Notes: So I've been reading up on the recent manga events in Reborn thanks to Wikia. Earth Flames? What. The. Frig. Something tells me that I might not be able to incorporate all this Shimon Family nonsense into the story. I could try… but it might bog some things down.

Oh, and I like this chapter much, much, much better than the last one. You have no idea. It has continuity. Yay continuity!

Reviewer Shout-outs: shinnifura-chan, Charpie, SniperKingSogeking0341 and Mythril Maiden! Thanks for reviewing everyone!

Chapter Sixteen

Vacation Blues

It was bright and sunny as Hana and Kiyohiko laid out on Waikiki Beach in sunny O'ahu, Hawai'i. The sand was warm and the breeze off the ocean was cool, making everything the right mixture of perfect. Adults and children alike ran about, playing volleyball, building sandcastles, catching some waves or simply relaxing like they were. It felt good.

"How that idiot uncle of yours hasn't talked me into this before is beyond me," Hana chuckled. She rolled over and let the sun warm her back. "Why did I always insist on Okinawa? Or Hokkaido? That one really baffles me now."

"Hey, our trip to Hokkaido was interesting," Kiyohiko replied.

"Yeah, but Hokkaido and Hawai'i are two very different places."

"…with very different perks. I wasn't in danger of being sunburned on Hokkaido."

"Oh, I don't know…" Hana's grin became almost cat-like in her smugness. She was comfortable and that was all that mattered, all other merits of all other places in the world aside. Even Japan was nothing in comparison, or at least she knew it would be until she was on the plane home. That was the point of a vacation, was it not?

"I wonder how Masaru-nii and Ryohei-oji are doing with their lessons," Kiyohiko wondered, staring out at the waves. He could not tell which figures out there were his cousin and uncle and which ones were not since everything was so far away.

"Don't be so worried," Hana said. She did not look, but could tell by the sound of Kiyohiko's voice that he was staring out at the waves nervously. "If I didn't learn to stop doing that, I'd have a whole head of grays by now."

"That's comforting." Kiyohiko sat up and hugged his knees as he watched the waves beat against the Waikiki shore.

It was true that this was his first time in Hawai'i, there was no denying that. He just did not feel completely at ease with it all. The Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada family vacations were always something that he had to look forward to in the summer and he thought that this year, with the appearance of Reborn, that he would be denied this luxury. It would have been a luxury to go on a class trip to Kyoto without Reborn turning everything into a Mafia training exercise, let alone going all the way to Hawai'i. The only way it could have been even better, he thought, was if his parents were there. A real family vacation with all of them… no Mafia, Reborn or craziness… now that was something to imagine. He knew it would never happen, but he could always dream.

A few minutes later, Masaru came jogging up the beach with a large surfboard tucked underneath his arm. Both teen and the board were sopping wet, but only one was able to walk up with a toothy grin on his face.

"Come on Little Cousin, you gotta try surfing," Masaru smiled. "It's such an extreme thrill ride! Those pipes are amazing!"

"I think I'll pass—thanks."

"Masaru, move. You are standing in my sun, boy."

Masaru grinned at his stepmom and drove the end of his board into the sand so that its shadow covered part of Hana's legs and torso. After unclipping the tether from his ankle, he pulled Kiyohiko up by the shoulder and trotted off with his cousin in tow.

"What are we doing?" Kiyohiko asked.

"Getting a snack. Surfing sure does work up an extreme appetite!"

"What about your board? Your dad?"

"Dad's still out there pretending to be a surf king and my board will just annoy Hana-san in my place while we're gone. Don't worry Little Cousin; I got this."

Kiyohiko chuckled and walked along with Masaru until they got to a nearby stand where they each got a hot dog and can of pop. They found a nice piece of shade protecting a seawall where they sat down and ate happily. It did not last long though, as someone came up behind the cousins, tapping them on the shoulder for attention.

"Excuse me, but are you Kiyohiko Sawada and Masaru Sasagawa?" asked a sharp, curt voice in what sounded like native English. Kiyohiko and Masaru turned around to see a young woman standing behind them. She was dressed in a black unisex suit, wore sunglasses and had pulled her hair in a taut knot at the nape of her neck. The woman looked like an islander, but not of the tourist-guiding kind. She exuded all the force and authority of an agent from mainland America's central government or even worse—a member of the Mafia.

"Yes ma'am; is everything okay?" Kiyohiko responded. Masaru's English was not as practiced as his, so he stepped up as the speaker for the two.

"Everything is fine. I just need you to come with me."

"We don't want any trouble, five-oh," Masaru said in shaky English. Kiyohiko elbowed him so hard that Masaru fell off the sea wall and onto the beach.

"I'm sorry, but we would like to know why we are being summoned," the younger cousin said more fluently. He knew that just because this was American soil did not mean that the Mafia and yakuza were unable to stretch their long fingers all the way across the globe and over borders. One could never be too cautious, after all.

"The head of the CEDEF would like to have a word with you both," the mystery woman said. She handed Kiyohiko a piece of paper that had not only the familiar letterhead of the Vongola, but a note scrawled in handwriting that he knew.

Come with this woman, Kiyohiko-dono. Masaru-dono and you need to speak with me. Alone. Do not worry about your aunt and uncle—they are being informed as you read this. Trust me.

"Masaru-nii!" Kiyohiko called over the wall. "Get back up here!"

"What's the fuss about?" Masaru asked as he hopped back over the wall. Kiyohiko showed him the note and they looked at the woman in black.

"Mr. Basil is expecting you."

A short car ride later, Kiyohiko and Masaru found themselves in the driveway of a spacious seafront villa. The architecture was modeled after a generic Mediterranean seaside resort with plenty of Tuscany and Naples as the base design. Kiyohiko could only catch bits and pieces of the building's style before they were ushered in by a pair of men dressed exactly like their woman driver. From there, they went into a room where clean clothes were waiting for them in exactly their sizes. Although Masaru was reluctant to trade in his favorite swim trunks, they both changed and wandered out onto the veranda where Basil was waiting for them.

"Kiyohiko-dono! Masaru-dono! I am so glad that you made it!" the man said, opening his arms wide and taking both teens in for a hug at once. Kiyohiko remembered pictures from when his father was younger, when Tsuna and Basil were both young small and stick-like teens. Basil had long ago grown into adulthood a bit too awkwardly, still a lot of limb and fine features. His age showed in his face, which had become somewhat wrinkled with worry over the years, and his cut-short hair that was beginning to grey here and there with a patch that was beginning to look thinner than the rest. The last time either teen had seen Basil, they did not even reach his waist.

"It's been too long, Basil-san," Kiyohiko smiled. Long enough for the man's Japanese to modernize a little, but not long enough for the meeting to be awkward. "Please, what is it that you had to talk to us about while we are on vacation?"

"First, sit down," Basil smiled. There was a pair of couches on either side of a low-set table, where tea and cookies had been set out. "You will be better off sitting down to hear this news."

"Basil-san, is everything okay with Mom and Dad?"

"Of course, of course. They are perfectly alive, well and safe. Tsuna-dono and Kyoko-dono are actually in Aruba right now on a business-related holiday."

"Then why have us sit down?" Masaru asked.

"…because this is not exactly the easiest thing to do. It was not easy for your fathers and it will not be easy for you both now."

"Basil-san…?" Kiyohiko started. "What's wrong…?"

"That neither of you are in shape for your battles!" cried a squeaky, familiar voice. The cousins both bolted to their feet, not expecting to hear that voice halfway across the Pacific Ocean.

"I told you to stay quiet until I said, Reborn-san," Basil sighed. The infant, dressed in a loud flower-print shirt and cargo shorts in lieu of his usual suit, rappelled down from the rafters and landed with a soft thump on the couch next to the CEDEF agent.

"Then you should not have been dancing around the matter at hand," Reborn said. "Boys, sit down. This is important."

Kiyohiko and Masaru warily sat down. Three days ago, they had left Reborn at the airport with Haruhi and her mom. How could he be here?

"Kiyohiko-dono, I have something for you," Basil said. He pulled a wooden box out from under the table and set it down gently. Opening it, he revealed the seven slots that the teens knew could only be meant for the Vongola Rings. Five slots were empty, but the half-rings of the Sky and Sun were still nestled in place.

"That's part of Dad's ring…" Masaru gasped as he picked up half of the Sun Ring. "He never goes anywhere without this!"

"Now he shall and must," Basil replied. "It is time for Kiyohiko-dono and his Guardians to come together and fight for their rights as the true owners of the Vongola Rings. The current Vongola Guardians have their own rings of power and have sufficient replacement rings and weapons for the time being. What needs to happen now is your training."

"…but I was always told that the Cradle Affair was what caused the Varia and the Vongola Guardians to go to war in the first place!" Kiyohiko protested. "I am not going to risk the lives of my family and friends just because of the past generations' fight!"

"This is tradition, believe it or not," Reborn said. "The Cradle Affair did mess things up, certainly, but the truth be told: this is how the Guardians have been chosen and tested since before the Varia was called as such. At least, this is one of the options. Most of the other options call for civil cooperation, which is not the Varia's strongpoint."

"Where are the other Rings then?" Masaru asked. "Does Haruhi-chan have one? Saki-chan?"

"I'm not telling you who has a Ring and who does not; it will distract you from your training. You shall find that out soon enough." Reborn hopped onto the table and took a calendar out of his pocket, where a date two weeks from then was circled in red. "This is when you shall discover your second Guardian, Yohi, when the trials begin."

"I don't want any trials! The Varia is filled with disgusting, violent creatures that would rather kill me or anyone else on the spot than try to make a clean fight out of it!"

"…and Rosario-nee…" Masaru added.

"…but Rosario-nee is a girl and the normal one AND I wouldn't be fighting her anyways! Fausto can have the Sky Ring if that's what it takes to keep my friends safe!"

"That cannot happen, Kiyohiko-dono," Basil said. "Do you know the surname Xanxus-dono took for himself and his descendents when he cast away the Vongola name?"

"Esposito… and…? What of it?"

"It is the surname of vagabonds, foundlings and orphans, which is what he was. The only way the Sky Ring can be transferred over to someone who is not of Vongola blood is for it to be taken as the spoils of a true duel and Fausto Esposito knows this well. The Ring may have rejected his father but that does not mean that it will necessarily reject him."

"This is ridiculous…" Kiyohiko whined. He slouched in his seat and frowned. "I don't like this."

"Tsuna hasn't liked it from the moment he and his Guardians received their summons," Reborn said. "You were never meant to enjoy tradition, but merely respect it."

Kiyohiko groaned and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Tradition was big—bigger than he was; being both Japanese and Mafia taught him that. To whip out the tradition card was something akin to… oh, he did not know. It was like making an old man trade spots with you on the train because you were standing and wanted to sit down, or taking the home run ball from a little kid just because you were bigger and his dad was not looking. Well, not really, but defying tradition would be just about as bad. Spitting in the face of tradition was something that was never, ever, to be done.

"Fine. What do you need us to do?"

"Excellent! It's time to start training then!" sang a voice from inside the house. The teens turned around to see the Varia veteran Lussuria come out onto the deck, still defying many a social code with his wild hair, spandex shorts and a feather boa over his bare chest. Masaru sprang from his seat and ran over to hug his flamboyant godfather.

"Luss-oji! I haven't seen you in ages! What an extremely cool surprise! Does Dad know that you're here?"

"Nope! I'm here for you and you only, kid! Reborn called in a favor which I am more than happy to fulfill. I'm gonna be your tutor!"

"EXTREME!" Masaru cheered. "Does this mean you get to show me all those moves I wasn't allowed to know before because Hana-san said that our insurance is already too high?"

"You betcha! I'll have you breaking plates and chinaware before she knows it!"

Lussuria and Masaru laughed, their voices loud and booming. They almost skipped off together to destinations unknown but certainly filled with martial arts moves and uniquely nearly-manly things. Kiyohiko knew how much his cousin enjoyed the ever-bizarre company of the Varia man and was glad that at least Masaru had someone they had both trusted since childhood as his tutor. He turned back to Basil and Reborn.

"I guess you have another tutor lined up for me then, huh?" he asked as he took the Sky Ring out of the box. Kiyohiko examined it in the mid-afternoon light, keeping his face as expressionless as possible. This was not going to be fun, and he knew it.

"No. I am going to see your training through to the bitter end," Reborn said. He hopped onto the couch beside Kiyohiko and sat down. "You're going to need a lot of work."

"I'm not athletic and I'm not clever. There's nothing all that special about me. I thought you knew that."

"Then we must find a weapon suitable to your needs," the infant said. "Nothing that requires a lot of strength or skill; you still need to develop both, but you need something that can grow with you in time."

"How about some Boxes? I think my dad has a few that he's not using…"

"Box weapons are strictly forbidden," Basil interrupted. "You may use your Rings, conventional weaponry and weapons of your own design. Anything more would be a severe violation of the rules the Cervello put down and would result in immediate and dishonorable disqualification."

"So no Boxes?"

"None."

This was bad. No Box Animals? Kiyohiko could not even remember how many times his father's lion had saved him from certain death. He hoped with all his might that Annje did not get a Ring, or she would be completely lost without her unicorn. As a matter of fact, he hoped that Hans did not get a Ring either or Haruhi or Saki or Damiano… The young Vongola's mind swam in thought.

"Is everything alright, Kiyohiko-dono?" Basil asked.

"I have a question," Kiyohiko pondered. "Is Flame Attribute genetic? I know there's no Boxes allowed, but that won't stop anyone from using their Attribute to their advantage."

"Yes and no," Basil replied. "What we know of inheriting Flame Attributes is very erratic. Some people emulate their parents, as they are exact copies of the ones that came before them or come from a powerful bloodline. They can use the Flame for the same attacks, or create variations of them. Others may want to design themselves after another and may even forcibly change their Attribute. Many, as you might know, have the ability to tap into multiple Attributes, but only in limited amounts. Some people are even born with two conflicting main Attributes, like a roan-colored horse. Why do you ask?"

"When I was little, I remember Gokudera-san babysat all of us when Haruhi-san and Masaru-nii were staying over at our house in Italy. I mean, all of us were there, since there was an executive meeting all the Guardians had their children there. Hibari-san's son had stolen Lambo-nii's Ten Year Cannon and Haruhi-san got hit with it. Now I understand that it was her future self, but there's always been something that bothered me about it."

"What is that?" Reborn asked, sounding almost curious.

"Haruhi-san, the older one, had the Storm Ring."

"This bothers you because her father is a Rain Guardian," Basil assumed.

"Yes. From what I remember, it sounded like the Gokudera-san in her time line had not had met Daria-san and had Hans-kun, let alone any children. Even so, I would think that she would follow in her dad's footsteps."

"The future is not set in stone, Yohi," Reborn said. "That Haruhi was of a different dimension. She did not have the Mafia in her life as she does now—she could have developed differently. That is the problem with the Ten Year Cannon: it never does give us a good enough glimpse as to what is to come and what might never be."

"So, Haruhi-san might not even be a Guardian?"

"Haruhi is Haruhi and she is what she is. Respect that, no matter what. Respect your friends, family and Guardians, Yohi, for they are your greatest assets."

"You avoided my question."

"The thing is, Kiyohiko-dono, that we cannot tell you," Basil said. "Do not worry. Your father and I have picked the best possible candidates to be your Guardians. Just trust us. I know that things have not exactly been as you had hoped they would be, but life is rarely that way for any of us."

"Then it is settled; we start training immediately," Reborn said. He hopped off the table and over to the door to the house, where the woman who had brought Kiyohiko to the house was standing. The woman picked up the infant and they disappeared into the house.

"You ought to accompany them," Basil said. "Pepper does not like to dillydally."

"Thanks." Kiyohiko looked at the Ring on his hand and frowned. It was just too big to fit on his right index finger, so he knew he would have to find a chain for it in the time being. He gave Basil a small smile, hugged the man and then ran off to catch up with the infant Mafioso and their driver.

A/N: I can live my entire life without ever wanting to go to Hawai'i (I need my seasons to not be simply hot and hot/humid since I'm a cold-weather person), but I sure as hell do enjoy watching high-def episodes of Hawaii Five-0. That archipelago was created for the sole purpose of HDTV, I swear it.

Oh, and that bit about the Flame inheritance, I totally made up based on educated guesses. Basically Basil gave the long version of "Flame attribute is ultimately by choice, unless you're a Sky; then you're screwed". The Vongola Rings are also the half-rings now because, of, well, story purposes. Let's say that Tsuna resealed them or whatever rubbish was going on.