Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Assassination Classroom or any of its characters.
Title: Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Summary: The God of Death meets one of his most interesting targets, Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Rating: K+
Characters: Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Tenth Generation and the God of Death with mentions of others
Warnings: Potential disturbing imagery
Author's Notes: This will be my first crossover of two different series and I hope it turns out all right. I'd read said, "we are all mad here" by stormiscoming and I was blown away how well these two fandoms collided. The title is from Emily Dickinson's poem of the same title, fitting for the God of Death. I had some fun writing the God of Death and his observations and interactions with Tsuna and the guardians. Since we don't know the God of Death's real name, I'll just be referring to him using male pronouns.

It was supposed to be like any other assassination he had done hundreds of times.

He had been hired to take out the latest heir of the Vongola mafia family, a person who was said to be so influential and threatening to the mafia world despite the fact he only very recently inherited the title and his predecessor was still alive and well. There had been some curious rumors spreading in the underground that had caught his attention and in spite of himself, he was hoping to cross paths with the Vongola boss.

It had taken a very long time before anyone could even get a decent photo of Sawada Tsunayoshi or any of his bodyguards. Any attempts to do so resulted in blurry, indistinct images, as if someone had cast a misty curtain to obscure all the video and camera lens.

He was a young boy, still in his teenaged years, from what he could tell from the grainy picture. He disliked going after such a young child but from the anxious blabbing of his contractor, this child had the strength of over one hundred men, capable of incinerating and destroying armies with his bare hands. His uncanny ability to read minds and detect any ill intent or harm directed at him or his family made it very difficult for any hitman or assassin to touch it.

His guardians, whose identities still remained a mystery, were according to the sweating contractor, arguably even worse. They were described as snakes and wolves with fireworks, swords and bazookas as their weapons.

But that was fine by him. After all, he loved nothing more than a good challenge.

With half of the payment already in his account and the other half promised once he completed the job, he had set off, feeling the thrum of excitement that he had not felt in a long time.

~.~.~

It had been simple, easily assimilating himself as a plain, non-descriptive waiter on the payroll for the party hosted in honour of the successful renewal of the alliance between the Vongola and the Chiavarone families, due to the amiable relationship of Sawada Tsunayoshi and the Chiavarone boss.

He arrived early, as per his role of the faithful waiter, and to set the stage for another perfect assassination.

Someone with an ominous aura had been prowling around the building. He tensed, believing another was here to claim his target. But as he tested the atmosphere further, he was slightly surprised to deem that this person was not here to harm the Tenth Vongola boss like him, but rather it was here to make sure that the party went smoothly and without any problems. It was grimly protective and cautious, a strange combination.

A tiny yellow bird fluttered by, chirping a delightful tune, and he glanced at it as it disappeared through the thicket of the dark forest behind the building. He wondered if that little bird would soon become food for the beast that stalked the perimeter.

Once he entered the building, he was nearly blinded by the glamour and stunning architecture that enveloped and illuminated the elegantly decorated hallways and grand ball rooms. It was clear that the Vongola or Chiavarone had spared no expense when it came to their bosses.

The party soon began and he kept the semblance of a busy waiter as he bustled here and there, delivering drinks and appetizers, allowing himself to observe and regard the guests.

Humming idly, he turned his attention to a lovely group of girls chattering away. His eyes landed on the famed Bianchi the Poison Scorpion with her luminous green eyes and decked in a rather revealing red dress. He would have approached her for a drink if it were not for the fact he could faintly detect several poisonous herbs carefully hidden within her perfume and makeup, even tinkering inside her jewel-studded necklace and earrings.

A violet-haired girl with the eye patch, dressed in a modest lavender skirt, beside Bianchi also drew his interest for different reasons. Not that she wasn't as cute as the other girls she was shyly conversing with. No, there was something about the eye patch girl that was off. It was as if there was someone invisible was hovering around her, a ghost-like apparition without actually being a ghost. Whatever this presence was, it was watching and waiting for something – or someone.

Since the Vongola were hosting this party, he had been hoping to spot at least one of the infamous Varia assassination squad. Their stories were almost as legendary and widespread as his, though more pertaining and relevant to the maria underworld.

And he wasn't disappointed as he spotted Superbia Squalo near the balconies, arguing with a cheerfully smiling boy and a rambunctious boy with a bandage across his nose. The loud boy was fervently defending his side of the argument against the Varia swordsman and happened to be lifted by the front of his shirt by an enraged Squalo while grinning like an idiot during the whole time. The thick bandages wrapped around his hands and around his well-toned arms meant he was most likely a hand-to-hand combatant of some sort, leaning towards a boxer.

It was the smiling boy who caught his interest more so. While his casual demeanour and laid-back attitude blended perfectly amidst the activity of the party, the smiling boy's eyes never stopped taking in everything and everyone in sight, calculating and vigilant. That carefree persona hid a dangerous, intuitive being born to be a hitman. He would not have minded taking in a pupil, if only the smiling boy wasn't already claimed by the Vongola.

There was a silver-haired boy yelling and chasing (was that a few sticks of dynamite he was waving around?) after a young boy with thick curly hair and a cowhide shirt who wore a mocking smirk across his childish features, as he managed to dodge the silver-haired boy's attempts to grab the last hors d'oeuvre from an awkwardly standing waiter.

Behind them, the Chiavarone boss Dino (shame that young mafia boss was not his target tonight; he would have loved to get that pretty face bloodied and dirtied) and the Ranking Prince Fuuta de la Stella (he wondered if that boy remembered how he had killed his foster family and brought the sobbing boy to those greedy "investors") laughed at their antics.

And right next to them was Sawada Tsunayoshi.

So this was the tenth Vongola boss in the flesh. He appeared even younger than his photograph. He was dressed in a clean crisp suit that appeared foreign and awkward on his skin. His eyes were a warm gold, friendly and inviting as a fire place on a cold winter day. His brown hair was an unruly mess not even hair gel could tame. Everything about the boy screamed meekness and harmlessness, that he could be anyone's friend if he chose to, that he couldn't even hurt a fly if he wanted to.

Which meant he was the most dangerous person in the building.

Aside from him, of course.

He made his way carefully yet serenely towards his target. " May I offer you a drink?" he nonchalantly asked.

At Sawada's absent nod, his gloved hand reached for a glass and a tasteless powder was discreetly added to the drink. On its own, the substance was not poisonous but combined with a fragrance of a certain toxic plant disguised as a harmless flower that had been sent up to every hotel room the Vongola was staying at, the victim's heart would become paralysed and go into cardiac arrest and no one would be any wiser.

" I don't believe we've met before?" Sawada said, taking the glass.

" I've only recently started working here," he humbly replied, eyes downcast to play up his demureness and to hide how he carefully watched the Vongola boss, waiting for the very second his target would seal his fate.

" How do you like it?"

" I'm still learning how things work."

The drink was held loosely in Sawada's hand, almost teasingly so. " I hope I'm not taking up your time."

" I'm not too busy."

" Then I suppose you have some time to tell me why you want to kill me?" Sawada lightly asked.

Pleasantly surprised, he loosened his shoulders and eased back his stance, conveying an air of casualness without ever dropping his charming smile. So the rumors about Sawada reading minds were true. " Straight to the point, aren't we?"

Sawada shrugged. " A habit I learned," he smiled ruefully. " Rather painfully."

" Ahh, that would be a story I'd like to hear."

" Perhaps another day when my guardians are in a better mood."

And sure enough, once he raised his head, his eyes met the ones of the smiling boy who was still smiling and had slid effortlessly behind Sawada, a hand resting on a sword that previously wasn't there before.

Approaching from his right side was the silver-haired boy, frowning and shoving his hands down his pockets that he was certain was filled with loaded dynamite or bombs, just waiting for his boss to give him the orders to blow him to kingdom come.

The smirking child had stopped running around like a hyperactive monkey and looked strangely solemn and still as he took his place near the boxer boy.

Said boxer boy remained by the balcony, completely at ease and relaxed while loudly cracking his knuckles and visibly flexing his muscles.

Further across the room, the eye patch girl started walking towards him and Sawada and her once timid stance was changed into something of confidence and certainty.

A tall blue-haired man – who definitely wasn't there before – was leaning casually against the wall, half hidden by the shadow of the pillars, a playful smile dancing across his handsome face, eagerly waiting for him to try something, anything to give him the excuse to sink his fangs into.

Even further back, a black-haired boy with a severe expression was now standing by the entrance, his eyes narrowed and fixed on him only. A small yellow bird was perched on his shoulder, warbling a familiar tune. Easy to understand why this one was the prowling beast he felt earlier.

And surrounding the perimeter were the Vongola allies, Dino, Bianchi and Squalo, tense and ready to join the fray if needed.

He was inwardly shivering with delight to have finally met the mysterious and elusive guardians of the Vongola. And was he not disappointed. " You keep an interesting collection of unlikely people, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Sawada smiled. " You have no idea."

" Is he bothering you, Jyuudaime?" the silver-haired boy asked, glaring at him with the uttermost loathing.

A reassuring nod was sent his underling's way before Sawada turned his attention back to him. " Please leave." He offhandedly waved aside the objections of the silver-haired boy. " You have not done anything to harm me or my family as of yet. You can leave here alive."

He raised his hands in defeat. " You're too kind."

Only for the hidden gun in his index finger to fire a bullet.

The second he released the trigger, he realized he was already in their trap. He had trained and memorized every detail and pulse of his body, instinctively recognizing any cues or changes in his body's system to know if something was wrong or if something were to go out of his control. The fact that his finger was 0.1 seconds slower than usual and his hearing was slightly muffled told him that one of the guardians had done something to him.

And sure enough, the bullet hit into a replica of Sawada in the heart, rippling and causing the edges to distort.

" Wrong move," a low voice whispered in his ear and he didn't need to turn around to know it was either the blue-haired man or the bird boy behind him holding a cold tonfa at his neck.

When he did tilt his head back, to his sheer glee, both of them were there. The bird boy with the tonfa and the blue-haired boy with his mismatched eyes gleaming.

His eyes refocused and found that Sawada had reappeared next to the eye patch girl who was gripping his arm. Of course, he was a little bit occupied with the smiling boy who was aiming a sword at his throat and was no longer smiling and the sudden appearance of hissing snakes coiling around his arms and hands and lit dynamite sizzling by his ankles.

" Very impressive," he whistled.

The silver-haired boy furiously stalked towards him. " You have some nerve attacking Jyuudaine," he snarled.

But fortunately, he had planned for this – though the times he had to rely on his backup of a backup plan could barely be counted on one hand – and blew a kiss at the smiling boy in front of him.

The only one who was realized a needle was speeding at his guardian's eye was Sawada and he moved like a bullet, fire erupting from his hands, to stop it. Even if he was to be possibly maimed and killed by the guardians after this, he could die happy, having finally see the beautiful flames that the Vongola boss was well known for.

Sawada managed to push the smiling boy out of the way, seizing the needle and incinerating it to ash with a mere wave of his fiery hand.

He smiled sweetly just as Sawada realized that the needle shaft was coated in poison.

In that split second, many things happened. Sawada slumped sideways against the smiling boy in a boneless heap. The smiling boy was barely able to catch Sawada in time. The silver-haired boy and the eye patch girl let out a soundless scream. The loud boy and the smirking child rushed towards them in a panic. The tonfa tightened against his windpipe and the snakes, in uncharacteristic anger, prepared to sunk their teeth into his skin.

Which was his signal to detonate the bombs he had earlier planted.

Boom!

The pillars exploded right on command and the building made a horrible screech as the ceiling started collapsing. The guests started screaming and running for the exits.

The guardians scattered, dodging the concrete and pieces of rock that fell upon them, bringing the motionless body of their boss with them. He had vanished with a shower of flower petals before the silver-haired boy's dynamites could ignite. The snake illusions were only able to bite into thin air and fell to the floor.

Grinning to himself, he blended in to the frantic waves of the fleeing crowd, taking off his mask and replacing it with a wrinkling aged face, ruffling back his pale yellow hair to brown sprinkled with grey, his waiter uniform was discarded and donning a ruffled blue button-up. And against his better judgement, he couldn't resist but turn back to see what had become of his target.

The loud boy was clasping Sawada's injured hand, a warm golden glow enveloping it, eyes narrowed in concentration. The silver-haired boy and the smiling boy was hovering nearby, breath held. The others were making sure the falling debris were brushed aside with frequent glances at Sawada.

To his shock, Sawada was stirring and blinking sluggishly.

He mentally berated himself for assuming the poison's effects would not have been diluted and weakened by the strength of Sawada's flames. And combined with the mysterious healing abilities of one of his guardians, Sawada would be sure to live for another day.

Still, tonight had been a fun business trip having met such exquisite and delightful people. It was not a complete loss despite not finishing his assassination. He supposed he would have to kill his contractor to get the rest of his payment.

As he disappeared into the night, he could only eagerly anticipate when the next clash between him and Sawada and his guardians will be.

Until next time then.