Let it be known that the universe hates me! Just as I'd gotten on a roll, I fell ill. Like 39°C/102°F ill. Only reason I'm even sitting upright now is heavy painkillers and it's been a week already. Still I got the chapter done and I hope you enjoy it.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 10: Thicker than water

Takeshi had started to adore, and even worship, Tsuna ever since the cross-dressing boy had reached out to him when Takeshi had been extremely depressed and suicidal. Because of a broken arm close to an important baseball game, Takeshi's so-called friends and teammates had abandoned him. He had felt that if he couldn't do the only thing he was good at, he might as well just … stop living.

Standing on the edge of the roof of the school, Takeshi had felt more along than ever before. Everyone had been calling out to him not to do it, but no one had actually tried to stop him. Then from one moment to the next, she had appeared. Completely out of breath from racing up the stairs to get there in time.

She'd told him no to, to think of the people who still cared, loved him. He had smiled, so fake and broken it was more of a grimace, and had asked who'd want a person without any worth.

"You are not worthless to me, Yamamoto Takeshi! You're broken arm will be healed before you know it. Besides, don't think I haven't seen you train before and after school. Don't think I haven't seen your alleged teammates make excuses and dump the bulk of training on you. Baseball is supposed to be a team sport! One talented player won't win his team the game. Quite the contrary as you yourself have proven, that player is pushed to their limits until they break and have to take rest.

Even if the whole world would spit you out, I will always accept you with open arms, just the way you are!" she had screamed, tears streaming down her face in frustration, anger and sadness. In that moment he'd fallen in total harmony with this wisp and he had discovered his true purpose in life: to protect and cherish her at all costs!

Thus when Tsuna assembled him and the others to inform them of the situation with the Varia, he had laid down his beloved baseball bat and had asked his father to teach him the ways of the sword. Hours of sweat, blood, and tears he'd dedicated to his little sister, the pillar of their family, his sky who accepts all.

His father had taught his the eight forms of the Shigure Shoen Style, withholding the last one until he'd reached true understanding. When Takeshi had told him that his opponent was Squalo Superbi, defeater of over a hundred sword style, he'd laughed long and hard. He'd told Takeshi that he clearly hadn't it's most basic concept if he believed that the Shigure Shoen Style could truly be defeated.

So Takeshi had trained harder, pushing himself to his limits, (or at least what he thought were his limits,) only to discover Shigure Shoen's true nature as he sat down, tired and despairing, to watch the summer sky.

Finally having grasped the concept, he too laughed. How true his father had spoken. Squalo Superbi might have defeated a master of the Shigure Shoen Style, but the style itself was undefeated. With just under a month to go, he too had become a master in his craft.

When the Varia arrived, Takeshi had been furious about the way their boss so casually insulted his sky and still expected everything to go his way. Tsuna was a goddess in comparison to them! The only words coming from their potty mouths should be prayers and worshipping! Ryohei, Haru and Hana had shown the Varia that they were not to be underestimated. He'd show them the true meaning of family and dedication to a sky, since they clearly didn't understand a thing about it.

Entering the school building that was supposed to be the next arena, they found the floors partially destroyed and water flowing freely from the top of the building. The Varia had arrived as well, arrogantly confident in this victory. All but the Rain Guardians were ushered out to watch the battle outside on huge screens. Hibari had to be reassured several times that the building would be repaired to every last detail by morning before he finally got to a manageable level.

Takeshi centred himself, seeking his inner calm. He had no time limit and no personal need to finish things off quickly. He wanted to savour his victory against the current sword emperor!

Squalo made the first move. He disappeared and Takeshi slid into the appropriate stance as Squalo attacked from behind. As the smoke cleared, the 7th form, defensive style of the Shigure Shoen was revealed. Riled up, Squalo send a huge wave towards Takeshi, which was deflected with the 2nd form, defence style.

"Heey brat, I don't f*cking know why you didn't attack me after defending, but you just lost your only chance of hitting me!" Squalo shouted at Takeshi.

Takeshi merely grinned before charging at Squalo. Just as the white-haired man was within reach, Takeshi changed his grip on his katana, resulting in a horizontal swipe in front of him. Squalo was thrown back, but stood without problem. He hadn't been hit by the 5th form, offensive style.

Squalo laughed and mocked. "That's your sword style? Let me tell you kid, I've defeated it long ago! To defeat the sword emperor, I went looking for the strongest fighters I could find. I heard about this Shigure Shoen Style, which was said to be passed on through generations. It was supposed to be a flawless assassination style, so I sought the successor and his apprentices."

Squalo scoffed, disgust and displeasure written over his features. "What a disappointment they turned out to be. All they had was 8 stances that were really just a f*king rip off of fencing! I defeated the lot of them easily!"

"You never fought a true, mature successor of the Shigure Shoen. Had you done so, you wouldn't be here. And if you were, you would be using the style, not mocking it. Until you discerning the true nature of the Shigure Shoen Style, you will never defeat it." Takeshi calmly defended.

"Real nature. What the f*ck are you talking about kid!" Squalo was visibly getting irritated.

"Guess you'll have to fight me, the successor of the Yamamoto Shigure Shoen Style, to find out. One last warning though, if you don't start taking me seriously I won't hesitate to kill instead maim." Takeshi laid down his challenge, as composed as he was at the start of the battle.

Both males ran towards each other at top speed. Squalo slashed horizontally, but Takeshi dodged. Only to be hit by a small piece of stone that had been swept up by the resulting waves. The pain barely even registered as he cut diagonally with his sword in his right hand before the blade quickly switched hands and he attacked Squalo directly. His attacked was parried however and he was thrown back. The power of Squalo's swing had briefly paralysed his left hand.

"Voooooi! Stop holding on to your pitiful sword style! I already told you that the successor showed me all eight stances! I slayed him as he released the 8th form, offensive style akisame!" Squalo screamed in frustration. The kid should have been a beginner, defeated in under two minutes. Yet the battle had been going for a solid five and so far they were pretty evenly matched.

Takeshi simply shook his hand to get rid of the tremors and gripped his sword before charging once again. Squalo jumped over him, wanting to attack from behind, but Takeshi's sword found him in the air and slashed his chest.

"So Squalo, what did you think of my 8th form, offensive style shinotsuke ame." Takeshi asked politely.

"What! There's no f*king way that was the Shigure Shoen Style!" Squalo was getting more and more confused as the fight went on.

"But it is! For the practitioners of the Shigure Shoen Style succession means change. The seven forms are shown but once, sometimes the eighth as well, if the successor isn't considered truly worthy. When the apprentice becomes master, they develop their own 8th form. The own I just showed you was my father's. So you see, while you did defeat a Shigure Shoen Style, you will never defeat the Shigure Shoen Style. That is it's true nature. Now let me show you my own style, the form that will make the style unrivalled and completely flawless." Takeshi explained.

Slashing his sword swiftly, Squalo send two huge waves towards Takeshi to keep him unfocussed and to obscure his line of sight. Attacking fiercely he forced Takeshi into a defensive position. Until the teen suddenly disappeared.

Realizing he must have gotten behind him, Squalo twisted partially to cut right through Takeshi, only to see that the real Takeshi had been in front, and above, of him all along.

Takeshi finished his jump with a downward swipe and landed with the other half of the Rain ring in his hand. Turning to his fallen opponent, he smiled sadly.

"Don't misunderstand, I admire your skills enormously. But I can not, will not, abide an empty sword. Not once in this whole battle, did I feel your true dedication to your sky. You obviously respect him for his strength, probably even fear him, but skies are meant to be loved by their guardians. As a sibling, a parent, a friend, or even a lover." He stopped briefly to breath before continuing as passionately as before.

"Our sky is the only person who will wholly accept us, flaws and all. They don't care about our worth, or our abilities. Just us, our happiness, and wellbeing. They stand up for us when everyone else has given up, has thrown us away. In return we protect them against the world."

Takeshi was a on a roll now, finally expressing his frustration about the whole Ring debacle. "That's why you lost today and why none of the Varia will win any of the Ring Battles. Our sky beats your sky. Seems petty and childish to say it like that, but it's the truth. Any of us would give our life for Tsuna, because she doesn't expect or even want such a thing from us. She accepted all of us into her family, unconditionally. She never asked anything in return, not even our love. She is our conviction!"

Helping Squalo up, Takeshi dragged him towards the exit. He didn't like the atmosphere of this place and respected the fellow swordsman too much to let him die here.

Stepping outside, he saw Tsuna running towards him, tears glistening in his big doe eyes. Bracing himself for impact, Takeshi easily caught his little sister in a hug. It didn't take long before the other guardians joined the group hug. Even Hibari took part. All expressed their love and devotion for their little sky as the Varia — Squalo had literally pulled himself together — looked on.

Hibari glanced towards them and saw that Xanxus wasn't very happy with the arrangement. Good, he wasn't happy with Xanxus either. Time to stake his claim, before the irritating carnivore got anymore thoughts of stealing his mate. Gently extracting Tsuna for the heap, he pressed his little one to his chest and turned to the Varia.

Tsuna's stammers of complaint were ignored — He wasn't blind or deaf, just taking his time! — as he growled possessively "My mate!" and caught Tsuna's lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss. His little mate didn't even struggle, just gave in and let him ravage those sweet lips and mouth completely.

Ignoring the cheers and cooing from his family and the roar of rage from Xanxus, Hibari scooped his Tsuna up in his arms and jumped away, heading for his home. No doubt he'd have to endure cooing, threats, and enquiries from Nana, but this would give him a head start to ask mama for permission. Also, it would get his little one out of the way when Xanxus began his tantrum. No need to expose Tsuna and his gentle disposition to such a thing.

Tsuna just curled up closer to Kyouya. He was blushing furiously, but mostly very happy that Kyouya had finally made his move. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he'd first seen Kyouya coming out of a fight. He'd looked so fearsome, yet tender as he assured the nesting mama bird, which he'd been protecting, that everything would be all right.

To Tsuna, Kyouya was the silent protector of everything cute, fluffy, and innocent. Still recovering from the extreme bullying, he'd formed an instant crush that had only grown in intensity and depth. For Kyouya Tsuna had grown strong, so he'd be able to stand at his side one day and protect his family as Kyouya had done back then.

Back at the school, Xanxus was so furious at the perceived betrayal of his bride, he was foaming at the mouth. His guardians had moved away from him, not wanting to be caught in the upcoming blast.

"Maa, maa, no need to get so worked up about Hibari-san finally staking his claim. This has been a long time coming. Tsuna has had a crush on him, since she was like 8. And when she welcomed Hibari-san into the family that same year, he must have seen something special in her as well. They've been dancing around each other ever since. 'Sides Tsuna is never going to marry the likes of you." Takeshi's statement did nothing to diffuse the situation, but then he hadn't meant to.

Hana backed him up. "Takeshi is correct. Tsuna would only ever marry for love and even then her husband would have to always respect her and her wishes. She was never yours to begin with, so build a bridge and get over it."

The teens turned as one and left Namimori Middle.

At home they found Hibari-san with —a still blushing — Tsuna in his lap. Nana and Bianchi were alternatively squealing and interrogating him about his intentions. They seemed to find his answers acceptable however and the focus soon shifted to Takeshi's defeat of Squalo, the sword emperor.

The festivities somehow turned into a slumber party, which lasted until early the next morning. As Nana gracefully made her way between the sleeping children scattered on the floor, her gaze lingered on Hana and Ryohei spooned together, Gokudera in Takeshi's grasp and lastly on her sweet Tsuna lying partially on Kyouya.

They were all so adorable and innocent together. Looking up to the first rays of sunlight, barely visible on the horizon through the large window, she promised she would defend that purity at all costs. Until her dying day, she'd bask in it, let is take the edge of the wounds made by everlasting sins.

Soon, she decided, she would have a talk with the Varia and her husband and his boss afterwards. This farce had gone on long enough.