In the kitchen of the Sawada household, lay two blonds, unconscious on the floor, snoring away in their own la-la land.
Other than the two, no soul could be found in the house. Earlier, tsuna had given them some strong knockout drugs so he can go about with his business in Italy. They didn't suspect a thing.
Thankfully the demon hitman had also left for the day, hence, he wouldn't question the sight of the two sleeping blonds.
Tsuna gave them enough so they would remain unconscious for the day and until he returns.
The shrunken hitman sat comfortably in his plane seat, ignoring all the bewildered looks thrown his way.
He was used to them by now, and most people tended to mind their own business, and if they didn't...well that was easy to figure out, no?
He needed to have a plan for any scenario that might happen during the meeting. If there would be any attacks, because who's to say that someone hadn't leaked such important information as to the no.1 hacker's location.
Or if 27 changed his mind, how were they going to persuade him, probably add something to the privileges and benefits of the alliance with vongola.
Maybe if by chance he was just trying to lure them out into the open, maybe a trap, or perhaps-
His thoughts were cut off by an incoming call on his Leon phone and seeing the caller's ID, reborn contemplated whether to hang up or not.
But then squashed the urge and sighed internally as he answered the call.
"Ciaossu"
"Hello, reborn!" an overly cheerful voice sounded.
"What do you want, baka dino?"
Chuckling could be heard before it quietened down, reborn could distinctly hear the sound of crashes and incredulous yells of 'turtle?!', but reborn easily dismissed them.
"Straightforward as always! Well, I just wanted to ask you when can I meet your new pupil!"
"I clearly remember specifying to nono that you are not to be informed" reborn deadpanned.
"Rumours fly fast," the male dismissed easily "but that's beside the point, when can I meet your pupil?"
"Pupils. I have two."
"Ehh!? Two candidates!? That's really bad, you know? Who are you going to choose? No wait, you aren't the one that does that, it's the vongola nono! And the CEDEF boss, but still! I mean you might have some idea by now, right? No wait, anything could happen! Is there some difference between them that could be used to decide who-"
The no.1 hitman decided to end dino's useless rambling as he had heard enough and frankly doesn't care about what the other was saying anyways "you can't meet my students now, I'm busy. Vongola is forming an alliance with Ventisette."
Shocked silence met the statement and reborn promptly hung up with a smirk.
'Dropping that bomb on dino is bound to give me some time of peace and quiet before he calls back to pester me again'
He then leaned back in his seat, petting Leon and waiting for take off, only to hear the unmistakably ringing of his phone
'...or not'
Dino can be quite unpredictable at times.
The 13 years old brunet was flying through the sky with the help of his orange flames, he wore his black hoodie and jeans, along with his red laced black boots, and the mask that covers the upper half of his face, the usual thing he wore when 27 was on missions.
His gloves were a mixture of black and red, the main part consisted of specially designed material to help him in harnessing his flames, but unfortunately, tsuna always ends up damaging the material. His flames were just that strong.
That's why his two technician friends always have to send new and improved versions of the glove, hoping that it would last longer than the last one, at least until they figure out something permanent.
Tsuna smiled at the thought of his friends and then increased his speed and continued on his way towards Varia's headquarters. He needs to pay a visit to his older brother, Xanxus. Tsuna had promised him and we don't want to anger him now, do we? he already has anger management issues as it is.
The thirteen years old boy grinned when he spotted the unmistakable Varia mansion. Good thing it wasn't close to the actual Vongola mansion. He doesn't want to attract their attention, considering the fact that they would definitely be on high alert for suspicious activities around, and he can be clearly considered suspicious.
Extinguishing his flames as he landed softly on the sill of the window and easily slipped inside. Apparently, Xanxus did not believe that he needed any extra security as he was confident he could take care of foolish intruders, or 'scum' according to him, of course, he had used much more colorful words but tsuna wasn't going to repeat them.
Soundlessly shutting the window close again he made sure that no one was going to enter the room, he had already chosen this room because no one was in it. His visits to the varia were only known by its members and himself. No one else did, not the few scarce maids and butlers who still have their sanity after working here, not the Vongola staff and definitely not Vongola nono.
Tsuna approached the closed doors and listened for a moment, then he peeked outside and saw that it was free of any humans. He moved swiftly and with a purpose in his step as he was headed to the 'throne room' which was something akin to a living room with a strategically positioned throne that attracts the attention and is practically the first thing you see when you enter.
Xanxus definitely had a flair for the dramatics, no matter what he says to deny it. Although the dramatic flair of his can be a bit morbid, for the lack of better word. But he was dramatic nonetheless, Tsuna thought as he stared at the design of the mansion. It was not his first time here by any means, but he still couldn't understand why Xanxus preferred the creepy, dark decor of the mansion over any other.
Tsuna dismissed the distracting thoughts and fastened his pace. Striding down a few flights of stairs and down some dimly lit hallways he finally saw the huge mahogany door. Loud noises emerged from behind the fancy wood. Shouting and cussing, breaking of furniture and threats blurred together into a huge mess. But it wasn't hard to distinguish who said what. They all had different personalities after all.
Deciding not to waste any more time, the brunet pushed open the huge doors, announcing his presence with a cheerful "Hello!" to the occupants. Only to be greeted with a glass bottle sailing through the air and on course with his head. Easily sidestepping the alcohol bottle, it shattered to tiny pieces as it met the ground. It was empty of course, because Varia's sky wouldn't waste alcohol like that.
"Not the greeting that I wanted, but it was still better than last time" Tsuna nodded to himself as he straightened his posture to face the culprit and smiled one of his glowing, award-winning smiles "Hello to you too, brother"
A scoff was heard "Well if it isn't the mini-trash" said a male with spiky black hair atop his head which has a buzz cut on the sides. Tied to some of the black locks were feathers of red, orange and brown that reaches the nape of his neck, coming over his left shoulder to rest in the front. A scar seemed to snake its way from the side of his face and ending on his cheek. He wore a Varia uniform jacket on his shoulders, much like a cape. Matched it with a white dress shirt, black pants, and a loosely knotted tie, along with black boots.
All in all, his expression looked like the ones of the those thugs lurking in deserted alleyways who would not hesitate to kill those in his way. But Tsuna wouldn't tell him that, because Xanxus would not take kindly to being compared to such lowly scums and would be already readying his gun to blast all those who are in the vicinity when the words are merely halfway out of his mouth. Not to say that Tsuna can't hold his own against the older, black-haired male but he would much rather avoid as much conflict as possible, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.
"Why are you here" Xanxus demanded with a glare, sharp red eyes narrowed, but it lacked any heat behind it. Tsuna decided to ignore him and looked around instead, all the previous shouting and fighting were caused by three people. Superbi Squalo who is the rain guardian has long silver hair that almost reaches his waist, his eyes are the colour of steel. His uniform is the same as the other varia members, except he prefers his jacket styled as a trench coat.
Levi-A-Than, usually referred to as Levi, is the lightning guardian and the (self-proclaimed) right-hand man of Xanxus, he has black eyes and spiky black hair and lightning-shaped sideburns and he seems to never leave his sky's side (something not at all appreciated or wanted by the said sky).
The third and last side of their squabble was Belphegor, or bel, who is the storm guardian, he has short blond hair with long bangs that cover his eyes and wears a silver tiara on the left side of his head, and he's practically always smiling.
Taking only a second to notice the absence of the mist guardian, Mammon as well as the sun guardian, Lussuria. And as far as tsuna knows varia doesn't have a cloud guardian. Xanxus had said that he would only choose a person he sees as competent otherwise he would die on their first mission, and tsuna agrees, no one can live with the varia without losing their sanity. Those remaining maids and butlers are an exception and even then they appear to be on the verge of giving up.
'I pity them' Tsuna thought, releasing a sympathetic sigh and shaking his head. Looking up again he noticed that the three previously fighting members were glaring at him, well only Squalo was, actually, Levi had taken the other two's silence as a chance to return to his place on the side of Xanxus' chair or throne or whatever he wants to call it. Bel, on the other hand, was grinning mischievously at him.
Tsuna remembers the first time he'd seen that semi-maniacal grin on Bel's face who had convinced him to help him set up a small prank as payback. Except that it wasn't small at all. Xanxus, Squalo and Lussuria had actually teamed up together to get their revenge on the two of them which had shocked tsuna to the core, because the sky and the rain are extremely violent with each other and tend to not agree on practically everything and the fact that the sun would help them because Lussuria was a caring and forgiving person despite his flamboyant and flirtatious attitude, so seeing him vibrating with anger with his weapon drawn and ready to start the hunt for the culprits-meaning bel and him-had made him learn his lesson.
Never associate with Bel while he's planning a prank. Granted he had returned to Japan before anyone caught him, leaving the three maniacal males to rain all their anger on poor bel in a shower of pain. Neither he nor Bel talked about that incident anymore. But it seems that bel had forgotten all about it and is ready to start anew.
But before the blond was able to get even a syllable out he was cut off by the ill-tempered, silver-haired rain guardian.
"VOI!" he yelled, his artificial arm raised threateningly in the air and by extension his sword as his glare intensified. He took a few steps in Tsuna's direction and lunged at him with his sword with the intention to harm.
Tsuna dodges and Squalo attacks again and again. The brunet doesn't counterattack and only dodges. "I see you came back!" the silver-haired male yells while still engaging the younger male with the one-sided fight.
"Yes, but I still have no intention of learning swordsmanship" Tsuna states calmly, as if he isn't being attacked and that the littlest of slip-ups could cause his death. Squalo growls and curses start to fly out of his mouth, each new one worse than its predecessor as he fastens his strikes causing his weapon to start to blur. Of course, he isn't fighting with his full strength otherwise it would have been a different situation altogether.
"And why the hell not!?" he hisses as he finally ceases with the barrage of strikes and glares at tsuna who merely sighs. Tsuna isn't exactly sure when, but Squalo had decided that he would teach Tsuna to fight with swords. When an incredulous Tsuna asked him the reason behind the odd decision, Varia's rain grumbled about how there were no more worthy swordsmen to challenge and that if he taught it to tsuna then he would make sure to be taught properly then he would fight him and defeat him.
Tsuna had refused of course. His plate is full as it is and he doesn't want to deal with extra responsibilities anymore. The notion completely escaped the sword user as he was adamant on teaching Tsuna how to fight with a sword. Now everytime tsuna visits, he is attacked by Squalo who believes that assault is the best way to convince him to learn.
"How about a deal," Tsuna starts, hoping to make a compromise with the lunatic of a guardian, not to say that the others are normal, in fact, Tsuna thinks that perhaps Squalo isn't the weirdest of the bunch after all "If I find you a worthy opponent, you'll leave me be, alright?"
Steel coloured eyes glared at honey brown ones. Squalo narrowed his eyes as if searching for any lies. Or maybe he was just angry at being brushed aside so easily. It was always hard to read Squalo. He always wore a mask of anger that hides everything else.
Tsuna didn't get a verbal reply but the annoyed huff that met his question was a good enough answer. Now he won't be pestered by the older to start swordsmanship lessons. Searching for a worthy opponent won't be hard. He can easily access any information to get what he needs. So it's a win-win.
Taking the chance Bel approached the brunet and ruffled his hair quite roughly, causing the already messy strands to become even messier. "Now that you've gotten rid of that stupid shark," he said, ignoring the cursing that was directed at him with practiced ease as he continued "you'll listen to my great idea and you'll help me execute it for I'm the prince and you must obey" the blond drawls out and laughs creepily like always.
"No." Tsuna deadpans and disentangles himself from the blond's hold -who, at one point, snaked his arm around his shoulder and allowed it to rest there- and takes a few steps away.
Xanxus, who was previously (and surprisingly) silent decided that he would not be ignored any longer, growls "I asked you a question and I want an answer," he gets off his throne and takes quick steps towards the brunet "why are you here?" he shows his ire by baring his teeth, almost like a wild beast threatening its prey into submission.
Tsuna didn't seem phased in the least by the intense glare and obvious anger of the older male and instead of answering he looks at him questioningly "you still didn't find a cloud guardian, did you?"
"You would've known if we did" the older sky scoffs
And its true, Tsuna would have known if they found any new guardians because he makes sure to follow all of Varia's movement through hacking. It isn't that easy of course because Lussuria, the only one who actually takes the time to save all of their missions and their end results into the database, doesn't describe the events of the mission like normal people do and instead, unknowingly really, enters the events in erratic order (sometimes starting from the end then goes to the beginning then to the climax then to the beginning again because he forgot to mention something and so on) and uses vague phrases and words to describe the events that it takes tsuna more time to piece together what happened than hacking into the database (Because Xanxus doesn't like giving the access code to him so easily and had stated that if Tsuna had the ability to enter without the code then he doesn't need it)
"What I meant to ask was whether you had someone in mind, you know, a candidate?"
Xanxus's face turns into a neutral, if not bored, expression as he answers "Haven't found one good enough" Tsuna acknowledges the answer with a hum, then says "You need to find one soon, you know"
Xanxus rolls his eyes but doesn't reply. Let the brunet believe that they lacked a cloud guardian, it's better that way. Since the first time Xanxus came to know of the existence of 27, he had made it his goal to catch the ever elusive hacker and get him to work under him. Of course what he hadn't taken into account was the fact that 27 was a sky himself.
It had been difficult to get a hold of 27, and even if they did, it was practically impossible to track his location. So the only option they had was to assign a mission to him. A trap, if you will. Once the hacker had arrived on the scene, which had been a secluded and abandoned mansion in the farthest corners of Italy, all the varia members attacked as one. Not to say that the younger male was weak, but he certainly had no chance against the full set.
Ultimately, they were able to capture him. Most of them wanted to interrogate him back at their mansion but Xanxus knew that if they had taken any longer the hacker would definitely find a way to slip from their grasps, he had a reputation of being able to evade capture. So they decided to do it then and there.
Things lead to others and in the end, they agreed that they would free the hacker if he gives his assistance. Tsuna having no other choice agrees. That's how Varia managed to get top secret information about their targets. Of course, they hadn't known everything about the hacker because Xanxus didn't see any value to it. This caused him to be a little more than shocked when Tsuna told him that he's the son of the CEDEF boss of Vongola and that nono was like a grandfather to him.
After that things seemed to get smoother between them, especially Xanxus and Tsuna, not that it was obvious or anything, all changes were subtle and not alarming like their tone of voice, name calling and the such. Tsuna's visits became more like a family visit than a work-related one. And Xanxus found himself enjoying the younger sky's company (not that he'll ever admit it, he has a reputation to uphold after all)
So it came as no surprise when Xanxus decided to keep the Gola Mosca a secret from Tsuna. Everyone knows that he would not approve of such a weapon. Granted he might not know that it requires a human to feed off the flames, but the point still stands.
It isn't because he doesn't want to disappoint the brunet, Xanxus tries to tell himself, but because he doesn't want the information to reach the old man, that's all. But he knows that it was because of Tsuna's approval. Because Xanxus does not want the young sky to look at him with disappointment. It feels like a huge weight suddenly settled on top of your shoulders and is slowly pushing you to the ground, and when you think it couldn't get any worse it breaks your back and makes you feel the sudden urge to apologize profusely.
But regardless of what Tsuna would do, Varia needs a cloud if they want to fight for the position of the tenth generation of Vongola and Xanxus will make sure they get the position one way or another. So he will keep the existence of the Mosca a secret and things would remain as it is.
On the other hand, Tsuna narrows his eyes. His institution is telling him that Xanxus is hiding something. But why would he find it necessary to hide that he had found a cloud guardian? Unless...
His thoughts were cut short when he suddenly felt a weight settle on his shoulder. Looking at it, he was faced with the one and only Mammon, Varia's mist guardian and the holder of the mist arcobaleno.
Tsuna sent the shrunken mist user a warm smile which was met with a nod of acknowledgement.
"You're getting worse," Mammon said after a beat of silence.
"I know" came Tsuna's quiet reply. Mammon is the only arcobaleno who's aware of the change of the holder of the sky pacifier. It is not a matter of skill or who's more observant but merely due to the flames.
Since Mammon, or Viper, is a mist flame user, it becomes almost a second nature to tap into people's minds because mist users need to create illusions that tricks the brain. Not deeply, of course, just the basics and the current fleeting thoughts and when they come in contact with another, they are even able to get a gist about their physical state, not a detailed one, but enough.
When, at one point, Varia's mist decided to use Tsuna as a moving chair and sat on his shoulder, he felt the roots of the curse take its effect. Since then, the child-sized adult became more of a worried older sibling than anything. Granted he doesn't act like his fellow guardian, Lussuria, but he still makes sure to ask about his state, although his way of showing his worry is by bluntly stating how much worse tsuna's condition has become.
The other members of Varia remained silent and watched quietly (a miracle in and of itself, tsuna would realize when he would think back on that incident)
When the silence becomes uncomfortable, Tsuna decides to break it "Where is Luss-nee?" Varia's sun guardian might be a male but he asks people to call him big sis, and despite Tsuna's efforts at being polite and respectful at first, the sun guardian's insistence caused him to just give up and to go along with it. It caused no harm, so why not?
"You'll need to pay to get an answer," said Mammon as he instinctively clutches a few strands of Tsuna's hair to make sure he doesn't fall.
"I'm not desperate" muttered Tsuna with a sweatdrop, the mist flame user is still greedy and materialistic as always.
"...He's in the kitchen with the maids, baking" the purple haired child mumbled to Tsuna. He would not admit to anything and would deny it if asked, but Mammon really, really cares about Tsuna because he's deemed to be suitable as a sky. And he would make sure that he is well taken care of, but even though he cares Mammon cant simply go to Japan and live with him. He's a member of the Varia now, and he might be loyal to Xanxus whom he had chosen as his sky, but he would be damned if he doesn't try his best to help the doe-eyed brunet. Even if it's just providing his services and information for free.
Xanxus clicked his tongue impatiently and crossed his arms in front of his chest and said "You still didn't answer me"
Tsuna looked at him with his wide innocent looking eyes "Whatever are you talking about, dear brother of mine" tilting his head for extra measures, he blinked as he gave his best innocent looking face.
The older male's eye twitched with irritation "Just answer," he huffed "you know that won't work on me"
"It was worth a try," Tsuna said shrugging.
There was a moment of silence where both the skies stared (Xanxus was glaring, actually) at each other during which Xanxus seemed to have reached his boiling point "Arent you going to give me a straight answer?!" Xanxus yelled at the younger.
"ooh, you want an answer? Well, why didn't you say so? Honestly, how am I supposed to know what you want? it's not like I can read minds or something. You need to be more specific, you know" Tsuna said wagging his finger in the air as if he was lecturing a misbehaving child. Xanxus had to resist the urge to maim him.
"Nevermind that," Tsuna said as he headed to the closest couch and plopped down "I just came 'cause I was bored, 's all" by now, Bel and Squalo were already back at each other throats, their yelling reaching a new level, Levi was ordering them to remain silent and be respectful when in the boss' presence adding to the noise, Mammon was still perched on his shoulder while Xanxus glared at him as a string of curses made its way out of his mouth most likely directed at him, Tsuna thought with amusement.
"oh yeah," Tsuna started again casually as if he's talking about the weather, no one seemed to pay any mind to him yet he continued "27 is forming an alliance with Vongola"
The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room, silence reigned and all the attention was directed at him. That was a little more than a surprise. 27 never formed any kind of alliance with anyone since he came into existence and now what? an alliance with not just anyone but with Vongola! Xanxus may still accept missions from nono, but it doesn't mean he had forgiven him for keeping his adoption a secret. Hearing that Tsuna, who had become like a little brother to them was going to become an asset to their enemy(even though Varia works under the Vongola) was...infuriating, to say the least. So their outburst was pretty justifiable.
"WHAT?!"
Tsuna sighed. This will take a while...
Reborn exited nono's office and made his way down the hall. Both nono and he had made countless back-up plans in case anything goes wrong with the hacker. After all, it is a rare chance and as far as reborn knows Vongola was the only one able to hit the jackpot. Hacker 27 has always refused alliance requests, whether it be from them or some other famiglia.
But reborn had been suspicious. Why did 27 suddenly decide to agree? He had continuously refused them before, so why now? It couldn't be due to their insistence, if he had been annoyed by it he could have deleted the messages or never bothered to send a reply. But 27 didn't ignore their requests like he did to others. And this had caused reborn to become curious. 27 had made sure to send a polite decline, no matter how many times they send the alliance request message. This goes to show that the hacker holds at least some respect towards Vongola nono.
It was a less known fact but the mysterious hacker also assists the vindice from time to time. This little piece of info had surprised the holder of the sun pacifier. So not only was 27 highly sought after by all the mafia world as well as the civilian ones but he was also helping the mafia police. Reborn prided himself at being able to decipher the intention of others easily, but 27 made him more confused than he had ever been in his entire career as a hitman. It was like a child who didn't take everything into account and only realized the consequences of his actions.
27 wasn't always the anonymous hero that he became known as today. In the beginning, the hacker had accepted all that was requested of him as long as he got his payment. After a short period though, he started getting picky with the missions. He started choosing ones that did not cause harm in the long run and hence he became known as a hero. 27 was and still is quite unpredictable. It's hard to predict his actions so dealing with him face to face after three days will be quite tricky.
But as he said, it'll be after three days so no use stressing over it now. For the time being, he needs to focus on training the two Sawadas. None of them have any guardians as of yet, but reborn has candidates who can fill four elements. First; the baseball star, Yamamoto Takeshi, due to his carefree nature he would make a great rain. Second; the captain of the boxing club, Sasagawa Ryohei, along with his extreme attitude makes him the perfect candidate as the sun guardian. Third; the demon perfect, Hibari Kyoya, being the aloof person he is, makes it obvious about him being the cloud guardian. Although, reborn ponders with some amusement, Tsuna might have gained the skylark's respect, so perhaps it would be easier to convince him to join the brunet's family. But reborn has two students and until he sees that there is still a chance for the other to gain the guardian, he can't interfere. It's their family after all and not his.
Now, for the fourth candidate. Gokudera Hayato, the candidate for the post of Vongola's storm guardian.
Not being one to waste time, reborn immediately calls the possible storm. He didn't have to wait long before his call was answered.
"Reborn-san?"
"I need you to give the upcoming Vongola tenth a little test..." The hitman allowed himself to smirk expectantly if not with little sadism, as he thought of his students' reactions on meeting Smokin' Bomb Hayato.