A/N: Thanks for the support everyone, this story is approaching 200 followers! *cheers* And if there's anything that doesn't seem to make sense (like Shamal's sudden interest in Shizuka's existence, the man demanded to be involved at the last minute) feel free to ask me about it and I'll try addressing it in one of the future end of chapter drabbles. Hope you all enjoy and feel free to leave a review!
There's a Plan?
There was a knock at the Sawada residence, Tsuna opening the door to a man that looked like an older Kyoya. He instinctively flinched, Masahiro sighed in annoyance. "Oh for the love of- I'm not going to attack you in your own home kid. I need to talk to that tutor of yours and Shizuka." He says, arms folded and tapping his foot impatiently.
It was clear that the man wanted to be nowhere near Reborn but he seemed to relax when Shizuka floated over to him. "What's up Hiro? How is Kyoya's investigation going?" Shizuka asks, Masahiro motioned for them to take the conversation away from the Sawada home. Shizuka saw Tsuna giving them a worried look and tried to reassure him. "Keep an eye on Mama and the kids. We'll be back."
Shizuka eventually became solid again, for Reborn's convenience of course. "Kyoya has been missing for two days." Masahiro stated bluntly, deciding to get to the heart of the matter. Shizuka froze. If Mukuro's gang was able to take down Hibari, then they were in real trouble. The teen was like a one man army. "Do we have any clue where he was heading before he disappeared?" Reborn demands.
"He and his men were sniffing around Kokuyo, one of the teenage attackers was wearing a uniform for a school in the area." Masahiro states, Shizuka nodded in agreement. "Both glasses and pinkie were wearing the same uniform. They tried abducting Fuuta and the Hibari family was more than happy to help." She felt Reborn's eyes land on her and she shivered. He then took out the prison photo of Mukuro and his gang. "Did glasses look like this?" He asks, pointing Chikusa. Shizuka nodded.
Reborn's eyes narrowed. "Looks like they were trying to draw us out before we could track them down. Having a confrontation with them was inevitable." He says, handing the photo to Masahiro. On the back was a list of the escaped inmates: Mukuro, Chikusa, Ken, M.M., Birds, Lanchia and twin serial killers that barely looked human. "It looks like my little brother was in over his head this time around." Masahiro says evenly, his only sign of distress the whitening and tenseness of his knuckles.
Shizuka let out a frustrated groan. "And since they're involved in the mafia, the cops around here wouldn't be able to lay a hand on them. This really is Vongola business, if only due to the fact that Tsuna and his guardians are also potential targets. I'll increase the patrols and take a look around for myself, they shouldn't be able to sense my presence."
XoXoXoXoXo
Daichi was picking up groceries when he suddenly felt... uneasy. He instinctively looked towards the source, a feral looking teen with a fanged grin. Unlike M.M., Ken didn't care about making a public disturbance in the middle of the day. While Daichi wasn't a solid suspect as one of the Decimo's subordinates, his solid stature and calm demeanor made Ken want to punch the teen in the face. He charged at Daichi with reckless abandon as his target watched him, expressionless.
Daichi was far from defenseless and knew about the recent string of attacks. He knew he was a large target. So instead of struggling over fight or flight, he calmly took a spray can out of his bag. When Ken got into his range, he shook the aerosol can and proceeded to spray bathroom detergent into Ken's face. The blond let out a pained scream and Daichi just walked away, leaving his attacker writhing on the ground in pain. To hell with mace, bathroom detergent was far more potent.
Ken was still cursing as he retreated to their base, bumping into objects and tripping over things. Chikusa raised an eyebrow and M.M. laughed. "What the hell happened to you?" She snickered, Ken snarled. "You try getting sprayed with fucking chemicals in the face. It hurts dammit!" It hurt to open his eyes and the smell of detergent was overwhelming his nose, it was a miracle he made it back by touch and sound alone. Ken was naturally a fast healer, but even he would need some time to recover.
XoXoXoXoXo
Not all of the victims were lucky enough to walk away from the attacks, Ryohei had been hospitalized with three broken ribs. Kyoko was a sobbing mess while Ryohei tried to down play his injuries. "Reborn, you know who did this." It wasn't a question but a statement. Tsuna's eyes were glowing a faint amber, Reborn nodded. "I was hoping to give you more time to train but it looks like we no longer have that luxury. We'll attack tomorrow." Tsuna gulped, this would be the first time that he'd face a threat head on.
"You placed a tracking chip in Kyoya's arm band?" Shizuka exclaims, Masahiro raised an eyebrow. "You don't honestly think that we let him wander around town without keeping tabs on him do you? He's been a walking time bomb since he was a brat." Shizuka looked like she was going to protest, then thought it over. "Yeah, that does make sense." She agreed. She could already imagine a toddler Kyoya trying to "bite" a yakuza member for a misdemeanor like littering.
Shizuka went to check on Daichi as well, stunned that he actually wounded one of the attackers. "Does anything ever faze you?" Shizuka asks. "I can see and exorcise spirits. You're a ghost. These attacks are the only thing that don't reek of anything supernatural." Daichi comments. Shizuka looked at the two males and pouted. "You guys aren't any fun. I'm going to get some sort of emotional reaction from my brother." She huffed. When she was gone, Masahiro let out a frustrated groan. "How did we end up being her guardians?" Daichi just shrugged.
XoXoXoXoXo
"Guys, we really need to stick together." Tsuna says, pulling Gokudera and Yamamoto aside. Gokudera protested at first, wanting nothing to do with the baseball idiot. Eventually Tsuna snapped. "Gokudera, they sent Ryohei to the hospital and captured Hibari, I don't want any more of my friends getting hurt!" The hot headed storm hung his head, mentally berating himself for putting his pride first before Tsuna's feelings. Yamamoto put a hand on Gokudera's shoulder and grinned. "You know what they say: there's strength in numbers. We're a team."
Reborn smirked, slowly but surely Tsuna was starting to fit the role of a leader. While the teen would have sat back and allowed Reborn to do everything for him before, his student was taking a more active role in protecting his family and friends. Now they just needed a plan to protect Tsuna's civilian friends and family so they couldn't be used as leverage.
Bianchi had already been called in to keep an eye on the Sawada residence and Shamal was still in town, trying to find the ghost sister Tsuna was rumored to have. Reborn was not leaving any of their bases uncovered. Masahiro and Daichi were part of the assault team as well as Tsuna and his friends. "So it's a bunch of teenagers against a group of criminals that have no issues with killing people. This is going to be fun." Shizuka says bluntly.
Bonus: Defeated by Flowers
Never, in all the years of Kyoya biting people to death, had a bite backfired on him. How was he supposed to know the "pervert" was an assassin that had an arsenal of mosquitoes carrying diseases? He had easily powered through the herbivores to the one in charge, only to fall to his knees the moment he saw an illusion of sakura trees. In his moment of weakness Lanchia had flattened him with his mace multiple times and was thrown into a makeshift jail. His only respite was the small yellow bird that approached him, using his hair as a nest. "When I see that perverted herbivore, he is going to pay."
Elsewhere, Shamal felt a chill run down his spine. Before Tsuna's Skullitius had been cured, one of the secrets that had been revealed was the existence of a sister. At the time he had briefly felt another Sky flame in town, drawing him like a moth to a flame. Reborn had given him a strange look when he mentioned it and grumbled something about Sky Attraction working from beyond the grave.