Volpe Selvatica

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn and its characters belong to Akira Amano.

Notes: This is a translation of my fanfiction, I'm French and my writing in english is average, so there are certainly error of grammar and syntax. And obviously, I update my french chapter before the english, but it's coming.

Because I found that there was not enough R27 (and there are far too many 1827 frankly Hibari is a nice character to fight or even a friend on whom you can rely to shake you and go beat up a pulp at various guys, but I can't imagine him as a couple ... And I tried but no, this guy is simply a robot to fight, period!), I decided to make one R27 myself! I write a fic with romance! Wow, can you imagine! No? Well ... So ... The romance is not usually where I am the most talented ... And I'm very picky for this genre here in general ... But we'll see!

And I assure you, though in this fic Tsuna has a brother, this is not the evil brother who is obnoxious, self-centered and abuses his power, see rather a Tsuna with more confidence in him, but that has always a good heart and will do everything to help his family. And note that the arc of the future has not happened here but the rest is pretty much similar to the manga (mostly).

The dialogues are in italian.

Edit 04/25/2015 : Chapter correted with the wonderfull help of Platina1499 o/

Chapter I - New Mission

Reborn, world's strongest hitman, pinched his nose and sighed. It was an easy mission in theory. Simple. Without complications. Without obstacles. Nothing could prevent THE best hitman in the world to complete his mission. Yet he was there, in the middle of a forest, thinking on the best action to take to try to finish this mission as quickly and efficiently as possible. He sighed again. No quick and effective solution.

To explain the situation Reborn is currently, let's back shortly before. Reborn finally finished to shape Vongola Decimo, Sawada * Yoshimune, after three years of intensive training. Baka-Yoshi and his guardians had just arrived in Italy recently and they were beginning to learn all tricks of the trade with the help of the ninth generation. The hitman was free to receive new missions and get used to resume his old life, before training Dino and Yoshi, and even before he was cursed by Checkerface.

It had been a big change in his life when he had got stuck in the body of a baby and he was forced to get used to it. But it was a great relief to recover the body that has been taken from him; he was grateful to Yoshimune for it. To all those who had helped Yoshimune to accomplish this feat, he thanked them from the bottom of his heart for it. But now that everything was back to normal and that he had found the tenth generation no longer needed his lessons, he could return to his old life he had begun to forget.

After all, you don't become the world's best hitman only by teaching some children destined to become the boss of the mafia family. Reborn had searched the list of available missions Nono had offered him and chose a simple target to start. The mission had proceeded smoothly and he returned to make his report the following day. But when he was scanning the list of available missions, he stopped on something special. Usually he received assignments to kill some enemies, even to go to negotiate (-cough-threatening-cough-intimidate-cough-) with other families. Other times to retrieve an object in the middle of the enemy camp or gather information...

But the mission in question was nothing like this. It was to investigate some strange phenomena that had begun to occur for four years. Disappearances were first reported in Ukraine and Romania. A few months later in Poland followed by Germany, France, and Italy recently.

Most disappearances were men, many part of the Mafia, but not all. This whole affair was strange. They didn't know where all these men and some women disappeared or why those ones in particular. There was no real connection between them; no traces were left behind, not even their bodies. It also took a few months before they decided that these disappearances were related, perhaps caused by the same person even though there were, really, no information to confirm this assumption.

It was not a task Reborn would take normally. After all, there were many other people who can investigate this case. Except that they had already left to investigate and all returned empty handed. The strange part of this story was that - even though among the victims of these disappearances there were at least two-thirds of which were part of the Mafia - there were no investigators Vongola that had been missing. The fact is, every time they went there, they found nothing - not a clue, something strange, nor a traveler who had gone into town recently. Nothing.

Reborn was curious to know if he would succeed in discovering something. After all, he never refused a good challenge and given the previous results, he didn't doubt for a second that it would be fun. He smiled and went to report Nono he was going to investigate this case.

A few hours later he was in the north of Italy in a small mountain village where the last disappearance was reported a week earlier. He had a few people ask whether they had noticed a recent change, but as he expected, there was no result.

He stopped to take an espresso at a coffee shop in the village and thought of all the data he had on the case and his next course of action. While contemplating the comings and goings of the villagers in the street in front of him, three children stopped beside him and looking at him. He watched from the corner of the eye, a girl and two boys, all of about seven or eight years.

The girl came to him a little shyly. "Say sir, have you come to ask questions too?"

Reborn turned to her and bent down. "Yes, do you have the answers?"

The child played a bit with the hem of her shirt wriggling on the spot. She nodded slowly. "I saw other men dressed like you asking questions."

Reborn smiled gently and slightly raised his hat with a finger. "Oh?"

The boys came next to the girl to reassure her and shot the killer a glare. The girl grabbed the sleeve of the one on the left and glanced at Leon, who was still on the ferdora's edge of Reborn, before speaking up with a little more confidence. "They asked the adults if there were something new ... But they knew nothing ... After that, they walked around. Thinking whether they should leave or go into the forest... and then, into the forest they left. That's it!"

"Why were they going into the forest?"

"To see the animal of course!" the girl exclaimed before realizing she had spoken too soon. She placed her hands on her mouth, terrified.

Reborn raised his eyebrows and waited patiently to have a little more explanation. The boy on the left walked a little in front of the girl and continued to glare with a defying look. "You can not go to the animal! It is nice to us and helped us to find the way to the village!"

The second boy nodded to support the words of his friend. "Yeah! It has done nothing wrong! Adults should stop scaring the animal!"

"Since when did this animal lived in the forest?"

The children exchanged glances and the little girl resumed her explanation. "We do not know. We were lost in the forest two weeks ago. It was dark and we were tired, but he showed us the way with little lights to guide us. We were able to find Mom and Dad, but the animal had not wanted to come, so we went back to see him and give him a meal. He did not want to be too close, but after we were gone, he took the food and we found the empty plate. "

Reborn nodded. "I see. What does this animal look like?"

"We didn't see well ... It was dark and he was far, but he looked tall. We only saw a little bit, but he had eyes that glowed in the dark. His eyes were changing colors too ... red and yellow. " The girl hesitated a moment. "You'll not hurt the animal, right?"

Reborn considered the question seriously. On one hand, he had no information on 'the animal' or his intentions. On the other hand, there was a risk of unknown which didn't apply much to him. If the animal turns out to be a threat he could adopt more appropriate methods. He sighed. "Look, if this animal is really nice, I'll do him no harm. But if it's a threat to other men, I can't guarantee you."

The little girl took one minute of concentration to think at his answer in frowning. Then nodded. "Okay, the animal is nice anyway. Promise?"

The killer smiled amused and nodded. Leon, being true to himself, stuck his tongue and blinked.

"I promise, if I lie I will go to hell."

"You can tell the animal that we thank him when you see him! To see it you have to go there!" She pointed to the north of the village before leaving with her two friends.

Reborn paid his cafe and left in the direction the girl had pointed out. The forest was not particularly dense or very hostile despite some animals he met, but Reborn took the precaution to hide his presence and progressed silently.

After twenty minutes walking he felt a presence before him, slightly to the left. He slowed his steps and approached behind the trees while concealing his presence a little more. He had found the animal. And it was not an animal, but a young man with tousled brown yet almost orange hair falling before his eyes with longer strands to his hips. He was dressed in a large brown cloak concealing his body. He was kneeling and picking up the plants he ate.

Reborn raised an eyebrow but made no move to approach. Except he was surprised when the young man tensed and turned his head in his direction, frowning. He was sure of perfectly concealing his presence and normally, only the most experienced and talented fighters could detect it ...

They stared at each other for a minute, Reborn had time to see that, indeed, the young man's eyes seemed to light up but especially to change color with flashes of yellow-orange and some red glows then went back to a light yellow, strangely like a candle flame. The killer could see that the young man was prudent of him - on guard and ready to fight or flee at the slightest movement, but hidden a little deeper, he could also read the fear in his eyes.

Suddenly, the youngest moved and took the decision to flee further into the forest. Reborn was prepared. He pursued and didn't take long for him to catch up. Reborn was preparing to grasp him to immobilize but he had no opportunity to as he had to dodge a knife that appeared right in front of his face. He shifted to the side and continued the hunt with more attention to the projectiles that the young man could launch at him.

The brown haired ran down a slope through the forest while taking support on the trees to change his course quickly. He clearly had the advantage, seeming to know where to go, while Reborn discovered the field. The chase continued for forty minutes before the young man was tired and let Reborn catch up.

The youngest was wrestled to the ground, Reborn placed one knee on his belly and immobilized his arms to the side. He could clearly see the terrified face of the young man who was starting to panic, hyperventilating, and his eyes took on a near-white color. A multitude of small white flames lit up all around them preparing to attack the killer. Reborn's eyes widened when he recognized the dying will flames, but they were not the flames of sky, nor the flames of earth. Reborn stared into his eyes and told him in a loud, clear voice without malice. "Calm down, I will not hurt you."

The brown haired looked back at him and the white flames disappeared. He took a few gulp of air and especially concentrated on his breathing. Even though the fear never left his eyes, he was not as distraught. Reborn nodded. "Good. If I release you, you're not going to run away again, okay?" The young man did not answer him and made no move to acquiesce but Reborn still took his silence as an agreement and slowly lifted his weight, leaving a little space between them. He sat cross-legged next to the young man who had not moved and was still lying on the ground, watching the sky with a look a bit vague.

After waiting two minutes, the brown haired man rose slowly and also turned to Reborn. The fear had not disappeared from his eyes and they had taken shades of yellow and red; he wasn't panicked as he was a few moments and seemed calmer. Reborn itemized over the appearance of the young man, he noticed some scars on the right side of the face, starting from the arcade to the bottom of the ear, at the sudden a big burn mark starting on the neck to continue down but the rest was hidden by clothing. "Were you 'the animal' that the children's village were talking about? The one who would have helped them find their way there two weeks? "

Reborn read the surprise and recognition at who he was referring to. The brown haired nodded but still said nothing. Reborn wondered if he could speak. His gaze turned towards the burn scar in the neck. He frowned and looked back at the young man's eyes. "The children thank you." The brown haired made another nod and Reborn doubts were accentuated. "Can you talk?"

The young man tensed and slowly shook his head. So, his suspicions proved accurate. "I can read lips, if you want to say something, I will understand."

His eyes widened and he nodded. "I'll get right to the point. Are you responsible for the disappearances that began four years ago?"

The brunette winced a little and tightens his hands into fists until his fingers turned white; he shifted a little and Reborn saw that the young man had only one desire at this time and it was to escape, but he was surprised when the brown haired still answered his question, nodding. The silence lasted a few seconds longer, making the young man a little uncomfortable as time went on, until Reborn asked a simple question. "Why?"

He hesitated. It was not a question which he could answer with a nod. He opened his mouth before closing it. He panicked a little on how to explain this strange man who had come so far to ask these questions. He was initially frightened by this man, seeing the power he had. In response he had fled as if life depended on it, and he was convinced that his life was in line. Then when he was trapped and felt that he had no escape he became terrified.

His scars made him suffer and he felt the same pain on the days he had received them. He gradually lost footing to reality until the man who had cornered him and put in this state, bringing him back to reality and succeeding to calm him down. He could see the huge amount of power contained in this man who could reduce him to ashes in an instant. But now he that he was closer, he could feel the warmth of the golden flames, which he realized was not against him. The heat was intense but he wasn't burned.

He felt the weight on his stomach removed and arms were freed of their restrains, but he didn't move for a while. He wasn't sure how to move on, the memories of his scars still too fresh in his mind to make the slightest gesture. This man was terrifying, but he could tell he wasn't cruel in nature, he had a heart. And because of that - or thanks to that - he wanted to answer the questions asked by this man: Only he had not spoken in a long time ... He could not talk for a long time, and he had no desire to speak.

He understood the words, he had learned italian for some time even though it was not his native tongue ... But he was not sure to remember how to form words. This man was the first person who could understand even without sound and he was the first person he wanted to speak as well. He opened his mouth again and slowly tried to articulate the words he wanted to convey. "Those ... Those people ... were cruel. I did not mean ... to kill them ... Some ... But some hurt others ... And some hunted me ... "

Reborn raised his eyebrows. "And you didn't kill me when I was hunting you?"

The youngest shook his head and tried to explain his reasons even though it was not yet clear to him either. "You're not ... cruel?"

Reborn wanted to frown at this answer but didn't let his emotions show on his face. "I'm a hitman. The best hitman in the world." The youngest shifted slightly under the gaze of the killer and nodded, taking into account this information and not knowing how to answer at that. It wasn't a question.

Reborn just decided to drop the subject and move on. Although this young man could be dangerous enough to get rid of some mafia men after him, he was not a real threat at normal people or even Vongola and the most amazing thing of all this was his honesty. Reborn suspected that the most difficult part to resolve these cases was not to confront the guilty, but to find him. This young man had good instincts to be able to spot him while he was hiding his presence and if it had been someone other than Reborn, he was certain that the young man would have managed to escape during the hunt earlier.

Reborn felt a movement on his right and turned his head to see a young fox pounce on him. He shifted his head slightly to the left and the fox went to the other side. He raised his eyebrows observing the fox who growled when the young brown haired drew attention to himself by clicking his tongue. He narrowed his eyes and gave a brief nod to the fox. The little orange animal calmed down a bit and stopped growling. He went and stood in the legs of the young man, his wary gaze still trained on the hitman.

Leon, who felt protective of his partner, came down from the hat to go onto the shoulder of Reborn and squinted toward the young fox then stuck his tongue. Reborn smiled amused by the behavior of his chameleon.

The young man put a hand on the back of the fox and bowed his head to show he was sorry for the young animal. "Your companion I presume?" A nod. "Hmm ... What's your name?"

He did not answer immediately. Both were silent and motionless for several minutes. Then the brown haired presented his arm and pointed the number '27' tattooed on his wrist. Reborn frowned. This was going to be a little trickier. "Ventisette?"

The young man moved a little nervously. "I do not remember ... I mean ... I was not called by my name ... for a long time? The only other person who comes to see me .. . calls me Kitsune-chan. (AN: Fox) ... But before him, they spoke to me with the number Ventisette. "

Reborn raised his eyebrows. Japanese? He put this information in a corner of his brain and continued his questions. "Who comes to see you?"

"... My protector? Err… not protector ... I don't know how to describe him ... He brings me clothes or something to eat sometimes ... I do not know his name." The fox on the legs of the young man yawned, placing a little more comfortably and closed his eyes. The brown haired male scratched his ears gently and smiled.

Reborn noticed that the day was ending and it would soon be dark. "Alright, a final question, how did you get the dying will flames?"

The named Ventisette tilted his head to the side in confusion. Then he thought of something and concentrated to reveal a dozen small flames around him, dancing like fireflies. "This?" Reborn nodded. He raised his hand in front of him and a flame came to rest in front of him. He had a vague look now, in search of buried memories deep within him. "I don't know all the details. But people ... they were ... They kept me locked up. They were trying to do something. I do not know if these ... these flames are what they wanted to do. But ... I don't know ... It's a little blurry, but then one day I was out ... "

He was right in thinking that Ventisette had been a test subject, but other than that, it was not enough information to conclude anything. And given the limited memory that he had Reborn doubted he would be able to know what family had experimented on him or what had become of this family. He now had several options for the future.

One, he bring him back to Vongola to keep him under surveillance and maybe he could be part of the family, but as he was not sure he was safe, bring him back to Vongola was risky. Two, he could start searching about his past before making a move. Three, remain with him to watch a little longer.

Reborn smiled and Ventisette felt chills down his back watching this. "I'll stay a while with you, I am Reborn and my partner here-" He showed the green chameleon on his shoulder. "Truthfully named Leon."

The young man blinked and nodded slowly. He waited, not knowing what to do now. Reborn took into account that his interlocutor didn't seem to have had human contact for a long time and accordingly, Reborn wasn't annoyed by the lack of response. After all, it was in his nature to take any unlikely event without flinching ... and have some tendencies to make these events even more chaotic just with his presence. "Guide the path to where you sleep, I guess you don't go into town."

Ventisette nodded. He picked up the young fox asleep in his arms and stood up. Reborn followed the youngest in the woods. He seemed to know the inside out and he didn't hesitating about directions to take although the night was falling. They went up a hill and went towards the summit of the mountain. As the sun was setting, small white flames rose from the ground. They seemed to have life in itself as they began to float and illuminating the road ahead, making it strangely like a magical forest. The flames disappeared once they were both passed in front of one and they were two meters away. He noticed that the flames did not require any physical contact with the brown haired man and could move and continue to burn even at ten meters of the young man.

Shortly after they arrived near a pile of rocks. They rounded the rocks and had access to a large enough hole for a human. The brown haired paused in front and turned to Reborn tilting his head to the killer kept the sudden urge to frown. This young man was clearly socially unfit. He sighed. "Go to sleep, I'll stay away. We'll talk tomorrow."

The youngest nodded and went to bed keeping his companion in his arms and it didn't take long to fall asleep. Reborn walked away and sat down on a rock to the burrow. He took his phone and dialed Nono. Only after two rings, he heard the tired voice of the Vongola boss.

"Reborn? You already have the results?"

"Yes Nono, I found the one in charge of disappearances ... He's probably not a danger to Vongola but I will stay to observe a little longer. I will ask if the CEDEF has information that could be related to his past. The guy don't have all of his memories and he seems to be a test subject as was Mukuro Rokudo except he doesn't even remember his name. " The hitman growled, referring to the informations he could gather in the day.

"Oh? Had he managed to pique your curiosity after only a few hours? He must really be interesting." Nono laughed.

Reborn's vein twitched, but he kept a straight face. "He has flames that I don't recognize."

This stopped Nono short. "I see. I trust you to call me later if you have any news."

"Very well, good evening Nono."

Reborn hung up and dialed the number of Iemitsu who did not take long to reply either.

"Hey! Reborn! Why are you calling tonight?"

The hitman resisted the urge to hang up on the blonde. "I'd like you to send me any information you can find on families that could make human experiments there between ten to four years ago. Send also the information on families and foundations that have disappeared mysteriously in those same dates. "

"Wow, wow. Why those data there exactly?"

Reborn whispered. "I could have fallen on a survivor. Send me these data as soon as you have them."

"An experiment huh? Well, I'll be sending you those soon."

"Thank you." Reborn hung up and put his phone away. He lay on the rock and looked at the sky. There was a long time he had not slept under the stars.

To be continued ...

Note: I tried to correct and remove as much grammatical error but I guess there are still a lot. You can tell me all mistakes you see and I will correct it.

The names of Tsuna's family are taken of the Tokugawa shogunate clan. The first Shogun is called Ieyasu is the Japanese name of Giotto (Vongola Primo). Iemitsu, the father of Tsuna is the third Shogun. Tsunayoshi is the fifth Shogun. To continue with the tradition I decided that the little brother of Tsuna will be Yoshimune, the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa line. The Shogun Yoshimune was considered the most skillful in politics since the founding Ieyasu.