THANK YOU: Kuroi Rin, beulah2013, general zargon, Arashi - IV of VI, khr junkie, BlackxDragonxEmperor, Littlest1, sympatheticassassin, MissSexyRain, Akayuki Novak, EndlessChains, Keylars, Hime-chan Natsumi, vampireharry the 2, Zivyx, 7, Natsu Yuuki, and Shuukitane! And also thank you to everyone who read and favorite'd or put this on your Follows.
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The fighting in this is not written by a professional action writer.
x-X-x-X-x
"In the morning you beg to sleep in more, in the afternoon you are dying to sleep, and at night you refuse to sleep." Anonymous.
A week before Christmas Tsuna came home from cleaning duty to a surprising sight.
Spanner and a stranger were sitting at the kitchen table with his madre fluttering about and mothering them. Seeing him, she gave her boy a hug, a cheek kiss, and informed Tsuna that the kids were out with Fon and Bianchi while Reborn was doing his own thing, and then she skipped out of the room to leave him with his friends.
On the table before them was a fairly large pale-gold metal box with a red crystalline button on the side. Spanner, it seemed, loved to make his inventions all spiffy and expensive looking. As soon as Tsuna dropped his bag by the kitchen door Spanner saw him and jumped to his feet before dragging Tsuna over to sit in his chair, leaving the scrawny red-head watching curiously.
"This is my science-buddy Irie-kun," said Spanner, nodding to the redhead who smiled nervously when Tsuna's eyes landed on him. "Working off of advice given by Reborn, I roped him into helping me make the Sunny Pill Factory. Press the button."
Tsuna stared at Spanner, he couldn't help it. This was the most excited and proud he'd looked since showing off Sarumane to his family. The engineer looked adorable with his ocean blue eyes nearly glittering and voice bordering excited and certainly happy. He basically radiated his quiet cheer. Tsuna gave his head a shake, pressed the brilliant-cut button, and then jolted back slightly when the box folded back and spread out, revealing something that could only come from a mind like Spanner's. A silver funnel as wide as the average miso bowl stood at the top and while it was built like a blocky pyramid otherwise, there were three pricy buttons on the bottom overtop a narrow white slide for, presumably, the pills to go flowing out.
As Tsuna looked at his creation in awe Spanner reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out a large jar of thick green medicine that, to Spanner with his greater exposure to Tsuna's Sky, glowed mysteriously. He poured the substance into the funnel at the top and explained to Tsuna that the three buttons over the pill slide- a blue sapphire, an emerald, and an orange topaz all added different properties to Kyoko's pills. Blue made his medicine both healing and extra soothing according to the research, which soothed a migraine Gokudera got from dealing with Lambo. Green would boost brain power and thinking speeds, as both Spanner and Irie could attest to, and orange was supposed to have something to do with Tsuna alone as it could not yet do anything. Panels over each spaced out button open to show two crystals that glowed with Rain and Lightning Flames that felt like Takeshi's and Lambo's. Interesting. The brilliant-cut topaz was dull in comparison.
Tsuna closed the panels as Spanner put a bowl under the slide and pressed the sapphire. A minute full of herbal steam later, a hundred teal pills filled the bowl and Tsuna's jaw dropped.
"Reborn said something about the ametrine core, a purple and orange crystal, powering the machine for a long time, while another smaller ametrine doubles and makes the output stable," Spanner explained, raising one eyebrow meaningfully. "The special fuel is a favor from Hibari. He says he expects three spars a week from now on."
Tsuna thumped his head on the table and groaned pitifully.
Spanner petted his head and pushed the bowl up against his skull. "On the bright side you're getting closer to him." A whine told the mechanic he had said the wrong thing. "Um... I'll make you something really cool?"
Tsuna looked up with wide watery kitten-eyes. "Really?"
Shoichi chuckled, now relaxed in the presence of a boy Spanner had explained and insisted was a kickass fighter that could disarm a trained body guards in two seconds flat, as well as go toe-to-toe with the infamous Hibari.
"I wouldn't lie to Usagi-chan, right?"
Tsuna thumped his forehead to the table with some creative Italian curses. He wished Nobu hadn't called him that and made it too nostalgic to stop.
Shoichi decided that his friend Spanner was right about Tsuna being a cool guy. No one this amusing, or with such a welcoming aura, could be so scary.
o o o
Nightmares were not uncommon to Tsuna. He used to have them so often after that attack in the alleyway and as time passed by those dark dreams grew uncommon. Three days before Christmas Eve Tsuna awoke from a nightmare involving watching Lambo getting killed because he couldn't defend himself.
Forgoing breakfast, Tsuna stayed in his room and scribbled ideas in a sketchbook. How to train Lambo without being traumatizing and damaging? Inspiration hit when he recalled the first and only time he had to scold Gokudera for throwing (cherry) bombs at Lambo. Aha! Not bombs, but paint guns. Get Lambo training in dodging bullets and grabby hands via games! Kyoko and Tsuna could play the "Avoid Getting Picked Up Game!" and if Tsuna could somehow rope Reborn into helping everything would be set!
In the end things didn't work out quite the way he planned, but at least he got Reborn to agree to help when he went down on all fours in a dogeza position.
Admitting that he didn't want to lose Lambo just because as 'papa' he was scared to hurt him would be a million times worse actually helped convince the Arcobaleno. Part of the deal was letting Hana help with the "Dodge Paint Bullets Game" because she needed the target practice. Not so secretly the hitman and Rain girl thoroughly enjoyed shooting at Lambo. With bribes of sweets and private play time Lambo was given sufficient motivation to do good in Dodging Paint Bullets and Grabby Hands from his papa and aunty Kyoko.
Over those months Lambo made remarkable improvement in stamina, agility and terms of durability. Reborn didn't have to inform Tsuna that the kid was starting to subconsciously draw on Lightning Flames to enhance his body and speed.
Seeing Lambo getting training, Fuuta got it into his head to do the same. When Tsuna floundered a bit and said the boy had to come up with his own weapons and style, Fuuta withdrew from everyone for a week and returned to cheerfully state he had Cloud and Lightning Flames. No one could pry out how he learned this, but since Tsuna had once walked into the kitchen on a Wednesday to find Fuuta writing notes while beside the prefect, who was talking about the Flames of the Sky, Tsuna had an idea of where at least.
He wasn't sure whether to be happy that Hibari showed an interest in, presumably, helping Fuuta or be horrified over possible mind-warping. Because let's face it, as much as Tsuna admires and respects his upperclassman he knew Hibari was... unique.
Knowing Fuuta's Flames left Tsuna and Reborn a foundation to build off of. Not at all surprisingly the young de la Stella wanted to learn how to wield tonfa and tambo.
Tsuna sacrificed a chocolate bunny to the ravenous maw of Lambo in hopes of Fuuta turning out better adjusted than the quirky prefect.
o o o
"TSU-KUN!" Slam went his bedroom door.
Tsuna was jolted out of a pleasant (and very rare) nap where he dreamed he had huge mountain of the best chocolates in the world all to himself, and woke up on the floor with his cheek in a puddle of drool. Madre hoisted him up and gleefully shook the sleep out of him while explaining that she had won a cruise to a vacation island and that she was taking the family. Naturally Tsuna assumed 'everyone but him and Reborn', but voicing this banished that notion.
"No, no, Tsu-kun! Reborn wants everyone in our family coming along!" Madre twirled and cheered happily. "Make sure to pack, Tsu-kun! We're leaving tomorrow so call anyone you want coming along!"
Tsuna had this niggling feeling chaos was imminent, and when he came downstairs and sat down to snack on onigiri he bluntly asked Reborn if this was one of his schemes. The infant smirked and said, "Mafia Island."
Thump. The table creaked ominously under the force of Tsuna's forehead meeting it. Reborn snickered out loud, making his student grind teeth in resignation.
. . .
Spanner joined the group and took along Sarumane and his new robot, a larger but physically lighter monkey-bot called Saruyuki made of satin-finished platinum-titanium-steel with the gold-alloy accents. Haru was not included in this Mafia Land adventure, partly because Tsuna was uncomfortable taking her along as she had no combat-survival skills, and partly because he felt uncomfortable dragging her further into the Mafia shadow of his life.
The rest who tagged along included Hana, Kyoko and... Hibari. Seeing the prefect join them willingly left Tsuna feeling disconnected with the world, like everything was off teetering on the edge of a cliff.
When asked why he deigned to join lowly herbivores the older boy offered Tsuna one very deadpan expression and bluntly said, "Danger follows you. Danger means fighting and a disruption to the monotony of everyday life."
"Ah. True." Oh, look, Tsuna's world was set back to rights.
The actual cruise to Mafia Land, an island that moves and is protected from outside view by 'radiation blocks', was exhausting in the spiritual sense. Lambo was being particularly difficult that day and alongside Bianchi and I-Pin caused considerable trouble and it took Tsuna mummifying the cow-brat with rope and handing I-Pin off to an amused Fon for things to settle down. Sitting on the deck with his current MA teacher and enjoying the quiet ocean put the boy's nerves at ease, especially when both ignored Lambo's muffled complaints and worked together to continue teaching I-Pin Japanese. Tsuna informed Lambo that his time-out would last until the ship reached the island, which wouldn't be long, and if he did not behave he would not get to do anything fun. Nothing. Madre would agree because if they didn't put their foot down he would never learn.
Lambo was quiet after that. He knew his papa's threats were never fake.
Meanwhile, Hibari had commandeered the crows nest tower as it was the one place where people were not loitering near or in.
. . .
Tsuna was in a reasonably good mood after leaving the cruise ship with Lambo cheering for sweets on his shoulder. The entirely place was built like a theme park and resort and there was so much to do! Then they came to the beach, but not before the teenage Sky gave some giant Reborn balloons a very 'Are you shitting me?' look. Right when he was getting excited to splash in the shallows Reborn went and told him he was the representative to their group and therefore had to register them, or 'tell them that he's arrived'.
Damn it, you Sunny hitman of doom.
Tsuna told Lambo to listen to madre and if he did there would be a bag of grape candy in his future. Remember the candy. He left with a frown and entered the Information building to wait in line. It was half an hour before he would be reached.
"Next person please," said the desk manager, and Tsuna's heart jumped in his chest.
"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, D-Decimo of the Vongola family."
Not reacting to his title at all she continued. "Do you have any invitation letters or letters of recommendation?"
"Unfortunately no, if there were any I wasn't handed them."
"No invitation you say... then we'll have to check your qualification as mafia."
Lead to a door Tsuna grimaced as the woman said it was a Mafia Test. Inside an opulent room with velvet curtains and sitting behind an expensive thick oak table was a large Italian man with a cigar.
"This is a government official." She placed a stack of money in his hands. "Here are one million Euros. Please use the proper technique of bribing him."
Tsuna stared. "Um... does violence and intimidation count?"
"Of course! Everything in this room is ensured by the operators of the island. We're doing this because there's no proof of you being the Decimo of the Vongola, so we have to field test you."
"..." Tsuna swallowed. How was he supposed to do this?
"By the way, if you forfeit the examination then your entire Family will be killed."
Tsuna straightened up and shoved away everything unimportant, like his fear and reluctance. He glared darkly at her, making her blink and chuckle nervously as she stepped back, then he turned and slammed the money down on the table. The thick wood cracked under the force and Tsuna pulled on his battle gloves. His Sky-Presence was, put very lightly, seething and lashing out, filling the room with a hint of his intention to maim the man that would decide whether he fought through an island of mafioso to protect his Famiglia.
The Italian cigar puffing man was quite pale despite his face not changing a bit. Tsuna stalked around the table and when the man pulled out a gun Tsuna's hand flashed out, sending it flying across the room and through the wall, then the boy grabbed Italian-Man's shirt and slammed him onto the table, breaking it in half.
To most Tsuna did not paint a scary picture. Despite his naturally disguised strength hidden in lean muscles that refused to bulk up, and generally looking weak and ineffectual no matter what he wore, the boy looked particularly unimpressive in blue beach shorts and a grey tank top beneath a flannel patterned orange sleeveless summer hoodie.
"You are going to take this money and do whatever the hell you want with it. Tell anyone who will listen that if they harm my people nothing will stop me from coming after them and shattering 200 bones each." Tsuna gently pressed one hand against the man's adam's apple. "Brutal mercy sure is a bitch, right?"
The mafioso under him wheezed. "Pass! The Decimo passes!"
Tsuna backed off and turned to stare at the woman. Her jaw was dropped. "Oh, uh..." She turned and waved for him to follow. "Reborn wants you to join him in the Mafia Land training ground, Decimo. Congratulations on passing."
One little train ride later Tsuna exited and found his Famiglia, the combat capable ones and Kyoko, who would likely work on her agility, waiting for him. Hibari was ten feet away from the others and they were all watching something on a screen.
". . . harm my people nothing will stop me from coming after them and shattering 200 bones each. Brutal mercy sure is a bitch, right?"
Tsuna's face went dark red. They were watching his performance in the damn test! Shit, he was scaring himself with that.
"Juudaime was awesome!"
"Ahaha! Leave it to Tsuna to terrify a hardened Mafia Game player!"
"Tsuna-kun did so well!"
"Heh. The Lion-Monkey did a great job."
"EXTREME! Otōto would totally beat anyone!"
"Hn. If the Anaguma failed I would have to bite him bloody."
"I expected nothing less from my Xuéshēng."
"Well, Reborn, I have to say I didn't expect that, kora."
"Few would. Though he looks like a shrimp surprisingly he's anything but."
Tsuna gave himself a mental kick in the butt and shuffled forward. "H-hey, guys!"
There were congratulations given from his Guardians, which from Hibari it amounted to a smirk and a nod. Tsuna was introduced to the tiny blond Arcobaleno named Colonello and soon everyone was put through a ten minute training and test combined.
Kyoko volunteered and Tsuna nibbled on his lips in worry when seven suit wearing men approached her, but then she took off sprinting around the area with amazing speed, dodging the bullets aimed at her feet. Five minutes in the men tossed their guns to the side and entered a Wing Chun stance that Kyoko mimicked perfectly, and oh.
Tsuna's Sky hummed in warm Intuition right before Kyoko became a blur of movement, jabbing the men who quickly lost their self-confident smirks and grew alarmed. She knocked one man out with a pinch to a nerve, and another she grabbed as though to flip over her shoulder before then tossing him 40 yards away with little visible effort. Distracted by that the remaining men were suddenly freaked out. Female hitmen smiling like she did was never good, and fortunately for them this was Kyoko. She defeated them quickly and turned to wave at her Famiglia with her warm-the-world smile. There was a clear glow of Sun in her eyes.
Tsuna swallowed hard. "Whoa. K-Kyoko-chan... is kickass."
Hana clapped him on the back. "Remember that run-in with the mountain men? That's when she chose to start training like me. Sun Flames activate and enhance activities, like the brain learning and memorizing things. She's surprisingly good with a gun too since she was given the right motivation, eh, Tsu-na-kun?"
"Wh-what?"
"Kyoko awakened her inner Amazon in order to pick up her slack. She was tired of relying on and troubling others to protect her, and I think it's obvious that you were the catalyst for this change, Casanova."
Tsuna glowered, face flushing as he stubbornly pushing away the flicker of interest he felt. "Sh-she's like a..."
"Like a what? I didn't here you, Lion-Monkey." Hana leaned into his face space and giggled as his cheeks turned apple red. "You are way too easy to tease for having such a lion inside."
"Hana, you're up!" Reborn said.
Instead of seven men there were twenty and Hana immediately drew on her Rain Flame and saturated the area of the training ground with it. Colonello's eyes widened and he glanced at Reborn as the Mafia Land official trainers grew sluggish and stumbled. The Sun Arcobaleno grinned and pointed at Tsuna, the only Sky directly within their area and the Rain Arcobaleno nodded with an intrigued smirk.
Hana made short work of ten men, then kicked them to the side rather easily. She pulled her Rain Flames back, covered her hands and open-toe flats in blue fire, then with a truly fight-loving grin she threw herself into the fray and moved like the wind and water, fluidly and with so little difficulty. It was like watching a choreographed fight even as she sent men flying and landing in unconscious heaps with deft punches and kicks. It was almost jarring seeing Hana slap a palm into the last mans face and slam him into the ground already unconscious.
Tsuna tugged at his collar. If he'd had doubts over being bisexual it was relieved right then. He thought Hana was... attractive there, fighting and moving like a warrior princess. Having such a fierce and happy expression suited her. Part of him wanted to deny finding the sight of his two best female friends fighting 'enemies' in any way attractive, but... Well, damn was it ever.
Takeshi went next and mowed through the 20 swordsmen that Mafia Land provided as a favor to the Vongola Decimo and Reborn. Gokudera, similarly, swept through his ten minute training test with hardly a hair out of place despite there being 20 highly agile targets. Ryohei smashed apart the training field with his fists and set off old mines in his fight against Fon. As for Hibari, his fight wasn't satisfactory and so he demanded Fon spar with him for the remaining seven and a half minutes. Quite the spectacular sight.
Ryohei, because it would be him, made the mistake of commenting on Fon and Hibari's resemblance after their fight. He was immediately sent flying into the train station by Hibari, breaking two walls. No one dared breathe a word about any possible relations after that.
Reborn landed on Tsuna's head. "You're turn, space-case. Get in the ring."
With a grimace at whatever torture the Arcobaleno had waiting, Tsuna shuffled into the field of destruction and tried not to fidget as he watched a tall, tall figure in a plain red coat approach. He resembled what Tsuna figured a real life Alucard might look like, and when the man entered within five feet of him Tsuna felt his heart skip at the gentle zing of his Intuition saying he knew this man. The stranger grinned, showing off rows of needle sharp teeth, and that entire look melted away in Mist Flames to reveal someone he hadn't seen in too long.
"Nobu!" Tsuna launched himself at the man and hugged him tight. That knot of painful tension in his head eased as Nobu's Cloud and Mist hummed in tune with his Sky. Whatever fraying edges of the bond there may have been soothed away and it felt like Nobu hadn't left at all. Except he had, for so long it literally hurt, and that was not good. Tsuna's happy smile morphed into a Cyanide Honey expression and he pulled back, his grip tight and unrelenting on the older martial artist's forearms.
"Where have you been and why should I not try to smash up your face?"
Karibachi Nobu was still the same as ever. 6'3" in height, broad-though-lean body, tanned olive skin, a handsome face sporting one yellow eye and one cherry red (contacts or Mist Flame, who knew), and hair still in that loose Mohawk style dyed black with dark purple roots, and a hair-tail braided to his mid-back. He was dressed like usual too, wearing a silk Chinese martial arts outfit of black with bright pink and purple bunnies everwhere. He still had his white and excessively doodled on sports visor. So many months away and it seemed only Tsuna had changed.
"Weeell, you would have to beat me in order to do that, Usagi-chan."
Tsuna backed off four feet and withdrew his tonfa before turning to Hibari. Communicating with a look, he sent the pale gold weapons flying at the prefect who caught them with no sign of any discomfort at the force. Tsuna needlessly fidgeted with the gloves and kept his body loose for a quick reaction time even as he slightly overflowed with Sky-Lightning, arching over him and poofing out his wild hair further. In response Nobu charged his body with Cloud Flames until there was a slightly visible aura. This was going to be a fun battle, better than Hibari through dint of not having to fight for survival.
Also, in the back of Tsuna's head he figured that the Iemitsu look-alike had been Nobu judging by the feel of Cloud and Mist Flames he felt in that hug.
The spar between Tsuna and Nobu flowed like silk and was as devastating as Ryohei's fight with Fon. The punches and kicks exchanged, powered by Flames, created small shockwaves and Tsuna realized that he had always held back against Hibari, not wanting to hurt him even when fighting for his life.
An uppercut from Nobu sent Tsuna spinning up through the air and ended with him landing in a cat like fashion before he darted forward and around in a burst of speed that would have Spanner quietly pointing out "Oh, look, it's Sonic again!" before the young Sky attempted a knife-hand strike on the older man's nape. Nobu turned and caught Tsuna's hand and while Cloud and Sky met, burning loudly enough for everyone to hear harsh hissing, it appeared as though Mist Flames were leaking from their joined hands before Tsuna lashed out with a kick and sent his teacher jumping back. From there it still appeared like a cinematic fight, with punches narrowly dodged and both neatly flipping the other over their shoulders once. Near the ten minute mark Tsuna managed to send Nobu flying back with a Sky-Lightning charged kick. The man made a human shaped hole in a large boulder unearthed by Ryohei's punches and Tsuna wondered if there were anime physics at work in his crazy life.
As he stood there panting and looking at the results of his first proper hit landed on the crafty martial artist, he felt a non-Intuition chill crawl up his back and peeked over his shoulder to see Hibari glaring death at him as he stalked over with his silver-steel and spiky-at-the-press-of-a-button tonfa (courtesy of Spanner) in hand. Tsuna swallowed hard.
"Holy crap, this won't be good..."
BOOM!
Tsuna's attention turned to the sound and he spotted smoke in the distance. People were screaming and Tsuna's heart lurched when he swore he heard his mother and the kids cry out. What if someone was after Fuuta? Just because the boy is under Tsuna's protection doesn't mean he's safe just anywhere. With a frown of concentration Tsuna rushed over to Hibari and held out his hands with a quiet apology and a solemn promise to stop holding back. Hibari growled slightly and slammed the golden tonfa into Tsuna's waiting hands. Without prompting from Reborn, or stopping to listen to any advice (his mind was locked on finding his madre and kids), Tsuna trusted his Famiglia to follow as he rushed into the pitch black tunnel and cursed how something knocked the power for it, so he flared his Sky and lit the space for everyone to see with.
Yes, it was foolhardy to rush into a situation you don't know, but Tsuna wasn't about to lead his Famiglia straight into the fight. After they left the tunnel and he cut off his Flame, he turned to Hibari with a curt nod.
"There are a lot of people for you to bite to death, right, Hibari-san? Have fun."
The Cloud pushed Tsuna's fluffy head down as he stalked by with a fierce smirk. As if he was going to do anything less. Tsuna decided that it would be a cold day in hell if Hibari ever listened to an order that his Sky would actually avoid giving, however nudging in a direction might work now and again.
Tsuna and the rest of his Famiglia, including Nobu with Fon riding his shoulder, headed to the roof of a sturdy cement one story building to better see what was happening and it was not pretty. Several large ships off port were sending missiles at the Mafia men, women and children, and if Tsuna's eyes weren't mistaken there was a baby standing on one of the ships.
Great. Reborn he can more than tolerate, Fon he is quite fond of, and Colonello is Yet To Be Judged, and Tsuna got the feeling that he might not like this one too much. Probably a lot like Lambo minus the endearing actually-being-a-child part. Oh, and look, Hibari was taking out purple clad mafioso with the ship symbol on their fronts and tossing their 'corpses' into the way of missiles. As Hibari made a show of his monstrous strength other people found courage to fight back, Tsuna's eyes turned away to search for his mother, Bianchi, Spanner and the kids.
"Tsuna-kun, they're over there," said Kyoko pointing to where madre was a toy figure pushing Fuuta and the two kids ahead of her and away from the explosions.
"Ryohei, Kyoko and Hana, please go protect them. Someone might take this chance to snatch Fuuta from us."
The three nodded and actually jumped off the building to land in the chaos nearby below. Unfortunately they would have to go through a thick crowd of panicking mafioso and down, down to the entertainment part of Mafia Land. With Takeshi, Gokudera, and his two martial arts teachers at his side Tsuna jumped down and headed in a different course, and directly to where Hibari was taking down groups of men leaving one massive moored ship. But, just as they were about to jump into the fight, Nobu threw Tsuna over his shoulder, grabbed Gokudera, and headed directly toward a massive building that Fon said was the Mafia Fort, a stronghold just in case a war did occur and the veterans needed a place to plan a coordinated attack.
Inside Tsuna felt himself calm at the sight of his three other friends standing close to his madre and the children. Bianchi was holding Reborn and snuggling him. Spanner was looking a bit roughed with his hair in disarray and his oil stained green overalls and candy-striped teal-white shirt slightly torn, but his two monkeys were alert and seemed in one piece, though the white and gold Saruyuki was perched on Fuuta instead of its creator and was swiping at anyone not Famiglia who came too close.
Wow, it didn't seem like more than a minute had passed. Darn anime physics.
"Tsu-kun!" Madre ran over, dragging Fuuta with her as Lambo and I-Pin clung to her shoulders. She looked scared and even a bit angry. "Are you okay? Good. Some men tried taking Fuuta-kun! The nerve of them! Fortunately they couldn't stand up to poison-cooking, my Mist, or Spanner-kun's robots."
After giving her a hug Tsuna turned to Bianchi and Spanner and smiled his thanks before Reborn landed on his head to sit in his usual 'nest'. "Tsuna, soon everyone will be fighting over who gets to lead the war against the Carcassa Famiglia. Are you going to let it all descend into chaos that would harm mamma and your kids?"
His flare of irritation at this weakness being shamelessly prodded was pushed aside easily enough. Tsuna looked around and took note of how, yes, a number of rougher looking Families from across the world were already arguing about who leads, and many others were taking weapons out of the fort's storage. As Tsuna was digging up the courage to ask people to work together with him (not as a leader, he didn't feel qualified for that) Gokudera set off a cherry bomb and caught everyone's attention.
"The one who should lead this war is the Vongola Decimo!" He pointed at his boss proudly. "And anyone who wants to disagree can get intimate with a C4 dynamite stick!"
Aaand just like that everyone was looking at Tsuna. He fully expected to be laughed out of the fort which would then set off Gokudera, followed by Spanner and his surprisingly destructive robot monkeys, and who knows what Hana and Takeshi would do. They literally got cold at times when they thought people took things too far with Tsuna. Part of the young Sky wished it had happened so he wouldn't be "leading" the war, but no, the gathered criminal groups have to be blind and see him as a glorified teenager of "great power" and not how he is.
Tsuna hung his head and cursed quietly in a few languages before turning his eyes on madre, who kept a tight grip on Fuuta's sleeveless sweater, worn because the kid was at that age where he emulated his heroes, and he felt his resolve return. He was tired from his fight with Nobu, for certain, but he'd have to be well on his way to death not to do whatever he could. Unfortunately he was no strategist, all he could think of was that the ships had to be sunk, he couldn't think of how.
"Does anyone have anything that could hit the ship from this distance?"
A weight landed on his shoulder and blond hair tickled his cheek. "Now you're talkin' my language, kora! Leave the ships to me, little Decimo! You and yours deal with the headache coming this way because Reborn's busy taking a nap."
Tsuna glanced at Bianchi holding his tutor and indeed the hitman was in her arms again and had his snot-bubble going on, then he turned his head and held the Rain Arcobaleno's eyes. Liking the strength he could see there (similar to his tutor's only less soul-sucking black), the Sky lifted his hand to shake with the little marksman and smile. "Thanks, Colonello. I'll trust you to sink all the ships."
The baby made a face. "Just sink?"
"Well, shouldn't they face justice at the hands of their sadistic peers?" Tsuna said, a wry sort of almost smile on his face.
Colonello grinned and patted his cheek. "I like ya, kid!"
Tsuna turned to his Famiglia foremost. "Who wants to help me? Reborn's plotting world domination in his sleep so he's busy."
Gokudera volunteered to remain behind and keep Carcassa members out of the fort, Kyoko and Ryohei volunteered to tend to the wounded in and protect the fort as well, and madre kissed Tsuna's cheek and told him to make her proud by doing his best. She and Bianchi would be on Protect Fuuta duty and play it safe in the kitchen where there were all sorts of make-shift weapons. Tsuna didn't even have the time to be unnerved by his madre's words before Fon and Spanner, the latter of whom was on a fancy silver palm-top computer, Takeshi, and Hana all stepped forward to assist him.
This is what two of the group trained themselves into the ground for, to fight at their small, formidable friend's side through thick and thin, they were not about to let him go without them backing him up. Together with a dozen other volunteers Tsuna kept in mind that he was protecting his madre and Famiglia in going out and making a spectacle of himself, he can't afford to be a pansy until after the danger is passed and he can drown himself in sweets and milk tea. Oh, and manga.
Tsuna did not expect to meet with a giant armored octopus five minutes later, one controlled by a baby with a Cloud Pacifier.
"Crap! That's Skull's armored octopus! We can't go up against an Arcobaleno! We'd need another one of the strongest seven infants to beat him!"
Up on Nobu's shoulder Fon wasn't sure whether he should be amused or insulted over being so easily overlooked. He decided on amusement and exchanged a smile with his old student with the black and purple hair.
Tsuna groaned. Yellow, Red, Blue and now Purple. There were SEVEN freakishly strong babies in the world! And knowing his luck the rest would include infants no easier to deal with than Reborn on a bad day.
"Decimo! What should we do, you're our leader!"
What would someone smart do? Think! As Tsuna's mind blanked the infant in the helmet cackled after saying something the boy paid no attention to and set forth his eight limbed pet. He controlled the beast with his finger movements and an unrelated idea began to form in Tsuna's head right as one mafioso declared that he would show the Decimo what he could do. He was immediately wrapped up in tentacles and and tossed away. Tsuna's stupid idea snapped into place.
"Hana, you have your gun on you?"
"Always."
"Right... well, please use the gun if it looks like I'm in trouble. Rain Flames ought to calm this thing down, if you get my meaning."
"Uh-huh. You're about to do something stupid aren't you?"
"Yeah. Be ready to try and bail me out if it doesn't work."
Takeshi clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. "We have your back, Tsuna! Go get 'em!"
Spanner eyed Takeshi's arm for a moment, then gave Tsuna's free shoulder a squeeze. "I think I know what you're planning, Usagi-chan, just be careful."
Nobu, not one to be left out, ruffled Tsuna's hair and flashed a grin that literally Good Guy Sparkled thanks to a touch of Mist. "If there's any Arcobaleno that can be beaten by you, it's this guy."
(In the background: "Oi, Swirly-Hair."
"What, Odd-Eyes?"
"I'm the only one who gets to call Tsuna Usagi-chan since I've been doing it for years."
"..."
"You can call him Sora-chan, he is a Sky after all."
"Rock-Paper-Scissors, whoever wins gets to call Tsuna-kun Usagi-chan."
"Fine, fine, Swirly."
"..." / "..."
"Ha! Ya lose, grease-monkey. Hey, don't turn that robot stare on me. Calling him Sora-chan'll become a more unique affectionare nickname from you to him. That will mean more."
"Hm. I'll research that before I believe you."
"...")
Tsuna nodded like he was more confident than he felt and adjusted his gloves, a nervous habit Reborn would likely beat out of him soon enough, and he rushed at the giant red octopus he mentally dubbed Octillery. Skull cackled about stupid fluffy haired brats biting off more than they can chew, and then Tsuna was choking in the clutches of one tentacle crushing the air from his lungs.
He didn't waste any time in forcing his arm to slid closer to the nearest piece of armor fortunately within wriggle distance, and once his hand hit solid cold metal he flooded his body with Sky-Lightning until he had a glow most visible to those with active Flames and he essentially performed Discharge like an angry Pikachu and the octopus siezed, made a weird gurgling sound, and sort of deflated to the size of an infant as it collapsed in a pile of twitchy, smoking limbs.
"OODAKO! You're dead, brat, no one hurts him and gets away with it!"
Tsuna stood and frowning at the infant with every bit of irritation and promise of pain. Something about the expression gave Skull a chill and he was reminded, ever so slightly and just enough, of Reborn.
"What was your objective in attacking Mafia Land?"
The purple clad infant swallowed. "Uh, the boss said something about grabbing a kid! Told me he'd be fine if he gave up a book or something..."
There was a ten second silence in which the immediate area grew chilly right before the gloves he wore burst into to amber static flame and Tsuna advanced like a panther, face set in a snarl and his Sky Presence speaking of imminent bloodshed. Much like a rabbit might freeze in the fear, Skull pretty much turned to stone until Tsuna had him in his shadow and snatched him up in a grip that stung instead of burned. Skull screamed apologies and begged for forgiveness and went silent only because the Decimo growled at him to.
"The kid your Famiglia is after happens to be the boy my family took in. A boy I've come to love and care for as more than a little brother, he's like my own kid, you see..." Skull could see where this was going and he was seconds from crying. "Call off the attack before I do something I might regret."
"Okay, okay, I'll-!"
Bzzt! "Skull-san, Skull-san! The ships are going down! They're sinking and WE'RE sunk!"
Tsuna was tempted to drop the infant but that would leave him free to run so instead he drew out some handy Flame Proof rope (thank you Reborn) and treated the purple Arcobaleno like he would an errant Lambo: mummified him and carried him under his arm like a football. Tsuna then turned to the group of mafioso and his Famiglia before dipping into a casual bow.
"Thank you for accompanying me. Let's head back before any other surprises jump out at us." Cheers and a lot of 'Yahtzee's!' filled the air. Tsuna straightened with a soft smile he kept from being shy out of sheer will. "Would someone please make sure Skull's octopus comes with us?"
Takeshi overtook all other offers so he carried shrunken Octillery.
. . .
There was a whole day to play in Mafia Land, something Tsuna found to be like too much good luck. He got to play with the kids in the water, improved a little on his crappy swimming skills to the point where he could actually tread water, and he got to see Hana and Kyoko in cute bathing suits. True to his sort-of personal promise he gorged on chocolate sweets alongside the girls and shared with his friends.
Tsuna knew his good luck wouldn't last. At least it wasn't anything actually bad. He got to meet the cute little lady boss of another Famiglia that soon enough escaped his memory, but he did remember her words of warning.
"If I were you, Tsuna-san, I would stock up on your female Sun's miracle pills. They'll come in handy someday!"
And with a mysterious giggle the dainty girl walked off with her subordinates leaving Tsuna standing by the sweet stand with a faintly stupid expression of confusion and worry.
x-X-x-X-x
Honestly? I like Skull. He's like a kicked puppy that can't understand why he's being kicked by bullies (IE, Reborn and Colonello). I like it when he's a BAMF in fanfics though. Wish there were more like that... Oh, what's this? Future plans? (Maybe not-so-pleasant-for-Skull plans?)
NOBU: I figure this isn't te most... flasy of proper introductions, but he's back. To torture Tsuna some more! There will be some dialogue between student and teacher, possibly in an omake. You can bet your favorite breakfast food that he'll be more fleshed out.
* TSUNA AND HIBARI: The latter is used to sparring with his mother, whom is stronger and still more skilled. As much as it chafes, Hibari can only get his mother to keep pushing him farther, she won't unleash her full force, and he knows that Tsuna would be just like her in that respect. Doesn't mean he has to like it, of course.
Thank you to anyone who's finished the chapter! If you have any critical comments go ahead (I know there will be! My chapters are self-edited), and if you have anything nice to say too, go ahead. If you have suggestions, they might appear in a "behind the scenes" or an omake with due credit given.