Second Life

The Target

"WHAT?!" Most of them yelled in surprise, except Reborn, Hibari and Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi's mouth was slightly agaped at, eyes still wide. The last thing he would've expected was that Byakuran wants him. That never ever crossed his mind before. Not even once. Yet, not only him, but the others were taken by surprise when the Marshmallow Freak did.

Hibari, of course, didn't took it well. He growled and was very close to snarling at the man as he had his tonfas out, ready to attack anyone there as he stood in front of Ryuuichi protectively. By anyone, it meant any single one of them. Even the Arcobaleno. No one would be taking the teen anyone on his watch.

Reborn shadowed his eyes under his fedora, hands gripped on his gun quite tightly. His eyes narrowed into a harsh glare towards the Milliefiore, more pointedly towards Byakuran. Briefly, he wondered when did he gotten so protective of the teen. He hadn't realized that until the moment Byakuran declared that he would take Ryuuichi away if they lose. That wasn't going to happen. And never will. Whoever does that would gain a ticket to hell from Reborn, and a meeting with Satan himself. Not to forget the bloody torture that would promised onto them.

Hell hath no fury from the strongest hitman after all.

The Cavallone boss, although having similar reactions as the others, he was no doubt angered. Ryuuichi, even though not the one from his era, was still considered one of his family, and his family. His hands curled into a fist, trembling lightly as he walked closer to Ryuuichi. Gokudera blew up. No doubt he did, as he had done the same thing as Hibari did. Tsuna looked disbelieved.

Ryuuichi finally gotten his bearings again, slammed shut his mouth, eyes narrowed. He lowly growled out. "Why?"

Byakuran had already expected it simply chuckled, as though something amusing had happened. "'Why?' you asked? Well, isn't that obvious? It's because you interest me! More so than your older self!" 'And I've been wanting to get my hands on you for a longgg time now, Ryuuichi-kun~' The last part wasn't said, yet it was clearly heard by most of them.

The teen scowled hard, suppressing a shudder courtesy of the unspoken words and stomped down the urge to turn away from the violet eyes. Even though Byakuran wasn't as dangerous as Reborn, he was still dangerous. The fact that he was wanted by the man had his warning alarm off, something that hadn't happen for a long time. He harden his eyes, his fists tight til his knuckles were white before he slowly loosen it, face turned indifferent, surprising all of them slightly.

"Bring it on then" His dark brown orbs glinted challengingly. Byakuran smirked. "Well, let's begin, then~ Time waits for no one after all~"

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The battle finally started. The Cervello had became the judge, much to Tsuna and the others' dismay. Squalo had somewhat sneaked into their base unit and was found out by Kikyo. Those who weren't participating, on the other hand, were all moved to a spectator area, both Vongola and Milliefiore separated.

They had all settled on one spot and was all focused on the monitors as it begun. Ryuuichi had been frowning the whole time as he stood in between Dino (, Reborn, who was sitting on Dino's shoulder) and Hibari, arms crossed as his hands clenched and unclenched. He's irritated. Very. Though, since he knew the outcome, his nerves had cooled down a little. But it didn't help much. The blonde man sweated at the aura the teen was emitting, and slung an arm around Ryuuichi, pulling him closer. The teen was quite thankful as tension slowly eased away. He finally sighed, finding that there's no point in brooding it any longer. He huffed in resignation and focused on the monitor.

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were all already on the move, driving the two-cycle engine bikes. The silent bikes' silencer was one of Giannini's pride. Ryuuichi was impressed at it too. He had actually tried riding it once, and it was awesome. Briefly, he wondered if his inventions were in market, though not as though Ryuuichi wanted to buy it. He doubt that he had the money for it.