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.

Or: How the Arcobaleno didn't become the Arcobaleno but stayed the world's strongest seven anyway, featuring a teen!Fon.

A/N: Partially inspired by Ourliazo's amazing Sunny Skies Ahead, featuring a Sky Reborn with the Arcobaleno as his Guardians.

When the world's greatest hitman known simply as Reborn first became Flame Active at the tender age of ten, his Flames had flickered orange before settling one a bright, strong yellow that could not be matched in purity, strength or beauty by any other Sun user he would meet for the rest of his life. Ten year old Reborn had already had blood on his hands, born on the streets of mafia territory as he was, surviving by smarts, wits and skill until a freelance hitman had recognized his potential and picked him as an apprentice.

The hitman never learned that Reborn might be something more than the purest, strongest Sun he's come across, which was just as well because he tried to kill Reborn two years later because the preteen had become quite well renowned and people that were usually his 'mentor's' clients had started turning to the new hitman, despite his young age.

At seventeen, Rebron had become one of the most feared names and faces in the mafia world, making it to that status all on his own. He'd used his 'mentor's' connections to forge an identity for himself, to enroll into high end schools, where he fell in love with mathematics and soon followed the little guilty pleasure all the way to college until he had a PhD and quite the reputation among academics as 'Dr Borin', the man who can solve the most difficult, impossible, unsolvable problems while all the while keeping his reputation as one of the best in the world among the mafioso.

His first job from Don Vongola himself came when he was twenty two, which is when he first came across a strong Rain by the name of Lal Mirch, a woman who was one of the highest ranking officers in COMSUBIN and was being scouted by CEDEF to join their elite team. Vongola Nono had wanted them to work together on a mission, something either Reborn or Lal could have completed all on their own with ease, but he was scouting them both, Reborn for a contract and Lal Mirch for CEDEF.

The joke was on him that, when Lal and Reborn accidentally touched, Reborn's secret, practically dormant Sky Flames surged forward because they had found a Rain that resonated with them and they sparked. Nono never learned of why both Lal and Reborn never answered any of his calls after that one test mission, no matter the fee he offered to pay for their continued services.

Reborn was freelance and Lal remained in COMSUBIN, but she refused to let Reborn ignore the fact that they were compatible.

Instead, she recruited her best recruit, Colonello, to help her corner the hitman so they can have a stern chat and, at the very least, attempt a negotiation as to why and how. Of course, that only ended in Reborn finding out that he, apparently, had a set of Rains instead of one. It wasn't unheard of for a Sky to have more than one Element that resonated perfectly both with the Sky and the answering other Element, but it was rare.

Figures Reborn, the most reluctant Sky in the world, would be such a case.

Avoiding the Rains led to him meeting his Mist. He didn't know Viper's age, gender or even their entire face, but they had resonated and apparently the information broker was thrilled because Reborn would be great protection against idiots who would usually try to not pay for their information and instead roughen up the Mist.

Needless to say, Reborn was not happy that he got another stalker and cursed the orange in his Flames when he much preferred his overwhelming yellow. His Sky wasn't nearly as strong or as powerful, but it was apparently more than strong enough to form bonds if he were to allow it.

Which he found out when he actually accidentally bonded with his Lightning, who was a freaky mad scientist but at least was fun to talk math with. Verde wasn't nearly as insistent as the others, but that might just be because they had already bonded. It had really been an accident. Rebron had been out on a hit, his target a group of freelance scientists that did business with everyone and no one, and Verde had been there among them, the only Flame Active in the group. He hadn't cared about the other scientists and let Reborn kill them, but he met the hitman head on to the best of his non-combatant abilities, which meant he actually tried to shock the Sun when Reborn'd gotten close enough. Reborn had drawn on his Sun Flames instinctively to counter the damage but hadn't noticed his Sky rearing its ugly orange metaphorical head as well and latching onto the sparking green Flames instead.

The bond had snapped into place and Reborn suddenly found himself with a Guardian.

Verde wasn't against it, the asshole, and instead kept pestering Reborn about letting him experiment on the bond. The bond was too fresh to be properly severed - it could either linger or leave them both incapacitated for the rest of their lives, never able to use their Flames again - so Reborn had no choice but to let it settle.

Only his other Guardians managed to corner him again and were indignant that he'd get a Guardian when they'd been courting him first. 'Courting' meaning trying to kidnap him, but whatever. The mafia was full of craziness and Reborn wasn't exactly sane since he thrived on chaos and espresso as the food for his soul.

So he ended up bringing them all to one of his safe houses so they could all talk it out and ended up getting himself a bunch of Guardians. At least they understood that, at twenty three - because yes, that shit 'courting' had lasted over a year, thank you very much, but at least in that year he'd gotten even more of a reputation for his recent crazy escapees because of his new Guardians - he was the world's greatest hitman and that he didn't need Guardians in the tradition sense. They also knew he was both their Sky and their Sun because things work like that, as no Sun will ever resonate with his Sky when his Sun was his primary Flame Type.

They also didn't badger him to complete their set by searching for a Storm or Cloud. They understood that, if he meets a compatible Storm and/or Cloud, he'll take them in to meet the others and they'll go from there. He hasn't searched for them and yet they'd all found each other anyway. Reborn was still not fond of his Sky Flames, because harmonization is not such a great attribute, so they let him be, happy to just have a place to belong while still being able to do their own thing.

He did end up finding his Cloud, though. By accident, just like the rest of his Guardians. Skull de Mort, a civilian stuntman said to be hated by the Grim Reaper. He somehow discovered his Cloud Flames after a near death experience in his teen years and created two techniques that allowed him to be practically invincible as long as his brain is not too devastatingly damaged. Say what you will, but that was damn impressive, even if Skull was an idiot and a natural lackey.

Somehow, he still fit into their strange little ... family, anyway.

So here Reborn was, twenty three and a secret secondary Sky hiding behind his beautiful Sun Flames as he continued ravaging the world, spreading his contacts, influence and name, with a near complete Guardian set he never would have thought he'd have, struggling to figure out what he should do with the Triads member he'd been set up against for his latest mission.

It was nothing major or even overly fun, but the pay was decent and some of his funds had been washed away by his latest gun shopping spree. He's still not quite certain why he bothered with regular guns when he has his partner, the shape-shifting chameleon Leon, who can turn into just about anything in the world, but those new models practically called to him and they worked like a dream besides. And the Porsche hadn't been exactly necessary, either, since Skull came with a whole plethora of cars that he's always happy to lend to any one of them. Not that anyone's really comfortable with being in one of those customized death traps unless it's Skull at the wheel, because at least he knows what the death trap will do and how it showed signs of being close to blowing. So, okay, maybe a car was a necessity, even though he could have bought a cheaper one.

So, really, a boring mission for good pay wasn't all that bad.

Though his client had never said anything about the Triads sending anyone to compete with him, which was just rude. People should know by now that he's not that easy to kill, especially by Mr Please-Shoot-Me in bright red and white that couldn't be missed from an airplane. What idiot practically screams 'Here I am!' while on a mission? Yes, Reborn wears a yellow dress shirt under his suit jacket and yes, there is a yellow ribbon around his fedora, but that's not nearly as eye-catching as red. Red is the natural warning. The human brain is practically hardwired to react when it catches even a glimpse of red.

How the Triads recruited idiots like this one and expected them to stay alive really befuddled Reborn.

And it had to be someone from the Triads. The clothes gave it away, as did the martial arts Reborn had only glimpsed so far because the Asian(?) was silent and swift as the wind and none of the guards at the pier had caught sight of him yet, not without it being too late. He was graceful,perhaps a bit short, but Reborn couldn't tell his stature from this distance, not with the long, somewhat baggy, billowing, traditional Chinese martial arts tunic he was wearing. He thinks they have long, braided hair? He couldn't really think of many people in the Triads that matched the vague description and he was at a bad angle to get a better view of him even if he were to look through the scope of a sniper or Leon as binoculars.

He was pretty sure that the other was here for the same reason he was, because there wasn't much else that could be happening here tonight other than two cartel dealers meeting to cement a deal. Reborn was supposed to take out the Colombian one. Triads might have wanted the yakuza representative gone, because Japanese yakuza and Chinese Triads hate each other like American gangsters and Italian mafioso do. Or they could be after the same target, which makes them competitors.

And even if they weren't, Reborn's client had made it clear he wanted dealings with the yakuza, so either way, the Triads' little assassin was just in the way of Reborn's business tonight.

And since there was no good angle to snipe the poor bastard out of his misery, it meant Reborn would have to get down there, close and personal, and do it himself. At least that could turn out to be fun. Reborn had rarely fought anyone from the East, let alone the Triads in his career. It's always fun to try new things.

He had no problem sneaking up on the poor sucker until he had a clear shot of the man - because yes, it was definitely a man; or a very broad shouldered lady - so he raised a gun, took aim and fired, the Leon silencer swallowing any sound that might have alerted anyone else of what was going on. He expected the man to drop dead, blood to start pooling around his fallen body, his clothes to become red for a completely different reason.

It didn't happen.

Instead, the Asian jerked right out of the way of the bullet before disappearing behind some of the containers, cleverly out of range. Reborn was impressed that he'd figured out the trajectory so easily because he really couldn't get a clear shot of him from his current position. A smirk curled at his lips.

Well, it would seem he'd actually found something fun to do on this mission, after all.

They continued their little game of cat and mouse for nearly half an hour, Red pretty good at keeping just out of his sight until Reborn actually finally lost track of him when the man made like a ninja and disappeared without a trace. The Sun was left staring a bit perplexedly at the space Red had occupied for a moment before he felt something like a shift in his perception (his Sky perking up, not that he knew it then) and then he was reacting seconds before a fist nearly slammed into his face. Another came immediately afterwards and Reborn brought his forearms up to block the fist, but a leg hit him in the side with enough force to make him go flying for a few feet before he just barely managed to regain his footing and then jump out of the way of the stomp-kick that left the concrete cratered like a miniature meteorite had hit it.

He took the offensive this time and moved to hit Red - because it could only be Red, as he'd seen how easily the Asian crept up to his victims so far and cursed himself for not expecting the same treatment himself in turn - with the gun in his hand, but Red ducked, swiveled around and roundhouse kicked at his head, the hitman blocking it with a raised hand that protested the shockwaves traveling down to his wrist, up his arm and to his shoulder.

Red, for someone so small, sure packed quite a punch.

And was relentless in his attacks, too, as even with his foot captured and him practically hanging suspended in the air, Red twisted so he was face level with Reborn's stomach and delivered a truly punishing punch that had him doubling over before he could stop himself. Red's foot freed itself from his slacking grip, the Asian twisted again until he was on his feet and a deceptively dainty hand snapped up to grab at Reborn's throat, except the hitman reacted on instinct, grabbed one of the billowing sleeves and managed to fling the martial artist away over his shoulder, making him crash into one of the metal containers with enough force to dent it slightly.

Yet Red still landed on his feet silently, already ready for round two while Reborn was still trying to get back his knocked out breath.

He nearly lost it all again when he realized Red was now in clear moonlight and he finally could discern the other's features.

Namely that he couldn't be older than seventeen!

He was definitely of Asian descent, but he looked more Japanese than Chinese, with sharp but not nearly as tilted eyes. His face was somewhere between pretty and handsome - beautiful, one might say - with an angular jaw, high cheekbones, elegant nose and thin but full lips, if that made any sense. He had onyx black hair and eyes so dark they might as well match it in color, at least in this lighting. His skin was pale in comparison, making the red of his clothes pop out.

But still, the most shocking thing remained that he was a kid. Which might be a bit hypocritical of Reborn to say, given what he had been up to at that age, but still! You don't pit a child against the world's greatest hitman! That's practically sending someone on a suicide mission! And the kid looked too young to have become enough of a threat or annoyance to garner such a response.

The kid clearly recognized him, judging by the slight widening of those dark eyes, but then a blank facade fell over his features and only the will to live remained. The kid, as surprising as it might be ... wasn't intimidated by him, which was definitely a first after many, many years to build up his reputation. He was wary, but that came from common sense, given this was a fight neither of them were willing to lose, yet he wasn't afraid. He was either arrogant or really confident that he can make it out of this alive, if not whole.

Given what he'd seen of his skills so far, he just might.

Reborn couldn't help it. A spark of excitement lit from within and an eager smirk settled over his face. He adjusted his grip on his gun, fell into a fighting stance and waited for the youngster to take the bait into attacking him.

Eyes dark as his own - probably - narrowed, but Reborn did not detect any ire, only an infinite calm. Then, there was a whirl of red, white and black and he just barely managed to block the first attack, but this time he was ready. He knew the kid was fast, so he trickled Sun Flames through his body to speed up his own reaction time because Reborn may be a Sun and he may be able to hold up his own in a fist fight even with some of the best martial artists in the world, but the kid was using styles he'd never or rarely seen - just how many did he know? - and fast as a whip and Reborn preferred guns, anyway, so he didn't get a lot of hand to hand practice. Lal and Colonello tried to rectify that, but given that he can take them both on at the same time when he does bother to train with them, it's not that much of a challenge.

This kid, though, proved to be.

Reborn kept his smirk throughout their little tette-a-tette of firsts and kicks and turns and dodges and blocks. He wasn't even getting tired, neither of them were. The kid was relentless in his assault and yet every move was calculated to the point that it almost looked like Red could predict his moves. Sun Flames kept them equal in speed, but Reborn knew he couldn't keep that up forever. Even just this small amount will leave him winded and sore later, for far longer than the activation property of his Flames was in effect and he won't be able to heal from that like he would normal muscle strain. He didn't plan to let the fight last that long, but he couldn't get in a shot at his opponent with the gun. The kid never lost awareness of it and kept that hand firmly away from his body, occupied or temporarily restrained. That was both a delight and an annoyance.

Reborn narrowed his eyes when his Sky Flames suddenly lurched under his Sun (him feeling it clearly this time) mere seconds before red Flames lit one of Red's palms and the kid moved as if to strike him in the chest with what was sure to be a devastating blow to his heart, either by the force or by the dissolving factor of Storm Flames, but Reborn channeled more of his own Flames through his free arm and caught Red's wrist mere inches from making contact with his chest.

His wrist, bared of the billowing sleeves by the speed of the incoming attack, pale, naked skin under Reborn's calloused fingers.

He saw Red shudder as he felt the spark, a feeling so familiar after getting himself five Guardians he'd never expected to have in the first place. The Asian's eyes went huge and he stilled completely, the Storm Flames receding back into his body and as they tried to pull back, Reborn's Sky tried to latch onto them,to hold on-

"Intruders!"

The shout had them separating mere seconds before bullets rain on the spot they'd just been. Red was staring at him even though they're under attack, eyes filled with something like awe, but Reborn didn't have the time to focus on a random kid, instead returning fire, even shooting out a few Chaos Shots when too many lackies arrived. He made his way through his opponents, discarding the little Storm completely from his mind and focusing on his mission. He found his target, killed the man, stuck around long enough in the shadows to make sure the one his client wanted to do business with left the pier alive before signaling that the job was done and watching the second half of his payment settle into his account.

He hesitated before leaving, a traitorous part of him wanting to check if Red was still alive at all, but he pushed it down. He didn't have time to deal with kids. If Red's dead, then he's dead because he wasn't strong enough, which wasn't Reborn's fault, He had no responsibility towards a random Triads assassin, even if those had been some of the purest Storm Flames he'd encountered in his life and seemed to be compatible with both his Flames.

Whatever. He's not Reborn's responsibility or business.

The hitman made sure not to so much as glance backwards as he walked away and left the half burning pier.

00000

The next morning, he learned the yakuza representative was dead, killed in a half dissolved car, his neck snapped with no traces of DNA or clearer killing method, as if no one could understand how the neck had snapped, as though it had snapped by itself.

Reborn put the newspapers down and ignored all thoughts of bright red.