A/N: This chapter had to be a bit shorter, because if not, the final chapter would be too short, so I cut a third of it and adjusted things. It's a good thing most of this is already written! I have to study for college now, so I only have the weekends to spare for writting or drawing! D:

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews faves and follows! This is great and you guys are absolutely the best! Next chapter will be the last, so I hope you enjoy this one.

Ignore grammar mistakes, they happen. o/

Long Gone

Chapter 3

Half an hour passed without any incidents.

Tsuna had leaned on the table with his arms crossed beneath his head, and was definitely sleeping soundly at this point, which made him look a lot more innocent and harmless. Tsuna had taken a liking to his good-boy appearance with the last few years, it made his enemies underestimate his strength, and it happened very frequently whenever a 'rival' boss became too... ambitious for their own good.

It tended to be very fatal these days. Sparing didn't seem to have the desired effect, so Tsuna had changed tactics.

Now, the fact that Tsuna was asleep put most girls at ease, and with Kyoko, it felt a lot safer. Still, because of Hayato and Takeshi, no one dared speak of the what happened earlier. It was a strangling restraint, and one could see the nervous sweat on their foreheads and cautious glances thrown at Tsuna, who was snoozing quietly.

Takeshi blinked when a sound distracted him from his musings. A phone ringing. Kyoko's phone.

It roused Tsuna just enough for him to open one eye, glancing at his wife like a drowsy cat and sighing. This made everyone put their guards up.

"Ah, excuse me, everyone, I have to take this." Kyoko had glanced at her phone, and was about to stand up when her friend pulled her arm.

"C-can't you take it in here?" There was a hint of panic in her voice. Takeshi raised an eyebrow. Were they seeing Kyoko as the one who kept them safe from her armed husband…? He shook his head lightly. As if.

"I'm so sorry, but this is important, I'll be right back!" She gave them a sunny smile, appropriate, considering her flame... It was as if she had broken their hopes with those words, crushed them into a million pieces, because Kyoko left the room once again. Chrome silently turned to Tsuna, and much to everyone's surprise, he waved at her lazily, giving a command wordlessly.

Chrome nodded and following to make sure no harm would come to Kyoko, as she usually does. Tsuna really wasn't fond of leaving his wife to wander alone in a strange place. However, this scene only proved to the remaining people that Chrome couldn't be trusted, either.

The atmosphere was heavy again.

The men who had conglomerated near the corner had determined and angry looks as they cautiously approached Tsuna. Takeshi didn't like it, so he straightened himself, ready for any possible aggression, which was plainly visible, judging from the heated looks he received. Hayato on the other hand, kept his gun in hand and in sight.

They turned to Tsuna anyway. "How long are you going to keep us here?" One asked loudly.

Tsuna didn't even spare them a glance. "Until Kyoko feels like leaving."

"And how long will that take...?!"

"How should I know?"

Tsuna's curtness was oil to the simmering flames forming. Takeshi could see their shoulders tensing, scowls deepening, so he too let his hand wander close to his gun inside his suit, much faster than a knife, his sharp eyes observing their movements closely.

"And you!" The one who got shot turned to Takeshi, making him blink in surprise. He wasn't used to being addressed while people talked to Tsuna. "Why are you siding with this psychopath?!"

Takeshi raised an eyebrow. Why was he siding with Tsuna? He tilted his head. "He's my boss." It's all he could say. If he were to sit down and explain…

Not only it would break the Omertà, but it was faster and easier to just summarize it like this. It wasn't like they would ever understand, but Takeshi didn't feel the need to explain himself. His loyalty to Tsuna went beyond any superficial reason they could imagine.

"Are you fucking kidding me...?!" Was the general reaction. Maybe they had the wrong impression that he was doing it for money. He could hear it, betrayal, because this is not the guy they remember. "H-how could you…?!" The ex-classmate they remember was the happy baseball superstar of their school, not a 'greedy mercenary'. Breaking this good image made him feel... terrible, really. Takeshi let go of that past innocence years ago, but it still hurt a little to be reminded of what he lost.

Tsuna straightened, massaging his neck, sounding condescending. "Oh, I'm so sorry, did this ruin the idealized image you had of him?" There was a pitying smirk as he checked over the bottle he emptied. "Shit happens, people change... big surprise. Stop whining, you little bitch..." The last line came off as a humorless hiss.

"People don't normally turn into criminals…!"

Tsuna grinned, his expression suddenly feral as he faced his audience. This guy is getting cocky, he thought. "Mmn… Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

Takeshi found it amazing how Tsuna managed to get them to slowly lower their guards in front of him. People always tended to do that, whether they intended to or not. He could see how Tsuna was getting a rise out of them, and the women watched with wide eyes, uttering how utterly suicidal this was and backing away ever so slightly so they wouldn't be noticed.

"You forced Kyoko-san to marry you, didn't you, you maniac?!"

"What about Yamamoto-san? What did you do to him? Threaten his family too?!"

Takeshi's lips thinned at the idea. As if Tsuna would ever threaten his guardians in any way. He was closer to the women, and he knew they were nervously watching him tap his foot as he mildly glared at the men.

"Ha!" Tsuna threw his head back with a laugh. "I'm not such a cliché villain! I love my wife, and she, unlike you bastards, doesn't need to be threatened!" He grabbed another bottle of sake, opening it with his bare hands, continuing more calmly. "As for Takeshi, he's my best hitman, I never forced him to do anything he didn't accept doing, and that includes, killing who I want him to kill."

Takeshi frowned, his eyes darting away from horrified glances thrown at him as Tsuna forwent using a cup and drank straight from the bottle.

Hayato seemed to not care at all, either. He had his arms crossed and was leaning against the wall, his gun still very visible, his eyes narrowing every time eyes turned towards him.

"...Aaah, Italian wine is great, but damn, did I miss some good Japanese sake..." Tsuna was no longer even paying attention to them, preferring to let his mind wander away from this whole issue.

Takeshi didn't like killing. He felt that he would never enjoy it, despite the fact that it would certainly make his life easier. At first, he was miserable, but his loyalty to Tsuna was never something he questioned, so he soldiered on, gradually letting himself become numb to the fact that he was snuffing out lives. He didn't think any of them grew fond of it, either.

Well... maybe Hibari... But Hibari was an exception to nearly everything one could think of.

During Takeshi's missions, sometimes, the targets were good people… Thinking about it breaks through that numbness rather easily, though. Something must have shown on his face, his brows knitting upwards, his expression shifting from indifference to something that could be read as… something sad and broken… Readable like an open book on his face as he grew distracted with his own thoughts.

"You bastard…!" Whatever it was, it made someone gain a heroic burst of courage. The one beside the poor fellow who got shot, who was questioning Tsuna, had gotten up with a bottle in hand with the intent of throwing it like a baseball.

Takeshi watched it in slow-motion as Tsuna rose his hand, a stand down signal, the only thing stopping Hayato from immediately shooting the man down on the spot, while Tsuna's expression was sinisterly calm. He easily caught the flying object with the other hand.

There was a beat of silence where no one could breathe. The bottle thrower was still standing with wide eyes, and one could probably hear a pin dropping.

Like lightning, Tsuna was up, one foot planted on the table with the bottle as a weapon that hit the side of his attacker's head, making him fall to the ground with his hands clutching the rapidly bleeding wound on his head.

The women screamed and stood up, backing away into the walls, as did the men who were startled from the sudden movement.

Tsuna's eyes were wide with rage, any more and they would be bright with his flame. "What the fuck was that, you son of a bitch?! Do you want me to kill every single person in this room?!"

The attacker was nothing but a salary-man, and never stared at death's eye so closely, and now was suddenly overrun with the instinct of survival and regretting his incredibly dumb and thoughtless decision, backing away clumsily like a cornered animal.

Tsuna stepped past the table, his eyes narrowing and teeth showing as his attacker tried standing up, only to be stopped by a foot on his chest, heavy enough to make him lose his breath and choke, fruitlessly trying to pry it away.

"How about this, eh, you fuck?" The gun was pointed directly at his face, making him stop and lean away, his breathing escalating in speed. "I kill you, and everyone leaves, alive and happy," Tsuna hissed, gun's barrel pressed to the man's cheek as he turned his head, attempting to not look, as if it would make the danger leave. "Or, I let you live, and kill all civilians in this whole place. Whichever you choose, I'll do it."

The proposal was met with immediate but silent panic. Hayato pointed his weapon at the men to keep them still, clearly aiming, while Takeshi did the same to the women. He saw no difference between genders when killing, he was numb to both.

They were crying, but Takeshi ignored it. Or... did his best to ignore it...

"Come on, out with it…!" Tsuna hissed. "Which one will be… Out with it!"

The man was white as paper and seemed unable to answer while crying on the ground, begging repeatedly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…!"

"Come on, you coward, you attacked me, now choose already! CHOOSE!" Tsuna howled and shot the floor beside the crying man's head, making him scream.

"I-I-I…!" He couldn't form a proper sentence in this state, his brain must be having a meltdown, and Takeshi felt that either way, someone would end up dead.

"You, you, you, what?" Tsuna continued loudly, leaning closer and pressing the gun harder on the man. "You want to live? Is that it?!" He raised an arm, as if ready to give the order, and both Takeshi and Hayato clicked the safety off, waiting. The man was shaking his head frantically, with a desperate terror that was unfamiliar to Takeshi, mobsters usually had a better composure, even when terrified out of their wits, and it gave him pause as he held himself back. He wasn't about to interrupt his boss.

This time, Tsuna grinned. "You want to die?! Is that it?! Oh, how noble of you! I never would've thought-!"

"...Tsu...?!"

Everything stopped. Tsuna blinked, looking at the source of the sound.

Even Hayato's eyes widened when seeing Kyoko standing there, breaking his unheeding expression for the first time that night. Takeshi's shoulders rose when startled, then winced, lowering his gun a little and running a hand over his hair.

This is… bad. Just plain bad…

"Uhm..." Tsuna was staring at her, wobbling a little when backing away from his victim, visibly trying to come up with something to say. Apparently, he finally did. "...It's not what it looks like." It was not his best idea, and it was met with pure, stagnant silence.

Takeshi could barely remember the last time he's seen Kyoko looking this betrayed and scandalized with Tsuna. This is a disaster... for everyone involved...

A/N: Well, next week is the final chapter, and I still need to give it a rewrite, because I wasn't quite as happy about the way things went.

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I hope I didn't leave any terrible mistakes behind. :D I don't have time to answer to the anonymous reviews, though, but don't worry, all questions, they'll be addressed with the final chapter.

So, review, fave, follow! I'll see you guys next week!