Chapter 28

We are Strong

Guys, I have died and gone to heaven you have shocked me so much. Not only did this chapter have the most reviews for one chapter, beating the 28 from Iemitsu's chapter, but I also have some great announcements:

Erephen asked if she could translate this fic into Polish and I said yes, so if you prefer that language then look out for it in the future.

Bleach-ed-Na-tsu has drawn some awesome fan art. It's a scene from right at the start where Fon is feeding Baby!Tsuna from a bottle. The link is: : / / bleach-ed-na-tsu. deviantart # / d51v9on

Yoshikuni Itoe has also drawn some amazing fan art this time with a Chibi!Cast the link is here: yenmeii. deviantart art/ Mafia-Row-305481167

Or of you want it in colour then this one: yenmeii. deviantart art / Mafia-Row-Coloured-305645880

So I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did. The links are being weird, no matter how many spaces I put in. So you need the usual : / / at the start, and . c o m after devient art with a / afterwards. Maybe going through google would be better. Just make sure to look at them, they really are worth the effort.

I really had no clue that you all liked this story that much. So Thank you everyone *bows Gokudera style* I really am not worthy for all your love and support. You've all brought me to tears and made me smile when real life is currently being a bitch, so thank you.

So I've shocked you with an Iemitsu that wants to kill Tsunayoshi and by adding Bermuda into the mix, just what will I come up with next… *laughs evilly*

I think my choice for Arcobaleno accompaniment is obvious here- lol that makes them sound like food, yummy. And it's the time you've all been waiting for... so sit upright, be quiet, make sure your school uniform is in order and that you've been following the rules…

The next few weeks for the Arcobaleno, now including the latest addition, were slightly awkward, however Tsunayoshi made the upmost effort to make sure that everyone was comfortable. Meaning he didn't ignore anyone in favour of the newest addition. He still slept in the same beds as the others, still sat on their laps for dinner and still followed them about the house and helped them with their work. Of course he didn't ignore Bermuda either but gave him time to settle in before jumping into his lap one evening for dinner.

Smiling upwards he says "You don't mind do you?" And Bermuda found he couldn't say no to that face. Him, one of the Mafia Jailers and feared by all, could not say no to a small child. Really, what was the world coming to?

And the rest of the Arcobaleno weren't as scary as the rumours made them out to be in Bermuda's opinion. Nor was Bermuda in the other's opinion; he had a weird habit of calling everyone –kun, in addition to seemingly thinking of himself as above everyone. Not that that wasn't a common trait in this household. But instead of Verde's intelligence and Reborn's cat like confidence, Bermuda acted more like posh nobility.

When Tsunayoshi awakes this morning, he's nestled into Viper's arms, his back against her chest, his head tucked under her chin, almost as if she was holding onto a teddy bear. Not wanting to wake the woman, he carefully wriggles free and crawls off the bed. No matter how quiet he tries to be, the door still makes a sound as it opens, however, due to his small size, he misses Viper's automatic response of a Mist knife in the wall.

"Good morning" he sings sunnily as he skips into the dining room to the smell of bacon and toast. The others all greet him back in varying states of wakefulness- seems Luce hasn't made the coffee yet this morning.

"You said last night I was going to meet the Gate Keepers right, the... umm, I've forgotten their name," Tsunayoshi looks down, a finger to his lips as he tries to remember what their name is.

"Yes, you are going to meet the Gate Keepers, they were rather interested in your display with Bermuda a couple of weeks ago." Replies Luce turning around. She holds the plate of breakfast in the air and gestures with it to silently ask where he was going to sit this morning. Looking around, he decides to sit on Fon this morning. When they lock eyes, Fon smiles and pushes his seat back slightly to accommodate the extra person. Smiling, Tsunayoshi runs over and makes himself comfortable.

"Tsunayoshi, do you remember the weapon I was training with yesterday?" he asks. Since the little boy has a mouth filled with bread and bacon, he just nods. "Well, you will most likely be the target of that weapon. Their son likes to fight, I'm afraid. I'll keep him off you but just in case."

"You should let him fight Fon" says Reborn, eyes fixed like a predator on the cup of espresso Luce was currently making.

"That's one thing I haven't figured out yet" comments Bermuda. How he managed to eat without removing the bandages, no one was sure. "Do you want Tsunayoshi to fight or not? It seems to me that you are all conflicted on the matter. Are you scared that he'll be better than you one day?" they all notice the hint of laughter in Bermuda's voice at the last statement.

"Well actually it's because little Miss Sunshine and Rainbows over there doesn't think Tsunayoshi looks cute enough with a weapon in his hand and therefore won't give him one. She's obviously forgotten that weapons are not a fashion accessory." Explains Reborn sarcastically.

He growls as Luce looks him dead in the eyes and proceeds to drink what was obviously his espresso with a large smile on her face.

"What weapon would you give him anyway?" asks Bermuda. He wondered whether a fight was going to start up over this. It was clear that most of them believed their way of fighting was clearly superior to all of the others.

"He doesn't need a weapon, only enough martial arts to defend himself" says Fon diplomatically.

"Che, he obviously should use a hand gun" declares Reborn, glaring at the rest of them.

"Why would he want something as common as that?" remarks Colonnello, smirking at Reborn. "He should be trained the COMSUBIN way. He'd be prepared for more than just a silly handgun then. And if it was Lal teaching him, then he'd be better than anyone else." There was some truth to this- COMSUBIN did teach more than just the use of riffles after all.

"I think you are forgetting how common COMSUBIN training is as well. You are not Lal's only recruit Colonnello" drawls Verde, looking bored. But suddenly there is a gleam in his eye- a very mad scientist one. "If he wants something really unique then he should fight with science. Chemical warfare is quite big these days"

"Ha, you want him to fire a nuclear missile at every person he needs defending from?" scoffs Colonnello.

"I think you might have just proved Reborn's point of how stupid you really are." Comments Verde, rolling his eyes. Reborn smiles sharply at Colonnello over his win. "I meant that there are many chemicals that can do damage to the body. Acid burns aren't very pretty you know. And how many Mafioso would be prepared to stop the acid from burning further? The right chemical could stop a gun from working, burn through metal weapons like knives and even counteract poisons. Or if you want to be a pacifist then sleeping gas works just as well"

"That sounds like you are turning Tsunayoshi into a walking chemistry lab. He'd need to have far too many bottles of chemicals on his person. And with how clumsy he is, he'd just fall, break the glass and end up harming himself before the enemy even got to him" retorts Lal.

"I don't think Tsunayoshi needs a weapon since he will always have people around him who will protect him." Explains the Ex-Mafia Boss.

"Gloves" Whispers Tsunayoshi. He had been watching the argument, head turning to keep track almost like a tennis match across the table. "and Fire" He's not quite sure where that comes from, but he feels like that's the right choice. The others look between themselves and wonder if Tsunayoshi actually meant fire or Flame. They had kept him away from the Flames of Vongola and Shimon, however Tsunayoshi had been introduced to them by Bermuda. Not that Bermuda had ever told Tsunayoshi they were Flames, but transportation and moving chains didn't happen on their own, both required Flame Control to use them.

"Heeii" the little boy squeals. "Aren't we going to be late?" The rest freeze. Oh god. They were in for it now.

Moving faster than he's seen any of them move before, they all (okay not all of them, but the large majority, Mr Hitman just smirked at the chaos around him) grab him and run upstairs.

"You idiots! Get moving" shouts Lal, motivating them with a rain of bullets. Bermuda looks at this and sighs, having noticed that more bullets were wasted inside the house than on actual missions.

"Gya! where's my arm and knee pads?" screams Skull, items of clothing going everywhere.

"Where ever you left them last" responds Fon, calm as always, but still flinging items of clothes around Skull's room trying to find them too. He didn't want Skull to end up with broken bones like last visit.

In the meanwhile Tsunayoshi had been forcefully stripped (It was a good thing he was far too young to be embarrassed by being totally nude infront of Luce and Verde) and quickly stuffed into underwear. Verde knelt infront of him and placed on more of the defensive armour from before at Luce's insistence. He didn't want to be setting broken bones either. Noticing that there wasn't time to run to his room, Tsunayoshi shouts out to Fon, "Fon, Could you grab the one I told you about please?" Fon replies that he will, and goes into Tsunayoshi's room once he's helped Skull locate his own defensive clothing.

The moment the armour was on, Verde was quite literally pushed into a wall by Luce as she forced the boy into her latest outfit. Verde pushes his glasses back up his nose and settles cross-legged on the floor to the right of Tsunayoshi. Tsunayoshi give Verde a little helpless 'Help me!' look as he is treated like a rag doll by the crazed woman. However Verde knows better than to get in her way- he'd already been slammed into the wall- and instead pulls out a diagram of the weapon Fon was talking about earlier "There is a button down here that activates the weapon's other abilities. If you can, stop him from pushing the button. However if he does attack before the others can get to you, then aim for this spot here" he points to an area and has to wait for Tsunayoshi's head to appear from through the shirt before the boy can get a good look. "When I modified the weapon I put a weak point there in case he ever went after me." Tsunayoshi blinks at Verde. "Well, I'm not being defeated by something I helped to create"

Tsunayoshi is sat on Luce's dresser stool whilst she attacks him with the hairbrush and Verde puts his shoes on for him.

"Guys hurry up. I want to live through this" shouts Skull, running into the room. "Yeah Luce he looks fine" Skull runs in, snatches Tsunayoshi away and runs down the stairs, nearly tripping in his haste.

Fon pokes his head in too "Good job guys. I'll see you later". Being calm as usual he makes his way down the stairs. Looking at the time worries him though- Hmm, we might have to make a run for it

"Tsunayoshi are you alright?" asks Bermuda. He'd heard a lot of shouting and screaming from upstairs and was worried about what treatment the little boy had been going through.

"Of course I am. I'm used to it by now" he replies, his face smiling and honest.

"Allow me to be of assistance" Bermuda says, mock chivalry in his voice. One hand behind his back, he half bows, presenting his other hand for Tsunayoshi to take. Tsunayoshi just looks confused "Take it" he orders, sounding more like the man Tsunayoshi had first met. Tsunayoshi grabs Fon's hand, who grabs Skull's in turn. "Hold your breath" Bermuda warns. A Black portal appears behind the Vindice Officer and he steps sidewards into it, dragging the others through too.

Tsunayoshi wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, however the black passageway that looked oddly like a star filled night sky was not it. And within 10 steps they were out the other side. Tsunayoshi looks around and realises he knows where he is. Half way down Mafia Row was the recreational centre that ran perpendicular to the rest of the row, running from north to south. They were at the southernmost point, near the only Port. If anyone wanted to get on or off the island, they had to go through the Gate. Hence the need for Gate Keepers.

The Gate Keepers stopped people who were not authorised from entering the Island, as well as keeping general peace over the Island. They were almost like police and were reason #3 that no crimes happened on Mafia Row. The first two being the Arcobaleno and the Vindice.

"Hn. Punctual as usual" says a man, clicking shut a pocket watch.

"Seems you made it on time then Tsunayoshi" says Bermuda before returning back through the portal.

Turning from where Bermuda was to the man who had talked first, Tsunayoshi looks the Gate Keeper over. He was tall yet slender with black hair and coal black eyes. And strangely looked slightly like Fon. He looks between the two and notices that they have the same hair colour and the same eyes.

"You had better come inside. Tea will be served in 5 minutes" says the man.

They follow the man into the house and Tsunayoshi feels like he's been transported to another world. The doors were made of paper and slid to one side instead of opening. The floor wasn't made of carpeting or tiles or wood but something else. They had to take their shoes off at the door. Tsunayoshi was too busy staring at everything to make a noise, which the pair of Arcobaleno were secretly pleased at. Making a noise in this house wasn't suggested.

Tea is served to them by a lady wearing what Fon calls a Kimono. When Tsunayoshi notices the weird way everyone else is sitting he copies them and hopes that his legs don't fall asleep. He doesn't know why, but this lady made it really hard to drink the tea. There was some sort of process to making this tea and Tsunayoshi was fascinated by it. When it came to accepting the tea, he just copied what the others had been doing. Apparently it was called a Tea Ceremony.

Once the tea was drunk the mood lightened and Tsunayoshi finally felt like he could breathe.

"I believe proper introductions are in order." Says the woman, her voice deep yet silky smooth. Her gaze though was directed towards Tsunayoshi, a gleam of interest hardly hidden at all.

"It would be my honour" says Fon. "This child before you is Tsunayoshi and he's under official Guardianship of the Arcobaleno."

Tsunayoshi smiles and waves at them. "Hello. It's nice to meet you"

"It is a pleasure to meet you too Tsunayoshi" says the woman. "My name is Kazuko and the name of my husband is Kurogane. We are very honoured to finally be able to meet with you. Especially after your… procession, with the leader of the Vindice."

"Indeed, we have been very interested in meeting you. Although you are not like I suspected you to be, especially living with the company you do." Supposes Kurogane, looking Tsunayoshi up and down.

This child was cute, it was fluffy, it was unguarded. It was weak. But somehow it had managed to survive with Carnivores like the Arcobaleno. And the pair wanted to know why. Why was this child not a carnivore?

"Tsunayoshi, why don't you go and play with our son, he's around your age. He was quite interested in meeting you too." Says Kurogane. Quite frankly interested was an understatement, and it had taken a rather forceful glare to stop their son from running after the pair. Hardly very disciplined of him, but they understood the feeling.

"Okay then" Tsunayoshi agrees and leaves the room after having received directions.

Stepping outside the room, Tsunayoshi lets out a big sigh. Everything had felt so stiff in that room, as if he couldn't make a mistake. And for a 4 year old, that was rather scary and hard to do. So he walks in the direction Kazuko gave him, hoping that their son would be a lot more fun to play with. Although that would only apply if he made it out of the house alive. No one had warned him of needles coming out of the walls. Luckily enough he had ducked under them in time to dodge. Staring at these needles quivering in the wall from the force they were launched with, he wondered where the hell they had come from. He hadn't seen anyone aim them at him.

Now he walks along the corridor keeping an eye on the walls, hoping there wouldn't be a repeat performance. And there isn't. The floor falls from underneath him instead. With a gasp he grabs the side of the floor and hauls himself back up. Panting to regain his breath he wonders why there are traps set up in this house and whether Kazuko sent him this way on purpose. His intuition suspects she did.

After eventually making his way to the garden, Tsunayoshi has had enough of this alien house and wants to go home. Traps in his own house was one thing, but in someone else's… He was just glad that he hadn't gotten harmed or else Luce would kill Fon and Skull. The worst wound he had received was pulling a muscle in his leg. Looking around the garden he notices a child laying on a tree branch, asleep and enjoying the sun. Wondering closer to the child, Tsunayoshi can tell this is their son since he has the same hair colour as Kurogane. When Tsunayoshi stops under the tree, the child opens one eye and looks down at him.

"It seems like he made it out in one piece Kyo. I can't see any cuts on him at all. Nor does it seem like he's affected by the poison in the needles either. He must have missed them all." Tsunayoshi jumps as someone else talks. From behind the tree the son is laying on comes another boy, slightly older than Tsunayoshi, with a rather weird hairstyle. It was him who had spoken.

The son in the trees opens the other eye and looks Tsunayoshi over, in exactly the same gauging way his parents had done. But rather than making Tsunayoshi want to shiver, it only made him stand taller and stare right back. Every person on Mafia Row had given him that appraising stare so it no longer affected him. Plus he remembered Reborn's words from his first trip outside: "Never show fear".

"Wao" is all the boy said before jumping down from the trees. Tsunayoshi notices a glint of sliver coming out of the boy's sleeve before the boy jumps to be infront of him, weapon raised to attack. Tsunayoshi screams and scrabbles backwards.

"Hey! What have I done?" asks Tsunayoshi as he rolls out of the way of another attack. Looking at the grass stains he knows Luce isn't going to be happy.

"Stand up and fight herbivore" growls the boy.

"What does that even mean?" shouts Tsunayoshi as he jumps over an attack aimed for his feet.

"He's calling you weak" shouts the other boy, who was leaning against the tree and making no move to help Tsunayoshi at all.

"Those other carnivores must be ashamed to be living with someone so weak" says the son, throwing an attack at Tsunayoshi's jaw. However Tsunayoshi doesn't like the sound of that. He wasn't going to let anyone say that. So when the weapon comes close to him, he grabs it and sends a punch to the area Verde told him to. The weapon falls to pieces.

The son stares at it, in total shock since on one had managed to do that before. The other boy gasps at this turn of events too: "You broke his tonfa…". Tsunayoshi smiles since Verde's tactic had worked, not that he was expecting anything else.

"Tell me your name herbivore" demands the son.

"I'm Tsunayoshi. And who are you?" Tsunayoshi says, smiling at the boy now he wasn't being attacked.

"He's Kyoya Hibari and I'm Tetsuya Kusakabe" replies the boy by the tree.

"Well, it's nice to meet, Gya!" tries to say Tsunayoshi but Kyoya sends another attack his way with his other tonfa. "Kyoya, stop attacking me!" he screams, rolling out the way once more.

"Stop being weak herbivore!" demands Kyoya before attacking once more. Just as he thought the fluffy haired child was being a carnivore, he reverts to being a herbivore and it annoyed Kyoya to no end.

Tsunayoshi flinches when his strained leg twinges in pain and stumbles backwards, slamming into a tree. Knowing there's nowhere else to go, he closes his eyes and lifts his hands to defend himself. He flinches when something lands on his stomach, but it's not the tonfa like he's suspecting. Nor does the attack arrive at all. After a few tense seconds Tsunayoshi opens one eye to find the tonfa a couple inches above his stomach. Opening both eyes he looks to see what has stopped the relentless attacks.

It's a small bright yellow puffball. It cheeps.

Kyoya had stopped attacking so he didn't hit the yellow bird that had fallen out of the tree and landed on Tsunayoshi. The tonfa even goes away as Kyoya lifts the bird up and stretches the wing out. It was clear that something was wrong with the bird, and it cheeps painfully as the wing is gently opened.

"Hn" Kyoya says after his examination. He pats the bird on the head and it cheeps happily at him. Tetsuya walks fearlessly up to Kyoya and takes the bird off of him.

Tsunayoshi stares on in relative shock. He hadn't expected that to happen. But somehow the bird just seemed to fit Kyoya. But judging by the boy, Tsunayoshi expected that it would be best for him not to say anything.

He agrees with that feeling when glinting eyes are turned back on him. "Heeiii" he screams and scrabbles away from the tree.

"Now now. I believe you've had your fun" says a very familiar voice. Tsunayoshi looks behind him to find Fon holding Kyoya off the ground by the back of his collar. Tsunayoshi laughs as the image reminds him of a cat and her kitten. Kyoya tries to swing at Fon but is helpless. No that that stops him trying though. However eventually he stops struggling, so Fon puts him back down.

"Tsunayoshi, are you alright?" asks Skull, running across the garden.

And Kyoya, in true tantrum fashion, attacks Skull to let out his frustration. However that makes Tsunayoshi mad. So before Kyoya can even get a hit in, Tsunayoshi stands infront of Skull and takes the hit.

"Don't you dare!" growls Tsunayoshi. He even brings out his scary glare. No one harms Skull if he's around. It stops Kyoya in his tracks, although the boy smiles instead of being scared by it. His parents watch too, and think they can finally see why Tsunayoshi is a carnivore.

"Hn." Says Kyoya and spins on his heels and jumps back up the tree. Kusakabe hands the bird back up and Kyoya places it on his shoulder. "Noisy Herbivore"

Tsunayoshi scrambles up the tree as best as he can and sits opposite Kyoya. "Ne, Kyoya why did you do that?"

"He was crowding and breaking the peace" replies Kyoya, not looking at Tsunayoshi.

"But what's wrong with that? People need each other you know. It's be lonely otherwise." He couldn't imagine the house without all of them in it. It's be far too quiet.

"That's what a weak herbivorous sheep would say" replies Kyoya.

"Just because I didn't fight back doesn't mean I'm weak. I just don't see the point in fighting." Replies Tsunayoshi. That's wasn't entirely true, he did have one reason for fighting.

"The strong are needed to maintain order and discipline" these were words that had been drilled endlessly into his head by his parents. "Without the strong, the weak would do what they wanted, break the rules and chaos would ensue."

Tsunayoshi thinks about this before a smile breaks out on his face. So Kyoya was just like him. He fought to protect. Maybe not in the same ways, but the basic ideas was still there at least. Even if Kyoya called it protecting the rules, rules were there to protect everyone else, so it was all the same in the end.

"Fon, can I have it please?" Tsunayoshi asks. Fon walks over and hands Tsunayoshi what he had been holding all this time. He didn't even have to reach up, Tsunayoshi was about on level with his head.

"I think you should have this" states Tsunayoshi holding the object out. It was a hedgehog, with purple fur and sliver spikes. Kyoya looks at it and Tsunayoshi swears that there is a small smile on his face. However he doesn't go to take it. Tsunayoshi pouts, but leaves the toy on the branch he was sitting on. Sliding off the branch and into Fon's hands, he waves at Kyoya and Tetsuya. Tetsuya is the only one to wave back though.

"Make sure to look after the bird okay. I think it should be called Hibird." Smiles Tsunayoshi before Fon turns and walks out of the garden.

Tetsuya doesn't comment when Kyoya picks the toy up and takes it to his room. The toy remains by Kyoya's pillow for a very long time.

Fon, Skull and Luce didn't make it to dinner that night. However the shouting and screaming could be heard from the back of the garden. Tsunayoshi sat on the table, his arm and leg being bandaged by Verde, who has placed some of his specially designed salve on them first. Bermuda kept on looking through the kitchen window to see if he could spot the three missing people.

"Does this happen often?" he asks. The others all nod.

"If you make Luce mad, she'll shout and scream at you until even you are scared of her. She's not afraid to use force either. These days, most of the times she gets mad are when Tsunayoshi gets hurt. Most of us just shut up and take her shouting, it passes quicker that way. Unless you are Reborn, who just likes to shout back at her." Comments Viper, who was providing illusionary pain relief for Tsunayoshi.

"You should be careful with what you do with that arm for a while" warns Verde as he stands back up.

"Well that'll be fine, kora. We're off to a restaurant tomorrow anyway" adds in Colonnello, patting Tsunayoshi on the back.

Bermuda's character is currently under development as we learn about him in each new chapter. I'd noticed over the past few chapters that he uses the honorific -kun for everyone, from Jager to Byakuran and Mukuro, however, apart from Hayato's Tsunayoshi-sama, I'm not going to use them. I think he sounds aloof and posh to me. Like he's a noble whose suddenly decided to visit a load of peasants and finds it funny how they live- weird analogy I know. But it's not the same way that Reborn presents himself as superior either. And whilst using a wide range of Vocab, it's not in the intelligently scientific way Verde does either. If you look back at the chapter with the noble image in mind you might see what I mean- like he's a Lord or something.

And about Bermuda's flames. I've given him Night Flames even though he's not cursed yet. We can just say that the other Vindice taught him how to use them as a defence against Checker Face.

For Hibari's parents since we don't know who they are, I made it up. Kurogane means black steel apparently, which kind of suits their family. Plus it sounds like a strong name. His mother is called Kazuko since it's a variation of Kazu meaning Obedient or Discipline. This variant sounded best with Hibari. And now all three have first names starting with K.

So I'll meet you all at the restaurant next time, ne?

Phantom Hitman 1412

First published 1 June 2012