Turning Point
Author : 27x18
Warnings: Language and the return of a little fluff~
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Levi was worried about the little principessa, she was curled into his lap still hiding her face and sobbing softly, Reborn sitting to his side watching carefully with a frown, the civilian had seen much more then Nono or anyone wanted, it was going to be difficult to move her froward from here.
Nono was probably going to recommend changing her memories, but Reborn didn't think that would be a good idea, not with her intuition, she would know that something had been changed or taken from her.
Really he should have stayed back and woken Xanxus up so he could go take care of the brat he had gotten so mad over, spending his time torturing Ottabio wasn't going to help things right now, Tsuna was traumatized and another Sky being close would probably be a good idea. Or a Rain, though Squalo was hardly the most calming person to be around, they would need to source another Rain if Xanxus was going to be off torturing Ottabio for more then an hour.
Sawada Nana was still with Lussuria at the onsen, Lussuria having been asked to stall her for a few days while they sorted this out so as not to panic the housewife, so it would be at least a few hours until they could get the child's mother here, and even then they wouldn't be able to tell her what had happened nor why Tsuna was so upset, especially not if the girl had seen someone killed.
Tsuna needed something more then what her mother would be able to provide without letting the woman in on the fact that the child had been kidnapped by a sadistic bastard that had killed someone in front of the elementary student.
If Squalo could at least get the kid to sleep it would buy them some time, hopefully the grumpy temperamental teenager could at least manage that, he was meant to be the Varia's Rain, so the least he could do was fill the barest of requirements of being calming in the current situation.
Reborn slipped out his phone and called Nono with the quiet update about what had happened in the last hour just as they were pulling into the Varia's mansion's driveway, quietly updating Nono in Italian while keeping his eyes on the sniffling child.
Tsuna still hadn't calmed down much from the time they had picked her up, this was going to be difficult to deal with without Xanxus here.
After Reborn got Squalo to put her to sleep he was going to send the silver haired brat out to get his boss, as much as he was sure Xanxus wanted to spend a few days torturing Ottabio, right now the kid needed him more.
Levi carried her into the mansion, glaring at Squalo when he moved to check on the girl, Levi keeping her close and safe while he glared at those that had thought the worst of their boss, Levi had never believed for a moment that Xanxus would do anything to put Tsuna in danger, and if they had told him what they thought was going on instead of hiding it he would have been able to solve the mystery of her disappearance much sooner.
"Squalo." Reborn called over to the silver haired teen "You need to use your Flames and calm her down, sleep would be best." Reborn explained "Levi, take her to Xanxus' room and put her to bed, let her sleep." Levi nodded hesitantly, he didn't want to leave her anywhere, but Reborn was right, the girl needed to rest first, especially if Squalo was going to put her to sleep, that gave them time to figure out what to do next.
Squalo strode over to Levi and gently placed a hand on her head until the little girl slumped into Levi asleep, the tall man nodding and carrying her to Xanxus' room. Reborn turned to Squalo as soon as Levi was out of sight glaring at the teen.
"Go pick up Xanxus, I don't care if he's having a tantrum, the kid needs him. Let him know that Ottabio killed someone in front of her." Squalo's silver eyes widened at that, someone had killed in front of the kid? No wonder it had been so hard to calm her down, even his Flames had taken a while to take effect and actually put the kid down. The kid was so worked up that a normal dose hadn't done anything.
"I will get the boss back here within the hour." Squalo promised while storming out of the mansion, Reborn turning his glare to Belphegor while the bruised prince glared back at him from under his blond hair.
"Next time ask for more details brat, this could have all been avoided if you hadn't assumed that Xanxus picked her up." Belphegor made a show of ignoring the hitman, but honestly Reborn didn't care right now, instead he headed inside the mansion to talk with Visconti over what they could do from now on.
Security needed to be tightened that was for sure, Tsuna had been kidnapped from her school and no one had noticed for an embarrassing amount of time, especially considering she was under the direct care of the Varia, the supposed elite assassination squad. They needed to do much better in the future or this was going to happen again and there was no guarantee that the next person that came after Tsuna for her connection to the Varia would be so kind as to leave the kid alive for so long.
"Nono has been told correct?" Visconti asked, he hadn't been able to check in while they were driving, the car ride staying mostly silent while they all kept their attention on Tsunahime, the child sobbing into Levi's shirt right up until Squalo had put her to sleep.
"Yes, he's on his way, as is Iemitsu." Reborn noted "They want us to keep her asleep until they arrive, even if Xanxus returns, she's to stay asleep until we have enough support here to deal with this situation." Reborn explained while he scratched Leon's head gently, his small companion had done perfectly as always "He's bringing Schnitten with him, we need a proper Rain in contact with her, Squalo's too inexperienced for this." Visconti nodded in agreement, the teen was a strong Rain but he was also young and inexperienced, especially in some of the more delicate uses of Rain Flames, Nono was bringing his own Rain Guardian here to help instead.
"Is he bringing Bouche as well?" The Ninth Mist Guardian would come in handy if they did have to alter any of her memories.
"Yes, though Mammon can handle that if needed, mostly just so that Mammon doesn't start charging Nono for illusions of the girl to calm her mother and the school." Reborn frowned deeply "Altering the memories of a Vongola with active intuition is a dangerous thing to do." Visconti could only nod in agreement at that, the Vongola intuition was not something they had massive amounts of data on, but it made all situations more complicated, especially when it was strong. While it was something every generation of Vongola Don's had, it was also so different from person to person in both strength and use that it was hard to know exactly what effect it would have on the child if they removed her memories of the incident.
"Not much we can do until the boss arrives." Visconti sighed, until then they would keep Tsuna asleep and wait.
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Chikusa and Ken kept close behind Mukurou as the strongest of them, and the one used most by the Estraneo led them down a dark hall, the mansion was silent, or had been for a little while at least, but Mukurou was chafing at the bit being trapped in a room, it reminded them all a little too much of the hell they had lived until now, so when Mukurou had headed for the door the other two children had stayed close behind him.
Mukurou snuck down the hallway quietly his eyes flicking around to check for anyone suddenly coming from any direction to stop them and throw them back into a room, probably locking it this time.
"Mukurou." Chikusa whispered tugging at his sleeve while his blue eyes peered at a door intently from behind his glasses, Mukurou followed his gaze to the door with a frown. Chikusa was probably the most perceptive of the three of them, though he wasn't exactly the most talkative, he seemed to pick up a lot around him, probably from what they had done to his head in the labs.
"I smell salt." Ken mumbled "Smells like tears." Mukurou looked at the partly animal boy, ever since they had started messing with Ken he had become more dog then child.
"..." Mukurou looked between the two, they both seemed to be inferring that they go into the room where someone they didn't know was supposedly crying "Fine." Mukurou sighed finally giving in as he changed direction to the door and slid it open silently. The room was clearly a bedroom, though the bed was empty, following Chikusa, the other two children moved with the blue haired child to a dark corner of the room where there was a child around their age curled into her knees crying.
Mukurou didn't like to admit it, but he felt a momentary rush of concern for this kid, he of course pushed it aside since it wasn't like the brat had been through what they had in their short life. Pushing that aside again because how did they know that.
"Did they experiment on you?" Mukurou asked shortly while the child flinched and just curled deeper into her knees, not even looking up at who had spoken. Chikusa was the first to move as he stepped towards the child, noticing how she flinched back from him when he reached to touch her.
"Did they hurt you?" Chikusa asked softly while Ken sniffed the air again and pointed to her hands
"Blood." he noted while he moved forwards and sniffed again "Ropes, smells like someone used ropes." Ken noted while he moved in closer, Chikusa tugging him back noticing the kid was curling deeper into her corner the closer Ken got.
"Did they do this to you?" Chikusa asked while he sat down in front of her and waited for the kid to make the first move, Mukurou glanced around the room, he couldn't see any ropes, so it wasn't like anything had happened in this room.
"Red." they all went silent when a tiny whisper escaped the little girl finally spoke, Mukurou's face darkened with anger while Ken and Chikusa looked at one another in confusion, they had no idea what the kid had said. Mukurou knew, he didn't know exactly what it was she had said, but somehow he knew she had seen death.
Tapping Chikusa on the shoulder the child gave him a heavy look and quietly spoke one word "Death." Chikusa looked back at the little girl before moving to sit on one side of her in silence, not saying anything more or touching her, Ken tilted his head before nodding in agreement and taking the other side. Mukurou sat down in front of the girl and they all just waited.
There was nothing they could say to her that she might understand anyway, she knew as much Italian as they knew Japanese probably.
So they would wait.
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Xanxus kicked the door in his eyes searching out Ottabio, the man not even having a chance to say a word before Xanxus had him by his throat and drove him through a wall while snarling at him violently, not even hearing the scream of the woman that Ottabio had been playing around with.
"You shouldn't have touched what was mine!" Xanxus snarled while he pointed the gun at the female and pulled the trigger without losing his hold on Ottabio "Never, never fuck with my brat you sack of shit." Ottabio flicked a knife into his hand and sliced up at Xanxus but the teen just let hm go and kicked the man through another wall before firing at his face.
Ottabio dodged the tainted Sky Flames and rolled back to his feet slipping his two daggers into his hands, custom made to fit his hands and able to soak up his Cloud Flames and expand into two long deadly swords.
Ottabio may not be able to beat the Sword Emperor bastard, but he was still damn skilled with the blades in his hands, he was not about to lose to a spoilt brat like Xanxus.
Darting in fast Ottabio twisted one of his blades slicing low across Xanxus' stomach, but the teen just angled his guns into his face and fired, the Flames barely missing Ottabio as he moved again out of their path, and successfully pushing Xanxus back a few steps to avoid the blow aimed at him.
"You're weak Xanxus, the brat is a weakness. You don't deserve the place of Varia commander." Ottabio hissed while darting back in close his blade slicing up Xanxus' form just barely clipping his shirt while the teen darted out of the way again. Xanxus didn't even notice the cut in his shirt as he blasted another wave of Wrath Flames into Ottabio's face, he tried to dodge but the corrupted Sky Flames clipped his shoulder burning through his shirt and burning his skin making him hiss in pain slicing up one of his swords to cut through the burst of Flames coming for him. Damn if the brat didn't have a huge reserve of Flames, dangerous ones too, Ottabio had dealt with Sky Flames, but Wrath Flames, that was something new.
The Wrath didn't work the same as normal Sky Flames, they corrupted the Sky, they burnt and hurt and infected everything they touched, they tainted him, just by brushing past his shoulder or impacting on his blade, they ate away at the metal, at his Flames, at everything, they infected and destroyed everything.
Ottabio had thought he knew what he was in for taking on Xanxus, after all he was just some arrogant brat Sky user that was alright at his Flame manipulation. Xanxus hadn't shown anywhere near this precision before, he had never been able to manipulate his Flames to this extent. Since when had he been able to craft his flames into such devastatingly powerful balls of doom.
Each shot of Flames from his gun, each twist of his body and each impact of his fist, leg or even the backside of one of his X-Guns.
Ottabio had vastly underestimated his opponent.
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Reborn pushed the door open a crack and looked in at Tsuna. He doubted that Squalo's Rain Flames had knocked her out for long, the teen still had a long way to go. He was right too, Tsuna had moved from the bed, now she was curled in a corner surrounded by the children Xanxus had brought with him and fast asleep on the shoulder of one of them. "Well, looks like a Rain did help." Reborn noted softly with a chuckle his eyes on Chikusa, though untrained the three children all had strong Flames from his assessment.
Naturally occurring or possibly not from the reports he had read about the Estraneo, either way, those children now had active Flames, and were already putting them to good use, so he would leave it alone for now.
Closing the door gently he nodded to himself while moving down the hall to continue waiting for Squalo to bring the Varia boss in, as much as he understood the anger at Ottabio for having kidnapped the child and held her, especially for having killed in front of her, there was more important things to be dealt with then Ottabio right now.
Tsuna needed to be debriefed and they would need some counselling for the child, though the other children that Xanxus had brought back may very well come in handy, children that had seen more then their fair share of shit in this life already.
Might be good for the girl to have kids her age around that understood, at least the Rain was a good idea. The Sun and Mist, well, they would see in time.
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Reborn and Visconti both blocked Xanxus' path the second he stepped foot in the mansion, the teen had been heading directly for his room.
"No Xanxus."
"Fuck off hitman, I'm going to check on my brat." Xanxus snarled while Reborn's black eyes flashed up at him,
"Have you looked at yourself?" Reborn reminded eyes scanning the teen, he was covered in blood from the punishment he had been meting out to Ottabio "The girl is scarred enough without you adding to it." Xanxus glared at him for a few moments more before storming down the hall towards a spare room so he could get cleaned up, the Arcobaleno was right, but there was no way in hell he was going to admit that to the little shit.
He really needed to get his shit together, tantrums to other countries leaving this shit to happen to his brat, then his tantrum that tunnel visioned him straight at Ottabio leaving Tsuna once again in the care of others. Now here he was about to traumatise an already traumatised girl just because he couldn't take five minutes to stop and think.
Xanxus still had a long way to go, and a lot to learn, that much was clear, patience being one thing he really needed to try get a handle on. He needed to try and get that one under control in the next eight hours so he didn't lose his temper all over again when he saw Nono.
Tsuna needed him and he had to do everything in his power to be there for the kid, especially now, his parentage and the lies of his father, none of that mattered, someone had hurt Tsuna, and not just had they hurt her, taken her from him and locked her up, the bastard had killed someone in front of her. Tsuna's innocent smile….did he really want to see that? In truth he was scared to see what had become of that bright smile now.
Even so, Xanxus was not going to leave her on her own, Tsuna was under his protection and he was damn well going to do his job properly for the first time in days.
Xanxus would wash the blood off, and calm the fuck down, then he would go check on the kid, and he was going to make sure she wasn't on her own ever again.
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Xanxus cracked the door to his room open, it had taken him much longer then he realised to snap out of his anger, if Squalo hadn't come and stopped him he would still be there, then if Reborn hadn't stopped him he would have stormed into the room covered in blood. Xanxus was done fucking up for the day, he promised himself he wouldn't do anything else stupid.
Peeking in to check on the brat he frowned seeing the bed empty, his eyes flicked around the room searching out the child. red eyes finally locked onto her, Tsuna was curled into a corner, asleep with her head on the shoulder of one of the children he had picked up, Chikusa was his name if he recalled correctly, Ken, the blond one, was asleep with his head on Tsuna's lap while Mukurou sat in front of the three.
Mukurou had turned his head and was staring at Xanxus while the teen stared back at him with a frown "You hurt her." Mukurou noted softly "You going to do the same to us?"
"The bastard that hurt her is no longer any concern." Xanxus growled "Keep that in mind you little shit, the brat is under my protection."
"And you've done such a good job of that." Mukurou sneered glaring straight back at Xanxus while the teen glared at him angrily.
"Fuck you brat." Xanxus growled falling silent when he saw that Tsuna was waking, growling softly Xanxus strode over to the cupboards and grabbed out some clothes, pinning the kid with another glare "You do anything to hurt the brat, you're going to be out on your ass so fast it'll make your head spin." Mukurou just rolled his eyes at the teen and turned his attention back to Tsuna.
"We won't fuck it up like you did, if that's what you mean." Mukurou noted while Xanxus's fist clenched tight, he wanted to punch the little shit. He liked it better when they were too scared to say anything to him, this backchat was really getting on his nerves.
"Tomorrow you shits start learning Japanese." Xanxus bit out finally before storming out to go get changed. He was tempted to slam the door but he wasn't going to do that and wake up Tsuna, he doubted the kid had slept much in the last few days.
"Mukurou?" the child turned his dual gaze over to Chikusa, the child blinking at him quietly in question while Mukurou frowned deeply his eyes studying the small girl sleeping in her corner between Ken and Chikusa.
"We'll stay for now." Mukurou noted "There's a lot these….people can teach us." Chikusa nodded quietly while looking down at the head of brown hair resting on his shoulder. "Your thoughts?" Chikusa frowned slightly still looking at the head on his shoulder,
"We stick together." Chikusa murmured "We will follow you, Mukurou." Mukurou continued to study Tsuna while the girl slept, one small hand was clenching over and over again. Reaching out Mukurou slid his hand into her own, the girl gripping it before quietening back to sleep.
"For now, we stay here, don't get too attached." Mukurou mumbled, Chikusa nodded while looking at the girl on his shoulder again.
Don't get too attached, the new kids never last, they'll just die.
"Don't get too attached." Chikusa agreed softly before shifting slightly in his spot so that he could get some rest too, all without disturbing the girl on his shoulder. Don't get too attached.
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Nono cracked the door open while peering in at Tsuna a soft smile tugging at his lips, she was fast asleep surrounded by children. Sneaking in the Vongola boss tugged a blanket from the closet and moved over to the four children. Calling upon every single stealth technique he knew so that he wouldn't disturb them.
Slowly he tucked the blanket around the children, snapping a quick photo and escaping before any of the children woke.
"Thank you Bouche." Timoteo chuckled while he petted his friend on his shoulder "I'm not as stealthy as I used to be." which made it handy having a Mist around that could compensate for his declining stealth with illusions. "Now….where is Ottabio?" Bouche bit back his smirk and waved his arm down one hall to indicate for his boss to follow him, leading him down to the underground cells.
"Reborn is healing him so he will be coherent when you question him."
"Good, I want him to be coherent when I….question him." Bouche moved quickly when someone came lunging out of the room on their left and slammed Timoteo to the wall, Bouche tearing off the attacker with a frown,
"Brat what the hell do you think you're doing." Bouche growled standing between Nono and the angry teen.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me? Lying to me for years, were you all laughing at the stupid bastard that dared think he may amount to anything?!" Xanxus hissed angrily.
"Brat you better have a damn good reason for attacking your father." Bouche growled while Xanxus glared back at him,
"But you're not are you Nono, you're not my father. You have been lying to me, laughing at the stupid bastard with the crazy mother that dared think he ever might amount to anything but some lowly scum!"
"Xanxus what are you-" Timoteo fell silent when his son threw a small leather bound journal at him, Bouche caught it and handed it to Timoteo, but he knew exactly what Xanxus was talking about now. One of his old journals that he had put into storage.
"Bouche, excuse us." Timoteo bade while the Mist glanced back at his boss with a frown, he couldn't be serious, he wanted him to leave right after Xanxus had attacked him?
"Nono-"
"Please Bouche, excuse us." Timoteo ordered his eyes on his son while Xanxus glared back at him. Finally listening to his boss Bouche reluctantly left the pair alone in the hall "I have always thought of you as my son Xanxus."
"But I'm not." Xanxus growled back in return "You lied to me Nono." Timoteo sighed softly with a wry smile to his son,
"I didn't want you to be hurt Xanxus, it's bad enough in our world as a bastard, but if someone knew that you weren't my son….I was trying to protect you." Xanxus stepped forwards and grabbed Timoteo by the collar of his shirt, slamming him against a wall again while glaring into his eyes, searching for something. "I never thought you'd get caught up on something as small as blood, you love the Sawada child as family, yet she's not related to you, is it so strange to think that I care for you as a son?"
Whatever he was searching for in his eyes, Xanxus seemed to have found it, letting go of Timoteo's collar and turning his back on him, taking a step away from the old man he paused and glanced back at him "Ottabio is this way." Xanxus growled out before heading down the hall, Timoteo walking after his son. While he didn't like the coldness Xanxus was sending his way, he understood that he needed time to come to terms with this.
None of that changed how he felt however, Xanxus was his son, even if they shared no blood connection, to Timoteo he would always be his proud powerful youngest child. It would take time, but he knew that given his interactions with another Vongola Sky that bore no blood relation to him, that one day his son might forgive him for keeping this from him.
Xanxus opened the door ahead of them, Nono's eyes flicking down to the small Arcobaleno that had been tasked with healing up Ottabio so that he might be ready for more questioning.
"Forty three broken bones, third degree burns and various other cuts and bruises." Reborn explained while wiping his small hands on a damp cloth a maid had brought him "All repaired of course, so Nono, that's the baseline, let's see if you can top what young Xanxus here inflicted." the baby's smirk was terrifying, or would be if the surrounding people were all not high level Mafioso.
"Xanxus, would you care to join me?" Timoteo asked while looking at his son "I believe it would be good for both of us to do something together. Think of it as father son bonding?" Timoteo mused, Xanxus glaring at him at the mention of father son, which they were not….but the old man was offering him another go at Ottabio, that was something he was looking forwards to doing.
"Whatever." Xanxus growled pushing into the room, Timoteo a step behind him
"Reborn, please, stick close for the time being, we will need your services again soon." the bright smile on Nono's face was one that very few Mafioso had ever seen, one that no one had previously survived seeing.
Timoteo took offence to anyone involving children in any of their dealings, whether as experiments like the children with Tsunahime, or by kidnapping a civilian child and murdering in front of her.
Those sorts of people he dealt with personally if he could, otherwise he sent his most trusted assassins, the Varia.
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Mukurou studied the little girl as she fought nightmares, startling awake she seemed stunned for a few seconds looking around herself in panic, finally her eyes came to rest on him, wide brown eyes staring directly into his eyes, eyes that didn't hold hate or fear, that was something new.
She whispered something before he noticed her staring at his red eye and wilting, Mukurou frowned lightly before holding his hands up for her, Tsuna blinking startled at the sudden move.
Mukurou bit back his grin as he summoned the purple power that was in him, the power they had forced inside him through all the pain and blood, and summoned an illusion of two puppets.
Tsuna froze her wide brown eyes on the two puppets while Mukurou began making them dance together, the two simple puppets spinning and dancing in the air while her huge brown eyes stayed locked on them, her mouth dropping open in surprise while she followed the two puppets moving around her.
Tsuna brightened as she reached out and grabbed Mukurou's hands babbling away in Japanese while all he could do was stare at her, it felt like….something warm was touching him. It wasn't the cold purple power that they had forced into him over and over, that they had tainted the eye with before shoving it in his head.
Mukurou lost control on the illusion while he stared at the girl gripping his hands still babbling away in Japanese. For a moment he saw exactly what this little girl had been like before she saw death, and it was warm.
It wasn't the boundless energy in Ken, nor the calming soothing slow blue in Chikusa, it was warm, it felt like coming home. Mukurou hadn't felt anything like it in his whole life, he had never been at home before, but this little girl made him feel it with just a touch.
No wonder the red eyed bastard had been so vocal about protecting this innocent little girl, she was like nothing he had ever come into contact with.
Don't get too attached.
Mukurou pulled his hands free while giving the girl a strained smile, he really needed to remember to take his own advice, here he was in seconds already forgetting his damned advice to Chikusa not that long ago, just because the kid was warm.
"Mukurou?" he flicked his eyes over to Chikusa, the child blinking at him with wide blue eyes from behind his glasses "Do we leave?" Mukurou flicked his eyes back to the girl that was blinking at him with wide innocent eyes. Tsuna blinking at him before flicking her eyes over to Chikusa her head tilting slightly so she could blink at him as well.
"No." Mukurou murmured while staring at the girl still, not yet, they had a lot to learn still, they could keep themselves from getting attached to one small kid. "If we can't keep ourselves from getting attached to one kid, then we're definitely not going to last out in the world. We stay, there's too much we can learn from these….people." Chikusa nodded while looking back at Tsuna, the girl staring at him with wide eyes
"Tsuna." she said suddenly while pointing at herself "Tsuna."
"Her...name maybe?" Chikusa guessed while the girl looked between them both waiting for something.
"Mukurou." the blue haired child noted pointing to himself for her, then shifting his point to Chikusa "Chikusa." then to the still drooling and sleeping Ken "Ken." the girl nodded with a bright smile that soon dropped from her face, her eyes flickering orange before a haunted look took over and she wilted back into her corner hugging her knees, Ken's head slipping to the floor.
Mukurou summoned the puppets again and once again tried to improve her move, her brown eyes following the puppets as they danced and spun, a smile reappearing, but it was small and sad while she watched the moving puppets quietly.
"Ken." Chikusa bade reaching around the girl to nudge the sleeping blond, but the boy just swatted away the hand and went back to sleep. Chikusa sighed softly, he really didn't understand why he was such good friends with someone like Ken, strange bonds are formed when kids are thrown into places like the Estraneo. Chikusa doubted that Mukurou would ever have given them the time of day if not for being in the same cell for months on end, he always struck Chikusa as someone of good breeding. Which was confusing since they were all orphans, he had always thought of Mukurou as someone taken from some high class family, it was just how he carried himself. Though that family hadn't come looking for Mukurou, so he was either wrong, or the family was dead.
"Ken." Mukurou tried instead nudging the kid with his foot, Ken blinking awake with a yawn while he blinked at Mukurou, turning his gaze to the missing lap he had been sleeping on and following it up to a little girl that was curled in the corer hugging her knees.
Ken's face paled at the sudden reminder of being in unknown territory while he scurried to his feet his eyes flicking around the room while searching for danger.
"Ken." Chikusa bade gently "We're safe." the child sagged to the floor with a sigh reaching up to touch the bandages on his nose, flicking his eyes around the room once more.
"I thought we were back there for a minute." Ken shuddered "They had thrown in another newbie and were coming back soon." Mukurou flicked his eyes to Ken before slowly setting his two puppet illusions to sit on the floor in front of Tsuna.
"Her name is Tsuna." Mukurou noted while studying her "Don't get attached." Ken nodded in agreement while he shifted to sit against the wall again his eyes on the girl still sitting between him and Chikusa.
"Tsuna huh." Ken noted while poking her cheek, startled brown eyes flicking to him while he prodded again "When's it time for grub brat?" Ken asked poking her again, Chikusa reaching over to stop him.
"She doesn't understand, Ken." Chikusa noted "She doesn't speak Italian." Ken blinked at her with wide eyes,
"How can she not speak Italian?!" Ken cried out, Tsuna tearing her head up with wide eyes, looking at Ken startled while he stared at her confused. "Everyone speaks Italian." Chikusa just sighed, Mukurou shaking his head at the child. "What?"
"In Italy yes, we're not in Italy. We're in Japan, they speak Japanese." Chikusa reminded while Ken blinked at the girl with wide eyes,
"So she doesn't speak Italian, weird." he muttered, Mukurou clipping him upside his head with a frown,
"Ken, shut up." the boy pouted but silenced while Tsuna studied their interaction, reaching out she gently petted Ken's head, the child blinking at her startled before smiling brightly at her.
"I like her." he noted with a nod "Can we keep her?" Ken never had understood the concept of not getting attached, it made it harder and harder every time a child didn't return, but the boy wore his heart on his sleeve.
"Ken." Mukurou warned again "Shut up." his eyes flicked over to the doorway, there was someone just outside the door listening to them. Ken flicked his eyes over and sniffed at the air before falling silent and shifting so he was hidden from sight behind Mukurou when the door opened.
Xanxus glared in at the three kids surrounding Tsuna, after he had finished re-breaking all 206 bones in Ottabio's body this time and another shower to get the blood out, finally, Reborn and Timoteo had said he was allowed to go wake up Tsuna.
"Nii-san." Tsuna sobbed all but pouncing on the teen and hugging him around his neck while sobbing and babbling. Xanxus wrapped her into a tight hug while glaring over at the three kids still, gently stroking her soft brown hair.
"You three, follow." Xanxus ordered before leaving the room, holding Tsuna on his hip and keeping a tight protective hold on her while taking her down to the dining room, he was going to get some food into the kid, since he doubted Ottabio had thought about feeding the poor kid, and she had been conked out since thanks to Rain Flames.
Mukurou led, Chikusa and Ken behind him as they trailed after the tall teen that was acting like a over protective mother to the girl in his arms. Talking to her softly while Tsuna just tightened her grip in his neck and refused to release her grip even a little.
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Tsuna startled awake from the dream of red, everything had been red, it had been dripping from the walls, pooling around her until she was drowning in red, the only thing she could do was stare at those frozen eyes while the red washed her away.
Flicking her eyes around startled she blinked seeing three children surrounding her, frowning slightly she tried to remember what happened before she fell asleep, it was all hazy, but she remembered them a little, the blue haired one with glasses on her side had sat with her quietly, it had helped her fall asleep, having someone there. Tsuna didn't like being left alone at the best of times, especially not now, not when everything reminded her of the red.
Tsuna stared at the other blue haired child, he was staring at her evenly with his pretty eyes, her eyes widened when she finally realised, he had one red eye and one blue one, she had never seen someone with eyes different colours before, and it was one of the prettiest things she had ever seen in her short life.
Tsuna just stared at him her eyes focusing on the red eye while a shudder slid down her spine. It was that red, the red like in her dream. Suddenly his eyes didn't seem so pretty anymore.
Going to bury her face back in her knees Tsuna jumped when the boy lifted his hands up, tilting her head slightly Tsuna studied him with a confused frown while a grin took his lips.
Tsuna's jaw dropped open when between his hands two puppets appeared and began to dance together without any strings.
Tsuna couldn't help herself, she grabbed his hands while brightly smiling up at the child "That's so cool, it's like Mammon-nee's purple Flames, you can make things from nothing too! That's really amazing, Tsuna likes the puppets, they're so pretty." Tsuna wilted again when he pulled his hands free looking at her startled, she had done something to upset him, the puppets had disappeared too.
"Sorry." Tsuna mumbled sadly, she hadn't meant to make him stop. Tsuna jumped when the blue haired one beside her spoke, looking at him with wide eyes before flicking her brown gaze between both the blue haired children as they exchanged words she didn't understand. Tsuna recognised a little bit, at least enough to know it was the same language that Xanxus and the others all talked when they wanted to say their bad words without her knowing. Tsuna still knew.
Silence fell for a few seconds while Tsuna hurried to say something, not liking the way the silence felt "Tsuna." she said pointing at herself, she may not know how to talk in the language like Xanxus could, but she could at least introduce herself to them. "Tsuna." the pair exchanged a few more words before the one with the dual coloured eyes answered her and gave their names.
Mukurou, Chikusa, Ken. Tsuna repeated their names in her head a few times trying to make sure she remembered them. Flicking her eyes to the red eye again Tsuna slid her knees to her chest and hugged them tight. Mukurou started the puppets dancing again but she could only bring herself to force a tiny smile, though she made sure to watch them.
The blond one that had been napping on her lap until she had moved woke with a grumble, jumping to his feet and babbling away in his language while he looked between all the children before sliding to sit again with a sigh, asking her something, Tsuna knew he was asking something, but she had no idea what he was saying.
Tsuna peeked over at the door when it opened her eyes locking onto Xanxus, she had never moved so fast in her life, Tsuna covered the length of the room and threw herself onto him and hugged him tight, Xanxus' warm strong arms wrapping around her and hugging her tight while she sobbed into his neck.
"Tsuna was scared, Tsuna called for nii-san, Tsuna…Tsuna….it was red, nii-san, it was red." Xanxus gently began to stroke her hair trying to calm her down.
"I know brat, it's alright now." Xanxus assured softly flicking his eyes to the other children and calling something out in Italian before heading down out of the room, Tsuna tight in his hold.
"It's never going to happen again Tsuna." Xanxus promised while heading for his normal huge chair, sitting down with the small girl in his lap, one arm around her to make sure she didn't fall off while he glared at everyone at the table, daring them to say something, especially at Iemitsu whom was standing by Timoteo glaring right back at Xanxus. Regardless of the miscommunications and the assumptions, he still blamed this entire thing on Xanxus.
"Tsuna, your father is visiting from Italy." Timoteo called over, Tsuna peeking over at the man before nodding to him and burying back into Xanxus hold "Iemitsu…" Timoteo bade when the blond moved to go and grab his daughter from Xanxus "We spoke about this, she needs to be where she feels comfortable and safe." Timoteo reminded softly to the man in Italian "No one is adding to this incident, not even you." Iemitsu bit at his bottom lip before nodding, while he hated it, while he hated every second of seeing his daughter clinging to Xanxus when she should be turning to her family for support, Timoteo was right.
"I hate this Nono." Iemitsu hissed "My daughter turning to someone like him as support."
"I don't care where she gets her comfort from Iemitsu, as long as it helps her." Timoteo reminded "Now, stop bickering." Iemitsu nodded reluctantly and slid into a chair, watching while Xanxus spoke softly to his daughter and slowly talked her into eating something.
The three children that had trailed in after Xanxus all took up places near to him, Iemitsu not liking the way the three children kept glancing at his daughter, the one with the strange eyes and Mist Flames was setting off his intuition most, the kid was dangerous, and the kid was sitting beside Xanxus and his daughter.
"Who are the brats?" Iemitsu noted in Italian "You starting a home for wayward children as well?" Xanxus ignored Iemitsu while Mukurou's eyes flashed, peering at the tall man with a narrowed glare.
"Iemitsu, please." Timoteo sighed "Just sit."
"Act your age." Mukurou added with an even stare at the man "Resorting to making snide comments at children, please, do try to act your age and not like an toddler whining as if someone took your toy."
"You little-" Iemitsu's angry retort was cut off when all the Varia burst into laughter at the man, Xanxus smirking while he nodded to himself, maybe the brat being sassy wasn't so bad after all, the look on Iemitsu's face was well worth it.
Looking back down at the confused Tsuna he petted her head gently "Don't worry about it brat." he noted before looking back at his steak and going back to trying to make sure she ate something, which was talking a hell of a lot of convincing.
Xanxus had gone out of his way to make sure Tsuna had no adverse reaction to the steak too, normally he was a medium rare guy, but today he made sure it was deader then dead, no blood around the kid today or any other day for the foreseeable future.
"If you eat half of that we'll play with you later." Chikusa said suddenly pointing at her steak, Tsuna blinking at him in confusion while Xanxus translated for her, the children making it known they were ignoring the stares and instead just watching Tsuna and Xanxus.
"Okay, Tsuna will try." Tsuna promised with a small smile to the three children, Mukurou glancing over at Chikusa,
"We don't know how to play remember." Ken grinning brightly at Mukurou in response,
"We can learn, I've always wanted to play! Maybe the kid knows some good games!" Timoteo smiled softly at the conversation going on between the children, they were so innocent still, and yet not. Even if they had gone through hell under the care of the Estraneo they were still just children.
"Her name is Tsuna." Chikusa reminded while Ken continued to bounce in his seat not even hearing Chikusa's reminder,
"What game do you think she knows, you think it will be fun? You think we'll play for long?" Ken was impossible to deal with when he was like this, it was a rare occurrence when they had been in the cells, but now that they were mostly free the boy was probably going to be like this more and more. Mukurou could already tell he would be the cause of many headaches now they were out of the labs.
"Who cares what game you play, the brat's eating, that's what matters." Xanxus grunted while cutting up some more of his steak for Tsuna, now that she had started she seemed to be chugging along well, looks like her system had needed a reminder of how hungry she was.
"She'll make herself sick if she eats too fast." Chikusa cut in while Ken nodded in agreement.
"The new kids always ate too fast." Ken added "Then threw it all back up." Ken had sobered from his excitement and was watching Tsuna carefully. Xanxus frowned and stopped handing Tsuna food, instead giving her some water.
"We need to discuss what we'll be doing next." Timoteo noted "We can change her memories, but I believe that should be a last resort."
"It would be better for her to forget Nono." Iemitsu disagreed "Something like that at her age, she's a civilian, she shouldn't know what it's like to see someone die."
"She does however have strong intuition, if we change her memories, she will know we're lying to her." Timoteo reminded which shut up Iemitsu up again, "It is possible for her to recover without the need for such drastic measures, and we will provide the very best of care."
"Why is your answer for everything to wipe her memories?" Squalo growled while glaring at Iemitsu "She gets along with Xanxus, wipe her memories, she sees some shit, wipe her memories, are you that scared of actually dealing with the kid?"
"May I remind you that I am her father." Iemitsu snapped while Squalo snapped right back at him,
"Exactly, why the fuck would you recommend getting her memories changed, why would you want to fuck around with her head?!"
"Shut up both of you." Xanxus hissed while the pair both looked at him to see Tsuna looking at them with frightened brown eyes, the yelling was not constructive even in the slightest. "You want to fight, take it outside, you continue scaring the brat and I'll shoot you both." silence fell in the dining room again for a few moments before Timoteo broke it,
"I think for now we will monitor her, I have brought Schnitten with me, he can act as a counsellor for her while we work this through. Xanxus I need you to continue her Flame training, keep an eye out for any abnormalities, that can help tell us how she is going." Xanxus nodded as he petted Tsuna's soft brown hair, the girl looking up at him in confusion, everyone was talking in Italian, she was more then a little lost, just blinking around at them all while they talked back and forth.
"What about the other brats?" Squalo grunted while looking at the three, all who stared back at him.
"They have strong active Flames." Reborn noted from his place sitting on his booster seat beside Dino. "They would also benefit from Flame training, the kid with the Rain Flames has better control then Squalo over the calming properties of Rain."
"Voi! Fuck you brat!"
"Which is exactly what I'm talking about." Reborn reminded "You can't even control your temper, how do you expect to be able to use them to calm things down when you can't calm yourself." Squalo snapped his mouth closed while glowering at the Arcobaleno, but he was right, Squalo was shit at using his Flames in that manner. He was working on it, but progress was slow, Squalo just found he got angry too quickly.
"Training another Rain may help you train yourself." Timoteo added "Would you take the young Rain under your tutelage?" Squalo glanced over at the quiet kid that had glasses, train this little brat?
"They're here to stay aren't they?" Squalo muttered while Xanxus nodded,
"As long as the brat likes them, they stay."
"Then fine…." Squalo sighed "I'll train the little shit." Timoteo nodded with a soft smile,
"Thank you, now….I assume Lussuria won't mind taking on the young Sun there?"
"I'll make him." Xanxus noted, if he had any complaints he could take them up with him, but Lussuria always gushed over new recruits, and this one was a kid too, the flamboyant man would be beside himself with a new dress up toy.
"My rates are steep Nono." Mammon noted already seeing where this was going, of course she would be delighted to train a Mist in both his Flames and the Illusions they could create, but she was not going to do it for free.
"...We will negotiate a standing rate." Timoteo agreed, he would do everything he could to bring down the price of the training, but he couldn't exactly leave his Mist here to train the child forever, he needed Bouche with him. The were few Mists that could even hope to match anywhere near to Mammon, and half of them were dead, they couldn't ask for a better teacher for the child, Timoteo just hoped that her penchant for money didn't rub off on the kid, maybe once he was trained up they could actually send a Mist on a mission that wasn't costing triple of any other job.
The three children in question had stayed silent through the conversation, just watching and listening silently until the adults were done, sharing a look Mukurou nodded to the other two. The blond talking first "So when we starting you old coots?"
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I know I'm supposed to be working on other things but I don't control my brain, it does what it wants and at it really wanted to stay stuck on this story, I spent an hour staring at Cielo Perduto and only managed to get a sentence done before I figured I might as well write what is in my head rather then trying to force it out.
I've set aside writing time each day now, so that things should start moving along better then they have the last month.
Much love and huge thanks to all the lovely people that reviewed as always, you all really do keep me moving this along, I was happy that I actually managed to surprise some people with what was really going on, I thought I made it too obvious, but yay!
Shizuka Yuki-KiZuTsu , EndlessChains , Evani , Illusionist Owl , fantasy.92 , weisskreuz , Kademe , Omona (Guest) , L's Cappuccino , 19 , Rinku-dono , Lucky Guard , gima2618 , lelouch84 , Skull1412 , Arashi - IV of VI , khr junkie , 00-SilentObserver-13 , bribright91 , dreamerNO.666 , Keliane (Guest) , Killer Rei , tsuri182718 , ilovecartoonsgirl , meme7789 , Guest , Brie45 , Lyssa (Guest) , Guest , Guest , Guest , Dareagon
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So wasn't letting me reply to any reviews, so not sure if I broke it or it's just being a bitch at the moment. I've reported it and we'll see what happens. It was annoying me so I stopped checking it, doing it the long way this chapter, once this one is up I'll check it again.
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wanderer13 (Guest) : Vongola Style Family Therapy, torture Ottabio together until near death, heal him and begin again xD Perfect way for Nono and Xanxus to get over their issues.
Breath after Death : I never would, I can't cut off the fluff, that's just...unthinkable, there will be no Flame sealing as long as I have control of the keyboard.
Of Stories Told : I had to giggle at " eventually just being all screw it, she's adorable, gotta keep the perverts away from her." Since Mukurou is a huge pervert xD Yeah the lives of quite a few people have been derailed from the canon now, all because Tsuna got lost, gotta love butterfly effect. Having a Sky like Tsuna around might even help keep Mukurou from going off the rails early on. But yes, it is a little unrealistic to think they can keep Tsuna out of the Mafia when she spends most of her time with the Varia.
Kurogane Tsubasa : The screams weren't quite Ottabio, but more details in this chapter, as for our lovely prince, he assumed that the "scary young man." was Xanxus and reported as such instead of questioning it or looking into it any further because he was too lazy to care. So Squalo is a tad pissed at him.
L's Cappuccino : Yeah, Timoteo would be that grandfather, the one that had pictures everywhere and would pop out of nowhere to get photos as any and all events of his grandchildren's lives. Though being a Mafia Don, he would probably just hire people to stalk his grandchildren so he could get pictures even when busy with work.
n1ghtdr34m3r : Iemitsu's too dumb to realise that xD, I think he deserved more then just one punch, but the element of surprise was lost after that. Poor little Tsu though, seeing someone shot, but that is what helps Mukurou and Co start spending time with her, something in common, she's not just a coddled little Varia princess now.
Lacie (Guest) : Levi suspected that Ottabio was up to something, since he never lets anything change his routine, to be sneaking out of the mansion meant something was going on.
knightessjg : It's a good lesson for Bel not to assume because he's too lazy to check detail, and a good lesson for the rest of the Varia to not think the worst of Xanxus, he may have a temper issue, but he wouldn't ever do anything to hurt Tsuna.
EmptySurface : Ottabio won't be dying, not for a long time, not when there are so many ways that they can take him apart, heal him up and start again. Vendicare would be a holiday for him.