Mia Tempesta
Summary: Reborn never liked being a (secondary) Sky, but he can't deny his nature forever, so one day he starts collecting his Elements. Except now there was a tiny Storm that packs quite a punch that he doesn't know what to do with. Denial leads to trouble, trouble leads to possessiveness, possessiveness leads to ... something else much more tender. Throw in Checkerface and the Arcobaleno Sky into the mix and things get quite complicated.
"What happened?" Reborn asked as soon as he saw the state his lover was in. Verde and Viper, the only other two occupants in the house at the time, stayed at Reborn's back, unsure as to how to approach the situation. Reborn wasn't sure about that, either, but this was Fon and he was distressed and grieving. He couldn't just do nothing.
"Someone found out," Fon replied, moving further into the house, dragging two suitcases - which he hadn't had when he'd left, Reborn was sure of that - behind him and closing the door once everything was inside.
"Found out what?" Viper asked tentatively as they came to hover closer, peering down at the sleeping baby in Fon's arms. Well, arm. Kyoya was small enough that Fon could fit him in the crook of his elbow and carry him around with only one arm without difficulty. He'd grown over the moths, of course, but he was still tiny.
"About my connection to the Hibari," the eighteen year old replied, sounding dead inside. "They sold the information to the Triads. Or it was simply Chen. She'd known."
Reborn growled as soon as he heard that. He could guess what had happened to the rest of the Hibari, to Fon's sister, little Kyoya's mother, if Fon was reacting like this. The possibility that at least someone was left was nada. After all, Kyoya was here, with a teenager instead of a fully grown adult. Even if Wu had left it in her will that Fon be Kyoya's caretaker, the likeliness of child services allowing a child to take care of a smaller child were close to nonexistent if there was some other relative or family friend available.
Which meant there wasn't. It was a massacre. Fon and Kyoya were likely the last skylarks left.
"I don't know what to do," Fon admitted after a long moment of silence, sounding lost.
"We take care of him," Reborn replied resolutely, making his three Guardians present stare at him in shock. "We're the strongest seven in the world. Surely we can take care of a child."
"Wouldn't we be putting him in danger?" Verde asked, also coming closer to gaze at the incredibly peacefully sleeping infant. Kyoya was not even half a year old when he had been orphaned. He should have been fussy or crying but Fon later told them he had been surprisingly docile the whole time he'd been with the child. Apparently, Kyoya likes his naps and he's not a loud child, either. If he needs something, he'd make little fussing noises but he didn't cry unless he was sick.
If he can be like that in the 'terrible twos' as well, then raising the child should be easy as pie.
"We're the Arcobaleno," Reborn replied, waving off the concerns.
"Yare yare, that's exactly why he's asking," Viper said with a sigh. "We get attacked once a week for various reasons. Someone would have to be with him at all times and none of us can afford that. Not while we're in Italy, anyway."
"I can always move back to Japan with him until he is ready to live on his own," Fon suggested, though he didn't sound too keen on the idea even as he gave the option. "Hibari grow independent real quick and Namimori, despite it being the place of the tragedy, is actually the safest place to raise a child away from the mafia since it's a neutral zone. Kyoya and I should be fine."
"Except there's no way someone as young as you can raise a kid all on their own," Viper cut in, not unkindly, but simply stating a fact. "I suggest we all move to Namimori and take only the more interesting or most high paying jobs until the kid can defend himself. Colonello, Lal and Skull can help when we have our meetings every three months or whenever they can visit. I'm sure that, for a while, they won't be able to slack off but once they are sure in their positions, they will be able to come more regularly and help out more."
Reborn found it curious that Viper was so accepting of 'wasting their time, therefore wasting the money they could be earning' on raising a baby, but he could sense no ulterior motives behind the Mist's words and intentions.
Verde seemed to be on board with the idea, too. For some reason. "There are at least five different robot models I can make that would be of great assistance with looking after little Kyoya. From diaper changing to feeding to rocking to sleep to giving him a bath and playing with him, so in case no one can stay with him, once he's older he'll have reliable babysitters."
"Or we can drop him off at Shamal's if we really need a sitter," added Reborn because he wasn't so sure he liked the idea of a small, living human being left in the care of Verde's yet untested robots. Fon would kill them all and then himself if something were to happen to his last living relative, who also happens to be his one and only nephew, his sister's only child and the last 'memento' he has of her. "Either way, I wouldn't mind. I like Japan. More people to terrorize." He'd only met a few yakuza members over the years so he hadn't yet instilled the true fear of the world's greatest hitman into that part of the mafia world. The chaos will be glorious once he starts. "One question, though: where are we going to stay? Even if it's only occasionally, for now, we are seven grown ups and a kid. We'll need space and lots of it."
After all, it's not just the people that will be moving, it's their stuff, too. Reborn's, Lal's and Colonello's armories. Verde's 'basic' laboratory equipment. Probably Skull's most favorite cars and bikes. Possibly Viper's safe. Fon probably had more things in Japan than he did in Italy and little Kyoya will need a room all to himself when he gets a bit older. They need to plan it all out or else they'll have more problems later on down the road.
Their new residence also has to be safe and secret or else they will have tons of unwanted guests and visitors. Reborn doesn't mind killing idiots who think they can take him or one of his down, but even he acknowledges that can't be good for a child's growth. They don't want to desensitize little Kyoya from right and wrong and the meaning and value of a human life. He should be able to make the choice on his own whether he wants to join the underworld in any capacity or not. Especially if he will one day carry the burden of the Hibari Clan's legacy. Reborn wasn't sure what will happen to all the people who have been under the Skylarks' protection all these years now that they are gone, but he figures that's only a secondary worry for the moment.
Kyoya and Fon take priority.
00000
And so they move their 'headquarters' to Namimori.
Luckily, the manor - and most of the compound - survived the Hibari massacre, left almost unscathed if not for the blood ruining tatami mats and rice paper walls, but a few of Verde's cleaner and worker drones fixed and replaced everything in a matter of hours, which left the four Arcobaleno and one baby with a perfectly 'normal' house to settle into. Kyoya was placed back into his nursery and the room next door was left empty because they all knew how loud babies can be, even if Fon insisted that Kyoya was a quiet child.
Still, the Storm insisted that he stay near his nephew in case Kyoya needs him in the night and no one was going to fight him on it. Reborn could have, but he could see the haunted look in his lover's eyes at the mere thought of keeping Kyoya in a different room, let alone further away than just down the hall from where he would be sleeping so he steeled himself for many pretty much sleepless nights until Kyoya gets old enough that he doesn't wake up until morning.
Viper and Verde gladly took rooms in different parts of the compound altogether just to avoid baby night watch duty, the traitors.
Except Fon's words proved true. While Kyoya did wake up in the night, he wasn't loud about it. He fussed just loudly enough for someone to come and change his diaper or give him some milk before going right back to sleep. Fon could have easily placed the baby in their room and they could have had perfectly peaceful nights, but the kid will start teething soon enough so it's probably for the best this way. Kyoya may be a peaceful child right now, but they can't say anything about a few months down the line.
The Arcobaleno settled rather neatly into Namimori. The few residents that were left that had ties to the Hibari didn't protest their presence because of Fon and anyone else who might have challenged them because of it got taken care of in quick succession either by the last remaining legal adult skylark or by the world's greatest hitman. Viper sometimes even did it for them because they were a Mist and they also occasionally enjoyed messing with people but Verde rarely got involved unless someone cornered or attacked him first. The scientist's 'shoe throw' was infamous, though, and feared far and wide after only a month since they moved to Japan because no one expected an ordinary leather shoe to pack that big of a punch, even if it's enhanced by Lightning Flames.
Reborn discovered where Bakamitsu's house was about three months in, when he spotted a CEDEF agent loitering around some random house. He knocked the man out, made a point of introducing himself to a very nice, kind, accepting and rather naive Sawada Nana as an ... 'associate' of her husband before all but forgetting about the house unless he needs it for blackmail. Now, Reborn usually didn't go for attacking the wives and daughters and family in general of his (potential) enemies, as it was simply not the mafia way - unlike the Chinese Triads and the American gangs, be they mafia knockoffs or those street gangs and even the yakuza would go after family to get to or punish their opponents - but he knew good leverage and a few halfhearted insinuated threats can do the job much better than actually hurting some random family member could.
Besides, Mrs Sawada was perfectly civilian. The Arcobaleno may have a sort of a deal with Bermuda and his officers, but the Vindice would still come after their asses if they involved civilians for any reason. Mafia wars are to stay within the mafia. Cosa Nostra and all.
A year passed by surprisingly easy and suddenly they were celebrating Hibari Kyoya's first birthday. All of the Arcobaleno were there, of course. None of them would miss this for the world. They still met up every three months for 'business meetings', as far as CEDEF, COMSUBIN and the Carcassa were concerned, but Viper had started traveling again and so that usually left Kyoya with Fon, Reborn and Verde, though the scientist spent most of his days in the lab he had built under one of the compound houses. Kyoya was still too little to understand the implications of just how far out of their way his 'uncles and aunt' had gone just to come celebrate his special day with him, but he was actually smiling a lot more than usual because he could detect the happy atmosphere and he obviously loved them all being there with him.
Kyoya was a pretty smart baby. Reborn could acknowledge that early on because the little tyke had learned to walk at ten months and had started talking just the other week, though for now his dictionary consisted of a persistent 'chichi' whenever he saw Fon. Fon had tried arguing with Reborn that he should be 'jiji', an affectionate and childish way to say 'uncle', but Reborn had shot him down.
"You're raising the kid. It's not like he'll know any other father figure in his life other than you." Fon had not appreciated his shrug and flippant tone but had at least realized there was no point in trying to correct a toddler when Kyoya didn't even understand the difference.
(Though that could be debatable. The kid purposefully refused to say 'jiji', as though understanding the distance Fon was trying to put between them with the title of 'uncle' instead of 'father' and rejecting it. Reborn couldn't help but question if that was a Kyoya thing or a stubborn toddler thing. Sure, Kyoya is incredibly stubborn, but he was surprisingly reasonable for a one year old baby.)
So at Kyoya's birthday party with some cake and stake hamburgers - the kid loved them - and plenty of presents - even Viper had bought him something instead of stealing it or something like that - the toddler was all over the place, toddling from one Arcobaleno to the other, occasionally babbling something at them in baby talk. He seemed to love all of their animals even if Lichi and Leon were his favorites. Lal nearly murdered Colonello when the idiot blond put Kyoya in a makeshift sling and told Falco to give him a ride.
Skull nearly got murdered by Verde when the stuntman tried to one-up the Rain and got ready to take him on a ride with his motorcycle.
Needless to say, all of the Arcobaleno were surprisingly protective of the baby, even if not all of them had been certain they wanted to have a hand in raising the kid. He was bound to be a beast already simply by being around Fon and Reborn so much, so they had hesitated.
But Kyoya was such a peculiar child that he grew on them all very quickly. He was adorable, he wasn't clingy, he was interested in everything, he didn't throw childish tantrums and he was relatively quiet. He wasn't shy but he definitely wasn't outgoing, nor did he have a -in-your-face- type of personality. And he was smart, so if you set a boundary with him, even if he didn't understand the exact words, he knew what he shouldn't do. Weird, peculiar but utterly adorable and likable kid. Colonello and Skull often competed about who would be the best uncle between them whenever they visited, silently regretful that they can't spend more time with the little skylark. Viper used their illusions to tell stories if the boy grew restless. Lal actually acted a bit motherly towards him, something none of them, Lal herself included, had thought she was capable of.
Fon, now nineteen years old, acted even more mature than before. And while Reborn still took missions that occasionally took him all over the world, Fon remained in Namimori. Fon had plans on how to take down the Triads, but he said that can wait until Kyoya was a bit older. The Skylarks were dead and revenge won't bring them back. The living took priority and Kyoya was Fo's first priority, even over Reborn. The Sun/Sky wasn't even bothered by that. He actually approved. He liked the kid too much, too, for him to want to take precedence over the baby.
The kid liked him, too, as was evident by how he beamed at him as little Kyoya now toddled over to where Fon and Reborn were sitting together under the shade of a sakura tree in the compound's big garden, where the little party was taking place. Fon was a bit sleepy since he had practically singlehandedly set the whole thing up in a blur of movement and restless energy until he tired himself out so he was half dozing against the older male while Reborn himself had been enjoying a cup of Fon's homemade espresso for the first time in two weeks. He'd been on a mission in France and had almost missed the boy's first birthday because some fucker had gotten a lucky shot in his thigh and he had to stay a day longer while he fully healed and cleaned up after himself. He had contacts all over the world but the criminal organizations in France didn't like him enough for the cleaners to answer his order fast enough so that the cops won't find the site of the mini massacre he'd committed. How rude. It's not his fault that he preferred shooting people straight between the eyes in a neat and fast kill.
Well, maybe it was, but he was the best for a good damned reason and he was going to show off if he wants to, damn it.
So, yes, he was tired, he hadn't had proper, deep sleep since two weeks ago and he was fighting jet lag. The espresso was a necessity.
Somehow, though, Kyoya's second ever spoken word woke him up much faster than any shot of caffeine ever could.
"Babbo!" The boy cried as he launched himself into Reborn's lap, making everyone go silent and Fon startle into full wakefulness in seconds. The kid nuzzled into Reborn's dress shirt - Fon had his suit jacket around him like a makeshift blanket and he'd foregone his usual vest to appear less formal for the family occasion - completely oblivious to the reaction he had caused.
Reborn held himself stiffly and almost robotically patted the boy's head while he turned to look at Fon and mouth the word 'Help' because he had not signed up to be a father. Where did the kid even learn that word!? Who was teaching him Italian already!? Hadn't they all agreed the first language he'd learn would be Japanese given that's his birth country and where he was going to grow up? It was the first language the Arcobaleno have collectively learned, given their new 'main headquarters' was now in Namimori. Fon was going to start learning Italian as his second language after he hits two or three years old! And yet ...
The way Fon smiled up at him mischievously might actually be all the answer you need. "You're raising the boy. It's not like Kyoya will know any other father figure."
And while it took him a few minutes to recover, all the while his asshole Guardians cackled - or politely chuckled, in Fon's case, because he was still too nice - at his stunned face and Kyoya fell asleep in his lap, he eventually recovered and started planning out his revenge that will make Fon have an even more entertaining and satisfying reaction than he had right now.
So, a week later, the priest at the local church was traumatized into marrying one blushing Hibari Fon to one all too smug Renato Sinclair - though the certificate simply said 'Reborn' - with no witnesses except a sleeping Kyoya and a stunned looking Dr Shamal. And then Kyoya was fostered off to his 'uncles and aunt' for the day while Reborn took his new spouse to a hotel out of Namimori for a brief honeymoon.
It's immensely satisfying to have the last laugh.
