No. 2
"The arcobaleno curse isn't the only one out there,"
Reborn sat back deep in thought as he sipped his expresso. They were finally back in their own time after fixing the future, but those words spoken by the 26 year old Cloud Guardian stuck with him. The infant wasn't exactly sure why, but for some reason he couldn't get it out of his head, always finding himself pondering it when left alone.
In all the years Reborn had been alive, he had never met another curse being besides the Arcobaleno. But here was someone, telling him there were others. If that were the case, were they forced into different bodies? Or was the curse something else entirely? Or was it simply one curse, or many others that sat under the edge of the known world?
The hitman tilted his head back, fedora sliding over his eyes as he thought. On the bed across the room Tsuna was still fast asleep, body sprawled out over the entirety of the bed. His soft breaths and occasional snores were the only thing that disturbed the air. Outside the window the sky was beginning to darken with the coming sunset.
Tsuna himself had passed almost immediately after he came home. Reborn allowed it, knowing his young student and the other guardians were still recuperating from the trip to the future. After all they experienced a matter of months in the future in only a few days in the past. And Reborn did have moments of compassion.
But his thoughts were caught short as suddenly Tsuna awoke, sitting up with a shiver wracking his frame. His doe eyes widened oddly, much like they would before Tsuna would do his monthly all night training session with Hibari. Perhaps Dame-Tsuna just remembered that he hadn't been able to do so in the future and is afraid of what Hibari will do in retaliation. the Sun Arcobaleno found himself musing with a sadistic smirk. But before he could even begin his usual taunts and jabs toward his charge, Tsuna was up and out the door calling goodbye to Mamman, all the while looking as if he'd seen a ghost.
Now Reborn had seen many things, but the blatant fear that was reflected in those brown orbs almost rivaled Tsuna's expression when he first met Mukuro. That was all it took to drive the hitman to trail the brunet.
~/~/~
"Oya, you are a strange one aren't you? I was sure your kind didn't care for taking the spotlight,"
Tsuna couldn't help the tension that continued to thrum in tune to the pulsing of his tainted blood through his veins. Above the moon began to come to light as the sky darkened, not quite full but full enough for the curse to respond. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he never once changed in the future. Maybe now the curse was making up for it by having him change the night before the full moon as well.
The itch that settled just below the surface flared up, cutting off all thoughts as the brunet whined under his breath. His skin felt too tight, almost like it was constricting him. Sad thing was Hibari was busy and the notice was too short to change that. So here Tsuna was, pushing his way through the undergrowth.
As the moonlight began to grow and swell, preparing to shine its light upon the world, the pain too began to throb at an almost erratic degree. But Tsuna refused to stop. He was still too close to people. He would keep going until the pain made it so he couldn't go any further.
As the edges of pink and violet began to trail beneath the horizon, a particularly strong pulse through his spine sent Tsuna to the ground. Hopefully this is far enough to work… He thought distantly as spasms began to ripple through him. Yet the world always did hate him, he concluded as a voice called out filling him with dread.
"Dame-Tsuna, what are you doing?"
~/~/~
"I don't care about what you. I'll treat you so long as Reborn tells me to. But you really should consider telling him. You could use him in your corner."
Reborn landed lightly on the ground, the tree branch he jumped from still quivering from the force exerted against it. His onyx orbs bore into the back of the shivering brunet who didn't seem as though he was going to respond.
"I was going to give you a break and let you rest, but you were so eager to train that you practically ran to the woods yourself. So, I ask again, what are you doing?"
"Re...Reborn…"
The thick guttural slur that laced the boy voice took him by shock. The notes were deeper and echoed in a strange growl all the while holding the slightest of lisps in pain. Reborn found himself drawn forward a step, only to pause when Tsuna practically yowled.
"S-stay back Reborn! Don't come any closer! GRAHHH!"
~/~/~
"Tsunayoshi-kun.~ You were one hard man to kill.~ Even then, sometimes I wonder… Can you ever truly kill something like you?"
Tsuna's arms gave way and he fell forward only to catch himself on his forearms as a particularly violent spasm shook him to his very core. In the back of his mind he was distantly aware of that part of him awakening. The beast was beginning to slip the chains that only the full activation of the curse could allow. Once the beast was free, even someone as skilled and as dangerous as Reborn would be in danger. He needed a way to get Reborn out of here, or at least on his guard.
"What is going on Tsuna?"
The amount of worry and compassion laced in his teacher's voice almost brought tears to Tsuna's eyes, yet the pain refused to let him wallow in sentimentality. Numbly he couldn't help but wonder if Reborn would ever use that voice on him again once he knew the truth. Because he was too close to hide it now.
"I-I can't really ex-PLAAII-n right now… Huh huh… Just that… Ahh-haah.. there are other curses OUT there… S-some m-more malicious t-THAN the Arcobaleno o-ONE-NAHHHA!" Tsuna managed to spit out just as his bones began to pop and stretch, the process beginning. As his vision leered red, he turned to meet Reborn's eyes with his own that now glowed an unnatural golden orange. He hoped that maybe, for once, Reborn could read his mind like he wanted him too as the wave of pain shorted out his mind completely and overwrote every rational thought.
~/~/~
"There are some things in this world that we will never understand no matter how many life times we live. Sadly, the world is too big of a place to know everything. Even I couldn't hope to do so. But that doesn't mean I won't try. What better use for an unnaturally long life like this than to uncover as much as I can, discover more than anyone else,"
Reborn couldn't help but watch in disturbed fascination as the spasms completely overtook his student's frame. Each one brought with it the crack of bone shifting and growing as his form writhed and twisted. Clothes were discarded by force as the body expanded more than they could hold. Blood fell from his fingertips and claws forced their way through, fur beginning to settle in clumps, matted with blood brought forth from the force of their growth.
His chest expanded, limbs lengthened and gained masses of winding solid muscle. A tail grew to rest, tip just barely brushing the ground. Suddenly Tsuna's back arched as a pained howl cut through his lips, jaws expanding and shedding their human teeth in favor to an assortment of fangs. One each side of his head his ears had grown and gained a thin layer of fur. But what stood out more than anything was the bite-like scar that wrapped around the back of Tsuna's neck growing larger and more exposed as the neck stretched and thickened.
It had barely been five minutes as the blood began to slow and the shaking winded to a close, the shape pushed itself up with a shake to dislodged the lingering blood from its pelt. Inhuman orange eyes peering at Reborn as the creature's, some kind of wolf, nose twitched taking in the hitman's scent.
A snarl ripped its way from its chest, lips pulled back to show sharp bright white teeth as it came to rise on its back legs in a slumped human-like posture. Its front paws just barely touched the ground and Reborn could almost forget that this was in fact Tsuna if not for the edge of his boxers still clinging to the beast's leg and the two bloodies rings on the ground beneath him.
Just as the infant was about to have to decide whether he was to fight to protect himself or not, a dark shape pounced on the beast from the trees.
"Leave baby," Hibari muttered just loud enough for Reborn to hear as he struck the beast with a tonfa, his own fangs gleaming slightly elongated, "I'll take care of this,"
"What if I can't control myself? What if I hurt someone? What if I turn someone by accident like my Blood Sire accidentally did?"
"Don't worry Omnivore. I will look after you,"
"But you have your own life? What happens when you leave?"
"It's my own life, isn't it? I'll stay in your shadow forever if need be. You make life interesting,"
