose that Reborn here is also your tutor, kora?"
"Not as much as he tutors Tsuna, but I will get some instruction every once and awhile. Bianchi and Keiko work with me more often." Ashlynn informed the baby.
Tsuna groaned and blearily squinted his eyes open. "A-Ashlynn...? What are you doing here...?"
"Maman got worried because you and Reborn have been here the entire day and never checked in with her. So she sent me to find you and bring you something to eat. I saw you here through the fence too, Colonello, so there's one for you here as well if you want." Ashlynn explained and she told them to pick whatever box they wanted before they all settled down for a small break. Tsuna sighed in relief; that he would be able to rest and that Reborn wasn't stealing food from him during the meal and he was able to doze off a bit after he ate.
"Is there something wrong, kora?" Colonello asked after catching her staring.
Ashlynn tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Nope, just thinking is all. You have a pacifier too...its the fourth color I've seen so far..."
"Fourth, huh, kora?"
"She's met Fon." Reborn supplied with a frown. "Who else did you see with a pacifier, Ashlynn?"
"When Keiko and Bianchi took me to that Christmas party I saw the man you said was Algar, and next to him was infant with blue hair that had a dark pacifier around her neck. I didn't get to talk to them though because Keiko and a man named Lussuria kept taking me away to dance."
Reborn nodded. "Lal Mirch, she doesn't really count though..."
Colonello's stare was stern. "And what are your thoughts, kora?"
"Hmmm, they're pretty colors, they appear to light up when your near each other, you're all infants, you have an animal partner (except for...Lal, was it?), and I'm convinced that your all superheroes with the pacifier as a source of super power of some sort." Ashlynn listed off.
"Hmph, observant isn't she, kora?" Colonello directed at a smirking Reborn.
"Of course."
After the little meal Colonello decided to test Ashlynn and see if she was any better than the wimp that Reborn was tutoring the most (Tsuna was quickly put through the training all over again in response to the challenging tone). Not surprisingly she had done a lot better than her 'Boss' but she figured that it was because she could actually swim whereas Tsuna just flailed about. Though she did stumble and freeze (actually she freaked out) a bit in fear when a shark had been let into the waters.
They all looked up when they heard an explosion accompanied by a bout of screaming. Tsuna jumped at the sound and shrieked. "Hiiiiiie! A-are we under attack! What's going on! Is it a mafia family! But then why would they attack! Isn't this place neutral territory?"
"Because not every mafia family has invested in Mafia Land." Reborn explained. "This place was made by rather friendly mafia famiglia who don't deal drugs, but you'll have to remember that not all mafia families agree to be friendly. I can think of some, but not many are stupid enough to directly attack Mafia Land."
"Y-you mean a battle is going break out here?" Tsuna squeaked.
"More like a war, kora." Colonello grumbled then he motioned to both his and Reborn's pacifiers that were now glowing more brightly. "Reborn, look, the pacifiers are glowing. It should be someone that we know..."
Reborn smirked darkly. "Yeah, and he's the only one of us that would do something so stupid... It's Skull. This is now a war between the mafia famiglia on the island against the Calcassa family."
Ashlynn watched silently as Tsuna grabbed the sides of his head with both hands, a sure sign that he was very upset and he moaned in dismay. "Crap~ I didn't think that a war would break out! How did things come to this! Are we going to die!"
"The situation looks pretty bleak." Colonello remarked dryly lowering a pair of binoculars and looked towards them. "The people who were originally responsible for the majority of the islands security have all taken leave to attend the funeral and memorial of a deceased Boss. So there is very little actual military power left on the island. But as long as I'm here, I won't let them do whatever they please...but I just ate..and...it's... nap time right now..."
The former Comsubin member and his familiar Falco fell asleep with a bubble blowing from their noses.
"Let's leave Colonello here. I'm worried about Maman, so let's take the subway back to the hotel...then...we'll..."
Tsuna yelled irritably. "You're falling asleep too!"
"Tsuna! We need to go back and find Maman, Bianchi and the kids! And I'm sure that I saw Gokudera earlier today too. Those two should be fine here but we don't know about the others. Come on, Tsuna, let's go!" Ashlynn pulled on his arm and led him back to the little station then cursed loudly as the power went out. She didn't bother to apologize for her language and dug into her bag and pulled out her phone to give them light.
She sighed. "We can't use the subway anymore, the power's out. Thank goodness this happened while we weren't on it otherwise it may have been a problem to get out. Come on, we'll follow the tunnel to the other side."
"R-right!"
Ashlynn took the lead with her phone lighting the way with a hand on Tsuna's wrist to keep him with her and make sure he didn't trip as they walked along the tracks of the shut down subway until they made it to the end of the tunnel where they found a large mansion like fortress. One of the enormous double doors opened and a person with silver like hair poked his head out then the door was opened more to reveal Gokudera wildly motioning for them to run to the doors. Once inside four men closed the opening again with a thud.
"Tsu-kun! Ashlynn-chan!"
The three maneuvered their way over to the wall on the far right. Maman was standing next to Bianchi with both Lambo and I-pin in her arms. "Thank goodness you're all alright. I'm going to go with the other ladies to help prepare food. I-pin, Lambo come along now. We don't want to be in anyone's way."
She, Bianchi and the kids went through another set of doors no doubt towards the area where the kitchen was.
"So there was a spy from the Calcassa family on the island!" One of the men in the crowd said out loud.
Another man smirked and brandished two pistols in his hands "I was getting a little tired of this boring place. "It's nice but a bit too peaceful for my taste to stay for very long. "
"Hahaha! Just the thought of a gun in my hands and able to fire excites me!" Another yelled with a rifle.
"The mafia are cut out to fight! Not stay inside where its safe!"
"Yeah!"
An Asian man with the kanji of 'Boss' on his clothing stepped forward with many of his men pushing through. "This battle should be led by us, The Nero Famiglia that controls Asia."
"Wait!" A greasy European man called out as his men stepped forward. "We should be the ones to give out the commands; we are the ones with a history of rules and traditions. The leader should be the Boss of the Beccio Famiglia!"
A larger man this time pushed into the fray with his gangsters. "You back country hicks should all move aside and follow the Nubo gang. The Family that controls New York!"
"What! Who are you callin' a hick?"
"You wanna fight!"
"Let's take this outside Boss!"
The members of the three conflicting families scuffled together, Gokudera and Ashlynn had to push to keep from being separated from Tsuna. For a moment Gokudera was pushed out of the way then he pushed right back calling for Tsuna to make sure he was alright in the crowd.
"Juudaime! Juudaime! Are you alright!"
That quickly got the attention of the three mafia families fighting amongst each other and the other families that were waiting for someone to take charge as their Boss's weren't present.
The Boss who claimed to have all of Asia under control scoffed at Tsuna. "Aren't you a pompous child...making a nickname for yourself. 'Juudaime' indeed."
"It's not a nickname! Sawada-san is our Boss!" Gokudera growled.
"Ohoho? Then which unknown family are you from then 'Juudaime'?" The European Boss asked snidely.
Ashlynn narrowed her eyes at the rude man as she flashed one of her bracelets into a chakram blade. She raised an eyebrow at the mafia members surrounding them on all sides. "We are the new generation of the Vongola Family. Do you have a problem with that, sir?"
The room swiftly fell into murmured conversations in shock of the new information.
"That boy there is the next Boss to succeed Vongola Nono?"
"He is to become the new Godfather!"
"It would be best to stay in his favor..."
The Bosses that had argued stepped forward and bowed to Tsuna. "Please forgive our rudeness, Juudaime!"
"It seems that the problem for the leader has been solved." The Boss from New York grinned.
The European Boss continued on to save face and smiled at Tsuna (The man didn't realize how creepy he looked because of it.) "Tradition, rules, power; No matter what it is we might have we are still in no way a match for the greatness of the Vongola family!
The entire room shouted as a few men lifted Tsuna up in the air and carried him out through the double doors. "We will follow the Vongola Juudaime!"
"What! But I'm not- No!" Tsuna's squeal of denial was completely drowned out by the cheering.
One man hollered down from atop one of the surrounding walls as he and the other men on the wall began open fire on the attackers. "Their footmen have begun to charge! Men, don't let them get through!"
Everyone looked to Tsuna for instructions.
"Let's do this Boss!"
"Please give us instructions!"
"We'll blow them up sky high!"
"We'll follow your orders to the T, sir!"
"We support on-site commands!"
The men picked Tsuna up again and ran with them above their heads through the small grove of trees to the front lines with Ashlynn following after with her eye on Tsuna. Gokudera waved at them and yelled out that he would follow after them once he helped cleared the area that was attacking the walls of the fort with dynamite. They quickly stopped as the ground began to shake and they let Tsuna back on his feet on the ground.
One of the men from New York pointed at the lead figure that walked through the trees. "Boss! That is the commander of the Calcassa Family forces, Skull! No doubt about it. That purple pacifier is the sign of an Arcobaleno!"
Tsuna stuttered over the word. "A-arco...baleno...?"
"This is the fifth..."Ashlynn murmured quietly.
The man nodded then gave the signal to open fire against the opposing family. "Arcobaleno is the Italian word for rainbow. In the mafia, it represents the seven strongest infants in the entire world!"
The baby hitman was wearing a dark jumpsuit and a biker helmet concealed his face from view. He made a signal with his hands and the bullets that had been shot in his direction had been deflected away. A giant purple armored octopus came into view with tree limbs tore from the Earth and was used to deflect bullets and threw them and groups of mafia hitmen. Skull made another signal with his hand and the octopus reached with it's armored tentacles to hold and subdue, or throw whatever and whoever was in its path.
"What, you still haven't eaten that octopus yet, Skull?"
Ashlynn turned her head to face Reborn who had called from a low branch of a nearby tree and smiled before she had to roll out of the way of an oncoming tree trunk. Skull twitched at the taunt.
Reborn smirked. "Like I have said before Skull, I'm sure that it would taste delicious. Have you ever eaten sushi before? I know some very talented chefs who'd be more than happy to prepare a feast out of this creature."
"Reborn!" Tsuna yelled. "You finally woke up! While you were safe and asleep I was getting screwed over!"
The commander of the Calcassa family froze when he realized that it really was Reborn that had jumped down from the tree and looked towards him. "Why?" Skull asked feebly. "Why is Reborn-senpai here?"
"You didn't realize that your pacifier was glowing, Skull? We don't meet very often. We should go get a drink and turn that octopus into sashimi."
Skull pointed angrily at the other Arcobaleno. "I have received orders from the Calcassa Boss to come here! I have to obliterate!"
"Why do you always end up as someone's errand boy, Skull? How pathetic."
"I am not an errand boy! You are! You're the only one that ever does this to me! Always looking down on me! I'm going to teach you a lesson Reborn-senpai!" Skull signaled for the Octopus to seize Reborn.
As the purple tentacle wrapped around his body, Reborn slid the Leon pistol into his hand and shot a round at the other Arcobaleno.
Skull laughed. "Shooting my left hand... your speed as always is incredible senpai. I was careless. But even if I have one hand I can still have you squeezed to Death! How's that Reborn! I am not the same old Skull from before! Now die!"
…
Ashlynn gave an amused chuckle as Reborn slipped out of the tentacles hold with no effort at all. Skull began to panic and frantically ordered his familiar to charge at the other Arcobaleno.
"I think he's confused. He's never seen your left hand like that." Reborn pointed at Skull's now enlarged left hand. "If a fist is shot by the dying will bullet then it becomes the clenched fist bullet. The octopus can't understand the command so he won't move. Now...It's my turn!"
Reborn shot forward and swiftly struck the other Arcobaleno through a tree.
Skull groaned in pain. "This is not how it is going to end, Senpai. I can still give the order to blow up the island and take all of you with me!"
Ashlynn sighed and called to the purple baby hitman "That probably won't happen, Skull. If Reborn is awake now then so is Colonello."
"What! Colonello-senpai is here too?"
"Uh, yeah. He's in charge of the security of this place..." Ashlynn sweat dropped.
"What! You're serious!"
In the end Colonello had destroyed the attacking ships cutting off any reinforcements from the other Calcassa family members. Tsuna finally passed the test to prove his mafia identity (Though he kept trying to say that he didn't want to be part of the mafia) and was able to leave the backstage training grounds. Sadly for him, by the time that he and Gokudera had changed and ran out to the beach towards the water, Maman called out to them.
"What are you two doing, Tsu-kun? It's time to leave now. Let's go or we are going to miss the ship back home!"
" What! N-no way!"
Ashlynn waved goodbye to Colonello as they boarded onto the ship for Japan and got an amused wave back when Reborn jumped to sit on her shoulder. She hummed. "Two colors...including yours and Fon's. Yellow, red, blue and purple. And I learned today that they call you 'Arcobaleno' meaning 'rainbow' so that means that there are another three since that Lal person doesn't count, right?"
"That is correct."
Ashlynn didn't ask any further as the ship sailed away from Mafia-Land.
I remember reading somewhere, that a person found on one of the scanlations of Katekyo Hitman Reborn manga that Tsuna actually did have an older sister who is in college. Nana complained in one page to Tsuna that she never had to tell his sister to study...I won't be making a character for her. I'm just throwing that out there... Perhaps one day I may make a story out of that plot bunny...someday...maybe...
(1) Palla: female version of the roman toga
Yes, I am borrowing Moroooka Kinshiro from 'Persona 4' ~
