Tsubame was brewing herself tea when Giotto stumbled into the kitchen, looking as if he hadn't slept at all.

"Is there coffee?" Giotto asked wearily. The bags under his eyes were dark, hair tousled as if Giotto had been gripping at it.

"Just tea," Tsubame said. "You look like you need more rest."

Giotto groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. "I've trying to work out negotiations with the Rossi Famiglia and Acerino Famiglia all night long."

Tsubame blinked. "Send the Rossi Famiglia a box of the finest Cuban cigars you can find and any bottle of red wine dating from the year the 1920s. Don Antonio has expensive tastes and won't deal with anyone who isn't willing to prove their monetary worth. He also has a vicious temper and likes his woman young to an almost… unacceptable level. Acerino Famiglia run the largest human trafficking ring in southern Italy. My father was a frequent shopper. Don Stefano looks like a meekly man and he uses his assuming appearance to hide a cunning mind."

Giotto stared at her. "How do you know all of this? Alaude didn't even have that kind of level of intel. He knew the Acerino Famiglia dealt with human trafficking, but not Don Stefano looks meekly. Or that Don Antonio likes red wine."

"Failure or not, I was my father's only heir. Know what you can about your allies, enemies and neutral parties. It was expected that I would know it," Tsubame said. She paused, thinking about it. "... It occurred to me that no one here is actually mafia raised, are they?"

"Not in the upper echelon way that you have been," Giotto said. "Please what can you tell me?"

Tsubame looked at her small pot of tea. "We're going to need something much stronger than tea if we're going to have that conversation."

"I have brandy in my office."

"I prefer scotch. G hid some in the hallway closet by the ballroom. Let's go liberate it."

"I'm a little terrified that you know where G keeps his liquor."

-.-.-

Tsubame looked to one side of the room where Lavina and Elena stood. On the other side, Nana and the Sasagawas stood.

The tension in the room was palpable. Any other time Tsubame probably would have found it funny, but the serious nature of their situation left little humor. They had been thrown into the future, to discover their children fighting a war that they the adults had failed to prevent. She had little patience for this.

Of course, they were (stupidly in her opinion) fighting over the children, pointing fingers at each other. Accusation about abandonment were made, while Nana threw back the mafia as a reason to run.

"I feel I should not choose side," Tsubame said quietly. "Because at the heart of the matter, I did abandon my son." It had been five years since she came back, from her original point of view. (Not counting the ten years they had been displaced into the future.)

"So, you think because you went crawling back that you're somehow better than us?" Sasagawa Miyako sneered.

Tsubame didn't bat an eyelash despite the snarling dark rage roaring inside of her. "I left my son to keep him safe, to dismantle an entire famiglia who wanted to experiment on him and raze everything and everyone who wanted to harm him to the ground. Why did you leave your son behind?"

-.-.-

"Is everyone ready?" Giotto said. "Today we infiltrate Irie Shoichi's base to see if we can capture Byakuran's right hand man."

"You won't need to," Tsubame called out from the door.

"Everyone turned to look at her. "Mother?" Kyoya asked.

Tsubame's serene expression didn't falter as she looked at the older version of her son. "I'm so pleased you took after me just a little. I was going to torture the poor boy before he threw out an insane plan that sounds exactly like something that Tsunayoshi would cook up. He also said you knew about it."

"You didn't," Alaude said.

"Didn't what?" Tsubame said, still looking the picture of innocent. "Take a look at the map that Kyoya provided, use it to break into the base, kidnap their leader and kill the Funeral Wreaths? I may have lifted several tons various toxins from our inventory. Coffee pots, bathrooms and water lines they still remain quite popular."

"...Impressive. I had forgotten you were capable of that," Kyoya said.

"Five years out of practice doesn't mean I forgot," Tsubame said. "Did you expect me to do anything less? People are trying to hurt our family. I take offense!"

"Please stop doing things by yourself," Giotto asked. "Take someone, anyone with you."

"I'm a little insulted you didn't ask me to come with you," Daemon said, looking peeved.

"Tsubame," Alaude said.

Tsubame shrugged. "Before I forget, the rings I collected are in the bag in the corner. They're fakes. Very well made fakes. If the boy's story is to believed, Byakuran has fooled everyone as far the Mare Rings go."

-.-.-

"Happy Birthday Kyoya," Tsubame said.

Kyoya felt a jolt of happiness that his mother was physically here to present him with his tenth birthday gift. He accepted the small box, pulling off the cover.

Inside the box was a chirping yellow baby bird.

"You mentioned you really like the stuff animal version I sent you. I thought you might want a chance to raise the real thing," Tsubame said.

Kyoya looked up at her in wonder. He loved small animals. "Thank you, mother."

She blinked at him, startled. Oh. Oh, that was the first time he called her mother, wasn't it? He stared at her, waiting for her reaction.

Tsubame smiled. "You're welcome, Kyoya."

Ahaha I decided against writing the Future Arc (because it's coming up for wwbtf), but I had some scenes that really stayed with me heh. And look the first time Kyoya called Tsubame mother.

Thank you for sticking with this story. (*^▽^*)

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