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?
Kyoya noticed almost immediately that something wasn't right about his own Cloud Battle.
No, it wasn't the set up. The 'stage' actually excited him, as it made the whole thing a lot more like a real battle, based on luck, skill, awareness, strategy and strength. And, best of all, he had to rely solely on himself, just how he liked it. And, with Sawada Tsunayoshi absent from the cheering squad, they were actually a lot more subdued, though he did overhear them taunting the Varia about his strength.
He would never understand herbivores and their need to brag about such things, especially as it wasn't even their own strength, but rather his. Though he could guess their relief and elation to have him be their 'Ace', as they called him. Usually, whenever he was involved, it was an indisputable victory. For himself. And in this case, them as well, as he was 'on their side' or whatever.
But the truth was that something about his opponent made him ... wary. There was just something ... not right about 'Gola Mosca'.
It was clear it was a robot. Only someone blind would think anything else, but there was just something there that was tickling his Sky just so and made him uneasy, of all things. It made him glad that he had actually listened to his Sun and put on Roll's Animal Ring tonight instead of leaving it at home or just keeping it in a pocket. He actually wasn't sure where Reborn was at the moment, but he figured he was with the little animal, probably training him in case something goes wrong tonight or the Varia don't follow the rules and try something when they, inevitably, lose.
He guessed he could worry about that later.
For now, he had a robot hurtling at him at high speed as soon as the beginning of the match sounded. Not that the torrent of ammunition, nor the speed at which Gola Mosca was moving, could match his training sessions with Fon and Reborn. Fon was far faster and Reborn simply did not miss, nor did he need that long to shoot as many shots as Gola Mosca was, even if it was an automated weapon.
Hell, the robot went down in two swings, the helm denting far too easily and cracking one of its optics beyond repair while he was able to rip one of its entire arms off with the same easy one would snap a single twig.
Really, he was insulted. This had been an utter waste of time.
Looking down at the Vongola Cloud Ring, though, the alarms in his head refused to quiet down. Not yet.
No, something else was still brewing.
Looking up to the smugly smiling Monkey King when he thought he felt someone dare tug at his Cloud, playfully, provocatively, rudely, demandingly, he felt his ire rise, even if he showed it neither in his Flames nor any part of his body.
'So, the Monkey King wants to play, huh? Tch, herbivore.' Kyoya accepted the invitation nonetheless. He wasn't one to back down, especially not when someone dared to disrespect him in his own Namimori.
He didn't listen to whatever bullshit the man spouted after he got over the surprise of Kyoya far too easily blocking his kick from above with a single tonfa. Herbivores did not deserve the privilege of being listened to by carnivores, especially herbivores trying to play at being carnivores on a carnivore's territory. It wasn't that Xanxus of the Varia was a weakling, though, he just wasn't all that interesting. He was fairly swift on his feet, but after growing up with Fon and being trained by him, almost everyone felt like they were moving in slow motion when he was fighting someone because rare few can actually match the uncle and nephew's speed and Xanxus was simply not one of them. He was dexterous, but he lacked a lot of Cavallone's grace in his movements. The way he held his hands at his sides indicated that he was actually a gunman, but unlike Reborn, Kyoya knew he relied more on brute strength of his Flames enhancing his shots rather than Reborn's perfect precision, Sun-Flames-homing missiles or not. And his Flames weren't even a match for the little animal's.
Really, Kyoya wasn't impressed.
Especially when Xanxus broke his 'promise' - a taunt at Kyoya, really, and an unsuccessful one; Kyoya wasn't fighting him because he'd managed to get under his skin. No, Kyoya wanted to kick him out of Namimori so indisputably defeated that the man would never dare come back and cause a disturbance in Namimori's peace and discipline again and would spread the word that a Skylark was ruling here back in Italy so that the Vongola will finally just fuck off from his territory - and had to use both a hand and his Flames to defend himself from a simple tonfa attack after a little dance across the mine field while avoiding the torrent guns.
Such a herbivore.
Still, Kyoya saw something a bit like an impressed look in Monkey King's eye, mixed in with something that looked a lot like indignant regret and that was the first sign that whatever was not right was about to get really not right and cause chaos and idiocy.
The second was his Sky Flames suddenly screaming in his head like his intuition has never before and it had Kyoya whirling around from his lock with Xanxus barely in time to summon his Flames from within to block the plasma cannon shot that would have surely severely injured his thigh. The night lit up a beautiful violet, for a long moment, as both the Vongola Cloud Ring and his Animal Ring reacted to his Flames and their intensity. Roll manifested in front of him as a half-spherical spiky shield just in time to block the second attack coming from a clearly-not-quite-done Gola Mosca on a rampage while the wave of energy from the Vongola Ring sent Xanxus flying straight through the metal wire wall before the Monkey King could dare even think to attack him from behind.
Kyoya looked down at the piece of the Trinisette in his hand for a long moment before deciding he'd deal with it properly later, for now just placing it on his middle finger next to where Roll's Animal Ring usually rested.
"Roll," he called to his partner and Roll formed in a proper sphere in front of him, greeting him with a happy "Kyuu~!" that always threatened to make him smile. "Multiply and get the others to safety." After all, they were students of Nami-chuu and Chrome was here, with her's and the pineapple's two idiot herbivores, thus they were all his responsibility and his priority.
The little hedgehog didn't hesitate for a second, sending multiple copies of itself to protect the other teenagers from harm, even going as far as protecting the Cervello and the Varia from the indiscriminate destruction being rained down on them and Kyoya was once again grateful he had managed to get these idiots to relocate where the battles were happening because he would have killed them if this had happened at Namimori Middle School. The original of Roll stayed with Kyoya as he debated whether he should bite to death Xanxus or the robot first. Both were such tempting targets ...
But then Sawada Tsunayoshi flew in from above and drew Mosca's attention away from where it had been trying to get past Roll to get to Chrome and the others, so he turned his attention to the Monkey King, who looked a bit unsteady on his feet from the unexpected, uncontrolled and unadulterated blast of pure Cloud Flames but his eyes were sharp.
Kyoya lifted his tonfa. Xanxus glared and lit his fists with that strange color of Sky Flames, tempered by something more than just his secondary Storm. They charged. They clashed. Roll kept Kyoya's back safe when Gola Mosca's attacks got too close to him, which allowed for his and Xanxus' deadly dance to go uninterrupted.
"Why would someone like you serve that unworthy brat!?" The older male exclaimed at some point between their exchange of blows where Kyoya kept preventing him from reaching for the guns he could see peeking from beneath his jacket.
Hibari scowled at his words, even more offended than when he saw what his opponent was meant to be. "I serve no one but my own will." A rare reply for him in the midst of battle. He made up for it by kneeing the taller man in the gut before releasing spikes and chains with weights on the other end, also spiked, before charging back at the Varia leader. Unfortunately, this had given Xanxus just enough of an opening to pull out one of his guns and Kyoya had to coat the chains with Cloud Flames and spin them as fast as he can to create a shield of sorts in front of himself to counter the seriously powerful blast from the gun.
The gun that he recognized was actually a Vongola relic that had belonged to Vongola Settimo. A gun made to specifically channel Dying Will Flames and make them stronger in condensed bullet form not entirely unlike the bullets Reborn occasionally uses. Kyoya only had a feeling Xaxnus' had stronger Flames than Settimo had, which meant his attacks through this strategy were even stronger.
Roll immediately rushed down to block the next hit, propagating in size with each hit from Xanxus' gun in an attempt to appear more intimidating. Meanwhile, Kyoya scaled the Spiked Sphere on the other side to the top without the Varia leader ever noticing, too preoccupied as he was with trying to burst Roll like a bubble. Only that might have worked for the propagation 'clones' guarding the others and occasionally popping like a balloon from the plasma cannon's attacks, but it won't work on Roll's original body. Not with the amount of Flames Kyoya had fed him.
As soon as he was on top, he let Cloud Flames spread thicker over the metal of his tonfa before jumping down. No battle cry, no clue that he was coming. He wasn't an idiot. He actually managed to land a hit and he heard how Xanxus' clavicle, first and second rib and even a good part of his left shoulder blade cracked and shattered under his hit. To the man's credit, he only let out a single loud grunt of pain, but he stumbled and Kyoya has never been known to be merciful, nor will he start now. Besides, a kick to the head only sent him sprawling, he wasn't even unconscious, so he was actually a bit merciful because a tonfa hit as Kyoya was right now would have killed him and Kyoya had no desire to start a war with the Varia and, inevitably, Vongola over the death of the Monkey King.
Not over him.
And not yet, anyway.
Breaking the Arcobaleno curse was, after all, his absolute priority.
It's around this same time that he felt that tingling in his Sky intuition again, so he had Roll shrink back to an actual hedgehog he could far more easily hide just in time to see the aftermath of Sawada Tsunayoshi's fight and victory against the piece of scrap metal. Reborn was back, too, so there was a little wave of relief that washed over him when they locked eyes and a tension he had not even perceived until it was gone bled out of him. Kyoya did a quick stock of his own injuries, as well as the current state of well-being of his and the other herbivores and deemed them to have all escaped this chaos relatively unscathed. He quickly called back all the remaining Roll spheres and the cute Cloud hedgehog returned to his Animal Ring, now resting finger by finger, side by side with the Vongola Cloud Ring and ... cooing? ... contently? because, it would seem, the Vongola Ring was feeding him Cloud Flames even when Kyoya wasn't. Which is ... interesting and should be later investigated.
But everyone's attention suddenly returned to Gola Mosca when it made one final attempt to kill the little animal and alarm bells rang in Kyoya's skull once more.
"Sawada, no!"
But it was too late to warn him.
Gloves already burning with intense Sky Flames, Sawada Tsunayoshi, without hesitation, sliced through Gola Mosca, finally defeating the robot but also revealing what, or rather who, exactly, has been causing Kyoya's tertiary Flames to be so confused and wary.
Timoteo Vongola lay, tied up and gagged, in the ruins of the death machine, hooked up to be nothing more than a simple living Flames-battery for the robot. Battered, bruised, ill and a little bloodied, he looked nothing like an intimidating, powerful mafia boss and actually looked like he might breathe his last breath right there.
Kyoya internally swore as chaos ensued.
00000
Reborn was livid.
Kyoya could easily see that, even without their bond.
The hitman has been as such since last night and it was actually causing the prefect to suffer a headache and an inability to fall back asleep ever since the Sun Arcobaleno had walked into his room after his doctor visited him for a checkup earlier that morning.
Really, Kyoya was fine. He had just come to the hospital so he could appease Reborn and Tsuyoshi-jii and, after jiji heard, also, him as well when he called and Kyoya could easily hand the phone over to their family doctor. Jiji was, thankfully, still with Talbot and will stay there for a couple of more weeks as they test the Solution and Tsuyoshi-jii had left his room to bother Yamamoto Takeshi. Tetsu had dropped by to give him some paperwork and wish him a swift recovery and return and even Bucking Horse had stopped by with an apology for not having been there to help when things went to shit, bringing a bouquet of pretty flowers with him, most of which had symbolism in apologies, promises to do better and, oddly enough, affection.
The single red rose confused him, though, as red roses symbolized romantic love, but before he could ponder that, Reborn had walked in and done his own cursory analysis with his warm, pretty Sun Flames - both of his Arcobaleno Guardians had such pretty Flames that, had he been a lesser man, Kyoya might have actually been a bit jealous; as it is, be much prefers his Cloud, likes his Mist well enough and even appreciates his Sky (definitely more than certain people seem to think) - before he finally settled for fuming and planning revenge on Xanxus.
And Kyoya really just wanted to go back to his nap. He was not injured - Roll would never allow that, even if Kyoya were to slip up enough to miss an incoming attack of any kind - and he was, perhaps, more than grateful for his Sky Flames even if they were a bit of an inconvenience now as he's bombarded by his Guardians' worry and even Chrome's nervousness a few doors down. Reborn is currently the one doing most of the fretting, even if most of it was smothered down by his rage and the fuming desire for revenge. Kyoya was not interested in such herbivorous bullshit, but he let Reborn fume as long as it takes for him to calm down. He's not even sure why Reborn is so angry. He'd thought the aged Vongola boss was an annoyance to the hitman, but it seems he still held some sort of respect, at the very least, for the man? Were they friends? He had to resist a scowl at yet another reminder of just how little he knew about his newest Guardian.
"What's with that look?" Reborn suddenly said and the triple Flame user blinked, looking up at the Sun Arcobaleno. The rage was replaced with worry in those big black eyes and the little fake-infant frame was tense for a whole different reason. Kyoya had to beat down the raising orange fire from deep within him when it tried to reach out and comfort his Guardian in the one way only a Sky can. No, neither of them needs that. Not now and probably not ever. "Are you in pain? Should I get a doctor? Wait, you have me - you don't need a doctor. Let me just-"
"I'm fine," Hibari cuts him off, shooing the hitman's hand away. The action causes sunlight to catch and reflect off of his new accessory and he pauses, looking down at the now whole Vongola Cloud Ring. The Ring that had, at one point, belonged to Alaude, the first Cloud Guardian of the Vongola and the first westerner to marry into the Hibari Clan. Or, well, to marry into the main family. The Hibari have been around for far too long and lived all over the world for him to be the only westerner to have been deemed worthy of becoming a Skylark. With him, he had brought both great knowledge and great drama, as all westerners seemed keen on doing.
Kyoya recalled how the Ring had reacted to his Flames, the pure wave of unadulterated Cloud Flames that pulsed and spread far more easily than any other conductor had ever managed. Not even Roll's Animal Ring reacted like that. It just showed how different, how special and powerful the pieces of the Trinisette actually were. And Vongola Nono, whether he knew it or not, wanted to just hand over such powerful relics to a bunch of children? Kyoya wouldn't trust a single one of them to keep themselves alive and/or safe, let alone sources of power the likes of which are one of the Ring sets of the Trinisette.
Kyoya had said he'd throw away the Cloud Ring after the battle and yet it's still here, resting on his finger. Glinting in sunlight, as if trying to entice him to keep it. As much his heritage as the Vongola's. Alaude was, after all, not just the first Cloud Guardian but also the man who had invented the Ring Battles, who had gone and sliced the Rings in two halves so that a suitable successor may be chosen by 'fate' - or rather, by strength and conviction and loyalty of the new prospective bosses and their Guardians.
The mere thought alone makes him want to hurl the Ring through his hospital room window. He is no one Cloud but his own. He serves no one but his own whims and goals. And most certainly not Sawada Tsunayoshi. Or any Vongola, for that matter. The Vongola and Hibari might have started off as tentative allies, between his clan offering Giotto di Vongola sanctuary and a new identity within Namimori's borders and even welcoming Alaude, also under a new name, within their midst, but those 'friendly' relations have cooled and lead to a war that had severely crippled Kyoya's family. He shouldn't keep this Ring. He should destroy it-
"Hibari Kyoya," a female voice says and both Cloud-Mist-Sky and Sun turn to see a Cervello standing at the open door, a pink envelope in her hand with the gold emblem of the Vongola proudly displayed at the top. Reborn bristles practically instinctively and Kyoya takes extra care to suppress his Sky Flames trying to reach out to his Sun. "We the Cervello invite you to participate in a free for all battle that is the Sky Match. The details are here." The pink haired young woman bows, envelope extended, clearly content to stand there until it is either rejected or accepted.
Sky and Element exchange a tense glance, both debating what this means, whether either of them should approve of this madness continuing.
But Kyoya knows he can't turn this down. Not because he wants to fight for Sawada Tsunayoshi or because he cares about the happenings of the Vongola. In fact, he couldn't care less.
What he does care about is that Chrome will be involved. Yamamoto Takeshi will be involved. Nami-chuu students will be involved, Namimori citizens will be involved. Namimori belongs to the Skylarks. It is a Hibari's duty to protect this city and to protect its inhabitants.
Kyoya absolutely refuses to be the first ever Skylark to fail in this ages old duty.
So he will fight. He will fight and he will defend those dumbass herbivores that attend his school.
Besides, he wants a rematch with that stupid Monkey King.