A/N: This happens in the same verse as the other KHR fics I have! there is no need to read the others to enjoy this though. ONWARDS!

Seven.

This was the seventh girl that Vongola Decimo was dancing with.

The petit and kind, yet strong, twenty-four years old Japanese male was dancing with yet another girl. He knew that the Don wasn't interested in any of them and was merely just being polite.

And also because the Sun guardian kept pushing ladies towards the Sky.

Ottavio Castellano was the Eighth boss of the Castellano Famiglia, a well-known supporter and partner of the Vongola Famiglia. It was no surprise that he, the Don, was invited to the birthday celebration of the Vongola Decimo. Every year, Vongola would throw a large scale, grand ball in honour of their tenth boss. No cost was spared on the decorations, the food was prepared by only Italy's best (they even shipped in sashimi and noodles from Japan!), and entertainment came in the form of a world class orchestra. He'd been attending since their first year that Decimo took over Nono. It was only recently that he noticed it – The Dance of The Decimo Guardians.

The first time he attended, he (like everyone else) believed that the Decimo was only willing to dance with women.

The second year, he noticed that the Decimo's guardians were vetting through who was allowed to dance with their Boss.

It was on his fifth year that he finally noticed the amount of effort the guardians placed into preventing any men from dancing with their boss. That was what sparked his curiosity. It was later revealed that the Vongola's young Don preferred men. It was surprising how the Decimo chose to reveal his preference but Ottavio could respect the subtlety and forwardness of such a method. That year was the same year that piercings became in style.

It was only after the Decimo's Guardians proclaimed their preference that this whole dance started to make sense. Ottavio started to notice how almost every guardian wanted, no – craved to dance with their beloved boss during this celebration. On Vongola's twenty-third birthday, Ottavio actually just stationed himself out of the crowd just to watch the guardians throughout the entire celebration: The spark of fury in the Storm's eyes, the glacial smile on the Rain, the overwhelming awkwardness of the Sun, the immense brattiness from the Lightning teen, the chilling cackles from the mist and the heavy presence of the cloud whenever anyone tried to approach the Don. It was surprising how he failed to notice any of this in prior years.

It was just last year when he finally saw it – The Dance. It was extremely well choreographed (by an extreme person, of course). Each guardian had a role to play during the entire ball. Sure, they kept up the usual security and alertness for any assassins, but this dance was a whole other performance that no one else seemed to notice. Until now.

Each Guardian went through a choreographed act in keeping potential suitors away from their boss. The Storm was an overbearing puppy that would keep fussing over the Decimo to get his attention. The Lightning teen, similarly, would whine and harass the Don until attention was given. On the other hand, both mist did what they do best and distracted advancing suitors from their boss. The Rain had a more hands on technique and would instead flirt and ensnare potentials away. The Sun lines up women that are approved by his sister and hands them off to the Decimo to dance. Lastly, if all else fails, in comes the Cloud and his violent techniques. Ottavio had only seen the Cloud attack a potential once and the Decimo had immediately stopped the violence. The potential did get the Don's attention in the end, but was unfit for any sort of movement - much less a dance.

However, this year, the Castellano Don was sure that he stood a chance. He was well prepared! He had done his homework and brought the necessary reinforcements. The Vongola Don was single, available, and all he needed to do was get past his wall of puppies.

Because if none of them were going to man up, he would.

Stepping out from the shadow of the stairwell, he slowly approached the Decimo. The Vongola Boss was dressed in a form fitting dark grey suit with a burnt orange shirt and a black tie. As usual, the orange ear stud the Don always wore glimmered and shimmered. Ottavio headed towards that.

"Hey! I haven't met you yet! You must be the Eighth Castellano Boss that I've heard so much about!" A refreshing, calming aura washed over him and he was caught up in the tranquillity of it for a moment. A warm hand rested on his shoulders and a dashing, tall man stood close to him. Despite knowing that this was going to happen, Ottavio was unprepared for the amount of charm and ease the Rain Guardian exuded.

"My name is Yamamoto Takeshi, a real pleasure to meet you." The Rain guardian took a step even closer – as if that were even possible. The mellow voice was oh so inviting! Ottavio was drawn in but he didn't lose sight of the goal.

Ottavio placed a hand on the handsome Rain and pushed the other away slightly.

"I'm sorry, Takesh- I mean, Mr. Yamamoto, but there's something I need to do." Ottavio cleared his throat and mentally chided himself for the mistake. The moment that was said, the calm, inviting aura froze and a chill went down his spine. Quickly, he pushed pass the assassin and hurried along knowing that he wasn't going to be killed - for now. Afterall, the no-killing rule was placed after that whole 'I'll-bite-you-to-death' fiasco last year.

It was only from his previous observations that he knew Yamamoto Takeshi was currently exchanging looks with the next guardian. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Cloud stalking towards him.

Without hesitating, Ottavio sent a hand signal to his men at the bar. Operation 'Distract the Skylark' began with a bar fight. He heard an irritated click of the tongue where the Cloud was approaching from and noticed the blood thirsty guardian changing direction immediately.

Hibari Kyoya, also known as the most dangerous one amongst the guardians, was neutralized. For now.

As Ottavio advanced forward, he suddenly stumbled into a nauseating smell. The next moment, the ground started turning blood red. Hands were grasping at his legs from under the thick blood. The blood level was rising from the ground, up his waist, up his chest! It was going to swallow him. Something else was scratching at him from behind, no, in front! Demons! Demons were crawling all over him. They looked like ugly sea creatures of all sorts. Suddenly, the blood turned into fire! Burning! He was burning! Was he going to die? Fear, panic, anxiety, hopelessness, despair, regret, he was going to die! He was going to die by fire, by demons, by-

"MUKURO! Are you using your mist flames?!"

All of a sudden, it all disappeared. Ottavio was left standing in the midst of the ballroom in confusion. Right. He was supposed to be prepared for this. For the dance of the mist. Every fibre of his being was afraid. He couldn't move. He looked down at his feet. Solid ground. It was solid ground, not blood, not fire. No demons. Not going to die.

His turbulent thoughts were silenced by a melodious tenor.

"Are you alright, Mr. Castellano?"

What? Who…?

"What?" He stared blankly at the glowing embers before him.

Vongola.

Before his mind could register his close proximity to his target, the Lightning appeared.

"Tsnua-nii! Fran-chan was being mean! He took the last grape pudding on the table when I explicitly announced that I had dibs on it! Not only that, he shared it with Ipin and Fuuta but he didn't share it with me! Help, Tsuna-nii! Fran-chan is so unfair!" The teen whined. Gone was the silly afro and cow-themed clothes the Lightning used to adore. Too bad the whiny attitude didn't leave with the funky accessories.

"Lambo. I'm in the middle of a situation here. Can you give me a moment, please?"

"But Tsuna-nii! I need your help now, pleaseeeeeeee!" The Vongola Don gave a sigh and pulled the teen into a hug.

The moment the Sky turned away from him, he felt it again – mist flames. This time, it was different. He felt himself moving further and further away from the target. He tried to step forward but he was moving backwards. It was so very confusing. What was he doing here again? What was going on? Where was he? He felt like he could hear a soft tinkling, sweet voice at the back of his mind but he wasn't too sure he was hearing it at all. Turn around? Should he turn around? Was that where he was headed to? He felt a presence calling to him from far away. It was light, cooling, mysterious and oh so very playful.

Mist! Mist, mist, mist! MIST!

The realisation caused him to snap out of the trance just to see the young boss signalling for a waitress to come over. He took a deep breath and thanked God for all the previous observation and preparation he did. As a Don, he had quite a strong mind and luckily that was enough to break out of the second Mist's trap.

Maybe after all this, the guardians would acknowledge him as a worthy potential for their boss?

He snorted. As if that would ever happen.

"Alexia, could you please take Lambo to the kitchen and give him a fresh grape pudding?" The Sky's clear voice broke through the faint trace of mist surrounding his thoughts. With the distraction out of mind, Ottavio could focus on how pleasantly polite the Sky was.

Ottavio smiled.

Lambo frowned.

"Certainly, Boss!" With an enthusiastic bow, the waitress tugged Lambo away. Ottavio smirked at the teen. Lambo responded with a growl causing the hairs of the back of his neck to stand.

The moment the Lightning was out of sight, Vongola turned back to him. "I apologise for the interruption. It seems that my guardians are up to something today. Have they caused you any trouble, Mr. Castellano? I'm sorry I haven't had the time to greet you personally yet. Funnily, I've been swamped with ladies wanting to dance with me!"

"It is no problem, Decimo." Ottavio chuckled along with the sweet, kind Boss.

"Please, call me Tsuna." Tsuna smiled.

Before Ottavio could bask in the attention of the Vongola Don, the Storm raged in.

"Tenth! That bastard Hibari almost broke the whole bar! The guests are frightened and if we don't stop him now he's going to murder everyone who's crowding!" The Storm's eyes briefly flickered to him. Hot anger permeated the surrounding area.

Tsuna sighed before looking around. "Hayato, can you get Ryohei to intervene? He's been hovering over me all night and yet I can't seem to find him anywhere right now."

"But Tenth! It's Hibari! I don't think sending turf-top will be enough!"

"Hayato, I don't want to deal with this right now."

Ottavio noticed that the Storm noticed that Tsuna had noticed something was up. The Storm's eyes flickered to the left of the ballroom for help.

"Yo! Little Bro! Are you enjoying yourself?" The Sun slung an arm around the Decimo. Ottavio had no idea where the other had appeared from. "No worries, I'll handle this Hibari problem. You should go enjoy yourself! Here, why don't you dance with my Hana and take care of her for me while I take care of this little fight?"

Ottavio saw the Sun exchange looks with Hana. It was obvious she was in on this whole Dance too. Without waiting for Tsuna's agreement, the Sun left with the Storm in tow.

"Sorry he had to deal with this, Hana. I know you don't like to dance." Tsuna apologised to the lady left in his care.

"Nonsense. I'm sure Ryohei will be back after just this one dance." The Sun's wife played along.

Screw this. None of the guardians were in the vicinity any more. It was now or never ever.

Ever.

"I'm sorry, miss." Ottavio stood in front of the pair to stop them in their tracks. "May I have this dance with Tsuna?"

Everyone froze.

There was a crazy build-up of energy in the air. The kind of energy where you knew you were surrounded by a million and one assassins and death was imminent.

Tsuna stared at him in surprise. It was, after all, the first time a male approached him to ask for a dance.

From his peripheral, he saw the Rain unsheathing his sword.

Then he saw the Sun reaching out to hold the Rain back.

"Wait." Was the one command he saw the Sun mouth to the Rain.

"Dance? You want to dance with me?" Tsuna looked so adorably confused. His heart was pounding and his mouth was dry. Oh the excitement! He managed to get through the Dance of the Guardians and now here he was – the first man to have a dance with this specimen of a Sky!

He held his hand out towards Tsuna, inviting. "Yes. I want a dance. May I?"

Anticipation.

The Sky looked at the offered hand then back to his eyes. He watched as Tsuna took a breath, about to give him an answer, then-

"Idiot. You forgot that I requested an espresso cheese cake." Oh. Shit.

The lean man in the black suit proceeded to give a solid whack to the Vongola Don's head.

"Ouch! What? Reborn!"

As Tsuna turned around to face the Spartan tutor, Reborn's fedora smacked over the Don's head thus shielding those ember eyes. In a split second, the hitman had a gun out and pointed towards Ottavio's face. It was literally millimetres away from his nose. He could smell the gunpowder (definitely from a recent shot) from the muzzle. Ottavio's gaze met cold, black eyes.

Leave. Mine. I will kill you.

He unwittingly took a step back from the force of that stare. His mind relayed the information that this was the number one hitman in the world. He knew this man. He saw this man kill plenty before.

Leave!

He took another step back away from the muzzle and those eyes.

"Shit. I knew I was forgetting something! I'm sorry Reborn, I'll fix that."

"I want an espresso cheese cake. It not just your birthday we're celebrating, you know."

"Yes, I know, I know. I'll go get the chefs to do it. Now, get away from me!" Tsuna struggled to get Reborn's fedora away.

Reborn lowered the gun but his eyes never left his. The hitman's death stare was ominous.

"Make sure you get it done immediately, baka-Tsuna." With that, the hitman removed the fedora and gave the Don a shove towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah. Che. You're always so demanding, Reborn. It's my birthday too, you know! Give me some slack!" Tsuna stormed off with Ottavio already forgotten.

The air got even more suffocating.

"Leave. Before one of us kills you." A chill went down his spine as Yamamoto's arm found its way back across his shoulders. The Rain guardian had done a one-eighty and was now in full assassin mode. Reborn still stood across from him.

"You guys are never going to ask him anyway. You can't. There will be conflict in the family. I would know – I'm a Don too." Ottavio mustered all the nerves he had left just to say that.

"I don't care." Reborn sneered. Ryohei was desperately signalling for Yamamoto to do something before Tsuna gets back!

"Everyone wants a piece of the Sky. It's normal." Yamamoto Takeshi steered Ottavio away from Death after receiving the signal from Ryohei. "But that's the thing about Skies. They're untouchable. The moment you try to go closer, you end up getting caught in the rain, in the midst of the storm, or struck by lightning; or even burnt by the sun, lost in the clouds or surrounded by mist. No one can touch the sky."

"Neither can you." Finally away from the number one hitman, Ottavio was feeling a little more courageous.

"That's not your problem is it?" Yamamoto Takeshi had a smile on his face but the air around him was dense and turbulent. "That's our problem. My famiglia's problem.

"You on the other hand…" Yamamoto's hand clamped down even harder on his shoulder causing him to flinch. "You are my problem. See, I'm kinda in charge of perverts like you who think you can come near my sky."

"You can't stop me!"

"Leave." Ottavio froze up. This aura was so similar to that of Reborn he would have thought the number one hitman was next to him. "You need to leave. Go before one of us kills you."

Ottavio spun around, finally noticing that at some point in time, the Cloud had snuck up on them – waiting for any chance to murder him. Ottavio knew a losing battle when he saw one.

"Fine." He shrugged off the arm on his shoulders and voluntarily headed towards the front door of the Vongola Manor. "Fine."

One day, they will all be fighting for the same Sky. One day, the guardians will no long be working together, but against each other. One day, the hitman will step in and this all will go to hell. One day, there will be an end to this dance.

He was going to watch this Dance break apart – he vowed as he left the manor.