"Lal. You need an apprentice."
The arcobaleno gave Iemitsu a deadpanned stare as she slowly lifted her finger. "What are those idiots then?"
'Those idiots', which consisted of basically all the kids Tsuna had picked up thus far, continued their training, unaware of the appearance of the Young Lion and his son.
"No like someone for you to personally train. Look how happy Tumeric and Oregano are after adopting Basil!"
…To be honest, Lal didn't see anything different in the couple's behaviour. They still had a strong platonic relationship and a well formed parternship. Which was probably developed as camaraderie after having to deal with Iemitsu on a daily basis.
"So basically you're telling me to raise a kid."
"Yup!" Iemitsu swung his son up into the air. "Tsuna has been the best thing that has happened to me and to CEDEF! Look how strong we are now. Isn't that right, Tuna-fishy."
Lal disagreed. The reason why CEDEF was even stronger than before now was because Iemitsu turned exponentially more terrifying and unpredictable as his beloved son grew. CEDEF grew stronger as a whole in order to adapt to the crazy lion. "I am not interested in raising any sort of child or apprentice. I want to focus my attention on Xanxus, Squalo and everyone else's training thank you very much."
(Un)fortunately for her, Iemitsu was determined to get his point accross. After all, offspring are glorious. "But it's the perfect time for you to find one! After all, you are no longer cursed."
"You're afraid." Mammon chose this (un)fortunate moment to appear and ruin Lal's life. "You're afraid because of what happened with Colonnello."
Lal's silence told everyone that the other baby hit the nail on the head. Iemitsu smiled triumphantly.
"I don't see why you would need to worry. No one is as stupid as Colonnello and even if they wanted to do something very stupid, Colonnello would have already done it first."
Two more perfect strikes. Lal no longer had the will to argue.
The woman grumbled as she sighed in defeat. She turned to the mist arcobaleno slowly. "…Why are you so interested in finding me an apprentice?"
Mammon simply shrugged and faded away.
(It was definitely not so that he could develop some cards to hold against their fellow rain arcobaleno.
It was also definitely not so that he could create some potential favours against their fellow sun arcobaleno.
It was most definitely not so that he could have another servant for his current charge and himself in extension.
Tsuna blinked when he saw the catastrophic smirk that only he could see and shrugged it off.
The child is happy that Mama is happy.)
…
Lal Mirch sighed.
Iemitsu had all but hauled her into an orphanage and set her in front of a bunch of babies. She stared at the children with uncertainty. Does that idiot seriously think that she can raise a child the same size as her?
Behind her, Xanxus gave a similar sigh. All he could do was pray that his teacher doesn't get the brilliant idea that Xanxus should get a child too! Just like me!
Iemitsu remained oblivious to their headaches. "So which one do you want?" Spoken so causually it was as if they were shopping for groceries.
(Both Lal and Xanxus resisted the urge to punch him. They are in front of a bunch of impressionable kids. No need to cause them any childhood trauma.)
"Why don't you let Tsuna choose? Then he can have a new friend!"
(Even though Iemitsu had said 'friend', everyone else heard 'lapdog'.
At this point, no one would be surprised if the man decided to create an army for his son.
For no reason at all.)
"Son! Hmm…? Where did my Tuna-fish go?"
Xanxus inwardly rolled his eyes. It always amazed him how Iemitsu tried to be the role model parent for everyone in CEDEF. It just didn't work. "Tsuna wandered off earlier with Mammon."
…
"Close your eyes. Deep breath in. Deep breath out."
Tsuna obeyed unquestioningly.
"We want to find Lal the perfect person. What type of person will suit Lal?"
"Strong." The child murmured. "Very Strong."
"Picture it in your mind. Strength." The baby continued after the boy slowly nodded. "Go to that strength."
This was almost the same exercise Mammon tried with Tsuna a few months prior to locate Iris. Except things were slightly different this time.
An unknown terrain with an unknown target.
Not that it mattered though. There was no chance of failure.
Tsuna's graceful manuvering around the toys, walls and even stairs reinforced that point.
(Mammon could barely wait for the child to ignite his flame and heighten his intuition.)
The child walked steadily, beelining up the top of a second set of stairs and crashing straight into an older boy's back.
Neither baby, child nor boy expected that collision. Tsuna's eyes shot open and he instantly flailed as he fell backwards.
Mammon reacted just as quickly, immediately summoning illusionary pillows.
However, they weren't as fast as the boy.
The older boy grabbed Tsuna's arm, pulled him close and flipped before either of them hit the bottom of the stairs, landing right on his feet with the child still in his arms.
(The pillows had actually caused more harm than help. Not expecting the uneven surface, their saviour nearly tripped.)
Understandably, the whole ordeal left Tsuna in tears. He quietly sobbed as he clenched onto the older boy tightly, blabbling about something the older boy couldn't understand.
Mammon did though. He floated next to his charge. "Name."
The boy looked up. "Lancia."
Now, Tsuna's unintelligible mumbles turned into strings of 'Lan-nii's.
The arcobaleno nodded with satisfaction. "Follow." He turned and slowly floated back to the group. That went well.
(Mammon, however, made note to not do this experiment very often.
For some reason, the exercise always ends with Tsuna crying.)
.
(In a world where Basil ended up in foster care, Lancia would have ended up in Northern Italy.)
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Bond #11
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.
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"What are you guys doing?"
"Fed-nii!" Tsuna let go of Iris' hand to give Federico a hug. "Weapon!"
"Hmm?"
Iris patted the child on the head. "Yesterday, Tsuna helped Lancia choose a weapon. Now he wants to do the same for everyone else."
Federico nodded. He bent down to the child's eye level. "Good job Tsuna! What did Lancia get?"
"A big big big ball!" The child stretched his arms into a huge circle. "Very big!"
"A …ball?" Federico turned to Iris. Images of Lancia throwing basketballs, volleyballs and soccer balls running through his mind.
Iris nodded nonchalantly. "A wrecking ball."
"A wrecking ball?!" It took all of Federico's years of etiquette training to not gape widely.
The girl nodded once again. "The young lion took us to a weapon shop that happened to be next to a construction site." The child was so mesmerized by the huge swinging lump of metal that Iemitsu had decided that it was the perfect weapon for Lancia. Xanxus gave up on telling him it was a bad idea. After all, a wrecking ball as a weapon is not nearly as bad as having a lion as a cat.
(Xanxus assumed that no one would be able to swing a full sized wrecking ball around.
He assumed that for a wrecking ball to be an efficient weapon, it would need to be scaled down both in size and in density. Cannon or bowling ball size.
(Un)fortunately, the wielder in question would go onto become known as the 'strongest person in Italy'.
Had the leader of the CEDEF known, he would have forced Lancia to carry a feather as a weapon instead.)
Tsuna tugged on his big bro and big sis. "Let's go weapon!"
They let him lead the way. "On a related note, Basil got a boomerang and Dendro got a stick."
Federico blinked. "Stick? There's no way Dendro would be willing to carry a stick around as a weapon."
"He calls it a lance."
"Ah. That makes sense."
…
Neither teenagers knew what to expect when Tsuna led them to a closet and asked for the bag in the corner to be brought down.
They both stared at the ominous words on the side. 'Pervert kit'. Hastily scribbled on the bag with black marker. They didn't even need to say anything to know that it was something Iemitsu put together.
"Tsuna, did your papa give this to you?"
The boy nodded at Federico's question.
"And Xanny didn't throw it out." Iris unzipped the bag. "Well, knowing him, he probably asked Dendro to do it instead. Such bad judgement."
"Give my brother a break. He is still naive and innocent." Federico hoisted Tsuna up onto the table, where all of contents of the bag were being neatly spread out.
The kid's eyes lit up in excitement. He quickly pointed to a wide array of short whips. "Iris-nee's!"
Federico smirked. "I agree. Iris is a whip type of person."
"And Fed-nii's!"
Iris smiled back. "Good thinking Tsuna. Federico is definitely a chloroform and rope type of person."
"I take preference in this selection over a stick or a boomerang-"
"TONNO-CHANNNN!" Dino barged into the room. "Let's play!" He ran up to the table. "What are you guys doing?"
Iris grabbed one of the whips with lightning speed and slapped it against wrist when he made reach for the grenades.
Federico placed a hand on the horse's shoulder before the boy started whining. "Take this."
Dino unsuspectingly examined the rape whistle as Iris and Federico pulled Tsuna off the table and away. Without prompting, Mammon set up a sound proof barrier around them.
The horrifying sound filled the entire building seconds later.
"SHUT UP!" Xanxus ran into the room, hand over his ears. He took one single glance at Dino and threw him out the window. The rape whistle was crushed by his flame seconds later.
Federico smiled and waved at his brother.
Xanxus punched him.
…
In the end, Puledro had to get Dino a bull whip to appease his son.
.
.
.
.
.
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Mammon slowly read through the medical report and hospital records of late Romeo: a son, brother and heartbreaker.
The man unfortunately didn't realize that there were some girls that he couldn't mess around him in this world.
…
The young man's legacy ends in the park.
Dendro, Iris, Lancia and Mammon agreed to take Tsuna and Basil to the park while an important CEDEF meeting was held in their building. After Lal and Xanxus glued Iemitsu to the chair, the six of them left peacefully. (Nana agreed to cook a grand lunch that would be held after the meeting.)
It was a nice day. There were a few clouds in the sky but it didn't seem like it was going to rain anytime soon.
Tsuna was merrily swinging on the swing when he suddenly spotted a colourful bird. Excited, the boy quickly got off the swing and began chasing after it.
"I've got this. You two stay with Basil." Iris stood up from her bench, putting her notes down, and followed after Tsuna. She was certain that Mammon was probably on or near Tsuna's head.
"Iris-nee!" The boy took her hand and pulled her deeper into the park, pointing at the bird. "Look, look!"
"A warbler. I'll show you a picture when we get home-" Both the boy and his blood sister stopped at the sight of something pink peeping out from behind a bush.
The pink thing turned out to be a girl. She was sobbing, too engrossed with her emotions to hear the bystanders walk towards her.
Tsuna didn't like to see people cry. He dug around his pockets and pulled out a bandage. "Where is the ouchie?"
Bianchi looked up, staring from the bandage held towards her up to the concerned child's eyes. She gave a messy smile. "Thanks, but a bandage won't help me."
The child panicked. "Bandage won't help?"
"Yeah." She sniffled. "I was dumped. Romeo was cheating on me with 5 other women… He said he would love me forever…!"
Mammon was vaguely familiar with a man named Romeo who was known for being mass dater. However, that man was nearing his forties. He must be at least 20 years older than the crying girl in front of them. (Mammon's estimation was correct. However, age was only a number to Bianchi. She knew true love for what it was.)
The girl continued to try to wipe the tears off her face. "I don't know what to do anymore. I've lost everything. All I need is love."
The arcobaleno floated back slightly as Iris gestured for her to take over. She gently held Bianchi's cheek and slid a stray tear away. "You're wrong. Love isn't what you need. It's family."
Bianchi blinked.
"Men are pawns." Iris had a gleam in her eyes. "That is why you must use their body to its fullest after you are done with them."
And that was when Mammon decided that this was enough for both Tsuna and himself to hear and took the boy away. He will never understand how women reason and he feels like it's better that way.
(Romeo was sent to the hospital in quick succession due to a variety of extreme poisoning cases. When Mammon reaches the part about his castration, he quickly closes the report. He remembers Iris returning home one day carrying a long thin pouch. He does not want to know.)
…
Whatever happened with Romeo had turned into a strong bonding experience between Bianchi and Iris.
They somehow ended up as best friends, with Iris somehow becoming Bianchi's role model-like elder sister figure.
And of course, anyone Iris is willing to bring into her life are required to absolutely adore Tsuna.
Not that it was difficult.
.
(In a world where Bianchi sought revenge on Romeo on her own accord, she experimented her poison on Hayato and eventually fell in love with Reborn.)
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Bond #12
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Bianchi gave a long sigh as she watched Iris brush Tsuna's hair.
"How envious." She continued after receiving attention from the other two. "My own brother would never let me do that. He runs away whenever he sees me."
"Bianchi-san has a brother?"
The girl reached over and pinched Tsuna's cheek lightly. "One that isn't nearly as cute as you."
"You could bring him over some time."
Bianchi sighed once more. "He's busy with piano."