HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S!
Fon looked at his new apprentice with some dismay. I-Pin was a quick learner, but her special gift made it hard for her to connect with others. Especially her own age.
She needed to be someplace she could interact with children with their own special gifts that wouldn't be terrified of her blowing them up, and still learn how to defend herself.
He didn't want her to become an assassin so young, it would only do more harm than good.
Which left him with a quandary of what to do. At least until he saw something on his phone.
It was a polite request for certain spices that had to be imported from China, since it was hard to grow locally.
He had an epiphany. He heard about the telling off that the Vongola's current heir had given the Bovino family for sending a five year old to kill Reborn into a civilian city (though in other circles it was more that a Grimm that just happened to be a Sky had told off the family for releasing a Wesen child who could Woge and didn't know restraint or that he was supposed to hide his true nature), and he had heard the full story from Tsuna.
Tsuna had taken in Lambo, who was well on the way to becoming his Lightning Guardian. He would prefer the kid be a bit older before taking that responsibility, but at least he had a cover for why Lambo was living with him.
Lambo was about I-Pin's age, and Tsuna was Fon's former apprentice who knew enough martial arts that he could at least teach I-Pin the basics so Fon had something to work off of.
Mind made up, he sent a text back to Tsuna asking for a minor favor.
I-Pin would do much better in Namimori than with Fon. That and he could deliver the order Tsuna put in.
Tsuna looked at the text Fon sent back. He didn't mind kids and Mama would be thrilled to have a little girl to spoil on top of Lambo.
He went to share the news.
"Mama, Fon asked if we'd be willing to take in his new apprentice. She's about Lambo's age, but he doesn't think she would benefit from being trained only by him."
"And as senior apprentice, you could teach her the basics and give him something to work off later, as well as get her socialized," said Nana pleased.
"He said he'd bring her along with the order I placed, to make sure she can get settled in properly."
"I'll get the room fixed up with another bed," said Nana cheerfully.
"Oh good, I get to yell at Fon some," said Reborn darkly. He didn't like being blindsided like he had.
"If it helps, Fon's long suspected someone named Colonello is a Steinadler."
"A what?"
"A hawk Wesen. They have a habit of going into the military and doing really well. Their personalities are more or less heroic and noble, but unless you have a firm idea of what side they're one it's best to trust your gut on whether or not to trust their word."
"...That does sound suspiciously like Colonello, but he has an eagle, not a hawk."
"What, like birds of prey can't get along in the same territory?" scoffed Tsuna.
Reborn conceded that point.
"So Fon's dumping his apprentice on you."
"He's asking a senior apprentice to tutor a new one until she has a proper grounding in martial arts without sacrificing her childhood in the process. The fact we have Lambo here makes it easier...she'll have someone she can connect to without fear that will allow her to interact with others later," corrected Tsuna. "Grandpa stayed with us until Fon came around and started teaching me. Where did you think I learned how to make herbal remedies?"
He had mostly introduced a friend to Tsuna who learned the art after school. And on the weekends he trained Tsuna how to fight hand to hand. His grandfather mostly focused on identifying the Wesen causing problems and how to use the weapons without accidentally killing himself with them.
In between that he went to normal school and socialized, allowing him to become somewhat well balanced socially. Even if his only actual friends were Wesen or knew of Wesen at this point.
One week later...
Hibari was glaring at Tsuna, for an obvious reason. The reason being the red-robed carnivore in the shop when he was dumping off some newcomers to get registered/healed up after he had bitten them to death.
Tsuna had failed to warn him the carnivore would be arriving soon.
Fon was serenely drinking one of the many, many special tea mixtures the boy had long since perfected. Because, and this was a source of endless amusement on top of the headaches Reborn was having upon learning there were "animal people" living in the world side by side with them, he wasn't a "heathen" like a certain Sun.
That wasn't to say Tsuna couldn't make a really good cup of coffee. The boy was a master at brewing, and could make a pot that had even Reborn happy. But he simply found coffee far too bitter for him to like.
Hibari glared at the carnivore, before giving Tsuna a look.
"Fon-shifu is staying at my place and has agreed to leave you be for the most part. He finds giving Reborn migraines by explaining the truth more fun than irritating you for the moment."
"I'll leave the carnivore in your care," said Hibari.
"I did bring presents back, Kyouya-kun," said Fon cheerfully.
Hibari glared at him. And then Fon tossed him something.
It was a new pair of tonfa. They looked almost identical to the ones he currently had, but these were made of different metal and had a strange gem on the bottom.
"Try channeling your annoyance at me into them," suggested Fon.
Hibari looked dubious, but the carnivore rarely brought him herbivore presents. Seeing the weapons light up with a purple and indigo fire, he raised an eyebrow.
"Since you're obviously Tsuna's Cloud, you're going to need these to deal with the carnivores that will undoubtedly arrive trying to take him out. This will give you a bit of an edge to make them regret disturbing the peace," said Fon serenely.
Hibari's eyes turned sharp.
"Carnivores?" he said with anticipation.
"Lesser versions of myself and Reborn. And stronger than Tsuna's Storm," said Fon.
"Wao. Fake carnivores attempting to take out the fluffy carnivore..." said Hibari. Which meant that Tsuna was now stuck in the same criminal underground Fon was, and that more fake carnivores would be intruding in his territory. The predatory glint in his eyes said volumes of how much he couldn't wait to deal with such nuisances.
He also found another delightful fact about his new toys... it shot out spikes, which when combined with his purple fire, multiplied until they rained pain from above.
Needless to say he was in love with them already.
Tsuna raised an eyebrow at Fon, who looked entirely amused that his grandson hadn't tried to attack him again.
"You had to give him something that made him even more irritating than normal, didn't you?"
"Considering you're now the Vongola heir apparent, you're going to need it later. I'll show you who to contact so he can keep the needles stocked up."
Tsuna didn't even have to think about Hibari with a tonfa that shot needles. He winced just imagining such a thing.
"You did remember to..."
"Yes, I sealed the Pinzu Time Bomb before we arrived. I also brought the spices you requested and some new books I acquired from a Grimm who had no descendants. He was more than happy to hand the trunks over when I explained who I was and that I knew the perfect Grimm to hand them to that would use them appropriately. I think there's some Hexenbiest books in there."
"I'll have Momoka-san look them over," said Tsuna.
Momoka being the Hexenbiest judge who was more than happy to deal with the Wesen criminals or the odd human who didn't deserve to live. Their arrangement was odd, but it worked.
Mostly because in exchange for sending people to the special arena or to jails with only Wesen, Hibari looked the other way if she happened to use her powers on normal civilians, and Tsuna gave her a discount on her potions so long as she didn't give him any details.
She'd rather be on the good side of that demon brat or his fluffy partner than on the wrong end of a tonfa, besides it paid well.
Even if she had to put up with those damn bees. The uneasy truce was only held because Tsuna had promptly put them in charge of all the city parks and kept their hives far, far away from anywhere she might frequent. They could tolerate each others existence so long as they didn't interact. Ever.
"I hate you so very damn much, I hope you realize that," said Reborn in a dead tone.
Fon's serene smile shifted to something a bit more in line with his grandson, it was that evil.
"How is it my fault that you weren't paying attention whenever someone woged in front of you?" he said smiling. You could tell he was laughing his ass off.
"Yeah, how were you supposed to know that Hayato's dad apparently has a furry fetish?" said Tsuna, laughing.
"Furry fetish?" repeated Fon.
"Basically people who like to dress up as animals," shrugged Tsuna. Considering I-Pin was still in the room happily enjoying her tea and the snacks Tsuna had, he didn't really need to elaborate more.
"Do I dare ask..."
"Hayato is a Balam, but his half-sister is a Manticore," said Tsuna.
Fon winced.
"I bet she took the realization of what you were badly."
"That's putting it mildly. Hibari was the one who had to track her down to pay for the damage to the arena she almost destroyed with her poisons and Storm Flames," said Tsuna flatly. "Though the look on Hayato's face when he realized that the Wesen attacking me was his sister..."
Hayato, having come down after finishing his modifications, blushed.
"Boss..." he said with a whine.
"Oh it's harmless fun, you know I'm only teasing you," said Tsuna, patting him on the head. Hayato barely refrained from purring. "Besides, at least Shamal goes drinking with you and commiserates with his own horror stories of having to treat cranky Wesen."
"Speaking of... are you really the assistant nurse at the school?" asked Fon with open amusement.
"That depends. Can you really become a doctor without having to go through several years of med school and far too many student debts if you're in the mafia?" deadpanned Tsuna. The sheer number of headaches he got from the new doctors at the hospital who scoffed at his "silly little herbal remedies" that were far cheaper and had less side effects were annoying. If he was an "accredited" doctor, then he could shut them up because most of the newcomers were all young hot shots.
Finding a child genii who completed med school while they were still being idiot teenagers would force them to shove their comments where the sun didn't shine.
Fon smirked.
"At least you'll have a...normal... and well respected profession to fall back on later."
"I think Shamal only did it because that way he could continue acting like a perverted pedophile while I dealt with the boys. At least I'm not bored out of my mind in class anymore," said Tsuna.
The fact Shamal tended to quiz him during those periods and actually trained him to be a medical professional was a nice bonus. It meant he could heal up his friends with normal methods if they didn't have any herbs to do it.
"Good thing he quit trying to hit on Bianchi when he found out what she was. I think he nearly had a heart attack seeing that tail of hers," said Hayato, snickering.
Nana took the addition of Fon in stride. It wasn't the first time he had crashed at their house, nor would it be the last. Usually he came to deliver spices to Tsuna, or after a particularly nasty case with a rather angry Wesen.
(She didn't know or care than half the time his visits coincided with a rather unpleasant hit. All she knew was that he was practically family at this point.)
Fon cheerfully took his spot on the dragon plushie (it's presence in Tsuna's room was finally explained) which was more than big enough for I-Pin or Lambo to join him. Tsuna had bought that entirely so Fon had a place to sleep, despite the fact it was very adorable to look at.
He was already trying to find a lizard shaped one for Reborn to nap on, instead of that hammock. That or a Ditto, because that was the first thing that came to mind when he saw Leon shift into multiple forms on command.
I-Pin however, tentatively snuggled up against Tsuna and Lambo. He didn't even look surprised, and patted them both on the head.
"If you're going to chat, keep it down or take it to the living room," said Tsuna.
Fon smiled back, and Reborn rolled his eyes.
Once the kids were asleep for the night, Reborn rounded onto his fellow Arcobaleno.
"Explain."
"I ran into Tsuna-kun and his grandfather while chasing a Wesen that my grandson allowed to escape, and ended up chatting with the old man. He was more than happy to let me assist in training Tsuna, since he barely knew any hand to hand combat."
Tsuna's fighting skills certainly improved with Fon's teachings. It was the only reason he could even use his favorite ax and not have to worry about cutting himself with the thing.
"And the store?"
"I may or may not have helped him acquire it. Why do you think it's called the 'Storm Apothecary', or that the symbol on the window is the Japanese Kanji for 'Wind'?" said Fon smiling.
"Well that does explain why the primary coloring is red," said Reborn.
As the two properly caught up (and Reborn had cut himself off for the night in regards to the alcohol, even if Tsuna's hangover remedy did work better than some he had tried), things settled into a familiar dynamic for the home.
That is on the verge of some very interesting chaos. Reborn was rather pleased to find his insanity easily meshed with the chaos Tsuna brought simply by being himself, and that no one really batted an eye to his little quirks.