{Namimori, Japan}

As promised, Belphegor ended the storm battle in less than a minute.

As soon as it began, Gokudera found himself surrounded by hundreds of daggers, all lunging at him. He didn't have time to catch his breath, as soon as he dodged, another range of knives charged at him, closely followed by an armed Bel.

Hayato didn't have the time to react, pinned to the ground by the Varia's youngest member, Gokudera's torture session began.

It lasted only 20 seconds at most, but to his friends who were observing them, it felt like years.

By the end of the duel, Belphegor had successfully retrieved the storm ring, and Hayato had passed out from blood loss. The whole ordeal lasted precisely 59 seconds, further humiliating the youngest storm guardian as Belphegor had been, from the start, counting every passing second as not to pass one minute.

Although Hayato's injuries weren't as grave as Lambo's, he was, still sent to the hospital's urgency care in the briefest delay. Having one eye missing wasn't something to scoff at, who knew if he would ever get over it.

Witnessing the battle's issue, Yucca was, submerged by mixed feelings. On one side, he was relieved to see Belphegor come out unscathed. After all, this was his goal from the start. But he couldn't help but feel guilty for being responsible for Gokudera Hayato's injuries. My stay in 3-E, really made me soft if I can't injure a teen without not feeling remorseful anymore.

::

The next morning, as promised, Yucca planned on spending the day with Bel. But before that, he had a present to prepare.

Taking a simple red card box out of his suitcase, Yucca gently put a few pieces of furniture he had prepared beforehand. Writing a small card to go with his gift, he added a royal blue ribbon as the final touch.

Now, to get dressed.

::

"Ushishishi, Yu, you're ready yet?" Belphegor inquired as he slammed the door to Yucca's room open, leaning on the door frame in his usual outfit "This prince doesn't like to wait."

Humming, Yucca turned to face Belphegor, "I'm coming," putting on his black trench coat, Yucca let his Varia coat lay on his bed. "I only need to run a quick errand though," he stated, taking his previously prepared gift into his hands.

"What's that?" Belphegor inquired, his smile as wide as usual.

"A gift," Yucca stated matter of factly as he made his way out of his room, Belphegor following behind.

Passing through the living room, Yucca and Belphegor merely announced their presence and how they were going out before exiting, their current headquarter.

"I need to post this," Yucca indicated as he made his way to the post office, "I'll take less than a minute."

"Ushishi, sure, hurry."

::

"So? What do you want to eat?" Yucca asked.

Two hours before he had successfully "posted" his gift, now the two Varia member had been aimlessly strolling around until lunchtime, when, as promised Yucca would treat Bel to whatever he wanted.

"Ushishi, let's go to TakeSushi," he stated, "the owner's knifes skills are simply exquisite."

"Sure," Yucca agreed as he started to walk into the shopping districts direction, "you've already been there?" he inquired.

"Of course, because I'm a prince. I even know the owner Yu, what did you expect from me?"

"Nothing less, Bel is unquestionably the greatest," Yucca affirmed a small smile on his face at Bel's absurd display of superiority.

"Ushishishi, but of course. Because I am a prince."

"Yes, yes, your highness."

::

Kachack

"Welcome to TakeSushi," Yamamoto greeted with a closed-eyes-smile, "how many will you-" as he opened his eyes to look at his newcome client, Takeshi halted his speech, his brown eyes wide in surprise before narrowing them dangerously. "be sir..." he ended his voice unsure.

Yucca merely smiled at the awkward greeting, so that's the reason why the name TakeSushi rang a bell, it was Yamamoto Takeshi's family restaurant Yucca thought with a sigh. His eyes briefly glanced at Bel, who stood behind him, to gauge his reaction.

Belphegor wore his usual grin, his signature laugh escaping from his mouth at the unexpected meeting. One couldn't say his face displayed any surprise since it was as cheery as usual, but Bel's laugh being an octave higher than usual didn't go unnoticed by the older male.

So he didn't know either, Yucca mused as Takeshi led them to their table in the far corner of the restaurant. No, maybe he thought about the possibility but dismissed it, he finally concluded as both of the Varia members took their seat in front of each other.

"Here's the menu sir," Takeshi said, his voice a bit strained as he tried to keep his usual cheerful attitude in front of the people responsible for his friends being bedridden.

"Thanks," Yucca answered, his perfect smile still in place as he gave the menu out to his 'guest.' Unlike the previous night's sudden outburst, Yucca was, notably more composed today, as if the eve's event's never happened.

Takeshi remained to stare at the two hitmen's faces for a few seconds, inside of him he hoped, wished that maybe a small part of them would feel guilty or remorseful about the previous nights. About Hayato's ruined eye. But neither of them were, completely disregarding the rain's hope, Bel instead took the initiative to ask for drinks since the teen didn't seem like he would budge otherwise.

At that moment, Takeshi understood. He understood that to the Varia, his or his friends' lives were worth less than the dirt under their feet. It was revolting how Yamamoto couldn't even deny it himself. The difference between him and the Varia was just too evident. It was night and day, even a child could have seen the discrepancy as it was so blatant.

It made him want to grit his teeth in frustration, but it also made him want to beat himself for trying to find a reason to give up, an excuse to lose. He couldn't, thinking this way wasn't allowed, not now, not before, not anymore. Ryohei, Lambo, Gokudera, and Tsuna they all given so much already. How could he let them down now when he had promised Gokudera to win less than 24 hours before?

Yamamoto had once been a coward, lost hope of ever succeeding because he failed once and had seen many, fall because of such failure. But Tsuna had brought him back into the light, then Gokudera, the kid, Lambo, Ryohey, Kyoko, Hana. All of them had done so much for him without even noticing it, how could he bear to let his, own fear get the best of him a second time?

No, never, it wouldn't happen again, he promised himself. With newfound resolve, Takeshi went to get his two customers' drinks. He wouldn't let them destabilize him, his goal and resolve wouldn't waver, from now on, never would they.

For them, he would offer his life.

::

"Ushishishi, I didn't know the Vongola lived around here," Bel stated as he threw his menu on the table, ungracefully slumping in his seat. "Did you, Yu?"

Yucca hummed, giving a small nod he too put his menu down on the table, "I did, I found out when I came to do my researches." he declared calmly, not minding Belphegor's somewhat impolite attitude within TakeSushi. "I had forgotten about this place though," he admitted, earning a mocking laugh from the younger male.

Bel cackled, strangely pleased by the other's declaration, "Ushishishi, of course, you would. After all, unlike this prince, you're not a genius Yu," he announced pridefully.

"Sure Bel, whatever you say," Yucca said, a wry smile on his face.

As the two Varia member were idly exchanging about their knife and dagger preferences, Yamamoto came back. Carrying a tray with their drink on it he calmly set them on the table, his attitude more professional than before, before taking their order and taking his leave. A few minutes later, The two assassins were served their sushis and began eating.

"Now that I think about it," Yucca said as he ate one of his salmon sashimi, "didn't you say you knew the owner?" he asked, eyebrow raised in mild curiosity.

"Of course I know him because I'm a prince!" Bel stated his voice smug.

Yucca looked at his younger counterpart, unimpressed before sighing and taking another bite of his meal. This kid is way too peculiar sometimes, he thought, mentally shaking his head and rubbing his temples in resignation. Why did I even bother to ask in the first place?

The meal ended without any noticeable incident, as promised, Yucca paid the whole bill which amounted to quite a lot of money. Surprisingly, Bel seemed to have a huge appetite when it came to sushi, or maybe free food in general, Yucca didn't know.

Anyway, to the current Yucca such a bill wasn't a problem compared to the amount of cash he usually made in a week. He could allow himself to eat like a king every day if he wanted, his wallet wouldn't even shed a tear. But Koro did, mentally, as he remembered his days as a teacher when he had to rely on making karage tissue to survive the end of the months. Really, pitiful he thought.

Exiting the restaurant, the two Varia members didn't seem to notice the pair of eyes intently staring at them. Or maybe they didn't deem it useful to take note of them.

Behind his counter, Tsuyoshi's brown eyes trailed on the two retreating figures. Belphegor, Prince the Ripper he thought, a small frown on his usually cheerful face.

Since the blond's entrance, one of Tsuyoshi's eye had been intently observing the younger's movement, his guard always up. He had met Bel a few times already, and although the kid had never been aggressive within his shop, on the contrary, he was a good client, he couldn't help but feel alert whenever he was around. Their first impression of each other, for Tsuyoshi's part, wasn't the "best."

The memory of this psychotic kid, who at the time was most probably ten years old at most would never get out of his mind. The sound of his exhilarated laugh at the sight of his victims' blood. The way his now crimson knives reflected the dim artificial light, although the morbid air around the kid couldn't compare, their menacing glow still made a shiver run down the experienced hitman's spine. How powerless he felt at this moment, Takeshi and his wife who waited at home for him to return. He remembered thinking he would never see them again.

Tsuyoshi shook his head all of this was in the past now. Belphegor had spared him, and he had long since retired. But still, Belphegor and the man who accompanied him, unquestionably, weren't here on vacation. And the way Takeshi had reacted at the sight of them was enough for Tsuyoshi to understand everything about his son's motive to fight.

A sad look crossed Tsuyoshi's face before it went back to its usual cheerfulness at the sound of his name being, called.

::

"Squalo, you shouldn't play around too much," Yucca tried to reason before the battle, just like with Bel. Only, Squalo wasn't as receptive as his colleague and brushed off the male, directly jumping into the arena and disregarding the other's warning.

Yucca stared at Squalo's figure his gaze complicated. He passed a hand through his hair to calm himself.

::

Squalo lost, it was sad and frustrating to Yucca when he saw how unsurprised and calm he was with it.

Letting the others go back before him, Yucca observed Yamamoto Takeshi's injured figure as he happily made his way back to his family. His purple orbs briefly met with Reborn's dark one, staring intently at each other, as if to guess what the other was thinking, it wasn't until all the kids took their leaves that Reborn did.

Yucca stood alone in Namimori's school ground, although he knew his guardian counterpart and the bucking horse were keeping an eye on him from afar, he didn't seem to care.

Standing up, he took his mantle and most of his heavy weapons off, laying them on the ground, he stretched his eyes lazily staring at the rain's battling ground.

Half an hour, he had half an hour before they started to take the infrastructure down and reconstructed it, he mentally counted.

Taking a deep breath, he dived into the pool.

He didn't know how long Squalo could hold his breath with a shark trying to eat him, but he hoped it was enough for him to take him back to the surface in hopefully one piece.

Wouldn't want Squalo to turn into a puzzle, it wouldn't be practical when carrying him. Also, it seemed strangely unhygienic, the thought sent a shiver of disgust through Yucca's spine.

So here's the chapter, a bit late I admit (-_-').

Anyways, thanks for reading. Until next time ^^