Chapter 32

And fulfilling your orders.

*poof with a cloud of smoke*

Chaos everyone. Phantom Hitman 1412 is back from her super-secret Hitman assignment! The assignment is done and dusted and the usual report handed into the Boss.

The good news is that I'm no longer a Zombie and am ready to start writing again. Basically, I've been on work experience the past week, meaning I've had no time to write any chapters. I've literally been dead all week and slept as soon as I got home. I barely got a chapter out for Thief, which left me no time to write one for this. And the worst part was I still had work on Saturday too, and then spent all of Sunday doing assignments. However I've just handed all of the assignments in to my teacher and I'm pretty sure I'm done for now! No more college!

Now to answer a question that came up in a review. (BTW sorry for not answering back to you all, but I didn't have the time too, I'll be doing so directly after uploading this chapter)

Amplifyingly Loud asked: Since Tsuna didn't know what the Namahage was, does that mean that he doesn't consider himself Japanese, but Italian?

That's a slightly hard question to answer. Obviously, in the real world, the differences in the Italian and Japanese body structure would give it away that Tsunayoshi is not Italian. This isn't as obvious in anime and manga in general. However, these days we base our nationality on where we were born/ grew up. So in this case, Tsunayoshi would see himself as Italian since that's the Language everyone around him speaks. The majority of the Mafioso around Tsunayoshi are Italian, and therefore would give Tsunayoshi a sense of Italian culture and beliefs. However, this is the reason that when I was choosing the more abstract Families to put in here, I chose ones from different cultures. I made sure to mention that the Mafia Central lot were Japanese, I chose the Russian Giegue and the Chinese Triads along with the American Nuevo, so that Tsunayoshi is brought up surrounded by lots of different cultures, which will be important in the future.

Hope that clears things up.

Once again, another reminder that I-pin, Lambo and Fuuta are all 2 in this fic. Oh, and those who have only watched the anime won't know who the Leilei Brothers are since they appear in the Shimon arc. Although you didn't miss anything, they were just named as coming to Decimo's inheritance ceremony.

So if everyone is ready (and since you're here, I'm assuming you are)…

Let the Show Begin!

Tsunayoshi wakes up the next morning and has an extremely close view of the famous curly sideburns. He had always wondered how they were so curly since he knew that Reborn didn't own a pair of curling tongs. Blurrily, it takes him a few moments to remember where he is- sleeping with his head on Reborn's shoulder. A warm presence down his back and ending on his hip is Reborn's arm, protectively caging him in. Tsunayoshi can't help but smile at this. He was sure the others knew it too, but he got the full brunt of it: Reborn was ferociously protective. If Tsunayoshi ever had any doubts that Reborn didn't like him, then the positions they woke up in were all the proof he would need. It didn't matter how far away from Reborn he was at the start of the night, by the morning, he was always being held rather possessively.

He stayed as still as possible since he knew any movement would wake the Hitman up. He wanted to enjoy this rare, peaceful moment for as long as he could. As soon as Reborn was awake, the Spartan Hitman would appear and Leon would be aimed at him for not moving fast enough, or for appearing weak, or something else the Hitman didn't approve of. Moments like this were a rarity when Reborn was awake, and non-existent if other people were around.

Hmm, that gave him an idea. Looking upwards without moving his head, he could see Leon looking down at him from his position on Reborn's pillow above his spiky hair.

'help me?' he mouths silently. Leon cocks his head to the side and nods, slowly coming closer to him. Tsunayoshi mouths the rest of his plan to Leon who nods in agreement and runs down to his hand. Within a few moments he can feel Leon fitting snugly into his hand in his new form. Taking a deep breath he puts his plan into action.

Throwing one leg over the Hitman, he sits atop Reborn's chest and points a Gun Leon at Reborn, clicking the safety off to make a noise. "Bwahaha Reborn. I have you now! Listen to my demands or I'll shoot you" He, of course, had no intention of shooting Reborn, and would only do so if Leon used nice soft bouncy bullets that wouldn't hurt, nor destroy the house. Luce got mad when bullet holes appeared and furniture got smashed during their fights.

Reborn had stiffened at the sound of the safety clicking off, but had made no other move. Now he lazily opens one eye to find Tsunayoshi sitting on him. "Demands? What demands could you possibly have?" Reborn decided to be careful with Tsunayoshi. He had been brought up around three trigger-happy gunmen, aka him, Lal and Colonnello. Silly boy, it helps if you have your finger on the trigger reprimands Reborn mentally since Tsunayoshi's finger was nowhere near it.

Lal's tip #1: People got more scared the closer the gun was to them.

He follows Lal's mental advice and moves the gun to rest on Reborn's forehead. Lal's recruits were always really scared whenever she did this. Skull stammered a lot more whenever Reborn did it to him. Reborn opens both eyes, moves them away from Tsunayoshi and goes nearly cross-eyed to look at the gun. He notices the grin Leon had on. "I'll get you later for this" he hisses quietly to Leon. Tsunayoshi hears this and gives Leon a reassuring squeeze, saying he'll take the blame. However he's surprised to find Leon shaking in laughter instead. Seems that Leon didn't mind pranking his partner, maybe they played tricks on each other often?

"My demands" reminds Tsunayoshi "Are that you play with me more often, are nicer with me around other people and to stop bullying Skull"

Reborn does smile at this, but it's somewhere between a smirk over how silly the demands were and a smile of exasperation over how much like Tsunayoshi they were. "Hmm, let's see. No, no and definitely not" Tsunayoshi pouts, half expecting that answer anyway, knowing he had been hoping for a miracle. "You are a hundred years too early to threaten and make demands from me" smirks Reborn, a hint of laughter in his voice. "I'm going to have to punish you for trying." He reaches up and tickles Tsunayoshi whilst using the other hand to keep the squirming boy in place.

"HEEII" Tsunayoshi screams, trying his hardest to get away from his punishment. He bursts out into laughter and tries to stop Reborn. "Re-reborn! Stop it!"

He eventually manages to squirm out of the man's grip and runs to the door and throws it open. He stands in the doorway and points Leon back at Reborn. "Bwahaha, my plan worked. I got away from you. You shall follow my demands Reborn" Reborn didn't have a clue where the falsely deep cliché villain voice had come from but it was really funny. He vaguely wondered what the last movie Tsunayoshi had watched with Luce was- maybe this acting came from there? Reborn swings his legs out of the bed and gives Tsunayoshi a predatory look accompanied by his usual smirk.

"You'd better start running before I punish you even more. I won't be lenient this time" His smirk is made even scarier as Reborn puts his fedora on.

Tsunayoshi heeiis once more before running, laughing loudly, down the corridor and down the stairs, Reborn in hot pursuit. After almost tumbling down the stairs, Tsunayoshi runs down the hallway and into the living room before diving behind the sofa and pointing the gun at Reborn once more.

"You will, you will, you will!" he shouts, smiling broadly.

"Keep on wishing brat" says Reborn amusedly.

The others, having heard the commotion upstairs and now downstairs, open the kitchen door and peak through. They are amazed to find Reborn actually playing with Tsunayoshi, even if it seemed like there was a hidden agenda behind it.

Tsunayoshi pouts once more and half growls "Mou~ How about just the third one then?" he asks

"Nope" answers Reborn

"Just shoot him, kora" shouts Colonnello.

"Colonnello!" shouts Luce in shock before smacking him on the head. "You shouldn't encourage him like that." She knew it was futile with this lot though, especially considering the conversation they had had yesterday.

"Yes Luce. Sorry" apologises Colonnello.

Both Tsunayoshi and Reborn look that way, and Tsunayoshi knows his fun is now over. And just like he guessed, Reborn stiffened up, the smile disappeared and the fedora was pulled down.

"I bet he could shoot me before you could Colonnello" says Reborn, stalking into the kitchen and grabbing the espresso that was on the counter. Tsunayoshi clambers back over the sofa and returns Leon back to his place on Reborn's fedora. But one thing Tsunayoshi did notice, was the way that Reborn's chair wasn't as tucked in as it normally was. So of course, he takes the hint and jumps into his lap.

"Morning everyone!"

"Good morning Tsunayoshi" the others reply.

"So are you ready to go with me?" asks Fon.

"Yeah! I can't wait." Says Tsunayoshi bouncing in place before Reborn growls at him to stop.

Tsunayoshi eats his breakfast as quickly as possible and drags Fon up the stairs to get changed. "Come on Fon. Hurry up!"

"Tsunayoshi, you should learn some patience." Says Fon, smiling down at him. Tsunayoshi stops pulling on his arm and slows his pace.

"I'm sorry. I was just excited" he says looking down. Fon gently smiles and ruffles Tsunayoshi's hair.

"Excitement is good, but you should also learn patience. Good things come to those who wait."

A few minutes later and Tsunayoshi and Fon were walking down Mafia Row. Tsunayoshi was in red sleeveless top and black shorts whilst Fon is in his usual robes. They walk past Mafia Central and end up at a house in between the Tomaso and the Estraneo, on the left side of the street.

"Well, this is it." says Fon. Tsunayoshi nods and watches as Fon knocks on the gate and it's opened by a woman in a dress.

"We have been expecting you Fon. Welcome back." She bows to him and steps aside to let them walk in.

Tsunayoshi stares in awe at yet another new type of place. He takes in the new type of buildings with his jaw dropped on the floor. There was a lot of wood around and plants in the courtyard. It gave off quite a calm aura, a lot like Fon himself really.

Two men come over and Tsunayoshi notices how much like each other they looked. He guessed that they would be brothers, or maybe even twins at a push. Both held themselves upright, but not in the stand-off-ish way Reborn did at times. Tsunayoshi noticed that they moved like Fon too, gracefully and purposefully. When the brothers were close enough to talk, but not invade personal space, they bowed and Fon bowed back. Tsunayoshi hesitated and followed suit a moment after.

"Tsunayoshi, I would like to introduce you to the Leilei Brothers. They are both fearsome assassins that work in Asia. They are known for being able to work without a weapon and can act silently." Tsunayoshi nods to this. He had noticed that even though they had been walking on gravel he hadn't heard a noise. "They also share the position of Dragon Head for the Zhang Family. On the right is Li and of the left is Kai"

"A-a dragon? That's so cool. But what does 'dragon head' mean?" Tsunayoshi asks, eyes shining with excitement over the mention of a dragon. So far he knew there were two types of dragon. There was the type which Fon had tattooed on his torso, and then there was the Dragon and Knights type of dragon that was usually keeping a princess captive in English stories.

"Dragon Head is the same as a Boss, but is the Chinese Triad terminology. Chinese Triads are organised crime just like the Mafia is, so they were allowed to come here to Mafia Row."

Tsunayoshi makes an understanding noise before waving at the two brothers. "It's very nice to meet you! Um, I was wondering, but why are two of you Boss? Isn't it usually only one?"

It was kind of scary the way both brothers smile at the exact same time. "We understand what you are saying" says the one on the right, Li.

"We are currently the only Boss, Chinese or otherwise, to be a pair rather than a single person" explains Kai.

"However, both being Boss is very beneficial"

"Since the work is shared"

"As are the rewards."

"We can support each other"

"And both can understand any stresses of being a Boss the other might have."

"Plus if one of us dies"

"The Family can still continue on"

Again, it was weird for both of them to finish off each other's sentences, but Tsunayoshi got used to it after a while. He also kind of understood what they were going on about. Being a Boss was apparently a hard task according to everyone else he had met, so having someone else share the work was very good for them.

"That's awesome!" shouts Tsunayoshi happily. All three adults smile. The brothers turn around and start to walk down the path, and Fon and Tsunayoshi follow them. As they walk into different parts of the house, he notices that lots of people are doing lots of different things with different weapons. In one room, different types of Kung Fu were being practiced. He noticed that some of the moves were similar to ones Fon had taught him. In the next room over, people were practicing with swords, and in another a group of women were practicing with fans. Finally they went outside once more where Tsunayoshi was presented with a weapon he had never seen before. It looked a lot like the crossbow Lal had trained the recruits in one day. However this one was a lot larger and was held differently. Both used arrows though.

"I'm sure Lal has shown you a crossbow Tsunayoshi" says Fon, Tsunayoshi nods. "Well, this is the original, known just as a bow. These weapons have been around for a very very long time. The Zhang family are famous for using Bows in their work since Zhang can mean archer. They are good for long distance, and if used by the right person, can be used for assassinations. They are generally used for when one wants to work from a distance." Tsunayoshi watches a few rounds and is amazed by the concentration on their faces. As they continue to walk down the garden, Fon has to drag Tsunayoshi along as the boy continues to watch the Archery practice.

Tsunayoshi is snapped out of watching when he hears a small girl's voice. "Master, master!" as Tsunayoshi turns to face forwards, he sees a woman walking towards them.

The woman gets closer and she smiles before laughing "You know that 'master' was her first word?" she says to Fon. Fon smiles down at the baby and takes her from the woman. Whilst walking towards a bench nearby, he explains to Tsunayoshi,

"This little girl is I-pin and she seems to have taken a liking to me. She is the great-granddaughter to my Master, who also taught the Leilei Brothers. We were training at a similar time and have known each other since we were teenagers." He sits down on the bench and strokes the baby's hair gently.

The woman walks over to them, looking calm, although Tsunayoshi has a feeling that she is actually slightly distressed but also proud at the same time. He wondered what she was going to say next with feelings like that.

"Fon, I have something to tell you" she says. Fon looks up with his ever calm expression. The woman seems to take solace in this and takes in a deep breath before saying. "It seems that you really will have to become I-pin's master when she grows up" Fon raises an eyebrow to this and the woman continues. "Well, just the other day, we found out that she has… it."

The other eyebrow rises too. Tsunayoshi looks between the pair and wonders what on earth 'it' is. She looked far too cute to be as dangerous as they were making this 'it' to be. Little did he know he was far too cute to be as dangerous as he was too.

"She does?" Fon asks. This was the first time Tsunayoshi had seen Fon like this, shocked and lost for words.

Tsunayoshi stands on the bench to get a better look at her. The baby locks eyes with his and he smiles. "Wow, she's cute" he says. He giggles as the baby turns bright red with her blush.

Then something weird happens.

These patterned dots appear on her head. First there are 9 of them. Just as he's wondering whether these are birthmarks, they change, and suddenly there are only 8 dots.

"Um Fon" Tsunayoshi asks. Watching as the numbers change once again.

"Not now Tsunayoshi, this is important" mumbles Fon as he continues to talk rapidly with the woman in Chinese.

Tsunayoshi, however, is sure that this is very important. His intuition is going into overdrive with the need to get away from here. For some reason, he gets the feeling that he should throw her in the air. Really, how strange could this intuition get?

"Fon. What's this marking?" he asks, the worry in his voice apparent. Both heads snap in his direction and realise what's happening.

"See I told you!" shouts the woman, taking some hurried steps backwards. Fon lifts the baby and makes the girl look directly at him. He says something to her in Chinese that Tsunayoshi can't understand and slowly the marking disappear before they reach zero. Fon breathes a deep sigh of relief as he puts the baby back down onto his lap.

"Fon, what was that?" Tsunayoshi asks once more.

"That, Tsunayoshi, was I-pin's Pinzu Time Bomb. It's a move that is passed down my Master's bloodline and it seems like she knows it too. What did you say to her?" Says Fon, allowing I-pin to play with his fingers.

"I said she's cute" replies Tsunayoshi happily.

Fon looks over and smiles. "Yeah, that would do the trick. This skill happens sometimes when the user gets embarrassed. If the timer had gotten down to zero she would have caused an explosion, hence the name time bomb."

"Really? Wow" is all Tsunayoshi has to say.

"It's quite an honour for our Family to be looking after her" says the woman, taking I-pin from Fon

"Oh yeah Tsunayoshi, don't you have a question for this lady?" asks Fon with a smile. Tsunayoshi gives him a questioning look until Fon grabs the sleeve of his robes. Then he gets it.

"Oh yeah. Um, would it be possible for you to make me some clothes just like Fon's? I really want some. Please~" Fon laughs into his sleeve when Tsunayoshi pulls out the puppy-dog eyes. No one could resist those eyes. It even affected Reborn and Bermuda.

The woman has no chance

"Of course I will. It would be an honour to do so for someone so close to Fon. Why not come with me, and after I put I-pin to bed, I'll take your measurements." Tsunayoshi nods and looks at Fon for permission to go with the lady. Fon gives permission and Tsunayoshi skips after the lady.

When he comes back 10 minutes later, it's to find an awe inspiring sight. Fon was fighting with the Leilei brothers with the rest of the Family around to watch the fight. It must have been a friendly match since everyone was cheering and Fon had a smile on his face. Fon was dodging, looking just like the wind with how effortless it all seemed. Even against two opponents, he didn't seem troubled. The Leilei brothers were fearsome opponents like Fon had said. They moved in sync and seemed to know what the other was going to do and work with it. They attacked from all angles leaving Fon with very little room to manoeuvre. However, even Tsunayoshi could see that Fon was a far above them. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet. With one spinning kick, his robes floating around him, Fon took Kai out. Before Li could react, Fon had landed and kicked a foot out to the side, causing Li to go flying. The crowd roars in excitement and Tsunayoshi cheers. Fon bows to the crowd before going over to help the brothers up. All three laugh, and the others compliment Fon on his skills.

"You haven't changed"

"We couldn't touch you as usual"

Fon smiles "You two did very well as usual. It's good to know that being Head Dragon hasn't stopped you from keeping up with your training."

Tsunayoshi runs over clapping his hands "Fon that was amazing! You've got to teach me that!"

"Maybe one day Tsunayoshi. You've still got to work on your basics"

"And Fon was all like swish swish, and then it was suddenly pow pow and they had gone flying!" exclaims Tsunayoshi after dinner that night

"Fon certainly is very good at hand to hand combat, kora" admits Colonnello.

"Better than you'll ever be" grumbles Lal. Colonnello just pouts at her, to which she replies with a series of slaps and shouted admonishments.

"He really is. We've all tried and none of us can match him" sighs Skull. "I lasted the longest though" the others snort in a half laugh.

"Hmm, you have not seen me attempt it yet" comments Bermuda.

Tsunayoshi looks at Skull with wide proud eyes "Really? That's incredible"

Skull laughs nervously and plays with the chain on his lip. "Haha, not really. It's only because I can take a punch better than these guys can. I didn't even land a hit on Fon" The others continue to laugh. "ANYWAY" says Skull loudly, changing the subject. "You have the pleasure of coming with the great Skull-sama tomorrow!"

Verde comes over and leans over Skull's shoulder, his face dangerously close. "Tsunayoshi had better come back tomorrow with no marks on him. If I find even one, you'll be in for a nightmare. Understood? I'll even take blood tests to make sure. So he'd better not inhale anything either." Skull shakes under the cool threatening voice.

"Trust the idiot lackey to make the idiotic choice with his loyalties." Reborn remarks snidely.

"J-just because they aren't Vongola's ally" Skull tries to justify, but even to him it sounds pathetic.

"Hn, there's a reason for that"

I chose these names for the Bosses since Li means strength and Kai means victorious, which I think are suitable names for a pair of Mafia Bosses.

Sorry for the long wait guys *bows* Hopefully, everything should be okay now.

I think we all know where Skull is off to tomorrow. By the way this is the last chance for you to tell me any character's that you think I've missed out. Dr Shamal has his appearance in Hayato's chapter and won't be getting one of his own. Lambo and the Bovino are after the next chapter. Talbot was mentioned in the V3 chapter. If possible I'd like any important character's I've missed out, rather than the small families I've decided not to include. I'm not going to put MM, Birds or the Bloody Twins in. MM might make an appearance, but the others won't. Fran's appearance will be later too.

So join me then!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First published 20 June 2012.