Chapter 2: Reborn

Reborn was not thrilled to take on the job of home-tutor to another no-good student. The files on Tsunayoshi were clear – he was lazy, lacked ambition, and was unremarkable in every way, not to mention had grown up as a civilian. But the Ninth's children were either dead or ineligible to inherit and the Sawada boy – gods he couldn't believe that idiot Iemitsu had managed to procreate. Twice! – was the only remaining candidate, aside from his younger sister, Sorako. Honestly, she was clearly the better choice, she was a prodigy even, but the mafia was not kind to women nor did he get a say in who the Ninth chose of the two. The man was old-fashioned and set in his ways. One would think his mother had not been the great mafia Donna she was talking to the somewhat chauvinistic man.

But he was allied to the Vongola and this is what he must do.

He leaves the flyer in the mailbox and waits for the good-hearted but airheaded Nana Sawada to call.

•••

It is simply by chance that Sorako misses the hitman's colorful entrance into her brother's life. She is attending her extracurricular martial arts and cannot make it to dinner that night. When she finally does get home it is late and she is bone-tired as she trudges through the door. Her brother must already be asleep.

It is as she takes her first step into the house that she feels it. A monster presence unlike anything she's felt before, and she's met Hibari Kyoya. This presence dwarfs that of the prefect to such an extent that she is shocked motionless. What is this in her house?! She can feel it centered right where Tsuna is –

"Tsuna," she whispers in horror, snapping out of her stupor. What is this monster doing near her brother! She sprints up the stairs taking two at a time and stops in front of her brother's door cautiously. She breathes deeply and cracks open the door to see her brother snoring away on his bean bag chair and a baby sleeping in his bed. The source of the monster aura. She shudders suddenly because he is notababy and he is dangerbloodmurderpower but he is not dangerous to her or her brother or her mother, she knows with a sudden certainty that she almost hesitates to believe. But her strange insight has never been wrong before and so she trusts it this time too.

Her warmth surges unexpectedly inside her as she analyzes the not-baby and she feels he is sadlonelybroken and she almost can't tamp it back down. But she has the will power to throw off the Imperius curse like water, she can certainly control her own power. She shuts the door and walks to her room on shaky legs, collapsing in a heap on her bed.

Why… did her warmth want to reach for this dangerous person so desperately?

She is surprised she gets any sleep that night but she does. In fact, she sleeps so long that she misses breakfast and is much later than usual in getting ready. She makes it outside in just enough time to see the back of Sasagawa Kyoko in the distance and to hear a gunshot.

It's the not-baby! And he's holding a gun… he's shot her brother!

"Tsuna!" She screams desperately, and her warmth pours out of her like a raging flood. All at once she is hyper focused and there is fire on her hands and flickering in the edges of her vision and her eyes are gleaming with untold power.

It might have gone differently… if she wasn't so in tune with her power, if she wasn't so used to utilizing magic from a previous life, if she wasn't slammed headfirst into Hyper Dying Will Mode through sheer desperation and worry for her brother… she might have never sensed what was really happening. But crystal clear focus and sudden deadly calm settles around her and she does see.

She sees Tsuna run off, clearly uninjured though for some reason in only his underwear. There is no blood, no gunshot wound. It takes microseconds to process this, and then she feels it… the chokehold on her brother's warmth evaporating into nothing. She can finally feel him in his entirety for the first time in her life and she knows with absolute certainty that this not-baby has just freed her brother's very soul.

Her gaze snaps to the not-baby, and this time she doesn't stop her warmth from reaching. It meets a towering wall of power and they twine with the force of a hurricane. She feels… more whole than she's ever felt and as suddenly as it came the fire dies down and she is normal once again. She looks at the not-baby and smiles a soft gentle smile because he is hers now and she will take care of him and he will never be alone and broken again and, and – her eyes roll back in her head as she loses consciousness.

•••

Reborn does not get a chance to meet the littlest Sawada spawn the first night he stays at the Sawada residence. She is off doing one of her many extracurricular activities, Nana tells him with a swell of pride during dinner. So he inwardly shrugs and takes some sadistic glee in stealing the older brat's food, telling him of his future as a mafia boss, and stealing his bed.

He wakes briefly to a creaking door in the night but dismisses the girl as a threat immediately as she checks on her brother. He wakes the boy up in the morning with a traditional Vongola method – this time, slight electrocution. The surprised "Hieeeee!" is music to his ears.

He accompanies Tsuna on his walk to school and sees his first opportunity to use a dying will bullet after the school idol, and Tsuna's obvious crush, skips merrily away while the brat stutters like a lovesick fool.

"Ho, so you have the hots for the Sasagawa girl?" he says with a smirk.

"W-what! No!" the boy squeaks, his face turning an even deeper shade of red, if that were possible.

He transforms Leon into his gun form and casually points it at Tsuna, seeing the boy rapidly pale and back-paddle.

"Well then, go confess to her with your Dying Will!" Bang! And of course he never misses. Watching Tsuna take off in only his underwear was amusing, or would have been if he didn't hear a sudden desperate scream.

He'd been peripherally aware of the girl ever since she'd shown up but wasn't concerned with coddling the child, she'd see Tsuna was fine soon enough. Except.

As she screamed he felt some of the most powerful, pure sky flames he'd ever felt rush from her in a rage. He'd turned quickly in shock, in just enough time to see eight year old Sawada Sorako enter Hyper Dying Will Mode.

What.

He saw as calm settled around her, and could see immediately when she ascertained her brother's well-being and became tranquil, the rage in her flames settled and they became still. Then her eyes shot to him and – her flames surged and without his permission, he couldn't stop them even if he'd wanted to, his flames reached and he was home.

He didn't have even a moment to bask in his Harmony, in the sudden elation and acceptance and wholeness and peace he felt, as something dark and scarred and festering in him healed, before the flames settled and she smiled at him. And then her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she – his sky – fell.

He was there immediately, he wasn't able to catch her – damn this cursed infantile body, but he stopped her head from hitting the ground. He lowered himself to the ground and placed her head in his lap, tiny fingers laced through her silky blonde hair. He couldn't help but stare in amazement for a moment and he didn't know what he was more amazed about. A civilian child entering Hyper Dying Will Mode? Him, harmonizing? A child having flames powerful enough to harmonize with the strongest sun in the mafia? Him, harmonizing?

But he wasn't the World's Greatest for nothing and he got his priorities together in short order. He needed to take care of his sky, at this age and with no training or prior experience Hyper Dying Will Mode could easily cause flame exhaustion and have detrimental effects on the body. He discarded his plan of following Dame-Tsuna to school immediately and focused on getting Sorako into the house.

Reborn was a sun, so he was well versed in healing should he come upon an occasion where it was necessary. Usually, he would heal himself, after a particularly difficult hit or an ambush or a spar with Fon – the man was a powerhouse and if he got in close enough his hand to hand skills could prove… unfavorable. But he was well able to heal others if he so chose. Once Sorako was safely tucked in her bed and he'd shooed away a worried but oblivious Nana, he healed the damage he could already feel spreading through his sky's fragile little body. He even healed the tiny scratches she got from her fall to the pavement even though he normally wouldn't bother. He was already going soft and he didn't even care.

However, there was nothing he could do for flame exhaustion, that would have to heal on it's own or her flames would have to be augmented by another sky, which was out of the question. Her brother had no training in that area – that would change, he thought with a dark smirk – and would be more likely to harm her than help her. And of the skies he trusted not to exploit her, of which there were very, very few, he was not going to alert the mafia to his new Guardian bond and paint a target on her back so soon. So, he waited.

It took three days for her to wake up, and he was at the end of his patience. Not with her, but with his worry. He wanted her healthy and hale and he wanted it now. This waiting grated on his frayed and frazzled nerves like so much sandpaper. He took it out on Dame-Tsuna every time the boy dared infringe on her space but it wasn't enough stress relief under the circumstances. He even almost snapped at Nana, who apparently thought his worried hovering at her bedside was adorable once she was reassured that Sorako would be alright.

But finally, finally, she did wake up. And thankfully it was when that idiot boy was at school.

•••

She went from asleep to completely awake as she always had since both her time with the Dursleys and from her time living with the dangers of the war. The habit had followed her into this life. She noticed immediately that she felt warm and content like she never had before and blinked at the ceiling bemusedly. She could feel the monster presence of power to her immediate right but couldn't register it as a threat no matter how much a sane person would have. She turned her head and saw the not-baby staring at her intently, with fathomless deep black eyes that glinted with concern.

"Ciaossu, I'm Reborn." He said, tipping his fedora in her direction.

She didn't know what it was but she could feel the bond between them, so she set aside all her previous concerns and simply smiled.

"I'm Sorako. It's nice to meet you Reborn-san." She said, and sat up against her pillows.

"Hm, call me Reborn, Sora-hime." Ah, how did he know what they called her at school? She was embarrassed but somehow it didn't bother her as much as it should've.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, whatever this was that was between them not needing such things as words. But, as Harry she'd always been too curious for her own good and coupled with the childlike curiosity of Sorako she couldn't help but ask,

"Ne, Reborn," she started and he tilted his head in question with a "Hm?"

"What is this?" she asked softly, and gently wrapped her warmth around the bond. Something in her purred and she watched as Reborn relaxed further, closing his eyes for a moment with a pleased hum.

•••

Reborn felt as sky flames wrapped around the very core of his being, and it was the most peaceful thing he'd ever felt. He'd never known… even as he'd wished for Harmony throughout his youth, before finally giving up and becoming the dark and jaded man he was, he'd never known it would be like this.

He opened his eyes to see his little sky staring at him curiously, patiently awaiting an answer. This… is where it got complicated. How to explain flames, the mafia, Vongola, skies and Guardian bonds to an innocent civilian eight year old? But, he wouldn't lie to his sky, so he would simply have to try his best. His best, of course, was the best, but even for him this was rather complicated. She was a prodigy though, and he was sure his sky would be able to keep up.

"To answer that, I must first tell you this. You, and your brother, are descendants of the first Boss of the Vongola family. The Vongola is a mafia famiglia…." And so he told her, and she listened. He was gratified by her complete attention, and though she did have questions, they were thoughtful, intelligent ones. She easily grasped concepts people twice her age would never be able to. When it came time to tell her of his involvement in the mafia, he ruthlessly pushed down his nerves. Would such an innocent girl reject him, dirty and bloodstained as he was?

"You're a hitman?" She asked, and her voice was carefully void of inflection. He paused,

"Yes."

"Who do you kill?" What a question to hear from a little girl. His eyebrows rose slightly, but he bluntly told her the truth,

"Criminals," he said, "Murderers. Rapists. Human traffickers. Drug dealers. And any of those who would kill me first. Any of those who would harm you."

He could see her think for a moment, and held his breath. Finally, she seemed to come to a decision and nodded slightly to herself. She reached over and took his hand – miracle of miracles that he would let someone do such a thing – and spoke assuredly.

"You're my Guardian. You're my family now. I will always accept you."

He clenched his teeth to keep his traitorous eyes from forming tears. She was indeed a wonder.