Published [2013-01-20]

Updated [2017-05-26]

Author: mari92

Original story and author: ? - I am sorry but I have forgotten!

Cielo Pocco

Prologue

Once upon a time, in a time so very long ago that our memories no longer remember, seven mysterious rings of the Vongola Famiglia were created by a man just as much steeped in mystery called Talbot. The rings of sky, storm, rain, lightening, cloud, mist and sun – all who represents the elements of the world above ordinary humans' heads. The connection between Talbot and the origins of the Vongola Famiglia has become part of our history and the truth still exists within the hall of records in the Vongola fortress. The origin… that didn't start with the man known as Giotto Vongola.

Π

Chapter 1

2012

Unknown location, Sicily

The soft sound of chirping birds filled the ears of the Vongola Decimo, or as his friends knew him as Sawada Tsunayoshi – Tsuna for short, and the breeze played with his hair as he leaned upon the railing of his office balcony, admiring the garden beneath in the afternoon sun.

It has been eleven years since he first came to the mansion at the age of fourteen and Tsuna had grown out of his baby-fat, his face now contained sharp features that made him resemble the portrait of Vongola Primo, the first head of the mafia famiglia, and he had grown taller with age. Not that Tsuna cared in the slightest that he resembles the portrait of Vongola Primo with their hair colour being the exception, Primo being blonde and Tsuna a brunette. 'Although', Tsuna mused, 'it might be because of that I had gained so many admirers in college and since I formally took over the famiglia as the 10th head.'

Being twenty-five years old, Tsuna had learned a lot both about himself as a person and as the patriarch of the most powerful mafia family in Sicily. The first thing being that Reborn, his "trainer/mentor", is a sadist and a literal pain in the ass kind of guy. Secondly, if he wanted to escape all that chaos that Reborn brings with him everywhere he goes, Tsuna might as well do everything he can to the best of his abilities and do so with confidence – if done with confidence Reborn wouldn't nag as much. Thirdly, yes Reborn nags. It might come to some as a surprise, yet Tsuna has learned that Reborn has this very sadistic way of nagging. "Be a gentleman. Be a good boss. A boss shouldn't lack confidence" and so on…

'Time flows fast when you have fun or when you actually want it to stand still', Tsuna grumbles silently in his head. He still has a small mountain of paperwork sitting upon his desk inside the office, yet felt absolutely no inclination of doing it. He was plenty aware that it needed his immediate attention, but he didn't particularly care. He needed a break, just a small break and even if Reborn would harp at him later about it with his "Boss do's and don'ts".

Tsuna needed this moment of calm, of nature and just being alone. Not that he wasn't alone in his office, but the atmosphere is completely different. Tsuna would be hard pressed to express the difference, he could only say that there was one and he didn't feel the need to know why.

A small smile grazed his lips as fond memories began to flow before his eyes. The first time he met Reborn, his friends and the girls. A frown began to form as he began to think about the girls in his life. He knew Haru wanted to become his wife. It's hard to ignore her very obvious hints, yet he still tried to act oblivious to her actions. He didn't want to bring her into the underworld of his family. No girl would want that kind of life and neither do they deserve to have that kind of life. A life hiding all the time, of always having to watch out for danger and always know that you could die at any moment… No, he would rather stay single.

Although, it would be like whishing upon a star. The chances of him remaining single is almost zero and if his grandfather has a say, he will probably be married within the year with his consent or not. How depressing.

'I might as well get back to work, this turned way more depressing than I wanted it to be', Tsuna thought as he began to rise from his leaned position. Just as he was going to open his balcony door, he heard the sound of the three youngest of his Famiglia; Lambo, I-pin and Fuuta arguing. Tsuna smiled with a sense of dread as he watched the teenagers settle beneath his office balcony. With curiosity filled dread Tsuna eavesdropped on their conversation, not that hard with how loud the teenagers were.

Even if his office balcony is on the third floor, Tsuna could hear them perfectly fine. Something about the bazooka… and that is his call to just walk back into his office. He seriously had better things to do, like getting his paperwork finished before the evening meal. Tsuna sighed and went the three or four steps it took to get inside his office in the mansion.

Π

Fifteen minutes later…

- "Give me a break! That's way over their frickin' allowance for collateral damages!" Tsuna whined as he read another report on some of his so-called subordinates and the list of expenses that came with it. If he saw one more of these… these huge expenditures on repairs Tsuna would send Hayato to remind them of their obligation to follow his rules regarding vandalism and that if they didn't make the collateral as small as possible he would personally kill them himself!

Tsuna ruffles his hair in agitation and halfway through the motion, he hears a gentle knock on his office door. Relief swept through his body at the interruption and composes himself into the mask of the boss of a mafia Famiglia, before saying a short; "Avanti."

The door slowly opens to admit one of the mansion's butlers, carrying a small tray with a single cup of newly brewed espresso. It had taken some to time to become accustomed to the taste of espresso, yet once he got past the bitterness of it, it tasted nice with the added benefit of keeping him awake so he could continue to work after dinner.

- "Grazie, Alfredo." Tsuna said gratefully and Alfredo smiled gently toward his master while placing the tray on top of a small table by the comfortable sofa in the corner of his office.

- "Signor Decimo, a big package arrived for you in the mail. Signor Reborn said it didn't seem to be containing anything suspicious, but that sir should be careful anyway. Shall I retrieve it for you?" Alfredo informed his master as he handed over the cup of espresso and quietly waiting for further orders.

- "Bring the package to me Alfredo and could you please bring some of Bianchi's non-poisoned cookies for me." Tsuna said while taking the cup and taking a sip of the espresso. He had gone through perhaps half of the mountain that was his work and most of it had been mission reports and bank transaction slips that needed his O.K. before going through to the Vongola Famiglia bank account. Tsuna finished his cup of espresso before Alfredo came back with both the package and a plate of cookies.

- "Grazie, Alfredo. You may leave now." Tsuna dismissed Alfredo. He waited until his butler was gone before approaching the package. He stared thoughtfully at the medium sized box, nothing seemed amiss but you could never know when you were a mafia boss. Anything that looked innocent could be a trap and Tsuna could think of many ways to use a mail delivered box as a way to assassinate people. Even though Reborn hadn't found anything it didn't mean that there couldn't be something wrong as he was only a man not an all mighty god, though Tsuna did admit there was very little that could escape that man's notice.

There was no note to indicate where it came from or who it was from. Suspicious if anything, if it had been from any of the Famiglia around the world there would have been a note as all of them knew of him, but as there wasn't a note it could be an enemy who sent it. Reborn had probably thought so too, as he could see the faint marks of the package having been opened and then re-sealed for discretion. It would have worked if it had been a few years ago but Tsuna knew Reborn quite well after ten years together. He wouldn't be surprised if the hit man had the contents go through a scanning machine and every other possible way to show if the package was in any way harmful to him.

The brown box was bare except for a label written with a black marker saying;
"To: Sawada Tsunayoshi."

'Who sent this and what do they want to give me?' Tsuna wondered as he slowly unveiled the contents of the mysterious box. He was quite surprised when he finally saw what the box contained. He had been expecting to see something amazing, weird, dangerous or even something unbelievable. Instead what he found was a map of Italy, which clearly was outdated as some of the areas of Italy had changed with time as there had been battles fought and won, which had made the present Italy the way it was. For instance, on the map, the airports weren't marked.

The box also contained an old antique pocket watch made from silver, a change of clothes that was from the Renaissance period, an old leather satchel with soft leather and some leather pouches containing gold coins. The pouches also contained a little silver and copper coins.

There didn't seem to be anything more inside the box and Tsuna was stumped. What would he do with this stuff? It wasn't like he lived in the time period that these things were normal. Was it for a masquerade? If so, then why wasn't he informed he would attend? If not, then who's idea was it to send him antiques befitting a museum? Either way, he would need to talk to Reborn about this if it was a joke. Actually, now that he thought about it... This could be a joke, coming from someone who had noticed his resemblance towards the Primo. But then the question of 'why now' popped up in his head.

While he tried to figure out the meaning of the contents he heard an explosion from the garden. Fearing that the kids had caused trouble yet again, Tsuna jumped over the balcony from the third floor and landed in a practiced crouch with little damage. He was oblivious to the fact that he was still clutching on to the strange package.

- "What... exactly, are you three doing?" Asked Tsuna calmly with a hint of steel when he was within reach of the teenagers. Apparently, the tone of his voice was enough to snap the three of them from their bickering. It took them about one minute to assimilate the knowledge of his presence before they all started to talk at the same time. Tsuna could feel a migraine starting to build and it took all his will not to snap at the teenagers for silence. Instead he sighed and rubbed at his temple to keep his migraine in check.

- "Calm down, one at a time, alright?" Tsuna stated with a frown and the three immediately quieted down, much to Tsuna's delight.

- "Now, Fuuta, you start." He asked, knowing that only Fuuta would be giving him an objective statement of the situation, there was also the fact that Fuuta couldn't lie very well. Fuuta cringed slightly at the question.

- "Well... Tsuna-nii, Lambo and I-pin are just arguing that's all."

- "Fuuta." The calm reprimand made Fuuta cringe again. If he wasn't in trouble before because of his reputation as the good kid on the block, he probably was now. Fuuta both hated and loved it when Tsuna acted out like their big brother.

- "Alright, that might have been quite the understatement, but Tsuna-nii…" Fuuta tried to smooth over his almost lie to his big brother figure. He glanced over at I-pin though his eyes periphery and saw that I-pin was busy glaring holes at a trembling Lambo. No help from that corner at all, as though they themselves weren't in trouble at the moment. Fuuta took a steadying breath before saying;

- "As far as I'm aware Tsuna-nii, I-pin and Lambo are arguing over Lambo's bazooka and that's all I know. Before that they argued over what we would have for dinner today."

Tsuna nodded thoughtfully, ignoring how Fuuta breathed out in relief beside him, and switched his attention to I-pin and Lambo.

- "I-pin. Lambo. Why are you arguing over Lambo's bazooka?" Tsuna asked, getting the attention from the young Chinese girl who stopped glaring for a moment to answer Tsuna's question.

"Sawada-san! Lambo let Irie-san, Spanner-san and Giannini-san borrow his ten-year bazooka! I strictly told him no, but he as usual didn't pay attention to me!" I-pin yelled pointing an accusing finger at Lambo, who was now standing there indignantly.

- "Hey! It is mine and I can decide what to do with it, you… you tail head!"

- "Lambo, that was uncalled for." Tsuna said sternly and Lambo huffed in response. "I-pin calm down, I'm sure that nothing is going to happen by letting the mechanics observe the bazooka. That's not to say that it was okay, to lend it out Lambo." Tsuna continued without turning around. Lambo gaped at the back of Tsuna's figure incredulity painting his face.

- "Why?! It is mine!"

- "Because the ten-year bazooka is technology that you are responsible for Lambo. What if it hadn't been someone we knew, eh? I think I will confiscate the bazooka from you if you aren't being careful with it." Tsuna said sternly meeting the teary eyes of the young Bovino.

"Baka-Tsuna it wasn't to just anyone, it was Irie-san, Spanner-san and Giannini-san. They are not strangers, why isn't it fine?" Lambo protested. He was surprised as Tsuna had never threatened to confiscate his things if he were out of line, as it was something a parent would do.

- "Lambo, you know perfectly well why. Head my warning Lambo, I am not joking, and it goes for you too I-pin. I'll confiscate your gyoza buns if you are out of line." He told the smirking I-pin whose horrified expression almost mirrored the one Lambo had just a moment before.

- "Now that, that part is cleared up. We will go and check what the mechanics are up to." Tsuna stated before leading the group consisting of Lambo, I-pin, Fuuta and himself towards the base that the three mechanics had claimed upon arrival to his mansion.

Π

The automatic doors opened and they entered into the lair of his trusted mechanics. They were greeted by the sight of various metal parts laying in a pile on a table, that Tsuna had no knowledge of what they could have come from. The walls were littered by working tools, the only ones he recognized was the hammers, the screwdrivers and the saws. Nothing else.

They went a little further in and reached their destination. The destination being the mechanic's office, as the three wasn't in the work room that they had gone through. Inside the office, you could see Irie and Spanner checking over their computers. The computers that was hooked up to the bazooka.

- "Spanner, Irie... What are you doing?" Tsuna asked as he looked over all the cables and computers taking up a lot of space in the once spacious office.

- "We are only trying to examine the bazookas parts and functions, Tsunayoshi-kun. I heard that if you try to mess with even a single part of the bazooka, something will happen. The best example of this is when five-year-old Lambo and fifteen-year-old Lambo's body gets switched." Irie-san explained to his boss casually, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

- "Hm... I'm sorry to say this Irie-san, but we already know that from earlier experiences." Tsuna told the mechanic while keeping an eye on Spanner and the kids. "Have you found out anything new, though?" He wondered out loud in an absentminded kind of way, probably thinking of his now smaller stack of documents he still had to finish. That question made the mechanic freeze on the spot and slowly, very slowly turn towards his boss with a glint that Tsuna did not appreciate.

- "Of course, you already knew! Why didn't anybody tell me?! And to answer your question, no we haven't as of yet." Hissed Irie-san and everyone went still as a statue as they didn't want his ire on themselves.

- "Right... Where is Giannini?" Asked Tsuna, trying to ignore the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the group after Irie's little hissing fit.

- "He went outside to inform the ex-Acrobaleno about our discoveries." Spanner replied monotonously when it was apparent that Irie wouldn't say anything.

- "Which is totally unnecessary as we haven't yet actually discovered something new." Grumbled Irie from his position by the computer.

- "Hm, I guess there wasn't anything to be worried about then." Tsuna sighed in relief and the teenagers behind did the same. Especially Lambo, even though he tried to hide it from the others. It wasn't pleasant to have Tsuna irritated with you. Not one bit.

- "However, Irie-san, you do know that you have to get the Vongola Famiglia's permission before conducting experiments upon Vongola Famiglia's equipment, right? Especially on the Bovino Famiglia's ten-year bazooka that is entrusted to Lambo, who is my guardian and therefore Vongola, for safe-keeping." Tsuna remarked coldly as he observed all the cables and instruments in the mechanics' office.

Irie and Spanner felt a shiver along their spines.

- "Yes, I'll keep that in mind Decimo." Acquiesced Irie, recognising that he and Spanner might have overstepped their bounds this time.

- "As Irie-san and Spanner-san have already set up everything, it would be waste to take everything down. I'll make an exception this time, you might want to continue studying the bazooka as we don't know all there is to it yet." Tsuna said calmly as he walked around the device.

- "Thank you Tsuna!" Irie and Spanner said grateful that there would not be any harsh consequences because of their actions. Just a few minutes after that it happened. The moment that Tsuna would remember for the rest of his life.

The moment when everything went downhill and chaos surrounded the office. First Giannini arrived, riding the floating god knows what it is called, startling Lambo into jumping and I-pin to punch Lambo in a reflex. This led to Lambo falling onto Giannini and Giannini bumping into Tsuna. Because of that bump, Tsuna's hands tried to stabilize himself and he hit the table where the bazooka was located and caused the device to fall onto him.

The rest of the occupants of the room, watched breathlessly as a loud boom and orange smoke filled the room. Their eyes widened in fear, because there was no one appearing in replacement for their boss. They tried to tangle themselves out of the many cables and the fear they felt crept along their spines as when the five-minute mark past, the Decimo had still not returned. As they were all still in shock over what happened, next to no one noticed the faint green glow that Lambo's ring emitted.

Π

Unknown location and time

Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo

Tsuna groaned as he felt his back meet the ground. There was no pavement underneath his back, which he found as a blessing. He could have broken his bones if he had fallen on pavement, Tsuna thought as he struggled to get up. Slowly his mind began to take in his surroundings, he was alone in an alley. The smell of trash, old dishwater and urine made him gag. 'Where the hell, was he?'

Tsuna tried to focus on anything beside the awful stench that was permeating from the surrounding brick walls. The first thing he noticed after the smell was the buildings, they seemed to be of an old-fashioned design. Perhaps he was in an older part of an Italian city?

When he brushed off some dust from his black pants and white cotton shirt, he saw the box he had got in the mail earlier that day. He was surprised by its presence, he was certain he hadn't carried it the whole time when he was visiting the mechanics. Though, he realized, he could have forgotten about it in the face of Lambo and I-pin's quarrel. It wouldn't surprise him in the least.

Tsuna mentally searched for any hostile presence as he made his way towards the box, finding none, he relaxed but didn't completely let his guard down. He was still in an unfamiliar town and might get ambushed at any time. With his luck, he was actually expecting some kind of ambush soon.

The contents of the box were the same as earlier. The pocket watch, the map, the change of clothes, the pouches with money and the leather satchel. He checked everything twice before settling the pocket watch in his breast pocket and everything else in his satchel. He was a bit worried about his change of clothes as the satchel didn't seem that big but after some trying the clothes went inside the bag. He slung the satchel over one shoulder and wondered silently where he was.

'Well, first things first. I need to find someone to ask where I am, if I can find or borrow a phone to call someone to come and get me. I'll be home before dinner.' Tsuna thought optimistically as he wandered out of the alley.

Π

After an hour strolling through the town, Tsuna concluded that the townspeople were shy and quiet. As he hadn't met a single human being on the streets. He found it weird at first that there was no trace of modern facilities in the town but dismissed it as the town itself perhaps being poor and couldn't afford the new modernizations, or that he was in an area that couldn't get them.

Still not finding any people out and about three hours later, Tsuna seated himself on a nearby stone bench to catch his breath. He thought he deserved a little rest before continuing his hike through this town. It seemed the town was a harbour town as he could smell the salt water upon the breeze even if he couldn't yet see the sea from where he was. It was pretty obvious after Tsuna silently admitted to himself that this harbour town was thoroughly different from his memories of how harbour cities in Sicily and Italy looked.

There was no metal at all. All the houses were either made out of wood or stone, the chimneys stone or even brick in some places. The buildings no higher than three stories high and he could actually see the clear blue sky above him. No electric lights, not even gas lights seemed to be in fashion here or even candles. On one hand, he understood the no lit candles because of the fire hazard, however shouldn't there at least be something to light the way in the evenings?

When Tsuna looked over the street he was on, he couldn't help but feel he was way out of place. Like he was in a different time… 'The bazooka!' Tsuna felt like smacking himself. Of course, he grabbed the stupid bazooka in the chaos and then it did what it usually does transport people…

'But, if this is the result of the ten-year bazooka, shouldn't I've been back hours ago?' The panic that suddenly roared its ugly head was almost overwhelming. If he hadn't felt curious eyes watching him, he would have broken down right there and then in the middle of the street. That was another peculiar thing about the town he had noticed while he walked. People opened their windows to ogle him as if they had never seen a man before, though he was used to be in the spotlight, Tsuna still thought it was a little creepy.

The sound of an explosion made Tsuna sigh in a resigned manner. 'Of course, a bad situation never comes alone. Only I get into these kinds of bad situations.' He thought dryly before getting up to follow the sounds of explosions. 'Also, only I would get tangled in an obvious fight, for no reason other than being curious.'

Π

1583

Messina, Sicily

Within the dark alleys of Messina in Sicily, two small figures ran as fast as their little legs would allow. You could see in the snippets of sunlight, that the two small figures were in fact two very dirty boys. One of the boys, who had orange-brownish eyes and a mane of spiky blond hair, was breathing heavily as he chanced to glance over his shoulder to see if they were still chased. His companion however had blood red hair with a fire like quality and had reddish-brown eyes, looked at the other with panic and fear.

- "Don't look back, idiota!" Hissed the red head as he didn't dare scream, in case their pursuers would locate them. They continued to run and suddenly they were out of the maze that was the alleys. They leaned on a nearby house wall to rest their aching lungs and breathe in more air.

- "Do you... do you think we lost them?" Whispered the blond child in a breathless way, eyes searching the shadows with keen eyes. The red head seemed to think for a moment before answering; - "Yeah... I do."

They grinned at each other, for a moment forgetting that they were still on the run.

Life hadn't been easy for them and they still had a to survive on a day to day basis. Ever since they came to this large town, G and Giotto had to fight for the right to live for another day. Sometimes life made them both regret leaving the monastery up in the mountains. The monastery having been a safe haven in comparison to the town-life as beggars and thieves. At least they got fed if they did their chores right, however G and Giotto didn't want to become monks.

It felt like it was just yesterday they had made the decision to run away from the monastery and Father superior Raphael. That was actually two summers ago and they barely had enough food for the day, yet they had made the most of it. G became a pretty good thief, however Giotto had a hard time by not wanting to steal anything. Instead Giotto did odd jobs for folks in exchange for food.

- "Hey, G?" Giotto asked breathlessly. "Who did you steal that box from? They have chased after us for quite a while now. Don't you think it might be very valuable and that we will get seriously trashed if they catch up to us?"

- "Dunno'. I just picked the thing." G shrugged carelessly just as breathless as Giotto. "If it is, it'll be worth a lot to sell it and we could eat well for whole month." He didn't see how Giotto frowned at him as he was busy getting his lungs to cooperate with him.

- "G will it really be worth that much?"

G shrugged again and he slowly straightened out while stretching his limbs.

- "No guarantees Giotto, you know that. But as they haven't given up on chasing us yet, I think it must be worth at least that much."

Their moment of rest was interrupted by a yell, a very familiar yell by now.

- "Come back here you brats!"

The boys looked at each other and after a short moment G said finally: - "Well no time like the present, let's go!" Their pursuers were close and getting closer to them with every passing minute. They had to do something and quickly!

To be continued in next chapter

[2017-05-26]

Word count for the first chapter: 4,766.

I have decided to give this story another try this summer before I'm back to being busy in August. However, as of this moment I am going through what I have already written and I'm trying to figure out how I want the story to proceed. I have a few ideas, but nothing really worth mentioning at this stage. Also I have decided to take on the advice for how I can write fighting scenes and I have also decided to take a neutral view on the reviews I have gotten so far. I am a rather sensitive person, so am more likely to quit writing than continuing if I am in a state of mind where I am either flustered or already sad from something outside of the reviewers knowledge.

As mentioned previously this story came to be because I read another author's story here on Fanfiction, however I have forgotten the name of both the story and of the author to my immense shame as I thought their story to be incredible good for it's purpose. I also remembered to ask if it was OK before publishing it and got it, so there shouldn't be any problem. If there is I do want the original author to contact me through the PM.

/Mari92