Don't own KHR.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Making Waves

Two and a Half Years Later

Viper floated in the middle of the street, curiously examining the house that had once been where Skull and his charges had been staying alongside Sawada Tsunayoshi and his mother. It was six in the morning and there were no people out, so she didn't bother hiding herself as she floated to peer through the kitchen window.

Inside, Sawada Nana was humming cheerfully as she cooked breakfast – only enough for one, Viper noted. She suddenly sighed aloud, and placed the skillet down. "I sure hope Tsu-kun is having fun practicing to be a bachelor," she said to herself. "Such a strange request! I guess he just wants to be strong and capable like his Papa!" As she sighed girlishly and began settling down for breakfast, Viper barely withheld a snort.

Given the reports the Varia had begun making on threats within the Vongola, including the CEDEF, Sawada Tsunayoshi being both strong and capable and like his father was an inherently contradictory statement.

So Tsunayoshi did not sleep in his mother's house, Viper noted. A security measure Skull put in, perhaps? Maybe, but that was implying that Skull was an over-reactive person. And while he was, he tended to kill more than one bird whenever he threw a stone if he was actually planning it out.

Giving an annoyed sigh, she slipped out her phone (decorated with an ouroboros charm that Skull sent her one Christmas) and text the Cloud Arcobaleno. Where is your new residence? You are not at the Sawada household anymore, nor is your charge based on my research. Might as well play with Skull a little while she was there.

A minute later, a new message appeared. O.O You've been on-and-off watching us?! You could have at least told me! An address appeared afterwards, which Viper read before pausing and reading again. She slowly turned to look at the house across the street.

Skull's new residence was yards away from the Sawada household. Viper gave a put upon sigh and ignored the part of her that was impressed. Rare was the assassin that checked the houses relatively close to their target's whilst doing a hit, and Skull knew that on some level.

Setting herself on the ground to conserve energy, the esper walked over to the house across the street, noting that, on the outside, it appeared to be a fairly average house. She couldn't help but wonder if Skull had bought the property for any particular reason. Knocking on the door, Viper only had to wait a few seconds before the door was opened for her.

She stared at the barely awake Skull across from her, and blinked slowly. He had clearly only just woken up, likely from her text, and appeared to have randomly put on whatever was available. However, that failed to explain why he was wearing a long, ankle-length purple and black midi skirt. Which, given his physical youth and height, was clearly his. It looked as if it were made for ease of movement, but…that still didn't explain anything. She ignored it for the time being. "Skull," she greeted.

"Hey there Viper," he said back, letting out a yawn as he opened the door more for her to come in. As she passed through the entryway, the brush of Mist Flames caught her attention, and she stared up stoically at the doorframe.

"You've been teaching them how to imbue an object with their Flames? So soon?" Imbuing Flames into objects was a trial of precision, and often led to explosions and injuries if not trained properly.

"They were learning it without me," he argued back, "it only made sense for me to make sure they were learning it properly. They are quite an impressive bunch, learning as much as they did on their own." The Cloud Arcobaleno's face lit up with undeniable fondness and Viper smiled slightly beneath her hood. They walked down a hall to the kitchen, and Viper blinked at the hamper of kittens that were dozing quietly in the sitting room corner and heard Phantasma ribbit as they caught sight of the large tank with Oodako resting in it.

When they entered the kitchen, the Mist user sat at the table as Skull sluggishly had the coffee pot start brewing. Eyes still at half-mast, the purple haired infant dragged himself into another chair and blearily stared at her. "So what are you doing here, Viper? Outside of keeping an eye on us, apparently." Skull sounded skeptical of that, but didn't bother bringing it up.

"Your little Mist child has contacted me in my dreams with what he calls a business proposal under your recommendation," she told him, and watched as he relaxed a little at the news, curious. "Is it that lucrative of an item?"

"I think so," he confirmed. "It admittedly has a bit of a limited demand, but those who demand it would want it so badly that they'll be very willing to pay near any number for it."

"How limited is the demand?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing at the potential weakness.

"Six people, including you."

Viper stared at Skull, utterly baffled. "Why would I invest in an object that can only be sold to six people?" She asked him slowly, wondering if he had received a head injury since the last time they spoke.

Skull only grinned. "You'll see. Once they wake up, I can demonstrate its uses to you."

Viper hummed at that answer and decided to accept it for the time being in favor of interrogating Skull. "Why did you move all of the children to a different house only across the street from Sawada's previous residence? You could have easily moved across town with none of the CEDEF's members any the wiser."

"It was a conflict of interests," he said easily, his eyes only straying from her to glance at the brewing coffee. "Tsuna and I didn't want to leave Nana-okaasan alone in the address where assassins could find her, but she refuses to move in case Iemitsu doesn't read her letters to know about the change in address and Ken, Chikusa and Mukuro felt uncomfortable around her. So we compromised by getting a house across the street for Tsuna to spend most of his time here while still living with his mom." The words came with little hesitation, but the way the Cloud Arcobaleno avoided looking at her spoke of his discomfort.

Viper could guess why.

"You've been handling her…condition rather well," she said, observation over compassion, but Skull merely made a face as he nodded.

"You can't blame an External Rain for losing their balance," he said, expression twisted into sympathy and an underlying fear that Viper could understand.

External Rains were considered the traditional Rain, calming and a trusted second-in-command that could resolve any friction between the other elements – besides Lightning, who were typically too stubborn and ignored the attempts – if the Sky was away for an extended amount of time. But they were also known for a warped sense of reality if they weren't Harmonized with a Sky quickly enough, a mental unbalance lurking within them that the Internal Rains lacked as their Flames expressed themselves inwardly.

Mists tend to be unnerved around External Rains for this reason, and Viper was well-known for charging Lal extra for her presence in meetings because of this desire to avoid her. "It certainly encouraged us to move out more quickly, as Mukuro couldn't stand to be alone around her at all," he added sadly, confirming Viper's theory that the heterochromatic-eyed boy was an Internal Mist as mental imbalance disturbed them even more than an External Mist.

"You seemed to enjoy her company before you left," she noted from his forlorn posture, and he nodded.

"She's very kind – for the most part – and cares deeply for Tsuna and the kids, and took me in without asking any questions, but I couldn't let the kids be stuck there with an adult they didn't trust whose mind only made Mukuro even more upset." His words were regretful, but sincere – these kids clearly come first in his mind over the kind but overall self-sufficient woman.

Viper hummed at that and filed it away for later before moving on to something more of interest to her. "While reports of assassins coming to this area seemed to have increased, they have been taken care of efficiently from what I've seen. You must have impressive guards."

Skull shot her a blank look that didn't bode well for her sanity. "…Yes, if you accept that the "guards" we have are three children experimented on by the Estraneo and another twelve year old obsessed with defeating more powerful opponents, I would say the protection detail here is quite stellar."

…To be frank, the CEDEF have done more on their own to harm their reputation than any smear campaign the Varia could ever make. "Iemitsu's aware of assassins being sent to Namimori but hasn't assigned a protection detail to Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Skull shrugged and nodded. "Maybe he thinks it'll take away from Tsuna living a "normal life"? We honestly aren't sure, and I try not to go into it 'cause it just leads to all of them complaining about useless people for an hour or so. And if they start that, I like to chip in too; it's cathartic."

"I can imagine so." And she does, imagines charging the Varia members to sit in on these meetings (or something similar) and just complain about idiots and stress and how they don't want to kill the minion that screwed up, they did it last time! She imagines Squalo would attend these meetings too often for it to be held in Japan with regards to agendas. She also sees herself getting quite rich from the idea, and files it away for consideration on a later date.

Before they continued with their conversation, both paused at the sound of pattering feet, though Skull remained relaxed even as Viper subtly tensed. A child with fluffy brown hair stumbled in, his clumsiness clearly due to having just woken up as he rubbed at his eyes. "Skull, why are you up so early?" he yawned, opening his eyes and freezing at the sight of the other child at the table.

Skull waved at him, more awake now and getting up to reach for the coffee pot. "Tsuna, this is my friend and fellow Arcobaleno, Viper. Viper, this is Sawada Tsunayoshi, my charge and brother."

The Mist rolled her eyes at Skull's easygoing tone and nodded in Tsunayoshi's general direction. "You are Iemitsu's spawn."

The child nodded back, but his smile seemed more forced now. "I am, but please don't bring him up around me. Iemitsu and I don't really see eye-to-eye on many things, one of which being the treatment of family." Without waiting for her response, he moved past them and started up the stove. "Do you want breakfast, Skull?"

"That would be awesome, Tsuna-nii, thanks!" Skull brightened up at the idea of food, even as a manic light lurked in his eyes from his sip of coffee.

Viper shot her companion a wary look, not wanting to see him get too hyper with her still around, before turning to Tsunayoshi. "I will not charge you for making me food," she told him magnanimously, and the brunet shot her a strange look but did put more eggs on the skillet. She glanced at Skull, who was gazing blankly at the wall behind her. "You grew tired of being the only cook in the house, I take it," she said, clearly referring to the ten year old cooking instead of Skull.

Skull blinked slowly, focusing on her after a moment, and answered. "Well, yes, but I try to be in the room with him in case something comes up. I was also encouraging the kids to find hobbies for themselves a while ago, so Tsuna picked up cooking, Ken likes to garden, Chikusa is obsessed the computer I got him a year ago, and Mukuro wants to be a writer."

That last one made Viper raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "Mukuro…the one ready to poison me for calling him an Estraneo…wants to be an author."

"Yep," he replied, shifting a little and taking a larger sip of coffee. "He told me he wants to be the next Mary Shelley."

"His writings focus on the human condition and humanity creating things that turn against them after prolonged abuse," Tsunayoshi expanded, sounding as if he were reciting something he'd heard one too many times.

Viper stared at the small brunet before shifting to give Skull a Look. "You let them read Frankenstein," she said, and it may not have been an accusation but Skull rushed to defend himself.

"They had to choose an English classic to read and tell us about to test how their English literacy is progressing," he responded, putting his head on the table as the mug stood between him and Viper. He groaned a little at the memory. "Hibari was annoyed the herbivores won in Lord of the Flies."

Viper blinked as Tsuna made a similarly despairing sound and brought plates over for the two, more on Skull's plate which implied they simply planned to share. The Mist Arcobaleno nodded her thanks and waited until Skull and the child took a bite before she did the same; Tsunayoshi had cooked everything in the same pan from her observations so it was unlikely that the food was poisoned.

Things grew quiet between the three as they focused on their breakfast, and it was silent for several minutes before someone else stumbled into the room.

That someone was Mukuro, his hair even spikier than normal due to bed head and likely only awake because he'd smelled breakfast and decided that food and the other two's presence outweighed going back to sleep. "Good morning Tsunayoshi-kun, Skull-chan." His voice was rougher as he had just woken up, but the other two simply said good morning back and he went about getting food for himself. His single red eye flicked over to Viper, before dismissing her and sitting next to Tsunayoshi. "I see that your little friend has joined us today, Skull-chan."

The phrase made Viper's teeth clench a little at the blatant disrespect, and Skull was conveniently not looking as Mukuro's previously warm food became mysteriously ice cold, as did his coffee. His chair creaked ominously, and the mentally younger Mist only had time to let out an expletive before the legs broke beneath him. "No cursing, Mukuro-kun," Skull said, amused. "If you're going to insult the strongest Mist in the world, you need to anticipate retaliation." If his own coffee had gotten cold with Mukuro's annoyed response, he didn't notice as Viper rewarmed it to further irritate the child.

The bluenet's eyes narrowed at the hooded figure, clearly guessing what she'd done, before moving passed it with a short sniff. "And now we can discuss business," he announced, finally getting to why she was there.

"I have been charging you for every minute you have wasted sitting here and wasting my time by not speaking of this sooner," she told him, peevish. "Now explain to me how an item limited to only six people, including me, could be lucrative."

Mukuro nodded to Skull, who took out an amulet from beneath his shirt. "I asked Skull-chan not to tell you about it until I had a higher probability of replicating the object." With that, Mukuro turned to Skull, Viper doing the same.

The Cloud Arcobaleno shifted his chair back, focused on the amulet, and gave it some of his Flames. A dark blue mist surrounded him, growing bigger, before disappearing. Viper stared in shock.

For there, sitting in his chair and clothes still fitted, was an eighteen year old Skull.

*Omake*

"I never got to ask. Skull."

The Cloud looked at her, curious. "What is it, Viper?"

She paused before waving a hand in his and Tsuna's direction. "Why are you and Tsunayoshi wearing skirts?"

The two blinked at her, confused, before looking down. Immediately realization hit them, and Tsuna grabbed the skirt, shrieking. "HIIIIIEEEEE! Mukuro! I told you to stop doing that! Skull's story was for entertainment, not inspiration!"

"Kufufu, I'll have you know that I found it very entertaining, Tsunayoshi-kun," the Mist drawled playfully, a smirk appearing on his face. "I just happen to find you look very fetching in skirts."

While the two of them were arguing (or rather, Tsuna was complaining and Mukuro was teasing him), Viper looked at him for his explanation, and Skull shrugged. "Mukuro started it, but I like them. They're swishy." To prove his point, he began to do small twirls, grinning as the skirt flared up a little.

Viper regrets asking.

*End Omake*

To be frank, I decided I needed to speed things up a bit, or this fic would never end. So a time skip seemed to be in my best interest. I was really exhausted when I was writing some of the earlier scenes, so please tell me if you catch anything I might have missed.

Thanks for reading and please review.

Ja ne!