Tsuna

Yamamoto's waiting outside my house the next morning when Reborn and I leave the house. Thankfully, he looks lighter now, more settled. I at least don't need to worry about him.

'Yo Tsuna!'

'Yamamoto? Why are you here?'

'I wanted to thank you. And make sure you're ok.'

'Isn't that a question I should be asking you?' I chuckle.

'Is this your brother?' Ignoring the jest, gaze fixed on Reborn.

'I'm Reborn, the World's Greatest Hitman. I'm here to tutor Tsuna to become a mafia boss.' Reborn the little devil, decides to answer before I can.

'Mafia? Is that a game you're playing? Can I join?' If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that he was still joking around. But his eyes hold a sharpness that contradicts the easy going smile on his face.

'Of course, Tsuna is looking for members to join his family.'

'Cool! Then I'll join.'

'Don't I get a say in this?'

'He's already become your guardian.'

'I don't understand.' Furrowing my eyebrows. Guardian? What does that have to do with anything.

'Right, I haven't explained it to you yet. You are aware of the different types of flames, correct?'

'Sky, cloud, rain, storm, sun, lightning and mist, right?'

'Correct. Sky flames are able to attract other types of flames and form bonds with them, skies are considered royalty in the mafia because of this.' Yamamoto is listening intently but doesn't seem to be confused on why we are suddenly talking about fire.

'You know about flames Yamamoto?'

'I saw my old man use them before, he never explained it to me.'

'We'll explain more about that later.' Reborn cuts us off, before he continues to explain. 'We call the people that bond with a sky, guardians. Each sky can only typically hold one of each element, but there have been exceptions. Traditionally, it is these guardians' jobs to protect the sky.'

'So, it's like a contract then.'

'More or less.' He agrees. 'You have already formed a bond with Hibari and Yamamoto. The next step is harmonization.' He pauses. 'Harmonization is difficult to explain, the feeling it brings for each person is different.'

'It's like getting back a piece of yourself you didn't know you were missing.' Thinking back to the aftermath of that incident, I can now place that feeling of something clicking into place and my soul settling. It had been the most at peace I'd been since waking up.

'You and Hibari, harmonized? I had suspected as much.'

'Is it strange?'

'A bit' he admits 'Usually clouds like Hibari are one of the last guardians found. They are often territorial, independent possessive battle maniacs, so they don't typically play well with others. Clouds also take the longest the longest to form a bond with. So, it's surprising that he's the first one you pulled in, and that you haven't attracted anyone else in since.'

'Subconsciously, I think I knew he's what I needed. His constant presence as he stalked me, gave me some piece of mind. He needed me too in away, he's not nearly as out of volatile as he used to be.'

'Possibly.'

'Speaking of Kyouya.' I glance at Yamamoto, 'seeing that you are unbruised and not bleeding, I take it he hasn't gotten to you yet.'

'Haha, he wanted to see me today.' He laughs, an excited glint crossing though his eyes and I lament my fate. Why do I keep attracting these battle crazy weirdos!? He has the same type of crazy asKyouya, just much better hidden. Not that Kyouya was even attempting to hide it.

'I won't stop him, but I will prevent him from going too far.' I promise.

'Thanks, Tsuna!' If it was even possible, his smile widens.

As if summoned by us talking about him, Kyouya swoops down like a bird of prey and attacks Yamamoto. I continue walking, completely ignoring the chaos that's unfolding behind me. I don't hear Yamamoto's happy laughter, or Kyouya's irritated grunting. And I definitely don't hear walls giving way to Kyouya's tonfas.

'Are you sure you shouldn't stop them?' Reborn jumps back onto my shoulder when the wall he was walking on ends. I've gotten more comfortable with this arrangement recently. He tried sitting on my head once, but it turned me into such a twitching mess, that he hasn't done it since.

'Why?' I ask, taking a cursory glance back. Yamamoto is doing better than I originally thought he would, he's still laughing like he's having the time of his life as he dodges Kyouya's strikes. It's rather sloppy, but still impressive. 'They're having fun. Besides, if people are stupid enough to try and get in between Kyouya and his prey, they deserve everything they get.'

'What about property damage?'

'That's Tetsuya's problem.' Effectively pushing off the responsibility to someone else. 'He may have no hope in trying to reign Kyouya in, but he's gotten very good at handling the ensuing aftermath.' Reborn looks like he is thoroughly amused by the situation. It suddenly goes quite behind us. Looks like Kyouya finally got him. One of the minions will collect Yamamoto, so I don't bother checking on him.

We walk in companionable silence for a few minutes, Reborn looking like he wants to ask something, but is unsure how.

'You have other abilities besides flames?' He finally decides on just asking me outright.

'Kyouya told you that, didn't he.' I smile wryly. Kyouya knows I prefer to use my contracts out of habit, this is his way of giving me an excuse. While, this isn't ideal, I knew Reborn would eventually catch on. So far, I've been able to keep my use discreet, but that may not always be an option.

'He didn't tell me more than that.'

'He's never cared about something like that.' I tried to explain it to him once, he didn't let me. He didn't care that I had them at all. I was enough for him. Reborn looks at me expectantly, but he's at least not forcing the issue.

'Later,' I finally concede, and I can't hide the bone deep weariness in my voice. 'It's a long story.'

Luckily, he drops it after that and goes on telling me about someone he's called in from Italy that he thinks would be a good fit as my storm. I'm only half paying attention to him though. As I frantically attempt to squash the rising panic as I realize I only have a few hours to figure out what I'm going to tell him.