No. I
'Tch.' The boy let out a silent huff, his breath ghosting in front of his face as the chilling rain pelted his dark covered frame. His fingers twitched in the slightest of restlessness, bladed claws just blunt enough not to cut at the fabric of his pants. All the while his back was straight, nerves tingling as every hair was on end awaiting the moment to move and act.
At last movement caught the corner of his dull orange eyes and in a flash he was in motion. Each step, swift and sure. Each foot fall sending a pool into motion but no more than the rain itself. The hunter had found its prey, and the prey, as if sensing the dark intentions in the air, turned the hunt into a chase.
'No matter…' The cloaked boy thought distantly. It wasn't as if he would let the prey get away that easily. It wasn't in his design. Lacing flame among his gloves, he reached out with fiery blades that met unresisting flesh as he caught his prey, who for his part released the slightest of shrieks.
"Wha-why a-are y-you d-doing this!" the prey continued to cry, but they didn't bring the mercy it hoped it would. Rather the boy simply moved to continue his assault, voice an unwavering monotone, "You're on my list," And with those simple words he plunged his hand through the shriveling excuse for a man.
"Excellent work my little Leone," A voice purred in his ear as the boy's eyes continue to hold their same blank look.
"Praise is an unnecessary action Daemon-sama," Leone responded without a single car to any who could here him. Rather his attention was better spent wiping the blood off the metal of his claws lest they rust.
"That is true, Dear Pet, but let me indulge," A puff of laughter followed as if an after thought, as Leone turned toward the body, hand lit with a storm flame that he used to light the body ablaze and leave behind barely even ashes.
"What next?"
"Hmm?"
Leone snorted and turned his dull eyes toward the invisible figure that clung to the edges of his vision. "I said what next?"
"Now that we have tied up our loose ends, it is time we head back."
"Head back?" The brunette paused, musing, before he continued, "To the Vongola you mean?"
"Yes. You are ready. You must claim your position without fail and make the Vongola truly strong.. Leone, or should I say Tsunayoshi?"
Tsuna awoke to a kick to the head, the memories of years ago, of the time Daemon-sama made him forget came rushing back. With it, the familiar numbing sensation of the seal setting into place. Distantly he was aware of his hyper intuition and the part of it governing it rushing to try and resist. But soon it was completely overwhelmed.
All the hopes and dreams, the resolve to protect his friends, all of it mellow to the calm call of the mind that set itself to the edge of his own. It was a phantom brush, but it latched on with delicate precision that came with experience and previous knowledge of the young boy's mind. It had been three years, but some things never change.
"Greetings my little Leone. Have you been lonely without me?"
"No. I wasn't even aware at the time, but I believe I am stating the obvious. I must digress, it all worked out in accordance to your plan. My disappearance wasn't questioned by the airheaded woman and the man that calls himself my father is too distant that he has not come to suspect a thing. I am set to be Decimo," Leone responded in the safety of his own mind, letting memories of things he didn't feel like explaining free to the other to access. Even as he watched Daemon sort through his mind, all he could do was observe with a detached sort of mild interest.
"I'm aware. You would not believe how much I had to restrain myself when dealing with that idiotic version of yourself during the Inheritance,"
"I knew not of my apprenticeship under Daemon-sama," But, despite the open note, his action stated that the conversation was finished for the moment. Rather he had to worry more about the entrance of one Reborn, who was hovering on the edge of his vision and the repeated offense of the mallet on his body. Or rather the attempted repeat of the Leon-hit.
"REBORN! I'm up! I'm up! Geez, are you trying to kill me!?" Leone called out, hitting the near earsplitting note that his Dame-self did regularly. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he found himself cringing, even more when he heard the distant ringing of Daemon's 'Nufufufu'. With difficulty he forced the acted emotion to touch his eyes, but the brunette wasn't anything if he wasn't good at what he did.
"Do I detect some pride there? I didn't believe you had it in you," the phantom's sly voice was dripped in sarcastic amusement as he made his observation.
"My emotions are merely repressed to a minor degree. I can feel annoyance but not anger, satisfaction but not joy," The boy recited as he continued his comic routine with Reborn, uttering a particularly high pitched "HEEIII!" at the prospect of being late and being 'Bitten to death.'
Little did he know Reborn noticed and spotted the slightest killing intent being released from the boy upon waking. The hitman's trained eyes spotted the edges of merciless orange before the mask slammed down and they became a large soft honey. And, though Reborn himself was not a morning person, he could almost swear the pupil-less red in those eyes momentarily resembled a spade.
Now paranoia, while dangerous in extreme degrees, was necessary in Reborn's line of work. And when the hitman felt his instincts buzzing that there was something wrong as he watched his Dame-Student dart out of the door with an almost controlled forced edge to his clumsy antics, the Sun Arcobaleno thought better than to ignore it. Acting on his churning unease in his gut, he decided to pay himself a nice little visit to Kokuyo.
. . .X. . .
"What can I do for you Arcobaleno?" Mukuro asked, immediately switching places with Chrome to brace himself against the edge of the couch, heterochromatic eyes locked on the infant with something akin to sly amusement. Yet underneath that there was the lightest prickle of trepidation. After all, Reborn wouldn't come to visit him specifically for nothing.
"I have reason to believe something happened to my Dame-Student, something to change him," Reborn, in turn, was straight to the point as he settled himself cross-legged on the table in front of Mukuro.
"Are you sure he isn't simply worrying needlessly about trivial things again? That appears to be an ongoing theme with him,"
"..."
"Or he could simply be pouting about something. Or perhaps he is decompressing after the future battles. Or maybe he could even be…" Mukuro continued to list the possibilities, each one causing him to further lounge contently against the old maroon cushions.
"If I thought it could be solved with simple assurances like that I wouldn't have come in the first place," Reborn butt in bluntly, his words interlaced with the thump of a gun's hammer being cocked.
"Okay okay, I will come over and take a look,"
. . .X. . .
School was an even bigger pain than normal. Leone couldn't help the slight prickle of annoyance and the twitch in his fingers that threatened to send him launching himself at the 'Classmates' that found it beneficial for some superficial reason to irk him.
The sky stretched out above him, clear blue, and he found himself releasing a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. At either side of him, Yamamoto and Gokudera were going through their usual routine. Meanwhile his own mind was fixed on the whispered words of Daemon, who seemed quite content to talk into his ear in that ranting way of his.
All of a sudden the phantom silenced and left behind a shiver of tension as Leone searched for whatever could be the cause of Daemon's defensiveness. Then his eyes landed on him, on Mukuro, who leered quite tastelessly at the young brunet as he leaned carelessly against the wall surrounding the house.
"Greetings Tsunayoshi. I wasn't planning for us to meet again so soon, but the Arcobaleno insisted," heterochromatic eyes narrowed, but the illusionists smirk stuck in place as he went to make his move without another word. Leone simply stared cooly back, knowing there would be no reason to act the part of No Good. After all his secret would be out the second Mukuro moved to touch his mind, Daemon himself unlikely to stand for such a thing.
Mukuro himself recoiled as he brushed by the Mist Barrier surrounding Tsuna's mind. His smirk dropped as he saw the flicker of a spade replacing his Tsuna's pupil. In the wind, his ears picked up a distant "Nufufufu" which only acted to enrage him further. Mukuro didn't have a chance to react however.
With a thud the illusionist was knocked away and in the same movement Leone shifted to dodge the bullet from Reborn's gun.
"Dame Tsuna, you're letting yourself be possessed," the infant spoke with no hint of mock or amusement.
"Sentimentality has made you weak, Reborn," Was all Leone had to say back before he seemingly disappeared. In his wake he left Reborn, standing there dumbly with a furrowed brow.
Upon further research Reborn found that from Age 5 until 10 Tsuna would occasionally disappear for days to even weeks at a time. Nana didn't think to question it and would have otherwise not shared that bit of information if it wasn't for Reborn asking. Needless to say Reborn was very disappointed with Mamman after that and never saw her the same way again.