RETURN TO THE HOMELAND – CHASE FAIRY TALES
The Hospital
It begins to rain as Sawada Nana's eyes are drawn to the window. The rain in Italy perhaps reflecting the rain in the hearts of the Vongola family, Tsuna was not in good condition. He has been moved to another room now that the majority of tubes have been removed from his body, all that is needed now is to quietly wait for him to recover.
'You will be alright Tsuna, I know you will' Nana says in her head. Her thoughts are interrupted as the door to the room opens and three gentlemen step inside.
The newcomers close the door behind them as they enter peacefully and respectfully. 'I know that man' Dokuro realises, 'He is the Italian Prime Minister'.
'Is that the pope?' Hino asks herself as her religious leader enters the room.
"Ah prayer" notes Pope Silva, "may I join you" he asks.
"Of course" Hino replies after recovering from her moment of surprise. At first she considers it strange that the pope should be here but then again Tsuna must be one of the most important people in Italy.
As Pope Silva sits with Hino and Dokuro he joins them in their prayers. The Prime Minister doesn't give time for prayer though, "I'm to tell the country this young man is our last hope" he considers.
"Tell me, is there anything we can do to help with his recovery" asks Prime Minister Pinto as he turns to Shamal, the most composed man in the room before he entered.
"Nothing can change his recovery rate now; it will just be good fortune or bad fortune" Shamal explains as he shakes his head.
"So we are going to rely on luck to defeat the Yakuza" huffs General Gallo, already pessimistic about having to rely on an inexperienced man with super powers.
"If you will forgive my being rude" begins Dokuro with a frown on her face, "You're actually relying on my husband to defeat the Yakuza".
"She's right" says Shamal looking angrily at the General, "I don't care who you are or why you are here, if you disrespect this man, if you underestimate how much he has done for the world I won't forgive you".
As tensions rise between the military leader and the Vongola family the pope takes the chance to change the subject. "Would it be detrimental if we were to move him?".
"I don't believe so, this sort of recovery is often done at home" notes Shamal, recalling the few cases of extreme exhaustion he had treated before, none of them had been as bad as this but they were very similar.
"The problem is Tsuna's home has likely been destroyed" sighs Shamal as he thinks about how much damage could potentially have already happened in his homeland.
"Mrs Sawada" the pope says as he turns to Dokuro, "Your prayers indicate to me that you are a religious woman".
"Yes" responds Dokuro, since joining the Vongola and Mukuro's group the mist guardian hasn't had much time for religious practice. Tsuna is one of the few people to know of her religious beliefs.
"Then perhaps we can move your husband to the Vatican" suggests the pope. "It is there that god will be most in touch with him".
"I would appreciate that greatly sir" replies Dokuro.
"I will see about having some people move him safely" says Prime Minister Pinto as he heads for the door, presumably to make a call or speak to the people who had come with him.
'Tsuna, I know you're not religious' Dokuro thinks as if she were speaking to her husband, 'but please let god save you this one time'.
On Mount Vesuvius
Yamamoto is training on the side of Mount Vesuvius. The rain guardian chose this spot because it seemed unlikely that anyone would find him. Telling his parents about the mafia had been difficult for the baseball player and the phone call from Italy's three officials had driven home just how severe the situation was.
Yamamoto has no time to take in the gorgeous views or the gentle rumbling of the volcano, the rain guardian swings his sword continually with the aim of making it faster and quicker.
"This won't be enough" Byakuran says to his host.
"What do you mean" Yamamoto asks aloud, taking this rare opportunity to communicate with Byakuran using his voice. Yamamoto had agreed to keep Byakuran's presence a secret, there was no benefit to revealing it to the others and there was plenty to be lost.
"Even if Tsunayoshi recovers it won't be enough, not with how you are right now" Byakuran explains to his student.
"Then what do you suggest I do" the swordsman questions finally stopping his routine and turning to look at the white haired ghost.
"Chase fairy tales" Byakuran says as he smiles his widest grin.
"Fairy tales?" Yamamoto asks incredulously.
"Head to England" the former Millefiore boss instructs without explaining himself.
"Why would I want to go there?" asks Yamamoto. As bizarre as it seems, with his flying speed the rain guardian could get to England and back within a few hours but those few hours could be very precious, he doesn't want to waste them.
"You're a swordsman" begins Byakuran before Yamamoto nods for him to continue, "The sword in the stone".
"The old legend?" Yamamoto continues to speak questioningly, not understanding his mentors train of thought.
"That's right, currently Excalibur should be in the stone where Caliburn was originally taken from" Byakuran explains to his student, "It awaits the next successor to King Arthur, it could be you".
"So we are just going to take a chance on my destiny" Yamamoto notes, struggling to accept that this option is worth pursuing.
Byakuran pauses, "I've entrusted the fate of my family to you for this long and you haven't let me down. Just keep walking forward and your path will be clear, let's go to England".
Yamamoto ponders for a moment before agreeing to the suggestion. As the baseball player packs away his sword and prepares for the journey he turns to his ghostly friend.
"Byakuran, when you have a body what happens next?" asks the rain guardian.
"You will have lived up to your end of the deal" Byakuran finishes.
"And we will just part ways?" Yamamoto concludes.
"We could" begins the former Millefiore boss, "But I would be rather disappointed if we just our separate ways after all this time we have spent getting to know each other".
"I won't leave you, you have my word" Yamamoto promises sincerely.
Byakuran laughs cheerfully, "Then let's go my friend" he says, launching Yamamoto's flight towards the British Isles.
The Yakuza Headquarters
The Yakuza Headquarters is a tall building previously registered to a private company. It is on one of the upper floor the Honda regularly dines on whichever meal he decides upon. Today the Yakuza leader is sat at the head of a long table, half way down on either side sit the siblings Yaru and Lucy.
"I'm disappointed in the two of you for not being able to finish off any of the Vongola" Honda scolds the siblings as he rests his chin on his hand.
"Our sincerest apologies sir" offers Lucy, eager to avoid offending the man she considered the most terrifying in the world.
"There is no point holding a grudge against your allies" Honda lectures the duo, "Just make sure you kill them next time".
Yaru is more impulsive than his sister, "I was going to do that before you stuck your nose in sis".
"You are too flashy and inefficient" Lucy talks down to her younger brother, "you should focus more on the killing blow".
"I don't want to hear that from you who failed to finish them off" retorts Yaru, recalling that his sister had also failed to kill any Vongola.
Ignoring the bickering siblings Honda interrupts, "Yaru, your sister is right, next time kill when given the opportunity".
Yaru reluctantly gives in, "I will take your advice to heart sir" he says.
"Good" Honda praises, "Oh, it seems the food is arriving". Honda claps his hands to indicate that the people at the door can enter.
A variety of men and women enter, they all share the same dirty, dull brown clothing style and have a tag on their arm. These people had never seen the inside of the Yakuza Headquarters before and the two Yakuza siblings didn't recognise them.
"Slaves?" Lucy says aloud, hoping Honda will explain.
"It's only natural now that we have taken Japan, we must make full use of it" Honda informs his subordinate, "The time has long since passed since we have needed to hide our powers".
Yaru observes the slaves as they bring in food and place it on the table, not daring to be clumsy as they beautifully presented the various delicacies to himself and his comrades. 'It's only been a few days; these people can't have been treated very well' Yaru decides but doesn't dare to voice his doubts.
"Why not enslave the weak" Honda continues, "What is the point of becoming strong if you cannot impose your will on those below you".
"It just seems a bit… extreme, that is all" Yaru mutters, questioning whether this is acceptable.
Honda laughs at the green haired boys doubts, "When you remove the restriction factor humans call morals, everything suddenly becomes black and white, then you don't this principal of extreme anymore, you either have good or bad. Wouldn't you agree people bringing you the finest food is good".
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Yaru says, still not fully convinced but deciding to drop the subject as he helps himself to the best dish he has ever eaten.
After taking a bite of his food Yaru's focus changes completely. "Sis this is fantastic; we have struggled all our lives but the master has brought us to the point where we can casually eat food like this".
"Yeah" agrees the elder sibling as she takes a few bites of her food. Suddenly Lucy stops and looks at her food with concern.
Yaru starts, "Sis is something…".
Before her younger brother can finish Lucy summons glass behind her and uses it to kill the nearest slave. Yaru watches in horror as the screaming slave is cut repeatedly with the glass.
"Did some of you try to poison my sister's food" Yaru says as anger creeps onto his face.
"It's overcooked" huffs Lucy much to Yaru's surprise.
'She killed him just for that' Yaru says to himself, astonished that his sister would go so far.
Honda only has praise for the glass user, "Now you are beginning to understand Lucy, the slave caused you displeasure, he's not someone you care about personally so you can just kill him".
'Just kill him, is something like that really OK' Yaru ask himself.
Yaru's train of thought is interrupted as a young lady with tied blonde hair enters. This lady has the tattoos of the Yakuza and she wears glasses to aid with her vision. Yaru and Lucy know not to underestimate this woman, she is very important to the Yakuza. As for her name, they only know her as Kara.
"Master" Kara calls to Honda.
"Kara, has something important happened that you must disrupt my meal" Honda says as if he has a bad taste in his mouth, contrary to the food he is currently snacking upon.
"What you predicted has come true" begins Kara, "the Italian Prime Minister is speaking now".
As Honda gestures to the nearest screen Kara switches on the TV and changes the channel to the news station. On the screen in an office setting was the Italian PM Ivan Pinto in his finest suit, addressing the nation of Italy and the rest of the world.
Half way through his speech Pinto continues, "I'm sorry for keeping this a secret for so long but now that all has been revealed I implore you to put your faith in the mafia, they are the only ones who can stop the Yakuza".
"But their leader, Sawada Tsunayoshi is in critical condition" explains Pinto, "So please hold him in your prayers, please pray for him, no matter your religion, no matter your faith, do whatever you can for him".
Kara turns off the TV following the speech and turns to her master, "It seems their boss is in poor condition".
"They can pray all they want, I am this world's only god" Honda pronounces, "Worshiping their false deities is the first sign of their admittance of defeat".
"What course of action should we take" asks Kara.
"Just continue preparing for the invasion of Italy while defending against any attacks" instructs Honda, "now leave us".
"Yes" Kara responds with a bow before leaving the room with only the eating trio and some highly stressed slave workers.