AN: No comment.
Notes: I planned on Tsuna freaking out about Enzo, his OCD kicking in, and go neatfreak trying to give Enzo a bath. You can guess how it would have turned out. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough space.
Chapter 6: Sides of an Coin
The first thing Tsuna did after Dino removed the gag was to send a torrent of filth in the trio's direction. Natsu, who had planned on doing the same, stopped short and choked on the profanity that was rolling off his supposedly 'innocent' twin's tongue with.
Dino had flushed a dark red at the rather...interesting things that were erupting from Tsuna's mouth and Reborn nearly dropped his coffee, his eyes almost noticeably wide. Romario had long since fainted.
Tsuna really didn't care as he cursed Reborn's sexlife, Dino's sexlife, questioned their sexuality, accused them of pedophilia, and a lot of other stuff that was certainly not PG-13. And judging by Dino's face, it wasn't even NC-17 either.
When Tsuna was finally done, his face was red and he was out of breath. Reborn sipped his coffee, the only sign of Tsuna's barrage disturbing him was the fact that his fedora was pulled over his eyes.
"You sure know a lot of curses" commented Reborn as Dino chuckled nervously.
Tsuna glared, "You'll be surprise of how much teenagers curse when they've just been humiliated, blackmailed, dumped, and kicked in where the sun doesn't shine. That, and Ka-san has quite a vocabulary when drunk. Natsu isn't much better even when sober."
"Hey!" protested Natsu, turning awkwardly to his twin, "I'm not that bad!"
"Oh?" said Tsuna sarcastically, "Who was it that said, and I quote 'That fucking son of bitc-"
"Okay, okay. Just shut up!" cried Natsu, his face flushing a light red. Tsuna snorted before glaring at an amused looking Reborn and flustered Dino. Following Tsuna's gaze, Natsu's face turned serious.
"We're not joining the mafia" stated Natsu, his eyes burning with resolve. Reborn merely sipped his coffee while Dino looked sympathetic. It made Tsuna uneasy.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice" said Dino in a supportive, somewhat comforting tone. "The mafia is mafia for a reason. As long as you live, the blood that flows in your veins will caused you to be hunted by assassins to the day you die. No mafia boss will allow potential usurpers to live, not even the kindest one. The only way to survive is to reach the top and become the threat they think you are."
Tsuna's eyes were shadowed as the damning words flew off the blonde's tongue. Anger boiled his blood, but fear held him back. With his own personal abilities and experience, he could see that every word that the man said was true, that if they didn't accept and adapt they would spend the rest of their life looking over their back for some assassin to slide a knife through their ribs.
It was quite frightening to think about. To spend the rest of one's days thinking that it might be the last day of their life, to spend their mockery of a life on the run. From a human reduced to being prey, a mere animal.
During certain days, Tsuna had seen glimpse of a life on the run from the residents of Namimori, for the quaint little town was just a little more than a town. Every resident in Namimori had skeletons in the closet. It hadn't just been bad luck to have the infamous Hibari family to be present and controlling Namimori.
Tsuna had learned the hard way, that some things, you really didn't want to know and that Ignorance was bliss. Mostly because he still couldn't look at Yamamoto Tsuyoshi in the exact same way as he did before. Who knew that Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was a former apprentice of a contract killer that had gone on and commit mass homicide to avenge his master's death?
The only relief that Tsuna had was that the sushi chef had dropped his sword after a rather foolish assassin killed Mrs. Yamamoto, well after he dealt with his wife's murderer of course.
Fear must have shown through on his face, because Dino ruffled his hair in an attempt of comfort and Natsu squeezed his hand in assurance.
"Can you explain the mafia thing again, Reborn-kun?" said Tsuna softly, his eyes flashing amber. Tsuna felt Natsu tense against his back, and his grip on his hand tighten slightly. It was obvious to Tsuna that his twin was not happy about the mafia thing. Neither was he at that matter.
He quietly promised to himself that he would thoroughly prank his drunk, no good, ass of a father when he finally came back. It was obvious just which side of the family they had inherited the mafia from.
Reborn tilted his head curiously before nodding. "As I said before, You and twin are possible candidates to become the Tenth Generation Boss of the Vongola Famiglia, or Vongola Decimo for short. Vongola Nono, or the Ninth Generation Boss, sent me to tutor you two, and determine which one of you will receive the position."
"Wait, What will happen to the one that doesn't get picked?" questioned Natsu, his eyes narrowing on the last part. Tsuna was uneasy, he could see the question and fear on his twin's face. They both knew the mafia was ruthless, and add that too what Dino said earlier about the treatment of 'usurpers'...
"...He will be eliminated" said Reborn, his eyes shadowed. Dino's hand slid to his pant pocket, as if he was reaching for something, but stopped himself sharply. Tsuna's eyes flickered over to the pocket, what was in there? A weapon?
"Eliminated.." parroted Tsuna, his voice dull. "Definition. To remove or get rid of. Alternative definition. To eradicate or kill."
Staring at the floor of the kitchen, Tsuna knew who would most likely to be picked. Natsu had always been the stronger of the two while Tsuna had been the smarter one. The neighbors had always joked that the twins were one person, that Natsu was the body while he was the mind.
The mafia was dangerous. Intelligence was important, but it would be useless if you died before you could think. Though Natsu wasn't as smart as Tsuna, he still had brains, and it would be good enough for him to get out of any tough situation. Out of the two, Tsuna could firmly say that Natsu had the most chance of getting picked. He was going to die.
Natsu had came to the same conclusion, because his hold on his hand became a death grip. "No way" growled Natsu, his voice dark and dangerous with his hair blocking his eyes, "If you're going to drag us into the death pit, you might as well drag us both."
Reborn's eyes darkened while Dino sputtered. "Have you listened to anything I've told you" demanded Dino, "No mafia boss will allow potential usurpers to live. Even if you two trust each other, the mafia won't except it. You'll be pushed to killing each other off or your famiglia will have differing loyalties loyalties that will eventually lead to a coup d'etat.
"There's a reason no famiglia shares the boss position with more than one person or any other candidates. How do you think the other candidates died. By accident? Those three were brothers just like you before they went and killed each other off!"
"Then we'll be the first" snared Natsu, his eyes burning amber with determination. "I'll stay by my brother's side even in death!"
"And so will I" promised Tsuna, working up the courage to defy the two. "We'll survive together, no matter what."
Dino looked like he was ready to argue but just sighed and sat down on a wooden chair, before putting a hand on his forehead. "Those two are either going to destroy Vongola from inside out or make it stronger than ever" groaned Dino, with a contradicting smile.
Reborn grunted in agreement, Leon perking up on his fedora.
"Vongola..you mentioned it a lot. Just what sort of mafia famiglia is Vongola?" asked Tsuna curiously, fishing for information.
"The best" said Reborn with pride and respect, "It's the strongest famiglia in the world, with it's influence being worldwide. It's wealth is renowned and it has technology that surpasses even the best that the world superpowers have to offer. It has the largest network of allies ever, some of which is my no good student over there, Dino. Dino is the boss of the Chiavarone, which is the third powerfulest ally Vongola has. By the way Dino, you might want to untie those ropes, now."
Tsuna and Natsu blinked in astonishment. The blonde didn't look like a mafia boss, much less one of the most powerful. Grinning, Dino knelt down next to them and untied the ropes with a quick twist. Rubbing their sore wrists, still sitting back to back on the floor, they peered curiously at Dino.
"You don't look like a mafia boss" commented Natsu. Tsuna agreed.
Dino chuckled. "Blame Reborn" said Dino, "I didn't want to be a mafia boss either. Next thing, I know, this spartan tutor", Dino waved his hand at Reborn,"is at my mansion and chasing me with grenade launchers and giant hammers in the guise of training."
Reborn raised an eyebrow as Leon transformed into a giant hammer, and said, "It turned you into a decent boss didn't it. Now you only trip over thin air and make a mess when your subordinates aren't with you." And with that note, Reborn slammed the hammer on Dino's head, making Dino produced a Dino-shape hole in the Sawada's kitchen floor.
Natsu tensed. It was a commonly known factor that Tsuna had OCD. People just didn't know how 'overestuastic' Tsuna became when they triggered it. Unfortunately, for their guest, a mess was one of them.
"There's a hole in the floor" said Tsuna, twitching slightly. Natsu moved away from his twin. While Tsuna was usually quite sweet, he was terrifying when mad. Just look at the giant black aura and those insane orange eyes.
Dino looked up from his position on the floor while Reborn watched the livid brunette carefully. Suddenly something crawled from Dino's pocket before plopping onto the floor loudly.
Blinking, Tsuna snapped out of it, drawing a sigh of relief from Natsu that his beloved, innocent, sweet, but neatfreak twin was no longer emitting the make-a-mess-and-I'll-stuff-your-hands-up-your-ass aura before looking at the cause of the loud noise.
"Turtle?..." said Natsu in disbelief. Sure enough, on the floor of the kitchen was a snapping turtle so small that it could fit in the palm of Tsuna's palm.
"That's Enzo" explained Dino. "He's Leon's kid."
"Leon...?" the twins echoed before looking at the chameleon who was innocently licking his paw.
"..."
"I know" laughed Dino, "He doesn't look like he's a mom, much less Enzo's."
"It's insane. A chameleon mom having a turtle son that's two times bigger than it" stated Natsu, kneeling at his heels in front of the small turtle,"Even weirder is that it can change into a hammer and gun."
"Reborn practically brings insanity. Leon can also transform into a rocket launcher, umbrella, grenade, bazooka, magnifying glass, cellphone, parachute, goggles, slipper, jutte-"
"..."
"Turbo car, ninja shuriken, divining rod, totem pole, tennis racket, rice cooker, fish, instruments, fork, saw, handcuffs, helicopter, rope, mask, serpent ball, and-"
"WE GET IT! Sheesh, it sounds horrible."
"It is" smiled Dino, much to the twins's disbelief, "So if you need a drop of sanity call me in, and I'll help. I have over 23 therapists that can help!"
"23?" gaped Tsuna.
Dino shrugged nonchalantly, "It's hard to get over the trauma of Reborn's abuse. You'll be subject to it soon enough."
Tsuna scratched his head, and sighed, "I guess you're our sempai than, Dino-san.."
The blonde man pouted, "No san! It makes me sound old...I'm only 22. Call me Dino-ni!"
"Oi! The only one, Tsuna's calling Ni-san is me you old man!" snared Natsu, hands on his hips. Tsuna rolled his eyes, Natsu's brother complex was kicking in. The first time it had appeared, Tsuna had admittedly been freaked out, as Natsu at that time had judo throwed one of his friends that had admittedly gotten a little too close. But by now, he was merely amused and annoyed.
"Natsu.." grumbled Tsuna as the two started a no doubt stupid argument, before turning his attention to the hole in the floor.
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