Silent Sky
Title – Silent Sky
Chapter Title – The Lightning Strikes
Author – Megan Riley
Rating – T
Warnings – Slash, Language, Sexual Themes and Alternate Universe
Pairing/s – Eventual 8059, 1827
Summary – Takeo is the younger twin. He is sporty, popular and intelligent. As far as anyone can tell he is perfect, but behind closed doors, he elder brother constantly torments and abuses his older brother, punishing him for any slight: real or imagined.
Disclaimer –The voices told me I owned Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I was so excited, but then reality kicked in.
The boy stood in the centre of the dojo, with his teacher opposite, in position for the sparring match to begin, both participants bowed.
"Hajimaru!" The referee, a member of the kendo club, stood beside the ring calling for the match to commence.
Neither teacher nor student made a move, each remaining still. After a minute the taller man sent a testing kick in the brunette's direction, which was blocked with ease and followed up with a weak punch towards his teacher. A grin flashed between the two of them and the match truly began.
Limbs flew with increasing strength and accuracy, as both parties collected bruises. Ten minutes after the match began; a look of satisfaction crossed the brunettes face as he noticed an opening in his teacher's defences. Lashing out with his foot, he forced the older man's guard to drop, and shot a knife hand strike towards his teacher's unprotected throat, ending the match.
The student removed his hand from its position and the two combatants bowed once again.
"Congratulations Tsuna, it seems like there's nothing else I can teach you. You'll have to find another teacher, unless you want to learn Shigure Soen Ryu? I would be happy to teach you." The man beamed happily at his student's talent.
"N-no, thank you, Y-Yamamoto-sensei," Tsuna spoke quietly in response to his teacher's query, "I think you'll h-have your hands full t-teaching Takeshi-kun."
"I suppose you're right, but you are a pleasure to teach, no-one could blame me for wanting to keep you," he laughed at the blush covering his student's cheeks, "That doesn't mean I won't expect you to come to morning training until you find another teacher. We can't have you getting out of condition now, can we?"
"H-hai, Sensei." The boy said quietly as there was a commotion from the edge of the dojo.
"Wow, Tsuna! That was great! You'll have to spar with me sometime, when I improve." A tall, dark-haired boy commented with a smile.
Shortly followed by an enthusiastic exclamation by a silver-haired boy, "Of course Juudaime was great! Juudaime is great at everything!"
"H-Hayato-kun, r-remember what w-we said about you c-calling me Juudaime?" The boy turned to questioningly face Hayato.
Looking at the ground like a kicked puppy, the boy responded, "You said not to… Because you aren't the tenth, and the brat is." Cheering up momentarily, Hayato looked towards Tsuna's face, "But, you could be Decimo, when the idiots in charge realise how moronic he is and how amazing you are."
"B-but, Hayato-kun, I d-don't want to b-be Decimo," The small brunette stuttered.
"But you could be," Takeshi said in a rarely heard serious tone, ending the conversation, as Tsuyoshi observed with a considering look.
On his way back from his spar with Tsuna, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was surprised to see Reborn standing at the counter of a coffee shop, attempting to order a coffee on credit.
"I forgot my wallet, so give me an espresso on credit," the miniature hit man demanded of the salesgirl.
"What!" The dark-haired girl looked shocked; disbelieving that such a cute child would come in demanding coffee, "Honey… Where're your mummy and daddy? Do you want me to take you to the police station if you're lost?"
Reborn, who was rapidly losing his patience as the girl refused to give him his espresso, pulled out his gun, "Try, and the police station will be covered in blood,"
The salesgirl became furious at the sight of a child holding a gun, "H-honey! If you keep joking around, I'll call the store owner!"
"That'll make things easier," the tutor said coolly, perhaps the owner would be more intelligent than this idiot.
Seeing that Reborn was about to explode, Tsuyoshi, who thought it would be best for the poor girls sanity, and life, if he paid for the hit man's coffee, walked up to the counter and handed over some money, "I'll pay for him, and could I please have a cup of green tea? I am sorry about Reborn, he's older than he looks, and hates being mistaken for a child," he gave the girl a charming smile, which left her blushing.
"O-of course, sir. Would you prefer to eat in or take away?"
A raised eyebrow towards Reborn caused him to answering "Eat in," after a moment of consideration, before turning to face Tsuyoshi, "We need to talk."
An hour later, Reborn was a great deal more knowledgeable about the history of the Sawada twins, as well as Tsuna's skill level, but still had many questions, including how Tsuyoshi knew that the Vongola wasn't receiving his reports, and he couldn't resist the temptation to ask.
"How do you know that Nono isn't receiving my reports, when I haven't even heard of it?"
"Oh," The swordsman looked slightly sheepish at this question, "Well you see, I called 'Mitsu-kun, the night after the rooftop incident, and we've been talking regularly since."
"'Mitsu-kun?" A blush was the only answer he received to the question as Tsuyoshi stood and hurriedly left the café.
A week later, Tsuna was unsurprised to once again to hear an explosion from his brother's room when Takeo made a mistake on his homework and Reborn set off a bomb. He had gotten used to the loud noises that came from Takeo's room with astonishing regularity. Reborn seemed to have fondness for loud noises when tutoring his brother, never mind that he regularly woke up the whole neighbourhood, weekend or not. Ignoring the noise he turned back to the stove and continued to cook dinner for everyone, relaxed in his mother's presence without having to deal with his younger twin.
As he walked over to the stove, he was surprised to catch a glimpse out the window of a baby dressed like a cow pointing a gun towards Takeo's window as he stood on the branch outside it. His brother's voice could be heard trying to tell Reborn about the child, who he was almost positive, the tutor had already noticed, and was most likely ignoring. For a moment he wondered if the hit man was like Reborn, but the thought was pushed out of his mind almost immediately as the strange child spoke in the kind of childish manner you would never hear from Reborn.
"Die Reborn! Take that!" For most people, seeing a small child telling their brother's tutor to die would be rather shocking. Unfortunately for Tsuna, he had long ago adjusted to the general insanity that surrounded the miniature hit man. The next moment there was a loud crack and a tree branch plummeted to the ground, taking the child who was standing on it down as well.
"Who the fuck, was that?" Takeo's voice drifted rudely down the staircase, before his tutor forcibly dragged his focus back to his homework.
Looking towards the ground, the brunette saw the child slowly get to his feet and ring the front door bell, which his mother went to answer, before coming in. Walking to the kitchen door, Tsuna managed to catch a glimpse of the child walking up the stairs, towards Takeo's room. Knowing Takeo's attitude towards children, and Reborn's attitude towards interruptions, his first thought was to stop the kid from entering. He reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the child run into the room shouting.
"Long time, no see, Reborn! It's me; Lambo!" Thinking Reborn that if Reborn knew the kid – Lambo – then it'd be safe to leave him there, Tsuna turned to walk away, only to find out that Takeo was swearing as Reborn completely ignored both the kid and his student.
"Reborn, get this fucking kid out of my room!"
"Remember this formula." Shaking his head at Reborn's casual dismissal of his brother and the kid, he continued walking back to the stove.
Seeing that Reborn was paying no attention to him, Tsuna caught a glimpse of the kid leaping towards the tutor, "Hey, don't ignore me! I'll kill you!" Wincing in sympathy for the child attempting to attack the famous hit man, Tsuna could do nothing but watch as Reborn kicked Lambo into a wall, causing the child to burst into tears as he tried to introduce himself and erasing any doubts that the kid was like Reborn.
"I, Lamb-san, five years old, from Italy, a hit man from the Bovino Famiglia, tripped!" He wailed, "Favourite foods are grapes and candy, and I, Lambo-san, who met Reborn at a bar, just tripped!"
Hearing the child wail out his introduction, he decided the best course of action, for the moment, would be to get some tissues, and perhaps candy for Lambo, so he'd be able to calm down, sitting them on the table for later use, he continued listening to the conversation from upstairs.
"Reborn, get rid of this cow freak!" His brother loudly demanded.
"So yeah, let me try again. Yo, Reborn, it's me Lambo!" When his second introduction failed, the small cow-child could be heard sobbing out, "Tol… er… ate…" As a large amount of what was most likely weaponry was dropped on the ground.
"With that formula, solve this," Meanwhile Reborn was continuing to attempt to teach Takeo through the commotion.
"Um… Yeah. It's, Four." His brother responded after a moment before returning to what he obviously considered the more important matter, "Why the hell is the freak, still here?"
Ignoring the mention of the third presence in the room, Reborn only paid attention to the boy's answer, "Correct, looks like I don't get to set off another bomb, what a pity."
"Die Reborn!" The child's exclamation was followed by a thud as he went flying out the window and into the tree.
"Let's go to the next question."
"Could you keep an eye on the stove for me, Tsu-kun?" Hearing the thud, his mother walked outside to see what had happened and returned with a blubbering child in her arms, "Tsuna, come here," she said holding the child so he could be seen by her son, "He's Reborn-kun's friend, right? Did they fight? Do you think I should get Takeo to help the two sort out their differences?"
Rapidly shaking his head, who knew what Takeo would do to Lambo, Tsuna was quick to hold out his arms for the child to be passed to him, "I'll t-take him to the p-park for awhile so he c-can calm d-down, okay?"
A bright smile crossed his mother's face as he spoke to her, and only took him a minute to realise that this was the first time she'd heard him speak in four years, "That sounds wonderful, Tsu-kun. Don't be out to late." She chirped happily and returned to cooking dinner, humming as she moved around the kitchen.
Gently holding the sobbing child in his arms as he walked out the door, Tsuna made sure to shove some tissues and candy into a bag on his way out. When he reached the park he slowly sat down on a hill overlooking the river, with the child still held against him. As he offered Lambo a tissue, the child finally looked at him, and let out a tear-filled shout at his resemblance, "Y-you're a m-meanie," he snivelled, "Y-you called me a c-cow freak."
Seeing the child was not going to do so himself; Tsuna began gently wiping Lambo's face as he slowly shook his head. "N-no, I'm not. M-my name's Tsuna, th-that was my b-brother, Takeo." He offered the child a piece of candy, hoping that would cheer him up.
Lambo's face lit up at the sight of the candy and he settled himself more comfortably in the older boy's lap. "You're nice. Lambo-san will allow you to remain in Lambo-san's company."
Smiling softly at the attitude of the kid, Tsuna handed him another piece of candy, "S-so why were you t-trying to k-kill Reborn?"
"Lambo's dream is to be boss of the Bovino Famiglia, but my boss told me I wasn't allowed to come back to the Famiglia until I killed the famous, first-class hit man, Reborn."
Attempting to reign in his anger at Lambo's boss for sending a five year old out into the world alone, to kill a famous assassin, he instinctively tightened his arms around the child and decided to change the topic, "S-so how d-do you know, R-Reborn?"
"Y-yeah! When Lambo-san was taken to the bar for the first time by my boss, he was sitting on the counter. We spoke a lot, even if it was only our first meeting, while Lambo was eating his favourite grapes… Reborn was blowing bubbles with gum from his nose." Remembering the few times he had been sent to get Reborn from Takeo's room by his mother, Tsuna figured it was safe to say that Reborn had been asleep the whole time, and wondered how to go about explaining that to Lambo.
Dinner that night was a cheerful and noisy affair, as Lambo clung to Tsuna, who he had dubbed 'Tsuna-nii' and Takeshi and Hayato turned up. Everyone was loudly chatting and laughing, as Tsuna sat there with a serene smile on his face calmly listening to the voices surrounding him, occasionally adding a word or two to a particular discussion, once his brother was gone. The atmosphere had become even more relaxed when Takeo decided he didn't want to remain in the presence of Dame-Tsuna and his friends, and left to eat out.
"It's so good to see you having friends over, Tsu-kun. It's been so long since I've seen you this happy," His mother said cheerfully after everyone had left and they were busy with the dishes, "Your friends are welcome around anytime, don't hesitate to invite them in."'
Tsuna smiled brightly at her as he packed the last of the dishes away and headed up to his room, only to find his mother had set up a futon in his room for Lambo to sleep on. Lying in bed, he smiled happily as he looked back on the day. He was just about to drift off to sleep, when he heard whimpers from Lambo's futon. Turning to see the younger boy, he found him tossing and turning in his bed, as he muttered in his sleep.
"N-no, boss, Lambo-san will b-be good, I-I'll get Reborn for y-you. Lambo-san wants Mama."
Standing up, he walked over to the futon and gently shook the child awake, causing him to cringe in the corner of the futon, "I-it's okay, Lambo. I-it's me, Tsuna-nii, d-do you want to sleep in m-my bed tonight?" He held his arms out slowly to the child, who cautiously crept over to the softly spoken boy. Placing him in the bed, Tsuna lay down next to him and began quietly humming a song he remembered his father used to sing to him, until the smaller child fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Hibari Kyoya had been having a very confusing few months. For one something had stopped him from biting the quiet herbivore to death for breaking the rules and was now forcing him to do his paperwork as punishment, and while it was great that he could now see his desk it was rather confusing that he felt no need to discipline him. For another, he often found himself looking for reasons to punish the herbivores that followed his – the quiet herbivore – around and he wasn't sure why, so in order to find out, he decided to follow him.
The next morning, as he walked to the school, so that he could prepare for the day, he saw Takeshi and Gokudera walking Tsuna to dojo. Wondering why they would be heading there, he decided to follow them.
"Y-you guys know you d-don't have t-to walk me everywhere, r-right? I can g-get to kendo practice b-by myself." The quiet herbivore stuttered, leaving him with a sinking feeling as he realized that he had never spoken to him.
Along with the sinking feeling in his stomach, he had the irritating feeling that someone was following him. It wasn't until he reached the school that he could put a face to the feeling.
A small boy dressed as a cow jumped down from a tree, to land in front of the herbivores, and the quiet herbivore spoke, "L-Lambo, why are y-you following me?"
"Lambo-san wants to stay with Tsuna-nii." The smaller boy was defiant, but hidden beneath the words, a slight tremble could be heard and the sympathy on the smaller herbivore's face was obvious. But that didn't mean he would be allowed to drag him to school, and it seemed the herbivore agreed with him, as his response signified.
"Lambo, I'm g-going to school, you c-cant come; you aren't o-old enough."
Looking on the verge of tears, the boy looked demandingly at his 'brother', "Lambo- san can do whatever Lambo-san wants, and Lambo-san wants to go with Tsuna-nii."
Seeing, by the look on his – the herbivore's face, that he was going to agree, Hibari decided it was time to interrupt. "Herbivores, crowding is forbidden. I'll bite you to death."
It was the fearful expression that crossed the quiet herbivore's face which caused him to pause long enough to allow them to escape, as he cursed the weakness that his herbivore caused him, as he let them all escape.
"Maa, maa, Gokudera, what's up with calling me out and doing a silent stare down?" Takeshi had no clue what was going on. One minute he had been walking to class, the next he had been dragged behind a building by the silver-haired exchange student and his heartbeat had sped up dramatically.
"Listen to me, Baseball Idiot; you are going to stop following Juudaime everywhere."
"What are you talking about? Why would I stay away from Tsuna?" For some reason, he felt disappointed that he'd been dragged here to talk about Tsuna and it took him a moment to realize what the shorter boy was saying.
"I don't know why Juudaime thinks you have what it takes to be member of the family, but I won't accept it. You don't have the dedication required to protect him, all your focus is on baseball."
Realising that Gokudera was doubting his ability to care for the boy he was beginning to see as a younger brother made Takeshi furious. Sure he liked baseball, but Tsuna came before baseball any day.
"How dare you assume that baseball would come before Tsuna? He's like my brother; I would give my life for him!" As the passionate words poured out of him, he found they were all true. He would give his life for Tsuna and that gave him the shock of his life. He'd told his father that true friends were worth dying for, but until now, there had been a part of that doubted those words. Now, he found them completely true, and couldn't help repeating them in a slightly shocked tone, "I'd give my life for him."
For a moment it looked like Gokudera was going to argue, but then he looked into the taller boys eyes and saw something he'd rarely seen in another's eyes; a sense of complete devotion to a person, so deep that they'd give their life for them. It was that look that prevented Gokudera from arguing and instead offering some information to the other teen.
"What do you know about The Family?" the question was asked warily, as the boy looked into Takeshi's eyes.
A feeling of anticipation rose within him as he realized the answers to the unanswered questions that surrounded Tsuna were within reach. Knowing which response would give him the most answers, he immediately gave it, "Nothing."
"This is going to take awhile…" Gokudera began, before launching into an explanation of the mafia in general, and the Vongola in detail, focusing on the tenth and first generations.
Watching from a window as Smokin' Bomb Hayato explained the Vongola to an ordinary school boy, was one of the more surreal experiences of his life. One of the most widely known facts about the bomber was that he refused to cooperate with others. To hear him speak civilly, or at least as close to civil as he got was a shock and it was all due to the eldest Sawada. He had tamed the Smokin' Bomb. He had saved the son of the Shinku Koῡ no Akuma. And he had managed to extract the loyalty of the heir to the Bovino Famiglia.
One thing was sure, the boy was special, and Iemitsu was in for a shock when he arrived.
Later that day, everything had been returned to normal, with the exception of the over-protectiveness Takeshi was displaying towards Tsuna, without any reason that Tsuna could discern. He was still arguing with Hayato over little things, and obsessing over baseball, but it was as though something had changed, as though he had found something more important.
Takeshi meanwhile, was feeling as though his world had been torn apart. Tsuna was in the Mafia, Hayato was in the mafia, the baby who followed Takeshi around was a famous assassin, but the most shocking thing he'd found out, was that his father had once been a famous assassin. His father; the sushi chef, had once been considered the best hit man in his generation. He had been known as Shinku Koῡ no Akuma and was famous for never leaving a mission unfinished, and having some sort of mysterious connection with Tsuna's dad, who was apparently known as the Young Lion of the Vongola. It was all so hard to understand. If it had been anyone else explaining it to him he probably would have thought it was a game, or joke. As it was he was hard-pressed to believe the story. As far as he was concerned, there was only one way to find out the truth; he needed to speak to his father.
Sitting through class with the information he had been given was torture. He couldn't sit still, couldn't concentrate, he couldn't do anything useful at all. Basically all he could do was turn Hayato's words over in his head as he worried about Tsuna. If what Hayato had said was true, he could be a target for assassination by being Takeo's brother.
The moment the bell rang, he was up and running out the door, sending a quick wave towards Hayato and Tsuna, he sprinted home, knowing that his father would be at home by this time. Running through the door, he was pleased to see that his father was indeed home, and, by the looks of it alone. Giving a quick glance around the house to ensure they were alone, Takeshi allowed an uncharacteristically serious look to cross his face, as he turned towards his father.
"Tou-san, are you a member of the mafia?"
The resigned expression that crossed his face at the question was the only answer he needed, and he allowed himself to sink to the ground, against the wall. Closing his eyes tiredly, he let out a sigh, it seemed that Hayato had been telling the truth. His voice gained a childish tinge as he once again faced his father, "Why didn't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"
Jumping to his feet, the older man, hurried over to his son and slid to the ground beside him, "Of course I trust you! I didn't want you involved in the mafia, and I thought if you didn't know about my past, things would be easier. Your mother never knew that I was involved in the mafia, she thought I'd always been a sushi chef, and I saw no reason to correct her, it just seemed easier to be normal."
Thinking about his father's words, Takeshi couldn't help but agree, he may want to be mad at his father, but it was true, being normal must be easier, but… "Do you miss being an assassin?"
A thoughtful look crossed Tsuyoshi's face at his son's query, "You know what, I don't think I do. I miss the drama and some of my friends, but I don't miss the actual killing."
Happy with the answer his father had given, the younger of the two stood to leave, before turning back to his father, and asking the other question that had been bugging him all day, "How do you know Tsuna's dad? Hayato-kun, said the two of you used to spend a lot of time together, before you left the mafia."
At that, his father's face turned bright red, "We were good… friends, back in the day."
The pause that came before the word pause was significant as the older man considered what he should tell his son.
Knowing his father was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth; Takeshi let it go and sent his father a smile as he left the room, resolving to find out the truth.
Meanwhile in Italy, The Vongola Nono's office was in chaos, as he searched through filing cabinets for the head of CEDEF's leave request form, which was apparently missing. Turning to face the man who was causing all this chaos, he couldn't resist questioning the man one more time.
"Are you sure you handed in the leave form?"
"Yes, I am!" The blonde man snapped, "Just as sure as I have been every single time this has happened! I'm sure you've heard the saying; 'Once is happenstance, Twice is circumstance, Three times is enemy action.' This has happened so many times I'm over it! I haven't seen my family in eight years, and according to Yoshi, I've missed way too much. One of my sons is a bully and the other is a voluntary mute! This has gone on long enough, leave form or no leave form, I'm going home." Finishing his tirade, the younger man turned to storm out of the room only to be stopped by his boss.
"I know how you feel, believe me, I do. But you can't just leave the CEDEF without a leader. You have responsibilities here." The older man said sadly.
Looking relieved that there was no objection to him leaving, Iemitsu immediately to his boss's remarks, "I've already organised it. Turmeric will deal with any immediate concerns, while the rest will be dealt with by me via video conferencing, emails and faxing. Yoshi has agreed to let me borrow his fax machine until I can get one set up, so that paperwork can be sent down to me, I can sign it and fax it back. Everything will be fine."
"While that is excellent I do have one question for you… Who is this Yoshi you keep mentioning, is he trustworthy?"
The blonde man looked confused for a moment, before understanding and sheepishness crossed his face as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh that's right, you never heard the nicknames. Yoshi is Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, or, as you probably know him better, Shinku Koῡ no Akuma."
At the younger man's admittance, Nono looked shocked, "Do you mean to tell me that you call one of the best assassins of your generation, Yoshi?"
"He's not an assassin anymore, he's a sushi chef," Iemitsu added helpfully, before turning slightly petulant, "Besides, he insisted on calling me Mitsu, so I had to get him back somehow."
The older man burst out laughing before turning to regard his subordinate fondly as he left the room, "Only you, Iemitsu… Only you."
Glossary
Baka – Idiot
Chan – is mainly for girls. Chan expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, and teenage girls. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, and close friends.
Dame – No Good
Decimo - Tenth
Hai – Yes
Hajimaru – Begin
Ippon – a point in kendo
Kaa-san – Mum, Mother
Kata - is a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements practised either solo or in pairs. The term form is used for the corresponding concept in non-Japanese martial arts in general
Kun – is used by people of senior status in addressing or referring to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or teenagers. It can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long period of time.
Nii - Brother
San – Similar to Mr. or Mrs, respectful term of address.
Senpai - a senior or superior in any academic or corporate organization in society
Sensei – Teacher, doctor, professor.
Shinku Koῡ no Akuma – Demon of the Crimson Downpour
Teme- Bastard
Tonfa - also known as tong fa or tuifa, is an Okinawan weapon. It is a stick with a handle, and is about 15-20 inches long. It was traditionally made from red oak and wielded in pairs
Tou-san – Father, dad