Title: Indoor Sports of the Heart (or Something)
Universe: Reborn
Theme/Topic: Xanxus and Tsuna in a room together.
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: Xanxus, Tsuna, 9th, Iemitsu.
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers through the Varia arc I guess.
Word Count: 695
Summary: The relationship between the head of the Vongola and the head of the CEDEF is a lot like a game of catchball of the heart.
Dedication: Another from my comment fic battle with juin!
A/N: The 9th is a secret asshole in my head obviously.
Disclaimer: No harm or infringement intended.

Of all the great and beautiful things in Vongola headquarters, between the antique vases and chairs, the Renaissance sculptures, and the giant paintings of Primo and the other nine heads of Vongola lining the walls of the hallway around him, Tsuna chooses to look at the clock.

The minute hand stutters, pushes, and strains as he watches, as if it is a great and terrible struggle to get from one sixty second stretch to the next. Tsuna thinks it might actually be standing still. With his luck, it will begin to go backwards.

Across from him, in the waiting area outside of the 9th's office, Xanxus glowers murder right into Tsuna's face. Like the minute hand on the clock, Xanxus has not moved an inch since they arrived here and laid eyes on one another.

Tsuna keeps his eyes carefully glued to the ancient looking grandfather clock. "C'mon, you can do it," he murmurs under his breath, hands clenched tightly at his sides and whole body shaking just a little bit, as if his entire life depends on it getting from one minute to the next. It does, in a way.

Xanxus smirks.

Tsuna freezes.

The minute hand-finally- clops forward.

Tsuna sighs. At the very least, time is progressing.

Xanxus answers by casually reaching out for the empty, 200 year old chair to his immediate left and throwing itat the clock.

The clock shatters. Time halts abruptly.

Tsuna manages not to curl up into a ball as he stares at Xanxus incredulously.

Xanxus smiles, as bits of clock and busted chair break off and settle into a heap on the floor between them. Both items had been worth a fortune until ten seconds ago.

"So," Xanxus begins, after a moment of blatant self-satisfactory sneering, "How's it going, brat?"

Tsuna stares with wide eyes before managing a squeak that sounds a lot like, "Good, thank you, sir."

Well, it would sound a lot like that if he didn't have both hands clamped over his mouth like he's trying to swallow the fear that is his life. Mostly it sounds like "Mmmmph."

Xanxus's scowls. Picks up the empty chair to his right.

"Xanxus-san..." Tsuna begins, "I don't think you should..."

Xanxus throws the chair. Not at Tsuna, but towards the aged painting of Primo that is mounted on the wall right behind him, two feet above the top of his head.

Tsuna's first instinct is to cringe and to cover his head with his arms.

His second instinct is inexplicable (and wins). When he blinks again, the chair is secured firmly in his hands, its trajectory abruptly halted before it had been able to tear a hole into the priceless artwork hanging on the wall. Xanxus had been aiming right for Primo's face.

Xanxus snarls when Tsuna thwarts him, however unintentionally.

Tsuna laughs nervously and puts down the chair. Dusts it off. "What a nice chair," he says, voice strained.

"Don't you fucking patronize me, Sawada!" Xanxus shouts. He picks up a vase.

Tsuna thinks the next ten minutes feel like a long ten years.

Meanwhile, in the 9th's office, the current head of Vongola and the current head of the CEDEF watch the goings on in the hallway via closed circuit video camera.

The 9th looks amused, as Xanxus desperately throws priceless artifact after priceless artifact at Tsunayoshi, who yelps and catches each piece one after another, in the fervent hope of preserving it for future generations.

Iemitsu huffs a sigh. "You really want me to make Xanxus my successor?" he asks, slightly bewildered.

9th sits back in his chair and smiles an enigmatic, old man's smile. "I think," he says, as Tsuna saves the life of a very old family bible by pulling it out of a bullet's way, "That the two of them are very good at challenging each other into taking action."

Iemitsu shrugs and takes a seat, eyes glued to the monitor.

Ten minutes into the match, Tsuna is finally forced to stop playing nice and render Xanxus unconscious, when Xanxus purposefully sets fire to the drapes.

The 9th thinks that the future of Vongola looks as bright as ever.

END