Don't own KHR.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Express Yourself


Tsuna blinked his eyes open sleepily, looking down for a moment. He smiled slightly as he acknowledged Skull lying beside him, curled up to his chest and breathing softly, clearly deep in the throes of sleep and he mumbled a little and burrowed closer to Tsuna for warmth. As Tsuna started to fall back to sleep, his Intuition chimed, telling him that something was different in the room from last night.

His brows furrowing in puzzlement, the brunette looked up only to lock eyes onto red and blue. His mind froze, confused. They definitely were not in bed with Tsuna and Skull last night. A smirk crossed the other boy's face. "Kufufu, good morning, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"HIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" The screech that left Tsuna's mouth was louder than the any other he'd made yet and it showed. There were thumps on either side of the bed, followed by muffled but childish cursing from the other side of Mukuro. But Tsuna had already whipped around to stare at who'd apparently been sleeping behind him.

Chikusa stared back in annoyance. "Must you be so loud?" He asked even as he slipped back into the bed, making Tsuna scoot a little closer to the middle of the bed to give him some room.

"Yeah, come on Tsuna! We were sleeping before you'd screamed," an annoyed voice said behind Mukuro, and Tsuna sat up a little to see Ken glaring sleepily at him before shamelessly curling beside the older bluenette.

Tsuna was about to shriek again, but more along the lines of, "why were you sleeping in my bed?!" before a voice rose up in response to all of the others. "Go back to sleep, Tsuna-nii. It's too early." Skull yawned as if to prove his point before rolling over and curling into Mukuro's chest. Tsuna was still too tired to notice many things, but he didn't miss the way Mukuro's eyes widened slightly, shooting the snoring five year old a startled, confused look before hiding it away once more.

It's too early for this, Tsuna finally agreed with the Arcobaleno, feeling Chikusa shift closer as he did the same, and the warmth began seeping into the brunette's bones, making him drowsy once more. "Wake me up in a few hours, Mukuro-san." He was asleep before he got a confirmation from the other boy, but he was indeed a few hours later, and promptly thanked Mukuro for doing so.

The boy gave him a bemused smile and brushed off his thanks, but his Intuition told him that Mukuro was pleased, as was Skull from his perch on Tsuna's head.

Nana had been quite happy to take the other three boys in while they figured out their living conditions, giving them all the guest room that was kept ready for any unexpected visitors (and Tsuna wished that that included his father, but it sadly did not). The children…weren't as enthusiastic, keeping Tsuna and Skull between them and the woman at all times. From what Tsuna understood of their situation, that made a great deal of sense, and he had been helping them try and find a house they were comfortable with since then.

Dinner was a quieter affair, with Tsuna and Skull providing a good deal of it and trying to distract Nana if she directed a question to the other three boys, who had refused to speak to her and even refused to eat until Skull had taken a piece of food off of Mukuro's plate and pulled them into a game of trying to take one another's food without ruining any of it in the process. That distracted them enough for Nana to simply enjoy watching them have fun and Tsuna to let out a mental sigh of relief.

After that the other boys sat with Tsuna in their new room, Ken sniffing around suspiciously and Chikusa more polite but just as suspicious by his side. Mukuro just gave the room a cursory glance before dark blue Flame spilled out of his finger tips and edged around the room. With the protection set up the children talked in an effort to get to know one another, the three former Estraneo all suspicious but open to the idea.

Mukuro had tried to badger Skull into telling him more about his ancestor, but the Arcobaleno just gave him a flat look. "I'll tell you tomorrow when we meet up with Hibari," he said instead. "His and your ancestor had quite the history as allies and rivals." That placated Mukuro for the time being, and he instead joined the others in getting to know Tsuna – but was much more touchy-feely about it.

Skull and Tsuna left a few hours later, Tsuna having a blush on his face after the older boys had taken turns petting his hair, and Skull yawning tiredly from his draining discussion of Estraneo and their experiments on him that Mukuro finally got out of him. "They'll need help," Skull noted quietly, and Tsuna nodded. "We can help them," the child continued, and Tsuna nodded again.

"We will," he promised, and Skull hummed in quiet relief.

And then they awoke to this craziness.

"Bye, Kaa-san!" Skull and Tsuna cried out in unison, waving at Nana as they left the house, Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa a step ahead of them in their eagerness to get out of the house.

"You're mom creeps me out, Tsuna," Ken was quick to admit, rubbing at the scar over his nose sheepishly. "She just has this vacant gaze to her, like she doesn't want to know what's going on outside of her personal sphere. Like a…sheep, I guess. Just waiting for the shepherd to move her from place to place."

Tsuna bristled a little at the others words but let out a sad sigh. "Yeah; I don't think she'll ever truly live until my dad comes home and stays home. It's all she seems to live for anymore."

"Then you'll have a long wait," Chikusa told him bluntly, with some remorse for his newfound friend. "Your father is a member of the Vongola, correct? They'll kill him if he backs out, and he'll probably not want to leave of his own free will if he's in a high enough position. Such is the double-edged sword of the mafia."

Tsuna nodded his understanding, but Skull looked mulish and Tsuna himself had the slow fire of resentment burning in his stomach. "That's not true," the purple-haired child denied. "I've been alive for quite some time, and I know how to jump the mafia ship with ease at this point." Skull frowned a little. "He just isn't trying to get out. And he's in a high enough position, and he's been there a while now; he could step down without any problem."

The former Estraneo kids were quiet after that, thinking about Tsuna and Skull's words. They eventually ended up at Hibari's house, who eyed them all but it was with a far less hostile emotion than when Skull and Tsuna first spoke to him. It may have only been a few weeks, but they had all changed a little from then, Hibari not the least. His earlier curiosity of Mukuro was still there, Tsuna noted as they stepped out into the backyard.

And Mukuro was easily returning it, obviously tempted to test his illusions against the skylark until Skull jumped down from Tsuna's shoulder and nudged his ankle. "Don't even think about it," the Arcobaleno told him, and when Mukuro shot him a sullen look, he relented a little. "You might be allowed to play with your illusions soon. I just need to figure something out."

Mukuro and Hibari both nodded in (reluctant) acceptance and stood in a line with the others as Skull was in front of them. "I think I've been teaching Tsuna wrong," he admitted, thinking aloud. "Your access of the Dying Will Flames makes this difficult to pinpoint, so I'll just ask. Did your Flames of Wrath feel stronger, or your Intuition?"

"Intuition," Tsuna answered easily. "I didn't really feel connected to my Flames of Wrath like I do my Intuition."

Skull took in this information and smacked his forehead quietly. "Stupid, stupid Skull," he muttered, just loud enough for them to hear him. "It doesn't matter how long it's been since you've seen it; you should've recognize the signs."

"Skull?" Tsuna asked, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Just peachy," Skull groused. "I've just been going about training you the completely wrong way. You're an Internal Sky, Tsuna-nii."

Tsuna blinked in confusion. "Okay…what does that mean?"

Skull sighed a little and sat down, gesturing at the others to do the same. "Alright, so as you know Flames can be divided into seven separate groups; Sky, Storm, Cloud, Mist, Rain, Lightning, and Sun." He paused and didn't continue until the children all nodded at him. "Well there's actually a further difference between each individual branch, called Flame Expression.

"Each branch of the Seven Flames of the Sky has the potential to be naturally Internal or naturally External. You can figure out which one you are based on how your Flame naturally interacts with the world around you. For instance," Skull gestured at Tsuna for a moment. "As Tsuna-nii said, his Intuition is easy for him access compared to our attempts to access his Flames for combat purposes. Hibari, on the other hand is an External Cloud as he is having an easy time accessing his Flames through meditation.

"You have an easier time improving the bond with your Flames through meditation if they're naturally External, and exercise if they're naturally Internal. This is because you're doing the opposite of what your Flames are naturally born to do, so it helps stretch your Flames' abilities and your own. You can improve your Flame by doing a lot of what it's inclined to do, but it won't be as effective. I am an Internal Cloud, actually, but those are so rare that I've always played it by ear on how to train myself. And I've told you what I'm fairly certain Tsuna and Hibari's Flame Expressions are. What about you three?" He finally directed a question at Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa, who started a little at the abrupt question.

"Kufufu," Mukuro chuckled a little. "I believe that I'm an Internal, based on your criteria. I have an easier time possessing people with my Mist Flames, but couldn't create illusions as easily before I was put through the Six Paths of Hell."

"I'm probably an External," Ken grunted, scratching at his scar. "I've seen yellow Flames when I look in my mind to see the Animal Channels I've gone through, and then they appear on my hands."

"So they appear after you do something meditative." Skull nodded in understanding, before turning to the last one. "And you?"

Chikusa pushed his glasses up contemplatively. "…Internal," he finally told them, but offered no reasoning as to why.

Skull shrugged and nodded. "If it isn't we'll find out soon enough. Now that I know what the hell I'm doing now, we'll be training you all on the same thing at the same time. So Internal training in the morning, and External training in the afternoon. Any questions?"

Hibari spoke up then, curious despite himself. "What is Internal training?"

Skull's grin was just shy of unnerving, and had Tsuna and Chikusa leaning away without noticing. "Exercise. Lots, and lots, of exercise. We'll begin with a classic game: Hide and Go Seek. Only we're going to add our Flames to it. The seeker can use their Flames however they wish, so long as it doesn't kill the hiders, to hunt the hiders down. The hiders are allowed to use their Flames to impede other hiders or help themselves. No one is allowed to leave the designated area, which will now be…the Namimori forest. Let's get started."

The purple-haired child got on Mukuro's shoulder and they all tromped off to the forest. As they went there Tsuna saw Sasagawa Ryohei running about, shouting "EXTREME" as he usually does, and smiled in amusement as Skull made confused noises. They also saw Yamamoto Takeshi, Skull rubbing his eyes in disbelief and staring at him in incomprehension. "I don't understand," he finally muttered, to the group's confusion.

When they finally got there, Skull jumped off Mukuro's shoulder, tagging Hibari's leg as he ran into the forest. "Hibari-san's it! On your mark, get set, go!"

The group stared at one another, before the situation kicked in and they ran off, Tsuna laughing as he did so. He tripped from time to time, but he could hear Hibari on Ken's tail by the cursing emanating from his left. Tsuna giggled a little as he hid himself in the trees, watching Mukuro subtly trick Chikusa into going closer to Hibari's range.

What a way to start the day, Tsuna thought, even as laughter overtook him.


The children all lay on the grass in the Namimori forest, gasping for breath. Mukuro was the first one to be able to speak, and smugly did so. "It appears that I won, Kyouya-kun."

"Lies," the skylark hissed back. "You only won the last round; I won the previous two. And who gave you permission to use my first name?"

"I won the first one!" Ken jumped in, too tired to snarl and simply bared his teeth at both of the bickering boys. "Don't lie!"

"Hmm," Mukuro gave Ken that and gazed blankly up at the treetops. "So we tied."

"…Indeed." Kyouya agreed, scowling a little in irritation. "We will break the tie next time."

"You have yourself a deal, Kyouya-kun." Mukuro didn't even twitch as he was hit with a branch that Hibari found nearby in retaliation for using his first name, and instead turned his head to look around tiredly. "Chikusa? Tsunayoshi-kun? You're both quiet. And where's Skull-chan?"

"We're here," Tsuna called out, with Chikusa making a confirming sound as well. Tsuna was ready to sleep where he was lying. Was this what Flame Exhaustion felt like? "And I haven't seen Skull."

"I'm over here." A voice emerged from the trees, and Tsuna made a sound as he felt the press of a cold water bottle against his forehead. He heard the others copy him when he assumed that Skull did the same to them, and sat up to take a sip from the water. Skull walked back over and sat beside Tsuna, correctly assuming that the brunet was too overheated for him to sit in his lap without complaint. "So? What did you guys think of this exercise?"

"It was fun," Tsuna admitted, perking up a little as he remembered something. "Oh! And my Flames came out a few times! They helped me jump farther and run faster."

"My connection to my Flames feels a little stronger," Mukuro confirmed, Chikusa making another agreeing sound as he was still too tired to speak.

"I do not feel a stronger connection to my Flame, but using my Flames to achieve a specific goal was beneficial," Hibari reported, crushing the bottle he'd already emptied.

Ken was blunter on his opinion of the matter. "It was fun!" The feral boy grinned. "I can't wait to do it again!"

Skull grinned back. "Good. The next Internal training will be in…two days; tomorrow we're getting you guys into school and figuring out your study schedules, and then we'll do some training. Any questions?"

Mukuro, who had laid back down and relaxed on the grass, propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the Arcobaleno. "You said you would tell me a story about my ancestor. Can I hear it already, Skull-chan?"

"Right, right. Stories…" Skull trailed off thoughtfully before perking back up. "I know! Okay, so Tsuna-nii, Hibari-san, and Mukuro-kun's great great great grandfathers all knew each other, in fact they were all a part of a vigilante group that Tsuna's ancestor started. But Hibari-san and Mukuro-kun's ancestors, Alaude and Daemon Spade, did not get along, at all. And so they tended to try and…prank isn't the right word; Daemon tried to trick Alaude, and Alaude did his best not to react to annoy Daemon. Well one day, Daemon finally managed to get a reaction out of Alaude; he actually managed to get him to laugh."

"What did he do?" Ken asked, curious as the three whose ancestors were mentioned hung onto his every word.

Skull paused, before a very amused smile slipped onto his face. "He used his Mist Flames to make Giotto – Tsuna's ancestor – think that he was a girl for the entirety of the day. So Giotto had a very serious meeting with Alaude in his office…whilst wearing a fairly poofy dress and makeup on his face. Alaude took one look and had a coughing fit before giving up and full on laughing, which startled Giotto out of the Mist Flame illusion. Then he saw the outfit he was wearing and shrieked to high heaven. It echoed."

There was a startled silence that fell over the group, before they turned as one to Tsuna, trying to picture him in a dress. Chikusa's lips began to twitch. Mukuro looked far too considering. Ken was clearly trying to hold his laughter in, clutching at his stomach.

Then Hibari coughed.

And all were lost in the throes of hilarity, Tsuna included.


Bonding! And world development! I honestly think the Internal/External thing could be canon; we typically see two different versions of each Flame, with people being one version or another.

I am really struggling with chapter 8; this is a warning as that means I don't know when it will be posted.

As a note, they can learn the other half; Reborn is capable of healing, it just wouldn't come as naturally to him as it would an Internal Sun. External Mists have a better chance of learning to teleport, but Mukuro can still learn it. And it is better to train both aspects of Flame Expression, which is also why Skull has them all doing both exercises.

And for reference:

Internal Cloud: Cell replication healing factor; changing size of objects. Example: Skull

External Cloud: Greater natural fighting ability; replication. Example: Hibari

Internal Mist: Stronger grasp on their sense of reality; easier time possessing others. Example: Mukuro

External Mist: Better illusions; more capable of inserting their perception of reality. Example: Viper

Internal Rain: Greater mental stability if they don't have a Sky; better emotional and mental control/stability. Example: Chikusa

Internal Sky: Stronger Intuition; stronger Harmonizing perhaps. Example: Tsuna

External Sun: Better at augmenting natural physical aspects (ie speed, strength, endurance). Example: Ken, Reborn

More will be revealed and explained as we go.

Please review.

Ja ne!