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?

Reborn was not pleased with how long it took his group to finally round themselves up and head out towards the Namimori Temple. (belonging to none other than the Hibari Clan, not that any of these kids besides Kusakabe knew, anyway.) He can both understand the reason why they had dallied and was very frustrated with it.

First, they had had to catch Lambo and I-Pin and find where Fuuta had wandered off to before even going home, which ate up about an hour of their day. By that point, Kusakabe was already sweating, probably eager to go back to his Chairman with a job well done, but Tsuna's group of friends was never going to make things easier for anyone.

Then, when they were all finally home, Sawada Nana presented them with lunch, which made everyone even less inclined to act like normal human beings and listen to the deadly hitman telling them what to do. Along with lunch, of course, came the drama with Bianchi and her poison cooking, her obsession with Reborn and, of course, Gokudera's usual reaction to seeing his sister's face. And there was even that one moment when Lambo had managed to activate the Ten Year Bazooka and had been replaced with his older self, who Bianchi then tried to kill because he reminded her of her ex, which led to a chase and a need to find Lambo all over again. There went another two hours.

Of course, by the time Reborn finally managed to get everyone to listen and explained everything in a way that the civilians (and Yamamoto) would think it was a game while Gokudera and Tsuna understood exactly what was going on, Tsuna decided to be difficult and said his mother had to go with them, too, which brought along a whole other problem. Since Iemitsu was in town, Nana didn't want to leave the house at all in case he came home so they can be all lovey-dovey again or some shit. Convincing her took another half an hour. By then, Kusakabe looked ready to cry. They had definitely wasted way too much time. And they continued wasting it as Tsuna said the others' parents need to be taken care of, too, in case things go south, which just made Reborn want to shoot him with a real, normal bullet even as he explained that no one had any real reason to attack a civilian unless they were aiming to land themselves in Vendicare, which no mafioso wants.

In the meantime, Shamal had arrived and then his and Bianchi's usual chase began, which really wasn't helping anything. Especially not Reborn's thinning patience. Thankfully, both the hitman and hitwoman were smart enough to recognize the rising killing intent radiating off of the Sun Arcobaleno and relented to going along with what he said. That didn't remove all the obstacles in their path. Kyoko and Haru had to call their parents to get their permission to hang out with so many boys and while the Sasagawas relented relatively easily given their son was also going to be there to watch over his younger sister, Nana had to reassure Haru's father that she would make sure the boys behaved and that the girls had a spectacular time.

Then came informing everyone where they were going and, well, while no one exactly knew about it, rumors had still reached far and wide that the temple belonged to Hibari and Tsuna 'was not suicidal enough' to let Reborn drag them into another confrontation with the prefect, especially not after they all saw what the Cloud could do during the Ring Battles. Reborn was actually a bit impressed that Tsuna was more scared of the head prefect than him, the world's greatest hitman and the person who daily put Tsuna through enough traumatizing shit that by the time he becomes Decimo there will be nothing capable of shocking him anymore. He takes it as a challenge to do better in the future lessons - if there were any after tonight, that is; who knows what state Timoteo will be left in after Kyoya is done with him - to make Tsuna fear him but lets it slide for now.

It's already dusk and they need to get to the temple as soon as possible.

They, of course, run into Basil on the way there, the little Rain boy having been looking for them this entire time because his master had asked it of him. It took less than five minutes for Reborn to figure out there is no way they can shake the kid off, so he resolves to let him come along. Kyoya no doubt has some sort of dungeon or holding cells for prisoners in his underground facilities. Reborn is slowly learning not to underestimate the Hibari, so he lets himself expect everything from them and, really, a dungeon isn't such a far-fetched guess, all things considered. They can knock Basil out, suppress his Flames so the Vongola can't track his signature and stuff him somewhere he can't escape from until this whole ordeal is over and done with. Kyoya won't hurt someone who looks so much like Tsuna, who he's already declared a 'small animal', which may as well be closest to a compliment anyone can get without being outright acknowledged.

Finally, they arrived at the temple, which had the foreigners all oohing and aahing, or puffing out in exhaustion after the long climb up the stone steps. Kyoya was waiting for them in front of the temple itself, dressed as he usually would be in his black gakuran, the jacket hanging around his shoulders. Kusakabe, of course, went straight for his Chairman, bowing in apology and for making the teen wait. Kyoya seemed only slightly annoyed, but mostly disinterested in them as a group at all, let alone for any of them in particular, though his eyes did longer on Yamamoto. Guess Tsuyoshi was already here, probably inside.

Kyoya nodded to Reborn when their eyes met before the Cloud-Mist-Sky turned to the 'herbivores' he'd summoned. "Listen up, herbivores. There are a few ground rules-"

"Who are you to set rules for Juudaime!?" Gokudera, predictably, interrupted in one of his passionate fits to defend Tsuna's honor while Tsuna himself looked ready to let the earth swallow him and never spit him back out because he'd rather not fight Hibari, now or ever.

Kyoya gave Gokudera the most bored deadpan look Reborn had ever seen and he had to suppress a smirk. "The owner of these lands and your only hope of avoiding an all out war, so show some respect, herbivore, or I will bite you to death. I will not accept this lack of discipline in my own home."

"Wow, you really do live here, Hibari? So cool!" Yamamoto said with one of his signature laughs and Kyoya's hands started to twitch. Ah, Hibari was close to actually biting them all to death because his annoyance keeps mounting. Better step in now. (He completely ignored Tsuna now being too preoccupied with chunking I-Pin far away so the explosion she will cause out of embarrassment from being around her crush won't disrupt them all or, heavens forbid, annoy Kyoya even more, especially if they break something. Heh, Reborn was pretty sure not even he could defend his student and his Family if that were to happen, mostly because he wouldn't care to. You don't go breaking someone's things in their own house.)

"You were talking about ground rules, Hibari?"

Kyoya stayed quiet for about three seconds before nodding, apparently having calmed down his urges to cause bodily harm. "As I was saying, there are ground rules you will have to follow. No breaking things, going into locked rooms even if you know how to pick locks - though I wouldn't recommend trying it at all, even if it wasn't a rule; this place has maximum security and you don't want to find out what that means by my standards - or touching stuff that may be behind glass cabinets. You have several rooms you are allowed to do whatever you like in as long as you don't outright destroy them. Do try not to kill each other off in the facilities, it is always a pain to have to clean it up. Using Flames inside is forbidden unless you are defending your lives or have explicit permission from Reborn, Kusakabe Tetsuya or Yamamoto Tsuyoshi. Don't go snooping around. Don't crowd around the room that has my name on it. That sign is there to give you a warning that you will be bitten to death if you act like herbivores around it. If you want to fight, do it in the training rooms, not anywhere else. Tetsu will give you a tour. The final rule you have to obey is not to leave the facility until I give you my say so."

"Why you-!?"

"Thank you very much for your generosity, Hibari-san!" Tsuna was quick to speak before his Storm could provoke Hibari into taking out his tonfa, ensuring a painful end for all those who stood in his way. "We'll do our best not to bother you too much!"

"See that you do, little animal."

"Sawada-dono," Basil spoke up hesitantly. "Are thou certain we should commit to this excursion? It mayhaps be more dangerous than thou may first think!"

"Reborn said something big is coming and that we shouldn't get involved and Hibari-san has agreed to house us until it's resolved, Basil! We can't turn his generosity down, especially since he's going to protect all of us!" Tsuna tries to reassure with a smile, not realizing that Basil himself was a part of that something Kyoya was trying to make sure they don't get involved with.

"But there's no need for you to be protected, Tuna-fishy!" Reborn felt his eyebrow twitch at the obnoxiously familiar voice, all of them turning around to grace Sawada Iemitsu with their attention. He wasn't alone, of course. He had two CEDEF agents with him, of course, but they also weren't the only ones there. The entirety of the Varia highest ranking officers were there, as well as the underlings they'd taken to Japan, along with Timoteo Vongola, the Ninth boss, and his complete Guardian set.

Those were expected.

The unexpected ones were Dino Cavallone and his men, all of them looking uncomfortable but resigned. Dino in particular even looked mournful and Reborn knew immediately that the blond had been roped into this by merits of the decades long alliance between the Cavallone and the Vongola. And with the Cavallone having been relatively recently in some serious debts, Dino couldn't afford to make an enemy out of Vongola, even if it meant going against his first ever student whom he seemed to have gotten rather attached to.

Damn it.

Damn Vongola.

"Dad!? What are you doing here!? And the Varia!? And Kyuudaime!? Shouldn't you still be resting!? Are you okay? And Dino-san, I thought you might have left for Italy already? What's going on?" Tsuna asked in rapid succession and Dino only looked more grim when he was addressed. He didn't say anything.

In fact, the first to speak up was Nono's Sun Guardian, Nie Brow Jr. Reborn had never liked that guy. "I healed Don Vongola, to answer one of your questions, though it is really of no true interest to you, not yet, Decimo."

"As for why we're here, Tuna-fishy," continued Iemitsu fake-cheerily, only to be cut off by Xanxus.

"The feral trash refused the Cloud Vongola Ring and these old fucks decided to take it as a personal insult or something-"

"You will show your betters some respect," barked out chidingly Nono's Cloud, Visconti. He and Kyoya had already zeroed in on each other and were sizing the other up. Reborn had to check himself before he blatantly stepped in between them or, better yet, just shot the man clean between the eyes to end his misery. "Though I can see why you would dub him as feral. There is nothing refined about this little Skylark."

"Check your own weak Flames before you dare address me, herbivore," Kyoya replied smoothly, eyes glinting a little.

"Don't engage him, Visconti," the Mist Guardian, Croquant Bouche, instructed when said Cloud looked ready to snap back at Kyoya again. "You will lose that battle and we all know it. His Flames are overwhelming."

"Truly a Hibari, then," commented with a hum Coyote Nougat, the Storm Guardian and Timoteo's right hand man. "I thought they were all eradicated when their foolish leader led them into a war they could not win if all of them were to have the same battle potency as this little Cloud."

"Everyone thought that," hummed casually Brabanter Schnitten, his Rain Flames curiously curling around Yamamoto in inspection of who exactly it was that has inherited the Vongola Rain Ring. "It is why we approached the Sawadas again. It is only logical to move in and take this neutral zone now that it was no longer under Skylark protection."

"Except it always was, wasn't it, Hibari-kun?" Timoteo says with a seemingly benign smile directed at Kyoya, who looks offended that the old man thought he would fall for the friendly act. "I do apologize for encroaching on your territory like this-"

"I do not appreciate the 'better to ask forgiveness than permission' attitude you and yours have taken upon entering my Namimori," Kyoya interrupts, shocking just about everyone with his daring and rudeness, but the triple Flame user is just about as fazed as ever, which is to say not at all. "I do not care who you are in the west. Here, in the east, the Hibari rule and you would do well to remember that, to remind yourself of that fact. Or did you forget your mother's struggles against my Clan?"

"If I do remember correctly, the Hibari have-"

"Won, yes, though with heavy losses on both sides, losses that might be considered almost critical considering the differences in our numbers for our side, but the Skylarks most definitely won." Silver-blue eyes glinted dangerously. "For any Skylark taken down, the Vongola had lost twenty capable warriors and enough resources that you yourselves had to hide how far you have fallen into debt for years afterwards by the time the fighting stopped." There were a few gasps here and there. Damn, not even Reborn had known about that!

"You are the last of your kind, though, so I say the true winner is clear," Timoteo replied, but he no longer sounded like a kind old grandpa as he usually did. No, his stance has changed, too, as has the look in his eyes. It was cold and sharp as steel blades.

"Indeed," Kyoya said back casually. "It is not us who ran, after all. It is not us who needs an army to face down a single child."

"And when that child is removed, the Vongola-Hibari war will finally be over," concludes Nono with a decisive nod. "Or you could admit that you are overpowered and just accept the harmony and serve Tsunayoshi-kun, as you are meant to. Like Alaude had served Giotto di Vongola. You and Tsunayoshi-kun look just like them."

"Tsu-kun, Anata, what's going on?" Nana asked a bit fearfully when Sawada's men took out guns, clearly already aware where this confrontation will lead to. Yamamoto and Gokudera moved to protect Tsuna while Shamal and Bianchi covered the kids, Nana and the girls. Ryohei looked confused as hell but prepared to fight too, anyways. "What war? Why would anyone declare war on Hibari-san? He's our protector!"

'Spoken like a true Namimori citizen, eh?'

"Tetsu, get the herbivores down into the bunker," Kyoya ordered, even as he moved closer and then past the group of his schoolmates so he was standing protectively in front of them. His tonfa were out before anyone could even blink and that had Belphegor suddenly going 'Ushishishi' and drawing his own weapons out, knives glinting threateningly in the setting sun and the darkness that was settling over them already. Xanxus made no move to engage Kyoya, though he looked tempted, and the rest of the Varia remained inactive until their leader tells them otherwise. Dino and his men just stood to the side and waited for orders, clearly not suicidal enough to engage Hibari unless they had to.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, please do not go," Timoteo said, eyes still locked on the Skylark. "He is the enemy of our famiglia. You cannot trust him unless he gives himself to you."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Complained Tsuna. "If he's an enemy and can't be trusted, why would I trust him even if he did agree to be my Guardian!?" Logical question. Good for Tsuna! That dame dame student of his was finally starting to think properly!

"Harmony would ensure that he obeys and is loyal," states Coyote casually, as though he is not talking about a form of slavery on a soul-deep level that even the Vindice were utterly disgusted by and made it outlawed. "It is what harmony is for where Clouds are concerned. It is the only way to truly trust them." Vsiconti looked away at that, making it clear that's what his own fellow Guardians and Sky thought, too, and that, to them, he was no more than an attack dog. Yet he stayed. not that he could have left and stayed away for long, not if he wanted his mind intact.

Maybe there's a truly damned good reason why Kyoya could not have a Cloud at all besides being 100% compatible with his own primary Flames. And maybe there's a good reason why his primary and tertiary Flames are perfect for each other whereas he has space for more Mists. Kyoya would never be a 'good' Cloud. He's a desirable Cloud, but not a good one, not by mafia standards; because Kyoya would fight the harmonization until he broke it and broke the minds of the entire Guardian set and then their bodies, too, all the while he stayed unaffected because there's rarely anyone with Flames like his in any color so he'd have no one to truly fight to break free. Kyoya is, indeed, a 'feral' Cloud. He is untamable.

He is not a bird that can be put into a gilded cage.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, take your herbivores and follow Kusakabe Tetsuya. Now."

"No," Timoteo says commandingly, his Flames lashing out and trying to force Tsuna's into submission. The kids all staggered under the force of the Flames, gasping as though they couldn't get air into their lungs and Reborn grit his teeth as rage slowly started simmering to the surface as the harmonization started trying to take hold on them all, himself included. Didn't dear ol' Timmy learn his lesson by now? Tch. Maybe it's time that he got it, full disclosure. "You will stay and fight for your famiglia until the threat to the Vongola is removed once and for all."

Reborn felt the instincts born from the Guardian-Sky bond flare within him and his own Flames sang that he get on with it and start killing these people, who were threats to his Sky, but Kyoya moved first by spreading his Cloud and Mist Flames combined to fill the air with neutrality so Tsuna and his friends can't be thralled. There was barely a wisp of Sky Flames mixed into the Flame concoction so it could combat Timoteo's Sky Flames and Reborn felt a swell of pride at how easily Kyoya was manipulating his least liked Flames with such precision and subtlety that not even Vongola Hyper Intuition could pick up on it. The deceiving Mist and the overwhelming Cloud helped in that, of course.

"You dare do such a despicable thing in my presence? I should kill you right this instant," Kyoya said chillingly. "Forced harmonization is forbidden by Vindice law. Especially in neutral zones and especially on civilians. Namimori is not only a neutral zone, it belongs to the Hibari and the Hibari alone. That you dared try that on any of my herbivores ... "

"Enough talk, boy," Visconti said with a huff. "I guess it was a good thing that you've rejected this Ring, then, if your Flames are already this strong." The man said as he put on the Vongola Cloud Ring Basil had, essentially, been in charge of safekeeping all this time. Visconti fed Flames to it and violet fire lit on the Ring. It was nothing like how the Ring had reacted to Kyoya using it and the intensity of Flames wasn't nearly on the same level. "Prepare yourself. I do not enjoy killing a child, but needs must."

"Know your place, herbivore," Kyoya said before the two Clouds suddenly clashed. Visconti was using a mace that clanged heavily against Kyoya's retractable tonfa and both weapons were lit with Cloud Flames. This is where rings of any kind were useful, as they acted as conductors and made drawing Flames outside of the body much easier. Kyoya's Flames were better in every way that mattered, but the Vongola Cloud Ring allowed for Visconti to draw on his much easier and just slightly faster, which made the clash unleash one hell of a shock-wave.

It knocked the girls over save for I-Pin - yes, even Bianchi was down - and Lambo and Ryouhei. Yamamoto and Gokudera somehow managed to remain standing and held on to Tsuna to keep him up, too, and Shamal was a trained hitman, but it soon proved to it having been better if they'd simply fallen over as the up until now silent and unmoving Lightning Guardian, Ganauche III, threw a Lightning-Flames-enhanced web at them, meant to both shock and keep out of commission. Yamamoto was not on steady enough feet to draw his Bat fast enough to turn it into a blade, but they needn't have worried at all as Hibari seemed to materialize in front of them all of a sudden and release those spikes on his tonfa and slash through the webbing as though it was spider web.

"What the-"

But Hibari was still fighting Visconti and yet there was now a Hibari standing in front of Tsuna and the others. Reborn had to blink a few times to ensure it wasn't Fon he was seeing in Hibari's clothes, but no, it was definitely Hibari. The eyes weren't right, though. They weren't brown, obviously, but they also weren't the silver-blue of his Sky.

They were indigo and glowing.

A displeased hiss sounded seconds before another Hibari slammed Nie Brow Jr, who had been advancing on the girls, into the ground hard enough that they all heard the telltale sound of broken ribs. That Hibari's hand grabbed the Sun's head and Mist Flames flared, knocking the man out in an instant. That Hibari stood to his feet with feline grace before taking up a defensive stance in front of the girls again.

'Just what is going on here!?' Reborn couldn't help but think even as yet another Hibari appeared just in time to engage the all-too-eager-to-fight Belphegor, even as, at that exact same moment, Mammon called out.

"They're Mist illusions! Belphegor, get back here!"

Belphegor did not listen and instead sent knives careening straight at the charging Hibari No 3, but instead of the knives just flying through the supposedly clone, that version of Kyoya deflected them with a swipe of his materializing tonfa.

"Are you sure of that, Mammon? Ushishishi! No matter. The Prince will take care of thi-"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence as yet another Hibari drop kicked him from the left, sending him flying across the courtyard of the temple and slamming into a tree, where he remained, dazed but still holding onto consciousness.

"The Arcobaleno is right," Vongola's Mist supported Mammon. "They are some sort of solid illusions. I will dispel them immediately," he reassured before taking out a fan, of all things, and waving it around a bit before sending out his own Mist Flames in a wave in an attempt to display whatever it was that Kyoya was doing.

It worked, for about a few seconds. Just long enough for everyone to see the Hibari Clones to transform into the cutest black cat Reborn has ever seen, but it's eyes were the exact same shade as the indigo that was Mist Flames and Reborn immediately understood, his head whipping over to where Kyoya was fighting Vsiconti still, though now he was using chains that kept propagating in length and retracting as he skillfully maneuvered them to finally catch the older Cloud and immobilize him.

There, on the middle finger of his left hand, was a ring that glowed with indigo Flames. A Mist Animal Ring. Hadn't Fon said they finally managed to get more of those Animal Rings out of Talbot? Was this the power of the Animal Rings? He'd only briefly seen what Roll can do not so long ago, but this was slightly different. Probably because it was a different Flame attribute.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Levi from the Varia asked incredulously and warily, already reaching for his parabolas but Xanxus was apparently also already done waiting, as he fired from one of his guns straight at Kyoya, not holding back.

Reborn also immediately fired, his shot easily intercepting Xanxus', because let's be honest: Xanxus was way too green to even be thinking of competing with Reborn.

"Finally biting the hand that's been feeding you, old man's pet?" Taunted the Varia leader once those garnet eyes settled on Reborn.

"I was never a pet and you would do well to remember that," Reborn said in his dead serious voice, letting out just the tiniest bit of his killing intent to show which mode was active. Only a fool within the mafia world wouldn't notice a hitman getting ready to go in for the kill.

Xanxus noticed but scoffed, anyway, clearly still thinking that Reborn would follow Vongola rules just because he was ensuring Tsuna doesn't end up dead in this shitstorm. "You were never anything more than a pet, hitman. A lap dog eager to please, to follow orders like any other mutt the second you got whiff of half decent Sky Flames. Though, now that I think about it, is that why you protect that brat? Because he's Vongola but doesn't have a bonded Sun yet? Pathetic, truly."

Reborn didn't rise to the bait. He's been in this business way too long and heard much, much worse bullshit thrown at him, though a part of him did want to tear Xanxus apart for daring to suggest such things about him. He's spent freelance and unbonded this long for a reason, not to mention that he did actually have a Sky of his own now and Kyoya was nothing like Tsuna. Tsuna will be a great Sky for his obviously traditional Elements, but Kyoya was the type of Sky Reborn needed. There was a reason they were perfect for each other, Flames wise.

Xanxus' taunting kind of distracted everyone from Coyote making a move of his own and before anyone could react, he fired from his hunting-grade, long-barreled gun, releasing a torrent of Storm-induced bullets. The girls, including Nana, screamed in fright and Lambo retreated into the Ten Year Bazooka, though his older self was of no more use than he had been before. Kusakabe gathered the kids and hid them behind him even as he did his best to make a shield of Lightning Flames to try and protect them and Reborn would have helped them had Xanxus and Levi not fired an attack on Kyoya again, who was now engaged in combat with Lussuria. Tsuna took some of the pills that would help him enter Hyper Dying Will Mode and started Zero Point Breakthrough in an attempt to protect his own Guardians, though he was too slow and seemed to be hesitating on which version he should use. Shamal tried to create a Mist barrier to stop the bullets, too, but Mammon undid it when Croquant couldn't match Shamal.

It was all happening too fast, too much was going on, Reborn couldn't focus on everyone. Bakamitsu was screaming at Coyote that those were his son and wife, how dare you bastard! but it was already too late and Nono ...

Nono was just watching them all with apathy as he upped the thrall to new levels in an attempt to disorganize them even more.

Just as Reborn thought he would have to watch his student get killed or mortally injured and his Sky maybe end up even worse-

"Kyuu~!"

The courtyard was filled with giant spiky spheres-

"I'll bite you to death!"