Unbeta-ed

Chapter 8: Onwards

'To Edward of El Fildiea Familigia,

To celebrate and commemorate our alliance, you are invited to the Annual Alliance Party hosted by the Vongola Familig-'

The card then graciously proceed to get crumpled up with overly-exerted force before flying across the room, hitting the opposite wall. Falling onto the floor unceremoniously with a small 'tufft'.

'This is absurd' the Vongola cloud guardian seethed. Part of his anger was directed at the two innocent pile of paper in front of him while most of it was directed at a certain female who managed to land a solid punch on him who then after threw her workload on him like the deal they have made. Resulting in Alaude having to take over work as per agreed.

"Fight me" Alaude demanded when the raven-haired woman decided to make her appearance before him. He had spent the day, rummaging through old files, sneaking in local offices for data but there weren't just enough. Too many unanswered questions, stress, and frustration had accumulated within him that he wishes to quell it.

Kyoya raised her brows at the sudden request but smirked nonetheless. Whipping out her tonfas she approached the other but then stopped when a certain brunette's voice rang in her mind from this morning.

'Kyoya, I need you to deal with this and no, you can't refuse it unless you switch yours with the others. Also, it needs to be done as soon as possible.'

She internally growled when she remembered what was waiting for her. But then, this was of the reasons why she seeks the man in the first place.

An idea popped into her head earlier, an escape route. It may be an herbivorous action and she had seen how it's done numerous times but if it allows her to avoid her impending doom then…

"Herbivore" she gained the other's attention. "Let's make a deal"

"Oh?" Icy blue orbs widened in interest. "What deal?"

Kyoya's smirk grew wider, "If one of us lands a hit on the other, the defeated has to obey the victor"

Alaude smirked, liking the way how this is going. He was curious what the other was planning for him and it could be risky and dangerous if he were to lose. But he just had to make sure it doesn't, easy. He could use this to his advantage to answer any questions he has about the other's party.

"Very well"

The fountain pen snapped in two. It had been hours since the fight and he had been cooped up in his room, doing her job while she wanders off somewhere. It was infuriating but then he had given his word and it would be against his pride if he did otherwise.

The piles of empty cards that never seemed to end seem to mock him. But he made a deal, and worse, he lost. The large bruise on his upper left arm was more than enough to remind him.

Letting out a string of curses, Alaude, wiping his hands with a napkin, he pulled out another pen. Slamming on a new piece of card, he began scribbling.

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"What else should we serve at the party Takeshi?"

"Sushi!"

"How many times do I need to remind you that we're in Italy...?"

"So? It's good food! Isn't that right Asari-san?" Takeshi grinned at the man who nods sagely. "I agree with Takeshi, perhaps we should introduce some Japanese food to the guests."

"I don't think serving foreign cuisine or sudden change of taste is a good idea…" Tsuna frowned, but still scribbled onto the paper.

"Do you have any other ideas Takeshi?" Asari asked, looking at the female sitting on the counter.

"Chicken fingers!" She chirped. "This is not a kid's party…" Tsuna sighed, feeling the cycle repeat over and over again for the past hour.

"What is a chicken finger?" Asari questioned the two. Takeshi pondered for a while before answering, "It's some kind of fried chicken meat about this big", lifting up her fingers to illustrate. "And when you eat it, it tastes like chicken!" Asari nodded in understanding. Tsuna just stared at the two in disbelief.

"How's the list going?" Rang a voice behind them. The three look back to see Giotto poking his head through the kitchen door. Tsuna stood up from her stool, scribbling a few more options. "Okay I guess...I've also written down what I think should be suitable for the party as well"

Giotto hummed, stepping into the kitchen and leaned against the counter next to the three. He accepted the list from the brunet and scanned its' contents. "How is it?" Takeshi asked, her grin never leaving. "We decided to throw in some Japanese food."

"And I think it's a splendid idea" Asari clapped his hands. "Introducing our culture to the people, especially the food."

"Personally, I just think you two just want to have some Japanese cuisine…" Tsuna accused but her eyes twinkled with mirth. Takeshi immediately burst out laughing, while Asari just covers his mouth to hide his grin. "Don't you too Tsuna?" The brunette didn't even try to hide her smile and nodded.

Giotto chuckled, "I think it's an…unique range of food and I would love to have some too, this should do." He handed the list back to Tsuna. "Check the supplies as well, and inform me later on what materials you would need." The three nodded.

Giotto pushed himself off the counter and was about to rummage for some snacks for him when a light strained voice called out from behind.

"A little help please..." Giotto turns back to see and gaped. Gripping on the wooden door with trembling arms, looking both haggard and out of breath was Enma. She had one foot to keep the door open, her body bending forward, supporting a body on her back, one arm gripping on her burden awkwardly, trying not to let him slip off.

Asari and Giotto rushed forward to see Cozart, red-faced and out cold, snoozing away on the girl's back without a care in the world. Both guardian immediately went to lift the man off of her. "What happened?"

"He uh... drank too much wine and passed out" Enma straightened and stretched, feeling her bones pop back into place.

"He what?" Giotto slung an arm to keep the man upright and steady. Cozart's breath smelt of alcohol and doesn't seem to be bothered by all the motion. "I knew I shouldn't have let this idiot to choose wines..." The Vongola boss sighed.

Asari offered his friend a smile and adjusted his hold on the man, saying: "At least he's fine and safe here." Giotto huffed, "at least he didn't do anything dumb."

"He uh... broke quite a few bottles and uhhh might have finished some that he picked…" Enma weakly smiled, silently feeling sorry for her boss when he drooped visibly.

"You girls continue with your work, Giotto and I are going to put Cozart back to his room. Enma was it?" The said girl nodded, "Just pick some other of the wine Cozart chose and it should do, afterward." Giotto groaned and pulled his friend up when he was slipping from his grip.

"Get some rest, you deserved it."

"Thank you." Enma bowed and disappeared from view. Not before nodding goodbye to her friends in the kitchen.

"And I was planning to get some break and snacks from all the paperwork. To think this idiot actually went on a drinking spree and got himself drunk" Giotto grumbled. Tsuna held in a laugh and said. "I'll make something and send it to you in your office, would that alright?"

"That would be great" Giotto brightened up but it was soon gone when he starts to feel his shoulders getting sore. "Come on, let's get this idiot to his room"

"Alright." Asari waved a short goodbye to the maids and carefully made his way out of the kitchen and into the hall with his two friends. Smiling all the while.

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"Takeshi, I'm going to take this cake to Primo and the others, could you clean up for me?" The girl nodded and immediately started to dump kitchen utensils into the sink.

Halfway into her work, the door behind her opened rather forcefully, banging against the wall. Takeshi turned around just in time to see Vongola's storm guardian rushing past her. Dumping the contents in his arm onto a nearby table before filling a mug with water, drinking it with big gulps. Takeshi only watched in fascination as the guardian moved on to his next cup.

Hayato appeared in the doorway and snickered. She walked in and piled more groceries, ignoring the glare from G.

Gulping down the contents of his mug, G wiped his month with his sleeve and sneered, "The heat isn't going away!"

"Glad to know that the chili is living up its' reputation huh?" Hayato didn't bother to hide her grin.

"What happened?" Takeshi asked.

"I introduced him to one of the spiciest chilies in town and he took a big whiff of it. What an idiot" G would have yelled at her if he wasn't busy filling himself up with water.

Takeshi tilted her head and asked. "One of the spiciest? That's amazing! How was it G-san?" She got a glare as an answer and laughed. Walking towards a cabinet, Takeshi pulled out a carton of milk and poured a glass.

"Maybe this would do" She handed it to G. "Milk could help with the heat" The man gratefully accepted and proceed to wash it down.

Hayato snickered once more before turning to face the raven fully with a grin. "Where's Tsuna?"

Takeshi raised a brow. Slowly a smile appeared on her lips, "she's giving out snacks to the others, and there are still some of it under the cloche"

Hayato nodded, "I'll go find her and see if I could help with anything, I've bought some of the things we need". With that, she walked out and heads to find the brunette.

A few moments passed after with the two staring at the space where Hayato had disappeared to.

"Say... she just called your friend by her name right? The girl, Tsuna" G place his cup down, smacking his lips. "She likes to call her a princess, why?"

Takeshi blinked before breaking into a wide grin. "You too? I thought I heard wrong! Hahaha" She turns back to washing the dishes.

"Hayato used to call Tsuna that back then for some reason and it took Tsuna sometime to get her to call by name. But she tends to slip back when's she's stressed out or tense."

"Tense? Why?" The girl frowned, placing a finger under her chin she tried to think of a reason, "Probably because we were having a hard time before." She grinned, "But I think she's alright now because you all took us in and gave us jobs, thank you for that"

G shrugged. "You should say that to Giotto" After all, it was the blond that made the call but G didn't feel the need to say that. Glancing at the now empty cup, G realised that the heat from before had decreased significantly compared to before.

"Thanks for the milk, it helped"

Takeshi's grin grew. "Anytime"

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The stench of something rotten and ammonia filled the surrounding air. Taking in her surroundings, Mukuro simply treads through the trashes and dirt following the navy melon head in front.

"I thought you were supposed to hire some people for music, not some mafia thugs," Mukuro glanced at Daemon who was wearing a grimace, clearly disgusted by the environment. "I don't see this is any part of it"

"Unfortunately," he starts. "I couldn't contact some of the best musicians somehow but I managed to track them down. They were involved in some kind of underground bar and we got into some…misunderstandings before this. Despite that, they are the best nonetheless and I opt for nothing but the best" He smirked and reach out to grab a door when they finally reach the end of the alley. Mukuro caught the glint in daemon's eye and a sly grin crept up to her lips.

"Kufufu, so you're not exactly on…friendly terms, so how do you intend to convince them to work for you?" Mukuro eye's glinted in the dark, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

Daemon's smirk mirrored hers and tapped her staff with one finger. "Impress me."

"Were you two trying to celebrate some kind of extreme horrifying party?" Ryohei asked as she took in her surroundings, voice full of awe and amusement. Lambo groaned and resisted the urge to facepalm as her hand was being tended by Knuckle.

Lampo scowled, "No, we were trying to make it look grand and magnificent."

"Well, it certainly doesn't" Knuckle turned to grab a bandage from Ryohei who was holding a first aid kit. "How did you, no, what did you two do to make all of this happen?"

"It's her!" Lampo groaned, plopping down the floor, exasperated. "There I was hanging the decorations, helping and doing my job."

"But she stopped me for some reason, screaming gibberish. Then something exploded."

"Something exploded?" Knuckled repeated, sounding alarmed.

"It wasn't gibberish, you just weren't listening!" Lambo argued back. "And if you have been focusing, you were hanging grenades instead of ornaments!"

"Grenades?" Knuckle frowned. "How did you two get your hands on grenades?"

"An extreme question indeed…" Ryohei stared at Lambo who diverted her gaze elsewhere, sweat rolling down her forehead.

"B-Beats me…" Lambo said while Lampo groaned again.

Ryohei and Knuckle sighed simultaneously, they still have some table and chairs to move but at the rate that this is going, that wouldn't be done anytime soon.

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The two weeks quickly passed and Giotto found himself standing outside of the hall greeting and inviting the guests to the party that was held.

He felt proud and an immense sense of accomplishment at the preparations made thanks to the many problems they faced which includes slacking, fighting among the members, fixing parts that were mysteriously destroyed, paperwork, tending the garden, speed cleaning, explosions, trimming, paperwork, terrorised musicians and things that destroyed in the process. And let's not forget, paperwork.

Giotto shook his head and cleared his thoughts of what was waiting for him back in his office and plastered a (fake) smile as he continued to welcome the guests. But there was still worry that still lingers in his mind.

Despite all the chaos to get this party on. The hardest thing wasn't the preparation. It was to keep the party under control. And considering the newfound nature of some of the maids and his ever fight loving guardians… and not to mention Cozart is still here…

Giotto could only hope.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Tsuna came up and stood beside the Vongola boss. Giotto smiled and turned his attention to the girl seeing that most of the guests are inside.

"I just hope that this party wouldn't be a disaster."

"Ah..." Tsuna gave him a knowing smile. "But that wouldn't be a party then" She continued to laugh at the confusion directed towards her. "After all, parties are meant to crash" Giotto lift a brow at the statement. "You and I have a very different definition of a party. What made you think of that?"

"Experience" The brunette chuckled, smoothing the fabric of her gown. "But thank you for letting us join the party, Primo"

"I would really appreciate being called by my name, I have a lot of people calling me by that title and it's not actually pleasing" He gave the girl a tired smile but blinked in surprise when she wore a knowing smile. Clearing her throat, she said, "you really didn't have to order a tailor for us though, that was too much"

Memories of getting the girls clothes tailored resurfaced and Giotto resists the urge to shudder.

"Daemon would have my throat if you all were to go around in your maid dress, he was already against inviting you all to this party" Giotto then notice that all the wandering guests have entered, leaving the two of them outside in the cold, stars glinting in the night sky with no cloud in sight. The noise behind them was getting louder, laughter and clink of glasses could be heard.

"Plus, it's all up and done anyway, so why not enjoy it while you can?" Smiling, he stretched out a hand towards Tsuna.

Surprised at the gesture, Tsuna stared at it before shyly slipping her hand in. A blush tints her cheeks as she lifts her gown to walk. Giotto leads her to the entrance and places his gaze on the other, a smile gracing his lips as he said.

"Welcome to the Vongola Alliance Party milady"

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Side Story

"It's always a pleasure doing business with you " A man in his late forties spoke, walking beside the said man down the hallways of the mansion. "Please Alejandro, call me Giotto" Alejandro shook his head politely. "You've protected this town all these years, the townspeople owe you at least this much"

Giotto internally sighed, knowing how the conversation was going to end as it had been repeated numerous times. The man beside him chuckled and was about to speak when Giotto's intuition spiked. Instinctively, he grabbed Alejandro's shoulders and push themselves down onto the floor.

The wall beside them exploded in a deafening bang, debris and smoke flying out from a large hole that formed. Giotto immediately got up, muscle tense and ready to engage. 'Has someone invaded the mansion?'

He saw Kyoya and Mukuro jumping out from the hole and ran away from the room. Takeshi, Lambo, and Ryohei soon followed, their face marred with panic and fear, running down the halls as if hell is hot on their tails.

'What in the world?'

"Are you all alright?" Giotto asked Alejandro who was trembling underneath him. Giotto quickly step to the side and reached for his gloves in his pocket, but halted when he heard, "I am not going anywhere near that thing". A scream was then heard followed by another blast.

"Giotto!" He turned back to see his right-hand and sun guardian running towards him.

"We have intruders?"

"What happened?" He was about to reply when another voice rang out.

"Women that go parties usually wears these no? It is essential for a ballgown no? It'll make you look beautiful!" Alejandro, the man was cowering away at the sudden explosion, recognised his daughter's voice. "Laura, are you alright?" he called out.

A woman with the same dark hair as him, poked her head from the hole to see her father on the floor, she frowned. "Papa! These ladies refuse to wear corsets! I make any measurements like this!" Giotto stared in disbelief. "One of them pulled out dynamite just because I wanted to force it on!"

"Dynamite?" G snapped his head towards the hole, "how the hell did a dynamite-"

He was cut off short when three figures immerged from the hole. Their clothes were slightly burnt and ripped. Tsuna and Enma wore a pale face as they climbed out. Knuckle immediately went to their aid. Hayato who was last to climb out looked absolutely livid, between her fingers were dynamites. "Where did you get those?" G stared in disbelief.

"I found them" It didn't any a genius to know that it was a lie but no one seemed to pay much attention to the detail. "And you decided to blow up a room with it?" The storm guardian asked again.

"No? I wanted to destroy that piece of shit" she nudged her head towards a burnt piece of corset that was lying on the floor. "And for that reason only?" G seethed, his eye twitching.

Tsuna decided to speak up. "G…G-san, we're sorry for the d-damage b-but" she flinched when the storm guardian directed his gaze towards her. "B-But…"

"But what?" he snapped. "We-we really really don't want to wear t-that" Enma clutched her arms, her eyes wide and glazed. Knuckle frowned at how both of the girls were shaking. "Why?"

"…" No one answered. A few moments passed, the small fire in the destroyed room were starting to spread but no one paid attention to it.

"You're being ridiculous" G seethed.

"How about you try wearing it huh, pink head?" Hayato snapped and they both started to bicker for the nth time of the week while the rest just cower in the back. Alejandro clutched his daughter when she voiced her thoughts, joining in the argument unfazed by the fact that her client's maid just used a dynamite in front of her.

Giotto pulled himself out and resisted the urge to let out a huge sigh. He was confused, the girls were supposed to be harmless working maids whom he was immensely grateful for the huge help they gave in preparing the party. That and they don't faint. But to see that they manage to destroy a wall just because of a piece of female garment… he… he just couldn't wrap his head around it.

Somewhere deep within his mind, a voice told him that this was only the beginning. Giotto didn't doubt it for a second. Not at all.

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Two years passed since the last update, two freaking years. WTH SIGHHHH

This chapter was typed long ago and I didn't post it cuz I wasn't satisfied with it. Now that I decided to continue again (because I really want to get the plot out there, I just really like it (and mostly because my younger self would be so disappointed with me)), I just briefly skim it through. [There's a lot of 'wtf is this', 'omg I dun wanna deal with this chapter anymore' and finally 'OH LET'S JUST GET ON WITH IT']

Y'all gotta thank 'foxchick1' who PM-ed me (quite some time ago) regarding my fic. I'm sorry it took so long, my fellow readers. BUT-!

I will be posting again. *pops *claps *YAY

However, beware as my writing style may have changed but fear not, the plot hasn't. I'm not going to make any changes to the previous chapter and just focus on the next, yeah?

Motivation is hard to get since it's been so long, but I've made the right choice to read the reviews you guys graced me with (I love y'all so much) and decided to just –let's finish this- So tell me what you guys think.

Reviews are my motivation! I welcome any questions as well! You're welcome to PM me too~

Oh and tell me what you like to see. I'll consider.