Reborn touches down in Namimori just as Sawada Tsunayoshi leaves it. When they look into it later, it will turn out the ticket has been bought for three months now, weeks before the last of the Ninth's son's have died. There's no indication that there was any sort of information leak.

There doesn't appear to be any reason for the 14-year-old boy to buy a ticket out of the country. It's rather well planned too, with a recently obtained passport and the savings of a summer job.

It might make sense for Sawada to run away from home, considering his rather dismal school life and absentminded mother, but it seems rather well executed and planned for a run away attempt.

Sawada is, after all, a pampered civilian boy.

When he arrives to a single occupant house, still and quiet in the morning light, he questions the mother. She professes some inane story about a school trip to France. He's suspicious and presses for more.

She talks about a foreign pen pal, a supportive teacher, a wonderful chance for learning a new culture. She makes a perfect cup of tea and doesn't really see him as he sits there.

It seems that Nana Sawada left a long time ago, and only her shell remains.

Iemitsu comes down and spends a few days in his wife's presence, long enough to try and determine outside interference and do a thorough sweep of the house, and then he leaves again. If he finds anything unusual in this he doesn't say so to Reborn.

The only anomaly they find is a series of dream journals on the desk.

The only thing written in them is "NO".

Over and over, pages and pages of frantic refusals. There's about 5 of them stacked there, dripping ink.

They check it for mist residue. They don't find anything. Reborn shoots a couple of the specialists in the knee when one starts debating mental illnesses, and another mentions an old horror movie.

He can't help but think there's something wrong with Namimori. He talked with Sawada's teachers, his classmates, street vendors he was noted to visit, and can't help but shiver at how they seemed to look right through him. The only one he got any sort of reliable information was from the boss of a delinquent group, who looked at him and smiled with blood in his teeth when he said

"The herbivore is smarter then you, carnivore."

And then wandered away to beat up more Yakuza. He notes him down for potential guardianship and leaves to organise a search.

The amount of people who know that Vongola's last legitimate heir is missing is restricted to a small group, led by Reborn. It boast's the boy's father, a few of his subordinates, and some miscellaneous men that Reborn feels confident are either stupid enough or smart enough not to blab.

When he finally leaves Namimori to chase after his wayward student, he leaves a few of them to investigate the strangeness of the town.

In the meantime Reborn tracks his wayward student across country lines like some demented game of cat and mouse. Every time he steps down in one city, the boy is on a plane somewhere else. When he plans to head him off at the airport, Sawada pops up in the next town over. Again and again, Reborn just misses the boy.

A few times he gets close enough to see the hint of his presence, an abandoned motel room, a still warm cup of tea at a café, a discarded sweater on a park bench.

It's rather frustrating to try to catch someone with the famed Vongola intuition. The only silver lining he can see in the whole affair is that at least if Vongola can't catch him, neither can their enemies.

That doesn't mean his steadily rising bloodlust abates any as the days go by. When he catches Sawada, and he will, he's going to make him regret running.

Hibari sits at his desk with a cup of tea, stacks and stacks of neat papers, and watches his secretary shuffle through even more reports. The black dye looks rather odd on Tsunayoshi's head, made even worst by the regency style up do.

Tetsuya stands beside him, a checklist of the day's duties in his hands, but there's a smirk on his face that speaks to his very odd humour. The signature hairstyle of the Discipline Committee is good for subterfuge because most people can't tell the different members apart when they all look the same, but it also takes a certain person to be able to pull it off well.

Tsunayoshi is not one of those people.

"I anticipate we have about a week before anyone realizes that they are chasing a ghost. The only real danger at this point is the hitman, and I am confident I can keep him occupied for a few more days." He says, eyes not straying from his list.

Hibari grunts, but that just makes Tsunayoshi turn around and smile at him.

"That's alright, we only really need a little more time before things are ready. I contacted those that can be trusted and we should have a decent sized group. The main issue will be getting them all in the city without our watchers catching word."

He taps his lips in thought.

"Shoichi-kun should be done his modifications soon, so we will at least have some place to stash them all, but I really don't know how we are going to sneak so many people in." He starts scribbling ideas on a convenient blank page. Most of them seem to involve copious amounts of fire.

Hibari snorts dismissively.

"Then we get rid of whoever's watching. I'll bite all who trespass." He isn't the least bit worried about going up against a bunch of Vongola hitmen and Tsunayoshi smiles.

"I thought we were going for subtle at this point in time?" Tetsuya asks, wryly.

Tsunayoshi laughs.

"For Hibari-san that is subtle." He says through chuckles. "It would give us the opening we need, but they might just send more men to retaliate."

"I'll bite them too." Hibari says, completely serious. His two right hands simply sigh.

No doubt they will spend the next couple days trying to change his mind. A futile effort on their part.

A knock on the door interrupts them, and they turn towards it. Tsunayoshi quickly tugs up the medical mask that obscures his face for most of the day and calls out a greeting.

Hana Kurokawa pokes her head through and grins when she sees them all gathered.

"Reborn just touched down in New York, I have you recorded as embarking a flight for Nunavut right about now." She says.

Tsuna frowns, although you can barely see it with the mask.

"Nunavut? Where's that?" He asks.

She shrugs.

"No clue. I got Kyoko to throw a dart at a list of cities."

There's a choked laugh from Tetsuya that he covers with a cough at Hibari's glare.

Hana raises an eyebrow at them and shakes her head.

"You owe me so much cake for this." And then she wanders away again.

Hibari makes a note to hire better subordinates.

Sawada Nana putters around the house after her husband leaves, righting overturned knickknacks and returning displaced items. She leaves her son's room the way it is; sheets on a heap on the floor, books knocked about all over the place, a broken alarm clock on the desk.

She carefully tucks her husband's spare gun back into the safe in the closet wall and locks it.

Then she puts on the kettle for tea and very deliberately places herself in view of the kitchen window. The scope of a gun from the street glints across her teacup.

She sits there until the water goes cold.