A blade kissed his neck gently, gliding across it as if it weren't able to kill him at any second. Dino supposed things could have been worse, at least he had a subordinate with him. Still, the man in front of him was a little too cocky for his tastes.

When he got called in to investigate a string of murders that were occurring around a supposedly empty tomb in Rome, he didn't expect the company in front of him. The man appeared to be older, maybe in his sixties, and didn't look to be fit for any combat. He did, however, look to be a man of power, if the amount of people he had working for him was anything to go by. "Mafia." He had sneered with certainty in Dino's face, if only to try and piss him off. The blonde was not amused with the power-intoxicated old man in front of him.

"Tell me . . .Mafia." The word rolled off the old man's tongue like a bad wine he had tasted. "How did you find this place?"

Dino was far from stupid, being the tenth generation leader of the Chiavarone Famiglia and a student to Reborn, but he knew how to play the idiot. "Mah~ I just kinda wandered in here."

"Or maybe your men didn't work hard enough for their uniforms." Before Dino could look for the owner of the new voice that echoed behind his own, daggers entered two of the guards' throats, blood bubbling out of their necks as they fell to the floor, dead. "After all, it wasn't exactly hard to track them when they waltzed around like they owned the place." The old man frantically looked around the room, calling for more guards in his earpiece, while his remaining lackies took positions to search for whoever was mocking them.

However, the voice had other plans. "They won't be coming,Vidic. They are . . .occupied at the moment." Dino had no doubt that it was his men that were attacking at this very moment. By the hesitance in the man's voice, it became apparent that he wasn't expecting them to be here, so none of the people fighting off in the distance could have been with the mysterious man. Leaning forward, Dino started to listen intently for where this voice may be, curious as to why he was here and why he was picking off the strange men who had captured him.

One by one, the lights started going out as a figure danced in the shadows behind them. "Which is perfect for me, by the way," The sound of a blade being unsheathed, one of the remaining guards fell down dead, two more to go. "As I wanted to ask you a few questions." There was no sound this time, only one more body falling down with a knife in his back. "As these are personal guards, I can assume you are working independently?" The man's accent was changing with each sentence. An intimidation technique? Maybe it was something to unnerve the old man or give a false indication of where he was from? "Good, no crazy big-top organization that has the money and the balls to go after me."

A figure dressed in white stepped out behind the last panicking guard, pulling the man's arm to his knee, disarming him before taking out another knife and shoving it in his throat. The old man, now named Vidic, pointed his gun at the figure, looking very unintimidating. Dino would have laughed at the situation, had he and Romario hadn't been tied up. Still, he had a feeling he was in for a show.

"The Apple isn't here is it?" The old man tightened his grip on his gun.

The white figure's head tilted to the side at Vidic's question, revealing a scarred grin in the single light that was left. "I already told you, didn't I? You're not getting it."

Growling, the old man's expression became crazed, "That artifact can bring peace to the world! It can stop wars! Starving! Sickness!" He shot the gun at the figure's feet in rage. The figure himself didn't move, but his stance did become stiff. "And you hide it like a coward!" An accusing finger was sent the other man's way.

The hooded man only shrugged. "Humans aren't ready for this kind of power. And even if I did want to share it with the world, I wouldn't, in a million years, give it to a power-hungry, delusional old man like you." There was a pause, though it was obvious that the man was not finished yet, "I warned you once Vidic, back in Jerusalem, that if you ever went to out of your way to look for these, I would kill you." The man's voice was significantly more angry and seemed to be thick with an Arabic accent.

Vidic started seriously shooting now, aiming for whatever part of the hooded man he could see. The man was too fast, however, sidestepping into the shadows before coming up to the older man at an unbelievable speed. The hooded man pulled Vidic up close and Dino could only hear the sound of flesh being cut open with a blade. "Requiescat in pace." Was the only whispered words that echoed through the whole room. (Dino was shocked at how they sounded, like the man was from Italy.) Vidic was placed down gently before his eyes were closed in a forever sleep.

The man soon turned to the two tied-up people in the room. Stepping forward and pulling out a knife. Dino tensed, afraid that this man would turn on them as well, but as the ropes loosened and fell to the ground, he couldn't help but feel relief. The hooded man tilted his head toward the exit, "You should find your men, Chiavarone." Before turning to leave.

"Wait!" Dino couldn't help but exclaim, not really knowing what he was doing. "What's your name?"

The figure paused, as if considering, before shrugging, "You may call me . . . 'Katon'." And just like a ghost, Dino's saviour disappeared.

Tsuna groaned in pain at the last couple bruises he had received. Reborn stood over him, gun in one hand, test in the other. There was a red mark upon the top of the test, indicating that the taker had only gotten a 64%. Cursing, Tsuna rolled over to his side, springing to his feet before running the opposite direction as Reborn.

Wincing, Tsuna realized that he was going much slower than he usually did and frowned down at his bleeding leg before trying to move faster. It hurt. It really did, but he had to keep dodging those bullets. A gunshot and spring of dirt came up to greet him as he was running out of breath. It didn't seem like Reborn would let up today. The brown-haired boy tried to dodge the oncoming bullets by diving behind a nearby tree.

It wasn't long before explosions sounded in the background. Tsuna half-expected Gokudera's indignant shouts to join in, but instead he heard a very . . .strange laugh. Bursting through the trees came a two-foot tall figure wearing cow-print. Immediately, Tsuna recognized this as Lambo while the boy proceeded to throw pink grenades at Reborn.

It was at times like these that Tsuna like to fallback on swearing. Not because he enjoyed it, mind you, but because it helped. He was getting into the habit of just pure swearing all the time because bad things seemed to happen around him, regardless of his efforts.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Was his mantra as he rolled from tree to tree, trying to get to the child that was laughing maniacally in the distance. Tsuna knew that Lambo wouldn't stand a chance against Reborn, so he had to get to him. Taking one last burst through the trees, Tsuna winced as his leg slowed him down, but continued onwards until he was within feet of Lambo.

Suddenly, a sharp pain found it's way through his head, his body swayed as he started to fall. Offhandedly, he realized that he had just been shot in the head, but couldn't find it within himself to care. Instead, he focused on Lambo and wondered if Reborn would take pity on the boy before abruptly realizing that no one would take care of him. His family wasn't around, Reborn wouldn't do it, his friends . . .maybe Takashi would take him in but he doubted that the boy knew that the 'Mafia game' wasn't even a game at all.

A warmth sprung in his chest, something near . . .burning. Tsuna closed his eyes as a new thought sprung alive. I regret not saving Lambo. Before he could even think, his eyes burst open as an orange flame took root in his hand. I will save him with my Dying Will!