BADS 8
Title: Beneath A Darker Sky
Author: Pain au Chocolat
Language: English, a sprinkle of Italian and Japanese.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fiction. Everything belongs to Akira Amano.
Rating & Warnings: NC-17 for future pr0n. OOC for the hot guys actually doing what they are supposed to do, without the interference of censorship. Characters won’t probably act exactly the same way they act in canon, but let’s blame the different circumstances. This fic is so AU that it wears its pants backwards. Expect anything. Including, but not limited to the following: shonen ai, yaoi, gore, violence, insanity, angst, bad humour, lots of recipes and alcohol, not to mention a sprinkle of lyrics, creative cursing, inhumane behaviour, lingerie, cross-dressing, angst and what not :D You’re reading this at your own responsibility. I am not responsible for any space pirate panty-thieves, gay cowboys or the death of Bambi’s mother. And this fic includes a Lussuria and a Mukuro - separately, thank God. Then we have also Xanxus and Tsuna - definitely not separately at some point…
Summary: A few months before Reborn appeared in his life, Tsuna got into an accident, that led to him undergoing a heart transplant surgery. Then this and that happened and it went down the complicated gay road from there.
Pairing: Eventual X27, + many x Tsuna on the side
CHAPTER 8
Yamamoto always treated people equally. Truly, he never singled out anyone no matter what sort of compliments and offers of friendships he got. That ended when he got close to Tsuna. Really, the boy was unique, one of a kind. Many people had told Yamamoto that he was dense or ignorant, but he often noticed things other people didn’t.
The first time they had actually interacted with each other was when he had decided to help Tsuna sweep the field after their team had lost during P.E. Yamamoto could still remember the comfortable feeling he had gotten around the effeminate boy. And when had tried to kill himself, only Tsuna had stepped forward and actually saved him. All of those who had claimed to be his devoted fans and friends… they all had just stared and done nothing.
”I’m just a pathetic person who would have regrets when dying”. Those were the words Tsuna had used then, and Yamamoto knew now that the younger boy was anything but pathetic. And when he had turned and smiled and asked the baseball player if he was alright…
Would anyone ever ask “when did you start thinking of Tsuna as better than other people?” he would recall that moment and say “then”. After that, time and time again Yamamoto witnessed how one of a kind the shorter boy actually was. And he knew that Gokudera shared the sentiment - it was painfully obvious how differently the half-Italian boy treated Tsuna, compared to other people. And it wasn’t just Gokudera. Even Sasagawa and Hibari acted - perhaps without noticing it themselves - differently towards Tsuna.
So yeah, Yamamoto always considered Tsuna to be a close, special friend. He never thought about it more than that.
But right now he knew that he was feeling unreasonably pissed off when a red-haired stranger (well, not a stranger but a classmate) had his arm draped around Tsuna’s shoulders.
“Longchamp-kun, touch me again and I’m sending you to Italy in a body-bag.”
“Sawada-chan! Does that mean that you love me!?”
Yamamoto wasn’t the type to dislike anyone, but frankly speaking, that guy was going too far. Gokudera seemed to agree on that too, since he dug out his dynamites. Even Hibari didn’t seem to much appreciate how Longchamp clung to Tsuna. But before anyone had the chance to do anything about the redhead, the noise of a gunshot echoed in the area.
He didn’t know what sort of game they were playing, but Longchamp was suddenly in his underwear, sitting on the cold snow and crying something about some girl not answering his calls.
“Desolation bullet,” Reborn said, appearing near Tsuna. “It makes the target mourn for himself and recall all the sad things in his life. It’s supposed to cause a reaction of pity.”
“Doesn’t work,” Gokudera hissed. “I’ll still kill him.”
“I like it when people cry,” Hibari smirked. “I’ll bite him to death.” Tsuna shrieked something and took a few steps to stand between the sobbing redhead and his comrades.
“Guys, please don’t! Longchamp-kun, you’re making your situation worse! Reborn, please do something!” the frustrated boy then turned to the baby, who smirked.
“Tsuna,” he said. “One step to the left.”
“Huh?” was the response accompanied by an instinctive step to the left. Then a bullet hit Tsuna’s forehead, and he fell. With wide eyes Yamamoto - he didn’t know the reactions of the other two because in all honestly he had eyes only for Tsuna at the moment - watched how the shorter brunet was suddenly, much like Longchamp, only in his underwear and crying bitter tears.
Only that while Yamamoto didn’t give a damn about the redhead, he almost drooled at the sight of his friend. Tsuna had really nice-looking legs. And for some reason the sight of him dressed in black panties with two orange ribbons in the sides made Yamamoto want to…. do some highly inappropriate things to the boy.
“Even if it’s complete darkness,” Tsuna stated. “I don’t care anymore. Go ahead and do whatever you want with me.”
“Now that’s the ultimate desolation,” Reborn smirked, and glanced at the three subordinates. Hibari was smirking, midnight blue eyes trailing over his future boss’s body.
“If your life is a complete wreck and you have so many regrets, then nothing matters anyway,” Tsuna sobbed, and Yamamoto took off his coat and walked forward to cover the almost naked boy.
“How long does this last?” Gokudera asked, and Reborn shrugged.
“Several minutes. But do take him somewhere warm. Indoors, for example.” Because from the look on Hibari’s face, the warmth he was thinking about was about action, not location. And that’s something Reborn didn’t want for his pupil to experience quite yet. He stared after them as they left, Yamamoto still being the one carrying Tsuna, and felt very content.
It was good to know that Tsuna was going to be in good hands.
Because if the news he had heard from Italy were true, then the boy’s peaceful life was coming to an end.
The winter was coming to an end, and Tsuna’s life was changing more and more. His phone bills were astronomical, but Dino had insisted on paying them - jus as he insisted for Tsuna to call him at least once a week. He still believed that the boy was actually a girl, and very often sent gifts such as dresses and jewellery. Tsuna didn’t complain. He didn’t even want to.
Aside from calling Dino, Tsuna had gotten Lussuria’s phone number and many hours had went by as the two chatted. Lussuria was funny, witty and didn’t spare insults when he talked about his co-workers or boss. Speaking of which… Tsuna still didn’t know what the man’s work was.
Right now Tsuna was dressed in a dark blue dress and had a matching ribbon at the end of his pigtail. He was in the kitchen, making provencal-style mussels for dinner, while Hana was sitting on a chair nearby, knitting. With Hana Tsuna felt most at ease, since they knew each other well enough to forget about being courteous and what not. So they both could focus on what they were doing and enjoy each other’s company without actually doing anything together.
The eventual interruption came in the form of Tsuna’s mother, who rushed into the kitchen beaming with happiness.
“I won the grand prize in the raffle attached to the tea bottle!”
“Really!?”
“What did you win?”
“A cruise trip to an island!” Nana cheered.
“A ship?” Tsuna said. “I get seasick. Why don’t you go with someone else?”
“Don’t say that,” his mother grinned. “This is a luxury cruise ship! Tsuna, all you’ve been on were small ships.”
“But it’s still a ship, right?”
“Oh come on, Tsuna,” Hana stated and poked the boy. “You can’t not go.”
“But usually that sort of prizes are for two people only, right?” the boy asked. “What shall we do with Lambo and I-pin?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Bianchi said, walking in with Reborn on her shoulder. “I’ll take care of the brats for you, so relax.”
“You two should have a chance to enjoy yourselves once in a while,” Reborn smirked, and every single alarm bell inside Tsuna’s head went off at the same time.
“Fantastic!” Nana screamed, and hugged her son enthusiastically. “I can’t wait!”
The ship was awesome. It was every bit as luxurious as the advertisements had promised, and the buffet was simply put superb. Tsuna was enjoying himself and couldn’t stop humming as he was making his way towards the cabin he shared with his mother, till he tripped and fell down the stairs, and ended up on a familiar silver-haired man.
“VOOOII!! What the fuck!? You’re Lussuria’s gal pal,” the man hissed with narrowed eyes, and Tsuna blinked in confusion. Lussuria’s gal pal? Did this guy still think that Tsuna was a female?
“…”
“…get the fuck off me, bitch.”
Apparently so. With a sigh, smirking inwardly, Tsuna decided to test the peaceful weapon Lussuria had taught him the second time they had met. Tsuna hadn’t had the courage to try it on any of his friends, but this guy was a stranger and they wouldn’t meet each other after this ever again, right? Right.
“I said,” the man growled before glancing at the brunet again, only to stop mid-sentence and gape. Tsuna was sporting the most adorable pout, and was leaning forward as per Lussuria’s tips. And while the boy didn’t know how compromising their position was, the silver-haired swordsman was suddenly extremely aware of it.
“Is Lussuria with you?” Tsuna asked, and curiously noted the deepening blush on the other’s face. The man sat up, but the brunet was still on his lap.
“No,” he growled and was about to say something, when they both heard footsteps coming closer. A panicked expression flashed on the silver-haired man’s face, and quickly Tsuna was hauled up and pushed into a room.
“Wha…?”
“Stay there. Be quiet. Play dead or I’ll kill you. You can’t be seen with me,” the man hissed, and shut the door, leaving Tsuna in a dark room. The brunet was, to put it mildly, confused. Why was that guy there? Tsuna was about to do something, when the sound of deep breathing stopped him. Slowly he turned, letting his eyes get used to the darkness. Holding his breath, he moved closer towards the chair where he could semi-clearly see someone sleeping in a sitting position.
’Can’t be too comfortable,’ Tsuna mused, and stopped when he finally could see the person clearly. It was a dark-haired man with scars on his face. He was scowling, but it didn’t look like he was having a nightmare. Thanks to sleeping the night in the same room as Reborn - who could be waked up from his slumber too damn easily, and waking him up meant getting shot - Tsuna could not only recognize a light-sleeper when he saw one, but also move quietly enough to not cause a disturbance.
This man - as handsome as he was - didn’t seem like the type Tsuna would like to have as an enemy. Even asleep and he was scary… had the man been awake, Tsuna would probably be dead. Slowly the brunette turned back towards the door, when his eyes fell on a bottle of Romante Conti.
Tsuna thought his heart would stop.
The wine in question was rare and cost over fifteen hundred dollars a bottle - no matter the vintage. It was of French origins and was said to have a rich and penetrating aroma without being too profound. It was pure perfection on the field… it was…
…too damn good of an opportunity for Tsuna to pass up.
Decision made, the brunet pulled a piece of a tissue from his pocket, borrowed one of the pencils on the table, and left behind the message of ’Thanks for the bottle. I’m very happy to have met someone with such good taste. I’ll remember you with love whenever I drink of this wine’ before grabbing the bottle, and approaching the door. There was utter silence at the other side, and Tsuna guessed that Lussuria’s co-worker wasn’t there anymore. Carefully he opened the door and saw the silver-haired man dragging a blond towards the other end of the hallway.
Tsuna stepped out of the room, closed the door carefully, and sprinted towards the room he shared with his mother. But when he opened the door, he was faced with a sight he didn’t expect.
“Tsu-kun, see who followed us here?” Nana said happily, and the boy gaped and Bianchi, I-pin and Lambo.
“I was telling that stupid cow that mom wasn’t here, and then he started crying,” Bianchi told them. “So I threatened him and said if he kept crying, then mom wasn’t going to come back. Then she started crying too.”
“Wait,” Tsuna muttered with narrowed eyes. “If you three are here, then…”
“Renaissance,” Reborn greeted, cosplaying a roman statue.
“Put some clothes on! And how did you all get in here!?”
“We charged right in the main entrance and beat all the guards, of course,” Reborn told him as if it was the most normal thing to do.
“You beat all the guards!? You’ll get arrested!”
“Like you’re one to talk. I know you can’t afford that wine you’re holding.”
“Er…”
“You should be careful about from whom to steal on this ship. It’s full of mafiosi, after all.”
“Excuse me, WHAT!?”
“Yes well, we are going to the Mafia Land after all.”
“Wait,” Tsuna whimpered and sat down on the nearest chair. “Isn’t this ship going to some tropical island?”
“It’s to the tropical mafia paradise. I just slipped a fake note so auntie wouldn’t suspect anything. To her this will be just an ordinary vacation. The Mafia Land in a place created by all families pooling their funds to create a place where they could relax without any police around. It’s a huge island resort.”
“But…” Tsuna felt his insides freezing when a sudden realization dawned on him. If Lussuria’s co-worker was here… that meant that the said co-worker was a mafioso!? Did Lussuria know?
’Then again,’ Tsuna thought. ’Lussuria never told me what his work actually was. Could it be… is he from the mafia too!?’
Similar sort of thoughts were plaguing another person’s mind too, as he was dodging bullets. Rather belatedly Squalo Superbi had realized that the room wherein he had pushed the ‘girl’ was the same room his boss had declared to be his temporary office - in other words it was more than likely the place where the said boss was slacking from his duties regarding paperwork.
’The girl is dead,’ Squalo had thought, rushing towards the room as soon as he managed to ditch Belphegor. When he opened the door, only his instincts had saved him from a bullet of an enraged boss. From what Squalo then gathered, someone had stolen the highly valued bottle of Romante Conti when Xanxus had been asleep.
It wasn’t difficult for him to guess who.
’I can’t believe that girl…’ Squalo scowled, and then realized that either the girl was a part of a mafia, or someone had brought her as an avec. Either way, she was involved in this business and why hadn’t Lussuria said anything about it!? Perhaps that faggot didn’t know…
’I need the bottle back and I need some answers,’ the silver-haired man thought. ’I’ll call Lussuria and ask him for the girl’s number or something. I guess I should keep this a secret or boss will murder me. Fuck.’
This whole Go Check The Activities At The Island -mission was going way worse than Squalo had anticipated.
“This place looks great!” Nana exclaimed as they arrived and inspected the island a bit. “It’s a true place for relaxation!”
“This place has really tight security,” Reborn told Tsuna. “Aside from the fact that the island itself can move, it also releases disruptive radiation that blocks it from the world.”
“So it’s practically a secret hideout,” Tsuna muttered.
“The mafia invested large amounts of dirty money on this place so they can relax.”
“This feels somehow wrong- ack!” The brunet bumped into someone and fell again. The high heels he was wearing didn’t help with his balance one a bit.
“Out of my fucking way, trash,” was what Tsuna heard, and he looked up only to see the scarred man from whom he had stolen the wine bottle. With him was a blond guy with a too-wide-to-be-for-real grin and… Squalo.
Squalo, who looked very odd right now. It was as if he couldn’t decide whether he was going to explode in rage or order Tsuna to run the hell away from there. Quickly the brunet scrambled away, but the red-eyed man had already lost interest in him and went forward, with people whispering and cowering in fear around him.
“What an unexpected surprise,” Reborn muttered, staring after the group of three.
“You know him?” Tsuna wheezed. “And why didn’t you save me?”
“It’d put you in danger if he knew that I’m associating with you. And yes… I know him.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“No. Forget about it. Now you have to do the preparations for entering the island.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Tsuna mused aloud. “What sort of preparations?”
You have to go to the front desk to tell them that you’ve arrived. Because you’re our representative, after all.”
Tsuna should have known that with Reborn, things aren’t that easy. Yet it seemed to escape his memory, and after a series of unfortunate events Tsuna was thrown into a subway. As if the bruises weren’t enough, he split a nail and found Reborn smirking at him.
“Where,” Tsuna hissed, “am I being dragged to!? It’s always your fault! Just what kind of sadist are you!? You knew this would happen!”
“You’re going to the backstage of Mafia Land,” the baby said uncaringly, and refused to say anything else till they reached their destination.
“Hey! You had the guts to come!” someone shouted, and to his utter amazement Tsuna saw a blond baby who reminded him strongly of Reborn.
“Ciaossu, Colonello.”
“Reborn!” And in a greeting equivalent to a rain of poisonous bullets and grenades ensued, and Tsuna felt that he really shouldn’t feel surprised.
“This person is the one in charge of the backstage of Mafia Land,” the dark-haired baby said, and shot two more bullets towards the blond.
“Aren’t you trying to kill him?”
“Puny bullets like these, hey… you can’t kill anyone, Reborn.”
“Using anti-tank weaponry, Colonello? Your hobbies are still so tacky.”
“Are you Reborn’s friend,” the future Vongola boss asked curiously, and took a few steps closer.
“Hell no, hey. I just happen to know him. He has no friends so I pity him.”
“We were born and raised in the same place,” Reborn said. “He was always the loser of the group, so everyone bullied him. He owes me his life ten times over.”
“So you two are childhood friends?”
“What are you doing here?” Colonello asked Reborn, ignoring Tsuna completely.
“I’m just here to observe my pupil, as he undergoes some training here.”
“Excuse me!?”
“Dame-Tsuna, the person who’ll train you is this freak here, who happens to be a former member of Italian combat frogmen force COMSUBIN. You can call him Freak. Or Colonello, if you insist.”
“Or Master,” the blond suggested, eyes trailing up and down Tsuna’s legs in a manner that a baby shouldn’t be even considering. “So you’re the Vongola 10th!”
“Yes.”
“You’re pretty.”
“And you’re cute.”
“…” Reborn could see an unanticipated friendship forming between the two, and smirked inwardly. As much as he hated to admit it, having Colonello as an ally would be a plus. Especially considering the person into whom Tsuna had bumped earlier. What the hell was Xanxus doing here? Suddenly a new realization dawned on Reborn and his eyes widened with honest surprise. Only one person demanded the best wines to be brought to him no matter where he was… could it be that Tsuna had stolen Xanxus’s wine? How? The idea was simply priceless, and he could hardly hide a grin as he glanced at his pupil.
“You see that whirlpool?”
“More like I can’t miss seeing it.”
“Jump in.”
“Fuck no.”
“You’ll have to go through bloody training, hey. Reborn, you will just have to shut up and watch me do it,” Colonello said. Reborn sighed and shrugged.
“I don’t think I’ll do this, after all. Tsuna is my victim pupil, in the end.”
“Excuse me!?”
“This will become a part of your beautiful memories, Dame-Tsuna.”
“I don’t want memories like these!” Tsuna exclaimed when a sudden explosion shook the place. A bird descended on Colonello’s head, and it seemed that he blond baby understood it.
“The backstage of Mafia Land has been discovered by the Calcassa Family. We’re under attack.”
“Why would a mafia family attack this place!? What happened to this being neutral ground?”
“Not all families have taken part in it,” Reborn explained. “This is made by the Vongola and its allies. There are many who are not Vongola’s allies. One example is the Calcassa.”
“Our pacifiers are glowing, hey,” Colonello suddenly said. “It should be someone we know.”
“Yeah,” the fedora-wearing hitman agreed. “And the only person who’s stupid enough to go along with something like this is that embarrassment of Italy, also known as Skull.”
“That loser never learns, hey.”
“Wait, you guys,” Tsuna sighed. “You mean a fight is going to break out here?”
“Rather, it’s a war. But our victory is certain.”
’Though with the Varia here… I wonder what will happen?’
_______________________________________________________________
END CHAPTER 8
A/N: Nano is starting! People! You who like writing! Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and join the madness!! :D “You mean, gay, or you mean mafia?” “You’re trying to tell me that there’s a difference!?”
As you can see, no Mukuro in this chapter. It’s yet another Character Development Filler Chapter before I unleash Mukuro on Tsuna bring some new characters in :D
Author: Pain au Chocolat
Language: English, a sprinkle of Italian and Japanese.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fiction. Everything belongs to Akira Amano.
Rating & Warnings: NC-17 for future pr0n. OOC for the hot guys actually doing what they are supposed to do, without the interference of censorship. Characters won’t probably act exactly the same way they act in canon, but let’s blame the different circumstances. This fic is so AU that it wears its pants backwards. Expect anything. Including, but not limited to the following: shonen ai, yaoi, gore, violence, insanity, angst, bad humour, lots of recipes and alcohol, not to mention a sprinkle of lyrics, creative cursing, inhumane behaviour, lingerie, cross-dressing, angst and what not :D You’re reading this at your own responsibility. I am not responsible for any space pirate panty-thieves, gay cowboys or the death of Bambi’s mother. And this fic includes a Lussuria and a Mukuro - separately, thank God. Then we have also Xanxus and Tsuna - definitely not separately at some point…
Summary: A few months before Reborn appeared in his life, Tsuna got into an accident, that led to him undergoing a heart transplant surgery. Then this and that happened and it went down the complicated gay road from there.
Pairing: Eventual X27, + many x Tsuna on the side
CHAPTER 8
Yamamoto always treated people equally. Truly, he never singled out anyone no matter what sort of compliments and offers of friendships he got. That ended when he got close to Tsuna. Really, the boy was unique, one of a kind. Many people had told Yamamoto that he was dense or ignorant, but he often noticed things other people didn’t.
The first time they had actually interacted with each other was when he had decided to help Tsuna sweep the field after their team had lost during P.E. Yamamoto could still remember the comfortable feeling he had gotten around the effeminate boy. And when had tried to kill himself, only Tsuna had stepped forward and actually saved him. All of those who had claimed to be his devoted fans and friends… they all had just stared and done nothing.
”I’m just a pathetic person who would have regrets when dying”. Those were the words Tsuna had used then, and Yamamoto knew now that the younger boy was anything but pathetic. And when he had turned and smiled and asked the baseball player if he was alright…
Would anyone ever ask “when did you start thinking of Tsuna as better than other people?” he would recall that moment and say “then”. After that, time and time again Yamamoto witnessed how one of a kind the shorter boy actually was. And he knew that Gokudera shared the sentiment - it was painfully obvious how differently the half-Italian boy treated Tsuna, compared to other people. And it wasn’t just Gokudera. Even Sasagawa and Hibari acted - perhaps without noticing it themselves - differently towards Tsuna.
So yeah, Yamamoto always considered Tsuna to be a close, special friend. He never thought about it more than that.
But right now he knew that he was feeling unreasonably pissed off when a red-haired stranger (well, not a stranger but a classmate) had his arm draped around Tsuna’s shoulders.
“Longchamp-kun, touch me again and I’m sending you to Italy in a body-bag.”
“Sawada-chan! Does that mean that you love me!?”
Yamamoto wasn’t the type to dislike anyone, but frankly speaking, that guy was going too far. Gokudera seemed to agree on that too, since he dug out his dynamites. Even Hibari didn’t seem to much appreciate how Longchamp clung to Tsuna. But before anyone had the chance to do anything about the redhead, the noise of a gunshot echoed in the area.
He didn’t know what sort of game they were playing, but Longchamp was suddenly in his underwear, sitting on the cold snow and crying something about some girl not answering his calls.
“Desolation bullet,” Reborn said, appearing near Tsuna. “It makes the target mourn for himself and recall all the sad things in his life. It’s supposed to cause a reaction of pity.”
“Doesn’t work,” Gokudera hissed. “I’ll still kill him.”
“I like it when people cry,” Hibari smirked. “I’ll bite him to death.” Tsuna shrieked something and took a few steps to stand between the sobbing redhead and his comrades.
“Guys, please don’t! Longchamp-kun, you’re making your situation worse! Reborn, please do something!” the frustrated boy then turned to the baby, who smirked.
“Tsuna,” he said. “One step to the left.”
“Huh?” was the response accompanied by an instinctive step to the left. Then a bullet hit Tsuna’s forehead, and he fell. With wide eyes Yamamoto - he didn’t know the reactions of the other two because in all honestly he had eyes only for Tsuna at the moment - watched how the shorter brunet was suddenly, much like Longchamp, only in his underwear and crying bitter tears.
Only that while Yamamoto didn’t give a damn about the redhead, he almost drooled at the sight of his friend. Tsuna had really nice-looking legs. And for some reason the sight of him dressed in black panties with two orange ribbons in the sides made Yamamoto want to…. do some highly inappropriate things to the boy.
“Even if it’s complete darkness,” Tsuna stated. “I don’t care anymore. Go ahead and do whatever you want with me.”
“Now that’s the ultimate desolation,” Reborn smirked, and glanced at the three subordinates. Hibari was smirking, midnight blue eyes trailing over his future boss’s body.
“If your life is a complete wreck and you have so many regrets, then nothing matters anyway,” Tsuna sobbed, and Yamamoto took off his coat and walked forward to cover the almost naked boy.
“How long does this last?” Gokudera asked, and Reborn shrugged.
“Several minutes. But do take him somewhere warm. Indoors, for example.” Because from the look on Hibari’s face, the warmth he was thinking about was about action, not location. And that’s something Reborn didn’t want for his pupil to experience quite yet. He stared after them as they left, Yamamoto still being the one carrying Tsuna, and felt very content.
It was good to know that Tsuna was going to be in good hands.
Because if the news he had heard from Italy were true, then the boy’s peaceful life was coming to an end.
The winter was coming to an end, and Tsuna’s life was changing more and more. His phone bills were astronomical, but Dino had insisted on paying them - jus as he insisted for Tsuna to call him at least once a week. He still believed that the boy was actually a girl, and very often sent gifts such as dresses and jewellery. Tsuna didn’t complain. He didn’t even want to.
Aside from calling Dino, Tsuna had gotten Lussuria’s phone number and many hours had went by as the two chatted. Lussuria was funny, witty and didn’t spare insults when he talked about his co-workers or boss. Speaking of which… Tsuna still didn’t know what the man’s work was.
Right now Tsuna was dressed in a dark blue dress and had a matching ribbon at the end of his pigtail. He was in the kitchen, making provencal-style mussels for dinner, while Hana was sitting on a chair nearby, knitting. With Hana Tsuna felt most at ease, since they knew each other well enough to forget about being courteous and what not. So they both could focus on what they were doing and enjoy each other’s company without actually doing anything together.
The eventual interruption came in the form of Tsuna’s mother, who rushed into the kitchen beaming with happiness.
“I won the grand prize in the raffle attached to the tea bottle!”
“Really!?”
“What did you win?”
“A cruise trip to an island!” Nana cheered.
“A ship?” Tsuna said. “I get seasick. Why don’t you go with someone else?”
“Don’t say that,” his mother grinned. “This is a luxury cruise ship! Tsuna, all you’ve been on were small ships.”
“But it’s still a ship, right?”
“Oh come on, Tsuna,” Hana stated and poked the boy. “You can’t not go.”
“But usually that sort of prizes are for two people only, right?” the boy asked. “What shall we do with Lambo and I-pin?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Bianchi said, walking in with Reborn on her shoulder. “I’ll take care of the brats for you, so relax.”
“You two should have a chance to enjoy yourselves once in a while,” Reborn smirked, and every single alarm bell inside Tsuna’s head went off at the same time.
“Fantastic!” Nana screamed, and hugged her son enthusiastically. “I can’t wait!”
The ship was awesome. It was every bit as luxurious as the advertisements had promised, and the buffet was simply put superb. Tsuna was enjoying himself and couldn’t stop humming as he was making his way towards the cabin he shared with his mother, till he tripped and fell down the stairs, and ended up on a familiar silver-haired man.
“VOOOII!! What the fuck!? You’re Lussuria’s gal pal,” the man hissed with narrowed eyes, and Tsuna blinked in confusion. Lussuria’s gal pal? Did this guy still think that Tsuna was a female?
“…”
“…get the fuck off me, bitch.”
Apparently so. With a sigh, smirking inwardly, Tsuna decided to test the peaceful weapon Lussuria had taught him the second time they had met. Tsuna hadn’t had the courage to try it on any of his friends, but this guy was a stranger and they wouldn’t meet each other after this ever again, right? Right.
“I said,” the man growled before glancing at the brunet again, only to stop mid-sentence and gape. Tsuna was sporting the most adorable pout, and was leaning forward as per Lussuria’s tips. And while the boy didn’t know how compromising their position was, the silver-haired swordsman was suddenly extremely aware of it.
“Is Lussuria with you?” Tsuna asked, and curiously noted the deepening blush on the other’s face. The man sat up, but the brunet was still on his lap.
“No,” he growled and was about to say something, when they both heard footsteps coming closer. A panicked expression flashed on the silver-haired man’s face, and quickly Tsuna was hauled up and pushed into a room.
“Wha…?”
“Stay there. Be quiet. Play dead or I’ll kill you. You can’t be seen with me,” the man hissed, and shut the door, leaving Tsuna in a dark room. The brunet was, to put it mildly, confused. Why was that guy there? Tsuna was about to do something, when the sound of deep breathing stopped him. Slowly he turned, letting his eyes get used to the darkness. Holding his breath, he moved closer towards the chair where he could semi-clearly see someone sleeping in a sitting position.
’Can’t be too comfortable,’ Tsuna mused, and stopped when he finally could see the person clearly. It was a dark-haired man with scars on his face. He was scowling, but it didn’t look like he was having a nightmare. Thanks to sleeping the night in the same room as Reborn - who could be waked up from his slumber too damn easily, and waking him up meant getting shot - Tsuna could not only recognize a light-sleeper when he saw one, but also move quietly enough to not cause a disturbance.
This man - as handsome as he was - didn’t seem like the type Tsuna would like to have as an enemy. Even asleep and he was scary… had the man been awake, Tsuna would probably be dead. Slowly the brunette turned back towards the door, when his eyes fell on a bottle of Romante Conti.
Tsuna thought his heart would stop.
The wine in question was rare and cost over fifteen hundred dollars a bottle - no matter the vintage. It was of French origins and was said to have a rich and penetrating aroma without being too profound. It was pure perfection on the field… it was…
…too damn good of an opportunity for Tsuna to pass up.
Decision made, the brunet pulled a piece of a tissue from his pocket, borrowed one of the pencils on the table, and left behind the message of ’Thanks for the bottle. I’m very happy to have met someone with such good taste. I’ll remember you with love whenever I drink of this wine’ before grabbing the bottle, and approaching the door. There was utter silence at the other side, and Tsuna guessed that Lussuria’s co-worker wasn’t there anymore. Carefully he opened the door and saw the silver-haired man dragging a blond towards the other end of the hallway.
Tsuna stepped out of the room, closed the door carefully, and sprinted towards the room he shared with his mother. But when he opened the door, he was faced with a sight he didn’t expect.
“Tsu-kun, see who followed us here?” Nana said happily, and the boy gaped and Bianchi, I-pin and Lambo.
“I was telling that stupid cow that mom wasn’t here, and then he started crying,” Bianchi told them. “So I threatened him and said if he kept crying, then mom wasn’t going to come back. Then she started crying too.”
“Wait,” Tsuna muttered with narrowed eyes. “If you three are here, then…”
“Renaissance,” Reborn greeted, cosplaying a roman statue.
“Put some clothes on! And how did you all get in here!?”
“We charged right in the main entrance and beat all the guards, of course,” Reborn told him as if it was the most normal thing to do.
“You beat all the guards!? You’ll get arrested!”
“Like you’re one to talk. I know you can’t afford that wine you’re holding.”
“Er…”
“You should be careful about from whom to steal on this ship. It’s full of mafiosi, after all.”
“Excuse me, WHAT!?”
“Yes well, we are going to the Mafia Land after all.”
“Wait,” Tsuna whimpered and sat down on the nearest chair. “Isn’t this ship going to some tropical island?”
“It’s to the tropical mafia paradise. I just slipped a fake note so auntie wouldn’t suspect anything. To her this will be just an ordinary vacation. The Mafia Land in a place created by all families pooling their funds to create a place where they could relax without any police around. It’s a huge island resort.”
“But…” Tsuna felt his insides freezing when a sudden realization dawned on him. If Lussuria’s co-worker was here… that meant that the said co-worker was a mafioso!? Did Lussuria know?
’Then again,’ Tsuna thought. ’Lussuria never told me what his work actually was. Could it be… is he from the mafia too!?’
Similar sort of thoughts were plaguing another person’s mind too, as he was dodging bullets. Rather belatedly Squalo Superbi had realized that the room wherein he had pushed the ‘girl’ was the same room his boss had declared to be his temporary office - in other words it was more than likely the place where the said boss was slacking from his duties regarding paperwork.
’The girl is dead,’ Squalo had thought, rushing towards the room as soon as he managed to ditch Belphegor. When he opened the door, only his instincts had saved him from a bullet of an enraged boss. From what Squalo then gathered, someone had stolen the highly valued bottle of Romante Conti when Xanxus had been asleep.
It wasn’t difficult for him to guess who.
’I can’t believe that girl…’ Squalo scowled, and then realized that either the girl was a part of a mafia, or someone had brought her as an avec. Either way, she was involved in this business and why hadn’t Lussuria said anything about it!? Perhaps that faggot didn’t know…
’I need the bottle back and I need some answers,’ the silver-haired man thought. ’I’ll call Lussuria and ask him for the girl’s number or something. I guess I should keep this a secret or boss will murder me. Fuck.’
This whole Go Check The Activities At The Island -mission was going way worse than Squalo had anticipated.
“This place looks great!” Nana exclaimed as they arrived and inspected the island a bit. “It’s a true place for relaxation!”
“This place has really tight security,” Reborn told Tsuna. “Aside from the fact that the island itself can move, it also releases disruptive radiation that blocks it from the world.”
“So it’s practically a secret hideout,” Tsuna muttered.
“The mafia invested large amounts of dirty money on this place so they can relax.”
“This feels somehow wrong- ack!” The brunet bumped into someone and fell again. The high heels he was wearing didn’t help with his balance one a bit.
“Out of my fucking way, trash,” was what Tsuna heard, and he looked up only to see the scarred man from whom he had stolen the wine bottle. With him was a blond guy with a too-wide-to-be-for-real grin and… Squalo.
Squalo, who looked very odd right now. It was as if he couldn’t decide whether he was going to explode in rage or order Tsuna to run the hell away from there. Quickly the brunet scrambled away, but the red-eyed man had already lost interest in him and went forward, with people whispering and cowering in fear around him.
“What an unexpected surprise,” Reborn muttered, staring after the group of three.
“You know him?” Tsuna wheezed. “And why didn’t you save me?”
“It’d put you in danger if he knew that I’m associating with you. And yes… I know him.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“No. Forget about it. Now you have to do the preparations for entering the island.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Tsuna mused aloud. “What sort of preparations?”
You have to go to the front desk to tell them that you’ve arrived. Because you’re our representative, after all.”
Tsuna should have known that with Reborn, things aren’t that easy. Yet it seemed to escape his memory, and after a series of unfortunate events Tsuna was thrown into a subway. As if the bruises weren’t enough, he split a nail and found Reborn smirking at him.
“Where,” Tsuna hissed, “am I being dragged to!? It’s always your fault! Just what kind of sadist are you!? You knew this would happen!”
“You’re going to the backstage of Mafia Land,” the baby said uncaringly, and refused to say anything else till they reached their destination.
“Hey! You had the guts to come!” someone shouted, and to his utter amazement Tsuna saw a blond baby who reminded him strongly of Reborn.
“Ciaossu, Colonello.”
“Reborn!” And in a greeting equivalent to a rain of poisonous bullets and grenades ensued, and Tsuna felt that he really shouldn’t feel surprised.
“This person is the one in charge of the backstage of Mafia Land,” the dark-haired baby said, and shot two more bullets towards the blond.
“Aren’t you trying to kill him?”
“Puny bullets like these, hey… you can’t kill anyone, Reborn.”
“Using anti-tank weaponry, Colonello? Your hobbies are still so tacky.”
“Are you Reborn’s friend,” the future Vongola boss asked curiously, and took a few steps closer.
“Hell no, hey. I just happen to know him. He has no friends so I pity him.”
“We were born and raised in the same place,” Reborn said. “He was always the loser of the group, so everyone bullied him. He owes me his life ten times over.”
“So you two are childhood friends?”
“What are you doing here?” Colonello asked Reborn, ignoring Tsuna completely.
“I’m just here to observe my pupil, as he undergoes some training here.”
“Excuse me!?”
“Dame-Tsuna, the person who’ll train you is this freak here, who happens to be a former member of Italian combat frogmen force COMSUBIN. You can call him Freak. Or Colonello, if you insist.”
“Or Master,” the blond suggested, eyes trailing up and down Tsuna’s legs in a manner that a baby shouldn’t be even considering. “So you’re the Vongola 10th!”
“Yes.”
“You’re pretty.”
“And you’re cute.”
“…” Reborn could see an unanticipated friendship forming between the two, and smirked inwardly. As much as he hated to admit it, having Colonello as an ally would be a plus. Especially considering the person into whom Tsuna had bumped earlier. What the hell was Xanxus doing here? Suddenly a new realization dawned on Reborn and his eyes widened with honest surprise. Only one person demanded the best wines to be brought to him no matter where he was… could it be that Tsuna had stolen Xanxus’s wine? How? The idea was simply priceless, and he could hardly hide a grin as he glanced at his pupil.
“You see that whirlpool?”
“More like I can’t miss seeing it.”
“Jump in.”
“Fuck no.”
“You’ll have to go through bloody training, hey. Reborn, you will just have to shut up and watch me do it,” Colonello said. Reborn sighed and shrugged.
“I don’t think I’ll do this, after all. Tsuna is my victim pupil, in the end.”
“Excuse me!?”
“This will become a part of your beautiful memories, Dame-Tsuna.”
“I don’t want memories like these!” Tsuna exclaimed when a sudden explosion shook the place. A bird descended on Colonello’s head, and it seemed that he blond baby understood it.
“The backstage of Mafia Land has been discovered by the Calcassa Family. We’re under attack.”
“Why would a mafia family attack this place!? What happened to this being neutral ground?”
“Not all families have taken part in it,” Reborn explained. “This is made by the Vongola and its allies. There are many who are not Vongola’s allies. One example is the Calcassa.”
“Our pacifiers are glowing, hey,” Colonello suddenly said. “It should be someone we know.”
“Yeah,” the fedora-wearing hitman agreed. “And the only person who’s stupid enough to go along with something like this is that embarrassment of Italy, also known as Skull.”
“That loser never learns, hey.”
“Wait, you guys,” Tsuna sighed. “You mean a fight is going to break out here?”
“Rather, it’s a war. But our victory is certain.”
’Though with the Varia here… I wonder what will happen?’
_______________________________________________________________
END CHAPTER 8
A/N: Nano is starting! People! You who like writing! Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and join the madness!! :D “You mean, gay, or you mean mafia?” “You’re trying to tell me that there’s a difference!?”
As you can see, no Mukuro in this chapter. It’s yet another Character Development Filler Chapter before I unleash Mukuro on Tsuna bring some new characters in :D