~.~.~

Title: Ayakashi

Summary: Tsuna is half-youkai, but that's not going to stop him from becoming Vongola Decimo. But the road to inheritance is fraught with difficulty, including the hunter-assassin group Varia challenging him for the right.

Notes: So begins the second arc. This one has less meandering and humor, being more plot-heavy. But it also has Varia, so I guess that's… nice?

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Chapter 37 To the victor

Despite activating Dying Will Mode of his own volition when he faced Mukuro, Tsuna proved unable replicate that particular feat in the weeks to follow.

Reborn wasn't surprised or even slightly disappointed. It had been done in the grip of powerful emotion, after all, and those conditions couldn't be replicated so simply. But now that the threshold had been breached, each subsequent time would come easier and easier, until Tsuna could light his Flames at will.

The fact that his student had accomplished the first step so far ahead of schedule was enough to make Reborn feel almost… complacent.

Not that he didn't take the opportunity to increase Tsuna's training.

However, Reborn knew that a reward was also in order. Something nice, to mark Tsuna's advancement. (And, incidentally, the one year anniversary of Reborn's arrival.) For this reason, he called in a special favor from an old acquaintance. Like most of Reborn's acquaintances, he was… rather unique.

"An alien?" Tsuna guessed, staring at the round machine that had run him over and the chubby man inside.

Giannini laughed, his chin wobbling merrily. "Goodness, no! Well, in a way, I suppose. I'm not Japanese, after all," he said. Shaking away the distracting train of thought, he continued, "I'm Giannini, a weapons tuner in the employ of the Vongola famiglia. It's an honor to be working for the future Vongola Decimo!"

"I invited him here from Italy," Reborn explained. "You need a proper weapon now, and nothing but the best will do for a future boss."

Giannini laughed again. He seemed like the merry sort. "You flatter me, Signore Reborn! I still have a long way to go before I can come even close to the weapon maker my father was! Now, you mentioned that this will be Decimo's first weapon, so we'll be working from scratch. Can you tell me about his fighting style?…"

Normally, Reborn would have snorted and said that calling Tsuna's flailing a fighting style was too grand a compliment, but in front of Tsuna's potential future subordinate, he held back his disparaging remarks.

It was an odd experience for Tsuna, watching Reborn step around his — many, numerous — weaknesses and play up his strengths. Well, he didn't really have any strong points, but the way they talked about his capabilities at least made Tsuna sound not sound like a pathetic weakling.

Still…

"Don't I get a say in this?" Tsuna wondered.

Reborn and Giannini turned to look at him blankly. 'No,' Reborn was clearly itching to say, but instead he settled for, "Do you have something to add." There wasn't even a hint of questioning intonation.

Somehow, it annoyed Tsuna. It also worried him. Who knew what sort of ridiculous thing Reborn would come up with? Dino used a whip! What if Tsuna got stuck with something like… like forks or flutes, just because Reborn thought it'd be funny?

Chewing his lip, Tsuna thought back to his only truly serious battle thus far, with Mukuro. He remembered the feeling of Mukuro's three pronged weapon in his hand. He was surprised he hadn't ended up cutting himself when he crushed it, but that was probably because of its ceremonial nature. He remembered the feeling of Mukuro's — Gokudera's — wrists in his hands and the way Mukuro's aura had licked against his skin.

Tsuna looked down at his palms, soft and still uncalloused, despite Reborn's training.

"Gloves," he blurted out. "I need gloves."

The ensuing silence made him look up, nervous and embarrassed. Reborn was watching Tsuna with an unreadable expression. He knew it was just a coincidence. They hadn't gotten around to studying past Vongola bosses and their fighting styles.

However, Giannini's expression slowly morphed from shock to excitement. "Oh! What a grand choice!" he exclaimed, chuckling. "Decimo certainly doesn't hold back! But then he is your student, after all, Reborn."

Tsuna glanced at Reborn, who sighed a little and pulled down his fedora. "There has only been one Vongola boss to ever use gloves as his favored weapons," he explained, "and that was Vongola Primo. The founder of Vongola and your ancestor."

~.~.~

Chapter 38 A worthy successor

"Well? What do you think?" Giannini said excitedly. "I believe this my greatest work yet! A true masterpiece!"

"…They're gloves," Tsuna said, his tone completely blank, "I guess…"

"They're mittens," Reborn said, his tone even more blank, and also terribly flat. "Wooly mittens."

Giannini beamed.

"Do it over," Reborn said.

There was a moment of silence. "What? Why? My creation is no good?" Giannini wailed.

"Of course it's no good!" Reborn hissed, a gun suddenly in his hand. "Even if they're just his first weapons, the future Vongola boss needs something more dignified than that!"

He carefully did not think about Quatro and his favored tableware weapons. The man had been a well established mafioso by the time he took over Vongola, and known for his vicious, sadistic streak. A little eccentricity was easily overlooked when you had a reputation for turning the strongest men into mewling wrecks in under an hour. Not so much for a scrawny fourteen year old boy.

"When used with Flames, they will change shape—" Giannini tried to explain, only to be cut off by the muzzle of Reborn's gun pressing deeply into his forehead.

"Do it over," Reborn repeated.

While Reborn was busy overseeing Giannini's second attempt, gun still in hand, Tsuna had surreptitiously squirreled the mittens away. They looked warm, and though Reborn might disagree, being underestimated sounded just fine to him, even if it meant getting laughed at.

In short order — possible only with Reborn's special motivation tactics — Giannini presented his second attempt. While still emblazoned with Tsuna's lucky number per his request, these gloves were quite different — thick, almost workman-like, and burnt orange in color.

They were also pretty warm, Tsuna judged, after trying them on.

"…It'll do," Reborn conceded. He supposed there was no point in pushing any further, when Tsuna himself still looked like just a kid anyway. He nodded to himself. "Next, we're getting you fitted for a proper suit."

"What? What for?" Tsuna protested. "What's wrong with my uniform?"

"School uniforms are not, in fact, suitable for every conceivable occasion," Reborn told him, with a great deal of asperity. "There are plenty of times you'll need something more proper… and impressive."

"Like when?" Tsuna wondered blankly.

"Oh, for the upcoming Ring Battles, for one," Giannini said brightly. "I'll make sure to include extra Flame protection measures in the design, so it'll stylish and functional! And make it match your weapons, of course."

"The what?" Tsuna and Reborn said, in perfect sync.

However, their tones were vastly different. To Tsuna, it sounded like another troublesome, crazy scheme cooked up by Reborn. Except that Reborn clearly hadn't expected it either. Seeing his tutor honestly caught off guard for once made Tsuna's stomach churn uncomfortably.

For his part, Reborn sounded terrifyingly flat. He was, in Tsuna's estimation, downright furious.

Though he wasn't quite sure why, Giannini felt himself break out in cold sweat.

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Chapter 39 New challenge

Reborn had grilled Giannini mercilessly before finally allowing the weapon tuner to escape, feeling as if something terrible had just barely passed him by. Most of Reborn's questions and the answers he received had gone over Tsuna's head, but those answers clearly did nothing to improve Reborn's mood.

"Reborn?" Tsuna finally ventured, after some time in oppressive silence. "What's this Ring Battle about?"

Sighing, Reborn pulled his fedora down lower and began to explain. "The Ring Battles are part of Vongola's inheritance traditions. When a Vongola boss nears the end of his reign, he passes the seven Vongola Rings to the CEDEF, the independent advisory branch to the famiglia. The CEDEF then appoints the successor and presents them with the rings."

Tsuna nodded slowly, mentally connecting what Reborn was saying with some of his earlier lessons, in particular regarding the rings themselves. And the CEDEF was, of course, the group led by his father.

"Well, usually the successor is clear or agreed upon ahead of time," Reborn said, waving his hand dismissively, "so it's all just for show. However, there is a particular clause in Vongola's laws that states the retiring boss has the right to appoint a representative to challenge the successor for the rings. That is referred to as the Ring Battles."

"And the Ninth chose someone to challenge me?" Tsuna said, his brow furrowing. He bit his lip, looking distressed — but not out of fear, as Reborn had expected. "But I thought… Reborn, didn't the Ninth hire you to train me? Does he not approve of me anymore?"

Reborn sighed. "Of course Nono still supports you," he assured Tsuna. "He's been nothing but pleased with your progress. It's nothing like that. This is… for something else."

Reborn sighed again. It was hard to explain these kinds of things to someone like Tsuna, who didn't think like a mafioso.

"Do you remember how Gokudera challenged you?" he asked instead. "He would only acknowledge you as Vongola X if you defeated him in battle. But when you did, he didn't have any more right right to complain. This is the same."

After almost a year together, Tsuna understood that Reborn had never wanted or expected Tsuna to lose that match. It had been just an elaborate set up to induct Gokudera into Tsuna's famiglia. Which, admittedly, didn't really sit all that well with Tsuna, but he knew Gokudera was just as aware of that fact, and neither of them was exactly unhappy with the outcome.

Like most of Reborn's schemes, it had worked out in the end.

"So this is… a way for everyone who disagrees with the Ninth's decision to make me his successor to… to have their chance at, um, discrediting me?" Tsuna reasoned out.

Reborn nodded, looking momentarily pleased, before turning serious once more. "Basically. And when you win, they'll have no choice but to accept you as the Vongola Decimo. But it won't be everyone, just the person they can rally behind most easily, and also the one with the biggest grudge."

He sighed for the third time.

"Xanxus," Reborn enunciated, the foreign name's hard syllables almost like a title in and of themselves. "Nono's adopted son. Only someone carrying the blood of Vongola can lead the famiglia, but that doesn't stop Xanxus from feeling bitter about being passed over for inheritance. He'll serve as the representative for all the malcontents…"

Reborn allowed himself to sigh once more.

Once the faction opposed to Tsuna's status lost its de facto leader, they would quiet down. However, it wouldn't be just because they would have no other convenient rallying point. The other reason would be that Xanxus was the strongest among them. If Tsuna could defeat him, no one else would stand a chance.

If. If Tsuna could defeat him.

This battle had always been in the cards, from the start. Reborn had guessed the necessity of it long before he even knew who would be appointed Nono's successor.

However, he hadn't expected it to come so soon. Too soon.

What was Nono thinking? Reborn couldn't even begin to fathom.

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