Author Note

Hello.

This is the first fiction I have bothered to publish so I do apologise if it's awful. I tried.

"Hello" - speech.
'Hello' - thought.
"Hello" - telepathic thought. (That will make sense later)

Disclaimer

I don't own KHR (Katekyo Hitman Reborn). KHR is owned by Akira Amano.

FIVE YEARS LATER - WHERE IS HE NOW

TOKYO, JAPAN

It is late afternoon, a cold and rainy day in Tokyo, an orange tinge encompasses the city as a hard day's work comes to an end for the workers of the Useful Silicon Engineering company. The workers pour out of the office in knowledge that they can relax soon as they head home to their friends and families, the supervisor; this man had a charismatic aura to him that meant as always he exited the office surrounded by enthusiastic colleagues. Thoughts travel through his mind like buses through a terminal, 'these people are looking for something again, they always want something'. The well-dressed man to the right of him is about to hit home with his request, money, promotion, resources, holiday time, it is still unknown what he wanted because at that moment, the supervisor recognised someone on his right, that someone was a sushi chef.

"Yo Gokudera" yells the white clad chef, this man was Yamamoto Takeshi and their past together was long and storied.

Gokudera smiles as memories of their past together come flooding back, "Baseball brain, I didn't expect you to be here on time".

"I'm working on improving my time keeping, those baseball coaches don't like it when you show up late", Yamamoto is not fazed by Gokudera's casual insults; 'they are part of his charm' he tells anyone who questions Gokudera's sincerity.

"So, do you have any preference of bar" Gokudera questions as he glances in the various directions he and Yamamoto have travelled in the past.

"Well we could go to one of the regular ones, or we could head back to dad's bar" proclaims the baseball hopeful, "he and mum are out tonight so they left me a set of keys in case of emergency, they won't mind if we head in, probably".

Gokudera sighs at Yamamoto's blasé attitude "We never have been good at following the rules have we".

"Come on, our lives would have been very dull if we had aloud others to dictate our actions" Yamamoto retorts, several years training and fighting together as mafioso had indeed lead them to be lenient with rules from time to time.

Yamamoto and Gokudera agree that the privacy of the sushi bar would be preferable to a public house, while walking through the streets of Tokyo the two of them have a noticeable weight on their minds. It is at the Sushi bar that Yamamoto first directs the conversation towards this elephant in the room.

"He hasn't spoken to us in years, Tsuna, do you think that the 9th will make him boss soon" asks the rain guardian.

Gokudera quickly snaps back at Yamamoto, "How should I know, the 10th is the strongest Mafioso to appear since the 1st himself, the hesitation makes no sense to me".

The room is silent for a moment, it is decorated with traditional Japanese memorabilia in keeping with the theme that Yamamoto's father maintains but neither man admires the scenery, the two men simply looked down into their drinks.

Suddenly up from behind the bar a well-dressed 8-year-old appears carrying a yellow pacifier around his neck despite his advanced years, "It's because he's not married", this was the hitman tutor Reborn.

The speed with which Gokudera's finger points at Reborn is only matched by the speed at which he leaps from his chair, "WHEN DID YOU GET THERE".

Avoiding the question completely Reborn simply states "all this sneaking around isn't as easy when you're not a baby".

The 8-year-old appearing from behind the bar startled Yamamoto, this was the same person who helped him advance his swordplay when he travelled to the future, this alone however wouldn't cause him to react as strongly as Gokudera. Yamamoto did however have an identical reaction to Gokudera when a second 8-year-old emerged from the same place.

"Lambos hiding is even better than yours" declares the newcomer in cow prints.

After calming down the overexcited storm guardian he was drinking with, Yamamoto invited Lambo and Reborn to the table, an offer they promptly accepted. The chef walked towards the bar to offer the two newcomers a drink when he was reprimanded by Gokudera. The age situation is complicated, while Reborn is in fact a great deal older than either Yamamoto or Gokudera it is easy to forget that unlike his well-dressed accomplice Lambo is no arcobaleno, he is just too young for alcohol. Yamamoto starts returning to the table after his brief moment of thought.

"You two sure have gotten big, you've grown so fast since we last saw you", he initiates the conversation at a light-hearted pace, this is his comfort zone, the reason he was chosen as the rain guardian all those years ago.

"Probably all that milk, he must manage to get some of it in his mouth" unfortunately for pleasantries sake, Gokudera is the storm guardian, his patience for small talk is rather limited, especially confronted with the 'stupid cow' who looks like his sister's ex-boyfriend Romeo.

Lambo strikes back with his usual mix of immaturity and ferocity "Stupidera, Lambo learns how to look cool from Tsuna".

This is the first positive reference to Sawada Tsunayoshi in the conversation, a relief to his self-appointed right hand man Gokudera Hayato, "So the 10th looks 'cool' now, I haven't seen him in such a long time".

When he speaks with this tone Gokudera is capable of bringing a great feeling of calm to everyone around him, it's always calm before the storm though, "Why is the stupid cow getting more contact with the 10th than me, damn you stupid cow".

Lambo does his best to rub it in to his fellow guardian, using the most annoying smile he can muster he proudly announces "Tsuna and I are adopted brothers".

If the supervisor was a gale force wind previously, he was truly a hurricane now, "THE MOTHER ACTUALLY ADOPTED YOU".

Yamamoto laughs at Gokudera's reaction, his friend had always been over the top, the bomb master never failed to amuse him when he confronted Lambo. Gokudera does his best to calm himself down, but the young thunder guardian is good at pushing his buttons.

"No more guardians", decided Gokudera, instead to participate as an eavesdropper for the next few minutes.

As he looks around the dining area of the facility he notices someone has left a newspaper, 'nothing like a good bit of reading for a distraction', as he reaches out for the paper he notices the title 'NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, SASAGAWA RYOHEI'.

Yamamoto looks back when he sees Gokudera hesitate, commenting on the title he muses "he does have a bit of an unfair advantage, Senior Sasagawa", a sensible remark to describe the sun guardian.

"You can say that again" agrees Gokudera.

Sasagawa Ryohei, the 'extreme' world heavyweight champion, the sun guardian and a close friend of all present parties, though his mention brings the mind of the entire room to the source of their boss' depression.

"Gokudera he spoke about that incident, how the sudden death of Kyoko and Haru affected their families, he's coping well with his sister's death, you and Haru were engaged, are you...", Gokudera knows where this is going, he's had enough pity to last a lifetime.

"I'm OK, it's all been hard, explaining it to her parents was the worst... but I've had plenty of time, I'm coping, I hope the 10th is as well".

The source of Tsunayoshi's infrequent contact is now the subject of the discussion, indeed Tsuna has not been the same since the death of his fiancée Sasagawa Kyoko, the death of a loved one is the only thing that could hit the next Vongola boss this hard.

Reborn decides to put Gokudera's mind at rest, "He's going through a lot right now but he's OK, most of his issues are coming from his living family right now".

Confused by the remark, Yamamoto decides to enquire further "his living family, what are you talking about Mr Reborn".

As the insider of the Sawada house, Lambo knows most about this issue, "It's momma", he starts, "she doesn't like his excuses for not having a job".

Gokudera finally understands the difficulty Tsuna is having, 'we just carry on with our lives and wait for a summon but he has duties, he can't afford to get a job, 10th I hope you are OK'.

JUST OUTSIDE ROME, THE VONGOLA MANSION

An old building, it has stood for over two hundred years, originally built by grateful civilians to the vigilante Vongola the 1st, the Vongola mansion is a fine example of Italian architecture. Before this mansion an elderly man enjoys a small cup of coffee as he sits in his tweed suit admiring the sunset, the scene would be a perfect image for many local painters, that is if the man were not surrounded by several mafioso clad in full black suits brandishing enormous guns. Only a few men in the world can readily summon a security force of this size and skill, the man in question is Vongola 9th.

The 9th leader continues to enjoy the sunset as he takes another sip from his well decorated cup, he gives off an aura of being relaxed to everyone around him, however his guard has long since been raised.

"So you've arrived then" he says without looking up from his coffee.

"Old man, you know I could kill you", there are few people in the world capable of summoning a security detail such as this, there are even fewer still who could so comfortably dispose of them, one of them has just arrived, Xanxus.

Normally when a child returns to visit their parent it is a cheerful and sometimes tearful occasion, this is not one of those times, Xanxus is not one of those children. Xanxus uniform helps him to stand out from the security team, the uniform consisting of a white shirt and a black cape decorated in patterns of red and white, the uniform of the Special Vongola Assassination Unit, the Varia.

"You're strong Xanxus, I know that, I have long since been too weak to stop you" the 9th analyses. Xanxus is indeed powerful, a man who once upon a time fought one on one with Sawada Tsunayoshi, but he is always cautious against a certain technique.

"I won't fall for the zero-point breakthrough again you know".

A state is the best way to describe the zero-point breakthrough, the dying will flame represents a plus, most of the time people remain in the neutral 'zero' state hence the name, it is the state of having less dying will than normal, this state can lead to many techniques, two of which Xanxus has encountered before.

The 9th and Xanxus have battled before, their status as adopted parent and child has complicated the transition from the 9th boss to the 10th boss hence Tsuna eventually rising to the position.

"What business do you have with the Varia", Xanxus is concise and to the point, not a conversationalist with his allies, those he has hostility with are unlikely to ever hear him exercise manners.

The 9th is Xanxus adopted father, he understands his temperament best of all, "I would like for you to work directly under Tsuna". The birds fly away and the guards step back in fright at the sound of Xanxus laugh.

"What a joke, you want me to work under the no-good piece of trash?".

The 9th makes a hopeful remark, "Perhaps if you were to help boost his confidence he…", he does not get the chance to finish.

"You are hoping he will get married right?" Xanxus interrupts his father, "Don't you get it, that girl he loved, what was her name?".

"Kyoko" the Vongola boss answers.

"Kyoko, she died in that crash. He won't be getting married any time soon, you can count on that".

This is the upsetting truth the 9th didn't want to believe, "I will change the rules, as boss it is my right".

"You and I both know that you won't do that, if you could I would have been boss long ago", another upsetting truth, this one forces the 9th to reflect on his time as boss, it has not been without issue.

A good few seconds pass before Xanxus turns his back on the 9th and begins to walk away from the Vongola Mansion. As the sun gradually falls beneath the horizon, Tsuna's chance of becoming boss also plummets.

"You have two options, find a different way to make him your successor, or name me boss like you should have done long ago", leaving with the final word Xanxus departs leaving the 9th in peace.

The nearest henchman questions his boss "9th are we really going to replace Sawada".

'Replace him, that's a hard hitting remark', when dealing with matters as important as this, it is important to maintain the morale of those around you.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi is the true successor to Vongola the 1st, the family has waited a long time for someone like him, he will definitely become your boss, you can rest assured of that".

It was on this day that everybody asked the difficult questions about Sawada Tsunayoshi, how is he coping with the loss of his fiancée. How will he become boss if he isn't married? Is someone who is unable to control the Varia a suitable Vongola boss. The most pertinent question though had not been asked, the question that was truly on the minds of all of his friends and family. Sawada Tsunayoshi, where is he now?