"I just saw some idiot at the gym put a water bottle in the Pringles holder on the treadmill." (10/15/2017)
Let me apologize ahead of time for this what you'll be reading next. This chapter contains mentions of mental disorders and bullying, drug use and thoughts of suicide. I'm so sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable as you read this.
Sawada Iemitsu was the son of Timoteo di Vongola's younger half sister and her lover, a man who just so happened to be the last living descendent from the Primo Vongola himself.
Decades before Iemitsu was born, the Ottavo Vongola, Daniela di Vongola, was a fearsome woman who ruled over her Famiglia with an iron fist in the era of before and after World War II. She never married, but she did bore five children whose fathers were suspected to be her own Guardians. Out of all of them, only her youngest son and daughter possessed Sky Flames. Timoteo had been the Nono Vongola for almost a decade and a half when his little sister became pregnant with her Japanese lover's child and the couple had eloped to her new husband's home country.
For years, Timoteo kept in touch with his sister and her family through letters. For the most part, the small family lived a quiet and comfortable life until the letters suddenly stopped shortly after his nephew's sixteenth birthday. Four years later, the boy finally showed up at Vongola Headquarters. Timoteo learned the unfortunate news that his little sister had died from a terminal illness and her husband perished a year after from a violent construction work accident. With no one to take care of the teenager at the time, the newly-orphaned Iemitsu left Japan and made his way all the way to Italy on foot where his mother's birth family resided.
Taking the young man under his wing, Timoteo taught him everything he knew about being a Vongola Mafioso. Under his guidance, Iemitsu quickly rose through the ranks and eventually becoming the leader of the CEDEF at the tender age of twenty-four. To celebrate, the young man went back to Japan to visit his parent's grave. There he met the woman who would eventually become his future wife and the rest was history.
At least… from an objective viewpoint.
What most people didn't know was that there was something severely wrong with Iemitsu ever since he was a child. People with Sky Flames are naturally sociable and charismatic individuals. However, when there is something wrong with their Sky Flames, their symptoms tend to manifest as certain disorders ranging from autism to full-on sociopathy.
For as long as he can remember Iemitsu had always had trouble emotionally connecting with people, even his own parents. "Love" to him was like "possessiveness." It's differentiating on who and what he wants in his life and what he can do without. And this mindset has worked for him for most of his life. His mother, while he did care about her, was too trusting blind to realize the signs with her son, and his father, the family's sole breadwinner, was often away working long hours in order to support all of them. Early on, he learned how to "train" himself to be "normal" so no one can be the wiser about what's wrong with him. It got more and more easier for him as the years passed until it was like breathing for him.
Then his parents died. First, his beautiful, loving mother to a rare, untreatable disease and then his father when one of his co-workers pulled a malicious prank that ultimately caused him to fall off the skyscraper he was on sixteen floors down to his death. The incident was covered up by the company to save face, but Iemitsu knew better.
The night after the funeral, he snuck into the co-worker's apartment and burned the man alive with his newly Awakened Sky Flames. The fire spread throughout the entire building. All of the tenants, save the co-worker, got out in time, but they will experience lung issues for the rest of their lives due to smoke inhalation. The firefighters later concluded that it was the co-worker's smoking habits that had caused the tragedy since the man was well-known to be a chain-smoker with a habit of leaving his still burning cigarette butts around and forgetting about them.
Satisfied ad still riding on the high of his revenge, Iemitsu left Japan to track down his maternal family… and he was only seventeen and a high-school dropout at the time.
It would take about eight more years before he finally set foot in Japan again. And it would take even longer before he spends more than a few days with his wife and only child.
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
Iemitsu had just turned twenty when he first met Xanxus. Shortly after he joined the Vongola Famiglia, Nono introduced him to a dirty little street brat, claiming that the six-year-old waif of a child was his illegitimate son.
He automatically hated the kid on the spot. That little nobody doesn't deserve the privilege of being related to the Boss. Even if he was the Boss' illegitimate child, the brat doesn't belong in the Famiglia… his Famiglia. After all, tainted filth like him doesn't deserve anything more than to burn in hell for their unholy creation. Maybe after they've fulfilled a use or two. One way or another, that son of a rotten whore will be disposed of as he should have been. The Nono doesn't need to fuss over and dote on a useless bastard child.
So he bided his time. He waited until he gained enough power to completely ruin Xanxus. The Cradle Affair was a thing of beauty. All it took was giving the brat a little tidbit about the Nono's "dirty little secret" for things to get really heated up. Then he managed to bring Ottabio, the Cloud Officer at the time, and all of his supporters to his side.
Once Xanxus was iced, the entire Varia on probation, and any evidence of his involvement destroyed and/or executed, Iemitsu was finally sitting pretty where he belongs. His Famiglia the way it should, the Nono's absolute trust and approval, and his adorable family waiting for him.
He'll be damned if he lets anything ruins it. But just when he was finally tying up some loose ends, the unthinkable happened.
His little Tuna-fishy had punched his own father.
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
Surprisingly, it wasn't Xanxus who had lost it. It was Tsuna. All the anger and frustration the boy felt towards Iemitsu was channeled into the overpowered punch he threw at the man's face, sending him hurtling right through a wall. All of them only blinked for just a second and then the next thing you know, there was an Iemitsu-shaped hole in the hotel wall with Tsuna standing where the CEDEF Boss was, his Flame covered fist outstretched and panting due to his emotional disturbance.
"Why, Tuna-fishy? After everything I've done for you and your mother." Iemitsu practically whined as he struggled to get up. The man even had the gall to childishly pout at his son.
Tsuna glared at the man in front of him in silence as he forced himself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, he began, "The reason why I'm so furious at you is because of everything you haven't done. Where were you when Kaa-san was crying because you never showed up for your wedding anniversary or any of her birthdays? Where were you when our neighbors started spreading cruel rumors about Kaa-san being a delusional whore for having a fake foreigner husband? Where were you when my bullies decided that emotionally tearing me down wasn't enough for them and they started physically hurting me? Where were you when I almost broke my neck when I was 10 after my bullies thought it would be funny to push me down the stairs? And now after all these years, you are finally here… WHERE ARE THE FUCKING ANSWERS I WANT FROM YOU?!" He ranted at the man.
"That's what you're so angry about? Don't be a spoiled, ungrateful brat, Tsuna. You're only a kid. Just be patient, you'll understand someday." The CEDEF Boss childe, completely ignoring the whole point of Tsuna's rant.
Tsuna felt his fury bubble up to the danger zone, but then sighed heavily to let it all go. His pathetic sperm-donor was just not worth the effort to go berserker on. "You know what, I've had enough of this. Hey, Xanxus, truce?"
"Hn. Don't tell me what to do, baby trash." The Varia Boss huffed as he stepped up beside the younger Sky and took out his X-Guns.
Iemitsu sighed in exasperation. "And here I thought this can be resolved with no problems. Oh, well, I'll use this opportunity to discipline you, Tsuna, for striking your father… After I get rid of the filth." The blond man spat out the word as he went to slice his pickax on Xanxus' neck.
The dark-haired man effortlessly dodged and took the opportunity to shot at the man while Tsuna jumped in to make his own attack while the CEDEF Boss was distracted by the barrage of Wrath Flame Bullets.
Xanxus and Tsuna's respective Guardians were about to come to their aid, but they were immediately held back by the other people in the room. "Nobody interfere. This is now a battle of honor between Tsuna and Xanxus against Iemitsu," said Dino as he and Romario stood in the way.
"Oh? And what are we supposed to do while they fight? Sit here and look pretty." Mukuro sneered at them.
"If Iemitsu attacks any one of you, Tsuna and Xanxus are automatically the victors by default then we are allowed join the battle to execute him." Reborn replied. To be honest, the Sun Arcobaleno was hoping that Iemitsu might try something so he has a chance to put a Chaos Bullet in his head.
"He's right! We should have faith in Juudaime!" Gokudera declared, making his fellow Guardians make sounds of agreements.
Suddenly, Lussuria began dramatically fretting. "Oh no! While we're busy uselessly worrying about the Boss, we've forgotten that Hari-chan is still trapped with the grouchy Cloud cutie! We need to get them out of there! They don't know what's going on up here!"
"Um, I don't think we have to worry about getting them out, kora. It looks like Hadrian's got a plan up his sleeve." Colonello interrupted as he stared at what's on the monitor.
Levi squinted at the object Cat Sìth had taken out from the hidden compartment in his jacket. "Wait… isn't that…?"
Belphegor grinned madly. "Ushishishi, the wildcat's about to go wild."
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
After carefully setting Nono down in a corner of the kitchen where he would unlikely to get caught up in what's about to happen, Cat Sìth took out a small portable syringe containing a bright glowing yellow substance from his jacket pocket and then walked towards the other Cloud. "Hibari-san, I want you to do me a huge favor."
"What is it?" The Namimori prefect asked.
Holding up the syringe, the Varia Cloud explained, "This is an experimental dose of highly-concentrated Sun Flames. Once I inject this into myself, I have about 5 minutes before it's supposed to wear off. Before that time limit is up, I need you to do just one thing. If I lose control, almost kill me."
His Namimori counterpart scowled and the look on his face screamed "what the actual fuck are you planning, herbivore?"
"Basically, I need you to be the one to stop me before my body breaks down from the stress it'll cause me. And no pulling your punches either. Put me in a coma if you have to. You see, the Sun Flames will increase my body's activities where all of my physical limits become almost superhuman. However, I just recently got a hang of my Sky Flames, but my control still needs some work. So chances are my Flames will get mixed up with this, not only increasing the amount of the Sun Flames in my system but also enhancing its effects. While it's good because it will theoretically get us out of here, it's bad for me because the side effects will kill me if I don't have someone to watch out for me when I'm under this."
The Varia had already tested this on other test subjects, even their own agents. They learned that the stress it puts on the Flame User's causes a variety of post-usage symptoms: muscle tearing, bone fractures, nerve damage. There was even a case where one of their healthiest test subjects experienced cardiac arrest! In addition, it was found that while the concentrated Sun Flames did what it's supposed to do, seven times out of ten the individual's Flames will mix with the foreign Flames. If the subject is Flame compatible to the donor, the side effects are pretty mild. Otherwise, the backlash will become much more severe.
The one milliliter dose of Sun Flames Cat Sìth held in his hand was donated from Lussuria so the chances of his Flames rejecting the dose are significantly lowered as the Cloudy-Sky is already familiar with the flamboyant man's Flames. Of course given his luck, they might cause him to develop symptoms resembling ADHD or something far worse like stealing Xanxus' Sun Guardian from the man. You never know what will happen when Sky Flames are involved.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing with that?" Hibari questioned as the Cloudy-Sky teen placed a needle on the syringe.
Cat Sìth chuckled nervously as he stabbed the needle into vein in his neck. "I honestly have no idea."
Finally, he pushed the plunger home and prayed.
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
Fighting two-on-one against Iemitsu wasn't as easy as it sounds. After all, the man didn't become a CEDEF Boss for sitting behind his desk procrastinating on finishing his paperwork. Then again, they weren't making the fight easy on him either.
Whenever Iemitsu tries to take a shot at Xanxus, Tsuna would be there to intercept it, forcing the man to miss or pull back to prevent himself from seriously harming his son. This gives both of them an opening to strike at the man. While the younger Sky may be inexperienced when it comes to battling older opponents, the red-eyed Varia Boss more than even things out. Contrary to popular belief, his position wasn't handed to him on a silver platter. Xanxus earned it by beating his Rain in a spar in front of the entire organization, proving that he was Quality to be the one to lead them.
"Y-You…You think that if you beat me… that e-everything will be better?!" The heavily wounded Iemitsu wheezed as he stood unsteadily on his feet. The man looked worse for wear. His clothes were burnt, various bruises and injuries decorated his entire being, his left arm was missing and the stump painfully cauterized, and half of his pickax was melted.
"Maybe not, but hitting you a couple of times sure makes me feel a lot better." Tsuna quipped back, making the Varia Boss beside him snort.
The two, while far better off, sported singed clothes. Xanxus was relatively fine if one ignored his bloodied nose and the large gash on his leg while Tsuna has a swollen lip and a sizable bruise on his left side.
"Before we continue any further, there's something I want to know…" Tsuna said to the blond man.
"What is it now?" Iemitsu groaned as he rolled his eyes.
"Is it normal for someone's Flames to be eating away at their bodies?" His son asked.
The CEDEF Boss looked genuinely confused by Tsuna's statement. "…What?"
"Ever since the Ring Battles started, my Intuition has been pulsing like a headache at the back of my head, warning me about something. I didn't realize it before until I threw the first punch at you. There was something really wrong with your Flames that I just couldn't put my finger on." The amber-eyed teen explained.
"Baby trash. What the fuck are you getting at? Does he have some sort of screwy disease or something?" Xanxus demanded.
"Uh, yes? No? I…I don't know. My Intuition is screaming, but I can't tell because I've never experienced something like this before. Um, actually, I want to try something extreme. What I'm planning had worked with Mukuro last time, but I don't know if it'll work again on him." The young brunet tried to clarify to the best of his abilities.
The red-eyed man raised an eyebrow at the young teen. "Do I even want to fucking know?"
Tsuna thought about it a little before shaking his head. "…It's hard to explain, so I'll tell you later. Think you can give me a few seconds?"
"He's barely standing as it is." Xanxus scoffed as he brought his guns up and shot another round of Wrath Flame bullets at Iemitsu, which the blond man dodged by slamming himself against the wall.
Suddenly, the wall started to let out a loud steady metallic groan and began concaving more and more like there is some sort of force that's repeatedly hitting itself against the wall.
"That's impossible!" The CEDEF Boss gasped out as he staggered back after the next impact barely glanced the side of his head.
Finally the Flame-reinforced wall gave away, revealing the purple Flame covered fist of Cat Sìth whose veins on the exposed skin of his hand and arms were pulsating glowing a bright yellow. Removing his arm with a ferocious growl, he began viciously tearing apart the wall from the hole he just created.
"Wao. That was fast." Hibari commented as he came out of the exit Cat Sìth had made shortly before he finally collapsed after the dose of Sun Flames wore off.
Squalo immediately jumped in and grabbed the Cloud Officer before Iemitsu had any ideas. "VOI! I got the shitty cat! Luss, get to healing!"
"You got it, Squ-chan~! (VOOOI! DON'T CALL ME, 'SQU-CHAN'!)" Lussuria chirped as the petite teen was laid out in front of him. "Oh dear, while it doesn't look like you're experiencing Flame Rejection, but you certainly did a number on your body. I'm putting you on strict rest and relaxation for the next few days, okay?" He said after finishing up his treatment.
"Why is it that I keep getting hurt lately? Is someone out there having a sadistic streak that's spilling over onto me simply because they don't know what to do with me for events such as this?" Cat Sìth grumbled miserably.
While this is happening, Xanxus took the distraction to pin Iemitsu to the floor, allowing Tsuna to have full access to the man. Taking the opportunity, Tsuna took his Flames and grabbed the CEDEF Boss by the head, repeating the process that defeated Mukuro in the first place and allowing his Dying Will Flames to purify Iemitsu's warped Flames.
"What… What in the fucking hell did you just do to him?!" The Varia Boss demanded with wide eyes as he watched the man suddenly go limp and fall unconscious.
"I purified his Flames. I'm not sure I can accurately describe it, but it's like that his Flames were slowly hurting him. It's like his body is trying to fight back against something there, but his Flames is doing more harm than good." The exhausted Tsuna explained in between pants.
The dark-haired man nodded but said nothing. Flame-related ailments are nothing to sneeze at and are often pretty hard to detect unless you know what you're looking for. After seeing firsthand what the younger Sky was fully capable of at t=his age, Xanxus was finally able to make his decision. "Oi, baby trash," he called out to the brunet boy and flipped him his half of the Vongola Sky Ring. "Here, you earned it. Don't screw up, or I'll kill you then take over the Famiglia in your stead."
Catching the half-ring, Tsuna took out his own and pieced them together. Then when he placed the completed ring on his middle finger, it immediately burst into bright orange Flames and began glowing brightly as the ring shrank down to fit him. The metal continued to flare orange Sky Flames as it pulsated gently on his hand.
The Vongola Sky Ring has accepted him as the Decimo.
"T-T-The w-winner of the V-Vongola Ring Battles i-is Sawada Ts-Tsunayoshi. F-From now on, Sawada Tsunayoshi is the rightful heir to the title of Decimo Vongola. Your G-Guardians may now take their rightful rings." One of the Cervello women announced. All of them were still nervous over what had just happened so far.
As the Namimori teens reclaimed their respective rings to cement their positions as the Guardians of the Decimo, Tsuna turned towards the man who he once was supposed to call his father. "Sawada Iemitsu di Vongola. From this point onwards, I am disowning you. If Kaa-san ever finds it in her heart to forgive you after everything you've done, then she's a far better person than I am." Tsuna whispered to the comatose man at his feet before finally letting the tears fall.
"I HATE YOU!" He screamed out in anguish. "I HATE YOU SO MUCH! No matter what, I've never hated the people who've abused me. Not even Xanxus or Mukuro can bring out this ugly feeling after everything they've done to me and my friends. Maybe that's the reason why I can put up with everything and not fall off the deep end. It's because I hate you so much that there's no room left for me to hate anyone else… Not even myself."
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
If someone were to ask him how he would define what a father to him is, Tsuna would've drawn up a blank trying to describe that one word. It actually happened once in grade school during a class assignment. His teacher gave each of her students a word that they were supposed to describe to the best of their ability. Some had easy words like "trees" or "cookies." Others took to pantomiming a situation around more difficult words like "dangerous" or "amazing."
Seven year old Tsuna, however, was unlucky enough to be assigned "father." So when it was finally his turn to describe his word to the entire class, all he could do was stutter "I don't know." This immediately made some of classmates whisper ugly things about him to each other like how he's only seen with his mother but never with his father and how he once scored multiple zeroes on his assignments last year.
Without saying a word to stop the cruel rumors formulating around the classroom, the teacher suggested Tsuna describe his father with a tone that made him feel like he's three and not seven. He immediately innocently asked her, "What's a father supposed to be like?" The look on her face made the young boy feel even worse about himself. Her face had this fake look of understanding and pity, but he can tell from her eyes that were mocking him and his situation.
The nickname "Dame-Tsuna" was born after he caused his whole team to lose a game. And that was only the start.
As the years passed things only got worst. Girls would spread all sorts of nasty stuff about him with just their words and boys would take every opportunity to physically beat him to submission. By the time, he entered his first year of middle school, his self-confidence was nonexistent, his and his mother's reputation was in the negative, and practically no one wanted to be associated with him. There were days when he's thought about what it would be like to just end everything. No wonder Reborn had his work cut out for him when he started tutoring Tsuna.
Then one day, he was beaten to the point where he needed to be sent to the hospital. When he woke up after being unconscious for three whole days, he saw his mother's smiling face, but there was a tightness that didn't seem right. He would later find out that she had tried to call his father about his condition only to be immediately sent to voicemail or that the numbers she dialed were disconnected.
And it happened again and again. Until eventually, his mother just stopped calling him altogether.
There are days when Tsuna thought about whether or not Iemitsu actually loved them. There are also days when he thought about whether or not his mother loved her husband more than him. And more frequently, there were days when he thought about how things would be much better for her if her Dame-son was out of the picture. It was a torturous thought process that haunted him for most of his life.
Now he had taken her husband away from his mother. He doubted that she would forgive him. Here he was, heavily bandaged and sitting upright on his bed. Like a man preparing to hear his death sentence, he waited for his mother to enter the room so she could finally denounce him for almost killing the man she loves.
Never one to disappoint, Nana came into her son's room bearing a tray that contained a large pitcher of cool water and his painkillers. The woman said nothing as she arranged the tray on his desk and poured out a fresh glass for him, all while humming to herself quietly.
"Kaa-san, do you hate me for doing that to him?" Tsuna asked her quietly after several minutes of silence between them.
Stopping in her tracks, Nana set everything down, sat down next to him on his bed, and wrapped her arms around her child in an attempt to ease her son's worries. "Oh my sweet baby boy. Never. I could never hate you no matter what."
"But I practically lobotomized your husband. I practically destroyed him. You loved him. You still do… even after everything he's done. So how can you not hate me?" He asked anxiously.
For a while, Nana was silent as she carefully thought over what she would say to comfort her son. Finally, she opened her mouth and let her feelings speak for themselves. "…I loved the man I thought Iemitsu was. The man he fabricated with half-baked lies and delusions. Like a love-struck idiot I was, I happily fell for it. But when I first found out about Basil-kun and the affair, I had already known that I would've forgiven him even though I shouldn't. I had made up my mind that when I could finally look at him and not get upset at his betrayal, I could even find it in myself to learn how to love the man hiding behind those lies. But that was my wishful thinking."
"But I stole that opportunity away from you!" The brunet teen protested.
"But you've set me free. You've set us free." Nana continued. "If Iemitsu were still around, I would still be pining for the husband Iemitsu couldn't be, and you would still be hating the man Iemitsu couldn't help but be. Yes, I'm still mourning for what I've lost, but I won't let that stop me from doing my best to move on."
As he mulled over her words, Tsuna turned around and hugged her. "…Kaa-san…I love you," he mumbled into her shoulder.
"I love you too, Tsu-kun. Always." Nana said back.
ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ
After comforting her son, Nana made her way to the hospital where the Mafia had temporarily taken over to treat their injured. Seeing as she is the wife of the CEDEF Boss, the housewife was allowed in the room by Dino's men. There, she found Shamal, Lussuria, and Reborn are all congregated in Iemitsu's room, working on the man's battered body.
"Kyaaa~! Look at all the damage Tsu-kun inflicted on him~! You must be as proud as a father, Reborn." Lussuria cooed.
"Of course Tsuna would perform above and beyond. For the last one-and-a half years, I put his mind, body, and soul through hell so he can give his enemies hell. And I expect nothing less from my student."
"Aww, my little Tsu-kun would cry hearing your confidence in him. He's sensitive towards praise that way."
"Nana-chan~! What a blessing it is to see your lovely presence in this dreary room~." The mafia doctor gushed at the sight of the woman.
"Hello to you too, Doctor Shamal. Before we get off topic, have you found anything wrong with Iemitsu's Flamey problem thing?"
"Flames, darling." Lussuria corrected before continuing. "Not yet, we're focusing on the worst of his physical injuries before moving on to his Flames."
"Normally, we'd at least do a Flame diagnostic first, but your husband has internal bleeding, seven broken ribs, a collapsed lung, over 50 fractures littered throughout his body, second and third-degree burns, a missing arm, and a ruptured spleen. And on top of all of that, a severe concussion and massive amounts of blood loss. Frankly, I was surprised that the stubborn bastard was able to keep fighting with his body so wrecked by Xanxus and Tsuna." Shamal said with Nana turning paler as the list went on and on.
"Anyways, we're just about done healing the worst of it. Now that's not going to die anytime soon, we can finally check out his Flames." Reborn informed her.
Lussuria clapped his hands together in cheers. "Now then, let's get started, dearies~! You can stay for this, Mama-chan. However, the results might not be pretty judging from what Tsuna had said about him."
Using the Flame examination machine that Shamal had Dino's men bring in for situations such as this, he turned it on and took a close look at the abnormalities occurring in Iemitsu's Flames. There were fresh traces of Sun Flames, thanks to Reborn and Lussuria's efforts in healing him, as well as relatively recent Sky Rejection damage, most likely from an attempt to force Tsuna to submit to the man some time during their battle. He even found the areas where Tsuna's Flames had purified the decaying areas. For a while, they couldn't detect anything wrong until the perverted doctor realized that the places where Tsuna has purified are centered around the CEDEF Boss' cranium and spinal cord area. What he found was very alarming.
"Flame Creep! How did we all miss this?!" Shamal hissed sharply as he quickly pulled away from Iemitsu in horror.
Reborn's infantile features darkened. "…The same way we missed Hadrian's Sky Flames. Much like Hadrian burying his primary with his secondary to hide that he's a Sky, Iemitsu has secondary Mist Flames. He's been using them to hide for so long that he was even able to hide that he has more than one Flame attribute so the thought that he's developed a secondary has never crossed our minds."
"Excuse me, but…what is this Flame Creep? It's serious, is it?" Nana asked the men. She didn't need to have Hyper Intuition to know that Flame Creep is very, very bad news.
Shamal rubbed his face in exhaustion as he explained. "Flame Creep isn't necessarily a disease but a condition that typically only shows up in the Mafia World. It's dangerous Flame-related condition that tends to appear in children with significantly strong Flames. For the most part, children don't normally activate their Flames until they're much older, but in some cases, there are children who become Active early in their lives, or even rarer, are born Active. In Flame Creep cases, these early bloomers with their uncontrollable Latent Flames that are on the verge of being fully Active, are ultra-sensitive to outside Flame influence. This can severely affect how their bodies react negatively to their own Flames. As a result, it puts damage on their minds and bodies in a variety of ways depending on what Element they have." The grim revelation makes the poor woman gasped in despair.
"You know, come to think of it, this does explain why after all these years, Sawada never bonded with a Guardian." Lussuria mentioned. Sure, his closest subordinates, Oregano and Tumeric, have worked under him for years and are loyal to boot, not once had anyone detected even a whiff of a Guardian bond between the CEDEF Boss and any of his subordinates.
"C-Come to think of it, Basil-kun did mention something about how it never felt right trying to bond with Iemitsu. Dissonance or something like that, I think. I-Is it possible that he can be cured from this?" Nana pleaded with a trembling voice.
Reborn shook his head at her grimly, making her heart drop. "It's too late for him. Flame Creep damage as severe as his can't be fixed. Frankly, I'm not sure if he'll be able to use Flames ever again due to the damage it's caused him over the years. Other than giving him a mercy kill (which I doubt you and Tsuna want), the best option for him is healing him enough so that he can at least continue living as a functional human being. All we can do after that is give him a place where he can live without hurting anyone else."
By the time the sun sets, Nana had left the hospital and went home feeling lost and her heart in turmoil. What will her son do once he hears about this? What should she do from now on? Can she find the strength to move on from this? Those questions swirled around constantly in her mind as she struggled to find a solution.
Just as she entered the door, she was greeted to the sounds of Fuuta, Lambo, and I-pin happily playing with each other in the living room and the chaotic antics of Tsuna and his friends up in his room. She heard steps going down the stairs and saw that it was her son coming down with a tray of empty glasses.
"Oh, Kaa-san, you're back. Did everything go okay then?" Tsuna said as he spotted her at the front door.
"…No, it's not okay." Nana replied to him listlessly. Then a soft smile slowly appeared on her face. "It's just… I guess I was worrying about too many things that will happen in the future from now on." She mumbled mostly to herself as the two made their way into the kitchen.
As Tsuna went to refill the glasses with refreshments, Nana sat down and buried her face in her hands. The brunet boy, seeing this out of the corner of his eye, realized that something had happened with Iemitsu that made her like this.
Not knowing what else to do in this situation, he decided to do the only thing he can think of. Reassurance. "Kaa-san! I…That is… I swear I won't worry you too much!" Tsuna declared.
His mother looked up and blinked in confusion. "Tsu-kun?"
"I'm going to become the Decimo Vongola so… Now that I'm a part of the Mafia, I can't guarantee that I'll always be safe or not in danger… But I promise you that I'll stay alive… So we can still have dinner together again next time… along with the kids, my friends, and everyone else," he said, trailing off in embarrassment over his new bravado.
For a few moments, the kitchen was silent until a giggle left Nana's lips, then another, then another, until she dissolved into full-blown laughter. Looking at her son with tears of relief in her eyes, she got up and happily embraced him.
"Kaa-san?" Tsuna said as he awkwardly returned her hug.
"I've finally made my decision, Tsu-kun," she whispered as she held her son tighter. "I know that I can't protect you from your enemies, but I can at least have faith that you'll always be okay some way or another. Thank you, Tsu-kun. Thank you."
A month later, Nana divorced Iemitsu. While it hurt her to have to do that to her now ex-husband, it ended up being one of the best decisions she could ever make as a mother.
AN: Again I apologize if I offended any of my readers in any way because of the sensitive subjects brought up in this chapter. After rereading this arc, I don't think I'm satisfied by what just happen so I'm planning on rewriting the whole Ring Battles Arc. But that doesn't mean that it'll be on hiatus or anything. I will be continuing to update Acedia whenever I can, but expect changes in previous chapters as I go. Nothing too drastic, maybe better character interactions, better grammar, and additional scenes here and there.
Flame Creep: I would like to give credit to Umei no Mai's story, Black Sky, for the idea. If you want more information on this, check out Chapter 184. Basically, Iemitsu's condition went unnoticed for years because no one, not even him, suspected a thing thanks to his "acting." While being Flame-Active did elevated his condition somewhat, the damage he's sustained made it that he's mentally stuck with near-sociopathic symptoms.
Iemitsu's rant about Xanxus burning in hell: I guess I should've mentioned this earlier, but Italy is predominately Roman Catholic. Chances are, there's quite a few Mafiosi align themselves to the Catholic Church. Iemitsu is one of them. By the way, you've probably guessed by now that Hadrian more or less converted.
Q&A Zone:
Setokayba2n, Pikachu79: So these reviewers commented on what the Cervello judges will do to Iemitsu framing the Varia. The answer is… nothing. Their main purpose in the Vongola Ring Battles is to judge the fights and report the results as unbiasedly as possible. Nothing more and nothing less. Iemitsu, of course, knows full well how they operate so he was trying to put words in their mouths and spin things around so that it would seem that way to them without deviating what is really happening. The Varia, of course, cannot confirm or deny the events right now because it has already happened, and it's not like they magically have any evidence already on hand that says so otherwise at that very moment. And as you can see, Iemitsu's plan wasn't very well thought out.
October Birthday Special
Omake 1: Xanxus' Birthday
"Yeah, hell no. I can't bake to save my life. Even Poison Cooking is more appetizing than my desserts." Hadrian replied bluntly to Xanxus' newest demand, only to receive another wineglass thrown at his face, which he deftly caught.
The red-eyed man blinked. "You can cook a 5-star banquet in your sleep, but you can't bake a simple cake?"
The Cloudy-Sky winced. "Trust me. I tried. Somehow every dessert item I make comes out… um… all wrong, to put it mildly. Go check with the others if you don't believe me. I had them try and help me out earlier. Even then, a freaking cookie coming out of my oven is more likely to kill you than cyanide."
(Several Hours Ago)
"Hari-chan, that's salt. The sugar is right here." Lussuria said as he daintily removed the ingredient from Hadrian's hand and replaced it with the correct one.
"The prince demands you put on your glasses. Look carefully, that's paprika, not cocoa powder." Belphegor pointed out the label on the brown substance.
Levi stared down at the egg carton in amazement. "What the…? Did something happen to the eggs? You just bought them fresh off the market this morning! Why are all of them hatching into chicks?!"
Squalo lunged and snatched the packet out of Hadrian's hold while yelling, "STOP! STOP! Is your prescription off or something?! VOI! You almost mixed up the fucking flour for cement mixture! Speaking of which, where the hell did the shitty thing come from?! I swear it wasn't even in the kitchen in the first place!"
"Wire me 10,000 Euros to my account after this. If I hadn't stopped you from spreading that, it would've been covered by mayonnaise instead of cream cheese frosting. By the way… HOW DID YOU CREATE FREAKING MAYONNAISE FROM JUST BUTTER, SUGAR, CREAM CHEESE, AND VANILLA!? IT'S EVEN RADIOACTIVE FOR SOME REASON!" Mammon hollered at the absurdity of the situation.
This continued on for some time, but in the end, it took Hadrian three more tries before he finally created something that barely resembled a cake. Even for Vongola's standards this is ridiculous. At that point, everyone wondered if the teen has tertiary Mist Flames or something that no one had known about. That would explain why things kept going horribly wrong at every step.
Hadrian, for some reason, offhandedly mumbled something about "Potter Luck" and just left it at that.
(Later on)
"What the fuck… is that shit?" Squalo said as he stared at…whatever that thing was on the counter.
"Someone's melted wax sculpture?" Belphegor offered his two bits.
"I thought it looked like an ice cream sundae that's been left out in the sun for months." Lussuria commented.
"Muu, it may look horrible, but the question is… is it at least edible?" Mammon pointed out.
Hadrian was quick to get behind their Lightning Officer and pushed him towards his creation. "Levi, I volunteer you as tribute."
"What?! Why me!? You made it, so you try it!" Levi loudly complained.
The teen put on a thoughtful look and pretended to think. "Hmmmm? I thought you wanted to be useful to Xanxus. I guess I was wrong about your devotion. Since taste-testing the Boss' food is above you, I suppose I have to do for him myself. After all, if it's safe to eat, then Xanxus will eventually eat the same food that I've tried. In a way that means I'll be the one who's closest to the Boss, not you. If~. You~. Know~. What~. I~. Mean~." The petite Cloud purred suggestively.
To everyone's amazement, the Lightning fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. "I'LL DO IT! I'LL TASTE THE UGLY BLOB FOR THE BOSS!" Levi declared with a mighty roar. After materializing a knife and fork out of nowhere, the man then jumped headfirst into the sorry excuse for a dessert and began attacking the "cake" with the ferocity of a rabid dog.
Meanwhile everyone looked at Levi with a look that's akin to pity. The Sun Officer took the opportunity and turned to his friend to quietly admonish him, "I won't lie, Hari-chan. I feel a bit sorry for Levi a bit right there. That was pretty cruel of you to manipulate him like that."
Suddenly, the Lightning let out an unmanly shriek of terror as Hadrian's "cake" let out an animalistic sound and the man was suddenly engulfed by the thing. His fellow Officers watched in horror as Levi struggled to fight off the Cronenberg cake monstrosity as it tried to eat him alive. From the love of all that is holy, the "cake" was even devouring the Officer's Lightning Flames.
Needless to say, this made the flamboyant man instantly change his attitude. "Never mind, I take it all back~! I'm so glad to not be in his position right now~!"
(Current Time)
"…Are you seriously fucking with me?" Xanxus said incredulously.
"Don't ask what happened to it afterwards. I think it scurried off somewhere after traumatizing Levi enough to give him saccharophobia (fear of sugar). And do I even look like someone who would fuck with you?" Hadrian deadpanned to him with a dead-serious expression.
"…"
"…"
"Just get me something from Pasticceria Marchesi then." The Varia Boss ordered his chef.
"Got it, Boss." The Cloudy-Sky drawled as he exited the office.
Little did Hadrian knew, his "cake" had spawned "cupcake" versions of itself towards the end of its expiration date. Mammon ended up being the one to find the "babies" and sold them to Verde as a new species for a hefty amount of cash and favors. For a while, Hadrian had noticed that his paycheck was significantly higher than usual but paid no mind to it.
Omake 2: Reborn's Birthday
Hadrian awkwardly stared down at the diminutive person in front of him as he mentally tried to process his latest food request. "…You want me to what?" He finally asked after a long pause.
Reborn merely smirked in amusement and repeated what he just said. "I want you to bake me a birthday cake tomorrow."
The teen groaned and facepalmed in exasperation before deadpanning in reply. "Were you blind the day Nana-san dragged me into making ohagi?"
That day was a chaotic disaster that could only be measured on Vongola proportions. Nana had somehow persuaded Hadrian into helping her make the mochi as a treat for her son and his friends. Unfortunately, Hadrian's "curse" raised its ugly head as all the sweet mochi balls of red bean paste he made came to life and escaped into the streets of Namimori.
Tsuna had no choice but to beg Hibari into having the Disciplinary Committee help out in massacring the little mochi monsters before it could hurt anyone. Unfortunately, they soon learned that trying to smash or tear apart the things only served to help reproduce more of their numbers. Nothing short of Flames could actually kill the sentient sweets.
In the end, it took the Namimori teens three restless days to finally burn the last of Hadrian's man-eating mochi to ashes. Reborn definitely got a kick out of the chaos those things caused as he playfully dubbed the Cloud's "Frankenstein Cooking" as a new assassination method not unlike Bianchi's Poison Cooking, only it has the potential to wipe out an entire population of a town if left unchecked.
"I am fully aware of the consequences. However, this cake isn't just for me, but rather I am planning on making it a surprise for Tsuna and his Guardians." The Sun Arcobaleno explained.
"…Oh dear Mother of God…" Hadrian whispered in growing horror as he followed along the diminutive hitman's thought process. May heaven have mercy on their souls.
Reborn's evil smirk widened as his dark beady little eyes took on an unholy glint. "Make it a five-tier cake… One of those huge wedding cake ones… Tsuna's birthday is just after mine so I'd like to start my day with a big bang."
(The Next Day)
"GWUUUAAARRRRAAAAAHHHH!"
"HIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
"Another one? …I'm still going to bite that thing to death."
"I'm getting EXTREME mochi flashbacks here!"
"Another UMA! Juudaime, do you think that Hadrian is an UMA himself?! That might be why he can create these things!"
"Ahahaha… I don't think this is the time to fanboy over the supernatural, Gokudera."
"T-Tsuna-nii, L-Lambo-san doesn't like c-cake anymore."
"Why?! Why would you do this to a perfectly good chocolate cake?! Is nothing sacred anymore?!"
"M-M-Mukuro-sama, a-are you okay?"
"Allow me to explain. This is the birthday cake that Hadrian made specifically to my tastes. Now all of you hurry up and get ready. As an early birthday gift from me to Tsuna, you are to fight this thing as a part of your training. But be careful, it has the tendency to devour Flames."
Omake 3: Tsuna's Birthday
"SOMEBODY HELP! I JUST MADE HADRIAN CRY FOR NO REASON!" Tsuna screamed as he ran out of the kitchen in a panic.
Xanxus instantly zoned in his killing intent on the younger Sky as he aimed a shot in the boy's general direction, causing him to dodge with a frightened squeak. "Baby trash, what did you do to my chef?" The man growled out threateningly.
"I-I don't know! I was just helping Hari-san finishing up dinner preparations by making the dessert. After the cake I was baking was done, we had a taste-test, and then there was these cracking sounds coming from him, and then he just… he just started crying." Tsuna trailed off.
Deciding to see the situation for themselves, the Varia entered the kitchen and took in the sight of Hadrian sobbing on the floor with his face buried in his hands. On the counter was a freshly-baked cake. A partially-eaten piece was already cut out, meaning that the taste of the pastry was most likely the reason why the older teen was in such a state.
Working up their courage, the Officers each took up a fork and took a bite of the seemingly delicious-looking cake, only to be instantly sent to a dreamy sugar-induced state of bliss.
"…Fuck. No wonder the shitty cat's sobbing his little eyes out." Squalo breathed as finally got a hold of himself. The cracking sounds Tsuna had heard must've been his pride being crushed to smithereens. The silvered-haired swordsman eyed the cake thoughtfully, wondering if it's okay for him to cut himself a generous slice.
"Um…I-Is my cake really that bad?" The boy asked anxiously, mentally preparing himself for the worst. It was his first time making anything so he fully expected a lot of harsh criticism.
Mammon 's head zeroed in on Tsuna, their eyes taking on a greedy glint underneath their hood. "Are you interested in setting up a catering company?" They purred at the thought of how much cash this boy's glorious baking skills will bring in. All they need is Hadrian to come around then they can conquer the international food markets.
"W-what?!" Tsuna yelped.
Lussuria merely waved off the brunet teen's concerns as he eagerly swiped what's left of the slice and took another bite, much to the whines of his fellow Officers. "Pay no attention to them, sweetie. And don't worry, your cake is absolutely scrumptious. It's just Hari-chan's envying Nana-chan for having a baking genius for a son, that's all~."
Hmm, the carrot cake is to die for.
Omake 4: Byakuran's Birthday
Unspoken Varia Rule #66: Cat Sìth is absolutely forbidden to make anything that is remotely considered a dessert item. Even chocolate-covered strawberries aren't safe to eat.
Rule Amended as of XXX, XX, XXXX: Approach Cat Sìth with caution if he has brownies in his oven. They do say that the best way to the man's heart is through the stomach. Trust me, you don't want yours ripped out of you after accidently getting too close to the goods.
(Meanwhile in the Future)
After the Boss of the Millefiore had finally finished the (never-ending) paperwork, he decided to satisfy his craving for sweets by indulging in his one of his favorite snacks, marshmallows. After the popping his fifth marshmallow into his mouth, he was interrupted by a knock on his door.
Giving his permission for the person to enter, his office door opened to reveal one of his lower-leveled subordinates holding a medium-sized white box that was topped an elegant red bow with a red-bordered label attached to one of its sides. "Byakuya-sama, we just received a curious package addressed to you. While it passed all of our bomb inspections, we have no idea what's inside."
Cocking his head to the side, he remarked. "Oh, what could it be?" Gesturing his underling to place the box on his desk, he carefully examined the package as he dismissed his minion.
At first glance, the box seemed pretty ordinary, and the label on the side simply has the word, "Enjoy," written all neat and fancy in black-inked cursive. Curiosity aroused, he took out his favorite letter opener and cut it open.
Opening the top, the white-haired man peered inside and began drooling, "Oooh~ is this a marshmallow cake~? How'd they know that today's my birthday? Oh, well, itadakima-"
Unfortunately, Byakuran didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he was suddenly engulfed by the white sugary perversion of one of his favorite desserts.
(3 Hours Later)
"WHAT THE HELL?! IS THIS A NEW BOX MONSTER FROM THOSE VONGOLA BASTARDS?!"
"NO, IT'S NOT! I THINK IT'S SOME KIND OF MIST-CREATED MONSTER OR SOMETHING!"
"DOES THAT THING LOOK LIKE AN ILLUSION TO YOU!? IT'S GNAWING ON MY FACE!"
"OH DEAR LORD! IS IT SPAWNING?! IT IS SPAWNING!"
"EVERY MAN FOR THEMSELVES!"
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY! HOT WOMEN AND ME FIRST!
"MY LEG!"
That day was the closest the Vongola had ever been to defeating the Millefiore in one fell swoop. The next day, Byakuran retaliated by destroying Vongola Headquarters with a vengence.
AN: So I figured, "Hey, it's October already. Should I do something special for some of my favorite characters b-days?" This little segment is meant to celebrate the birthdays of Xanxus (10/10), Reborn (10/13), Tsuna (10/14), and Byakuran (10/28). However, I just double checked to see if my birthdays are correct. Is Byakuran's birthday on October 28th or March 14th? Despite the conflicting information, I'm making it the 28th of October the DOB for our favorite sweet-toothed troll. Hoped you enjoyed this~
Hadrian's issue with sweets: So a while back, athenakitty asked me how Hadrian would be at desserts. This is the result. Expect this recurring gag more frequently from now on. Somehow I really liked the thought of Hadrian, a god in the kitchen, is horrendously terrible at making a single dessert.
Frankenstein Cooking: Go on and give athenakitty a shout-out for the name. The process is more or less similar with Bianchi's Poison Cooking. Much like how anything Bianchi touches can turn into poison, especially her cooking, any kind of sweets Hadrian makes by his own hands ends up coming to life.
Pasticceria Marchesi: A real-life cake stop located in Milan, Italy. From now on, if there's a mention of Hadrian bringing out anything dessert-related, 99% of the time, it's either store-bought or made by someone else. The characters are praying that they don't happen to fall under the 1%.
Tsuna's baking skills: I just couldn't resist the idea of Tsuna being the one who excels where Hadrian fails epicly. Looks like Hadrian has finally found his confectionery counterpart. But should I make Tsuna as bad at cooking as Hadrian is at making sweets?
Thank you all for reading~! Reviews, favorites, and follows give me life~ ੭•̀ω•́)੭ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ