Warnings: Release the hounds, Tsuna.

Disclaimer: meh, i ran out of coffee again

Chapter 8

The alley is cold and dark and Tsuna is honestly not sure how much longer he can go on. Each new step he takes sends a sharp, fresh bout of pain through his ribs, the broken bones sickeningly crating and grinding against each other under his skin. Or under whatever is left of his skin, anyway. Stefan did a thorough job and Tsuna's rather glad he already lost his lunch. And that he's wearing dark clothes.

He's fought with injuries and broken bones before, but he's always had others to help him. Like after that fight with Byakuran, Yamamoto pretty much carried him back to the hideout and Ryohei started healing him as soon as he had the flames to do so. All Tsuna had to do was rest to recover the flames he'd lost. And when Daemon shattered most of his bones, the Oath flames healed him so fast that Tsuna didn't even fully acknowledge that he nearly died there.

And even the mess the stray bullet caused in August when it got past his flame barrier was ultimately taken care of by someone else. It hurt a lot so he doesn't remember much of what happened after he got out of that warehouse, but he knows that Hibari was there. It wasn't Hibari who got him home, though. He thinks that was Reborn.

But seriously, what is it with Mafioso and cold warehouses? Couldn't they conduct their kidnappings and other heinous acts somewhere else? Like in nice warm cabins where they could offer the victims hot tea and fresh apple pie and discuss their problems calmly and without trying to kill anyone—

Tsuna cringes and stops that train of thought abruptly. He's losing focus along with the blood that's soaked through his shirt and hoodie and is now running down the side of his jeans and that's… not good. At all.

He focuses on Mochida who is following him closely. He hasn't said anything, but judging solely by the quick rhythm of his breathing, he's not doing so well. He's been extremely high-strung all night and it's probably starting to take its toll. A little more and he might panic again and Tsuna's not sure if he can do anything to calm him down this time.

Mochida was right before. It wouldn't do for Tsuna to leave him alone to deal with all of this.

And Mochida's loud footsteps remind Tsuna that he's not alone.

"Gao." Natsu nudges his cheek once and jumps off his shoulder.

Tsuna stops running and Mochida skids to a stop to avoid ramming into him. Tsuna takes a moment to appreciate not running. His lungs are definitely grateful for it.

"Natsu?"

Natsu keeps looking at him expectantly.

He nods. "Okay, go."

Natsu takes off without looking back and disappears around the corner. He's a bit slower than usual, which might have something to do with the stupid bracelet that keeps eating his flames. He'll have to deal with it as soon as possible.

"Where is he going?"

Tsuna would shrug but his… everything rebels against that.

"Not sure. Natsu's senses are better than mine. Especially now."

He should probably explain that more, but that would take time and energy he doesn't have. They're not far enough from the warehouse to make him feel comfortable, but it's enough. He leans against the wall, ignoring the way his vision just completely disappears for a few seconds.

Instead he digs out Mochida's phone from his pocket and texts his location to a familiar number. Then he types in the same number, a finger just hovering above the green call button, but not pressing down yet. He needs to wait until—

"I will have to bite you to death if you keep littering, little animal."

Tsuna looks up at voice just as Hibari walks around the corner in all his wintery glory, complete with a long black coat and a purple scarf wrapped around his neck. He's holding Natsu from the scruff of his neck with two fingers. Natsu has surrendered to his fate and is just hanging there like a misbehaved kitten.

Mochida sucks in a sharp breath, right hand touching the hilt of his stolen sword. Hibari notices the movement and his eyes narrow. There's no doubt that if Mochida is stupid enough to attempt to draw the sword, Hibari will bite him to death.

Tsuna distracts them both before the situation can escalate any further. "Hibari-san! You wouldn't believe how genuinely glad I am to see you!"

Hibari huffs at the sight of him, largely just ignoring Mochida's presence for now. He drops Natsu on Tsuna's head and takes a step back, disdainfully looking down on him.

"The feeling is not mutual. Your crowd is insufferable. You owe me a fight for making me tolerate them."

"Yes, I know. And I'm sorry, Hibari-san. It's just… you know, it's Namimori. I let my guard down."

He stays quiet and still as Hibari looks him over from head to toe, obviously not liking what he sees.

"How unsightly," he sneers.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't look the best right now. More importantly, I heard you attacked these guys in their other bases. I didn't know you even had that information."

"I didn't. I simply gave your crew a list of locations that might have a connection. A few of them did."

"Well, anyway, thank you, Hibari-san. It helped a lot. I'll be sure to make it up to you." Hibari doesn't answer so he nods towards the way they just came from. "Down the street, third warehouse to the right. There should be four near the entrance and one more tied up down in the basement. At least two of them can use flames. The woman's a Cloud and the man named Marco is a Storm. He's the one who should be tied up. Didn't see anyone else." He pauses. "There was a man who called himself Stefan before, but he left. Anyway, there's like an office or something downstairs. There were some papers I couldn't carry, so I had Natsu hide them under the desk. Nothing exceptional, but still good evidence."

Hibari doesn't move, only leans back on his heels, like waiting for something. Tsuna sighs quietly. Does he really look that bad?

"It's okay. Senpai's here and I was just about to call Gokudera-kun. This bracelet somehow seals most my flames, but if it really comes to it, I can still at least protect myself." He hesitates. "And… I couldn't find my pills. I hope they just threw them out, but… I've got a bad feeling about that."

Hibari finally nods. "Very well. If you fail to contact the delinquent, I will come and collect your corpse after I'm done." He turns to Mochida. "Herbivore, I expect nothing of you."

Mochida bristles, but his inherent fear of the Demon Prefect keeps him quiet. Tsuna just smiles. Hibari's unconventional warmth isn't easy to understand, but Tsuna's starting to get the hang of it.

"Oh, Hibari-san, there's one more thing I found out." Tsuna keeps his smile innocent. "They know your reputation."

It's a common misconception that Hibari doesn't smile a lot. Hibari actually smiles quite a lot. Especially when he's about to murder someone. Which happens at least thrice a day, sometimes more during mealtimes or if someone has the misfortune to disturb his afternoon nap.

"Perfect," he says with a smile that makes Mochida visibly shudder. Then he jumps up and scales the three-storey building with two long leaps, disappearing up onto the roof.

"Eh?" Mochida says smartly.

"He could've used the street like a normal person, that show-off." Tsuna sighs and grimaces at the sharp pain it sends through his chest. "But it's okay now, senpai. Hibari-san has our backs and you can trust him to do a good job."

He finally clicks the green call button and rises the phone to his ear.

-x-

"Raise," Gokudera says.

"You're bluffing," the woman sitting across from him accuses.

"Sure, if you think so."

Her name is Mei and she's the Hibari-approved drug dealer of Namimori. She's not exactly an informant, but drug dealers hear many interesting stories, which makes her the only interesting person in the bar. It's probably why Hibari sent him here because there's nothing else suspicious that Gokudera noticed.

They're sitting in the quietest corner of the bar and the amount of yen on the table is nothing to scoff at.

"Yeah, nah, you're totally bluffing," she says and matches Gokudera's bet with a grin.

Gokudera shrugs and they both turn their cards. Mei's victorious grin for her full house turns into a scandalised yell when she sees his hand.

"Straight flush? Goddamn asshole." She pokes the pile of yen regretfully before Gokudera swipes it up.

Idiot. Doesn't even know how to cheat in poker. Speaking of which, he should totally teach Tenth how to cheat in poker next time they have a long flight.

He throws that idea out his head as soon as it gets there. Tenth is lethal in card games even without cheating.

"You're definitely cheating."

Gokudera snorts. "You just suck at this. Don't be a sore loser and start talking."

She sips at her beer, and sighs dejectedly. "Hey, I'm just your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer. I don't know much."

"Stop bullshitting. You lost the game. Start talking or I'll shove a stick of dynamite up your ass. I've been told it's not a pleasant feeling."

"Sheesh, chill, kid. I'll talk. I'm a woman of honour, after all. Or a drug dealer of honour, if that suits you more. And I appreciate my ass how it is, thank you very much. But first..." She leans closer, her voice turning into a whisper, barely heard over the music. "What do you know of 'flames'?"

Gokudera keeps his expression neutral. "I know of them."

She huffs in displeasure, leaning back again. "Of course you do. You probably know more of them than anyone else in this town, don't you, Vongola?"

It's not a question, so Gokudera doesn't answer and lights a cigarette instead.

His phone vibrates in his pocket as it receives a new message, but he doesn't react to that. It's probably just Yamamoto, anyway. Chrome and Sasagawa would've contacted him through the transmitter and Hibari wouldn't contact him at all. And Tenth's phone is in his other pocket along with his headphones and the single mitten.

Yamamoto should be checking out a suspicious apartment and knowing the idiot, the text is probably something stupid and pointless like, 'Haha, I drank all the milk in the fridge. Do you think I should pay for it?' or, 'Whoops, I stumbled and fell head first down the stairs. I died.' It's not worth reacting to.

"Well, I guess at least there's no need to talk around the topic then." Mei finishes her beer in three big gulps and sets it on the table with a loud clank. "So these weird guys showed up from nowhere about two years ago. Probably from Italy, or so I've been told. They started from Osaka and went to Kyoto after that, and I heard they even stopped by Kobe for a while. I guess they finally got tired of the city life and decided to come enjoy the rural calm of Namimori. That's when I started actually paying attention to the rumours. You know, I wouldn't be too happy if these guys put me out of business."

"Get to the point. I don't have all night."

"Patience is a virtue, young man. Anyway, they came to Namimori this summer and then children started disappearing. Mostly the kids who were neglected by their own parents or who already live on the streets. You know, the ones no one cares about. And before you say anything stupid, no, I don't deal to the ones who abandon their kids to get high and you know it."

Gokudera shrugs. It's not something he cares about at the moment, but he knows Tenth only approves of the dealers who check their clients. It's probably why she still has business in this town.

"So these kids disappear and then some of them show up again after a while, wearing this weird little silver bracelet and scared out of their minds. They avoid all authorities and live on the streets for a while, then some of them get caught by the police and some disappear again. And when they disappear the second time, there's no coming back. Ever."

Tenth had that bracelet too. No doubt that's the reason for his disappearance.

"What do the bracelets do?"

She shrugs. "Officially I've got no clue. I've never had the chance to see one up close. But following the bits and pieces I've heard from different clients, it's got something to do with flames. All I know for sure is that when a kid's wearing it, it's impossible to get off. Kinda like it's using the wearer's flames to reinforce the metal, making it almost indestructible. And I don't know how valid this is because the guy was piss drunk, but he said that the only way to get the bracelet off is with a good dose of Sky flames."

Gokudera takes the last drag from the cigarette and squishes it out on an ashtray. "Kids normally don't have active flames. How do they use flames of a person who's not active?"

"You tell me, Vongola. You're the expert here."

"Whatever. Why are they abducting children? Experiments?"

"I don't think so. No one's brave enough to try that after what happened to Estraneo. At least not like this. I think they're building up for something. And for that they need flame active children. You gotta make your own conclusions from there."

The phone in his pocket buzzes again, but it's longer this time, more insistent and Gokudera wants to throw it against the wall. Too bad Vongola's phones are too good to be broken that easily.

Goddamn baseball-idiot is calling. He should know the protocol about calling during missions. He'll kill him after this is over. Except Tenth wouldn't like that so he'll just yell at the dumbass and hope that'll finally get protocol through his thick skull.

"Shouldn't you get that?" Mei nods towards his pocket. Damn bitch's got good hearing.

Gokudera scowls at her, but gets his phone out. Great. Unknown number. If it's any of those telemarketing fools trying to sell him a new mattress, he'll personally sue their asses.

"What?" he barks into his phone.

"Hiiiee! Sorry! Are you very busy right now?"

Gokudera blanches. He knows that voice from anywhere.

"Tenth! Where are you?! We've been looking for you all night!"

He mentally bashes his head against the wall as soon as those words leave his lips because Mei across the table looks ridiculously smug about that bit of free information.

"Ah, yeah, about that. I texted you my location. Do you think you could arrange me a pickup? Or if you're busy… text me someone else's number who could? I'm, er, not in the best condition to travel far right now."

Gokudera hisses quietly as the words register. "How badly are you hurt, Tenth?" he asks in simple Italian and judging by Mei's carefully neutral expression, she doesn't know Italian.

"A few broken ribs, I think. It's not too bad, but I'd rather not move," Tenth answers in Japanese which means he either doesn't know the Italian words or is too tired to bother. The quiet wheeze in Tenth's breath makes the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach tingle again. Tenth is definitely underselling his injuries, but there's no way he can react to that without giving it away to Mei.

"Hold on a moment, please." Gokudera tears the phone away from his ear and quickly opens the latest message, frowning when the map opens. It's not too far and he has his bike, but… "Will you be safe there for another ten minutes?"

"Yeah, I think so. Oh, Mochida-senpai is here, too, because— actually, that's a long and complicated story. I'll tell you later. But yeah, we'll be fine."

"Okay. Please, please hang in there, Tenth. I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Gotcha. See you then. And please be careful!"

The phone beeps as the call ends and he smiles briefly at his phone. Tenth always knows when he's about to break the speed limit.

"What, you lost your boss, Vongola?"

Gokudera scowls at her, but pulls out the money he won before and throws it on the table. Mei pinches two fingers together and makes a move like zipping her mouth closed, scooping the bills into her bag with the other hand. But Gokudera is not done. He slams both hands against the hard wood, his voice quiet and threatening.

"I will call you. And you will tell me everything else you know. Give me your number. Now."

Mei hums and leans daintily against her hand, not the least bit threatened. "You are definitely handsome, but honestly, I'm kinda playing for the other team. And you're way too young for me, anyway."

Gokudera growls, pulls out a stick of dynamite and shoves it under her nose.

"Okay, okay, fine." She pushes the dynamite away and reaches into her bag, pulling out a simple black notebook. She scribbles something on one of the pages, tears it out and hands over. "Sheesh, one call from your boss and you've got your panties in a twist that badly? What is he? Dying?"

Gokudera bites back the sharp retort. The bitch is digging and Gokudera won't let that get to him. He tears the paper out of her hand and turns on his heel to leave.

"Hey, Vongola!" Mei calls after him just loud enough for him to hear over the music. "Will your boss help the kids?"

He wants to snap at her for doubting Tenth, but as far as he knows, the woman has never met him. She wouldn't know. It's also his mission to spread awareness of what kind of boss Tenth is.

"Tenth is a kind man. He wouldn't have it any other way."

-x-

Getting out of the handcuffs hadn't been easy, but he managed. Getting a spare ring from the tiny inside pocket of the medical pouch – good thing the brats didn't notice that – and disintegrating the chest of drawers in Stefan's office takes a minute at most. He doesn't bother with the desk. The brat probably already has his ring back.

He ignores the sound of a fight upstairs as he grabs everything important from his lab and lets Storm flames take care of the rest. That takes a while, but as soon as the brat can contact his companions, Vongola will storm the place and the less evidence they find against them, the better.

Marco grins at his phone as he takes the spare entrance in the basement to flee the building. Vongola's technology really is top-notch if even a Vongola himself didn't bother taking his phone. But then again, a Vongola would know very well just how good the security is. Even destroying it would've been a stupid move because that would've sent an immediate distress signal to Stefan.

Something rattles in his pocket and he should really get it as far as possible from the warehouse, but the glowing dot on the tiny map on his phone is too alluring. Maybe he can teach the brat a lesson about kicking people in the crotch and tying them up before his allies show up.

Author's notes: Hibariiii… you technically only had to speak to Gokudera. There was no crowding.

And here's a short and stupid story. I got more or less the same amount of English and Russian lessons in school. My Russian is Awful with a capital letter. Like, I can somewhat grasp the meaning of a simple conversation but can't really speak it. (The other day a Russian lady asked for directions from me and I was just about to answer sorry, I don't understand, but then I was like. No. I did understand what she said. I just don't know how to answer. So I answered in Estonian. And she got me just fine. So yeah. All's well that ends well.) As for English, well... I'm a tiny bit better with English. And even my Japanese studies went waaaaay better than Russian. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY HERE is that I have a headcanon that Tsuna didn't have as much trouble learning Italian as he did with English and not even Reborn can really explain why. He's not fluent, still stumbling over grammar and vocabulary and has an issue with his accent (and who the hell assigns genders to inanimate objects?), but he's getting there slowly but surely.