9. Peace in Violence (1/2)

chapter 9: peace in violence

"if you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. a blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven."

george bernard shaw

"tsuna," reborn began, his head already throbbing from the headache that is his student and boss. "i don't want to ask how," the hitman gestured to the protective pile of children, "or why," he said before looking at the fidgety psychotic killer who's looking at the

unet as if he's angel incarnate, "but i have to know what happened."

tsuna, in all his glorious adorableness and a bleeding heart too big for his body, only gave a troubled laugh as he shifted, wincing a bit at the aggravated injury, and held a child to his lap. "uh, i can explain?"

one of the children, the oldest of the lot with how the rest seemed to defer to him, gave reborn – tsuna nearly had a heart attack because why reborn!? – an animalistic growl, signalling him to back off from the infirmary bed where tsuna is resting on.

"

at," xanxus snorted beside the hitman, who gave the seemingly feral child an acknowledging nod and tsuna really fears what would happen if xanxus takes the child away to be a new recruit for varia with how the wrath sky's eyes gleamed orange.

another child shifted on his left. this one stood strong beside sen, the leader of their group, deeming the stoic hitman as the biggest threat so he shielded the injured

unet behind him as if doing so would spare them from inevitable death from a stressed hitman.

the younger ones, noticing the movement, already piled as a defensive shield, rounded tsuna and became extra careful in climbing near the man they've already claimed as their own sweet, love, home.

tsuna couldn't help but hug the closest ones to his chest with how cute they acted. like little lambs guarding against two alpha wolves. the farthest from the cuddle pile only pouted but kept a steady eye on the hostiles, which in this case is everyone else besides them and tsuna.

"wow, tsuna. you've got your own little troop now!" takeshi laughed at the display before raising out a hand to the leader. "i'm takeshi! tsuna's friend and rain!" he chirped before his eyes narrowed to near slits. "i'd be very happy if you pull that weapon out or you'll be detained and be separated from the boss."

sen growled, unwilling to part with the bloody knife he had chucked somewhere in his body to keep as a trophy. "i won't let you!" he snarled at the swordsman who backed down after looking at his weary sky's eyes.

not realizing the tense atmosphere, one child built the courage to yell her disagreement. "y-you can't take tsu-nii!" the smallest gripped her rag dress as she stood up on shaky legs, trying hard to balance on the soft bed.

shamal, who was watching at the sidelines of the butchered opera of kids protecting the strongest sky currently known, groaned upon seeing how filthy the little girl's feet is and how much of a pain it is to clean up those sheets because the maids of the mansion didn't want to deal with him on unofficial business.

"tch. and why couldn't we do that? we come first before you

ats!" hayato gritted out, his hands twitching to bomb these kids to kingdom come for even thinking of whisking tsuna away to some hellhole that isn't vongola.

"no!" yin's seafoam eyes held a tint of fear and determination and oh dear heavens, is that rain flames making her eyes glow? "you can't take him like the bad man took us away! he's mine!" she declared with pride and such possessiveness, making hayato sputter like a cat before being thrown out of the room, that began the domino effect of harmonizing young elements who found a wide slot open in the

unet's harmony space.

because for all the time tsuna's flames were sealed by the ninth, it all accumulated, grew, and became more potent in seeking potential candidates to fill in the empty space of balance. all to the point that whenever a willing element claims the

unet's flames, his flames would accept all of those claims like a dry sponge.

it somehow made reborn thank every deity he knows that the 14-year-old tsuna never burned from the inside out without an outlet for a full tank of flames and curse him out whenever it lands them in this exact situation.

"un! tsu-nii made the bad man go away and he said we could stay with him!" another gangly child said with pride that it made tsuna's heart melt and die a little because young children shouldn't have seen the way he fought or killed. they should've stayed innocent until they could choose what to do with their life. "so if you want tsu-nii to go then i'll really go mad this time!" his eyes blazed like a furnace as storm flames surfaced.

"really, tsuna." reborn pressed his lips in disapproval. "this will go to your paperwork," tsuna groaned at that, "and nobody will help you." tsuna's soul just up and died.

"do enlighten me, omnivore," kyoya's dark tone filtered in the room as he stalked in. the atmosphere turning a few degrees lower than before with the skylark's murderous glare. "how did you find which hole this man crawled out of that we haven't got a wind of him before all this?" he asked, glancing at the petrified psycho near them.

tsuna, who's used to deal with the whole different variety of crazies, said a silent prayer to himself when he heard the long littany of words that came out of kyoya's mouth.

a silent kyoya is frightening.

an interested kyoya is deadly.

but an all out talking kyoya? the danger level jumps to reborn's scale and yes, the hitman has a category all for himself.

"uh, i kinda met him when i was 16? when i snuck out of the whole drinking party thing?" he flinched at how all eyes zeroed on him, both predatory from the dangerous ones and reborn and concerned ones from the psychotic killer, the children and takeshi. let's also add the deadpan and bored expression of shamal. "and we sort of just clicked?"

"so," tsuna began as he wiggled his toes, as he's left with nothing much to do when he's tied down from chest-level to his ankles by one sturdy rope. he glanced at the scowling man a few feet away from him. "why did do it?"

a glare thrown his way, tsuna would give him points for trying intimidation, only made him shrug as he continued his leisure view of the abandoned factory he'd been carted to.

"kidnappers and abandoned factories or warehouses. typical." tsuna murmured to himself as he ignored, such a lovely skill to have, the man's growl at how nonchalant he acts.

tsuna mentally gave another point for staying calm and not kicking his head off. though when this reaches reborn he won't even have to worry about his head. he's sure not even ash would be left to bury for the others. yup, he could already hear the death bells ringing.

"you've got a huge ball of courage, kid." the man finally spoke. his raspy tone indicated he hadn't drunk anything to quench his thirst with how sandy it sounds. "not even panicking or yelling for help since you've woken up."

"aah." tsuna juggled his memory while his attention drifted to the streams of light coming from a few holes on the roof. "i guess i got used to it?" he absently asked with a chuckle, his eyes glazing over in thought before finally settling on his answer. "yeah. definitely got used to it!" he chirped, not unlike a bound and kidnapped person should be.

frowning, the man went closer and crouched near the grinning

unet who went back on watching the dance of shimmering dust in the air.

"you're a weird kid. you know that?" when the man was answered by another charming smile, he sighed and stared, unseeing, as if asking why this is even happening to him.

"not as weird as a smoking octopus–"

gokudera tripped and choked on his spit for no reason when he was about to smoke to calm his nerves on tsuna's disappearance.

"or a battle-loving-bird-talking maniac–"

far within his base, kyoya cracked the japanese tea cup he was holding in a sudden urge to pull and twist someone's innards to learn not to gossip about him.

"or a creepy pineapple who holds a trident...but maybe it's just a farmer's stolen pitchfork–"

mukuro's left eye twitched in irritation as his aura turned from interesting to downright murderous before chrome tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him to focus on finding tsuna before harassing someone.

"or a devil playing tutor who also likes an unhealthy amount of bombs to get his point across to his student–"

reborn, now growing faster than before due to verde's research, gave a smirk to colonello saying he felt someone just gave him a complement to which the rain arcobaleno only retorted that there's too many who complements him that he cannot even feel one from the other...until it dissolved to another full blown war about their fans.

"and there's a lot more of them so i can't really see how you found me weird. but anyway," tsuna interrupted as his kidnapper's attention went back to him. "my name's tsuna! i'm 16, turning 17 in a few months! so, how about you? what's your name, mister?"

tsuna's happy smile retained even when the older man gave him a suspicious look.

"ryu." the man said with a hint of amusement leaking to his tone. "just ryu."

beaming, tsuna smiled. "nice to meet you, ryu!"

"and one thing led to another and he now helps me when it comes to cases like this!" tsuna chuckled as ryu pressed himself to the wall in fear of being murdered on the spot by the glares aimed his way. "which means you can't kill him because i've assigned him to that specific task and he receives salary to boot!"

"i'm done with this." sighing, tired of all his student's bullheadedness and generosity, he gave one final glare which held promise of pain to the near fainted ryu and glanced back to the cuddle pile of children on the

unet. "that's the last time you're going out without an escort, stupid student."

tsuna's indignant protest died that day at the click of reborn's gun while vongola gained twelve flame actives and a roving psychotic killer playing tea party and sharing ideas of torture with mukuro.

"human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. a nation does not have to be cruel to be tough."

franklin d. roosevelt

tsuna was never much of a fighter nor a protector before he met his friends, his tutor, his enemies turned friends – pretty much all those he currently treasures and will forever treasure.

kyoko had once offhandedly told him of his image in the gossip rings. how he was made as an icon. that he's slowly becoming the mafia definition of true leadership.

"they respect you, tsuna. you're a good leader." kyoko smiled afterwards as she faced the happy smiles of everyone around them. "you're too good at leading that sometimes, even i get jealous at how easy it comes to you."

he had only cheekily grinned at her which she had returned with an amused smile, not paying attention to how his heart pinged with another burden to add.

tsuna knows he's a wimp when dealing with lives on the line and missions with a high rate of possible death, that much he's aware of.

because how could he when he would always picture a family without a father or a sign of a mother?

how cold-hearted could he be if his mind kept flashing back to how his own mother would secretly cry for the absence of his father?

nobody pushed on the subject.

reborn himself only grumbled about how magnanimous his patience and forgiveness is that it gives the hitman a headache to think of how he gathered allies and enemies alike like a field of daisies. forgetting, no, more like not saying anything about how the mounting bones in the vongola garden is an indication, a reminder, of his bouts of cruelty.

"you're too kind, tsuna." reborn quipped as he wacked the depressed

unet out of his dark thoughts.

"kindness isn't a weakness," tsuna argued to the hitman, a tired smile on his face, as reborn only exasperatedly shook his head, leon clinging to the well-cared fedora, before ruffling soft,

own locks. the pressure on his head made tsuna remember how iemitsu used to do that when he so, so much younger.

"sure, tsuna. only with you though." reborn would fondly reassure the

unet. "it's only valid with you." he added before walking away for another mission.

left alone in the hallway, basking in the sounds of laughter, taunts, rants, and dismissing the large explosion behind him where the lounging room is, was, previously located, tsuna couldn't help but to frown and whisper, "but i know it isn't a weakness. you've told me so before. just that nobody bothers to try."

but being kind in the middle of a crime syndicate doesn't really mean that he is strong. it also comes with a steady heart and a strong will to trudge forward to the path one had chosen.

so in retrospect, tsuna could say that he's plenty strong in conviction and will.

heck, even the ninth's first words to him when he unsealed his flames were about how he's so kind that whenever he swung his fists, it looked as if he's swinging it as if in pray. like he's asking the deities above to erase the fighting and the pain and please, please just give me more room to

eathe in.

sometimes it feels like more of a desperation to survive than anything else.

it's awful to feel so bad, so down, at times when he knows that there's people, more than he's willing to count, behind him who needs him to be strong, to be tough, and to be the all-powerful boss they needed.

so sometimes, when the one thing they need isn't his kindness, he wills himself to close his eyes, snuff out the flame of warmth, kind, family, and lets loose a flame of steel and courage and oh, please let them come home safely.

"sector 42, needs more men! sector 20, ambush point at the next turn!rain, back-up will arrive at approximately 12 more minutes! hold out until then!" tsuna shouted through secured intercom as he directed the fight,'

'a war with vongola and its allies at the center,' his mind whispered, as he agitatedly shuffled through information in a speed he's never done before. "leon, how much time left before you could go around?"

"10 minutes. tsk. there's too many flies they've sent my way. it's a derailment on my side." leon, reborn's chosen codename, reported as a series of gunshots rang out and went down as tsuna heard a blast before static gave way. if he listens well, he'd hear the hitman's grunt indicating that it happened much nearer than what should've been a comfortable distance.

luckily, reborn regained footing and intoned that he's fine. everything fine. things were going great until suddenly it wasn't. it's always like that.

"five minutes, tsuna. cut off my link for five minutes. they're trying to hack through and trace the base with mist flames. irie's already having a hard time blocking them and spanner's in need for maintenance of the base. tsuna, trust me and cut it. we're wasting time."

tsuna's heart froze at that.

"but–"

"it's necessary, stupid student,"reborn voiced over the intercom and tsuna knew all too well that it is. gritting his teeth, tsuna assented to the request, his eyes darkening along with his plummetting mood.

he hates this.

he hates not being on the frontlines with his friends. he hates not being able to support or assist them physically like how they shouldered one other's burdens in the future-that-never-was.

he hates this...but he also cannot leave their home base or it will be game over when the other side catches him.

it one of those times. moments when he'd feel so helpless that it felt as though he would drown despite

eathing in and out like normal.

"hahaha! don't worry too much, tsuna! it's re– i mean, leon, we're talking about! he'll be fine!" rain, takeshi's field name, rang out to reassure him in the midst of all the gunshots, the grunts, the pain, deaths that he can't see, and more bodies they will have to bury later on. "don't worry. we'll come home."