Aria downed her drink, still in shock over today's revelations.
Her adorable cousin had gone through so much, but was still came out with a kinder heart than anyone she had ever met. While the fact Natsume somehow retained memories of a timeline that would never happen wasn't surprising, the fact she also knew how to break the curse that had killed her mother Luce was.
Though Aria couldn't blame Natsume for keeping her silence on the cure. She had no reason to give it to the Arcobaleno, and they wouldn't have believed her in the first place. The only reason she had taken on the curse was to buy time until she was on a more 'level footing' when it came to her own situation, and to wait until the curse had almost run it's course before she approached the Vindice with how to break it.
Aria took a lot of comfort in the fact Natsume had fully planned to break the curse before Yuni was ever tapped for it. Hearing that had solidified Gamma's appreciation for Natsume.
She downed her scotch.
Natsume would officially become her heir next month, though she wouldn't be moving to Italy. Right now the only thing keeping the Fujiwara safe was the fact no one knew she existed or what she had. And Aria refused to relocate her cousin just because it would be easier for her to train Natsume up as the next Giglio Nero donna.
Not after hearing even a fraction of what Natsume had gone through both in her original timeline and what she went through in this one. She needed the stability the couple were able to provide and it was only two more years until Natsume graduated high school.
Aria could be patient, and in two more years Natsume could move to Italy on the grounds of a 'scholarship' when she could begin her training in earnest.
The Giglio Nero were a neutral faction and everyone 'knew' that anyone seeking to attack it would also have to deal with the Arcobaleno coming after them. It wasn't a secret that the likes of Reborn and the others were fond of her family. They could afford to wait when it came to revealing their heir.
As it was, Aria fully planned to pay Fon for a long-term bodyguard/training assignment, with the addition that he was allowed to bring his apprentice I-Pin with him. That would keep the Triads off his back since he was already on a job and keep I-Pin safe as well. From the way Natsume had handled Yuni with a fond expression, it was clear that the young woman had a way with small children.
It also allowed Fon to prepare Natsume not only as a fighter (he couldn't quite hide the subtle delight he had upon hearing she preferred martial arts, but had limited to no training), but as a potential leader of the family. His presence alone would deter most assassins, once they discovered her existence.
Not to mention served as a subtle indicator that she was already claimed if her flames were discovered.
Natsume had taken to wearing the heir ring around her neck, and by next month it would be considered 'official' in the eyes of the mafia.
Natsume took one look at I-Pin and had to hold back a silent squeal of feminine delight. As it was, she still scooped up the surprised child into a warm hug.
Fon chuckled at I-Pin's reaction. He could tell Natsume would be a very good influence on his apprentice.
At this point Natsume was glad Touko and Shiguru accepted the story that her cousin on her mother's side had finally managed to track her down, and in order to prepare her for college had sent Fon as her tutor. Of course since he already had an apprentice, being a grandmaster of several martial arts styles, he had managed to add I-Pin into the contract as well.
Touko...was just happy to have another little girl to spoil rotten.
"Ah, that reminds me Natsume-chan. I found this at the gathering," said Fon.
He pulled out a cage, and inside was a ball of fur. Closer inspection revealed it to be a young nekomata, likely not even a hundred years old yet.
"A nekomata?"
"As an Arcobaleno, we all found ourselves attracting suitable familiars that attached themselves and never left. As I had no idea if you had found one yet, I thought it prudent to take this off the hands of that rather foolish exorcist. It was clear he was planning to sell it off to act as a shiki to someone who wouldn't fully appreciate it."
Natsume reached out for the cage, only for the kitten to wake up and begin hissing angrily at her.
Undetered, Natsume undid the latch allowing the kitten out. There were spells binding it and keeping the nekomata from escaping or attacking anyone in the room. It looked quite painful, in her opinion.
Natsume held out a hand for the kitten to smell. It was clear that the poor thing was agitated from being trapped for so long. The little one held an intelligence that said it knew exactly what sort of fate would befall it once the cage was removed.
"There, there little one. There's no need to be afraid."
The kitten hissed at her, but was unable to lash out.
"Sensei, could you open the windows?"
"What are you planning to do?" said Nyanko.
Natsume merely smiled and said nothing. Fon watched with interest as she carefully removed the spell collar that forced the kitten to remain in the room, and did nothing to stop it from escaping.
"Are you sure that was wise? It may lash out at humans."
"It was just scared, and in pain from the collar. I would rather gain it's trust gradually than try to force it into submission," said Natsume.
It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Fon's gesture...she just hated forcing an innocent creature like that into becoming her familiar simply because she could. It was no better than being forced to deal with fake guardians simply because they were the roughly the same age as her and happened to bear a strong resemblance to the Primo's generation.
As it was, it took Natsume a full two weeks before the nekomata kitten started to follow her around. And a full month before the familiar bond settled and the kitten happily accepted Natsume's presence.
Natsume named her Rin, because the kitten had an amusing 'tsundere' attitude that reminded her of a character from one of her favorite animes.
That anime was "Fate/Stay Night".
A few days later...
Fon was outside, teaching Natsume martial arts. Considering she had openly admitted she never had proper training before, but had developed a very rough style that allowed her to push energy from her fists (Fon had yet to see the divine beads she held, or the celestial brush), Fon decided to first give her an assessment on which style to teach her first.
He picked Qigong, which was a common style used by several exorcists, but he also threw in some jiujitsu.
Fon was quite pleased by his new student, who listened properly and only needed a few demonstrations to pick up on the basics. Her form was still somewhat loose, but he knew practice would deal with the worst of it.
Considering they were doing this out in the field, where the worst they would have to worry about were some of Natsume's fans seeing them, it was only natural that Fon be very surprised when he realized there were magatama rotating around Natsume's ankles and wrists.
"Natsume-san...what is that?"
Natsume realized what he was looking at, before she smiled lightly.
"According to Nyanko-sensei, they're called the 'devout beads'. They're the first evolution of the divine rosary that Amaterasu-no-kami uses to ward off evil."
She had found out by accident a few weeks ago that if she 'charged' them, they could be launched like bullets to an enemy. Considering her only long range attack took several seconds to load, and her martial arts skills were sloppy at best, the beads were perfect for her. They acted as a mid-range weapon that she could use to keep others at bay while she charged her attacks or to recover so she could get away.
Nyanko also mentioned that if she continued to use them, they would get an 'upgrade' to a more powerful version.
Out of the three divine weapon sets, the rosaries were the weakest...but they were also the most versitile and easy to use.
The fake cat was still in shock at how quickly Natsume had figured out how to use them, much less that she had an idea of what the others looked like.
He had only heard rumors that the final form of the weapons controlled certain elements, but he had no idea which ones.
Natsume...found a certain irony that the weapon she had been given controlled ice. Mostly because she already had one or two attacks that allowed her to create ice from fire.
Fon looked at the rosary with an incredulous expression on his face, before he turned to her deadpan.
"You gained the favor of the sun goddess herself. That's how you got the seal removed," he said flatly.
Natsume didn't try to deny it.
"She was possessing a miko and handing out small charms to 'drum up business' during a festival. Except when she got to me she gave me a box and told me not to open it. Two years later she showed up again and the box opened by itself...less than a week later Checkerface showed up and soon after I met the Fujiwara, who heard about me being shuffled around the family because the ayakashi kept bothering me, so they took me in. Believe me, the second I figured out what happened I made a very big offering to the first shrine towards Amaterasu I could find, and a donation every year since."
Fon chuckled lightly at that.
"I can believe it. At least it was one of the nicer kami who are known to favor small children with good things, than an ayakashi who only wanted to use you later."
He had been worried about that, actually.
"If you have the rosaries, then I can only assume you have the brush and ink set as well?"
Natsume smirked.
"I've been using the rejuvenation technique to restore old scrolls. Unfortunately my Chinese isn't so good that I can read most of them, and some of them are in a dialect I can't read at all."
Fon perked up hearing that.
"You can restore old, faded scrolls with the brush?"
"Outside of practicing my spells and keeping my skills with the few attacks it has fresh, that's mostly what I use it for," she informed him.
He looked rather excited to hear that. He knew a number of old scrolls that had lost techniques that couldn't be read from how damaged they were. He could get them for cheap and with Natsume's help the old spells could be restored and used again!
Natsume chuckled, the looked rather puzzled when she felt an odd warmth blossom in her chest. From the expression on Fon's face, he felt it too, before his expression went from 'openly pleased' to something closer to 'deliriously happy'.
"Was that harmony?" she asked. It felt very similar to something she had felt once before, but she couldn't be sure.
"Yes, it was. It seems we merely needed something to bond over for it to kick in, or for our thoughts to be on the same wavelength. Have you really never experienced it before?"
"I felt something like it, but it was a really long time ago. It's not like I had a chance to find real guardians the first time," said Natsume.
Fon patted her hand at that.
"At least now I have a reason to properly break away from the Triads if they attempt to bother me again," said Fon pleased.
It also meant Aria wouldn't have to keep paying him for a job he would have happily done for free. Natsume was a delight to talk to and a better student than he could have hoped for.
He absolutely did not pout when Natsume scooped him up for a cuddle. Was it her fault that all the other Arcobaleno were great to cuddle in groups, even if Reborn never let her get away with it often?
She had to make do with Colonello and Skull half the time, at least until they aged up again.
Fon put up with it, mostly because Natsume generally treated him more like an adult than anyone ever did, and she was still giddy from the feeling of a proper Element bond. Besides, she was rather warm and it felt nice.
Reborn was visiting Aria, who was in a very good mood today.
"Did something good happen recently?" he asked.
"I found out I have an adorable cousin on my mother's side...who also happens to be the same one who took on the Sky pacifier for me. She also agreed to act as my heir so Yuni wouldn't have to worry about the sharks until she's old enough to have guardians of her own to protect her," said Aria smiling.
"You found the missing Sky pacifier?" said Reborn in shock.
"Apparently mom had a half-sister in Japan she didn't know about until after the woman had already died and had a daughter. The new Sky Arcobaleno is that woman's granddaughter," said Aria. "I also just heard from Fon that she has harmonized with him, so there's a chance she could handle you as well."
"Fon knows already?"
"I saw in a vision that he would be the one to locate her first. Considering she lives in a fairly rural area and all the flame actives are connected to her, it's no wonder we were never able to find where she was," said Aria.
Reborn frowned at that.
"Wouldn't it be better to move her to Italy for training?"
Aria winced at that.
"She's a civilian. She only has two more years before she graduates high school anyway, and she agreed to move to Italy for college. I can afford to wait two years, since she has the pacifier. Besides, we talk all the time over the computer so it's not like she's going to be completely ignorant of how things are in Italy when she does show up."
Aria fully planned to go behind Natsume's back and tag-team with Touko-san in order to get the girl to wear the correct uniform.
Reborn frowned at that.
"I could always go and help train her."
Aria did wince at that.
"Considering what I found out about her history, I sincerely doubt she would appreciate your brand of chaos, uncle Reborn. Particularly anywhere near her home."
Reborn raised an eyebrow at that.
"My adorable little sister isn't just a member of my family...she's also a Vongola."
Reborn stared at her.
"Now you have my full interest."
"Natsume's father is Iemitsu Sawada. Her mother is my cousin, but she's so firmly in denial about anything out of the ordinary that might disrupt the fantasy she's built around herself that she will turn a blind eye to anything that happens. Including bullying and harassment. Natsume was sent to live with her grandfather, but when he died she was almost sent back to her mother. Instead she came up with a half-lie about why she was sent away in the first place and they shuffled her around between several families until she settled were she is now. She really doesn't want the couple she's living with to be burdened by the mafia, much less what she already goes through since she's an exorcist."
Reborn blinked.
"How do the Vongola not know of this?"
"Because Timoteo sealed her shortly after she went Active...when she was only five. The reason she was sent away was because her grades suddenly dropped like a stone and her personality shifted in a way that alarmed the teachers to something almost as damaging."
Reborn winced at that, as he could easily guess what the civilian teachers would have assumed happened. And if Aria's cousin really did deny reality to that extent, odds were she would ignore what was going on and fail to get the kid any therapy at all.
No wonder the kid didn't want to go back to that house.
"How did she avoid being sent back?"
Aria smirked in a way that Reborn was all too familiar with. Mostly because it was one he used himself when creating prime chaos. He found himself smirking as well, eagerly anticipating what she had to say next.
"Natsume remembered being sealed...so she told her grandfather's cousins that she remembered seeing her father's 'friend' that he had brought with him entering her room, but couldn't remember the rest. However it happened shortly before her grades suddenly dropped and her mother kept denying anything happened even when the teachers told her bluntly that something was wrong...so she was sent to live with her grandfather for a time. Needless to say his cousins were hardly going to send a child back to a home where they had been attacked in their own room..."
Reborn blinked.
"Wait...didn't you just say that Timoteo was the one to seal her? As in the Ninth Vongola don?" he said slowly as a wicked grin appeared on his face.
"Yes, at Iemitsu's request since he didn't want to train his own daughter."
"Oh god, that's..."
A child was sneaky enough to get Timoteo branded a pedophile, with Iemitsu being his enabler? He could only imagine the expression on the ninth's face if he ever heard that particular story!
Reborn cackled.