RETURN TO THE HOMELAND – THE LITTLE THINGS
Tsuna's Training Yard
After a few hours of sleep Tsuna is back up and training in the morning. He casually flickers between the plus and zero points of his hyper dying will flame. Of course doing this with the ultimate flame would be have greater results but that would be a huge waste of energy. Tsuna has always struggled with the ultimate flame, it was not until after the battle of the successors that he managed to manipulate it by himself.
The Vongola boss was eating healthily and exercising appropriately however his sleep was less than it should be. 3 hours was all he slept last night, not because he struggled, he slept like a log but set an alarm for early in the morning.
Gokudera has had even less sleep than his boss, all throughout the night he has continued to look at the data on his computer, experiment with the results and run further tests. Gokudera hadn't planned to go to sleep, he had fallen asleep in the shelter and only awoke half an hour later when he accidentally knocked his mug off the work surface.
Four visitors approach the group; they had struggled to get in past the extensive military security but they had managed to do so when they had been identified. The four were Dokuro, Ken, Chikusa and Ryohei.
"How's it all going Tsuna" Dokuro asks her husband as his hyper flame flickers.
Tsuna looks away from his flame and over to his wife. Not looking at his flame doesn't hinder the boss' concentration, using this flame has become like breathing to him now.
"I'm not used to all the science but Gokudera makes it tolerable" smiles the 10th, "It must be hard for him to dumb it down for me".
Dokuro looks to her fellow guardian, predicting ahead of time that he would speak up and insist that Tsuna is not dumb. She is surprised however when he doesn't, he says nothing at all. The bags under his eyes and dumb look on his face shows just how tired he is, it's a surprise he is still able to work at all.
"Yeah I'll bet" laughs Dokuro, not wanting the silence to linger unnaturally so as the storm guardian would notice.
"What does this button do" asks Ken as he reaches towards a large green button.
"Don't touch that" yells Gokudera, seemingly coming to life for the first time since the visitors have arrived.
Tsuna and Dokuro share a laugh at Ken's antics. Tsuna stops flickering his flame and embraces his wife.
'Normal couples honeymoon after the wedding' Tsuna recalls before putting the thought to the back of his mind. The two of them don't have time for any freedom, they can do whatever they want once the Yakuza are dealt with.
"Ken perhaps it would be better if you put your hands in your pockets" suggests Chikusa after the couple finish their laughs.
"Oh all of you just shut up" Ken retorted, clearly irritated at the suggestion he was getting in the way.
Finally, Ryohei speaks for the first time, "You seem relatively laid back Sawada".
"How do you mean" Tsuna asks.
"I thought you would be training to the extreme" Ryohei says with his usual over-the-top demeanour.
"That's just it, we don't have enough time for that to make a difference" explains Tsuna. The more he does physical training the less improvement he will get out of it. While it is always possible to improve the improvements will just get slower and slower. By the time the Yakuza arrive Tsuna may be able to improve by 10% which wouldn't be enough to defeat them.
"Yeah, I understand brother" replies Ryohei, "It's like with a boxing punch, the little things make a big difference when you're at such a high level".
"The little things" mutters Gokudera, drawing everyone's attention as he once more breaks from his trance, "Sasagawa you may have just found a way".
"A way to do what" the boxing champion asks.
"While I am running calculations on this data" Gokudera says while he points at the screen with his finger, "You get to train the 10th to throw a punch".
Dokuro is stunned, was this supposed to be a joke. Tsuna up until a few months ago was recognised by many as the strongest person in the world. He was the mightiest mafioso who had defeated the Varia, Millefiore, Shimon and Vendicare. Why would he need help to throw a punch?
"Train him how to throw a punch… seriously" Ryohei asks with a raised eyebrow. He also believes that Gokudera has gone mad, perhaps less coffee and more sleep is the answer.
"He's right" Tsuna announces, causing everyone else to start.
"Tsuna" Dokuro mumbles.
"All this time I haven't learnt any technique at all" the 10th begins, "If my punches were to get twice as strong in my base form that's merely a few hours of instruction. If that were to happen though, my maximum power would increase enormously".
The sun guardian scratches his head, "I'm not sure I get it" he begins, causing Gokudera to almost fly into a rage. "Regardless, I will teach you how to throw my patented extreme punch".
Tsuna sweatdrops, "I'm sure a normal boxing punch will do Ryohei".
"Good luck" Dokuro yells as her two fellow guardians find a bit of space to practice the basics.
"So how is your training coming along" Gokudera questions Dokuro, realising how absent he is behaving and trying not to make others concerned for his welfare.
"My training, I don't really know how to describe it" replies the mist guardian as she looks up in her own eyes. Training to use the six paths of reincarnation is not like normal training. It doesn't require mindless repetition or physical exertion it requires the user to become more brutal. This does not play to Dokuro's strong points.
"It's one step at a time" Dokuro decides with a positive tone. What Dokuro does is insignificant to the war effort and she knows that, compared to the like of Tsuna, Bana and Reborn she was weak. She, Ryohei and even Hibari wouldn't be able to gain enough strength to contribute anything major.
"We only had brief experiences with Mukuro's powers" sighs Chikusa.
"Teaching something so incredible isn't easy" Ken reinforces, "But we'll get it done before the book fight".
Upon hearing those words, the engineering supervisor watches for a moment as Ryohei teaches Tsuna the basics of how to throw a punch.
"I hope so" he says under his breath.
"So what have you been up to in terms of training" Dokuro asks quietly. She knows it's quite likely Gokudera has had no time for training, aiding Tsuna in his training is the most important job anyone has before this upcoming war.
"I haven't had much time to train while doing this for the 10th". Gokudera confirms the suspicions of the Kokuyo Junior High gang while his gaze returns to his computer screens.
Suddenly the cloud guardian points to a huge water tank with transparent glass surroundings.
"Is that full of explosives" exclaims Dokuro.
"I've been typing with my right hand and making bombs with my left" explains the white haired fighter, "Of course these bombs are weak and of no use to me… but I'm hoping they can make a difference to the ground soldiers".
With all these high powered fighters it is easy for the mafia to forget that the regular army will want to fight alongside them in this conflict. Even if the regular army believed the stories of how insignificant their power was they would still want to fight, such is a human's desire to protect their home.
"Amazing" comments Ken as he looks at the huge collection of dying will explosives.
"Your contribution is really noteworthy" Chikusa praises.
"I hope it's enough, I really do" Gokudera glumly prays, "I don't want to have the 10th do any more than he has to, that sort of thing is up to us".
"Yeah" concurs Dokuro, "Let's all work hard so that Tsuna can rest easily".
"Leave it to us" yells Ken.
"Let's go back to our training then" suggests Chikusa, causing Dokuro to smile and nod as the trio leave the three guardians to their work.
The CEDEF Courtyard
"That's right, you need to keep calm" Iemitsu suggests to Basil.
The duo has aptly chosen the CEDEF courtyard to train in. Unlike the many other factions that intended to follow the main Vongola family to Japan the CEDEF had decided to stay in Italy. It is Basil's home and Iemitsu would retire in Japan with his wife.
The situation had changed things, Iemitsu has been forced to delay his retirement slightly, his main duty is not that of a fighter. He shares a duty with Gokudera, a duty of training the main force, namely his old student Basil.
"Distractions will be everywhere once the fighting starts" he continues, "People will die all around you, you need to put it out of your mind".
Iemitsu speaks these words of wisdom but in his heart he knows they are just the general principles behind any fighting technique. Iemitsu has no knowledge of the ultimate dying will flame, his son had rediscovered it and his rivals had copied it. Only Reborn was truly a great enough tutor to teach it.
Suddenly a sporadic ultimate flame appears around Basil like an aura.
"THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DOING IT BASIL".
Basil strains himself for a few moments, desperately trying to hold onto the form as sweat drips down his body from his forehead. After a moment he can hold the form no longer and the dying will flame disappears.
"I could feel it; it was only for a moment but I could feel it" heaves Basil.
"You had it Basil, this is a huge leap forwards" Iemitsu encourages the youngster.
"Yeah" stammers Basil as he turns to look into the sky, "I wonder how Tsuna is getting along".
Iemitsu shares Basil's concerns. In fact, he is more concerned, as you would expect, Tsuna is after all his eldest son. He puts duty first and says the correct thing though.
"You don't need to worry about him, just worry about yourself" Iemitsu instructs his pupil, "However we both know my son; we both know he doesn't lose".
"You're right" smiles Basil as he kicks his staff up from the floor and into his hand, "Then shall we".
Iemitsu throws a punch towards Basil. The Italian youth counters by hitting Iemitsu on the outside of his arm to deflect the punch. The follow up is an unmerciful, brutal thrust to the gut of the elder gentleman, using the very base of the staff.
The Sawada patriarch falls to the floor, holding his abdomen as he does so.
"Master are you alright" Basil asks.
"Your opponent will show you know mercy" the former CEDEF leader shouts as he uppercuts Basil right in the chin.
Basil begins to flip backwards as a result of the attack. He uses the momentum of his opponent's fist in combination with his staff to complete a full backward flip. As soon as he lands the blue eyed Italian channels the hyper dying will flame into his staff and launches the aforementioned flame at his teacher.
Iemitsu falls backwards deliberately, holding himself just with the power of his lower legs as he floats just above the ground. He opens his eyes after the flame has gone past and is surprised to see Basil standing over him. Basil's staff is pointing at his head.
"Does this count as my win".
"Yeah" smiles Iemitsu, "Now all we need to do is complete that final flame, then you will be set".
Mastering that flame however is easier said than done.
The Open Country, Italy
It is here that Bana is training his arm strength. He has agreed to train in the art of the bow and arrow, something he never expected to do. The clone is stood alone with Kyoko as the remainder of his team have gone to collect various resources from the Chiavarone family and setup a practice target for him to shoot.
"Why are you so forgiving of him" Kyoko asks with a clearly depressed tone.
"Huh?".
"Sawada Tsunayoshi abandoned Haru and I, everywhere he goes destruction follows" begins Kyoko who is close to tears. "This whole mess is only happening because he refused to leave Japan, don't you realise this".
"You know the Yakuza were there from the beginning, Tsuna just forced them from the darkness and into the light. They had comfortable control over Japan before, they weren't known to the world true but they had comfortable control" Bana begins.
"Tsuna didn't initiate this war, they just attacked him when he encroached on their territory which is his home, your home, that's why they have gone so far in terms of world domination" explains the son of the 1st.
"He cheated on me" groans Kyoko.
"Kyoko, he thought you were dead, most likely because the Yakuza arranged it. Besides you weren't exactly ready to forgive him when you showed up alive".
"Perhaps it is time to move on" concludes Bana.
"Move on huh…" stammers Kyoko. She takes a deep breath and takes hold of Bana's head before surprising her leader greatly. She pressed his lips to her own, embracing the chief mafia policeman in a gentle kiss.
"I wasn't expecting that" Bana eventually manages to get out.
"Sorry" blushes Kyoko, "I just thought that...".
"It's OK" Bana interrupts with a smile, "It wasn't a bad thing".
"It wasn't?".
"Not at all, just warn me next time so I can try and embrace the moment" laughs the blonde.
"Bana" Kyoko says, still blushing.
"Yes Kyoko".
"I'm going to do it again".
"OK" Bana responds with an emotional smile as Kyoko puts her hands to his face once again and closes the distance between them.
"What are you doing?".
The new voice causes them both to leap away from each other and prepare for a fight. After a brief look they discover that the intruder is Lancia.
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STOOD THERE" Bana shouts uncharacteristically.
"Long enough for this to be awkward" replies the cloud policeman with a sly grin.
"Tell anyone and I will kill you" threatens Kyoko.
"Oh don't worry guys, I'm happy for you and I'm not exactly the gossiping type" replies Lancia, not at all intimidated by Kyoko's threat.
"I'm the type that brings gifts" he elaborates as he hands a very sturdy looking bow to his boss.
"This is amazing" exclaims Bana, "What incredible craftsmanship".
Lancia smiles, pleased at his boss' newly discovered weapon. "Well then, want to try it out, a few kilometres that way there is a target, can you see it".
Bana looks questioningly at his cloud policeman before the latter gestures to the bow. "Special sights huh" smiles Bana as he looks down the sights of the bow, trying to use the dying will flame to enhance his own eyesight, something quite clearly required to use this spyglass.
At the Target
"So do you guys think the boss will hit the target" Sorata asks.
"Of course he will, he has true power" Haru replies in a tone that makes it seem as if she is scolding Sorata for doubting Bana.
"We better hope he does or else we will probably die" Tokata morbidly notes.
The trio look at the target. It is there one moment and not the next. Bana had fired the arrow with such speed and power. When the arrow hit the target, it's superior momentum carried both the arrow and the target some way into the distance.
"I think he hit it" Sorata smiles sarcastically.
"Of course he hit it idiot, unless there are any other bowmen you know that could make that shot" replies Haru.
"None come to mind" Sorata says as he shakes his head. Vongola Bana is truly a monster.