The Second Family's Resolve

Sukai Sawada, the future Secondo to the Neo Vongola, and his guardians ran from the mansion that they called home in order to escape the attacks of the mysterious family that attacked them. Nobody knew about them, so an attack of that scale was unprecedented. Tsuna and his guardians couldn't escape, but they made sure that their children did. Luckily for them, they escaped unnoticed, at least for the time being. It wouldn't be long before they were found out, and that would mean having to fight against those who were stronger, something none of them were prepared for.

The small group of teens ran through the garden section of the estate, hoping to avoid detection by using the large hedges as cover. Annalise Dokuro tried her best to hide the group, using her Mist Flames to shroud them. It wasn't easy or simple, but at least it worked enough to sneak away. Sukai frantically looked around, worried that there would be henchmen to find them, most likely more experienced in dealing with such illusions. Arashi Gokudera was right by his side, a pistol in hand. He would never let anyone harm Sukai, much like his father did with Tsuna. The others were just as cautious, Ame Yamamoto glaring at his surroundings for any enemies, Raiden Bovino glancing every which way in a state of fright, Norio holding his chains in hand, and Taiyō just holding his hands to his face, ready to punch someone who gets in their way.

Together and slowly, they found their way out of the garden and through the back gates, into the streets of Italy, checking both sides to ensure that they were safe. At that point, Annalise had to drop her illusion, the shroud taking too much of her Flames. She slowly fell to the floor on her knees, breathing heavily from the exhaustion. Sukai, worried about his friend, knelt down to her, holding his arms around her and scared that he would hurt her.

"Are you okay Annalise?" The worry in his voice was evident to everyone, but they had no time for such a thing.

"I'm fine Sukai. I just overexerted myself." She placed her hands on the ground and tried to push herself back to her feet, but it didn't work as well as she hoped, stumbling down and landing on her butt. It was Taiyō that spoke this time.

"You're fine my butt Annalise. Look, we don't have time for this." He crouched down and picked Annalise up, putting her in piggyback position.

"Ta-Taiyō!" she whispered vehemently. She didn't want to be the one who dragged the team down, especially being the only girl of the Guardians.

"He is right," Arashi stated calmly. "There isn't any time for a break. We need to get going."

Annalise simply frowned and looked down, letting her exhaustion take over as she slumped her head onto Taiyō's right shoulder. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry Annalise. You did more than enough," Sukai stated. Taiyō nodded in agreement, carrying the small girl as they hurried down the street. However, it wasn't long until a car skidded from the corner, its engine roaring as it drove down the street.

"Damn it. Get out of the way!" Norio commanded as Arashi grabbed Sukai's wrist and pulled him to the sidewalk, each of them following the eldest Guardian as they ran opposite of the car. The engine revved as tires screeched against the pavement and the metallic monster chased the group. The car roared toward the running group, Norio gripping his chains tightly and throwing one end of it toward the car, pumping Cloud Flames into it to allow the chain to multiply and spread as more and more chains came into existence. He expected a solid hit to the windshield, but what he got was a surprising blast of Storm Flames from the hood of the car.

"Damn! They have Flame equipment!" None of them were prepared to deal with it, save Arashi and Norio, but neither had the power to defeat a powerful blast of Flames.

"Norio, move please," Arashi calmly asked, Norio complying with a strange face. Arashi was known to be a rather static person, but his actions were what showed his true emotions. Gripping the pistol, he aimed it back toward the car, using his own Storm Flames to blast at the car. Returning the attack, the car blasted again, the two clashing and resulting in a cloud of dust. That was all they needed.

"Annalise. Please!" Despite her exhaustion, she understood what Arashi wanted and mustered as much Mist Flames as possible, covering a small area around herself and Taiyō. It wasn't enough to hide the entire group, but it was enough for those two. Norio took the hint and grabbed Raiden and Ame's wrist, dragging them to a nearby bush and forcing them in. The smarter ones of the Guardians took in the idea and executed it perfectly, but even with proper execution, Sukai and Arashi were left without enough time to hide as the car sped past the dust cloud and toward the two remaining boys.

The two boys didn't know what else to do but lead the car away from their friends. By this point, it had already sped past the other Guardians, but it was already close enough to blast a lethal shot at them with their Storm Flames. At the end of that thought, the weapons popped up from the hood, readying a shot at Sukai and Arashi. Once it was fully prepared, it released the shot and flew toward the boys.

"Arashi!" Sukai screamed out, more worried that his friend would be hurt than about himself. The shot would have hit the two had it not been for Arashi pushing his future boss to the side, Sukai stumbling and falling as Arashi jumped the opposite way. They dodged the blast, but the car was quick to react and did a 180 turn, facing the boys yet again. The men inside were ordered to destroy the Neo Vongola, but they believed that killing Sukai would be enough to accomplish just that. Revving the engines once more, the car accelerated toward the fallen boss, Sukai frozen in terror as the car moved closer to his limp body. The headlights blinded the boy, his life flashing before his eyes. He didn't want to die, not like this. He wasn't ready. He wasn't…

In the midst of his thoughts, a shot resonated from the air and the car screeched to the side, spinning endlessly until it slammed into the wall of a local shop, sending large numbers of produce and other products to the floor. Slowly looking up and around, his gaze went over to Arashi, the pistol smoking at the end of the barrel. However, Sukai was still frozen with fear and shock, unable to move much if at all. Arashi, calm as a button, walked over to his boss and extended an arm out.

"Come Mr. Boss Man. You're still needed." Sukai, slowly processing Arashi's words, took his hand and was helped to his feet. It was shaky, but he could at least walk. Looking back at the car, there wasn't any sign that the men inside were stirring, so they were safe, at least for the moment. No doubt there would be more men coming after them, but they couldn't stick around to find out.

"Sukai! Arashi!" The two turned to see everyone else running toward them. Annalise was asleep on Taiyō's shoulder, apparently too tired to stay awake. It was supposed to be a rather happy escape, but Sukai wasn't really happy. He felt ashamed. He was supposed to be the boss, the one who would lead the new generation of Neo Vongola, but he froze when he was needed the most, needing Arashi to save him. It was nothing short of embarrassing. He lowered his head and looked away from the others, not wanting them to see his face.

Arashi noticed Sukai's shame and put a soft hand on his shoulder.

"You alright Sukai?"

"No, I'm not alright," he said as he pushed Arashi's hand off his shoulder. "I'm supposed to be the future boss of the family, of the Neo Vongola Second Generation, but I couldn't save myself from a car. I was scared, too scared to do anything. I-I don't deserve to be-"

Before he could finish, Ame threw a punch downward at Sukai's head, soft enough that it only knocked it down, but hard enough to hurt.

"Owowow!" Ame, what-"

"Listen Sukai," he interrupted, "you don't have to be the bravest or the strongest. You're our boss, but you don't have to do everything alone. You don't see anyone here wallowing in self-pity. Heck, Raiden is as scared as a kitten is when faced with a dog, but he's still going on. You're the only one who's thinking that the whole thing is your fault. I know for sure it isn't! So move forward! That's all we can do right now. None of us want our parents to suffer." At the mention of their parents, the teens dropped their heads, wondering about the safety of the Neo Vongola First Generation.

Sukai, looking at the others' faces, nodded his head, a small tear exiting his right eye.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I-I don't know what came over me."

"Well, as long as you understand," Ame smiled, satisfied with his success.

"Well that's all good and dandy, but what are we going to do now?" Norio asked. "We can't just go back and fight them. We barely escaped from them in the first place."

"That's actually quite simple," Arashi answered. "We have allies, so I suggest hiding out with them."

"I don't think we should," Sukai countered, his thoughts back to the problem at hand. "If we include others, we don't know how many casualties there'll be. I say we find a place that isn't affiliated with any of our allies or the Vongola. Plus, any place that uses surveillance isn't a good place to stay. We don't know how much power this mystery family has."

"Wait, a place with no affiliations or surveillance?" Raiden pinged in. Everyone looked to the Bovino child, mostly curious about what he had in mind. He was usually the one with no bright ideas, but the fact that he actually joined the conversation piqued everyone's interest.

"What do you know?" Arashi asked. Raiden responded by scratching the back of his head, deep in thought before finally answering.

"Well, if we need a place like that, I know the best hideout, at least for now. Dad and I used it for training. It's not glamorous or anything, but it should work. Just follow me." With that, Raiden started running into one of the alleys of Italy, turning back and beckoning the others to follow. They each looked at one another, suspicious about where he meant, but Taiyō broke the spell and followed along, Annalise on his back.

"Come on guys. Annalise needs some place to rest." At that, the others followed, trusting the Lightning Guardian, hoping he was leading them to the right kind of place.