Who else saw that epic eclipse earlier?
Tsuna loved Harmony. She was like the mother figure he should have had, but didn't. He treated the kids like his little siblings, and Lambo was clearly much happier playing with I-Pin, Harmony's adopted daughter.
The Chinese martial artist (I-Pin had made it clear to Fon that while she loved learning how to fight, the idea of using it to kill others made her uneasy...even if Harmony said she would love I-Pin regardless) was just as happy having Lambo around, even if he did tease her a bit.
She was patient, kind, and explained things in a way that made it easy to understand...especially homework.
Reborn was good, but he had never had to work with someone who was constantly belittled and mocked for years about their grades. Harmony had lived through it, and mastered the art of dumbing down her homework so that it was a barely acceptable pass just to avoid her cousin doing worse than her.
Tsuna was used to negative reinforcement, and blowing him up or shooting him was only going to make him fight against actually learning anything.
Calm, positive reinforcement like what Harmony was giving him was actually giving him incentive to learn. She wasn't sarcastic when he got it right, and she helped him work out the problems whenever he got it wrong to figure out what he did and how to fix it.
The day he came home with a B instead of a near F, his mother nearly had a heart attack from shock.
To say nothing of the small confidence boosts Harmony was giving him, by having him help around the horses. He would openly admit the unicorns and pegasus were his immediate favorites. He was even allowed near the adult unicorns, though the younger ones would always sniff his pockets for treats without shame the second he showed up.
Doing hard work and seeing the results in the happy animals was raising his spirits considerably. Even if her rottweiler Pepper scared the hell out of him.
He didn't really like dogs much, though at least Pepper stayed on the other side of the ranch after he fell into the trough by accident when she came to greet him.
Harmony was clearly amused, but hadn't laughed at him for it. Instead she helped him up and properly introduced him to the dog.
Pepper was actually very friendly, and once he got used to her he didn't jump as much. But he still wasn't a fan of dogs.
Tsuna sometimes wondered if this was what it was like to have a mother who actually cared.
Nana was a wonderful person, and kept him fed and clothes...but she was very oblivious and pretended not to see reality.
She saw his cuts, bruises and sprains, and assumed he had been extra clumsy.
Harmony took one look at them and became pissed for his sake. She said nothing, but it was clear she was furious because she knew damn well what the signs of bullying were...she had been a victim herself years ago.
Which was when she introduced him to his new teacher Colonello. The tiny blond (who was cursed like Reborn but had a different Flame and background) was slowly teaching him Sambo and a few other martial arts he knew. Once he was able to get those down, Harmony would introduce him to I-Pin's teacher/father figure Fon. He was a master at hand to hand.
Colonello was a bit rough, much like Reborn, but he listened to Harmony and took it easy on Tsuna. It wasn't his fault his father was a complete idiot who screwed him up so bad. Most of the clumsiness he had was from that stupid seal, though Harmony had high hopes that they could either remove it or break it completely.
He threw another hay bale into the paddocks, and smiled when the younger unicorns came up to see him.
He looked at his watch (charmed unbreakable by Harmony, so he didn't have to worry about it) and sighed.
He honestly preferred the peacefulness of the ranch to Namimori these days...even if he had to learn Italian as a consequence.
It was a small price to pay to have a safe haven from the chaos Reborn brought.
Tsuna walked through the new portal straight into the Cavallone mansion in Namimori.
(He heard that it was sometimes pronounced "Chiavarone" as well as "Cavallone" depending on where you asked.)
Waiting for him was a much calmer Gokudera and a slightly more serious Yamamoto.
Harmony had made it easier to connect with his Guardians after having a little talk with him.
She likened Gokudera as an angry leopard kitten, one that had been hurt far too often by his family and was very loyal. He just needed patience and someone willing to look past his tsundere behavior and he'd be a staunch ally and good friend.
The fact she had managed to track down recordings of Gokudera's mother when she was still playing had helped a lot to calm him down.
Tsuna was slowly starting to call him "Hayato", rather than Gokudera. The first time he did that, Gokudera had blushed hard and proven Harmony's suspicions that most of his blustering was a total act to hide his real self.
Yamamoto was a little easier. He was a lost dog who wanted a good master, one that was loyal and not afraid to end any enemies that came after Tsuna permanently. And while Tsuna disliked dogs, he had taken the warning that Rains tended to become very depressed without someone there to anchor them seriously. Takeshi's near suicide attempt was enough of a reminder.
He had laughed and tried to divert the topic when Tsuna slowly started calling him "Takeshi" rather than Yamamoto-kun. But Tsuna could see that he was really happy that his friend was calling him by his first name, rather than his surname.
As for Hibari... the image of the untouchable Demon Prefect died a quick death the day Tsuna saw the older teen sitting calmly on the roof with the kids crawling all over him and Hedwig (Harmony's pet owl) sitting calmly on his shoulder and nuzzling him like a chick. It was hard to equate "uncaring and unstoppable Hibari" with the teen who liked small children and birds enough to let them 'crowd' him without complaint.
Oh, Tsuna wasn't stupid enough to think he could order Hibari around. But he treated the older boy like a great tiger with a lot of pride, one that preferred to loiter around the edges rather than get involved unless the enemy was strong enough to hold his interest.
Oddly enough it made Hibari drift closer to Tsuna's little group. Not enough to be seen as "one of them", but enough that he would at least be present.
Harmony explained that Clouds didn't really do the whole "clique" thing that most did. They were generally loners by nature, preferring to drift freely on the wind. It was why they were so rare and a complete pain in the ass to bring into a Sky.
Unless they were "inverted" like Skull, but he was something of a rarity too. He was a civilian with Active Flames that didn't know anything until Checkerface threw him in with the other Arcobaleno.
However when you had their loyalty... they were very possessive people who didn't like to share and barely tolerated the other Guardians. They were predisposed to create "territories" around people, ideals and places.
Case in point, Harmony and her ranch, or Hibari and the school.
As for Lambo... he was a lonely little calf (as Harmony generally called him) who lost his parents far too early and just wanted someone to pay attention to him.
It hadn't taken much for him to slowly start calling Nana "Auntie" rather than Mama, and attach himself to Harmony instead.
Harmony would listen to his ramblings and praise him when he got something right. But more importantly she intervened whenever Reborn got annoyed with him and went to hurt him.
Nana certainly never noticed it when Reborn kicked or hit Lambo. A fact the little boy took note of. She was a nice woman, but her mothering skills needed a lot of work.
It certainly didn't hurt that I-Pin was roughly the same age as him and not put off by all the explosives he used.
Tsuna suddenly snickered, remembering how Harmony had reacted when Lambo used the Ten Year Bazooka and had not only hit himself, but also I-Pin.
The fact Fon had been present when a fifteen-year-old I-Pin appeared was icing on the cake in his opinion.
Flashback...
Lambo, having tripped while playing with I-Pin, pulled out a familiar pink bazooka, and to the alarm of Harmony hit himself and I-Pin who had come to help him up with the weapon.
There was a loud poof of pink smoke...only to reveal an older Lambo the same age as Tsuna and his group, and I-Pin wearing a traditional qipao and her hair in familiar braids. Though unlike Fon, she wore short boots rather than sandals.
I-Pin had taken one look at Harmony, beamed widely before tackling the older woman with a hug.
"Mama!"
Harmony had been baffled, at least until Lambo explained what happened.
"Sorry about that Mama. I guess my younger self used the ten-year bazooka again. It will wear off in five minutes," said Lambo sheepishly.
He was wearing a cow-print shirt and a light vest, with a necklace that had a pair of bull horns around his neck. His jeans were well worn, but well loved and his belt had an interesting buckle with the appearance of lightning striking the edges. He wore thick sandals on his feet, and he kept one eye closed. But he was tanned, as if he spent a lot of time outdoors.
Harmony hugged him as well, while I-Pin promptly cuddled with her 'father', much to the confusion and surprise of Fon.
"I forgot how cute you were back then, papa. You were smaller than I was," said I-Pin enthusiastically.
Fon blinked.
"You mean..."
"At some point, I don't recall when, the curse gets broken. I think Mama got really mad at Checkerface and did something, but I don't remember what. But I still practice martial arts, in between classes," said I-Pin. "I think if I had stayed on the path of an assassin I would have given it up entirely, but I'm happy being a part time instructor at the dojo in Namimori."
Fon looked openly relieved. Not at the fact the curse would be broken...he had long come to terms with that. More at the fact that I-Pin wasn't forced to be an assassin when she was older.
"I'm proud of you," he said honestly. I-Pin hugged him harder, not that he minded.
It was nice to see what she would grow up to be like in ten years.
Meanwhile Lambo was clearly taking advantage of being the same height as his "Mama". Though what little he did slip about Nana was somewhat concerning.
"Auntie wasn't well, back then. I think he did something he shouldn't have, but I was too little to know about the big stuff like that. We don't talk about him or the Ninth generation. They really weren't happy when you revealed who and what you were, Mama."
"The old never do like it when the younger generation proves to be better and ironically wiser than them," she snorted.
"I almost forgot... you should tell Uncle Dino to look into an almost active Lightning building robots soon. He's in Italy and he's a genius with a candy fetish."
"A placeholder for you, in the event the rings are sent out early?" guessed Harmony.
Lambo couldn't say more, as he and I-Pin switched back with their younger selves.
I-Pin looked rather excited about her little trip, and Lambo laughed like the goofy little boy he was. He eagerly let Harmony pick him up and pat him on the head.
"Did you have fun?"
"Gahahaha! Lambo is the greatest!"
Harmony chuckled. Lambo and Skull were thick as thieves, as Skull had taken a liking to the boisterous little calf. It hadn't taken long for Skull to slowly corrupt Lambo into thinking they were brothers.
Though at least Lambo behaved around Harmony and the twins. He took the duty of being "big brother" to Ren and Diana (who were barely older than the Arcobaleno's appearance) very seriously.
Flashback end...
"Boss!"
Tsuna didn't wince. He'd rather be called "boss" as opposed to "Tenth".
Thank the gods for Harmony and her effect on people!
"Hey Hayato," said Tsuna.
Hayato didn't blush this time, though it was a near thing. Tsuna wasn't the only one getting used to the change in how he addressed his Storm.
"Ah, Tsuna! There you are. I have good news... I've set up an appointment in Kyoto to get that seal checked out."
Flames were considered "soul fire" by the magical societies. Timoteo and Iemitsu were going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble with the Japanese Ministry for sealing Tsuna.
It was a crime to seal away a magical gift, especially if the victim was an innocent child. Tsuna should have gotten training when he was younger, but hadn't because he had been missed by the runes to detect such things.
Tsuna perked up. He could not wait to get rid of this damn seal. He never even thought about how he always felt so cold, at least until he started getting used to Harmony's hugs and Dino's gentle hair ruffling.
They were so warm, like a furo on a cold day.
Whenever he wasn't around them, he had started to notice he felt a little colder and the world seemed much more dim in comparison.
"I've already told Hibari-kun that I'm taking you out of the school for the day for medical reasons."
"I still don't get how you got him to behave like that so fast."
Harmony snickered.
"I told him I knew his grandfather, and that I could get Fon to treat him like a serious opponent rather than a small animal playing with an older carnivore like he usually does. That and I managed to hold him off with my taichi while he tried to cave my head in."
Hibari respected her because even though she wasn't a warrior, she treated him like a capable adult with a thing for small animals. That, and she always brought Hedwig with her. She would swear her owl was almost smitten with the rather violent teen.
Either way, Hibari was relatively calm around the "experienced omnivore."
The next morning Harmony picked Tsuna up. Nana had no idea what was going on, as they waited until he left the house.
"This is going to feel weird, and it's one of the reasons I created the key system in the first place," she said bluntly. She hugged Tsuna close to her, causing him to blush a little before she side-along apparated him to the nearest apparition point in Kyoto to the hospital.
Tsuna almost threw up.
"What was that?"
"Apparition. Basically the magical version of teleportation. Be glad I didn't use a port key... it feels like something hooking into your navel and spinning you really fast, and Japan has abolished the floo network entirely. It's disconcerting enough getting into an active fireplace without the worry of getting out the wrong destination," said Harmony with a little sympathy.
Tsuna was horrified.
"Be glad you live in Japan. Britain is actually worse and still thinks it's the Victorian era when carriages were all the rage," deadpanned Harmony.
Tsuna gulped at the idea of dealing with people as backwards as that.
"Come along little Sky... we have an appointment to keep."
Tsuna followed her like a little duckling.