Snowflake: Thank you for your Review! Without it I would have been really depressed ...

Authors note: Nothing to say. Enjoy or not it's upt to you!

Preparation for war

There he stood, before a charred ruin, almost nothing was left of the shop, the shop they had spent money and time to renovate and get running.
It was like looking at the remains of his once innocent childhood. Days of happiness and everyday challenges were now official over.

What had happened here was almost as life changing as his first meeting with Reborn, like his first serious fight or the hard challenge that followed after it, he could almost compare it with the horrible experience in the future, he felt the same bitterness he had felt during Shimons betrayal and the anger and resentment he had towards Deamon Spade, but he knew this wouldn't end well, it wouldn't end with a nice agreement like the one he had reached for the Arcobaleno.

He almost could smell and taste the blood that would be spilled, the lives they would take.

The kidnapping of Hayato and Haru had been the first sign, he had taken it to lightly, because nothing had happened after that. The lunatic during the school festival was a test from the Bakeneko, to see how they would react. And because they didn't take action the same day, the enemies seemed to assume that they were just a bunch of cowardly children. There had been no formal declaration of war or territory claiming, they just used violence to call them out.

But those people didn't know whom they had messed with.

If they wanted to play like the big guys, he would treat them as such.
Vongola would not bend down in front of small fries who didn't even now about manners and rules.
They wanted to challenge something that they didn't even know about, it was like the Bakeneko had some kind of suicide wish.
And he would grant them this one.

The Japanese branch of Vongola was surrounding a table in the back room of Inukamis club.
Hibari stood in the far corner, face grim and killing intent flowing out.
Some of the older members looked frightened, they never expected something like that to happen and they didn't know how to fight, they were just here for administration and even on that they sucked. There was no way they could help the young ones out, they didn't have the experience.
Tsuna knew about the weakness of his men. He had seen the extent of their abilities the first time they had met. Most of them were just Family members, because they hadn't been able to get a serious and normal job. But that was no problem at all, he and his guardians were more than enough to handle the Bakeneko - even if they had to do without the Storm, who would be more efficient at planning an operation than all of them together.

Reborn sat on the table at his side, Fedora obscuring his face, he was unreadable but Tsuna knew that his tutor listened to everything he said and thought about his plans and if he should give a piece of his own advice to it.
But for now he was silent.
"Mukuro, I assume that you will help us out in this, if not please leave." Tsuna looked at his male mist guardian, the one who never wanted to be a part of the Family, now it was the time for him to decide what he really wanted. Mukuro knew that, he really hated the Mafia, but he was quite fond of Tsuna and his friends.
"I will help out." he decided, his face lacking the mocking smirk, his eyes showed that he was serious. Tsuna smiled at him and nodded.
"Than please help us get information. The man who had run amok at our school is in the police hospital the next town over. I need to know if he had been under orders, squeeze everything out of him, without the police noticing."
"Kufufu ... that's my speciality after all." With that he vanished into thin air leaving a trace of mist behind, creeping most of the men out.
"Hibari-san, I know you don't take orders, that's why I make a suggestion." He started, without looking at the Cloud guardian, but he knew he was all ears.
"The Bakeneko sell drugs in Namimori and I assume that they even produce them here, I got an analyse from Vongolas main brunch - the drugs are easily produced and the material for them are cheap, they can be manufactured everywhere." A pause, he felt the air behind him tense with blood-thirst: "It would be great if someone found the labs and destroyed them for good. It would be even better if said person would be able to get some Info out of them. Maybe you would like to take charge of it? If not I will send Yamamoto."
"As if a herbivore like him would be able to sniff them out. I will do it, because I don't like rule breakers in my town." Hibari strode out of the door, slamming it shut with so much force that the plaster on the wall broke.
The men flinched at that.
"Yamamoto I need you to watch the shopping district, especially the small shops. I heard that some guys want to get protection money from them. You live there, so it isn't to oblivious if you look out."
"Sure thing. My pops had them over in our restaurant hahaha they didn't know who they had messed with." As ever the Rain guardian was carefree, but Tsuna felt the sharp senses of the natural born assassin underneath the layers of friendliness, ready to strike when necessary.
"Ryouhei I want you to keep a keen eye around Namimori during your workout, if you think someone is suspicious beat him up, if you see signs of a base - please contact me about the location."
"I will do it too the extreme!" The sun guardian jumped out of his seat, full of energy he left the room on the hunt for extreme competition.
Hopefully his definition of suspicious was the same as Tsunas.

"Chrome?"
"Yes Boss?"
"I want you to protect Haru, those guys know her, it's possible they will kidnap her again and to make sure add Kyoko and Hana to your list. I'm sure you can handle it." He smiled at his female Mist, she was the only one who could protect three persons at the same time: "But just in case - Lambo will support you. I'm sure the Bakeneko won't take notice of him."
"Yes Boss!" Chrome nodded with a confident face.
"Inukami, Saruyama and Tsukino I want you to take shifts at the hospital." The three looked up confused.
"I don't know how much the Bakeneko know about us, but I won't take chances. I want you to protect Hayato."
"YES SIR!" The three of them shouted and bowed, almost making him flinch. But he knew they wouldn't screw this up.
He talked to the other subordinates: "If one of you hears rumours about them or things that could lead us to their Boss, don't keep them to yourself - Information is the key to win a war. I want you to make sure that you are contactable at all times. For now you are dismissed we meet in three days at the same time. Until then be on guard." The men bowed before him and looked even more tense than before.

As soon as he was alone with Reborn Tsuna sighed and relaxed in his seat, loosening the knot of his tie.
"ahh ... that was really exhausting."
"But you did well." Reborn smirked at him.
"Well, it's no wonder, I have a great teacher." Tsuna smiled and Reborn played the shy little child.
"Don't make me blush stupid." he said in a sweet voice.
"Don't do that! It's creeping me out!" he shuddered, he couldn't handle Reborn acting all sweet and childlike. At that Reborn just smirked.

A few days later Tsuna was in a predicament.
He had made Hayatos flat into a makeshift office, with her consent, naturally. He had to fill a lot of papers for the insurance of the shop. Luckily Seguchi had been clever enough to make one.
But because Hayato was still in the hospital he had to do the paperwork all by himself.
He sighed as he looked at the girl who helped him out a little. Haru had volunteered to do some of the minor office works, checking reports from the guardians or sorting bills and so on.
There was no other option left, because nobody besides her and Hayato had the brains for it. He felt a little guilty about it, because it felt like she had taken over Hayatos post and that didn't bode well with him.

Closing his eyes he leaned his head onto his hands, rubbing his forehead, his headache did get worse by the day, it was the exhaustion and stress that had built up after the incident at the school festival. Suddenly talented hands massage his shoulders, ah that felt so good. He enjoyed the attention and felt himself relaxing more.
"You really have stiff shoulders." a feminine voice whispered in his ear, a shudder ran through his body, he had sensitive ears and the warm breath left them tingling.
The hands were still at work and he groaned as he felt his muscles relax even more, it did wonders to his aching head.
"I can make you feel even better." soft lips brushed against the shell of his ear and he couldn't help but to moan softly ...

Being at the hospital was hellish. There was nothing she could do besides laying in bed and reading a book - luckily her friends visited from time to time to bring her new ones.
But even that got boring after a week. To her relief she was allowed to move around a little - her wound healed much better than they had expected, but that was no wonder the turf top treated her with sun flames whenever he had the time for it. And as much as she loved them - her favourite three where the most annoying pests she ever met. How much more could they fuss about her well-being?
The last time she had seen them she had threatened to smash their balls if they would behave any longer like a clucking hen, since then they just showed up to greet her and moved to do whatever it was they did. She had the slight suspicion that they did guard her. But she didn't know if it was on their own accord or because of an order from Juudaime.
The first option would be really over the top, but the second made her blush because the thought that her Juudaime cared so much was really nice.
The door to her room opened. She almost smiled, because visitors where a nice change in her boring days.
But this one annoyed her.
"What do you want?" she almost added 'bitch', but could refrain from it.
"Hahi! I thought I would visit you." Haru smiled sweet and put a Vase with flowers on the table. Something smelt foul. She glared at the stupid woman.
"Don't look like I want to kill you. I just came to let you in on some nice info." she faked a pout and sat down besides Hayato, looking her over.
" ... hmmm ... without make up you don't look so beautiful any more. Your hair is a little greasy isn't it? I'm sure they don't let you shower just yet. And is that a stubble I see on your face?"
In some stupid haste Hayato reached for her face, she knew there would be no stubble, but Harus cheery attitude freaked her out, she sounded a little convincing.
"Just kidding." she laughed and Hayato wanted to retort something but Haru continued, a little blush on her face.
"You know, I never knew that Tsuna-san had sensitive ears, or that he liked to cuddle in his sleep. And by the way - your bed is really comfortable." Haru stood up and gave her a smug look as she exited the door.

Hayato sat in the hospitals bed, unable to move, just staring at the door.
She felt a little suffocated.
"Breath" she reminded herself and took deep breaths through the nose, smelling something very familiar, she looked around and as she concentrated all her senses she could hear a little ticking sound.
Her head snapped to the flowers and she heard a soft sizzle.
"Fuck …"

Inukami was outside, smoking, when suddenly there was an huge explosion.
Dread filled his face as he looked up to the room where Hayato rested.
Dark smoke streamed out of the shattered window. Cursing he ran inside, hurried up the stairs, bumping into fleeing people. His mind was filled with fear and one thought - let her be safe - He stormed inside the room, the door was no longer and most part of the wall was littering on the floor. The bed hung out of the window and was bent into an obscure shape.
The smoke stung his eyes and he couldn't make out any details, but he heard a cough and a faint cuss.
"Oujo-san!" he called.
"I'm fine, but this bitch will pay. Che, she is even stupid enough to use dynamite against me! I will show her how it's done. This stupid little shit won't see the next day." Angry she cussed some more and moved in Inukamis direction, being mindful of the sharp splinters that littered around the ground.
She could avoid them thanks to Uri who led the way.
Inukami supported her and looked her over - she didn't have a scratch on her, how was that even possible?

As they left the room they came face to face with Haru.
She looked relieved and had tears in her eyes, she fell to the floor and sobbed, her whole from shook because of the crying.
Hayato frowned at that. The flowers had been from her, to kill her and now this bitch looked like she was glad to see her.
Her mind put one and one together.
"Those flowers, they weren't from you?"
"No. A nurse gave them to me and said it was a present from a good looking man. I thought a friend had send them. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Her voice was broken and she cried like she was in some agony.
Before Hayato could ask further medics, fire fighters and the police ran up to them. Just her fucking luck.

Tsuna groaned at the annoying sound that woke him up. He nuzzled deeper in the comfortable cushion, enjoying the nice fragrance it had. He put the blanket over his head in an attempt to shield himself from the insistent ringing.
But it didn't stop.
Growling he got up and searched for the phone, who had the nerve to wake him up at the ungodly time of eleven in the morning?
During his walk to the annoyance he registered that he still wore his suit from yesterday and that he didn't have a clue how he got to bed. Glaring he looked at the callers ID, it was Inukami, he picked up.
"If that isn't important ..."
"BOSS! Someone attempted to kill Oujo-san!" At that Tsuna let his phone fall onto the floor. Faster than one could blink he had grabbed his gloves, was in Hyper Dying Will mode and rushed out of Hayatos flat. He started off of the balcony, not caring one bit that somebody could see him flying.

From his perspective high in the air, he could see the commotion outside of the hospital.
There was no way he could get in from the front, so he just landed on the roof and used the entrance to the staircase.

He rushed down the stairs until he reached the floor on which Hayatos room had been.
A lot of police was around, taking pictures and closing the room of for further inspection. Than he saw a nurse talking to the police and ran towards her.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where Gokudera Hayato is?" he was breathless and wanted nothing more than to see her.
"Who are you?" the police officer sounded like he was a suspect.
"I'm her boyfriend and before you ask - I sneaked in through the personal entrance." he confessed sheepishly. The man in front of him looked him up and down, doubt clear in his eyes, but after a few moments he nodded and led Tsuna to Hayatos new room.

Meanwhile Hayato lay in a new room and got a check up.
Haru and Inukami were sitting on chairs inside the room, they didn't want to take chances.
"It's a wonder that you are still alive. You don't even have one scratch." The doctor looked like he couldn't believe his own eyes. She didn't put it against him, because there was no way he could know how she had protected herself.
"How did you survive that?" The inspector responsible for this case asked her. He was a man in his mid forties and had sharp eyes. His hair was beginning to change colour. "I was in the bathroom when the explosion happened." To be in the presence of police made her quite uncomfortable.
She was looked at like he didn't really believe her lie.
"I see, but do you .." before he could speak more the door was slammed open and suddenly she was in a tight embrace.

"Hayato, thank god you're fine." she couldn't even react before he pulled away and closed his lips over hers, not minding the people who stood around one bit.
The inspector had put away his gun, which he had drawn as Tsuna had rushed in.
Tsuna pulled away and looked deep into her eyes and she could see his worry and relief and the love he felt for her. He embraced her once more and she looked over his shoulder to see Haru, who looked ashamed onto the floor and Inukami who just grinned.
"I'm fine, but if you keep it up I will choke." she whispered in his ear and he blushed.
"I'm sorry." he let go of her and looked around, just now recognizing that there were a lot of people standing around.
The inspector coughed a little, seemingly to get her attention back.
"Gokudera-san, do you now why somebody wants to kill you?" he asked.
"No." Sure, she was a high ranking Mafiosi, who wouldn't want to kill her for that?
"I see. But do you, by any chance, know of a criminal organization under the Name Bakeneko?" he held his little notebook close to him, ready to write what ever she had to say.
"Why would I know about something like that?" Tsuna was really surprised how well she could lie, even with his Hyper Intuition it would be hard to detect.
"The man who shot you was one of them. We wanted to interrogate him after his wounds have healed, but he became insane in just one night and babbles like a baby. Nobody knows the cause of it." There was someone who knew the cause, Tsuna had ordered Mukuro to get as much info as possible, there was no way a normal human could stay sane after having Mukuro in their head.
He had to hide a smile.
"But what does it have to do with me? I was just a victim by chance, he wanted to kill my teacher."
"That's what I thought, too. But the store, where you worked at as a part timer was burned down. Did you know about it?" She gaped at him like a fish and turned angry eyes to Inukami, who shrunk a little.
And even Tsuna flinched when she looked at him reproachful.
"Nobody told me." she sighed.
"Hmm ... I think the burned shop, the attack at your school and the incident today were all caused by the Bakeneko. And I fear they won't let you off. Therefore I will see to it that police officers will watch over you until we know more. You will be under protection, so don't worry." That was exactly what worried her.
"I don't think that is necessary." she said soft and added: "Don't you need all your men to investigate this case?"
"It is necessary. I won't be able to sleep well if you are not protected properly. And we have enough manpower at hand." he smiled at her and she had the urge to make a run for it.
How the hell was she supposed to relax and heal when she was surrounded by the police? Who would sleep with their natural enemy besides them?
"I want to go home." she whined.
"Just wait a few more days." The doctor smiled at her.
"Of course we watch you at home too, just to make sure nothing happens to you." The Inspector ruffled her hair and she felt a little offended by that. After that he left the room together with his colleague who had brought Tsuna along.

"Why didn't you tell her?" he asked the older male.
"She doesn't need to know that er employer is suspected to work for the organized crime." he looked back, because he had the feeling of being watched, but nobody besides police officers was in the hallway.

After the police was gone, the doctor gave her some painkillers and left.
She sighed heavily and leaned back against her cushion, feeling pretty much exhausted.
Tsuna caressed her hair.
"Juudaime ... did you sleep with your suit still on?" she looked him up and down, his hair was unkempt and his suit a mess, he looked horrible.
"I think. But I can't remember how I got to bed. The last thing I know is that Haru had massaged my shoulders."
"I see ... " she looked at Haru a playful smirk on her face, so that bitch had lied to her.
"Maybe Haru knows how you got to bed." she said sweetly.
" ... He was more or less sleep walking ... I just guided him to the bed ... we fell both down and he clung to me, like I was some kind of huge Teddy bear." she didn't dare to look at the both of them and chewed on her lip. Earlier that day she had said things to Hayato she now regretted deeply.
Hayato hummed happy and smiled at her like a mother who was proud of her child to have told the truth. Tsuna was a little confused about their behaviour but didn't dare to ask, he knew that those two had issues because of him. Inukami looked as out of it as he himself felt.

The door to the room opened and all eyes were on it, ready to strike.
"Yo!" It was Yamamoto and he closed the door behind him. On his lips was a cheerful smile, but his whole composure told them, that something was going on.
"Yamamoto what are you doing here?" Tsuna asked.
"Well ... Seguchi-san wanted to send his regards to Gokudera and he hopes that she gets well soon." he laughed and moved his head a little to the side.
Three out of four people didn't get him, but those three weren't of Vongola blood.
Tsuna understood, after some thinking, that Seguchi-san was in some kind of trouble and that his Rain couldn't talk about it because of the police officers on the other side of the door.
"That's nice of him." he nodded, showing that he had understood the massage.
"I thought so, too." Yamamoto laughed and Hayato was suddenly very sleepy, she couldn't even think straight.
"Strange ... " She whispered before falling asleep.

"Inukami, please bring Haru home. Yamamoto will guard Hayato for the time being." Tsuna ordered.
"Are you sure boss?" he asked and looked at Yamamoto, this guy didn't seem really capable.
"Yes. He will do a much better job than you." with fire in his eyes Tsuna glared at Inukami, showing him how much he had failed his orders.
Some part of Inukami died at the glare he received.
"I understand." he bowed deep and guided Haru outside.
Yamamoto made a low whistle.
"Don't you think that that was a bit harsh?" he asked.
"How would you feel if it was Kyoko who was almost killed?" There was no answer, but Tsuna knew that his friend now understood how he felt.
Tsuna leaned down and kissed Hayatos forehead. He looked at her and stoked a strand of hair out of her face, before he kissed her lips.
"You will watch her, won't you?" he looked at Hayato as he talked to Yamamoto. His voice not more than a whisper.
"Sure thing. I will mail you later about this other thing." he had sat down near the window, the door in his view. Tsuna had to look at him to feel him and he knew, that an ordinary person wouldn't even see him.
It was a little terrifying how good his friend could hide his presence.
"Thanks, for letting her rest." He had noticed that Yamamoto had put his girlfriend to sleep, using his rain attribute of calmness.
He just shrugged it off, because it had been a little unfair, he didn't want to hear her nagging all day long. Even if it was mostly funny, it could be annoying at times.
Tsuna nodded and left the room, kissing Hayatos forehead a last time.

As he walked down the street he knew he was being followed. He didn't even need his instincts to feel the presence of this person. Yawning he stretched himself without a care in the world. Whoever was behind him had closed the distance to a certain degree, his movements felt wrong.
There was no killing intent, but a certain nervousness, it was almost as if his stalker feared for his life.
Out of his eyes sight he saw a black car slowly approaching.
It seemed like they wanted to kidnap him.

He contemplated if he should let himself be caught or not. If he let them do it, there would be a high chance for him to meet the boss and get it over with.
But then again, they didn't know that he was the boss, so why should he meet theirs?
The car was almost at his side, he needed to make a quick decision.
From a nearby tree a black shadow looked at him, he recognized Reborn who nodded at him.
The decision was made.

He played the fearful and clueless victim, struggled a bit against his kidnappers and was shoved into the black car.
Now the real game started.

Somehow I begin to loose my drive ...
Reviews please? To fuel me? I need a little motivation ...