"Hello?" Tsuruhime sounded nervous, voice hushed.

"Any news?" Xanxus asked curtly.

"N-No." A pause, and then, "Reborn said he was going to teach me firearms."

"Yes. You've covered that with Lussuria though - you'll do fine."

"You think I will?" Why Tsuruhime sounded so needy was beyond Xanxus, who muttered something in the affirmative.

"Okay then. Um-" Tsuruhime seemed to want to say something more but stopped herself. It wasn't Xanxus's job to get her to talk, so he hung up.

~o0o~

Tsuruhime stared at the phone in her lap, then placed it to one side, sighing. Of course Xanxus didn't think she was any good at combat - she wasn't a fighter.

(Or rather, she thought so lowly of herself that she didn't she was worth defending herself over.)

"Tsu-chan," her mother called. Tsuruhime went to her bedroom door.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ready for school next week?"

...Damn, Tsuruhime had forgotten about that. Another sigh, and Tsuruhime replied, "Of course I am."

A lie, but one to make her mother feel better. Her, ready for school? A place to be looked down on and sneered at? Yeah, she was overjoyed to back in town.

Footsteps, and Reborn was coming up the stairs. He probably made that step creak on purpose, Tsuruhime thought irritably.

Reborn stopped at the top of the stairs, eyeing her.

"Is there a problem at school?"

It sounded like he was mocking her. "There's no problem," Tsuruhime said, wishing she could lie like Xanxus.

Reborn studied her some more (just like always), before heading to his room.

~o0o~

"Oi, boss-san."

Xanxus lifted an eye, half-asleep.

"You can't just go to sleep with a lit cigarette in hand," Squalo snapped.

Xanxus was lying n the couch, one hand on the floor with said cigarette between two fingers, the other arm a makeshift pillow for his head.

"I'll do what I want, trash."

Squalo huffed, opening the curtains. "The hotel's gonna bill Vongola, and then the Don's gonna get shitty on our cases." He was speaking in coarse Italian, jarring against the smooth Japanese of the television in the background.

"No, he won't. He'll say it's as expected of me." That was only if the hotel dared to complain to the Ninth.

The rush of cool air from the window meant Xanxus fully awoke, grumbling under his breath and grabbing last night's wine bottle, draining the dregs of it.

"Voi, why're you drinking so early-?!"

"Stop nagging," Xanxus snapped. "For fuck's sake, you're behaving like my wife."

"Here's hoping Tsuruhime puts you into shape," Squalo muttered.

"What're you doing here?" Xanxus asked.

Squalo glanced at him. "I'm here to wake you up."

"Why?" Squalo never came to fuss over Xanxus for the hell of it. He probably had a lead on this 'Byakuran'.

"We have a lead on Byakuran," Squalo said as though reading Xanxus's mind.

"And what is it?"

"He's the boss of Millefiore."

"Millefiore," Xanxus repeated. "Those bastards." A new Famiglia that had formed after the merging of two smaller ones; they were brutal in their killings, and known for using the extreme measures first.

"Is the informaton reliable?"

"Yeah. Inside source. Don't worry; I can vouch for them."

Xanxus considered this. "And we know when and where to strike?"

"Yes."

"How soon?"

"Give us the word and we're set."

"If you can give an estimate on the numbers and a map, then fine. We'll shut them down."

Squalo grinned, and not for the first time Xanxus thought of a shark. "Will do, boss-san."

~o0o~

Like hell it was going to be that easy, Xanxus thought, staring at the map Squalo had produced. Plans never go according to how they're set.

It was now a couple weeks after Squalo had told Xanxus about Millefiore - but he refused to tell Xanxus who the informant was.

"What if he's killed in the action?" Xanxus had asked, unwilling to lose the person who knew the most about the Millefiore.

"He won't be there," was the answer. So, he wasn't a combatant then, Xanxus took that as. Either way, it was infuritating that he didn't know who this person was.

He rubbed a scar on his cheek in thought, the other hand fiddling with a lighter. Three more hours, and then they'd bring hell around the Millefiore and make this shitty Byakuran regret even thinking about Xanxus.

Setting down his lighter, he picked up his cell phone.

A pause as he considered calling Tsuruhime. If he didn't – and died, then she'd probably blame herself. And Vongola would be fucked if she took charge while in the midst of her grief and self-loathing.

But if he did – he might be rattled and end up dying anyway. But then again, what could she say that would rattle him that badly?

Nothing, is what. Xanxus dialed her number.

"Hello?" Tsuruhime sounded like herself - a little nervous to be talking to him.

"I won't be available tonight," Xanxus said abruptly. "So don't bother calling me or anything."

"Oh." A brief pause, and then: "Is it mafia business?"

Xanxus weighed up the pros and cons of telling her about this. He settled on a flat, "yes."

Tsuruhime went silent, and Xanxus listened to her breathing. "Are you injured?" He asked.

"N-no," she said hurriedly.

"Sounds like a lie. School's started for you, yeah?"

"It has," Tsuruhime agreed.

"Is your injury from school or from Reborn?" Xanxus suspected she was bullied. And he also suspected that Reborn wasn't cut out for tutoring anyone, given his violent reputation.

"I said I wasn't injured."

"Tomorrow morning, before school, I'm going to see you. And you're going to tell me the truth."

"What do you care?"

Xanxus frowned at her tone. She was finally standing her own ground, but not in the way he expected. "You're my future wife," he informed her. "But more importantly – you're a member of Vongola. And that means if anyone lays a hand on you, theyre laying a hand against Vongola." And Vongola was a family.

Xanxus neglected to mention how he betrayed the Don and killed his brothers.

A beat of silence passed between them. "Fine, Tsuruhime said reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Good." Xanxus hung up and stood, turning off the phone and putting it in his pocket. He checked to see if his guns were holstered, checked to see if he had enough ammunition, patted his hip to feel the knife tucked away safely, then took a deep breath in.

He was ready to destroy the Millefiore, and remove any last piece of the Gesso. They should've been exterminated long ago by the Ninth.

And this time? Xanxus was going to do the job right.