Gokudera's P.O.V.

12 hours ago:

"Gokudera." Yamamoto whispered moving his lips against mine. "No...Hayato." He put his lips against mine and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me towards the bed.

Ahh...wait." I whispered pushing against his chest. "S-s-stop."

"You don't sound convincing." Yamamoto said kissing down to my neck before biting down.

"Ahhhh!" I moaned throwing my head back and clutching onto his shoulders. He laughed and licked at the bite mark before connecting his lips to mine again.

"Do you really want me to stop?" he asked pushing me down onto the bed and climbing on top of me. He moved one of his hands down my side and stopped on my thigh. He leaned his face closer to mine his eyes darkening. "If so, you might want to stop me now, I don't know if I'll be able to later."

"S-shut u-up." I whimpered. I knew I should be refusing but I couldn't remember why. "A-ahhh."

"Hayato..." he said connecting his lips to mine once me before I succumbed to pure bliss.

Present:

I was blushing like mad; I knew I was too. Here I was lying in bed next to Yamamoto. And might I add I was lying next to a very naked Yamamoto. I tried to sit up but immediately stopped when pain shot through my entire body. I let out a gasp and collapsed back onto the bed. Yamamoto stirred and sat up looking at me a blush crossing his face.

"Oh God." he whispered looking at me. I frowned and narrowed his eyes. Oh God? Really at a time like this that is all he has to say? "Gokudera are you alright?" He truly did look worried and that pissed me off big time.

"Alright? You want to know if I'm alright?" I said slowly. "What the fuck does it look like?!"

"G-Gokudera calm down." Yamamoto said throwing his hands up in defense. Like I could hit him right now anyways...even though I really wanted too. "I was just worried. It's not like I've ever done this before either."

"Then why did you?!" I yelled wincing as I tried to move again. "Thought you'd try it out on me first?"

"N-no!" Yamamoto said flinching. "I would never do that to you! Really! And besides it's not like you didn't have anything to do with it. You kissed me first remember?"

"No I don't." I lied bluntly. So what if I kissed him first, it was to teach him a lesson. "And how does that get us to the fact that we did it?"

"I told you to stop me." Yamamoto cried out. "And you didn't. So I'm sorry but you can't just blame this on me."

"I'm not!" I yelled out in frustration. Ok maybe I was but that's not my fault. "I only kissed you to teach you a lesson. You wouldn't let up about me not finding a girlfriend. You kept asking why. I didn't know how to explain it so I just showed you why. I thought you would hate me and leave me alone."

"I couldn't hate you." Yamamoto said quietly. "Besides, obviously I don't mind, but I don't know why you didn't just say it to begin with."

"That still doesn't explain why you slept with me?" I whispered wincing again as I picked my clothes up off the floor. I needed to get back to my room and I needed a shower. A very long hot one.

"I told you last night." Yamamoto said grabbing my hand. "I told you I loved you. And I still do love you. Please, I know what we did last night...we shouldn't have. I get that. But please let me be with you I promise to take care of you and everything. I do love you, I always have. Maybe I am rushing things but let me make it up to you."

"What?!" I said turning towards him. His faces was inches from mine and he had a serious expression on his face, one that was rarely ever seen, even in a fight.

"Gokudera." he said looking me in the eye. "Will you please go out with me? I promise to love you and be kind to you and I won't hurt you, I promise."

"Shut up." I interrupted him. "Look fine I'll go out with you but on one condition. You never promise you won't hurt me, ever!"

"Huh?" he said looking taken back before breaking into a huge grin. "Alright I won't! Thank you Gokudera thank you so much. I really do love you. And what we did last night...it wasn't a mistake that I do know."

"Don't speak of last night to anyone!" I hissed. "I know I probably didn't have to tell you that but just in case don't. You don't have any idea how bad this would be if it got out."

"I think I have an idea." Yamamoto said kissing me gently.

"W-whatever." I blushed pulling back. "Now if you don't mind I' m going back to my room I need a shower before Juudaime sees me."

"Awww." Yamamoto pouted before smiling. "Ok I just remembered Squalo wanted to spar with me sometime today to."

"Then don't keep him waiting." I said shaking my head at how quickly this turned into a normal conversation. "He gets so loud when he's impatient."

"Haha yeah but he can be so funny." Yamamoto laughed watching me get dressed before going quiet. "Hey Gokudera...you never said it back you know."

"What?" I said looking at him from the door.

"Last night I told you I loved you and I told you this morning too." Yamamoto said standing up and putting his pants on. "But you never once said it back to me."

"Oh that..." I said pausing with my hand on the door handle. "Well..."

"You don't have to say it right now." Yamamoto continued smiling at me. "I know you do, but I also know you don't like saying your feelings out loud. But I swear I will get you to say you love me."

"W-what?!" I said blushing as I turned to him. "What the hell are you talking about?!" I said as he came up to me and put his hands on either side of my head.

"I love you." he whispered cupping my checks and kissing me. I closed me eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled away and smiled. "You better hurry, you don't want to keep Tsuna waiting." He opened the door and I rushed out and looked at him. He smiled and shut the door. I brought the back of my hand up to my lips. I didn't know if I was ready for this or not. My body was aching all over and it hurt to walk. I pulled out my phone and gasped, it was already 12:30, I was so late the boss asked to see me at noon!

"Shit!" I yelled taking off down the hall to my room despite the pain. This is not going to be easy is it?

Tsuna's P.O.V.

I bolted up in bed and looked around. Before gulping at the figure lying next to me. Black hair and pale skin was sticking out under the covers. I felt a blush rise over my check as I lifted the blankets to look at myself.

"EEEEKKKKK!" I screamed. Why was I naked? And why is Hibari sleeping next to me...naked?!

Hibari opened his eyes and looked up at me. I let out another shriek and feel out of the bed pulling the covers down with me. I landed with a loud thunk on the cold, hard wooden floor.

"Ouch." I hissed from the impact and the jolt of pain that went through me the moment I moved.

"What the hell are you making so much noise for?" Hibari asked coldly sitting up before pausing and looking around. "What the..."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry." I cried before stopping. Wait what am I sorry for? I didn't do anything. I don't even know what's going on. "I don't know what happened." Please God, please don't let him bite me to death.

"You don't know what happened?" Hibari growled narrowing his eyes at me.

"Well yes...wait." I said leaning forward before letting out a moan. Oh man my back was killing me. "So...that wasn't a dream?"

Hibari smirked. "And why would you be dreaming something like that?" He asked standing up and scooping me up and laying me down gently on the bed and before lying down beside me.

"I-I wasn't." I stammered. "Great I've really screwed that up."

"I still don't get it." Hibari said turning around. "Do you regret it or don't you?"

"W-well no." I said sitting and grabbing his arm and leaned over trying to see his face. "I didn't mean it that way. I really do remember everything that happened. I'm just surprised that you haven't left yet."

"You thought I meant a one night stand." Hibari said moving quickly. The next thing I knew was that I was lying flat on my back with Hibari on top of me. He had both of my hands pinned above me and his knees on both sides of my thighs.

"W-what?" I stuttered my facing heating up quickly. "H-Hibari?"

"Listen closely." Hibari said leaning down so that his hot breath tickled my ear sending a shiver down my spin. "I don't do one night stands. And I don't just have sex with random people either."

"B-but why me?" I struggled to say as he slid his lips down my neck.

"Hmmmm?" he hummed sending vibrations through my neck. I let out a quiet moan before blushing more. "Why do you think?" he asked biting down on junction between my neck and shoulder before licking it.

"I-I don..." I didn't know what I was going to say but it was lost to a long moan as Hibari traveled down my chest, his tongue dipping into my navel.

"Hmmmm?" Hibari said with a smirk against my stomach. "Sorry I didn't catch that."

"M-mea, ahhhh, meanie." I barely managed to moan out as his hands began to travel up my inner thighs. "S-stop and...let...me...talk." I said between the sudden attacks on my lips.

"Haha fine." Hibari said out of character. "Talk."

"I know what you said last night." I said trying to get my breathing under control. "But it still doesn't make sense why would you choose me. I always thought you hated me."

"At first I did hate you." Hibari explained laying down on me and resting his head above my heart. "I hated you because of how pathetically weak you were. But then after I somehow got myself in this mafia business and had to work with you I saw a different side of that weakness. I saw strength, and then I saw that weakness as something different. I saw it as love and compassion. You always tried to see the good in people and never wanted to fight if it could be helped. But when someone in the "family" got hurt you would always let out that strength and would always push through."

"After that I thought of you as something I shouldn't just have to protect because I was supposed to." Hibari said stopping for a minute to breath. "But as something I need to protect because I want to."

"Hibari..." I said wrapping my arms gently around his head. "Haha and here I thought I was the only one who felt this." I jumped a little when he suddenly bolted up looking down at me his eyes wide.

"What do you mean "felt this"?" Hibari asked quietly something flashed in his eyes but was gone before I could recognize it.

"I guess you could say that I've always had a..." I stopped trying to think of a way to say what I was thinking. "a crush." Yup that was defiantly lame, now I sounded like a silly school girl.

"Tsunayoshi." Hibari said laying forehead against mine. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."

"Hibari you sure are being gentle." I laughed wrapping my arms around his neck. "It's nice to see this side of you,"

"You're the only one that will ever see me like this." Hibari said getting off of me. "You might want to hurry though didn't you have a meeting with Gokudera at noon?"

I sat up ignoring the pain it caused to do so and gasped now at the time. I only had 12 minutes before my meeting with Gokudera and it was located on the other end of the building. Plus I still had to get a shower. I don't know how Gokudera would react if I walked into the meeting smelling of sex. Even he would be horrified.

"Hibari can I please use your shower?" I asked looking at him and picking up my shirt and pants off the floor.

"It's Kyoya." Hibari said with a smile and nodded. "Of course, can't have you going around looking like that even if I do enjoy it."

I blushed and ran into the bathroom ignoring his laugh. "Great." I mumbled hissing at the stinging the hot water created. "Does this count as us dating now?" I wondered out loud. I quickly rushed through my shower while making sure no evidence of last night remained and quickly dressed. After the meeting I would change into clean clothes, these would have to do for now. I rushed out of the room saying goodbye to Hibari and ran full speed to the meeting room. By the time I got there it was already 10 minutes past noon.

"Sorry...I'm...late..." I said when I opened the door. No one was in there and I let out a sigh of relief. True it was rare for Gokudera to ever be late to a meeting, but I was glad that he wasn't here, I didn't have to worry about being late and keeping him waiting. I sat down behind my desk and laid my head in my arms scratching the back of my neck.

I let out a yawn and started shuffling through paperwork as I waited for Gokudera to show up. This is going to become a very interesting life. I can tell that already.

Gokudera's P.O.V.

"I'm so sorry Juudaime !" I said bowing to him my heart still racing from the run here. "I wasn't paying attention to the time!"

"It's alright Gokudera I was late getting here too." Tsuna laughed waving his hands. "It's fine, I overslept too. Haha I guess that means we might have been working a little too late into the night last night."

"That still is no reason for me to be so late." I said not looking at him. I'm a failure as a right hand man. It's ok for the Juudaime to be late since he's the boss. But as his right hand man it's a disgrace to be an hour late. If only I didn't get caught up in that idiot. I felt my cheeks heat up at the thought of him and shook my head. No way don't you dare start thinking about that right now. Actually I don't want to think about that ever.

"Gokudera are you alright?" Tsuna asked sounding concerned. "Come on Gokudera stand up please. Is everything alright you seem out of it?"

I stood up and looked at Juudaime. He looked worried about me but he also looked really tired. We've been working so hard lately. What with that new mafia family coming into play. We've been trying to figure out if it's a family that we can be allies with or a family that may try to cause trouble with us. And on top of all that we catch wind that there are weapons being smuggled into Italy and some of it has been going through our area. We've been working none stop on finding out who's behind it and stopping them from taking it through our territory.

"No Juudaime." I replied with another bow before standing straight and walking up to his desk. "I was just thinking about something. Has there been anything new on the weapon smuggling?"

"No, not really." Tsuna sighed looking through the papers. "We've received nothing new on the matter. I talked to Dino and he said he's been having the same problem but hasn't been able to find a trace of who it could be. He said whoever is behind the smuggling knows what they're doing and they know that we're looking for them."

"Great so that means we're dealing with a pro." I said shaking my head. This job just keeps getting harder and harder. "What about that new family."

"We've been in contact with them." Tsuna replied shrugging. "They said they would like to talk to us and the Chiavarone family. They are willing to strike up an alliance but they have certain conditions that they want us to meet. We don't know what they are and Dino said that we need to be careful how go about this since we don't exactly know what they are after."

"Do you think they may be in on the smuggling?" I asked him. "I mean the smuggling started right after that new family got here. Do they even have a name?"

"They call themselves the Shi Famiglia." he replied frowning. "It's such a strange name."

"Doesn't shi translate as..." I started before stopping. There was no way that was what their name meant no one would a family named that would they?

"Death?" Tsuna asked looking up at me from behind the papers he was reading. "Yes that is the Japanese translation and it sounded like that's where they are from. But what worries me is how they came to get that name. I mean it's odd to see a new family to come up like that which makes me think that they were a mafia family over in Japan. But when I looked them up there was never any records of them which shows that they are new."

"If they are part of the weapon smuggling what will you do?" I asked Tsuna sitting down on the couch looking through some of the papers he gave me. "Especially if you do an alliance with them. That could become a very bad situation for us."

"I know." Tsuna said putting his head down on the desk. Tsuna really didn't know what to do did he? Well then again we haven't had to deal with this kind of stuff before. "We'll just have to be careful. And if we find out that they are connected we'll have to call off the alliance."

"I don't think it'll be that easy Juudaime." I said softly.

"Haha of course not Gokudera." Tsuna laughed suddenly. "It never is. Reborn is on his way back from China. I'll talk to him about it then I'll hold a meeting with all my guardians and take it from there."

"Then why did you need me?" I asked him looking up.

"I want you, Yamamoto, and Chrome to go into town and see if you can find anything strange that might give us a clue as to what is going on." Tsuna said looking out the window. "Don't ask anyone anything and wear normal clothes and act normal. Don't under any circumstances draw attention to yourselves. Do you understand?"

"Yes Juudaime." I said standing up and bowing. "I'll find the other two and we'll leave right away."

"Be back by sunset I don't want you all out past that." Tsuna said nodding that I may go.

"Of course." I said before leaving the room. "Well at least now we're going back to doing something." I turned around the corner heading to the stairs when I found Chrome standing at the top of the stairway looking down. I shook my head and called out to her.

"Chrome." I yelled startling her. She turned to me and bowed smiling. "We have a job."

"We do?" she asked tilting her head. "From Tsuna? What are we doing?"

"First we need to find Yamamoto." I told her looking down the stairs trying to figure out what she was looking at.

"Yamamoto passed me not to long ago. We talked for a little bit then he said he was going outside to practice baseball." Chrome replied still smiling. "He does that a lot."

"Thank you." I said nodding. That's something he would do alright. I just hope he's still there and not to sweaty. "Chrome what were you staring at when I yelled for you?"

"Huh?" she asked looking up at me. Chrome was a really nice girl and I liked her as a friend. She was also very helpful when it came to having to get stuff done. "Oh I was just practicing an illusion. I've been so bored lately that I've been doing simply illusions just to pass time. I'm sorry if I was bothering you."

"No you weren't." I said shrugging, I should have guessed that's what she was doing. "I was just wondering. It has been pretty boring lately not being able to really do anything."

"Well we don't exactly know what to do." Chrome said messing with her eye patch. "After all we haven't been able to find any information on the weapon smuggling and we have to wait for that new family to act before we can. We're kinda in a tight corner right now."

"Did you know the new family's name was Shi?" I asked her. She shook her head her eye going wide.

"No I didn't." she said looking troubled. "Are you sure?"

"Have you heard of them before?" I asked her. "Have you heard about them from Mukuro? "No I haven't." she replied shaking her head. Dang it, if anyone would know she would...or Mukuro but he would've told her wouldn't he? "I've never heard of them. Mukuro might have but I don't know. He wouldn't have told me unless it was important. No it's just that...shoumetsu translates into death. Why would anyone call their family the Death Family?"

"I don't know." I replied opening the door and moving back so she could walk out first before following her and closing it. "But they did and to be honest the name makes me a little nervous. Especially if they want to strike an alliance between us and them."

"It is a little suspicious." she agreed. "Oh look there's Yamamoto." she said pointing before yelling out to him. He was standing in the yard throwing baseballs up and hitting them. He sat a ball down and turned to look at us smiling as he put the bat behind his neck.

"Hey what's up." he said when approached him.

"We have a job." I told him shaking my head. "You're going to have to wash up quickly. We need to dress casually. But hurry we have to be before sundown and that only leaves us with 4 hours by the time we get there. I'll explain after we change."

"So we're not wearing suits?" Chrome asked as we walked back in.

"No we're not allowed to draw attention to ourselves. Meet me at the top of the stairs in 10 minutes." I told them as we left to go to our rooms.

"Got it." they both said walking into their rooms. At least we all were close by to each other. I thought as I walked into my room. Each of our rooms were marked with our symbol that corresponded with our Vongola rings. Mine being a tornado to match my ring. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a black t-shirt and lose blue jeans and quickly slipped into them before adding my usual accessories. I looked in the mirror briefly before walking out of the room itching at the back of my neck.

We all left our rooms at the same time and made our way downstairs and out the door. "Will we be taking the Motorbikes?"

"Yes." I replied opening the garage. "Who are you riding with?"

"No offense but I think I'll ride with Yamamoto." she replied blushing.

"Whatever." I shrugged. I didn't care who she rode with. "Let's go. Yamamoto don't get lost." I said swinging my leg over my bike and starting it before backing out and riding out of the garage and waited by the gates for Yamamoto and Chrome. It didn't take long and we were pulling out of the gates and down into town.

"So Gokudera what exactly are we looking for?" I heard Yamamoto ask through our headset. "You said you'd explain after we got dressed but you didn't."

"We need to figure out if the weapon smuggling and the new mafia family are connected." I explained. "Or see if we can find anything on just the smuggling. But we have to act normal and we can't ask anyone anything about either one. To be honest it would probably be best if we didn't ask anyone anything."

"Why did Tsuna want us to do it?" Chrome asked before squealing a little as we turned. "I don't like these things."

"Don't hold on so tightly." Yamamoto laughed. "You won't fall off."

"All the other guardians are out remember, and this isn't a job to give to the guards." I explained ignoring the last comment.

"Does he think we'll be able to find anything?" Chrome asked sounding confused. "I mean none of us have been able to before why does he think we might be able to now."

"I don't know." I told her before nodding. "We're here so enough of this conversation. We'll park in the plaza and then search the town. Don't forget we have to be back by sunset that gives us 4 hours to do this and get back."

"Got it." Chrome said as we pulled into the plaza and got off the bikes. "Are we splitting up?" "No but in case we get separated." I said looking around.

"Come on we're not gonna get separated." Yamamoto said throwing an arm around my shoulder.

"Cheer up Gokudera this is supposed to be a fun day out. No work, no studying, just a relaxing day in town."

Studying? I thought shooting him a confused look.

"We're acting as college students." Yamamoto whispered pulling Chrome in too so she could hear as well. "We got a day off today and we're down here hanging out as three really good school friends." he explained winking. Before continuing in his regular loud and annoying voice. "Where do you want to go Chrome. Any shops that you might be interested in. Didn't you say yesterday that you wanted to looking into getting a new outfit?"

"Yeah I did." Chrome said clapping her hands and began walking. "A new clothing store opened a couple of weeks ago that I really wanted to check out. But I don't think I'll be able to afford any of their stuff but I would still love to see the new styles."

"Sounds good to me." Yamamoto said smiling. "What about you Gokudera sound good to you?"

"Sure." I said pulling out a cigarette. "It's not like I care I was perfectly content with just staying at the dorms and sleeping."

"But then this wouldn't be any fun." Chrome said hooking an arm through mine and Yamamoto's arms.

"Yeah." Yamamoto nodded. "Hey after we go to the clothing store can we go to the sports store? I'm gonna need a new bat soon my old one could give any moment."

"Well if you would quite playing baseball every now and then you wouldn't have that problem." Chrome laughed.

"Yeah and you might actually have to time to study." I said blowing smoke out of my lungs. And looking at him. "Then you might actually seem smart for a change instead of stupid. But then again that's setting my hopes a little too high."

"Ouch Gokudera." Yamamoto laughed. "You're harsh even on a break day. Come one we're here to have fun not talking about school."

"Oh this is it." Chrome said walking into a new looking shop. I rolled my eyes and followed her in after throwing my cigarette into one of the smoking dishes outside and walked in followed by Yamamoto. The store was mostly a girls store and I felt totally out of place and I could tell Yamamoto did too. There weren't all that many guys and the ones that were there were either fathers or husbands but no one that looked our age. Not that meant anything we still looked like high school students then mafia members or college students.

"Oh I am so sorry." Chrome said turning to look at us with an apologetic face. "I didn't know it was a girls store."

"Nah it's fine." Yamamoto shrugged. "We can give you our best opinions on outfits. Isn't that a reason girls always take a guy shopping with them?"

"Really I always thought it was to hold their bags." I mumbled as a group of girls pointed at me and started giggling blushing as they started talking. "What are they laughing at?" I asked quietly to myself.

"They're talking about how cute you are." Chrome said not looking back. "They're daring each other to come talk to you. Oh they decided, someone named Amber is coming."

"Hey." a blonde girl said walking up to us. She had a lot of black makeup around her brown eyes and she had a sickly sweet smile on her face. "What's your name?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked grumbling. Why did I always have to get bothered by girls.

She blinked seeming to be taken back slightly before smiling once again. "I'm just curious I haven't seen a cute boy like you here before."

"I don't make it my job to come a girls clothing store." I said getting annoyed by her loud pitched voice. Chrome had walked over stand by Yamamoto and was covering her mouth her shoulders shaking with laughter. Yamamoto was smiling but he seemed kind of annoyed too.

"Ouch." she laughed causing me to wince at how high pitched she was. "You defiantly aren't the nice type are you?"

"Nice type?" I asked narrowing my eyes. "I don't know you so I don't think I have to be nice to you. What do you want?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to get a smoothy or catch a movie." she said batting her eyes. I was becoming annoyed very quickly.

"Svitarsi." I said in Italian. We may be in Japan but that didn't mean I had to speak it. "Sei fastidioso."

"W-what?" she asked as I grabbed Chrome and began walking down a random isle full of clothes. "H-hey! What did he say?" she asked her friends loudly.

"Start looking." I told Chrome rubbing my head. "God she was so loud. Worse than Yamamoto."

"She was annoying." Yamamoto agreed his voice tight.

I looked over at him and raise an eyebrow. "What's your problem all of a sudden?"

"Oh nothing." he said smiling. "She was just loud like you said."

"What did you say to her?" Chrome asked pulling a pink shirt off the rack and holding it against her. "What do you think?"

"Pink doesn't look good on you." I said without hesitating. "I suggest you stay with purple and other dark colors. And I told her to screw off and that she was annoying."

"Hmmm purple." Chrome muttered. "Which one was screw off?" she asked holding up a dark purple shirt that had a black vest attached to it with a hood that had black fur around it.

"Cute." I said holding up against her. "Especially with a mini skirt and black leggings with it. Svitarsi means to screw off."

"You're right that would be cute especially with my boots." Chrome said hugging me in thanks. "And that's a handy word I'll have to remember it."

"You're welcome." I said and shrugged. "Just be careful how you say it and who you say it too. That shirt is pretty cheep too."

"It is actually." Chrome nodded. "I'll be careful. Hey I'm gonna go find a skirt and leggings."

"Ok I'm gonna go out for a smoke I'll be back in a minute." I said walking out of the store and pulling out another cigarette.

"I'm gonna have to find something else to handle my stress and give these ups." I said as I lite it and walked into the alley next to it and leaned against the wall. "Before this seriously screws up my health. That perverted doctor said I was lucky no tar had build up in my lungs yet but that if I didn't stop soon that would change."

I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes letting my hands drop to my side. I was so tired. We have been working so hard lately. This sucked I wish everything would slow down enough for me to rest. Even if it just slowed down a little bit.

I had just finished my cigarette when Yamamoto and Chrome walked out of the store. "Are you done?"

"Yup!" Chrome said happily. "I even found the skirt."

"Nice." I said pushing myself away from the wall before lowering my voice. "Did you see or hear anything unusual?"

"No." Yamamoto said leaning forward as Chrome shook her head. "Have you?"

"No." I said walking down the sidewalk. "But I honestly don't know what to look for. Everything seems normal, it always does. That's why we can't ever catch them."

"We will Gokudera." Chrome said looking around. "Maybe not right now but we will. We just gotta be patient."

"We don't have forever." I said pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"But, Hayato." Yamamoto said pulling the cigarette from my mouth. "We do have time, don't stress out yet." He crushed the cigarette. "We've got time."

"The longer we have to wait the worse this gets for Juudaime." I argued, the longer this held out the more Tsuna's influence as the Tenth Vongola boss decreases amongst the other families.

"Hayato you play the piano right?" Yamamoto asked changing the subject. "I bet you're really good at it."

"I didn't know you played the piano Gokudera!" Chrome said excitedly clapping her hands. I stopped suddenly causing Yamamoto to bump into me and Chrome to bump into him.

"Hayato?" Yamamoto said steadying Chrome. "What's wrong."

"Shh." I said narrowing my eyes. But this time I didn't hear anything.

"Gokudera?" Chrome said whispering. "What is it?"

"Nothing just thought I heard something." I said.

"Hmm I didn't hear anything other than people talking." Yamamoto said starting to list off the things he heard.

"Yamamoto..." I started but he ignored me and continued his rambling. "Takeshi!"

He stopped and smiled. Damn he did that on purpose. "Let's get something to eat I'm starving. And then we can stop by that sports store. Kay?"

"I agree." Chrome said. "I am too, plus we might be able to gather some info."

"What about you Hayato?" Yamamoto asked me.

"I'm not exactly hungry but we can stop as long as you don't take forever we still need to try and gather some information." I said repeating what Chrome said with more emphasis. "Where do you want to go?"

"How about over there?" Chrome said pointing to a small restaurant. "It looks nice."

"Sure." Yamamoto and I said at the same time. I blushed and pulled them across the street.

"Oh look they have a piano." Chrome whispered as we walked in. Her eye was shining as she looked around.

"Welcome." a man with blonde hair said bowing at us. "Please follow me, right this way." He led us to the back of the restaurant and gave us a booth by the window. "Your waiter will be right with you."

"I know, I saw it." I said as we sat down. I scooted over to the window as Yamamoto sat down next to me. Chrome sat across from me. "Order what you want I'll pay for it."

"No I can pay for me." Chrome said still looking around. "This place is really pretty."

"Hello my name is Derek and I'll be you waiter today." a man with long brown hair said walking up. I felt a shiver go down my spin as he looked at me with cold brown eyes. "Can I start you off with some drinks and appetizers?"

"I'll have some sweet tea." Chrome said looking at the menu.

"And I'll have green tea." Yamamoto said looking over at me. "What about you?"

"Just a water." I said not meeting the waiter's eyes.

"I'll be right back with your drinks." he said bowing before turning around and heading to the kitchen.

"He was kind of cute." Chrome said looking up from her menu.

"Really?" Yamamoto asked sounding shocked.

"Haha yes really." Chrome laughed. "But you were too busy looking elsewhere to notice huh?" she said looking at me with a wink. I blushed and looked out the window. She knew, how did she know?

"Relax Gokudera." Chrome laughed. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. I knew you two were gay from back in high school I just never said anything. Though I'll admit I never expected you two to start going out."

"Haha I never thought he'd say yes." Yamamoto said happily scratching the back of his head. "It totally caught me off guard when he said yes."

"When did you ask him out?" she asked leaning forward.

"This morning." Yamamoto replied.

"Really?" Chrome said sounding shocked. "I thought you guys had been dating for awhile now."

"No." I said clutching my head. I was starting to get a migraine.

"Gokudera are you alright?" Chrome asked leaning towards me."You look really pale. I didn't mean anything by any of that. Honestly, I think it's great you two are together."

"It's not that." I muttered and looked up as a I heard a clink against the table. Derek sat my water down in front of me and I looked up accidentally meeting his eyes.

"Are you ok?" he asked sounding worried, but something else was in his tone and his eyes didn't match his concern.

"I'm fine." I said lowering my gaze back to my water.

"Alright." he said after a slight hesitation. "Then what can I get you all to eat?"

"Ummm." Chrome said giving me worried look.

"Order whatever you want." I told her smiling. The pain had back off some and now was just an annoying pressure at the back of my head.

"Ok." Chrome said. "Can I have the Tempura Udon*?"

"Alright." he said scribbling it down before looking at Yamamoto. "And you?"

"I want the Ten Ju*." Yamamoto said.

"I don't want anything." I replied as he looked at me.

"I'll get these right to you." he said closing his notebook. "Please feel free to order anything should you change your mind." he turned and walked away and back into the kitchen. I took a sip from my glass and closed my eyes. That was a sudden attack I normally don't get them like that I can usually tell when they are about to come on.

"Hayato are you ok?" Yamamoto asked sounding worried.

"Yeah I just had a headache." I told him without opening my eyes. "It's fine now."

"Are you sure?" he asked me not sounding convinced.

"Yes I'm sure." I sighed opening my eyes and glaring at him. "It's gone, I'm fine."

"Alright." he replied smiling.

"Now then let's talk since we have time." I whispered leaning in. "We need to try and figure some stuff out from what we already know."

"What do we know?" Yamamoto asked draping an arm around the booth and my back.

"Well we know the smuggling started around the same time that new family came in." Chrome said leaning in as well. "But isn't that all we know?"

"We also know that no one has been able to catch them yet." I told her. "So we can assume that we're dealing with pros."

"Maybe they're just lucky though." Yamamoto suggested.

"They get lucky way to often then." I argued. "They know what they are doing and they're good at it."

"I think that's it." Chrome said thinking. "But I don't know how those all fit together."

"I don't think they do." Yamamoto said scratching his head. "Honestly I think it's a coincidence. Who ever is doing the smuggling deliberately did it when the new family announced themselves to throw us off. They knew we would suspect the new family immediately. That would give them a clear way to do the smuggling cause we wouldn't be looking for them we would be to busy suspecting the new family."

"That makes sense." Chrome said nodding. "You don't agree Gokudera?"

"It's not that I don't agree..." I said slowly. "But isn't that an obvious answer?"

"Yeah but..." Chrome said stopping as Derek brought out our food.

"Here you go." he said sitting the plates in front of Yamamoto and Chrome. "Have you changed you mind?" he asked me with a smile.

"No." I said glaring at him. This guy was creepy. And defiantly not cute at all.

"Alright." he said bowing and walking away.

"I don't like him." Yamamoto pouted.

"Oh Yamamoto he's just being nice." Chrome laughed. "Don't get worked up about it."

"No I agree." I said. "He is creepy, anyways back on topic."

"It is obvious." Chrome agreed. "But this is the only conclusion that makes any sense at the moment isn't it?"

"I guess so." I said looking back out the window. "It looks like it might rain." I said as gray clouds started covering the sky.

"Yeah it does." Yamamoto said laying his head on my shoulder. "But I like the rain so it's ok with me if it rains." he jumped some when I jerked forward. There was that noise again, it sounded like a high pitch screaming, a scream that sounded in pain, crying for help. And underneath that scream I could hear my name being called over and over again, softly...gently.

"Hayato what's wrong?" Yamamoto asked. I could just barely hear him over the continuous scream.

"Nothing." I whispered. "I need to go to the restroom please excuse me." I put the money on the table. I needed to get out of here. I had to find out who was screaming.

"Alright." Yamamoto said moving so I could get out. I made my way to the restrooms as fast as I could ignoring the looks people gave me. The restrooms were by the exit so instead I just walked out of the restaurant and turned right before I took off running. I needed to find her. She sounded like she was in so much pain, but why was I the only one who could hear her? Why? The rain started coming down now and I could feel my shirt become drenched. The scream was getting louder and louder as I ran. I turned down into an alley way and stopped. A man was standing in front of me with a chain that had a silver crescent pendulum swinging back and forth. His face was covered by a black hood.

"What...?" I said as the pressure in my head got worse. He smiled and began walking towards me. I feel to my knees clutching my head. "What are you doing?!" I cried out as the pain continued flowing through my body. The pain was horrible, my body felt like it was being electrocuted and at the same time it felt like I was on fire. My lungs weren't working and I couldn't breath, it felt like I was drowning. Just as he reached a hand out he froze and looked up before running away.

As the man disappeared so did the pain. I collapsed onto my side and gasped in air getting my lungs to work again.

"Hayato!" Yamamoto yelled dropping to his knees beside me. "Hayato hold on. Chrome call for help." He smoothed my hair back and pulled me up into him, he took his coat off and draped it around me. It wasn't until then that I realized how hard I was shivering. "You're ok we'll get you to Shamal just hold on."

"Tsuna said Hibari and Shamal are on their way." Chrome said dropping down across from Yamamoto. "Gokudera you'll be ok soon."

"Takeshi..." I gasped before surrendering to the blackness that invaded my mind.

17 years ago:

"Never stop playing, all right?" the lady said holding my hand in her soft warm hands. "Never forget to have a pure heart...okay?"

…

"It's been five years since it happened." one of the maids said quietly.

I stopped running and leaned against the wall listening to what they were talking about.

"Since young Master Hayato's mother died." she continued.

"What!?" one of the other maids said turning around. "Master Hayato wasn't Madam's child, then?"

What? I gasped my eyes widening what did she mean by that? Who else could be my mom?

"What are you talking about?" she asked covering her mouth.

"He's the child that Master had with that young pianist." the maid explained.

"Really?" she said looking shocked. What were they talking about. What pianist? Wait! That woman that kept visiting me. She was a pianist. And now that I think about it I did look like her. But why didn't she tell me who she was. And what did they mean by died?

…

"Mom." I said shaking my head. "You never came back. Why? Why did you have to die. Why couldn't you just tell me."

"Hayato." her voice said ringing into my head. "Remember, never forget to have a pure heart."

"Why did you die?" I asked closing my eyes. "Mom."

"Gokudera!" a voice said waking me from dream. "Come on wake up. Gokudera?"

Huh? Who is that? That's not mom...no that was a dream. Where am I? What happened?

"Gokudera are you awake?" another familiar voice coming from my left, the opposite side of the first voice and this one was female instead of male.

I opened my eyes and squinted at the bright lights above me."Huh?"

"Gokudera!" the male voice from earlier said excitedly something warm gabbed my hand and held it up. "You woke up finally!"

I looked over to see a calloused hand gripping mine tightly. I followed the hand up till I saw the face of its owner. Yamamoto was leaning close smiling. "Takeshi?" I rasped wincing at the sound of my voice and tried to clear.

"Here." the female voice came again. I looked over and Chrome was sitting in a chair and was handing me a cup of water. I sat up and took the cup drinking the water quickly.

"Thank you." I said as she took the cup back and sat it on the counter behind her.

"No problem." she smiled looking relieved. "How are you feeling. You feel asleep quickly but we couldn't wake you up." Who was that man? And what did he want with me?

"Does your head hurt?" Yamamoto asked worry shadowing his face.

"Not anymore." I said shaking my head. "How long have I been asleep.

"Ummm Gokudera." Chrome said leaning forward and placing a hand on my arm. "You've been asleep for 3 days."

"What!?" I said loudly. I threw the blankets back and jumped out of bed. I didn't go very far before the world tilted and I fell.

"Gokudera!" Yamamoto said leaping out of his chair and catching me before I could hit the floor. "Gokudera you should get up so quickly, you're still sick."

"Ugh." I said shaking my head. "I have to talk to Juudaime. I'm fine."

"No you aren't." he said picking me up and laying me back on the bed. "If you need to talk to Juudaime then I'm going to see him now. He wanted me to come and get him once you woke up, he was worried about you."

"No, I'll go to him." I said struggling to get out of bed but Yamamoto held me down.

"Look I know," Yamamoto said shaking his head. "I know you think it's your job to go to him. But even he said to come and get him when you woke up. Not the other way around. The way I read that is that he wants you to stay in bed. Now wait here without giving Chrome a headache and I'll be right back."

I laid back down as Yamamoto went out the door. I heard him say something and more footsteps left with him as he went to find Juudaime. "Chrome who else is here? That was more than just one pair of footsteps."

"All the guardians are back." Chrome said running a cold, wet washcloth through my hair and over my face. "They came back immediately after Tsuna told them you had fallen ill."

"What?" I said looking back. "Why would he do that, did something happen?"

"Gokudera..." Chrome said her face going pale. "You were in really bad shape. You almost died, your fever was really high and your vitals kept dropping. We were all really scared."

"What was wrong with me?" I asked her staring at the ceiling. This was bad I couldn't afford to get sick like this. Not with everything that was going on. And now because of me Tsuna had to call all the guardians back.

"Gokudera please don't beat yourself up over this." Chrome said as the door opened. Mukuro walked in and leaned against the door but remained quiet. "We aren't sure what you had but the doctor said it was serious and that your body was fighting hard to kill whatever you had that was making you sick. Even Shamal didn't know what it was."

"But to have to call everyone back..." I said closing my eyes.

"Listen here you idiot." Mukuro said ignoring Chrome's protest. "You got sick, that happens to people with a brain get over it. Whatever you had it's gone now so you'll just have to make it up. Besides it was time for us to come back anyway Tsuna wants to talk to us about this new family and the weapon smuggling."

"Oh yeah." I said opening my eyes when I felt something land on my lap. A pile of my clothes laid there. I looked over at Mukuro who had his back turned to me.

"Get dressed the boss is coming here." Mukuro said smirking. "The least you could do is look professional."

Chrome stood up and sat a brush down next to me. "I'll be right outside if you need me."

"Thanks Chrome." I said smiling. "Sorry I guess I was being really whiny."

"It's fine." she smiled then shook her head. "Just get ready and don't over do it alright? Don't forget you're still sick."

"Alright, thanks Chrome." I said smiling. She smiled back and walked out the door.

"Alright Gokudera get your head together." I told myself as I changed. "This is no time to be sick, you've got work to do."

Tsuna's P.O.V.

"Alright now that Gokudera is awake let's get started." I said looking through my papers. "We've got a lot of work to do and not much time left."

"First off let's get this new family business out of the way." I said pulling a sheet out and passing it to Hibari. "this is the new information regarding the new family. They want to create an alliance with us but I'm hesitant to agree to it. Especially with the weapon smuggling that is going on."

"Do we know that they are a part of the smuggling?" Ryohei asked as Hibari handed him the sheet. He looked it over then looked up. "It's possible for this to just be a coincidence.
Right?"

"It's possible." I said slowly. "But it's also possible they're the ones behind this."

"What will we do if they are behind this then?" Hibari asked leaning against the wall. "Will we be able to cancel the alliance?"

"Yes." Reborn answered pausing as he sipped his coffee. "But you'll have a new family at war with you. Are you all prepared to go to war again?"

No one answered. Of course we weren't ready for war again. The last war took its toll on us. But it wouldn't matter in this case, if it came to war then we would have no choice but to fight.

"It doesn't matter." I said sadly. "Either way we'll wind up going to war. If we don accept the alliance and then find out they're behind the smuggling I doubt they would stop just because we ask them too. And if we don't accept and they are behind it then we'll wind up going to war to stop them."

"That's true." Reborn said with a nod. "But are you ready for that?"

"No but we will be." I said sighing as the folder was handed back to me.

"Alright I'll figure out more on what to do but for now be ready for anything to happen." I told them standing up. "I'll contact the Varia and see where they'll stand on this."

"Juudaime..." Gokudera said leaning forward. "Are you sure we should ask them for help. They may use this as a chance to kill you."

"I doubt it." I replied. I honestly don't believe that they would try to kill me. "They'll wait for the enemy to kill me first. Then they'll make their move."

"But Juudaime you can't be sure." Gokudera insisted his eyes clouded with worry and exhaustion. "They've tried it before and didn't have a problem trying to kill you."

"That was different." I smiled. "We had something they wanted. Now that I am the tenth generation boss they won't try to kill me. Now it's really late let's get some sleep and we'll come up with something soon."

"Do you want us to prepare for war?" Mukuro asked speaking up for the first time this night. He had an odd gleam in his eye that he usually got when war was involved.

"Just be ready for anything." I repeated opening the door. "Now get some sleep, tomorrow will most likely be busy." I walked out and turned down the hall. I could tell Reborn and Hibari were right behind. As soon as I was sure no one else was around I stopped and turned to face them. Reborn's eyes were narrowed and Hibari stood quietly waiting for me to say something.

"We aren't ready for war." I told them frowning. "We need to stall if we can. But I think I've stalled for as long as I can."

"Then what are we going to do?" Reborn asked tilting his hat down. "Your family is in danger."

"I know." I said looking down. My family being in danger was the last thing I wanted. "I wish I could just tell them no but I don't think I can do that without giving them a reason. And I can't just accuse them of weapon smuggling if I don't even have proof that it's them. Like Ryohei said this could all just be a coincidence."

"But you don't believe that." Hibari pointed out.

"It doesn't matter what I believe." I told him turning back around walking away.

Beginning: the point in time or space at which something starts. ~Google definition~