Chapter 67:

Before Things Return

Sorry for the lateness but my computer died twice last night so I gave up.

Guys I have another piece of awesome fan-art to show you all! I swear you're all too good to me. This was created by the wonderful Chibi-Onee-Chan and is a picture of Storm and Chibi asleep in bed, inspired by the ending of the last chapter. This is the link for it and I hope you all love it as much as I did:

kuchiki-torii . deviantart art/ KHR- Bedtime- 346118625 (Remove the spaces as normal)

Thanks to ninetailsgirl94 for coming up with Squalo's Code Name and to Erephen for creating the rest of the Code Names for me. I hope I do them justice Auntie!

Tsunayoshi had had a rather good night sleep considering the circumstances. Although he was amazed to find out that Storm actually slept with his dynamites still on. How he managed to do this, Tsunayoshi wasn't sure. So there he was, sleeping away, minding his own business, only to be awoken by the loudest shout he had ever heard.

"VVVVVVRRRRRROOOOOOIIIII!"

Tsunayoshi rolls over before hiding his head under Storm's arm, hoping to block out the noise. Back at home, he may be able to sleep through the noises of bullets and metal clashing and the thumping of bodies against walls, but he could not, however, sleep through the sound of one of Squalo's roars.

"Hnh, why is Big Bro Squalo here?" He mumbles, throwing the covers over his head too. He had been having a rather good dream before being woken up.

Storm's eyes snap open at the roar and he nearly lunged out of bed if it wasn't for Chibi holding his arm. It takes him a few seconds to realise that they weren't under attack, but that the Varia had arrived. Great. Although Storm does notice the strange name the boy gives to Squalo. Big Brother? Oh yes, he remembered Sky saying something about the strange relationship Chibi had with the Varia of his world. It was certainly different from the relationship they had with the Varia here.

Storm growls under his breath. He had rather been enjoying his lie-in. He didn't get lie-in's all that often, so he liked to enjoy them when he could. And he had strangely had a good night's sleep too. He flings the covers off himself before swinging his feet out of bed and into a pair of slippers. He then grabs his lighter, checks that his Vongola Storm Ring is in place before storming out of the room, muttering obscenities.

Tsunayoshi pouts when Storm gets out of bed. He had been enjoying their cuddle- his Hayato didn't hug him all that often. However he perks up again when he remembers that the Varia had arrived. He wondered what the Varia were like in the future?

So he untangled himself from the covers- he had been buried underneath them when Storm had left earlier- and jumps out of bed before running to catch up with Storm. He tried hard not to trip on the large shirt that Storm had given him to sleep in. He nearly trips on the stairs but manages to catch himself before he could tumble down them. Even though he had lost sight of Storm, it was easy to tell where Tsunayoshi needed to go. All he had to do was follow the banging sound of doors being slammed open. He eventually catches up to Storm when he enters what seems to be a living room. Storm is in the middle of the room, trying to shout at everyone at once as well as waving a stick of dynamite at everyone too.

"Vrroooii! Heeheehee." Tsunayoshi shouts as he runs over towards Squalo, trying to see if he could get a hug. It was kind of like a game between him and the Varia, a game to see whether Tsunayoshi could hug them before they sent him flying across the room. Tsunayoshi found that he was winning more often these days. He must be getting better. He didn't stop to think that maybe the Varia were going easy on him. He was still thrown across the room 9 times out of 10 though.

"OOII! Who is this brat?" Sharky shouts, waving his sword at the child.

"Haha, I got you Big Bro Squalo!" Tsunayoshi sings happily as he wraps his arms around Squalo's waist, smiling brightly up at him. Well that had been easier than usual.

Sharky swings his sword once again and is amazed when the child jumps backwards and out of the way of the attack. Not only did the brat dodge the attack, but he looked far less scared than he should do and was even smiling, smiling!, at Sharky instead as he skipped backwards.

Tsunayoshi barely dodges the attack. He had forgotten that the people in the future moved faster, just like Cloud had done. They were closer to the speed the Arcobaleno moved at when they were trying harder than usual- which in general, actually meant trying at all. He giggles as he escapes and sticks his tongue out at Squalo. The Shark was in the mood to cut that impudent tongue out. He had done worse before now.

Pleased that he had gotten a hug from Big Brother Squalo, Tsunayoshi decides to move on.

Boss doesn't like it when the brat turns his gaze towards him. He hadn't liked the greeting Sharky had gotten either- even if it had been funny to watch. Nor did he like brats in general. All they did was cry and snivel and scream and that wasn't fun to watch at all. So when it seems like he's going to be the brat's newest victim, Boss takes the most obvious course of action: Shooting the damn trash.

Tsunayoshi jumps out of the way, feeling the heat zoom past his face. And it was hotter than usual too. Looks like it was going to be harder to get a hug from Big Brother Xanxus. That was fine though, he liked the challenge. He could hear Storm in the background, shouting his head off. It seemed that Storm got very loud in the future. He looks Xanxus in the eyes (eep, they were scarier than usual!) and puts a determined look in his own before grinning. There was going to be no escape! Although looking at Xanxus, he seemed to look younger than the rest. Tsunayoshi wondered why that was? A really good face cream?

He ducks as yet another blast of Flames comes towards him, courtesy of Xanxus. Tsunayoshi puts on a concentrating face- he WAS going to get a hug from the future Xanxus- before running across the room towards the Varia Boss.

Boss clicks his tongue before firing another shot.

Tsunayoshi sees the new shot coming towards him and takes a step to the side to dodge it. The force of the shot ruffles Tsunayoshi's hair and heats up the air he breaths in as he gasps. However he trips on the large shirt and ends up falling to the floor. Oh no! He was going to end up as 'burnt trash!'. He quickly holds his hands over his head in preparation for the attack. Reborn! Help me!

There is a boom and some steam. Tsunayoshi looks up, amazed that he hadn't been attacked at all. Infront of him was this floating bone circle with red tinted glass. He had no clue what is was, how it was hovering nor where it had come from. However he did have to admit that it looked rather cool. But it was amazing how much the future had changed, to be able to make something like this. He wondered whether Verde made it? Nah, of course Verde must have made it. Who else was smart enough?

"How dare you! You don't even know who he is and you attack him! He's a very important person and Sky would not be happy if you killed him!" Storm shouts, a hand splayed out infront of him, holding the bone shield of his Sistema CAI out infront of Chibi, protecting him from the blast.

"Che, like I'm going to let some weak trash jump on me." Boss retorts crossing his legs as he glares back at Storm. Lions were not sat on.

"Why you-" Starts Gokudera before swearing in a language that wasn't Japanese or Italian. Tsunayoshi didn't have a clue what that word was and therefore didn't tell Storm off. But then again, he was busy doing something else.

"A-ha! Got you!" shouts Tsunayoshi as he jumps onto Xanxus's lap. YES! He had done it! Xanxus was always the hardest one to get a hug from. He had army crawled under the floating bone-glass-thing all the way to the chair Xanxus was sitting on. Whilst he and Storm were arguing, he had made his move and pounced. "Good Morning Big Bro Xanxus. What are you doing here today?" Tsunayoshi asks.

Boss had never seen something so fluffy and 'cute' and sweet. It disgusted him. "Get off me scum." He orders, picking the boy up by the back of the shirt before flinging him across the room.

"Mou~ Aren't you just the most adorable thing in existence?" coos Okama, having caught the flying child.

"Big Sis Lussuria!" Tsunayoshi chimes, returning the hug. "What happened to the feathers?" He pouts. Those feathers had made Lussuria look like a bird. He had found them pretty. He takes another glance over to Big Brother Xanxus. He had lost his tail charm and feathers. Had he not liked the birthday gift Tsunayoshi had made for him? No wait, the feathers were still there. So Xanxus had liked his birthday gift. And he still wore it in the future too!

"Oh~ Feathers are sooo 10 years ago. It's got to be fur, and isn't it just the softest thing you have ever felt? Go on touch it!" Okama explained to the child, wiggling his hips- this child was just too cute. Tsunayoshi nodded and stroked the fur that was on the man's collar. WOW! It really was soft.

"Oooi, Drag Queen, be careful. We don't want you to be charged with paedophilia too." Says a voice that Tsunayoshi doesn't recognise. There's no tone to it, just one long note. Strange.

"Ushishishi, at least this one is alive." Comments a voice he does know. He'd know that laugh anywhere!

"Big Bro Bel!" cheers Tsunayoshi. He clambers out of Lussuria's arms and runs over to Belphegor. Once infront of Prince, he bows. "How are you, your Majesty?"

"Ushishishishishi, the Prince likes this Peasant. You may rise." Prince laughs, a pleased wide grin on his face. Tsunayoshi stands back up from his bow. Now Bel… hmm…

"Hehee," Tsunayoshi laughs mischievously. Bel was another hard one to hug because he was so good at getting out of the way just in time. Tsunayoshi runs straight past Belphegor and the weird sounding stranger before climbing onto a chair. Once as high as he could balance, he leaps off the chair, towards Belphegor's back.

Belphegor laughs before taking a step to the side. At the same time he grabs Froggie and pulls him along with him. So instead of landing on Prince, Tsunayoshi lands on a rather springy frog hat.

"Ahh!" He gasps once he realises he's not landed where he had hoped to be. His landing was quite bouncy, as if he had landed on a trampoline. Hehe, his was actually rather fun. He giggles as he keeps on wiggling, causing him to keep bouncing on the hat. Tsunayoshi wondered whether Luce's hat would work? He'd have to try when he got back home.

The rest of the Varia stare on. They had never seen that before. And anyway, just who was this brat that kept jumping on them like they were playground equipment? All Storm had said was that he was someone important to Sky. Which was never a good thing to say to the Varia, Squalo especially, for they still wanted Boss to be the Vongola Juudaime, not Sky. So if Sky liked it, then hey, why not destroy it? What was Sky going to do? Punish them? As if Sky could.

Speaking of Storm, he was either about to die from asphyxiation (because his jaw had dropped and he'd forgotten to breathe) or because he was going to burst a vein (through high levels of panic and stress and panic and worry and did he mention panic?). It was times like these that reminded Storm that this boy was not Sky. It reminded him that this child was brought up by the 9 Strongest people in the Mafia, the Arcobaleno. This boy was different (His scientific mind proceeded to call him stupid in as many languages at it knows, of course he was different, that was the point of Alternate Dimensions) yet so similar to Sky. It kind of saddened Storm. Although Storm was happy that at least the boy had retained the best bits of Juudaime, like his smile and endless caring and acceptance of everyone.

"Sempai. Make him stop. My hat is not a pogo stick." The stranger he was bouncing on complained. At least it sounded like a complaint. So he stops bouncing and peers over the hat to get a look at the person underneath.

That upside down peer soon turns into a fall however, when Prince throws some knives at Tsunayoshi instead. The child tumbles to the ground, legs caught up in the large shirt due to his earlier bouncing around.

"Your aim sucks fallen Prince Sempai." Says the hat owner as he pulls some of the knives out of his hat. Taking one in his hand, he bends it in half before dropping it to the floor. Tsunayoshi gasps over seeing the bent knife. How could the frog hatted man destroy such beautiful knives?

"Hey! You… shouldn't… do that… to Big… Brother Bel's… knives!" He admonishes, whilst also trying to dodge the hail of knives Prince was throwing. He rolls out of the way before untangling his feet from the shirt- although it was made easier when one of the knives creates a slash in the shirt. Storm protests against the damage to his shirt, earning a knife attack too. With his legs now free, Tsunayoshi runs and grabs a sofa cushion, using it as a shield for a moment before continuing to run around the room.

Well, run around the room laughing his head off in glee that is. He loved these chases! (Once again, Storm wonders what the HELL the Arcobaleno have done to a version of his precious Juudaime.)

"Um, Belphegor, are you going to stop any time soon? I'm getting tired and you usually don't throw this many at me." Tsunayoshi wonders, ducking behind Boss's chair to catch a breath.

The rest of the Varia haven't remained silent during this exchange, they are all cheering Prince on, encouraging Prince to hit the damn pesky brat. Although every now and again, Okama cheers Chibi on too because he's just too irresistible not to. But the strange thing is, and they have all noticed it, is that this child has been dodging all of the knives. Sure the shirt and sofa cushion were in tatters, but there wasn't a mark on the boy himself. Of course, Prince wasn't really trying, none of them had made an effort to hurt the child, even if it was annoying.

And that fact made the boy interesting. Just barely.

"Would someone shut the little flea up? His laugh is almost as annoying as Sempai's." asks the frog hatted stranger.

Chibi runs to be behind Storm's legs, before peeking out of them towards the person who had just spoken. "Hayato, who is that? I don't know him."

Storm had moved the Bone Shield of his Sistema CAI to defend themselves from the knives, so Prince gave up, not finding it enjoyable anymore.

"You are addressing the Prince's Froggie!" Prince explains, pointing a knife in the direction of said frog.

"Chibi, you haven't met him yet. When err… Mammon, stopped working for the Varia, he was her replacement." Storm explains, calling Illusionist Mammon for Chibi's sake.

"That is why the Prince decreed that the Frog shall wear the hat, so he always knows he is Mammon's replacement." Tsunayoshi looked at the hat again, and supposed that it kind of looked like Fantasma… okay, not really, but at least he now knew why it was a frog.

"Can you get the trash out of here? I'm here to discuss work, not play with a brat." Boss growls out, finally getting bored. The chase had been interesting, but he wasn't here to introduce himself to some random kid.

"Don't worry Bossu! I shall do it." Volunteers Stalker- yes the Varia had named him that and there was nothing he could do about it. It was his fault for following Xanxus so much. Even Storm didn't go to the extremes Levi did.

Stalker steps forwards, and was about to release his Levi Volta, when he remembered how little room there was in here. Certainly not enough room to make sure he didn't harm Boss in the attack- the others could get electrocuted. So instead he just grabs one of them and holds it ready to beat the child with. The child should have been punished earlier on for daring to sit on Boss.

"Mou, really Levi-dear? But he's only a child." Pouts Okama, a hand to his mouth in 'shock'

"I don't care. Man, woman or child, I'll kill them all!" He replies, giving Okama a look. No matter who Boss asked him to kill, he'd do it, quickly and efficiently.

Tsunayoshi thought quickly for some way out of this attack. He didn't want Storm to get hurt either. Umm, umm, what to do, what to do…

Ah, that would do.

Super-Surprise-Attack!

Before Big Brother Levi could attack him or Storm, Chibi ran out from behind Storm and did the last thing Levi would expect. Ran straight towards him, ducked under the umbrella and hugged him.

"Got you too Big Bro Levi!" Tsunayoshi sings happily. He quickly has to dodge the umbrella that comes in his direction, but at least he had accomplished his aim.

Suddenly, Tsunayoshi is picked up and swung in the air. He squirms in the grip but it doesn't let go, so he looks up to see who had hold of him.

"Ahh, Squalo, put me down!" He protests. He hadn't finished playing yet!

"Oh I'll put you down alright!" Sharky growls, walking towards the door.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Shouts Storm, watching carefully.

Sharky flings open the door and throws Chibi out of it. "Vrrooii! And stay out Brat!" He shouts before slamming the door closed.

Oh, that wasn't very nice. He stands back up, stomps his foot and sticks his tongue out at the door. He tries to hold back the tears from his harsh landing, but he had been rather forcefully chucked.

"Meow~"

Huh, where had that some from?

He turns around before seeing something strange.

Who had taken the Uri plushie out of Hayato's room and placed it in the middle of the hallway of all places?

There we go. A little bit random this chapter, but I didn't want it to be a repeat of the first time Tsunayoshi meets his own Varia.

Translations, courtesy of Erephen and ninetailsgirl94: "Prince" for Bel, "Okama" for Lussuria, "Stalker" for Levi, "Froggie" for Fran, "Sharky" for Squalo, and "Boss" for Xanxus

In case you're wondering, I use Big Brother instead of –nii since Tsunayoshi speaks Italian rather than Japanese.

See you on Sunday!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 04 December 2012