Turning Point
Author : 27x18
Warnings : There is some talk of child abuse But there is definately fluff, so much fluff, and the potty mouths of the Varia.
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Mukurou walked down the quiet hall, the sound of explosions and fighting coming from behind them, but he ignored all that and kept tugging Tsuna down the hallway towards Belphegor. While it was somewhat annoying that Xanxus didn't think he and Chikusa could protect Tsuna from those childish adults, Mukurou still followed his orders and tugged Tsuna towards Belphegor's room.
"Are they always like that?" Mukurou asked while Tsuna tilted her head at him blinking in confusion, Mukurou really needed to find a way to copy that look. "Xanxus' brothers."
"Mmm, Tsuna doesn't know." the little girl noted her head tilting to the other side "Tsuna only met them once, nii-san doesn't like them much." Chikusa snorted in amusement at that, Tsuna had no idea she was the reason for the fighting. Xanxus didn't like to share. He even got grumpy when Tsuna was playing with them, let alone his brothers trying to move in on his kid. Xanxus was like an overprotective father not wanting anyone near his precious daughter.
"Tsuna-complex." Chikusa noted while Mukurou cocked an eyebrow at him before snickering, it was a new type of obsession, Xanxus didn't have a brother-complex, or sister-complex, no, he had a Tsuna-complex. All the Varia had it bad, though Xanxus was by far the worst. Even Ken and Chikusa had started to show the early signs of the oh so infectious Tsuna-complex.
They finally arrived at Belphegor's room, the door flying open before Mukurou could knock as the blond child grabbed Tsuna and tugged her in before slamming the door in Mukurou's face. Belphegor had been more than a little grumpy at them since arriving because Tsuna spent more time with them. If he wasn't so lazy he would go to school for the chance to spend time with her, but he really was much too lazy for that, getting up in the morning was not one of his strengths.
Mukurou glared at the door for a moment before Chikusa and he opened it and came in anyway, ignoring the glare from Belphegor who was sitting Tsuna in front of the television and handing her a game controller. That made Mukurou nervous, Xanxus had warned him about letting Belphegor put Tsuna on his game console, he often played bloody violent games.
Mukurou stood close behind Tsuna, ready to cover her eyes if necessary, Chikusa scanning the cover of the game that Belphegor and put in the machine before sighing with a nod to Mukurou, it was alright, apparently Belphegor had gotten his hands on some educational games, the current one was based around learning Italian through some games.
"The prince is not stupid." Belphegor glared over at the two children switching to Italian to grump at them "I wouldn't do something to hurt the principessa." Mukurou shrugged in response, that didn't mean the bloodthirsty brat didn't make mistakes, Xanxus had warned them about the presents Belphegor had tried to give Tsuna after the Ottabio ordeal.
"Tsuna!" Tsuna squeaked softly when the door slammed open and Ken dived in to hug her "I missed you, stupid girl, no one to play with all day except Lussuria." Ken kept hugging her while grinning widely. "Luss-nee said I could go to school next week." Tsuna pet the boy on the head gently with a smile, he had been babbling in a mixture of Japanese and Italian, but she had pieced it together through the words she knew in Italian and what he had spoken in Japanese.
Tsuna kept petting Ken's head while translating the words slowly in her head, a grin taking her lips while she smiled brightly at Ken, "So Ken-kun is coming to school too?" Ken nodded still hugging Tsuna, ignoring the glare from Belphegor for his hold on the brunette. Ken could be totally oblivious to other people when he was busy cuddling Tsuna, it happened pretty often, it annoyed Xanxus to no end and Belphegor was also highly annoyed when his time with Tsuna was interrupted with the other three brats. Belphegor was childish, he was a prince, so it was allowed or so he said, Tsuna was his toy, and he didn't want to share with three kids that he didn't like. Ken was noisy, Chikusa never had any expression on his face and Mukurou had creepy eyes.
The only problem was, Tsuna didn't like it when they didn't get along, so he couldn't get mad at the brats in front of Tsuna, he had to wait until she was back at home before he could yell at them.
Glaring was all he could do for now, while he glared at the three kids taking the attention of Tsuna, and also touching his game console, that was grating on his very last nerve when Ken touched the other controller. One of his eyes twitched as Belphegor bit his bottom lip to stop himself yelling at them. Waiting, waiting until Tsuna was back home so he could kill these three brats.
It was two hours later Xanxus kicked the door in, stalking in he grabbed Tsuna and headed right back out without a word to any of them, Ken blinking after him with a pout "Hey! I was playing with the kid."
"Tsuna." Chikusa reminded again, Ken fluctuated between calling her Kid and Tsuna, at least he didn't call her brat anymore.
"Yeah that, hey….grumpy bastard." Ken muttered to himself when Xanxus disappeared into the distance,
"Now that the principessa is gone, you little brats get the fuck out of the prince's room and never touch my shit again. Understood?" Mukurou glared back at the prince when Ken shifted behind him, every time someone took a tone like that with them it meant a violent beating.
Mukurou glared back at the child that was threatening his friends, Mukurou wasn't one to take that lying down, he had protected them in the Estraneo labs and he would protect them out here too from anyone that meant them harm.
Belphegor eyed the Mist as he glared at him with his creepy eyes, Belphegor well aware of just how dangerous this brat was, Mammon didn't often compliment someone else, not unless you paid her to, but even she had noted this kid was a natural with Mist, and had a mean streak when messing with his two little companions.
However Mukurou didn't do anything, just stared at him for a few moments before waving to his two companions and leading them out without another word, Belphegor letting out a small breath he hadn't known he was holding. The kid was creepy, and Belphegor really didn't like him at all, more so than the other two, because while they were annoying Belphegor could tell Mukurou was dangerous, monsters could always tell when they met another monster.
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Xanxus set Tsuna down in front of her house, Tsuna running towards Nana and hugging her mother, Xanxus nodding to the woman in greeting "Thanks as always Xanxus-kun." Nana really liked this young man, he was taking on a very important role in Tsuna's life and was actually sticking around, such a nice big brother Tsuna had found. Nana was very aware of the increase in Tsuna's grade, and her mood, her little girl was happier much more often then before, she was even enthusiastic about going to school. Nana had thought she would never see Tsuna bouncing in the morning wanting to go to school.
Xanxus nodded to Nana and headed off to go and try for the second time to kick out his brothers, the bastards weren't moving yet, but he was sure with some time he could convince them to go disappear.
Xanxus didn't want anything to do with Nono right now.
Nana guided Tsuna inside to have dinner, the girl sitting at the table and telling Nana all about her day and all the things she learnt, Nana smiling down at her and listening intently, so very glad that Tsuna had run into Xanxus, he was the best thing that had happened to her daughter at just the right time.
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Xanxus ended up losing the fight against his brothers, the three were incredibly tenacious and were very set on having Nono's birthday at the Japanese mansion, and that they were going to unofficially adopt Tsuna to be their little sister.
Xanxus managed to smuggle her around to school and the mansion keeping her away from his brothers, but that only worked sometimes, they often managed to hunt down Tsuna even if he hid her in strange places. It seems his brothers were much more adept at stalking someone based on their Flames, and Tsuna did have a very distinctive Flame.
The brothers had never met someone with a more magnetic Sky Flame, Tsuna was a magnet, even to the most stubborn of sorts such as their brother, it was no small matter to have him under her thumb and they all knew it. Even for them, going into the mansion knowing exactly how magnetic Tsuna was, completely prepared to resist her Flame they still got drawn in. Much to Xanxus' annoyance.
One thing Xanxus could be glad for however was that Tsuna hadn't touched anyone else's Flames directly, that was still just his, Tsuna was completely tuned to his Flame and no one else's.
Even without thinking however his brothers would wander to where she was and end up stealing her to run off and play with the girl without Xanxus being able to steal her back.
Two days they played hide and seek until the weekend rolled around and the party guests began to arrive. It was mostly only close friends as it was a private affair for Nono. They would have a more open event for the other leaders in the Vongola Alliance to come and pay their respects to Timoteo.
This was family only, pretty much the same as those that had come to Xanxus' birthday that Timoteo had forced on his son, Timoteo's sons had invited Dino and Reborn as well to be polite, and annoy Xanxus.
Xanxus had originally refused to attend, but when Tsuna had looked so bright and happy he had caved, no matter how grumpy he was at Nono there was no way he would allow Tsuna to be in a room of wolves without him. He classified Dino as a definite wolf, he had seen the bastard scrambling for his wallet when pictures were promised (Not knowing it was pictures of Squalo he was after) there was no way in hell he was letting that wolf into a room with Tsuna without him and the brats on defence.
The three new brats had made their own little defence force, they were with Tsuna all the time at school, and the moment anyone even thought about harassing her for anything, even the teachers, they descended upon them and left them screaming into the emergency room.
Hibari Kyoya had even joined them on their hunts occasionally, only to keep the peace of course, but he had joined them in sending more than a few faculty to the hospital. The teachers were replaced without a word however once the name Hibari was uttered.
The kid was probably going to turn up for another fight that evening like clockwork, so even that brat would be involved. Xanxus did toy with the thought of bribing him onto Tsuna watch as well with the promise of a proper spar.
Nodding to himself while he scanned the few people milling around waiting for Nono to arrive for the party Xanxus set Tsuna down finally, petting her head gently while the child blinked up at him confused. "Brats." the other three children stepped into line "Keep her away from those assholes." ignoring the frown from Tsuna at his swear. He needed to make sure he found out from Lussuria which words he could still safely say, the brat was learning Italian swearing before the rest of the language thanks to them.
"What about birdy?" Mukurou noted flicking his dual coloured eyes over to the glaring Hibari Kyoya settled in a tree waiting for his chance to pounce.
"Brat." Kyoya's eye twitched but Xanxus ignored it "You help keep the brat away from everyone but me and the other brats and I'll have a real spar with you." Xanxus could see the dark eyes light up while the brat stared at him from his tree turning over the pros and cons of the request.
Looking between the little girl and Xanxus he finally nodded, so he spent one night keeping a brat from crowding and Xanxus would actually have a serious fight with him? This was definitely a deal that was in his favour.
While four or five was crowding, at least he knew he was allowed to destroy anyone that tried any further crowding. Slipping out of his tree Kyoya glared once at Mukurou before bopping Tsuna gently on the forehead with a tonfa.
"Stay still herbivore, or else." Tsuna nodded with huge wide brown eyes, she was too scared to move. Mukurou glared at Kyoya for a moment,
"You hit her again birdy and we'll have issues." Tsuna looked helplessly between the violent pair trying to think of a way to stop them fighting.
"Éclairs!" Tsuna cried finally both children looking at her in confusion while Tsuna held out a plate she had stolen from the table nearby "N-Nii-san s-said they w-were called e-éclairs." Tsuna stuttered all of a sudden realising she was between Mukurou and Kyoya as they were about to start a fight. "They...they taste good." Tsuna went silent tears welling while the pair continued to stare at her for a few moments, Mukurou giving in first, if Xanxus saw Tsuna crying he'd kill them later.
"That's chocolate on top right?" Tsuna nodded brightening as the tears disappeared from her brown eyes. Mukurou took one of the treats and began eating it, the second Mukurou started Ken had all but pounced on Tsuna and shoved two in his mouth at once, talking around his food to compliment it. Chikusa sighed heavily and reluctantly took one as well, only because Tsuna looked so sad when he had gone to decline.
Looking finally at Kyoya the child glared at her still "I'm a carnivore, I don't eat éclairs." Tsuna wilted again before her mind ticked over his words, brightening again as she finally understood Tsuna grabbed something else from the banquet table,
"Mama made hamburger steak!" Tsuna told him with a dazzling smile, shoving the small plate into his hands, Kyoya glaring at her for touching him but soon he was instead distracted by the perfect prepared and cooked hamburger steak. As soon as he took his first bite he glared at Tsuna again,
"If you can source me more of this, then I won't bite you to death." Tsuna tilted her head in question before she finally took in what he said and smiled brightly back at the child, he wanted her to bring lunch for him to school as well. Tsuna nodded happily, her mother loved cooking and Tsuna was even starting to learn how to cook too, she would be happy to make Kyoya hamburger steak from now on, especially if it meant he wouldn't bite her to death if she was ever late, or crowding.
Mukurou snorted in amusement at the kids new catch phrase, he had started using it after he had bitten Xanxus in a fight once and the teen had commented how being bitten by a human was actually worse than being bitten by an animal, there was just so much bacteria in the mouth of a human. So Kyoya had started saying he would bite people to death, even if he didn't kill them the subsequent infection would.
"It really says something about your mouth birdy, dogs lick their balls and still have less bacteria in their mouth than you." the glare from Kyoya was ignored while Mukurou grabbed Tsuna and tugged her behind him while watching the doors to the room where the party was being held. Someone was coming, and he would be damned if he left Tsuna standing in danger. Even if this mansion was the Varia base at the moment, the Mafia could reach you no matter where you were, and they were much less forgiving than those of the Mafia Tsuna had met before.
Chikusa and Ken flanked Mukurou, Kyoya noting something was going on also slid a tonfa into his hand from inside the holster in his sleeve
The moment the door opened the children all breathed a sigh of relief, bar Tsuna who was blinking around at her three friends in confusion, it was only Nono arriving finally, the older gentleman smiling brightly around at everyone. Not for the first time Mukurou had to do a double take at the supposed leader of the Vongola. A lowly janitor at Estraneo had held a more dangerous aura than this old man. As usual though Mukurou held his tongue, right now they were under Vongola guardianship, Varia/Vongola, the details didn't matter, right now they were paying for their food. clothing and upkeep, so he would continue to keep quiet and behave as wanted until he had as much as he could from these people.
Glancing behind to Tsuna, Mukurou finally made up his mind. They were taking Tsuna with them, even he had finally succumbed to her Flame, he wasn't going to leave her behind.
"Yoink~" the children all startled looking up at Massimo who had just stolen Tsuna "I got her~" He cheered running off, Mukurou and Kyoya heading after him while Ken and Chikusa moved around to head him off another way, try trap him between them all so they could get Tsuna back.
There was an intense game of tag for a few minutes involving a pair of tonfa and some terrifying illusions but still they didn't manage to get Tsuna back, the child was looking confused as to what all the fighting was over.
It took Reborn stepping in for the game of tag to stop, Reborn jumped over to Massimo's shoulder and flicked his forehead, catching Tsuna when Massimo keeled over.
Landing down on the ground Reborn sighed while dusting off his black suit and righting his fedora. "You're taking it too far Massimo." Reborn chided while the Mafioso in his twenties whined back at Reborn rubbing a bruise already forming on his forehead.
Mukurou finally caught up to them now they had stopped moving and tugged Tsuna into his hold with a glare at Timoteo's middle son, Reborn jumping over to Tsuna's hair and flicking Mukurou on the forehead as well.
"You don't need to resort to those sorts of illusions. Calm down, you have the kid back." Mukurou closed his eyes with a deep breath and nodded to the baby, swiping him off Tsuna's head and tugging the little girl even further away from Massimo and Reborn. The latter having jumped up onto Massimo's head for now.
Seems the other children had all grown very attached to Xanxus' little Sky child.
Reborn had stepped in seeing that Mukurou had lost his temper, the Mist Flames coming off the child had been dense and dangerous, the whole party had froze and looked over. Reborn had stepped in before Mukurou could let loose a violent attack of illusions onto Massimo for having taken Tsuna from him.
"Haha, did you lose out to the kids Massimo?" Enrico chuckled throwing one arm around his brother and petting Tsuna on the head gently, well aware of the glare locked onto him from the children that were once again surrounding Tsuna in a veritable child army, an impressive army too, active Flames on all but one. All gathered around one small Sky.
"Well shit….she has half her Guardians already." Federico murmured looking at the little army around Tsuna, Sun, Mist, Rain and Cloud even, though Cloud's Flame wasn't active yet, the kid still looked quite bloodthirsty.
"The brat isn't having shit to do with the Mafia." Xanxus growled pushing himself between the children and his brothers,
"You say that...but Xan, she's got active super addictive Sky Flames, and a collection of Guardians already…." Enrico sighed trailing off at the glare his brother was giving him. Xanxus didn't want Tsuna involved with the Mafia, anyone that tried otherwise was going to meet his X-Guns.
"Just because she's a civilian doesn't mean she can't have Guardians." Federico reminded "In fact with Flames like hers it would be safer for her if she did have Guardians. We're not saying join her up to the Vongola, but even you must see the merit in her having Guardians."
"You saying you don't think I can take care of Tsuna?" Xanxus growled a soft voice interfering as they all looked towards Nono, the man smiling at his sons, though a hint of steel was in his face,
"I'd like to have a word with my little granddaughter, if you don't mind." It wasn't a question, it was an order. Mukurou reluctantly let go of Tsuna and Timoteo tugged at her hand and led her over to a quiet seat to sit and talk.
Xanxus was not happy, though there were few ways he could be happy with the current situation. Nono sat and lifted Tsuna up onto his knee with a kind smile. He wanted to talk to her about how things had been going since he left.
Tsuna may be a civilian and being kept out of the Mafia world, but he still had taken to worrying about the little girl, another factor was also that she was the last descendant of their Primo, Giotto, other then her father, and it didn't look like there would be any more children anytime soon if ever from Nana and Iemitsu.
Timoteo and Tsuna talked over a whole range of topics while the guests all entertained themselves, they knew better than to interrupt Timoteo while he talked to someone, even if that someone was only 6 years old.
Slowly the talk shifted to schooling and how things were going with Xanxus, Timoteo was very conscious of the brightening in her demeanor when the topic of Xanxus and the other children came up.
"Nii-san is amazing, Tsuna doesn't know anyone smarter than nii-san. Without nii-san Tsuna would still be no good. Tsuna wants to stay with nii-san forever." Timoteo did admit to fangirling for a few moments from the cuteness while the child blinked up at him in confusion for the old man's sudden silence and strange facial expression.
Timoteo had wondered if the child had picked up on the danger of the Varia posed in her life as her intuition seemed so astute on everything, however when it came to the Varia she didn't have a single hint of warning, that or she felt so safe she didn't even notice. Either way Timoteo had decided to keep the Varia in Japan for now.
He had tried to talk Iemitsu into spending more time at home instead of abroad on missions, but the man had ever the passion for his work. Iemitsu had no intention of staying home and being domestic for any solid time so instead Timoteo had decided to let the Varia stay in Japan for as long as needed to be the vital father type influence on her life.
As soon as he found out the child was bullied he had been uncomfortable with leaving her alone. Iemitsu had played it off as children's games, but Timoteo had heard a lot more since then from his informants to exactly how bad things were at school for the little girl. Timoteo had been tempted to make things exceedingly difficult for all those involved, however Mukurou was learning at a rapid pace and had taken care of that for him under the expensive influence of Mammon's teachings.
If the Varia's trial time in Japan worked out (Which he hadn't informed the Varia of) he had every intention of keeping them on long term to be the collective father in the relationship for Tsuna. The Flame training was taking a powerful effect that Nono could feel every time he met the child. That beautiful Sky Flame had grown and grown with the training, it was purer and stronger then when he had met her first in Italy, it was a wonder anyone around her would be able to even consider bullying her it was so magnetic. Her school scores had slowly improved over the last six months and she seemed on the whole so much more open and happy now.
If Iemitsu wasn't going to be a father to the girl, then that was fine, Timoteo however was not going to leave this bright little Sky alone, the Varia officially moved to Japan permanently, as of now.
Keeping her out of the mafia world would be difficult in close contact with the Varia long term, but the risks were easily outweighed by the pros of the situation. Timoteo knew that his youngest son would do everything in his power to keep the girl safe, he trusted Xanxus to do it now. Especially after the scare with Ottabio, Tsuna would be safe.
Finally petting Tsuna's head of soft brown hair once more Timoteo set her back on her feet and waved over his sons "How about a family photo?" Timoteo brightly asked, Xanxus glowering at him while he scooped up Tsuna and held her on his hip. However since the brat looked interested then he would play along with his fath-legal guardian's attempt to play house.
Enrico, Massimo and Federico all gathered around while the flash went off, capturing the moment in time.
That was the last time the core famiglia would all be together, it was the last time they all saw one another alive.
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By the time the following week came around and Ken started at the school with them Tsuna had no bullies left, the few that had clung on to indirectly harass her had suddenly disappeared, some stopped coming to school at all and a few days later Tsuna had heard whispers from the teachers that they changed school.
Tsuna knew that Xanxus and Mukurou had something to do with it, but they both just looked at her blankly when she asked about it, so Tsuna stopped asking.
School however had changed a lot for Tsuna, the students left her alone, avoided her in fact, but she found she didn't care, Tsuna now had three friends that played with her and seemed to actually enjoy her company, Tsuna was overjoyed with having even one friend that three was the a complete joy.
Ken was a bouncing ball of energy and they spent every break time running amok around the school so that they wouldn't be too disruptive in the afternoon classes, so Tsuna and him always played tag every break, racing around the school over and over again. Chikusa and Mukurou just sat eating their food watching the two blurs pass them over and over again until Tsuna fell over near them panting for air, but smiling. Ken not far behind her, normally keeling over just after her, Ken won most games of tag as it seemed he had even more energy than Tsuna.
This was one such break, Tsuna laying beside the sitting Chikusa panting for air while Mukurou rolled his eyes at them. However something caught the budding illusionist attention when he spotted a certain mop of dark hair and the glint of tonfa heading their way. Mukurou's favorite toy was coming to play.
"Well hello birdy." Mukurou purred dodging the blow of one tonfa, the grumpy child had taken to stalking Tsuna, it was the best way to run into Xanxus, whom he had trouble tracking to his frustration. Tsuna however, she was easy to track, and where she was Xanxus would turn up eventually. "Have you come to join the Tsuna-complex fanclub? I hear they're looking for more members." Kyoya glowered at him, not understanding a word as the illusionist was jabbering at him in Italian, though Kyoya knew that he was taunting him, it was all the blue haired bastard ever did. Kyoya hated herbivores like this one that dared to taunt someone higher on the food chain.
He had tried to be patient with this pineapple, but he was really poking at Kyoya's last nerve. He was not a patient person to begin with, and right now he had enough of the blue pineapple brat.
Tsuna fought to sit and blinked at the two children fighting, Chikusa just tugged at her arm and pulled her back out of the way while they watched the two at war. The students around them were fleeing for cover, not only was Hibari Kyoya here, but he was also fighting….and even more shocking, Mukurou was holding his own.
"Mukurou-san." Ken called jumping into the fray as well, soon being kicked back out by Mukurou whom threw him a dirty look for interfering. Ken pouted but sat down to instead watch and eat something while waiting for Mukurou to finish playing with his favorite prickly bird.
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Xanxus cocked an eyebrow at Mukurou when he picked up his brat that afternoon, the illusionist had a black eye and a huge grin on his lips. Grabbing Tsuna up he studied Mukurou, the kid had been in a big fight, his uniform was torn in places and he had some clear bruises other than his dark eye, but his grin was contrasting that.
"You win brat?" Mukurou smirked at Xanxus while Tsuna filled him in,
"Mukurou-kun fought with Hibari-san, they drew even." Xanxus chuckled to himself while nodding to the kid, had to respect the kid for managing to draw against someone trained in combat, Mukurou had only a little training, but he was a talented brat. That much had been made clear over the short time he was in the Varia's custody.
"Go see Lussuria when we get back brat." Xanxus ordered while heading back towards the mansion, the kid seemed perky enough to be able to walk back there on his own, and if he needed help then Xanxus wasn't going to anyway, he had picked the fight he needed to face the consequences. Mukurou certainly seemed perky enough anyway, smirking as he followed after Xanxus, Ken babbling about the fight to Xanxus who was only half listening.
"Better you than me brat." Xanxus muttered to himself, in fact it was a relief if Mukurou was taking on Hibari Kyoya, he might actually be able to go out with Tsuna without Kyoya jumping on him in one of his surprise attacks.
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Ken was laid on his stomach reading manga again, Chikusa reading through his homework and filling out the required details. Mukurou sitting on the floor working on some small Illusion exercises that would help him with being able to draw on his power more easily, the more he practiced the easier application would be.
"Ne...Mukurou-san….do you think of the kid-"
"Tsuna." Chikusa reminded automatically,
"As a friend?" the room went dead silent, Mukurou glaring at his hands, he had promised himself, he had sworn to not get attached, he had held out for so long, but there was just something about Tsuna, much to his utter defeat, he had lost to the little brat.
"It doesn't matter." Mukurou said finally while Ken grinned brightly, Chikusa sighing in relief,
"I knew it, she's awesome!"
"She's a Sky." Chikusa muttered "We had no chance." They really didn't, before such a pure strong magnetism, so far not one person had been able to survive the Tsuna magnetism bar this Ottabio person they heard mentioned every once in a blue moon. They had been told never to utter that name around Tsuna however.
"It doesn't matter, Sky or not, she's coming with us when we leave." Ken brightened and cheered into his pillow before getting back to his manga. Chikusa sharing a thankful nod with Mukurou. No matter when they left, the little light and heart of their group was coming too.
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Tsuna was blinking at him confused, the child standing in front of her taking his lunch calmy and heading off towards school, Tsuna trailing behind You win, I lost.
Tilting her head and looking at Chikusa the child just shrugged at her, he wasn't going to say anything about it if Mukurou didn't. Ken broke Tsuna from her thoughts when he grabbed her wrist and began running towards school, he was really enjoying it, even if he did get bored in class, being around Tsuna all day seemed to be all that he really cared about.
"What did Tsuna win?" Tsuna asked Ken whom shrugged and kept tugging her along,
"Maybe candy?" Ken mused with a grin, Tsuna giggling with a bright smile,
"Candy sounds good."
It was a rare quiet day in the Sawada house, Tsuna was home finishing off her homework while Nana folded the washing. For once Xanxus hadn't come to kidnap her daughter and it was just quiet and peaceful with the girls at home.
Around lunchtime a knock sounded at their front door, Nana going to see who it was and returning with Xanxus in tow, the teen smirking at Tsuna when the child brightened and jumped on him for a hug.
"Thought I'd come by and help out with the weekly shopping." Nana brightened with a happy nod, once a week she went out with Tsuna and did the big shop for the week, Tsuna carrying light things like toilet paper and tissues while Nana tackled the heavier bags. Every now and then Xanxus would come with them and help.
Nana clapped her hands with a bright smile as she hurried off to get her shopping list together, Xanxus sitting his tall frame down in a chair close to Tsuna and watching her finish off her homework.
He was proud of the little brat, over the last six months they had managed to drag her marks from zero's and fifteen's through to the high seventies.
"Stop." Xanxus ordered as soon as Tsuna started writing the next equation, brown eyes blinking up at him while he flicked her forehead. Both she and Ken did this, they acted before thinking "Think first brat." Tsuna pouted but looked back at the jumble of numbers. Slowly thinking over each of the parts of the question before a bright smile took her lips. Putting her pen to paper again Tsuna wrote the new answer with a big smile.
Finally finished with her homework and Nana having compiled her list (adding a few extras for Xanxus' strong arms) Nana all but dragged Tsuna to the door, Xanxus a step behind "Come along, if we're slow we might miss the sales~" Xanxus could never understand how someone could be so happy with shopping. He could think of few things more boring, however he never mentioned that to the lovely housewife that often graced him with her delicious food.
So there they were, an hour later with Nana fighting tooth and nail over some sale items. Xanxus had already jogged all the shopping back home and now he and Tsuna were sitting and waiting. Tsuna was beginning to fidget, a clear sign that she was needing to release some energy soon. Picking Tsuna up he moved over to where Nana was in the line for the checkout and let her know he would take Tsuna to the park for a little while. Nana bid them farewell with a kiss to Tsuna's forehead.
Xanxus dropped Tsuna down so she could race off to the park, it wasn't far at all and she didn't have to cross any roads. It was only half a minute behind her that he arrived but as soon as he did he could see something wrong. Tsuna was quiet, and not just that, she wasn't racing around like normal.
Xanxus went on guard immediately, though that soon vanished when he saw Tsuna sitting in the sand pit with a frail small child, the girl had a patch on one eye and bandages all over her. Tsuna was just sat there in silence waiting for her to make the first move.
Slipping into a seat Xanxus settled down to wait and watch, leaving the small Sky to do what she did best.
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Tsuna froze the moment she ran around the corner to the park her eyes locking onto a small girl kneeling in the sandbox, there was sand in her hair, dirt all over and bandages here and there, even over one of her eyes. Tsuna knew what bullying looked like, she had looked just like that girl on many occasions. Walking quietly to her side Tsuna slid down to just be there, not saying anything, not trying to touch her, just to be with her. Tsuna had only ever wanted someone to be with her, someone to notice her pain and let her talk to them.
Tsuna didn't like to use the word hate, and there there was nearly nothing she hated bar green beans and the pinnacle of her very short list of hates. Bullies.
Tsuna settled herself down to wait sitting in the sand and just tracing kanji with a stick while she waited for the little girl to talk first. Tsuna was in the middle of spelling out Mukurou's name in the sand when she spoke finally.
"Why do they hate us?" Tsuna stopped moving her stick and frowned, trying to think of an answer,
"Nii-san says that they hate us because they're scared." Tsuna mused "I think they do it because they like it." Tsuna added while finishing off Mukurou's name, swiping over the sand to start on Ken's name.
"They do." the little girl breathed with a shudder "They like it." Tsuna dropped the stick finally and slid her hand over the sand to wrap into one tiny cold hand. The girl shivering and sobbing quietly, tears starting to fall finally, curling into a ball with her knees as her chest, but never letting go of Tsuna's hand.
"Nii-san can make the bullies go away." Tsuna promised softly when the sobs had finally died down, the girl tightening her hand on Tsuna's,
"Not these ones, a nii-san won't be able to."
"Nii-san can." Tsuna's resolve made the girl lift her head from her knees, one wide purple eye clashing to Tsuna's golden brown. "Nii-san can do anything." hope swelled in the little girl for the first time in a long time faced with that sort of belief, Tsuna honestly believed that her brother could do anything.
"My mother...and stepfather." the girl breathed finally before burying her face back in her knees with a loud sob, her crying starting all over again. Tsuna's eyes narrowed a golden tint taking her eyes. Tsuna looked over at Xanxus, the teen staring at the new look his brat had. The brat was completely in tune with her flame and he actually felt intimidated, by a six year old.
Tsuna tugged on the girl's hand, pulling her from her crying, her golden eyes locking to the one visible purple one "I'm sawada Tsunahime, call me Tsuna or Tsuna-chan!" the child blinked at her a few times, tears starting to dry up.
"N-Nagi N-Nagi-chan i-is fine." Tsuna stood tugging Nagi with her and trotting over to Xanxus, the girl shivering in fear before the imposing foreigner. Calming as soon as Tsuna shifted to wrap her arm around Nagi and hugging her to her, her passive Sky Flame calming and comforting Nagi.
"Nii-san….would you help with Nagi-chan's bullies?" Xanxus studied those determined gold eyes for only a moment before a smirk slid over his lips. Tsuna smiling brightly knowing that Xanxus had taken on the task of doing something about Nagi's bullies. "Ne, Nagi-chan, you could come stay with us!" Xanxus cocked one eyebrow while looking down at Tsuna, the kid was starting to get more confident, he didn't know yet if that was a good or bad thing.
Nana turned up then, Tsuna blinking at her mother before smiling brightly "Mama, can Nagi-chan stay overnight. It's alright right?" Nana tilted her head at Tsuna, her eyes flickering to the small girl that Tsuna had her arm around, it set off every single motherly instinct that she had. This was Tsuna, this was Tsuna before Xanxus. Nana was horrified she had let it get so far for her baby, Nana never wanted to see another child like that.
"Mmm, Nagi-chan can stay as long as she likes." Tsuna grinned brightly and hugged Nagi tight "Do you like katsu chicken?" Nagi flicked her eyes between the bright kind woman and Tsuna.
"I...I never-" Tsuna smiled brightly at her new friend again,
"Mama makes it really well, it's the best!" Nagi shakily nodded while Tsuna tugged her with her towards home, "Tsuna has never had a friend overnight, Nagi-chan is the first one!" Nagi blinked before letting a soft smile tug at her lips, she knew that this little light was bullied too, and to have someone understand, someone ask to be their friend. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and as much as she tried not to think it so as not to jinx it, it was nice.
Xanxus grunted softly while hefting the last few bags, Nana giving him a quick thanks while trotting off after the two small girls and heading home.
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Xanxus sighed in relief and fell back into his comfortable chair with a heavy sigh "Kid wear you out?" Squalo taunted tossing down the paperwork that Xanxus needed to complete, Xanxus tossed his second in command a glare.
"Look into the family and medical history of Kowareta Nagi." Squalo saw something in the glint in Xanxus' eye and nodded disappearing from the room to take care of the request of his boss.
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"You won't like it."Squalo noted, Xanxus looking to from his place glaring at some paperwork. Slamming down his seal he tossing it into the out tray, turning his glare over to Squalo instead.
"What the fuck you talking about?" Squalo tossed the stack of papers onto Xanxus' desk before beginning his report.
"Thirteen broken bones in her six years, the first four being before she was one." Xanxus's wine glass shattered in his hand, Squalo eyeing it before going back to his report "Mother divorced while pregnant with the kid, married new guy just after popping the kid out. Father has zero rights and hasn't tried for visiting rights or anything since the kid was born." Xanxus tossed aside the shattered glass and pulled some scotch out from under his desk, pouring a shot while continuing to listen to the report. He needed something stronger than wine. "Children services are paid a large sum to stay out of things, no matter what injuries the hospital reports, no action is taken. As of three months ago the hospital started being paid to stop raising the matter."
"Keep reading shark-scum." Xanxus growled when Squalo stopped talking, Squalo sighed heavily before continuing,
"Whenever the whim hit them they would throw the kid out. No idea what she did to survive, but usually a week after she went missing they would find her and bring her back." Xanxus put another glass down and poured Squalo a shot as well, nudging it across the table. The silver haired teen just took the glass and tossed it back. Normally he didn't drink, but at this moment he was willing to make an exception. "Reports I managed to get from the hospital show severe malnutrition, signs of constant abuse and broken bones, kid had a rib puncture her lung on two occasions and one of her eyes is now completely blind." Squalo lowered his report and eyed his boss "What do you want us to do about the parents?" Squalo spat out the word, that sort of scum could barely be considered human, let alone parents. While the Varia may be a group of bloodthirsty assassins, there was still one golden rule for anyone involved with the Vongola, never hurt children.
Xanxus stared at his scotch his face showing he was deep in thought "For now we do things legally." Xanxus said finally flicking his furious red eyes up to Squalo again "If they let it go then we will, the brat wouldn't like us to do it our way." Squalo sighed and pouted at Xanxus, whom just cocked a curious eyebrow at his second in command,
"Kid doesn't have to know." Xanxus chuckled, while he would much prefer to do things the Mafia way he had still decided not to,
"Kid will know shark." Xanxus reminded, the kid was alarmingly perceptive "For now we do this legally, if they decide to make any fuss then I'll deal with them personally." Squalo pouted again, Xanxus rolling his eyes at the silver haired sword master "You can't pull off that look scum, nice try." Squalo shrugged at Xanxus with a chuckle,
"Worth a try, the kid manages to get you to do anything she wants with that look."
"Yeah….but on you it's just plain creepy, creepy shark scum."
"Worth a try….maybe we could go fifty fifty on them?" Xanxus chuckling,
"You didn't give a shit about kids half a year ago. Now you're getting mad for one you haven't even met." Squalo glared at his boss in return,
"Coming from you? Mr. Tsuna-complex."
"The brat likes me best." Xanxus shrugged while Squalo burst into laughter, the crazy bastard was actually proud of having a Tsuna-complex.
"I'll get things underway." Xanxus waved him out before leaning back in his comfortable chair his mind stuck on the injured brat. Frowning he grabbed up his mobile and sent a text to Levi, the man would do anything for him, and he wanted him to keep an eye on Tsuna and the other girl. If her parents came within ten feet of his brat they were dead. He didn't put it past people like that to descend on Tsuna and hurt her to get their brat back, and Xanxus knew that Tsuna, though she hated fighting, would fight for her new friend.
Checking he got the reply from Levi, Xanxus could finally relax.
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Nana was a little worried, but kept her tongue when it came time for the bath that evening, Tsuna and the lovely little girl Nagi were going to share a bath, but when Nana had said she would join them the fear in Nagi's eyes changed her mind.
Nagi was nervous about having Tsuna there with her, let alone an adult, when adults were the objects of fear for her. Tsuna tugged her new friend into the bathroom while running the bath, adding copious amounts of bubbles. Nagi just stared at the bubbles with wide eyes "What….what are they?" Nagi breathed while Tsuna tilted her head at her. While it was an odd question, Tsuna didn't miss a beat, Mukurou, Ken and Chikusa asked strange questions too.
"Bubbles." Tsuna smiled while turning the water tap off "Come on!" Nagi froze recalling her bruises, Tsuna looked at her with a tilted head "Nagi-chan?" Nagi's hands were shaking. How did she show Tsuna the damage?
Tsuna turned to her new friends and reached out and took her shaking hands into her own, blinking at Nagi with a gentle smile. Tsuna used just the smallest hint of her Flames, Xanxus said it was a good way to help someone that was sad, and smiled sweetly at Nagi. "It's okay." Nagi blinked at her, tears welling in her eyes, one that beautiful purple and the other eye was a glassy white, but Tsuna hadn't reacted at all to it.
"B-But." Tsuna just kept smiling at her letting go of her hands and slipping into the tub, throwing some bubbles at Nagi, the girl blinking from her trance and touching the fluffy bubbles,
"Uwa…" Nagi forgot all about her bruises and all but dived in with Tsuna to play with the bubbles, Tsuna and her building bubble castles.
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Nana smiled when she heard the giggles from the bathroom, her little girl made her so proud, taking care of someone without any hesitation. Xanxus had helped to make Tsuna a bright and outgoing child, it was a stark contrast from the Tsuna that she had before going to Italy.
Maybe Tsuna could now pass that bright smile onto Nagi as well. heading back to the kitchen Nana hummed softly to herself while making dinner for them all.
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Mukurou frowned at this new brat, yet another come to join their growing family as Tsuna insisted on calling it. The child studied the weak little brat and immediately decided, he didn't like her. Not only did she stick to Tsuna like glue...nope that was it, she annoyed him because she was glued to Tsuna. They all had to share Tsuna with everyone else, adding in another reduced the time they got to spend with Tsuna.
When they left, they were not taking this brat with them.
Ken also didn't like her, he didn't like her clinging to Tsuna, Chikusa just didn't care.
Tsuna however really liked having her first female friend, other than Lussuria, Tsuna hadn't ever had a girlfriend her age and was highly excited. She didn't know what you did different with a girlfriend but she was happy to have one all the same.
Lussuria was loving it, she had a new dress up doll, she could dress up Tsuna and Nagi up now. She had so many little dresses for Tusna now, Nagi was around the same size, she could do great things with the two.
Mammon saw yet another great opportunity for money with Tsuna and Nagi, her profits were going to soar even higher. Cackling quietly to herself the Arcobaleno ignored the strange look she was getting from her student, that laugh was a new one, he needed to remember that one, her 'lots of money cackle'. Mukurou had a list of Mammon's cackles, they were good for telling him what mood she was in, if she ever did the 'I lost money' cackle then he best make himself scarce or capture a picture of Tsuna doing something cute that she could sell.
Drawing himself back to the present and the annoying new brat hanging all over their Sky Mukurou glowered all over again, the small girl peeking out from behind Tsuna where she was shaking.
Mukurou was intimidating if he was glaring at someone, Tsuna didn't even notice as she headed right for Mukurou, tugging Nagi behind her "Nagi-chan, Mukurou-nii-" Mukurou had ordered her to call him nii as well since she called Xanxus nii-san, Ken and Chikusa also jumping on that bandwagon. Tsuna was the one that kept calling them a family, and family didn't call one another without proper family honorifics. "Has different coloured eyes too, isn't his eyes pretty?" Mukurou flicked his eyes to the eyepatch the girl was wearing. "Mukurou-nii has a blue eye and a really cool red eye." Tsuna tugged Nagi up to Mukurou, the child glaring at Nagi, a pout on Tsuna's face shutting him up and Mukurou internally sighed, looking at the little girl again he studied her. There were bruises on her wrists, a few scars around on the skin he could see, and her eye.
Trying to remember what Tsuna had said about Nagi other than that she was her new best female friend, Tsuna hadn't said much else, but if he thought about it he did remember Xanxus saying something.
Mukurou sighed, trust Tsuna to pick up another broken kid and bring her home. Reluctantly he accepted that this new nuisance was going to be there for now. Until they left, but that was only after they had gotten anything and everything they could from the Varia. So for now, he would put up with Tsuna bringing in yet another sponge that took up the precious time they go with the little Sky.
They were definately going to leave though...just not yet.
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Hate to cut it off, but it kept going and going and going.
For lack of a surname Nagi/Chromes's last name is now Kowareta, which means Broken, it will probably never be mentioned again, but in case anyone wonders xD
Also, thank you every one of you, hit 1k favorites and completely ecstatic, thank you all! I told my friend but they just looked at me funny, but I was proud of it xD However we do not mention the victory dance, that never happened. I did make cake however, so everyone was happy with that, even if they thought I was crazy. I sent a piece of cake to you all via attempted telekinesis, I hope you got it~
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