Tsuna's face scrunched up as something wet landed on his face. He shifted in his sleep.
And then snapped awake because he couldn't move.
"HIEEEEE!" Tsuna shrieked, ignoring the fallback to his dame days. Ropes had been carefully tied to dangle him over a fast flowing river. He shivered, grateful that the madness of yesterday caused him to go to bed in normal clothes. He wriggled before freezing when his Intuition pinged.
Hopefully he wasn't kidnapped again, the blood was a pain to clean up last time.
Tsuna huffed, going limp again. Most kidnappers didn't tie up their victims over rivers though. The only question was who would? He had a good feeling he already knew that answer.
"FISHY!" Tsuna winced as he came out of his thoughts, looking down and over to the riverbank. Ieyatsu had just stepped out from the tree line and froze up at the sight of his beloved younger brother in trouble. Gokudera rushed past him.
"Jyuudaime's brother! Are you okay!" Gokudera yelled. Oh yes he was great, Tsuna thought irritably, this was better than a spa day.
"Haha, he looks like a piñata!" Yamamoto said. Dino emerged behind the baseball player and winced.
"A real manly boss would be able to rescue their younger brother." Reborn chirped from a tree branch. Tsuna fixed him with a stink eye as Reborn pulled out a watch. "You should hurry. That rope won't last forever." Tsuna went pale. Was this some sort of tactic to deal with possible heirs?
"We'll save you! Don't panic!" Ieyatsu yelled. Tsuna shrieked as the rope started to fray and he slowly dropped closer to the river below.
He was going to pour out all of Reborn's espresso if he survived this!
Or not because Reborn probably would shoot him.
"I've got this!" Dino said, pulling out his whip. For a moment, Tsuna felt sweet relief flood his body.
Quickly replaced by horror when he realized Dino's subordinates weren't around. The horror grew exponentially as he watched Dino flicked his whip around and squirmed when a strike nearly hit his cheek.
His Intuition pinged just before he heard the rope snap. Tsuna screamed as he hurtled toward the river below. This was how he was going to die (again). Drowned in a river.
Tsuna was going to haunt Dino for the rest of his life.
"Tsuna!" Ieyatsu's yell drowned out all the others. Except for a hissing noise… What was that annoying noise? And why was it so familiar?
Tsuna whimpered as the dynamite went off and he was thrown to the side. He hit the riverbank with a grunt as the air went out of his lungs. Tsuna just laid there for a minute, contemplating whether going back to sleep was an option.
Abruptly, he was yanked up from the ground and spun around. "Tsu-chan! I thought I had lost you!" Ieyatsu said. Yamamoto laughed.
"That was some good time with your fireworks, Hayato." He said. Gokudera glared.
"They aren't fireworks, Baseball Idiot! And I couldn't let Jyuudaime's brother get hurt." Gokudera glared.
"You saved him but Ieyatsu failed." Reborn said, looking disturbingly gleeful about the prospect. Leon shifted into a mallet. Ieyatsu spun around and Tsuna squeaked at the sudden motion.
"Eh?"
"A boss shouldn't make their Guardians do all the work. So you will have to do remedial training." Reborn said. Tsuna shivered as he realized what day it was. Huh. He had been hoping to never come back to this mountain. Tsuna idly slammed his foot into Ieyatsu's chest, forcing his older brother to drop him. He landed on his feet, throwing himself to the side to dodge Ieyatsu's next lunge.
"Dino! I missed you!" Yeah that New Year Celebration was interesting. Too bad he fell asleep under a delightfully warm kotatsu. He jumped up and Dino fumbled but safely caught him. Tsuna cooed as he snuggled into Dino's deliciously soft coat.
"UNHAND MY BROTHER REPTILE!" Tsuna rolled his eyes, settling down in Dino's arm. Reborn cheerfully used it as an excuse to whack Ieyatsu.
"Don't disrespect an older boss, Dame Ieyatsu."
"I'll save him for you Jyuudaime!" Gokudera yelled.
"Everyone should just calm down."
Tsuna closed his eyes. Totally not his problem.
It didn't mean he didn't wake up with a snap when he heard Ieyatsu's screams from the cold waterfall, oh no. "Just watching him makes me cold." Gokudera said, shivering slightly.
"Why didn't you wear warmer clothes?" Tsuna asked curiously. It was a tad chilly. He kind of wished Natsu was here to be his space heater.
A fire seemed to light in Gokudera's eyes. "Boss needed me! I'll be naked if that's what it took to help boss!" Gokudera cried. Yamamoto laughed.
"Always a jokester Hayato." Tsuna's smile got a little unsettles. Gokudera would and had once done that for him in a panic after being told his beloved boss was kidnapped. It was awkward to say the least. Did all Guardian circles have an obsessed one?
Now he was glad Gokudera, Levi, and Genkishi hadn't made that fan club like they were discussing.
Tsuna burst out in peals of laughter as the large duck smashed down on Ieyatsu. "Silly Ieyatsu." He giggled.
"I don't want to do this anymore! I'll just leave!" Tsuna winced at those words. He had actually attempted that once. He made it about halfway before tripping into a nest of spiders that spit venom. He was in the hospital for weeks after that and Reborn dragged him back for punishment training.
"Your next task is to survive." Reborn said, casually tossing Enzo in the water. Tsuna's eyes widened as the turtle grew and grew.
How was this training again? Ah yes, fight turtle Godzilla. Tsuna squeaked as he was picked up like a football and Ieyatsu sprinted away. "Don't worry, Tsuna, Big brother has you!" That would a lot more reassuring if his brother didn't immediately stumble on air.
"Over the bridge!" Tsuna screeched as for the second time that day, he was in free fall. Ieyatsu flailed and he was almost violently thrown away from the older boy.
I nearly died a lot, Tsuna thought numbly.
He also regretted a lot. Tsuna curled into a ball, hand closing over the Earth ring. He reached deep inside and for a few seconds his eyes seemed to glow rusty red. His fall seemed to slow… Then the fire slipped out of reach and Tsuna grunt as he smacked into a tree branch before falling to the ground with a thump. He laid there for a second.
This was going to hurt in the morning.
Tsuna hissed as he unfurled and wobbly stood up. Definitely going to have bruises tomorrow. He stumbled through the undergrowth to where his brother was.
At least Ieyatsu had already woken up. "I don't have any bars." Gokudera said, waving his phone around.
"My satellite phone will work! Uh… Did it always look like this?" Dino said sheepishly. Tsuna eyed the two separate phone halves and sighed.
"Ahhhhh!" Reborn swung in. Tsuna clapped his hands happily.
"Your costume is adorable!" Tsuna said and Ieyatsu snarled. Reborn casually threw a rock at his dame student.
"You failed. If it wasn't for Enzo falling over… Good luck getting off the mountain. We left all the food up there too." Reborn said. The hitman disappeared into the forest, ignoring Ieyatsu's shriek of rage.
Tsuna cheerfully bounced along after them as they set off on an undoubtedly epic adventure.
"I nearly got eaten! Multiple times!" Ieyatsu shrieked. Tsuna rolled his eyes at his over dramatic brother.
"Only halfway." He said. That didn't stop him from lighting up when Bianchi emerged from the cave, easily carrying Gokudera along. "Bianchi! I missed you!" Bianchi set Gokudera down and ruffled the younger boy's hair.
"This mountain seems like fun. I came for ingredients." Bianchi said.
"You've been gone for days! What have you been eating?" Dino asked. Bianchi held up a skewer.
"Poisonous mushrooms. Want some?" Bianchi said. Ieyatsu cringed back away from the skewer. Tsuna considered it. It's not like Reborn hadn't drilled poisons into his head.
"I'll pass. Kyoko, Haru, what are you guys doing here?" He asked. Tsuna beamed at the girls.
"I heard of a cake shop on a mountain and invited Kyoko along. Then we decided to take the kids but we got lost and Lambo tried leading but it didn't help. We got here this afternoon." Kyoko said.
"Stupid Lambo! If you don't know the way, don't lead!" Ieyatsu yelled. Lambo started to cry and Tsuna spitefully kicked Ieyatsu in the shin. Now that was just mean.
"Wait, why wasn't I invited to this cake shop?" Tsuna said, pouting adorably. Cake was amazing.
"Haru and I didn't see you this morning." Kyoko said. Tsuna twitched at the theme music coming back. Oh yeah, he had been dangling over a river. He forgot about that.*
But still. He ignored the others as he gathered wood and had to fight the urge to slam in his head into a tree. Oh however shall we light this fire, Ieyatsu it's not you set yourself on fire regularly now. Or how Gokudera instantly lights his dynamite without a lighter. Tsuna sat down, not offering help on their conundrum.
Forest fires build character. Or at least Reborn says they do.
Tsun watched as the dynamite goes off course and the fire quickly spread. "Evacuate into the cave!" Dino yelled. Said cave was promptly turned into rubble. Tsuna giggled.
"Lambo throw more grenades. Those totally help with forest fires." Tsuna said. The cow boy screeched louder, only eclipsed by Ieyatsu's horrified screaming.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tsuna saw movement. His head automatically jerked to the side to watch Reborn fire the Leon gun. Instinctively he traced the path, ready to jerk out of the way if necessary.
Ieyatsu screeches, snatching the Leon dousers out of the air and pacing around the clearing. Tsuna face palmed, retreating behind a confused Haru. And just in time because Ieyatsu slams his fist down on the ground and water exploded up, knocking Ieyatsu backwards.
Tsuna shook his head. Now he can see why Reborn was so sadistic. Some of the stuff seemed better fit for anime than real life.
Now to warn them or not? Tsuna glimpsed a growing green shape through the trees and started running. They could find out about Enzo on their own. Tsuna wheezed, stumbling as a particularly shrill scream went off. Looked like they just found out.
Reborn was very slightly irritated.
As part of his contract, he also had to feel out Tsunayoshi Sawada as a possible heir as well. Nono was set on the older brother but it never hurt to have a back up. Especially in their world.
It looked simple on the surface. Tsunayoshi seemed intelligent and had a gleeful sadistic streak when it came to his brother. Plus he was never Sealed.
But his flames stumped Reborn and the hitman hated that.
There had been that flash when I-pin first arrived. Tsuna had slowed his fall for a moment. And the Dying Will bullet had produced reddish-orange flames. It was Sky but a variant somehow. Not Wrath flames, the coloring wasn't right and neither was the younger's temperament.
Reborn had watched the cliff fall with a more analytical eye. It happened again but failed quickly. But it was there.
So he was dealing with a Dame student and the other had a Sky variant he wasn't sure about.
Well, Reborn thought, he was always one for a challenge. So he called up the Vongola Archive and asked them to send any material on any different flames or Sky variants. He would figure it out and then use it to train the boy into the ground. A sadistic smirk slipped across his face.
Far away, a Tuna sneezed as they left an excitable dog in their brother's hospital room.
Tsuna hummed, adjusting the cute dog ears headband as they walked down the road. He completely ignored the suited men sprinting around instead turning into a gated yard. The chihuahua yipped, running forward for an ear rub. "Hi boy! Ready to visit my brother?" Tsuna said, smiling mischievously. "Oh?"
There was someone hiding in the doghouse. Tsuna walked forward, crouching down. "Why are you hiding?" Tsuna whispered. He nearly started to smile when it all clicked. Ranking Fuuta. The next member of his little family.
"You're Ieyatsu's brother?" Fuuta whispered. Tsuna nodded enthusiastically, nearly knocking his headband off.
"Yep! Do you need to see him?" Tsuna said. Fuuta lit up, nodding happily.
"Yes, please!" The other boy crawled out. "I'm Fuuta."
"I'm Tsuna! Come on, I know a great way to get in with nobody noticing." Tsuna said. Technically he rarely used this route because it took a lot of climbing which was really annoying when he was tiny. But Fuuta was in trouble and this route took them around back, away from any mafioso.
Tsuna let Fuuta into Ieyatsu's room before leaving to clean up. Tree sap got everywhere when you had to crawl through bushes. Almost as an afterthought, he slipped into his recently completed ninja costume. Natsu gao'd from the bed before settling in to sleep. Tsuna stuck his tongue out at the lazy lion.
He finally arrived in the middle of Reborn's little animals speech. Tsuna had to admire Fuuta's form, the wide eyes and sparkles gave off a very cute look. Tsuna scoffed. He could do better.
"Fine. You can stay." Ieyatsu said. Tsuna giggled at Ieyatsu's reluctance, rolling sneakily across the floor to the bed.
"Why not get ranked?" Reborn said. Fuuta smiled softly.
"Well if it's for Iey-nii than I don't mind." Tsuna snapped a photo. Fuuta was definitely high in the cuteness rankings.
"Hello!" Haru said, walking in. Ieyatsu flailed, spinning around swiftly to gape at the girl.
"Haru! Stop inviting yourself in my house!" Ieyatsu yelled. Haru put her hands on her hips.
"Nana asked for help taking the laundry inside before it rained. Wait is this your secret younger brother!" Haru said, pointing towards Fuuta.
"Of course not!"
"I have another big brother!" Tsuna said happily. Ieyatsu jerked around.
"I would love to be your younger brother!" Fuuta said, eyes shining.
"No! He is not my younger brother!" Ieyatsu said, waving his arms around.
"Is this some kind of fortune telling thing? Ooh, rank my top three charm points!" Haru said. Ieyatsu face faulted into the table.
Tsuna reined in the eye twitch as he began to float in midair. "Ah! Tsuna!" Ieyatsu said. Fuuta stared into the distance.
"Ranking Star can you hear me?" Tsuna blinked in confusion as the Earth ring warmed. Whatever Fuuta was doing, it felt weird. Sort of like Guardian weird, was that even a thing?
Tsuna snapped back in as Lambo screeched, gravity quickly failing him. Shrugging, Tsuna bounced off the wall, flipping through the air. "Tsuna is ranked 27 out of 1000 for 'Girlier than a Girl'" Fuuta said. Tsuna sulked in midair, twisting to dodge Bianchi.
He only wore dresses once a week now! And it wasn't his fault that the Earth ring bow tie also went well in his hair as a bow!
Though… Tsuna flipped his camera to video just in time to catch Gokudera's perfect job as a nanny. Blackmail was blackmail after all. "Number one for who Ieyatsu loves most is Natsu." Ieyatsu stumbled back, looking stricken.
"Ieyatsu how could you! I thought you love me!" Tsuna said, allowing tears to well up in his eyes. Ieyatsu waved his hands.
"Don't listen to him! It's not true!" He said frantically. Tsuna floated over to Reborn, dramatically sobbing.
"Iey doesn't love meeeee." He whined pitifully. Reborn steadfastly patted his shoulder with a deadpan look.
"Number one for who Tsuna loves is Leon." Tsuna acknowledged it with a shrug. Leon was a pretty awesome chameleon.
"That was unexpected." Bianchi remarked.
Haru sobbed by the window. "Haru's heart is crying just like the rain outside." She said. Fuuta's eyes faded back and he fell onto the bed. Tsuna hit the bed with a thump as well as gravity suddenly returned.
"I hate rain. I always get so weak during it. My rankings become useless." Fuuta said. Tsuna patted Fuuta's head.
"It's theorized that rain interferes with Fuuta's connection to the Ranking Star." Reborn said.
"So I'm not in love with Natsu!" Ieyatsu cheered. Tsuna huffed. At least he got it on video but he wanted more embarrassing stuff! And a chance to take a look at Fuuta. How did he fit that giant book in his jacket? Earth flames again? He barely noticed Bianchi walking out.
"Guys, there are a lot of umbrellas outside." Everyone rushed to the window.
"It's the Todd famiglia. They must be after Ranking Fuuta. Tsuna ninja'd closer before scowling darkly.
"Bianchi! Is she going to fight them?" Ieyatsu said. With a single glare, the men parted and Bianchi walked away.
"Haha, guess not." Yamamoto remarked. Looked like that was his cue. Tsuna leaped off the bed and headed out the room. With a hop, skip, and a jump, he was clambering out of a window overlooking the backyard. He squeaked as an explosion rocked the house before jumping to the fence wall.
But super cool like because he was a ninja.
Just on time, Ieyatsu darted out, carrying Fuuta. Tsuna waited patiently until the mafiosos showed up.
It was like a game of leapfrog. One of the really horrible ones that Reborn made him play with live explosives. Tsuna bounced around, before sprinting along a fence wall. He made it to the park with time to spare, settling on top of the swings.
"Enzo is ranked 55th for most ambitious. He'll definitely double cross the others and take the Ranking book for himself." Tsuna smiled, snapping a picture.
"What!" The boss snarled, socking Enzo. Fuuta hurriedly pulled out his book.
"Fuuta now is your chance! Don't start writing now!" Ieyatsu yelled.
"But I'll forget!" Fuuta protested. Tsuna stood, calculating angles, trajectory, all the stupid stuff Spanner hammered into his head.**
"It's too late. Now why don't you just hand over the kid." The Todd boss growled. And then the Dying Will bullet hit Ieyatsu.
"Ieyatsu-nii!" Fuuta cried. Tsuna jumped, cannon balling into the weird mohawk guy. The man cursed and stumbled. Tsuna grinned wickedly, clinging on stubbornly. He ignored Ieyatsu's scream to smack the dude in the ear, causing a particularly rude slur to skip out.
"Momma said swears make angels cry." Tsuna said, completely deadpan.*** He leaped backwards, barely avoiding getting crushed when the man fell. Tsuna instead trotted up to Fuuta.
"Are you alright?" He asked. Fuuta looked down with a watery smile that made his heart warm. The Earth ring warmed again, bringing a feeling almost like harmony. Like when he had Enma as a friend and ally. It was nice.
"I want to stay with you guys! My rankings were wrong for the first time!" Fuuta cheered. Ieyatsu awkwardly stood there as Fuuta hugged him. Tsuna smiled, slipping into the shadows easily.
Looked like Fuuta was a part of the family again.
His eyes flicked to the side as the pair walked off together. Tsuna drew back into the shadows as a very familiar henchman walked up.****
Looks like it was time for dinner! Tsuna legged it from the park and ended up sprinting the entire way home.
*Tsuna blanks out some of the more boring tor-training.
**Multiple times because apparently flying was super complicated. Tsuna thought it was the scientists who made it too complicated.
***Tauna ignored his extensive library of swears. He blamed Xanxus for that.
****Tsuna refused to stop calling them that. They were totally henchmen.
I was going to post this in a few days but a particularly long and enthusiastic review convinced me to get to work. Thanks to whatever Guest posted the review! Please Follow/Favorite/Review and I'll write faster!
Some people are asking why Tsuna now gets the warm fuzzies around Fuuta. Fuuta isn't a Guardian or anything, it's just Tsuna's now mixed flames acknowledging a sibling in a way.
Ahaha. I bet you guys know what arc is coming up next.
