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?
Tsuna's cry was all that alerted Reborn to something being wrong but by the time he chanced a look, it was already too late.
There, using his own body as a shield, was a bloody Dino, Iemitsu's fucking pickax sticking through his left shoulder, clean from back to front as his former student stood between the Vongola's Young Lion and the Disciplinary Committee Chairman, who had turned around at Tsuna's call just in time to see it happen. To see Dino smile at him through the pain, clearly proud of himself and immensely relieved to have protected his first ever student, before the Cavallone boss slipped into unconsciousness and started falling to the ground. To see Iemitsu standing there, dumbfounded by what he had done, pickax still in hands, staring at the injured ally.
Just in time to catch his 'teacher' before he hit the ground.
The bloodlust was immediate from the young Skylark and Reborn wondered how he had missed his Sky becoming so attached to his 'Bucking Horse' in the short time the two have known each other.
The murderous intent washed over the temple grounds, going further and further and further, no doubt covering all of Namimori, strong enough to make the Suns and Levi who were attacking him stumble back. Roll was immediately there to put distance between them and his master and the new Mist cat charged Iemitsu until he had to fall back. Kyoya didn't even get up from the ground where he was cradling Dino carefully, applying Cloud Flames in an attempt to seal the wound.
Reborn knew he had to get there yesterday, but he'd forgotten one of the ... drawbacks of being bonded to a Sky.
A Sky's emotions can easily wash over the bond and affect their Elements.
In this case, it raised their bloodlust to the point that Tetsuya actually sent Basil, who charged at the second group he was escorting, through a couple of trees with a single, electrifying punch and Tsuyoshi ran Squalo clean through with his sword without an ounce of hesitation or mercy. Reborn barely managed to control himself and wrangle his murderous intent back enough so that he does not release a Chaos Shot powerful enough to wipe Namimori off of the face of the Earth. Kyoya would never forgive him if he did.
Even Mukruo was affected and Reborn wasn't sure if he and Chrome even actually shared even a link with Kyoya.
In short, Reborn didn't think he was in the right state of mind to use Sun Flames for healing and he actually wasn't sure if Kyoya would let him, based on the protective, defensive sphere created by his raging Cloud Flames. Kyoya was going to exhaust himself at this rate, between all the Flames he was so carelessly leaking and the way he was using them to 'heal' - more like close up by forcefully reconnecting the skin by propagating the cells until they were close and packed densely enough to touch and connect - big hole of a wound Iemitsu had left on Reborn's first student.
And speaking of Imeitsu, he seems to have managed to fight off the Mist cat from Kyoya's newest Animal Ring, but the thing kept multiplying and changing shape, assaulting him again and again until the man finally went down. Whether Sawada Iemitsu will live to see another day was up for debate. If he did, Reborn will personally make sure he doesn't.
Dino was his student, his dame-Dino!
And to cause such upset in his Sky ...
The Cavallone men finally drew weapons with intent and aimed them, without pause, at the Vongola. The Roll Spiked Spheres immediately started protectively circling the Arcobaleno and Tsuna's group, the hedgehog urging them to more quickly go into hiding in the safety bunker and, finally, even Tsuna picked up the pace and they all ran after Kusakabe towards the hidden entrance. The Arcobaleno rode on another Sphere and let it take them inside the temple, where it then stood guard at the door.
"Don't ignore me, old man's pet!" Xanxus yelled, releasing a truly devastating amount of Flames of Fury, but Reborn was also done with this shit and released an even stronger Chaos Shot, finally knocking the young man out of the air and out for the count. He then had to focus on helping the Mist cats protect the Cavallone when Coyote started shooting Storm Flames covered bullets at them. Kyoya was a strong Cloud. He has Dino covered. And a couple of Roll Spheres and one of the Hibari clones were still fighting his previous opponents.
It was all an easy enough situation to handle, with Tsuyoshi covering Squalo and Mukuro covering Bouche and Bermuda and Jaeger tying up the other, unconscious would-be fighters.
Except, overlooked by all the flashy and explosive fighting, Timoteo had managed to slip right under all of their radars until he was standing right outside of Kyoya's little Cloud Flames dome of protection, a Sky Flames covered hand already outstretched towards the Hibari. "Time to go to sleep, little Skylark," the old man said as ice started gathering over the violently thrashing Cloud Flames.
"NO!" All of Hibari Kyoya's Guardians present and the two Vindice, as well as Rokudo Mukuro, yelled when the ice of Zero Point Breakthrough started spreading. Reborn turned to run towards his Sky, already wondering if they would even be able to unfreeze Kyoya with Arcobaleno Pacifiers like the Varia had done with Xanxus with Vongola Rings and how he was going to explain all of this to Fon, when the ice suddenly stopped spreading.
In fact, it started receding.
The dome started pulsing.
With each pulse, the color changed, from that rich, beautiful, overwhelming violet, to the softer, gentler indigo before taking a sudden dive, disappearing for all of three seconds and returning brighter than ever, burning with a renewed vigor and defiance.
The new color was resplendent, truly beautiful and something in Reborn sang to see it released like this.
Sky Flames.
Kyoya's beautiful tertiary Sky Flames.
They were pulsing and flashing, in a very familiar manner, in fact, and Reborn suddenly realized what was happening. He couldn't help but laugh, because of course Hibari Kyoya wouldn't need him to actually teach him shit about his own Flames! Of course he'd learn with only that one demonstration during Tsuna's and Xanxus' fight! That's just who Hibari Kyoya is! No doubt the Flame control exercises have helped, but Kyoya had figured out how to do this all on his own! And this was, no doubt, the first time he was using it! Tsuna had needed quite a few tries to figure out the timing, but Hibari Kyoya was a born fighter. All Hibari were. Those battle instincts honed with Sky intuition and Kyoya was, as evidenced by the sight before them all, capable of executing Zero Point Breakthrough Revised perfectly.
Everyone stopped to stare. The fighting literally stopped so they could all stare at the Sky Skylark absorbing Timoteo Vongola's own Flames and taking them in as his own, as though Kyoya's weren't already terrifying enough. They all needed a moment to understand just what was actually going on, what they were seeing. Because they had all thought Kyoya to be a Cloud. A Cloud with a Mist secondary, at the very least.
None of them had detected the Sky hiding beneath it all, ready to spring forward when Kyoya needed it.
Nono seemed to be just as shocked, just as terrified as everyone else as it all sank in. He barely managed to wrangle his Flames back under his control and scramble away from Kyoya, who slowly lowered a now fully healed Dino to the ground, making sure he was as 'comfortable' as a person can be lying on dirt. Then Kyoya stood up. He didn't bother to pick up the tonfa he'd let go of during his little healing session with Dino. All Roll Spheres and Mist cats, clones or not, vanished except the ones standing guard over any of Kyoya's allies. Everyone disengaged from each other, almost all of them staring warily at the youngest of the two remaining Hibari.
Hibari's Guardians all gathered near the retreating Vongola Tenth generation and watched for what was about to happen. The Arcobaleno peaked through the windows of the temple.
Kyoya finally looked up from underneath his bangs, his usually silver-blue eyes completely overcome by the color of his Flames and glowing in the dark. The irises were violet, the edges were indigo and the pupils were glowing orange and pulsing, pulsing with power. It made even Xanxus take a wary step back.
The prefect raised his left hand towards his chest, showing off the third Animal Ring none of them had noticed. Reborn wasn't close enough to see its shape and design, but he didn't have to as it suddenly glowed with Sky Flames and a fiery bird sprang from it, flying in a circle around Hibari before hovering just behind him with a triumphant cry. Reborn was sure, if he were to be looking at his Sky from the front, Kyoya would look like he had wings. From where he was, though, he could only see the profile of the bird and make out that it was a skylark. Fitting.
"That's ... That's impossible," breathed Timoteo in barely a strangled whisper. "You ... I felt your Flames! You're a Cloud! Not a Sky!"
"Cloud is just my primary and preferred Flame," Kyoya said in the coldest tone Reborn had ever heard from his Sky so far. The glint in his eyes was truly murderous.
"You're a Mist secondary," Visconty said, clearly shaken. Bouche even nodded hesitantly, as though to confirm it.
"Indeed," came another voice in answer, similar to Kyoya's but still just different enough for it to make a world of a difference and Reborn spun around, eyes already widening just that tiniest bit he would allow. He had not heard that exact same voice in over ten years. The curse had changed it, just as it had changed its owner. But here Fon was now, exiting a rift in existence created by Kawahira with Lal at his side, both back to exactly how they had looked like on The Fated Day, save for the marks the failed Arcobaleno curse has forever left on Lal's skin. "But my nephew is also a tertiary Sky." Fon was smiling in a way that sent a shiver even down Reborn's spine, though that might not be entirely from fear. "He's also my Sky." The stance was the same one that usually meant someone's about to be decimated.
"But that means ... " Mammon/Viper whispered to themself, no doubt going pale as the realization hit.
"Reborn-senpai and Fon-senpai are completely compatible ... " Skull said nervously.
Verde just - very wisely - backed away from the window while Colonello was glued to it, wide blue eyes never leaving Lal's form as she stared right back at him, though Reborn couldn't see her expression.
"Kyoya-dono is not only the Sky of Akai Ame," Tsuyoshi said with a proud, bloodthirsty grin as the Varia and the Vongola started backing off, a whole new, other kind of fear washing over their faces. "Kyoya-dono is also the Sky of the two strongest Arcobaleno, the second compatible Sky of Checkerface and, apparently, a compatible enough and definitely preferred Sky of Rokudo Mukuro. Add to all of that that Kyoya-dono is a Hibari and is to inherit the Skylark network ... Do you really want to declare war on us, Vongola?"
Kyoya flicked his wrist and the Sky skylark immediately took flight, moving almost too fast to keep up with with only the naked eye, but soon enough, all of their opponents were frozen up to their necks in Zero Point Breakthrough. Damn. When Nono and Visconti tried to use their Flames - Visconti with the help of the Vongola Cloud Ring - the skylark swooped in again, petrifying the source of Flames into stone. The Vongola Ring clattered to the ground, unaffected simply by virtue of being a part of the Trinisette, and in true cat manner, the Mist cat snatched it up and brought it to Kyoya while the skylark circled them overhead with another victorious cry. The way the Sky Flames trailed after its tail, it actually looked more like a phoenix than a simple skylark, but Reborn figured it all made sense and that it was fitting. Nothing could represent a Sky Skylark better than a phoenix-like Sky skylark.
"Thank you, Onyx," Hibari said as he finally put on the Vongola Cloud Ring on his finger and released a little bit of his Flames through it. Visconti flinched back when he saw the difference between the strength in their Flames and how eagerly the Vongola Ring supported Kyoya.
"Midori tanabiku namimori no," a high pitched, familiar voice suddenly sang and they all looked up to see Hibird casually flying together with the flaming skylark as it sang. It felt like a victory anthem and Reborn couldn't help but laugh at how fitting it was. "Dai naku shou naku ga ii~!" The two birds took perch on either of Hibari's shoulders while the real, original Roll plopped down onto Hibari's head and the apparently named Onyx curled up against his leg, rubbing her head against his pants. "Hibari! Hibari!"
"Seems like I win. How boring," Kyoya said dispassionately while staring Nono down. The old man looked more shaken than that one time Reborn had held a gun to his head, which was rather impressive on Kyoya's part. Though, it could be the overall shock of finding out Timoteo had wanted to kill Reborn's Sky or that Reborn even had a Sky he respected enough to bond with. On top of that same Sky being the Storm Arcobaleno's Sky and nephew. Then there was Checkerface and, indeed, Mukuro and the Akai Ame and the fact that Kyoya was close enough to the Vindice for them to come assist him in a war that should have ended with Daniela Vongola. "I expected ... more from the mighty Clam."
"Show some respect to your betters," tried Coyote but he paled when Fon starte approaching, his Storm Flames - feeling to Reborn's senses just like the first time they'd met, all those years ago; free and unrestrained and wild, as much of a Skylark as his Cloudy nephew - whipping around him menacingly.
"Respect is earned, not demanded," the deadliest Storm in the world said serenely and all of the Arcobaleno and Tsuyoshi shuddered upon hearing that tone. "Especially not in Namimori. Especially not from a Skylark. Besides, even if Kyoya wasn't a Sky, has he not just proven to be better than all of you?"
"He had help-"
"He trapped you all on his own," Mukuro was all too happy to chirp, his trident poking his opponent in the head because he was just that kind of bastard. Bouche was glowering at him but didn't even dare say anything for fear of provoking the mafia-hating teen into actually murdering him. "That's our Skylark for you~!"
"You really should have just left well enough alone," Tsuyoshi said as he approached their Sky, too. Fon stood on Kyoya's right side and Tsuyoshi came to stand on his right, while Kusakabe took the left but there was still some space between them. A space Reborn was meant to fill, he realized, and felt warmth settle in his gut as he took that silent invitation. He moved to jump onto Kusakabe's shoulder, since Kyoya's was full with Hibird, but Fon looked at him and the smile on his face changed and Reborn knew where he was meant to be. Kawahire instead came to stand by Tetsuya, if just a bit behind the two teens, and Mukuro grew bored of his trapped prey and instead joined them, only for him to turn back into Chrome halfway there. Then Bermuda opened a wormhole and out stepped the real if a bit confused Rokudo Mukuro, guided by one of the Vindice to stand with his Twin Mist and their Sky. Reborn fairly melted when Fon hugged him subtly to his chest.
"You should have never approached a single Namimori resident, let alone a descendant of Sawada Ieyasu-"
"His real name is Giotto di Vong-"
"In Namimori, by his request," both Hibari interrupted viciously when Timoteo tried to argue the semantics of Primo's name, of all things, when it was the least important thing in this whole situation. "He wished to be Sawada Ieyasu, citizen of Namimori, under the protection of the Hibari Clan, a mere civilian wishing to run away from the mafia life he'd led in Italy. As far as we are concerned," Kyoya continued. "Giotto di Vongola came to Namimori, stayed for a while and died. Sawada Ieyasu is all that remained. So take your petty disputes elsewhere, Clams. And leave any and all residents of Namimori - except Sawada Iemitsu; you can take him and please keep him - out of it."
"Does that mean I don't have to be a mafia boss?!" Tsuna piped up and Reborn didn't know whether to laugh or groan at Tsuna's stubborn refusal but it might actually seem like he can get his wish!
"Not unless you want to," Fon said amicably and Tsuna beamed.
Timoteo, though, scowled. "The Vongola Sky Ring demands blood relations to pass on the-"
"That's total and utter bullshit," Kawahira, Bermuda, Kyoya and Fon deadpanned.
"Secondo was no blood relation of Primo and he took over the Vongola," Jaeger helpfully supplied and the other two old-as-dirt individuals nodded.
"Anyone with a calm mind and decent Sky Flames can be the rightful Don Vongola," Kawahira said casually. "Believe you me. I am the administrator of the Trinisette. I was there when the Rings were created. The only thing in the Trinisette that truly demands a familial connection of any kind is the Sky Pacifier. Only a Giglio Nero Donna can bear it and that's usually more because the Sky Pacifier drains its bearers far more than the others, thus needing an earthling to feed it Flames - even if it's just a hybrid - not a human, especially as being the Arcobaleno Sky is much different than being the Vongola or even the Mare Sky. As we've said already, the Vongola switched from Gitto's bloodline to Ricardo's. The Sawadas have been civilians for almost two centuries."
"That means that you broke Omerta by involving a civilian," Reborn stated viciously, smirking at his former contractor. "People have ended up dead or in Vindice for less."
"Indeed," Bermuda said with a hauntingly chipper glee of his own. "Try not to resist, please. Unless you're particularly masochistic, that is. Then please," and though they couldn't see his face, the sadistic grin was very obvious in his tone. "Do resist."
"This is interfamiglia business," Nono tried desperately to argue even though every last one of the Varia were resigned to their fate, just letting it happen and sitting/standing still where they were. Well, it's not like they can move all that much. Kyoya had rendered them all immobile from the shoulders down, covering them in ice. The only one at all not deterred by it all was Lussuria, who seemed to be too busy fanboying to care. Reborn couldn't help but glare death at the Varia Sun for getting so excited over his Storm. "Vindice is not to interfere-"
"You nearly killed a dozen civilians," interrupted Kusakabe, of all people.
"In a neutral zone, no less," Fon added, his voice vibrating pleasantly through his chest into Reborn's still cursed body. "A zone used by many to hide from the mafia and escape its clutches. A zone full of retired mafioso, yakuza and Triads members, all loyal or indebted to the Hibari. Should we have, perhaps, declared true war on you? The people here want to live the rest of their lives in peace. For Namimori, they would fight. And Namimori is the Hibari and the Hibari are Namimori. You really couldn't have chosen a worse place to attack."
"They could have attacked Nami-chuu," Kyoya said in a deadpan. "If that had happened, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. They'd been smears on the ground for jiji to disintegrate."
"Seriously, how is that guy related to Fon!?" The lackey asked from within the temple.
"Are you seriously forgetting that one time with that idiot that tried to sneak up on a concussed Reborn all those years ago?" Lal, who had been just a few meters away from them on that particular mission in that particular moment, threw back. "They're definitely related. I still have nightmares of that day."
"That wasn't fuel for nightmares, but rather wet dreams," Reborn couldn't help but comment with a grin.
"Reborn!" Fon chastised and the hitman didn't need to check to know Fon was as red as his Flames.
"That was not something we needed to know, man, kora!" Colonello complained but Kyoya grunted, disgruntled.
"Can we go back to arresting these herbivores already? The Bucking Horse might need medical supervision and I'm done with dealing with herbivores for at least a week."
"Yeah, it is getting a bit boring now," Bermuda agreed and that was all Jaeger needed to fling chains at the Vongola and Varia, wrapping them up, tight and secure. Their protests were unheeded by the two Vindice.
"Leave the Monkey King's herbivores," Kyoya said dismissively. "They were just pawns of the Vongola's games. The CEDEF agents, too. They were only following an incompetent leader." More protests at that, from Iemitsi especially, but Kyoya cared even less than Bermuda and Jaeger. "Just take that idiot," he pointed at said protesting Sawada. "Away and make sure he doesn't come back or else I will bite him to death." The Sky skylark released a threatening screech at that and Kyoya brought up a hand to calm it down.
"And what will you do about the vacuum my absence will create?" Timoteo challenged. "There will be a disturbance in the balance of power in the underworld if the Vongola suddenly weaken-"
"I doubt Xanxus would let that happen," Tsuna said, head popping out of the underground facility, Hyper Dying Will Mode still active. The way his eyes glowed in the dark and the almost 'resting bitch face' expression was very nearly unnerving on his dame student. "He's made it clear that he's put everything he is into keeping the Vongola strong. And besides, he's a way better candidate for being a mafia boss, especially for such a big famiglia. Not to mention that Xanxus and Hibari-san could mitigate the Vongola-Hibari interactions with mutual respect and understanding. After all, they can start each alliance meeting with a spar and get all the aggression out of their system and then focus on business."
Reborn felt his mind blank. "Did you just suggest that the two greatest powerhouses, literally, of the entire world should become allies, Dame-Tsuna?" When Tsuna actually started looking a bit uncertain, even with his Hyper Intuition leading him, the hitman actually allowed himself to grin. Showing too many teeth, no doubt. It certainly seemed to freak people out! "I taught you well~!"
Both Hibaris snorted at the obvious, gleeful pride in his voice but Reborn didn't care.
Hell, between his two students - Dino had been vise not to get involved in this BS until he was certain his famiglia won't pay for it - and Kyoya, Reborn had the means to take over the world, whether Tsuna becomes Decimo or not! (Vongola Intuition is helpful with or without a famiglia to run or a Vongola Sky Ring to wear.) Besides, Tsuna is right that Kyoya and Xanxus can easily finally put the Vongola-Hibari war to rest with a few spars. And this way, Kyoya will have an easier time to fulfill his wish to reestablish the Skylark information network. Without the Vongola getting in his way, the greatest information and influence network will be up and running in no time. Reborn will actually be disappointed if he can't see his Skylarks flex all that power within two years' time.
Imagine all the targets he could get with all of that backing him up!
But those were gleeful thoughts of bloodlust for later. Right now, he took great pleasure in watching Timoteo and his Guardians - since the Vindice couldn't exactly risk it to separate a harmonized set from their Sky; that's just asking for a rampage and at least six dead people, which would draw the kind of attention Bermuda did not want - be dragged off to Vendicare prison by the chibi Bermuda as though they weighted nothing and relaxed in Fon's arms as he tried to think up plans for a spar or two between him and the Vindice leader.
Later, though. Right now, he had to grow back up into his true body.
And then he had a date to plan.