The Promised Place

Here is the last chapter!

Reviews please

ooOoo

Tsuna jogged through the eerily quiet night, his breathing heavy and sweat glistened on his face despite the cold. He has no idea what came over his mind when he suddenly ran outside his apartment and into the streets. He felt as if his body is moving on its own accord.

'Where am I headed to, again?'

He paused to wipe his face with the back of his sleeves.

'To Namimori Chuu.'

It surprised him how the answer did not disturb him at the least. As if it is normal for a grown man to rush to a school in the middle of the night. He is not even that very much familiar how to get to the school, yet his feet seems to know its way more than he himself does. He reached the school gate in no time, panting heavily from the sudden exercise.

Behind him, he heard the sound of someone approaching and his muscles tensed. Who could be coming for him at such an hour and in such a place?

Tsuna almost shrieked when a warm hand laid on his shoulders, he looked wide-eyed at whoever the hand belongs to and he breathed in relief when he met Hayato's curious gaze.

"Tsuna..." Hayato looked over the panting man. "What are you doing here?"

Tsuna took another deep breath before he turned to Hayato. The realization of suddenly being caught in front of a school gate in the middle of the night looking like he had been running away from something made him temporary speechless in both embarrassment and self-awareness.

"I.. Uh... went for a walk?" he replied uncertainly.

Hayato arched an eyebrow in suspicion, "A walk?"

Tsuna gulped in hesitation, "Ye-yeah. I can't sleep so uhm... I went for.. for a walk."

"At this hour?"

Tsuna nodded abruptly.

Gokudera lowered his eyebrows, "I see. I went for a walk too. Wanna go inside the school?"

Tsuna gave a slight shocked expression, "Eh? You too?" then when Hayato walked to enter the school gate, Tsuna followed and asked, "Wh-why are we going inside, Hayato?"

Hayato looked back at Tsuna, "A change of scenery?"

Tsuna realized he does not understand whatever Hayato was saying so he just decided to follow him inside the school.

When they reached the school yard, they were surprised to see another person standing in the middle of the large field. The man has his hands inside his pants' pockets and he is wearing a sports jacket and a baseball cap. He glanced as Tsuna and Hayato approached and was mildly surprised to see their presence.

Before Takeshi could open his mouth, Hayato spoke first. There was an unmistakable annoyance in his voice as he said, "Yamamoto Takeshi. What are you doing here?" Hayato narrowed his gaze at the baseball player in front of him.

Takeshi didn't seemed fazed at the cold greeting and instead greeted them both with a cheerful smile, "Visiting my old school. Wait, you know me?"

Hayato snorted, "Unfortunately, your name pops up so many times in TVs these days. What a worthless thing to do."

Takeshi grinned, "Is that so? Sorry about that. This is sudden, but have we met before? Err..."

"Gokudera Hayato."

"Right, Haya-chan?"

Hayato's faced flushed in irritation, "Bastard don't be so familiar with me."

Takeshi chuckled, "Right. Right. So about my question..."

Hayato crossed his arms, "No, we haven't baseball freak."

At the name he was suddenly called, Takeshi perked up and Tsuna saw a glint of recognition in his brown eyes. Hayato seemed to feel the same rush of sudden familiarity for he didn't speak for a while but glared at Takeshi.

Tsuna felt it was now his moment to break the silent atmosphere that suddenly enveloped the three of them.

"Ah, Ya-Yamamoto-san? You said this is your old school?" he asked hastily.

Takeshi blinked and turned to look at the brunette.

"Yeah. I went here during my middle school." He smiled warmly.

"Sa-Sawada Tsunayoshi. Nice to meet you, Yamamoto-san." Tsuna extended an arm in introduction.

Takeshi's features softened, and he looked familiarly at Tsuna, "Tsuna.."

Tsuna scratched the back of his head with his free hand, "You could also call me that." he said sheepishly.

Takeshi shook Tsuna's hand lightly and continued in a soft tone, "What are you doing here, Tsuna?"

"Hey, stop being so familiar around us. Don't call Tsuna by his nickname."

Takeshi returned to his smiling self, "Right. Are you friends?"

Tsuna gulped. Friends? He's not sure about that. How do you even call someone who you only met three days ago, and only saw again in the middle of the night in front of the school?

Meanwhile, Hayato set a straight face and said without hesitation, "Yeah we are. What of it?"

Tsuna could only stare in disbelief, "Ha-Hayato.."

Takeshi beamed, "Then I want to be Tsuna's friend too."

"Hey! Don't decide things on your own."

Tsuna looked from Hayato to Takeshi as he take in the scene in front of him. A person he barely knew and met 3 days ago is now calling him a friend, and a baseball star whom he had only met is asking him to be his friend. Surely, he is just dreaming about this?

But the cheerful laughter of Takeshi and the retorting Hayato told him he is awake and is there with them in the middle of the school field.

"I-I'll be glad too."

Takeshi gave yet his brightest smile and Hayato glared menacingly than ever at the baseball player.

A sound of someone running from behind them stopped the three of them and they looked to see who was coming.

Takeshi waved an arm to the newcomer, "Onii-san!" he called.

"Takeshi! An EXTREME good evening to you!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "I'm doing an EXTREME night jogging!"

Tsuna saw a white-haired man came into view and stopped in front of them. He has a bandage over his nose and he wore a sports jacket similar to Takeshi. His short pants cut just below his knee. Tsuna recognized the man to be Sasagawa Ryohei.

"You got friends with you, Takeshi?" he said loudly.

"Shut it, Turf Top! Stop shouting!" Hayato yelled back.

"What did you call me, Octopus Head?" Ryohei answered back.

The two momentarily froze in their loud bickering as they caught sight of each others' faces. They looked at each other as if seeing the face of someone they knew from a long time ago. Takeshi slung an arm on the both of them.

"Maa, maa Hayato and Onii-san. All of us just get along, now, ne?"

Tsuna stared at the odd yet very familiar scene. Where and when was it that he saw the same act between three people?

Takeshi continued, "These are my new friends Onii-san. Gokudera Hayato," he gestured to Hayato who protested,"Who said we're freinds?"

"And Sawada Tsunayoshi." He gestured to Tsuna.

Ryohei froze at the sight of Tsuna.

"Sa-sawada."

Tsuna nodded uncertainly.

The four of them turned to the direction of the school gate when they heard a loud thud and a cry of pain. Frantic footsteps was coming their way and a weeping teen in a cow print jacket rushed towards them. Tsuna recognized the teen as the one he bumped into at the train 3 days ago.

The teen's face was contorted in pain and he launched himself to Tsuna, clinging to his chest as he cried, "Nii-chan! Help!"

Tsuna looked around with confused and terrified eyes at whoever and whatever had chased the teen and caused him whimpering.

"Hey brat, get off Tsuna!" Hayato yanked the teen backwards.

A sudden chill ran down their spines when they heard an unmistakable sound of clashing metals coming their way. Slowly, Tsuna lifted his head up and almost backed down when he saw the person coming.

Hibari Kyoya was brandishing his tonfa at them. His eyes narrowed in a murderous glare and he looked dangerously at the crowd in front of him.

"Hn. What are you doing here in my school, Herbivores. It's the middle of the night. I'll bite you all to death."

The teen instinctively held his arms in front of him in protection.

"Hn. Bovino Lambo, tresspassing at school at night. You'll pay the consequences." He addressed the cowering teen.

"Who are you? Why are you in my school?" he sent a calculating gaze at the rest of them.

Ryohei stepped forward. "What? This is my school too to the extreme! I went here during middle school."

Takeshi brightened, "Onii-san went to this school too? How come I never knew about it."

Hayato snorted, "Obviously there are many students coming into this school. It's not possible to know just everyone."

Lambo, upon seeing his chance, slowly crawled to hide behind Tsuna.

"It doesn't matter. This is still tresspassing in the middle of the night." He aimed his tonfa at Ryohei who immediately dodged it with his reflexes.

"Hn. Not bad."

"Are you extremely challenging me into a fight?"

"Shut it, Turf Top. Don't start any unneccessary trouble for us."

"Maa, maa. We should all calm down."

Tsuna bent down to soothe the scared teen, "Lambo was it? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Lambo's one open eye travelled to lock gaze at Tsuna's chocolate brown orbs and the two froze for a second before Lambo threw his arms again at Tsuna.

"Tsuna-nii!"

Tsuna held the whimpering teen into his arms with a quizzical expression.

'Eh? How?'

Behind him, Hibari stepped forwards and addressed Tsuna.

"Herbivore, give me back that kid. I still have to bite him to death."

Tsuna trembled and shrieked at Hibari's killing aura.

"Wa-wait, what did Lambo do?" he asked with mocked bravery.

A chill ran down Tsuna's spine as he felt Hibari's hawk-like eyes on him. The ex-prefect also felt a rush of recognition for the brunette and his peers around him.

"Hn. Tresspassing. Students of Namimori are not to go to school at the middle of the night."

"So what are you doing here?" demanded Hayato.

Hibari glared at the silverette, "I'm in charge of the school's Disciplinary Office."

"Could you be Hibari Kyoya, famous ex-prefect of Namimori?" asked Takeshi curiously.

"Hn."

Takeshi grinned, "I sometimes heard about you when I was still going here. I thought I caught a glimpse of you on some occassions. Although that has been quite a long time already."

Ryohei nodded, "Now I remember you to the extreme! You are that violent upperclass!"

Hibari did not seem any happier at his former schoolmates reactions.

"Kufufufufu, what a lively bunch we have here."

The new voice sent the group searching for its source. Suddenly, from a dark corner of the school, a nurse emerged pushing a man on a wheelchair. The male has heterochromatic eyes and the nurse wore an eye patch.

"Rokudo Mukuro." Hissed Hibari.

"Oya, I didn't know the Skylark knows me."

They stilled for a moment when they locked eyes with each other. In a blink of an eye, Hibari lunged forward to Mukuro. The man suddenly stood up and a trident materialized out of nowhere in his grasp to rival the tonfas.

"Kufufufu, what's this? I feel like I met you somewhere already."

"I'll bite you to death Pineapple Head." Threatened Hibari.

Mukuro glared, "What did you just call me, Skylark?" Their weapons clashed again.

"Mukuro-sama, please stop. You are still recovering." The nurse spoke softly.

Tsuna suddenly let out a small shriek of recognition at the sight of Chrome. Chrome travelled his gaze towards Tsuna and she too covered his mouth in shock.

The nurse looked over the rest of the people around Tsuna and her eyes widened in shock. Similarly, the males had a surprised look on their faces as they locked eyes with Chrome.

"Bo-Bossu."

A shiver ran down Tsuna's spine as he heard the familiar call. Where was it that he heard it again?

Tsuna looked at the people all around him. Why did they all gather to such a place? It was too coincidental and too unbelievable that they just ran into each other in the middle of the night in the middle of the school field. It looks as though someone had instructed them to come here at that exact time, place, and date.

A sudden flash of memory came to Tsuna's mind and he gulped.

"It's our promised place. I'm sure we'll meet there. At Namimori Chuu"

Hibari and Mukuro stopped fighting and glanced at the brunette. Mukuro wide-eyed in shock as he take in Tsuna's appearance. The man seemed to be someone he knew well yet he does not know him. He looked around at the others, suprisingly, Mukuro felt he knew them too.

"It's our promised place."

The rest of them turned their heads towards Tsuna. Their expressions a mixture of curiosity, confusion, and excitement.

"I'm sure we'll meet there. At Namimori Chuu"

Tsuna paused for a moment and he looked each person with him in the eye – green, purple, electric green, brown, blue, and black.

A grain of tear fell from his chocolate-brown eyes.

"Finally, we have met."

ooOoo

A sudden bright white light engulfed the eight of them and everyone closed their eyes at the brightness.

Images began swirling in their heads in vibrant and vivid colors. It was like watching a roll of tape unfurl before them. The images held not only a visual treat but carried along with it emotions and feelings of happiness, pain, despair, hope, and love. They have no idea how long they were enveloped by the white light but soon the light slowly faded and they found themselves standing together on the fields of Nami-chuu. Their tear-stricken faces and shaken bodies visible amidst the darkness of the night.

No one spoke or moved. Everyone was still taking everything that they saw.

And then.

"Juu-Juudaime."

"Tsuna."

"Tsuna-nii."

"Tsunayoshi-kun"

"Omnivore."

"Bossu."

In a sudden flash, the group found themselves in the warm and longing embrace of their sky, their boss, their friend, their sibling.

They have found each other at last.

ooOoo

Omake

Three weeks passed eversince that fateful encounter. Tsuna still couldn't believe what just happened. In one crazy turn of events that night, he finally found the people he was destined to be with. The memories of their parallel selves that they received that night became clearer at every passing day. It was like watching a long movie, but this movie is about their life intertwined with one another.

Tsuna and all of them understood that it was a wish created by their parallel selves that led to their fateful and long-awaited meeting. It was a phenomenon that neither science nor mythology would be able to explain but their meeting proved the impossible. They were brought together by their bonds, bonds that extend beyond any parallel realms.

They begun to frequently set dates to meet each other after work, and in Lambo's case, after school. At first, it was all awkward, as nobody knows what to say. Their parallel selves may have been a close-knit family but in this world they are still strangers and they hardly ever know each other. There was a tense and silent atmosphere around them as they try to figure out how to deal with their dilemma.

Then, just like pieces of a jiggsaw puzzle, they were surprised to find out they fit quite well with each other. There was the constant bickering of Hayato and Ryohei, the ever cheerful Takeshi, the very insistent little Lambo, the sweet Chrome, the violent and fighting Mukuro and Hibari, and of course their was Tsuna enveloping them all kindly.

It felt odd, how a group of grown-ups and a teen suddenly come together to bond. They compliment each other in a the oddest way possible, and they seem to not get along. Yet the glint of happiness and contentment in their eyes and small gestures are but witnesses to the ties that bind them together. For it is not the mafia, or the dangerous missions of saving the world and the people that made this group of eight come together. It is the strings of friendship and love that connects them. And although they may not agree or admit the truth of it, they will stay together with each other like a family that they are.

ooOoo

Omake 2

Tsuna walked with a slowed pace to his apartment. It's already 6:27 PM on his watch and his stomach grumbled. He clutched the bowl of ramen that he ordered for take out at a ramen store nearby. Upon reaching his apartment, he searched for the keys in his pocket, unlocked the door and went directly for his drab kitchen.

He slurped his hot bowl of ramen with a contented hum and set down the empty cup.

There was a knock on his apartment door.

Tsuna hastily opened the door and was surprised to see no one outside. He was about to close the door when a sudden weight knocked him cold on the floor. Someone hit him with something on his stomach.

He opened an eye and was surprised to see a figure standing on his chest. The figure wore a black suit with red shirt, a yellow pacifier glowing on his chest, a black fedora on his head and he has a gun on one hand.

"Re-Reborn?!" Tsuna shrieked in disbelief.

He knew him from his parallel memories of course. Still, the hitman Arcobaleno's presence surprised him. The other day, Hayato told him that in this world, the seat of the Decimo heir of the Vongola went to the remaining son of the Nono, Federico. Hayato said that the man is currently on training as the next Vongola Head.

And so Tsuna wasn't expecting to see Reborn so soon. He is happy of course, glad that he is able to meet his tutor in this world. It just made everything seemed so real meeting him now. Still, why is the hitman tutor here?

"Reborn! What are you doing here?"

Reborn arched an eyebrow in suspicion and pointed his Leon gun straight at Tsuna's head.

"How did you know my name and why do you know me?" he asked threateningly.

Tsuna gulped in fear. Of course, Reborn has no idea that Tsuna knows him. They're not supposed to know each other in this world.

"Speak or I'll blow up your brain."

Frantic, Tsuna hastily explained about the memories he received and his friends. He knew it was too unbelievable for Reborn, but how else could he know about the hitman.

Surprisingly, the Sun Arcobaleno seemed satisfied, he pulled his fedora down, hiding his eyes as he smirked.

"I see. So you became Decimo in that world where your memories came from."

He hopped from Tsuna's chest, and Tsuna propped into a sitting position.

"Then it should be easy for me to teach you."

Tsuna gave a look of surprise, "Wait, you believe that?"

Reborn eyed him, "How else would you explain this Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna flinched at the familiar nickname.

"Please don't."

Reborn smirked, "Be ready Dame-Tsuna. I'll hone you into a respectable mafia boss."

Tsuna shrieked, "What are you talking about, Reborn? Isn't there an heir already?"

"Federico was assasinated a few days ago before he was to officially inherit the seat as Vongola Decimo. Now, there is no one left on Timoteo's lineage to be the next boss. That means, you, Dame-Tsuna will be the Tenth Vongola boss. And I, the world's greatest hitman, will be your tutor."

Tsuna trembled at Reborn's not-so-unexpected announcement, "No, no. This can't be happening." He pulled the strands of his hair. "But I'm a grown up man already!" he protested.

Reborn just grinned, "Then isn't it better Dame-Tsuna? You've grown just in time to be tortu... tutored."

Tsuna winced, "I won't be a mafia boss!" he declared.

Reborn tilted his fedora with his Leon gun and suddenly aimed the barrel at Tsuna, "Then I'll just have to make you."

A loud shriek and a bang from a gun was heard throughout the apartment.

That was the start of the would-be-Decimo's torture-tutoring.

END.

And that's the end of 'The Promised Place'. I hope you enjoyed! Post your reviews for comments, reactions, and anything!

Thank you!