A Sudden Approach

"It kinda feels weird when you do that."

"… I'm not doing anything Tsuna." The teen opened his eyes, met with a rather large feline.

"N-Natsu?!"

"We should have killed it."

"No! I mean, but like… he's so big now, that's-"

"Bad, because we can't go into villages with it around?" suggested Reborn.

"Awesome!" continued Tsuna, completely ignoring what the other man said. He petted the feline in between its ears and it purred against his hand. The cat-like creature's back, when on all fours, was above the height of Tsuna's knee. If it stood on its hind legs, it could almost reach his shoulders. The growth was spontaneous but it wasn't unexpected. 'Monsters' as Reborn would say, grew fast in order to find meals for themselves faster. Their diet was huge and unstable so many 'monsters' fell prey to their own hunger. That was why it was always so dangerous to approach any 'monsters.'

Of course, being the strange person he was, as Reborn had noticed, Tsuna found it easy to approach anyone and anything. The younger male had some setbacks, being some lack of social skills and wariness (which wasn't bad) about meeting new people, but not necessarily creatures. Whenever the pair had travelled and come across some unidentifiable living creature, Reborn would automatically assume it as a monster and carry on by killing it. Every time he attempted to, however, Tsuna would intervene, saying something about how it was just taking a different route than it usually did or wasn't expecting the two humans to be there. Sometimes, the man didn't know how much he hesitated killing a 'monster' when Tsuna was around.

Reborn believed that Tsuna was simply making up excuses so that he would spare the worthless lives of monsters.

…

Tsuna had seen it a few times before. Especially when the two took a break to bathe in a small lake or river.

He couldn't help it when his eyes just drifted to it.

"Why on earth do you always stare at me when I'm bathing?" asked Reborn, properly disturbed by the younger male's stares. Usually, as the narcissistic person he was, he didn't mind, but it was the fact it was a 'boy' and a weird boy at that.

"It's just that you never seem to take that necklace off."

"…"

…

"It suits you," he said. The man laughed.

"I've never heard someone say that about this necklace and me."

"Well I can be the first I guess," says Tsuna, lying back, burying his arms into Natsu's fur. "It really does suit you."

Reborn shifted in his position. "Stop saying that."

"Oh? Mister tough guy getting all flustered?" chuckled Tsuna, giving the feline a belly rub. Natsu stared at Reborn as if saying, 'You're jealous right?' Reborn flicked back a glare at it. "Can I ask about why you have it or is it too personal?" Tsuna wanted to be conservative about it. Sure, as intriguing as the necklace being in Reborn's possession, it probably held a lot of meaning to him. A grown man having a necklace with a pacifier looking charm was already odd enough.

"My old party all had one. It was sorted in the way that it would correspond with our flames."

"So like the flames I have?" questioned Tsuna. Reborn nodded.

"It's now a memoir of what the group once was."

"It's like the legendary Arcobaleno party." Reborn's calm demeanour drastically changed, forcing Tsuna to back away with Natsu closely guarding him by growling and standing on all fours, scowling at Reborn.

"Who told you about the Arcobaleno?" demanded Reborn. Tsuna noticed the look of wariness and distress. There was the slightest of wavers in the man's voice; it concerned him how much the man would react to him mentioning the Arcobaleno. It was a group of elitists, if not, the elitists. The strongest of the strong. Who all fell from their ranks and disappeared. They were renowned to be feared and even avoided if no one wanted to fall prey to their activities as 'the strongest.' They weren't bad people, but many people had their scepticism when they were at the top and held the power to ruin many lives.

"… My mum." Reborn seemed to calm after knowing who had told Tsuna about the Arcobaleno. "Why do you want to know? I'm probably being rude but I don't think it was necessary for you to react that way." Tsuna turned to Natsu and promptly reassured the creature and flatten own the hairs that stuck up from the sudden distress.

Reborn mumbled something, something that Tsuna wasn't able to hear. But Natsu did.

"You mean to say that… it's not my business?" Reborn glanced at the feline and then back at Tsuna.

"Yes."

…

Their travelling journey was silent, once again.

…

"This town isn't good with visitors. More so, they say that once we enter, we can never leave. Alive that is," said Reborn. "Although, we should be exempt from this." Tsuna nodded, still heeding the warning Reborn gave.

Avoiding the line of sight from people had been a thing that Tsuna was either really good or really bad at. Most times, he wasn't able to pry the eyes of the villagers away from him back at where he grew up. If he had free time, then he'd not get noticed as long as he was careful as they were rare moments in which he could find some peace.

Within a few moments that they had entered the town, whispers had erupted and action was taken. Most people were uniformed in strange clothing that Tsuna had never seen before. He gripped against the gloves that Leon had made for him. Reborn, although remained silent, put an arm in front of Tsuna, preventing him to advance forward. Natsu reflected Tsuna's alertness but stood ground.

"I am here to have a peaceful meeting with the Varia Leader, Xanxus. I am Reborn, freelancer and ex-Vongola associate. My proof can be determined-" Reborn was cut off when someone shot at him, in which he immediately shot back in precision and record time. Within the split second in which the person had shot him, the person had already fallen from the returned shot from Reborn. "My proof can be determined just as so."

The dark looks on the people's faces lifted and turned into worry and apology. They allowed Reborn's entry and did not question Tsuna's. If the boy had been alive and with Reborn, then he would have to have skills almost on par with Reborn if Reborn allowed Tsuna to stay by his side. Oh how wrong they were.

…

"Ushishi, what's this? The number one with some weak looking trash?" Tsuna whipped around to face the voice. "So slow." He turned around again to be faced by a man of similar age. He had blond hair that covered his eyes and screamed danger and bloodshed. Tsuna, from this 'feeling' of danger, backed away and simply kept Natsu closer to his side. The feline looked up at him and Tsuna looked down. Something changed in Tsuna's expression and the worry disappeared. Both the blond and Reborn noticed this.

"Where is Xanxus?"

"The boss is sleeping right now. We'll get in trouble if we wake him up," explained the blond.

"Then now should be a good time to wake up, no?" Reborn walked past the blond and glared at him as if saying 'If I return and see a single scratch on the boy's body, I'll know who to blame.' The blond complied and held down a gulp. Now that Reborn had gone, it only left Tsuna, Natsu and the blond.

"So, you must be strong if you're with Reborn," said the blond, his smile turning into a smirk. "I'd like to see your blood pool around you." Tsuna felt his worries return and his blood curdle in anxiety.

Why did you leave me with this psycho?!

…

"Fucking piece of trash," said a man while he slowly got up.

Some pottery laid shattered across the floor after being hurled across the room, hitting walls and people on its airborne journey. Reborn's line of sight panned towards the swordsman.

"He's fucking awake."

"I don't find that an issue."

"Voi."

"Have you heard of Yamamoto Takeshi?"

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"Remember the name. He will be a great rival of yours and a companion."

The swordsman snarled and returned his attention to his boss who had finally managed to be fully awake and aware of who had come for the sole purpose that he, the Varia's Leader, had to be present.

"Why the fuck did you come here?" growled the man, standing, racking fear into his employees whom some were injured from thrown projectiles. Reborn stared at him. The scars that bore into his face presented the fury and rage the man had towards a certain individual. Pitiable.

"I've come to inform you that there is a genuine descendant of Vongola Primo."

Those very scars that bore into his face grew in disdain and deepened in disgust and anger.

…

"Please… stop…"

Tsuna huffed, gathering energy and trying to breathe air. He had been able to dodge most of the knives and with the help of Natsu's sharp eyes, he had figured out that the knives had attached to them, wires – almost invisible to the human eye. But not a creature's.

"Ushishi~ it's fun so why should I stop? Your blood has barely spilt," said the blond. The blond had later been introduced as Belphegor, a person in which Tsuna assumed to be the very existence of Grim Reaper but with endless amounts of knives. He had initially gathered that Belphegor had no intentions of killing him, he still didn't, but if he was careless enough, Tsuna would end up half dead at the very least. An experience that he didn't want to die for.

The teen wiped away the blood that converged on his arm where it had been previously cut by the wires. He was glad that he hadn't ended up like a human pin cushion. He was worn down but alive. Good by his standards.

He had noticed how the blond's movements suddenly changed. One moment, the knife user was in front of him and then disappeared, appearing to his side the next second. Whether he was fast or not, it just didn't seem possible to Tsuna. Natsu, who had been guiding Tsuna through the dark hall ways of the building was confused at the brunet's sudden confusion when Belphegor stood perfectly still in front of them. After quick communication with his respective 'owner,' Natsu was pleased to see that Tsuna regained his confidence when he saw through the illusions that had hindered him previously. In a way, Tsuna was glad that his partner had been a creature and that he was able to sort of, speak to him.

"He saw through your illusions, Mammon."

"Mu. At least this wasn't that much of a waste of time."

A new figure came into sight. A thin man stood next to the blond, rather, he was floating. He was clothed in a black hood that was lined with an indigo purple sporting a domineering look. He had strange marks on his cheeks which piqued Tsuna's curiosity and interest in 'Mammon.' Something else that also interested him was the frog that Mammon owned. It sure had much to say.

"Um… hello, my name is Tsuna." Mammon turned his body towards Tsuna and looked at him. Tsuna blinked and then the man was gone.

"He's no fun," said Belphegor, then returned his attention on Tsuna. "It's boring now, so let's go find something fun to do." The blond suddenly got close to Tsuna, placing his arm around the shorter male's shoulders and walked, tugging the teen along. Natsu growled at the blond but did not stop him. It wasn't like Belphegor wanted to hurt Tsuna anymore. He deemed the brunet far too interesting to get hurt.

…

"I thought you would have put up more of a fight." The man remained silent. "You'll find that you have many similarities with Primo's descendant than you'd think. Refreshing in a way, isn't it?"

Xanxus glared at Reborn. He was seated, after being forced to give up the fight he wanted to start against Reborn. He wasn't quite sure what went through his mind, to be blinded by fury so easily, when he was going against the Reborn. Stupid. He was fucking stupid.

"You know I could just kill him right?" said Xanxus.

"Oh, but I'm sure you can. But so could he," said Reborn and then added, "And so could I."

"… You're confident that he can fight against me and win?"

"It's a 50-50 chance. But I'm betting the latter." Xanxus's anger flickered and then settled down. He refused to be childish. With that as the opinion of Reborn, he really couldn't argue.

The swordsman, Squalo, had stood aside, witnessing the events that unfurled before his eyes. He had supported his boss, believing that the man would at least stand a 1 in a hundredths of chance to fight Reborn. He continued to believe this so. It just wasn't the right timing when the Varia were in a slump from inactivity and some certain past events.

It was mainly silent when Reborn suddenly showed an expression of surprise. A figure appeared in the room. On his wrist dangled a chain that had a small glowing indigo pacifier – a light that had long died down until that very moment.

"Viper."

"… It's Mammon now."

The small exchange of words were suddenly interrupted when a large feline creature and two bumbling teenagers walked into the room. Everyone's eyes landed on the trio and focused on the brunet who looked more dazed than they were.

"Uh, bad timing?" squeaked Tsuna.

…

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Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed.

Zaira Swift.