Chapter 28 To reach that tomorrow

Uh-oh! I've been found out. For those of you who have been wondering, yes Flames and Family Book 2 by Madashes2ahses is my inspiration for this part of the fic. Hell, it's the inspiration for me writing this fic at all. I've been trying really hard not to copy their work too closely, and as a result have forbade myself from reading it for the moment. For those of you who haven't read it… Go read it now. I won't allow you to read any more until you do. (*Waits for about one month, since it's that long*) welcome back, now you can continue reading!

Mind the swearing in this one. Sorry guys, but this is the bad side of life.

Tsuna is panicking. A lot.

Now whilst that may be usual for Tsuna since he hasn't changed too much since he was 14, there was a perfectly logical reason for this panic, and anyone with a sense of self-preservation or even just plain old common sense would be panicking too.

When you are forced to face your worst nightmare you panic, right. It's only natural.

And ever since Nono had said those words, Tsuna hadn't stopped panicking.

"Juudaime, it's time for dinner" informs Gokudera taking a look at his pocket watch.

"Heeii! I can't face them now. Um, tell them I'm ill and won't be down or something" scrabbles Tsuna.

Gokudera sighs over Tsuna's actions. "Juudaime, firstly I don't see why you need to worry, you've handled him before, so why not now. And secondly, telling them you are ill would only cause them to rush up here and check on you."

"You-you're right Gokudera. I just need to calm down. I'm not going to fight him, I'll survive." Gokudera thinks Tsuna has finally calmed down when he shouts out in exasperation once again and head-butts the bed. "Wahh! But he'll be seeing my weaknesses, he'll just ridicule me the whole time. He'll say I'm not worthy to become the Boss and take the rings from me again"

"Juudaime! That's not true. Plus you know the ring wouldn't go to him anyway." Growls Gokudera.

"But Gokudera" Tsuna whines. "Why him? Surely there must be someone else, anyone else, but him. I swear that Nono is torturing me" Tsuna lays face down on his bed, feebly punching a pillow in protest. Gokudera sighs once more over Juudaime's behaviour and walks towards the door. Opening it, he sees just who he needs.

"Oy, Yakyuu-Baka, Shibafu!" Yamamoto and Ryohei turn around to look at him

"Heeii, Gokudera, what are you doing? You promised not to tell them about this" Tsuna shouts, sitting up in shock.

"Juudaime twisted his ankle during our trip today, carry him down to dinner would you?" Whilst he hated to ask this of them, he knew that he alone wasn't strong enough to carry a squirming Tsuna down the stairs. Plus, that would mean that Juudaime would shout at him and he couldn't take that.

"Haha, of course we will Gokudera." Smiles Yamamoto walking back towards him.

"I will to the EXTREME Tako-Head." Shouts Ryohei, jogging over too.

"Gokudera! How could you" protests Tsuna, looking utterly betrayed.

"As your right hand man I need to do things that are in your best interests, even if you don't like it. You need to go to dinner and forget about it. Worrying will get you nowhere."

"Ha, says you" mumbles Tsuna darkly. Gokudera was the one who worried the most next to Tsuna.

The resident Mafioso and serving staff look on in amusement as a protesting and unwilling Decimo is carried through the mansion. To Tsuna's credit, he tried very hard to get away, but the combined forces of Yamamoto and Ryohei, minus the use of his gloves, meant that he couldn't go anywhere.

"Herbivore, you are disturbing the peace. Be quiet" Hibari scolds, giving Tsuna whack with his Tonfas. Hibari was allowed to stay away from the others on the condition that he had dinner with them every night. The offer was open to Chrome and Mukuro too, but the Vongola seemed less enthused about having them in the mansion, so Mukuro and Chrome very rarely came.

All eyes turned to the opening doors of the dining hall, and most of Tsuna's family burst out into laughter at their Boss. What a loving family he had.

"Gyahaha! Dame-Tsuna can't even walk now?" laughs Lambo, next to a giggling Fuuta.

"Tsuna, if you are trying to make a grand entrance, at least look imposing whilst being carried: crying and whining doesn't give off the right impression" advises KID as the authority on grand entrances.

"Now now Tsunayoshi, what is this all about?" asks Nono, a small smile on his lips too. Gokudera walks over and respectfully whispers into Nono's ear about the current situation. "Really now. I've had words with him and everything will be alright. He'll at least be civil at first."

"Yeah, at first, before he fries me to a crisp" cries Tsuna

"Who's going to attack you?" asks Yamamoto, looking up and giving Tsuna a stern stare. Ryohei had become tense too.

"Ahh, no one" nervously lies Tsuna. "Wahh!" he shouts out as Ryohei and Yamamoto stop supporting his back and he ends up being held aloft upside down, head near the floor.

"You were saying" asks Yamamoto, a fake sweet smile on his face.

"Dame-Tsuna is going to fight with me tomorrow and I'll be using Leon as a flamethrower." Says the flowers in the middle of the table.

"Hmm? I can hear the kid, but I can't see him" comments Yamamoto, looking around with a confused look on his face.

Reborn steps out of the costume and onto the table.

"Ah, kid! You'll be fighting with a flame thrower, no paint this time?" Yamamoto asks, referring to the last time he had trained with Reborn during the future trip.

"Well, Dame-Tsuna needs to bring more heat and passion to his fighting, so I'll be using a flamethrower" Reborn says.

It seems to be logic that only the two sportsmen get.

"That is EXTREME! I should try that sometime." Shouts Ryohei, fake flames burning behind him at his enthusiasm.

"If you would be kind enough to put Decimo down, we can start dinner." Suggests Nono, fingers tapping impatiently on the table.

"Me? I'm good thanks. Kaito is down having dinner with everyone else at the moment. I'm not really hungry. Oh, that reminds me, Kaito wanted to ask you for another shipment of those blank cards."

"Hmm, already. Well sure. But how did you go through that many so quickly?" asks Spanner on the other side of the screen, whilst writing a note to himself. Sticky note written, he sticks it to the side of the computer screen to join the other corners of colour Shinichi can see at the edge of the video feed's screen.

"Ahaha, well, Kaito kept on shooting me and himself with them filled with Sun flames. Our rooms at the Vongola Mansion didn't even have electricity, so me and him stayed up for practically 5 days straight to get it to be liveable."

"Oh, the flame powered tools." He says. Shinichi nods in agreement.

"Ne, Spanner. How is everything in Japan?"

Spanner knew Shinichi didn't mean how he was doing, nor how the rest of the Japanese Vongola were doing either. "It worked" he simply replies. "The data shows that they've been checking out Kudo Shinichi's old houses, close friends and acquaintances." Shinichi thought so, he expected them too. "Everyone is safe, no attacks or kidnapping attempts yet." Shinichi sighed a sigh of relief he didn't even know he had when he heard that.

In the background Shinichi hears a yelp and a crash; sadly no moving about would let him see what had just happened. Spanner turns around to check on the disturbance, sighs and places a new lollipop in his mouth. "Ne, Shoichi. You better not have broken that" and he turns back to Shinichi. "Shoichi's been so worried about you his stomach has been acting up again."

A flustered Shoichi appears over Spanner's shoulder, ironically holding his stomach. "I have not!" he defends. "But seriously Shinichi, I know that you are drawing them away from Japan, but do you really need to be the target like that?"

Shinichi lets out a soft smile at the concern his new friends are showing, but soon puts a serious face back on. "Yes. They need to be taken care of before anyone else is harmed by them. I want them to be gone and put behind me. I want to finally be able to live my life without them in the back of my mind."

"Oh, that's a rather selfish thought coming from you" remarks Shoichi. Shinichi blushes slightly and looks away. "I'm glad though. It's alright to think about you every now and again, instead of worrying about others, or about something as immaterial as Justice."

"yeah, whatever." Shinichi grumbles.

"How is Tsuna?" Shoichi asks worriedly.

Shinichi thinks about this for a moment, and about what tomorrow will bring. "Tsuna… might break" Both of the mechanics gasp. "Gokudera has been looking after him and has been providing emotional support. He seems to be accepting what he has to do. Of course I don't know what was going through his head specifically, but I think he's found a way to talk himself into doing punishments."

"Tsuna has been…" mumbles Shoichi. Shinichi gives him a stern look.

"You knew just as well as I did it would happen. But that's not what I'm worried about. It's what's going to happen tomorrow that I'm worried about. Nono might be putting too much on Tsuna at once."

"Can we help?" asks Spanner.

"Well, can you send me all the information about a certain person for me? Me and Kaito won't be there tomorrow to look after Tsuna, but I still want to know all the information you can give me. Videos would be best since I've never seen him in action."

"Hmm, we can try. Who is it?" they ask, Spanner's fingers tapping away and already bringing up their database.

"Well, it's a man by the name of…"

"Gloves"

"Got them on."

"Pills"

"You know I don't need them anymore"

"Just in case"

"Yes, I've got them."

"Natsu"

"Gao~" goes the ring.

"Gokudera, what happened to not worrying about him?" asks Tsuna, finally exasperated with the final checks.

"Just a precaution Juudaime. I know you can beat him hands down, but he is still a dangerous man. I'll be near if you need me" replies Gokudera, straightening out Tsuna's jacket.

"Look I'm going to be late if I don't go soon, and then I'll be in even more trouble." Says Tsuna, pulling away from Gokudera.

"Of course Juudaime. How dare I keep you. Please, just leave me behind." Shouts Gokudera. Tsuna smiles to himself as he turns and walks into the harsher end of town.

Making sure that no one is following him, and that no one is looking, he walks into an apartment building and up the stairs until the top floor. Walking down until he finds the only door on this floor, he stands infront of it and prepares himself. Taking a deep breath, he concentrates on his flame and raises it until it hides just under the surface, not appearing yet still giving that ice like comfort.

Turning the handle, he opens the door and immediately lays his eyes upon today's target. The target's eyes flick from where they were to him and immediately back to where they were.

And there he was, sat on a scruffy sofa on the other side of the room. He really did look like an imposing lion, totally natural in these surroundings.

"What are we doing today then Xanxus?" red eyes flick up to meet his and Tsuna supresses a shiver.

Don't be scared. Vongola Decimo can't be scared of his future subordinates!

"Information, brat." Tsuna could hear it in Xanxus's voice, he could see it in Xanxus's shaking fists: He didn't want to be in the same room as much as Tsuna did.

"Why?" asks Tsuna, orange eyes staring right back at Xanxus. Don't show the fear.

"Ha, you need to know why? They are your orders brat. Follow them." Laughs Xanxus, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"What information do I need to get then?" questions Tsuna, turning to face their target.

"Why scum like this believes he can hack into the Vongola Database." Explains Xanxus, waving an uncaring hand in the direction of the 'scum'.

"Ha! As if I'd tell you. Vongola are a load of bastards sat on their shitty high horses who think they can do what they fucking want." The man spits to the side in disgust. "I'm going to take them down a peg"

Tsuna smirks, orange eyes shining in amusement. "Really? I'd like to see you try when you are nearly pissing yourself just from having Xanxus in the room. He hasn't even done anything to you yet. How would the little mouse act if all of the Varia were here? You wouldn't be so mighty then would you."

"Vongola only help themselves. All they are after is power and they'll get it through any fucking means neces-" Tsuna had walked over in fury and slapped the man around the face.

"What data did you manage to get?" Tsuna asks, voice ice cold.

The man smirks up at Tsuna. "I got information regarding you and your Guardians, Decimo. Where you all live, your schedules, your family members and close friends." Tsuna knew that the man was lying through his teeth.

"Stop lying" shouts Tsuna, grabbing the man's hand. "You value your fingers as a hacker right. You'd better tell me what I want to hear, or you won't be typing for much longer." Xanxus nods in vague approval. It's better than what he was expecting.

Hurting him means that I can keep the others safe. If he listens to the threats then I won't have to hurt him.

The target looks upwards at Tsuna once more, seemingly unfazed by the threat. Tsuna could see the sweat run down the man's neck though. "I saw some surveillance footage. Two nice bitches you got there. Hot, real hot. Wouldn't mind having my way, Gak!" When Tsuna's intuition supplied that the man was telling the truth, Tsuna tightened his grip in sudden anger. The abrupt addition in pressure caused the target's fingers to snap. Tsuna felt that and immediately lets go, resisting the urge to throw up.

"Stay away from them or I swear that I'll kill you" growls Tsuna, flames flaring on his hands and forehead for a brief moment. The mouse looks scared for a second, eyes widening in fright. Surely he must be seeing a mirage or something.

"What information were you looking for? Why were you in the database?" asks Tsuna, voice once more steady and deep.

The mouse pants to get over the pain and shock from earlier. "No. I'm not going to tell you that. Vongola bastards don't need to know."

Tsuna surges forwards and places his hand on the man's throat. Can't be sick, not infront of him. Got to act tough. Got to do my job correctly. Got to protect them

"What is it you want? Money? Power? Fame? A man like you must be after something." He stares the man right in the eyes- he can't look at the broken fingers that way.

"Nowhere near, dumbass. Try revenge, try justice, try retribution. I'm not the bad guy here, you are" Tsuna's hand tightens whilst his mind goes blank. Bad guy? Me? Is what I'm doing wrong? Do I need to be doing this? Do I really need to be harming this man? Does he deserve it?

Tsuna had far too many questions and not enough answers. "Really? Revenge for what?" He asks, barely not stuttering due to the calming motion of the flames inside him.

"Vongola has harmed my friends, my Family, and I'm not about to let them do it again, you hear me scum?"

Xanxus was surprised with how well this was going. He had fully expected a whining sniffling brat who wasn't capable of even shouting at the man. This boy infront of him was different from that though. Or at least Xanxus thought so, until the scum just had to talk about Justice and bad guys. When Xanxus saw Tsuna's grip falter and relax, Xanxus knew he needed to step in. Trash is still Trash, no matter how it tries to pretend otherwise.

Grabbing a knife from his boot, Xanxus stabs it into the targets other hand, right through the palm. The man winces and whimpers, but no outright cry escapes his lips. This man had balls then.

"Now listen here you fucking piece of shit. I don't care whether Vongola killed your mother or your bitch. You were trespassing in our database and you are going to pay the price. This is how it's going to work" Xanxus puts a finger on the hilt of the knife and moves it slowly in a circle. The scum whines again, bracing himself against the pain by tightening his muscles. "You are going to tell me who ordered you, and what they ordered you to do. If you play nice, I might even let you live. Fuck orders"

"See, a load of power hungry whores all of you." Gasps the man as the knife continues to move.

"Well, at least we'll be alive by the end of it." He turns his face to look at Tsuna. "Oi brat. This one seems to like pain, so we'll give him all he can handle." Smiling wickedly, he forcefully rips the knife out, moulds Tsuna's hand around it and places his over the top, forcing Tsuna to keep hold of the knife. He was so going to enjoy this. It was even better than he imagined. He was going to torture both the scum and the brat until they broke. Nice and slowly.

Moving his hand, and by default, Tsuna's own, he slowly drags the knife down the trapped mouse's bicep. He watches in amusement as Tsuna's eyes follow the knife and the dripping blood. The mouse grunts, pretending not to feel the pain.

"Make him remember your name brat. Make him remember not to fuck with Vongola" Xanxus orders happily. He brings the knife up to the man's face, and sticks the very tip into the mouse's upper cheek.

Xanxus lets go of Tsuna's hand once he realises that the brat will do as he asked. He watches on happily as Tsuna carves an 'X' into the man's cheeks.

"Tell me." Whispers Tsuna, tears running down his face. "Tell me, please. I can't change anything if I don't know what's wrong." Tsuna has a rather blank expression on his face, as if running on auto-pilot.

"I won't stop… until every last Vongola… is dead. That includes you… your bitches… and your Guardians." Pants the man, forcing himself to speak through the haze of pain.

"Why?" Tsuna screams, "Why are you going to harm my family?" He slams down his fist in anger, cracking it against the man's kneecap. Yet cracking the mouse's kneecap is the last it can handle and the man faints.

Xanxus turns to Tsuna, a shark's grin on his face "Good job, br-at, ah fuck"

Tsuna is backing away in horror, finally seeing all of the wounds he inflicted. Tears fall in streams.

"Who was right? Was he only defending what was important to him too?" asks Tsuna, voice small and child-like. His back hits the balcony windows.

And the spell is broken.

Spinning around, Tsuna scrabbles with the handle, finally throwing the balcony door open. He wastes no time in running to the edge and jumping over.

But that was why Xanxus was here. Before his flames could even carry Tsuna that far off, Xanxus grabbed him, flying with the use of his own X-guns. Of course, that meant only using one gun, and that wasn't enough to hold both of them aloft. With another charge and shot, Xanxus makes them fall into the broken roof of an abandoned building.

"What the fuck brat? You can't even handle that?" he shouts as he pins Tsuna to the floor.

"I'm not like you Xanxus! I don't find pleasure in harming others. I'm not Varia Quality." Tsuna shouts back, wiggling to try and find an escape route.

"Varia Quality? You're not even worthy to enter the ranks of Vongola, let alone be the fucking Boss! There is no way I'm letting someone like you become the Boss of Vongola." Xanxus throws a punch, but Tsuna moves his head aside to let Xanxus punch the concrete floor instead. Rubble flies at the impact and dust blooms in the air.

Shinichi had been worried all morning, ever since he had gotten the information from Spanner. He had seen images of Xanxus's work and even seen the video of the Sky Ring Battle. So against his orders and better judgement, Shinichi took off and ran towards where the session was taking place.

"Well the rings didn't accept you as Boss, so you must be doing something wrong" hisses Tsuna, throwing his own punch at Xanxus.

Kaito too had felt bad all day. He had sneaked into the office late last night and looked at the files on Xanxus. It didn't look pretty. So when he saw the explosion of wood and mortar, he had a strange feeling that he knew what caused it. The flash of Orange helped somewhat.

"You know that if I had your blood things would be different!" roars Xanxus, aiming one of his guns at Tsuna's head.

Yet when Shinichi arrives on the scene, he finds that someone had already gotten there.

"Alala, Now what are two handsome men like you doing on the floor?" Xanxus keeps one arm across Tsuna's shoulders to pin him to the floor whilst he leans up to look at the lunatic who dared to interrupt the fight. "I never knew you were that way Boss, and with Xanxus of all people." Hand to her mouth she titters.

Xanxus points one of his guns at this crazy woman, but is surprised to feel a bullet zip past his cheek. He laughs out loud at her audacity.

"Now if you don't mind, please get off my Boss. Unless you would like a bullet in your eye" she smiles, waving the gun to motion him to get up. "It would be a nice new accessory. Totally unique and very fetching"

Xanxus barks out a short laugh "Ha, only if you want a face lift bitch" he waves his gun in the air too to show what would be providing the face lift.

"Clover, run" orders Tsuna breathlessly as Xanxus pressed more weight onto him.

"I need to teach this brat a lesson" Xanxus states, looking back down at Tsuna.

I'm guessing that the lesson with Tsuna didn't go too well then. Muses Kaito at Xanxus's words. From his position, he could see everything.

Tsuna tenses and kicks upwards, barely missing as Xanxus leaps off of him.

Three shots were fired in quick succession, causing Xanxus to jump even further away from Tsuna.

Shinichi looks at the woman with an observant eye. It seemed as if the gun was a natural extension of her arm. It seemed perfectly natural to be there. She fires more shots as Xanxus runs towards her, yet he kept managing to dodge. All Kaito could do was watch as Clover flies through the window.

"Clover!" shouts Arthur. He had arrived just in time to see Clover fly through the window. There wasn't a lot he could do to help his partner now though. Spinning around to face the enemy, Arthur flicks knives in his direction. However even Shinichi could see how useless Arthur's knives were when just one shot of an X-gun disintegrates them totally.

Clover had managed to grab the window ledge as she flew, and uses that now to hoist herself back up. Seeing her attempt, Arthur does his best to distract Xanxus. Kaito admits that Arthur's aim is spot on, yet Xanxus's pure strength and X-guns make quick work of them and the few that do land seem like flies. Clambering up, Clover runs over to Xanxus's right whilst Arthur takes the left. Both Shinichi and Kaito wonder which way Xanxus will attack first.

"Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition"

Seeing the move up close they all notice that Tsuna's gloves change from their usual X to an I, representing Primo who first came up with the move. Kaito had been too busy trying to grab the fence to notice last time.

"Xanxus, this mission is over. He's obviously fanatical about his cause and won't give us information. Clover and Arthur will take him in for further questioning and then Nono can chose what to do with him. Until then, you will either leave back to Varia HQ peacefully, or you can stay in this ice until I need you next. Your choice"

"Grr, trash let me out. It's not worth fighting pathetic scum like you." Growls Xanxus. Tsuna's orange eyes stare straight into his, assessing the truth in that statement. Seemingly finding what he was looking for, Tsuna nods. With Xanxus's own flames working from the inside and Tsuna's from the outside, the ice quickly melts. Xanxus doesn't say anything, nor even turn around again, as he stalks off and out of the building.

Everyone tenses when there were rapid footsteps approaching. When Gokudera bursts through the door, he finds a gun, some knifes and Juudaime, all aiming to attack him.

"Juudaime, are you alright?" he asks, running over to Tsuna. Seeing who it is, Clover and Arthur lower their weapons.

"Yeah, I'm fine Gokudera. Clove and Arthur saved me." Explains Tsuna, releasing his flame totally. Gokudera looks over in their direction, looking the two operatives over.

"How did you get here before me? Hell, what are you even doing here?" he growls. He should have been the one to save Juudaime, not these two. The building was filled with rubble and some of the stairs were missing, so it would have been hard to get to this level.

"Vongola had a tip off that a dangerous drug trade was going to take place here, so we were hiding in the building to see who would come. So far, no one had, and with this disturbance, I doubt anyone will." Clover sighs, a hand brushing the hair out of her face.

"We heard the ruckus upstairs and came to check it out, thinking that the deal was happening up there and had gone wrong. But we found Decimo and Xanxus fighting instead." Continues Arthur, helping Clover to remove the last remnants of the window from her clothes.

"Well, Decimo, we shall go and fulfil your orders now. Leave us to clean up. Where is the person you were squeezing?" explains Clover. Tsuna points through the hole in the roof to the balcony that he had jumped from

"He's in there. He had fainted last time I saw him. He really hates Vongola though, so be careful with him." Advises Tsuna, shivering with the memory of what he and Xanxus had done.

Clover and Arthur bow to Tsuna "Of course Decimo" and leave.

Seeing that everything is fine, Shinichi and Kaito leave too. Gokudera could once again deal with Tsuna's emotional aftermath. They had jobs to get back to doing after all.

There are a few moments of silence between Tsuna and Gokudera as they listen to Arthur and Clover's retreating footsteps.

"Gokudera, what do you do when you don't know if what you are doing is right or not?" Tsuna asks, thinking back to the defiant mouse.

Gokudera thinks for a moment, guessing what could have possibly gone on during the session. "Well Juudaime. It's hard for me to say. For someone like me, I never had those thoughts. I was simply a subordinate and had no right to question my orders. I just had to assume that my orders were for the greater good of the Family, and make sure that I completed them. However, for you as heir and future Boss, you need to decide for yourself whether the orders you are giving are for good or not. Unfortunately, at the moment, you are in an in between position. Since you are not the Boss, you can't make those decisions yourself, yet as heir, it is your job to decide things like that in the future. What you need to do is put yourself in Nono's position and see if you can figure out his reasoning."

"Nono's reasoning." Mumbles Tsuna. Gokudera nods

"Nono must have had a reason for what he did. Clover said you were information gathering right. So, that man must have had information that was important to the safety and wellbeing of the Family." Explains Gokudera. Tsuna takes this all in and thinks about it.

"He had found security footage of Haru and Kyoko." Says Tsuna, fists clenching. "He was trying to hack into the Vongola Database."

Gokudera is slightly taken aback by this. Who was stupid enough to attempt to hack into Vongola? "Well, the Database contains a lot of private information. If someone had full access, they could ruin not only Vongola, but most of the allied Families and Rival Families too." Gokudera hypothesises, hand on his chin in thought

"But he said that Vongola had harmed his Family too" inputs Tsuna, getting to the point.

And here it is again, Tsuna's nice personality Thinks Gokudera. "He most likely was, Juudaime. However, that meant threatening Vongola. And whilst this is just my mere opinion, Vongola is more important than any other Family to me. So I'm going to protect Vongola rather than some other Family that dared to attack us. Without hearing both sides of the story you can't decide who was right or wrong. All you can do is trust that Nono has Vongola's best interests at heart and follow the orders he gives you. When you yourself are Boss, that's when you can try to stop the fighting between us and other Families. Until then, I'm afraid to say that we don't have the power to change anything."

"Nice speech Gokudera" smiles Tsuna. Gokudera gasps, and immediately bows down on the floor.

"I am so sorry Juudaime. I can't believe I had the audacity to speak to you like that. You shouldn't have to listen to my thoughts, they aren't important at all. You should decide for yourself instead of me burdening you with my lowly point of view."

"I get what you are saying Gokudera. I can't change anything until I'm the Boss. I can't protect you or the others until I'm Decimo. I can't save Shinichi and Kaito's important people until then, nor can I fulfil Primo's wish"

Gokudera was getting slightly worried. Tsuna certainly didn't seem like himself. He sounded slightly insane, as if talking to himself rather than to Gokudera. Gokudera just hoped that Juudaime hadn't cracked. "Erm, Juudaime? Forgive me for asking, but… are you alright?"

"No Gokudera, I'm not alright." Sighs Tsuna. "All I wanted was a nice peaceful life with you lot, but I'm not going to get that am I? If becoming Boss of Vongola means that the bloodshed will end quicker, that we won't ever have to harm someone else, that everyone will be happy and protected, then I suppose that I had better hurry up and become one. If nothing I want will happen until I'm Boss, then there is nothing else I can do."

"So does that mean that you finally…?" questions Gokudera carefully.

"Yes Gokudera. It does." Tsuna finally turns to face Gokudera. "Gokudera, I'm about to become a bad person, so if you don't want anything to do with me, then I'll understand. But if you can wait until afterwards…"

"I don't care Juudaime! You can never be a bad person in my eyes. Never! If you are about to become a bad person then where does that put me? I would follow you into hell and back. I don't care where, but I will always be right by your side. Forever, I promise" Shouts Gokudera passionately.

Tsuna smiles at Gokudera, amazed once again by the bomber's trust in him. He really doesn't deserve someone as loyal as Gokudera.

For the sake of the future I desire, no matter how deep my hurt is, I'll push the feeling away and do what needs to be done. No matter how distant my feelings are, I must advance for I can only see one road to lead to that future I desire. So if that means putting my feelings into a box and hiding them away, then I will. For no matter what happens, I am not alone.

Tsuna holds out a hand to Gokudera, and Gokudera just looks blankly at it, as if not knowing what to do with it.

"Let's make a promise Gokudera. For the distant tomorrow we want, let's make a promise. For we have a dream that we can't give up."

Realising what Juudaime is talking about, Gokudera gingerly grabs Tsuna's hand back. "You mean for the festivals, fireworks and snowball fights, right Juudaime" He would never forget that; when Juudaime had shouted at him during the Storm Ring Battle. If that was Juudaime's dream, then it would become his too.

"For the tomorrow we are aiming for, for the important things we must protect, we will do whatever is necessary."

"I do promise Juudaime."

Because the important thing is that you are here, by my side.

"Ushishishi, I'm afraid that Boss can't come to the phone right now, nor can the Shark."

Nono can hear the battle raging on in the background. He sighs "Well, can you find out what went wrong?"

"Well, it seems to the Prince that the little Lord was doing a good job until the mouse started to talk about how Vongola has harmed the mouse's family. The Lord backed out and flew off. Boss and the Lord had a fight and some peasants interfered to save the Lord. The Lord… wait"

Even Nono could hear what must have happened next.

"How dare the brat freeze me once again!" followed by the sound of crashing bottles and a very pissed off Vroii.

"Ushishi~ The Prince thinks you got that, right. Boss came home and tore up the Castle immediately. It might take a while to calm the Boss back down. You know how much the Boss hates the Lord to begin with. The Prince is surprised that the Lord is even still alive."

"Tell him to have calmed down by the next time. I'm not paying for that damage either. He can sort it out himself" informs Nono.

"Ushishishi~ The Prince shall do so when it's safe. Bye~Bi~"

"Goodbye Belphegor"

Nono hangs up the phone, wondering what went on during that training session. He needed to see Tsuna as soon as he arrived back. But first, he had something else he needed to do.

Walking through the Mansion, he nods in acknowledgement to any who bow or wave at him. He eventually makes his way to the lounge for the 10th Generation. Standing in the middle of the empty room, he says,

"KID, Shinichi, I need a word with you two."

"How nice of you to visit us Nono." Slowly turning around to face the window, he finds KID framed by the setting sun.

"How may we be of help sir?" asks Shinichi from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Nono sees Shinichi sitting in an arm chair.

"Knowing you two, you heard about Decimo's latest assignment." they both nod; It hadn't gone down too well "I'm afraid that I need you to stop following Decimo to his training sessions. Xanxus is there to force Decimo to get used to the blood and pain he will cause. As a result, if Decimo flies off, Xanxus needs to bring him back and let the lesson continue. So I don't want any outside interference, understand?" once more, both nod. "Now, I'm a busy man, so I want you two to go find Clover and Arthur and tell them not to interfere too. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in it. They might be inclined to help again"

"Of course we will Nono," says Shinichi bowing in his chair. Nono nods his head in return and walks off.

Turning to Kaito Shinichi says "Well, I had better go and find them then." And stands up, turning towards the door.

"Sure, I need to finish the report I'm working on. See you later" informs KID, standing up too and waving goodbye to Shinichi. Shinichi nods in return as he opens the door.

Shinichi walks through to the Mafiosi's section of the mansion and into the communal living space. He finds Clover sat on a couch reading a fashion magazine. Walking over to the woman, he relays Nono's message.

"Sure, I'll go find Arthur and tell him for you. I do hope that Decimo will be alright though. Xanxus is a scary man." She offers.

Shinichi laughs "Well you sure didn't see scared of him." During that scuffle, she didn't seem scared of him at all.

"You were watching?" she asks, eyebrow raised. Shinichi nods, before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, I had a bad feeling about it so I went. But you were doing a good enough job so I didn't interfere." He admits. Clover nods in understanding. Seeing the time, Shinichi notices that he needs to get ready for dinner. "See you later."

"Goodbye Shinichi. Come and see me again alright, I'll show you a good time!" Shinichi waves the offer off as the Mafiosi around laugh- Clover was known as a hopeless flirt.

Laughing at the joke too, Clover stands up and makes her way through the maze of corridors to Arthur's room.

Knocking on his door she says, "Ne, Arthur, it's Clover, I need to talk to you"

She is answered by Arthur opening the door. He smiles back at her "Really? What about?" he asks

Checking that no one else was in the corridor and listening, Clover leans in close and repeats Nono's orders. Arthur sighs "I thought so. Well, it wasn't our place to interfere. I'm sure that Decimo can protect himself. He did beat Xanxus once before. Plus I can see what Decimo's problem with the target was. There was no way they were going to squeeze information out of him."

When Tsuna opened the doors to the Mansion later that day, Reborn was there to meet him with, as promised, a flamethrower Leon in his hands. Reborn was fully prepared to 'dry the tears' that he suspected his student would have. Yet he stopped short at the serious expression Tsuna was wearing. Changing Leon back, Reborn jumps onto his shoulder.

"Xanxus is pretty pissed at you, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn says conversationally

Tsuna looks at Reborn from the corner of his eye whilst walking towards Nono's office. "It's Decimo, not Dame-Tsuna" says Tsuna, voice serious.

And for them, that whole exchange spoke more than people realised. No one knew Tsuna better than Reborn, and no one else can get near to understanding the Hitman apart from Tsuna and the Arcobaleno. In that short exchange was an unsaid worry, an unasked question for the story, and the unsaid answer that one had finally found their resolve. They didn't need to say anything else.

Upon being prompted, Tsuna, Gokudera and Reborn enter the room. Tsuna and Gokudera immediately kneel before Nono.

Before Nono can ask what happened today Tsuna speaks first. "After extensive thinking and conversations with my Right Hand Man-"

"Juudaime, I can't be given credit for something like that!" argues Gokudera, but Tsuna looks over his shoulder and glares Gokudera into silence.

So for Gokudera's sake, he adds "AND My Moon and Star Guardians, I have decided to take my role seriously."

"Really now Decimo?" Nono asks, fully concentrating on the man before him. After all, Tsunayoshi was 19 and an adult in normal society. In a few more days, he would be seen as an adult in Mafia society too.

"Yes, Nono. I will finally put all of my heart and soul into these missions you are going to give me. I shall prove to you and Xanxus that I am worthy to become the Boss of Vongola." Tsuna didn't mention his plans for when he did become Boss. He wasn't sure if Nono would like them, nor agree to them being the reasons for his change. But it didn't matter what Nono thought. Tsuna was going to be the one to change Vongola, to change or destroy it.

"As a result, I wish to not have Xanxus follow me to these missions any longer. I also give you permission to allow Gokudera to take missions if he so wishes"

"It would be my honour Juudaime!" says Gokudera respectfully yet still Gokudera-ishly loud.

Nono considers what Decimo is saying. "Very well, on one condition"

Tsuna looks up at Nono. "And that would be sir?"

"That you let Xanxus accompany you on your first eradication, Decimo. If that goes on without any major problems, then I shall allow you to take these missions without Xanxus."

Tsuna bows his head in acceptance "Very well Nono, I agree to those terms."

Nono looks across to Reborn, who has a proud gleam in his eyes, before he goes and kicks Tsuna.

"Ow! Reborn what was that for?" asks Tsuna, rubbing the bump on his head.

"Strong words there Dame-Decimo" is all Reborn offers in explanation. But Tsuna knows. Reborn still isn't sure if it's not all hype. Yet the use of Decimo means that he's willing to accept it… if there is proof. Tsuna could take Dame-Decimo over Dame-Tsuna. It showed that he had risen in Reborn's eyes. It was the biggest compliment anyone could have given him.

In this chapter is the second half of the song started in chapter 26. Can anyone name it? It was a requested song too.

This is part of the Easter Upload Session, so make sure you have read the chapter before too!

Just watched Rebocon 5 which was the most awesome yet!

See you all soon!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published11 March 2012