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.
Lal Mirch cursed under her breath as she spotted Varia uniforms approaching the Vongola Headquarters in Italy. All forces have been assembled in order to fight the independent assassination squad because they were the best at what they do in Italy, save, of course, the Arcobaleno who were the best in the world, but that was not important right now.
What was important is that Iemitsu had went gallivanting off to Japan and had sent Basil along on his own as well with fake Vongola half-Rings to throw the Varia Commander and Second in Command, the Second Sword Emperor Superbi Squalo, off of Dino Cavallone's trail because Reborn's former student was the one who was carrying the real half-Rings. Basil was risking his life for fakes and Lal liked that kid and hated Sawada for so callously sacrificing a boy around Kyoya's age for nothing. All the while leaving Lal to deal with the mess he and Nono had created in Italy with their little tift over who should inherit the Vongola.
Reborn had been right when he had said famiglia Skies were the worst.
Now, Lal had been prepared for entering CEDEF when she'd made a deal with Iemitsu for the sake of returning Fon and fulfilling the plan for the Pacifiers and Checkerface. She was a soldier, she was used to making tough decisions and sacrifices. And, since meeting Reborn, she's been his right hand woman because she actually knew how to lead in his stead.
(And yes, Reborn was their leader, in a sense, even if he didn't think of himself that way, even if he was unaware of it that they sometimes treated him as such. If things were okay, everyone acted normal, there was no deference or anything like that. But if things went to shit, they all turned to Reborn for his opinion, waited for a plan from him and only occasionally someone else, depending on what the situation was and who was the expert in the most relevant field. Reborn was their strongest through skills and wits and all, and they followed him not just because of the color of his Flames. Having Sky Flames doesn't make one an infallible leader. Case and point, Sawada Iemitsu. Reborn was their leader through skill, respect, trust, smarts and choice. Lal, though, somehow became his Second in Command without any of them noticing. Perhaps because Reborn felt he could confide in her when he didn't want to talk to anyone else. Perhaps because she could take care of their boys - and whatever Viper is - should something happen to him. Perhaps because she's just the tiny bit the same type of insane as their favorite hitman was and so they simply clicked. Whatever the case, Lal was the Second in Command of the Arcobaleno with Fon as the Third. And that was based on experience and perhaps a tiny bit on age because, back when Lal's position had cemented itself, Fon had still been a kid and not yet been an official Guardian because Reborn had refused to bond with a minor until Fon was certain he can make such a decision and not regret it one day.)
Lal had known this would not be easy. Sixteen years have passed and she has four more to suffer through before she can be free of these idiots that make up CEDEF, Iemitsu especially. The man was a powerful Sky and cared about Family, but he was a dreadful husband, an even worse father and an all around shallow human being that ignored just about everything anyone said if it did not comply with his image of the world. Lal had had to sit through more than one rant about his 'precious adorable Nana' and his 'cute clumsy Tuna-fishy' and each time, she felt the need to put her shotgun to her head and just end her own suffering. She found it so fucking ironic that Iemitsu gushed about his 'precious' family back in Japan but hadn't visited them since his kid was, what? Five years old? And Lal had been there for when Sawada learned he was going to be a father and had been there when he got a call from the agents watching over his pregnant wife that stated she'd gone into labor.
Iemitsu had taken a day off - a single day off! - to go see her and the baby ... Two months later.
Lal had been unable to believe her eyes when she'd seen a jet-lagged Iemitsu back in the CEDEF headquarters just the next day, looking like shit and gushing about his baby son to just about anyone stupid and unlucky enough to cross his path. If he was so proud and so in love with his little son, then why hadn't he stayed longer? Lal can't say she's close with the boss, but she knew Timoteo Vongola had a bleeding heart for these sorts of things and would have gladly let Iemitsu stay even a whole year away so he can help his young wife to deal with the baby.
She hadn't been used to just how ... shallow everything about Iemitsu was, so she'd been taken aback. Because, the honest to god truth was, Reborn had been the first Sky she'd actually personally dealt with for prolonged periods of time and, despite his many rants against Skies in general, especially famiglia Skies, she'd somehow forgotten that he's the exception and not the rule. She had, honestly, subconsciously expected Sawada to act a bit more like Reborn after she'd spent a few months as his subordinate and he started 'trusting' her more. (Giving her more of his work to do, that is.) And remember, this was after Kyoya was born and orphaned and she could visit only every three months or so.
Everyone ran their organization/group/family differently, so she hadn't exactly compared Sawada to her own Sky in that context and Reborn's personality was so complex and confusing that she doubted anyone would ever fully understand that man, let alone that there was someone out there even remotely like him. Comparing their skill was also out of the question because there was simply nothing to compare. Reborn wasn't the world's strongest for no reason.
So she had compared the only thing that seemed right to compare, the one thing she had come to consider more important than anything since the Arcobaleno, back then still unnamed, had been formed: family. And how these two very different Skies treated theirs.
Kyoya was not even Reborn's by blood and he had literally been there to see him born into the world. By the time Sawada Tsunayoshi was born, Reborn was Kyoya's legal guardian alongside Fon and Kyoya was already calling him 'babbo'. Reborn had not left Kyoya for longer periods of time - meaning over three months - until the kid was ten and even that was only because he had a favor to return and close an old deal once and for all with Cavallone Nono and then Vongola Nono had called in his favor as well, but that one had actually brought Reborn back to Japan so he was with Kyoya once more.
And Reborn could be just as busy, if not busier than Iemitsu but he still always made time for Kyoya, at least a week every three months, just like the rest of the Arcobaleno do. They have a week every three months reserved exclusively for family.
Reborn hadn't missed a single holiday or birthday with Kyoya, be it his own, Kyoya's or someone else's. The Arcobaleno as a whole, who had started out as random strangers who just so happened to have an incredibly high percentage of compatibility with each other, acted more like family than Iemitsu had ever acted with his son and wife.
Hell, from what Lal had overheard, the idiot had even told his wife to tell young Tsunayoshi that his father had 'joined the stars' and the gullible woman had done so, too, according to what Reborn said just yesterday. (The hitman had called to beg for death because Sawada had dropped in out of the blue. Lal had told him to man up because she's been dealing with his bullshit for sixteen years and didn't need to hear someone else whine about it if she hasn't shot herself in the head because of him already. In turn, Reborn had promised he'd get her a new shotgun, even better than the one she has right now, for Christmas and possibly some badge of honor for the shit she'd had to put up with.) And the idiot was now just eating, drinking and sleeping while his wife pampers him while Lal was left here to make sure his men didn't die.
She's tempted to just walk away, maybe fake her death or stage a kidnapping scenario so she can peace the fuck out of there, as Skull would say, but her soldier side would always take over with the mentality of 'leave no man behind', so she's stuck here, preparing for the biggest inter-famiglia conflict the Vongola has seen probably since Primo's time with the Secondo. And she wasn't even remotely connected to the famiglia in question.
She wouldn't fail. She's Lal Mirch. She's trained thousands of recruits and survived numerous battles for COMSUBIN, coming out on top. She's been on hundreds of missions with her fellow Arcobaleno and she's survived Iemitsu's stupidity all the while keeping CEDEF strong - and her own family very well informed on what the Vongola and CEDEF were up to. She has people to return to. She wants to see Colonello again, to hug and kiss him. She wants to ruffle Kyoya's hair again. She wants to play games with her family again. She wants to see Reborn become bonelessly relaxed as he drapes himself over Fon, wants to see Skull criticize all the drivers while they watch the Monaco Grand Prix races if Skull didn't have the time to compete that year, she wants to hear Verde complain about the impossibility and lack of logical biology of the 'aliens' in the latest sci-fi movie they'd dug up from somewhere, she wants to see Viper rolling around in the money they'd earned/stolen that day, she wants to see Fon puttering about in the kitchen in the morning just so he can get Reborn the drink that will save them all his homicidal morning tendencies and she wants to see Kyoya return from his patrols and grimace when he sees his parents all cuddly with each other before demanding spars from just about everyone. She wants to see Colonello smile that smile that is only for her, she wants to hear him say her name.
Even if the incoming wave of enemies just beyond the 'horizon' are all Varia, which means they are some of the strongest in Italy, and they greatly outnumber them not in number but in quantity of skill, Lal won't fail.
She won't die here.
Perhaps she should take a page out of Reborn's (teaching) book and fight with her dying will.
She definitely has things to be Deathperate for.
"Ms Mirch," one of the CEDEF agents gasps out as they run up to her perch from where she's scoping out the incoming enemies. "They've breached the first perimeter, ma'am! ETA to the trap zone is five minutes. The second perimeter isn't done preparing yet! What are your orders?"
"Send in the drones for aerial backup in the places with weakest defense," Lal ordered, not looking away from where she was keeping track of the invaders. The worst part was that they were Vongola, too, so lethal force was not allowed. The reason behind the second parameter not being ready yet is because they'd had to remove and shut down the deadly defense systems and that left huge gaps in their defense that they were trying to make up for with systems meant to deter someone from coming closer and not outright killing them. "Put more men behind the line and prepare the medics." They'll be needing them if Varia Quality goes up against ordinary mafioso who are told not to shoot to kill but rather incapacitate. Varia are Vongola's strongest force. Calling in CEDEF to protect the HQ won't do much help, even if they do have an Arcobaleno in their midst. "Keep the majority around the mansion! Let no one get in."
"Ma'am!" Saluted the agent before he ran off. Yes, he did indeed salute her. Everyone got used to the militarian, scary, spartan woman that more often than not acted as the commander of CEDEF, whether Iemitsu was around or not. In fact, more people respected this volatile, aggressive Rain than they did the ditsy Sky.
One day, when Lal leaves, there will be plenty of tears.
The older of the Arcobaleno Rains purses her lips as she aims her shotgun and triggers a mass tranquilizer trap, which brings down the first wave of the incoming attackers. She takes aim again a moment later at a different location and another wave comes down. None of them seem to be Suns but this is the Varia, so they'll figure out it's Rain Flames that are taking down their soldiers before long and start sending Suns. Except the only Sun in the entire world who can rival Lal's Rain was Reborn, so good luck with that.
'I wonder how Basil's doing?' Sawada had better not sent that kid to his death or else Lal will de-man him, mark her words. Basil was only a couple of years younger than Kyoya and Lal had a soft spot for her fellow little Rain since Bakamitsu found him, eight years ago. Sawada was the one who had officially educated and trained him but Lal had taught him a fair number of tricks over the years. She didn't like how obsessed Sawada's made him with archaic Japanese traditions and the such, but it gave the kid his own kind of charm, even if he was at times really hard to understand when he talked. Because, outside of archaic Japanese, he speaks in Shakespearean or other really old dialects, depending on which language he is speaking and he knows four.
Basil is fourteen years old and Iemitsu had sent him out to distract Superbi Squalo of the Varia, their doubtlessly second strongest fighter after only the boss, Xanxus, himself.
If Basil is injured or worse, Iemitsu is a dead man walking and he won't be even that once Lal gets her hands on him. Verde always needs human test subjects and he's never had a Vongola-blood Sky before. She's sure the scientist will be ecstatic.
For now, though, she focuses on non-lethal snipping.
She can't wait to go home.
00000
Reborn doesn't know what to think.
Iemitsu had the nerve to criticize him for not staying with the Sawadas and instead having lodgings elsewhere, despite knowing perfectly well just how weird it would be for a home tutor to just move in with the family of his new student. If Nana were informed of the whole mafia and Vognola business, then sure, Reborn couldn't use that as an excuse, but he honestly doesn't care one way or the other.
That aside, only Nana was happy with Iemitsu's return. Tsuna tried his damnedest to avoid his father and had even confided in Reborn that the man makes him uncomfortable, that his very Intuition is telling him to keep away from him. That, if nothing else, serves as confirmation that Bakamitsu was there when his son had been sealed, which, unfortunately, implicates Nono as well because the last time the External Adviser had visited his family, Timoteo had come with him.
Which means Tsuna would have been about four to five years old when he'd been sealed.
Reborn had never had a positive outlook towards any famiglia born or raised Sky, but even he had never thought someone would seal such a young Sky so callously. And that the father would just stand to the side and let it happen ...
Reborn was not a biological father, but after finding that out, he'd felt the need to stick by Kyoya, even if it meant the teenager grew irritated with him and demanded a spar if Reborn had so much free time. Actually, that was all the better, because Reborn got to see those beautiful, free Cloud Flames flare to life with nothing to restrict them and it calmed him down even if he will have some bruises even tomorrow, despite his Sun healing everything after the spar was over. At least both participants were in a much better mood afterwards.
Things were suddenly on the move and he didn't like it. Basil had nearly lost his life defending the fake Vongola half-Rings because of a setup Iemitsu had made. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto also almost died at Squalo's blade had Dino not arrived to help them. Squalo at least took the bait and took off with it, which should, according to Dino, buy them at least ten days.
Ten days to gather and train Tsuna's Guardians for a Battle for the Vongola Rings and the right to be the Tenth Generation boss.
Tsuna didn't even have a full set and they expected Reborn to train them all? He doesn't know whether he wants to laugh and shoot every single last one of the people connected in any way to Vongola, from Japan all the way back to Italy, where he'd then pick up Lal Mirch and get all of his Guardians back to neutral ground of the Skylarks that is Namimori.
"Don't worry about the Cloud and Mist Guardians," Dino had reassured the tutor and student when they had ran into him at the hospital while checking up on Basil. "Your father said he's chosen well and that they won't disappoint. In fact, I am off to train your Cloud right now. I hear he's a problem child, so wish me luck!"
"Wait, Dino-san!" Tsuna called out as the blond turned to leave. "Who? Who are my Guardians? Who's going to train them?"
Reborn's former student had only smiled and said they all knew each other rather well at that point. Reborn, of course, knew who most of Tsuna's Guardians were, as he'd chosen or recommended them himself. Lambo, for instance, may be a crybaby and a weakling when he'd followed Reborn from Italy, but he had some pretty impressive Lightning Flames and actually a lot of potential but he was too young to train and the only one who had actually ever trained a child that young, Reborn, would be busy teaching Tsuna Vongola Primo's signature moves, which will take up all of his focus.
Gokudera and Yamamoto confirmed that they were the choices for Storm and Rain Guardians when they ran into the hospital to thank Reborn and Tsuna for the honor and chance given to them. Well, Gokudera thanked them for that. Yamamoto was just grateful that he can rectify his loss against Squalo, never mind that there was no way someone like him who had never before truly wielded a blade against another swordsman could have won against the Second Swords Emperor. Gokudera ran off to, apparently, find Shamal and beg the man to finish his training that the perverted doctor had ditched some time before Gokudera left Italy.
Reborn wished him luck with that. Shamal had been rather disappointed in how callously his student was willing to throw away his life for a shallow victory and an even shallower pride. Unless Gokudera learns to value himself and his own life, Shamal won't help.
It's even probably for the best. Shamal knows some really dangerous techniques that should not be taught to people who have no care for their own life.
Yamamoto ran off to confront whatever teacher he had in mind. Reborn already knew who he'd pick. There was no hiding from the Skylarks anywhere, let alone in their own town. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi will be getting a surprise when his teenage son asks him to teach him the way of the sword. Shiruge Soen Ryu was not a technique picked up lightly. It's even in question whether Tsuyoshi will find Takeshi's reasoning to learn good enough to teach him.
The Sun Guardian runs into the hospital not long after, Sasagawa Ryohei, as fired up as always. Reborn had known he would be the chosen Sun Guardian, so he had called in Colonello. Ryohei would benefit from a calming influence that knows just how destructive Sun Flames can be after living for years upon years around Reborn. Colonello was also very good with focusing techniques, something Ryohei really needed. The two were like a match made in heaven personality-wise, too, so Reborn left the boxer in the ex-soldier's more than capable hands.
At least this will not only help Ryohei, who is surprisingly currently the weakest of Tsuna's Guardians - though he has no idea who the Cloud and Mist will be, so he can't tell with them; he only hopes Iemitsu actually thought his choices through because this was his son's life on the line, along with a bunch of other innocent children - but it will also give something the newly unemployed former COMSUBIN soldier something to do, too.
("You got fired from Mafia Land?" Reborn had asked over the phone with great amusement but no small amount of confusion, too, when he'd called up Colonello for this 'favor'.
He could practically hear the shrug on the other side. "Apparently, they didn't appreciate four Arcobaleno together on such a small island, kora."
'They must have confused Kyoya with Fon,' he thought and couldn't help but roll his eyes at their stupidity. He'd like to put uncle and nephew next to each other in front of them and let them see the far too obvious differences between them. And no, he's not talking about appearances. Fon may be the Storm Arcobaleno, but it's Kyoya that drives fear into people's very bone marrow. Fon's only scary when you hurt someone he loves. "So you're coming home, permanently?"
"Seems so, kora! Now, tell me about this young boxer you want me to train, kora.")
His blond Rain and Tsuna's new Sun at least seemed really pumped about training together.
Which left Reborn with teaching Tsuna Sky Flames tricks.
Joy.