What might have happened between Xanxus and the Ninth, immediately after the Ring Battles. Comment-fic for Lys to the prompt: Xanxus, got to be the best.
The old men were arguing over killing him.
Xanxus
In which Federico teaches his brother a lesson about the importance of controlling one’s temper. For Round III of ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
khrfest, prompt II-62. Xanxus – Anger Management; “He who angers you conquers you.”.
The heir to the Vongola would never do anything so crass as eavesdrop, not least because the Vongola had people for that. But, as Federico told himself, if he happened to be in the right place at the right time he could hardly help what he overheard, could he?
Tsuna goes to Italy to get settled in his new job, and brings Yamamoto and Hibari with him. Settling in goes fine, but he finds his job is bigger than he’d thought it would be.
Tsuna stepped out of the car and tugged his jacket straight. He still wasn’t used to the suit.
In the universe where Xanxus is the Tenth, what happens to Tsuna and his friends?
Tsuna stood in the shade of the small ‘control tower’ building and watched as a sleek private jet rolled to a stop, and tried not to fidget.
"Why did the Tenth have to come here?" he asked Reborn one more time. "I haven’t even graduated from high school yet!"
"Because he’s the one you’ll serve when Iemitsu retires and you take over CEDEF," Reborn told him. "It’s about time you met each other. Quit complaining."
"Who said I was going to take over CEDEF?" Tsuna muttered, more out of habit than hope at this point.
"I did."
Xanxus and his people take up their place in the Family.
Xanxus made a grumpy sound and slouched down a little further into his chair. Rafaele was quite willing to admit that Xanxus had come a long way since the day Squalo had walked into his life and turned it on its side, but he could still beat any five year old for marathon sulking. And wasn’t it just typical that he was sulking because he hadn’t personally gotten to tear Rokudou to bits? Timoteo was right; it was high time Xanxus learned that it didn’t matter who did it as long as it got done.
Just when things might be settling down, Mukuro appears, targeting the Vongola’s heir.
Seven months and sixteen days–he’d counted–after Reborn started shadowing them with his measuring looks and annoying observations, Xanxus walked into the old man’s office to find both Reborn and Sawada already there.
Squalo is growing into his place at Xanxus’ side, and starting to look around them for some support.
“And that’s another thing.” Xanxus crossed his arms, glass dangling from his fingers. “The old men run on about how my Guardians are supposed to be the ones closest to me, but I don’t have people close to me!” He glanced at Squalo. “Not besides you.”
“Well, you know who your Rain will be, then.” Squalo smiled at his boss’ irate grunt. “Don’t worry so much. The more you have to do with the rest of the Family, the more chances to meet the ones you need.”
Xanxus is finally finding his place in the Family when everything is upset again.
Part of him was glad they felt goddamn guilty about this, and part of him was uncomfortable about feeling glad, and most of him was pissed off about both parts.
Squalo bonds with Xanxus, and none too soon as Xanxus finds out some things the Ninth had kept from him.
Squalo strolled around the edges of the wedding crowd beside Xanxus, keeping an eye out for any unattended cake they could nail down. He didn’t have all that much of a sweet tooth personally, but it was a way of keeping score among the kids. After all, twelve year olds couldn’t rack up kills yet, or negotiations concluded in their Family’s favor.
What if Squalo had been taken in by the Vongola earlier, and met Xanxus much sooner? What change would that have made in both of them?
In the end it all came down to Xanxus, Rafaele decided later. He didn’t normally pay much attention to the mafia children until they were old enough to seek a real position. As both Gianni and Maria were wont to say, each in his or her own way, they had their fellow Guardians to satisfy any such urges. But having Xanxus running around the main house like a kid-shaped bomb, ready to go off at any second, would make anyone a little more alert. So when Tyr mentioned, after the sparring session when they were both wrapping their various cuts and bruises, that there was a promising new swordsman coming along among the children, Rafaele listened.
In the universe where Federico survives, Byakuran is still a problem ten years later. This time, it’s someone else who dies to send Tsuna and Xanxus against the Millefiore.
Sunlight fell gracefully through stained glass and into the open coffin.
Fedele had known it was going to be hard. It couldn’t be any other way when the Vongola’s Boss had been killed–not killed, the back of his mind whispered, clinging to that but he couldn’t let it show or it would all go for nothing–killed by an ambush no one had seen coming. He had forbidden anyone to tell Federico’s wife or son, saying it was for their own safety in hiding, which was true enough. But the fury and pain in the eyes of the other Guardians, the stripped, blank looks on the faces of the two kneeling by Federico’s coffin, sliced his heart like a knife.
The Cradle Affair, this time with more Mukuro.
They began with the Vongola itself, because Mukuro was well aware of the psychological asset that taking out one’s strongest opponents first could be, and because he wanted to test the mettle of his new acquisition.
Squalo meets Xanxus and Xanxus meets the Varia, and everything follows from that. Beginning overlaps the end of “Blood Will Tell“.
The sword was everything to Squalo–the purity of a single goal and the cleanness of perfection. In a world that hid so much, despite the stark edges of every word and action, the sword was one thing that made perfect sense. It made him a little crazy that no one else seemed to understand that.
Really crazy.
These are things that never happened to Xanxus, but could have done, if only things had started out just a bit differently. This fic is what happens when you say to yourself, “Gosh, I’ve been writing a lot of Xanxus angst lately. I wonder if it is possible to write Xanxus in such a way that he is, well, functionally broken instead of just psychopathically insane.” And then you get tackled by a plot bunny that is the size of a goddamn linebacker.
Xanxus stared up at the old geezer–this smiling old fool was supposed to be the Vongola Ninth? please–and lifted a hand to show him the Flame when he asked for it.
Sometimes one small mistake can lead to an entire avalanche of nasty consequences.
One of the first things Sawada Iemitsu did in his apprenticeship to the Vongola Ninth’s outside advisor was bring the Ninth news of the woman who claimed that her son belonged to Timoteo Vongola. It was an act that Iemitsu reflected on later, grimly, deciding that it was the event that colored his entire service to the Vongola.
Mukuro likes strong things, and pawns who are loyal to him.
He leaves a message behind for whatever Estraneo survivors there might be. It’s written in smoke and blood, and it says, quite simply, Don’t do this again.
Xanxus finally hears what Tsuna means when he says Xanxus is one of his Family.
Gokudera leaned an elbow on the back of Tsuna’s chair and chuckled softly. "You sure have a way with people like that, boss."
The Ninth helps Xanxus find someone he can bear to be.
It wasn’t that Tsuna didn’t trust the Ninth, because of course he did. And it wasn’t that he didn’t think the Ninth could handle Xanxus, even, or especially, now, because he did, really. It was just… well, his dad had made him solemnly swear he’d make sure the Ninth didn’t overstrain himself.
And that was really the only reason Tsuna kept just happening to pass Xanxus’ rooms or the balcony beyond them to check on them every couple days.
As Tsuna grows into his position, his conflicts with Xanxus escalate again and finally break.
Tsuna sat at an oval table with the advisors and lieutenants so newly inherited and tried to feel leader-like. It still wasn’t easy.
Takes place just before Breaking of the Day: Omake. As Tsuna prepares to inherit the family, he comes to Xanxus with a condition.
"Do you plan on staying with the Vongola family?"
The hot eyes narrowed on him. "The hell are you saying?"
Because I really couldn’t resist. Toward the end of Tsuna’s investiture as the Tenth Boss, Xanxus puts in an appearance.
Xanxus stopped in the middle of the room, feet spread, and glared at him. "I hate your fucking guts," he declared.
Tsuna considered this blunt, frontal statement of the obvious for a moment and relaxed. "I know," he agreed, quietly.
Tsuna gets taken off to Italy to get better acquainted with the Vongola. While he’s there, he has to come to some kind of terms with Xanxus. Kind of, sort of, mental Tsuna/Xanxus.
"I can’t believe you told Kaa-san this was overseas study," Tsuna grumbled as he was frog-marched to his doom.
Well, all right, not really frog-marched, his dad had his hands in his pockets and Reborn wasn’t tall enough, but the effect was the same.
"It is overseas," his dad said, cheerily. "And it’s definitely higher education."
