Title: First Meetings
Characters: Xanxus, Squalo, Tsunako
Summary: This is what happened the first time Xanxus and Tsunako met.
Notes: Choice: Betrothal is an arc of stories predicated on the prompt Xanxus/Tsuna - genderswap; "don't look down on me because I'm a woman." It starts with the premise of "What if Tsunayoshi had been Tsunako instead?" and "What if Tsunako had lived with her parents in Italy for a few years before circumstances made moving her and Nana to Namimori seem advisable?" and follows the changes that spiral out from there. Ignores canon developments after ch.282 of the manga and uses the Ninth's guardians developed in other branches of Choice; if OCs bother you, I promise that they're generally pretty peripheral to the action. General audiences. 786 words.

First Meetings

Just about the first mission they handed the Varia after Xanxus took it from Squalo was a search-and-rescue kind of a thing—not at all the kind of thing that ought to have demanded Varia quality to handle, but the shitty old man's outside advisor had let his kid get grabbed by the Pozzo Nero and apparently that was the sort of thing that one did not let go unremarked. Or so the old man had explained to Xanxus at the meeting where he'd dropped the job in their laps and then refused to let Xanxus turn it down. The whole thing set Xanxus' teeth on edge. If Sawada's brat had been stupid enough to get grabbed by the Pozzo Nero, then that was Sawada's problem, not his—but the old man hadn't really cared.

There was going to come a day when the old man wasn't going to be able to boss him around like that. Xanxus was looking forward to it.

Anyway, taking a couple of squads out and punching them right through the Pozzo Nero's defenses was so easy that Xanxus probably could have done it in his sleep, or blindfolded, or just handed it off to Squalo to deal with, but he was the goddamn head of the Varia so he did it himself. He took point while Squalo secured their perimeter and went through the house where the Pozzo Nero were holding Sawada's brat like a bullet punching through paper. Hell, the last of the Pozzo Nero idiots, the ones who were standing over Sawada's brat when Xanxus came through the door, probably hadn't even realized anything was wrong before he took them down, one clean headshot apiece.

And that left him facing down the brat as the bodies toppled to the floor. Xanxus hadn't taken any notice of the kid before she'd gotten herself kidnapped; she stared at him now, her eyes huge in a pale face and her frilly little pink dress spattered with blood.

He wondered whether she was going to cry.

She didn't. She bit her lip and whispered, "Did my daddy send you?"

Xanxus holstered his guns and headed over to inspect the ropes that the Pozzo Nero had used to tie her to the chair. "Sure, whatever, now shut up," he said, reaching for his boot knife to cut through the ropes. They'd been tied tightly enough to rub her skin raw; she made a tiny, stifled sound as he sawed through them and immediately covered her mouth with her hand as they came loose. She didn't say another word, not even when he scooped her up and carried her out of the room.

"Wait," Squalo said when they'd regrouped, staring at the brat, "seriously, all that effort for that? Shit."

"Nothing but the best for Sawada's little princess," Mario said, snorting. "More trouble than it's worth, if you ask me."

Xanxus rolled his eyes and tried to hand the brat off to Tartaruga, but the kid had gotten her hands around his collar and was hanging on like grim death. "Think she likes you, Boss," Tartaruga said, grinning until Xanxus, exasperated by the whole thing, growled at her to shut up.

By the time they were halfway back to the Vongola house, he was considerably more exasperated by the fact that the brat refused to let go of him. She clung to him like a burr, face tucked against his shoulder while the Varia laughed and traded barbs about how easily the Pozzo Nero had fallen apart and what a stupid little mission it had been. Every once and a while, Xanxus felt her shake, but she stayed perfectly silent, save for the occasional squeak when they hit a pothole or he had to shift her around to keep his arm from going numb.

"You'd think she'd know better than to trust a stranger so easily," Squalo said, watching the brat burrow against him. "Must not have gotten any of Sawada's brains."

Xanxus grunted his agreement; this was such a fucking farce.

Squalo slanted a smile at him. "Don't worry, Boss. Next mission we run'll be more interesting." His pale eyes glittered beneath the wild fringe of his hair, anticipation and ambition all rolled together.

Xanxus considered that, but Squalo wasn't wrong. They'd be moving soon—would have moved sooner, if the brat's adventure hadn't gotten in the way—and yeah, the next mission would be better. Much better.

Sawada's brat squeaked again when he laughed, but that didn't matter so much, all things considered. She was just damn lucky she'd gotten herself kidnapped before he'd taken the title of the Tenth, not after, and that was all he had to say about that.

end

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