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.
Even before they stepped foot into the Hibari Compound, let alone the main house, Reborn knew someone was there.
It was a mix of hitman instincts and Sky intuition. Those two overlapped so much ever since he completed his Guardian set that he could never tell them apart these days. One made the other all the more sharp, so he didn't mind. It had taken some getting used to, during his first missions since he finally bonded with Fon, but after he'd settled into having a finally fully active Sky Flames, weak as it was, he'd learned just how useful Sky intuition can be.
So, yes, he knew even before they entered the compound that Kyoya, Skull and he - and their respective pets - were not alone.
However, he also knew it could not be an enemy.
That was a mix of hitman instincts, Sky intuition and the fact that the security was up and running as it usually would when someone was home. Which meant one of his Guardians had returned or was visiting.
A single prob at his Sky Flames confirmed to him the identity of the returning Guardian and he grew curious.
"Verde-senpai!" Skull exclaimed in delight when they finally entered the main house and found the scientist and his crocodile relaxing in the living room. "When did you get here?"
The green haired man looked at the purple haired one joining the father and son duo and arched an eyebrow. "My plane landed last night. I take it you've left the Carcassa famiglia?"
"Yeah, I decided I was done with that shit. Nothing more I could learn from them that could help the Arcobaleno in any way. And I may or may not have quit with a flourish of 'Fuck You' to the boss," the stuntman said with a shrug and a huge grin. "What brings you back?"
Verde grimaced. "I found out who the main benefactors are for the project and decided I didn't trust them." He took out a voice recording device and played back the recording of a young male speaking with some other people about waiting for the first fully functional prototypes before they eliminate the scientists working on the project and taking over by themselves. "So I left behind a robot double to lead the others astray with faulty experiments for a while before they figure out what I have."
"You found a solution and jumped ship with it?" Reborn asks in amusement as he and the two Clouds join the scientist in the living room. A moment later, a robot rolls by with refreshments. Not coffee, because Verde knows his machines can't exactly compete with the two skylarks' barista skills, but instead it carries two cans of beer and a can of lemon soda with green tea and mint for Kyoya. It also has a tray of pastries that look suspiciously like the ones the Arcobaleno loved back in the day, when Reborn and his Guardians had lived together in Italy. "What was the project even about, anyway?"
Verde smirked. "A very interesting subject. But, before I explain, I wish to give Kyoya my birthday present for him," the Lightning then reached into his breast pocket and tossed a jewelry box at the teen. Kyoya easily caught it and opened the box, Reborn and Skull peering down at a modest looking silver ring with a pretty violet stone and another one with an indigo one.
All three of them looked up to give Verde genuinely 'What the fuck!?' and worried looks because everyone knows Kyoya was not one for jewelry.
Verde just chuckled and tossed three other boxes at Kyoya, two violet with faded purple clouds, the other indigo with a pattern that looked like they represented wisps of mist.
"Music boxes?" Skull guessed skeptically as they all caught one box each, examining them. Reborn looked curiously at the hole in the middle of what seemed to be a double door lid. He didn't like admitting it, but he was just as confused as Skull. He had no idea what had possessed Verde to give such a strange gift to Kyoya, who wasn't exactly sentimental or anything. Yes, they had an album full of family photos and Kyoya kept all of the significant gifts each and every one of them had ever bought him over the years, as well as the few mementos he and Fon had left of Wu and the rest of the Hibari, but Kyoya himself didn't collect personal trivial sentimental items.
Music boxes and rings were simply not things that would garner much attention from the battle-oriented teen.
"Put on the violet ring, Kyoya," instructed Verde, ignoring Skull for the moment. Kyoya, seeing no harm in it, did so. "Now, I want you to concentrate really hard and direct your Flames into it like you would your tonfa." Now they all frowned. Rings of Flames conducting materials and with crystals or rocks that conduct Flames are not a rarity, despite what some smaller mafia families or freelance mafioso might think. Just about every famiglia has them in abundance and they don't even know it. Weapons made of Flame conductive materials are far rarer, though there are famous examples like Vongola Settimo's guns, for instance. In truth, just about any weapon can conduct Flames, it's just that certain materials do it better.
Kyoya's tonfa were made of such materials, a birthday gift from Verde himself several years ago, along with the many modifications he'd made according to Kyoya's wishes. Kyoya didn't need anything else to ease the ignition of his Cloud Flames into his tonfa.
Besides, the kid's been trained by the Arcobaleno as a whole to use his own body as a conductor of his Flames, for both long range and close quarters attacks. The Arcobaleno themselves didn't really need conductors for most of the things they did because they were apparently overpowered like that, even by usual Arcobaleno standards, according to Bermuda. They were the first generation, ever, to be able to coat their entire bodies in Flames with little to no effort on their part, without any other conductors to ease the way. Kyoya can't do it to that extent - not yet, but maybe one day - but he knows how to use his own body as a conductor and even enter what some might call Hyper Dying Will Mode - the thing that happened to Tsuna while the Vindice was taking Mukuro and his gang away, even if he never did get a chance to test it out because he didn't know how to make his new glove-weapons work at the time - at will.
A ring is truly redundant for someone who's been trained to do all that since a very young age and is very good at it.
Verde rolled his eyes at the skepticism all but radiating from his companions. "Just indulge me."
And so Kyoya did. The violet crystal burst into bright, pure Cloud Flames, a bit larger than any of them were expecting, Verde included, judging by how his fingers twitched, as if he wished he had his instruments on hand to run diagnostics and take readings. It's definitely a bigger Flame than Kyoya can produce from a finger without the ring as a conductor.
"Okay, now put that Flame into the opening on the box in your hand," Verde instructed and, curious now, Hibari did so without hesitation. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the box juggled once in Kyoya's hand before the little doors burst open and a spiraling, flaming cannonball with spikes, which was on purple fire, hurled out, making a few laps around the room before coming to float calmly in front of a stunned Kyoya. Reborn had a gun on it in a second, but the spiky ball squeaked in fright and flinched away from him and closer to Kyoya, who was not staring at it with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Is that a hedgehog?" The teen asked, a hand already reaching up towards the adorable little animal that was on the side of the ball facing him. The ball shrank until, indeed, only a hedgehog was left, landing in Kyoya's lap and looking adoringly up at the teen but shrinking in fear when it looked up at Reborn. "What is this?" Kyoya asked as he distracted it by offering the same hand as before to the strange little animal so it would calm down. The hedgehog immediately sniffed at his hand before cuddling into it, somehow not pricking Kyoya in the process.
It jumped away with a startled squeak when, suddenly, the ring burst into pieces, breaking around Kyoya's finger and the Flames flickering out of existence.
Verde stared down at the ruined ring in utter, flabbergasted confusion. "That's ... Never happened before."
"A ring breaking?" Skull guessed and the scientist nodded. "Was it faulty?"
Verde shot him a look at that and didn't dignify that question with an answer.
"Never?" Reborn echoed questioningly and the bespectacled man shook his head.
"Not even when I tested out some of the incomplete prototypes with a Lightning ring." He took out another box, this one full of different attributed rings, and tossed one at Skull. "Perhaps the propagation attribute of the Cloud is too much for the ring. Test it out on the other box."
Skull took a moment to light the ring before he shoved the Flames into the other box and out came a pair of tonfa that seriously resembled the modified version Kyoya already had but Verde assured were even better, something he prompted Kyoya to test out later. They waited for about three minutes but the ring did not shatter under Skull's Flames. So the ring was handed over to Kyoya, as well as the other box with the tonfa safely back inside. He repeated the same process as before and the tonfa came easily out. Moments later, the ring shattered, like it had the first time.
"That doesn't make any sense," their resident genius scientist said with a deep frown. "No matter how you look at it, Skull's Cloud Flames should be stronger, purer and far more mature than Kyoya's, no matter how strong he is." Skull was, after all, an Arcobaleno candidate, would have become the Cloud Arcobaleno had they not interfered with Kawahira's original plans for them. And Arcobaleno, by definition, were the ones with the strongest, purest Flames in the world. For fuck's sake, Skull could regenerate just about every part of his body, even his brain, with his Cloud Flames. Kyoya can't.
"Perhaps Kyoya's Flames are simply fiercer, more aggressive," Reborn suggested, because he couldn't think of any other explanation. Two Arcobaleno had tested out the rings and these strange boxes and only Kyoya had managed to shatter a ring. "He and Skull are not the same kind of Cloud, after all." When push comes to shove, Skull can shove back. Kyoya's the type of Cloud to crush anyone stupid enough to attempt to push him. "Anyway, you never said what these are."
"Ah," Verde nods, looking down at the hedgehog Kyoya seems to be enamored with. Well, it is a cute, small animal, Kyoya's one true weakness. "That is the Porcospino Nuvola, a Geppetto Lorenzini original. Made by yours truly, of course."
"Box Weapons?" Reborn asked a bit incredulously. "But that's a myth, right?"
"Four centuries ago, maybe," the Lightning says with a snort. "Geppetto Lorenzini created 343 blueprints based on Flame Types and animals, but he didn't possess the technology to complete the construction of his weapons at the time. After his death, the blueprints were locked and hidden away by the secret organization he belonged to and they have been guarded jealously since, reaching the rest of the Flame Aware world as only myths and stories. One of the scientists working on this project, however, was paid by a back then unknown source to steal the blueprints and then the rest of us were called in to try and make it work. I wish Koenig and Innocenti the best of luck in figuring out the rest of the 'formula', so to say, in making the weapons work."
"Why are you saying it as if figuring out the rest of this 'formula' might just be impossible?" Reborn questioned, frowning suspiciously at his Lightning while the two Clouds were looking at the hedgehog and the other Boxes in a whole new way. Reborn wondered what was in the third Box, because he was pretty sure that one was Mist attributed, for Kyoya's secondary Flames.
Meanwhile, Hibird had landed on Kyoya's head and was chirping curiously down at the new addition to the pet-partner family. The hedgehog cooed questioningly at the yellow bird and Kyoya took Hibird off of his head on a finger to bring the two closer together so that they might get acquainted. "Roll," the teenager decided while the animals took each other in and Reborn guessed that was to be the Cloud hedgehog's name. Verde looked ready to protest but the newly named Roll let out a pleased little "Puppi~!", which put a smile on Kyoya's face and so the scientist relented.
Instead, he focused on answering Reborn's question. By first arching an eyebrow at the Sun/Sky. "343 blueprints, Reborn. Exactly 343. Does that not mean anything to you? Mathematically speaking."
Reborn furrowed his eyebrows for but a few seconds before it hit him. "343=7³, the Tri-ni-sette." Fuck.
His fellow numbers lover nodded while Skull went stiff and Kyoya frowned. "Exactly. It gave me the idea to try rings. The technology behind the Bow Weapons is fairly simple, when you get down to it, but what is needed to start the 'mechanism', so to say, eluded us for the longest time. Then, when I was going through old notes, I stumbled upon Geppeto's own research notes. I looked over them, one by one, wondering where we were going wrong because none of the prototypes were stable, and then I reached the last page." He took out a tablet from his coat and fiddled with it until he was showing them a digitized version of some really old notes in some really old Italian. The top of the page showed No. 343 and the 'title' of Porcospino Nuvola, and there was a small drawing of a hedgehog in the lower right corner. "All of the blueprints were numbered, as you can see. The No. 343 stood out to me and I didn't get it until I started playing around with it and realized what it was."
"It can't be a coincidence," Kyoya said.
"Actually, I think the whole thing was caused by chance," Verde corrected, earning himself some startled stares. He shrugged. "Believe me, I know how crazy it sounds that I, a scientist, would say that. But it's the truth. This whole thing was caused by a number of chance happenstances that people were just lucky enough to witness, nothing more. Geppetto, four centuries ago, shouldn't have even known about the existence of Flames and yet he had been making blueprints of weapons based entirely on their power and attributes. How did he find out about Flames? How did he know only 343 stable Animal Type Box Weapons can be made? Why did he take inspiration in nature?"
"The only ones who would be Flame Active back then would be-" Reborn cut himself off with a glance at Kyoya. Now was definitely not the time for the teen to find out, not like this. "The Vindice," he changes quickly and Skull nods, already in the know about why he wasn't talking more openly about the Trinisette and the Arcobaleno. Verde frowned for only a second before it dawned on him and he nodded along as well. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Four centuries ago, the Vindice would be one of the rare few Flame Active in the world, but their Flames were the Flames of Night, so there's no way Geppetto Lorenzini could have found inspiration in them.
The only ones who could have inspired the man would have been the Arcobaleno of that age, possibly one of them could be in Vindice today. Geppetto, a bright, curious mind, could have met a cursed infant, asked about the Flames and back then there was no Omerta or mafia law that would prevent the Arcobaleno from sharing the secrets of Flames with a random person, especially in a time where it could be written off as magic or the man having been visited by a demon who gave him strange dreams so Geppetto would have just been sent to a church on Sunday to get the demon out of his head and no one would listen to his ramblings of cursed infants, Flames of the soul and, possibly, devices that kept the world in balance.
Maybe the Arcobaleno, who could have been a random person from the streets who just so happened to have strong Flames but no education at all, would not see the Trinisette as 7³, but a more scientific-inclined mind, someone who had definitely gone to prestigious schools of that time, would.
Trinisette is balance, stability, growth, prosperity.
Of course there would be only 343 stable Animal Type Box Weapons.
Geppetto may have found out by coincidence.
Just how Verde figured it out by coincidence.
Because he just so happens to be the last candidate for the Lightning Arcobaleno that will never be.
"This can't be just a coincidence," Reborn says with absolute surety, but they don't have any evidence otherwise. Just suspicions based on their meager knowledge and guesses made from mathematical procedures that could, indeed, just be coincidental. Except Verde had figured out the key to the mechanism through the Trinisette and the number of stable Box Weapons was just too coincidental. "Do you think Kawahira'd gotten involved, in the past?"
"Kawahira?" Kyoya asks, this being the first time he's ever heard that name.
"Checkerface. He's calling himself Kawahira this time around or something," Skull says with a dismissive wave of his hand because Kawahira was old news at this point. "Didn't he once say he didn't want to get involved with humanity, unlike Luce's ancestor or something?"
"I don't think he'd want to get involved back then anymore than he would before and after that," Verde commented, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. "What about the Cervello, though?"
"Possible," Reborn agreed, humming in contemplation. He looked between his two present Guardians before glancing at Kyoya and making a decision. "Kyoya, could you please leave us for a moment? There's something I need to talk about with my Guardians."
Hibari huffed, clearly offended, but he collected his gifts and walked out of the room nonetheless, bird and hedgehog riding on each of his shoulders. The Arcobaleno waited until they were sure he was far enough away that he wouldn't eavesdrop but then they heard the front door closing and frowned.
"Must have gone out for a patrol, since he's been away for a couple of days," Reborn decided, shrugging, before his face became severe with how serious it was. "Verde, your benefactors ... Why did you suddenly leave, aside from the obvious threat to your life only after finding out who they were?"
"Well, the benefactors came to visit the other week, when I had taken a day off," the scientist explained. "Innocenti and Koenig said the teenager acted really weird the whole time between asking about our progress. I was already preparing to pack up and leave as soon as Innocenti commented that the benefactor had asked about 'the green scientist baby'. Innocenti hadn't known what the teenager had meant, but to me it sounded like someone who had knowledge of the Arcobaleno."
"Checkerface's uninformed accomplice?" Skull asked incredulously but Verde shook his head.
"Worse. His name is Byakuran Gesso."
Reborn cursed.
00000
A door was banged open and a man sitting behind a counter eating his lunch jumped in surprise at the sudden noise. Looking over his shoulder, the man relaxed and continued sucking in his noodles even as he spoke around it. "Oh, good, it's only you, Kyo-kun. For a second there I thought I'd have to pretend to be a nice salesman or something before erasing some poor civilians' memories of ever entering the shop. What brings you here, though? Another game of Go? You haven't dropped by in a couple of days. If you were anyone else, I would have gotten worried."
Hibari Kyoya gave a grunt as he closed the door behind himself and locked it before walking over to a small sitting area with two couches, an armchair and a coffee table in the middle. He sat down on the couch that was facing his 'host', crossing his arms over his chest and one leg over the knee of the other, the perfect picture of annoyed elegance.
The man at the counter sighed once he'd swallowed the noodles and walked over to join his guest. "What is the matter now? I don't think I've ever seen you this annoyed before, Kyo-kun. Is everything alright with your family?" The teenager glared. "Alright, so they are the ones who have annoyed you. Mind telling me what they did that you decided to sulk at my place?"
"Does the number 343 mean anything to you? Think carefully before you try to lie to me," the Disciplinary Committee Chairman said in a dangerous growl of a voice.
The bespectacled man arched a curious eyebrow at him. Kyoya remained silent. It took a moment before realization seemed to dawn on the older male. He sobered. "Have they finally told you the full story of the Trinisette?" The glare got worse. "I'll take that as a no. Seriously, though, what are they thinking?"
"They're thinking you will be a danger to me, Checkerface." The white haired man with purple eyes stiffened. "Don't even think about running. Now sit down and tell me the whole story, from the beginning. Then, I may decide whether I'll call uncle Bermuda and tell him where you are or not."
"That's a bit harsh, young Hibari."
"Considering I've been hiding you since your escape four years ago, you owe me, Kawahira," the Cloud told the Mist, glaring at the ancient man. "I knew you were not just an ordinary escaped convict, I knew the Vindice were hunting for you, but I didn't know you were the man who had tried to sacrifice my family to a trinket. I risked ... everything by hiding you. Now I want you to tell me everything. From beginning to end, I want to know everything about the Arcobaleno, about the Pacifiers, about the Trinisette. Leave nothing out. And I want you to tell me why you decided here, why you appeared in the Reception Room four years ago, why your Cervello seem to have been involving themselves in business that has nothing to do with them-"
"They've been doing what?!" Hissed the ancient Mist, his Flames flaring in his anger but the wards on his little realtor's shop hid it from everyone in the outside world, even the three of the strongest seven who were just a few blocks away.
"I guess we both have interesting stories to tell," Kyoya lightly commented, unfazed by the little outburst.
Kawahira narrowed his eyes. "Indeed."