Chapter Thirty Eight

Tsuna frowned faintly in thought, "I do not think you ever did tell me why that man requested you see me, Fon." she stated, abet abruptly, having just remembered and breaking the peaceful silence between them and Reborn. Fon was currently cooling down from a fight with Kyoya in the garden. A fight fought with using his adult body. Kyoya was, naturally, over the moon about fighting him like that, going straight into his half wolf form and ending up fighting with his full wolf form during the end. Because of this, Fon had quite a few scratches and bruises that were slowly forming, not that Fon lost (he may not be able to transform but he still had access to some of his supernatural abilities available to him and a wealth of experience over the wolf demon), but he didn't seem to be bothered by the injuries. Tsuna could always heal them if they started to bother him anyway. Kyoya was currently battered and bruised, more so than his uncle, but with a satisfied, pleased smirk on his face. Tsuna had tried to offer her sun flames but the wolf just growled at her before walking off. He was prideful like that.

Tsuna was sitting on the porch, calmly grooming her wings with Reborn occasionally helping out. He seemed to be in a really good mood since yesterday but then again he got his seal yesterday and so could probably still be riding the high from that. Either way, he was more… affectionate (it was unusual that Reborn touched her so openly and in front of someone else, though it was only Fon who was in the area at the moment. Oh, he tended to do it a lot in private, becoming closer when they were alone but it was almost like he was… hesitant about doing it in public. It was strange, she thought, because Fon had once mentioned that he was a shameless flirt in the past and apparently becoming a child didn't stop that too much according to the storm, though it was taken as 'cute' rather than 'sexy' due to his appearance. Maybe it was because of his hitman status in the mafia? Tsuna didn't really know how Reborn felt about her, she knew he liked her quite a bit but not whether that was as a friend, family member or as a Mate) then he usually was this morning. All Tsuna really knew was that the hand currently running through her feathers was distracting. Fon immediately paused in his stretches for a moment before sighing in resignation, going through his last stretches a little quicker, wanting to finish.

Reborn narrowed his eyes, hands stilling for a moment before continuing much to Tsuna's reluctant enjoyment, "What man?" he questioned, voice suspicious, hearing Tsunahime's hidden disgust with said man. It wasn't very clear, only coming out as mild, but he was the World's Greatest Hitman and his bambina wasn't one to easily feel disgust towards someone.

Finishing his stretches, Fon stood, turning to look at Reborn, searching for something. Whatever he saw, caused his shoulders to hang, giving another sigh of resignation, seemingly surrendering to whatever fate he had envisioned, "One moment, I need to get something." he stated before disappearing inside the house.

As Fon was gone, Tsuna took the opportunity to inform Reborn about the man, stopping with her task of grooming her feathers as Reborn followed her example, sensing a serious conversation, "The man I was talking about is called Lui Qiang. He is the head of Fon's Clan."

Curiosity overtook Reborn, it was rare that he got any knowledge or insight about the personal lives of the other Arcobaleno. He didn't even know much about Skull's life, as the cloud held his life close to his chest. Reborn didn't go digging really, wanting to respect their privacy as they did his. He knew that whatever life they had before the curse would have been changed either way what with being a baby, a somewhat immortal baby at that and while Reborn would admit to being an arsehole, he wouldn't go ripping open old wounds like that for no important reason. They were his only constant in his life that he knew wouldn't die easily (back then, at least), even if he didn't like most of them. Viper, or Mammon, was probably the only one to know about their personal life, the parts they hadn't guarded closely at least, but even the miser let the others know if someone was asking about them, refusing to sell the information without their respective go ahead. Viper may not like them but he knew that knowledge was power and wasn't going to give someone a hand to blackmail them (or kill them), mostly because they could make his life hell, "Fon's clan?"

Tsuna opened her mouth to speak but Fon interrupted, coming back into view as he, too, sat down on the porch, a letter held in his hand, "Former clan now." Fon's smile gained a bitter edge, "I was banished and named a disgrace but that doesn't stop Qiang from thinking he can order me around." Well, that explained the bitterness. It also explained why his bambina's flames were curling with fury, he could almost feel the heat in the air from the flames. Tsuna was as protective and as possessive as her elements, it was in her sky nature, she was just subtler about it.

Reborn couldn't stop his eyebrow from raising in disbelief. A disgrace, Fon? Really? Fon was one of the most honourable people he knew. Granted, most of the people he knew nowadays were from the various parts of the Underworld so they weren't very honourable to begin with but the point still stood. It was pretty hard to be honourable in their line of work and the fact that Fon actually managed to do it was, reluctantly, impressive. Sure, Reborn had things he wouldn't do (like taking a hit on kids, for example) but he would certainly stab someone in the back if he could avoid having the same done to him. Fon, however, was surprisingly straightforward for an assassin. He couldn't imagine what Fon could have done for something that dire to happen. Fon, despite popular opinion, was a classic storm, the amount of discipline someone needed to hold back their nature was immense. Therefore, Fon had an almost unnatural amount of discipline and patience and he transferred that to everything he did. Reborn couldn't imagine Fon, of all people, breaking some rule and being banished because of that, "Banished, you?"

Fon's flame curled with slight amusement, feeling his disbelief, "You know I'm supernatural, right?"

Reborn nodded, unsure where the storm was going with this, Tsuna being content to stay silent for now, "You are related to Hibari and he's a full demon."

"Kyoya's mother is my little sister. She is an eastern dragon, same as me, but supernatural genetics tend to pick one supernatural gene over the other, it's safer that way, so Kyoya took after his father." Fon gave a little background and Reborn silently sorted that information out, nodding in understanding. It was amusing that Fon was a dragon, with the tattoo he had on his chest, though it suited him more than a wolf would have done, "The curse didn't only force me into a baby's form but stopped my ability to transform. Being the subject of a curse that a human casted -though I'm unsure about that, given the strength of the curse- and therefore being unable to turn into a dragon, Qiang considered it a disgrace and banished me."

He snorted, shaking his head in disbelief, disagreeing with that assessment completely. Sure, Fon was weaker in a baby's form, as they all were, and being unable to turn into a dragon was probably really uncomfortable for him (if Tsuna's comments about liking to be in her half-phoenix form while sleeping was anything to go on) but he wasn't a disgrace. Tsuna smiled sadly due to the topic, "Not all clans are like that but Qiang has certain… opinions. The Hibari Clan, for instance, doesn't care about the curse at all, only that Fon was still strong and took him in."

"Is a clan's protection needed?" asked Reborn. Fon was strong enough to take care of himself and if Reborn could take out the supernatural in his baby form then he was sure Fon could too.

Fon shrugged, "That depends on who you ask. It's mostly for the reputation but after the banishment having a clan to back me up helped." Fon didn't expand on why he'd need help in the first place but Reborn wasn't going to push, well, not yet. He could see this topic wasn't the easiest for him. It wouldn't had been for Reborn, having to admit that you were basically abandoned by what was, essentially, your family.

Staying with Tsuna was making Reborn soft, he knew it.

"Why did this Lui Qiang want you to come here then?" Reborn changed the subject and Fon's flame relaxed slightly though his body language gave nothing away.

Still, even with relaxing, Fon seemed to be uncomfortable and almost angry about something. The anger was hidden, buried within his flame, but the nervous energy was not. Tsunahime hummed, her sky wrapping around the storm and Reborn felt the spark of jealousy as he always did despite the fact that because she always the first to offer comfort to her family was one of the things that drew him in (she was so different from the mafia-born skies that he knew. Reborn could only be thankful for it, even if it made him twice as protective because he wanted to keep her as pure and bright as possible but the mafia was a bloody, dark world. A world that he had first dragged her in to). He wanted to keep her to himself but that was hardly right and his bambina would never agree to it either. Fortunately, Tsuna's flame wrapped around his own a second later, not wanting to leave him out.

Fon shifted, holding out a letter, "It would be easier if you were to read it. He bid me to give you this."

The phoenix tilted her head curiously like a cat (more like a cute, little kitten, with how fluffy and soft her hair was, thought Reborn with amusement), as she received the letter, taking in the wax seal of a roaring Chinese dragon. She opened it and read through the letter, an eyebrow slowly climbing further and further up her forehead in disbelief. Her flame echoing her expression before turning to annoyance that bordered on anger. Fon was completely still as she read through the letter, already knowing what it was saying. Curiosity and the need to not be the only who had no clue what was written on the letter, Reborn asked, "What does it say, bambina?"

"Apparently," Tsuna started off slowly as if still processing what she was about to say, "Lui Qiang would like me as a Mate…"

Reborn blinked, "What?" he demanded, flatly because that did not just happen. Out of the corner of his eye, Reborn say saw Fon's smile falter. Good, he clearly realised someone (meaning Lui Qiang) was going to die very soon.

Tsuna's expression was carefully blank as she passed the letter to him, "He is asking for my hand in marriage and wants to create a Mate bond." Her voice was as equally flat as Reborn's.

Reborn blinked again, eyes scanning the written hand on the letter before darkening, fedora shadowing his face. The hand that held the letter, twitched, the paper bursting into yellow flames, turned to ash before he wiped his hands absentmindedly. Reborn, personally, was imagining this Qiang character being the one to suddenly catch fire. Who did this Lui Qiang think he was? Tsuna was his! Because he was so into picturing this man's head being riddled with bullets (still on fire, mustn't forget that, even if he didn't know what the man looked like), Reborn didn't really think about looking up to Tsuna and stating very candidly with a possessive undertone, flames reacting and wrapping around Tsunahime, "You're mine." Well, not until after he said it. Not that Reborn was going to take back what he just said, he just thought that stating his claim was going to be different than this, preferably with a better catalyst than Lui Qiang. He saw Fon's smile quirk with amusement, eyes shining with humour. Reborn didn't really know what to think about being someone else source of entertainment either. Usually it was the other way around.

Tsuna startled, shocked and confused, looking at him closely, her cheeks turning slightly pink, before shaking her head, the blush, unfortunately, dying down, "Well, I wasn't going to accept." she spoke, sounding insulted that Qiang would even ask in the first place. Hm, Tsuna was going to ignore his claim, was she? He'd have to make it more clear… Reborn looked forward to it, just thinking about all the ways he could make Tsuna understand. Later though. Right now, he needed to know why this Qiang would even dare to ask Tsunahime -his bambina- to marry him.

"Do you know Qiang?"

"Gods no!" denied Tsuna and Reborn was slightly satisfied with how quick she was to do so, "At least not personally. Though what I've heard about him doesn't inspire me with a need to see him." Tsuna looked to Fon, "No offence, of course."

Fon's smile widened, "None taken. If I could, I'd show him why ordering me around is a bad idea. Unfortunately, being a clan head grants him some… leeway. Especially as he is my former head." Fon's tone was as completely polite as always.

Reborn snorted with amusement, "If it was me I wouldn't have bothered to hold back."

"Sadly, I do not have the same reputation as you do in the mafia within my clan, or in our community as a whole, to get away with something like that." And Fon did sound regretful about that too. He was curious about how Lui Qiang could test even Fon's patience as he was normally unflappable. Then again the same man did just ask Tsuna to marry him so he could only imagine what type of imbecile the clan head was.

He turned to Tsuna once more, "So you're going to refuse it?" his tone turned slightly darker due to the topic they were revisiting, not at all happy with the turn of events.

Tsuna nodded without hesitation which appeased Reborn some more, "Of course. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as writing a letter."

"Oh?" Reborn purred out, dangerously, eyes glinting when he saw Tsuna's cheeks flush slightly, looking away quickly. Well, wasn't that something. It seemed that Tsuna quite liked it when he acted as threatening and deadly as he knew he could be. How convenient.

Fon looked as close to rolling his eyes at him as the passive storm could get but Reborn couldn't find it him to care, still hung up with the fact that someone was trying to claim what was his. Not that Tsuna was an object but Reborn's instincts made him quite possessive at the best of times. He would probably be a cloud if he wasn't a sun, "Lui Qiang is the head of a clan. It would be insulting to deny him in a letter and Lui Qiang is the type of person who would definitely make a fuss about it. We'll have to go to China and met with him personally." answered the Strongest Martial Artist. Hm, so they'd have to go there and met the man face to face. Well, maybe Reborn could show the clan leader why people didn't take from the World's Greatest Hitman. That didn't sound so bad, not at all. He wondered if the dragon would put up a challenge as he beat him into the ground.

Tsuna nodded once more in agreement, completely obvious to his thoughts, "On the plus side, I can make my opinion on Fon's banishment clear."

Fon startled, looking genuinely surprised before relaxing again, his smile almost turning into a grin, "There is no need to do that, Tsuna."

"There may be no need but it is something I want to do." she stated clearly, honesty shining in her voice before lowering it into an angry mutter, "Honestly, banishing someone for such an irrational reason. If I was there at that time…" her voice trailed off, stuck in her thoughts. Fon continued to smile happily, flames coming to settle amongst the sky, helpless gratitude emitting from them.

Reborn could sympathise.

Tsunahime hummed happily to herself inside the kitchen, busying herself with the meal she was preparing. She wasn't brilliant at cooking but her dear mother had shown her the ropes so she knew the basics. It the was least she could do, cooking a meal every so often, instead of the servants, as a thank you for allowing her and the children as well as Reborn to stay over. Iemitsu was still with Timoteo and so still in Japan. They'd be leaving soon but by that time she'd be in China by the looks of things. Tsuna was glad that she asked Reborn, and later Fon, for some Chinese lessons when I-Pin became apart of the family (I-Pin wasn't bonded with her but it could happen. Flames were usually instinctive but that didn't mean she had no control over them and bonding was a two way street. I-Pin would need to get older in order to understand what a bond was before they could harmonise. Lambo was only able to do it because he was supernatural and had instinctive knowledge about it. It was sort of like how a fish knew how to swim once it was born). Tsuna felt that it was important to be able to communicate with the ear-less child in her native language, especially when her Japanese wasn't fluent at the moment, though it was getting better with two people to speak to and learn from. Understanding and playing with Lambo was a very good motivator too. At any rate, it certainly seemed to help settle the little one in by learning the language.

Tsuna found her thoughts turning to this morning, as she continued to cook. Really, getting an letter asking for her hand in marriage was ridiculous. Completely unbelievable, Tsuna thought, remembering what happened. It wasn't that she was getting a marriage proposal at all (though she certainly wasn't expecting one), she was an adult, nearly sixteen now, and because of her status as a phoenix she supposed that it would be more likely that she would receive one than most, given how rare and powerful they were, as well as the fact that she was becoming pretty well-known due to her part in protecting and providing for Namimori. Tsuna was no less annoyed and angry though. She had never even officially met the dragon and he was asking for a Mate bond! She felt insulted that he would dare to ask for something like that, to make a mockery of their one of their oldest traditions. A Mate bond was sacred. Once you entered into one, there was no getting out of it. Sure, arranged marriages were a thing but not arranged Mate bonds. He didn't even want her as a wife. No, he wanted her as a trophy wife! Tsuna had heard of his 'exploits'. He had a line of women in the past whom he was mainly with to make himself look better. Each he discarded once he viewed himself 'better' than them (not that he viewed himself below them in any way if the rumours were to be trusted). None was ever his wife per say but that was only because he 'hadn't found the right one', or some other such nonsense that he had claimed. Tsuna shook her head, absentmindedly cutting up green beans and carrots, all that man cared about was his image and having a phoenix as a wife? That would certainly up his status within the supernatural community, a union between a phoenix and a dragon. However, Tsuna wasn't stupid nor she wasn't in the habit of being with someone simply because they asked her. She was a romantic at heart and believed in long term relationships. She did not marry someone (nevermind create a Mate bond with someone) who would only think of her as some expensive accessory.

(It was probably a by-product of having to watch her mother deceive herself, even if she didn't know she was doing it, in order to keep herself even the slightest bit sane because her 'father' couldn't be bothered to make some time in the day to at least call. Heck, he had been in town for some time now and he wasn't even bothering to properly make some time so he could spend with Nana. Instead, he had been watching Timoteo sleep. Well, not literally, at least, Tsuna hoped not, but the point still stood. That man was married to his work but Tsuna couldn't understand why he proclaimed his undying love for her mother if he wasn't committed to her in the first place.

Tsuna knew Iemitsu had no idea what a Mate bond was but with Nana's phoenix side sealed away he could stay away for months and it wouldn't affect her negatively as long as he came back. But he hadn't.

He never didn't.)

Anyway, Tsuna didn't really like to judge someone on rumours or hearsay but she knew Lui Qiang wasn't someone she wanted to get involved with. Her intuition made that quite clear.

Thinking about someone she'd want to get involved with, Tsuna's thoughts turned to Reborn and his rather… strange statement he'd made. She was pretty sure he didn't mean to say something like that, though, her mind whispered, he didn't take his words back. Still, it was a silly thought. When she got rid of the curse properly, Reborn would probably want to restart his life and while she was his sky that didn't mean he'd want to start a life with her. Even though he tended to act different around her than anyone else, being more affectionate to her, or that he allowed her to cuddle him (and she did like to do that though Reborn hugging her was pretty nice too, she'd found) and tease him despite his violent reaction afterwards. Though, it wasn't that violent as he never hit her hard enough to hurt her unless they were sparring. Plus, he didn't mind answering her questions with straight answers, well, at least most of the time and he did seem quite protective of her. Tsuna blinked, gears turning in her head as her hand stilled. Could he…? No, she shook her head, it couldn't be. After all, the protectiveness could be attributed to being bonded to her sky soul flames. Though, he was like that before they bonded…

Tsuna blushed, shaking her head again, putting the cut vegetables into the streamer and getting the steak out of the fridge, she shouldn't really be thinking about such things.

No matter how unfairly handsome he was in his adult form…

"What are you making, bambina?" Tsuna jumped, dropping the container of steak on the counter, thankfully not spilling its contents, and spinning to face Reborn with a startled expression, having not heard him enter (and really, she should have done with her supernatural senses but Reborn was Reborn and so was exempt of those sort of things, apparently). Reborn was in his adult form, though Leon wasn't with him, which was unfair because as stated before it was difficult to look at Reborn like this without giving an embarrassing reaction. Still, Tsuna managed it, relaxing and giving an easy smile, wondering how long Reborn had been standing there before giving away his position. She hoped it wasn't too long because she really didn't want to explain what was going through her head.

"Hamburger steak." she answered, "It's Kyoya's favourite." Reborn gave an absent noise of understanding but didn't say anything else. He was just standing there, a smirk stretched across his face as he looked intently at her. Tilting her head, she allowed a confused expression to settle on her face, "Was there something that you wanted, Reborn?" His smirk widened, walking so close that Tsuna had to step back, craning her neck up, to properly see his face because he was really tall as an adult (though Japanese people weren't the tallest people out there, generally speaking of course, because Takeshi was pretty tall for someone of Japanese descent, so maybe it was because she was small). Her back hit the counter lightly as Reborn boxed her in with his arms, looking down at her. She blinked, trying not to think about the position she was now in, "Reborn?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Lui Qiang can't have you." he stated, blandly, as if he was reporting about the weather but his eyes darkened slightly, showing that this conversation was to be taken seriously.

Tsuna nodded, agreeing, still very confused about why she couldn't have this conversation with more personal space available to her, "He's not going to." she replied. Reborn smirked, approvingly, reaching with a hand to lift a piece of her hair and twirl it around his finger.

Tsunahime twitched unable to stop the heat rushing to her cheeks and was pretty sure it went further down when he brought her captured lock of hair on his lips and kissed it, "You're mine." he said, repeating his earlier statement that echoed the same possessive tone.

Tsuna swallowed heavily, nodding a little shakily, wondering what the hell was going through her sun's head, "You are one of my bonded." she responded, eyes locked onto her lock her hair that Reborn went back to playing with before looking back at the hitman.

Reborn looked faintly annoyed by her answer, eyebrows furrowed, which didn't make much sense as Tsunahime knew he was quite proud (and annoyingly smug) about being one of her Own. He dropped the lock of hair before his annoyed expression lit up, turning back into a smirk, though this one had a more mischievous edge to it. Quickly, too quick for her to really do anything about it, Reborn had leaned down and suddenly she realised his lips were on her own. The hand, that was playing with her hair, supported the back of her head, tilting it back for a better angle. Startled, she reached out to grip the back of his suit jacket, kissing back hesitantly, not wanting to lose balance as Reborn put more weight on his hand resting upon the counter, pressing more firmly against her, making an approving sound. He nibbled on her bottom lip, earning a squeak of surprise from her before he pulled away (though not further than an inch), an air of satisfaction about him, "You are mine." he purred and suddenly his words meant something completely different.

Tsuna, still dazed from what just happened and her mind slow to react, blinked, suddenly understanding.

Oh.

So... It's finally happened! Was it okay? Not too out of nowhere? I don't think I've made Reborn OOC, I can see him saying something like this but tell me what you guys think. I don't know why but Reborn seriously reminds me of a cat, you know, one of those cats that have an impossibly smug face all the time, walking around and claiming "That's mine." and hisses when you try to take it back (which I admit, is most cats). Then before you know it, you've got an arm full of claw marks... can anyone guess that I've got a cat...?

Anyway, we'll be having two (maybe three) chapters on Lui Qiang before the next arc comes up. I really don't want to rush through everything and forget to add anything important so... Please bear with me, the chapters will be concentrating on the supernatural side so they'll have a lot of world building in them. They'll be a fighting scene as well though!

See ya next time, people!