Bail

When Fernando Plumerri heard that a man named Kyoya Hibari was in an interrogation room downstairs he choked on his coffee. A hacking cough brought it back up to dribble past his chin into the cheap Styrofoam cup he held in his hand.

"Wh-what?" He hissed at the rookie officer who had told him the news, sucking down oxygen like it was going out of style as he tried to regulate his heartbeat.

"Guy named Ku-ya Hibari was arrested for destruction of property, he's some kinda foreigner I figure." The officer shrugged, not finding it that interesting, but his superior in minor crimes had told him to come up here and tell the Chief of the Organized Crimes Division, so here he was. He hadn't gone through four years of college and six months at the academy to be a glorified messenger boy.

"Kyoya." Plumerri corrected absently as he launched himself over his desk to get to his filing cabinets. A lot of detectives nowadays kept there files on the computer but Plumerri still appreciated paper hard copies. It was much easier to make notations and update theories when one didn't have to fight the ancient computers they were given by the Sicilian government. Not to mention it just felt better to have something solid in your hand.

Plumerri had an entire cabinet assigned to the Vongola Famiglia (most other families got a drawer or two tops for their whole operation), and an entire drawer dedicated to the inner members of that family. From this drawer he pulled a rather thin file.

Whipping a picture of a dark haired, serious looking Asian man out of the manila folder he showed it to the officer who was staring at him like he had finally lost his mind (two years sooner than the office betting pool said he would).

"Is this him?" Plumerri asked, a hint of desperation entering his voice. Maybe he could finally get something down in that file beyond what was available as public knowledge from the Internet.

"Yeah, that's the man." The officer had barely finished speaking when Plumerri vanished out the door, taking the steps two at a time to get down to the first level.

"Moretti!" He called as he came in view of the interrogation rooms. Moretti was a few years younger than Plumerri, a few inches taller, a few pant sizes smaller, and possessed a lot more hair. Moretti was the rock star of the department. "Is he still here?"

"Yep. Just sitting there." Moretti nodded his head towards the window that looked into the dour room. The window placed next to the door was not the of the one-way variety. The government didn't believe they needed one, or at least the government didn't believe it should pay for one. They only had this normal window in interests of safety. You never knew when a suspect would go ape-shit on his interrogator and try to throw him into a wall.

"Damn." Plumerri said as he caught sight of the man in the room. "You know who you got in there?"

"Kyoya Hibari, Japanese citizen, which means we can't touch him until the Japanese representative gets here from the embassy." Moretti replied, clearly annoyed at diplomacy.

"Kyoya Hibari, Japanese citizen, and part of the inner circle of the tenth generation Vongola Famiglia." Plumerri countered, looking in almost awe at the man sitting casually in the hard backed metal chair. He looked bored and irritated.

"Shit. I thought that might be the case. That's why I sent Bertucci to get you." Moretti ran a hand through his hair. "I saw the ring when I was cuffing him to the chair. I remember, during that organized crime seminar they made us attend some time back that the Don and the six highest members of the Vongola all had matching rings." And of course there were the rather odd weapons they took off the man. They reminded Moretti somewhat of the nightsticks American cops carried around.

"To be honest Hibari's the most mysterious of the Vongola inner circle. He doesn't come to Sicily often, prefferring to stay in Japan. Plus none of my informants can tell me just what he does for the family there, but they can tell me this much, Kyoya Hibari is considered the most dangerous man in the whole Famiglia, some say in the whole Mafia world." Plumerri told Moretti as he made mental notes of the mafioso. He was thinner than the file had listed and Plumerri wondered if he had been sick recently.

"Sweet Mary, what does that make the Vongola Don then if he's the one who controls him?" Moretti's jaw clenched as he finished talking.

"It's not so much controlling him as giving him incentives to do what I want." A voice said behind the two men.

Plumerri and Moretti both whirled on their heels to face the intruder only to come up short in shock. Standing there in a pinstriped suit was the most powerful man in what was widely considered the most powerful Famiglia of the Italian mafia, Tsunayoshi Sawada. Behind him stood a tiny, pretty woman in a skirt-suit and an eye-patch, one of her hands holding the shoulder of a thirteen or so year old boy with curly hair and a cow print shirt. Plumerri recognized them instantly as two more of Sawada's most trusted, Chrome Dokuro and Lambo Bovino.

"Don Vongola, to what do we owe the honor of your visit." Plumerri didn't bother to keep the sarcasm out of his tone, but while the Bovino boy clenched his fists and Dokuro tightened the hand she had on his shoulder and narrowed her eye Sawada simply smiled.

"The Japanese embassy called me, they told me Kyoya had been arrested, again." The man closed his eyes briefly, as if warding off a headache. There was a world of meaning in that 'again'.

It was the first time Plumerri had seen Vongola Decimo up close and personal, and he was somewhat disappointed. The man was small, as many of Asian descent are, standing at maybe 5'6" and weighing in at less than 140, perhaps less than 130. His features were handsome enough but there was nothing that would make him stand out in a crowd. He was soft spoken and moved almost hesitantly. And at 22 he seemed very young. It was not what one expected in a mafia boss.

"What did he do this time?" Sawada asked with resignation in his voice. The woman behind him shook her head in exasperation and the boy snickered.

"He destroyed part of a deli. When asked why he said the place was undisciplined and that they had been crowding." Moretti told him, spine stiff as he watched the young man in front of him warily.

The man groaned and then reached into the pocket of his suit. Moretti and Plumerri both went for their sidearms and as they did so Dokuro and Bovino both reached for their belts. They all froze however when Sawada simply pulled out a pack out antacids and popped a few in his mouth like they were candy.

"I swear half my indigestion is caused by him alone." The woman giggled. "Don't laugh," He told her. "the other half is caused by Mukuro." That just made her giggle louder. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"No. Just the property damage." Moretti informed him relaxing again, feeling Plumerri do the same besides him. Sawada seemed relieved to hear it.

"That's something at least." Sawada opened up his suit jacket and took a small cell phone out of the inside breast pocket. "Can I speak to him?"

"Alright, that should be fine." Plumerri told him before Moretti could say no. Moretti looked at him with a raised brow but didn't say anything to contradict him.

"Thank you." The smile Sawada gave him was genuine and warm. "Chrome-chan, would you mind calling Takeshi, have him go over to the deli and... fix things." He handed her his phone when she nodded at him.

"This isn't fair! You were supposed to take us for gelato! You promised!" The young boy protested as Sawada moved towards the interrogation room.

"I know. I'm sorry Lambo, we'll go as soon as this is sorted out, I swear." Sawada walked back to the boy and placed a hand on his head.

"Why does he always have to get arrested on a Saturday, why can't he ever get arrested on a Wednesday?" The child mumbled as Sawada and Dokuro laughed.

"I don't know, but I'll be sure to suggest that next time he tries for a Wednesday, or maybe a Tuesday, I never have anything better to do on a Tuesday anyway." Sawada ruffled his hair, laughed, smiled at them all, and then left, stepping into the interrogation room and shutting the door behind him with a snap. They all heard the automatic lock click.

Dokuro meanwhile opened her boss's cellphone and pressed a number, lifting the phone to her ear as it began to ring.

Plumerri was torn briefly between listening in to her conversation with who he figured was Yamamoto Takeshi (another mafioso close to Sawada and the man rumored to be in charge of the Vongola's enforcers and assassins) or eavesdropping on Sawada and Hibari. After a second of hesitation he nudged Moretti in Dokuro's direction and picked up the headphones that connected to a speaker inside the interrogation room.

".....delis you've destroyed?" He caught the tail end of a question Sawada was asking Hibari. The dark haired man ignored him. "Well, what happened? And where's Kusakabe?"

"I left Kusakabe in Namimori to oversee things there." Hibari's voice was low and smooth, lacking in inflection or emotion but heavily accented. "Must we speak in this awful language?" Irritation crept into his voice with that question.

"Reborn insists we speak Italian when over here, you know that. Besides you need the practice Kyoya, you're the worst at it you know, even Ryohei is better at it." Sawada admonished. Plumerri noted the names; Reborn was a mysterious figure, said to be a top assassin and one of Sawada Tsunayoshi's closest advisers and friends, he'd even been rumored to have been a teacher for the young Don, Ryohei Sasegawa one the other hand was another of the upper echelon of Vongola, he seemed to be in charge of diplomacy of all things between the Vongola and other families, travelling all over the world to speak to mafioso, gang leaders, and high profile criminals. "Of course that might not be fair, Ryohei is surprisingly adept at languages, hmm, ah! Even Haru-chan speaks better Italian than you!" Who the hell was Haru, Plumerri wondered, he'd have to look it up later.

"I loathe Italian." Hibari told Sawada with a sneer.

"And English too, I know." Sawada sighed. "Are you going to tell me what happened today or not?"

"I went to the deli to get lunch. You'd think these people had never learned proper manners the way they were rushing the counter." Hibari sniffed disdainfully. "I should have bit the lot of them to death, stupid herbivores."

Sawada popped another antacid and rubbed at his brow. "That's just the way things are done here, they aren't accustomed to waiting in lines."

"It's undisciplined." Hibari snapped, his eyes flashed dangerously and Plumerri's mouth went dry. Sawada didn't seem to notice.

"I know, but it's just how things are here. You should have just eaten lunch with us at the manor." Sawada told him, tone suggesting it was an old argument.

"I'd rather not eat with that herd of noisy herbivores, thank you."

"They're not that bad." Hibari raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, they're that bad, but I swear you get used to it." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "I just wish you'd spend more time with us. You're Family you know." Sawada moved his hand forward a bit, as if to lay it on top of Hibari's and then seemingly thought better of it and pulled it back again. "I sent Takeshi to deal with the deli owners. You'll be out of here in an hour or two. Me, Chrome-chan and Lambo will be out there waiting." He pulled himself to his feet, moving more like an old man than the 22 year old he was.

"You don't have to wait." Hibari told him coldly.

"No, but that's what Family does Hibari-san, Kyoya." Sawada leaned a hand on the table and bent over until he was right in Hibari's face. "And like it or not, we are your Family and you are ours."

With that somewhat ominous declaration Sawada turned and swept out of the dark room back into the bullpen.

Plumerri quickly hung the headphone back on it's hook next to the window but Sawada just gave him a knowing smile before turning to look for Dokuro and Bovino. Plumerri turned and looked for them too.

Dokuro was sitting in a chair typically used for family come to make bail, the recently arrested, or victims of crimes to tell their stories, Bovino sat at her feet watching as she made elaborate shapes out of a loop of string, attempting the same figures with his own loop.

For a minute Plumerri was reminded of childhood summers spent at the shore watching as his grandmother, whose legs weren't so good but whose fingers were as nimble as ever, played cat's cradle. He pushed those nostalgic thoughts aside as Sawada joined them. Plumerri was surprised when, instead of shooing Dokuro out of her chair or hunting around for another one he sank to the floor next to the boy.

"Did you reach Takeshi?" He asked as Dokuro shook her fingers loose of her latest design, that resembled either an owl or a cat, depending on how one tilted their head.

"Yes Boss." She told him in a soft voice, holding out his phone for him to take back. "Yamamoto-san said he'd take care of it. Also, Gokudera-san called while you were with Hibari-san; Maman called the manor, she and Iemistu-san arrived safely in the Caribbean, and she said to tell you thank you for the gift of the tickets."

"I see. I'll call mom back later." Sawada placed the phone back in his breast pocket before turning to the child tugging at his elbow. "What, Lambo?"

"Watch!" Bovino then attempted a complicated cat's cradle design, managing only to get his fingers tangled and the string knotted. "Damn it!"

"Lambo-kun! Language!" Dokuro shook a finger at him. "What would Fuuta-kun say?"

Sawada laughed as he took the string from the child, working intently at the knots as Bovino swiped Dokuro's string to try again.

Plumerri felt slightly off-kilter watching them. They acted more like a family than a Family. Plumerri had hoped to learn more about the inner workings of the Vongola when he realized that Don Sawada was in his precinct, but instead he was growing more confused.

Why was Dokuro referring to Sawada's mother as Maman? And who was Fuuta? And what was the leader of one of the more secretive divisions of Vongola doing in the Caribbean? For that matter where was the fear, the awe of Sawada? And in Hibari's case where was the respect? Just how was Sawada running his family?

Maybe those rumors of Sawada being the most beloved Don in the whole of the mafia had some merit after all if the way Bovino seemed to be crawling all over Sawada and the way Dokuro seemed to be looking at him with adoration in her eyes was any indication.

"Lambo! You're too big for this!" Sawada said as Bovino trapped to lie over his shoulders. They were attracting quite a bit of attention but none of them seemed to notice. There was a click and everyone turned their head to see the tiny, one-eyed woman holding up her phone towards the two on the ground. Sawada blinked at her before shoving Bovino off his shoulders. "Chrome! Delete that right now!"

"Sorry Boss." She said as she seemed to make the phone mysteriously vanish. "But, no. I think Haru-chan and Kyoko-chan would really like that photo, plus Mukuro-sama told me to get some cute shots of you."

"What? Why?" Sawada seemed shocked. "You know what I don't want to know." He took another antacid from the pack in his pocket. "I need more antacids." He said feeling along the packet at the amount he had left.

The small group spent the better part of the next hour in idle conversation, occasionally fiddling with the string in games of cat's cradle but just as often not. Bovino was telling them about school, which he apparently attended with a girl named I-Pin. Dokuro mentioned how much she had enjoyed the Tuscany hills the last time she was there, although someone named Ken had terrible hay fever the entire time. Sawada listened to both in rapt attention, occassionally asking questions but mostly letting them talk. He seemed genuinely interested in what they had to say.

Plumerri made mental notes of everyone they mentioned to research later. Some sounded familiar, some he knew for sure, but other's were complete mysteries.

"Yo! Tsuna!" A voice rang out across the large room filled with desks. A tall, handsome asian man with a scar on his chin and a smile on his lips waved a hand as he walked towards the small group. Takeshi Yamamoto, Plumerri recognized him as, rumored to be a top assassin who for some reason eschewed guns and used a Japanese style sword to do his work.

"Takeshi!" Sawada stood swiftly, reaching an automatic hand out to Dokuro to help lift her to her feet as well as Lambo jumped to his feet and ran over to Yamamoto to show him what he could do with the loop of string. "Did you get everything settled?"

"Yep! Got it all worked out with the deli's owners. Hibari sure did a job in there though." He laughed loudly as an older couple came up behind him.

"Mr. Yamamoto?" They asked cautiously. They were well in to their fifties at least and wore practical inexpensive clothing

"Ah, right. Tsuna, this is Mr. and Mrs. Giovinnichi, the deli's owners. Mr. and Mrs. G., this is Sa- ah, Tsunayoshi Sawada, mine and Hibari's boss." The jovial man made the introductions lightly before moving to stand behind Sawada as Sawada stepped foreward with a hand out.

"I apologize for Kyoya's, Hibari's, actions Mr. Giovinnichi, Mrs. Giovinnichi. Hibari is never in the best of moods when he has to travel all the way out here from Japan and I'm afraid he took out his frustrations on your shop. I will, of course, pay for all the damages, as Takeshi told you, as well as arrange for a generous settlement to be given for the trouble and lost income you'll have to endure." Sawada looked compellingly earnest and completely sincere. "I'd make Hibari apologize as well, but it's best not to try to make Hibari do anything. I do hope we can move past this whole messy affair."

The Giovinnichis bought it hook, line, and sinker, but then again there didn't seem to be anything to buy as Sawada seemed honestly contrite on behalf of his underling and genuinely interested in paying them back. Mrs. Giovinnichi took Sawada's hand in both of hers, patting it comfortingly like one would a child to assure it that it wasn't in trouble.

"Don't you worry about it dearie. Me and Ricky have been meaning to remodel the shop for a couple of years now, this is just the perfect excuse. Not that the money won't be welcome." Mrs. Giovinnichi winked at him and Sawada smiled back broadly.

"Wonderful. That's great. Now, if you wouldn't mind do me a little favor and dropping all charges against Hibari we can all get out of here and go on with our lives, and Takeshi should have a check ready for you before you leave." Sawada nodded at Yamamoto who nodded back and pulled out a cellphone to call the bank to authorize a large check.

Plumerri wanted to be shocked at how easily Sawada managed to take care of things but he couldn't be. He had heard rumors that Sawada was so charismatic that you couldn't help but do what he wanted, and now he was seeing it first hand as the Giovinnichis moved to speak to Moretti.

"Chrome-chan," Sawada spoke up, oddly serious. Both Dokuro and Plumerri turned their complete attention to him. "remind me to make sure that the Giovinnichis hire... reputable contractors. I'd hate to see those nice people being taken advantage of."

"Like what you're doing?" Plumerri couldn't help but say. The two mafioso turned to him in surprise, not realizing that he had been listening in, the surprise turned to irritation as the took in his words.

"I'm not taking advantage of them." Sawada told him, voice hard.

"You're convincing them to drop the charges on your man, even though they have a solid case against him." Plumerri countered. "They won't see justice this way."

Sawada seemed to draw himself up at Plumerri's words. His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned as he pressed them into a line. He seemed bigger, more impressive all of a sudden and Plumerri had the random thought that this, this, was a Mafia Don.

"What justice? For who? Even if you were able to keep Hibari locked up for this, which you couldn't, how would it help them? They could sue Hibari, but that would take years, and how would the pay the lawyer fees when they aren't making an income? Any insurance they have would take months to sort out, and they may not get anything in the end anyway. They could take out loans to cover rebuilding, and then spend the rest of their life paying them off. All I'm doing is making it so everyone comes out happy. They get the money to rebuild their shop and I don't have deal with lawyers and the Japanese embassy to get Hibari out." Sawada didn't glare but he didn't look particularly welcoming either. Dokuro hovered anxiously at his elbow and both Bovino and Yamamoto had looked up to watch closely when they had heard their boss raise his voice. The Giovinnichis were looking confused and asked Yamamoto something quietly, Yamamoto bent his head to whisper something back reassuringly. "You can talk all high and mighty about your so called justice all you want, but sometimes justice doesn't do anything good for anybody, sometimes all it does is hurt." There was a story there, Plumerri thought, but he wasn't going to touch it.

Sawada turned, offering an elbow to Dokuro as he did so, as Hibari exited the interrogation room and had his belongings restored to him by a very put upon looking Moretti. Moretti snapped something at the man but all Hibari did was smirk at him and look vaguely superior.

"Lambo, do you still want to go out?" Sawada spoke to the child in a warm tone, completely removed from the one he'd been speaking in a minute before, ignoring the by-play happening between Moretti and Hibari, although a flick of his eyes in that direction showed that he'd noticed.

"Yeah!" The boy cheered as he scuttled to Sawada's side.

"Takeshi, Kyoya, would you like to join us for some gelato?" Yamamoto agreed easily but Hibari simply sniffed at them as he shoved past, headed for the door. Sawada didn't seem put out by it and smiled as he lead his Famiglia back onto the street.

"Such a nice young man. Handsome too." Mrs. Giovinnichi commented as he left, winking at her husband to show she was only teasing.

"That nice young man is a mafioso." Moretti told her seriously.

"Doesn't mean he isn't of a decent sort." Mr. Giovinnichi said. "We know they didn't have to offer us any money. You never would have been able to keep that fellow locked up, what with the lawyers they coulda gotten. But that man went and made right, if he's a mafioso he's better man than half the customers I see a day who aren't." The two then left with their hefty check, making plans for all the upgrades they could now afford for their little deli, looking far two happy for two people who'd just had their shop rampaged by a mafioso.

"Why do I feel like I'm the bad guy here?" Moretti asked Plumerri after they were gone, hands on his hips, head down.

Plumerri just snorted as he headed back up to the Organized Crime offices, thinking that Moretti was still too young and it was a good thing he worked in Minor Crimes, because he wouldn't last in Plumerri's division.

Plumerri sat in his cheap swivel chair and booted up his computer, he reached for Kyoya Hibari's folder that he'd left opened on his desk. He had a lot of notes to add to his files and a lot of names to look up. Because it didn't matter if he was a decent sort, Sawada was still a criminal, in charge of a bunch of other criminals, and at the end of the day it was still Plumerri's job to catch them. Everything else could be left up to a judge.

Author's Note: That's, a long oneshot, which is lacking much in a plot, oh well. I really just wanted to write an outsiders point of view on the Vongola, which is why I used last names throughout the whole thing (which was a pain in the keester cause I kept type Chrome or Lambo or Tsuna). This is approx. 8 years later btw, and liberties we're taken with characterization, but after 8 years I figure they all would have grown up quite a bit. Also, all my Italian names end in i, what's up with that? And does anyone know Lambo's last name? I used Bovino but I honestly have no idea.