Red
Chapter Twenty-Four
It had been a week since the Inheritance-yet-not-really-day. Tsuna had woken up to first see Mukuro, hovering over his bed. Beside Tsuna's bed, in the chair next to his bed, was Natsu, who blinked once at Tsuna's open eyes and grinned.
Natsu's stab wound had healed quickly, with the help of Ryohei's flames. Mukuro had watched over Tsuna the entire week, claiming that on the off-chance that Tsuna wasn't fully healed from the influence of the Night flames, he would be the only one who could at least fight Tsuna at full strength. Seeing as the rest of the guardians were still in their hospital beds recovering from getting smashed into the walls by Enma and the Shimon's power.
It had become clear on the second day of Tsuna's coma that he started to breathe, and his skin had color to it again. His skin and cells healed themselves of the cuts. Tsuna was alive again, instead of a soul in a dead body. That being seen, Tsuna wasn't fully human. He would need blood to survive. Just like Reborn, they all knew Tsuna would be able to function normally and eat normal human food. Tsuna's eyes, however, were stuck in a permanent Hyper Dying Will Mode orange; likely an aftereffect of all the Sky flames that had taken away the Night flame.
"Hey," mumbled Tsuna, seeing his twin and Mist.
"Don't ever do something to stupid and sacrificial again, Tsunayoshi." ordered Mukuro, scowling. "I will not have my Sky doing that for someone else again. When Reborn wakes, I'll put him under my best illusions as compensation for allowing you to give yourself up to the Vindice."
"Sorry, I guess I was being stupid. But...it saved us, didn't it? Reborn isn't...he's not dead, is he? I remember everything, but it was like watching what I was doing through a glass wall." Tsuna said, frowning. He sat up in the hospital bed, wincing slightly. "I was able to influence my other self a bit. Reborn knew that too, and so he tried to help."
"As he always does." said Natsu, standing up. Tsuna looked over to the other side of the bed as Natsu approached. "Your other self thought Reborn was dead. How do you know he's alive?"
"I can sense him," murmured Tsuna. "l-like I can Chrome, and you, and the other guardians. It's not that g-good. I can't sense when he's hurt, or emotional, but I can sense that he's not dead, a-at least. P-plus I can smell his scent on your clothes. You've both visited him recently."
"Vampire abilities, kufufufufufu." chuckled Mukuro, sounding amused.
"Are the others okay?" asked Tsuna, ignoring Mukuro.
Natsu scowled, not pleased with Tsuna's first worry being over if their guardians were alive or not. "They're alive, and healing. Chrome is the only one still required to stay in her bed at all times. Because she chose to fight you with her injuries only covered by some meager illusions. She'll be up and walking in a day or two, knowing that you're awake now."
Tsuna smiled.
At the Chaos house, in Tsuna's room, lay Reborn. The Sun Arcobaleno was surrounded by the other Arcobaleno, who watched Lal curiously as she walked in with Timoteo and Iemitsu in tow. Basil walked in just after them, with a tray of food and drinks, offering them to the Arcobaleno. Basil was the one who had offered to take over the Chaos house while Natsu and Tsuna and all the rest of the guardians were out of commission and couldn't. Basil was also the one who had to take care of all the rowdy Arcobaleno while they watched over Reborn after the battle was done in that week Natsu and Tsuna were out of the house.
Somehow, Basil had retained his sanity.
Bianchi had gone and left the house after the second day, not able to handle the Arcobaleno's violent disagreements. Now, she had returned to help the Ninth and his advisor, in their questions about what had gone on. Most had been explained after Tsuna had passed out, and about their plan that Natsuhiko Sawada and Enma had come up with. While the Ninth gen had not been pleased with this, they allowed the whole event to pass by without punishment.
"This is Reborn?" asked Timoteo, sounding stuck between shock and disbelief. "He has been like this since before we arrived here?"
"Yes." said Lal. "I learned when I first arrived. However, there is something I neglected to tell all of you – Verde, listen! Stop writing down everything I say on a clipboard!"
"So," Lal continued. "Reborn's a vampire."
Verde immediately paused and looked up from his clipboard. The other Arcobaleno, who had already been watching and listening to Lal closely, showed various looks of either surprise or suspicion. Iemitsu and Timoteo, who had already seen the odd things that had happened to Tsuna, weren't shaken by the new announcement. Although it was clear that they were not expecting to hear that.
"We don't know exactly what happened, but I'll tell you what caused this." Bianchi chimed in, stepping into the room and sitting down cross-legged beside Lal. She sat across from Timoteo, with her hands placed over one another. "You know about Tsuna, so that will make this a lot shorter. When the two went to the future, Tsuna took Yuni and went to the Vindice. Sometime during that time, Tsuna was turned into a vampire by either Yuni or Reborn, who chased after Tsuna, and then became a Vindice. After this, Tsuna was hell-bent on killing Reborn, and so we suspect that Reborn did exactly that. He 'died' and tricked Tsuna. We don't know exactly how he got all these injuries – it wasn't from Tsuna. Somebody helped him. He was carried into the room; there was no blood on the doorknob or walls to show that Reborn walked in here. So it was likely that somebody put him in this coma-like state to help heal his wounds so they wouldn't kill him and make sure that Tsuna wouldn't know Reborn was alive."
"We're hoping that Tsuna will tell us who this person might be when he wakes up." added Lal.
"I will be running some tests on Reborn to see how his body is responding to this." stated Verde, clearly meaning for no one to interrupt him while doing so. The part unsaid was that Verde would also probably use Reborn's blood and cells to do some tests on things to see how it reacted with other chemicals. "I will stay for awhile longer."
Colonello, Fon, and Skull all exchanged doubtful glances with one another. Mammon scoffed at the idea.
It didn't take long for Verde to take a look over Reborn's healing wounds to figure out that it was Reborn's own flames that were healing him, albeit slowly, while he slept. That much Bianchi and Hayato had already found out, although the reason they didn't know. Verde explained that it was the natural response to any wound a Sun element got to heal it, even unconsciously.
"If his flames are active in this state, then it would be reflected in his pacifier." said Verde. "Our flames are mirrored in the pacifier. Where is Reborn's? It's not hanging around his neck like it is in his baby form, and I doubt he would have dropped it anywhere. Whatever put him in this state wasn't any physical wound, since those are healing, and it isn't poison."
"Here," offered Skull, digging out the pacifier from underneath Reborn's fedora. He went to toss it to Verde, but then paused, eyes going wide at what the pacifier looked like. Instead of having the gleam of Sun flames in it, it was infested with blackness.
Lal gasped. "That looks like-!"
"Night flames." A new voice from the doorway answered. Natsu strode into the room, skillfully ignoring the Ninth and his one-handed father. Behind him was Tsuna, who smiled weakly at the group, feeling just a bit guilty about what he'd done to them all. "He was sealed with Night flames."
"Night flames?" Verde inquired.
"The Vindice's flames." answered Natsu. "I would know them anywhere after seeing them getting burned away by the former Vongola boss' flames."
"But if a Vindice did t-this to Reborn...why would they help him? A-aren't they trying to kill him?" asked Skull.
"It wasn't me." said Tsuna, looking unhappy. His lips were pursed together and he had his arms tight by his sides, locked in place. His whole stance was tense. "And I can only think of one person who would help Reborn. If she helped him, then it's likely she's either deceiving Bermuda and secretly helping us, or she's already been caught and she's dead or worse."
"She?"
Tsuna didn't say anything. He knew the other Arcobaleno – the Vongola as well – had no idea about Luce being alive. If he revealed it, that wouldn't get the best reaction. It wasn't his to reveal in the first place – it was Reborn's place to reveal Luce being alive. He was the one who had known where she was in the first place, and what had happened to her. Tsuna wasn't close to Luce, not like he was to Reborn. If Luce hadn't told the Arcobaleno after all those years, there was likely a reason for it. Luce had so much free time – Tsuna knew because he too had free time to wander around and do whatever he wanted while part of the Vindice. Luce could have gone to them at any time behind Bermuda's back. Unless he had ordered her not to, but that was unlikely, since Luce would have probably argued with him about it. It was painful being away from his elements, and Tsuna couldn't imagine being away from them as long as Luce had.
"It is not my place to tell you, really. Reborn can, if we can wake him up."
Timoteo spoke up at this point in time. "Tsunayoshi-kun, you are aware that you can no longer inherit the title of Vongola Decimo any longer, now that you have been rejected?"
"I know." said Tsuna softly. "I'm fine with it, and I talked about it with Natsu before we got here. We both agree that the only way to get me back to normal was to do that, and so it's fine. If that's the price I have to pay for saving Reborn, then so be it. Only I guess that didn't go so well after all, since he's in a coma now." Tsuna laughed, uncertain of himself. "I'm really dame, aren't I? I can't do anything right. I nearly killed you all and...I'm not even human anymore either."
"I don't care if you're a vampire or human. You're still family." said Natsu. The unspoken words that only Tsuna could hear of you're mine ringing through his Hyper Intuition, but he only winced. He didn't pull away when Natsu wrapped an arm around his waist most possessively.
Tsuna wasn't comfortable with Natsu, but after having that rush of power over Natsu, after feeling alive while he was possessed by those Night flames, he realized that he wasn't as weak as he thought. Tsuna realized that he could stand up for himself and not get hurt, that while Natsu told him he was weak and an idiot and dame, he was only that as long as he thought he was. Tsuna knew that he could and would be himself, and that alone was enough. He would no longer bow down to Natsu. He would listen to Natsu, and he would try not to linger too long around Natsu, but that was it. He would no longer obey Natsu, he would no longer be afraid of Natsu, because that was only just it. Natsu was only Natsu. Natsu was only one person out of the entire world of millions of people. Natsu could hurt him, but only if Tsuna let him – and that was what mattered. It would only happen if Tsuna let it happen, and so Tsuna wouldn't let that happen.
Tsuna's Hyper Intuition was no longer a voice, which Tsuna was glad for. It was creepy anymore, and had instead gone back to the low, hungry-like rumble of trains and airplanes passing by that it always was, along with the occasional screaming sounds when something got particularly dangerous.
Tsuna raised one hand, and lit up his sky flame on it. It was bright orange, with no taint to it. Giotto and Daniela and all the other Vongola bosses had burned away everything wrong and evil. There was nothing more that could harm Tsuna.
"The other candidates that the ring rejected died because they were alive. I'm not alive, and I wasn't when the ring rejected me. My heart beats and I can breathe, but if I don't force that to happen, and concentrate on it, that stops. My organs function just like Reborn's do, and my heart. When I was a Vindice, that all stopped. My body just died. So when the ring rejected me, I was already dead, so it couldn't do anything more, so it attacked the part of me that it deemed unworthy, and that was the curse of Bermuda's Night flames. It's only thanks to those Night flames that I survived."
Colonello pitched in before anyone could say anything. "Is being a vampire fun, kora?"
Tsuna stifled a laugh, putting a hand over his mouth. "It's different. I can smell much better, I can see farther, I can run faster than you can see if I wanted to, and if I wanted I could punch a hole through the wall, or jump three stories up using my strength to get to high places. I can hear everything said in this room, every whisper, I can hear you breathing. I guess that answers your question."
Colonello grinned. "That's brilliant! That explains why Reborn's so good at sneaking up on all of us and eavesdropping!"
Natsu, who had been silent with his eyes closed for a few minutes, thinking, finally spoke up. "Tsuna, it was Luce, wasn't it?"
"W-what?" stammered Tsuna, eyes widening.
"Yuni was a vampire. She bit me, that girl. I remember her clearly, since she reminded me of Kyoko. She annoyed me too, but one thing I do remember is that she was a vampire. That means her mother, Aria, must have been one, and Luce as well. The only person I could think that would have known Reborn was a vampire, and that he would have survived those injuries anyways if he was allowed time to heal them is Luce, since she was his Sky. The Arcobaleno said that Luce just vanished one day, and that sounded suspicious. Nobody ever said she died. Sephira didn't say that, and I'm pretty sure if Luce was dead, I'd have seen her wandering around Reborn at night – so that means she's alive. The only place she could have gone where the strongest seven wouldn't have found her would have been Vendicare."
Tsuna blinked. He was speechless. Natsu wasn't supposed to know that – and where, Tsuna wondered, did Natsu hear the name Sephira, or know about her?
"What are you talking about?" asked Tsuna.
"My Hyper Intuition isn't like yours." said Natsu, thinking it to be simple. "If Yuni was a vampire, then the others must have lived a long time. Sephira was the first Sky Arcobaleno, apparently, or something like that, so I figured that Luce was her daughter. Sephira hangs around Reborn at night – I'm not sure if it's because her soul is connected to the pacifier's like Giotto's is to the rings or not, but she shows up occasionally. I thought that if Luce was dead, she'd be like that too. The only reason I was able to speak with Giotto was because Sephira used that connection with the pacifiers to show up in front of me. I think I was the only one who saw her is because I had both pieces of the Vongola Sky ring on my finger, so I had the other Sky piece of the Trinisette."
"So the only one that could have helped Reborn was Luce." concluded Natsu.
"Yuni was a vampire?" one of the Arcobaleno questioned.
Natsu nodded, and then pinned Tsuna down with a look. "So? Was it Luce?"
"Yes." said Tsuna, sighing guiltily. "Luce is alive. She's the one that would have helped Reborn, if anyone."
"Luce is alive?!" Lal gasped. The other Arcobaleno were in shock and demanding to be answered. They hadn't known Luce was alive – and were reasonably pissed that Reborn hadn't told them, since it was clear he knew everything about the Vindice and was the one that had hid Luce away when she had been 'sick'.
"Really, this is all more than that. Luce is alive because she was a vampire, and her mother was. Reborn was turned into a vampire n-nearly six hundred years ago. The only reason he became an Arcobaleno was because of the Vindice. When he took me in, he taught me how to fight, and what he knew. Your generation isn't going to die off and then have another fated day. You're going to have what's called a Representative battle, where Checkerface, the Man in the Iron Hat, comes to you and gives you watches. Each of you will pick representatives to fight for you, and whoever wins that group is picked as the next Arcobaleno. Your pacifiers are then taken away, and you die. Whatever Checkerface promises you if you win is fake. Luce knew that too. She's going to have to fight for Bermuda when that day comes. That's why Reborn wanted to not tell you. He doesn't want you to fight her, I think. He was upset when I took his place to become a Vindice instead of him, too. But my other self didn't care."
"That is a lot to believe, Vongola." said Mammon.
"I know, but the proof is right there." Tsuna jerked his chin towards Reborn's sleeping form. "He's alive when he should be dead. The Night flames are in his pacifier, which holds his life force. A-and I guess Natsu knows too, about Yuni."
"So basically this is all Reborn's fault?" said Verde.
Tsuna bit his lip, and said nothing. Reborn had hid it from them, as had Luce, their own sky. It was as much of a betrayal as anything. Especially about hiding that Luce was alive – undead – but still alive.
"If the Vindice are our enemy now, and this battle is coming up, how do you suppose we go about it? We could fight one another, but it's pointless if we're all going to die anyways." Lal said. "Plus Reborn's out of commission. Would your blood wake him up, Tsuna? Apparently baka-Natsu thinks you're special."
The brunet gave a small sound of surprise at that, but then answered, "No. I'm a vampire now. Even if I used my blood, which has no disease or anything infecting it because of my Sky flame, which burns away everything bad, my blood holds the same virus that Reborn's does. It wouldn't help. As Reborn put it, I think he mentioned getting drunk after drinking another vampire's blood, so I don't think that having him drink my blood just to see what would happen would be a good thing either."
"So then there really is no way to wake him?" asked Timoteo, sounding resigned.
"Not until his body wakes itself. His eye and leg still isn't healed. His eye is still just a gaping socket. His leg still had three inch deep cuts." said Natsu. "It would take months for them to heal at the pace its going. We don't have that time."
"Actually, young Vongola, I may have a solution for that."
The newcomer who had come in through the window in Tsuna's room was nothing short of a very old man with a cloth covering his eyes and a weird assortment of supplies and knickknacks hanging from his belongings. The Ninth instinctively grabbed the handless arm of Iemitsu and shoved the man behind him, and then raised his chin high and glared at the newcomer.
"Talbot, I will not give you Iemitsu's blood, for the last time!" growled Timoteo in short bursts of Italian. "Stop harassing my advisor!"
Bianchi barely stopped herself from laughing at the two. Iemitsu looked to pale and shrink behind his boss, effectively both quivering and also looking quite mad. Apparently harassing was not the greatest term to describe how much this new person came about Iemitsu's personal space.
"Huh?" muttered Natsu, facing Talbot.
Talbot pulled out a vial from his cloak and handed it to the Arcobaleno gathered on the bed, a few of whom were sprawled out across Reborn's chest at the moment. Skull moved to pick it up first, but Colonello kicked him away saying he was too clumsy to pick up something to important. Lal threw them both away when Colonello almost stepped on the vial and spat at them angrily. Finally, Mammon picked it up off the bed sheets and sniffed at it, and then frowned. He glanced over at Verde, but the baby was stuck with his head behind his clipboard writing down information again.
"This is blood." muttered Mammon.
Natsu glared suspiciously at Talbot. "Why do you have blood that can help Reborn is your pocket?"
Talbot smiled at Natsu, and said nothing to him, and instead said to the Arcobaleno for all of them to hear, "That is Ieyasu Sawada's blood, or as you would know him as, Giotto Vongola's. Giotto was a servant of sorts to Reborn, they had a contract. Giotto drank Reborn's blood in return for gaining the power you know as the famed Vongola's Hyper Intuition, and Reborn drank Giotto's blood in return. That blood should be more than enough to wake that old vampire up."
Timoteo narrowed his eyes at Talbot. "Why do you have our founder's blood in your cloak?"
"That's what I said." said Natsu, glaring at the Ninth.
"I have worked for the Vongola for generations. I have encountered Reborn more than enough times, and I owe him a favor. This way I will no longer be in debt. That blood is Penalty, just as Cozarto Shimon's blood is named Sin." said Talbot. "Pour that blood down his throat and he should wake up in seconds."
"Ew." Tsuna turned away from Talbot, and backed away from the bed. Mammon dropped the vial, face scrunching up, and threw it at Colonello, who tripped over Skull to catch it.
Colonello pulled the top off the vial and then hopped onto the fedora beside Reborn's head, and then tipped the vial over. The blood dropped out of it into Reborn's mouth. Once that was gone, Colonello hopped down off the fedora and threw the vial back at Talbot, who caught it with one hand and slipped it back into his cloak.
Reborn's eyes shot open, his body jerked up, and his hands formed into claws as he panicked and grabbed the sheets. Reborn's onyx eyes turned red and he very clearly screamed as the eye he was missing the his leg that was torn to pieces healed in seconds. After a short minute, Reborn's tensed body relaxed, and he breathed out in long breaths.
"What the fuck did you just do?" demanded Reborn.
"Nothing." said Talbot merrily.
"Andare morire." snarled Reborn. "Feeding me a dead person's blood whose blood I haven't drank in more than a century isn't completely painless, you old bastard!"
Reborn tried to push himself up with his arms, but they shook with weakness. Colonello barely managed to jump away when Reborn collapsed back down. The Arcobaleno said nothing, since they had nothing to say that wasn't insulting. They weren't used to seeing the Sun Arcobaleno and number one hitman so injured or weak.
Tsuna rushed over to help Reborn. He put a hand on Reborn's back, and another on his shoulder, and lifted Reborn up so that he was sitting with his legs out in front of him. He leaned Reborn against the wall, and Reborn let him. Reborn didn't meet Tsuna's gaze, and Tsuna, guilty and feeling tears come to his eyes, quickly excused himself from the room and ran out while he still had his dignity.
The blond twin scowled at Tsuna as he left. Natsu crossed his arms, shot a glare at Reborn, and then went after Tsuna; likely to herd him back into the room since he didn't want Reborn and Tsuna to be hissing and having tantrums all over the place when the Arcobaleno and Vongola Ninth gen left.
"That's creepy." commented Lal upon seeing Reborn's red eyes.
"Side-effect." Reborn said, eyeing the Arcobaleno sitting on him, and the Ninth and his advisor. "So, I suppose this means they told you?"
"Yes." said the Ninth.
"About the battle with picking our representatives too, and about the Vindice." added Lal. "Tsuna kicked our asses until Natsu managed to get the Vongola Sky ring on him so it would reject him. If it wasn't for that, I would've died. The guardians are still healing."
"Aa." Reborn made a affirming sound, nodding. He grabbed his fedora and put it on his head, and then focused on his eyes so that they would fade to black. "I'll get Tsuna to tell me all about it when I question him next.
"We'll be taking our leave now." said Timoteo, pushing Iemitsu out the doorway in front of him and turning back to the Arcobaleno. "If Natsu dies, there will be hell to pay, Reborn. I'm trusting you to keep him alive and able to inherit."
"Yes, yes," chirped Reborn, waving a hand at him. "Go, now."
Timoteo dragged Iemitsu down the stairs and out the door with little complaints, and the two were gone within the next two minutes. Bianchi looked at Reborn with a doubtful look.
"Are you really alright, Reborn?" asked Bianchi.
Reborn looked at her, but didn't turn his head. "I will be fine, Bianchi." he said. "Nothing a few drops of Mukuro's blood can't solve." He grinned at this, sounding pleased at the idea of causing someone else pain. "I won't go crazy and drink your blood if that is what you think. While it has been a long time, Giotto's blood is far more powerful than Tsuna's. I can last longer with that. However," Reborn raised his voice threateningly. "I do not like it when you interfere with my affairs, Talbot."
"Message received." Talbot bowed to Reborn, smiling, and hopped back out the window and into the unknown.
Just as the old man was out the window, Tsuna was thrown back into the room by Natsu. Natsu then took one step into the room, grabbed the door handle, and slammed it shut behind Tsuna so that he couldn't escape. Reborn's lips quirked upwards in an ear-to-ear grin that was threatening to emerge.
"Tsuna."
Tsuna jumped, turning around to face Reborn.
At the affection of mentor-fatherly-unReborn in Reborn's voice the Arcobaleno ran over Reborn's legs and each fled the room in a quick and unorderly fashion. They had no wish to see Reborn either punch Tsuna, or hug him, since they all knew that would be the final straw and completely destroy their view of who Reborn was supposed to be.
"Y-yes?" Tsuna asked, swallowing nervously.
Tsuna stood a good five feet away from the bed, completely still. He didn't breathe or twitch a finger. He was deathly afraid of moving, afraid of what Reborn would do to him after Tsuna had gone and betrayed him, had treated him so horribly, just in his effort to save him.
"Come here." ordered Reborn. Slowly, Tsuna approached, step by step. Then, he squeaked in surprise when Reborn placed a hand on his head and bent forward and put his forehead to Tsuna's. Tsuna froze, not sure of what to do, not expecting this. Reborn smiled. "Tsuna, thank you."
"I-I-what-," Tsuna put his hands out and pushed away with minimal effort, trying not to damage Reborn's newly healed leg. He stumbled one step back, and stood up straighter, looking at Reborn. Reborn held his gaze. Tsuna sniffed, then choked back a small sob, and then pitched forward and hugged Reborn around his middle. Tsuna held on tightly, clasping his hands together behind Reborn's back, and buried his head in Reborn's chest.
Reborn blinked rapidly and then tilted his head down to look at the crying Tsuna. His smile widened.
"R-Reborn!" cried Tsuna. "I'm s-so sorry!"
Reborn patted Tsuna on his head and let Tsuna latch onto him. He wasn't good at comforting people, so he stayed silent. Reborn didn't have anything to say to Tsuna other than what he had already said, and he knew Tsuna needed this.
Content, the two stayed like that for the time it took for Natsu to get suspicious at their absence and slam the door open with one foot, scowling at them.
O0O0OxX…XxO0O0O
At the hospital, all the guardians had gathered together in Hibari's room (at the skylark's annoyance) at Tsuna's beck and call. Once they were all settled, with Hibari pretending to sleep, Mukuro and Chrome sprawled over one another like cats, and the others sitting on the mini couch and chairs spread throughout the room, Tsuna decided to speak up.
"I would like to apologize to you all, for what you had to go through for me. I forgot that I had you to rely on, and I'm sorry for not trusting you to help me with Reborn's Vindice problem." He bowed his head. "You're my elements. I knew that when I was a Vindice, and I could sense your injuries and your pain. I'm happy that you all did that for me, so thank you."
"Haha, I'm glad our plan worked." said Takeshi, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't think it would."
"Have faith in Juudiame, baseball-freak!" barked out Hayato. Then to Tsuna, "Thank you Decimo for having faith in us!"
Hibari muttered, "You were an annoying herbivore when those flames had you. I don't like herbivores."
Tsuna smiled at them all.
Behind the closed hospital door, Natsu listened. As their guardians started their usual bickering and Tsuna laughed as they did so, he opened one eye to look at Reborn, who stood waiting for him at the other end of the hall. Reborn jerked his head in his direction, and Natsu followed him down the stairwell until they were far away from the room with Tsuna and the guardians.
"What are you going to do now, baka-Natsu?" It was clearly a question Natsu wasn't meant to answer, so the blond stayed quiet until Reborn continued. Reborn had his hands in his pockets, and was slouched, looking far from dangerous. That made Natsu suspicious.
"Would you fight for me as my representative, Natsuhiko Akitoshi? I know that this has nothing to do with Tsuna, and that it won't benefit you, but you of all people should know what will happen to Tsuna if he is my representative. He'll insist to be it."
Natsu inclined his head. "You think that I'll scare him off from having the boss watch if I wear it. Fine. But only for Tsuna, stupid hitman."
Reborn smiled, and then patted Natsu on the head, petting one like one would pet a dog. Natsu swiped at Reborn's hand, but the hitman pulled away to fast, and ended up ten feet away from Natsu in the next half-second. Natsu blinked, surprised by the sudden movement he couldn't see, but then started walking after Reborn at a leisurely pace. Reborn grinned devilishly.
O0O0OxX…XxO0O0O
That night, Reborn found himself in a dream mimicking when he first met the other Arcobaleno. He played along, and found himself in his baby form while Checkerface danced about gloating in front of them. The other Arcobaleno were about five seconds from attacking the man when he froze them all, effectively stopping them from killing him.
"Checkerface!" hissed Mammon.
Checkerface ignored them all, and went on to explain the whole deal about the watches that Reborn had seen in so many other generations of the Arcobaleno. He had seen the battles of the Arcobaleno before, so he knew all the rules and what to do. He drowned out all that Checkerface said, and instead focused on the other Arcobaleno, meeting each of their eyes and telling them to play along.
When Checkerface asked them the fated question of if they wanted to participate to regain their adult forms, they all agreed quickly, except Reborn. Reborn, who knew Checkerface knew about his ability to transform into an adult, who knew it would look suspicious if he agreed, studied Checkerface silently.
"Well, for you the prize would be different." said Checkerface. "Reborn, would you like to gain eternal life? To never die, not from wounds or blood loss or decapitation?"
Reborn considered it. Reborn knew what Checkerface was actually talking about was Reborn's turning into a Vindice if he lost. Checkerface knew exactly everything about Reborn – not surprising considering he was just like Sephira, and Checkerface knew Sephira back when Reborn had been first turned by her.
The hitman, deciding to play his role, let a wide grin and laugh erupt from his throat, and then spread his arms out wide, since he could not move his feet, and bowed. "For it I shall be, I accept."
Checkerface smiled at the answer, and was about to end their dream when Reborn spoke up in a devastatingly vicious and yes pleasantly death-threat voice, "What of the Sky Arcobaleno? Which one will it be?"
Luce was still alive, although she did not have a Sky flame. Aria was dying, sick from the curse of a short life (it existed for all that were not vampires, after all). Yuni did not yet exist, as she would not be born for another month, and then so, as an infant, would not be able to participate. Yuni would have to be summoned by the pacifier, which would indeed happen, but the question that Reborn was truly asking was whether would it be Yuni or Tsuna who became the Sky Arcobaleno.
They both had Sky flame. They both were vampires. That fit equally. However, Yuni did not yet exist, and Tsuna did. Checkerface would either favor Tsuna, or he would favor Yuni, and whichever one he picked would be the Sky Arcobaleno to participate holding the Arcobaleno watch.
"That is for you to find out." said Checkerface.
Reborn heard and saw no more, for he woke up in his small hammock, made for his baby form, in Tsuna's room. Reborn normally didn't sleep in Tsuna's room, as he preferred his privacy, but Tsuna had insisted on it, and Reborn had only managed to get out of being used as a stuffed teddy bear to squeeze while in his baby form that he had quickly made a hammock in ten seconds flat and was sleeping in it before Tsuna could have complained.
When Reborn looked over to see if Tsuna was awake, he found Tsuna's bed to be empty. Frowning, Reborn looked down at the table to see his watches laying there, and hopped down to grab them.
Tsuna did not appear for the rest of the day.
Reborn took the boss watch to Natsu, after scouting around to see if Tsuna was nearby, and handed him the watch. Reborn hoped that the other Arcobaleno would play around and truly reveal their strength once the Vindice stepped into play. He had no desire to face Checkerface when the man was angry because Reborn had interrupted his plans.
Unknown to Reborn, Natsu, the guardians, Bianchi and Basil, Tsuna had gone off to Italy to see Yuni.
Byakuran and Gamma, who were arguing at the doors of the mansion about the 'innocence' and 'safety' of Yuni, saw Tsuna, they were surprised. When Tsuna, narrowed orange eyes and blazing Sky flame leaving fire licking at the edges of the grass followed him, they quickly split apart and skipped far, far away from Tsuna, who was clearly pissed and about ready to kill the closest person to him.
Once safely inside the doors, Byakuran looked at the burning grass. "Oh my, it looks like Tsunayoshi-kun is mad~!"
Gamma punched him while he was distracted.
Needless to say the two dissolved to arguing and fighting again about Yuni, with Yuni none the wiser as she sat across from Tsuna in her private quarters, listening to what he had found that morning, and about what Checkerface had told him.
"You want me to be your representative?" asked Yuni, confused. "And wear your Arcobaleno watch on the other wrist? How does that work?"
"You were once an Arcobaleno, far longer than I was. The Sky pacifier holds more of your life energy than it does mine." explained Tsuna. "Checkerface said that was possible. He was too amused, I think, to question me about it. I would still be the Sky Arcobaleno; now that I'm alive, I can feel the pacifier drawing me in, but you'll still be able to wear the Arcobaleno watch, since Checkerface never said it had to be the current Arcobaleno wearing the watch."
Yuni nodded, slowly. She bit her lip, uncertain. "But...you will be cursed...you won't live long, and if we lose against the Vindice, it will be you that will suffer that pain again. I don't think I my sanity would survive if I went through that again, surely you could not think of doing that, Tsuna!"
Tsuna's fingers clenched the hem of his shirt. He swallowed and looked up at Yuni, locking eyes with her. He leaned forward in his seat, and said, "That's only if we lose, right? W-we won't lose."
"Alright...I won't tell Gamma or Byakuran about this. I'll hide the boss watch on my mother's ribbon under my cloak, so it looks like I have the pacifier hidden under my clothes." said Yuni.
"Don't tell the other Arcobaleno either. I don't want Reborn to find out about this." said Tsuna. "If he finds out Checkerface picked me as the Sky Arcobaleno and finds out that if we lose I'll die, he'll flip out and get himself killed going after Checkerface. I don't want that."
"Mhmm." hummed Yuni, agreeing. She had no desire to see Reborn die an early death by challenging Checkerface either. Quietly, she untied the pacifier from around her neck, and gave it to Tsuna, who put it on the necklace chain that previously held the half-piece of Vongola Sky ring that he had. He tucked the pacifier under his shirt, and when Yuni offered him the small Mammon chains to seal the pacifier, he took them and wrapped those around the Sky pacifier.
Later that day, when Tsuna had taken to walking through the Giglio Nero gardens to prepare himself for the storm that was sure to come in the upcoming week, Yuni gave Gamma and Byakuran representative watches, and told them that the person who would hold the boss watch was a secret. Her quick dismissal of the topic told them both that she had no desire to talk about it, so they didn't.
Deep in the gardens behind Yuni's mansion, between rose bushes and green trees and saplings, hidden beneath them all and hidden from sight, Tsuna came around the corner of a bush to find Luce.
Tsuna stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Luce.
Luce stood silently, only three feet away at most, from Tsuna. She watched him, one eye tracking his every movement. Tsuna trembled slightly, thinking the worst. He hadn't expected to meet Luce of all people. He had no idea if she was here on orders or of her own free will, and either wasn't good.
Tsuna turned to run, using his speed to his advantage, but Luce short warped three feet in front of him just as he reached that distance. His jaw clenched and he turned the other direction, getting seven feet that time before Luce short warped in front of him, her hands grasping his shoulders.
Panicking, Tsuna pulled away, tears coming to his eyes as he remembered the feeling of cold Night flames at his fingertips and Bermuda's cold smile underneath the bandages wrapped around his face, and the feeling of dead-dead-dead rotting skin.
"N-no!" Tsuna shouted, and then put his arms out, palms out flat, and slammed them into Luce's stomach. Not aware of just how strong his new vampire strength was, Luce went flying back a good twenty feet, but got back up just as fast. Tsuna turn and fled.
Luce, having more experience, and knowing her own family's private house better than Tsuna, easily stopped him by taking a shortcut.
Frustrated, Tsuna looked up at Luce, his teeth together and bared, fists clenched as he slowly stepped back, trying to decide if it was better to run or to just give up. Letting out a long breath, Tsuna forced himself to stay put. Luce did not reach out for him this time, although she offered him a small smile.
"Tsuna," she said. "what I ask is something that is not appropriate for me to ask of you, but would you give me the last representative watch that you hold, so that I may use it?"
O0O0OxX…XxO0O0O
There can never be enough plot twists in one story.
(The way I avoid writers block is by placing a bunch of cards in a hat and picking out one when I have writers block. Cards like 'character death' 'angst' 'kiss scene' 'character a pushes character b into lake' 'funny scene' 'vampire' 'supernatural/werewolf/really anything weird'. Many, many cards. Guess what I drew a few chapters ago? ANGST. Now that's over, though, so you guys are all safe. Hooray!)
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Andare morire – Go die (in Italian, google translate used)