#it seems like people just took what riku said at face value to the extreme i guess

[sorikufeels]

I wasn't very active in the fandom when KH3 had just come out, but I do remember a lot of stupid takes... So I believe OP was referring to people saying that Riku "forgave Ansem SoD" and how all the bad guys are getting redeemed left and right, including SoD. And how the heroes just waved off everything bad the villains have done.... That kind of stuff. It was a wild time.

ohh ok that makes sense! i also wasn’t active in the fandom right after kh3 came out so i don’t know much about stuff that happened during that time, so thanks for explaining! <3

but yeah that,,, certainly is a take,,,

[nadziejastar]

If both Lea and Isa went through mind control programming how did Axel turn out so well adjusted?

Axel Is A Fucked Up Guy

Ansem the Wise: Xehanort. Foolish apprentice of a foolish man. You have surpassed nothing—only proved how little we both know. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach.

If you’re asking how a person could be subjected to mind control and still be a good person, and not a total psychopath…well…that’s kind of the mystery of the human condition, no? Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dąbrowski was caught in World War II and endured harsh incarceration in German prison system and later, he and his wife were imprisoned again in Stalin-controlled Poland. He said he could find no theory of psychology that could adequately explain both the lowest and most depraved behavior he saw, as well as the most heroic and highest acts he had witnessed in the war. He dedicated his life to the study of personality development.

Axel: We are just Nobodies who have no one to be, yet we still “are.” But now you can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody. You’re off the hook.

Vexen: No… Please don’t! I don’t want to—

Axel: Goodbye.

But I would actually argue that Axel was NOT well-adjusted, even though a lot of people might have interpreted him to be that way. Not at all. To me, KH3 is the only game that tried to make him seem well-adjusted and “normal”. A cool ice cream bro who breaks the fourth wall. Which I hated. And even then, there’s still plenty of signs that he’s not really recovered from his past.

It seems like a lot of people took Roxas and Xion’s understanding of Axel—a happy-go-lucky big brother—at face value. But it was clear that they didn’t know him at all. He had a very tragic life. He used to be a normal, happy kid and became a lonely, cynical, bitter assassin. He absolutely despised the organization. You could tell that he took great pleasure when he eliminated Vexen. It had nothing to do with some phantom girl he wasn’t sure existed. He said he had “no one to be”.It was very personal. 

Sora: None of that matters! Just put Riku back!

Vexen: Just put him back? The Riku you speak of…has but one fate, to sink into the darkness—and you will share that fate, Sora! If you continue to seek the girl, Naminé, the shackles will tighten, you’ll lose your heart…and end up becoming Marluxia’s pawn!

Personally, I think Axel especially enjoyed killing Vexen when Sora began pleading with him to change Riku back. That would hit really close to home, and must have been a HUGE trigger for him. Whether he was planning to already or not, that was when Vexen needed to die. I also think it’s why he took such a liking to Sora. 

It was Sora’s devotion to Riku that stood out the most to Axel in Castle Oblivion. Even more than his connection to Roxas.Right after Sora and Riku had a fight, Axel has a scene with Naminé.

Axel: Heh heh… I know exactly how you feel. Don’t get your hopes up. Nobodies can’t be somebodies. But think, Naminé. I’m sure there’s SOMETHING you could do…

This is Axel’s quote from the original Chain of Memories.

Axel: Does it hurt, Naminé? Watching your two childhood friends fight all because of you? You have my sympathies. From the heart. But don’t waste your time. We Nobodies can never hope to be somebodies.

And this is his quote from Re:Chain of Memories. He’s a LOT colder to her. And I don’t think it was because he had no heart. I think he was so cold to her because he had begun to develop a heart. Naminé’s the wedge that’s driving two close childhood friends apart. It hit WAY too close to home for Axel. And he truly hated her for it. He was dead serious when he said he had absolutely NO sympathy for her.

Riku: Hmph. Too bad, Sora. You can fight me all you want, but I still won’t remember a thing.

Sora: C'mon, Riku… Let’s quit fighting—let’s go help Naminé.

Riku: Together—right. So like you… …Sora—you’re always trying to worm your way into my heart!

Sora: Hold on! When did I ever do that?

Riku: Hmph, you forgot that, too? You never cared. It never mattered to you!

Sora: You won’t push me away.

He knew how the Riku Replica felt, thinking his friend didn’t care about him. And he knows only too well how Sora felt, trying to “worm his way” into his friend’s heart, only to be coldly rejected. And everything about it disgusted him. Sora is a lot like Lea. It made him remember what it was like to have such a strong bond, and how traumatized he was when he lost it. But Sora refused to take no for an answer. Just like him. But of course, that wasn’t really Riku anyways. Axel knew that. Sora’s friendship will be okay. But Axel’s won’t.

Axel: Is that your shield? Won’t do you any good, I’m afraid.

Axel wanted to save Sora. But he couldn’t have cared less if he killed Naminé. He wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. If anything, he would have been more than happy to do it. He knew she was an innocent young girl who was just an unwilling pawn of the Organization. He didn’t care. It’s so messed up if you think about it. He’d murder a terrified little girl—and he’d do it with a smile on his face. That’s how much he hated anyone who would cause a rift between childhood friends. That’s how devastated he was after the loss of Isa. He has extreme, deep-seated hatred inside of him.

Axel didn’t waste a second grabbing his chakrams. But his body was reluctant somehow.

I don’t want to disappear… But still, it wouldn’t be so bad if I did. Not here.

Axel let out a deep breath and leaped into the air as flames erupted around them.

“…Pathetic!” The Claymore moved to block Axel’s strike, while Saïx himself didn’t even twitch.

This is a pretty overwhelming disadvantage, Axel thought. Well, I knew that before we started fighting. I can’t win against Saïx with my own strength.

Still, he refused to hesitate. He had to force this path open. He wanted…to find hope—the hope that Sora and Riku had.

Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!” And then the Claymore pierced Axel’s chest.

In my opinion, Axel changed because of Sora and Riku. When he came back from Castle Oblivion, his relationship with Saïx became very strained. Those two reminded him of what he used to have, and it’s unbearable to him that he no longer has it. At the end of KH2, while fighting Saïx, he said that he wanted the hope that Sora and Riku had. He wished that Saïx was just a fake replica the whole time, and that none of the awful things he said were true. The real version had actually gone away to protect him, but he’d show up later, and they could go back to being friends. Hmmm.

Sora: What are you— What ARE you people?!

Axel: Hm… Don’t know. I wonder about that myself.

When Axel saw the way Sora reacted when he killed Vexen, it made him feel ashamed. He realized that “normal” people are horrified by his actions, even when he is acting on their behalf. Sora was furious with Vexen, but even he was appalled by what Axel did.

Sora: After I finish you, he’s next!

Axel: Hmph. Now, Sora. We’ve got more in common than you might think. I’d really rather not fight you… But I can’t dishonor the Organization, now, can I?

Axel: You’re better than I thought you’d be. It was worth saving you after all.

Axel identifies with Sora, but Sora sees him as a monster. Maybe he was relatively well-adjusted compared to some of his fellow Organization members, at least in the morality department. But his “happy-go-lucky big brother” persona was mostly just a facade to cover up a very dysfunctional and wounded person. That was the mask he was comfortable showing outwardly. But it was not his true self.

Day 74: Xion’s Face

Honestly, I never got why Roxas was so crazy about Xion. I know they both joined up around the same time, and they’re both rookies, but how do you get so close to somebody who hides their face all the time? Well, I saw it today. All of a sudden, No. XIV up and takes off…her hood. Xion is a girl, and she looks just like Naminé.

It’s why he acted so strangely when he saw Xion’s face for the first time. He’s looking into the face of the little girl he was willing to murder, who is now asking to be his friend. It freaked him the fuck out. And it made him feel like total shit.

Roxas: When I saw her lying there… I couldn’t stop thinking that she’ll never wake up.

Axel: She will.

Roxas: Saïx called her “broken.”

Axel: Hmm… Well, if it cheers you up, I’m probably a lot more broken than her.

Underneath the mask, was a really fucked up guy who had a LOT of issues. And he KNEW it.

Axel stretched his neck and munched on his ice cream. “You know, I don’t mind disappearing.”

Naminé’s breath caught.

Riku stared at him.

“Roxas is gone. When we bring Kairi here, Naminé will be gone, too. So, same for me,” he said, as if he were discussing the weather, and then punctuated his comment with another bite of sea-salt ice cream.

“We don’t disappear… We’re only reborn,” Naminé murmured, perhaps to herself.

“I’m not like you and Roxas,” Axel said flatly. His hand holding the ice pop stick paused in midair.

“But—but you…” She looked down, clenching her fists.

“It’s because I don’t have a heart,” Axel went on. “I don’t want to disappear, but I’m not upset or sad about it.”

Why was he so convinced that he’s not like Roxas and Naminé? Because he’s not innocent anymore. He’s not going to get a next life because he doesn’t think he deserves one. In his mind, he’s not a good person. He’s done bad things. And he’s poisoned by hatred. I think that’s exactly why he clung to Roxas and Xion so much in the first place, aside from sheer loneliness.

They made him remember who he was before he became so fucked up. But he’d never, EVER tell them some of the things he’s done, or what he’s truly capable of. They’d be horrified and he knows it. He’s always eating ice cream during stressful moments in the novel. Even when he’s literally dying. The shittier he feels, the more he eats. The ice cream is comforting to him because it’s something he used to do in the past with Isa. It reminds him of better days. It’s almost like an addiction. Sea-salt ice cream is viewed as this cute, happy thing. But the reason it is so significant to Axel is because he’s in unbearable pain.

Kairi: So, you gonna try yours on?

Lea: Uh…I dunno. Maybe later.

Kairi: But you always wear the same thing.

Lea: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This is how you pick me out of a crowd. I make myself easy to remember.

Even in KH3, he won’t take off his old clothes and always stares off into the distance. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with Roxas or Xion. It’s because he’s got baggage. Serious unresolved baggage, connected to his time in the Organization XIII cult. I cannot describe how much I despise the way KH3 downplayed this, and made it seem like his only problem in life was not having Roxas around to hang out with. It felt SO out-of-character to me. Of course he’d want to see Roxas again (who is actually Ventus, IMO). But his entire life doesn’t and shouldn’t revolve around that. He had a life before Roxas and that deserved attention. Isa was the root cause of Lea’s pain.

Axel’s title in the series translates into English as “Flurry of Dancing Flames,” but this doesn’t quite capture the meaning of the original Japanese. The English title implies that Axel himself is fire, but the literal parsing of the Japanese phrase is more like “dancing fire’s wind.”

I think that Axel’s title is about Isa. “Tandava” or dance of destruction, is a divine dance performed by the Hindu god Shiva, where he is infamously depicted surrounded by a circle of flames. It symbolizes the cycles of creation and destruction. Sati grew up devoted to Shiva and spurned the advances of rich kings to the point where she left for a forest to escape the constant proposals. Eventually Shiva consented to make her his bride, and, elated, Sati went to share the news with her father.

Axel: Nothing lasts forever, man. Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies. But you know, we’ll still have each other…even if things change and we can’t do this anymore.

Roxas: Yeah?

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

However, upon her father’s expression of his disapproval of her marriage, she immolated herself, praying to one day be reborn as a daughter to a father she could respect. Angered and grief-stricken after learning of Sati’s death, Shiva performed a terrible Tandava. The more Shiva danced, the more destruction arose. Out of grief and sorrow, Shiva carried Sati’s body and roamed around the universe with it, reminiscing of their moments as a couple. It sounds a lot like Axel to me. His relationship with Saïx is akin to carrying a corpse around. Isa’s even got the giant scar on his forehead which literally means “death”.

Eventually, Sati was reborn as Parvati. This time, she was born the daughter of a father whom she could respect; a father who appreciated Shiva ardently. Naturally, she grew up to be a beautiful woman and over time, she grew to love Shiva with her whole heart. Eventually, they married. The two are literally inseparable, as they have a form where they are fused together as one. Their fused form is another symbol of duality. It’s basically the Hindu version of the Red King and White Queen of alchemy.

Another reason I think Axel’s title was about Isa? Well, because that’s what his Mystery Gear weapon was about, too. The Jade Emperor wanted to test the virtue of the hare and his friends. They all gave him food. But the hare had no food except the grass growing in the forest. So he told the Jade Emperor to build a fire, and when the fire was burning, he said “I have nothing to give you to eat but myself!” Then, the hare threw himself into the fire.

Of course, the Jade Emperor caused the fire to go instantly cold so that the hare was not burned, and then revealed his true form. And then he painted the hare’s likeness on the face of the moon for all to see, so that his virtue would be remembered throughout the ages. The rabbit was unharmed and lived happily ever after. In some versions, he actually is taken to the moon and becomes immortal. But the rabbit hasn’t gotten to the moon yet. He doesn’t know that the Isa he remembers is still alive.

Xemnas: There hangs the heart of all hearts–Kingdom Hearts–shining down on us at last. See the countless hearts that have gathered? Hearts full of rage…hate…sadness…and bliss. There, in the sky, hangs the promise of a new world.

In addition to his own abuse, Axel is fucked up because of Isa. He’s angry at what they did to him, and he’s devastated over losing him. He was an emotional wreck, filled with rage, hate, and sadness. His entire arc was building up suspense for the “bliss” part…and then they did a bait-and-switch.

[currantlee]

You know, the foundation thing is actually a great metaphor! I don't do makeup that much, but I've observed the beauty community for a school project for quite some time, so I know a little... If we compare agenda to makeup, then it would be like the primer (the stuff that supposedly makes your makeup last longer and look better. I can't tell if it works since I've actually never used primer myself, but let's pretend that it does for the sake of the metaphor).

And no, I actually wholeheartedly agree that most people aren't going to dive past surface level, which is completely fine btw. That's what analysis is for: diving past that surface level. But as interesting as those deep dives are, they take time and a lot of thinking power (funfact: it took me over a day and several rewrites of that one sentence to break Sora's agenda down to "I want to be with my friends"). You can't just hold your breath and get to the bottom of the lake - you need equipment and preparation, and a lot of the time you will need to take breaks. This of course doesn't mean the things past surface level don't matter. In fact, I'd argue that the reason why Sora is still perceived as a consistent character with a direction is due to his agenda. It ties his character together (or as you said, and I really love your wording, it's the core of his character), even though most people will never consciously acknowledge what exactly it is. And that is okay.

Last but not least - I think you may be onto something regarding Kairi's agenda there, although I wouldn't word it as helping the world(s) (possibly just because I personally don't think it's a fitting agenda for her, so it might be opinion bias). More specifically, I think that she might already be developing an agenda. Strength has many different faces and purposes. It can be for yourself (confidence), but also to help others (let's face it, people who are insecure can often not help others as well as people who are confident, or at least pretend to be). One kinda goes hand in hand with another. That being said - I think a fitting agenda for Kairi and one that is a direction that is currently plausible is "I want to be stronger" (otherwise known as "classic shounen"). I know it sounds extremely generic, maybe even impersonal, but think about everything Kairi has been though up until this point. She couldn't defend herself when she was sent off to another world as a child, was repeadedly kidnapped and even killed once, was often left out in the past and honestly doesn't seem value herself all too much most of the time (which was very apparent in Melody of Memory). I think this agenda would overall make sense for Kairi's character as a whole, and it would give her a sense of direction which she lacked for a long time. Her previous actions would also line up with it. It would make sense for her to train rather than go out into the worlds, since her agenda implies that she doesn't think of herself as strong (which wouldn't surprise me, especially not after Melody of Memory). It would make sense for her to not stand up to Riku (who is simply acting in line with his own agenda) at the end of Melody of Memory, and to Sora at the end of KH1. Heck, it would even indirectly explain why she got herself killed in KH3 (because she didn't think she could handle the situation). And as a bonus you would also get a nice parallel in Re:Mind: Sora says that he feels strong with Kairi in the Light in the Darkness-scene. If we interpret Kairi's agenda as I did in this posting, then it would imply that Sora makes her feel strong too. Even her relationship with Sora, the protagonist, would relate to her agenda to a degree in this case, without the agenda revolving entirely around him (and that would be a good thing, because it would tie the main carriers of the story together without one of them becoming an accidental supporting character).

... I think I just had a moment of enlightenment. This is why I enjoy both analysis and discussion so much - because to me, those moments are incredibly rewarding.

So, in conclusion: it seems like Kairi has an agenda after all, or at least is developing one - in other words, I was wrong. There could be a thousand reasons as to why this happened (and again, I like to stay away from author intent speculation, although I can certainly see why it is a thing). In any case, I think said agenda needs to be fleshed out better - and how to better do that than integrate Kairi into the story a bit more? It's something they have done with Re:Mind and Melody of Memory. On top of that, Riku has mostly finished his character arc (which doesn't mean he'll become irrelevant, he is still the deuteragonist. Honestly, I can see Riku getting another character arc, but not as heavy as his previous one). All of this makes me optimistic to be honest. To be clear, I still don't think Kairi is ready to carry another game yet since her agenda hasn't been fleshed out that much, but I think that for now, she is in a good position. No, I won't expect anything (I like to let creators do their thing and trying to be open for anything, although I will also jump ship if I don't enjoy something anymore. Idk, that's just my style of being a fan / consumer I guess). If Kairi doesn't get more story impact, then yeah, that would be a pity, especially with the setup they have for her right now, but it wouldn't be the end of the world (or franchise) for me. I can understand that people, especially those who have Kairi as their favorite character, would be upset about it though. Everyone is different (which also applies to the way we consume media), and that is a good thing.

So in conclusion (to the conclusion), I think this was a very productive discussion 😊 You've said in a previous posting on this discussion that you felt like I was approaching the topic mostly from a story perspective, while most people approach it from outside of the story. I think - and thought the entire time to be honest (I just didn't want to say it because I didn't want the discussion to move into that direction) - you are right in that we took different approaches to the subject. But you know what I also think? I think our different approaches are precisely what made this discussion so productive. Just like different perspectives allow us to capture different angles of an object (leading to a more detailed image), different approaches to a subject allow us to see more of its facettes (leading to a fuller picture).

All of that being said - thank you so much for taking the time for this discussion and bringing a lot of things to my attention as well. I feel like I definitely learned some stuff.

Kairi doesn’t need another game as much as she needs her own agenda that doesn’t 100% revolve around Sora (it will always have to do with Sora to some degree because he is the protagonist, but it doesn’t have to revolve around him entirely). As long as she doesn’t get that, she’ll remain replacable and any further attempt at a so-called Kairi game is doomed to fail from the start.

You don’t believe that? Play Melody of Memory again. That’s your failed Kairi game there (even though it takes a step into the right direction IMO). In fact, it was such an epic fail in this department that some people don’t even acknowledge it was a Kairi game.

[the-blue-eyed-fallen-angel]

Troisième chapitre: Les roues commencent à tourner

What are you doing, Dame-Tsuna?” Asked Reborn, sitting up on his hammock. His internal clock told him it was around 6 AM, and he wasn’t due to wake up Tsunayoshi until 7.

Tsuna finished tying his hair. “Preparing.” He said, tugging on his shirt. Once he was satisfied, he silently opened the door, and tiptoed down the stairs in darkness. Only when he was safely down in the kitchen did he turn on any lights.

Reborn followed him down, where the kid started pulling down ingredients. “Do you want some?” Tsuna asked, leaving the pan to heat while he chopped vegetables.

“Yes. Make it a good one, Dame-Tsuna”

Tsuna snorted. “I don’t like that name too much. I would really appreciate it if you stopped calling me that.”

“But that’s your name.”

“My name,” he said, chopping the vegetables with force. “It’s Sawada Tsunayoshi, not Dame-Tsuna. That’s a cruel nickname I was given more than ten years ago.”

“Convince me.”

Tsuna sighed in frustration, putting the vegetables on the pan. He took a long look at them, looked at where Reborn was perched on the table, and shook his head. “Whatever.”

He finished both omelettes and put them on the table, wasting no time on eating his. Reborn took a small piece and sniffed it cautiously before eating it. Upon determining it wasn’t poisoned, he dug in with gusto.

“So where are you going?” Asked Reborn between bites.

“Training. I usually go running with Onii-san and Kyoko.” Tsuna said curtly.

“Hm. Interesting. You didn’t go running yesterday though.”

“We alternate days. Onii-san is very strict about not getting burned in training.”

Tsuna picked up the plates and left them on the sink, before grabbing a bag and making his way out. The chill air of the pre-dawn daylight gave him gooseflesh, and he couldn’t help but take a deep breath of air, a small smile making way to his face.

The moment was broken thanks to a kick to the head. “Get going, Dame-Tsuna.” He said, perching on the kid’s head. “We wouldn’t want your friends to be bored, do we?”

Tsuna tried to glare at the baby, but realizing it was hopeless, he tried to dislodge him from his head by shaking it as hard as possible. Reborn however, remained unmoved, but internally gave the kid props for trying.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Mush!” He said, clucking his tongue and nudging him with his heels.

Giving it up as a lost cause, he jogged over a couple streets. Soon, the Sasagawa’s house came into view, along with two figures in front of it.

“Good Morning, Tsu!” Said Kyoko, waving. Ryohei broke out of his stretch and waved him too.

“Extreme morning, Tsuna!” Said Ryohei, in what passed as low volume for him.

“Good morning you two! Had a good night?” sked Tsuna, smiling.

“Yes, thank you. Oh! Good morning, Reborn-san.” Kyoko greeted, bowing to him.

“Morning!” Chirped Reborn cutely. Kyoko giggled and Tsuna rolled his eyes. “Are you going on a run?”

“Yes! It’s Extremely important to keep up on your physical training!” Said Ryohei punching the air.

“Are you going to join us today?” Asked Kyoko.

“Sure.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All in all, it was pretty disappointing for Reborn. While the kids did manage a respectable 8 miles circuit, and while their stamina were to above average levels, there was nothing particularly interesting on their usual circuit, so as soon as they hit the school, Reborn went on his way, acting all mysterious. Tsuna and his friend exchanged concerned glances, but deciding there was nothing they could actually do, they continued with their usual routine.

Until lunch.

“No” Said Tsunayoshi, not even bothering to look up from his book.

The volleyball captain spluttered, looking at Yamamoto first, then back at him. “B-But why not?”  He cried in confusion.

“Because I never had anything to do with the volleyball team.” Was his curt response.

The boy hesitated, but bowed. “You are our last hope, Tsuna! I have asked a lot of people but no-one wants to substitute in such a short notice, and you don’t have anything to do after class!”

“I have work after class.” Said Tsunayoshi, glaring at the boy over the top of his book.

“W-Well, can’t you be a little late today then?” He bowed again, deeper this time. “This game… It’s our last chance to move up in the rankings. You were amazing fighting yesterday with Mochida. So please, lend us that strength!”

Tsuna finally put his book down and took a long, hard look at the kid. “The volleyball team has been failing all year. Even if I decided to help you, there’s no way you’d be anyway near the top.” He said coldly.

The boy flinched at his words, looked at Tsunayoshi, and fell into a dogeza. “Please! This game is our last chance to save the club! Yes, we have been failing. But! If we win this match, Coach guaranteed us that the club would continue. Everybody would respect us! Even you! Please, you have to!”

Tsunayoshi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath slowly before letting it out. “First of all, It’s Sawada-san to you. Second of all, I don’t care what people here think of me so long as they leave me alone, so the judgemental assholes can save their opinions to themselves. Third, I have been sharing classes with you for six years and you never did so much as say hi to me, so I don’t ‘have’ to do anything for you. Plus, you just tried to lie to me. So, no, I have absolutely no intention of helping you.”

The boy opened his mouth as if to argue, but Takeshi interrupted him. “Well, since that was all you wanted to ask Tsuna, you may leave now.” He said with a smile, tapping his shinai against his shoulder. The volleyball captain flinched, but turned around and walked out of the room just as Kyoko and Hana were coming back inside. Hana turned a suspicious eye to the boy, and he hurried out.

“Did we miss anything important?” She asked, handing Takeshi his drink.

“No, just someone who thought himself entitled to my time. Thanks!” Said Tsunayoshi, letting his book down as he accepted his melon milk from Kyoko.

She smiled “No problem, Tsu.” She said, sitting down on the table before him. She looked out the window, the rain outside falling down hard and fast, and sighed. “Being cooped up is such a bore. And the day seemed to be so sunny, too!”

“I like it, it’s peaceful” Said Tsunayoshi, taking another sip from the his drink. “Like a blanket of silence was dropped all over us.”

“Yeah, I’d have thought you of all people would like it, Kyoko.” said Hana slyly. “You do tend to want as much water as possible.”

“It was ONE time and it was SUMMER!” Said Kyoko, dropping her head on the table. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”

“Nope!” said Hana with a smirk.

“Fucking finally!” someone snarled outside the door, before it opened with such force, it bounced off the wall. Riku marched inside as if it was her god-given right, the usual coterie of girls and boys behind her. “I have been looking for you all lunch Dame-Tsuna!”

“Riku-san, what a pleasure to have you here.” Tsuna said dry as the dessert and mild as milk. “What brings you to this humble clubroom?”

Riku slammed her hand on the table, wincing minutely, her rings making a clattering sound. “What you did yesterday was unacceptable! Go and apologize to Mochida-kun immediately!”

“No.” He said, crossing his arms. “We made the terms of the duel clear, and he lost. Not content with that, he tried to cheat, first by ordering his underling to not count my points, and then he tried to attack me on the back. If he is having trouble, it’s all of his own making.”

She leaned over the table, trying to invade his personal space. “Look, I don’t know nor care what you are trying to do, but it needs to stop. Your place is at the bottom of the ladder with the rest of the losers.” she said, sending a not-so-subtle look to Takeshi, who smiled back at her.

“You wish.” Tsuna said. “I am not trying to ‘do’ anything other than try to get through school. And yet, you insist on trying to make my life as miserable as possible for some reason.”

“You sent my brother to juvvie!”

“Your brother was a sociopath that tried to kill Nagi and me. Be grateful he was only sent to juvie.” He said darkly.

“That was an accident!”

“That’s bullshit and we both know it. He was freaking armed and the place was out of the way and isolated, he knew exactly what he was doing.”

Riku snarled wordlessly in anger, turning to Kyoko. “I thought you and I were friends! Why are you still hanging out with this thing!”

“Because he’s right.” She said. “Riku-san, you have been going after him even before what happened to your brother. Stop being a bully and let go.”

Riku looked at both girls with disgust. “Really? So this is how it’s going to be? You are picking him over me, after all these years?”

“If it comes down to that, yes.” Kyoko said stonily, standing up next to Tsunayoshi. “I have no problem with you, Riku-san, and I have valued our friendship over the years, but I refuse to be friends with you if you insist on harassing Tsu-kun so much.”

“He made you repeat a year! If it wasn’t for him, you three would be on High School with me!”

“That was on the administration. If they had done their jobs right, we would have graduated with the rest of the class.”

“Those records were falsified. The principal said so.” Said Riku, a joyful glint on her eyes.

“They were not, and the principal just said so because it was convenient to them.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” She turned her attention to Hana, ignoring the whispers that started behind her back. “And you approve?”

“I do.” Said Hana in her best ‘why are you asking stupid questions’ voice.

Riku’s face spasmed. “Ok. you know what? Fine.” She tossed he long black hair over a shoulder, finally finding her poise. “Fine! If you want to spend time with this loser instead of me, fine.” She glared one last time at Tsuna. “I’d recommend you to be careful Dame-Tsuna. Who knows what may happen from now on? Not many people will take well that Kyoko-chan is friends with someone like you. Some people might try to remove the problem.”

Tsuna arched an eyebrow. “You don’t have to worry.” his smile only managed to show teeth. “You know me, Ri-chan. I can take care of my myself.”

She stuttered and turned. “Come on! Let’s go!” she said, walking slightly faster than usual. Her coterie parted and let her pass, before following after. One or two sent concerned looks to Tsunayoshi, then turned back to gossip.

“Well.” Said Hana once the voices had disappeared. “That was fast. I was not expecting her to come to you so soon.”

“Or to bring her own peanut gallery. This is going to be all over the school by tomorrow, Tsu-kun.” Said Kyoko, one finger at her lips, a small frown on her face.

Tsuna shrugged. “Eh, that’s fine. If we are going to follow Reborn’s lead on this, then we would deal with her eventually. This way at least, we didn’t start the rumors.”

They finished their lunch and hurried back to class, taking their usual seats at the end of the class. There was a bit of a hub-hub, some rumors, but overall, everything was normal.

The teacher walked in the room, and right behind him, there was another, unknown student.

“Ahem.” The teacher cleared his throat. “Class, this is Gokudera Hayato. He just recently transferred to Japan from Italy.” He turned to the kid, and gave him a pointed look. “Introduce yourself, Gokudera-kun. Be nice.”

Takeshi heard a thunk over the squealing of the girls who were trying to get his attention. Tsuna, at his side, had started hitting his head on the desk, repeatedly, muttering unflattering things of Reborn in gaelic. Not being able to do much more, he patted his back consolingly.

“Oh, shut up!” rang a voice, and the noise level fell down. Gokudera glared at the room in general. “I am Hayato Gokudera, and I am here specifically for one person. The rest of you bastards are meaningless.”

“GOKUDERA!” The teacher pressed his hand against his face. ”My office, after class.”

Gokudera tisked, making his way to the back of the class. He seemed content to ignore the whispers and the looks that followed him, until Tsuna sat back up. As soon as he did, Gokudera zeroed on him, and walked towards them, his scowl becoming fiercer with each passing second.

Takeshi barely managed to ground the desk before Gokudera’s knee hit it. As it was, the desk still managed to lift a good inch or so of the ground, almost toppling everything on top of it to the floor.

“Maa, Gokudera-kun, you should be more careful.” Said Takeshi, cheerful as can be, even as the temperature around them dropped a good ten degrees. “You could have hurt yourself if the desk had hit any of us.”

“Va’a farti fottere.”

“Preferirei di no. Also, rude.”

Gokudera recoiled, biting through the lollipop stick he had in his mouth. He sent a glare that could have melted tungsten, but moved on to the back of the  room, sitting besides a terrified boy, who scuttered away to put as much distance between them as possible.

“Well ain’t he a ray of sunshine.” muttered Tsunayoshi.

“More like a thunderstorm. Kinda cute really, like a kitten clawing at you.” Said Takeshi, looking over his shoulder at the italian. “Makes me wanna provoke him.”

“Takeshi.”

He laughed. “Maa, maaaa. You are no fun, Tsu-chan.”

“You do know this is most likely a test from Reborn, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll leave it to you, then. I’m going to tell Haru though.”

Thunk.

“Traitor.” Mumbled Tsuna.

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Tsuna said his goodbyes to his friends at the gates of the school. He ignored the snickers and the whispers that followed him, and started walking away. However, instead of taking his usual route to his home, he went down the shopping district. He grabbed a couple of meals to go, and some groceries, before rerouting to the nearby park.

“You know, most people would consider it rude to be followed.” He said once he had reached a reasonably secluded spot. He gently put the bags under a tree, and let his backpack down, rolling his shoulders as he turned. “I am willing to overlook your bad manners however, so long as you tell me what you have against me, Gokudera Hayato. Or do you prefer Hayato Gokudera?”

“Che.” He said, flicking to the ground what Tsuna had thought a lollipop, but turned out to be a cigarette. “If a pipsqueak like you becomes Boss, the Famiglia is doomed. That’s why... I will not allow you to become Vongola Tenth!.” He finished, lightening the end of another cigarette.

Tsuna tilted his head. “Oh. That is all?” He shifted his weight, and shrugged, palms out. “Then we don’t have a problem. I have no interest of becoming Tenth.”

If anything, this seemed to anger Gokudera more. “You idiot CIVILIAN!!” He roared. “Don’t you know what an honor is it to be considered a candidate to lead the most powerful mafia of the world? I have killed and bled for the honor of becoming a mere associate, and for some random loser like you to be handed the position… It pisses me off” Gokudera took out sticks of dynamite. “I have been briefed on you, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I found you lacking.”

He ignited the wicks, and lazily threw them towards Tsuna. “Die.”

There was a shot, and the dynamites fell to the floor with their wicks cut.

“You came later than expected, Gokudera.”

“Reborn-san!” Exclaimed Gokudera, looking up at the tree Reborn had perched on. “Please forgive me! I had an… unexpected meeting with some thugs.”

“Thugs? What kind of ‘thugs’?.” Asked Tsunayoshi sharply.

“That’s not important.” Said Gokudera, glaring at the brunet before turning to Reborn. “Reborn-san, were you serious? About me becoming an inheritor candidate if I kill him?” He motioned to Tsuna.

“Yes.”

“Wha-?”

“Then die!”

Tsuna moved back, catching the dynamite sticks and planting them on the damp earth, putting out the wicks. He straightened from his crouch, looking first at Reborn, and then at Gokudera.

“I… I am so sorry, Gokudera.” He said, and Gokudera was amazed to see he meant it. “He lied to you.”

“It matters nothing.” He growled, grabbing more bombs “DIE!”

Tsuna jumped to the side to evade the barrage of bombs, and was soon rattled by the tremors as they started blowing up. Pieces of dirt and mud went flying, rocks pelting both combatants, and leaving deep scars on the once green soil.

“No one can inherit Vongola unless they are part of their lineage! Even if you kill me, they won’t make you Boss. They can’t!” Said Tsuna, dodging the explosives Gokudera sent his way. “Best case, you will survive and maybe Vongola will allow you to join. At worst…” He dove, rolling and coming to a stop in front of Gokudera. “At worst, they will label you traitor and kill you.”

Gokudera roared, lunged at him, but Tsuna hoped back just in time, before maneuvering to the side and rolling through the smoke the bombs produced, and this time ending behind a tree. A peek around made him cringe: The small clearing had been torn up beyond recognition, holes peppering it throughout, like some kind of demented treasure hunt had taken place. Some small trees had gotten caught on the blasts, and although they hadn’t caught fire, they were charred and burnt, while the bigger ones fared better, only with some bark missing. And  all around, the bombs that had not blown up due to moisture or other reasons were sitting there, ready for the tiniest spark to ignite the,.

“COME BACK OUT YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME PROPERLY DAMMIT!” Shouted Gokudera, looking around for him.

“I refuse to engage in meaningless conflict, sorry.” Said Tsuna, flitting to another tree as his previous hiding place was blown up.

“That is unacceptable.” Tsuna felt a chill on the right side of his body and swung left, narrowly avoiding Reborn’s bullet, before crab walking back to avoid another bomb.

“Come on, isn’t that one of the rules of war or something? Winning without fighting?” Tsuna yelped and took cover behind another tree, bolting upright, and using a branch to swing to another tree as the previous one fell.

“A Mafia Boss who refuses to fight is useless.”

There was another shot that narrowly missed him, nicking his ear. Tsuna felt blood trickling down, and jumped away, hooking his hand on a higher branch and heaving himself up, twisting in midair to dodge a shot and fall on his feet, crouched.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The hiss came from below, and Tsuna was torn between cheering or despairing.

“Who the fuck are you?” Came Gokudera’s growl, as he turned to confront the interloper.

“His name is Hibari Kyoya, head of Namimori’s Disciplinary Comitee.” Said Reborn, and there is a predatory glint on his eyes that had Tsunayoshi jumping in between them before he could think better of it.

Hibari zeroed on him as soon as he landed. “You” he said “better have a good explanation for this, Cub.”

Tsuna cringed, giving him a tremulous smile. “Ah ha he… would you believe me if I told you this wasn’t my fault?” Hibari glared. “Guess not…” He sighed.

“For destruction of Namimori’s public property, assaulting members of the Disciplinary Committee, and peace disturbance, I will bite you to death.” Said the prefect, taking his tonfas and moving around Tsuna to face Gokudera.

“Like hell you will!” he said, throwing a handful of dynamite towards both boys, only for them to fall harmlessly at Tsunayoshi’s feet. Before he could really process it, Hibari was swinging at him, a vicious hook to his chest that had him rolling around, stopping at a good ten paces from them.

“Gokudera!” Tsuna yelled in concern, running up to him. He gently propped him up, hands running up and down his side. “Well, at least you don’t seem to have anything broken.” He said with relief. He had definitely heard a crack.

“Move back, Cub.” Hibari said, holding his tonfas up threateningly, gunmetal eyes fixed on the wounded italian. “I have to punish him still. Endangering members of the Disciplinary Comitee is not allowed.”

“Later, Hibari.” Tsuna said, ignoring the prefect. “Do you think you can walk, Gokudera?”

“I don’t need your help.” Spat the italian, trying to stand up and shake Tsuna off him, but failing in both accounts.

Tsuna sighed. “Thought so. Here, let me.” he shoved his way under Gokudera’s arms, ignoring the protests of the bomber.

There was on that silence that Tsunayoshi realized three things:

One, Gokudera’s cigarette was missing.

Two, There was a faint hissing noise nearby.

Three, Reborn was nowhere to be seen.

“MOVE!” he screamed at the same time he swung Gokudera over his shoulder and jumped, barely making it out from the first blast, before realizing that with the amount of dynamite around, the only safe way was up.

Tsuna jumped, planting his foot on a tree before jumping off there and hookind an arm over the branch of another, kicking off it and leaping like a cat upwards, higher and higher, until he was a good twenty feet off the ground.

Carefully, he let Gokudera slide off his shoulder. The Italian was pale green, his eyes wide looking down, were the last of his explosives were going off. Aside from some extra mud and dirt, he seemed to be fine.

“Hey, Gokudera? Are you ok?”

The boy turned to him, and Tsuna barely had time to smother an eep when he recognized the look on his face.

“I WAS WRONG! YOU ARE FIT TO TO BE THE TENTH BOSS!” Said Gokudera, trying to get himself on a dogeza. Tsuna yelped and grabbed him, flailing to try and rectify the overbalance that was shaking the branch they were sitting at.

“Gokudera!?”

“It’s a family tradition for the loser to serve the winner.” Said Reborn from an adjacent tree. “As a member of the Vongola Famiglia, Gokudera is now your subordinate. Good job, Tsuna.”

Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes. “I don’t need any more subordinates.”

“Please Tenth! Don’t throw me away! I will prove myself to you!” Said Gokudera, and Tsuna send him a calculating look.

“I... Fine.” he sighed. He looked down to find Hibari glaring at him from the floor.

“Get back here, Cub.” He said, his demeanor all but screaming ‘pissed off’

“Sorry sorry.” Tsuna let himself fall down, landing in front of the prefect. “Look, Hibari, I know and understand that you are angry, but I really need to deal with Gokudera first. I will fight you later in his stead.”

“And you will be paying for the repairs.”

“Of course.” Tsuna nodded, earnest.

The prefect huffed, and glared one last time at Gokudera, before turning back and marching out of the clearing.

Tsuna watched him go and heaved a sigh, before looking up. “Do you need any help getting down?”

“No no no no! Don’t worry about me, Tenth!” Said Gokudera, letting himself fall; but instead of landing on his feet as he intended, he hit every branch down and face-planted on the mud. From where he was, Tsuna could see his ears redden, before starting to mutter self-deprecating stuff.

“Come on, Gokudera. Up.” Tsuna heaved him up to his feet, before checking where he had left his purchase. While he was a little discouraged to notice some things had broken during the fight, he thanked the to-go lunches had survived their fight.

He turned and gave one to Gokudera. “Here, eat.”

He spluttered. “Wha- I cannot accept such a gift!”

Tsuna rolled his eyes, grabbing the other lunch. “That was an order, Gokudera.”

Gokudera looked lost for a moment, before hesitatingly taking a bite out of the food. Tsuna smiled encouragingly at him, before grabbing the groceries and heaving his backpack up. “Come on, let’s grab the bus back. I’m taking you to my house to get those bruises checked. This is non-negotiable.” He said authoritatively, cutting off any protest Gokudera might have had.

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“Mom! I have a new friend with me!” Said Tsuna as soon as he crossed his house.

“Oh? Well come in, let me meet him!” She answered cheerfully from the kitchen.

Tsuna grabbed Gokudera’s arm and dragged him forward. Nana turned from where she was chopping vegetables, and turned to them. One look at the boys had her gasping, covering her mouth with her hands, hurrying towards them.

“Oh my! What happened to you two?” She said, taking a handkerchief and rubbing some of the dirt off Tsuna.

“M-mom!” He shook her off. “I am fine, we just had a rough time getting home.” he motioned Gokudera, who dutifully stepped forward. “Mom, this is Gokudera-kun. We met today after class.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Tenth’s Mother!” he exclaimed, bowing deeply.

She laughed. “My! Aren’t you a polite one.” She bowed back to him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Sawada Nana.” She looked him over and nodded. “Here, come with me. I just finished some laundry, let’s get you a change of clothes and then check you out while Tsuna takes care of his guest.”

“Guest?” Asked Tsuna, but all he got was a wink from his mother. He took up the stairs and stood out of his door, hesitating or a second. Then he made up his mind, grabbing the knob and opening the door with force.

“Ah, Tsunayoshi, so good to see you again. When were you going to tell me you had an arcobaleno living with you?”

Tsuna went white. “Shoichi.”  he whispered. “I can explain.”

“I fucking hope so, Tsunayoshi.” said the redhead, closing the laptop he had on his knees. He looked up at him over the rim of his glasses, white glare lending him an intimidating air. “I thought we had broken you out of this bad habit of not telling anything to anyone. Obviously, we failed.”

“Wait please listen.” Tsuna raised his hands. “He has been here two mere days and I was still thinking what the heck I was gonna do not to mention we fought with Mochida and I won so now Riku hates me nothing new there but wethinkshemightactuallytrysomethingsowereplanningshitandthenGokuderakuncameheresoIwasdealingwiththatpleasedontgetmadatme!”

Shoichi blinked and tilted his head. “Gokudera.” he said neutrally. “As in, Smoking Bomb Hayato.” He frowned, looking at Tsuna up and down, taking on his disheveled appearance, his scratches and his bleeding ear, and covered his face with his hands, groaning helplessly. “You IDIOT!” he threw a pillow at Tsuna, who dodged it. “See, this shit is why I have ulcers! I bet you also dismissed Takeshi and went to fight Gokudera alone, didn’t you?”

“Hey! Reborn told me I was to be Vongola Tenth, and has been testing me constantly. My best option was to do as he wanted.”

“You could have died!”

“Tenth! Are you okay? I hear yelling!”

“You brought him here.” Shoichi said stonily, letting himself fall back into the bed. “Of course you brought him here.” he glared through his fingers. “We need to do something about that tendency of yours to hoard people.”

“Oi, it wasn’t my idea.” He said defensively, scuttling to the side.

“You don’t discourage them either.” he retorted, keeping an ear out on the stomping outside.

“Tenth! Are you - Who the fuck are you?” Growled Gokudera upon catching sight of Shoichi.

The redhead arched an eyebrow and sat up. He looked at the boy on the door, taking in the torn pants but clean shirt, and the bandaged cuts on his face. “I could ask the same to you.” he said crossing his legs.

“I don’t have any reason to answer.” Said Gokudera.

Shoichi sighed. “Figures. Irie Shoichi.” he sketched a bow.

“Gokudera Hayato” He said, still glaring at him from the door. “Is he bothering you Tenth?”

“No-”

“I can bother him whenever I want.” Interrupted Shoichi.

“No you fucking don’t. Show him some respect.”

“I’ll show him all the respect he deserves. I’m no-one’s toady.”

“Actually-”

“Are you insinuating something punk?”

“I’m not insinuating something, but if the shoe fits...”

“Okay cut it out you two!” Exclaimed Tsuna, making the other two flinch. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned to Shoichi.  “Shoichi, stop being an ass.” Then he turned back to Gokudera. “And you, chill.”

“Fine.”

“Of course, Tenth!”

“Good. Now, Gokudera, do me a favor and go help my mom? I need to talk to Shoichi about a couple things.”

Gokudera hesitated, but nodded. “Of course, Tenth!” He threw another suspicious glance at Shoichi, who returned it a thousandfold, but went.

Tsuna sighed and closed the door. “Right. So, this is what has been happening….”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Only you can get on these messes Tsuna.” Said Shoichi with a soul-weary sigh, taking a sip from his tea.

“Look, if I could, I would have avoided the whole debacle, but literally just by existing I’m an option.” Tsuna took a drink of his own tea. “Honestly, my current plan is to get as much information and training out of this as possible, and then ditch them.”

“You do realize that is going to be damn near impossible, right?”

“Eh.” Tsuna shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time I did something called impossible.”

Shoichi hummed. “ ‘First do what’s necessary, then do what’s possible. Soon enough you will be doing the impossible’ “ He quoted

Tsuna laughed. “Exactly.” Then got serious. “And besides, if Gokudera is anything to go by, there is a lot of people not happy with the fact that the next Vongola will be a civilian. We need to be prepared. And I...”

Tsuna fell silent. Shoichi, used to his moods by now, let him organize his thoughts.

“I feel that there is more to the story that we don’t know.” Said Tsuna.

Shoichi nodded “I thought so too.” He looked down at his teacup. “When the first heir died, they should have mobilized to protect the rest. And yet, the other two died within a year of each other, and we never saw anything amiss: No cars following us, no people checking on us, on you. And Reborn… Why would they send the strongest hitman to train a civilian? Even with Vongola’s resources, that seems like a waste.”

“So you’ll be looking deeper into this?”

“I will. I will send Hibari-san everything I find. Might have to call in some favors.”

“ Do whatever you need.”

“All right. For the moment though, we should focus on your current test” Shoichi said, smiling like a wolf.

Tsuna groaned. “Do we have to?” He whined. “I was happy flying under the radar. Once we do this, there is going to be SO much attention focused on me, ugh.”

Shoichi hummed happily. “Yes, we do have to. I have been dreaming of this for Years!” He cackled. “All those assholes are gonna pay for their abuse, at long last!”

“You are all a bunch of vindictive, scary people.” said Tsuna taking a drink.

“Pot, kettle” shot Shoichi back. “Anyway, shall we call everybody now?”

“We don’t need everyone.... Just. Just the local ones.”

“Makes sense. I am still going to run the voice around though.”

“Can I convince you not to?” Shoichi glared. “Figures.”

“Look Tsuna, I understand you are trying to not worry us, but the fact is, you have one of the most dangerous people of the mafia living under your roof, and probably more coming as we speak. If you really want us to be comfortable with that, you need to let us know things. Where you are. What are you doing. And if you need help. That’s our bond: We keep each other safe. And we can’t do that if you insist on going at it alone.” Shoichi took his hand. “It’s not weakness, I promise. We won’t think any less of you. Just… Let us help.”

Tsuna sighed. “I know… but then I will be putting you guys in danger.”

Shoichi sent him a deadpan stare. “Tsuna, we will be in more danger if we can’t help, because we get reckless. You know we can’t afford that.”

Tsuna grimaced. “I know. I don’t like it, but… You are right.”

Shoichi smiled. “Of course I am right, I am always right. That’s why I am your Right Hand.”

Tsuna giggled. “That was a horrible pun.”

He shrugged. “It’s true though. So. Tomorrow, at Hibari’s place?”

Tsuna nodded. “In the school, after class. We just have half a day since it is Saturday, so we can  keep working until closing without no-one bothering us if it comes to that.”

“All right. You tell your crew, I’ll tell mine.” Shoichi tapped his lips. “Are you going to bring Gokudera?”

Tsuna shrugged “Probably, if only to throw Reborn off our tail.”

Shoichi huffed. “I’m sometimes really concerned about you. Honestly Tsuna, the man tried to kill you. Normal people don’t follow that up with an offer of friendship.”

“... He thought that being made an associate was ‘an honor’“ He said softly. Shoichi groaned, being familiar what that tone of voice and that expression meant. “I think Gokudera-kun has spent a long time alone, trying to find a place to settle.” Tsuna looked at him. “We know the Mafia relies heavily on bloodlines, and I don’t think he’s had a lot of support. The way he fought… He didn’t care where his bombs fell, so long as he could get to me. He could have gotten killed.”

“...Well, at least he will be loyal.” muttered Shoichi, consoling himself.

“ I know you don’t like him, but please try to get along with him?”

“ I will try, Tsunayoshi. If he starts insulting us I am going to answer though.”

Tsuna nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

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The rain of the day before had become a full blown storm by next day. The sky was grey, with a heavy curtain of rain covering everything and making everything look blurry and dark. Thunder could be heard every once in awhile, a distant rumble or a deafening tremor that shook you down to your bones.

Tsuna welcomed the chill with open arms, the clean smell of rain making him smile. “Isn’t this wonderful weather?” He said, leaning against the window, letting his forehead rest against the cool pane of glass.

“If you say so, Tenth.” said Gokudera noncommittally from his spot on the sofa between Ryohei, who was absorbed on some training video, and Yamamoto, who was waiting for his tea to steep.

Takeshi grinned and casually slung and arm over him. “Ma, Maaah, don’t worry Gokudera, Tsu-kun has weird tastes.”

“Get OFF me you sword freak!” Screeched Gokudera, all but shoving the smiling teen off. Takeshi laughed and lifted his arm off, but instead draped himself over Tsuna. “Tsu, I’m bored.” He complained, ignoring the indignant spluttering of the Italian. “Entertain me.”

“You can start on your math homework.” Chimed Hana from the other end of the room, waving a pencil threateningly. “I know your marks are slipping, Yamamoto.”

“But that’s not fun!” He said, hiding behind Tsuna.

“Tough. Get your ass over here.” She pointed to a seat on the low table.

“Go, Takeshi.” Said Tsuna, shaking him off.

Takeshi walked over to where Hana was with the steps of a man going to their execution. Hana smiled and sat him down besides Kyoko, who was busy with her own work, and started quizzing him on what he had done up ‘till now. Tsuna smiled and turned his attention to the window.

“The other herbivores are late.” Muttered Kyoya from his seat on the desk, looking up from the papers he was signin to the clock.

“Give them time. It’s probably because of the rain.” Said Tsuna, looking as a lightening struck on the distance.

The prefect huffed, and joined him on the side of the window. “Where is the baby, Cub?” he whispered, maintaining one suspicious eye on Gokudera, who was reading a book.

“I have no idea.” Said Tsuna honestly. “It makes me a bit twitchy, but there’s not much I can do about that.”

Kyoya huffed. “Your pet scientists could probably devise something.”

“Shoichi and Spanner are busy right now, and even them are nowhere near good enough to fool Reborn for long.” Tsuna said, quirking an eyebrow

Hibari sneered. “The other?”

Tsuna rolled his eyes. “I’m not interrupting him for this. He’s doing something way more important than devising super-powered bugs.”

“We are talking about an Arcobaleno.”

“No, Hibari.” Said Tsuna sharply.

Hibari glared at him, but moved on. “Have you called them yet?”

“Yes, Hibari, ten minutes ago. You were here for that.”

“I dislike waiting.”

Tsuna snorted. “You make people wait for you all the time.”

“That’s asserting dominance.”

“That’s being an asshole.”

“Mother disagrees.”

“Your mother thinks the corpses of your enemies are appropriate birthday gifts.”

“They are here.” Said Hibari sharply, making Tsuna whirl around and peer down the window.

Indeed, two dark silhouettes were running on Nami-chuus courtyard towards the building. The rain made it very hard to distinguish much aside the colors, but Tsuna would know that shade of red anywhere.

“They don’t have an umbrella.” Said Tsuna anxiously.

“Probably blown away by the wind.” Hibari answered.

Tsuna looked at him before turning around. “Takeshi, could you, Hana and Kyoko get some towels please?”

“Sure thing!” Said Takeshi springing from his position, Hana following with a much more sedated pace at the same time she frowned at him. Kyoko followed after, making sure their things were properly put on their places.

Just a couple of minutes after they had gone out, Shoichi came traipsing in with a blonde in tow. He was taller than him by a fair margin, with bright blond hair and light blue eyes, a lollipop stick hanging from his mouth.

“Yo! Sorry for the wait, got some hiccups along the way.” He said over the splutters of Shoichi, who was trying in vain to dry his glasses with the same soaked t-shirt he had on.

“What happened to you guys?” Asked Tsuna in concern.

“Yeah, you are EXTREMELY wet!”

“T-tea first, p-please” Said Shoichi between clattering teeth, crossing his arms and hunching. He accepted the napkin Tsuna handed him and cleaned his glasses from water, before proceeding to shed his wet blazer and leave it on the floor, winning him a glare from Hibari. “S-sorry, Hibari-s-s-san.” He apologized.

“Clean it up before leaving, herbivore.” was the only thing Hibari said.

“Spanner. What hiccups?” Asked Tsuna, more forcefully.

“Oh well, you know. We lost our umbrella when we got jumped.” Said the blond offhandedly.

“You got JUMPED!?! Where? How?” Tsuna flapped his arms around, as if he could catch the perpetrators.

“W-we don’t know.” Said Shoichi, sitting down on the arm of the couch. “I-It was too d-d-dark. Thank-you” he said, accepting the tea Ryohei gave him.

“It was definitely nearer Namichuu than our school, however. And whoever it was were smart enough to dress on street clothes instead of going at it in uniforms.” Added Spanner, accepting his own cup and taking a sip.

“Yo, Sho-chan! Spanner! Nice to see you guys!” Said Takeshi, coming inside followed by Hana and Kyoko, all of them with their arms full of towels.

Shoichi immediately brightened at their sight. “Hana! Kyoko!”

“Hello, Irie.”

“Sho-kun, hello!”

“What, no love or me?” Asked Spanner, receiving a glare from Hana.

“You are still on thin ice after the last stunt you pulled.” She said, dumping an armload of towels on him.

“Oh, come on Witchy, what’s a couple of electric shocks between friends?”

Hana snarled wordlessly, shoving a towel in his mouth, before turning back to Irie. “Haru?”

“She isn’t here yet?” Asked Shoichi, surprised, before becoming worried. “She was not with us. I called her about twenty minutes ago, she should be here by now”

“Knowing her, she probably stopped by her house to change clothes.” Said Spanner.

“I don’t know, If you guys got jumped…” Said Tsuna.

“You what?” Said Hana sharply. Takeshi, too, frowned at it, and took out his phone.

“It was nothing” Said Spanner with a grin. “Just some punks trying to look tough. We didn’t even get hurt, right Sho?”

“Right.” Shoichi nodded, shaking his hair dry with a towel.

“Haru hasn’t sent anything new.” Said Takeshi, looking up from his phone.

“Give her five minutes, if we don’t know anything by then, we should try calling.” Said Shoichi.

“I’d feel better if we went to her, instead of staying here.” Said Tsuna, looking out worriedly.

“Haru’s strong, Tsuna. Even if she gets in trouble, you can believe she will let us know.” Said Spanner.

“I hope so.” Said Tsuna, turning to look out the window. Lightning struck, making the worry on his eyes all the more apparent.

“Right.” Kyoko clapped. “First of all: Spanner, Gokudera. Gokudera, Spanner, one of our friends.” She said, motioning to each guy as they were named. “Second: Spanner, Sho-chan, off with your clothes.”

“What?!” Spluttered Shoichi, going white.

“Why Kyoko-chan, I thought you’d never ask!” Teased Spanner, getting swatted with a towel by Hana.

“Not like that, you hentai! She means that you should change out of your wet uniform.”

“Are you sure? Because I have started taking dance lessons, and I could give a pretty good show.”

That earned him another swat from Hana.

Gokudera was looking at the exchange with a more horrified expression by the second, before finally turning to Tsunayoshi. “Are they always this…?” He made a weak motion with the hand, where Kyoko was starting to drag Shoichi towards the door, while he tried desperately to hang on the couch.

Tsuna laughed. “Don’t worry Gokudera, you’ll get used to it eventually.”

“Holy fuck, Irie, what happened to you?”

Kyoko gasped, dropping to her knees and shoving his shirt up, heedless of what the redhead had to say. “Nii-san! Get the first-aid kit!”

Now with the fabric off the way, everyone present on the room could clearly see the blood dripping from the gash on Shoichi’s side.

“Really Sho? Really?” Spanner asked, stomping behind his friend and forcefully pinning him to the couch, between the cushions.

“It’s barely a scratch! Look, it’s almost healed already!” Shoichi spits out. “Really! It’s not even deep!”

“It can get infected!” Spanner says, and clocks Shoichi on the head for good measure.

“I’m not that incompetent!” Shoichi shots back, and nails Spanner on the ribs with his elbow.

“Herbivores, stay still or I will bite you to death” Hibari snarls, and both boys still on the couch.

“Sho.” Tsuna says, low and slow, and everyone in the room feels dread pool on their stomach, both at the tone and at the close-eyed, teeth-baring smile Tsuna has on his face. “Who hurt you?”

Shoichi gulps and forces the works around the sudden knot on his neck. “I have no idea.” he says.

“Spanner?” Tsuna turns to face the blond, who feels himself stiffen against his will.

“We weren’t kidding when we said it was dark. I legit don’t know.”

“You will forgive me if I don’t put much stock on your words right now.”

“Hey.” Spanner says, and his voice seemed to drop a whole octave. “We did fight, and I did see those punks take a swing at Sho. I was just unaware of exactly how bad it was, and believe me it was not for lack of trying.”

Tsuna takes a long, hard look at them and turns to Ryohei, who has not looked up from the wound. “Nii-san, could you take them to the bathroom and check them up?”

“Extremely!” Says Ryohei. Hana steps up to the side, and grabs Spanner’s arms to guide him to the adjacent bathroom. Once Ryohei is happy with the bandage, he does the same with Shoichi.

Once the bathroom door closed, Tsuna sighed and sat down on the sofa, taking the tea there and gulping it down. Takeshi sighed and took another cup, and proceeded to make another  cup for himself.

“And we just had a talk about worrying people.” Spits Tsuna to no-one in particular. “Goddamn hypocrite.”

It takes five minutes before two things happen, almost to the same time:

One, All people in the bathroom get out, and Ryohei gives them all the good news: Aside from Shoichi’s scratch and some bruises Spanner got, both boys are in perfect health.

Two: A girl entered the room.

“Hahi! I hadn’t taken such a good walk in weeks!” She said, stretching one arm over her head, unconcerned with the fact she was dripping all over the floor. She let her arm drop to her side and smiled around the room. “Hi guys!”

She took  a second before she registered Gokudera, and then squealed, lunging towards him. “Hahi! You must be Tsuna’s new friend! I’m Miura Haru, but you can call me Haru if you want! I like to make cosplay and clothes, and you are the perfect model for my gothic line! Do you have anything to do tomorrow?” She said, shaking his hand vigorously.

“Ah?” Said Gokudera, caught completely off-guard by the short-haired girl.

Tsuna laughed. “Lay off him, Haru. He just got here yesterday.”

“Hahi! Really? I’m sorry, I didn’t know! Don’t feel obligated or anything! But if you can, please do drop by my house.” She said, before turning to Tsuna. “Tsu-chan! My Tsu-chan! I have missed you!” She said, throwing herself at him and wrapping around, so her legs are at either side of his waist and she’s surrounding his neck with her arms. “I still have those tuxedos from last month and I want to see you in them!”

“WOMAN GET OFF THE TENTH!” Roared Gokudera, trying to lunge at her, but she jumped at the last moment so the boy ended all over Tsunayoshi’s lap instead.

“Hahi! This is so perfect! Your color schemes complement beautifully! And that hair! I can do so many things with that hair!”

“YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR MY HAIR!!” Screamed Gokudera, his hair a vibrant red, as he jumped to his feet and put as much distance between himself and Tsunayoshi.

Tsuna, however, merely looked amused. “Haru, seriously now, drop it. We have quite a bit of important things to discuss.”

She nodded, grabbing a nearby towel. “Of course, of course, I have not forgotten that.” She smirked, digging on her skirt pocket. “Now let’s see, I think I have something… Right here!” she said triumphantly, coming out with a plastic bag.

She threw it over to Shoichi, who quirked and eyebrow and opened it, peering inside.

His jaw hit the floor. “Haru, how did you even get this?”

Haru smirked. “Dori-Dori is very airheaded, she “loses” phones whenever a new model comes out. I snatched it when she wasn’t looking.”

Shoichi didn’t answer, engrossed as he was on the phone. Spanner leaned over and grabbed the other one, which was a way older model, and in darker colors.

“And this one?”

“Ah, yeah, that one. Tsuna, did you piss off Riku lately?”

“Oh no, you too?” Said Tsuna, immediately springing to his feet and putting his arms around her.

“Too?” She asked, stepping back. “Did someone else get attacked?”

“I’m fine, Shoichi got knifed.”

“But I’m cool! It was a scratch!” He said quickly.

“How did you know it was her?” Asked Tsuna?

“I checked the phone after taking care of those punks.” She grinned. “They were quite shocked that someone like me could take them on. But anyways, you know what the last messages were?”

“Orders to ambush us?” Guessed Tsuna.

“And a photo of a financial transaction, payed to ‘Daiki Momo’”

“Wait, hang on a second!” Hana exclaimed. “How the hell did the Spider managed to get the Momokyokai-gumi involved?”

Haru shook her head. “I don’t think they were actual Momokyokai, just kobun trying to make a name for themselves.”

“By beating up middle schoolers?” Deadpanned Gokudera.

“By raising a bit more than 50000 yen literally from one day to another.” Said Haru.

“Yeah that would get their attention.” Agreed Shoichi. “I’ll have to take this home to comb through it in more detail.”

“We have until Monday.”

“I know, I’ll clone the chip and bug it. It will be ready.”

“You are a dear.” She blew him a kiss he pretended to catch.

“Well anyways, wasn’t plotting supposed to happen?” She asked, clapping her hands together.

“Right.” Hana said. She stood up and dragged out the two whiteboards they had in the back, and wrote four names on top of them.

“Who do we do first?” She asked Tsunayoshi.

“Mochida.” he said. “Better to get him of of the way early so we can focus on the dangerous ones.”

She nodded, making an asterisk under ‘Mochida Kensuke’ “So what do you all had in mind?”

“As juvenile as it sounds, we could tell his father.” Said Takeshi. “His dojo has not been doing well lately, and I think that’s partially because of Mochida and the rep he gets.”

Tsuna sighed. “That’d be acceptable, if we can deal with the Yakuza that has been circling him.” he massaged his nose bridge. “I honestly cannot understand how Mochida can be so self-centered to not see what he’s doing to his family.”

“That might be harder.” Shoichi said. “They are more interested on the skills his father has to give than him personally.” He shook his head. “I haven’t really thought about it aside from making them leave Namimori entirely. Maybe we can arrange for some kind of ‘Inheritance’?”

“Or a job. Mochida-san is a very good instructor, and might be lured away from his failing business by a good post with wages.” Kyoko piped up.

“First thing firsts, we need to take care of Mochida. With some luck, Mochida-san will agree to pull him out of Nami. Shoichi, look into the options for Mochida senior.”

“Yes, Tsuna.”

“Next, Nishizawa Ayako.” Hana spat the name like it was shit.

“Burn the witch!” came the cry from all the girls and some of the boys in the room. Gokudera pressed himself more firmly against the sofa, unconsciously looking for exits as the room was suffocated with killer intent.

“As much as I’d love to” Tsuna said patiently. “I’d rather not have to justify to Reborn a hit on an ‘innocent civilian’”

“Well, no objections against ruining her options for higher education, right?”

“We are not forging records Spanner, there’s enough material with what she has actually done, and that cannot be traced to us.”

“You might have forgotten but we tried that already.” Shoichi said.

“Yes, but this time we are going to give the administration a choice between their pupil, and all the shit their pupil has pulled while under their rule going National.” Said Tsuna.

“Blackmail then?” Shoichi rubbed his eyes. “That might work. The Principal here has been requesting transfer over to Yumei for three years now, and if Ayako’s frauds become public, no other school will take him.”

“Yeah, he was already in hot water for the Nezu debacle. I’m pretty sure we can convince people whom Nezu booted to help with the spread.” Spanner said.

“And I am pretty sure I can have Mother file some lawsuits for defamation or something. Even if they don’t go anywhere, they will be a big red flag to any University for the next four years.” Added Hana

“And if we time this right, this is going to hit when Midori and Riku have their fallout, so she will not have any friends around.” Said Kyoko, deep in thought. “That be an appropriate punishment, I think.”

“All right. Next, Saito Midori.”

“Hahi! I have an idea!” Haru said, shaking her hand in the air. “I heard her family was trying to send her to a boarding school!”

“So we should sabotage her?” Asked Hana.

“No! We should help!” Haru typed something on her phone and passed it around. “I did some digging up, and is perfect!  It’s located just outside a small town in Inaba. The girls are all closely monitored, no personal computer of phones are allowed except under special circumstances, and absolutely no parties. The schoolwork is terrific, and the failure rate is 10% of each year. Naturally, it is expensive as fuck, but graduating there basically guarantees you a spot on the top universities of the World. All she need to get in are the grades and three letters of recommendation.”

“Hm, I admit that it sounds pretty good.” Tsuna pondered. “And I admit, it sounds the exact opposite of Midori’s life right now. Going from crazy party girl to recluse is going to be quite a shock.”

“Besides, it’s not like she will be able to graduate from there. I give her a year, two maximum.” Haru said offhandedly. “She doesn't have the discipline.”

“Then we have a plan.”

Hana wrote it on the whiteboard, and tapped the last name on it. “Minamoto Riku” She murmured.

“What I want is for her to join her brother in jail.” Said Kyoko, uncharacteristically serious.

“We don’t have anything concrete yet, but I agree.” nodded Shoichi. “I just hope she escalates, the sooner the better.”

“We will have to deal with the Momokyokai then.” Tsuna sighed. “What a pain…”

“If I may?” Gokudera interrupted. At Tsuna’s nod, he continued. “I could hit their bases, send them a message to leave town.”

Tsuna shook his head. “Thanks, but maybe later. We are trying not to attract too much attention to the town at the moment.” he said in explanation. “Moving now would mean a lot of unnecessary noise, so let’s try to get this done as smoothly as possible.”

“As you say, Tenth.” Said Gokudera, tucking away those little packets of information to investigate them later.

“What exactly does she want?” Mused Hana. “I know she cares about her image, but that’s not it.”

“Power, I think. Her father is a very important politician, and her mother is very wealthy.” Kyoko answered. “Power and respect, and the adoration of the masses. That is why she befriended me all those years ago.”

“All right, so for her we can also do a smear campaign.” Noted Shoichi.

“It will be difficult. Riku has done a number of unsavory things, but she has been far more careful than any of her croonies. Not to mention she has spent all her life cultivating a very specific image is going to be hard to dispel.”

“Urgh, people.” Mutered Hana. “What would we be attacking, exactly?”

“Well, we know for sure she has contacts on with the Momokyokai now. We can start there.” Says Tsuna. “Leave our options open, at least for the moment, and then next week we will see what we have.”

Hana nods. “Shoichi?”

He took a picture of all they had written. “Ready.”

“Alright then, we are done here.” Said tsuna, standing up. “Everyone, you know what you should do. Take tomorrow, and we start on Monday.”

There is a chorus of “Yes, Tsuna”, and they all trickle out of the building. The rain has not abated yet, so they decide to leave in pairs to better use the few umbrellas they have. First are Shoichi and Spanner, then Ryohei and Hana, then Kyoko and Haru.

“I’ll walk you home, Tenth!”

“Ah? But Gokudera, you live nearer to me! It makes more sense for you and I to share.” Said Yamamoto, opening his umbrella.

“I will rather get soaked than to share that abomination with you.” Spits Gokudera, eyeing the light blue with yellow polka dots.

“But Keshi is right, Gokudera. You two are nearer to each other, makes more sense for you two to go together.”

“But Tenth! If our enemies are mobilizing, it makes more sense to have more people with you.”

“It’s okay, Hibari will accompany me.”

“See, Gokudera? Tsuna has already thought about this. Now we should get going or we are going to miss the bus.” Said Yamamoto smiling. “See you tomorrow, Tsu!”

“Bye guys!” Said Tsuna, before opening his own umbrella and turning to Hibari. “Shall we? “

“Lead the way, Cub. I hope your mother made Pepper Steak.”

“I’m sure I can find you something to eat.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reborn grit his teeth and cursed the incompetence of Iemitsu Sawada.

At first, he had thought the lack of bodyguards was due to his arrival, and trying not to tip the local criminal or law-enforcing elements by attracting attention to the kid.

Now? Reborn was sure someone had been messing with the bodyguards.

The Namimori safe houses nearer to the Sawada residence had looked well used, with a tepid cup of coffee on the table, the tv on and a jacket left behind and balled, but after spending four hours there, Reborn had to accept the fact whoever was in charge of watch would not be coming.

The irritation turned to alarm once he discovered the rest of Namimori’s houses were in similar state. Nothing seemed too wrong, and the cleaning lady he had found on the office near Tsunayoshi’s school had kindly told him that she sometimes saw people coming and going, but there was absolutely no trace of the bodyguards. Upon shaking down Vongola’s local informants, he had found out the disappeared mafioso had given them specific instructions to not report any difference on Sawada Tsunayoshi. Apparently, the CEDEF had been infiltrated, and the flow of information needed to be carefully controlled, or they risked the security of the only son of the CEDEF head.

In short, any kind of information from Namimori had been tampered with for whoever knows how long, the men who were supposed to be stationed there had disappeared, and a ‘Dame’ student had turned out to not be so Dame after all.

Because that was another mystery concerning Tsunayoshi. All his friends, including the girls-maybe especially the girls- had ridiculous potential, not only on the Flame department, but also on becoming guardians. Thing is, like tended to like, and there was no way people like the School Idol, the Ex-Star of the Baseball Team and the Ruling Prefect of Namimori would willingly associate with a Nobody.

They were missing something. What’s more, an unknown number of someones were invested on them missing something.

And Reborn was going to get to the bottom of this.