Chapter 91:

You'll Make Some Enemies

This alleyway was rather dark, with the two school buildings looming tall either side, but being only the first day here, Tsunayoshi didn't know of any other way to go. Those strange feelings said that he shouldn't have walked this way, that he should have stayed in the light where everyone could see him, even if he was ignored most of the time. Well now, that feeling was being wrong again, he'd hardly been ignored from the moment he'd stepped into the place, he'd had far too many male and female eyes watching him (he wasn't sure which gender to be more scared of) and as such he was rather sceptical of the rest. So he continued walking towards the bright light on the other side, hoping to find his friends soon.

But suddenly the bright light was cut off by a few shadows. They came closer to him and eventually Tsunayoshi could see that they were other children, although they seemed to be older than him. He didn't recognise any of them though, but from the way they looked, Tsunayoshi would say that they're Mafioso's children rather than civilians. There was four of them, one clearly standing infront of the others. He was a pretty boy, blond hair and ice blue eyes, a full blooded Italian. To his right was a Japanese boy, black hair and dark eyes, with the other two being more pure Italians.

"Are you lost?" The blond asks, looking down at Tsunayoshi.

Tsunayoshi gets the distinct feeling that he should start running, although he doesn't know why, this boy hadn't done anything to him yet, in fact he seemed pretty nice, asking if he was lost.

"No, I'm not. I'm just looking for my friends." Tsunayoshi replies truthfully, watching as the two other boys move to stand at his other side.

"Oh really? Well maybe we should help you find them," The blond says, voice sharper than before. The boys around laugh, but Tsunayoshi doesn't get the joke.

"Yeah, I'm sure that they're in this direction." Says one standing near Tsunayoshi's back before attempting to kick Tsunayoshi towards the blond boy. However, Tsunayoshi sensed the kick even if it was out of his peripheral- one wasn't the Arcobaleno's child without being able to tell when one was being attacked- and jumps to the side, closer to the wall.

"Hey, that's not nice." He says pouting.

Annoyed that Goon number one had missed, Goon number two takes a punch at Tsunayoshi. Again Tsunayoshi dodges, taking another step backwards so he was out of reach. The pair keep coming at him until Tsunayoshi ends up with his back against a wall.

"Um excuse me, but why are you attacking?" Tsunayoshi asks confused. He was sure he'd never met these people before. He knew every child on Mafia Row, with the exception of the other experiments Estraneo had had, but Tsunayoshi knew that they were safe somewhere else and none of them would be well enough to be back in normal society yet anyway. Nor did it look like these people had been experimented on either. So if he had never met them before then why were they attacking him.

"Look, if you're just after a fight then I'm not really the best person to ask." He explains. He knew this from experience; unless it was Kyoya or an adult, when Tsunayoshi actually fought back he was rather strong and won most of his fights. But generally in fights he just jumped around the place and dodged until the other person gave up- this seemed to work on the majority of the Shimon children.

"Are you two taking this seriously or not?" Asked the Japanese boy from where he'd been watching.

The pair stop in their barrage to turn and face him. "Of course we're trying. He's just sneaky. Why not try for yourself Mochida."

The name causes a flash of memory to flit across Tsunayoshi's mind, some sort of vague fear, jealousy, anger and a name, the Momokyokai Yakuza.

The boy named Mochida leans forwards, a sneer on his face. "Che, not worth my time. You two can keep trying."

The pair growl and turn back towards Tsunayoshi, anger clear on their faces as they start to throw more wild kicks and punches. Both were annoyed that this runt was showing them up and making them look bad.

"How would you handle this then Mochida?" Asks the blond, turning to look at the Japanese boy instead of keeping an eye on the 'fight'.

"Well in Japan we call them out, Boss. I'd fight him in a public battle, like in Kendo or martial arts or something. No teachers watching of course. Teachers are strict on fights at school. If not at school then we'd catch them after school." Mochida shrugs.

"I'd beat you in martial arts by the way." Tsunayoshi says, having heard the conversation.

A little way away, outside of the school grounds, two people are sat in a tree watching the fiasco go down. The blue haired woman puts a hand to her forehead, shaking her head as she did so.

"Tsunayoshi shouldn't have said that." She sighs. "Just because Reborn goes around saying he's better than everyone doesn't mean he should do it too."

There is a muffled reply to her right, along with the tree shaking slightly. "Stop moving idiot." Lal says, slapping Colonnello.

Colonnello glares at her, but can't really say anything because of the gag in his mouth. He wiggles again, trying to free himself.

"I'm not untying you until you're calm and won't go down there to thrash four six year olds. You're supposed to be an adult you know." Lal had known it was a good idea to get some rope from the armoury this morning. Colonnello nods, taking a deep breath and stopped moving. Lal sighs and undoes the gag, but still keeps Colonnello tied to the tree.

"I know that, kora." He says haughtily. "And anyway, the experience will be good for Tsunayoshi. What I wanna know is why those punks attacked him out of nowhere."

Lal doesn't reply to that, she didn't know the answer either, so instead turns to look back at the scene through the scope of her riffle, putting her headphones back on so she could hear what was being said through the bug she'd put on Tsunayoshi earlier. She also made sure that her stock of special bullets were near-by in case she needed to use them- they were rubber, she wasn't going to use actual bullets on any child other than Tsunayoshi and the five brats back home.

"Oh you would, would ya?" Goon number two says gritting his teeth. "I bet you're just saying that to gain even more attention. Knowing martial arts would make you look even better right?"

Tsunayoshi tilts his head, blinking at them in confusion. What on earth was he talking about?

"Che, don't pull that face at us! We ain't going to fall for it like all the girls have." Spits the blond boy, throwing a handful of dirt at Tsunayoshi. Tsunayoshi gets his arms up in time to stop the dirt getting in his eyes or mouth, and steps to the side to dodge a punch like his intuition prompted.

"Yeah, we saw that play you put on with those weirdoes this morning. Trying to play the hero." Scoffed Goon number one. That kid who had acted like an animal was downright weird.

"All we've heard today is how there are these really cute first years. None of the girls have paid us even a moments attention all day." Mochida explains.

"And everyone watched you talk to the scary Vindice just now. You were just showing off how brave and fearless you are. No one talks to those scary guys, no one. Stop drawing attention to yourself."

"That's why we're gonna teach you the order of things around here, so you don't step out of place." Goon number one explains, a snarl on his face as he cracked his knuckles in preparation for another attempt at smacking the annoying runt.

"But I wasn't trying to do any of that!" Tsunayoshi claims, dodging yet another punch easily.

Fon sighs, binoculars raised to his eyes. "Jealousy is such a horrible emotion. Sadly one the Mafia is filled with."

"Heh, you can preach all you want but that's not going to change." Reborn laughs, looking through his own Leon-binoculars.

"I do commend Tsunayoshi for not fighting back though. He has done well so far. Although I fear I might have to give him some lessons in negotiations." His words were doing more damage than good and aggravating the bullies instead.

"He's doing fine." Reborn says instead; as if words were really going to stop anything, especially at this age, they were only children after all.

"You want him to fight back already," Fon sighs, looking over at Reborn. "You know that's not going to help, Tsunayoshi's looks will counteract all of that. Since he doesn't look very manly he's just going to get more people thinking they can beat him and pick on him because he looks weak. Showing that he is in fact stronger than even the third years isn't going to solve anything."

"He should have a reputation in place before certain facts are revealed. Once everyone finds out just who he is, even more people will be after him to prove themselves. Once they know what Tsunayoshi is capable of then most of the prideful or half-hearted bullies should just leave him alone. After that, only those who just like to pick a fight will be left and fighting against them will be good training for certain people. After getting beaten by him, most will back down, or if not they'll just get motivated to become stronger to beat him at a later date."

"Sounds like something the Dean would say. You mentioned that this morning, 'You're all here for an important reason- to become part of the future generation'. I thought you were trying to be inspiring, but you actually meant it. You're hoping that competition between the students and Tsunayoshi will force them to better themselves. In ten or twenty years then there will be a whole generation of stronger, smarter and more capable Mafioso." Fon raised his eyebrow at Reborn's foresight. "Since most of the children here will be bosses or high up in Families, it'll create a new generation of better Families as well as Mafioso."

"There's more to it than that, but in general you're correct." Reborn says, eyes never leaving the scene before him. "Although if that's all you're seeing then you're obviously miscalculating Tsunayoshi's influence on all this."

Fon sits there for a few seconds and thinks about what Reborn meant by that. It was never easy to understand the hitman nor his roundabout methods.

"And you're opinion on this Luce?" He asks. If she had had any visions about the future recently she hadn't told any of them. But then again she never told them much unless it was necessary. In the end all they could do was trust her to know what she as doing. Luckily, all the Arcobaleno had immense trust in Luce.

"What do I think?" She repeats from her position on a lower down branch. "Well I think that if they get Tsunayoshi's uniform dirty I'm going to give them a right earful."

"Please, you really should stop. I haven't done anything wrong and I don't really get what you're talking about." Tsunayoshi pleads, ducking under a punch, letting the Goon smack his knuckles against the wall. He had no clue why these boys kept on bringing the girls up. Sure they kept on looking his way and giggling, but that was it and he had no clue why they did that in the first place. It was actually rather creepy to be honest, he knew Enma felt the same way.

His words had no effect on his attackers, the blond boy looked even more infuriated and disgusted than earlier. The Goons were getting annoyed too because none of them had yet to land a hit on the girlish runt. So they decided to change tactics. Both lunged in and grabbed one of Tsunayoshi's arms, pinning him to the wall.

"I'll finish this off Boss, no need to dirty your hands." Mochida says, taking a step forwards.

"Please, let me go!" Tsunayoshi almost shouts, wiggling to get free. He didn't want to have to use the moves Fon had taught him if he didn't have to. Fon said it was shameful to attack people weaker than him, but those moves had been taught for self-defence and Tsunayoshi was pretty sure this would count as self-defence, even if it wasn't an adult attacking him. Another part of him was cowering in fear, screaming that this was going to hurt for the next few days and cursing his luck to be the weak and stupid Dame-Tsuna. If he held still this would hurt less and they'd go away quicker. The fear was consuming, freezing him to the spot.

He remembered Skull's words from this morning, about how bullies would come back again and again if he didn't do something. His not-memories said that was true too, hence why he was so scared. But then he remembered Lal's words from this morning, telling him not to back down infront of them. If he was beaten up it would reflect badly on the Arcobaleno. If only his body would move!

"Kufufufu~ what a lovely chat you're having here. I'd love to be involved."

"Put Tsunayoshi-sama down right this instance or else I'll break every finger you have."

All the boys turn to look down the end of the pathway and find two figures standing there. They walk closer to gang and what the bullies see makes them freeze. One boy looked to be their age- most likely the new transfer student- yet he had two different coloured eyes, one a bloody red shining in violent delight. The other seemed younger than they with weird silver hair and a snarl on his face. But the scariest thing about him was the lit dynamites sparking in his hands. They weren't about to find out whether the boy was bluffing or not.

They immediately drop the girlish runt and run in the opposite direction, only to be stopped by someone landing infront of them.

"Oh no, it's Hibari." The blond hissed. Hibari Kyoya was a third year who had control of all the third year delinquents and enforced whatever rules he saw fit. He had been feared ever since the first year he came here. His reputation was known far and wide in the school.

Hayato and Mukuro left the bullies under Kyoya's care whilst they checked on Tsunayoshi instead. It was clear that their friend wasn't hurt, only scared.

"Che, who do they think they are, attacking you on your first day." Hayato growls, just about ready to go over there and add a few injuries of his own to the ones the bullies were already receiving from Kyoya. "Did they say anything to you?"

"Um, they said they didn't like how all the girls kept looking at me and how I was trying to show off by stopping Ken from fighting this morning and by talking to one of the Vindice." Tsunayoshi repeats, looking at them both in confusion.

"Kufufu, they are jealous of you and your angelic looks my dear Tsunayoshi." Mukuro laughs, gently brushing some dirt off of Tsunayoshi's cheek. "Such creatures are below you and are not worth your time. You should forget them and pretend they don't even exist."

"Exactly." Hayato nods, for once agreeing with Mukuro. "I bet they're from some lower class Famiglia anyway." Tsunayoshi wasn't about to comment that they weren't even in a Famiglia technically since they lived with the Arcobaleno. But then again, the Arcobaleno were prestigious in their own right apparently, everyone respected them and were worried about displeasing the Arcobaleno.

"But why didn't you fight back? I know for a fact that you could handle such low-lives." Mukuro drawls, looking down at Tsunayoshi. Tsunayoshi had bested him in a fight once by numbing the nerves in his arms and making him drop his trident. Hand to hand combat without his trident wasn't really Mukuro's thing so things had gone downhill from there.

"Err… It was… Well… I don't really know." Tsunayoshi said, confusion evident in his voice. "I know I shouldn't be, but I was scared of them. I know some of the scariest people in the Mafia and I'm not scared of them, but for some reason I found the bullies terrifying. Something told me I should be afraid of them."

"Hmm…" Mukuro said, looking at Tsunayoshi with a considering gleam in his eyes. He wondered whether it had anything to do with that strange blocked off part of Tsunayoshi's mind. However here with people watching them was not the best time for a mental investigation.

"Hey! There you are! Ah, you found Tsunayoshi." Shouts Takeshi, running down the path towards them. He quickly grabs Tsunayoshi's wrist and pulls him back the way he came- in the opposite direction from Hibari. "You're going to miss out on lunch Tsunayoshi. I've got loads of sushi for everyone. If you're not quick Ken's going to have eaten it all."

Mukuro and Hayato join them for lunch a noticeable time later, although neither will say what they've been doing during the missing time. Tsunayoshi sighs at their behaviour, guessing what they had been doing yet not really surprised, both were rather violent people after all. Although at this current moment in time, Tsunayoshi had no idea of how protective they could be- they'd had little contact with anyone other than the children of Mafia Row, who all liked Tsunayoshi.

The rest of the day went smoothly although Tsunayoshi was distracted by remembering the incident at lunch. The others were worried about him- he had gotten hugs from Haru, Kyoko and Enma along with threats towards any other attempts from Ken and Chikusa- and tried their best to cheer him up and make him forget about it. Eventually the day ended with the final bell, and they all left the classroom to return home. They were walking down the courtyard towards the exit gates when suddenly Tsunayoshi perked up. There was a light in his eyes and a huge smile on his face. In the distance, getting closer and louder was a very familiar and unique rumbling. Added to a specific horn being blasted, Tsunayoshi knew exactly what was going to happen in a moment.

"Sorry everyone, I've got to go, my ride's here." He says, smiling at everyone.

The rest of the group say their goodbyes, although most wonder why Hayato, Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa weren't running off too considering they lived in the same house and had been dropped off in the same car this morning. At first the boys don't say anything, merely prompting the others to watch Tsunayoshi who was running towards the gates faster than they thought possible.

"Hey watch the road!" Some student shouts since it didn't seem like Tsunayoshi was going to stop. There are more shouts, this time from parents too, as Tsunayoshi jumps onto the metal fence at the edge of the road to protect people from cars and such. There are screams and shouts since there actually was a vehicle driving fast down the road and they were sure that the little boy was about to jump infront of it.

But before they can grab the dangerous child, he's disappeared, the motorbike sped past and already hundreds of yards down the road and turning the corner, leaving nothing but the loud rumbling of the engine behind. No one has a clue what's just happened, all they know is that there's no blood anywhere down the road at all, meaning the child hadn't gotten hit.

Tsunayoshi laughs and giggles as Skull drives onwards, ducking slightly as a helmet is pressed over his head. Tsunayoshi hadn't been scared one bit, they'd done more dangerous versions as part of Skull's gig before now. Unlike commonly thought Tsunayoshi didn't actually jump off the edge, he just let Skull pick him up. Plus that version was so much more fun than waiting for Skull to stop. Although according to the others Skull shouldn't stop. They didn't want anyone to know that Tsunayoshi was theirs until later on. None of the teachers would ask him which Family he was from and he wasn't to tell any students if asked. They said that they didn't want their reputation to affect how people treated him until after they got to know him. If Skull stopped then people would recognise him, both Mafioso and civilians.

Plus Tsunayoshi's exit wasn't even the most extravagant. Mafiosi's children were picked up in everything from limos to helicopters and everything in between. So if one Mafiosi's child wanted to be a bit daredevilish then no one really cared. Living on the edge was what the Mafia was about, it was good they learnt that young.

Once back at home the incident wasn't mentioned- Tsunayoshi didn't want to bring it up and the Arcobaleno weren't going to admit that they sat and watched from afar. However Luce does make Tsunayoshi's favourite dinner to make him feel better.

And so went Tsunayoshi's first eventful day at school.

It's a shame that Sky had such a horrible school life isn't it? Oh Well. Tsunayoshi's next encounter with bullies won't go like that I'm sure. I'll go into Mochida's past a little more some other time I think. In the manga it is mentioned in the future arc that Mochida gets involved with the Mafia somehow, so this won't be too far a stretch.

See you next time

Phantom Hitman 1412

First published 12 April 2013