That Which Obscures The Sky

Summary: When Reborn comes to Namimori on Vongola Nono's request, he was NOT expecting to find a Sky all for himself. This was not in his job description and the hauntingly familiar face wasn't helping him any. The question now is, what will he do?

"So, I heard you had a rather interesting conversation with Tsuyoshi-jii the other day," Kyoya said as he approached the Sun Arcobaleno in the cafe Reborn had asked him to meet him at after school. He takes the seat across from him and Reborn regards his new Sky contemplatively, wondering how he should go about this conversation and how he should express some worries that he has. "I take it you have questions? Or a comment?"

"Something like that, yes," the hitman conceded easily enough with a nod of his head. "I ordered tea for you. I hope you don't mind green tea mixed with mint and lemon. It's one of the rare blends I'd actually let Fon talk me into drinking instead of coffee all the time."

Kyoya grunts with a smirk and picks up the steaming cup, bringing it to his lips for a sip and nodding. "It's good." Thankfully, he doesn't comment on how Fon used to be able to practically wrap the world's greatest hitman around his finger. Reborn would really rather not talk about that. He still has no idea how he should approach Fon when the other Arcobaleno eventually arrives in Namimori. They really hadn't parted on the best of terms. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about? I'm guessing Kawahira is a big, hot topic that's bothering you, but I am sure you have something else you want to discuss other than that."

True enough. Reborn actually wanted to see if Kyoya needed help training his Sky Flames, since he could help with that and Kyoya would most definitely be easier to train than Tsuna or Dino. He wasn't dame dame, for one. He already knew how to fight, he's had most of his Guardian bonds for years and he had good stamina, so they can train for longer periods of time before it would be pushing it too much. He was also properly educated in Flames, knew how to use them and wasn't hesitant about it. Reborn just didn't know if he'd mastered his tertiary Flames like he had, most probably, his primary and secondary - he had a secondary Mist bond, who would no doubt help train him, if Fon couldn't help him on his own - so he was asking now.

Kyoya blinked at him, obviously surprised. "It is true that my mastery over my tertiary Flames is limited, due to not even Kawahira knowing how to train a Sky, but I do believe I have some sort of grasp on them. Why?"

"I could help you actually master them, you know" the hitman commented. "Tsuna isn't the first Sky I've trained and you're already leagues above him in the mastery of Sky Flames, despite being only a tertiary Sky and having considerably smaller Sky Flames than he has, though both of you have an incredible purity of Flames. I could train you to get a better handle on them."

"Why, though?" The teen asked, sounding disinterested. "I mean, Sky Flames are shit for fighting and my Cloud is more than enough, even without adding my Mist. Sky Flames would only be good with Animal Rings-"

"What rings?" The Arcobaleno had to ask, frowning a bit in confusion. He's rather well informed about just about everything, but he's never heard about that.

"Animal Rings," Hibari repeated. "I don't have Roll with me right now, because Namimori rarely gets interesting and strong enough people to require his aid in battle, but Animal Rings work a lot like any other Flame-receptive ring, such as Vongola Rings, except they are powerful and active weapons all on their own, with various combative powers. For instance Roll, or Porcospino Nuvola, has several powers, from being a capture weapon to being a shield, from a battering ram to a restraining device, not to mention an army in a small, cute little package. As the name suggests, it's a hedgehog with the Cloud attribute, meaning it can propagate both in size and in numbers. Roll was designed specifically with me in mind and it was Talbot's way to one-up Verde because he kept dissing old fashioned weapons forging methods. Animal Rings are definitely more convenient than Box Weapons."

"It seems we have even more to talk about than I originally thought." And it would seem Tsuyoshi was right that Hibari Kyoya was always at the center of every strange, interesting, dangerous or world-shattering occurrence that could happen. "But regardless of those topics and the fact you are clearly equipped more than well enough to fight with your stronger, dominant Flames, your Sky is still a part of you. Knowing how to control them will only be to your benefit."

Hibari conceded with a shrug. "I don't have anything against it, as long as you promise we can spar from time to time. I really want to fight you, Reborn. It's rare for me to find a carnivore."

The Sun huffed in amusement. "We can certainly do that. I don't have good opponents often, either, Kyoya, so sparring with someone trained by Fon promises to be interesting, especially given everything I've seen so far."

Kyoya's eyes suddenly went unexpectedly soft. "Do you wish to speak with him? I have him on speed dial," his offer trailed off and Reborn would lie to say he wasn't in the least tempted. But the things he needed to settle with Fon were better discussed in person, face to face, eye to eye, instead of over the phone. Even if they video-chatted, it wouldn't be the same.

"No," he said after a moment. "I'll speak with him when he comes back to Namimori. Ours is a conversation best had in front of each other, with nothing but open air between us. Thanks for the offer, though." The Cloud-Mist-Sky nodded and didn't prob further, something which Reborn was grateful for. "We should probably discuss the things I've called you here for, though." Hibari nodded again and waited for him to open up the first topic. "I want to know how you got in contact with Checkerface."

"It's not an overly interesting story," dismissed the prefect. "It happened a couple of years ago. I was simply walking down the street in the market area when I sensed a strong illusion. It piqued my attention because Mists are rather rare, second only to Skies and Clouds. I investigated and found myself staring down Kawahira. He was eating ramen and gawking at me like an idiot when I walked into his shop. Could be because of how much I resemble Fon, could be because he had never thought someone would get past his illusion and notice the place existed. Or rather, he never expected someone would see through the illusions enough to perceive it as it is, doors always open, lights regularly on, ramen delivery service coming to his doorstep every day. He tried to shoo me away, bribed me, even tried to use Mist Flames to manipulate me out of the shop and to forget it was there. That's when our Flames brushed and we realized we were compatible."

"Four percent, right?"

Hibari nodded. "He looked ready to cry when a link of sorts formed between us." Links could form just from 'sparking', as it was called. It's something of an initial bond between compatible Flames that they can then do with as they wish. It's usually what people stick to if their compatibility isn't all that high, usually if it's below ten percent. It's a step between bonding and harmonization and the dynamics between the Flame users can take either course from there. It can be accidental, though, and ignored. If that's the case, people just need to wait for it to fade. "He'd once had a Sky to call his own, but she's decades dead by now. The first Donna of Giglio Nero, if I'm not mistaken. Sepira. After the surprise and elation passed, though, he started panicking. He could guess who my Storm was, knew what fate he'd practically doomed me to, the only other Sky that's ever been compatible with him. I actually had to use my Flames to calm him down. Then, I called Fon and the two of them had an ... odd, not too pleasant, painful reunion."

"So Fon wasn't happy?" Reborn guessed with humor, knowing it had to be the understatement of the century. "How did they smooth over the ruffled feathers? How did you come to think up the solution?"

"Sky Flames," Kyoya replied. "Fon's easy to calm down and Kawahira isn't temperamental. He's actually been pretty much resigned for centuries now-"

"So he's actually ancient?" The Arcobaleno had to ask and Kyoya nodded again. "As old as the human race. Anyway, he was more than willing to brainstorm and he recommended we try Talbot, given he's worked with the Vongola Rings before-"

"What do they have anything to do with all of this?"

"They're parts of the Trinisette, too." Well, Reborn hadn't known that. Seems you learn something new every day. "Since Talbot has some experience with one set of the Trinisette and Kawahira knows everything there is to know about the Pacifiers, we just needed to motivate Talbot to build."

"And that's where you came in?"

The teen looked away, taking a sip of his cooling tea. "Talbot is old and Kawahira is ancient. Neither have ever heard of someone quite like me."

He probably meant his Sky not being his dominant Flames. Reborn had heard of many things before, but even he had never heard of Sky Flames being anything but primary, oftentimes even swallowing all other possible attributes. Sky Flames might swallow other Flame Types unless those other Flame Types were rather strong, but that didn't make them pure. Hibari, somehow, had three extremely pure, completely different Flame Types, all the rarest types, completely separate. And his Sky was his tertiary.

"So you intrigued him, made him curious, made him want to do something that's basically for free given how much he should actually be asking for."

"Pretty much."

"Do I get to meet Kawahira?"

"Will you try to kill him?"

A valid question, that. Kawahira had basically ruined Reborn's life when he'd chosen him for the Sun Pacifier. A lesser man would crave revenge. Reborn was not a lesser man, but he still wants revenge. Only he can control himself. Unlike many others. "If you're really working on a solution, I see no reason to. I won't be an Arcobaleno for much longer. I'll live to see you grow up. I'll live to see Tsuna become the Tenth Vongola boss. I'll live to see the day when I apologize to Fon for being such a dick to him. I might antagonize the man at every opportunity for a while, but I don't hold petty grudges."

Something in the Cloud seems to have relaxed at that. It would seem that, despite them not being bonded, Kyoya cared a great deal about Checkerface - or Kawahira, to be precise. Then again, Tsuyoshi had said that Kawahira had participated, in the past couple of years, in raising Kyoya. One didn't need to bond with Flames to be family. "Then I see no problem in you meeting him. He is, unofficially, kind of, my secondary Mist bond, practically my Mist Guardian if I'd ever need my Guardians to represent me."

It was smart of Kyoya to not insist that he can represent himself as all three of his Flame Types. He was good, but if he ever had to fight like that, even he could get exhausted or maybe even injured enough that he'd not be able to fight at his best for the third fight. Hopefully, it will never come to that. No one knows that Hibari is a Sky. They just have to keep being careful and the secret will be kept, like it has been for years.

"Do you know when the solution will be finished?" Reborn asks, figuring the previous topics are closed successfully. "And when Fon will come back?"

"What happened between you two, actually? Jiji never went into any details."

Reborn sighed, but told the story nonetheless. "It wasn't my proudest moment. We'd just became cursed infants, never to grow up, meant to die when these cursed trinkets dried us dry of Flames and life," he said, a hand grabbing onto the yellow Pacifier and trying to yank it off of him like millions of times he'd tried before and he didn't succeed this time any more than he had before. "I was angry, outraged, and for more reasons than one. Despite everything-" he meant the initial attempt at thralling them. "-Luce had been my friend and she had known it would happen and she had, without hesitation, led us like lambs to slaughter, to sacrifice us. I was cursed, I felt betrayed and I was angry like never before. Fon saw this. In his usual fashion, he kept a calm face but I didn't realize in that moment that it was just a facade. I snapped at him, said things I shouldn't have, things I didn't mean - I was lashing out, aiming to hurt. And I did. I hurt him. I saw it in his face, in his eyes. He never once tried to hurt me back, which only riled me up even more." He had to look away from this teenage Fon-lookalike because he actually felt his cold, black heart give a painful pang. The eyes were not the right color, but Kyoya could pass up as Fon's twin brother.

Then again, Kyoya was the son of Fon's actual twin brother. It made Reborn wonder, for a second, if Hibari got his eyes from his father or from his mother.

"In the end, I said something I knew he was dreading he'd hear from day one, when we started the whole thing: that he was nothing but a fling, that I'd never been serious about him, that he would have only been another notch on the belt, that I would have left him as soon as he stopped being interesting, that he'd just been a challenge that had caught my attention. I have a reputation as a lady killer, you know. A womanizer, a playboy. I used to have a different person in my bed every night. And I used that to hurt him, to push him away. He didn't believe me, at first." Of course he hadn't! Reborn had been treating Fon like a thirsty man would a handful of water in the desert. It had been perhaps the first time he'd felt so deeply for another human being, be they male or female.

Which is why he had snapped out of his rage at the first hint of tears clinging to Fon's eyelashes when Reborn had finished reassuring him that he was telling the truth. He'd had to turn away, or else his heart would break. He hadn't been in the mood to deal with someone else's problems at that time. How selfish of him, he would reflect time and time again in the years to come, would still think to this day when he remembered that day. Even now, as he was telling all of this to his new Sky, the thought was there, as was the regret. The only thing Reborn truly regrets and will ever regret, probably. It's the one thing he can't fix on his own, after all.

"I'm not so sure he doesn't believe me now."

"If he truly believed you to be irredeemable," Hibari started and Reborn found himself looking back to him before he could even register that he was doing so. Seeing the look on Kyoya's face was strange. The look in his eyes was gentle but the rest of his expression was severe, protective. "He wouldn't have told me, his last family member, his most precious person, the eye of his Storm, his Sky, his only nephew, so much about you. And it was mostly good things. Any complaints he had were said with such a kind and fond voice, with such sad bitterness that you'd treat him the way you did in the end, that I could tell, even without our bond, that he still cares for you. However," the Cloud-Mist-Sky continued as he deliberately slowly put down his cup of tea, making the gesture threatening instead of casual. A spike of killing intent spread over them, making the other people in the cafe gasp or flinch as though a cold gust of wind had just hit them full power in the face, and then it was reined in, but the message it sent was clear. "I want my uncle to be happy. He may care for you and you may make up, but you will still hold the power to rip his heart to shreds again. And whether you are my Sun or not, no matter if he's my Storm or not or whether I do or don't have Sky Flames, Fon is my uncle, my family, first and foremost. I will not hesitate to dispose of you if you hurt him like that again."

Reborn couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride he really had no right feeling. He hadn't trained or raised this boy. He had only recently even entered his life! But the protectiveness he had just witnessed ... The love ... The resolve ... Well, it was a secondhand pride for Reborn - that he was sure Fon would be feeling right now, but because Fon wasn't there, Reborn was gladly feeling it for him. And he was also so incredibly happy that Fon had someone who cared so much about him, who loved him to the point that he'd rip apart his own sanity and risk his own life by trying to remove Reborn, the world's greatest hitman, his Sun and bonded Guardian, from the picture.

The hitman gave his Sky a wry but somehow also happy smile. "Don't worry. I won't waste my second chance with Fon and I definitely won't hurt him, ever, in any way again. Treating him the way I had was the worst thing I've done in my life-" And that's saying something, as he's a hitman for hire, usually loyal only to the highest bidder, even if he did have some sort of 'contract' with Vongola these days, mostly based on favors or just taking their requests into consideration first above other jobs. "-and I fully plan on making up for it, if he would let me."

"I guess that's a good enough start," the younger conceded and nodded to him, once again relaxed and as carefree as can be. "I could call him back and have Kawahira stay with Talbot for a while if you want. To talk with him, I mean. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

The fedora wearing infant hesitated, because he would love it if he could see Fon as soon as possible, to finally clear up the air between them, to apologize for his behavior on The Fated Day. But Fon was also in the middle of something important. "How long will making the solution take?"

"At least a couple of months more," the prefect said, leaning forward so he can rest his elbow against the tabletop and then leaning on a propped up hand. "Gathering the materials, preparing the raw 'ingredients' for what Talbot needs them to do, making a working prototype will take some time. Then it needs to be tested, to see if it works, if it truly holds the same Fiamma Voltage levels without further input. And when it's vetted by both Fon and Kawahira, he'll make the actual 'product', so to say. So it definitely won't be done for a while longer." He considered Reborn for a moment. "He won't be required to stay constantly with Talbot for now. The testing won't start anytime soon so an active Arcobaleno isn't needed yet to test the devices out. He can come for a short visit. For now, he's literally just acting as a bodyguard and a companion for Talbot. And, well, making sure he doesn't run with the data we'd given him, anyway, since his loyalty is first 'to the Vongola'."

"Would he really take the information and sell it?"

"Seeing as the Vongola Rings are made from the same ore as the Pacifiers? Most certainly. Especially if he can pass on the technology of Animal Rings, the key to which Kawahira had given him to make them stable."

Reborn frowned. "Perhaps we shouldn't leave him unsupervised, even for a second." If it meant he can't see Fon and make up with him until the solution is finished, so be it. Keeping the secret of the Pacifiers and the Arcobaleno is more important. Keeping an eye on the solution is definitely far more important. And perhaps, if Talbot wants to really tie their hands, keeping Kyoya's secret tertiary Flames is far more important.

"Kawahira would transport him here and replace him during the visit," Kyoya reassured in a slightly dismissive manner. "He wouldn't mind. And even if he can't, one of the Vindice would be free. They're in on this, too, remember?"

Actually, Reborn had honestly forgotten, which should be ridiculous and impossible because how can someone forget that they were in the presence of a teenager who had so casually said he was working with Checkerface, the Vindice and the man that had once been Vongola Primo's technician of sorts? The teenager who was Checkerface's only other compatible Sky! Reborn's Sky! A teenager who was so beyond unique it wasn't even funny.

"So, do you want me to call him? Or do you want to meet Kawahira first?"

"... Yes."