Disclaimer :: I don't own anything by tthe story and the OCs!

PS :: This story is also posted on AO3.

Please enjoy!

Akihito whistled a tune that had no real rhythm, walking through familiar streets while looking up at the clear, cloudless sky. When one looked at him, the last thing they would expect was that the blonde was being followed. Nothing about the blonde's calm, disinterested pace gave away that he was aware of the five men stalking him. No, wait, it were six. One of them had more skill in hiding his presence.

Oh well, one more or less wouldn't make a difference.

He needed to get home and have dinner done before Asami returned from work. Otherwise, Asami would be dining on his ass. Not that Akihito minded, since the crime-lord had a wicked way with his tongue. If Asami wanted to eat him out, Akihito wasn't going to say no. Besides, they'd always order Chinese after a dinner missed, so Akihito wasn't going to complain about that either. However, he was getting a bit tired of eating Chinese at least three times a week. Up to five times, if Asami was having a hard week with his underground business.

If the crime-lord really thought Akihito couldn't tell the difference between an Asami who was getting his way and an Asami who wasn't getting his way, he was severely underestimating the blonde. Asami should learn to give credit where it was due and to be a little smarter about how and when he called Akihito 'cub'. Akihito had figured out a long time ago that Asami called him 'cub' whenever he was around someone who wasn't allowed to hear his real name. That, or when he was worked up because of a deal not going according to his calculations.

Akihito could easily find out what it was that irritated Asami whenever he was called 'cub', but he couldn't really be bothered with it. If Asami wanted to keep secrets, that was completely fine with Akihito. After all, the blonde himself had a closet full of skeletons. Well, closet might be an understatement. He'd describe it more along the lines of a Victorian castle full of skeletons?

The bullet embedding itself in the wall next to his head drew Akihito from his thoughts, making him look at the hole in the brick. Thank fuck he had lead them away from Tokyo and off the main road. He didn't want to know what would have happened if they'd shot at him in populated streets. Well, at least they were smart enough to use silencers, even if their aim did leave a lot to be desired. Or it was on purpose. Probably on purpose.

Hopefully.

"I see you still have no manners" Akihito said, glad that he had ditched his guard a while ago. Otherwise, this would have gone a whole lot different. There was a side to him he didn't want Asami to know and he was sure the guard put on him would report back to the crime-lord. Like Asami didn't want Akihito to know about his lucrative side-business, Akihito didn't want Asami to know about his other personality-traits, if you could even call it that.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you, trash? You don't deserve manners" a rough voice spoke up lazily behind the blonde and Akihito couldn't stop his lips from curling up at the familiarity of the voice. Shifting his weight on his other foot, Akihito turned his body sideways, twisting his head to look at the one who had spoken up.

"It's been a while, Xanxus" the blonde said and the olive-skinned raven scoffed as he tilted his chin upwards, as if to glare down on the blonde. And what an impressive glare it was.

"Don't give me that shit after everything we had to go through to find you, Honey viper" the raven said and Akihito couldn't stop the laugh from leaving him, not even stressing out one bit as he was surrounded.

"It sure has been a while since I've heard that name" Akihito admitted, understanding the Italian flawlessly. After all, he didn't spend his childhood in Italy without picking up on the language. It hadn't even been all that hard. There were some languages that had been harder to learn.

"So, what does the Varia want with me? Am I suddenly on the Vongola hit-list? If so, I want to know if they gave me a higher bounty" Akihito said as he eyed the group surrounding him, also known as the Varia, the elite assassination squad, belonging to but independent from the biggest, most important Italian mafia family. Akihito knew all of them, but two of them he knew best of all.

One of them was the leader, who he had named before. Xanxus was the leader of Varia and Akihito's childhood friend. They had grown up in the shadows of the famiglia together and it had left its scars. Quite literally. Akihito had run away and gone into hiding while Xanxus carried his scars all across his body as physical proof of the rebellion he had acted out against the famiglia. The second one Akihito knew best of the Varia guardians, was the boss's right-hand who was missing a left hand, having been replaced by a sword.

Superbia Squalo, also known as the current sword emperor, had been at Xanus's side longest, thus automatically had to hang out with Akihito, who was honestly surprised by how quiet the long haired albino was being. Normally, he'd be screaming the neighbourhood out of their beds, which was what made Akihito so weary when he was quiet. Maybe Xanxus had fucked away the Albino's voice? That would explain a lot, though Akihito doubted it. As if those two idiots would ever make a move to try and dispel the messed-up sexual tension between them.

Akihito had honestly thought the Nr. 1 Xanxus fangirl would have caused Squalo to be jealous enough to make his move, but he was probably too prideful for that. However, it was still obvious that Levi's fangirling got on Squalo's nerves, though that was unsurprising. Leviathan was someone who would even get on Akihito's nerves with his worshipping. Akihito already wanted to fry off that ugly-ass moustache and he had only seen it for a few seconds.

Another one who made Akihito weary, was Lussuria, but for different reasons. Back when Akihito had still been in the closet and repressing his sexuality, the duo-coloured Mohawk-haired guardian had been extremely open about his gayness. Even a blind man would be able to tell that Lussuria was as gay as could be. Akihito used to turn away from the red-green haired mafioso on sight. However, now, they might be able to share some stories.

The fifth member of the Varia was Belphegor, also known as Prince the ripper. He was probably the one with the craziest background in the Varia, who joined out of boredom after killing his family. Akihito hadn't believed anything of it, until he had dug around a bit and found out that the blonde had never even lied about being royalty. Though he could really use a haircut, one which Akihito would have no problem giving since he was extremely curious as to what was underneath those long-ass bangs.

The sixth guardian was the newest one, though it didn't make any difference to Akihito who had already done his research. Fran was a genius illusionist who acted as a replacement for the actual sixth member, closing the circle of the weather based guardians. Well, almost complete circle. Xanxus was the sky, Squalo the rain, Levi was lightning, Lussuria was sun, Belphegor was storm and Fran was mist. They still missed their cloud guardian, though they would never have one, since Akihito had rejected the position. However, rejecting the position of guardian, didn't mean that Akihito rejected his flame.

The dying will flame was regarded as the symbol of the mafia world. They were created from a person's own life-force, their wave energy turned into a high-densified energy. The size, nature and balance of this wave was determined at birth. The flames were drawn out by their resolve, reacting to their emotions. The knowledge of the dying will flames was passed down from famiglia to famiglia, yet only not everyone had the actual resolve to unlock and use them, to draw their own life-force and soul to the surface to use as a weapon. The famiglias who were able to use it, were therefor counted as the most dangerous ones that even the police could do nothing against.

Of course there were other mafia groups like yakuza's and the likes, but though they were organized crime-groups, they were different since they were unable to use flames. Which was why the underworld was divided into two types of crime-organizations. One being the flame-users and the other being the non-users. The names were pretty self-explanatory, though it was a lot more complicated than it seemed since every flame had its own destructive properties.

Akihito belonged to the flame-user type, his nature being the cloud flame. He had been able to use his flames for as long as he could remember, having had no trouble at all calling them up and playing with them. Mastering his flames hadn't been an effort either. His talent with his flame control had caused him to be qualified as the Varia's cloud guardian, which he had obviously rejected form the second it had been brought up. The Varia were assassins and Akihito didn't like killing. However, his blatant rejection only seemed to please a lot of people, telling him that it was exactly what was needed to be the cloud guardian.

After that, pressure continued to stack up on his shoulders, driving Akihito to run away from the famiglia. He had gone into hiding and had done an extremely good job up until now, when the Varia found him. However, Akihito had no intention of going back.

"You're not on the hit-list, trash. We're taking you back to Italy" Xanxus said, answering Akihito's question without releasing too much information. Akihito sighed as he took one hand out of his pocket to wave the raven off.

"I already said that I'm not going to become your cloud, Xanxus" Akihito said and the Varia boss clicked with his tongue.

"That's not the problem. It's about that baby trash" he said and Akihito frowned as he turned to the raven.

"Tsuna?" he guessed and earned a nod. Akihito hadn't been keeping an eye on what was going on at the famiglia after he had heard about the inheritance ceremony. Apparently, he really should have. What a rookie mistake he had made.

"What happened?" he asked, his earlier relaxed mood gone. It never was good if the Varia was send out to retrieve someone, even if everyone considered Akihito to be one of the Varia's guardians.

"He got kidnapped" Xanxus informed and Akihito narrowed his eyes at the man.

"By who and when?" he asked, though it didn't sound like a question. If he had been anyone else, Xanxus would have had his balls and would have fed them to a shark while he was forced to watch.

"24 hours ago. Nobody was able to contact him and he didn't show up at the place he had agreed to meet with his guardians. We don't know who did it. That's where you come in" Xanxus said and Akihito crossed his arm in front of his chest, looking at the ground in front of his feet as he held his chin between thumb and pointed. 24 hours. That was pretty late to report someone of Tsuna's standing as missing, especially when his guardians were waiting for him.

"Who was the last to see him?" he asked and glanced up at the raven without turning his head.

"His mist guardian" Xanxus said and Akihito's face fell into a deadpan expression.

"Oi, you are aware of how suspicious that sounds, right? You can't tell me you didn't suspect Rukodu Mukuro from the second you heard it" Akihito said and Xanxus's expression remained unchanged.

"The baby trash's guardians thought the same, so they went straight to that guy to interrogate him. Apparently, baby trash left Kokuyo in the early morning" he said and Akihito gave a troubled hum.

"Circumstances?" he asked and Xanxus grimaced.

"Hell if I know. That's your territory, isn't it" he sneered and Akihito sighed as he looked up at the sky. What do to? Well, it wasn't even a hard choice. Tsunayoshi, before being Vongola Decimo, was his cousin. Akihito had already caused his uncle enough trouble by running away after the announcement the CEDEF boss had made. Besides, Tsuna didn't need to be avoided because of his father. There was no way Akihito could leave a kidnapping alone. He never had before. Because Tsunayoshi was the next Vongola boss, kidnapping or threats weren't anything new, but usually there was at least a clue that people knew before Akihito did and that they could give him.

But Xanxus was right. Information and espionage was Akihito's forte, which was how he had earned his name. If there was anyone needed to quickly and efficiently gather information, it was Akihito they turned to. However, with him having gone in hiding, they hadn't been able to reach him, until now. With the second most important person of the Vongola famiglia missing, it was no wonder that they had found him. Like a starved shark catching a whiff of blood.

"I got it. I'll go" Akihito said, taking back what he had thought earlier about having no intention of returning to Italy. If his cousin was in trouble, it couldn't be helped.

"I'm assuming you came with the heli" the blonde said and Xanxus gave a hum. Akihito turned to Fran at the answer, regarding him while cutting back the curious question about his headdress. Everyone in the Varia had more than a few screws loose, so the frog hat really shouldn't be that surprising.

"You were the one who tracked me down, right? Think you'll be able to do that again?" Akihito asked and the green-haired guardian gave a nod.

"Should be possible" he answered lazily and Akihito gave a nod.

"Then please do. I need to grab my bags" he said and grimaced inwardly. He would need to leave a note for Asami as well, but which excuse would be better? The over-seas photoshoot or visiting a family member? He could also use the excuse of a stake-out, which was something he tended to go MIA for. It wasn't unusual for him to go off the grid for a while during a stake-out, so it wouldn't make Asami question it. But it might take longer than a few days, depending on how quick Akihito was able to assemble the needed information to track his cousin down. If he took too long, Asami would suspect that he had been kidnapped and Asami putting Tokyo upside down was not something Akihito needed to be added to his list of worries.

"By the way, who fired that shot?" Akihito asked as he glanced at the hole in the wall behind him.

"Squalo did" Xanxus said and Akihito grimaced.

"Yeah sure, give the swordsman a gun, why not. I guess I'm lucky he has such a shitty aim" the blonde said, instantly getting a reaction from the long haired albino.

"VOOOOIII! What the hell did ya say, scum?!" Squalo exclaimed and Akihito barked a laugh.

"Finally, he speaks up. I was afraid Xanxus had fried your tongue off" the blonde said as he looked at the rain guardian who clicked with his tongue rather loudly, lowering his sword hand again.

"And here I was just being friendly during the boss's reunion with his only friend" he said and Akihito snorted as Xanxus glared at his right-hand-man.

"What did you say, trash?" the boss asked coldly and Akihito took his chance to get away as the duo got into a bickering match with Fran antagonizing them and Levi and Lussuria trying to hold them back from going at each other's throats while Belphegor was clearly having fun watching the spectacle. Crazy fuckers were always like this. Usually, Akihito would be joining Belphegor, but he wasn't able to. Forget about making dinner, if he wasn't gone before Asami came home, Akihito wouldn't be able to leave before the raven left for work the next day.

Luckily for Akihito, the penthouse was empty when he entered it, allowing him to pack his bag without alerting anyone. He dug his hand into his pocket, fishing out the ring he always carried on him since it had been send to him. With a detached move, he slipped the ring on his right middle finger, the plum gem-stone catching the TL light of the guestroom that had been transformed into his make-shift office. He reached into the secret shelf underneath his desk, retrieving a large box. One side contained a tailored suit while the other contained a locked suitcase that only opened with his fingerprint.

Akihito changed into the light grey suit, keeping the grey tie unknotted under the collar of his black button up. He brushed his hair back as he hoisted his bag onto his shoulder, leaving a note on the fridge before taking the secret passage to the rooftop of the building to wait at the helipad for the helicopter to arrive, his locked suitcase in hand and his bag over his shoulder. He didn't have to wait long before the helicopter found him, though he was unable to stop the grimace from pulling at his lips at the sight of it. Instead of the landing Akihito thought it would make, it remained hovering closely to the edge of the rooftop as the door slid open.

"VOOOOIII! JUMP IN!" Squalo yelled and Akihito clicked with his tongue. He really should have expected something like that. Shaking his head, he flung his bag into the cabin of the helicopter as he took a run-up. Squalo was barely on time to step back before Akihito mowed him over, swaying the helicopter with his landing as his feet skidded over the floor of the cabin. He accepted the headphones as Squalo closed the door again, the helicopter taking off before they were even seated.

"What the hell happened to this thing?" Akihito asked as he flicked down the microphone to his mouth, clicking himself in place in the chair against the side of the helicopter wall.

"Fran flew it the last miles" Belphegor informed and Akihito grimaced as he looked at Lussuria behind in the cockpit. Hopefully, the sun guardian was a better pilot than Fran.

"Is this thing even going to make it to Italy without falling apart or blowing up?" Akihito asked, which was a rather legit concern, considering the beaten up state the helicopter was in.

"It's okay, it's okay. There is nothing to worry about" Lussuria assured him happily while Levi next to him huffed.

"I will not allow a helicopter with Xanxus-sama on board to crash" he said and Akihito gave a troubled smile, not sure on how to react to that. Instead, he ignored it in favour of opening his suitcase. His expression changed to something neutral as he took out the magnum to load it with the 9mm bullets that were boxed in the suitcase. When the magnum was full, he picked up the CZ 57 and slid the magnum inside of it, pointing it at the floor to check the aim. After approving it and making sure the safety was on, he clicked the gun in the holster behind his waistband on his lower back before the black short bo staff was stuffed in the holster attached to his fore-arm. After making sure his weapons were concealed by his clothing, Akihito turned his eyes to Xanxus.

"I'm suspecting the guardians were called to Vongola HQ" he said and Xanxus gave a confirming grunt.

"The old man called them there to hear the story straight from their mouth without any chance of being over-heard" he said and Akihito hummed.

"Of course. It'd be bad if anyone heard about the details before they have more information about the situation. I'm expecting them to be hostile without their sky" he said and Squalo scoffed.

"Hostile might be an understatement for that storm brat. He's a second Levi, but smarter" he said and Akihito groaned.

"Right. Smokin' bomb Hayato, huh. He might actually blow me up if he thinks I'm too suspicious" he said as he looked up at the ceiling. Would that kid even be on time to blow him up? Akihito doubted it, after all, it didn't take long before his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled a difficult face at the caller ID as he let it ring, waiting for it to go through to voice-mail. He'd probably get it for ignoring Asami's call when he came back, but hopefully, the crime-lord would let him off easily if he returned soon enough. Oh well, a little hope had never killed anyone. Or at least not in a way they regretted.

Thank you for reading!