Chapter 35
"Lucille, do you need gas bombs in your battle?" Isago asked when the battle had just started. Lucille's green eyes were trained on the battlefield before turning to Isago with a small head tilt. Bei Li on the other side had just whacked the small boy out with a few chops on the back of his head since his first attempt failed in making Lambo faint.
"Isago, do you want me to use them?" Lucille questioned.
With a quick grab of the baby's collar, Bei Li threw him into the air in Isago's direction.
Tsuna screamed. Well, shrieked with his hands over his head before Isago moved a bit forward into the correct position and caught the passed-out Lambo like he was catching a baseball. Lambo in his hands smiled hazily, murmuring that he was going to save the world while large swirls appeared in his eyes. Squeezing the baby gently, Isago laughed, seeing Tsuna rush towards him with the rest of his family.
Lucas and Lucille exchanged glances for a quick second before communicating with Isago using their powers.
Mammon is known to be the strongest mist flame on this planet while Mukuro has the six reincarnation thing that makes him overpowered in the anime. You two have seen his powers, right?
"Isago! That was really dangerous! What if Lambo fell down-" Tsuna lowered his head with the slight sweat that he broke with those few steps of running. On the side, Yamamoto only laughed, patting Tsuna on the shoulder.
"Well, it's fine as long as Lambo was caught," Yamamoto scratched the back of his head with a carefree grin. He turned back at Gokudera who shoved his hands in the pockets of his baggy pants with a disgruntled look. "Right, Gokudera?"
"I don't care what happens to that annoying cow head-" Gokudera started before grumbling at how that cow yanked his latest dynamite out of his hands this morning and threw it at the teacher which made his dear Tenth get into trouble with Hibari. But before he even finished the sentence, Gokudera turned his head away from the front and scoffed. "Stupid little cow."
We know that, the twins replied.
Mhm. Then Lucille, you must have also seen how Mukuro defeated Mammon? Isago said without tearing his eyes off of Tsuna.
Cervello cleared their throat, "Since Sawada Tsunayoshi's guardian is now immobile and out of the ring, we declare that he has lost the battle. Is that acceptable, successor?"
They were looking right at Isago when they said that.
"Of course," Isago smiled. "We will continue with the battle."
"Take care of Lambo, Tsuna," Isago chuckled before handing Lambo back into Tsuna's arms. Usagi at the back shifted to Isago's right side, peering over Lambo before bursting into a small giggle.
My illusions aren't at their level yet, Lucille nodded at the back, seemingly watching the battle that was going on in front of them. Sorry, Isago.
There is no need for apologies. Unlike Mukuro, you just started training your flames. It's good that you are aware of your weaknesses. For the bomb, I was thinking of utilizing it along with your barrier.
"Uh-" Tsuna's face reddened when Usagi lifted her head to look curiously at Tsuna. Then with a furrow of her eyebrows, she leaned backward with something more of wariness on her expression. Her action, though, made Tsuna sigh in relief.
"Tsuna, are you still not used to girls?" Isago grinned warily, watching his brother lock eyes with him before flushing harder with red. Thadeka at the back stifled a laugh.
"Baka Tsuna is hopeless for a reason," Reborn piped in with a sadistic curl of his lips before looking back at Isago. "Unlike normal people. How far have you gotten with her, Ragazzo?"
"How far indeed?" Isago mused before sliding his hand in between Usagi's fingers while he watched Reborn's smirk falter a bit before turning to his poker face. Usagi laughed, intertwining her fingers with Isago's before pulling him to the side.
How should I do it? Lucille asked.
Create an illusion that you're being trapped in their illusion. Since they're both older than you, try to manipulate them into thinking that you're one of the weaker guardians on my side. I'll also pipe in with that show. Also, before we're putting that all into action, we need to get the abilities of your barrier checked. What can your weapon do?
"Your brother is like your opposite," Usagi pointed out when she led Isago's group to the far corner. Her twinkling eyes shone with much curiosity directed at Isago before leaning on his shoulder. "Are you two really brothers?"
"Tsuna…" Isago trailed off before smiling with amusement.
It can eat up any attacks from flames and deflect physical attacks. Verde hasn't tested with chemicals yet, though. Lucille said.
Isago smiled at the information. "...Needs to get a girlfriend soon or else he'll become a hermit."
"I honestly can see that happening," Usagi nodded gravely, "He'd become a shut-in sooner or later. But isn't that good for you?"
Isago's eyes twinkled at Usagi's comment. With a mischievous tone, he said, "What do you think?"
"You're a really bad guy, Isago," Usagi cutely smiled, pecking him on the cheeks. "How utterly terrible."
"Well," Isago started, lifting his eyes off of Usagi to see the lights zapping in and out of the battlefield. Bei Li was in the middle, grinning almost monstrously before cackling about how he needed the light. "I try my best. But first, shouldn't we be filming all of this?"
We'll test that out tomorrow then. Adriano is going to have a really hard time.
Smiling, Isago took out his phone and started a massive order request to Adriano.
Bei Li leaped back, hand trailing onto the ground in a superhero position before flicking his head up to glare at his opponent. Levi extended his arms into the sky as multiple umbrellas shot up and started to revolve around his head. In Levi's hand, there was a sword.
"With the power vested within me!" Bei Li stood up and posed for the third time, extending his own arms and placing them together before shouting out, "I shall conquer all evil and disintegrate you!"
The two hoops on his arms enlarged with bolts of lightning raging through its circuits and Bei Li threw open his arms towards the direction of the eight umbrellas. Lightning pulsed from the sky and struck into the four poles that were on each corner of the ring and Bei Li froze, watching the green coloured strands of wiggles crawl towards his body at an impeccable speed.
This wasn't good.
Bei Li leaped up into the air in an attempt to avoid the strands but instead of actually avoiding it, gravity pulled him down and he landed directly on the platform when the strand flew at his feet and a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, lighting him up. Bei Li screamed, closing his eyes for the impact before feeling all the zap go from his feet to his hair and with a poof, his hair broke out into an afro.
Above Bei Li's head though, the two hoops danced with elegance, expanding to the size of the entire sky before snapping back into a bracelet, all umbrellas captured in its rings. It faltered once there was something inside, but a second later it condensed into nothing and smashed the umbrellas in its grasp.
Pieces and pieces of steel fell from the sky as the two rings catapulted to their owner and floated around him protectively. Bei Li sighed in relief with gray smoke popping out of his mouth, flicking his hand up in the air as both rings tilted vertically. Levi in front of him narrowed his eyes before shooting another eight umbrellas into the air. There was another thunder that crashed onto the four poles and the waves began again. This time though, Bei Li hopped onto his two rings and shot up into the sky, and lifted one foot off the other one and placed both feet on a single hoop, commanding through his flames to destroy the other umbrellas.
Rain was beginning to coat the ring. Platter by platter, splatter by splatter, they fell without an ounce of care.
Bei Li's ring moved, doing the same thing, but Levi's Parabolas suddenly moved, falling down before moving in a completely different order, this time umbrellas going up and down at different timings so that Bei Li couldn't catch them with his ring. Clicking his tongue, Bei Li's frown deepened before flexing his right hand to call back his hoop. His hair was wet, and Bei Li didn't like the sticky feeling of being drenched. Sure, moisture was good for the skin, but there was a thing called acid rain.
Once the hoop snapped back into his hand, Bei Li flew towards Levi and they clashed, metal sparks flying up into the sky with a screech. Bei Li jumped off the hoop that he was standing on and sent it right over Levi's head.
"What-"
Levi tried to pull away, but the more he did, the more Bei Li charged up his flames and pushed onward with the slippery surface of the battlefield. It worked at first, but the brute force of Levi's muscles yanked his sword out of Bei Li's grasp and sidestepped just before his back touched the corner of the ring.
"Skitter, you rascal," Bei Li licked his lips before snapping once with his right hand. As if on cue, Levi froze in his place, gritting through his teeth in immense pain as the hoop above Levi's head fizzled and cackled with lightning flames. It looped around Levi's head, then neck then stopped at his stomach. Rain blocked Bei Li's vision as he closed one of his eyes, panting due to his flame usage before extending out his hand in a flashy way and clenched it with a malicious grin.
The hoop obeyed, instantly cracking into the size of Levi's bones as Levi gasped, roaring with agony before Bei Li flared up his flame again, this time the circuit inside his hoop bolted out with enough voltage to kill a normal person. Levi's hair sizzled in the rain and Bei Li huffed out of his nostrils again, clenching his hand even tiger as the hoop moved along with his fist.
Levi shrieked, his body charging up with electricity as it spasmed without falling onto the ground. Over and over again, Bei Li played with the input of his flames, twisting it high then back to low with a sinister grin on his face.
"I gotta pay you back for what you did to my face," Bei Li's hoarse voice cackled out as he felt the stinging sensation of his scar that ran all the way from his side of his forehead to his chin. His eyes were glimmering darkly with anger before he spat on the ground, glaring at the man. "You goddamn fucker."
"Hah...hah...hah…"
"You should pay-"
"Isago! Stop! Stop him!" Isago's brother's voice rang out surprisingly clear in the rain. There was bafflement before Bei Li turned to his boss with wavering eyes. Was he in the wrong? Should he have not tortured this damned man for his face?
It took some time for Bei Li's tired eyes to locate his boss in the dimming night sky, but after a few seconds, he did. Isago was standing in the corner with his hands side by side casually as his golden eyes were trained on Bei Li like a hawk.
"Isago, please! There's no need to go that far!" The annoying voice screeched out at the side.
Do whatever you want, Bei Li, Isago's voice echoed into his mind as Bei Li's eyes widened. There was a faint chuckle that came along with it but that didn't matter. You know my personality.
Jerking back his head, Bei Li cackled, extending his hand and squeezing it once again to produce a painstakingly high note from Levi's pale face. Thunder drummed through the skies as Bei Li tossed his other ring up into the air, positioning it on top of Levi's extremely white face before a boom resounded the entire sky, and smashed into his ring then banged out of the other side of his ring, producing an even higher voltage as it struck Levi dead in the middle.
The man screamed bloody murder while the rain started cooling Bei Li's anger, seething still, but better. After a while, Bei Li smiled happily. Because of Varia, Bei Li had pushed himself to greater heights. He learned, he failed. He electrocuted himself in electricity just for the chance that Levi's lightning would hit him. He prevailed, he trained.
"Though you made a mess out of my life, you motivated me to pay you back tenfold," Bei Li spat out the venom like he was drinking wine. His eyes twisted with satisfaction. "I will remember this feeling and payback anyone who harms me and my boss- of course."
He released the ring around Levi's body and Levi fell down onto the ground with a thud, the water around his body splattering everywhere.
"Do you know what the difference between you and me is?" Bei Li said in a serious tone, staring gravely at Levi who was below him, panting while blood trickled from his forehead. The man heaved at the borders of consciousness, not willing to accept his loss but his gaze was hazy. Too hazy to go on.
"Because I look better in an afro than you."
With that, Bei Li lifted up his chin haughtily and walked towards the exit of the ring.
"Since Varia's guardian is immobilized, we declare the winner to be successor Isago," Cervello cleared their throat and walked towards Isago. Bei Li panted as he watched Isago wave the ring towards Levi who was on the ground. Cervello got the message instantly and placed it beside Levi's completely limp body before leaving the stage after Bei Li.
Well done, Isago's voice rang out in high praise at his thunder. Bei Li laughed and threw his head back before joining his own family, collapsing onto Isago's body with his arm around his neck. Isago's body was warm compared to his own.
'I'm so glad I followed him,' Bei Li sighed with relief before completely passing out.
(～￣▽￣)～
Aurelio blew bubbles in the air, staring at the outside boredly before pouting while having his mask on. Outside the machine, Verde was typing on his keyboard for the fifteenth hour without stopping. Aurelio thought the infant was fucking annoying though. For the past hour he had voiced out his complaints but the baby just ignored him like he was air.
That did not sit well with him.
If it wasn't for Isago telling Aurelio to be careful with the machine, Aurelio would have already ripped himself out of there and pranced his way to Dallas Pizza. Aurelio's mouth watered at the thought, his brown eyes blinking underneath the water and observed the entire laboratory that the mad scientist was working in.
There was a desk lined up at the far left, and the closest one was where Verde was sitting at. There were three computers on Verde's desk and a large 60-inch screen above the infant's body. The machine that Aurelio was in had two other machines beside him- one for control and the other one for regulation or something, Aurelio didn't care.
The whole room was white and what seemed like a white marble floor took place in the room. There were no hooks, only electric outlets and a large shelf for all the documents that the scientist had placed in there.
"Hmph- boooooored-" Aurelio voiced out his complaints bluntly through the flame extension machine but Verde didn't turn around to answer him. Bubbles and bubbles left the corner of his mask and his fingers fiddled with the firm wires, wondering if it was a good idea to snap them in half. Aurelio wanted to play a game. He missed his consecutive log-in for the past few days and there was an event occurring tomorrow!
Not to mention he still had to collect the missing pieces for his Beyblade collection and-
"Verduuu-" Aurelio tried again, twisting the corner of his mouth into a resentful curl. He would even take learning a new language or memorizing the entire morse code- anything at all to stop his boredom. "Gaaame bro, game!"
The sounds he made were nothing more than muffled grunts.
(～￣▽￣)～
Isago carried Bei Li's unconscious body out of the bathroom as the mist seeped into the normal temperature of his room, evaporating behind him and leaving no traces at all. Isago's eyes were red and a bit tired after the whole day but there was something in the back of his head that told him tonight he wasn't going to have a good rest either. Bei Li in his hands was completely clothed with Iemitsu's PJ's since Isago's was too small for Bei Li to fit in.
Downstairs, he could hear the chatterings of his remaining guardians and Tsuna's family eating downstairs. There was a loud laugh coming from Iemitsu but Isago ignored it, walking to his room and pushing open the door with his shoulder. He was carrying Bei Li princess style. Well, he couldn't help it. Lugging Bei Li on his back seemed like a more masculine move but it was physically tiring to somehow push Bei Li onto his back and stabilize himself.
Not to mention since he was the only male in his family who was free and able to carry the weight of an 18-year-old grown man he was the one in charge of washing Bei Li. He had to say, he was really traumatized. Isago made a face and placed Bei Li onto his bed, shuffling the covers onto his body before sighing to the pack of masks on his table. He ripped the top off and took out the moist thing, placing it carefully upon Bei Li's face before grabbing a tissue and dabbing the eyes so that the moisture wouldn't seep into Bei Li's eyes.
It had been so long since he had come in contact with this thing. In his past life, he almost used one every day like Bei Li. He dabbed his fingers onto the tissue, tossing both the paper and pack into the trash can before heading towards the door and closing off the light. With a careful creak of his door, he closed it.
Bathing a man was...terrifying.
Isago shuddered, almost throwing up the peach that he had just eaten from his mouth. Oh, the terror. He could handle his own body since he was born with it, but with someone else? Isago didn't want to remember the image of the thing down there.
It was distressing.
"Never again," Isago shuddered, disgusted. "Never again."
Walking down the stairs, he was greeted with Yamamoto trying to talk to Thadeka while Tsuna was on the side, shrinking from the party with Gokudera talking enthusiastically beside him. Reborn was sipping on his coffee with his usual poker face beside the twins but they weren't talking to each other at all. Bianchi was on the other side, giving Usagi a smackdown of all the poisons that she had created in the past while wearing a pair of ski goggles. Futa was there too, trying to understand how cooking and chemistry could be combined together. Lambo was in Futa's room, snoozing peacefully as usual.
Well, when Isago told them to gather information, he had expected the two guardians to meet their opponent. Gokudera was being Gokudera. Isago didn't push Usagi to get to know him. Thadeka on the other side lowered her head when she was agreeing with Yamamoto's theory about baseball. One other new thing that Isago had learned was that Thadeka actually knew stuff about baseball.
Isago placed on a bitter smile before going towards the twins. At first, the twins had a dull look upon their faces but the moment they saw Isago, their eyes lit up almost instantly.
"Isago!" Lucille jumped off the couch and hurried to his side before tugging him to the sofa. Lucas moved aside a bit without any expression but his eyes were showing his underlying feelings. Well, relief that there was finally someone who he could talk to other than his twin.
"Ciaossu," Reborn greeted without a hint of emotion.
"How are you three faring?" Isago chuckled as he sat down on the seat next to Lucas. He was sandwiched between the twins but surprisingly there was enough room for the four of them.
"You aren't going to talk to the others, Ragazzo?" Reborn turned his head towards Isago, watching Lucille cuddle up against Isago while humming the Katekyo Hitman Reborn opening song. Such irony.
"Pft," Lucas cleared his throat and maintained his poker face. Reborn had a glimmer of confusion in his eyes but it soon disappeared when he sipped his cup of coffee.
"No, I'm a bit tired for today," Isago said slowly, watching the people in the room chatter. Nana was on the side, finishing up her last dishes with Iemitsu holding her like a gem. Isago smiled a bit, but then frowned again when he thought of all the business that he hadn't done on his computer.
"You could work on your files," Lucas said with a small nod. "We won't mind."
"We won't mind!" Lucille repeated before Isago laughed and stood up to get his computer. After he did, he sat on the couch again, typing away as Lucille peered over his shoulder.
"Racketeering…?" Lucille tried to pronounce the word and Isago corrected him with a small smile. "What's that, Isago?"
"Vongola wants to create another trade route to America," Isago explained, typing as fast as he could while talking. "But the group that they're dealing with is famous for their dishonesty in going forth with the contract. I'm just suggesting that they find another route, but if that's not possible then threaten them."
"Why not just kill them off?" Lucas said with a smirk. "That solves all problems, right?"
"Ciaossu," Reborn agreed with a bob of his head. For some reason though, Isago didn't think that the meaning of that greeting was meant as a greeting. Reborn too, had a bitter glimmer in his eyes as he turned his head away from the group to look at other people.
"You see, the Vongola is a very peaceful Mafia group," Isago shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm currently ruling under Timoteo's name, so it's not in my position to go the destruction route."
"Though," Isago mused a bit. "If my family was strong enough then I would just attack them for the sake of things."
"Like the time with the Juno cooperation?" Lucille pressed his face into his hands with a bored but cute look. With a tap of his fingers, he then made a 'boom' sound with his voice.
"Well that, we trampled it down until it disintegrated," Isago drummed his fingers on the empty part of the pad before proofreading his work all over again. "If it was for this group, just have a massacre. Their base could be useful in the future."
"Resourceful, Ragazzo."
"Thanks, Reborn."
Isago pressed the sent email and leaned back with a sigh.
"I still have to send people to track down a missing ship that disappeared near the coast of Russia," Isago recounted in his mind. "There's also the case with the recent slaughter in one of Vongola's prostitution institutes…and countless others that I don't even want to mention."
"...Isago, I have a feeling that they're using you," Lucas uttered under his breath. Reborn on the other side only smirked, watching Isago's expression but was disappointed by the lack of emotion on his face.
"You're no fun, Ragazzo."
"Well," Isago glanced back to Reborn. "I already know that they're using me. But what bad does it do to me? I don't have school and it's a good way to build my image from the get-go."
"The Ninth," Lucille spoke up after a while. His eyes were full of meaning before Lucas transferred Lucille's words into Isago's mind, asking who would do all the work after Isago was gone.
Aren't they relying too much on you? Lucille asked.
No, considering they think that I'm going to serve under Vongola no matter what, Isago's lips curled up. I'm doing this for future recruitments. If they don't like how Tsuna rules Vongola, then the naturally ambitious ones will come trickling to my side.
"What can we do?" Isago pressed the smirk into more of a smile. He had to make a cover-up so that Reborn wouldn't get too suspicious when the twins kept on exchanging looks with Isago. "These things will naturally pile up with his disappearance."
Isago leaned forward in his seat and shut his computer down with calculating eyes. Reborn on the side had his mouth also clamped shut, pondering on something that Isago concluded was the possible whereabouts of the Ninth.
What an entertaining show, Lucas piped in and Isago could only laugh at his words.
Entertaining since we are the main characters, and they can only watch, Isago's eyes glimmered darkly inside the room.
(～￣▽￣)～
Reborn loathed his appearance.
He despised his high-pitched voice that sounded like a chipmunk.
He hated how he was only limited to a few words without sounding like a lisp.
The Sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
The sun Arcobaleno.
His title was the world's strongest hitman.
He was still here.
He was still in this world as the world's strongest hitman.
He was still alive!
But his current strength couldn't even measure up to what he used to have.
He was weak.
He hated anyone who treated him like a child.
He hated everyone who reminded himself of what he used to be.
He despised the very existence on his chest that reminded him of what he could have had.
I can't breathe.
He didn't want anyone to understand him. He didn't want anyone to see him in this state. He just wanted to go back. He just wanted to break free of this body.
He was desperate but his pride didn't allow it.
"I don't know- I think- Mom, do you think Isago has changed?"
Reborn's footsteps stopped in front of the stairs and stared down at the situation in front of him. Tsuna was in the kitchen talking to his mom while Nana was washing the dishes. Tsuna covered his face with his palms, a thin line drawn across his pale face as he tried explaining his observations from the past few days.
"Isago- " Tsuna hitched a breath before slowly tumbling out his words. "I feel like Isago feels more distant with us recently. I don't know why but- I'm a bit worried."
Reborn's eyes glanced downward to Ragazzo who was standing against the wall outside of the kitchen, holding his laptop with one hand and the other typing at a nonchalant pace in the darkness. Ragazzo had a frown on his face that he didn't mask, but there was also a small smile upon his face when mom started to tell Tsuna that everyone would change sooner or later.
Reborn, on the other hand, knew what Baka Tsuna was trying to say. Ragazzo had changed far too quickly for a boy who just joined the mafia. He was far too strong, too accepting, too cruel for a normal boy who had no experience with violence in his life. Earlier when Tsuna had screamed out for Ragazzo's lightning guardian to stop, Reborn had mildly expected Ragazzo to stop him. However, that boy didn't.
Not to mention there was no information of what happened to the Juno family since the Vongola had wiped their information from the face of the earth, but after seeing the scene from today and the conversation between Ragazzo and his mist guardian, Reborn was sure that the boy had massacred and stamped the building down.
The boy had killed.
Not that Reborn found anything about those facts weird since this was the mafia they were in, but compared to his brother, Ragazzo was extremely mature. There was also no sign of a mental breakdown from Ragazzo even after his first kill. It was like that boy was created to be part of a mafia.
No, a leader.
Aside from that, doing cases was unusual, even more so to a boy who didn't know about the world. Initially, when Reborn had heard from Adriano about Ragazzo's reaction to the mafia, he didn't know what Iemitsu was thinking. That man was in charge of the cases and leading Vongola when Ninth wasn't there, but to leave it to a 15-year-old boy?
But Ragazzo was different. If Reborn was in Ninth's place, he would do the same thing. However, hearing Ragazzo's workload, it proved that the boy really had no control of knowing his body's limits. Again, that boy was filled with a shroud of questions that Reborn couldn't answer himself.
Reborn, become my sun.
Ragazzo's voice echoed in Reborn's mind over and over again like a broken record.
It wasn't like Reborn was hesitating that much on it. There was potential in the brat and he had to admit that he was talented. So much that his guardians had already advanced to the next level- far from Xanxus' and Tsuna's families. He had also gotten the information that Ragazzo was the one organizing all his guardians' training plans.
Ragazzo was a monster.
And Reborn could see his own flame standing beside that monster.
There was a small smirk that found its way to Reborn's lips.
However, Ragazzo was deeper than he had thought. Reborn wanted the strongest sky as his leader and would settle for nothing less than that standard. The boy was capable of making it to that position in the future, but he was also unstable as a leader. He kept too many secrets. Even from the party today, Reborn had noticed a similar pattern with Ragazzo's guardians.
Ragazzo had forced a way for them to devote themselves to him.
The brat didn't trust his guardians. No, the fact was that the trust was there but it wasn't based on the guardians themselves. Ragazzo had created a reason for him to trust his guardians.
One saw him as a saviour, another had no place to go, and one had already lost their family and would never risk experiencing that again. Even Ragazzo's so-called girlfriend had one similarity and it was that she mentally relied on the kid to the point where she would no longer be able to function without him.
Ragazzo had given them something that they wanted, but in turn, stripped away their independence. Reborn stared at the boy for a long minute, not taking his eyes off of him. For a boy who had everything, why was he so insecure?
It didn't make sense.
Nor did Reborn want to join the boy's family if Ragazzo used the same tactic as he did on the others. Reborn frowned, a crease reaching on his forehead. Ragazzo was too manipulative for a person. He was a monster that could potentially destroy his own allies. There was something missing in him and Reborn did not like it.
If Ragazzo couldn't solve that problem of his, then Reborn would never accept the sky in him. Not that Ragazzo could even harmonize with his flame. He was the Sun Arcobaleno for a reason. And that reason being that he was the strongest sun flame out there. Skies could not embrace a sun if they were smaller than the sun.
Reborn vaguely remembered the several candidates that had tried to harmonize with him but failed. That left a bitter taste in his mouth. Reborn had gone to Vongola Ninth, but even that man couldn't bear his flames. Though Ragazzo's flames were different. There was a soft sigh that snapped Reborn back to reality. Ragazzo folded his computer down and pushed his body off the wall, slowly avoiding the light that shone on his sibling and mother who continued to talk in the kitchen.
Walking up the stairs, Ragazzo lifted his eyes and froze, seeing Reborn's silhouette.
"Reborn," Ragazzo blinked twice before continuing his footsteps as usual. There was a smile that formed on his face but his dark eyebags had given his fatigue away. Reborn questioned if Ragazzo was even sleeping enough for the average adult. "Are you on your way to getting some coffee?"
"Originally," Reborn replied before turning his back against the stairs. "But mama and Baka Tsuna will interrupt my peace."
There was a soft chime of Ragazzo's voice which felt more like a tickle to Reborn's back but he ignored it, smirking towards the child.
"When was the last time you slept?"
Ragazzo frowned and lifted his hand to rub his nose bridge. "I think it was three days ago."
Three days ago?
Reborn narrowed his eyes.
"Do you not take pills?"
"Those force you to be reliant on them," Ragazzo pointed out, smiling weakly. "I try to not take them if possible."
"Ragazzo, that's not a very smart choice."
Ragazzo shrugged, wandering his hazy eyes around the room as if he was about to pass out any second. There was a strange feeling in Reborn's stomach- again, Reborn wondered if it was because his potential sky was suffering in front of him. The boy's face was pale now that the moonlight was shining on his face. Reborn didn't notice it earlier since he was busy eavesdropping on the conversation in the other room.
"I can't sleep unless I faint-" Ragazzo said slowly, returning his golden eyes to Reborn's small body. "I'll just have to wait until that happens."
"You've fainted before?" This time Reborn's voice was a bit on edge. Did this boy really not know his body's limits or was he just deliberately trying to destroy himself? He knew that Ragazzo wasn't the type to faint easily. He had trained the boy to avoid fainting even in the toughest situations.
If Ragazzo fainted then that would mean he was on the verge of breaking. That was not good.
"You need surveillance," Reborn frowned, looking towards Ragazzo's room. "Try to sleep with my flames."
But Ragazzo only laughed helplessly. The hoarse pitch of the boy's voice worried Reborn.
"Bei Li is in my room right now. I can't wake him up when he did his best today. Tsuna's room is the only one free since the guest rooms are taken by Bianchi and Futa, but I can't steal his bed from him, could I?"
"Baka Tsuna's bed, now."
"Thanks but no thanks, I'll sit in the hallway-"
"Ragazzo."
The boy eyed Reborn for a full minute before tugging his steps towards Tsuna's room. With a slight smile, Reborn followed the boy into the room before ordering Ragazzo to go onto the bed. Following his directions, Ragazzo fell down limp into the sheets, face first then opening a single eye that was filled with wariness.
"I need to tell you beforehand that I have tried sleeping with people in the room but that never worked out well-"
Reborn smacked his hand onto the boy's face, earning a flinch from him before his hands started to glow with sun flames. Ragazzo stiffened but gradually relaxed into the covers and sighed. Just from the analysis of Ragazzo's body and flames, Reborn could tell that the boy had haggard himself to the point of collapsing. How was he still able to stand? It was more than a miracle unless the boy had dunked himself in Redbull in which Reborn did not think he saw those cans in the house.
Ragazzo muffled a groan before flipping over in the bed and stared hazily at Reborn. Reborn stared back, unmoving.
"As I thought," he drew a long breath and slowly closed his eyes in peace. "I need you in my family, Reborn. I need you."
AN:
Also, I have created a KHR trailer and the link is in my profile. I've bolded it so you'd find it easier. First time making a trailer and I was so confused in the beginning haha. I also have no idea how to share so I shared it on google? Also, I had no idea how to record my finished project because the app didn't allow me to download my files. I had to download a screen recorder app too (⊙_⊙)？
Anyways, if you have time or are interested, please check it out! Other than that, hope you enjoy the chapter!