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.

Months after the Kokuyo Land incident and Kyoya still refused to tell Reborn how he knew about another Mist escaping from Vendicare Prison. Kyoya had simply said that 'he had a great opponent in Go' before dropping the subject altogether and just ignoring Reborn whenever the hitman tried to ask again since. Which was not cool on his part, but Reborn let it go when he realized he'd only end up worrying himself to the grave.

Kyoya wasn't concerned with the escapee and the Vindice could only be nursing their bruised pride for all he knew.

Nothing to worry about at all!

(If only that was his life.)

Still, life went on as normal. Or as normal as life can go for Reborn, Arcobaleno, secondary secret Sky and home tutor of the Vongola Juudaime. There were some interesting moments - like that one time the Ten Year Bazooka malfunctioned and Gokudera got turned into a chibi, some of Verde's clients decided to use one of his inventions to try and kill Tsuna while wearing invisibility suits, which almost worked if Reborn hadn't walked in seconds before one of the two idiots could slice Tsuna's throat open while being face to face with the oblivious brunet; Verde had made self-destruct sequences for any and all inventions that are aimed at or used against his Sky or fellow Guardians, after all, and no invisibility suit was invisible to Verde, Reborn or the others because he didn't want them dead - some okay moments - the irony of someone whose name resembles 'tuna' so much not knowing how to swim even at Tsuna's age - and some boring moments - Haru's early mid-life crisis over Tsuna no longer being her 'Tsuna-san', for instance.

It was overall peaceful - for Reborn - but he got bored eventually and then Colonello and Skull texted him that they're ready for the little war simulation he'd wanted to thrust on Tsuna for months now and so he booked them all a trip to Mafia Land.

Kyoya went, too, but he kept to himself like a true Cloud. He ought to be excited to see Colonello and Skull, though. No one had been able to meet up for Kyoya's birthday this year, which had kind of bummed out the teenager. Everyone had called, but things were shifting on Viper's end, Lal said something was finally in motion within the Vongola and CEDEF was taking the brunt of the work and Fon had finally found Chen's trail and was on the hunt, so none of them could come. Skull had had to prepare for the fake raid and Colonello, too. Verde had said that he will be ditching the project soon because he had figured out the answer but was uncomfortable with selling it to the secret funders whom he'd never met and whom he believed will try to kill all of them as soon as the prototypes are done.

It had been an unexpectedly silent affair, compared to all of Kyoya's previous birthdays, with only the birthday boy himself and Reborn. They'd ended up spending the day by hunting down all manners of lowlifes in and around Namimori - and by around, he meant they tracked a drug cartel all the way to Tokyo and destroyed a smaller yakuza clan just for the sake of it - and then having dinner at a five star restaurant before eating some pastries from a random shop. A little father-son bonding time, though they'd missed Fon greatly.

They did get the chance to video chat with everyone for an hour and then another hour with just Fon before they'd gotten a movie in and mocked the 'horror' because the blood was made none too realistically and brain matter didn't splatter like that even if you're an amateur.

So, anyway, the point was, Kyoya would appreciate seeing at least two of his 'uncles' now, which was probably one of the reasons he'd even agreed to be stuck on a ship with 'a bunch of herbivores'. The other was that being around Skull had made Hibari a secret adrenaline junkie and the roller coaster on Mafia Land was one of his favorites. (Yes, Kyoya had visited Mafia Land with them before. He'd been seven and Colonello had still been in COMSUBIN back then but that didn't prevent them from getting the VIP treatment. Reborn alone would have earned them the right to cut cues, let alone with all of the Arcobaleno gathered in one place for a vacation.)

(It was funny how no one paid any attention to the miniature Fon clone that kept changing shoulders he was riding every ten minutes or so.)

(It probably had something to do with Lal, Colonello and Reborn all fingering their firearms as they passed by.)

(Or possibly the terrifying Mist constructs Viper kept showing.)

Of course, as much as Reborn would just like to kick back and enjoy himself, he also had to make sure Dame-Tsuna got a taste of Colonello's training methods. He also wanted to compare his younger Rain's methods against his own. And Lal's (even if it's only secondhand). Lal was the truly spartan one, only she hides it better unless you set her off.

Tsuna didn't appreciate the way the two Arcobaleno were catching up when it happened, especially when Colonello kicked the kid into the whirlpool so that the hitman and the soldier can watch him try to struggle free.

"So, how are things, kora?" The blond asks as Tsuna, who had only recently learned how to swim, fought to keep his head above water. Reborn kind of wondered if maybe Tsuna will manage to do the same thing he had done when the Vindice were taking Mukuro away and somehow jump-start his own Hyper Dying Will Mode out of sheer desperation. Or, well, deathperation, he guessed. Dino hadn't been able to do that. Might be the Vongola blood in the kid finally waking up. He was unsealed now so it made sense that he will finally start progressing.

"With Dame-Tsuna or in general?"

"Everything, kora. And sorry I couldn't make it to the little tyke's birthday, kora. Things have been hectic here, kora. Word reached us that, apparently, Bakamitsu and Nono might not agree on the successor after all, kora."

"That can't be good." Reborn had had to read through Vongola's history because he had to tutor a candidate for the position of Decimo. The number of times the External Adviser and the Don disagreed is an amazing two times and the first time had been a disagreement between Alaudi and Primo themselves. Alaudi had not agreed with the candidate, Ricardo, that Giotto was intending to leave the Vongola to because it had been Daemon Spade that had suggested the man because of his cruelty and low morals. Alaudi was not mafia born and bred. He had joined Giotto's group because Primo had intended the Vongola to be a vigilante group that fought drug dealers, mass murderers, human traffickers and the such. Ricardo did not stand for such beliefs and neither did Daemon Spade, apparently. Giotto had tried to reassure his Cloud Guardian by saying he had wanted to suggest Alaudi take his place as the Second Generation Cloud Guardian like Spade was as the Mist Guardian, but Alaudi had cut ties with Vongola the second he heard that.

As far as the Hibari (archives) follow the story, Alaudi came with Primo to Japan just to get away from a very eager and agreeing Spade and Vongola Secondo, both of whom would love to have access to all the intelligence the Cloud had collected over the years. Then Vongola records, acquired by Lal because Alaudi had been the first External Advisor so CEDEF had tracked his movements and history as best as they could considering how secretive and private the man was, suggest he simply disappeared off of the face of the earth by the time the Vongola Rings were split into halves in case there was a succession conflict. (Which is stupid because some Don's had had more than two children fitting to be the boss. Timoteo had four sons and now Tsuna as fitting heirs, for goodness sake!)

It's about that time that the Hibari Clan came to be, as they now know by influence and action of Alaudi himself. Or, as records suggest him to be, Hibari Kumo.

The Skylarks then hid the rest of his life story from everyone else but themselves, but these newer generations, leading up to Fon and Kyoya, could only speculate and guess at Hibari Kumo being Alaudi's new identity. There is no evidence for or against this fact.

Regardless, the whole point of that little history lesson is that very rarely have the Vongola Don and the External Advisor been in disagreement over succession rights because, usually, Vongola Hyper Intuition led the boss' to make the right decision in the past. The only exceptions were, as had been said, with Giotto and Alaudi over the Secondo and between Settimo, Fabio Vongola, and his External Adviser because it went against tradition, at that point in time, to leave a famiglia in a woman's hands, despite Giglio Nero only ever having Donnas. Daniela had had to fight all five of her brothers and even three of her cousins with her Guardians to earn the title of Vongola Ottavo and she was one of the most feared leaders of her time.

Timoteo's accession to the throne of Vongola was easy because Daniela's External Adviser agreed with her choice, so no one pushed back.

Reborn didn't know whether Bakamitsu was against or for his son becoming Vongola Decimo, but Timoteo at least should have known better than to put a civilian-raised kid through the hell his mother must have told him about.

"That's putting it mildly, kora. Do you know who the only other remaining candidate for the position is? Xanxus."

The hitman's eyes narrowed dangerously. Yup, he was going to kill Timoteo one of these days. "The leader of the Varia?"

"The one and only, kora."

"And since Iemitsu's the External Adviser, he can't become boss despite having the blood for it." Which meant Tsuna was destined to die at the hands of the strongest assassin Vongola's independent assassination squad had to offer, because Varia leadership was based on strength. "Wait, wasn't Xanxus put on ice in that Cradle incident?"

"Yeah, well, you know how Viper also couldn't come for the birthday party, kora? It's because they had to keep up the facade of 'Mammon' by being part of the raid to free the Varia boss, kora. Or else they would be too suspicious, kora. Lal tells me that Xanxus is free and regaining his old strength, kora. Apparently, Zero Point Breakthrough may freeze a person but it does little to sap away their strength, kora. Xanxus is mostly just catching up with the things he's missed so far and, from what I hear, he's pissed about his brothers' deaths, kora. He plans to take over the Vongola and hunt down their killers one by one, for the whole mafia world to see as a sign of strength of the Vongola, kora."

"He'll start a whole new mafia damned war," Reborn says through grit teeth. It's never good when the new boss himself would go on the hunt. Alliances shift, targets change, politics start being handled on the battlefield instead of at a table. "The worst part is that, if he has the Varia to support him, not even CEDEF can protest his actions. We need to get Lal out of there, ASAP."

"Can't, kora," Colonello says with frustration. "CEDEF was put under suspicion the second it got out the only remaining boss candidate is Sawada's son, blood of Primo or not, kora."

"They think Bakamitsu's behind the deaths of the other heirs?" Reborn asks incredulously. Have they met that guy? Iemitsu had been stupid enough to threaten Reborn, when he had had the backing of the rest of the strongest seven people in the world! The Arcobaleno had not been named yet - Iemitsu's understanding had led to Reborn deciding they should just take the name Arcobaleno in the first place - but everyone had known who they are, that they are a team and that they will tear down anyone stupid enough to attack any single one of them for whatever reason. And some people have even been smart enough to catch on to the fact that the Arcobaleno had some sort of deal with the Vindice because some of the people who had been there when the Arcobaleno had crashed the party that had ended with the Donna of Giglio Nero dead had survived to see the Arcobaleno go on missions again. They tried to spread the word, but no one believed the Vindice would ever stray from their path as the neutral enforcers of mafia law.

(Shows how much they know. The Vindice are only neutral when the Trinisette or anything concerning it and Checkerface isn't involved.)

"It's a plausible thought when one's panicking over the continuation of the family, kora," the blond said with a shrug. "Sawada can't be boss, but if he can place his son as the figurehead, he can control Vongola both from the inside and out, kora."

"That implies a lot more intelligence than Iemitsu can brag about," Reborn points out but Colonello only shrugs again.

"Not everyone's been exposed to his stupidity so not everyone knows he doesn't have the brains for it, kora."

That actually got Reborn thinking. "You're right. Not everyone knows. In fact, not everyone knows that Vongola requires blood for the Sky Ring to function." Colonello squints at him suspiciously, not really getting where he was going with this. "And while two of the heirs had died in blatant fallouts with other famiglias, one of them had died by mysterious means and only bones were left."

"So I've heard, kora. But where are you going with this, Babyborn, kora?"

"It doesn't seem suspicious to you?" The Sun/Sky asked and his younger Rain only shook his head.

"What babbo means is that it's suspicious that the heirs would be picked off one by one until there were only two left, two who notably resemble Primo and Secondo, to fight for the Rings," a new but always familiar voice says and the two men turn towards the black haired teenager just standing there with arms crossed, relaxed as can be. Kyoya was dressed in some comfortable looking washed out jeans and a light purple, short-sleeved button-up shirt, a pair of shades hooked into the breast pocket of his shirt. The strange little yellow bird he'd apparently tamed away from Birds during the whole Kokuyo incident some months back was preening itself on his head, for once not announcing its master's arrival with the Nami-chuu anthem that Kyoya had taught it.

"Hey kid, kora!" Colonello greeted with a sunny smile, ambling over immediately to ruffle Hibari's hair. The bird, Hibird if Reborn remembered correctly, squeaked at the soldier in offense for disturbing it and daring to touch its beloved master, which had Falco screeching from his perch high up on the rocks and circling down to threaten the smaller bird. To Hibird's credit, the little canary only screeched back, puffing up in an attempt to appear bigger. Hibird won when Kyoya glared warningly at the white hawk, who could only wilt under the silent reprimand and landed sulkily on Colonello's shoulder. For being so good and not starting a fight, Kyoya granted it a few pets on the head that had Falco immediately settling in. The two birds were now warily eyeing each other, but there was no more hostility between them, so all was well. "Been a long while, huh, kora? You sure have grown, kora. Sorry about your birthday, but I've got your gift over there in my duffel bag, kora! I think you might like it."

"What is your opinion of my suspicions, Kyoya?" Reborn asked, disregarding Colonello's little side-tour into personal things instead of the dangerous situation that might be developing right under their noses.

The youngest Hibari just shrugs his shoulders. "My best guess would be the Cervello." Colonello's bright smile falls from his face, replaced by a serious frown. Reborn feels a glare settle over his own face that's kind of become his default reaction to all things Checkerface-related. Which,unfortunately, includes the Cervello.

"Why, kora? And what did you mean by that 'resembling Primo and Secondo' bit, kora?"

Kyoya simply takes out his phone and shows the two older males a picture. While Colonello - and partially Reborn - stare in shock at the two portraits the teen is showing them, Kyoya explains. "Aside from myself, there are at least five others who bear an uncanny resemblance to Vongola Primo and his Guardians." Kyoya briefly fiddles with his phone to show a bunch of pictures of teens, all of whom Reborn knows very well, who look exactly like the First Generation Guardians and boss except for coloration. Then Kyoya shifts to another picture and they stare at the young man that was almost a spitting image of Ricardo. "I don't know about the potential Lightning Guardian-" Only because Reborn had been careful to keep his son away from the Ten Year Bazooka, so he'd never seen Lambo or I-Pin from ten years in the future, or else he would know Lambo Bovino and Lampo could pass off as twins, except for the hair color and the little lightning tattoo Lampo had on his right cheekbone. "But the others are only mismatched in color, some not even in that." Like Yamamoto Takeshi and Ugetsu Asari. "Ricardo Vongola and Xanxus Vongola might very well be identical twins. Reports also suggest that they have a similar character and disposition."

"You've been talking with Viper, kora?"

Kyoya nods and puts away his phone. "This can't be a coincidence. For the first time since Giotto's been chased out of Italy, someone of his blood has returned to the family and got involved again. This opened the Sawada line to the underworld."

"Either an extreme fanatic or someone with an agenda could get to them easily with Iemitsu involved," Reborn says, lips pursing. "Someone could have easily followed him back to Japan and discovered he has a son, a potential heir."

Kyoya nods once again. "The Cervello have reached out to Giotto once and he made the Vongola, but he abandoned the organization and handed over the Vongola Rings only a couple of decades later. Only Daemon Spade and Secondo, and after him every Vongola boss, knew the location of Primo's bloodline. They were protected from the rest of the world by the Skylarks."

"Now there is no longer that wast, protective shadow to shield them from the world and it's possible that the Cervello learned of their whereabouts and wanted Primo's blood back where it had been first placed, as the head of the Vongola, so they took care of the other heirs, kora."

"Only Xanxus remained, because he'd been frozen in Zero Point Breakthrough and was no longer considered a threat," Reborn concluded. "So they left him alone, thinking he'd stay frozen forever, but then the Varia made a move and now there's a need to legitimate Tsuna's accession to the Vongola throne."

"And what better way than possibly pitting him against a Secondo look-alike, kora?" The blond finished up with a nod, a hand coming up to finger his chin in thought. "Devious, kora. But it still doesn't explain why they'd go through all that trouble if they'd never bothered before, kora."

"Too many heirs, maybe," the hitman guessed. "Ottavo had eight others to fight in order to get the position. From what I know, Vongola Quarto had ten other contenders to worry about, even if they never fought. And it could be as Kyoya said. We don't have the Flame signatures of the First Generation of Vongola, but maybe the Cevello do. Maybe not. Maybe they just think that the potential Tenth Generation are reincarnations of the First. People believe in a lot of weird bullshit, so I can't tell what their plan could be."

"Do they know you're training Sawada's kid, kora?" Colonello suddenly asks, blue eyes cold like glaciers and that almost sets off Reborn's hitman side into taking rather aggressive action to retaliate. Except this is his Rain and, instead, his Sky Flames squirm uncomfortably, worried by Colonello's behavior.

"I don't think so, no. Timmy's been keeping it on the down low, as far as I know. Lal and Viper didn't have anything to report to suggest otherwise. Why?"

"Because if they don't know, this might be an attempt for a grab of the Trinisette." Both of Reborn's Flames fairly hiss like angry cats at that and he nearly mimics them. Mostly because his mind was racing and he could see how that would make sense. Vongola is large enough and influential enough that, in a few years time, Tsuna could possibly organize an attack on Vendicare for some bullshit reason, maybe even blame them for the other heirs' deaths after a 'thorough' investigation, and the entirety of Vongola's forces, their allies and anyone who's ever owed them would descend on the Vindice. And despite them being undead and all but immortal and all Arcobaleno-powerful, Reborn wasn't sure if they can go to war with the mafia world itself all on their own and keep the Pacifiers out of any unwanted hands.

"What is the Trinisette that it's that important?" Kyoya asks and the two Arcobaleno snap their heads to look back at Kyoya, who was frowning at them in annoyed frustration that only happens when they're hiding something from him and he knows it.

"Damn it."