When Tsunayoshi-kun (then, still Sawada-kun to her) finally, officially, and completely gains control of the famiglia he does what he had been vowing to do ever since he passed the boss trial. He destroys Vongola.
Of course, not quite in the way anyone had expected. Mukuro (then, and to this day, that bastard) was greatly disappointed. Barring Hayato-kun, who maintained that Tsunayoshi-kun could do no wrong, the rest of the tenth generation guardians didn’t fully understand how revolutionary Vongola’s Decimo truly was in the world of mafia.
She must admit, in the beginning, she had thought that he wouldn’t stick by his vow. She thought he had picked up where Nono had left off–increasing Vongola’s power through crime. She thought he was just perpetuating Reborn’s “might is right” philosophy, which had always made her hate him from the beginning.
Her doubts weren’t entirely unfounded: in the first three years of official Vongola Lightning Guardian tenure she went on over fifty assassination missions. She did them, of course, and she won’t deny that she was glad to have done them considering the total scumbags that she ended up killing. But it was disheartening; she had expected it, to be honest, but it was still disappointing.
Unlike Ryohei, she had walked into the role of Vongola Guardian with her eyes open. She knew that fighting that stupid ring battle was just the beginning of a slippery slope towards more violence, towards death. She had hoped it would be different, but she expected that her kouhai’s well-intentions would inevitably be suppressed under centuries of crime and sins.
It really had seemed that way in the beginning.
But a pattern began to emerge: missions were handed out with specific consequences in mind, there were more negotiations with certain famiglias, and less cooperation and tolerance for others. It was difficult for her to see, considering her specialty, but as her duties lessened she had the time and space to step back. To widen her perspective and see what was going on.
Tsunayoshi-kun’s… Vongola Decimo’s reign is the beginning of the end for the Vongola Famiglia of organized crime. It is the end for all mafia famiglia’s organized crime.
But she doesn’t really notice it until one day, three years in, Kyoko asks her to train the recruits.
“Doesn’t Yamamoto-kun do that?” She responds, because she and Takeshi-kun never particularly got along, especially not in the early days, and she tried to minimize tension by eschewing any opportunities of stepping on his toes. So to speak.
“Yes, yes, he’s very good at the more… permanent disarming,” Kyoko always did have a way with words, “But I don’t want my doctors to nearly kill their unruly patients to make treatment easier.”
“Your doctors?” She parrots, more confused rather than less.
“Well, I suppose technically they’re Shamal’s. But as if he can be pried away from his latest experimental disease, so all of the recruits really ought to be mine,” Kyoko says primly.
“What? Why do we need so many doctors and why do I need to train them?” Her observation and deductive skills really were much better when on assignment.
Kyoko just sighs, as if she were being difficult on purpose.
“I was in Scotland for the past month, I honestly don’t know what’s going on!” And the six weeks before that, Canada… which followed a week in Namimori. And that itself was a break after two months of tense and angry negotiations with the Orecchia famiglia culminating in absolutely nothing productive and her having to kill the entire negotiating party when they tried to, instead, torture the secrets of Vongola’s great and terrible power (their words) out of her. So no, at that point in time, she could safely say that she had no idea what Vongola would be doing with so many doctors.
“Shamal and I have been training Vongola doctors for the past eight months,” She says patiently, “I suppose I can’t fault you entirely for not knowing considering…” The deadly nature of her job, in direct contrast to Kyoko’s job of a distinctly opposite nature, “But it really is a better use for our resources. Having more doctors will improve the overall health of Italy, which will in turn improve the way of life. Oh, Hana-chan has the whole spiel, but it’s really in line with the direction Tsuna’s been going for Vongola.”
She’s about to argue, because she didn’t even know Tsunayoshi-kun was steering Vongola in a specific direction (much less one that Kyoko could sound so honestly excited and approving of) but she pauses. And thinks.
Because her time in Scotland, while ending in murder as usual, was aimed specifically at one of the Orecchia famiglia’s warehouses which they used to store, amongst various other contraband, cocaine. And the mission in Canada before that was to find and dismantle (permanently) the Orecchia famiglia’s human trafficking ring.
Like she said, a lot of her missions were ones she did with a song in her heart (all of those bastards deserved to die) but she had always thought it was more… self-servingly motivated than improving the way of life of Italy. She flushes with shame of having doubted Tsunayoshi-kun so much.
Kyoko, having known her for almost the full length of her life, probably knows what she’s thinking and yet stays silent.
“So… why me?” Because she’s the worst choice to train a bunch of healers how to save a life instead of… the opposite.
“Because,” Kyoko, still following the train of her thoughts, smiles soothingly and a little sadly, “I trust you, Nee-chan. You’re the one who taught me how to protect myself, in a way that wouldn’t hurt others.”
“That’s just aikido. You could teach them that easily. It’s been…” (a fucking long time,) “… a while since I’ve used aikido.”
Kyoko’s smile turns that little bit sadder, but instead of hashing out her honorary big sister’s serious damage in the middle of the hallway, she hooks their arms together and leads the two of them towards the laboratories, “Let’s discuss it some more over some cake. Lambo-kun brought back the most delicious raspberry chocolate cake, and Haru-chan and I have been eager to try it. Let’s see if we can’t pry her away from her latest inventions.”
“Girl time?” She quirks a brow.
“Yes!” Kyoko agrees, “It’ll be just like middle school.”
~
A/N: A tangential thought from the day before yesterday’s Traiblazer (x Kingsman crossover) drabble regarding the throw-away comment about Shamal’s subordinates being Kyoko’s minions and why a mafia family would even need more than two doctors much less actively recruiting doctors, especially combat ready ones. It was percolating in my head and I don’t think I did it justice, but… eh.
Also… this went a little more off-track than I thought it would. Like it was honestly supposed to be about training an army of doctors and the whole pseudo-political ramifications of Vongola becoming both legitimate and even more powerful by having a Vongola doctor all over Italy. Because hospitals are the absolute last thing sane people would attack, and by filling the hospitals with Vongola doctors Tsuna would have essentially made Vongola immune. While this has Tsuna’s intentions all over it, the actual formation of the idea probably involved Kyoko and Hana interrogating him on what he was doing with their resources and stuff.
If you’re confused… well, try checking out my Traiblazers tag for some context. Though I’m not really writing in any cohesive order so… good luck.
Edit: Direct sequel here.
JackSGreyson Says 