"Feel free to pick a room. Reborn found a place with more than enough bedrooms, and I know how expensive it is to rent a decent apartment. Maybe later we can make one of the spare rooms a place for you to work on your weapons, but for now let's just focus on getting you settled in," said Natsu.
Hayato was practically in tears, mostly because Natsu had not only accepted him but insisted he stay in his home while they tried to work out whether Hayato could become his Storm Guardian.
Hayato picked the room next to Chrome's, who slept right across the hall from Natsu. Alluka had a habit of mostly sleeping in Natsu's room anyway, but she shared her closet and bathroom with Chrome. She did have a bed in the older girl's room, but it was rarely used.
"If you know how to cook, you're welcome to make breakfast or dinner. If not, avoid the kitchen area. Also, Kyouya tends to drop in during the morning to act as my sparring partner, so you'll probably see us going at it before breakfast. Join in at your own peril," said Natsu.
"Got it, Jyuudaime!" said Hayato eagerly.
Natsu frowned.
"Natsu-san, or Natsu-kun will be fine. Or you can call me Boss. I would really like to avoid being reminded I'm stuck as the heir of that weak familigia in the first place," said Natsu firmly.
Hayato goggled at him.
"You actually call the Vongola weak?" he said in shock.
Natsu leveled an unimpressed look.
"They lost three of their heirs in seven years, none of which had proper Guardians from what I understand, and iced a fourth because he got pissed with the current Don's practices. They also failed to properly protect my mother and I from enemy Familigia," deadpanned Natsu coldly. "To say nothing of the fact that several of their own men have been busted for drug running and the Don has done absolutely nothing about reigning those idiots in."
Hayato blinked.
"Okay, I can somewhat see your point."
"And don't get me started on the fact that from what I was told, the original heir was more than old enough to take the reigns, but the old man never stepped down despite his advanced age citing that his son didn't have enough Guardians. All they would have to do was open up a ball or five to allow him to set feelers out for potentials, and instead they allowed him to remain ignorant on the true nature of Guardian bonds."
"You really don't like the Vongola much, do you?"
"Considering how badly the man who claims to be my father failed to protect my mother and I, when he's supposedly the head of their intelligence division, no," said Natsu bluntly.
The Esterneo goons had laughed about the fact there wasn't any protection at all on the house or family, and how easy it was to take a potential heir from the Vongola.
Natsu hated incompetence more than anything after he found out the full truth of why he was taken. Almost as much as he despised traitors. He held a lot of well-justified rage on the matter, but knew better than to take it out on anyone who didn't genuinely deserve it to some point.
"So no, I don't particularly care for the head of CEDEF or the head of the Vongola. Both of them have become complacent and incompetent to the point that it's hurting those that are supposed to depend on them for protection. At this point the only reason I'm even humoring Reborn on the matter is because there's no one else to take the mantle and because Fon-shifu warned me of how persistent Reborn was while under contract. So much so that trying to get out of it would unlikely be worth the trouble of attempting it."
Hayato was silent, because honestly he could really see Natsu's point. Both as a mafioso and as person. He hated his own family because of his mother's death, so he could relate.
And then Natsu got a really, really weird smile on his face.
"Besides...nothing said I have to listen to my 'elders' once I'm the boss, so if you happen to have a bad day I could honestly care less if you decided on some wanton destruction. Odds are the place could use some redecorating and it would emphasize that they can go screw themselves," said Natsu.
Hayato stared at him, before an evil smirk came on his own face.
"Considering my grandfather on my mom's side is one of Nono's Guardians and told me I was on my own when I asked him for help getting away from my sister and her habit of poisoning me on my father's orders, I completely agree," he said darkly.
Natsu beamed at him, and Hayato got to work bringing his things into his new room.
He could grow to like his new Boss.
Kyouya took one look at Hayato's primary weapons and narrowed his eyes at him. He leveled a tonfa in his direction, with Alluka quickly copying him.
"Wao. Little puppy if I find out you've been causing any trouble at the school with your fireworks I will hunt you down and bite you to death. Are we clear?"
"They're not fireworks!" said Hayato growling.
Natsu lightly slapped him on the head.
"Hayato, don't piss off Kyouya. He'd kick your ass in a minute flat, if not sooner. And I will be confiscating your bombs during school hours. The last thing we need is for you to accidentally cause so much damage that it becomes structurally unsafe to go into."
Hayato looked very much like a kicked puppy.
"Which is why this weekend you and I are going to the black market to see if we can't find something other than bombs for you to specialize in and get you proper training. Blowing things up is fine to an extent, but you're only risking yourself if an enemy gets up close and personal. A Storm is typically the right hand of the Sky, right? How would you react if someone got so close that you'd run the risk of blowing me up along with the enemy?" said Natsu.
Hayato looked down in defeat, because he had a valid point.
Natsu gently patted him on the head.
"It's not your fault that you never got the training. Storms typically have short fuses to begin with, and from the sound of it your family was more interested in making you a caged bird rather than someone who could be useful. And living on the streets only improves survival skills, not ones that could be used as a Guardian. Trust me, I would know."
Which made him perk up again.
What he didn't see was the puppy ears and tail Chrome gave him. Alluka giggled and Kyouya smirked.
Natsu flashed her a thumbs up and Chrome giggled.
Some time later...
Hayato's new weapon was a crossbow, very, very similar to the one that the Donna Vongola used when she was in power.
It allowed him to load smaller explosives into the tips, and it was very good practice for a gun later. Reborn had approved of the idea when it was explained to him (after pouting that Hayato hadn't gotten a gun straight off for an hour) and agreed to help Hayato learn how to shoot the thing.
Of course he wasn't the only one outfitted with a new weapon. Chrome got herself a naginata, though she said it was the closest fit she could find. Natsu suspected she might prefer a similar weapon to Mukuro, which was a trident of all things.
Considering his training with Fon, Natsu stuck to something simple that could be hidden in his clothes. He picked up a weapon known as Crescent Moon Knives, or "deer horn knives". Kyouya was rather annoyed when he first used them against him, because the weapon was very, very effective in catching his tonfa and allowing Natsu to attack almost immediately. Considering they were bladed weapons, they were something he had to work at dodging and they were easily concealed in Natsu's bag.
Alluka, for the most part, stuck to the old practice tonfa Kyouya had given her. They were his old ones, since his current set were custom made as a gift from Fon. They were made of specially treated metal designed to channel Flames more effectively.
At least Natsu wouldn't be alone in his training, since Chrome, Alluka and Hayato had expressed an interest, in between his fights with Kyouya.
Takeshi could tell he was depressed, and it was little wonder why. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with his life without baseball. His father had him banned from the sport until his arm healed, and most of his so-called friends had more or less abandoned him after the first two weeks since he couldn't play for two months.
Oh, they still talked to him of course, but they didn't include him in anything like they had before. Even his own classmates had more or less started to ignore he existed.
It hurt. It hurt more than he ever thought it would, finding out they weren't really his friends and only liked him because he was good at baseball.
There was a dark rain cloud over his head and he had very little ability to dispel it. Even his dad was starting to get worried about him and he could tell.
He had even started contemplating going up to the roof and just falling off.
So it was with great surprise that he actually jumped a little when he felt something cold against the back of his neck.
He turned to find... Natsu?
"You looked like you needed it," he said.
"Uh...thanks."
It was even his favorite drink.
Natsu gave a slightly scathing look at their classmates, which most of them missed.
"Want to join us for lunch?"
Takeshi stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because most of our classmates clearly have their heads in their ass if they haven't noticed the fact you're depressed? Because it's sort of my fault you got put on medical leave in the first place? Because you looked like you could use someone to at least notice you as a person, not as some hot shot baseball star?" said Natsu rather bluntly.
Takeshi stared at him. The weird thing was he could start to feel some of that rain cloud in his heart dissipate, just a little. Still, it wasn't like anyone else was offering to eat lunch with him, and he was very lonely.
He slowly managed to get his packed lunch from his dad and went with Natsu to the roof. The sky was very clear and bright, and he had to blink when he saw who was there.
The hot head known as Gokudera, the odd girl Chrome, Kyouya Hibari himself, and... was that a little girl in miko clothing?
"What took you so long Boss?"
"I figured Takeshi could use some real company for lunch. Seems like most of our class are a bunch of ignorant morons that lost interest when he got banned for two months," said Natsu.
Takeshi gave one of his fake smiles that came far too easily as he half-heartedly waved at them.
The girls frowned at him in unison.
"If you're not having a good day, it's okay to show it. You don't have to smile and pretend it's okay," scolded Chrome. The little girl nodded.
Takeshi blinked, his expression startled. No one had ever noticed his fake smiles from his real ones.
"I'm fairly sure you know who Chrome, Hayato and Kyouya are. And this is my little sister Luka-chan," said Natsu, nodding to the little girl.
"You look nothing alike," said Takeshi, sitting down.
"Well she refuses to tell me who her family is, and I'm not letting a girl her age wander around the streets," said Natsu flatly.
Takeshi blinked. That was a pretty good reason to claim she was a sibling, if nothing else.
It was...strange. For the first time in a very long time, he felt happy. They actually included him in the conversation and even listened to him, and not once did they mention his favorite sport. Instead they asked things about sushi and other things he liked to do other than baseball.
He barely even realized the rain cloud in his heart going away as he felt like he belonged.
They didn't see Takeshi Yamamoto, baseball prodigy star. They saw Takeshi, someone who loved baseball, sushi and video games that looked like he needed some real friends instead of the fake ones he surrounded himself with.
When he went home for the day, he didn't even realize he was smiling for real until his dad commented on it.
"Have a better day?" he asked. There was a sense of relief around him, like he was really worried about Takeshi.
"I think I made some new friends," said Takeshi. He would have to see if they wanted him to join them for lunch again.
Tsuyoshi smiled warmly at the idea.
By the end of the week, Takeshi could safely state Natsu and his group were his friends, including the grumpy Hibari. Without even realizing it, they were including him in most of their group activities, and he even spent the night a few times beating Hayato and Natsu at video games. It was nice, and it was something he didn't realize he was missing until he found himself surrounded by people who genuinely gave a damn about him.
The warmth in his chest whenever he thought about his new friends was something he would cherish for as long as he lived. It was nice being around them.
Tsuyoshi merely watched with amusement as his son unknowingly harmonized with Natsu. He wasn't ready to learn about Flames, but he would be more than ready to train Takeshi in the family swords style and explain things to him properly when the boy came to him for training.
At least he knew Natsu had a good head on his shoulders and was more honorable than most.